Reading Into Things [Rui/Cecil]

Rui's first instinct was to point and laugh. That instinct lasted essentially for only a few seconds until his mind started automatically doing some calculations. What if Cecil was getting alcohol poisoning!?! Rui quickly scanned his knowledge to see if he knew any possible ways to treat Cecil. Then he immediately realized something, "Oh, if he threw it right up this quickly, it was probably just because it tasted terrible to him."

Upon concluding that Cecil was probably not in danger of life-threatening alcohol poisoning, Rui's instinct to point and laugh returned immediately. But first, was concluding the experiment. "Uh, so I guess you're not a fan." Rui found Cecil's very strange. He thought it was a rather delicious drink that Rui had made. To him at the very least, it tasted like a mixture of champagne and vinegar, two tasty liquids that Rui found even tastier when they were combined.

"Uh, so I'm getting this nasty feeling that you're not a super-experienced like, drinker. But that's okay. This was a successful experiment." The Cecil experiment appears to have been successful. This stuff got people drunk. And that's all that mattered. All that was left to do was concoct a variety of drinking games to get people to drink more of this stuff than they want. And then get them to sign some club entrance forms. Speaking of that, Rui managed to pull one of those out out alongside a pink gel pen.

"Speaking of that, you did mention looking for the literature club in order to read..books?" Rui wondered if people still read books? Rui was personally skeptical. "Well, you're practically almost there; if you would just sign here..."

The world swam around him as he retched, and a faint part of his perception registered that Rui had said things, but as he stared in his direction with blank, unfocusing eyes, he could barely tell where he was, let alone what he was saying. "I...urk...have no idea what you're saying..." He took a moment to vomit again into the jar, the container already having regained much of the half-gallon that had drained from it. "Ugh...why do you do this...? Why...? People don't hang out in schools, trying to make booze in 'stripper witch' costumes while throwing out perverted metaphors...!" He vomits into the jar again, before starting to sob. "This just tastes like too strong vinegar! People don't drink vinegar! Why did I drink it?" Another retch. "And why did people have to walk in...? I've got enough to deal with without THIS on top...!"

At this point, Cecil just devolved to sobbing, retching, and repeating some variant of "Why me?" over and over again. He shifted back a bit from the jar as it started to overflow, the vile concoction it had once contained having been ejected back in along with whatever had been in Cecil's stomach, and soon after, bile.

Rui sighed. It was good in a sense that Cecil was vomitting, because it meant that be had no chance of getting alcohol poisoning. But it was quite annoying when Cecil's vomit started overflowing from the jar. The smell of vinegar, Rui had grown to like. Vomit? Not so much. At least not yet since he knew that some people were into that.

He frowned and decided to go find cleaning materials while Cecil wallowed. He opened the door and walked down the hall to see the disciplinary committee girl he had seem earlier. She seemed to have a very complex smile when she saw Rui, like a mix of confusion and glee, "Oh hi! Do you know where the cleaning supplies are? Uh, Cecil ended up shooting out a really nasty mess that's going to leave a bad smell unless, you know." She stammered out the location before she stormed off, ready to cross-check school archives of every student named Cecil.

Rui wondered for a bit why she looked so confused. Oh, he had figured it out. He hadn't put his cloak back on yet, so his outfit must be strange. Yes, that must be it.

He immediately returned to the clubroom, armed with mops, sponges, and a variety of cleansing liquids.

The student from the disciplinary committee would not return any time soon however someone did come back to that room, someone the girl would defer to in situation as strange as this and who she had sought out beforehand. Powerful footsteps signaled this new arrival, echoing down the halls with authority. With a mighty slam Principal Robert Hughes forced open the doors of the Literature Club to be greeted by a pungent, sickly sweet odor and an unbelievable sight. He could scarcely believe what he had been told, it nearly sounded like a practical joke and yet here it was right before his eyes. One of his students in a gross violation of school dress code concocting some mystery liquid as he had been told, although now aiding another student who had clearly lost his composure. So much so that he was vomiting said liquid. The Headmaster of Seven Stars was caught in shock for a moment. But only a moment. Though he did feel concern the man was overtaken by outrage, and showed the pair the wrath of a quiet man with the red in his face and an offended shout.

Cecil looks from his spot on the floor at the shout, things starting to come together as he realises the principal has come down.
He's not surprised at this. In some ways, he's glad.
Rui is worse.

"All I wanted...was to check out the literature club. Read some stuff, all that. But no...nooo..." Cecil points to the shape that is Rui. "He's there. He's there-" He retches, and pulls himself up again. "-making something in a witch costume, and the whole place smells weird. Apparently, it's tea!"
He vomits again.
"THEN I find out he's making ALCOHOL from it to get around the rules! Just so he doesn't have to stink up his house!" At this point, Cecil starts to devolve into sobs again. "Then it turns out he's in a stripper costume, then people are waltzing in as he's showing why it's a stripper costume while he's talking like I'm about to end up molested and-"

He sobs. "Just make it end...!"

>Appeal to the Principal.

Rui was oddly unperturbed by the arrival of the principal. In many ways, this was a severe negative risk due to the very bad timing. Most people would objectively conclude that. But not Rui. He saw the upside, even though it might not actually exist.

He gave the principal a genuine bow, "Good afternoon, Principal Hughes. I'm glad you asked. As you might know, the Literature Club is short on members. Having recently visited the Open Houses of the Cooking and Tea Ceremony Club, I realized that we could recruit members by holding our own Open House with refreshments."

Rui gestured to all of the liquids, "As a result, I decided to make fermented tea for our Open House. An exotic twist on a common favorite, to set us apart from other clubs."

Rui then gestured at the miserable looking Cecil, "I think they came out quite well. Unfortunately, my friend tried some and it appears to have gone over very poorly with him. Sour fizzy things seem like an acquired taste. He also probably chugged too much too fast."

Rui picked up a jar that was blue, "However, this one is blueberry flavored, which should be a more gentle introduction into the world of kombucha. Not to mention that I've probably made more than I need. How about taking this jar home?"

Rui held out the blue jar to the Principal, hoping to leave another satisfied customer. His posture and voice actually seemed completely earnest, as if he were a friendly salesman. In what seemed a deep contrast with Cecil.

Principal Hughes inhaled loudly, squeezing the bridge of his nose. He was normally a gentle man, a scholar, not a tyrant, albeit such shenanigans would not be allowed to be conducted within the walls of his school. Now that his eyes were open the student on the ground retching was obviously well intoxicated. But the young man in indecent dress could not sate his bubbling fury with the promise of a drink of his own. If anything it angered him more, a feat he thought not possible until this very moment.
"I am certain as a club official you are well aware of the policies concerning alcohol on campus, young man..." he hissed icily, "...let alone transforming my school into your own personal distillery! Have you no sense!? What even is this costume other than a MASSIVE VIOLATION of the Seven Stars dress code!"

Principal Hughes swept his long arm of authority out to the door in a mighty point.
"Suspension! THREE days! I will not tolerate this behavior in my school system, I have half a mind to have you arrested for this gross misuse of government facilities! Illegally! Leave my campus IMMEDIATELY! If I see you ANYWHERE NEAR Seven Stars Academy after this moment and before I allow you to return I'll have you expelled! I will be reporting your behavior to the authorities regardless, I'm certain you should receive a court-ordered summons. I will not forgive this transgression or chock it up to ignorance." The Headmaster then turned his chilling gaze to Cecil, still reeling on the floor.
"As for you... I have a hard time believing that you would become this obviously intoxicated before you realized what you were drinking. While your friend is suspended someone will need to clean up this mess. You will clean this room, and the rest of this Academy, all afternoon in detention. Is that understood?"

Consequences:

Social Qualities Gained!:

Cecil nods, suddenly glad for the fact that Rui had already acquired cleaning supplies.
"I...I understand..." He swallows, trying not to vomit again. "I'm just glad this is going to stop...thank you. Seriously...thank you."
He retches again, but nothing comes out. "Where do I...ugh...get rid of all this...? Is there..." He dry heaves. "A place I'm supposed to get rid of this stuff? I...can't just leave this somewhere..."

Rui almost decided to make a quip that getting to miss three days of school was not quite the punishment that the Principal suggested it was, but something told Rui that such a joke would go over extremely poorly.

The real consequence he figured was that there was no way his handler wouldn't hear of this. Which meant an extremely boring and unhappy lecture, probably following the tune of "your orders on standby were to integrate into school life as a normal student!" Something tells Rui that his behavior did not perfectly match up with those of a normal student. And in fact, not being at school might just mean extra chances to be lectured. Oh, the horror.

One thing that the principal said struck Rui as strange, especially as his attention was more focused on a different person in the room. He turned to the principal and without his customary smile, looked him in the eyes, "Excuse me Principal Hughes, I absolutely object to that."

He paused for a few seconds, partially for dramatic effect, but mostly to formulate a complete sentence before talking, "Considering that our pukey boy here created a mess by being a walking vomit fountain, it makes no sense to double-down on this by forcing him to work around campus in this state. Lest the pukey disaster zone expand."

He gave a quick look at the miserable looking Cecil, "In fact, assuming that Mr. Erinforth is obviously intoxicated, I'd have to object to any orders to our local lightweight today besides being examined for possible alcohol poisoning." Rui was not quite willing to concede that Cecil was obviously intoxicated, as he was taught to never concede adverse facts. But... it still seemed pretty obvious to any objective observer.

All would be well and the Headmaster would have returned to his average, dutiful countenance. Despite his ferocity he took pride in his faculty and responsibilities in educating today's youth, and if they were willing to cooperate and learn their lessons (especially the hard ones) he would have no ire toward any of his students. They were young. Mistakes can be and often are made but if used for personal growth then no harm, no foul as they say. Although, the keyword here is would have. It seemed as if another pink-haired student was adamant on being disobedient. Principal Hughes turned an icy glare toward Rui and held it for several seconds, allowing the weight of his authority to sink in.

"........young man, I don't believe you're in a position to object to any decision at the moment, let alone how I govern punishment for complete disregard of school rules. And law, which you've broken." The tall man's tone was neutral and devoid of scorn this time around. After the initial shock had worn off Robert Hughes would seek to take control of the situation. The student with pink hair's concern was noted, as it should be, but it would not change his mind. The Principal had already considered this.
"I won't tell you again: vacate Seven Stars this instant before I have you expelled, in the next minute I'm going to begin considering you a trespasser to campus and inform the authorities of your presence. I have been incredibly lenient so far, I advise you not try my patience, young man."

Consequences:

The Headmaster then turned his more neutral gaze to the student still swimming on the floor, walking over to kneel in front of him.
"Cecil, is it? Are you able to stand? Bring one of the buckets with you, I will escort you to the nurse's office. If necessary we will call an ambulance and have your stomach pumped, we will decide down there if you are still ill. This does not excuse you of detention but the well-being of my students comes above discipline."

Cecil...seriously couldn't believe what he was half-hearing. Rui...Rui was...why was Rui doing that?
Because he was Rui! That's why! He can't do the normal thing! Ruis don't do thaaaat. They break things. Like rules! And brains.
His head was starting to hurt so much.
"Why do you do this? It's stupid. It's insane. Stop. Stop, please stop. It's over. It's supposed to be over. Let it be over."

He looks to the principal as he comes and kneels down, and gestures wordlessly for him to stop mid-retch as he realises what he was doing. He'd already drunk all this and vomited everywhere - he didn't want to risk getting vomit on the man after all this. "I...maybe...?" Fumbling with his hand for the table he'd grabbed the jug from, he grasps the edge and pulls himself up, slowly and disjointedly. "Yeah, I think - *Urk!* - so..." Fuck, where was the bucket, where was the buc- there was the bucket.
Carefully, he moves over to the bucket and picks it up, soon christening it with the bile of a stomach nearly voided. He lets out a long groan, looking over to the principal for the briefest moment before letting his eyes cast over the jars of terror. "Where do I get rid of these...? How do I get rid of these...? None of them should be here. None of this should exist."
He half sobs.

Rui shrugged and made the most peculiar hand gesture to Cecil, quite similar to the "call me" hand gesture that Rui saw in a bubble pop song about calling the singer.

Considering that the principal seemed much more preoccupied than Cecil, Rui figured that it was the perfect time to flee the scene. He quickly popped open the storage locker, took out a wagon, and scooped up everything he owned except the disastrous vomit jar of Cecil. That jar, he probably didn't want back. Probably.

In many ways, it was a mercy that he wasn't going to be around to see this room cleaned. After-party cleaning was always the worst part of throwing a party. Thus, Rui's general modus operandi of throwing parties in places where he did not live or own.

He shoveled all of his possessions, from non-vomity jars to unread books to a toothbrush to various other products that most people keep at home but Rui also kept in the clubroom for the sake of convenience, onto the wagon in a giant mess.

Even his rather diminished sense of discretion told Rui that it would be a bad idea to put everything in the dorms. Instead, he left the scene as quickly as possible, looking to drop everything off at the shed of a property he was renting out. Surely, tenants would be less attentive than school principals...?

As he left the school, he offered up a prayer to whatever mad genius invented the "wheel".

--EXIT--

The Headmaster winced at the sickening splorch of Cecil's stomach contents raining against the bucket, although it was incredibly fortunate the bucket was there. This was a new school, which meant new linoleum tile. Perhaps the boy was worse off than he thought, he was almost delirious with his protests and commentary.
"Never you mind, your wellness comes first. We will discuss the details of your punishment when you can physically commit to it and not a moment before, it would be irresponsible otherwise."

Principal Hughes looked on to Rui as he cleaned out his "locker" of all sorts of items, even having a wagon with which to haul it all out with. He was speechless. Truly speechless at this gall. But he was not one to antagonize, the Headmaster had said to leave and the young man was leaving. He would give him no parting shots nor sneers of disdain. Though he would do his due diligence. As the pink-haired student gathered his things Principal Hughes would hit the call button to trigger the room announcement and signal the faculty staff, being greeted with a familiar tone.
"This is Principal Hughes, we have a sick student in the Literature Club room and a miscreant. Please send down the nurse to escort the sick student and someone else of faculty to ensure that this other student does not deviate from his path to the exit of Seven Stars. *Haaaa...* ...you'll know him when you see him."

The Headmaster placed his hand to his temple. What riff-raff entered his school system to be causing so much trouble so early on in the year? The educator shook his head and took Cecil by the arm. Ill or not he was still very much in hot water and he wouldn't have dallying about.
"Come now, we need to get you checked up and assessed." Lest Cecil protest or not, unless he would do anything drastic they would make their way to the

"But...this needs getting rid of. It...it can't stay here. Urk...vinegar, why did it taste like-" Cecil's eyes seemed to bulge as Rui raided the locker for a wagon and proceeded to fill it up and flee, shaking his head as he watched on in horror. "No...no, no, no, you can't do that, you can't take that, that has to be gotten rid of, are you insane-!"
It's at that moment he feels himself heaving again, turning and retching as a somewhat smaller amount of bile dribbles from his mouth, the feeling of death hanging over him as his stomach spasms. "Bitter...why is it so bitter...? So, so bitter..."

He doesn't have the capacity to resist being pulled along as the headmaster takes him away to be examined, sobbing with a bitter taste in his mouth. "I hate this, I hate all of this, the jars the madness the bitter taste, the lack of sense, I tell him people don't do this and he completely ignores me, he makes my head hurt, he'd make DEMONS' heads hurt, demons would be better than this..."
"I hate my life, I hate my life...I hate, hate, hate my life..."