Restricted Magic - Arc 3

Part 4

"Next, we'll discuss Merion's different greetings, and their cultural significance."

It was a tranquil scene of study. Sitting around a table outside near the practical field, Christopher stood at one end, lecturing with a serious expression. The light breeze attempted to push his carefully styled hair out of place in vain, having to settle instead for ruffling the papers he had organized on the table in front of him. As he brought the topic to a natural close, he looked around at the group around him with an eyebrow raised. "Any questions?"

"..." There was no answer. He sighed with frustration, not really having expecting anyone to volunteer.

"Erin?" He called out with a smile, trying to get some sort of response.

"..." Erin sat calmly at the other end of the table, ignoring him. She stared down instead at the paper in front of her, taking meticulous notes. Christopher had been surprised by the change in her attitude since the last he saw her. She hadn't even tried to kill him, simply sitting down silently and appearing to listen. She had ignored all of his attempts at conversation, however.

"What about you... Gary?" Christopher then turned his attention to the young man sitting right next to Erin. He was furiously scribbling in a book, which might be construed as him paying attention to the lecture, but given the pace of his writing and his enthusiasm, Christopher somehow doubted that his notes had anything to do with Merion culture.

"It's Gerald. And I don't speak to puppy murderers." Gerald grumbled, continuing to write in his book.

Christopher was confused. "puppy murderer?"

"Did you find any evidence?" Olivia looked up from her own notes, excited.

"Just because there's no evidence that he's a puppy murderer doesn't mean that he ISN'T."

"Why...?" Christopher shook his head.

"Hey, if you can give yourself a fake title like... 'fiance'" Gerald seemed to choke on the word. "Then I can give you one too. And I choose: Puppy Murderer."

"Makes sense." Frederick agreed with a nasty grin.

"How does that make sense?!"

"Shut up, Puppy Murderer."

Throughout this exchange, Erin remained silent, continuing to take notes.

"What are you writing, if it isn't notes on the lecture?" Christopher couldn't contain his curiosity.

"Seating arrangements." Gerald answered shortly, studying the book before him.

"For what?"

"For my wedding to Erin." He looked up, glaring. "You're not invited."

Throwing up his hands with frustration, Christopher turned to Frederick and Olivia, desperate to get the conversation back on track. "At least you two were taking notes on the lecture. Do you have any questions?"

Frederick smiled. "I'm not taking notes."

"You're not?" Christopher had a bad feeling. "Then what ARE you doing?"

"Drawing a picture." Frederick held up the paper he had been scribbling on. "See, here's you, here's Erin, and here's Erin setting you on fire while you cry." He studied it with satisfaction.

"Who's that?" Olivia pointed at a poorly drawn figure in the background.

"That's me laughing at his misery."

"Nice. Here's mine!" Olivia lifted up her paper. "I drew Erin cutting off Christopher's head!"

Frederick studied it seriously. "Nice detail work on the blood spatter."