#asks about gaffv

[thenugking]

sooooo do you still have a fixation or interest on the grand academy for future villains?? (I'm asking bc this is the only account I've found that's posted anything relatively recently) ((also I adore aurion))

Hi yes!!! It's not currently a special interest but I still think about it regularly, and will love this game all my life. Aurion is such a blorbo to me <3 He's just a little guy. An evil little guy.

I know I haven't posted super recently, but feel free to send asks/messages about gaffv any time, I'm always willing to talk about it!

Also uhhh have some Aurion Incorrect Quotes (ft Phil and some of my OCs) from my collection.

Aurion: Honestly, I am so evil. So full of darkness. I feed of the souls of the living I strike fear into- Cazenar: You sleep with a teddybear. Aurion: He’s my sECOND IN COMMAND IN MY ARMY OF DARKNESS!

Aurion: You don’t know how empowering it is, to be able to say to yourself, “Yes, I am a despicable, filthy, villainous villain, deserving blame and censure, but that villain is who I want to be!”

Aurion: Here is my wall of inspirational people. Three: Is that a picture of you? Aurion: Yes. I am big enough to admit that I am often inspired by myself.

Aurion: I’m on a whole new adventure. Phil: Growing a moustache? Aurion: No. Bigger than that. Phil: A beard?!?

Aurion: I only feel one emotion and it’s anger. Cazenar: Last night you drunk texted me over 200 heart emojis. Aurion: Out of anger.

Aurion: Muhahahahaha! At last! I control everything! You are my pawns to do with as I please. You have no choice but to bend to my will… Yes, I own you… I am your creator! And I can be your destroyer! Three: Honestly Aurion, stop being so melodramatic. Aurion: Three! Am I not permitted an occasional moment of melodrama? Three: Yes, but it’s only a game of monopoly.

[thenugking]

Hi! I started playing Grand Academy for Future Villains and found this blog shortly after. I have tried to research the second game, but couldn't find anything so I tought to ask you. Can I still romance Phil in the second game? I sided with the antiheroes and then my character mom ruined everything at the start of game 2. There is a way to resurrect Phil/Get revenge on the school head and the antiheroes back? Or am I damned to loose my romance if it's him? Thank you!

Hi!

So, the good news is that A) Phil isn't dead and, if you romanced him, will eventually turn up again and B) you can certainly screw the School Head and the Academy over in this game.

The bad news is that the antiheroes plot is basically over, you're not really given the chance to respond to that, and I don't believe there's any explicit reference to the romance when Phil turns up--having him as love interest, commander or minion just sets him as Ally--although there's no reason to assume the romance is just over.

Honestly, my biggest problem with the second game is that Phil, Xi and Kinistra are hardly in it (Kinistra gets a five second cameo where you don't even interact with her, and only if she's set as an Ally), and as much as I like the new characters, almost all of them--along with Aurion--are severly under-utilised. It's not great, and the most I can offer is to very much share your frustration.

I do get the return to the status quo, but that doesn't mean it's not also frustrating. Whatever happens, this game starts with the Academy back as a straight Villain School--the anti-hero school is dismantled, and if you sided with the heroes and destroyed the Academy, the game just has you picked up from your narrative and dumped in a new one where the Academy's still going. I know it happened because people reacted badly to the Psy High sequel only being available if you'd got a certain ending in the first game, and Choice of Games wanted everyone to be able to continue their save without essentially having GAFFV2 be three seperate games, but... damn. If you could just react more to the destruction of the anti-heroes. If you could explicitly say, if you screw over the school, that this is for them. If you could free Professor Mortwain from the block of gell he just spends the entire game in. If, as a hero, you could return to your home narrative at the end of the game... Unfortunately you just have to end up headcanon the eventual second anti-hero uprising.

tl;dr Phil will be back and would presumably be down for continued romancing, but the second game is unfortunately pretty disappointing in the way it drops a load of plot and character stuff.

[thenugking]

Hi, same asker of the antihero ask. Sorry if I keep questioning you about the game but apparently you are the only person in the internet who has expertise on it svsgdgd. So if I can screw over the School Head how do I do it? By telling the supervisors to close the academy? Or can I take it over? The intro of the game talked about the character being able to wrestle command of the clone army from their mother and I toght *that* could be a way to get revenge on everyone but I can't find HOW I'm supposed to control them. I tried being mother assistant and nemesis and leaving her trapped in the sphores and nothing works. Sorry again for bombarding you with questions and thank you for taking the time to answer the previous ask! (Maybe you should take the School Head place so I can stab him shdgdgdh)

Oh, don't apologise for giving me opportunities to go on about my special interest!! I should be thanking you for that afsdfasasdh!! (thank you very much, seriously.)

Also, I'm so sorry, I misremembered the, "I spit defiance," option with the auditors as getting the Academy closed, but yeah, checking now it's.... not actually that. I apologise that I actually do Not have expertise here; I'm way more used to trying to keep the Academy going. Your actual options are actually only to either get the Academy renewed accreditation (invite them to reconsider their decision) or independence (spit defiance). I assume this is so a third game doesn't have to basically retcon the ending of the last one again, but is kind of disappointing (especially since there's unlikely to be a third game, after the discontent with the second).

On the other hand, both endings imply you come ouf of this with a lot more power and influence, and accreditation at least hints that you might kind of be in control here now, so there's at least plenty of room to headcanon bringing down the school/bringing back the anti-heroes. (If you have Phil there, it's also possible to join the Board yourself, which could be useful for that. I'd have to check exactly which path gets that, though, and I'm not sure you can do that and use the clones.)

Using the clones is an option for both "invite them to reconsider their decision" and "spit defiance", and you should be able to do so if Maedryn's your nemesis? (Or if your relationship with her is over 65 or under 30.) It's only not an option if you demand a destiny, which I'd advise against, since that just leads to Maedryn taking over (and shooting Phil) more than you taking over. You also don't actually need to pick it to get a destiny, that's decided by narrative weight.

But yeah, sorry I was wrong earlier and that the best I can suggest is "it's easy to headcanon cool things happening rather than the game actually providing them" but I hope this helps?? The taking over the clones is at least very fun, and the School Head seems to be very much not coming out of the administrative building again.

[thenugking]

THANK u 4 providing the text, i am mostly an aurion romancer (but i love xi LOADS too) and AAA ive always loved the detail that mr umbrater malisar etc etc spent a whole YEAR trying 2 ask the mc out, its just soft, the ros reactions to a full monster mc is also very interesting too!!! u said u spent the most time on the homecoming chap, do u mind sharing some info on the GANG? i probably am already familiar w it but on the off chance im not! either way its fun 2 talk abt gaffv! - ghxstwriter

He’s just..... adorable. Likes yes Aurion you’re super evil, greatest villain, yeah, yeah, but also you’re a Cutie!!!

Link To A Google Doc with The Same Points But Better Formatting, I Hate Tumblr

Anyway I started off trying to point out, like, differences in approval and stuff in the Homecoming chapter but then I just got distracted so here are some of my fave Aurion, Xi, Phil and Kinistra things

So Aurion is Homecoming Tyrant if you’re not. He makes you Lieutenant if you’re his LI/nemesis/commander/minion. Otherwise, it’s Kinistra Unless she’s romancing you, in which case it’s Phil, Unless he flunked out, in which case it’s Xi. I don’t know if this is meant to show Aurion has friendships with the others, or just that he’s running through the list of the only people he knows, but either way I like it.

Also between this and the fact that, if you ask Aurion to be your nemesis in the second game but don’t have high enough approval he tells you that there’s someone else, I think Aurion/Kinistra is maybe a thing if you don’t romance either of them?? She’s also apparently in Fantasy in the second game, if you convinced her to be a villain.

Xi needs 10% higher approval than the others to agree to be your nemesis, and if they do agree, tells you that of course they’ll be your enemy, they like you. They’re the only nemesis you can’t have a final battle with in the first game, and iirc, tell you to be patient if you suggest the two of you should maybe fight at all.

If you ask them to be your nemesis without high enough approval, they tell you DarkBoard is their nemesis, and that they, "Dread and worship and will one day be completely subsumed into," them. So basically, Xi treats having someone as their nemesis as a sign of affection. I love them

They all have different levels of approval to be your love interests, and each has a particular skill they apparently find hot.

Phil is obviously easiest, needing 65% approval, lowering to 50% with 60+% hedonism. Or if you’ve taken the Don Juan course, you can romance him at any level approval.

Aurion and Xi both need 65% approval. Aurion’s lowers to 60+% with 65% competence, Xi’s lowers to 55%, with 60+% style.

Kinistra is the hardest, needing 70%, but lowering to 60% if you have only 50+% chaos. Her romance can also cut off if you’re romancing anyone else

Also I mentioned this before but Phil and Xi are both canonically polyamorous, and Xi’s in a relationship with DarkBoard. None of this is super hidden or anything I just appreciate it a lot.

As Homecoming Lieutenant, Kinistra and Aurion are both Very Eager to get up on stage with you, and Aurion announces himself Homecoming Lieutenant if you win without a nemesis/LI/commander/minion. Xi on the other hand, really does not seem to enjoy doing it.

As your commander/minion, Phil tells you he’s a Fallen Angel, like most of his family. Professor Arthenes also gives his full name as Gavril Philippe Des Anges Dechus after the midterms. (Although this may not be his “true” name, since Phil says in Chapter 2 that his real name tends to burn out people’s minds.)

We also know that his dad’s powerful enough that the debt dragons answer to him, and if you failed to get Phil to help you kidnap Kinistra and try bribing him with your mother’s connections you get this:

Even the normally unflappable Phil looks a little impatient at this. "Your mother? Oh $!{firstname}, come on, it's not like she could… I mean, do you know who my father is?"

So basically I’m pretty sure Phil’s dad is Satan. It also explains why, although Maedryn will insult Aurion and Xi in chapter 4 if you’re close to them, she doesn’t mention Phil--his dad outranks even her.

Speaking of the Kinistra kidnapping, there’s a lot of fun stuff there if you don’t have high enough approval with whoever you choose as a co-conspirator. They all ask for a bribe.

Phil wants 25% of your budget, which he apparently just considers a nominal sum. Look, I love Phil, but sometimes I remember quite how rich he is and then I slightly want to guillotine him.

Aurion wants 50% of your budget because at this point he has, like, no money, and he can’t hide his delight at getting some.

Xi asks for 75% but doesn’t actually seem to care about the money, as much as about making you suffer.

They each have an extra thing you can offer them if you can’t or don’t want to pay. Aurion will take favours from your mum, since he’s not very well off, Phil will take any contraband you smuggled into the school because he thinks it’s hilarious, and Xi will take an upgraded map so they can narc to DarkBoard about the areas DarkBoard’s missing in.

If Xi is blackmailing you and you offer them favours from your mum, they just stare at you until you get uncomfy and leave.

Also, if you do get Phil as your co-conspirator, you discover that his “room” is an opulent suite taking up the whole of the Horror dorm’s top floor.

If you try to let Phil fail in the mid-terms, but don’t have high enough hedonism, Aurion lets Phil cheat off his paper and it’s very cute look!!

Aurion, sitting at your table, hastily attempts to conceal his blush with an incongruous snarl. "Aurion? But you--but he--I thought you hated him!" I do!" Aurion protests, unconvincingly. "Lazy--worthless--no real commitment to the Dark Path--”

In the final chapter, if Kinistra or Phil steal control of your replica’s body and the hero-neutralising black hole and you’re in a romance with them, they do it by kissing you. Kinistra’s response is, “Well, I am a hero.” Phil’s response is basically, “Well I am Phil.”

Also if you’re in the Hero Conspiracy and ask a romanced Kinistra if you can trust her, she kisses you. When you worry that this seems a very heroic thing to do, she tells you to stop worrying because, “This is also standard deflection technique for Seductresses and Femmes Fatales." I really need to romance Kinistra at some point, she’s wonderful.

If you’re in the Hero Conspiracy and ask Xi to teach you how to disable DarkBoard portals, all their responses are wonderful. If you’re in a romance, they tell you you’re predictable for trying to seduce them into helping you, but then basically just go, “I’ll do it tho.”

If you’re not in a romance but have high enough approval their response is:

"You want me to demonstrate my power over the great and ineffable network that is DarkBoard by showing you how to remotely disable DarkBoard portals?" Xi demands. Their tone is as flat as always, but you suspect there's sarcasm there. "Sure, all right."

But then nope, they’re not being sarcastic, they really mean it??

And then if you don’t have high enough approval they just make a terrible joke and laugh at it??

"You want me to demonstrate my power over the great and ineffable network that is DarkBoard by showing you how to remotely disable DarkBoard portals?" they demand. "Pull the other one. No. Not the red one. Any wire but that one." They go off, cackling to themselves; it's the most emotion you've seen Xi display in months.

I love them.

Also some fun Aurion things from the sequel!!

If you challenge him for leadership of Fantasy after the dorm blows up, it mentions he’s wearing his Night Cape. Because he’s adorable.

If you try to throw the initial fight for your genre’s leadership by immediately surrendering and begging for mercy, but you don’t have high enough hedonism or chaos, your opponent will object that they’re surrendering. Which most of them are fairly chill about, but Aurion’s surrendering goes like this:

"Not," he says, "if I surrender first."You point out that if we're talking first, you were the one who started the surrendering."All right," he says through his teeth. "Not if I surrender [i]harder[/i]." Whereupon he seizes a heavy brass lamp and whacks himself in the head. He drops back onto the sofa as heavily as the fall of an axe. The others agree that you are indeed the winner by default.

In the DarkBoard simulation, the genre leaders all start talking about how there’s three of you, like on a heroic quest. And their individual responses are basically:

A Baroness: Obviously I'm the brains

Dev: We represent the psyche, I'm the id I guess

Sona: I'd be the fighter!

Aurion: I'm the Hero!

YES AURION YOU’RE SUCH A SUPER EVIL AMAZING VILLAIN oh my god i still can’t believe that that is the first thing he jumped to.

[thenugking]

WAIT i dont wanna sound weird and its probably been so long ago so its okay if u dont remember BUT ive read some of ur gaffv fic (ITS TASTY BTW LOVE THE CONTENT) and i saw u mention that aurion might not Particularly like if the mc romances phil at the same time, i was wondering how u get that piece of text or even what it said, i KNOW its probably like just a single line but i EAT that shit up - ghxstwriter 👉👈

It’s cool I spend a Lot of time reading the gaffv text files and probably spend the most time on the Homecoming chapter bc there’s a lot of fun info on The Gang there!! Like feel free to ask me any gaffv stuff, even if i don’t know/remember it i am always very happy to go look it up bc i Love this game

Initiating a romance with Phil after Aurion gets this:

He doesn't mind in the slightest that you already have an understanding with Aurion. You suspect Aurion might not feel the same way, however, and resolve to keep them apart if possible.

Kinistra has an extra check if you want to romance her after already romancing someone else, and is the only one who will complain in the next chapter if you tell her you’ll give your other LIs up but don’t, but I feel it’s a shame Aurion doesn’t also have that. The game does specify that Phil and Xi are totally cool with you dating other people, while Aurion is Not, so while I see why they didn’t want to make it too difficult to get the “Romance Everyone” achievement, I wish Aurion had had the chance to object.

Also!! Listen I might be primarily a Xi romancer but Aurion’s route is very near to my heart so fun fact!! The romance initiation for the other three are basically them going, “Yeah, okay, I guess,” I mean:

Kinistra

You tell her exactly this and ask her exactly that. She doesn't react right away.

With everything that's passed between you, this is a lot to ask.

This has clearly been on Kinistra's mind as well, and her heart wins the day. Someone from the band must be watching because as she grabs you and pulls you close to her (knocking the cup from your hand). The music swells in such a pointed way that you're afraid of drawing the attention of one of the chaperones.

Phil

You hardly have to say a word. Phil's charm is such that he seems to possess a permanent air of low-grade seduction, and the merest hint from you is enough for him to sweep you into his arms. One of the dance chaperones glares at you, but Phil waves them off.

"It's all right," he says into your ear. "I'll be making out with him by the end of the night anyhow. You can come along, if you like!"

Xi

"Why not," says Xi, twining their wires into your hair and pulling you close. Sparks fly.

That was, frankly a bit of a surprise. What about their characterization of you as a pitiful lump of flesh? Their having transcended gender along with all other petty human concerns? The ethical considerations of a romance while being an RA?

Xi explains, in order, that while no mere mortal interchange of fluids can compare with the glory of communion with Information Itself, they certainly don't mind, that they don't see what gender or lack thereof has to do with it, and that if you suggest they are adhering to some form of ethics, they will write you up on DarkBoard for slander. So that's all right. The dance swirls around as Xi neglects their chaperone responsibilities and quietly diverts the DarkBoard monitors from your particular corner.

MEANWHILE here’s Aurion going “omg yes I’ve been trying to ask you All Year” because he’s a Cutie

Yes. It's yes. Turns out Aurion has been trying to figure out how to ask you the same thing ever since you were kidnapped together your first night at the school. He launches into a lecture, mostly for his own benefit, about how even villains are allowed to have love interests, as long as they don't ever allow this to make them selfless.

You cut him off, in a manner much to your mutual satisfaction.

ANYWAY. Aurion’s great and I love him and he’s at least as much of a romantic as the actual Hero Princess love interest, he will just murder you if you mention it.

[thenugking]

add one more person, i got the game because of you too

omg excellent i’m almost at double figures

[thenugking]

Grand Academy For Future Villains, Chapter 1: Introduction. A commentary for Three.

Because no one can stop me.

Here’s the important decisions, and other things it feels relevant to comment on, from Three’s playthrough. Contains spoilers for GAFFV, obviously, and there’s a few references to the sequel, although nothing I’d really call a spoiler. All game text is copied from the text files, found here.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

Specific CW for this chapter: misgendering, transphobia

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

***

Rathna hisses with satisfaction, takes you by the wrist, and pulls you after her through the archway into the blackness.

It feels a bit like doing a belly flop into a pool of cold mercury. (And you would know; the exercise facilities back home were very well-appointed.) When the ringing clears from your ears and the fuzziness from your eyes, you're standing in a subterranean chamber. The walls are dripping. The lights are flickering. The screams are echoing.

An icy voice echoes in your head, making your ears sting. "Prepare yourself…to be screened."

"Oh, I am prepared," you assure Rathna the Soul-Flenser. "I trust the Academy! And if they say I need additional screening, I'm sure that's something that really is necessary for everybody's safety!"

How would you classify the expression in her dull metallic eyes? Quizzical? Startled? Pitying?

"Your faith," hisses the cold voice after a moment, "is… touching to me."

"Speaking of touching," you say cheerfully, "we'd better get to the screening part, right? The sooner I get screened, the sooner I can be reconstituted by, who is it, the fourth-year Resurrections class?"

There is a long pause. "No..." Rathna says. "You have passed the screening already. You are a true student of the Academy."

Nonplussed, you head up the stairs in the direction she indicates. As you glance back, you could swear she's wiping away one dishwater-gray tear.

Three’s entire introduction is them being a Good Student - it doesn’t even occur to them not to wait in line, or to try hiding their many, many weapons, or to try and get out of additional screening. They pick Rathna because they’re pretty sure Phil will mess it up and not screen them properly, which means they’re messing up too. 

Phil, in Three’s opinion, clearly has zero discipline or competence, and they dislike him instantly. With his utter lack of commitment to the screening process, he’s off to a great start as Perfect Student Three’s unintentional narrative foil.

Rathna, on the other hand, they develop a mutual respect for in this scene. They don’t interact again in-game, and aren’t going to go out of their way to hang out with each other, but I like to think they get along well whenever they do see each other, and are at least friendly acquaintances. (I was very offended when the second game told me Rathna was my enemy, but I like Miriel Bloodshrike, because neither of these things are remotely true for Three.)

VERY WELL, THREE. BUT I KNEW YOUR MOTHER ONCE. AND SHE GAVE YOU ANOTHER NAME. YOU WILL BE THREE AT THIS SCHOOL, BUT TO MAEDRYN THE QUANTUM-WITCH, ONE OF OUR PROUDEST ALUMNAE, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE...

It's true. Your mother named you

#3.

Hardly a name at all.

I mean, Three’s life revolves around keeping their mother happy. They’re not going to throw away the name she gave them. They only changed it from the number to the word because of the massive bureaucratic hassle that trying to input your whole name as 3 was. And what would they change it to anyway? It’s not as if they have an identity outside of Maedryn, is it?

(This does, of course, result in a lot of funny experiences in-game, where people try and psych me out by knowing my birth name and Three’s just, “Yes, that is my name, are you feeling all right?” It’s not impossible that these still take place, even with Three using their mother’s name; in the very next scene, Xi reveals they can hear how people spell things. I’m sure there are some people in the Academy who would deliberately say 3, rather than Three, and hope that Three hears the insult. They don’t.)

As for gender… I think Three at this point still mostly identifies as female. They come out as agender part way through their first year, feeling more confident after meeting a lot of non-binary people at the Academy. They don’t tell their mum. While I’m glad that the game doesn’t have Maedryn misgender you, the fact that she consistently deadnames you and gets angry at you changing “her” body if you become a monster makes me feel it would be very in character for her to do. I’m sure she hears Three is using they/them pronouns now at some point, but has better things to do than remembering to use them.

If asked about their pronouns, Three will tell you that you are welcome to call them whatever you wish, and their closest associates usually use they/them. Expressing their own preference would be far too close to acting like a person with their own desires and feelings, though. Luckily they can easily justify being agender as, “What does a weapon need a gender for?”

“Let's get to know you, Three. What do you hate most?"

 #Incompetence and idiocy.

And right now, Phil’s incompetence and idiocy in particular. Three is already up to 75% competence at this point, by the way.

Well, that's your mother. How do you feel about her?

#I'm proud to be her child. But I plan on choosing my own path- while keeping her as happy as I can.

The actual answer here is a lot more complicated. Three certainly doesn’t plan on choosing their own path, they exist only as a tool of their mother’s and are well aware that being anything more would not make her happy. They think Maedryn’s achievements are incredible and that she’s the cleverest person they know. They think they might be proud of her, if not of themself. They love her.

They’re also far more aware than they let on that she’s abusing them, and that they’re never going to get the love and approval that a part of them buried deep down still wants. While they absolutely keep it to themself, they dislike the way Maedryn’s destroyed worlds that could have had so much to offer, and believe she should treat her goons and servants (themself excluded) better.

And they have no intention of ever letting her know they've ever thought anything negative about her, because they value their life too much.

"Excuse me. I'm Three, and I-how did you do that? What were those wires, and all that stuff you were saying about humanity?"

"Nice, isn't it?" says Xi with pardonable pride. "Like I told you, I'm the ultimate fusion of human and computer. Instead of veins-" their voice is suddenly coming out of the speakers again "-wires course the length of my body, running directly from my mind to the Network."

"Oh! Computers!" the other student breaks in. "Whyever would you want to be all tangled up with those...things?"

Xi narrows their metallic eyes contemptuously at him. "I'm a cyberpunk villain. It's what we do. Wait- who are you again?"

The student draws himself up proudly. "Aurion Umbrator Malisar, Scourge of the Universe, Bane of Virtue, Shadow that Swallows the Light, and I-"

Xi sniffs. A shower of sparks falls from one of the wires. "This is the first time you've ventured outside your genre, isn't it? Let me guess, spawned in Fantasy, and now you're here expecting everything to be the same magic and mush you grew up with?"

"Well, that would explain things," Xi continues. "Trust me, pitiful lump of flesh, computers are the way to go. Why, the true power in this school, DarkBoard--no matter what any other genre says--is an artificial intelligence, one who has truly ascended beyond the tether of matter and mind-"

"That's the problem!" Aurion protests, waving his schedule again. "It will not heed my bidding!"

"Well, of course not, if you're talking to Them like that." You can hear the reverence in Xi's voice when they speak of DarkBoard. Odd, since as far as you can tell, the Grand Academy's administrative AI is basically a glorified secretary.

And Three gets to meet their best friends! They’ve been given permission to ask questions about something very cool! Even if they would never be caught using the phrase, “All that stuff,” and would much prefer a, “Would you elaborate further on your state of being, please?”

This also forms the very early seeds of their friendship with DarkBoard. They believe everyone deserves respect, and they know how easy it is to underestimate someone as being a tool. The majority of their previous knowledge on DarkBoard came from Maedryn, who they also know underestimates people she considers below her notice, so they’re very willing to take Xi’s opinion on DarkBoard over Maedryn’s. And if Xi calls DarkBoard a They, rather than an It, They is what Three will use too, because secretary or not, it’s only polite.

Xi sighs. "You've got to organize yourself, pitiful lump of- Aurion. Make some choices. Look. What do you want to do?"

"Have legions of darkness, take over the universe, slay the proud and noble, bring about a black reign of terror on the land, cast evil spells from my fortress, shoot out wires from my hand like that, seduce the pure and innocent, callously waste human life, destroy the world with a word, blow things up, have great men fall before the slightest motion of my hand, manipulate people's minds, be able to call up balls of fire, beat up the heroes, have Ultimate Weapons of Destruction, and wear a nifty cape!" rattles off the aspiring Scourge of the Universe breathlessly. "And more things, too, if they teach them."

Xi looks as if the student's enthusiasm has overloaded their circuits. You step in.

#Tell Xi I'll help Aurion with his schedule. That should earn me some points with the RA.

I mean, if Three had circuits, they’d be overloaded by Aurion’s enthusiasm too, but if there are two things they like, it’s sorting out schedules and making people in positions of authority happy! This encounter doesn’t make Three and Aurion friends, that comes later, but they gain a small amount of respect for each other, at least.

Sidenote - I’m not sure how close Aurion and Xi are supposed to be, they don’t interact much after this in-game, but I love their interactions here, and I really enjoy Three, Aurion and Xi as a group of friends.

#Better get Xi to advise me on this. Isn't assistance in their job description?

You stick your head out into the hall. "Xi? Can you help me with something?"

After a moment, Xi appears, expressionless.

"I need to get my books," you explain, "so I need to access my money. Can you tell me how to make DarkBoard do that?"

One of Xi's wires cracks like a whip. You hope that means yes.

Three might value self-sufficiency, but they also value making use of the resources available to you, and when someone’s job is to provide you with help, it would be arrogant and foolish to rely solely on your own conjecture.

They are also an eighteen year old who’s never spent much time with people their own age suddenly discovering that they find cyborgs in control of wires they grow out of their fingers really hot.

#Get a quick fund refreshment from Mom.

It won't make your mother happy to have you draft her account like this--she prefers more face-to-face groveling, as you've had plenty of chances to observe--but you know that you can make a quick transfer from the Student Security Deposit. A few words to DarkBoard, and the money is yours, with a little extra cushion to cover you in case of emergencies.

I mean, Three’s definitely going to call Maedryn up for a proper groveling session later tonight, and hope that helps a little. But she’s also expecting them to get perfect grades, and they’re worried about their chances of doing that without all the equipment available. Anyway, that’s their first day at the Academy finished!