Drama king.

"She'll be transferring to a school there, I assumed she told you," Moira said.

John had no idea how to react. The paladin had dropped a lot onto his metaphorical plate, and he was trying to sift through it. The one person that he could really call an ally, the one person he really trusted in this crazy new world... she was going to disappear at the end of the week, and he was supposed to take her place?

"...University in Montreal. I don't know why she decided to go there, when my father could easily get her entrance to Oxford or Cambridge, but she was insistent."

Moira was still talking, but her words were distant now. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all... Erica was just going to up and leave him with the Order? With a bunch of crazy zealots that strong-armed him into working for them, led by a 'paladin' that tried to kill him the first time they met? Discomfort dug its claws into John's heart. What would happen to him when she was gone...

"Regardless, she seems to have faith in you, and your display yesterday was promising. I hate to admit it, but Erica might be right about you."

Why... why hadn't she told him? A dark inner voice provided the answer.

She's playing you, isn't it obvious? Just like Vanessa...

He thought back to their first encounter, to how excited she'd been to meet him and how energetically she'd dragged him along to her 'job'. Was that genuine or just a way to get him to lower his guard so she could rope him into taking over for her? Was there a manipulative side to the berserker that he'd newly uncovered? John's paranoia ate away at his trust, and he couldn't keep it locked up.

"She wouldn't pick just anyone to... hey, are you listening?"

He shoved the last bite of lunch into his mouth and grabbed the tray. Distrust was turning to anger. How could Erica mess with him like that? He wasn't just a convenient idiot to foist her responsibility off to. Why hadn't she told him earlier? If she'd asked, he'd have said yes... but was that just what she wanted? His head swam.

"Newman?" the paladin asked, genuine concern in her voice.

John dug his fingernails into his palms, internal turmoil transmuting into raw fury. Why did everyone call him that? Wentworth, Lord Brighton, Tricia, they were all looking down on him, the condescending lot of them!

"My name is John!" he emphasized the last word with every bit of rage he could draw on, "And maybe you assholes should ask before forcing your job onto someone else!" Moira's prim demeanor had faded, replaced with a defensive look. Her expression only fell further as he shouted at her; his words had bitten in deep. Good.

John turned from the table, refusing to wait for her reply and tossed his tray on top of the nearest trashcan. It was probably stupid, turning his back on the heiress to an ungodly powerful organization that he now worked for, even ignoring the fact she was over twice his level... but he didn't give a fuck. He wasn't anyone's replacement, not without them asking him first!

"John, wait!"

He considered punctuating his exit with a rude gesture but decided against it. The part of him that held back was internally screaming at him to go back, turn around, talk things out with the paladin before she moved him from her list of tentative allies back to 'rogue mage'... but that was drowned out by the other, louder voice.

So much for being my friend. I guess she just wanted to use me, just like the dumb idiot I am... Go figure.

The berserker's smiling face came to mind, and John shoved his hands into his pockets violently to try and dismiss it. Almost immediately, his phone buzzed.

Think of the devil and she will appear...

Erica C. (12:20): John what happened with Moira?
Erica C. (12:20): Seriously dude what did she say?

No. He wasn't dealing with this now. John swept both messages away, deleting them, then held down the power button until his phone switched off. There were still two packages somewhere in the school and the optional portion of his daily quest to complete. He looked back at the cafeteria, trying to spot Moira among the crowd. She still seemed to be sitting where he'd left her, so going back there to check was out of the question. That left the theater building, gym, football field and sciences annex.

To his surprise, he was first confronted with an unexpected achievement:

Achievement Unlocked - "Burning Bridges"
Cripple a budding relationship, you heartbreaker.
-1 Charisma

You too? Fuck off.

He trudged over towards the theater, seeing as he'd have to head there after lunch anyway. If he was lucky, he'd have enough time to check around for caches before class started. John bypassed the lobby via the student entrance and found himself in the darkened backstage area. Picking his way through the stacked sets and other junk, he peeked out of the curtains.

When he'd first started at Ashcroft, John had been excited to have an acting class. They'd learn all about stage combat and give him an excuse to kiss his co-star! As it always did, reality crushed his naive hopes. His teacher, Mr. Langley, was the sort that truly believed in the artistic possibility of stagecraft and insisted they learn works like Waiting for Joe Dot, which John found utterly dull. There were even rumors that the next play he was planning was a theatrical rendition of A Room.

Nevertheless, he was impressed at the scale and quality of the academy's facilities. It wasn't just a room with some benches: there were curtains, rows of seats, a sound booth, everything a professional theater needed. Truly, Ashcroft was equipped with a proper stage, which doubled as an auditorium on the rare occasion there was a speech or fundraiser. At the moment, it was dimly lit, with only low lights on around the stage rim and some illumination cast from an open door at the end of the seats. Everything was quiet.

There was nothing out of the ordinary on the stage itself, so he hopped down and started walking along the seats. Maybe a cache would be tucked underneath one. With Astral Observe active, he had no trouble seeing in the dark... but there was something unusual that he kept getting distracted by. Four leylines ran through the theater, straight down the rows of seats to converge in a single point at the center of the stage. It was too precise to be accidental, and John wondered if Mrs. Wentworth had had a hand in designing the building.

Reaching the end of the seats, he poked his head out into the lobby. Nobody was there, and no caches were lying out in the open, so he retreated back into the theater. The only places left unchecked were the set shop, art rooms and sound booth... but they'd be locked. June only taught on Mondays and Fridays, and aside from Erica, he didn't know anyone who took the scenery and costume class. He'd just have to hope that the Developer hadn't hid any caches in either of those locations. That or learn to pick locks.

John walked back to the stage and climbed up on it, looking up at the sound booth. It was hard to make out distinct details at a distance, but there was something boxy sitting just in view. He decided to try for a closer look. Standing precariously on the back of the rear-most seats, he was able to see over the lip of the booth's window. Sure enough, one of the caches was perched atop the audio controls.

Damn.

He tried the door, locked, of course. Well, now was as good a time as any to learn how to finesse it open...

Footsteps sounded in the lobby, and John backed away from the sound booth. A moment later, his teacher nearly walked into John, too busy fiddling with an armful of scripts to pay attention to his surroundings. He looked up just in time to sidestep and maintain his balance, with an eager grin on his face, "John! You're here early! Excited to take a crack at our next project?"

Hell no.

John nodded.

"Enthusiasm! That's what I like to see... keep it up, and I'll throw you in for consideration as Mark," he kept walking towards the stage and went back to his scripts.

The moment that Mr. Langley wasn't looking, John silently pantomimed vomiting. No way in hell was he interested in a leading role in their latest snoozefest of a play. Still, this might be an opportunity he could use. The switch to the house lights was in the sound booth, and the theater was quite dark. "Uh, Mr. Langley..."

"I keep telling you kids not to call me that," the teacher gave him a hurt look.

John hadn't really paid attention in class and forgotten that, but considering he'd snapped at Moira just earlier for the same reason, it was something he could do. "Right, sorry. Would it help if I got the house lights, Alfred?" he asked.

Mr. Langley grinned and set his stack of papers on the nearest seat, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket and tossing them to John. "That'd be a huge help!"

He caught them and tried to return a smile, managing something that was close enough in the dark. The keyring had over a dozen keys, and John had to try each one on the door before finding the one that worked. As soon as he was inside the small room, he snatched up the package and tore it open.

Upgrade Component
Shimmering Sapphire
Elixir of Minotaur's Might

"John? Can you hit the furthest right switch? I can't see anything here!" his teacher called out from the stage curtains.

Stashing the items in his inventory, he turned around and found the light switch that Mr. Langley had mentioned, flipping it on.