Archive of Our Own

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It was the day of the Purge.Thomas Blade, better known as Tommy, had been expecting this day to arrive for quite some time. It was a morbid sort of expectation. After all, with the amount of infractions he had, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be labeled an Unwanted and Purged. He couldn’t say the thought of being boiled alive was very appealing.But he knew that was the fate he was destined to have. Thomas Blade, second child of Chad and Nadia Blade, the second Unwanted born to two Necessaries. His potential for being useful in some capacity was long gone. No doubt his parents wouldn’t be thrilled by the events soon to occur.He certainly wouldn’t be.And it seemed the mood had already been set for the day simply by those thoughts, as breakfast was a near-silent ordeal for the three members of the Blade family. An incredible feat, seeing as the meal was primarily crusty bread with a thin spread of jam, yet somehow accomplished.Tommy himself did his best to savor the food. It wasn’t quite his choice for a last meal, but as it was he’d take nearly anything over going to his death on an empty stomach. It probably wouldn’t make the experience any less painful, and his parents probably needed it more than he did, but the idea of going hungry for the next several hours was just too daunting of an idea. For his taste, anyway.The moment he’d swallowed his last bite, his parents were beckoning him to follow as they left their small house. Tommy only glanced back once as he passed through the door, his gaze passing over the familiar stone walls he’d lived in for the past thirteen years.Looking forward again, he saw other families also leaving their homes in similar fashion. Some looked less excited than others, mouths pressed firmly together. Others walked with a slight spring to their step. Tommy’s parents fell firmly into the first category, while to his right his next-door neighbor, Tubbo Underscore, and his family were of the latter type. When Tubbo caught Tommy looking over at him, he waved and Tommy offered a small wave back.Tubbo was a model citizen. He was smart. He would probably—no, definitely—become a Wanted. Maybe become a governor one day. Unlike Tommy, whose future involved a lot of heat and pain.Tommy looked away from Tubbo. There was no time to talk. Anything he should have said had to have been said yesterday. He followed his parents until they, along with everyone else in Quill, reached the Commons. The wide, concreted area stretched in front of Tommy, crowds of families filling the space. Only bits of conversation occasionally pierced the otherwise-quiet air, the sounds of footsteps making more noise than anything else.Tommy followed his parents to the center of the Commons, to a large amphitheater. Slowly, the crowds of people filed into the amphitheater around the families, and Tommy found himself being pushed to the very front of the stage with the other thirteen-year-olds.He recognized some in the group of maybe fifty. Tubbo was next to Tommy, and lightly tapped his hand against his every so often. Near the back of the group was Ranboo Beloved, a tall boy whose father had been sent early to the Ancients’ sector after being caught singing. At the front nearest to the stage was Eryn Cyberonix, another friend of Tommy’s whose dark hair seemed to have a mind of its own, sticking up every which way. Next to Eryn was Freddie Badlinu, who like Tubbo would most likely become a Wanted or at worst a Necessary. Tommy was surprised by one person in the group, however. Purpled Bedwars, younger brother of the General. At twelve, Purpled’s shorter height and bright blond hair made him stick out from the crowd like a sore thumb. His deep purple eyes held a gaze fixated in the distance. Tommy had heard that the younger boy had committed some serious infractions, but the fact that he was likely being Purged today as well made Tommy pause for a moment.He wondered what kinds of infractions Purpled had committed. He didn’t know him very well, but as the son of a Governor it wasn’t hard to pick him out from the crowd, in his slightly-nicer clothes.Suddenly, all noise stopped as High Priest Schlatt, the man in charge of Quill as a whole, came striding through a path cleared for him through the crowd. The six governors, the General, and the Secretary all followed him, faces blank of any emotion. Their robes flared in the slight desert breeze, making them look as majestic as they were in Tommy’s eyes.Schlatt stepped onto a platform set out for him by two Necessaries, the others flanking him as he began to speak and the Necessaries retreated into the nearby crowd.“The time has come for the Purge.” High Priest Schlatt’s voice boomed throughout the area, loud enough for anyone no matter how far back in the crowd they were to hear. It made Tommy’s hair stand on end, hearing his leader’s voice so near after years of only being able to watch from the back.“As per usual, we begin with the Wanteds, of which there are fifteen this year.” Polite applause rang out. When it ended, High Priest Schlatt began to list the names, among them Tubbo and Freddie. Tommy nudged Tubbo, whose shoulders had relaxed immensely from their previous tense state and whose eyes were shining in relief.Next were the Necessaries. Thirteen names were called. Tommy watched as the back of Eryn’s head bobbed slightly at the call of his name. He straightened up as lastly, the Unwanteds were listed. There was an incredible number, quite possibly a record. Ranboo Beloved, Purpled Bedwars, Tommy himself—the list went on for what felt like forever but was in reality only at most a couple of minutes.And then suddenly, it was over. People began to leave the amphitheater, and Schlatt stepped off his podium. The Wanteds walked back to their families with their heads held high, the Necessaries following suit but with slightly less dignity.Tubbo turned one last time to Tommy, giving him a small smile and a squeeze to his hand before going to find his parents and sister. He was Wanted, Tommy was not. It would not do for Tubbo to linger any longer around someone as corrupted and undignified as Tommy.Tommy watched him leave, before looking back towards the other Unwanteds. In the distance, he could see the large rusty metal bus that would take them to the Death Farm, where they would die by pool of boiling oil.The excitement about the fact that he would get to ride a vehicle instead of walking was tainted by the reason for the trip.Really, it was kind of a mood killer. It wasn’t long after Tubbo had left before the General strode over, and the Unwanteds of that year all turned their attention towards him. They followed the silent man to the bus, where he stood by the doors and watched them climb inside. Tommy shivered at his cold glare when it was his turn. He wondered how Purpled had survived twelve years under the same roof as this man.The seats on the bus were set against the wall, around thirty seats in all. Tommy found himself near the middle of the bus, across from Ranboo and a few seats down from Purpled. Once they were all aboard, the governors boarded.Two of the governors began walking down the length of the bus, attaching arms to chains as they went. Tommy winced as the cool metal settled on his skin, the stuffiness of the bus becoming more evident by the minute with so many crowded into one space. Once the governors had finished, the doors closed with a whoosh, and a moment later the bus was in motion.Tommy planted his feet firmly on the floor in an attempt not to slide around as the bus moved. The seats weren’t the most comfortable, being little more than flattened cushions nailed to the walls, and Tommy found himself wondering if this was what it was like to ride in all vehicles. Surely the cars owned by the Governors, or at the very least the High Priest, would be much more comfortable. They had to be, for people so important. It would be ridiculous to think they would be as uncomfortable as the seats he and the others sat on, surely.Yet even the seat of the driver, who was one of the Governors himself, seemed just as uncomfortable as Tommy’s own. Perhaps it was simply just no one caring to waste money on a bus whose only purpose was to bring the Unwanteds to the Death Farm, who maybe that was just how all vehicles were and the only real appeal was the ease of movement from point A to point B.Tommy twisted in his seat to try and see out the grimy windows. There wasn’t much, Quill being nothing much more than a large desert of sand and round gray rocks, all the same as the ones next to it. The dreary landscape was only broken up by the plain, boxlike houses dotted across the land. At the speed the bus was moving at, Tommy swore the dull gray of the houses and the endless tan of the desert sand blended together.He watched with some interest as they passed the nursery, filled with the green of trees flowering with fruits and leaves, and the farm, the only two places in Quill with more than just sand, rock, and concrete for the floor. The criss-cross of the barbed wire ceiling still covered the entirety of the area, but Tommy found it quite interesting to see such places where all but Quill’s most elite and the Necessaries that tended to those areas were allowed to venture.Unfortunately, just as soon as they’d come into view, the bland desert had taken over, and the bus had officially left the populated part of the country.Tommy settled back into his seat with a sigh.There were what felt like miles of desert stretching in all directions, the endless patterns on the ground created by the barbed-wire ceiling above making spots dance in Tommy’s eyes to the point where he could barely understand how the governor driving the bus could stand to even look at the road. Or perhaps he didn’t, and simply drove straight on, as there was nothing but empty road in front with little to no variation whatsoever beyond the occasional dip or bump.But all journeys eventually came to an end, and this journey was no different. The moment Tommy felt himself starting to doze off, they had arrived at the walls to the Death Farm and were being ushered off the bus.One governor stepped forward to knock on the gate, the clanging of his fist ringing through the tense silence.No one knew what went on behind the tall, dark gates. The walls stretched to the ceiling, and Tommy noted how the gate was thicker than the width of his hand when it was swung open.No one would come to save them, not before and certainly not now.Exterminators, dressed in dark robes that covered them from head to toe, took hold of the thirteen-year-olds’ chains from the Governors. The Governors themselves didn’t bother to wait around and watch the spectacle, instead retreating back onto the bus as Tommy and the other Unwanteds were ushered inside.As they followed the Exterminators, Tommy watched as in front of him, Purpled turned one last time to look at the General."Bye, Punz,” the boy said softly, his words cutting like a knife through the silent air.The man didn't say anything, and by the way Purpled's shoulders slumped, Tommy had the feeling that the General hadn't acknowledged the farewell at all whatsoever.The Unwanteds kept walking further into the Death Farm.Many of the Unwanteds, including Tommy, flinched as the loud CLANG! of the gate shutting behind them rang out. There really was no turning back, no escapeBehind the gates, where they’d only heard rumours of before, were of course the things they’d expected. A large lake of boiling oil, the stench filling their noses and the surface emitting wafts of smoke high into the air. The area surrounding it was made over with concrete. The lake stretched from the end of one wall to the other, and near it was a simple gray building the size of the average Neccessary’s home.Tommy leaned forward slightly, enough to nudge his hand against Purpled’s. When the boy turned back, he took note of the younger boy’s lips pressed together in a tight line.He tried to offer a reassuring smile. “Hey.”Purpled frowned. “What?” he hissed.“Name’s Tommy. It’ll be quick.”The boy’s face hardened. “Purpled. And it won’t.”Tommy was planning on saying more, but the Unwanteds’ attention was turned to the sole building as the Exterminators brought them to the middle of what could only be described as the courtyard, dropping the chains they held before stopping between the Unwanteds and the building. They all watched as the door to the building opened and a woman in violently purple robes stepped out. Her long black hair cascaded down her back in waves, held back by a crown of lilac flowers. On her shoulder perched a jet black raven with a bright green ribbon tied around its neck.As she approached, the crow cawed loudly. Or seemed to, its call sounding in what could only be described as words mixed with the noises a crow usually made. Tommy swore he heard it say “again”, but the whispered words of panic Ranboo was muttering filled most of the noise Tommy could hear.He, along with the other Unwanteds, watched in near-silent anticipation as the woman finally drew close enough to speak."Hello, children," the woman greeted, her face devoid of readable expression. "I am Kristin, the Lady of Death."."And today is your last day as a citizen of Quill and your first day as a citizen...of Artimé .".She waved her hand across the air, and suddenly, Tommy felt like he was falling backwards. Colors swam in his vision, the wind blowing by his ears in a rush. He had no idea if he was looking up, down, or straight ahead, reds and yellows and purples and all sorts of colors he couldn’t name mixing together in a blur.“What’s happening?!” Ranboo screamed behind him. At some point, Purpled’s hand had found its way into Tommy’s, and the grip they had on each other was becoming the only thing giving Tommy any sense of stability in the chaos. And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the storm of color ended.Tommy stumbled forward, folding over onto the soft grass as his brain worked to process everything that had just happened.Wait, hold up.Grass?Tommy paused, carefully feeling the ground beneath his palms. It was like the grass in the cattle ranch but more…alive.Tommy slowly looked up. The world around him had changed. Gone was the barbed-wire ceiling, the lake of oil, the cement and sand. In its place were clear blue skies, an ocean of green-blue waves, and a ginormous mansion that was bigger than any building in Quill. A lush jungle replaced what had once been a wall, animals where there had once been rock. The once-lifeless air was filled with the sounds of the wind moving through leaves and birds singing in the trees.Around him, the other Unwanteds were in similar states of shock. Some had fallen to their knees, others simply stared with mouths gaping open. A few were rubbing their now-bare wrists, the chains binding them having dropped to the floor at some point.The Lady of Death and her crow stood in front of the line of Unwanteds, smiling and looking as if nothing was wrong. Which—Yeah, no. Tommy wasn’t ready to deal with this. He shut his eyes, wanting to see more but also overwhelmed by the amount of new being thrown at him.“Where are we?” He heard Purpled ask.“Artimé , of course,” the Lady’s voice answered, her tone filled with amusement. “Tell me, children, how does it feel to be Eliminated?”There was a pause, before—“...I think I need to sit down,” Ranboo said, before a heavy weight landed right next to Tommy, and his eyes flew open to the sight of Ranboo collapsed on the ground, a dazed look on his face.Tommy suspected he didn’t look much better.The Lady laughed, a sound not unlike that of bells. “Well, you have some time. I expect my son will be out soon to show you where you’ll be staying. There is much you are about to learn, and in due time you’ll receive explanations. But for now, relax and process.”The crow cawed, and Kristin nodded in agreement. “Yes, Phil, go alert Wilbur and let him know our newest have arrived, thank you my dear.”With a flap of its—his?—wings, the crow—Phil, Tommy supposed—was off and flying towards the mansion. Kristin watched it go for a moment, before turning her attention back to the Unwanteds in front of her, settling on a nearby boulder to await the arrival of whoever Wilbur was. It became apparent after some time had passed that nothing more was going to happen to them, and a few of the Unwanteds began quietly whispering with each other, with the Lady simply smiling as she observed their interactions. Tommy himself stayed quiet, until Ranboo nudged his shoulder.“Hey, wasn’t your brother also Eliminated?” The taller boy asked.Tommy frowned. “...What kind of question is that?”Ranboo flushed. “Well, I mean. She said we were just Eliminated. I mean—”“I know what you mean,” Tommy muttered. His gaze drifted towards the mansion, where two figures were making their way slowly but steadily towards the group. Above them, the Lady’s crow flew in circles and occasionally cawed. “And I’m choosing not to think about that.”“Well, you’ll have plenty of time not to think about it because I think Wilbur’s here, and he’s brought friends,” Purpled said.Tommy definitely didn’t elbow Purpled in the side for eavesdropping, and he definitely didn’t bump into Ranboo when he tried to get up, after noticing that the Lady had already done so herself.Ranboo grunted as he also stood, moving to stand closer to Tommy and Purpled, the latter of whom was busy lightly socking Tommy in the arm as some form of revenge. “What are they wearing? I’ve never seen anyone wear those kinds of clothes before…”“Yeah, it’s a bit odd, innit?” Tommy agreed. Around the trio, others seemed to be echoing similar thoughts. The figures approaching were exactly as Ranboo had described—they wore clothing in styles Tommy would never have imagined of. The first person was a brunette man, with curly brown hair that fell over his eyes. He had the black boots of a member of the Quillitary but instead of a uniform he had opted for a yellow shirt and dark pants, a large brown coat draped over his shoulders. An odd red hat sat on the back of his head, and Tommy wondered how it wasn’t falling off. He walked with purpose, as if he knew exactly what he was doing.The second person was somehow more peculiar then the first, and it started with his long pink hair—a color Tommy had never seen many people wear at all, least of all as a hair color. While his clothing choices were more similar to what the Unwanteds were wearing, his choice of hairstyle made Tommy wonder if the man was really human. And as the duo drew closer, Tommy suspected that he wasn’t. Especially not after he turned and Tommy caught sight of his face. “What are those things in his ears?” Ranboo whispered to Tommy and Purpled. “That looks like it would hurt…”“Forget the weird metal torture devices, I want his cloak,” Purpled whispered back.Tommy had to agree with Purpled. The cloak Purpled mentioned was a deep red in color, with white fluff lining the top. It flared in the wind as he strode behind the brunette, and it looked more majestic than even the High Priest’s robes—…Now that was a thought. Tommy briefly wondered if he could get an infraction for such an idea as anyone having things that were better than what the High Priest and his governors had, before taking a look around and deciding he was probably past the point where infractions could get him sent to his death.His musings were interrupted as the brunette called out a cheerful “Hello!”, waving at the Unwanteds. The Lady smiled at him, before turning to the group in front of her. “Everyone, meet my son, Wilbur. He’ll be your guide to the mansion, where most of the people who live in Artimé stay.”“Yep!” Wilbur grinned widely. “You're gonna love it. I know I do—it beats getting boiled alive at any rate. Which, mind you, is actually just one big myth. No one actually gets boiled alive here.”“Unless you want to, in which case I'm sure it could be arranged—” the unnamed man added. His voice was low, and he spoke with a drawl that made it hard for Tommy to figure out if he was joking or not.It seemed he was, as Wilbur smacked him on the arm. “Techno, don't scare them! It's their first day.”Tommy was trying very hard to ignore the nudge in his side from Ranboo because no way was the person in front of them his older brother. Techno Blade had blond hair and was definitely human. This Techno was definitely…..not that. It was probably Just coincidence that they shared a name—after all, there were hundreds of people who lived in Quill. It would not be unheard of for more than one person to share a name, even an uncommon one. Wilbur gestured for the group to follow him as he began to walk towards the mansion, the Lady watching the Unwanteds oblige. When Tommy next looked back, he saw her walking into the forest with her crow on her shoulder.As they walked. Wilbur turned around so he could face the Unwanteds behind him.“So, you probably have questions. Like Mom probably said, you’ll get most of the answers later on, but basically, the whole death-by-hot-oil thing is a huge ruse Mom made up to mess with everyone in Quil. And also because technically none of us are supposed to be alive, but we are. So anyways, instead of getting boiled alive, you all get to live in the coolest place ever with the coolest people. The only real rule here is that you have to be creative—and by being marked Unwanted that means you are! And that’s good!”“Usually,” Techno added. “Wilbur’s the occasional exception to the rule.”Wilbur glared at his companion. “I’ll have you know Jubilee Line is a perfectly good spell. Anyways,” his smile returned as he resumed his explanations, “Here in Artimé , we value the arts. So you’ll get to learn how to do stuff like write and draw. And learn magic. Oh hey, we’re here!”Tommy looked up, and found that they were now standing at the entrance to the mansion. It was even larger than it had seemed before, the multiple stories seeming to reach high into the sky above, and for a moment Tommy was almost distracted enough to not question Wilbur’s words.Almost.“What do you mean, ‘magic’? And drawing? That’s against the law!” Tommy called up to Wilbur, who was busy ushering Unwanteds into the building.Wilbur glanced back at him, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Not in Artimé , it isn’t.”“What—”“You'll get your explanations later, kid. Just get inside so we can finish the tour,” Techno interrupted.Tommy glanced behind him at Ranboo and Purpled (why they had decided to use him as a shield between them and Techno would be a mystery to him—) before shrugging and following the other Unwanteds inside. He had a feeling that just like his older brother, this Techno could easily pick him up and toss him around like a sack of potatoes if he really wanted to, and he had no desire to test that theory quite so soon.Especially when there were more interesting things to do. Like gawking at the mansion’s giant lobby, filled with the softest chairs and nicest carpets Tommy had ever seen.And paintings. Large paintings, hung all across the walls, and even some painted directly on the walls. They depicted everything from beautiful sceneries, to animals, to even the Lady of Death herself. A golden chandelier hung above their heads, and Tommy craned his neck back to stare at it, wondering if the one he’d heard was in the High Priest’s palace was like it, or even close.“Welcome to the Mansion, where you will most likely spend quite a lot of your time.” Wilbur’s voice brought everyone’s attention back to him, the brunette standing at the base of a large staircase winding upwards with Techno not far away. “This is the main lobby. Upstairs are the rooms, downstairs are the classrooms, and the tubes to our left and right lead to lounge areas, kitchens, a library, gardens—you name it, it’s probably there. And if it isn’t, Mom can make a space.”“You can explore, but avoid anywhere with ‘No Entry’ signs. There’s a giant red ‘X’ on them, can’t miss it,” Techno instructed.Wilbur nodded. “Yeah, definitely avoid those areas. Someone’s probably doing something in that space, and it’s not much fun trying to walk through a room filled with singing cats. Zero out of ten, don’t recommend.”“Those are the pointy-eared things with the long tails, right?” Purpled whispered to Tommy and Ranboo, the taller of the two nodding. “Anyways, you can check out everything later, but for now you lot are probably tired. And dinner tonight is going to be really good. So, we’ll show you where the rooms are and then you can go off and do whatever,” Wilbur continued.Tommy, with Ranboo and Purpled not far behind, followed Wilbur and the other Unwanteds as Techno led them up the stairs. Instructions on where to find their rooms were given out, and then the duo were gone, the Unwanteds of that year left to their own devices.“Let’s go check it out,” Purpled insisted as he grabbed both Tommy and Ranboo’s forearms and dragged them down the hall. He seemed to have decided that Ranboo and Tommy were now his best friends. Or maybe he just wanted to take advantage of the two’s heights, being twelve in a group of thirteen-year olds. Either way, neither Tommy nor Ranboo protested much as the younger blond steered them past door after door, not stopping until their names were spotted on bronze plates on the wall.“We’re all together, looks like,” Purpled commented. “Kind of awful I have to deal with you two even more, but I guess it’ll do.”“You realize you're the one attaching yourself to us, right?” Ranboo asked. Purpled ignored him, opening his door and calling out that he'd meet them back in the lobby once he was done in his room.And then Tommy and Ranboo were alone together.They stood there in the hallway for a moment, before Tommy said, “That was weird, right?”Ranboo nodded.”Yep. Guess we should see if our rooms are as nice as the rest of this place?”“Sure. See you in a bit.”“Alright.”Ranboo disappeared through his door, and Tommy was in the hall, alone for the first time since he’d woken that morning. For the first time since he’d left his family’s house, it was quiet. The sounds of other people were distant. Every step he took, though he walked on soft carpet, was audible to his ears.In front of him was a door with his name on it. Behind him was a wall.Only one way forward.He took a deep breath, letting it out before reaching for the golden knob in front of him. And, for the first time, he stepped into his very own room in the mansion.

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The “room” that was apparently now Tommy’s felt as large as his family’s entire home had been, and that wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Overall, it seemed nice enough. There was a small cooking area, tucked away in the corner. Next to that was a table with room for a couple of chairs, a plaid tablecloth spread over it, with a small vase of poppies set in the middle. A wall separated the kitchen from the living room, where Tommy was standing as he took everything in. The living room itself held furniture that looked just as comfortable as the ones down in the lobby. Unlike the furniture in the lobby, however, the furniture in his room seemed to have been personalized to some degree. A theme of red was evident, with the cushions and the rug on the floor sharing similar shades of color as the tablecloth on the dining table. Even the curtains in a window near one of the armchairs was a vibrant shade of red. Tommy thought it was an interesting design choice, but seeing as red was a color he rather liked, he accepted this particular fact and moved on. Whoever had had this room before him had probably just been obsessed with their favorite color, and Tommy certainly wasn’t going to complain about it.A bookshelf stood against one wall of the living room, a few books and some trinkets on the shelves, most of which Tommy had never seen before in his life. Next to it was, as with the lobby, a tube with all manner of buttons on a panel inside. Though, unlike the ones in the lobby, it was tinted blue. On the other wall was a large cabinet with drawers and cupboards. Some had nothing, and some, as Tommy quickly discovered as he opened each one, had all manner of items, including paper and small wooden sticks with pointed ends that Tommy was fairly certain were normally only used by the highest officials. Turning to the last section of the room, he made his way past another dividing wall and into what he guessed was his bedroom. Unsurprisingly, the covers on the bed were a deep red, as was a lamp on a small table. A wardrobe set against the dividing wall was revealed to be empty, save for a handful of white button-down shirts in apparently random sizes and a single pair of blue gloves with gold embroidery.Next to the mostly-empty wardrobe was a desk and chair, with a lamp for lighting. And across the room was a small bathroom, a red towel hanging on a rack near the door.And, for the record, the bed was indeed as soft and as comfortable as it looked. Which Tommy tested by flopping down right in the center of the bed, a satisfying fwop meeting his ears as the blankets sank down beneath him.Yeah, Tommy could definitely live like this. If this was what the rooms were like, the food had to be good. Even if it was the same food they ate in Quill, he would at the very least still have a nice room to come back to. Heck, it might have even been better then Tubbo’s—…Yeah, Tommy wasn’t in a mood to go down that particular train of thought quite yet.Tommy adjusted his position slightly, pulling one of the pillows towards him. Yup, this was definitely better than dying to hot, boiling oil. He probably would have stayed there, face-down with the smell of fresh linen around him for several hours, if it were not for the sound of someone knocking at his door a mere half hour into his peaceful new life.Tommy attempted to ignore the knocking, to no avail, as the sounds of a fist on wood increased in volume the longer time went on. Honestly, he was surprised his door wasn’t coming off its hinges with how hard the “knocking” was.
Knock, knock, knock—
“I’m coming, geez!” Tommy finally yelled as he rolled out of bed and stumbled to the door, opening it to find one Purpled Bedwars standing in front of it with one hand raised. That explained a lot.Purpled put his hand down the moment he saw Tommy. “Hi.”“...Seriously? Didn’t you want to meet up later? I was just getting comfortable,” Tommy complained.Purpled shrugged. “I didn’t really have anything to do. There’s a bunch of weird stuff in the cabinets, but I’m not touching any of it unless someone tells me what to do with it.” He peered past Tommy, stretching onto his tiptoes to see over the older blond’s shoulder. “Hey, why’d you get the room with all the fancy stuff anyways?”Tommy furrowed his brow in confusion as Purpled pushed his way inside. “I—hey, wait—what do you mean, ‘fancy stuff’?”Purpled strode to the couch, poking at one of the cushions before deciding that yes, he did in fact want to invade Tommy’s privacy. Tommy just watched in exasperation as Purpled made himself quite at home. “I got basic stuff in my room. You’ve got, like, really nice material on the cushions. There’s stuff on the walls. You even have a tablecloth. It’s like someone decided they wanted to decorate a random room or something all of a sudden.” the younger boy complained, propping his feet on the coffee table in the middle of the room.Tommy immediately knocked Purpled’s feet off said table. “Hey, don’t ruin my stuff. And—I dunno, this is just how I found everything.”The two fell silent for a minute, before—“Maybe the last person who had this room died and they never cleaned it out.”Tommy nearly spat out his own spit as he stared at Purpled, lounging on his couch. “What—”“Think about it,” Purpled said. “The place looks like someone came in, stayed for a few weeks, and then didn’t bother cleaning out anything besides maybe some personal belongings. I’ll bet that if you asked Ranboo, he’d say he had the exact same room as mine.”Tommy shook his head. “No way. That makes no sense. There’s a hallway marked for ‘families’, maybe I just got a room that belonged to someone who lives over there now.”“Or maybe that brother of yours had a hand in it,” Purpled suggested.“My brother barely remembered my age before. I highly doubt he’s asked the person whose title is literally the ‘Lady of Death’ to let him customize a whole room for someone who might not have even been Purged,” Tommy stated with as much confidence as he could muster. “I just got some random old person’s room, nothing wrong with that, innit?”Purpled snorted, rolling his eyes. “Suit yourself. So, are we going to the lobby or do I get to take advantage of your comfy couch—argh!” he yelped as Tommy dragged him off the furniture and towards the door. “I’m going, alright! I get it! Ugh, you’re no fun.”“Never said I was.”~~~The dining area that Tommy, Ranboo, and Purpled chose also seemed to be the one everyone else had chosen that evening. It was so crowded, in fact, that the trio ended up sharing a table with two older boys, the trio squeezing into one side of the booth while the older boys took the other side.Not that it was all that bad. As it turned out, Bdubs and Scar (as they’d requested to be called) were quite the talkers. And they seemed to know a lot about Artimé.“The classes for painting and sculpting, those are some of the best,” Bdubs said through a mouthful of what Tommy had been told was called ‘rice’. “There’s this guy, Keralis, who teaches the sculpting class, and he’s great.”“Beef is in charge of most of the painting classes, and he’s really good too,” Scar added. “He’s even made his own trading card game. A lot of people have cards custom-made of themselves, and it’s a lot of fun to get into even if you don’t want to actually play against other people.”“Trading card games?” Purpled asked. “I thought cards only came in one type: a deck of fifty-four.” Tommy and Ranboo nodded their agreements.Scar looked confused for a moment, before his face changed. “Oh, right! Cards can actually come in different types then the ones you’re used to seeing. Cards with images of things or people, cards with words—there’s a lot of different ones. Trading cards are basically really fancy cards with numbers and images that you can use to play a game. Or just collect. It’s up to you how you want to use them,” he explained through bites of a sandwich.Tommy blinked. “...What.”“Don’t worry about it,” Scar said, waving a hand through the air and sending crumbs flying. “It’s not something you need to know for your classes or anything.”“It’s way more important to learn about the different kinds of spells and how to use them,” Bdubs agreed. “You’ll get to learn about those tomorrow, of course. Just be careful waving things around, because sometimes you might be accidentally casting a spell without realizing it.”Scar nodded sagely. “Yeah. You know, one of my friends—Grian’s his name, he’s quite popular so I’m sure you’ll hear of him soon enough—anyways! He once pointed a ball of clay at this one guy when a bunch of us were in one of the lounges, and suddenly Grian had a mustache and the other guy didn’t.” “It was kind of funny….” Bdubs commented. “It was. But annoyingly hard to reverse.” Ranboo glanced down at Tommy and Purpled. “So, basically we just have to learn spells and try not to kill each other?”“Sounds easy enough,” Purpled drawled. And then stabbed his fork a little too hard into a leafy vegetable on his plate. “...Probably. Hey, we aren’t allowed to murder family members, are we?”“Purpled, that was a vegetable. Not your brother. Please don’t murder anyone.”“I’m pretending it is, let me have this.”“Oh my gosh. We’re gonna die,” Tommy groaned as he slumped down in his seat and buried his face in his hands.”And it’s all gonna be because of Purpled wanting to stab the guy that owns some of the most powerful weapons in Quill.”“Quill’s stuff isn’t actually as powerful as you think it is,” Scar corrected. “Their stuff is all old and falling apart. I’ve seen some of their Quillitary vehicles, they’re really not much compared to what a few advanced self-defense spells can do.”“There’s definitely spells deadlier than a Quillitary soldier’s sword. In a few years or so, you’ll get to learn all about that in Magical Warrior Training,” Bdubs added. “The Blade’s shown us some crazy stuff in that class.”Ranboo glanced at Tommy. “The Blade?” he asked. Tommy ignored the look sent his way.“One of the best at dueling. You’ll know him when you see him—can’t miss a guy with hair like his,” Scar sighed. “Honestly, I wish my hair was just as long and luxurious—”“And that’s enough Moopop for today,” Bdubs said, plucking a red can that Tommy hadn’t noticed until then out of Scar’s hand. “Have a great dinner, you three, and welcome to the Mansion. I’m gonna take this one back to his room now.”“Oh, c’mon, Bdubs, you know I only drink Moopop on special occasions—”“Scar, you paint diamonds so you can eat them. I don’t think that’s healthy, even if the magic makes them edible—”Tommy watched as Bdubs guided his friend out of the lounge, before turning back to Ranboo and Purpled. “That was something.”“Sure was,” Ranboo agreed.Purpled smirked. “Hey, isn’t your last name also ‘Blade’—”Tommy picked up a carrot and stuck it in the boy’s mouth, effectively shutting him up and diverting the conversation.~~~~~~Ranboo had decided that he liked ‘painting’. Even if the person who’d offered to teach it to him was a bit….“Eccentric” was an appropriate word.Ranboo had met him after deciding to venture into one of the lounge areas. The teen had been painting on some paper spread out on the lounge’s floor, and Ranboo, being the curious person he was, had stopped to watch. It hadn’t been long before Ranboo’s clumsiness almost knocked a lamp off a table, and the teen, who called himself Squid, had asked if Ranboo wanted to learn the basics.Ranboo had agreed, his interest getting the better of him.Almost immediately after they'd started, he’d noticed two things. For one thing, his navy-haired teacher had a thing for potatoes. For another, every time someone walked near them, his head would snap up before he relaxed and went back to showing Ranboo how to hold the ‘brush’.But Ranboo had to admit that even with his weird quirks, the guy knew what he was doing. “See, you got it!” Squid cheered after Ranboo finally managed to make his brush spread the color onto the paper properly. “Nothing you needed to worry about! You’ll be painting up all sorts of things in no time.”“Thanks, I guess?” Ranboo said, shrinking a bit at the praise Squid was heaping on him. Squid just grinned, clapping a hand onto Ranboo’s shoulder. “Don’t be so bashful, have a bit of pride that you can create something cool.” “...So that’s why they didn’t want us to learn things like this? In Quill, I mean,” Ranboo asked.“Yep. Because creativity leads to pride and pride leads to boasting and the government hates all three of those things,” Squid agreed. “But me? I say most things are good in moderation. You gotta have a purpose in life, y’know? And creativity’s great for doing that sort of thing, giving you something to work for.” He chuckled as he picked up his own brush. “Honestly, what more could you want if you’ve got some paints and some paper?”“I dunno, Squid, I’d say some determination might come in useful,” a voice drawled from behind them. Squid yelped and threw his brush, which landed a few feet away, his body twisting so he could glare up at his offender.Ranboo stared in surprise, as looming above Squid was none other than Techno from the mansion tour. The very same Techno that Ranboo was fairly sure was related to Tommy.And he looked weirdly pleased with himself.“Don’t do that! You know I hate people sneaking up on me like that!” Squid whined.“Big L for you, then,” Techno drawled with a smirk on his face. He shifted his shoulders, enough to gently whack Squid’s head with the edge of his cloak.“Ughhhh,” Squid grumbled, pushing it away. He turned to Ranboo with a serious face, though sparkles danced in his eyes. “Listen up, Ranboo: if this guy ever tries to get under your skin, just know that this is the guy who once dressed up in a maid outfit for an entire day because he wanted to.”“As I said, I didn’t want to put H’s gift to waste—”“And you could have also just as easily given it to that one guy that was asking around for a spare maid outfit so he could pose for a painting properly. Anyways, what did you even want from me, man? I’m kind of busy right now.” Squid nodded over at Ranboo.Techno huffed. “What, so now I’m not allowed to say hello?”Squid gave him a pointed look. “Techno...”“Alright, alright. Fine. I actually wanted to know if you knew where Tommy Blade went off to? I gotta talk to him,” Techno sighed, his hands up in surrender. “Like, I’ve literally looked all over this place and there’s no trace of that child.”“I thought you were good at finding people?” Squid asked with a grin. Techno rolled his eyes at the snickering teen.Ranboo straightened up slightly. “Wait, are you—are you really Techno Blade?” he asked. His hands fidgeted in his lap, a bit nervous at interrupting whatever conversation Techno and Squid were having.Techno turned to look at him, and Ranboo, despite Squid’s words from earlier, shrank a bit under his gaze. “Yeah. What about it?” Techno asked. “I ain’t signing autographs, if that’s what you’re looking for.”Ranboo swallowed. “Oh, uh, I’m—well, Tommy’s kind of one of my friends, so uh. Yeah,” he tried to explain. “If you’re looking for him, he’s—well, he’s probably in his room, unless Purpled dragged him somewhere. Or something. I don’t really know, it was a while ago, but he might be there—”Squid held a hand to Ranboo’s shoulder. “I think he gets it.”Techno nodded in agreement. “I do. Thanks, kid. See you at the usual time, Squid.”And with a swish of his cloak, he left the room. The sound of the door closing behind him echod in the mostly-empty space. Or maybe that was just Ranboo’s imagination making things up.Either way, it wasn’t his problem. It wasn’t like he had an older sibling trying to hunt him down for a chat.Though, honestly, he kind of wished he could see Tommy’s face whenever Techno finally convinced him of his identity.  Now that, he thought as he watched Squid draw another potato, would make this day absolutely perfect.

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Tommy was not in his room.Purpled knew this because he was currently using Tommy as a test subject.“Are you done yet? I wanna go and sleep on that nice bed,” Tommy complained.Purpled paused what he was doing so he could glare at him properly. “No, and stop fidgeting unless you want me to mess up your face.” The younger boy had gone to poke around in the library, and had found a book of spells involving clay. Wanting to test them out, he’d roped Tommy into his shenanigans, and now had him sitting across from him at his room’s dining table, a block of clay found in a drawer sat in between them.“Do you even know what you’re doing?” Tommy asked. “You’ve been prodding at that clay for a whole half hour now.”Purpled pointed at the book lying open on the table next to the half-shaped chunk of clay he was working with. “I have a book, I can read enough to understand it, and I very much want to see if this actually works or not.”“What’s it even going to do?”“Hopefully it’ll let me change your hair color from blond to, I don’t know, green or pink or something. We’ll see.” Purpled squinted at his work, before prodding at the clay some more. Tommy sputtered. “I did not agree to this—”“But it’d be funny.”“—and it seems like unnecessarily hard work-”“It’s temporary, it’ll wash out. Probably.”“—and what purpose would it even serve?”“We could turn Ranboo’s hair a different color.”Tommy paused. “...that would be funny, I’ll admit.”“Exactly!” Purpled said cheerfully. “I’m glad we’re on the same page. Now stop talking, I need to get your jaw right. You have a lot of weird bumps.”“What does that mean– “.Roughly an hour later, Purpled had a pretty decent replica of Tommy’s face in clay and Tommy had learned that Purpled had 45 tiles on his kitchen’s ceiling. Purpled was also pretty sure he’d messed up the spell, as the only part of Tommy’s hair that turned white was a thin strip that curled over his forehead. Still–“It worked. It actually worked,” Tommy marveled as he traced his finger along the edge of the white stripe in his hair, peering at himself via the bathroom mirror. “They weren’t lying about the magic after all.”“Yeah, now I just have to figure out how to sculpt Ranboo and we’ll be set,” Purpled agreed.“Forget Ranboo, this is way cooler. Wonder why it only did part of my hair though...?” the blond mused.Purpled shrugged. “It probably has to be an exact model or something. I mean, your nose still looks a bit wonky.”“Wow, thanks.”“No problem.”The two stared at Tommy’s reflection for another minute or so.“So…now what?” Purpled finally asked.“Dunno,” Tommy replied.Another minute of silence.“I’m gonna go to my room and sleep. Thanks for the makeover, I guess,” Tommy announced.Purpled slid to the side as Tommy brushed past him. “Have fun with that bed of yours, then.”“Will do—hey, wait a second—”“See you in the morning, have fun, bye!” Purpled hurriedly shooed Tommy out the door, giggling to himself as he slid the lock into place. Tommy was just way too easy to mess with sometimes.Not that Purpled was complaining. Tommy had a much better response to his pranks than Ranboo did. Purpled was pretty sure that Ranboo hadn’t even noticed that the nameplate on his door was upside down yet, and he couldn’t think of any instances where he’d had much of a response back in Quill.Then again, big emotions led to creativity. And creativity led to individuality, which was bad.In Quill at least.He really needed to remember he wasn’t in Quill. And that if this weird place that reeked of magic really had lasted for years and years without anyone finding out about it, then surely it could easily stay that way.Right? Right.Yeah.Purpled let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding. “Your name is Purpled Bedwars. You are in Artimé. You aren’t in Quill. C’mon, Purpled, get it together,” he muttered to himself. He was dimly aware of the fact that he’d slid to the floor by this point. “Your name is Purpled Bedwars. You are in Artimé. You aren’t in Quill.”Breathe in. “You aren’t in Quill.”Breathe out. “You are in Artimé.”A breath in. “You aren’t in Quill.”A breath out. “Punz lied about the Lake of Boiling Oil.”He breathed in. “You aren’t in Quill. You are in Artimé.”He breathed out. “Punz lied. Magic is real. You did it yourself.”Purpled sat there, letting his heart rate slow down before shakily getting to his feet.“Guess Punz really doesn’t know everything like he claimed after all,” he said to the otherwise-empty living room.There was no reply, of course. But Purpled knew what the answer would have been.He didn’t need that snob or his lies. He’d manage fine on his own.~~~Tommy wouldn’t ever admit it, but the pink-haired half-pig half-man in front of him was kind of intimidating.And by “kind of”, he meant “very”. He didn’t doubt that this guy could easily beat him in a fistfight. Unfortunately for Tommy, the other guy seemed to think that talking to Tommy of all people was more important than getting a bowl of cereal at nine in the evening. The moment they locked gazes and Techno started walking towards the blond, he instantly regretted coming into that particular dining hall.The taller man stopped just in front of Tommy, gazing down at him with a look that Tommy couldn’t decipher.“Thomas Blade.”Tommy blinked owlishly up at the voice. “Y—yes? Sir,”Techno raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”“I—no, uh, Sorry? Sir.”Techno pinched the bridge of his nose—snout? The place where the bridge of his nose should have been. “Do I really need to spell this out for you?”“...I have no idea what in the lands beyond you are going on about, sir,” Tommy stated. He could feel the confusion the person in front of him was causing slowly turning into annoyance, though he tried not to show it.“I—ugh, oh my goodness, you really don’t have any observation skills whatsoever,” Techno huffed in exasperation. “Just—oh my gosh, how do I explain this without it sounding dumb? Alright, how about I put it this way: why the fuck did you not come and at least say hello? Or did Wilbur conveniently forget to inform you that I was here?”Absolutely nothing of what the hybrid had said made any more sense to Tommy, and he said as much, which resulted in Techno muttering more words like “fuck” that Tommy didn’t quite understand the meaning of. He guessed they weren’t things that would have been approved of in Quill, though.“I apologize, sir, but I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tommy stated again, his annoyance growing as his patience started to wear thin.“For goodness’ sake, Thesues, we literally have the same last name, how—”Tommy, who’d been about to walk away from the conversation, suddenly stopped in his tracks and pivoted to look Techno in the eyes. “What did you just call me?” he asked quietly.Techno paused. “...I called you Theseus? The nickname I gave you?”“....wait, wait, wait. Hold on…” Tommy paused as thoughts swirled through his mind, a realization starting to dawn on him.“My last name is Blade, if that helps get it through your thick skull,” Techno offered.Tommy stared at him.“No way.”“How did you not know? My name is literally the least common thing out there—”“You have pink hair! That’s not a natural hair color, least of all in my—our—family!”“It’s not like I could just write to you, or anyone!”“What, like you’ve ever followed the rules?!”“What was I supposed to say, ‘Hey guys, I’m alive and also the son of the guy you entrusted to commit mass murder taught a bunch of kids magic so now my hair is pink’?” Tommy paused. “....you know, that’s actually a fair point—”“Exactly,” Techno agreed. Someone cleared their throat, and both boys turned to see a dark-haired teen awkwardly standing in the entrance to the room, his hands fiddling with the edges of a green jacket. He gave them a sheepish smile when he caught their gaze.“As sweet as it is that you found your brother, Techno, I kind of want to get something to eat, so uh—““Oh, right. Sorry ‘bout that, Joel. C’mon Theseus, you can let those puny brain cells of yours combust in my room,” Techno said as he guided Tommy past Joel and towards the mansion/s lobby.“My brain whatever-you-called-it is not puny!” Tommy protested, though he followed Techno’s lead anyways.“Sure, okay. Do you even know what a brain cell is? Because, not gonna lie, it kinda seems like you don’t.”“I do! I definitely know what a brain cell is! We—we learned it in our sciences class!”“Sure you did, kid.”“Already told you, not a kid—”~~~“Hey Joel, what was all that yelling I heard in here about? Did Techno finally snap and dropkick one of the new Unwanteds?” Jimmy Solidarity asked as he entered the lounge.Joel Smallishbeans looked up from his half-made sandwich. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m sure the kid’s fine, I think they knew each other from before.”“Oh, okay. It kind of sounded like someone was getting murdered because I couldn’t make out words, though. So anyways, are you going to use the rest of that bread or…?” “Go right ahead.”

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Ranboo had never been a fan of school.School had always seemed unnecessarily boring to him. Too much talking, never any doing. Ranboo had always felt like he was on the verge of falling asleep in his chair at any given moment. Heck, he’d actually fallen asleep once or twice! He’d quickly learned to keep a pebble in his shoe to keep himself awake with after being chewed out by one of his teachers.Unfortunately for Ranboo, it seemed that even in paradise there was school. Which was why he was awake at seven-thirty in the morning, hunched over a plate of toast and glaring at a too-awake Purpled Bedwars. Who was talking Ranboo’s very-asleep ear off with some nonsense about Tommy and hair.Ranboo thought it was much too early to be thinking about such things.“...and then—hey Ranboo, are you even listening?”Ranboo wondered if he’d get into trouble if he used Purpled’s head as target practice. The orange sitting next to his plate had a temptingly good-sized ball shape…Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), Tommy Blade himself chose that moment to slide into the seat next to Purpled, pushing the younger boy over as he did so.“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear,” Purpled joked.Ranboo grumbled into his breakfast, and elected to stuff his mouth with food instead of responding.“Morning, boys!” Tommy grinned. He had his own plate of breakfast, which consisted of a large loaf of uncut bread and a mug of some kind of drink Ranboo didn’t recognize. “How’re we doing today?”“Ranboo spent his time learning art from some guy like a loser,” Purpled stated.“Squid was very nice,” Ranboo protested.Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Is this ‘Squid’ dude a guy with blue hair who won’t shut up about potatoes?”“Yes…?”“Oh, of course. Small world,” Tommy muttered with exasperation thick in his voice.“...What do you mean?” Purpled asked.Tommy shrugged and violently ripped his loaf of bread in half. “My brother and Squid apparently like to compete for whoever can farm more potatoes. ““....Okay, and?”Tommy took a large bite of his bread and gave Purpled a weird look. “What?”“....Are you, like, mad about that or something?”“No?” Tommy asked, looking confused. He bit into his bread again.Ranboo snickered at Purpled’s perplexed expression. “No, that's—that’s literally just how Tommy eats food. Violently.”“...I—okay?”Tommy bit off a large chunk of crust, and chewed loudly. Ranboo just sighed out a half-hearted “please at least close your mouth”.Purpled wisely decided not to comment on Tommy’s eating habits. Instead, he turned the topic to the weird foods that were served. Like that weird, gooey, squishy-looking green and red stuff which—how was that even considered food—?~~~"Magic can be divided into a series of categories and subcategories," the red-headed mage at the front of the class explained as she practically danced across the room, drawing lines and symbols all over the chalkboard. "There are two main categories, verbal and nonverbal, into which most spells fall into. Those categories are in turn divided by subcategories that determine how the spell is cast and what kind of spell it is."If Ranboo remembered correctly, her name was Gem, and she was the head of magical studies in Artimé. Her wavy red hair was held back by a circlet of vibrant flowers, and her grass-green dress spun and flared as she moved about the room.“The subcategories consist of noncomponent versus component, and the various affiliation-specific magic types,” Gem continued. “You’ll have noticed that your rooms hold several unique items, and if you’ve visited the rooms of anyone else, you might have seen that they had different items. That’s because each of your rooms has been specially prepared according to what we believe your main source of magic may come from. For example, I specialize in the arts of painting and sculpting, both of which are primarily component art forms and tend to be fairly nonverbal.”She waved towards the side of the room, where a brunette girl and a blond boy were leaning against the wall and whispering to each other. “My assistants, Grian and Pearl, on the other hand, have slightly different specialities. Pearl’s magic is also in sculpting, though she takes more to the verbal spells in her field, while Grian…?” Gem trailed off, a questioning lilt to her voice.The blond paused his conversing to shrug at Gem. “Writing, nonverbal and verbal. Usually component, but I’m getting into the noncomponent stuff.”“Unfortunately,” Pearl muttered.“I said I was sorry for the explosion!”“Most. Stressful. Gift. Ever.”“Anyways,” Gem interrupted, “You each have specialized classes for your magical fields of study, which you may transfer out of and into another course at any time. Just talk to one of us professors, and we’ll get you sorted. This particular class, though, will teach you all about general spells, which anyone can do regardless of artistry.”Gem gestured for Grian to come to the front of the class. "Grian here will be walking you through your very first—and one of your most important—spells.""Wait, what?!""You simplified it, you get to teach it," Gem stated with a sly grin before joining Pearl against the wall amidst murmurs of confusion and interest from the students.The blond sighed, shaking his head before shrugging at the class. "Okay, well, uh. Hi. So, one of the easiest spells is the light spell. There's actually two variants. One is the easier version, which Gem for some reason really wants me to show you guys, and the other is the slightly more controllable version that used to be standard but now is kind of not. For most things, the easier version works just fine, but if you want to, say, use your finger like a torch, you'll want to use the second version.""Tell them how you discovered the easier version!" Pearl called.Grian sighed. "I...got really annoyed at a classmate because he kept forgetting to light up his clay works studio, so I started pointing in random directions and yelling out the spell—"The class started snickering. Next to Ranboo, Tommy and Purpled were barely holding back from full-blown laughter. Grian's ears were slowly turning red."A—anyways," the blond quickly continued, "the light spell. For the basic version, you just need to hold out your finger and say ‘Light!’ while thinking about a ball of light, well, lighting up your finger. Pearl, can you—"Pearl flicked some clay up at the felling and suddenly the room was cast in near darkness. Someone screamed."LIGHT!" And then the darkness was broken by a small ball of red-tinted light floating over Grian's outstretched index finger, casting a low glow over his face and parts of the surrounding area."LIGHT! LIGHT!" And then Pearl was shooting out balls of pink-tinted light, helping to brighten up the space. “LIGHT! LIGH—”"ILLUMINATE!" Gem's voice cut through Pearl and her yells, a much larger, green-tinted light floating up to the middle of the room like a strange chandelier.Ranboo stared up at the ceiling in fascination, barely registering the sounds of "oohs” and "ahhs” surrounding him."Aww, you ruined the fun, Gem!""That's Miss Gem to you, and this is easier than twenty light spells, Pearl.""But it's more fun...”At the front of the room, Grian suddenly clapped his hands, and his light went out. "Alright! Everyone, go ahead and try the spell! Just focus on balancing a ball of light on the tip of your finger and say the word confidently!""Light!""LIGHT.""Light?""Ligh—Purpled, prime, that's my shoulder—""Light!""L—LIGHT!" Rambo tried, his eyebrows screwing close as he focused. It was a bit strange, holding out his arm in such a way, but the dimness of the room helped with the self-consciousness. "LIGHT!"He swore he saw a small spark for a second, before it disappeared again.“Light?”“Li—achoo!”“Light!!!”“Bless you!”“Thanks, Pearl…”“LIGHT! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it worked it worked—”Ranboo, along with everyone else in the room, snapped their heads towards the exclamation. In the second to last row, a short girl with long black hair was staring at the ball of purple-tinted light floating in front of her.“Well done, Olive!” Gem exclaimed. “Now, keep on trying, the rest of you! Olive, see if you can do the counterspell, Extinguish.”“That’s a mouthful,” Tommy commented.“Sorry. I didn’t figure out a simpler version of that one,” Grian chuckled sheepishly.Ranboo turned back in his seat, his eyes staring at his outstretched finger. Come on, you can do this. It shouldn’t be this difficult. Come on—“LIGHT!”A small sphere flashed into existence in front of him, and Ranboo nearly fell out of his chair with surprise.“Wha—Ranboo, how?!” Tommy demanded.“I don’t know—” Ranboo gasped out as he stared at the floating orb.“Well done, Ranboo!” Gem yelled over the ruckus of the room around them. “Go ahead and try to turn it off now!’Ranboo nodded mutely, still staring at the floating orb in front of him.While Ranboo tried to work through his shock, Tommy and Purpled returned with a newfound vigor to their own attempts. Tommy was the first of the two to achieve the desired effect, to the boy’s great pride, while Purpled—Purpled spent most of the class glaring angrily at his finger, occasionally attempting to summon his orb with increasing frustration. And he was still doing so long after Ranboo had extinguished and relighted his own orb several times.Ranboo was starting to feel sorry for the boy. Even Tommy, who had been teasing him at first about the situation, had shut up and was attempting to give Purpled pointers instead.There was a good five minutes of class remaining when it finally happened.Purpled had finally lost any hope of achieving the end result, and had waved his arm around randomly in frustration. Out of nowhere, the blond’s purple-tinted orb suddenly shimmered into existence.He immediately fell out of his seat with a shout of surprise. Tommy started yelling incredulously, and Ranboo stared with wide eyes at the sight of the orb hovering just above Purpled’s hand.“I wasn’t even saying anything! I think I broke it!” Purpled frantically explained to Gem, who’d come over at the noise.But Gem only smiled.“That’s because you’re more attuned to non-verbal magic,” she explained. “You’ll have better luck with not having to channel your magic through your voice in general, though you can train both with a bit of extra effort.”“Then how did I get this—this—this thing?! You didn’t teach us nonverbal spells!” Purpled exclaimed, pointing at the orb with his free hand.“I’m not sure,” Gem said thoughtfully. “I think you just inadvertently made the motions for the spell while thinking about wanting to make the light appear. That’s usually how those things happen.”Tommy squinted at the woman in front of them. “So…you’re saying that Purpled is special?”?“You’re all special,” Gem laughed. “But being attuned to non-verbal magic is much rarer than being attuned to verbal magic. It’s even rarer to find someone proficient in both, but it’s possible.”She tilted her head to the side. “In fact, Grian and Pearl are pretty good examples of this. Grian is proficient in nonverbal magic, and Pearl is proficient in verbal magic. They’ve trained in both forms, but you might have noticed that Pearl’s lights are slightly brighter than Grian’s, even though Grian created the spell. Meanwhile, Tommy, you and Purpled have lights of the same size and intensity, because you both used methods you’re most attuned to in order to channel your power. Got it?”Ranboo, Tommy, and Purpled exchanged looks of varying degrees of surprise.“”I—I think so, yeah,” Ranboo nodded.Gem clapped her hands in delight. “Awesome! Alright, class is over for today—if you didn’t manage to get a light to appear today, don’t worry! You can practice any time you want, and if you want to try the nonverbal method or have questions, feel free to come up to one of us and ask—my office is right across the hall. See you all tomorrow!”Ranboo, Tommy, and Purpled quickly gathered their things and made their way outside with the rest of the crowd, eventually finding themselves in a random hallway. Which one, Ranboo wasn’t entirely sure. But Purpled had somehow gotten his hands on a map, and seeing as it had led them to their first class on time, Ranboo wasn’t going to be complaining, most definitely not.The moment they had some degree of privacy, Tommy whirled around to gawk at Purpled. “When did you get to have the special magic?!”“I don’t know!” Purpled exclaimed. “I sure didn’t know, no one told me! And what was all of that mumbo jumbo about ‘components’ and ‘various magic types’ about, anyways?”“I swear they need to write a guidebook on this stuff,” Ranboo muttered. “It’s all so confusing.”“Well, I’m not confused!” Tommy declared, before pausing. “Well, not completely. I mean, we’ve heard some of the other people here talk about stuff like ‘sculpting’ and ‘painting’ and whatnot.”“Still confusing,” Purpled stated. “Anyways, I’m going to go figure out the motions for that light spell, since we have some time before our next class. Have fun having an existential crisis, you two.”Ranboo watched as Purpled walked off down the hall, before turning to Tommy. “Hey, uh, doesn’t Purpled have the map?”Tommy frowned. “Yes? Why?”“Do you know how to get back to the lobby from here?”Tommy’s eyes widened in horror.“Oi, Purpled, get back here!”Ranboo swore he heard Purpled laugh as he and Tommy ran after the boy.

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Ranboo was exhausted.He supposed that was what happened when one never had to walk more than a handful of miles to get anywhere of importance, and then was suddenly made to run laps around a giant building for what felt like an absurd period of time. Ranboo wasn’t the most muscular, and, though he did have the advantage of long legs that let him stay a little ahead of Tommy, they did nothing to keep Purpled from speeding past him when Ranboo felt ready to collapse at mile 2. His everything would be sore the next day, he could just tell. Or maybe even earlier.He wondered if he could get away with just passing out in his room for the rest of the day. Probably not, because Squid was planning to meet him down in the lobby in about an hour, but he sure wanted to.He sighed, relaxing into his couch. Stretching out an arm, he drew one of the dark blue cushions closer to him, resting his head on the softness with a content hum. Being Unwanted wasn’t all bad sometimes, though he still couldn’t quite begin to wrap his mind around everything.Why hadn’t he known about his magic before? Was that a side effect of whatever had happened when they’d walked through those gates? Surely Purpled had waved his arms around his random patterns before, why hadn’t that ever made anything happen? Or was that something the blond had hid, in an attempt not to be sent to what everyone thought would have been their death?His brain hurt even just thinking about the idea of this weird world giving literal kids unharnessed powers.And then there was the whole fact that he had his own room, with things meant for him. If he was right, from what he’d seen, he had control over when he wanted to eat, when he wanted to sleep. Adults were supposed to be the ones with that kind of freedom, not the kids who could barely read. New things always went through adults first—his clothes back in Quill had once belonged to his father, his lunches were packed by his mother, he only learned things if an adult taught them to him first. He went where he was told without question, he headed to bed right at 10 and woke up at around 7, he did the work assigned to him without questioning the reasons for doing so. Meals were eaten before 8am, right at 1pm, and again at 6pm. There was a schedule, and everyone stuck to that schedule.So far, since he’d entered Artimé, he’d spent half his time wandering around, and the other half having an existential crisis while pretending he was fine on the outside. He’d met more people in the span of less than twenty-four hours than he’d ever talked to back in Quill (though, to be fair, Squid had done most of the introducing). He’d been told by the older boy that his time outside of class was his own, and there really wasn’t anything that needed doing, in the sense of general work.The only meal he’d eaten at an expected time was breakfast. And even that hadn’t been eaten at the normal time, even if he did appreciate the extra half hour he’d had before he’d needed to figure out how to maneuver food towards his mouth.Speaking of which, the food.There were so many different kinds. Squishy food, spongy food, food that was hot and burned like fire in your mouth, food that made you shiver from how cold it was, liquidy food, hard food, food that apparently wasn’t really food but everyone ate it anyways...the list went on and on. As it turned out, the weird, gooey, squishy-looking green and red stuff was called “jello” and was apparently a kind of dessert. It hadn’t tasted half-bad, but Ranboo still found it unsettling how it could move. Food wasn’t supposed to wiggle and jiggle about, it was supposed to stay still on your plate.Evidently, people in this place had gotten very very bored and had decided that simple bridge, porridge, and vegetables weren’t enough.Ranboo didn’t even want to think about there being things called “food” that he hadn’t even seen yet.And that brought him right back to the existential crisis.Everything still felt like one elaborate dream. Maybe he was actually dead, and this was the afterlife. Maybe that giant turtle was him hallucinating really hard from the stress and anxiety of being Unwanted. Maybe he’d actually been knocked out or something, and his mind was trying to compensate by making him believe he was in a dreamworld when he was actually being boiled alive by a lake of boiling oil. Maybe he’d suddenly have his worst nightmares come out of nowhere when he finally met his fiery end.Or maybe this was real and he'd been living his life as a lie.Ranboo shook his head. No, that couldn’t be true. No way had a whole place existed without anyone knowing—around Quill was nothing but desert, they’d been told that in school. They were the best of the best, the one country still standing against—Something. He was never quite sure what, but it was something really really bad.Maybe they had three eyes, or five heads, or ate worms for breakfast. Or maybe they had great big wings, like birds, and that’s why there was barbed wire over the top of the Quill walls.Speaking of which…Ranboo sat up, pulling back the curtains of his window. Where were the barbed wire squares? He hadn’t noticed it at first, but now…the criss-cross squares that normally covered the ground were gone. Nada. Nonexistent.Ranboo frowned, closing the window, and sat down again.This place was weird.~“I think I have it now,” Tommy said, as he pinched and pulled at the hunk of clay in front of him. “Literally, just do not move, Purpled.”“I’m not.”“You’re fidgeting. Stop it.”Purple and Tommy were again in Purpled’s room, this time with Tommy molding the clay and Purple playing the part of test subject. In preparation for the prank on Ranboo, they were practicing on each other, having discovered that, if one were to wash away the color painted onto the clay model, one could remove the color from one’s hair. That meant unlimited uses, with little stopping them. They’d already swapped a couple of times, each attempt more successful then the last. Tommy had managed to turn Purpled’s hair completely blue at one point, and Purpled had gotten Tommy to have multicolored streaks.Honestly, the hard part was getting the face just right. One of their attempts had ended with someone down the hall yelling that their hair had turned green, and the boys had quickly gotten rid of the evidence. The easiest way was by simply deforming the clay back into a shapeless blob, though getting the paint off before doing so was generally helpful.“Done!” Tommy exclaimed, leaning back to examine his work. He nodded confidently, then pulled out the box of paints. “What color?”“Purple.”Tommy picked out red and blue, and began brushing the color onto the clay model. Purpled rolled his eyes.It was probably not a good idea to put wet paint on also kind-of damp clay, but nothing bad had happened yet. As far as Tommy was concerned, it wasn’t like they wanted to keep busts of themselves, and they could always get more. Tommy had connections now, and Techno would give him anything he asked for.Literally. Tommy had asked for a “raccoon” as a joke after Techno told him about them, and Techno had delivered a raccoon to Tommy’s room an hour later, to the blond’s shock. He didn’t know where Techno had found a racoon, but he’d named the creature Clementine, and, as far as he was concerned, she was an absolute sweetheart.“It’s working!” Tommy grinned as he finished his work, and Purpled’s bright blond hair faded into red and blue hues. “Now we just have to do Ranboo’s!”“Easier said than done. He’s not going to sit here for an hour just to get his hair colored,” Purpled snorted as he pulled out the small hand mirror they’d definitely not stolen from a certain brunette with a giant brown coat who’d left it in one of the living rooms closer. “He’s kind of an idiot, but not that much of an idiot.”“We’ll just have to work on it, bit by bit,” Tommy replied as he rolled the clay back into a large ball. “We’ll do what we can now, and perfect it later.”Purpled checked the mirror once more to make sure the color in his hair was fading, before standing up to help Tommy with the clay. It was a bit messy, but at the same time it was kind of fun.Technically, they would be in a great deal of trouble if they had done such a thing in Quill, but since they weren’t, Purpled had decided to just embrace everything. There was no way that the people back in Quill could kill him twice for major infractions—and even if they did, he figured he might as well have fun with the whole “art” thing while he could.It was new and different. Purpled liked that—Punz had done his best, but there was a lot Purpled hadn’t been allowed to do, like writing, and there were only so many new games and puzzles Punz could come up with.His mind drifted to the thought of the age gap between him and Punz. Punz was a full-fledged adult, old enough that his parents, Purpled’s parents, had gone to the Ancients’ Sector not long after Purpled had been born. He was a good fourteen or fifteen years older, and had quickly risen through the ranks to become General of Quill.The age gap was normal. Couples were only permitted to have two children at a time, until it had been decided if their second child was Wanted, Necessary, or Unwanted. Parents with at least one Wanted child could reproduce as much as they wish, as long as their children never came out Unwanted. Parents with two Necessary children could have a third child, though many often didn’t take that route, as it could lead to their third child becoming Unwanted and them being sent early to the Ancients’ Sector. And parents with two Unwanted children weren’t allowed to have any more children at all. Purpled knew that before him, there had been another. Punz was the eldest and Purpled the youngest, but there had been one in between, one that neither Punz nor his parents had ever spoken about. Purpled had never asked.But he knew. Before Punz had become the General, their father had been a Governor. They’d had the privilege of getting their picture taken once a year, more than the once every three years of the general population. And Purpled, in his childhood boredom, had found those photos one cold day as he explored his home. There had been another boy—a boy with dark hair, with glasses that looked ready to fall off his nose. He’d taken after their father, a man with dark hair, instead of their mother, who’d had hair “so blond it was nearly white”, according to Punz. He’d appeared several years after Punz, appearing in a handful of photos before suddenly disappearing and being replaced a year later by Purpled.Purpled sometimes wondered if he was the reason the other boy wasn’t around. It was certainly easier to say that someone was Unwanted than to explain where your new baby had gone.He would know. Punz had literally walked into his room one day, and told him to prepare himself to be Purged. For what, Purpled still didn’t know, but Punz had certainly seemed serious about it.He shook himself out of the thoughts. This wasn’t the time. He was supposed to be planning a prank with his friend to play on their other friend. Not reminiscing about mysterious missing family members.Although…Tommy had found his older brother, who was supposed to be dead, well and alive in Artimé. What was it to say Purpled couldn't find his own brother here?Not that he had any leads, but hey. One could hope, right? It wasn’t like he had anything to lose.“Want to go get dinner?” Tommy asked. Purpled broke himself away from his mind’s wanderings, nodding in agreement as Tommy led them out of the room and down the hall to find Ranboo and a good meal.~“I keep telling Dad we need to lower the richness of the food for the newbies' sake,” Wilbur commented to Techno as Tommy heaved into the toilet.The exhilaration of the past few days had finally caught up to him, and Tommy’s stomach had revolted after the boy had decided to try “pepperoni pizza”. He’d barely been able to make it to the nearest bathroom, where Wilbur and Techno had found him a few minutes later after Ranboo had gone for help.“Urghhhh…” Tommy groaned. Techno patted his back comfortingly, and Tommy heaved again.“Yeah, we should probably see about that for next year. I think Quill food is getting worse, because our group was fine, but lately the newbies have kept on catching stomach bugs,” Techno agreed.Tommy groaned into the toilet again.“Let it out, you’re alright. Just let it out.”Tommy wondered if it was possible to upchuck one’s stomach, because that’s what it felt like at that moment. He was also pretty certain he didn’t need to be told to let everything out—his body was doing that on its own, thank you very much.At least he had Techno. As embarrassing as the situation was, it was nice not to be alone.Tommy ducked back towards the toilet again.Though it would have been nice if quality time with his older brother didn’t involve a porcelain bowl. Next time, he’d have to request they move things outside.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Look out!”Purpled jumped back just before a large explosion sounded from around the corner. Once the smoke dissipated, he cautiously poked his head back around.There were two brunettes there, looking sheepish. In between them was a large, still-smoldering object.The one on his right was slightly taller, and wore a black shirt with a yellow “i” on it; the other had a vest over a collared shirt and tie.“Sorry about that! It didn’t singe you, did it?” the taller one said in a rush. “We’re so sorry, we’ve been trying out some new spells and stuff, and people don’t usually wander around this area of the west courtyard—”“It’s fine,” Purpled waved him off. “What kind of spells?”“One to make fireworks that don’t do damage to anything,” the boy on the left replied. “We almost had it, but I think we mixed the components wrong…”“We specialize in a subform of sculpting magic,” the taller boy explained. “Alchemy sculpting. We mix stuff together to enhance the clay. More bang for your buck, and sometimes you don’t even need to do any fancy motions.”“Cool.”“I know, right? It’s not really practiced much though…I think Stress is the only other person here that really does this kind of stuff, but she’s more of mixing magic into weird drinks. Skizz and I tried that, but…”“It didn’t go well. Impy swears his hair hasn’t been the same ever since. Say, what’s your name, kid?”“Purpled.” Purpled replied. “Are those your names? Impy and Skizz?”“Impulse and Skizzle,” the taller boy corrected. “But yeah. You probably haven’t seen us around much, we’re kind of off in our own world sometimes.”“A lot of the time.”“Yeah. That.”“I mean, I just got here a few days ago. There’s a lot of faces to remember,” Purpled replied.Skizz gave Impulse a smirk. “Ooh, a newbie. What’s your magic type?”“Apparently sculpting and verbal? I’m still a bit confused about that whole thing…” Purpled said. Impulse and Skizz both chuckled in response.“You’ll get it eventually. It’s definitely a bit confusing,” Impulse agreed.“If it helps any, you only really need to remember that with verbal and nonverbal spells, one makes you move your jaw and the other doesn’t. And that component spells use items, while non component ones don’t,” Skizz advised. “You don’t really need to remember the categories—there’s a lot of categories and subcategories, and no one will really test you on them.”“Gem might. But it won’t be anything too crazy, like naming every single specialty area or something. Just the main stuff,” Impulse added.Purpled blinked. “That…was significantly more straightforward than I expected.”“That’s how the system’s designed,” Impulse nodded. “It makes way more sense once you get the basics of it.”“Just take it one step at a time, learn about a different category of spells or enchants each day- explore what painting is and how it works today, figure out what music magic is tomorrow. There’s a couple of books in the library,” Skizz said. “Don’t remember the name though…”Purpled glanced at the still slightly-smoldering lump on the ground, then at the two boys in front of him. They seemed to know what they were doing.“That’s alright. I’ll figure it out—thanks for the information.”“Good luck! If you have trouble, feel free to find us—we’re usually somewhere in some desolate corner. Just watch for the explosions,” Impulse grinned.Purpled smiled back and left the courtyard with a wave, hearing another loud BANG! as he re-entered the building.~Techno was trying to explain emotions and other things Tomy didn’t quite understand.Tommy thought he was failing miserably. Because he sure as hell wasn’t understanding half of what the older boy was saying.Wilbur thought so too. The brunette had insisted he come to watch what he called “the best entertainment I’m gonna get this week” and honestly Tommy couldn’t blame him, because Techno sucked at—Whatever he was doing.“That—you know, where you just want to-you know?”Tommy gave Techno a flat look. “No, I don’t know. Want to explain it in normal people terms?”Techno groaned and buried his face in his hands, before rocking forward until he was faceplanted into the grass of the lawn. “Ughhhh. Wilbur, you explain it.”“It” was a strange itch Tommy had developed in his hands whenever he looked at a blank piece of paper, and particularly when he had something like a paintbrush in his hands. It was an urge he couldn’t explain, but he’d finally given in after Wilbur had set down a piece of blank paper in front of him, pressed a pen into his hand, and told him to do whatever the hell his gut was telling him.Tommy wasn’t sure what he’d done, but he was pretty sure it was called “drawing” and was definitely against the law in Quill. Both Techno and Wilbur had congratulated him when he’d finally put down his pen, and while it had definitely seemed wrong, it had also felt...right.Tommy thought they were lying through their teeth, because the thing on the page did not look pretty at all. It was all lines and weird markings that shouldn’t have been there, full of imperfections. And it looked nothing like what he had envisioned while making it.Also his hand really fucking hurt.But Techno and Wilbur had seemed excited, and Wilbur had dragged them outside so the older boys could attempt to explain what had just happened—not that they were explaining anything.Back in the present, Tommy was giving both Wilbur and Techno looks of exasperation. Wilbur sighed, seeing that Techno wasn’t going to say anything else besides mumbled groans for a while.“You, Tommy, just did a thing called ‘art’,” Wilbur stated.“But why are you two so excited about it?!”“Because that’s literally our way of life? And this is like, your first big step into it all?” Wilbur pointed out.“I’ve been making clay things with Purpled, you know. How do you think I got a white streak in my hair?” Tommy informed him.Wilbu’s smile faltered. “Wait, wait, wait, you mean—”“You missed the first big art project he did, now go find your own kid to torment,” Techno grumbled. “Not including me. I want a nap.”Wilbur stared at Tommy for a minute, before flopping down on the other side and screaming into the dirt. Tommy watched him with concern.“Are you okay?”Wilbur gave another muffled scream. Techno snickered.“It’s not that big of a deal.”“It kind of is…” Techno replied, lifting his head up so he could sit up properly. “Discovering the urge to be an artist, an urge that bypasses anything Quill could drill into you—that’s what drives our craft. It’s the urge of inspiration, the urge to follow a vision of something in your head. It’s embracing yourself.”“And you couldn’t have said that earlier?”“Hey, words are hard. My forte isn’t verbal magic, that’s Will’s department.” Techno leaned over to nudge the brunette. Wilbur didn’t budge, but Techno ignored that. “His whole thing is making up songs so he can curse his enemies like some magical girl.”“Yep—hey, wait, I am not a magical girl—” Wilbur sprang up, suddenly looking much less mopey. “That’s literally my brand of magic—”“Magical girl. You sing, you dance a little, you shout your attacks before actually attacking—”“I don’t change into a frilly dress with ribbons in my hair!”“Don’t need to, it’s enough for you to just take off the beanie.”“Wh—that still does notdefine me as a magical girl!”Tommy watched as the duo started bickering, and wondered if it was too late to go back inside and pretend he hadn’t been itching to get that—inspiration urge thing—out of his system. It felt good, in a way, but it also felt exhausting.(It definitely still felt slightly illegal, but then again, so was playing around with clay. Which he’d done with Purpled, the General’s own brother. And he hadn’t been arrested, so it was probably fine.Probably? Hopefully.)He wondered if that was how everyone else felt in this place.~The rest of the first month passed for Tommy, Purpled, Ranboo, and the other new Unwanteds in a whirlwind of exploration, classes, and trying to wrap their heads around everything.It was a struggle.Some days, they ran around the mansion and grounds, trying to discover new things and find their way around. Other times, they simply lay on the floor in one of their rooms, staring at the ceiling and just soaking in the fact that they were Unwanted. Unwanted by Quill, but not by the world hidden behind tall concrete walls.It was unreal. Unbelievable. It felt like a dream, a hallucination caused by fear overtaking their minds.But then they would pinch themselves, and find they were very much alive, and very much not boiling to death in a steamy sea of oil. And they would hear from the other residents things that would slowly debunk what they had thought was the truth for years.“How do you think Quil would be invaded if this place was a sea of boiling oil?” Scar asked, waving his fork around as the trio listened over dinner. “Wouldn’t it be logical that they’d have to have boats that could withstand that kind of stuff? Quill sure doesn’t. Unless you can make boats out of concrete.”“We’re taught in school about the basics of machines, like the cars used by the governors and General,” Pearl said as they practiced light spells in a courtyard in the evening. “They use their cars whenever they can, because if something goes wrong it’s easier to narrow down the problem. So why are there rows and rows of unused tanks rusting away, probably with hundreds of bits and bobs that will need replacing? Why aren’t they ever maintained? They’re always so rusty, it’s such a shame…imagine what nice, new uses we could have for all of that scrap material…”And between classes, Grian would whisper to them about the natural instinct of a person. About how, if being creative really was bad, then surely the Wanteds who pushed down their creativity would have children who could easily do the same, yet both Wanteds and Necessaries had children that became Unwanteds in equal numbers. How creativity was what created new technologies—how would things like cars and microphones and podiums be created without someone coming up with ideas in the first place? How everyday items like stoves and sinks and even tables and chairs had to have been thought of by someone as a solution to a problem, creativity being what had helped them design the item.How nothing that was done in Quill really made sense, once you stepped back and took a look at the bigger picture.It was all so new, yet understandable. And also confusing. And a million things in between.And it still felt wrong, using pencils and pens—items usually reserved for only the highest of ranks and occasionally, teachers. When someone unfamiliar came upon the trio trying to draw, or create sculptures, or even practice magic, sometimes they would immediately stop and panic in fear of receiving a mark on their records. Some days, it was difficult to pick up a ball of clay, a paintbrush, even think about such things as painting and writing.But they were getting there.And it helped that the vast array of new and strange food was often delicious. Though Tommy was increasingly convinced Wilbur was making things up about a food called “pineapple upside down cake”.~~~Tubbo stared at the wall of his room.He was a Wanted in Quill, training to become part of the Quillitary. If he was lucky, he would get to work as an assistant to the Governors, the General, maybe even the High Priest himself if he was lucky.But he knew better than to think of such things.He was a loyal citizen of Quill. He was part of a whole, part of the strongest country in the world. Part of a haven, designed to protect from any outside threat that might come their way.As a trainee for the Quillitary, he now resided in Wanted University. His parents were Necessaries, now inferior to him. The day of the Purge, he’d returned to this home, his parents stepping aside to let him pass through the door first. Their status had risen slightly because of him.Because he was a Wanted.Even when people like Tommy and Ranboo, Unwanteds with terrible influences, had been companions of his. He had persevered to become Wanted.He glanced to the side. He was sitting on his bed, a much finer one (though not by much) than his old one had been. His room was much larger than his old bedroom, with even a small window in the corner, though it was mitigated by the fact that he shared it with three other boys. They were all Wanted. And it showed—their lodgings were much nicer than that of Necessaries, the common class. They were the best of the best. The room had everything they could need—a bed each for rest, two desks for reading, dressers for them to keep some possessions and extra clothing. All of them were finer quality than anything the Necessaries had. When they turned sixteen and graduated from Wanted University, they would receive their own homes in the Wanted sectors. They could find Wanted wives, and hopefully, have Wanted children.And they would serve their glorious country. A country of strength, unity, and prosperity.Tubbo looked down at the book in his hands. It was a book on Quill’s history. Short, but not insignificant. He was meant to read it, memorize the words on the pages. Every good Quillitary soldier knew the country’s history by heart, word-for-word, as the High Priest had written it so long ago. Tubbo had his History class in the morning, and he knew he would be tested on the knowledge.But his eyes kept drifting to the wall. The empty, white concrete walls surrounding him.They were plain, with no signs of markings. They were unlike his old room’s scuffed walls, where plaster peeled and revealed the wood and metal beneath. He knew every scratch on those walls—knew where there was a mousehole in the corner, knew where a ball had left a dent when he’d tossed it a bit too hard.These walls were unfamiliar.And it felt like someone was watching him.He shook his head, and focused back on the pages in front of him.. 
Seventy years ago, the Majestic High Priest first stepped foot onto the shores of what would become the glorious Land of Quill...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Tommy and Purpled were in the forest.Were they supposed to be there? Most definitely not, but Ranboo had told them not to. So of course they had to go. Though why Purpled had decided that dragging a sleepy Tommy out of bed early in the morning on a day with no classes was a good idea, Tommy had no idea.For a guy who’d probably been the most likely to follow the rules out of everyone here, Purpled was really quite the rulebreaker, Tommy had realized. Even more so than Tommy or Ranboo, which was saying something. Techno, while attempting to explain the basic repair spell to Tommy, had commented that Purpled was probably acting out after years of holding himself back. Tommy had told him to repeat the steps for the repair spell again, and Techno had sighed, going through the motions as the younger blond tried to make heads or tails of it all.But Techno wasn’t entirely off his rocker. It had only been a few weeks of relative calm before Purpled had suddenly decided that he wasn’t going to get any punishment from the Quillitary. Tommy and Ranboo had watched in dawning horror as Purpled had, over the course of three days, changed his hair color five times (when had he sculpted a model of himself?), snuck a “whoopee cushion” he'd bought off of Scar under Grian’s seat during class, and somehow got his hands on a thing called “chili sauce”—which had ended in Squid screaming that his tongue was on fire during dinner.Tommy had gotten quite the shock when he’d seen Purpled sitting atop a two-story high teetering stack of rocks in one of the courtyards, created using some duplication spell and a large hunk of clay.But if anything happened, as far as Tommy was concerned, it was Purpled’s problem. He hadn’t stuck around to see how the younger boy had gotten down, that was for certain.What was Tommy’s problem was that Purpled had dragged him into the forest, claiming to have seen some strange creatures running about. Again, at an extremely early time in the morning.In Quill, there weren’t many animals except in specifically designated areas. Like plants, they were considered highly dangerous to be around, as they could spark creativity and emotion. But they’d learned about them in school—after all, some of them might go on to work with such creatures, and being aware of what they were was important.They’d been taught that animals were very dangerous, and should be approached with great caution.Purpled seemed to have forgotten that. Or maybe this was another “Quill fed you lies” thing— after all, if the rest of the people in this crazy place were to be believed, creativity was a good thing.“Where are we even going?” Tommy grumbled as he pushed aside some large plant leaves.Purpled hummed, leading him further into the forest. “You’ll see.”“Are we even allowed this far out?”“Eh, don’t know, don’t care.”“You’re weird, man,” Tommy informed him. Purpled only laughed, and Tommy wondered if this was why he’d been marked as an Unwanted early.He wouldn’t be surprised. He’d heard the General was a rather strict man, with even stricter values.“It’s only a little further,” Purpled called back through the undergrowth—the younger boy had moved much faster than he’d anticipated and was now just out of sight. Tommy grumbled and clambered over the small ridge, emerging into a clearing.
Where Purpled was sitting cross-legged next to a giant…something. A creature made entirely of stone, like one of the statues in some of the mansion’s halls. Except that it was much shinier.“Wha—”Purpled looked up and grinned. “Meet Skeppy,” he said brightly.The creature lifted a stony arm. “Hello.”Tommy stared.“You can pick your jaw off the floor now,” Purpled told him. Tommy clamped his jaw shut and glared at him.“What the—Purpled, how?”“He was lonely,” Purpled simply replied. “So, can you stop gawking? And maybe say hi back?”“Hi. How the fuck did you find a talking rock in the forest?”Skeppy grinned—how that could work, Tommy didn’t know, but it did. “I found him.”“Cool, huh?” Purpled said enthusiastically. “Apparently there’s a whole bunch of talking stuff in this place! A talking wolf, a talking squid, a talking gum wrapper—”Tommy watched with increasing confusion as Purpled rambled. Talking rock people was one thing, but talking animals?Well, to be fair, his own brother was half-pig or something.But still. His point still stood.“Did you have a really bad run-in with magic to turn into a rock?” Tommy asked Skeppy, interrupting Purpled’s word avalanche. Purpled frowned, but stopped as he awaited Skeppy’s answer.Skeppy only snickered. “Nah. Bad just got really bored one day, and then—BAM!—here I was! Magic is awesome! …Not that I can really do it myself, but I still get to watch the fun. And it’s funny seeing peoples’ faces when they meet me or one of the others for the first time.”“He’s got a point,” Purpled agreed. “Your mouth was so big, I thought you’d break your jaw.”Tommy pinched himself. Nope, he was definitely awake and not in some weird fever dream.“This is all definitely real,” Skeppy confirmed. Then he got a contemplative look over his stony face. “Then again...is anything real? After all, we live in a world created from magic, veiled from the country we split from, housed on what should be a small bit of land but stretches for miles—”Tommy wondered if it was too late to go back to bed.~
”How is he settling in?”

“Surprisingly, quite well. Although he’s taken the rebel path, but I’m sure he’ll get it out of his system eventually. A little fun with personal experimentation never hurt anyone.”

“Your son has a best friend who turned himself into a piglin hybrid.”

“Just a bit of alteration. Easily fixable, but he insisted on keeping it.”

“Phil, if I come back in a week and find out that my brother’s now a sentimental slime—”

“Don’t worry, mate. We’ve already got those here, and it’s not as bad as it looks. All magic can be reversed in the end, after all.”

“That is the least bit reassuring—”

.

“He’ll be fine. They all will.”

“I hope you’re right. I just hope I made the right choices here.”

“Don’t worry, mate. You did.”

.

“After all, an oath is an oath.”

~ Artimé had been their home for a while now. Long enough that although the memories of Quill weren’t entirely gone, some habits were slowly being replaced by new ones.Tommy found himself not looking over his shoulder quite so much, slowly letting himself laugh and shout a little more each day. Purpled’s rebellious streak blazed on, the former “golden child” of the nobility turning into a real mischief-maker who could still outdo whatever Tommy and Ranboo came up with with one hand tied behind his back (or so it seemed). Even Ranboo, as jittery as his nerves made him, came out of his shell long enough to bedazzle the class with a very sparkly light show, filled with color and sound that even had a few passer-bys peeking into the classroom.Granted, he’d almost passed out from exhaustion right after, but it was still impressive.Later, Ranboo, had confessed to Tommy and Purpled that he’d been talking to Scar, and the older boy had explained how art was often fueled by emotion. He’d even shown him several works he and his friends had made, like a large stone with a floral design, created after Pearl had thrown a shard at it in frustration. An array of colors swirling in sealed glass, from Scar reminiscing about the past. A pink cherry tree, shaped by Gem’s excitement upon learning she’d been accepted to become a teacher of magic.Ranboo had put his fears and despair into his light show, which—now that Tommy thought about it—was probably something he should ask Techno about later. Or maybe Wilbur, Wilbur seemed better suited to the emotional stuff, growing up in Artimé and all.Who knew breathtaking wonder could come from negative emotion? Tommy certainly hadn’t.Emotion was another thing they’d been taught. Kristin had taken the liberty of creating what she called a “seminar”, a series of classes that re-explained fundamental concepts, but in the style of Artimé. Emotions beyond “happy”, “nothing”, and “angry”, because—and wow did this suddenly make everything make so much more sense—there were more than three emotions. Like, a lot more. As in, Tommy had found himself reading a helpful book he and Ranboo had found in the library that listed over a hundred different emotional states out of pure curiosity.Oh, and you weren’t supposed to bottle up emotions, either. That was apparently really bad for “mental health”.And that was just one thing. There were so many other things—learning about nutrition and why you should have a varied diet, time management, how to hold writing utensils properly and form letters, the importance of making use of showers, baths, and deodorant (Tommy hadn’t realized that Quill was just weird in having a lack of water), geography (the class’s mind was blown when they found out they lived on an island surrounded by several other islands and not in the middle of a giant desert), how basic electricity functioned…The list went on and on. Tommy could barely keep up sometimes, with all of this new information coming into his brain. Practically every day he found himself collapsing into bed, weary from the day’s activities and adventures.Thank goodness that two of the older boys had introduced him to being caffeinated and getting on a sugar high. Impulse and Skizz, who Tommy had met through Purpled (seriously, what was up with Purpled and making friends with everyone in the vicinity—), had brought him, Purpled, and Ranboo to a corner of the mansion kitchen where several machines sat on the counter, some already in use and others open, during a quiet afternoon.Impulse had shown them how to make the optimal cup of coffee, while Skizz had explained what a “sugar high” was.After that, Tommy had been up all night bouncing off the walls from drinking a thing called a “soft drink”, which Skizz had also called a “coke”. He’d passed out around 3 in the morning, had almost been late to class, and immediately gone back for more during lunch.Ranboo had nursed his cup of coffee wearily as Tommy chugged what must’ve been his third or fourth can of Coke, and Purpled had snickered.And that was how the weeks passed. Classes, experimentation, the occasional misadventure…Tommy felt like he was living on cloud nine.Especially as the days turned colder, and they were told about seasons—and holidays.“There are four seasons—winter, spring, summer, and fall,” Wilbur had explained to the trio one cool afternoon as they and Techno sat out on the lawn under an orange-leafed tree. “Each season lasts for around three months or so. The Purge happens in the middle of summer. It’s the fall season now, which means a bunch of cool holidays are coming up!”“And a lot of torturous holiday music,” Techno had added. Wilbur had playfully slapped at him with his sandwich.“Get in the spirit, Tech! Anyways, the first one is Halloween—that’s when people dress up in costumes and go all ham with the magic. If you’re on the younger side, you get to bug all of the teachers and adults for candy. There’s a few parties throughout the building in different places, too, though I’d recommend asking around first before waltzing into one. Some of them…well, they can get a bit rowdy.”“Definitely not a place to go if you’re under eighteen. Kristin would have our heads if you got drunk and did something stupid,” Techno agreed.Tommy understood maybe half of that. The others seemed to be the same.“Costumes?” Ranboo asked. “What are those?”“Basically, imagine if someone—say, me—dressed up to look like Techno. Or made something to resemble a slice of toast. Those are costumes—they’re generally for fun and aren’t serious at all,” Wilbur explained. “They can be made out of nearly anything, too, I’ve seen Kristin use foam to make a refrigerator costume before.”“...Weird,” Purpled muttered. Tommy had to agree.“You’ll understand when you see it. Although…’ Wilbur’s eyes glittered, and Techno sighed heavily as the brunette jumped up. “C’mon, we have to get you something good to wear! I can’t have you three walking around during Halloween with nothing awesome—it’ll spoil my and Techno’s reputation as ultimate costume designers!”“I’m pretty sure that title has long gone to Grian,” Techno muttered, but stood up as well to follow a grinning Wilbur.The trio was left to scramble up and follow the older boys off to—well, whoever knew where. But whatever they were doing, Tommy was certain it would be cool.As long as it didn’t involve any magical talking rocks—because one of those in his life was more than enough, in his opinion.