Walking down the Unseen Path [Jun 10]

[Sid]

Walking down the Unseen Path

It's time! It's November! It's... National Novel Writing Month!
My first year, actually, so I'm kinda excited about it.

(Update: I failed and didn't even reach the 50% marker. But the fic continues anyway!)

If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is: The task is to write a novel (in this case, this term includes fanfics) with at least 50.000 words in November.

After going through my Big Pile of Plots in October, I decided to pick a story that is set in the DMFA universe. The rest of the month was spent with idle plotting and researching (and writing two exams and starting into the new semester). The final state of my DMFAverse-knowledge may not be complete (I didn't manage to read each and every relevant posting by Amber), but it should suffice to avoid at least the most obvious errors... I think.

Index:

Chapter 1: Guests
Chapter 2: Revelations
Chapter 3: The Offer
Chapter 4: Welcome... to the Academy
Chapter 5: Roommates
Chapter 6: Ink
Chapter 7: Dates and Dimensional Folding
Chapter 8: Class Credit
Chapter 9: The Date

[Sid]

Chapter 1: Guests

"It was a dark and stormy night. Cascading thunder roared over the rolling hills of the Kingdom."

She stared at what she had just written. No, the lamb finally decided and scratched out the two sentences. Hello, square one, it's me again, she thought bitterly, flexing both sets of her wings, the telltale signs of a Succubus. The wings on her back settled down quickly enough, but the small wings on her head kept moving, reflecting her irritation. What if I'm just not meant to be a good author? Somebody once told me that writing is easy for people who have witnessed amazing and exciting things. Maybe my life just isn't interesting enough.

Just at that moment, something inside her living room started to tear apart the dimensional borders. She gave the vortex a glance. "Yep. Life's not interesting enough. That must be it."

"If you wanted a more interesting life, you could just join me, Fewobia," the tall creature standing in the center of the vortex replied. The creature, a female, white-furred poodle with pale fuchsia hair, gave the lamb a toothy grin. Like Fewobia, she had two sets of feathered wings, the flight feathers being colored in the tone of her hair.

"Hello, Fa'Lina," the lamb replied evenly. "It's been a while." She gave the small creature next to Fa'Lina a look. "Having trouble?"

"Stupid humidity!" the Warp-Aci hissed, its tail moving around erratically as it sealed the dimensional borders again. "Always messes up a clean transport. Of course, Fa'Lina gaining a few pounds doesn't exactly help since-"

"Kifo!" the tall poodle barked sharply.

"You know it's totally true," Kifo muttered. Then, with a final snap of the tail, the vortex disappeared. "There. Finally."

Fewobia snickered. "I assume you are here because of my message?" she asked, offering the fellow Succubus a seat.

"Why else would I come here? There is nothing else I could want in the area. After all, you live in the middle of nowhere, and that's coming from somebody who built a school in a place so remote that it almost counts as its own plane of existence."

"You know that I prefer peace and quiet to your little pet project," Fewobia teased the taller Succubus.

"Pet project? Oh puh-lease. The Academy has been around for a few centuries and houses Cubi from a few dozen Clans. We're all settled in!"

"Oh, I see. So... picked a wallpaper for your office yet?" The lamb smirked when she noticed Fa'Lina's uneasy expression.

"Got one last week," the poodle finally admitted, making Fewobia laugh. "It's hardly important, though!" she quickly added. "The rest of the Academy is looking great! We already got most courses running, there are two dozen full-time professors, and there haven't been any major clashes yet!"

"A school filled with Cubi from rival Clans and no major clashes," Fewobia mused. "Not bad, actually. Never expected you to have any success with this idea, but I admit I'm glad you proved me wrong!"

Fa'Lina let out a quiet sigh. "You're not the only one who thought that the Academy had been a lousy idea," she muttered. "And I figure it'll take a few hundred years more before it will be widely accepted as a success. But it'll be worth it." The poodle Succubus looked down at the floor, apparently lost in thought. Then, suddenly, her head snapped up again. "Speaking of which! Your message! You wrote that you know of a stray Incubus living in the village..."

"Oh, yes. Well, actually I just heard a few rumors from the neighbor village. But from what people told me, it's a young Cubi just coming into power."

"What did you hear?" Fa'Lina asked and cocked her head. It was unusual for Cubi to grow up in a village of Beings. An orphan maybe? It seems unlikely that the parents are Cubi in disguise, otherwise they would have tought him the basics to avoid being noticed.

"Oh, the usual," Fewobia said. "Winged kid suddenly growing a second set of wings and acting strangely. You know, mood swings and stuff like that."

"Headwings already? No Clan mark, no magic, just the wings and mood swings?" Fa'Lina frowned. Most Cubi started using magic before growing their second pair of wings.

"Hey, I never met the kid. Just telling you what I heard."

"Fine, fine." Fa'Lina sighed and got up. "Can you at least give me a name?"

"Family name is 'Callempia'. No clue about the kid's first name, but he's their only son, so you should have no trouble finding him."

"That will have to do, then," the poodle said and nodded. "Let's just hope I can get through to him before they organize a small mob because of me."

"You're not going to shapeshift? Not even to hide your wings?"

Fa'Lina hesitated briefly, noticing the concern in Fewobia's voice. Many Cubi chose to use their shapeshifting abilities to blend in with the environment, but Fa'Lina had a habit of showing people her true self, even if it meant getting into a fight. Besides, she figured, there already is somebody with headwings, and nobody started a mob for him. "No, I think I'll go in like this. If push comes to shove, I'll just teleport out with him. The village is like a poweder keg, and the boy is the fuse. Once he discovers his wing tentacles or something equally obvious, the village will be after him. But maybe I can convince them that their son is better off at the Academy..."

"If you say so," the lamb said with little enthusiasm. "The village is a few minutes north from here. Hard to miss, really."

"Excellent, thank you! I'll be on my way then." Fa'Lina gave Kifo a nod. "Take us out of the village. No need to start rumors about Fewobia having strange guests." She let Kifo fly around her, its tail opening a rift between the dimensions. "Oh, and Fewobia... I meant it when I made you the offer to join me. If you want to teach at the Academy, just say so."

Fewobia opened her mouth to reply, but Fa'Lina had already been teleported out of the house.

---

Author's Notes:
- One of the things that startled me during the research phase was Fi's Cast page. Fi's age is 3, so I assumed that Fa'Lina has had quite a few Warp-Aci. That's why we won't see Fi in this story, but Kifo hopefully makes up for it
- A more general note is that these chapters won't be beta-read (my beta reader would strangle me for 30 days of 1000+ words ). So there may be errors, even though I hope they are not severe. If you catch something, just say it.
- I will try to explain at least some of the DMFA mechanics in the fic so potential readers who don't know Amber's universe inside out won't get too lost. It's mostly a challenge for myself and will be more visible in the future chapters. The result will be how I view the DMFAverse. It will be partially based on Amber's forum posts, partially on my deductions, and the last (hopefully small) part will be basically some guesstimation.
- The word count in my sig reflects how far I am right now, not how much I posted here.

[Tapewolf]

Cool.  That seems to be fairly consistent, although if it was me I wouldn't have made the assumption that weather interferes with the warp-aci system.  They appear to use a Subtle Knife approach to dimensional travel, by the way.

**EDIT**
50'000 words in November?  That's insane.  I've only made about half that with CJP and it's taken months for the ideas to come together.

[Sid]

Cool.  That seems to be fairly consistent, although if it was me I wouldn't have made the assumption that weather interferes with the warp-aci system.  They appear to use a Subtle Knife approach to dimensional travel, by the way.

That one was more of a side idea to give the Warp-Aci a bit of the spotlight in that situation. It was caused mostly because I often imagine that there is some sort of electric buzzing/cracking sound when a Warp-Aci teleports (the rest of the time, I imagine an airy "Fa-whoosh"), so humidity might interfere a bit. On the other hand, it's entirely possible (and somewhat more likely) that Kifo just messed up and needed an excuse that sounded halfway plausible
Whatever the reason, I'm certain that we won't see any StarTrek-ish transporter accidents just because it's stormy in the target location.

50'000 words in November?  That's insane.  I've only made about half that with CJP and it's taken months for the ideas to come together.

Insanity is what this is all about
To be honest, I have NO idea if I'll make it. I figure that it's just 1666 words per day, and I should be able to write that much on an average day. The trick is (quoting many people from the NaNo board) to lock away the Internal Editor. So I should be fine as long as I don't try to find the best possible phrasing and setup and instead go with what comes. My biggest fear is that I accidentally rush things and suddenly run out of plot (unlikely, if last night's batch is any indication, but it's still possible).

CJP (which I still have to catch up with, come to think of it... I lost track of it during my exam phase) and NaNo are two different worlds, I think. Your story is a complex net of events and characters, and you have to take care that everything is at least halfway compatible with the other stories and places Jakob appears in. So you really need the time to plan and to map out the plot. That's not something I'd try in NaNo (unless I spent two months before November to map out EVERYTHING).
I just got rough characters, an equally rough plot and a thin fact-book. The rest is basically a case of "Let's see how things turn out".

[RJ]

  Nice start Sid! I wish you a lot of luck on this. Writing 50000 words kills my brain just to think about it (until at least I remember that I've written over 150k words on my fanfiction... but even then, that's taken me over a year to do).

[Tapewolf]

That one was more of a side idea to give the Warp-Aci a bit of the spotlight in that situation. It was caused mostly because I often imagine that there is some sort of electric buzzing/cracking sound when a Warp-Aci teleports (the rest of the time, I imagine an airy "Fa-whoosh"), so humidity might interfere a bit.

Heh.  I just used synthesizers for the Radio Project, although that was partly because wanted that 1978 Sci-fi sound

On the other hand, it's entirely possible (and somewhat more likely) that Kifo just messed up and needed an excuse that sounded halfway plausible

I like that.

50'000 words in November?

To be honest, I have NO idea if I'll make it. I figure that it's just 1666 words per day, and I should be able to write that much on an average day.

I'm not sure I could find the ideas, but you mention that later.  By the way, last count I did, Gareeku's Furrae Chronicles was 39k.. it's probably broken 40'000 with the last chapter.

[Sid]

Chapter 2: Revelations

It took Fa'Lina only a few minutes to reach the village. "How quaint," she muttered when she saw the small houses. "Less than forty families, by the looks of it, and they somehow managed to pick up a stray Cubi. What are the odds?"

"Fewobia might have been wrong," Kifo whispered to her from its spot on her shoulder. "Maybe the rumor was just started by some drunk wanderers."

"I doubt it," Fa'Lina replied, walking past the first houses. "The rumors sounded pretty specific, especially the bit about a second set of wings. Few people come up with something like that on their own."

"If you say so..." Kifo muttered.

Fa'Lina ignored the doubt in the Warp-Aci's voice and approached one of the villagers, a badger. She idly scanned his emotions, detecting uneasiness, mild fear and just a bit of attraction. "Good afternoon! Could you possibly show me the way to the home of the Callempia family?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

The badger frowned briefly. "Callempia... should've known," he muttered and frowned, glancing up at her headwings.

I knew it, Fa'Lina thought. He knows about the headwings, so the rumors were most likely true!

Still, the badger didn't seem to be afraid of Fa'Lina, most likely not knowing that headwings were an exclusive feature of the Cubi race. "See that house over there? The one next to the small shop? That's the one you're looking for."

"Thank you kindly!" she said and started walking the short distance to the house.

"He didn't sound overly happy about you wanting to see the family," Kifo observed. "You should maybe hurry before the first rumors make the round."

Fa'Lina nodded. "Possibly. But I couldn't sense paranoia or hatred, so I think we won't get pitchfork treatment already." She knocked at the door and waited.

"I'm coming... one moment..." A red-furred vixen opened the door. "What can I do for-" Her eyes widened when she noticed the headwings, and Fa'Lina did not even have to scan her emotions to detect the waves of rage and hatred. "You!" the vixen hissed. "YOU! You did this, didn't you? You did this to our son! You fu-" Her rant was cut short when Fa'Lina held the vulpine muzzle closed with her left hand. The vixen struggled briefly, but quickly realized that Fa'Lina was too strong for her.

The Succubus quickly pushed the Mrs. Callempia inside and closed the door behind them. Still holding the vixen's muzzle shut, she bowed down to her. "No, I did not do anything to your son," she whispered. "But I think I do know what is happening to him. Now... I will let go, and you won't scream or complain, okay?" The vixen nodded slowly. "Very good," Fa'Lina said and removed her hand.

"Wh-What... what is happening to my son?" Mrs. Callempia asked timidly, clearly impressed by the strength of her unexpected guest.

"If my guess is correct, he is growing up. It's just not the sort of growing up you had expected. You see-"

Before Fa'Lina could finish her explanation, another red-furred fox entered the room. "I heard the knock, who was-" he started to ask before he noticed the white-furred poodle.

"Whatever you want to say right now... don't say it," Fa'Lina quickly cut him off when she noticed his expression. "You are Mr. Callempia, I presume?" Neither of them seems to be a Cubi, from what I can detect.

The fox opened and closed his mouth, obviously trying to figure out what would happen if he disobeyed Fa'Lina's request. In the end, his rational side got the upper hand. "Yes... yes, that is correct. And who are you?"

"My name is Fa'Lina," the Cubi answered, "and I heard... things about your son. May I talk to him? It's quite possible that I know what's going on, but I need to see him in order to make sure I'm correct."

The two foxes exchanged worried glances. "I... don't know," the father finally replied. "Maybe we should wait. We sent somebody to the next town to get a more experienced doctor... he should arrive in a few days or so..."

The Succubus clenched her fists. "Your son is just growing up! It's perfectly normal, trust me. This is no sickness." she hissed. Quite on the contrary, actually. Should I tell them that he will most likely out-live everybody in this village? No... that would just freak them out even more... She sighed and shook her head. "Listen. I know you are worried about your son. But in the best case, your doctor will not know what is going on with your son."

"And in the worst case?" Mrs. Callempia asked quietly, looking at the floor.

Fa'Lina hesitated briefly. "The worst case... I guess that the worst case would be that your son kills the doctor by accident, goes on an instinct-driven killing spree and is finally killed by a group of adventurers," she finally replied, watching the vixen pale. "Please let me see him. Once I verified my assumptions, we can talk about the details."

In the end, the father was the first to nod. "He... he's upstairs. Door to the right after the stairs."

Finally. Fa'Lina quickly went to the stairs, trying not to smile. Okay, relax. Now comes the harder part. You got to tell some poor kid that his midlife crisis just got massively delayed.

"Dense parents," Kifo muttered in an apparent attempt to get some attention.

"How so?" the Cubi asked, slowing down a bit on her way up.

"All this talk about unusual things going on, and neither of them asks about the black, long-tailed creature with the faint purple aura which is sitting on your shoulder."

Fa'Lina snickered. "Aw, unhappy that you're not the weirdest sight in town?" she joked. "Relax, though. Maybe their son will throw a fit about you."

"What's his name, anyway?" Kifo suddenly asked, causing Fa'Lina to freeze. The Warp-Aci gave her a look. "Let me get this straight. You're a mindreader AND you spent a few eons talking about that guy, and you still don't know his name? What are you going to tell him? 'Hello, I don't know who you are, but I do know what you are! Wanna trade information?' or something like that? I mean, sheesh, that's got to be the lame-UMPH!"

Crap, Fa'Lina thought, paying no attention to the Warp-Aci, which was trying frantically to free itself from her grip. Kifo is right, asking for the name should have been a no-brainer. Now what? Mindreading? It's tempting, but I want to go into this with as little bias as possible. Reading the mind of his mother may very well affect my judgment later on... Besides, I'm no big fan of mindreading... sometimes it just feel better to do things the old-fashioned way. I guess I'll have to go in unprepared, as much as I hate to do it. "Let's just get it over with," she told herself and went upstairs.

"Whatever," Kifo muttered and followed its Mistress.

"How do I look?" Fa'Lina asked her Warp-Aci, straightening her fuchsia-colored dress in front of the door.

"Bossy," came the immediate reply. "But I guess it's as good as it gets unless you shapeshift..."

Why do I get all the quirky Warp-Aci? Fa'Lina asked herself, making a mental note to send Kifo off to behavior training after this mission. "Fine, whatever," she muttered and knocked at the door.

"...yes?" The voice was low and filled with resignation. Fa'Lina of course had expected something like this, but it still made her sigh.

"May I come in?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful.

There was a long pause. "Who is it?" the voice finally asked, curiosity pushing away resignation for a brief moment.

"My name is Fa'Lina. And I think I know what you are going through."

She could hear him chuckle. "No, I honestly don't think you do. But sure... come in if you like."

Here goes nothing... Fa'Lina opened the door and stepped into the room. "Huh," was her first reaction. Saying that the room was plain would have been an euphemism. No pictures, no decoration... heck, even the wallpaper is just boring old grey. How can anybody live here? She shook her head and focused on the lone figure sitting on the bed. The winged fox was facing away from her, looking at a wall. His arms were wrapped around his knees. Okay, I think it's certain that he was adopted, she thought, noticing his fur and hair colors. While his parents had a classic red fur color, their son's fur was colored in a very dark shade of grey, just a bit away from being completely black. His dark green hair was into a short ponytail. Not dyed, either, considering that his wings have the same color scheme, she observed, taking note of the feathered, almost black wings with the dark green flight feathers. And feathers are almost impossible to dye.

"So... you are the weird dog that gave me my freak wings?" The fox's voice was neutral, and Fa'Lina could not sense direct rage or anger in his emotions, despite the harsh words.

"No, I'm the weird dog who doesn't even know your name. And what makes you think I gave you your wings?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm Kitzi. Kitzi Callempia. And my parents told me... they say that you are responsible for this and that you will now charge them money to cure me."

Fa'Lina blinked. "When did they-... oh... of course, I see." She nodded quickly. He's reading their minds as we speak... most likely without even knowing what he's doing. "Your parents are worried about you. They are worried because... because you can hear them even though they are downstairs."

The fox shook his head, still not facing her. "They don't know I can hear them. Otherwise they wouldn't say all the things they do."

"Oh? Like what?"

"They say that I'm not their real son. That I... that they adopted me."

It doesn't take a mindreader to figure that one out, Fa'Lina thought. "You didn't know that before?"

"How should I? They never told me..." Before Fa'Lina could answer that question, Kitzi spoke again. "Anyway, I doubt you came here to discuss my parents. So... just do whatever you want to do, cure me and ask my parents for the money."

Fa'Lina opened and closed her mouth. This is why I don't read minds unless it's important. It makes you way too biased. "I'm not here to sell anything," she said. "I'm here to talk about you. This may be hard to accept, but the things that happened to you are completely natural."

"Heh. Sure thing. Natural." Kitzi chuckled grimly. "What kind of freak race grows extra wings and starts hearing voices?"

"The Cubi race," Fa'Lina replied evenly.

"...come again?" the fox asked, not having expected a serious answer to that question.

"You are an Incubus. A member of the Cubi race. The headwings are completely normal, and the voices you hear are the thoughts of your parents. You are reading their minds without even realizing it." There was a long pause as Kitzi apparently tried to wrap his mind around the concept of belonging to another race. Even though it's hard to tell since he won't even look at me.

"Wait," Kitzi suddenly said, and Fa'Lina could hear him snickering softly. "I can't hear your thoughts. Does that mean that there's nothing to read in your mind?"

"I kinda like the kid," Kifo whispered into Fa'Lina's ear, ignoring her angry expression.

"No, it means that my mind is shielded against this sort of idle mindreading," Fa'Lina said slowly, trying not to growl.

There was a pause again as Kitzi pondered about that. "Who are you?" he finally asked, his voice sounding serious again. "You seem to be fairly skilled and well-informed."

"I am called Fa'Lina. And like you, I'm a member of the Cubi race. A Succubus, to be precise."

"You are?" Kitzi asked, sounding surprised. "Does that mean you got wings on your head, too?"

"Why certainly," Fa'Lina told him and smirked. "And you know, you could just turn around and take a look for yourself." Her smile faded when she felt a brief wave of anger and sadness coming from the young Incubus.

"No, Fa'Lina... I really don't think so," Kitzi whispered and slowly turned around on the bed. He got to his feet and approached her.

I'm missing something here. There is something wrong with all of this... the way he moves, the way he acts... his emotions... Fa'Lina frowned. Then it hit her. His eyes. They're not focused on anything... She shook her head in disbelief.

"I have some trouble taking a look at you... or anything else, actually," Kitzi told her and shrugged apologetically.

"Dear God... you're blind." Fa'Lina didn't even bother to phrase it as a question.

"You kinda suck at this whole mindreading stuff, don't you?" the fox asked and smirked. "Because even I can hear my parents thinking that word in every other sentence about me."

---

Author's Notes:
- Oh, look! We finally meet the protagonist!
- I really enjoy writing verbal exchanges like the one between Kitzi and Fa'Lina.
- A big problem of this chapter is that most characters have tons of mood swings. Especially Kitzi's parents, even though, to be fair, they are kinda torn between their paranoia and the promise of answers. But I guess that's one of the side effects of meeting Fa'Lina. Okay, seriously, this will get better in the next chapters, I promise.
- I'm actually more or less up to par with the wordcount right now, not too bad...

[Roureem Egas]

This is coming along to be a very nice story Sid.

Point of clarification: His wings are dark green, so-gray-it's-almost-black, or is it a bit of both? I'm kinda confused on that detail.

[Sid]

Point of clarification: His wings are dark green, so-gray-it's-almost-black, or is it a bit of both? I'm kinda confused on that detail.

Ack, a good point! His wings are dark grey, but the flight feathers are dark green. This is, as I only now realize, the exact opposite of Fa'Lina's wing color scheme (where the fur color is also the color of the flight feathers while the hair color determines the rest of the wings).
I also fixed that in the chapter since it had been an oversight that really negated the purpose of the description ^^;

Thanks for the comment and for catching that!

[Tapewolf]

So far, so good.  I guess we'll assume his clan is naturally adept at mind-reading for him to be so good at it so soon.  Either that or his brain is trying to compensate for the blindness.

If his wing-tentacles have heads, would he eventually be able to see through those?
Or even see through other people's eyes like Bob Shaw's Night Walk or Daniel F. Galouye's Seeing-eye dog?
It might take a few hundred years for his brain to develop the correct circuitry, but it's probably doable...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hmm. Would you like another beta reader for the purposes of the nanowrimo?

[Sid]

[many interesting points and guesses]

I actually toyed with some of those ideas myself (except for the "seeing through other people's eyes" bit), but eventually discarded them. Yes, I guess it would be possible for him to learn a sort of indirect vision over the years, but it would be quite hard (for reasons that will be hinted at in the next chapter and explored later on).
Mindreading in the classic sense isn't actually Kitzi's strong point. It's more or less just the "by accident" thing Abel mentioned, and he is actually just picking up "on the surface" thoughts in a fairly limited range. But the details will be covered later, too.
Your guess about his brain compensating for the missing sense is overall correct, but that will be sort of a long shot.

Hmm. Would you like another beta reader for the purposes of the nanowrimo?

Hmm... What did you have in mind? *open to suggestions here and via PM*
In the end, it will be a question of my writing schedule and of my ability to build up a small buffer. But suggestions are more than welcome

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hmm. Would you like another beta reader for the purposes of the nanowrimo?

Hmm... What did you have in mind? *open to suggestions here and via PM*
In the end, it will be a question of my writing schedule and of my ability to build up a small buffer. But suggestions are more than welcome

It's fairly open. You suggested that your current beta would be.. unreceptive to ~1500 words/day. I'm happy to deal with that sort of range, without stressing too much. I'd also be willing to deal with half that, if your current beta wants to alternate with me.

I'd recommend emailing the chapters to me as and when, I'll read over them, and flick them back with comments. Or, at least, that was what I had in mind...

[Gabi]

Good luck! Wow, 2 people I know are on NaNoWriMo this year!

[Sid]

It's fairly open. You suggested that your current beta would be.. unreceptive to ~1500 words/day. I'm happy to deal with that sort of range, without stressing too much. I'd also be willing to deal with half that, if your current beta wants to alternate with me.

I'd recommend emailing the chapters to me as and when, I'll read over them, and flick them back with comments. Or, at least, that was what I had in mind...

I actually got to check back with my beta's plans and see what she can handle. She's been busy the past two days, but I dunno about her future plans yet. If she won't be able to handle it: Is your mail the same as your MSN (otherwise, just send me a mail so I got your address)?

And what's wrong with the forum time? O_o;;;

Edity:
Thanks, Gabi! I'll need all the luck I can get

[Sid]

Chapter 3: The Offer

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Fa'Lina felt tempted to smack her forehead. All the oddities she had noticed suddenly made sense. No pictures or fancy wallpaper styles since he can't see them anyway. And he never figured out that his fur doesn't match the fur of his parents because nobody ever told him! And of course, he has no reason for curious glances, either. She let out a sigh. "Sorry, it's just that nobody told me about that..."

Kitzi shrugged. "It's okay. I actually told my parents not to rub it into the face of every guest. It always made me feel like some sort of cripple who needs special treatment."

"Hm... makes sense, I guess," Fa'Lina admitted. "Since when have you been... I mean, since when can't you-"

"Blind. The word is 'blind'. It's not a bad word, so you don't have to find a nice euphemism for it." Kitzi gave her a hint of a smile. "And to answer your question, I've been blind all my life."

Fa'Lina frowned deeply. "Oh, I'm sorr-"

"Don't," Kitzi quickly interrupted her. "Don't say you're sorry." He sighed loudly. "That's what everybody says, and then they go on to say how much it must suck to be me because there is oh-so-much I can't see."

"You sound bitter."

"I'm not... Not really, at least. It's just that I don't feel that I'm really missing anything. I don't know what it's like to actually see stuff, so how should I miss it?"

She cocked her head. "But you do know that others can experience more than you can."

"True, true. But I grew up without sight, and I learned to live with it. So the others are really just experiencing more. I'm not experiencing less." He hesitated. "If that makes any sense..."

"It's certainly an interesting way of dealing with things," Fa'Lina admitted.

"You're tall, aren't you?" Kitzi suddenly changed the subject, adjusting his posture a bit to face her better. "What kind of dog gets that tall? Labrador, maybe?"

Fa'Lina chuckled. "Poodle, but my height isn't a racial thing."

"Good thing, too," Kifo muttered. "Imagine if all poodles were-"

"Who is that?" Kitzi shouted and took a few quick steps backwards. "I didn't hear anybody else coming in!"

"It's okay, Kitzi!" Fa'Lina quickly assured the startled fox. "That was just Kifo. It's my Warp-Aci."

"Warp-what?" Kitzi asked and raised an eyebrow.

Fa'Lina didn't need to read his emotions to be able to tell that he was distressed. "Warp-Aci. They're small creatures, just the size of your head. We use them for transportation."

Kitzi opened and closed his mouth. "...you ride on such a tiny creature?" he finally asked, trying to hide his silly grin.

"Ch-Ya! In her non-existent dreams!" Kifo hopped off Fa'Lina's shoulder and floated around Kitzi's head. "Let's just hope you didn't give her any ideas, budd-HEY!" The Warp-Aci snapped when Kitzi snatched it out of the air.

"You... float?" the Incubus asked, paying no attention to Kifo's struggles.

"How VERY observant of you!" Kifo remarked, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of its voice.

Kitzi shook the Warp-Aci experimentally, marvelling at its weight. Or rather: At the lack of weight. "How do you transport anything? Surely not by lifting it..."

If Kifo had had teeth, it would have given Kitzi a toothy grin. "Oh... would you like to find it out...?" it asked, its tail twitching in anticipation.

"Kifo, NO," Fa'Lina growled. She didn't think that the Warp-Aci would actually teleport Kitzi to some remote location, but she also knew that it had a fairly odd sense of humor. "Kifo is a Warp-Aci. You know... a WARP-Aci. Take a guess how it transports people."

"...oh. OH." Kitzi quickly let go of the black creature. "...how?" he finally asked, making her groan.

We should be talking about the Cubi race, not about the way a Warp-Aci works! Fa'Lina thought and rubbed her temples, thankful for Kitzi's inability to see the gesture. "Long story short: It can cut a hole into the dimensional fabric, thus relocating everybody in a certain area."

Kitzi blinked. Then he blinked again, for good measure. "Please tell me you're kidding," he finally said.

"I'm not." Fa'Lina sighed. "But I didn't come here to talk about dimensional travel," she hinted.

"Errrr, right! Right!" Kitzi hesitated briefly. "Sorry, I sometimes get a bit carried away. There... there's a seat at my desk." He silently moved his lips, as if mentally going down a list. "Oh, right! Can I offer you anything?"

Fa'Lina chuckled and grabbed the wooden chair. "No, thanks. Your current output is enough to feed half a Clan." She carefully watched his reaction.

Kitzi froze on his way to the bed. "My current... output?" he finally asked. Then he briefly sniffed the robe he was wearing, causing Fa'Lina to laugh. "It's not that bad..."

"No, silly, I'm talking about emotions," she told him as she sat down on the chair.

"This... sounds like girl talk," Kitzi said, frowning lightly. "I must warn you, I never really understood-"

"No," the Succubus interrupted him, "it's not girl talk. It's about Cubi traits and abilities. And I think you should at least know about the most important ones now that you are a Cubi who is slowly coming into power."

"Is one of those abilities the ability to turn off mindreading? I wouldn't even mind hearing the voices, but the background noise is giving me a headache."

Background noise? There shouldn't be any sort of noise, not even for an inexperienced Cubi... Fa'Lina frowned. "I can put a shield on you," she offered and got up. "It will only be a temporary fix, but it should do the trick for the moment." She walked over to him and placed a hand on his head. "Hold still for a moment," she whispered and closed her eyes, letting the magic flow. "Better?" she asked after a few seconds.

Kitzi cocked his head, his ears twitching lightly. "Much better!" he finally told her and smiled widely. "Thank you kindly, the noise was driving me mad..."

Again with the noise, Fa'Lina thought. I should ask Ink about that later. "It's okay. You will have to learn how to control your mindreading soon, though. Not even to mention your other abilities..."

"What abilities? Other than mindreading and having more wings than I need, of course." With the distraction of the constantly-running mindreading gone, the boy seemed much more focused.

"Well, let's see," Fa'Lina replied, sitting down on the chair again. "Cubi can 'eat' emotions. The feelings and emotions of others supply us with energy, just like regular food does. This also means that, given a steady supply of emotions, Cubi don't need to eat regular food anymore."

"That... sounds kinda creepy," Kitzi admitted, not looking overly thrilled. "Reminds me of those vampire stories I heard when I was younger."

"In a way, yes. But this is mostly a passive ability, so you are not 'draining your victim' or anything. Emotions are just floating around, and we have the ability to convert them to energy." Fa'Lina decided not to mention the more... active version of this feeding process for the time being. He doesn't strike me as the type who will be happy to learn that he can eat somebody's soul...

"That doesn't sound too bad..." the Incubus scratched his head. "So I'm doing it right now? Or would I feel something special?"

"Well, are you hungry?" Fa'Lina asked.

"Not really," Kitzi said and frowned. "Come to think of it, I think I missed lunch today..."

Fa'Lina smiled. "Then I guess you're doing it already. See? Not creepy at all."

"I guess..." The fox was silent for a while. Fa'Lina waited patiently, knowing that it would take him a while to fully accept all of this. "Fa'Lina?" He finally asked. "Why are you here?"

"Would you believe that I just happened to be in the neighborhood?" she asked him back.

Kitzi gave her a look - quite a feat for somebody who couldn't look at anything. "No, I don't really think I would."

The poodle chuckled. "Very well then, how about this? There is a Succubus living in the other village. She told me that there is a stray Incubus in this village."

"That explains how you ended up here, but not why. And no, I won't believe that you just came by to cure me of my headache."

"Straight to the point, eh?" Fa'Lina smirked. "Sooner or later, you will discover the full range of your abilities. And then, two things may happen. Either you harm or even kill a villager by accident because you can't properly control your powers, or the villagers realize that you are an Incubus and organize a hunting party." She watched the boy's jaw drop. "Either way, things won't be pretty if you stay around here like this."

Kitzi's headwings fluttered nervously while he licked his lips. "So... you're telling me that I have to flee?"

"I'm telling you that you should go to a school where you have the chance to develop your powers. It will take a while, but you will be able to live in peace among other Cubi."

"Take a while?" Kitzi asked and started to pace. "I'm 20 already, and I haven't even studied for a job. If I spend a few years in some school just to get my body under control, I'll be almost too old to actually earn some money to start my own family!"

"I... wouldn't worry about that," Fa'Lina replied carefully.

Kitzi stopped pacing. "...why not?"

Fa'Lina took a deep breath. "The maximum age of a Cubi is... somewhat higher than that of a regular Being." When Kitzi didn't ask the obvious question, she sighed. "Our average lifespan is in the area of three thousand years, give or take a few millennia."

"Three THOUSAND years?" Kitzi shuddered visibly and stumbled back to his bed. He sat down and buried his head in his hands. "Three millennia or more... my God... I think the village was built only a few hundred years ago... I'll outlive... well, anybody here. And the generation after that. And the generation after that." He shook his head in disbelief.

For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. Eventually, Kitzi sighed deeply. "I really can't stay here, can I?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Not for long," Fa'Lina replied calmly. "If it was up to me, I would tell you to start packing before some of the more... noticeable powers kick in."

The fox nodded slowly. "You mentioned a school..."

"Yes. SAIA is one of a kind, built in a location-"

"Say-what-a?" Kitzi interrupted her and cocked his head.

"SAIA. S-A-I-A. Short for 'Succubus And Incubus Academy'."

"A school for... people like me?"

"Exactly," Fa'Lina said and nodded. "It's a safe haven, completely out of the reach of Beings."

"Does that mean... that my parents won't be able to visit me? Or even to write me?"

"It's a necessity. Once you enter SAIA, you will lose contact with the outside world for a good while." Noticing his deep frown, she added, "It's for your own good, Kitzi. You have never felt the wrath of xenophobia, and for that, I envy you. People out there hate us. They fear us. If I opened a path to SAIA, adventurers would immediately start to organize a raid."

"How long would my stay there last?" Kitzi asked, trying to hide his frustration.

"That depends on what you choose to specialize in. We offer more than just basic survival skills, and all students are encouraged to pursue their personal goals."

A sigh. "How long?"

"At least a few years, maybe a decade or two," Fa'Lina told him. "And that's just to learn the bare minimum, like keeping your powers under full control over long periods of time and blending in so people don't notice that you're an Incubus."

"Ten or twenty years," he whispered and shook his head. "Does every Cubi have to make such a decision so quickly?"

"Most Cubi grow up in their Clans, among other Cubi. They don't have to worry about being different, and they receive training and information all the time. Going to SAIA is just advanced training for them. Your case is special, since we don't even know what Clan you belong to or how you ended up here."

The fox nodded slowly. "Fine... What's the plan?"

Fa'Lina smiled. "I suggest you spend the rest of the day with your family. Maybe catch up with some of your history. Then, tonight, you pack your things. No need for much clothing, just whatever small personal items you might miss, and things you'd need in a school if it's something special. No need to buy anything, we're well equipped." She gave Kifo a look. "Tomorrow around noon, I'll send Kifo into your room to pick you up. Is that okay with you?"

After taking a deep breath, Kitzi nodded. "Yes... yes, I think so. I didn't have other plans, anyway. And there's not too much I need to pack."

"Excellent!" Fa'Lina exclaimed. "I'll have a quick talk with your parents, and then I'll head back to the Academy. I'll see you tomorrow, then!"

"I guess you will!" Kitzi replied with a smirk, making Fa'Lina laugh. He stood there as Fa'Lina left the room and walked down the stairs. "Emotional energy... still sounds like girl talk to me..." he finally muttered and shrugged.

---

Author's Notes:
- Thanks to llearch for beta-reading this! He caught a few things I totally would've missed
- Much exposition in this chapter - I hope I didn't bore people to death. ^^;
- I had way too much fun writing some of the Kitzi/Fa'Lina exchanges.
- The same applies to the mental images I had when I considered Fa'Lina riding on a Warp-Aci.

[Tapewolf]

I'm envious of how easily you seem to be writing this - to say nothing of the fact that it's in your second language.

[Sid]

I'm envious of how easily you seem to be writing this - to say nothing of the fact that it's in your second language.

Aw, thanks! *smiles sheepishly, rubs back of head*
But "easily" is a relative term, considering that writing those chapters still takes quite some time. The only thing that saves me is banter-ish interaction (the sort that Kitzi and Fa'Lina had whenever they weren't discussing the more serious aspects of Kitzi's new life) since that somehow flows nicely for me...

[Sid]

Chapter 4: Welcome... to the Academy

"Kifo should be here by now..." Kitzi was pacing in his room, carefully avoiding the two small bags that contained some of his belongings. Since Fa'Lina had told him not to pack much in terms of clothing or regular school equipment, he had only needed to pack a few personal items, including things like a relief image of his parents.

After what felt like hours, the air in Kitzi's room started to crack audibly. Suppressing a startled yelp, Kitzi jumped away from the center of the room. Seconds later, the cracking and buzzing died down again. "The Warp-Aci Express is ready to go!" Kifo shouted.

"Sheesh, do you always make so much noise when you do the warping stuff?" Kitzi asked, nervously straightening his light grey robe.

"Aw, you should hear the sounds during mating season!" Kifo replied, floating around the fox's head.

"...please tell me you're kidding," Kitzi groaned, suddenly being very happy for not getting visual mental images. "That much noise during-... can you actually-... I mean..."

"Well, only during our mating season..." The Warp-Aci was clearly enjoying itself. "When watching others, we can be surprisingly quiet."

Kitzi's face was a mask of horror. "Did anybody tell you that you're extremely creepy?"

"Today? Not yet, actually."

"Right... fine. Whatever." He sighed and tried to focus on the here and now. "Should I take my bags somewhere special?" He pointed in the general direction of his bags.

"Center of the room would be fine," Kifo advised him. "Transporting basically requires me to fly around you and whatever you want to take with you. So the center of the room lets me avoid crashing into furniture and stuff like that."

"Sounds like a plan," Kitzi said and quickly grabbed his bags.

"Not going to tell your parents good-bye?"

The question made Kitzi freeze briefly. "No, we did that before... Decided not to make a big scene moments before my departure." He sighed quietly.

"Good thinking!" Kifo praised him. "Last time we had a departure with a large audience, somebody wanted to give the passenger a last-minute hug while I was already doing my thing. Aaaaand, well, everything inside the circle goes, everything outside the circle stays..."

Kitzi shuddered. "Right... right... keep arms and legs inside the circle until you're done... got it."

"You're a quick learner!" Kifo cheered and hopped onto his shoulder. "Ready when you are!"

Standing next to his bags, Kitzi faced the Warp-Aci. "Is that close enough for you?"

"Sure! As long as you don't start jumping around like crazy, there will be more than enough space! Shall we start?"

"I... errr..." Kitzi hesitated. This is it. The moment I leave the house I've lived in for the last 20 years, he thought. Hopefully, I'll return one day. And maybe I'll even meet my parents... even though they'll be in their sixties or so. Ah well. This isn't the time to muse about the distant future... "Yes, let's go..." he whispered and took a deep breath.

The air once again cracked and buzzed briefly. Kitzi inadvertently held his breath until the sounds stopped again. "Ding, first floor... lingerie, bakery, melee weapons, aaaand Fa'Lina's office," Kifo announced. "In other words, we're there," it quickly translated when it noticed Kitzi's confused expression.

"Oh... good, good... and still in one piece, I think," Kitzi whispered and let out a sigh. "Now what?"

"Good question... I expected Fa'Lina to be here... guess something came up." The Warp-Aci sat down on Kitzi's shoulder while it pondered about the situation. "Let's just wait here for now."

Kitzi used the delay to get used to the sudden location change. Judging by the sound of their voices, the room was a bit larger than any of the rooms in his home. And a few deep breaths told him that the room was well-kept, the scent reminding him of his room when he had received new furniture. Smells... polished. A massive wooden table, I guess... He carefully reached out with his hands and, after a careful step, felt the smooth surface of what he assumed was a table. Bingo, he congratulated himself. But I can't rely on everything smelling in a way I can detect. With a few well-trained movements, he let his collapsible cane drop out of the right sleeve of his robe and into his hand. Within seconds, he had extended it to its full length.

"WHOA!" Kifo yelled. "Bad stick! BAD! You got complaints, you tell the management!"

"Sheesh, relax," Kitzi told the Warp-Aci. "I just use it to detect obstacles in front of me," he continued, letting the tip of the cane sweep over the ground.

"Ohhh... that's pretty clever!" Kifo gave the cane a few experimental pokes. "You know, we could tie a few rags to the end on the ground! Then you'd clean up a few corridors while you move through the building!"

Kitzi chuckled. "Sadly enough, you're not the first one to crack that joke."

"Seriously? Darn... and I had been so proud of it!"

"Sorry, maybe next time. Trust me, there should be plenty of opportu-"

"Shhh!" the Warp-Aci suddenly hissed. "Getting a call."

Kitzi blinked. A call? What kind of call? I can't hear anything...

"Ohhhh... I see. Kitzi, come along, I got new instructions!"

"How did you get... a call?" Kitzi asked, following Kifo's voice back to the place where his bags were.

"Telepathy!" came the quick response. "Fa'Lina sometimes uses it, but she's not a major fan of it, so you can imagine what kinda stuff she's in right now."

Kitzi didn't even try to imagine any stuff Fa'Lina could be in. He was still stuck at the first word. "Telepathy? She can do that?"

"You can't?" Kifo asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"I... don't know, actually. Can I?" I should maybe find out these things before I start getting "calls" inside my head, Kitzi decided and frowned. "Anyway, what's th-EEP!" he yelped when he heard the familiar buzzing and cracking again. "Give me a warning next time!" he snapped even as the sounds died down.

"Aw, didn't you see that coming?" Kifo asked and snickered, indicating that it had chosen its words on purpose.

"Yeah, maybe I should try to see things from your point of view more often," Kitzi replied with a smirk.

"I like you!" the Warp-Aci said. "I got the feeling that you'll fit right in!" It landed on his shoulder again. "Anyway, this is your room. Room 9 3/4! A fitting number for a wizardry school!"

"...what?" Kitzi asked in disbelief. What idiot assigns numbers like that? That got to be a joke! The light draft that was typical for long corridors told him that Kifo had most likely dropped him off in front of his door. Quickly, he reached out and let his hands slide over the door until he found the relief of a number. "Number 256," he sighed. Gotta memorize that... assuming that this really is my room.

"Yeah... that joke's been Fa'Lina's idea," Kifo admitted. "Nobody actually gets it, not even me. All this talk about its connection to some wizardry school just confuses people, but Fa'Lina claims that she's just being 'ahead of her time' or something like that. I say she's just plain nuts, but does this woman ever listen to her Warp-Aci? Besides, how-"

"Kifo?" Kitzi asked, interrupting the stream of words. "Is this my room?"

There was a long pause as Kifo was contemplating whether or not to say something annoying. In the end, the Warp-Aci decided against it. "Yup. The first digit means that the room is two floors above the ground floor, by the way."

"Wonderful. You got the key?"

"You don't get any keys," was Kifo's reply.

Kitzi growled. "Listen. The room number thing was a silly joke, but this is kinda pushing it. So just give me the keys so I can find my way around before I'm being shoved into my courses."

"No, students really get no keys!" Kifo said, sounding serious for a change. "The lock is only there as a sort of backup for non-Cubi staff members!"

"And how do the students get in?" the Cubi asked, not bothering to hide his confusion.

"You just know that the door is unlocked."

Kitzi opened and closed his mouth. "What are you talking about? Is this some exercise in wishful thinking? Is endless optimism some Cubi power nobody told me about?"

"No." Kifo sighed dramatically. "Sheesh. The door is enchanted. If you touch it and tell yourself it's unlocked, then the door recognizes it. The rest of the time, it's locked. And of course, other students will be locked out unless you allow them in."

This is ridiculous, Kitzi told himself when he touched the doorknob. But whatever. Might as well give it a try. "The door is... unlocked," he whispered, and to his amazement, the door opened.

"There. What'd I tell you?"

"You've been telling me many things," Kitzi replied. Including some things that are hopefully not true...

Kifo floated past Kitzi's head and into the room. "Eh, you've seen one of those rooms, you've seen them all," it muttered.

Kitzi carefully stepped into the room and placed the bags next to the door. Judging by the way Kifo's voice sounded, Kitzi guessed that the room was slightly smaller than Fa'Lina's office. The sound of singing birds was also gone, telling him that, unlike his room or Fa'Lina's office, his new room did not have any windows. Not much of a loss, even though I kinda liked the sun's warmth. Oh well, I don't have to stay in here all day, so I'll manage. Using his cane, he started to map out the room in his head. He quickly found two tall closets, a fairly large table and a bed. A second door led to a bathroom, but Kitzi chose to map it out later. After a few additional sweeps with the cane, he found two smaller drawers and scratched his head. "Kifo?"

"Yes?" a voice asked straight into his right ear.

"Don't DO THAT!" Kitzi yelped and stumbled away from the voice.

"Heh, sorry! Couldn't resist! But what is it?"

Kitzi rubbed his temples. "Just do a visual verification for me. Are there two closets and two drawers in this room?"

"Sure. One set is in your corner, and the other one at the other end of the room."

"Is there a reason for that?" the fox asked and cocked his head.

"One set is for you, and the other set is for your roommate."

I got a roommate? Interesting... "Any idea who my roommate is?"

"Sorry, but nope," Kifo replied. "Fa'Lina doesn't tell me such details, so I'm as clueless as you are. Well, okay... maybe not quite as clueless as you are."

"Gee, thanks," Kitzi shook his head. "So, does that roommate have more of a clue about what I have to do next?"

"He or she could certainly show you around," Kifo mused. "There are a few... procedures to go through, and I won't be able to stay around much longer, anyway."

"You're leaving?"

"Sorry, but my job basically ended when I dropped you off here. But think of it this way: You're not expected to go anywhere on your own, so just sit back and relax for now." And with that, the Warp-Aci hopped out of the room.

"Five minutes at SAIA, and I'm stranded already." Kitzi rubbed his temples again. "And I think I'm getting a headache. Super."

---

Author's Notes:
- Quite a few things spotted by llearch, combined with a few hectic days (during which I had barely time to get the daily batches done) led to the slight delay.
- The idea for the door system is a combination of Amber's brief explanation of the ward on the bathroom door and the realization that Abel doesn't seem to have pockets in which he could keep his room keys...

[Tapewolf]

Good.  I was about to ask for more

As for the locks, there's something going on here:
http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_537.php

There's a handle below and then another control which Abel is actually using.  I'd say it's either a Yale lock or a combination one.  He doesn't have the key when Nirfy jumps him but it could still be in the door, or kept in the same hyperrealm as he keeps those swords.

Of course, your SAIA is something like 6800 years ago (?) so like the liberties I've taken in CJP it should work out in the long run, especially as Being technology improved (SAIA has to keep pace with it to some extent)

[Sid]

As for the locks, there's something going on here:
http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_537.php

There's a handle below and then another control which Abel is actually using.  I'd say it's either a Yale lock or a combination one.  He doesn't have the key when Nirfy jumps him but it could still be in the door, or kept in the same hyperrealm as he keeps those swords.

Hrm, I could argue that he's just fiddling with the doorknob, but your guess is as good as mine.
My explanation is mostly in place because I find it more fitting for the setting. Cubi are a heavy magic-users, so a school built by Cubi for other Cubi will most likely solve many everyday things through magic. Actually, they'd be (in a way) ahead of the times when you consider things like keyless ignition systems for cars nowadays.

But this just one of the non-canon-verified things I simply embedded into the story for one reason or another. There will definitely be more (Kitzi will stay in SAIA longer than Dan did, so there is a certain information gap every author has to fill, just like the SAIA RP did).

And yeah, I'll try to update more often

[Tapewolf]

As for the locks, there's something going on here:
http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_537.php

There's a handle below and then another control which Abel is actually using.

Hrm, I could argue that he's just fiddling with the doorknob, but your guess is as good as mine.

Yes, but the point is there's two of them.  One doorknob and one.. lock?

[Sid]

Yes, but the point is there's two of them.  One doorknob and one.. lock?

Yes, a lock.

"No, students really get no keys!" Kifo said, sounding serious for a change. "The lock is only there as a sort of backup for non-Cubi staff members!"

Keys and locks are not unknown technology, but a key is not the only way to open a lock.
The point is that Cubi can open the doors without a key, not that the door has no lock

[Tapewolf]

The point is that Cubi can open the doors without a key, not that the door has no lock

Gotcha.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Yes, but the point is there's two of them.  One doorknob and one.. lock?

From the look of it, it's a deadlock. Key operated, but has a little flappy thing over it to stop the works from getting gummed up/rained on/poked in/picked, you choose...

My door at home has one of those. Admitteldy, I think they're expected to be used outside, to keep wind from coming in via the keyhole, or something, but that's what it looks like to me....

[Tapewolf]

From the look of it, it's a deadlock. Key operated, but has a little flappy thing over it to stop the works from getting gummed up/rained on/poked in/picked, you choose...

Quite.  I thought Sid was using magic instead of locks, but he seems to be using both.

**EDIT**
According to Netami's timeline, SAIA was founded approximately 7000 years before the start of the comic, and if I'm not mistaken this story is about 200 years afterwards.  Just checking.

[Sid]

According to Netami's timeline, SAIA was founded approximately 7000 years before the start of the comic, and if I'm not mistaken this story is about 200 years afterwards.  Just checking.

I think I only mentioned "a few centuries" so far, but yes, I'm internally calculating with roughly 200-300 years. Not sure when or if I'll pin a more exact date since it's of little relevance for the story. And it strikes me as kinda silly since the opening of SAIA (which will be the only historic reference point at least for a while) might have a "+/-  x centuries" window anyway.
I just picked a scenario in which SAIA was still in its beginnings for various reasons.

[RJ]

Keep up the good work, Sid! 

[Cogidubnus]

This is absolute insanity. In the best way ever. I await the next chapter with bells on my toes.

[Sid]

Chapter 5: Roommates

"Out of my way, mortals!" Kifo shouted as it came around a corner, its tail lashing out like a whip at random students who just happened to be in the corridor.

Annoying little pests, a mouse thought and rolled his eyes. Always so pushy and... annoying. He briefly cursed, making a mental note to look up a few synonyms of that word for later use.

"You!" the Warp-Aci snapped, hovering in front of his face. "You don't like me! I can tell!" It came closer and lowered its voice. "I can read it in your mind."

"No you can't," the mouse Incubus answered calmly. "You can see it in my face, you little... annoyance." The mental note got upgraded to an urgent task on his To-do List. "I, on the other hand, can make you forget your own name." He allowed himself a smirk. "Or I can just strip off your mental shields and let anybody prance through your mind, picking out whatever secrets your Mistress shared with you."

Kifo paled, or at least it did the closest thing a creature seemingly made out of pure darkness is capable of. "But... but... but I'd tell Fa'Lina that it was you who did it! Ha!"

"Not if I make you forget that part," the mouse said, letting his blue eyes glow softly. "That is, after all, my speciality..."

The Warp-Aci shuddered, but quickly recovered. "I shall forgive you this one time!" it shouted, trying to appear to be in control. The mouse just smirked and bowed. "And now, I shall take my leave!" Kifo announced and floated away.

The Incubus chuckled and shook his head. Memo to self: Set up anti-teleportation wards in my room. He briefly thought about other countermeasures, but eventually decided that one ward would be enough. Besides, Kifo's mostly bantering for the sake of doing it, just like I would never actually consider wiping his memory. I'm usually the prime suspect whenever somebody forgets something, anyway... so there's no need to live up to my reputation just for a few cheap laughs. He sighed and opened the door to his room.

"What the-" he started when he noticed another Incubus sitting on his bed. It was a dark grey fox with green hair, fiddling with a staff of some sort. "What are you doing in my room?" he snapped, his eyes doing a quick scan of his room to check if anything was missing. "How'd you get in here?" Kifo. Must've been that little prankster. Oh God, I hope this isn't yet another exotic dancer!

"Oh, hello!" the fox said and smiled. "My name it Kitzi. Kitzi Callempia." The fox got up, slowly walked over to the mouse... and hesitated. "Wait... the height's all wrong... how tall are you? Your voice sounds as if it came from further down..."

"If this is your idea of a smart joke about my size, I have to inform you that it's not funny," the mouse hissed.

"I apologize! I didn't mean to insult you!" Kitzi took a step back and held up his hands.

The smaller Cubi rolled his eyes. Sure, whatever. Rub it in and then say you didn't mean it. "You're lucky that I'm no fan of violence. Other mice in my position would have broken your kneecaps by now."

"...you're a mouse?" the fox asked with a surprised expression. "I've only heard of mice so far, my village had none..." He briefly bit his lower lip. "This is going to sound weird, but may I touch your face? It helps me to learn more ab-"

"Whoa there, STOP. " The mouse held up his hands. "We're not dating here, so I won't even discuss foreplay with you! You may look, but you may not touch, okay?"

Kitzi let out a deep sigh. "Right. Right. My mistake. I keep forgetting that I'm not in the village, where everybody knows of my situation... Let's try this again." He leaned down, giving the mouse a close-up look of his face. "Hi, my name is Kitzi. And I can't look."

"What do you mean-" the mouse muttered and blinked. His eyes aren't focusing on me, he suddenly noticed. After waving his hand before the fox's eyes a few times, he cursed. "My God... you're blind, aren't you?"

"Well... yes," the fox replied and smiled apologetically. "I guess that blind Cubi are kinda rare, right?"

Blind Cubi are kinda rare? I never even heard of a single one. The smaller Incubus nodded, staring straight into Kitzi's unfocused eyes. And people say that I'm creepy. "Yeah... I think rare is a good word," he finally whispered.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke. Finally, Kitzi broke the silence. "Uhm, right... I think the whole blindness issue kinda killed your chance to introduce yourself..."

"Oh, right! I'm Dante!" the mouse said and held out his hand. When the fox didn't shake it, Dante mentally slapped himself and placed it into Kitzi's right hand.

"Ah, pleased to meet you!" the fox said, shaking the offered hand eagerly. "Uhm, I think I'm your new roommate...?"

Dante blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked and frowned.

"Well... no. I'm not sure of anything at this point. Kifo just told me that this was my room and left me here."

I knew it, Dante thought and groaned. "Okay, I think you've been set up. Kifo loves to do pranks like that. Never believe anything that Warp-Aci says until you've double-checked it." He tried to think of a plan. "You're new here, right?"

"Literally arrived five minutes ago, yes..." the fox replied, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you with this..."

"No, no... it's okay, really. We just gotta find your room." Now what? If Fa'Lina didn't welcome him yet, I have to assume she's busy. But without her, finding his room will be a major pain. I can't possible let him try to open each door until one finally opens, and I- His train of thought came to a screeching halt when he noticed a letter on the table. "Hold on..." he muttered and picked it up. "Dear Dante... blah blah blah... hereby assign Kitzi as..." He raised an eyebrow. "...your new roomate. Signed, Fa'Lina. Well, damn. This is your room." He blinked in surprise. Why did she assign him to my room? Dante asked himself. I've been living alone ever since the tenth roommate left within a day.

"You... don't sound pleased..." Kitzi said slowly. "I... I'm sure I can just ask for another room if you're uncomfortable with this..."

Dante gave him a look. "You're worried that I'm uncomfortable?" he asked, failing to hide his surprise.

"I don't know... it's just that you don't sound overly thrilled by all of this..."

The mouse sighed. "It's not that," he told the fox. Might as well get it over with... "I'm a member of the Hadruroh Clan," he whispered and closed his eyes, preparing himself for the worst.

"That's a nice name..." Kitzi told him, making Dante blink.

"You... you're not angry or freaked out?" the mouse asked, briefly scanning the fox's emotions, but failing to detect any negative vibes.

Kitzi gave him a confused look. "Why should I be freaked out?"

Well, that hasn't happened before, Dante thought and raised an eyebrow. "You're not really up to date with Clan history, are you?" he asked carefully.

"Clan... that's the group Cubi live in, right?" Kitzi asked and chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, the first time I'd heard of that word was yesterday, so I'm not really sure how-"

"Whoa, wait!" Dante interrupted him. "You're a Cubi... and you don't know about Clans? At all?"

"Nope, sorry. Grew up in a small village-"

"Filled with Cubi?"

"Errr, no. Filled with villagers." Kitzi shrugged. "From what I know, my parents adopted me. Or found me. Or something. They didn't really tell me."

He's an orphan. He doesn't know about my Clan. Dante smiled. This might work... as long as I don't tell him about-... no. No. He'll find it out sooner or later anyway, so I should tell him. He gritted his teeth. But then he'll leave. Number eleven!

"What's wrong with your Clan?" Kitzi suddenly asked.

Dante opened and closed his mouth. "It... it's a long story," he stammered, one hand nervously brushing through his light blue hair without touching his bat-like headwings. When he noticed Kitzi's expression, he let out a sigh. "My Clan's speciality is mindreading and, more to the point, erasing memories. And a few hundred years ago, my Clan decided to go all out." He rubbed his eyes with one hand, trying to keep his voice even. "They raided a village of Beings. Raped pretty much everybody in sight, killed a few and then they... they wiped them all clean. No memories of the event were left in their heads."

Kitzi shuddered and started to pace. "This... this can't... you're not serious... I mean..." he stammered and shook his head. Dante could feel the extreme levels of disgust and uneasiness in the younger Cubi and let out a sigh.

"It's the truth. And the other Clans somehow got wind of it. Nobody knows exactly how, but word got out, and it had a negative effect on the relationship with the other Clans."

"No kidding," Kitzi muttered. "I mean... we're talking about rape and murder!"

Dante blinked. "No. Many Clans were actually okay with that. They were just afraid that my Clan might try to mind-wipe other Clans, especially ones with worse shielding techniques."

"WHAT?" Kitzi yelled and clenched his fists.

"Easy, easy!" Dante hissed, carefully moving a few steps away. "You're obviously not up to date with our mentality, so let me expl-"

"Mentality?" Kitzi snapped. "It's a completely psycho mentality! What kind of sicko would be okay with this kind of insanity?"

Dante could feel something happening to Kitzi, but he wasn't sure what it was. Magic? Doubt it. But it does feel like some... raw ability coming to life. I should maybe try to get this under control before things spin out of control. "Kitzi, look. You should maybe try to see things from another perspective..."

"Another perspective? What other perspective is there when you're talking about RAPE AND MURDER?"

"I'm just saying that-WHOA!" Dante yelped, barely managing to dodge the tentacle that had lashed out at his head. He didn't have to take a look at Dante to know that the tentacle was coming out of the fox's wing. Wonderful! His wing tentacles chose the dumbest moment to show themselves!

"What's going on?" Kitzi asked loudly, unable to hide his concern. "Dante?"

"Kitzi, listen to me, you-" He stopped speaking when he noticed another tentacle forming. Not good, he told himself. Then he noticed that each of the tentacles ended in a small cobra head. Not good at all. "Kitzi, I-" Both heads swung in his direction and hissed quietly. Dante frowned. The heads... don't have eyes? He stared at one of the cobra heads, which was tasting the air with flicks of its tongue. Of course, they're as blind as Kitzi is! So all I have to do is stay quiet and hope that they can't pick up my scent from over there... and... and then what?

"Dante? What's that hissing sound?" Kitzi slowly turned around, apparently trying to locate the source of the noise. "Come on, that's not funny... say something!"

Dammit. He needs to calm down in order to make the tentacles stop, but he won't calm down because the tentacles don't stop. Dante rolled his eyes. Okay, think. You got a young Incubus who apparently has no control over his powers. As long as you stay quiet, you're relatively safe, but the longer you stay quiet, the more he freaks out. If only there was a way to-... oh, duh. He most likely can't filter or block emotions yet! He held out a hand and carefully set up a fake layer of emotions that he projected at Kitzi. I'm happy. I'm calm. Everything is peachy. No need to worry about anything. Don't you think so, Kitzi? You can feel it, can't you? You're a Cubi, you can sense my emotions. You can feel that I'm calm and happy. He smirked. And if I force-feed you enough of these emotions, I should be able to flood you...

Kitzi let out a long sigh. "Dante? Something is... happening... but... it's not too bad, I guess..." the fox whispered slowly, his tentacles retreating back into his wings until they were completely gone.

"Relax, Kitzi..." Dante said quietly and carefully approached the younger Incubus. "You're relaxed, aren't you?"

"Yeah... yeah, I guess so... what happened?"

Dante led Kitzi to the bed and let him sit down. "I assume you're not familiar with your powers yet, right?"

Kitzi shook his head. "I guess not... Well, I do know of the mindreading and the age parts... and I know I don't have to eat because of emotions or something like that..."

"Yeah, that are some of your powers," Dante told him and hopped onto the bed himself. "But there is more. One of our powers is the ability to shapeshift."

"Shapeshift? You mean, like, turning into other people and stuff?"

"Among other things, yes. The thing is that the key of this ability lies in our wings. All shapeshifting starts there."

The blind fox shook his head. "How is shapeshifting connected to the hissing?"

"Well... our wings can... how should I put it... they can grow tentacles."

There was a long pause. "Tentacles," Kitzi finally repeated.

"Tentacles. And some Cubi have tentacles ending in small animal heads."

Kitzo opened and closed his mouth. "Please tell me you ate some weird 'shrooms before coming here."

Dante chuckled. "Sorry, but that's the truth. The hissing you heard were your own tentacle heads. And they were acting on subconscious orders."

"What sort of animal makes such noises?"

"Cobra," Dante replied, keeping an eye on Kitzi's wings, just in case.

"So you're telling me that I accidentally summoned... cobra-headed tentacles? And they were doing what exactly?"

"They tried to attack me. Most likely because you were getting all worked up over the Clan history thing."

"My God," Kitzi whispered, burying his face in his hands. "This is so horribly messed up... I'm a monster!"

Dante tried to smile. "No, you're not. You just need to learn how to control these things. And that begins with controlling your emotions."

"Oh, joy," Kitzi muttered. "Here we go again with the emotions."

"Easy, easy. Just try to stay calm, and you'll be fine. The tentacle heads reflect your mood. So as long as you are calm, happy or neutral, they might not even show themselves." Most of the time, he silently added. "However, when you're highly irritated or angry, they will try to 'help' you."

"You got these things, too?"

"Wing tentacles?" Dante asked. "Every Cubi has those. Not everybody has tentacle heads, though. My tentacles, for example, don't have heads." He gave Kitzi a look. "There's a reason for that, too. Would you like to hear it?"

"Not now... I'm too busy feeling like a freak to pay attention to your story..."

"Well, if it makes you feel better: Right now, any Cubi in the Academy would be able to stop you if you went on an accidental berserker run."

Kitzi gave him a look with his empty eyes. "You're not very experienced in the 'make people feel better' field, are you?" he asked and smirked lightly.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Dante said and chuckled. "Few people come to me when they want to be comforted."

"Oh, right. The whole part where you rape and murder villagers."

The mouse gritted his teeth. "I don't," he hissed. "Those events happened before my birth. I'm a very easy-going and peaceful guy, actually." He rubbed his temples and sighed. "I wouldn't do stuff like that, but others would. Easily. And often."

"Don't you guys have... laws against that? I mean, against murder and rape and what-else-not-"

Dante rolled his eyes. "Right... right... this must sound weird to you since you grew up in a village filled with Beings. How should I put it? You, Kitzi are not a Being. Beings are not your equal. Keep that in mind. You're an Incubus, and that means that you out-everything most Beings. You live longer, you can read minds, you can shapeshift, you can do magic and you can eat emotions and souls." When he noticed Kitzi's shocked expression, he stopped. "Wait. Which part didn't you know?"

"...the soul-eating one..." Kitzi whispered.

"Oh. My bad... uhm..." Dante mentally slapped himself again. Great going! You're really good at making him feel comfortable! "But there is something important to keep in mind, Kitzi!"

"Like what?" Kitzi asked, wrapping his arms around himself.

"It's completely up to you if you use any of these powers. Nobody expects you to kill or harm people. You're here to learn and to train. You will be taught how to do all of these things, but nobody will order you to use your powers in a particular way."

Kitzi said nothing for a minute, going over the information. "So you're saying that some Cubi do these horrible things simply because they feel that Beings are not their equals? And these things are not against our laws, but some Cubi still frown upon them?"

"Basically, that's the way it goes, yeah." Dante smiled. Kid's pretty rational once he stops freaking out.

"And you have issues making friends because of something your Clan can do?"

Dante sighed. "Pretty much, yeah. Cubi who come here from their Clans know what my Clan did, and they were taught to stay away from Hadruroh Cubi because we can easily rush past most of the weaker mental barriers and make them forget their own name."

"And... you can do that, right?" Kitzi asked carefully.

"Many Cubi can do that," Dante corrected him. "My Clan just has much less trouble doing it. It's a talent."

Kitzi steepled his fingers. "But you, personally, wouldn't do that, right?"

A smile appeared on Dante's face. "No, I wouldn't..." he said happily.

"Then I think there's nothing that speaks against us giving this whole 'roommate' thing a chance, right?" Kitzi asked and returned the smile.

---

Author's Notes:
- First of all: Thanks to everyone who commented! I'll try not to disappoint!
- Also thanks to llearch for the beta-reading work!
- I love writing Kitzi's reactions to the various things we here take for granted (like the tentacle heads).
- I also love writing Kifo, but I think you noticed that one already