I spent the night before my camping trip at the apartment, partially to get some cozy at home time, and partially because I wanted to make one last attempt to negotiate to Stella.

"I am just gonna say it, I'm a bit miffed in this particular situation." I announced at the dinner table.

"About?" Stella asked, knowing full well what but as she was apparently tired of hearing me complain, she went right for getting me heated mode.

"This camping thing! I was told that I would be given a note saying I was sick and I couldn't go," I said.

"And I talked it over with Evy, and changed my mind," Stella said.

"Secret traitor, come on!" I said.

"I think it'll be a really good experience for you!" Stella said. "You're mad now, but once you're out there, you'll have a good time."

"Dr. Diast, what did you tell Stella to convince her? Did you bribe her? Did Kitty threaten to fire you both?"

"The most I've talked to Kitty was during the faculty mat ball game," Diast said. "Caya's gonna be there, and we did talk to her. And after she explained to me how she was going to handle this trip, going into great detail what the trip itinerary was, the safety measures in place, all that junk. I relayed that to Stella, and then she called Caya to verify, and saw who was chaperoning, and then she approved."

"That's all it took to convince you?" I asked.

"Well, I couldn't do my usual complete thorough check through but Evy and Caya and the other teachers have me pretty confident," Stella said.

"Aren't you freaked out I'm gonna be all alone in the void fighting against the devils? Kitty's probably gonna do some stuff to make it worse!" I said.

"Weren't you telling me you were gonna make them your friends?" Stella said.

"Well, I did, but the fight thing! That's potentially concerning!" I said.

"It should just be a power display, you'll have those shields from your wristband on full," Diast said.

"Also, Kara will be there," Stella said. "And she'll make sure you're safe."

"Hm," I didn't have an immediate comeback to that.

"Yeah, see? Nothing to worry about." Diast said.

"Well some things to worry about!" I said. "So many that...I don't even know where to start!"

Stella got up to grab something out of a drawer. It was a timer, she turned the dial on it and plopped it in front of me.

"Oh, come on." I said.

Stella shrugged.

"Fine, I can make my points in two minutes." I said. "I think that it could be dangerous to go into the void, the last time we went on a trip like this with the whole class, the Jeans thing happened, and Wildfire Hearts has been doing more with the Recreant games going on, and...like. I don't wanna say it, but they could try something, you know? We just had a void storm so things are probably all screwed up in there. And Oka said she won't even be able to make it, so. That sucks! I know I said I was going to try and make those devil folks my friends or get to know them, but if Oka's not there to back me up, I'm going to be socially useless, and everyone knows that! Isn’t it going to cost a ton for camping equipment I’m only ever gonna use this weekend? Also there will be bugs, void bugs, and I will get bit by bugs, and I don't want to get bitten by—"

The timer buzzed.

"Alright, now no retorts while I respond." Stella said.

I sighed.

"If you're really, genuinely worried about the risks, tell us," Stella said. "But going by which of those actually changed your tone, it sounds like you're more worried about the camping part, which tells me that you're just caught in a worry spiral, and that it'd be better for you to confront your fears than to avoid them."

"I—"

"No retorts!" Stella said. "I just remember the ski trip, and the waterpark trip, and both times you got all heated like this, so I let you stay home, and then you felt really bad about it and wished you had gone after."

"Mmmgh," She had a point there. I didn't want to admit it, but she did.

“Also, this won’t cost us anything, the school’s providing your equipment,” Stella said.

“But Kitty said they wouldn’t—”

“No retorts,” Stella said. “Kitty lied.”

I couldn’t even let out a shocked exclamation that Kitty lied about this, that was pretty on brand.

"Evy and I just went to that Brambler camping thing too, so we have a ton of Brambler junk, so even if the school wasn't paying for gear, that wouldn't be an issue," Stella said. "And another thing..."

When Stella finished her arguments (it was a bit unfair that I only got two minutes and she had unlimited time to make her case), I didn't want to concede just yet, so I looked at my phone instead.

"Hm?" I got a message from Oka. "Oh, it's nothing..."

"Did Oka say she could make it after all?" Stella said, reading right through me.

"Maybe..." I said, feeling my face burn.

I felt really bad about being such a brat about the trip during dinner and made my usual apology card for Stella, and one for Dr. Diast, too.

"You really don't need to give me one," Diast said.

"I want to, I was being a butt!" I said. "I got all heated."

"I know you get heated, I've seen it plenty," Stella said.

"Sorry." I said.

"We all have our moments, it's fine."

"I'm impressed you're trying to befriend those devils, by the way," Diast said. "After what they did to Penteldtam, I'm not sure I'd try. Well, OK, if I was your age and some new people beat up the crappy principal right before he got canned, I'd at least wanna chat."

"Crappy principal?" Stella said. "Evy, how could you say such a thing about—" Her attempt at a serious voice broke into one of her deep laughs. "Sorry, that's so mean, I'm sorry."

"He's fired, we can comfortably say the dude sucked at his job now, can't we?" Diast said. "Not that Kitty's great by any remote stretch, and I don't wanna give her any praise, but Caya should cancel a lot of Kitty's eccentricities out. But the main point is that Penteldtam was pretty awful. Am I right or am I right?"

"I've only worked there a bit," Stella said.

"You worked there long enough to know how well Penteldtam did as principal," Diast said.

"Not very well," Stella said.

"Exactly!" Diast said. "I'm not saying he deserved to get a frying pan to the head, but...it sounds bad if I say he deserved anything violent, for sure. We did really need a new principal, though."

"As long as you two don't leave, I'll be alright with it," I said. "I think."

"I'm sure you will," Stella said.

"Do you two have any advice for my whole making the devils my friends thing?" I asked.

"Just be yourself, you're pretty great at making friends already," Diast said.

"Really?" I asked.

"I don't think I had half as many as you did when I was your age," Diast said.

"It's that Faleur charm," Stella said.