Vic clutched the newly carved wooden alligator head with its sharp scales, rolling around on his bed - his 'throne' right next to the bathroom door - excessively, like a large abandoned dog. "Oh, I've been abandoned by the emotionless detective woman -" He muttered, burying his face into the cold wooden teeth of the alligator, his voice muffled.
"She won't even consider me a loyal Watson in an adventure!" "You're just a pathetic simp right now," Venom retorted bluntly, emerging from his shoulder, his large white eyes rolling.
"Do you need me to put on some sad music for you? Like 'All the Chocolate Has Left Me'?" Vic suddenly sat up, holding the alligator head in front of him, staring at its hollow wooden eyes.
"No," he blinked, the fake misery on his face instantly replaced by new excitement.
"She doesn't need me? No problem! I can find my own fun!" He jumped off the bed with the alligator head and announced enthusiastically, "Then I'll go play with Enid!" "Oh, for God's sake!" Venom let out an exaggerated sigh, covering his face with a tentacle.
"Your solution is to find a rebound? Now you're a total loser through and through! Let's get one thing straight, if your head gets chopped off by the gothic girl or the Little Wolf Girl or anyone else, I'm not saving you!
" "This is called social flexibility!" Vic corrected, already bouncing towards the door with the alligator head.
"Besides, Enid is adorable, like a piece of strawberry milk chocolate that's always energetic!" Meanwhile, Enid was busy with her two friends around their boat, named "black cat." The air was filled with the smell of paint and grass.
"Yoko, the color needs to be brighter! Make them look fierce! We have to win the Poe Cup this time!" Enid encouraged her partner while painting bright yellow stripes on her own oar.
"Hey! Are you building the Ark? Is there room for me?" A familiar voice suddenly chimed in with a laugh.
"Vic?" Enid turned around in surprise, but her smile immediately froze, turning into a short shriek - "Oh God!" The ferocious wooden alligator head was thrust right in front of her face!
Startled, she jumped back sharply, tripped over a paint can, and completely lost her balance, hitting her arm as she fell backward! "Whoa! Be careful!" Vic reacted extremely quickly.
He immediately discarded the offending alligator head, stepped forward, extended his arm, and firmly wrapped it around Enid's waist, pulling her back, saving her from falling into a pile of wet paintbrushes and paint cans.
"That was close," Vic said with a grin, looking down at the bewildered Enid in his arms.
Enid's cheeks instantly turned red like the fresh red paint she had just applied to the boat. Her heart was racing, half from fear, half from the warm and firm arm around her waist and Vic's overly close proximity.
She could even smell the faint scent of pine wood shavings and chocolate on him. "Wow..." Enid's two friends simultaneously let out a long, suggestive, teasing sound from the side, exchanging 'you know what I mean' glances.
"Haven't we seen this scene not too long ago?" Venom's understanding of human interaction patterns was really lacking in new aspects.
"I think I just heard you mention the Poe Cup. What's that?" Vic asked, his arm still wrapped around Enid's waist, seemingly having forgotten to release her.
At the mention of this, Enid instantly seemed to be injected with energy, bursting out of his arms, full of fighting spirit. The flush on her cheeks was also replaced by excitement: "It's my only pursuit this year!
Half canoe race, half cross-country, and most importantly - no rules at all!" She enthusiastically explained to Vic while unconsciously smoothing out her slightly disheveled hair, trying to hide her still-red ears behind her golden locks.
"No rules?" Vic's eyes immediately lit up, as if he had heard the most beautiful words in the world.
"That sounds amazing! Do you need me to help?" He bent down to pick up the troublesome wooden alligator head and offered enthusiastically.
"Really? It would be great if you could help!" Enid's eyes sparkled, completely failing to notice the knowing look her two friends exchanged.
"Hey, I think the pizza we ordered is almost here," one of the girls suddenly spoke up, linking arms with the other.
"We need to check at the school gate. We'll leave this to you two for now!" "Oh, okay," Enid's mind was already fully on the competition and talking to Vic, so she replied absent-mindedly.
"Take your time, be careful." As Vic's friends quickly walked away, he turned to Enid, cradling the ferocious alligator head, and leaned in mysteriously: "Hey, Enid, I just had a brilliant idea!" He almost whispered in her ear, his voice low and enthusiastic.
"When the time comes, we can take this alligator head and do this... and then this... and then that... Oh man, they'll be scared out of their minds." His warm breath brushed against her ear.
Enid couldn't help but shrink her neck, but hearing this outrageous yet enticing plan, she couldn't contain her laughter, her eyes curving into a crescent moon shape: "Oh my god, Vic! You're like a naughty kid! But I love it." She paused for a moment, feeling her cheeks heat up again, and quickly added, "I mean, I love your joke idea!" Her two friends, now farther away, glanced back at the two figures on the grass, their heads almost touching, whispering silently over the wooden alligator head.
"Maybe... we can come back later?" one suggested.
"Great idea," the other agreed.
"How about we find a place to have a long afternoon tea? I don't think they'll need us for a while." The two of them walked away, laughing, as Enid and Vic enthusiastically planned their battle strategy under the sun.
They became so engrossed in discussing their plan that they almost forgot about their afternoon class. Enid didn't even remember that her two friends had left to pick up pizza and never returned.
In the afternoon Botany class, the classroom was filled with a distinctive scent that was a mix of fertile soil, humus, and the pungent aroma of some unusual plants. Vic and Enid sat side by side in the last row of the "designated seats for the less accomplished." The spot had an open view and was far from the seemingly hazardous specimens on the worn-out podium, which were said to cause hallucinations or make a fern grow all over one.
Their attention was completely captured by the intense duel at the front of the class. Wednesday Addams and Bianca Barclay, like two warships with all guns blazing, bombarded each other in a sea of knowledge.
"Aconitum napellus, also known as wolfsbane," Wednesday's voice was cold and clear, like a scalpel cutting through velvet.
"It contains highly toxic aconitine. Symptoms of poisoning include paresthesia, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia, which ultimately leads to death from respiratory paralysis or ventricular fibrillation. By the way, doesn't the withered flower look like a hood prepared for the deceased?
" Bianca immediately perked up, a hint of smugness at the corner of her mouth: "An accurate yet unimaginative description, Addams. Why not discuss its ritualistic use in Gallic Druidic culture?" "Or its other, more widely known name, 'sandals of the goddess'?"
"And to correct you, the flower's shape is more often likened to a monk's hood, not a hood. By the way, is your knowledge of hoods from personal experience?" Wednesday didn't even bat an eyelid: "At least my source of knowledge isn't some siren legends that need to be sung to get attention."
"By the way, the 'monk's hood' you mentioned caused a careless gardener in 1581 Italy to squirm in pain for twenty-four hours straight before dying. His last words were complaints about the burning pain in his fingertips—which doesn't sound very 'holy,' does it?"
"This is getting interesting!" Vic watched with sparkling eyes, involuntarily pulling out a box of Venom's Chocolate-Covered Popcorn, shoving a large handful into his mouth, and naturally offering some to Enid.
Enid, engrossed in the battle, unconsciously took some popcorn and put it in her mouth, her eyes still fixed on the powderless war in front, murmuring in agreement, "How do they know all this..."