Fantasy PHANTASMA: SCHOOL OF THE STRANGE

[MechaGhoul]

Suzie's ears twitched as she distinctly heard a gushy plop, which came from Sergio's direction. He really should have stored that linguini better. She thought to herself.


She sniffed around, as the smell of smoke arrived. She thought everyone finished their culinary... She sniffed again, confirming that it was just cigarette smoke that was really set in. She couldn't help but glance in that direction, and noticing that Sergio was mucking about with some other kid. Susie then focused her attention back on Lily. "S-so p-pie..."

 

[CSA]

Sergio's song ended much sooner than Lily would have thought. She guessed he must have brought his own interpretation to the piece. A short interpretation. Rush deserved better.


Lily placed the plates of meat pie at Maggie's station where everyone else was gathered, and smiled.


"Well, feel free to try them. I worked pretty hard and followed the recipe to a 't', but I generally don't bake with meat so it's probably not my best work."


She handed the last plate to Susie, who was still behind her, and watched the Elf in anticipation. A real French person was going to taste one of her pies. Truly it was an honor.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie gave a nod to Lily, as she placed the pie on the counter. She began examining the pie. She glanced at its texture, the coloring. She wafted the smell of the pie, which was a rather alluring scent, not as much as the vegetable stew Maggie had made, but it was an alluring smell none the less.


Susie glanced towards Maggie and Anya, "Erm, uh, do you want to try it first?" Susie asked of them, as she took a nearby fork, and placed it into the pie crust. "Tender and flaky..." She muttered to herself.





"P-presentation looks quite good." Susie said as she glanced at Lily.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Lily, this is good!" Anya exclaimed through a mouthful of meaty, flaky pie. Her tail swished in excitement.


"I bet this pie is even better than.... mine..." the excitement drained from the cat's face, and her ears and tail drooped considerably. "They never even got to taste it.... Lily I'm not hungry anymore."

 

[DarkAncient]

Elric took another long draw and pulled out one of his silver cigarette cases. "Would you like to try smoking?" He pulled out one of his hand rolled black cigarettes and offered it to Sergio. "As far as pasta in your pockets I have never heard of such a thing, nor do I find it practical. Either way your life is your life." After another puff from his cigarette Elric smiled. "I don't think you've told me your name little bard so before we go any further with this interaction why not start there." Elric had little intention of telling Sergio much about himself, other than that he was a student in the advanced bladed combat class.

 

[CSA]

Lily nodded seriously at Susie. When it came to pies, the Alraune did not mess around.


"The filling is from an old French recipe, and the recipe for the crust is from one of the greatest alchemists of yesteryear- Alton Brown," replied Lily, who had totally seen every episode of Good Eats ever, "I would have made a simple gravy to go with it, but there wasn't enough time."


Lily looked down at Anya, glad that she seemed to like the pie, but the girl became depressed once again when she remembered what had happened to her own horrid abomination.


"It's alright, Anya. If you're not hungry, you don't have to eat. I know you feel sad that nobody got to taste yours, but I'm glad you tried mine at least. And I'll try yours, too. You can cook for me any time, you know? I'm not going anywhere."

 

[MechaGhoul]

"He was indeed a fine alchemist." Susie mused, as she glanced back at Lily, "It's a s-shame you didn't have enough time for it. C-compliments to the dish s-such as that awaken its inner flavors." Susie bit her lower lip, as she quickly returned to examining the meal. WE'VE GOTTA DISTRIBUTE HER FOOD TO THE WORLD! IMAGINE ALL THE CORPSES TO F- No. No. No. She thought to herself.


Suzie took another waft of the pie, as she picked up a small fork and delved it into the pie. Moving the fork from side to side, sawing the piece off, she moved the carved piece out of the whole. Peering at the work, Susie conducted the last observation, before she ate the chunk. Suzie slowly chewed the chunk, grinding it into even smaller pieces. She swished the contents around with her tongue, taking a mental note of the taste.


Gulp. Susie finished off the small bit of the pie.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"I guess." Anya moaned, lying her head onto the table. The chill of the chrome material only reminded her that she'd worn Lily's clothes today, and those weren't exactly protective from the elements.


She rubbed her arms, and said, "Lily, aren't you cold too? Can we go change into something warmer?"

 

[Death Star]

"Ah! My instruments gave it away." Sergio pulled away from Elric and gave a bow. Peaking before coming back up, Sergio said "no, I think I'll hold out for now. Maybe in September. Maybe next September. In home country, we have all time in the world. It's not like here. People leave their homes and it becomes like a fire truck leaving the station..."

 

[CSA]

Lily stared intently at Susie as she tasted the pie. Obviously the lack of a gravy would lose her some points, but she hoped that the rest of the dish would make up for it. Lily felt almost as if she was on a cooking reality show, and she wanted to get to the next round.


Anya's moaning knocked her out of this daydream, however, and she looked back down at the girl again.


"Huh? Oh, right. Well, I'm not cold but we really should put your clothes in the dryer when class is over. Mammals are fragile, and I wouldn't want you to come to harm. I could lend you a jacket in the meantime, if you want."


And with that, Lily went back to staring at the Elf.

 

[DarkAncient]

Elric laughed and took one last puff from his current cigarette before throwing the butt to the ground and stomping it. "You know the analogy you just made was completely incomprehensible. I will assume you mean that we rush things here?" Putting the other cigarette away Elric pulled out one of his many throwing knives and a whet stone, sharpening the blade. "You still have yet to tell me your name little Italian bard. I have no issue with calling you little Italian bard the rest of the year, but perhaps you would prefer something else?"

 

[Death Star]

"Haha!" Sergio danced around Elric. "You first!" he teased. Sergio once again put his hand around Elric. From his pocket, Sergio pulled a kazoo with his free hand, flicking the spaghetti sauce off of it. With the kazoo, Sergio played a familiar tune. "You've got a friend in me" he sang "you've got a friend in me! When the road looks rough ahead/And you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed/You just remember what your old pal said/Boy you've got a friend in me..." He repeated, then played off a solo on his kazoo.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Well I can safely say I can make a judgement now." Susie said, before realizing Lily was intently staring at her. She twiddled her index fingers together. W-was she j-just staring at me like that for h-how long? Suzie thought to herself, as she shook her head. "A-anyway. Y-yes I can make a s-sound judgement on your dish. Er w-w-would you care for a longer or, uhm shorter version of my opinion on this?"

 

[DarkAncient]

Elric sighed and continued to sharpen his throwing knife. "The name is Elric, and the reason you have yet to see me around the school is most likely because you are taking lower to intermediate combat classes." He put the whet stone away and took a moment to admire the blade of his knife. Once he was sure the blade itself was sharp he polished off the dust with a rag from his vest pocket and smiled. "Or perhaps you do not study in the use of blades?" Throwing the knife in the air Elric caught it on its way back down grabbing the handle and suddenly throwing it into a nearby wall, embedding the blade deep. "And you?"

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Elric. Detention." Richter snapped his fingers, pointing at the boy. "You left a mark on my walls. Report here after school, got it?"


The vampire removed his apron, folding it over his arm. "And don't be late. After you repair the wall, I'll have other things for you to do."

 

[CSA]

Lily nodded. Now was the time to throw caution to the wind.


"Give me the full critique. Make me cry if you must, but whatever you do don't stop and don't hold anything back. I want it as hard, as rough, and as relentless as you can make it."


Lily would never get better if Susie held back, after all. She was French. She could help.

 

[Death Star]

Sergio backed off at Elric's throwing knife. "I am a lover, not a fighter. These 'knives' must surely get in the way of a proper relationship" Sergio explained.


More sudden than Elric's knife, however, was Richter's words. He only needed to say one: "detention". Sergio didn't completely understand English, but this was one of the words more similar to his language; Sergio learned to fear his version well. In his language, it was "decesso". Frightening as it was, Elric was Sergio's friend sort of. This meant Sergio needed to some how help Elric.


"No. Stop." Sergio shouted.


"I will go in his place. Put upon me whatever punishment he would have gone through."

 

[DarkAncient]

Elric laughed and gave Sergio a quick pat on the back. "Sergio, how kind of you, but I don't know what the school would do if I wasn't in detention at least once a day." With a smile he removed his knife and blue off the fresh sawdust. "Besides you are a lover after all not a fighter, you can use that free time to go pick up some ladies. I'm sure the ladies love you don't they Sergio?" Elric laughed again and gave a bow to Richter. "I shall see you here sir when the hour is right and the fates are set!" Elric stood in a mock heroic stance and then laughed again walking off. "I should teach here, maybe then I could pick on students too."

 

[MechaGhoul]

You've been given approval, for that then. Susie thought to herself, she took in a deep breath in and out. "Well, I will say that the dish was palatable. An-" Her ears twitched as Sergio shouted, and she couldn't help but look over in his direction. Suzie then returned her attention towards Lily, "However, the appearance of the dish was frankly misleading, making it appear more savory than it really was. The content within was terribly dry, and the flavor was just average, maybe slightly above. It's like you took no care at all for preparing the meat before making it! While, only caring for the vessel in which it was contained in! The crust was rather flaky and tender, which was good."





Susie scratched the back of her head. She tapped her temple with her left index finger, as she glanced at Lily. "Er uhm, s-sorry if it wasn't uh that good of a criticism. Not the natural chef in the family."





----------------------------------------


"...And that was what the Whale Symbolized in Moby Dick." Achim finished scrawling on the board, as he glanced down to see Junkyard snoozing. He glanced back at the generic looking students taking notes. Well good thing that these students are opened to being reached to. The generic students continued their work as Achim scrawled on the board again, "Now then, we will move onto the continued importance of Captain Ahab and examine him."

 

[CSA]

Lily's face fell a bit as Susie gave her review. Only above average? Lily was the best at everything! Except receiving criticism, because quite frankly no one had ever criticized her before. And because no one had ever criticized her, even though she asked for the full critique, she never really expected anything negative.


"B-but I followed the recipe perfectly," Lily muttered, recalling every step in her superior plant brain thing.


"She said it was dry, though. Maybe I should have made time for the gravy. I could have done it with my many appendages, I just thought it would be fine as is. I'm perfect, after all. Completely and totally perfect."





"I... no, the criticism was fine Susie," said Lily, "I told you not to pull any punches, after all. T-thank you."


Lily couldn't even make eye contact, and turned her dejected expression towards the ground. The Alraune knew that she was perfect, but she didn't feel like it at that moment.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"I-oh g-good I just w-wanted to be sure that the c-criticism was uhm.,." Suzie blinked at Lily and glanced over at her. W-was I too harsh or something? I mean I didn't shout really loudly or throw pans around. She DID say to be rough and relentless. She thought to herself.





"I-I'm positive you'll do better next time."

 

[CSA]

"Y-yeah, I'll do better next time," said Lily, who was unused to being not perfect the first time. She looked back up at Susie and smiled, as if to assure her that she was fine.


"Thanks, Susie. I really am grateful, even though I might seem a little perturbed. Don't be afraid to criticize me more in the future, OK?"


Lily then looked down at Anya, who still seemed a little cold.


"Class should be over soon, alright? We can finish washing your clothes then, and you can wear something a little... warmer."


"Children shouldn't be wearing the sorts of things I wear anyways, regardless of weather. They're not adult enough, like me."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Anya hopped down from her stool, and walked over to Lily. She hesitated a moment, then wrapped her arms around the alraune.


"I thought your pie was delicious." Anya said, looking up at her friend. "It's even better than what Papa made."


-------------------


"Don't forget, this is the last period, so hop to any homework you have afterwards." Richter called from the front of the class. "And be sure to never-"


The vampire was cut off by a buzzing, and checked a cellular phone. "I'm substituting first period tomorrow. I have to teach you how to fight, so get ready to exert yourselves."

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie nodded at Lily, "Understood." she replied. She then focused her attention to Richter as he mentioned that he'd be substituting for another class. Suzie paused in thought, pondering on what homework she may need to do.


-------------------------


Junkyard woke up as she barked at Achim. He reached over for his biker jacket, and placed it over his mint green turtleneck, "Well that's it students." He said addressing the generic students. He left the room, after they had finished exiting his classroom. Junkyard eagerly looked up at Achim, as he playfully brushed her head. "Come on girl, we've got some things to do." He opened the door and they exited into the hallways.

 

[CSA]

"Ah, well... thank you, Anya," said Lily, looking down at the attached Neko. All the clingy hugging had sort of stopped bothering her once she decided she would take care of Anya, but it still felt a little odd.


"Though I doubt your father is a chef given your cooking skills, so I'd certainly hope mine was better."





Class seemed to come to an end with one last announcement from the teacher, and Lily took Anya's hand.


"I'll see you back in our room soon, Susie. Anya and I have some laundry to do," said Lily, giving the Elf a somewhat flirtatious parting wink before strolling off towards the laundry room with Anya.


"It shouldn't take too long to dry your clothes, OK? And once that's done, they'll be all warm and crispy for you."