Rising Shards

Chumbler wasn’t able to find a cool fedora to match her somewhat grimy tuxedo, but she did find a hard hat which kind of fit for their final check before launch. Z.O.K. had a hard hat on as well, but hers wasn’t as cool and had a big dent in it neither could buff out.

“Z.O.K., status report,” Chumbler said. “Clipboard?”

“Check!” Z.O.K. said, holding up her clipboard before checking off with a marker on an attached sheet of paper.

“Extensively checked the slot machines?” Chumbler asked.

“Check!” Z.O.K. said.

“Ensured the poker table can handle it when I clamber on top of that bad boy when I get a bad hand?”

“Check.”

“Same for the craps, blackjack, lemonade stand tables?”

“Check, check, check!”

“Gumball machines?”

“Erm…functional.” Z.O.K. said, giving a half check. “They give that crappy plain flavor too much, and the other flavors only last like three chews, but that’s because you didn’t splurge for the good pack.”

“So, check.” Chumbler said.

“Half-check.”

“Fine, half-check.” Chumbler said. “Did we get those cool fluorescent lights?”

“Still waiting for that artist I asked to give me a quote,” Z.O.K. said. “And I’ll say again, I’m flattered you included me in the design there—”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Chumbler said. “Sweetheart Blue, are you ready?”

Blue stood on a makeshift stage Z.O.K. had constructed. She shrugged.

“Perfect.” Chumbler said. “Alright! Let’s launch this!”

Chumbler shuffled over to a ribbon she’d prepared at the front doors.

“Beings of gamble, prepare yourselves, the greatest casino in all of this world and the worlds beyond the void is now…” Chumbler got out her scissors and finagled with the ribbon for a while. It was stubborn and didn’t let her cut it right away. Eventually she just grabbed it with her mouth and ripped the fabric apart. “Open!”

Z.O.K. and Sweetheart Blue clapped politely.

Chumbler stared intently at the entranceway.

“Why aren’t people immediately flocking here?”

“They probably have class.” Z.O.K. said.

“Oh, like this place doesn’t have class,” Chumbler said. “This is the classiest establishment in this whole campus!”

“Like school class, dumbass,” Z.O.K. said. “Class we should probably be attending right now.”

“No, that can’t be it,” Chumbler said.

A few hours passed.

“OK, maybe it was class.” Chumbler said.

“Did you even tell anyone about this?” Z.O.K. said.

“Wait…” Chumbler said. “Shut up. No. This is a secret club!”

“How do you expect anyone to show up, then?” Z.O.K. asked.

“Well, that’s…” Chumbler curled up into a ball. “Wait! I got it!” She laughed to herself as she got out her phone. “Listen! I’m going to send a textular-based message to my other friend and get her to show up with a bunch of her friends.”

“Your other friend…” Sweetheart Blue said, looking like she tasted something sour. “Their name doesn’t start with an ‘A’ or a ‘K,’ does it?”

“No?” Chumbler said. “Aaaand sent. Now, we wait.”

Another hour passed. Finally, a blonde girl entered the doors of Chumblerosa. She had the body language of someone who thought she was about to be attacked.

“Zeta, what the hell,” Chumbler said, causing her to flinch. “Why are you alone?”

“Oka had play practice,” Zeta said, her voice shaky. “And I couldn’t convince Kalei to come…and Lillia had play practice. And I dunno, just finding this place was hard! I didn’t even know this building was part of the school…”

“Well, you better tell a lot of people about my sick casino.” Chumbler said. “Z.O.K., give her the tour.”

Z.O.K. squinted at Zeta and growled.

“Alright, fine, Sweetheart Blue, give her the tour.” Chumbler said.

“Sweetheart…Blue?” Zeta turned to Blue.

Zeta squinted at Sweetheart Blue and let out a confused noise.

“Wait. Rain?” Zeta said.

“Huh?” Chumbler said.

“We’re inside, stupid,” Z.O.K. said. “It can’t rain in here.”

“No, Rain,” Zeta said. “That’s Rain Adagio. I think. She’s just…blue now?”

Sweetheart Blue smiled gently with her hands clasped in front of her. “You have to call me Niar. Or Sweetheart Blue, whichever you prefer.”

“It really is you!” Zeta said. “You’re back! Did you…dye your fur?”

“Heavens no.” Sweetheart Blue/Niar/Rain said. “I simply am altering everyone’s perception of me with my mental affecting gift.”

“That’s…how?” Zeta asked.

“It’s complicated, but it’s easier for me to simply invert your perception of all color on my being while also convincing people that I still belong to this school.” Rain said.

“Can you turn it off for me? Would that make it easier since you just told me?” Zeta asked.

“No, that would be much more difficult.”

“Oh.” Zeta said. “Aren’t you going on that mission or whatever with Aira and the others?”

“I declined.” Rain said. “I wanted to get back here as soon as possible. So I’m on a journey of my own, so to speak.”

“Are you for real back?” Zeta asked.

“I’m on a secret mission to get re-enrolled while the Novu royals sort it out on their end. But the machinations nations away move slowly, Zeta.” Rain said. “So I’m helping out Chomper and her friend Zeta. Isn’t it funny there are two students sharing the same name that ended up in this casino?”

“That’s Chumbler,” Z.O.K. said. “You mean Chumbler. And my name’s Zorta Orca Korbley, not Zeta.”

“Why don’t you go to Amara and KJ?” Zeta asked.

“In due time.” Rain said.

“Can you show up to them as Niar then?” Zeta asked. “Or…as Sweetheart? They’re taking you not being here hard.”

Rain sighed. “This isn’t the first time this has happened. Usually, it’s just me leaving for Novu for a brief family excursion, but my companions are strong willed and can handle something like this even if it’s a tad longer than usual. If I appeared to them as Niar, it’d make things complicated.”

“Right, because complication for you guys would be bad.” Zeta said. “But maybe they’d be happy to see you in any form?”

“No.” Rain refused to elaborate.

“You know, it’s going to be hard not to tell them…” Zeta said. “What if I accidentally had brought them with today?"

Rain pointed at Zeta, and a small pink beam shot out of her finger and hit Zeta’s forehead. “There.”

“Huh?” Zeta said, rubbing her forehead. "What did you? Huh?"

“I just used my powers to make it impossible for you to tell them until I say so! Problem solved, I’d say.” Rain said. “You can’t tell anyone else who would tell them, either. I’m thorough. You'll forget I'm actually Rain when you're not in my presence, so it won't be an issue for you as well.”

“O-oh.” Zeta said.

“Hang on, what the heck!” Chumbler bellowed, rushing into her ball form to bounce between the two so they’d pay attention to her. “Blue, stop giving backstory!" She yanked on Zeta's tail. "Zeta, stop listening to backstory! Did you two forget what this place is named?”

“I don’t know what this place is called at all.” Zeta said, swiping her tail back from Chumbler's yanks.

“It’s called Chumblerosa, stupid.” Z.O.K. said.

“Stop…calling me stupid,” Zeta said. “Um. I have to go. To lunch.”

“Of course, it was so lovely to see you again, Zeta!” Rain said. “Please visit soon.”

Zeta waved as she inched back to the entrance. “See you, Ra—I mean. Niar?”

Rain nodded.

“Wait, hold the frick on!” Chumbler said, pumping her arms as she jumped and had a little tantrum. “You didn’t even play any games! Not a single slot was slotted! Play poker with us! Buy gumball!”

Zeta thought about it for a second. “If I do one of those, can I go?”

“Yes, but not the gumball, that won’t take enough time.” Chumbler said. “Also, we don’t have enough people for poker and I’m not really in the mood for poker.”

“So…you want me to try a slot machine?” Zeta asked.

“Uh huh, uh huh.” Chumbler said, getting behind Zeta and pushing her to the nearest slot machine. “There, you go, just sit nice. Just a few quarters.”

“Um. OK.” Zeta said. She checked her pocket. “I don’t…have any quarters.”

“Sigh.” Z.O.K. said.

“Don’t say ‘sigh,’ out loud you friggin’ weirdo,” Chumbler said. “This is our first customer, show her some respect!”

Chumbler gave Zeta some quarters, and in turn Zeta played a few rounds on the slot machine. Once she had played to Chumbler’s satisfaction, she quickly left, taking the quickest way out that also put the most distance between Z.O.K. and herself.

“Oh, before you go,” Chumbler said, using her ball form to zip to Zeta. She shoved a handful of stickers in her pocket. “I wanted like a pin or buttons or something cooler, but these are like your secret ticket in. So give them to a bunch of people and tell them how cool this place is!”

“That’s…kinda pyramid scheme-y.” Zeta said. “My sister stopped me from getting in a pyramid scheme once so I’m a bit wary when anything’s kinda like that—”

“Fine, just like leave them somewhere and keep one for yourself! We won’t let you in without one!” Chumbler said.

“A-alright.” Zeta left.

“You know she’s not gonna tell anyone, right?” Z.O.K. said. 

“Then my dear Miss Korbley, our next mission is clear.” Chumbler said.

“Advertising!” Rain said, striking a triumphant and determined pose.

“Exactly my dear Miss Blue,” Chumbler said. “We need to get the word out about Chumblerosa, or this place is doomed.”

"Also, my tail's better than her's, you can grab mine too, you know." Z.O.K. said.