“Attention,” Minji called over the speaker system during lunch, “I have an important announcement, so please quiet down.”

“Got a bad feeling ‘bout this,” Chen muttered, not looking up from his lunch.

“You and me both,” Heesun laughed only to be hushed by the rest of the table.

“This Saturday is parent’s day,” Minji continued, “so please, remember the rules. And no mentions of what we’re really doing here. There are human parents who know nothing of supernaturals attending. We cannot let them know about what we really are.”

“Knew it wasn’t good,” Chen scoffed once the speaker system clicked, signaling the end of the announcement.

“God, I hate parent’s day,” Sehun sighed. It wasn’t that the necromancer had a bad relationship with his parents, they just had problem accepting his gift. They loved everything else about him, just not that.

“I hear you,” Tao patted the other’s shoulder. Seeing his parents meant hiding what he was from them which was never a fun thing. He told them everything – well, he had until his vampire gene activated.

“What’s so bad about parent’s day?” Hyuk asked, watching as about half the group looked rather pained at the idea of their families coming to visit.

“Our dad is a jackass,” Chen replied, “and he’s a werewolf elitist, meaning he hates everyone at this table other than Heesun. And you, Hyuk. Since you’re werewolf, too.”

“Actually,” Kai rubbed the back of his neck, “he might still hate you because you’re close to a bunch of non werewolves. And you’ve been raised among humans, so that doesn’t help him like you either.”

“We have to hide what we are from our parents,” D.O said, getting nods of agreement from Tao and Luhan.

“My parents are elitists,” Heesun scoffed, “they view every visit as a chance to shove pro-werewolf garbage down my throat.”

“Same with our parents,” Jessica sighed, “It would be fine if it was just little things like customs and traditions, but it’s not. It’s the council’s anti non-shifters beliefs and ideas getting shoved down your throat the whole time they’re here.”

“Don’t forget that they put down Sori unni every chance they get,” Krystal added, hugging her cousin’s arm while Sori patted her head.

“My parents aren’t that great at dealing with my gift,” Sehun shrugged, “so we spend our time avoiding the subject. They do it in a really obvious way, too.”

“Don’t look at me,” Suho tried to laugh, “my parents are great.”

“Same,” Xiumin, Lay, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun nodded.

“My adoptive parents love me,” Lina smiled slightly, “so I’m looking forewords to seeing them.”

“My parents and I didn’t part on good terms,” Taeyang admitted, “so it might turn into a blood bath when my dad shows up.”

“Same with me,” Taeyeon patted him on the back, “my father is pretty pissed with me right now, too.”

“I think I’m like Suho oppa,” Sooyoung smiled, “my parents should be happy with how much work I’ve put into my training.”

Now, everyone turned to the ones who hadn’t spoken. Kris ignored everyone so no one bothered to ask. Hyuna and Yuri just smiled, but it was clear that they weren’t going to say anything either.

“Dead,” Hyoyeon shrugged, trying to sound indifferent, “I’ll be providing supervision instead.”

“We don’t have anyone to show up either,” N said, waving between himself, Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hongbin, and Hyuk, “so we’ll be alone.”

“Minji might get you to help out,” Hyoyeon told him, “probably nothing big, just setting out food and drinks. Kris, Yuri, Hyuna, Sori, and I can handle everything else.” Now, everyone’s attention turned to Sori.

“The shifter council wants to talk to me,” Sori said it like she was talking about the weather and not something major. Everyone recoiled in varying degrees of shock, but the other shifters at the table – excluding Ravi – looked to be by far the most disturbed by this bit of news.

“What?” Jessica turned to look at Sori, “the council is coming? To talk to you?”

“Is it about Miss Choi?” Hyoyeon asked, jumping up out of her seat, “Who are they sending?”

“How did you find out?” Lay leaned across the table to grab her hands, “did they call you directly? Did Minji tell you?”

“How did they sound when you talked to them?” Krystal added, hugging Sori’s arm even tighter, “How did Minji sound when she told you? Did they sound mad? Did she sound worried?”

“Please stop treating this like it’s a big deal,” Sori frowned at the four shifters freaking out around her, “they just want to talk about my future.”

“What do they care about your future?” Chen scoffed, “it’s your future. They gave up any right to dictate it when they gave you to the ISBIP.”

“Thank you, Chen,” Jessica rolled her eyes, “Sori had completely forgotten about that.”

“Well sorry,” he growled, “I was just saying.”

“What do they want?” everyone stopped talking when they noticed the serious tone in Kris’ voice.

“I don’t know for sure,” Sori shrugged, “but the story I heard from Jihu is that old man Youngjae is making plans to retire from the council.”

“So they’ll have an empty spot,” Kris nodded, “one that I’m sure they would love to fill with a young, powerful shifter.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” she agreed, shrugging as if to say that she couldn’t care either way.

Everyone else fell into silence, each processing this new bit of information while trying to figure out where Sori’s head was at. Before they could do much processing, the bell rang to announce the end of lunch.

“Come on,” Sori said, standing, “we’ll be late for class.” Without waiting, she left the group, heading in the direction of the shifter training field.

“Later,” Jessica called as she rushed after her cousin with Lay, Hyoyeon, Krystal, and Ravi following close behind her.

“Jessica?” Ravi asked as the group began walking, giving up on catching up to Sori.

“What is it?” she replied, glancing at him before returning her attention of Sori’s form in front of them.

“Why would the council want Sori?” he asked, “I mean, it’s not like they’ve cared about her much before, right?”

“Their history with Sori doesn’t matter,” Jessica sighed, “if Sori and Kris are right, then they want her on the council just so that they can show her off.”

“Like a prize winning race horse,” Hyoyeon scoffed, “they aren’t going to give her any power, they view her as too far below them to do that, but they’ll dress her up and parade her around like she’s Miss South Korea or something.”

“It’s like a trophy wife,” Jessica nodded, “a rich, powerful person gets a y, young thing and parades them around as a symbol of just how rich and powerful they are.”

“So they want her just to show off how much power they have?” Ravi rolled his eyes, “that’s stupid.”

“It’s more than that,” Lay frowned, “Sori represents a new way of thinking because she’s friends with non-shifters. Yuri and Hyuna told you before that the shifter council isn’t too friendly with non-shifters, right?” Ravi nodded.

“So they probably want to bring her into the council so that they can crush that way of thinking,” Jessica summarized, “if they can make her conform to their beliefs, or at least make it look that way, they might be able to convince other young shifters to think how they want them to think.”

“Doubt that will work, though,” Krystal laughed, “Sori unni would never let that happen.”

“If they do get her on the council,” Hyoyeon frowned, “she might not have much choice.”

Ravi looked at the worried expression of the four shifters and found himself wondering just how much power the council had over the lives of their own kind. A part of him didn’t ever want to find out, but he knew that he’d likely get a first-hand look soon.

“When the council comes,” Jessica advised, “stay clear of them.”

“What do you mean?” Ravi didn’t exactly see how staying clear of the council was a good idea. They probably already knew all about him thanks to the Miss Choi incident.

“Just stay in your room,” Hyoyeon told him, “the less they know about you the better.”

“Hurry up,” they all heard Sori yell, “the teacher’s already there.”

“We shouldn’t worry so much,” Lay smiled slightly, trying to sound hopeful, “we don’t even know if that’s what the council wants to talk to her about. They could just want to talk about the Miss Choi incident. We should just drop it and forget about it.”

The five rushed to get to class, pretending that they would do as Lay said. However they all knew that they would still be dwelling on the subject later.

A/N: are they reading too much into it, or is that why the council is coming to see Sori? additionally: what pairing(s) do you guys wanna see as things stand right now?