I've been waiting for art, but I decided I'll just make this badge by Derrick Dasenbrock as a placeholder. I'll post this later, but for now, here's page 45!

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"Do we have any holly in our garden?" Robey asked. "It works against malevolent spirits, and it worked against that one sorcerer."

Ivan blinked in surprise. Even though he now knew magic existed, it still caught him off guard to hear of the secrets the world kept. Of magic. Of monsters.

"I think we're out, but maybe some of that black cohosh would work."

"Vhat is black cohosh?"

Jolly suddenly gave Ivan a wan smile. "Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to leave you out of the conversation there."

"Oh, this should be good," Robey said with a smirk. He leaned back in his chair, leaving part of his mane to continue to cover his left eye. "Go on, Jolly. What's black cohosh good for, hm? If you don't tell him, I will. Feline unity, and all that."

Jolly shot Robey a look. One that even Ivan could translate. We'll talk later, it said. "Black cohosh gives courage to the meek if carried. No offense."

Ivan shook his head. "I am not offended. I am surprised I did not give up at the very beginning, vhen I saw rommate's pet turn into monster."

"You're braver than most people when faced with something beyond their comprehension," Jolly said. "You got spirit, too, from what Tank and Robey told me, defying Scowl like that." He looked at Robey. "Speaking of our favorite asshole, where is he?"

"Guarding the door like nothing happened."

Jolly frowned. "I think I'll go have a brief chat with him, see if he knows about our holly and black cohosh stock."

"And maybe toss him around some for messing up Tank?"

Jolly's frown turned into a grin. "He needs to get over what happened between him and Tank. It was almost a year ago."

"Please hit him once for me," Ivan said. When both Robey and Jolly gave him surprised looks, he added "He hurt my friend."

"Don't worry, Ivan, I'll have a nice chat with Scowl." Jolly then lumbered towards the hallway. "As a matter of fact, I'll go do that now. Don't worry about the noise."

Ivan then remembered the twins. He did not see them leave, and felt a momentary rush of concern for the two. Where had they gone? "Vhere are Brooks and Brent?"

"They're napping. They were exhausted after having to make sure Scowl wasn't going to suffer any ill effects from being dropkicked, though I almost hoped his personality would get flip flopped like last time." Robey then shook his head. "But we didn't get so lucky."

Outside of the room Ivan heard muffled shouting, followed by a heavy thud that shook the wall. "Oof," Robey muttered. "I didn't think Jolly would be that rough with him."

A few minutes later, Scowl entered the room with an expression Ivan would not have expected to see--worry.

Robey stood up quickly. "Where's Jolly?"

Scowl rubbed the back of his head, unable to make eye contact with Robey at first. "I fucked up, Robey. He's out cold."

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