Abina's Vengeance: Study or Die, Semester 1

VT Says: In my last post here, I was struggling to decide what to do with five four and a half troublemakers in Kulo Seeri. (Branch isn't a bad sort - he was doing what he thought was his only option to protect his family - but the other four do kind of deserve this.)

"This" is the Study or Die Challenge by hexagonal-bipyramid, which pits five students against a haunted house and an angry ghost. The tribal council has put Anan, Asken, Ganyalis, Branch and Pollux in an empty house in Sim State University, along with the vengeful spirit of Abina mi-Avira - quite appropriate, given that Abina was the target of the (failed/semi-thwarted) murder plan that got Ganyalis and Branch in here. She was also working on the tribe's first semi-formal code of law since the days of Azanni the Tyrant, back in the second generation, and has since ascended to the role of Patron Ancestor of Justice.

Of course, this isn't an automatic death sentence for them - it's a chance at redemption, with the guarantee of being pardoned for their crimes and getting a fresh start in the next rebuild of Kulo Seeri if they graduate. If they graduate.

And without any further waffling, here begins the (rather badly scripted) adventure...

...and it begins with the boys eating breakfast on their first day (which is technically their second day, because I put in a 4-day term mod without thinking through any of the consequences, but it still gave them 72 hours in their first semester) while the garden club member who dropped by shows off her moves in the background.

Asken: Guys, we're on to a winner here! Four years outside the village, without the elders watching us, and then we get to go back like nothing ever happened? Easy!

Pollux: And we can do whatever we like out here - it'll be pure gold, seriously!

Anan: *looks through sliding door at dancing garden club member* I hope you mean comedy gold.

Inside at the other table...

Ganyalis: I have a really bad feeling about this... it's Abina we're "sharing" with, after all. Who wants to bet we'll be the first ones she gets?

Branch: Come on Ganyalis, I've seen ghosts back in Moonlight Falls. They're pretty harmless. Don't you think they'd have mapped out an escape route or something if there was any actual danger?

Ganyalis: Famous last words...

GC Member: *thinks: I hate students. They're so annoying.* Hey dude, what's that on your shirt?

Asken: Huh? Where?

GC Member: *flicks Asken's nose* Nyah!

Asken: Grrr!

GC Member: *thinks: Oh yeah! Don't mess with me. I'm smarter than any goofball student.*

That night...

Branch: Ha ha ha!

That's one funny textbook, Branch. Still, glad to see someone studying here!

Asken (off screen): Hey! Where's my private secret journal gone?

...

The rest of the evening passes without much happening, and soon the boys are off to sleep.

Day 2 of 3 of the four-day semester begins with Pollux and Ganyalis getting up early to practise their dance party skillz.

Ganyalis: Pollux, stop copying the garden club lady's moves already.

I honestly can't remember who Branch is calling here. It might be his professor, but I forget.

Branch: ...and then I said, it won't make that much of a difference once we're out of those graduation robes and back home. I told him ghosts are harmless.

(Traffic cone and road sign courtesy of my mum, who offered me some invaluable tips on how to decorate student digs.)

Pollux: Don't chuck it that hard! *ducks out of the way*

Anan: Whiny baby. Just throw it back.

Pollux: *chucks ball back even harder*


This went on for a few hours... I took about a dozen pictures of these two playing "who can knock the other guy out with the baseball first".

The night is spent frantically skilling in anticipation of finals...

Asken: Are you sure they'll even let us back into Kulo Seeri if we survive? I mean, we are fixing cars here... and you know how the elders are about machinery.

Anan: What they don't know won't kill us, dude.

Ganyalis: *shouts* Yeah, but Abina might!

Branch: Ghosts. Are. Harmless. How many times do I have to flag that one up? Anyway, we haven't even seen her around yet.

Anan: ...and the mascot dude whose ear might have been in that photo with the traffic cone actually cut a hole in his llama head for his beard to poke through, can you believe that?

Asken: Really? Wait till you hear what happened with Professor Cobalt over at the frat house...

And we have our first haunting! Look out, Anan... she's behind yoouuu...

Abina: What? I'm only trying to find out the punchline to that frat party joke.

In this hood, I killed Abina by starvation, so she raids the fridge when she appears. That... may have been a bad idea... because those boys could easily be Kulo Seeri's national team at the World Junk Food Championships, and they kind of can't afford groceries right now.

Abina: Mac and cheese, cookies, cereal... don't they know how bad for you all that corporeal food is? What, no zero-calorie ectoplasm in here? OK, now I'm angry and vengeful.

Branch: zzzzz

Asken: zzzzz

Abina: Seriously, get some ghost snackage in here! For Sena Yuleng's sake, wake up and listen to me or you'll be the ones sending food warnings from beyond the grave!

Asken: No, mummy... don't wanna go to school today... zzzzz...

Branch: ...zzzzz... *turns over* ...alphabet robots... zzzzz... flying trees.

Next morning...

Branch: I don't know why, but it feels really, really cold out here for some reason. Are you sure it's spring and not autumn?

Pollux: Sorry, did you say something? I was just enjoying watching VT struggle to come up with a shirt joke.

Branch: Oh, that explains it... there must be a breeze coming through the hole in the fourth wall!

Random Cheerleader: So I heard you guys are doing jail time here? I've got a tip for you... fail out so you can escape. Seriously, if the ghost doesn't get you, the cafeteria food will.

Asken: eep!

Anan: Oh, no. I am not getting locked up for life because I want out of here now. I'll take my chances with the cafeteria food, thank you.

Cheerleader: Not listening... not going to be held responsible when these losers croak...

Very early next morning...

Cheerleader: Girbits! Girbits! Voe Girbits!

Pollux: ...finals day already?

And so, once everyone's up, dressed and off to the final exam, this happens...

Ganyalis: Whew! What's that smell? Oh, wait a minute... I know what it is...

Ganyalis: ...my grades stink. *cries*

Anan: Ah, the sweet smell of someone else's suffering... and knowing that the rest of us will get out of this death trap sooner than you...

Cheerleader: Sensible things to do in a haunted house, number 158: splash in puddles in a thunderstorm. Way to go, zan-Ku.

And here's where my bad sense of humour and I leave off for now, while Ganyalis gets to grips with the whole academic probation thing and everyone else splashes around in the rain.

Next time on Abina's Vengeance: spoiled food naps, extremely unprofessional lecturers and the first actual haunting scares.