Pearl’s Kimchi
Pearl makes a large batch of kimchi for all of her friends to enjoy, but the only problem is she accidentally makes it inhumanly spicy beyond comprehension.
Before tasting the kimchi herself, Pearl passes the kimchi to Kay, Hugo, Brown, Charlie, Gyssabel, Nathaniel, and Fraise, who all almost die from it. Pearl finally makes the mistake of falling victim to her own food and immediately dumps it, burning a hole in the trash bag. Her cooking becomes a subject of jokes she will never live down amongst her friends across campus.
Brown’s continuous mental breakdown
Brown, at his lowest state, is now starting to affect everyone around him, leading to some conflict between the few remaining friends he has left, making him feel even worse. His continued nightmares, panic attacks, and self-deprecating rants make him generally unapproachable.
One day, he breaks down in front of Nova, who tries to empathize with him, both still dealing with the consequences of the Tournament. After a long talk, they convince Brown his human problems are not as bad as he makes it seem, though Brown is concerned that Nova cannot bring to see themself as a “person”, and leaves to do their own self-reflecting.
Brown takes Nova’s guidance and looks for a job, landing one on his first try at the Lodge with Artemis. He develops a pretty obvious crush on her, though Kay also confesses her interest in her to Brown. They decide not to make their romantic pursuits a messy, cliche love triangle (if the relationship drama from the Wine Arc taught them anything). Artemis grows conflicted with their separate pursuits.
The Fishing RP
Skyber invites Kay and Brown to go fishing at Lake Bob one morning. Kay is more than happy to jump at the opportunity, and Brown also accepts, though has no idea why.
They make it to the lake and spend the morning quietly fishing and talking. Skyber divulges a bit of her long, long past, including historical events, romantic/sexual partners, and her rivalry with The House, an evil mob faction peaking in 70s Vegas.
She asks why Brown even tagged along in the first place, and Brown is unable to give her a direct answer. He asks back why she invited him if she didn’t want him there, even accusing her of favoriting Kay, though Skyber retorts that the only person who thinks that is him. Eventually, they find that Brown’s traumas and misfortunes has taught him to hate himself, yet without a stable outlet and identity he takes it out on everyone else, especially the biggest target, Skyber; Skyber invited him and Kay out of loneliness, after Nova’s distancing themself, realizing she’s unhappy with herself and how everything ended up.
Skyber builds a fire to cook their caught fish, while Kay and Brown pursue their fishing hook, caught on the bottom of the lake, strangely made out of metal. There, they find a secret entrance leading down to the Underground tunnels of campus, where something sinister is felt lurking below. Again, they decide not to investigate any further out of fear.
Carrie awakens from her coma. Her guardian and lawyer, Jason Whitman, greets her with a warm reunion.
RGB
Distancing themselves from Hugo for T.R.O.Y. and from Brown for being aggressively depressed, Pearl and Kay find that Collateral Damage is on indefinite hiatus, but still want to play music.
They decide to form a band with each other, and include Casti, the keyboardist from the Offchords, who is also looking for a new band. Kay takes guitar while Pearl takes drums. They name themselves RGB. (Red=Casti, Green=Kay, Blue=Pearl)
The Dungeon Run [SOFT CANON]
Kay and Brown arrive at the Wildcard Arena, answering a call for a job Skyber has for them under the wine cellar. The two announce forming a labor union, lambasting Skyber’s handling of her employees throughout the Rock-a-Thon and the Tournament. After trading heated bickering amongst themselves, Skyber eventually concedes, as she is running low on options, trust, and manpower.
To test their skills and their will to fight, Skyber activates the arena and runs through a tutorial of the augmented system the wine cellar has been running on. Kay and Brown pass it with ease, leading Skyber to challenge them with a boss battle vs. herself. They are less successful, as Skyber stops the fight before they got defeated, but are initiated into their first run under the cellar.
Once down inside, the two are met with a rogue-like dungeon procedurally generated like a video game on the first basement floor. There, they solve RPG puzzles while fighting wine cellar-themed enemies like flying bottles of wine and literal dust rats.
While crossing a seemingly easy pit, Kay is knocked into the abyss by an unknown force, and Brown is also sucked inside. They awake on the second basement floor, with no way of escape. With Brown and Kay stuck and out of supplies, they claim forfeit and are spawned back outside the cellar.