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

[grey matter]

"...I don't suppose I would either, I have... little to no forbidden knowledge in my head anyways. I'm too busy on knowledge that will one day be as public as a web search without a paywall! Er- sorry, I'm getting a bit caught up in things. And I think we should save ourselves the trouble and keep it mysterious circumstances," he said. "Oh, wait... unless that ends up privatized, then- eh, I'll leave that for when I actually discover it and not just fantasize about that. I've had horribly wonderful 3 a.m. ideas, Three. The sort that can leave you philosophisizing for hours or laughing them off within minutes. I- I just realized how stupid the concept was, but it still could be useful... Wait... no, no, that's a coincidence. Wait, do you spell your name in letters or numerals? Does that- That doesn't even matter, I'm getting horribly sidetracked." He snapped back to the main points. "So. Three. Anything else we need to do? Or can we just, uh, hang out?"

[the-nug-king]

"In order, very well, mysterious circymatcnes will be fine. I congratulate you on your 3am ideas. I personally spell my name with letters. Maedryn always used the numeral, but I had it changed to the word to make life easier. You have done more than enough and don't need to do anything more. I need to get things destroyed, and then decide on the fate of Professor Doctor Cerebrist. I... suppose I could use some advice on that matter. He was the Forbidden Knowledge professor before Maedryn and she neutralised him to take his job. He is no threat at present, but without Maedryn, could easily be freed, and I have been wondering if I should free him or kill him. He was an excellent professor, but he was engaged in research that relies on killing me, which puts me in something of a dilemma. I would appreciate a neutral party weighing in."

[grey matter]

"...Too be honest, I'm really not neutral on this. I'm faaaar too attached to you to let you die or put you at imminent risk of death. In fact, you're- no, no, that's quite unimportant too. I probably need more facts to reason this out... like, what- what kind of research was it, anyways? Is there anyway it could've been performed without your death? Can it wait until you've died for other reasons? C-" His laptop made a noise and he sharply inhaled. "I swear, if it's-" He glanced over that laptop. "It's that Lazarus punk again! Ugh, hold on... I need to read this..."

[Hey, are we trying to write Three 'n Lucas romantically at any point or just as pals? Because if it's the latter I will probably further introduce this Lazarus guy because in my canon he's an implied love interest in the concept I've got going on and they have known one another and I've got an idea that Lucas is going to be like "THREE HELP DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT (insert challenge I don't want to spoil)?!?!?!?!" If it's the former the challenge will be a bit more mundane but action-y. Essentially Lazarus challenges Lucas to stuff because he doesn't know how to make friends and Lucas is only just now catching on to that because now that he has made a friend he realizes it... but if it's the latter he doesn't realize Lazarus's intentions of "I want to romance the GOD DANG NERD DWEEB AND I HATE IT"]

[the-nug-king]

"Of course, go on. I'll go outside to vaporise the message discs. And after that I can tell you more about Professor Doctor Cerebrist if you wish, or if you need help with this Lazarus person, I will do whatever I can."

((Yeah for sure write Lucas/Lazarus, that sounds really fun!! I was not going for romance, Three is already in a relationship. Which like, they have so far very deliberately managed to not explicitly mention because love implies Vulnerability, but if Lucas ends up needing Relationship Advice, they're gonna try and help without giving any personal information and that's gonna be Fun!!))

[grey matter]

"Okay, do that- Oh my- He is challenging me to dance. He is- that- that punk! That stupid punk! We have been playing board games, we had a knife fight that we canceled because neither of us wanted to get hurt," he did not mention the part about how him and Lazarus declared tickle fight, "and now he's trying to dance? How the heck do I dance? Once you're done with everything, come look at this ridiculousness! The utter audacity of that PUNK!"

The email read:
"
Subject: Next Duel

Hello, Dweeb-Nerd otherwise known as Lucas Attenborough,
Considering we have not seen one another in a bit of time due to the break, I would like to plan our next challenge. Perhaps I can get permission to come on campus a bit earlier so we can have more room to rumble, or, in this case, rattle, snake!
I would like to challenge you to a dance! Try to wear something nicer than your stupid deca-pocket lab coat. [I know it's deca-, and not nona-! I've seen that hidden one under the back of your collar! That's why it looks like a dang seifuku! Don't ask me how I know what that's called!] And try to learn how to dance, knowing you, nerd-man, you probably don't know how to dance, like a NERRRRRRD. The best you probably know is flailing about like a paper grasshopper!
I really don't want to play another board game this time around, or have a knife fight. I also suck at robots so don't try to tell me to make one for a robo-fight. Unlike you, I know my limits! And my limits include dancing within them, so we're dancing!
Of course, you can always decline the invitation like the non-dancing dweeb you are... unless you can prove me wrong.
I await your reply!

Your rival,
Lazarus Xanthos"

"That- ugh! You'd think he's trying to... wait a second. That's it! He must be trying to make friends, but he's as horrible about it as I am! Why would he want to dance of all things, though?"



[By the way their initial feelings were inspired by Lemon Demon's "Knife Fight," Lucas being more the main vocals and Lazarus being the secondary. Give it a listen sometime if you can. Also, as immature as Lazarus may seem now, he insults way less in person because he is bad at articulating them in person higher than the extent of nerd and dweeb. Also, he aims for a refined thief aesthetic but it turns out to be an outfit that manages to... clash but in a good way. Sort of like he can put together so many styles that it somehow works and nobody knows how. He is hard to describe but at this point he is mostly just like "NERRRRREDDDD SNSJAJDJAIAJSJ" and "YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH BEATING ME AT MARIO KART, I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE" and more petty villain stuff but he also has other facets of himself, he isn't that one dimensional, he just hasn't shown it off yet. He's probably just as desperate for friends and whatnot as Lucas was and now that he has found himself attracted to Lucas he has no clue what he is doing so he is just sticking to the plan. He expresses stuff differently than Lucas and seemingly has much more initial confidence than him but in reality they are both just, disasters!]

[the-nug-king]

Three destroyed the messages and re-entered the room, reading through the email. "Ugh. It exhausts me just reading that. It sounds like the messages Aurion's nemesis, or boyfriend, or whatever he's supposed to be sends him. And I thought I'd get a break from that over the holidays...

"Well. I know nothing about dancing, I'm afraid, so I can't be much help there. I can only assume he's doing this for the same reasons Aurion and Cazenar do what they do, which I don't quite understand, and don't much care to. As I said, exhausting. Luckily, I find it unlikely that he'll get permission to come here."

((Honestly that is a Very Good relationship dynamic. Cazenar is one of my other Grand Academy OCs and yeah Lazarus sure reminds me of him!! And the fact that you can have the same character be your nemesis and love interest in grand academy is just a++.
Also I know Three Said Lazarus probably won't get permission, but I can totally have DarkBoard go "you know what, I wanna see how this plays out" and invite him over, if you want))

[grey matter]

"Wait, who are they? And how do I- how do I even prepare for this? Of course I'm accepting, I've gone too far to turn back and I have to accept otherwise he's very right, I'm just Nerd-Dweeb McNoDance. My hand is being forced and I do not like it!"

He was typing up his reply as he said this.

"Lazarus Xanthos, Mega-Punk and Ultra-Dork,

You have forced me into childish actions once more, it seems.
Your challenge has been accepted for when it happens, but I've heard that you're unlikely to get in early.
I'll be bringing drinks, because I assume after all this dancing we'll be doing, you'll be so dehydrated you could diedrate."

He smirked with mischief. "I am either going to give him food poisoning or give him Capri-Suns and I do not know which. He will suffer because he thinks Kool-Aid is better and he is objectively wrong, or because he just... he might deserve food poisoning. Maybe."

[You absolutely can if DarkBoard would do that, because Lazarus does have his charms... like being freakin' dumb dumb and he might confess his true intentions to DarkBoard if pressed hard enough for them. If Lazarus makes pals with Cazenar... oh man that could be a mess, I assume?]

[the-nug-king]

"...You really sound like Aurion. He's my best friend. And, as you are also my friend, and I said I would help you, I will give you the same advice I have to give to Aurion at least twice a month. You shouldn't do this. It's childish and ridiculous and I have no desire to get involved. And it doesn't matter how dramatic your speeches, or cackling your laughs are, declaring your intent to take care of someone comes off as affectionate, rather than evil."

((A good Knife Fight song! I do really like "Oh wait we could get hurt, hmm". Cazenar and Lazarus being friends would be the Best mess. I wrote a very short fic about Caz and Aurion's relationship here, if you wanna read it https://archiveofourown.org/works/22340314))

[grey matter]

[DOUBLE DATE DOUBLE DATE. I feel like those two could go on a double date thing.]

"Affectionate... Ah! That is it! He simply wants to be friends! And since I've... oh, wow. I think I've accidentally made friends with him already. That's... unexpected. But... he probably doesn't think of it like that, this is a subconscious thing! I haven't realized it until now, I bet he doesn't even know! I need more friends! I am going to make friends with him! Even if he doesn't see it that way."

And, unbeknownst to Lucas, he didn't.
He saw it even more intimately than that.

Lucas finished up his email with a
"Sincerely,
Lucas, the superior rival" and sent it.
--

Lazarus was up very early for his time zone, earlier than he had woken up before, contacting the Academy's DarkBoard after reading over Lucas's reply. All according to... plan? Was there even a plan? No, of course not! Just look nice and dance and hold Lucas's hands and- He refused to admit it to himself entirely at the moment, but he was... he was quite attracted to the nerd-dweeb Lucas. Stupid attractive nerd-dweeb.

"I need to come back early. I have a duel scheduled with someone who is currently on campus and... probably won't leave. N-not due to death or anything, but I meant just in general."

[Okay, though their relationship is similar, it is also different in a few ways but I cannot put my finger on it because I'm still getting a grasp on them but they're pretty great still, I want them to go on a double date of doom. Also nice job being the only fic! I've done that before once... also this game seems great I wish I could play it-]

[the-nug-king]

"Well. Congratulations. I assume he cares about you, he did go to the trouble of all this nonsense for you, after all. But if you'll excuse me, I need to go and destroy Maedryn's body. And potentially Professor Doctor Cerebrist's. Good luck with... learning to dance, I suppose."

DarkBoard suddenly spoke up. "Lazarus Xanthos granted permission to enter the Academy grounds in two days, barring any emergencies."

"What?" said Three. "DarkBoard, why?"

"Our analysis indicates a distraction would be beneficial to you. And prior experiences with Aurion Umbrator Malisor demonstrate you enjoy reminders of how much superior your own relationship is to his."

Three frowned.

((Yeah like I think for one thing, while Aurion is also a nerd, he's a lot more ruthless than Lucas is? But yess double date! I will have to see if I can get Cazenar at least into the rp later. You can get the games on steam or from app stores, if you're able to do that? Would definitely recommend if possible))