Addergoole fic, part one

[lilfluff]

Title: Rabbit Hole, part One
Fandom/'verse: aldersprig's Addergoole
Rating/Warnings: Eek high school! (What, that's scary! None of the scarier parts of Addergoole in this part, part two on the other hand...)
Summary: The Law's don't care if you know what you're doing. Not the law of gravity, nor the Laws that effect the Ellehemaei fae...


Outside the rabbit hole...

Ric watched the tiny airport pass into the distance while the SUV he was in drove away. A good opportunity, right. Specialized boarding school, right. His grades weren't bad, they were good, but not the kind to get him into an exclusive private school. But those weren't the only type of so-called school that so-called parents sent teens to. His step-never-to-be-called-father Matthew had never liked him. The man never hit him, that would be too obvious, but this wasn't the first time Matthew had suggested boarding school. It was simply the first time his mother had agreed. The tip of the airport's tower disappeared and with it his remaining hope of escape.

Ric had heard about the boarding schools in the middle of nowhere that unhappy parents sent their kids to. Being stuck in a boot camp hell that pretended to be a school wasn't something Ric wanted anything to do with. He had managed to switch to an earlier flight and hoped to slip away. Which might have worked if a delay hadn't meant he had arrived even later than the flight he was originally scheduled to be on. He barely made it off the plane when a man came rushing up, called for him by name, and started leading him away while muttering something about being late. The man, Luke, brought him to the SUV he was riding in now where two others his age had already collected his one non-carry on bag.

Wheat fields gave way to more wheat fields until Ric shrugged and turned to the girl sharing the back of the SUV with him. "So, Etheldred was it? Matt Who-Is-Not-My-Father hates me, what's getting you sent to the cornfield gulag?"

"Cornfield gulag?" The girl, who looked like she could stare down a quarterback, shrugged. "The forms I saw said Addergoole's a school for gifted students. Top academic and physical education programs."

"Really? Huh. Matt doing something decent, I'm pretty sure that's a sign of the apocalypse."

The guy sharing the front with Luke twisted around to face them. "Hey, your name is really Baldrick?" At Ric's nod the guy grinned, "Well, Baldrick and Etheldred, at least neither of you is likely to make jokes about my name being Percival. Just in case you are, no it's not a girls name."

"Can't speak for Etheldred, but I happen to know perfectly well Percival is a guys name. He was one of King Arthur's knights. If the name is good enough for the round table it's good enough for me." While the wheat fields kept rolling by Ric grinned, "A further plus, with a Percival and an Etheldred I should be safe, at least from you two, from being teased for being named Baldrick."

"That depends," Etheldred said, watching the fields out the windows on her side of the car. "On whether you are prone to making cunning plans involving turnips."

"You're a Blackadder fan? Excellent! Maybe this won't be a bad year after all."


Stuck Down the Rabbit Hole

Etheldred smirked a little as Baldrick warily looked around the auditorium. He had relaxed once they started joking only to go paranoid again as the car rode the elevator down into the underground garage for the underground school. That was strange, but no reform school auditorium was going to be decked out with plushly upholstered chairs like the one she was sitting in. When the headmistress came out and started speaking Etheldred could hear Baldrick once or twice mutter a soft, "not fooling me," to himself.

Up on the stage the director kept speaking. "There are very few rules and regulations as such in this school, but you are expected to show your professors proper deference and respect, and do as you are told. In addition, the classes on the schedules you received are all considered required classes; ‘skipping’ is not allowed and will be punished."

To her side Baldrick made a soft scoffing sound. "Still sound like a prep-school to you? She's messing up the soft-sell by talking about punishment already."

Managing not to roll her eyes Etheldred shrugged, "She did call this an experimental school."

"Yeah, but I don't like the idea of being someone's little lab rat. Bad enough to be a mouse among house cats, some of the people here look like they're wild cats. Or maybe jackals."

Etheldred reached over poking his side, unable to resist with the way he was complaining. "Oh? Planning on making cat fight jokes? Or maybe I'm one of those jackals?"

She smirked as panic briefly showed on his face. "No, no of course not! Nothing like that. If you're a dangerous creature then you'd be a wolf. Dangerous but majestic."

On her left it was Percival's turn to laugh. "Close call there, Baldrick. Maybe you should be careful. Unless you have any of those cunning plans at hand."

"Heh, cunning plan." His face went unreadable for a moment. Then he looked at his class schedule again. "Say, I'll make you a deal Ethel, you're going to be in the same Calculus class as I am, right? Let's see, and Chemistry too. I'll provide tutoring if you provide body guarding."

She poked his side again then held out her hand, "Ethel? I'll agree if you agree not to call me Ethel again. Etheldred may be strange but Ethel is a name for old grannies."

"Call me Ric and it's a deal." He clasped her hand and as they shook she felt a cold shiver work down her back and a pop in her ears as the air pressure changed. Ric looked up at the ceiling and rubbed his right ear. "At least they've got working air conditioning here."

Comments

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

<3<3!!