Dungeons and Dalliances

Sammy’s tour lasted a half-hour more. She seemed frustrated about having to cut it off, but she ‘really did have something she was supposed to be doing’ and couldn’t entertain Natalie all night. Her assigned duty for today’s freshmen hadn’t been tours, as she’d said earlier—and one-on-one tours weren’t really a thing anyway—but had made an exception for Natalie, taking interest.

Which was great news. Natalie suspected tomorrow night, during the first party of the year—sorry, ‘school pride event’—she’d be getting lucky. There’d definitely been chemistry between them. Though not especially of a romantic kind … but that wasn’t either of them were looking for, she thought.

How lucky? She guessed she’d be finding out. But she all but had an open invitation to stay in Sammy’s room, so unless she fucked things up, her night ought to turn out well.

As for Natalie’s problem—the thing between her legs—well, she’d handle that as it came. Jordan had taken it in stride, but she was Jordan. Would other girls be fine with it? That was assuming she even got that far. But she thought she would. Sammy’s intentions—and Natalie’s—had been pretty clear.

After the tank’s guild tour, Natalie, as planned, checked out the other guild halls. Fortunately, or unfortunately, none were as interesting as her adventure with Sammy. It was, however, amusing—and intriguing—seeing each of the guild’s personalities. Individuals were individuals, of course, but each guild had a specific air about them: both on the large scale and the small scale.

The fighter’s guild was similar to the tank’s, but louder, more rambunctious … Sammy had mentioned that while the fighter’s guild’s parties were worth attending, you had to be aware that more property damage and injury happened there than the other four guilds combined. Safety definitely not guaranteed, when things got going. Which was a selling point to some, Natalie, honestly, included. It sounded like fun. Apparently, it was a recurring minigame to escape the campus enforcers when they showed up to quiet things down. Natalie loved that sort of chaos.

The mage’s guild, and the last of the buildings she visited—Natalie decided she would check out the healer’s guild if a skill developed for that branch, but not until then—had the most subdued atmosphere. Unsurprisingly, most mages were academics of varying sorts; the representatives hosting the freshmen welcoming events for the tank and fighter’s guilds had been loud and extroverted, but for the most part, the mage’s guild spoke in quiet, polite tones, moving about in a stiff, if expeditious manner. Her trip there was the shortest.

Depending on how Natalie’s class developed, it was likely that she’d end up enrolled at the mage’s guild. Though, she’d learned through her talks with Sammy that there were more politics at play between the guilds than she’d thought. Tenet allowed students to enroll at two, but students looked down on it; there was tribe mentality at play, and especially between specific guilds. The tanks and fighters stuck together in much the same way the mages and healers did; the rogues, as always, stood apart, the third point to the trinary system.

But even among tanks and fighters, dual enrollment was met with disapproval. She could do it, sure, and in fact she might have to, because the mage’s guild would have information she’d want to sort through, but if she wanted smooth sailing in the tank’s guild she’d have to not. Maybe she could make a friend in the mage’s guild, and get access to their library that way? Natalie thought the whole situation was kind of stupid. Who cared if someone was in two guilds? But she also understood, kind of. There was comfort in banding together—in pack mentality.

The event took up most of the evening. It was dark when Natalie set out back to the barracks. She settled down for bed early, before the lights had even gone out. She did have an early wake-up tomorrow, considering her decided-upon morning routine. Early showers, where she could be alone … and where she wouldn’t be caught taking care of her problem.

Settled down in bed, pajamas donned and alarm set, she stared up at the ceiling and considered her future. Not intentionally, but because how couldn’t she? Today had been packed, and had been the first full day away from home.

That was where her thoughts wandered first: home. She wondered how Mom and Dad were doing. For all Mom’s wailing at the train station, she had to be somewhat grateful for having the house empty. Though, she was definitely worried for Natalie’s safety. Tenet had outwardly seemed not far from a regular university campus—which was hilarious, because Natalie, going to university?—but the truth was, she’d be seeing the reality of the situation shortly.

This was a school designed to create hardened delvers … Natalie was pretty sure a normal university didn’t have a death rate roughly equal to its wash out rate.

The good news was, she’d made a friend of sorts through Sammy. A contact, at least. She’d need to make more of those. She hadn’t bumped into any of the ‘politics’ that Tenet was infamous for, but she suspected that was because classes hadn’t actually started.

It would be nice if Natalie could get away from it all. As a nobody from a nowhere town, she might be able to, right? The politicking of the major houses was pervasive, but it would be a load off her shoulders if she could simply sidestep aligning herself with any of them. Though that came with its own problems. Having allies—even if it meant having enemies—might be better than cutting herself off from it all.

She sighed, knowing it was sure to be a headache.

Eventually, the lights shut off and the bustle of the barracks slowed. With so many people, and no strictly enforced sleeping hours, there remained a low buzz of noise … but Natalie’s tiredness eventually overtook her.