Oh, wow. University is terrifying.

I hadn't even been there for a full day before I began mentally cowering in the back of my head. Adults are scary. I'm bad with people. Social interaction was hardly my strong point.

My new school, the University of Hiroshi, was ginormous. In a word.
The roll was over 20,000 students. The campus spans over 200 acres. The acceptance rate; low. A terrifyingly mere 13%. How the hell did I get accepted again?
I felt like a pebble in a river, there were so many people and the place was so massive that I could take a step and I'd be lost. Students swarmed the campus like flies, darting this way and that. Some with bewildered and overwhelmed expressions such as I, some, those who were older, already with focused frowns and bags under their eyes. And it was only the beginning of orientation week.
God. Lloyd had the right idea of not going to university.

I wish he was here.

As if Lloyd and I were spiritually connected by thought alone, my phone that sat pressed against my leg in my jean shorts buzzed with a notification. I ducked behind a building and leant back against the wall, fishing it from the too-tight pocket with a frustrated grimace. With an accomplished grunt, I finally succeeded in retrieving my device. I held the screen up and fleetingly smiled at the preview of the text Lloyd had sent. I unlocked my phone and was sent straight to our message thread.

Lloyd:
'I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more just to be the man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door.'

Lloyd:
P.s. I miss you :(

Lloyd:
P.p.s. A lot :'(

Lloyd:
Haha I said p.p :D

I hid a snort behind the back of my hand just as a shooting pain stabbed through my heart. God, it's not even been the first day and I miss him. So much.
I began typing a quick reply, eager to be quick so I could scout out my dorm as swiftly as possible. Only then could I relax for a brief moment before throwing myself into University life.

Me:
I miss you too :')

Me:
Also this place is freakin huge man im so scared.

Lloyd:
You'll be fine! If you can help save Ninjago, University should be a piece of cake!

Me:
Surprisingly, I think University will actually be a lot more traumatising than saving Ninjago from the preeminent. You should see the seniors. Classes haven't even begun yet and they already look stressed to the max.

Lloyd:
Are you sure that's not your imagination playing tricks on you? I get it, you're nervous, and I wish I could be there to help you, but sunshine, you're the most capable person I know. You can do this. I believe in you!

I had to pause and hold my phone to my chest for a minute to regain any sense of anything. I bit my lip and held back a, I don't know, some kind of sound that had built up in my throat while reading his text.

Me:
You're probably right. You're the best. I love you.

Lloyd:
I know. I love you, too. Can't wait till you finally visit!

Me:
I literally left this morning.

Lloyd:
Did I stutter?

Me:
Well it is text, so you can't really stutter.

Lloyd:
Stop acting smart just because you're at University! I should go, I'll leave you be, my love. Our hearts shall be distanced for now, but soon they'll rejoice and be reunited! And scene.

Me:
Dork.

Lloyd:
Meanie >:p

Me:
I'll call you tonight.

Lloyd:
My phone won't leave my side! Well, it never does anyway, I'm not a monster. But you get what I mean. I have to go, soon. Got some time-twistin crooks on the loose!

Me:
God, I wish I was there to give you A Look™. Love you byeeee stay safe!

Lloyd:
Will do! I love youuuu

With a settling inhale, I shoved my phone back into my shorts pocket and grabbed out my campus map again. All I knew was that I was in the Nuan house. Dorm room #304.
I found where it was located on the map and lugged my suitcase along behind me. The cheap, plastic wheels kept getting caught in the cobblestones of the courtyard. Honestly, what a shitty design. And this was supposed to be one of the most prestigious universities in Ninjago.
Well, after Borg's new one that is. But I could not afford that tuition fee.

The Nuan house (which, fittingly to its namesake, a translation of 'warm') had a wooden rising sun above the entrance. I glanced at it briefly before stepping inside.
The house was quiet, which was a strange contrast to the hustle and bustle of outside. A staircase spiralled up to the first floor from the entranceway and a hallway led deeper into the house. I took the stairs, deciding to drop off my gear first and explore later.
The first floor was for the third and fourth years. The second for the seconds and the third for the firsts. I went straight to the top floor and easily found my room.

Shifting around my backpack, I grabbed my dorm key that had been sent to me with my welcome package and unlocked the door. The room was nothing to marvel at - just a pair of beds pushed to opposite sides of the wall and a window in between them. The carpet was thin. The walls were an off-white, which used to probably be white. A toilet room split off to the side. The showers were on the second floor and shared by the first and second years.

Wonderful. I miss the Monastery already. Most especially the spiritual garden.
The spiritual garden, where so many things happened. It was a little paradise within a larger one. Paradiseception.
I was shaken from my reverie by a loud explosion that was the door banging against the wall. I flinched in surprise, feeling my heart shove itself up my throat as I whirled around to face the danger.
Said danger was a pale girl. A pale girl with a black ponytail, a piercing in one eyebrow and a scar across the other. Bold, daring purple lipstick was painted over her lips and they pursed to the side when her equally bold and sharp brown eyes stared me up and down.

"O- oh!" I stammered, standing uncomfortably ramrod straight and tried my hardest not to look intimidated. "... hey! I'm- uh, I'm Y/n."
"Violet," the black-haired girl replied simply, looking around the dorm room.
"It's nice to meet you," I tried for hopefully.
Violet paused. Her gaze flickered back to mine and held it for a beat. I could feel intimidation oozing off of her in waves.
"Likewise," she mumbled, hauling a large suitcase to the bed on the left. Well. At least I don't have to choose. I dumped my gear on the bed pressed against the right wall.

"Erm... what's your major?" I asked, a weak attempt at small talk. Violet collapsed onto her bed, staring at the drab ceiling with a deadpanned glare.
"Psych," Violet replied. "My focus is forensics."
"Oh! I'm studying Psyc-"
"Do you know where the frat party is tonight?" Violet asked, cutting me off as she suddenly sat up. I blinked.
"There's a party tonight? Already?"
"Of course," she rolled her eyes. "It's orientation week. There's basically a different kind of party every night for five days."
A different kind of party every night for five days?! What kind of university orientation is this?
"Oh," I said simply, trying not to look too baffled. I'm pretty sure it didn't work.

"It's fine," Violet grumbled. "I'm sure if we walk around enough, we'll find it. It's a frat party. It's hard to miss."
"I'm sorry- we?" I repeated incredulously. Violet propped the back of her head on her arms.
"I, you, we, us, you and I, I and you, plural," Violet drawled, using a twirl of her hand to emphasis her point. "I'm not going to a party alone."
"Well, I'm not going to a party at all," I said sternly, placing my hands on my hips. "Besides, I'm calling my boyfriend tonight. I can't be at some stupid frat party where everybody will just get drunk off their faces and do stupid shit that they won't be able to remember the next morning."

No thanks. No siree.

💚📦💚

I can't believe I'm at a frat party.

I shuffled through a mass of moving, moist bodies. All I could smell was sweat and the scent of human as I struggled to get to a place where it wasn't so congested with drunk, dancing people. Two things that should never go together.
I pulled at the black maxi skirt that Violet had all but forced me to wear, uncomfortably tugging on the long slit that ran up the length of my leg. I could feel unwanted eyes on me. I could be paranoid (after all, there were a lot more girls wearing skimpier clothing than I) but my suspicious nature was still valid. Who'd ever feel comfortable around shitfaced teenagers, many of whom still had barely any control over their hormones, was somebody I was not.

I sighed, closing my eyes as I found a secluded spot beside the stairs, taking a moment to have a seat and let my mind rest for a while. I didn't know how on earth all these people had the energy for all of this. I certainly didn't.
"Enjoying yourself?" a voice called from behind me. I glanced up to spot a boy with wavy, long brown hair thrown carelessly in a side-sweep. He had nice, blue eyes.
I merely shrugged in response, not trusting my words. I'd probably cuss. Or scream from all the overstimulation I was exposed to. Either way it was a lose.

"What's wrong?" the boy asked, taking a seat beside me. In his hand was a barely begun beer. I ran a hand through my tangled hair and smiled with a shrug. My other hand tapped on the rim of my phone.
"I'm not much of a party person," I called over the music. The boy was definitely a second year. He kept on nodding greetings to his friends and getting patted on the shoulder when others passed. "I was kind of forced to come here by my roommate."
"And then she ditched you," blue eyes finished for me.
"And then she ditched me," I echoed with a roll of my own. I glanced down at my phone, twirling it in my hands. Blue eyes glanced down at it.
"No pockets?" he asked.
"Huh? Oh, no, I have pockets," I laughed a little. "I'm just waiting for a call."

Blue eyes raised his eyebrows.
"Waiting for a call?" he echoed. "In the middle of a frat party?"
I nodded.
"Yep!" I smiled, before feeling my phone vibrate in my grasp. Lloyd's contact showed up on screen. I stood. "That's him now, I should go. Thanks, see ya later!"
Blue eyes weakly raised a hand.
"Bye.." he mumbled just as I began the treacherous journey to the closest exit I could find.

"Hi!" I breathed excitedly just as I popped out from between some bodies and ended out in the pool/backyard. I use the term 'pool' lightly - it really was just some plastic posts holding up the edges of a tarpaulin. It seemed to do the trick, though.
"Y/n!" Lloyd sighed. "It's nice to hear your voice."
I snickered. "You heard it this morning, dork."
"I know! It's been too long," Lloyd complained. He paused when he heard me say 'excuse me' to some couples who were laughing in a group. "I'm sorry, is this a bad time to talk? I can call later-"

"No!" I snapped in impulse. "No, no, no, no! I- I've missed your voice, too."
Lloyd didn't reply. He didn't need to. I knew that he was smiling at the duvet cover of his bed with an embarrassed smile.
"Where are you?" he asked. "Like, what are you at?"
"Some stupid frat party that my new roommate forced me to go to," I grumbled, rolling my eyes and grabbing one of those red party cups from a large table of them. I sniffed its contents. Beer. I can deal with beer. "I swear to god, everybody is here."
"Sounds fun," Lloyd mused with a sigh.
"More like excruciating," I mumbled, sliding down a wall to curl up on the ground, pulling my knees up to my chest. "Everybody's drunk or tipsy. There's never been so many damn hormones."
Lloyd weakly laughed. I frowned.
"Are you okay?" I asked. He paused, hesitating.
"Yeah," he said unsurely. "Yeah, I am... it's just sometimes I wish I was normal so I can go to University, go to stupid frat parties and you know... do normal stuff people our age do."

I smiled softly, playing with the hem of the long skirt. I kept tugging the material to hide the large slit up the side of it.
"Normal's boring, Lloyd," I murmured, glancing around the party. "Normal's loud, obnoxious, drunk and dangerous. I wish I was back home."
"With me?"
"No, with Zane- yes of course with you, you dolt," I snickered. Lloyd chuckled.
"Just making sure."
"How's the criminal busting going?"
"It's boring. Also kind of spooky. But I can handle it!"
"Of course you can handle it," I grinned. "You're Lloyd Garmadon! Best criminal buster there is!"
I checked the time- 10:34pm. I didn't want to be at the party any longer than I needed to be. I gathered myself up and wished my good nights and love yous to Lloyd before hanging up. Carefully making my way across campus, I went back to the bed that'll be mine for the next year.

💚🍻💚

After a week of being dragged out to party after party, I was a husk of myself, obliterated in the form of being my normal self. Exhausted of all energy.

Class time!

What a great start to the semester, I thought drearily to myself as I dragged my feet across the cobblestone courtyard to the block that held my first class. Violet, who shared most of my classes, groaned from beside me.
I bite back a snarling retort that was along the lines of 'well, if you didn't drag us out to every party every night for the past week, we'll be feeling a million times better.' I could already feel the pretentious stares of scholars - those that didn't go to any parties and felt smug about it. It was viable. I wish I was one of those people. Anything to get this grungy, wobbly mess out of my brain. This wasn't at all how I wanted to start university.

Class began. I didn't even know who sat next to me (all I knew was that Violet headed straight for the back to take a nap). It wasn't until the end of class, after everything flew right over my head, did I look at my neighbour.
I blinked. Shook my head. Blinked again.
My neighbour, a green snake like-humanoid, shifted their piercing, slitted, reptilian gaze to mine.
"Morning," he said with a hissy, raspy voice. Bewildered, I simply lifted a hand in greeting. "I take it that where you're from, there aren't many ssserpentine?"
I meekly shrugged.
The serpentine rolled his yellow eyes. They reminded me of daisies and wheat fields, with a faint hint of danger and poison.

"I'm Y/n," I introduced myself, sticking my hand out for him to shake. He slid his scaly grasp into my own and shook it firmly.
"Kvasir," he said. "Where are you from?"
"Ninjago City," I replied with a shrug. "What about you?"
"The toxic bogsss," he replied. The expression I made must of been funny because he loosely chuckled. "It'ss not as bad as it soundsss."
"Okay," I said, my voice a little more high pitched than usual.

Kvasir and I went to get lunch together. He talked about his life and I talked about mine. The he talked about his boyfriend and I talked about mine. Then he talked about the Green Ninja.
"Honessstly," Kvasir shook his head with a hissy scoff. He poked at his salad, accompanied by a whole fucking rat that he pulled out of his bag in a Tupperware container. "He'sss so overrated. All he doesss to usss serpentine isss chassse usss back underground."
Aheh. Yikes.
"But, uh, he still saves the day, though," I said awkwardly, trying not to stare at the literal rat in his salad. "Didn't you guys like, try to basically destroy the whole world with that Great Devourer thing?"

Kvasir grumbled. Something about Pythor being a 'weakass pussy.'
"Yesss," Kvasir admitted, and held up a hand in a point. "But I wasssn't given a choice to back out. Not all of usss snakesss are evil. We just had to follow our leadersss."
"Well, what if you have a talk to- uh, the Green Ninja yourself?" I asked with a shrug, stabbing my mac and cheese with a fork absentmindedly. "You could discuss terms with him. Maybe even bring some of you guys to live in the city?"
"Live in the city?" Kvasir repeated incredulously. "No, that'sss imposssible. Humansss would freak."
"Only because they don't know the truth," I reminded gently. "All they know about serpentine are from stories and from past difficulties. But everybody changes over time, right?"
"How would I even talk to the Green Ninja?" Kvasir shook his head. "He'sss uncontactable."

I hummed in mock thought, staring down at my mac and cheese with a thoughtful frown.
"I'm sure he'll know," I murmured. "He seems to know whenever he's needed."
"You think it'sss one of hisss powersss?" Kvasir grinned. A long, sharp fang poked out from behind his lip. "Ssome kind of ssspider senssse."
"Maybe," I chuckled.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I became an advocate for the Serpentine.

Kidding. But only kind of.

It was that evening when I called Lloyd. I was eager to tell him about Kvasir and the possibility of a human/serpentine friendly future. However, his frantic voice caught me off guard before I could even say hello.

"Y/n!"
"Lloyd?!" I grabbed the phone with both hands worriedly and turned away from Violet, who had her nose stuck in a book. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"It's uncle Wu!" Lloyd said with a gasping, scared voice.

"He's missing!"