villainy commenced [[1x1 w/ the-nug-king & hexspecs!]]

[grey matter]

"Yes. I am." Oh, that made him utterly giddy to say that! He suppressed that, though. "If this is your way of telling me that you wanna use they, then so be it. I'm very uncomfortable with using the wrong words for anyone, so... I'll just avoid using pronouns around Maedryn. Better to use no words than wrong ones. And... oh, you said there was something you needed to grab?"

(lucas would've audibly "squeeee" d afterward but this is a serious time and that calls for serious measures.)

[the-nug-king]

"...Very well. Thank you." They finished putting things into their bag. "I have what I need. We should move on. Ready?"

[grey matter]

"As ready as I can be." He nodded, double checking that nothing had fell out of one of his far-too-many pockets. He briefly considered buying cargo pants sometime but then he remembered the situation.

[[I LOVE YOUR PROFILE PIC WHAT IS IT-]]

[the-nug-king]

"Good. Let's go." They drew another symbol on the wall, and the door opened again.
((Possibly we want to skip to finding Maedryn here? Up to you?))

((That is the Nug King from Dragon Age Inquisition! Nugs are the Greatest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9OoCinqp74))

[grey matter]

[[a skip sounds good unless you have anything else planned! and holy heck nugs are the greatest]

[the-nug-king]

They made their way through the school, the place silent and deserted, eventually arriving at the labs. "This was the last place I registered her presence. I don't know if she'll still be here, but it's the best place to start."

[grey matter]

He nodded, stiff and nervous. The labs were always comforting to him in an odd way, but certainly not now.

[the-nug-king]

Three paused at the top level. "Well. This is her lab." They took a deep breath before reaching out to the door, letting it take a scan of their hand. After a moment, the door swung open, revealing the Academy's Forbidden Knowledge lab. Next to a desk in the middle stood a woman remarkably similar looking to Three, but about 20 years older, much taller, and with a head of red hair.

She smiled at Three as they entered, seemingly ignoring Lucas all together. "Three! Sorry about that little mishap in the elevators darling, I didn't know you were still in the school, and I really couldn't risk anyone interfering with my work here. But of course you found your way out of that, I knew you would!"

Three relaxed slightly. "Thank you, mom. I apologise, I didn't think it prudent to speak to you earlier, I was worried about alerting DarkBoard to your presence." Their gaze flicked to the DarkBoard terminal behind Maedryn's desk, hooked up to what looked like a helmet. "I see you solved that particular problem, though."

((And finally, here she is!))

[grey matter]

First, shock entered Lucas's eyes for a split second. Mom? He stayed perfectly still, his eyes awkwardly glancing about as if this was some sort of sleepover and his friend was in trouble for some reason and he had to just awkwardly stand to the side as his friend was scolded... oddly specific, but it was the exact feeling.

[the-nug-king]

Maedryn turned to glare at the blank DarkBoard terminal. "The Academy had no need of a temperamental secretary that couldn't manage to assess tenure applications properly," she snapped. "And I certainly didn't." She turned back smiling, her tone sweet again. "But not to worry! Now that I've figured out how to replace DarkBoard with my own consciousness, the Academy shall be mine! But it's a very difficult process, dear, and I could do without any more interruptions, so I'm afraid you're going to have to go home for the rest of the holidays." She glanced towards Lucas for the first time. "You can take your little friend with you too."

"This is Lucas, mom. He's training to be a mad scientist. We can leave if you wish, but perhaps we could help with your work? Or if not, there is... something else I was spending my time here to plan. Something I hope will make worth all the time I spent working for Professor Ulik. If I can get it completed, I'd love to give it to you as a gift, to celebrate your take over of the school. And I'm sure Lucas would be happy to help you, however he can."