Walking down the Unseen Path [Jun 10]

[Tapewolf]

I like it.  I must admit I think I missed out describing the tentacle business in the early stages of CJP.  Some of Kitzi's reactions are rather like the youngster in the new part I'm writing, although I guess they're pretty much common to orphan 'cubi.

[Sid]

Some of Kitzi's reactions are rather like the youngster in the new part I'm writing, although I guess they're pretty much common to orphan 'cubi.

Yeah, I guess the two common stages are "freaked out because a part of my body is suddenly morphing without me directly controlling it" and "why in *bleep* are there silly little heads on them?"

In a way, Kitzi's reactions also mirror Dan's first day with the tentacle heads (even though I didn't get to come up with phrases like "MY WINGS JUST TRIED TO MAKE ME COFFEE!" ), so I guess it's safe to assume that those reactions really are the common case when it comes to Cubi who have no idea of what is going on with them.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I'm wondering if Kitzi is going to get a chance to run his hands over his tentacles, to "see" what they look like, as it were...

... and then we have someone wandering in and making smart comments about him playing with himself, surely...

[Tapewolf]

Some of Kitzi's reactions are rather like the youngster in the new part I'm writing, although I guess they're pretty much common to orphan 'cubi.

Yeah, I guess the two common stages are "freaked out because a part of my body is suddenly morphing without me directly controlling it" and "why in *bleep* are there silly little heads on them?"

Actually it was his reaction to the soul-stealing bit that caught my eye.  Being 200 years ago rather than 6800, Niall knows a little bit about 'cubi, and like Dan, he'd probably have studied harder if he knew he was going to be one.  Unlike most foundlings we've seen so far, he's going to have prior warning about his abilities.

[Sid]

Chapter 6: Ink

"This'll be all kinds of awesome!" Dante cheered, giving Kitzi a wild grin.

"I guess so," Kitzi replied, putting his few of his belongings into the unused drawer. "I just hope that I manage to fit in properly."

The mouse chuckled and hopped onto the bed. "Why shouldn't you? You strike me as a nice and relatively open-minded guy. And those types rarely got trouble with fitting in."

"Maybe... it's just that I don't know what I'm supposed to do..." Kitzi turned around and leaned against the drawer, facing Dante. "I don't know what courses I'm supposed to show up at, and I don't even know what those courses will be about!"

"Relax! Nobody is expecting you to know everything about the Cubi race already." Even though a few basics would help, I assume, he silently added. "Your schedules and such will be determined soon enough. But first, there are a few mandatory things you will have to do, anyway."

"Like what?"

"Like... your placement test." Dante shuddered. "That one will... not be so terribly awesome, to be honest."

Kitzi frowned. "How so? Is it a difficult test? Will I have to do something special?"

"No, it's not... difficult," the mouse Incubus slowly said, trying to think of a good way to prepare Kitzi for it. "You'll just have to... be yourself and hang on."

"Well, that sounds ominous."

"Sorry, it's hard to put into words, but you'll find it out soon enough," Dante replied, trying not to think of the horrors of his own test.

"Fine... anything else, other than the placement test?"

"A new wardrobe would be a good idea," Dante said, giving Kitzi's plain robe a critical look.

"You mean like a school uniform?"

Dante snickered. "Not quite. Everybody gets a personal outfit, but we get the resources to go nuts when it comes to style and material. So you could get something made from a light and smooth material. Maybe with a more... modern cut." And maybe something a bit more colorful.

"I'm afraid I'm not really knowledgeable in terms of 'modern clothing styles'," Kitzi admitted and shrugged helplessly.

"Don't worry, we'll find something together after the placement test," Dante told him, trying not to sound overly nervous about the test. "Come on, might as well get it over with!"

"It's going to be very bad, right?"

Dante froze. "Whatever makes you think so?" he asked nervously, trying to smile.

"Your voice... it's close to panic, I think. I'm sorry if I'm mistaken, it's just-"

"N-Nonsense!" the mouse stammered. "Let's just see the doctor. He should be in his-"

"Doctor," Kitzi repeated. "The placement test will be some sort of medical exam?"

"Nooooooot quite... but... it's... you'll see. Come on!" He took Kitzi's arm and gently dragged him out of the room. The more he makes me talk, the less I want to go.

Kitzi allowed the mouse to drag him through various corridors, crossing a large part of the floor before they finally arrived at a door labeled "Infirmary".

After taking a deep breath, Dante opened the door. "Helloooo? Anybody here? Doc?" Please don't be here... please don't be here...

{{{One moment...}}}

Dammit. Dante groaned quietly.

"What... was that sound?" Kitzi asked, his ears twitching lightly.

Dante shuddered. "Ink," he whispered.

{{{That's Doctor Ink to you, Dante,}}} the voice replied and chuckled. Saying that the voice was creepy or disturbing would have been an euphemism. This voice was the embodiment of evil, the most unsettling way of relaying speech. And it had a refined, slightly English accent.

"I think I understand your reluctance now..." Kitzi whispered.

"Oh no... you don't understand anything yet..." Dante replied quietly.

A few seconds later, Doctor Ink came out of the next room. The grey-furred fox smoothed his doctor's coat with one hand while adjusting his glasses with the other one. {{{What can I do for you?}}} he asked Dante and smiled. {{{Decided to pick up my offer to volunteer for my... research? And look, you even brought a friend!}}} His golden headwings flapped in excitement.

"Uh, no... not for your research!" Dante stammered quickly and shook his head for added emphasis. "We just came for a placement test!"

Doctor Ink blinked, his smile fading. {{{Placement test? There aren't any tests scheduled for this month... we're not expecting a new batch of students for a while...}}} One of his black flight-feathers morphed into a fox-headed tentacle, which reached into a drawer and pulled out a folder. He opened it and took a look inside. {{{No... nothing on my schedule...}}} He patted his coat, as if looking for something. Then he reached into a pocket and casually took out a cup of tea. {{{Ah well, no time like the present, eh? Follow me, young lad. You can tell me your story while we run the tests.}}} He gave Dante a neutral look and drank from the cup. {{{You can wait here for your...}}}

"Roommate," Dante replied quickly, not wanting to risk being volunteered for research work because of slow answers.

{{{Roommate... how interesting...}}} Ink said more to himself than to Dante. Then he shrugged and gave Kitzi a light pat on the back to guide him into the other room. After closing the door behind them, he led the younger Cubi to a chair and let him sit down. {{{Let's start with the easy things...}}} A wing tentacle fetched him a pencil and a blank file. {{{Name and Clan?}}}

"My name is Kitzi Callempia. Clan... do I have to have one?"

Ink blinked. {{{A last name, but no Clan name? Were you raised by Beings?}}}

Kitzi nodded. "Grew up in a village called Nonav. Lived there all my life."

{{{No other Cubi around?}}}

"None. Well... except for Fa'Lina's visit yesterday. And I think she mentioned that a Succubus is living in the neighbor village, but I never met her..."

Ink frowned and made a few notes, including one to ask Fa'Lina why she hadn't bothered to inform him. {{{Blind since birth? Or due to an accident?}}}

"You noticed?" Kitzi asked, unable to hide his surprise.

{{{You are blending in nicely, I admit that much,}}} Ink informed him. {{{You followed my voice and my gentle nudges without much hesitation. But you're the first visitor who didn't even take a look around after coming in.}}}

"Good point," Kitzi admitted and smiled. "I've been blind... either since birth, or since a very early accident I can't remember."

{{{Hrm.}}} Doctor Ink tapped his muzzle with the pen, giving Kitzi an odd look.

"Is something wrong?" Kitzi asked, knowing full well that such sounds were no good sign when they came from a doctor.

{{{It's certainly unusual for a Cubi to be blind. I assume the other Cubi you met have reacted with surprise and shock?}}}

"Well, yeah. But I'm kinda used to that by now. Only blind kid in the village, too." Kitzi shrugged.

The doctor chuckled. {{{Yes, I see. However, your case is somewhat special.}}}

"How so? Is it somehow bad if a Cubi is blind? Does that mean I can't control my-"

{{{Most blind Cubi are healed before they have to live with the blindness,}}} Ink interrupted him.

"...what?" Kitzi blinked and frowned. "Wait, so you can heal... blindness?" he asked slowly, as if making sure he had heard the doctor correctly. "You mean that you could make me see?"

Ink let out a sigh. {{{I could most likely heal your eyes. That's not the same as making you see. Like I said, your case is special. The Cubi living in Clans usually spend only a few hours or days being blind before their eyes are healed. You have possibly been blind since birth and lived like that for the last... how old are you?}}}

"Twenty," Kitzi murmured, sensing that his chances of seeing were getting slim.

{{{Well, I have a thesis about why healing your eyes will not make you see, but I'll spare you the medical terms and just show you the reason with the help of a few tests. May I take a look at your mind?}}}

"Sure," Kitzi mumbled," I just think that Fa'Lina put up some sort of shield..."

{{{Don't worry... I can sense it... yes, that's Fa'Lina's work. Blunt and strong. I assume you have no experience with shielding?}}} When Kitzi nodded, Ink continued, {{{Very well, we'll work together then. I could bring the shield down myself, but that would be uncomfortable to say the least.}}} Tempting, come to think of it, he thought and smiled. But no... this is one of the rare occasions where business and pleasure shouldn't mix. {{{Try to imagine a wall in your mind. That wall protects you. Now... slowly remove a few bricks from the wall... it should come easy... yes, that's it...}}} He carefully removed the parts of the shield Kitzi had missed and smiled. {{{Well done.}}}

"You're not going to go nuts in my brain now, are you?" Kitzi asked half-jokingly. "I mean, like wiping out my memories and stuff like that?"

{{{Ah, so you already had a chat with your little friend?}}} Ink asked and chuckled while he selected a few parts of Kitzi's mind to monitor.

"Yeah, but he promised not to do anything like that..."

{{{Mhh. He's a good kid. Much potential for evil and nastiness, but he chose a different path. Pity, too. I would've loved to teach him a thing or two.}}}

"That... does not sound reassuring at all."

{{{It's not meant to be... We can continue this later, though. For now... just relax. I will give you a few words and your task is simply to think of things you associate with the words. Simple association.}}}

"Mh... okay..." Kitzi whispered.

{{{Fa'Lina.}}}

"Poodle. Succubus. Tall. SAIA." Ink heard in his mind. He could briefly smell her fur and feel the confusion Kitzi must have felt. As expected, there were no visual associations.

{{{Well done. Now... Doctor Ink.}}}

"Creepy creepy oh so damn CREEPY. Really a doctor? Creepy very creepy. Voice got a soft ring to it despite the creepiness, though. WAIT can he hear me think all this? What can he-"

Ink chuckled. {{{Sorry, just couldn't resist. However, now I can be certain that I'm getting a good reading of your genuine thoughts. And it's good to know I haven't lost my touch since starting to work here, though.}}} He smiled sheepishly. {{{Back to business. Mother.}}}

This time, the flow of information was almost completely based on feelings. There were a few touch-related memories, along with a few smells, but hardly anything was described in words.

{{{I see...}}} Ink said quietly. {{{Blue.}}}

"... ... ...color of the sky... I think?"

{{{Light.}}}

"... ... ...warm?"

Nothing, Ink realized. No visual association at all. He doesn't even comprehend the concept of colors or brightness aside from what people told him about it. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. His brain most likely isn't up to the task of working with visual data. He started to pace. Even if I healed his eyes, what would his brain do with the new information? Is there maybe some part left that deals with such things? And how would one test-... {{{You don't happen to be able to read minds, do you?}}} he suddenly asked.

"I think I do... sort of... Fa'Lina said I accidentally read the minds of my parents. It's also the reason why she gave me the shield... but now, even with the shield gone, I don't seem to be able to do it anymore..."

{{{No, that's just because everybody else in the area is shielded, so there's nothing your idle mindreading would be able to pick up,}}} Ink replied and sat down next to the younger Incubus. {{{Now... I'll lower my own shielding just enough to let a few thoughts slip out. Your task is to tell me what you experience. Do you understand that?}}}

"Yeah... doesn't sound too hard..."

{{{Excellent.}}} Ink closed his eyes and imagined an apple as clearly as possible. Then he carefully shared only the sensory experiences of smell, taste and touch with Kitzi.

"It's... an apple, isn't it?" Kitzi asked, smiling lightly. "I can... I can taste it... and it's almost like I can feel it..."

{{{Correct,}}} Ink said and went on to elaborate, {{{When somebody idly thinks of an apple, you will only 'hear' the word in your mind. I focused on the sensory experiences, so you are experiencing them, too.}}} He shook his head. {{{But I digress. Let's continue.}}} Taking a deep breath, he added the visual component into the stream he was sharing with Kitzi.

Kitzi's ear started to twitch. "I... think I'm doing something wrong..."

{{{What makes you think so?}}} the doctor asked even while he was reading Kitzi's mind. Frowning, he flipped open a notepad and started to write.

"I... don't know. The apple's still there, but... I'm hearing noise... it's like a loud buzzing... and the smell and taste slightly changed... it's..."

{{{-still an apple, just with something else mixed in.}}} Ink completed the sentence and nodded slowly. After removing the visual stream again, he asked, {{{Better now?}}}

"Yeah... now it's back to normal." Kitzi replied and nodded.

Sighing quietly, Ink put up his shields to full strength again. {{{Yes... just as I expected. Healing your eyes would be possible, but it would not solve your problem.}}}

"Why not?" Kitzi asked, obviously trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

{{{You grew up with only four senses, and your brain developed accordingly. The interferences you experienced is what your brain tried to make out of visual images. It simply doesn't know what to do with it.}}} Of course, the brain is able to adapt to new concepts, Ink reminded himself. So it might be possible that it "learns to see" after a while... He opened his mouth to tell Kitzi about that, but quickly reconsidered it. No. Best to do some research first. Something like this would require some major remapping. So it could take decades before he starts making out even the most basic things, and that's the best case. In the worst case, we'd end up with a Cubi that has four permanently crippled senses. No... maybe we should wait and see what he makes out of it. He certainly doesn't strike me as helpless, and who knows what will happen once he gets his powers under full control. He smirked. Might be a nice research subject, come to think of it...

"I... understand..." Kitzi whispered, and Ink had no trouble sensing his disappointment and sadness. "It's odd, though," he mused. "For the first time in my life, I miss something I never had."

The doctor smiled softly. {{{Here's a tip: Don't.}}}

"Please don't tell me that seeing is overrated, doctor... I know it's not."

A grim chuckle. {{{True, it's not overrated. But I think your four senses are compensating for the lack of the fifth.}}}

Kitzi cocked his head. "It's not much..."

{{{I think it's a lot. Why don't you tell me a bit about this room?}}}

"What's the point? You know your room, anyway."

{{{The point is to get your mind away from sulking and to make you realize that your remaining senses are making up for it.}}}

The younger Cubi sighed. "Fine, whatever." He took a deep breath. "We're in a windowless room. Or at least in a room with no large windows. Average ceiling height. Area is about... five large steps in either direction."

Ink took a quick look around and smiled. Not a bad guess.

"The closest corner is on the left side and behind me," Kitzi continued. "The floor is covered with smooth tiles. Since the other room had a carpet, I assume that this room is where you also do medical things that require a mostly clean environment." He gave the doctor a smirk. "Your desk is... about two steps in that direction," he said and pointed straight at the doctor's desk. "And you really should take out the trash daily to keep the room clean."

Doctor Ink blinked. {{{How-}}}

"You drink green tea. And I think I smell numerous old tea bags. It's also how I located your desk since it's most likely the spot where you keep both the trash can and your tea." He smiled sheepishly.

Not bad... really not bad... The doctor nodded and smiled. {{{Quite observant! What about other things in the room?}}} Unlike the previous question, this one was designed to keep Kitzi occupied while Ink prepared the placement test. A real pity that the he can't see the giant syringe. It's a reliable and easy way to test a Cubi's reaction to shock and surprise. Ah well... I can improvise... He smiled innocently while his left wing silently morphed into a large bronze disc. It was easily as tall as himself, but the wing held it effortlessly, letting it hang next to Kitzi's head.

"Well, I can smell some sort of chemical nearby, so I guess that-" Kitzi hesitated. "Odd... there is some added echo in here all of a sudden... are you silently re-arranging your furniture just to stop my winning streak? That would make you a sore loser, you know?" He gave Ink an unsuspecting grin.

Chuckling quietly, Ink let one wing tentacle shapeshift into a giant beater. {{{I'm many things, dear Kitzi. But I'm not a sore loser.}}} And with that, he swung the beater against the gong. The sound of the gong threw Kitzi off his chair. Ink calmly watched the young fox hitting the floor and made a few notes on a clipboard. Yes, quite interesting... Combined with some of the readings I did while discussing the blindness issue, I think tha-...eh? He blinked. Two cobra-headed tentacles were gnawing angrily on the gong. Cobra heads. How peculiar. He shook the heads off and let his wing return to its natural shape.

"DOCTOR INK?" Kitzi shouted, his ears most likely still ringing from the sound of the gong. "WHAT HAPPENED? ...AND WHY AM I TASTING SOMETHING METALLIC?"

Chuckling quietly, Ink kneeled next to Kitzi and touched his patient's forehead. It took just a bit of magic to take care of the test's aftereffects. {{{Relax. That was just a test.}}}

"Test? What do you test by almost making me deaf?" Kitzi slowly got back to his feet and shook his head.

{{{Your emotions,}}} Ink explained. {{{I assume Fa'Lina told you a thing or two about Cubi being able to read emotions?}}}

"She mentioned that I could... eat them?"

{{{Yes, that's the main aspect. And just like you have a preferred food, each Cubi has a preferred set of emotions. Some prefer happiness, some prefer pain and suffering... the list is long.}}}

"May I ask what your favorite emotional food is, then?"

Ink allowed himself a grin. {{{Shock.}}}

Kitzi coughed nervously. "Somehow, I'm not surprised."

{{{Funny that you mention it, actually,}}} Ink said and held up his clipboard to check his notes. {{{Surprise is one of the things your body reacts the best to.}}}

"So I need to be surprised constantly to get 'good food'?" the green-haired fox asked. "That doesn't sound too great..."

{{{No. First of all, it works both ways. So you can feed off your own surprise and the surprise of others. The second and more important thing is that you get a similar effect from serenity, meaning that keeping a cool head under stress gives you a sort of bonus. Under that light, the worst thing for you would be all-out panic.}}}

"Oh, great," Kitzi remarked sarcastically. "Giving me all the easy ones, aren't you?"

{{{Don't worry. I think you will soon learn how to keep your mind free from stress and panic. You're actually in a fortunate situation. I doubt you would enjoy having an affinity for pain and suffering.}}}

The words made Kitzi hesitate. "Well, okay. Point..." He rubbed his temples. "It's just so much at once... how am I supposed to keep up with so many life-changing things at once?"

Putting a hand on Kitzi's shoulder, Ink quietly said, {{{You're not. Nobody expects that you to simply accept all of this. You're an unprepared Incubus who doesn't even know his Clan's name. We fully expect you to take at least a few days or weeks before you even begin to feel ready to join any courses.}}} He briefly considered to go into the details of the SAIA course structure, but decided against it. {{{For the first few days, stay close to Dante. He will be your guide and tutor. Let him teach you about the basic abilities and the school. Once you are feeling confident enough, ask him about the courses. If there is an unexpected problem, he will tell the professor most suited to deal with it.}}}

The words seemed to calm Kitzi down a bit. "Okay... that sounds like a plan..." he whispered and nodded.

{{{Excellent. I think we are done here, too. So you can join your friend outside.}}} The doctor cocked his head and quickly went through a mental checklist while Kitzi got up. {{{Oh! And tell him to put a shield on you!}}}

"Right, right," Kitzi muttered, stumbling out of the examination room. "And then I'll maybe have a nice nervous breakdown..."

---

Author's Notes:
- Visualizing Ink's voice has led to a few hissing fits. I tried a few font families, but a few tests resulted in unsatisfying results in various browsers and systems. llearch had a suggestion that would've gotten past that, but it would have required hosting any chapter with Ink on an outside server. In the end, I went along with my initial approach. It's not Teh Awesome, but it gets the job done and looks like a nice hall effect. Also tried using Ink's trademarked italics, but that would have been overkill in combination with the italics used for thoughts.
- Ink is not in Full Evil mode here, but from what I gathered, he can be both evil and caring (as seen during Dan's placement test, where he is acting like a nice/serious doctor when it came to the business parts - even though he gets more evil moments there, I admit that). So this is one of those caring-Ink events. Mostly. Evil Ink will have his moments later, I guess.
- This chapter had been a major pain. Aside from Ink's almost-OOC-ness, I also had to revamp the eye examination part a few times. I fail at writing serious things.
- I'm OH-SO-HORRIBLY behind schedule. Not only did this chapter push me back, but there had been a few busy days on which I had not been able to write.

[Roureem Egas]

I thought the whole test thing is awesome. I'm a little envious on how much attention you're able to put on details that would slip my mind if I attempted to do anything like that. And it's an interesting take on how visual imput would be taken by Kitzi's brain.

I ought to try to write sometime. <.<

[Tapewolf]

Very good.
One point - I must admit I'm sceptical about the ability of a 'cubi to feed on their own emotions.  It might work as a 'power conservation' measure, but they can't be completely self-powering.  Even ignoring the thermodynamics aspect, if a 'cubi was able to feed entirely off their own emotions, they wouldn't need to go around eating other people's emotions and souls 

[Sid]

One point - I must admit I'm sceptical about the ability of a 'cubi to feed on their own emotions.  It might work as a 'power conservation' measure, but they can't be completely self-powering.  Even ignoring the thermodynamics aspect, if a 'cubi was able to feed entirely off their own emotions, they wouldn't need to go around eating other people's emotions and souls 

Yes, that's something that also made me go "Hmmmmmm...". I'm not 100% sure what the official approach is (if it exists), and that's why I won't go into the scenario of a completely isolated Cubi who would have to feed ONLY off his/her own emotions (At least not in this fic. An older - and now scrapped - fic idea had a Cubi who spent a few centuries alone in a cave, guarding something).

For this fic, I go with a sort of energy savings aspect. So Kitzi would only need minimal 3rd-party input to be able to keep going, assuming that he stays calm and gathered. He would still "lose power", but he can "recycle", so to speak.

If we see emotional feeding as a loose analogy to breathing, this would make sense (in my eyes). Kitzi "broadcasts" emotions, and he "receives" them. So why shouldn't he be able to take back some of what he produces? Of course, he can't get 110% of his own emotions (or even 100%), but he can save a bit, thus lowering the need to rely on outside emotions.

In a way, this goes back to the "creepy vampire" thing in chapter 3:

"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."

Soul-eating on the other hand is more like vampirism, but the pay-off is MUCH greater. Long-term benefits of soul stealing will be covered once Dante manages to drag Kitzi to a magic tutorial

Of course, it's possible that some Cubi prefer eating either their own or outside emotions. I don't know for sure. This is, after all, just me trying to extrapolate my own semi-stable system from the comic and a few forum posts

But like I said, we won't get this extreme case in the fic, so I don't really worry too much about it

I thought the whole test thing is awesome. I'm a little envious on how much attention you're able to put on details that would slip my mind if I attempted to do anything like that. And it's an interesting take on how visual imput would be taken by Kitzi's brain.

Thank you!
Well, the basic premise is centered around the consequences of having a blind Cubi, so I spent a good while on pondering about such details. Not even to mention that llearch often points out other details I forgot to think of.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Thank you!
Well, the basic premise is centered around the consequences of having a blind Cubi, so I spent a good while on pondering about such details. Not even to mention that llearch often points out other details I forgot to think of.

Yay for pedanting people to death :-)

[Tapewolf]

Well, it looks like you missed the one month deadline, but I'm hoping that you're going to carry on for its own sake

[Aridas]

I think forgetting about it seems to be what plagued it.

[Sid]

Well, it looks like you missed the one month deadline, but I'm hoping that you're going to carry on for its own sake

Yes, I failed fairly hard, but that was mostly due to external influences.
December 15 is my exam in "Model Checking" and "Binary Decision Diagrams" (both courses are combined into one 45 minute oral exam), and the scripts weigh in at 700 letter-sized pages in total. The prof is known to ask a bit of everything, so all 700 pages are important.

I originally planned to study during the day and write during the evening/night, but after the first two November weeks, I realized that writing the daily amount takes a lot of time (relatively speaking - it normally wouldn't be much of a problem, but it doesn't leave enough time to study theoretical Computer Sciences stuff at the same time!), so I had to emergency-abandon it.

Right now, studying the scripts is at a point where the studying alone takes pretty much ALL of my time, so I (in retrospec), I shouldn't have started NaNo at all. But I'm lazy when it comes to studying, so this (=starting just a few weeks before the exam) is pretty much what happens with all my exams
(And I still passed the previous exams with good enough grades, so eh. )

I actually have two finished chapters on hold, but I have to do some tweaking before I send them over to llearch. Might do that one of these nights, kinda to tide you guys over until after Dec 15.

The story WILL continue. I've had this idea for a long time, and there is still a lot I want to do with it. NaNo was just an excuse to start it at full throttle and an experiment to see what it feels like to write 1600+ words on a daily basis.

[Sid]

Chapter 7: Dates and Dimensional Folding

Dante smiled widely when Kitzi came out of the exam room. And even in one piece! "Hey, you made it!"

Kitzi smiled weakly. "Yeah, guess so."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine after a while! Just a matter of time, and time's on our side, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Sure."

Dante frowned lightly. There was something wrong, but the infirmary was hardly the place to chat. He touched Kitzi's elbow to guide the fox towards the exit. "C'mon, we'll just head back to our room and-"

"Oh, look, Kitzi. Giving you the cripple routine again. Is he going to drag you all through the place by your arm? Doesn't that idiot know you get along fine once you know the way? I'M NOT HELPLESS, DAMMIT. STOP TREATING ME TH-"

"WHOA!" Dante yelped, letting go of Kitzi's elbow. "S-Sorry, man! Didn't mean to imply anything!"

"No, it's okay," Kitzi quickly replied. "It's just that-" He cocked his head. "Wait, I didn't say anything..."

The mouse looked down at his hand, then back up at Kitzi. "Are you still shielded...?"

"Shielded? No, actually I'm not sh-..." His mouth opened and closed a few times as the realization hit him. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he finally snapped and stumbled backwards.

"Kitzi, wait! I'm not! Calm down!" Dante quickly shouted, hoping to avoid another encounter with Kitzi's angry tentacles. When the fox was only staring in his general direction, he sighed. "Listen to me... I promised you I wouldn't mess with your mind, and I will NOT break that promise! Okay? It's just that without a shield, anybody can pick up your stray thoughts."

The fox slowly nodded, apparently remembering the lesson about emotional control. "Right... right... I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I just... I mean... Could you help me with a shield?"

Dante smiled again. "Yes, of course I can! Just kneel for a second. This works better when I'm close to the head." Kitzi quickly dropped to his knees and bowed his head slightly, allowing Dante to place his hands on the his head.

"Oh, so now we're dating, huh?" Kitzi thought, making the mouse snicker.

"Well, we can continue the foreplay in our room later, if you insist," Dante jokingly offered to lighten the mood. "But right now, hold still so I can take a closer look at your present state." He closed his eyes and focused on Kitzi's mind. "Ahu... you have been introduced to the wall analogy, I assume?"

"Yeah, Ink mentioned it, why?" Kitzi asked.

"Mh... looks like you subconsciously tried to create your own wall in your mind..." Dante inspected Kitzi's self-made shield and smiled lightly. "It's not bad for a first try, actually. At least for a shield against idle probing. You just didn't factor in that mindreading is a lot easier in cases of physical proximity."

"...ah. And now in English, please?"

"I can still read most of your idle thoughts when I touch you," Dante translated. "Okay, and you're not prepared against mental attacks, but that's advanced stuff, anyway."

Kitzi frowned. "Mental attacks? So I have to expect people breaking into my mind unless-"

"Don't worry," the mouse addressed Kitzi's unspoken fears, "such attacks are very rare outside the mindreading courses. You have to keep in mind that you possess the potential to retaliate. So most Cubi follow a few mostly unwritten rules to avoid conflicts. That means, among other things, that a regular shield should be enough to protect your thoughts."

"Wait... everybody here follows these rules?" The fox cocked his head. "Then why did you have such trouble finding a roommate?"

"You're catching on quickly!" Dante said and smiled drily. "The main reason is that Cubi rarely switch rooms once they arrive here at SAIA. You can always request a room-change, but few do so. That means that basically all Cubi who are assigned to a room are also new at SAIA."

"So they don't know these rules?"

"Exactly. They only know what their Clans teach them, and that is basically to stay away from my Clan. Sure, they later learn that I'm effectively not allowed to mindwipe random students, even if I felt like it, but by then they're already in another room. Not that any of them ever offered to come back to my room. Or to hang out with me." Dante's grip on Kitzi's head tightened a little bit. "They trust the rules, but they still decide to avoid closer contact just to be sure."

"Is everybody like that?" There was a hint of genuine pity in Kitzi's voice.

Dante let out a long sigh and eased his grip again. "No. There are a few who still hang out with me every now and then, but I'm a loner for the most part."

"Like me." Kitzi's thought made Dante smile in sympathy.

Maybe that's why Fa'Lina sent him to my room, he mused. Two loners who can understand each other...

"Okay... so, can you put up a better shield for me before we head out and conquer the world with our loner way?" Kitzi asked with a smirk.

Dante briefly considered teaching Kitzi how to put up a better shield. No. Not right after his placement test. He must be drained. "You bet on it! Just relax and I'll set up a shield for you..." He quickly set up a basic shield, making sure that it covered Kitzi's mind from all angles.

"While you're in there," Kitzi whispered, "could you figure out why I got a headache?"

"Headache? Since when?"

Kitzi shrugged. "Kinda since I arrived here..."

"Might be emotional overload," Dante guessed. "Since you can feed on emotions, you can also 'eat too much', so to speak. I'll just set up a filter for now. Like my shield, it'll only last a day or so, but don't worry, it's not hard to learn, so you so you should be able to put up your own shields by tomorrow."

"All this, just to be able to survive the day?" Kitzi whined.

"Don't worry," Dante chuckled, finishing the filter spell, "it's a small price to pay when you consider what you get in return."

"A headache?" the fox asked without much enthusiasm and got back to his feet.

"Very funny." The mouse smirked and gave Kitzi's robe a tug. "Come on, I'll tell you on the way to the changing room." They left the infirmary and walked down the corridor. Dante gave Kitzi's staff a curious look. "Why're you sweeping like that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Close your eyes and find out." Kitzi replied with an innocent smile.

Dante hesitated. "Okay... fine." He closed his eyes and walked next to Kitzi. "So, this is what the world is like for you? Just this... void?"

"It's actually not a void. But I guess that people normally rely heavily on their sight, so it might feel like a void to you."

"That doesn't explain the stick," Dante replied, his eyes still closed.

"I didn't say it does." The fox chuckled. "Oh, by the way, I think you will figure out its use in... five seconds."

Five seconds? What's going to happen then? Will the revelation hit me? The mouse shrugged and moved on. After three steps, his face was buried in something soft. "What the-" he asked and opened his eyes. After taking a step back, he realized that he had walked straight into the backside of an elk Succubus. A rather enraged elk Succubus. Elk, how odd, he mused. Not too many of those around, especially not elks without antlers, even though that might be a gender thing. I kinda dig the brownish fur and wing feathers, though... and she's kinda cute with that blush. Come to think of it, isn't she in my 'Advanced Elemental Studies' course? Might be worth findi-

The elk raised a fist, causing Dante to abandon his thoughts about a possible romance. "If that was a new attempt to ask for a date, let me show you what I thought of it."

"Oh, frig," was all Dante could reply before the elk's punch sent him flying down the corridor. He barely managed to protect his face by raising his arms before hitting the floor. After skidding to a halt, Dante let out a groan. "Damn... can't believe I'm still in one piece." He looked up just in time to see the elk conjuring a disturbingly large boulder. "Oh, for the love of-" She tossed the boulder at him, causing Dante to skitter away from his current position. Yep, she's definitely in 'Advanced Elemental Studies', he thought even as the boulder hit the spot he had just left.

"THAT ENOUGH OF AN ANSWER FOR YOU?" the elk shouted, waving her fist.

"DULY NOTED! I'LL TRY ROSES NEXT TIME!" Dante shouted back and gave her a thumb-up sign. Much to his relief, the elk gave him a silly grin and walked off.

"Yasma had a nice voice," Kitzi remarked when Dante finally got back to him. "Very melodious."

Dante gave him a look. "You almost got me killed, and now you're talking as if-... Wait. You know her name?"

"Yeah. She told me after... what did she do to you, anyway? Sounded like a brief fight, and then she started whispering something about some some seal of some order..."

"Seal of the First Order," Dante replied automatically "Or maybe the one of the Eighth Order. Not sure, I'd have to look it up. Depends on the composition of that FRICKEN BOULDER SHE THREW AT ME BECAUSE YOU MADE ME WALK STRAIGHT INTO HER BACKSIDE!"

Kitzi jumped slightly and chuckled nervously. "Well, she did call you cute, if that helps."

"Wait, what?" The mouse blinked. "How long did you talk with her? She should've been too busy beating me up!"

"She's a fast talker, I guess." Kitzi gave him a smile. "What did she look like, anyway?"

"Starting to flirt on your first day already?" Dante gave him a smirk. "She's an elk. A tall, strong, brutish elk."

"I think most people are tall in your eyes," Kitzi retorted. "And she said you're cute, so I kinda doubt that she's interested in me."

"Eh. My next class with her is next week, so I can't even ask her about a date till then, anyway." He gave Kitzi's robe a light pull and started to move on. "Besides, I wouldn't know what to get her. Perfume, maybe?"

"You could just go to her room and ask her. Oh, and she doesn't use perfume."

Dante rolled his eyes. "Kitzi. Do you even know how many floors SAIA has? Do you have any idea how many students are living here? With only her name, the chances of find-" He noticed Kitzi's knowing smile. "...she told you her room number, did she?"

"She certainly did."

"WHEN?" Dante gestured wildly. "She spent less than a minute on beating me up, and she still told you her name, her room number, her perfume preferences and the fact that she finds me cute?"

"Well, the perfume thing is just what I noticed," Kitzi admitted and tapped his nose. "She had a nice, natural smell going for her. But the rest, yes."

Dante rubbed his temples. "At this rate, I'll stab my eyes out. It sure seems to help getting information from cute girls."

The fox snickered quietly. "It just boils down to paying attention to your environment."

"Is that how you knew I would walk into her?"

"Yes, actually," Kitzi replied. "I could smell and hear her a few seconds before you bumped into her."

The mouse gave the cane a glare. "Okay," he muttered, "and what does the stick do?"

Kitzi sighed and tapped Dante's foot with it. "It tells me when I'm about to bump into things I can't detect otherwise. So in the worst case, I would've touched her foot with it before running her over."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"You let me walk into a near-death situation simply because you didn't feel like telling me this ONE SENTENCE?" Dante snapped.

Kitzi shrugged. "I kinda expected you to get the idea before actually hitting something." He gave Dante a grin. "But hey, you got a potential date out of it."

"Right, right. But next time, please use your super-senses to get me a date before I almost get buried alive."

"Super-senses? I wish. Using my senses of smell and hearing isn't super."

Dante frowned. "Well, I kinda believe the scent thing since you're a fox and all, but... you heard her standing there from, five to ten steps away? While we were talking?"

Kitzi hesitated. "Well... yeah. Why?"

That sounds fairly unlikely to me, Dante thought, giving Kitzi a critical look. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's using some kind of magic. Well, either that, or I really didn't pay any attention. He shook his head. "No, it's nothing, I guess..."

"If you say so..." Kitzi opened his mouth, as if to add something, but then shook his head. "So, where's the changing room?" he changed the subject.

"Oh, right! Fifth floor. We're actually close to the staircase." The mouse guided Kitzi through a door, and into the main SAIA staircase.

"...how huge is this place?" Kitzi asked, turning his head from side to side.

Dante took a quick look around. "The staircase? Pretty huge. Spiral staircase, built in a massive cylinder that's usually ten or so floors high. I think that if I climbed these stairs until I was right above you, I'd easily be standing two floors higher. Possibly more. And don't get any ideas of jumping across the gap in the middle, it's large enough to make you fall for-"

"Usually ten floors?" Kitzi interrupted him, scratching his head.

"It's... complicated," Dante hinted. "I'll tell you later. For now, come on." He slowly guided Kitzi to the stairs leading upwards, letting the fox work out the size and location of the steps with his cane. After moving up one floor, they left the staircase again. "Okay, we're almost-"

"Wait," Kitzi said, touching Dante's shoulder, "didn't you say that the changing room is on the fifth floor?"

Dante let out a quiet sigh. "Yep."

"And we started out on the second floor?"

"Yep."

"And after climbing up one floor worth of stairs, we're now...?"

"...on the fifth floor," Dante muttered. "Like I said: It's complicated."

"How can this be complicated?" Kitzi snapped. "It's a staircase! It's simple!"

"Kitzi, this is the SAIA staircase!" Dante explained, waving his arms wildly. "It... takes some gettin' used to!"

"How can we just skip two floors?" Kitzi asked, giving Dante a wild, unfocused look.

"We... it's..." Dante opened and closed his mouth. "How much do you know about Multidimensional Travel and Continuous Folding?"

"You know, it's no shame to admit that we're on the wrong floor," Kitzi told him after a few seconds of hesitation. "You don't have to invent stuff just to pretend-"

"Oh, for the love of..." Dante hissed, dragging Kitzi back into the staircase and up two flight of stairs. After leaving the staircase again, he dragged the protesting fox through a few corridors and to a closed door. "Okay," he said, trying not to pant, "we're in front of a door. Tell me something about it."

Frowning lightly, the fox reached out and touched the door, letting his hands wander to the golden numbers on it. "Number 256... that's... no, it can't be..." he whispered.

"Yes, that's our room. We're on the second floor again."

Kitzi grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open. Not bothering to use his cane, he rushed inside, sniffing the air. "I can smell... my own scent. I've been here before."

"Well, yeah. Like I said: This is our room. Go check the drawers if you still don't believe me, your stuff should be where you left it."

Much to his credit, the fox simply sat down on the bed without going through a mental breakdown. "Fine," he muttered, not bothering to hide his resignation. "What's the deal with the staircase?"

"Officially, it's a proof of concept, designed and implemented by the Multidimensional Theories class roughly 150 years ago."

"And unofficially?"

"Late-night drinking binge by said class. Nobody is really certain how they did it, but everybody would be happy if it didn't happen again." Dante hopped onto the bed, landing next to Kitzi. "Oh, but it gets better!"

"Even better?" the fox asked sarcastically.

"The profs aren't sure if it's dimensionally stabilized. Heck, they're not sure about anything when it comes to the staircase."

"And that means...?" Kitzi asked, even though his expression told Dante that he didn't really want to know.

"Well, if it's not stable, then the worst-case scenario is TDC - Total Dimensional Collapse. Reality will twist and warp until the entire universe collapses into the staircase, which by then will be a complete void, leading into some other dimension."

Kitzi's jaw dropped. "Wha-...?"

"To be fair: That is the worst case. And it worked out for 150 years, so it should be mostly safe."

"So... all my life, there had been the chance of my entire world being sucked into a staircase?"

"Yeeeeep," Dante said, grinning proudly. "We got the most awesome staircase in the universe! And if TDC ever happens, it'll also be the only staircase in the universe." His grin vanished when he felt a massive wave of negative emotions hitting him. He gave his new roommate a quick glance and frowned. "Hey... c'mon, it's not that bad... I was mostly kidding, actually. The chances of that happening are really slim, and-"

"You wanted to bring me to the changing room?" Kitzi abruptly changed the subject and started to get up.

Damn, I've pushed him too far, too fast, Dante realized and bit his lower lip. "Look, it's not urgent," he whispered, pulling Kitzi back onto the bed. "Why don't you rest a bit? You still sleep, right? So you could-"

"I still sleep?" Kitzi asked. "That's a very odd question."

Way to go, Dante. Way to go... The mouse Incubus smacked his forehead. "I'm not sure that you want to hear the answer to-" he started to reply, but stopped when he noticed the look on Kitzi's face. "Fine," he muttered. "You're a Cubi. You don't need sleep anymore."

"I don't need sleep anymore," Kitzi echoed in a mocking tone. The fox suddenly jumped up and started to pace. "So being a Cubi now makes me an insomniac, and I guess you will tell me next that this is a good thing, right?" He glared in Dante's general direction. "Oh, and let me guess, it's because of my emotions, right? Because, like, EVERYTHING is connected to my emotions nowadays!" The fox threw up his arms and cursed.

Dante tried not to smirk at the outburst. "Well, you're not an insomniac since you can still go to sleep just fine. The thing is that you don't need sleep anymore. You can easily keep going for months or years without a second of sleep." He smiled sheepishly. "And yes, emotions. Even though the not-sleeping bit would count more as a natural ability, thanks the way your body works. But the energy we gather from emotions is usually what keeps us running."

Kitzi placed his hand on his forehead. "How many Cubi go insane on their first day?"

"Not too many, actually. But that is because we usually learn about all of that when we are young, so you're at a slight disadvantage since you only learn about stuff whenever it happens to you." He smiled softly. "Rest a bit, Kitzi. You've been through a lot in the past one or two hours." Thanks to me dragging him all around the place without any sort of organization, he mentally added. Heck, we didn't even reach the changing room! We had been almost there, and I dragged him back here just to prove that I'm right. Way to screw up, Dante.

"I don't need sleep, I need... normality!" Kitzi gestured vaguely, looking incredibly lost and helpless. "My entire world has been turned upside down in less than two days!"

"Yes, it has," Dante admitted, "and your brain needs some time to adjust to the various new things that are going on in your life." He stood up and joined Kitzi. "You need sleep. And nothing on your to-do list for this week is urgent, so you can sleep as long as you like."

The larger Cubi nodded slowly. "I guess you're right," he muttered. "But... what about your schedule? Isn't this messing with your-"

"I'll be fine," Dante interrupted him. "Trust me. You just go to bed, and once you wake up, things will be better. I promise."

"If you say so..." Kitzi said and sat on the bed.

"I do, I do. Trust me." The mouse Incubus hesitated and then grinned sheepishly. "Just... uh... tell me her room number, pretty please?"

The fox blinked twice before grinning, too. "Room 915."

"And no perfume for Yasha, but roses might help!" Dante said, proud that he remembered her apparent preferences.

Kitzi sighed. "Her name is Yasma. Not Yasha."

"Um. Right. Right." Dante chuckled nervously. "I totally meant that."

"You sure did," Kitzi replied mockingly. "Have fun on your date!"

The mouse smiled widely. "Thanks... and I wish you a good night!"

With that, he left the room. The last thing he heard before he closed the door was, "...why is there only one bed in here?"

---

Author's Notes:
- The first of the 2.5 chapters I wrote before I aborted my NaNo attempt.
- I had to make some changes to both finished chapters because the encounter with Yasma had not been planned and thus led to some changes in the near future.
- In fact, Yasma had not been a part of my plan, but I think she fits nicely into the cast.
- This chapter has some of my favorite lines, I think.
- Hey, look! I managed not to break the "No necro after more than one month" rule (even though I highly doubt that anybody would have enforced it here)
- Thanks to all the people who still care about this story, even after the massive delay!

[Tapewolf]

You're on fine form with that chapter.

One of the things that intrigues me though is what 'cubi feed on in SAIA.  It doesn't quite make sense if they feed off each others emotions because that makes it rather a closed system.  You'd have to have an external energy input or a higher percentage of Beings in the Academy.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

There are a few non-Cubi there - the water-dragony-thing, the librarian, and others.

But, your point is still valid - if Cubi feed on emotions, where is all the energy coming from? Entropy still rules, even there...

... perhaps it's nearby, metaphorically speaking, Zinvth, or another city? (I mention Zinvth merely because it's the only "city" we've been informed of, as yet) Or has some sort of emotional drain on there?

That would explain why cities tend to be draining, boring, depressing places - all the emotions are being drained out of there by SAIA...

[Sid]

One of the things that intrigues me though is what 'cubi feed on in SAIA.  It doesn't quite make sense if they feed off each others emotions because that makes it rather a closed system.  You'd have to have an external energy input or a higher percentage of Beings in the Academy.

Sounds more like a question for the DMFA subforum, but since we're all here, anyway...

Lemme see... *ponders*
Basically, you of course have a point, but/and the core issue is the conversion of emotions into energy. Mostly because "generating emotions" doesn't require energy (or a VERY minor amount of energy) in the classic sense. Of course, you "feel drained" after an emotional rollercoaster, but I sorta doubt that this is because you are actually drained of energy (Disclaimer: Biology is one of my major weak points, so this is just what my intuition tells me right now).

If generating emotions costs less than what a Cubi can make out of it, then it seems that a Cubi can truly generate energy out of nothing.

Assuming that this is supposed to be impossible, the next question is where the energy is coming from. If we also assume that the Beings and the Cubi who eat real food are not enough to fill that void, things get really interesting.

Draining emotions from another place would be an option, even though a magic-using Being might notice the magic funnel that is draining stuff to some remote place (just like the adventurers in the current arc noticed Dan's disguise).

One of the more random ideas would be that the difference is drained from other "pools", like for example, karma/luck. Of course, this would make the Cubi race the unluckiest race on Furrae (then again, Abel and Dan have had a few "Oh, come ON! What are the odds?" situations recently... *polishes his halo*).

Sure, this slightly extends the whole concept of energy even further, but it would bring an odd sense of balance into things.

[Roureem Egas]

It's great to see the story up again. The binge drinking explanation and the "I WILL CRUSH YOU" thing from Yasma were especially funny to me. I don't really have any critique to offer though. Sorry about that.

[Sid]

The binge drinking explanation and the "I WILL CRUSH YOU" thing from Yasma were especially funny to me. I don't really have any critique to offer though. Sorry about that.

Critique is welcome, but not a requirement. Comments of any sort tell me that people are at least reading my stuff

And those two scenes are also among my overall favs, especially the staircase one.
This is one of the things that just has to be mandatory in a school filled with experienced magic-users: The "Because I can!" mentality, combined with magic, boredom and possibly alcohol... something like this HAS to happen

And Yasma's scene literally came out of nowhere. But after her first appearance, I decided to keep her around, she fits into the cast nicely

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Basically, you of course have a point, but/and the core issue is the conversion of emotions into energy. Mostly because "generating emotions" doesn't require energy (or a VERY minor amount of energy) in the classic sense. Of course, you "feel drained" after an emotional rollercoaster, but I sorta doubt that this is because you are actually drained of energy (Disclaimer: Biology is one of my major weak points, so this is just what my intuition tells me right now).

Without disagreeing with anything else you've said (because it all makes sense :-) feeling "drained" is probably fairly accurate - the body generates energy over time, and strong emotional situations usually cause your heart to beat faster, and adrenaline to flow, and your entire biological system warms up and, well, burns more energy.

Of course, you also tend to get warmer - output more heat - as well.

This is all general biology, though. I don't have specifics. But I thought it might help to know that feeling drained is pretty much being drained, afterwards - the adrenaline stops, your heart slows down, you start feeling tired, because the mass rush of energy has drained your body of easily usable sugars, etc. Some time resting, and the sugars are re-distributed, and you feel better. Alternatively, an "energy drink" (large burst of glucose, easily metabolised sugar - and other stuff) ....

glucose tends to drop through the walls of the large intestine and into the system fairly rapidly - sortof like alcohol, in a vague way - and hence is a good way to bring your bounce back...

*cough* sorry, lecture mode there for a moment...

[Sid]

Ah, sweet. I assumed that adrenaline might factor in somewhere, but my biology knowledge is MASSIVELY sub-par, so I didn't dive in to begin with. Interesting read, though, and thanks for the quick clarification

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

ooOO, look, I can unlock this.

Even when trashed. :-]

(ie, Sid asked nicely if I'd unlock it for him, so he can post the next chapter.)

[Sid]

Chapter 8: Class Credit

"Mrhhh..." Kitzi's ear flicked lightly, trying to home in on his parents' footsteps. It took him a few minutes to realize that his parents were impossibly far away right now. Right, I'm in SAIA, he reminded himself and sighed. Isn't that just peachy? I'm stuck in a place that doesn't even obey the laws of physics. And I got told that I'm only blind because my real parents didn't get me to the right doctor after my birth. He cursed quietly. If I had not been adopted... If I had grown up in my Clan...

Sighing quietly, Kitzi got up. "If, if, if," he muttered. "I shouldn't think about that too much. I grew up in Nonav, and I don't regret that." Okay, and now say it like you mean it. The fox cursed again, louder this time. "Whatever. I'm here, I'm blind, and I'm NOT going to spend the rest of my life whining about it."

He slid out of the bed and scratched his bare torso. Now, where did I put my clothes? And where's my cane? A quick pat on his legs told him that he was still wearing his regular pants. Oh, right... I just took off the robe before going to bed, he remembered and nodded. "So... where's my robe?"

Seconds later, somebody handed him the missing item. "Thanks, Dante!" he said as he put on the robe. "Didn't even notice you. Sorry about the silly rant, I didn't mean to come off as-" A forked tongue slid over his cheek, causing Kitzi to freeze. Oh no. This isn't happening. This is not what I fear it is... He reached out with a trembling hand. Eventually, he touched the snake head that was hovering next to him. The tentacle head nuzzled his hand affectionately. Help.

Something touched his left side, and Kitzi was fairly certain that another tentacle had found his cane. It's okay, Kitzi... just a few extra appendages helping you to get dressed. That's no reason to panic. This is perfectly normal... don't freak out... don't freak out... Just remember what Dante told you. They react to your mood. I just need to calm down. Breathe in... breathe out... relax... He sighed quietly when he felt the tentacle heads retreating.

"Okay, now what?" Kitzi asked himself after a quick trip to the bathroom. "When is Dante supposed to come back? ...and what time is it?" He massaged his forehead, trying to come up with a plan. I could just wait for him. Or rather: I should just wait for him. Right. I'm going to stay here. Here... in this boring room. For God knows how long. Waiting until Dante comes back from his- "-date," Kitzi finished the thought aloud. "He's dating Yasma. Right... he could be gone for hours. Or days. Who knows what Cubi do during a date?"

He gritted his teeth, trying desperately to avoid the conclusion that seemed inevitable by now. Well, since he's going to be gone for a few hours at least... He bit his lower lip. As long as I stay away from that staircase, I'll find my way around. No problem. As long as I keep track of the turns I take, I'll be able to map out a large part of this floor, and Dante will never know! A few careful steps, and the doorknob was within reach. Come on... do it... unless you want to cling to Dante like a helpless child...

"I'm not helpless," Kitzi hissed and opened the door. "I can find my way around this place." He made a quick sweep with the cane to make sure that he was not about to walk into somebody. After taking a deep breath, Kitzi followed the corridor to his right. The few other students he passed on his way didn't pay him much attention, even though he heard a few whispered questions about his cane. But that's okay, he told himself. They're just curious. And nobody poked fun at you, so all is well.

When he had explored the corridors around his room, Kitzi leaned against a wall to take a break. This place shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Mostly straight corridors, connected at right angles. All I need now is to figure out what important rooms are on this floor. Other than the infirmary, of cou- His train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of two students. Their idle chatter didn't disturb Kitzi, but they were approaching him from a direction that should have been impossible. There is no corridor there... or at least there shouldn't be one, Kitzi thought, letting the students walk past him.

When the students were gone, Kitzi carefully examined the area from where he had heard them coming. "Odd," he whispered, letting his hands run over the wall. "Can Cubi walk through solid objects?" Just as he was about to let go of the wall, his hands brushed a wooden frame. A door? He let his hands wander over the area inside the frame. No, it's not wood. Feels more like glass... just... not quite. He frowned. "If anything, they came from here," he told himself. "So... is this maybe some sort of hidden door?" The fox pushed lightly against the surface. "How is this supposed to wo-" His hand slid through the glassy surface.

"Well, this is new," he muttered, carefully stepping through the surface. I think I should be more surprised or freaked out by this... glass membrane, but at least this thing didn't mess up any dimensions. The thought made him smile. Right. It's just the architect showing off by installing a sort of glass curtain. That's a bit eccentric, but I'll live.

Letting his cane touch the floor in front of him, Kitzi made his way through the space behind the glass membrane. Judging by the slight echo and the quiet voices in the distance, he was almost certain that he was not in a corridor anymore. Even though large halls usually feel colder than this, so I'm getting mixed signals. In the end, he decided not to speculate too much about it. Might as well ask Dante later.

After a few minutes of slow walking, the cane touched another glass surface. Here we go again, Kitzi thought and stepped through the membrane. Immediately, the sounds of the space behind him became more distant, as if he had just stepped into another world. What if that's exactly what it-... No. No. Don't even think about it, Kitzi. He suppressed a shudder. But maybe I should just go back. Back through this weird hall and to my room. Yeah, that would be-

{{{You look lost,}}} an unsettling voice said, making Kitzi jump.

"Doctor Ink!" he yelped and took a small step backwards. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you coming."

{{{That may be because I had been standing here the entire time,}}} Ink told him and chuckled quietly.

"...oh," Kitzi replied sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "What're you doing here then, if I may ask?"

There was a pause. {{{Considering that you already had your placement test, you should know by now that I work here,}}} Ink finally replied.

"No, I mean... right here, right now. You wouldn't stand here without a reason, surely..." Way to go, Kitzi... interrogate the possibly creepiest guy you met so far...

Ink hesitated again; Kitzi could almost feel the doctor giving him a weird look. {{{I... work here,}}} he finally repeated. {{{Right here, even. You're standing right in front of the infirmary.}}}

Kitzi blinked and cocked his head. "...are you sure?" he asked before realizing how idiotic the question sounded. "I mean," he hastily added, "this doesn't fit with my internal map... the infirmary should be... a few corridors and corners that way..." He pointed in the general direction of where he had expected the infirmary to be, painfully aware that he must look like some crazy idiot.

{{{Quite the conundrum,}}} Ink admitted. {{{At least for somebody who apparently doesn't know what he just did.}}}

"What do you mean?"

{{{That's... complicated for somebody who only got here less than 24 hours ago.}}}

The younger fox frowned, then cursed. "It's about that glass curtain, right?"

Ink chuckled quietly. {{{That was a mirror, Kitzi.}}}

Mirror? Kitzi asked himself. No, that's impossible. You-

The doctor had either read his thoughts or had interpreted his expression correctly. {{{Oh, but Doctor Ink, you can't walk through mirrors!}}} Ink exclaimed in what Kitzi assumed was a consciously bad impersonation of him. {{{Well, Kitzi, that "knowledge" is exactly what normally stops young Cubi from wandering into extra-dimensional spaces without supervision.}}} Kitzi felt his mouth going dry, but Ink either didn't notice his look of shock and horror or chose to ignore it. {{{Although I am somewhat surprised since you should "know" that you can't walk through solid objects. But I guess you somehow concluded that it should be possible... you should tell me one day, it could make the first lesson in that field easier for future generations!}}}

Kitzi shuddered. I walked straight through some messed-up dimension. AGAIN. I could've come out anywhere. Or nowhere! He sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself. "My God..." he whispered and shook his head.

{{{There, there,}}} Ink said soothingly and tugged at Kitzi's upper arm. {{{Why don't you come inside and have a cup of tea? Nothing bad happened, after all. In a few decades, you will look back at this day and laugh.}}} He helped the shuddering fox to his feet and guided him into the reception room of the infirmary.

"Why are you doing this...?" Kitzi finally managed to ask after Ink had guided him to a chair and had given him a cup of tea.

{{{I like to share a nice cup of tea,}}} Ink answered calmly. {{{When you get older, you will learn to appreciate such things.}}}

"No, I mean... the mirror... thing."

{{{Oh, that.}}} The doctor considered the question. {{{I guess we do these things because we're too lazy to roam this large building the normal ways,}}} he finally replied.

Kitzi was just about to give a sarcastic reply to that when the infirmary's front door opened. "-and I told them that," a female voice said, then stopped abruptly. "Oh, sorry, Doctor Ink! We didn't know you had a patient right now!"

{{{No, it's quite okay, Merabi,}}} Ink quickly said. {{{He's not a patient. Kitzi, meet my First Aid class. I had been waiting for them when you showed up.}}}

"Ah... uh... pleased," Kitzi said and waved in the general direction of the sounds coming from the door area. "I guess I'll get going then..."

"Aw, man, I had been hoping he'd be a volunteer," a deep, male voice moaned.

"Mostly because it's your turn to volunteer today," another Incubus commented, prompting snickers.

{{{No, Rikudo. Kitzi was just-... well, actually...}}} Kitzi suddenly had the feeling that everybody in the room was watching him. {{{Kitzi, would you like to earn some early class credit?}}}

The blind Incubus opened his mouth to reply, then quickly closed it again. Wait. Think about it. No hasty replies. He frowned lightly. "I... I'm not really volunteer material, Doctor," he finally said. "You know, what with me not really being in the need of first aid and all that."

{{{Oh, that won't be a problem. Trust me.}}}

Kitzi could hear one of the assembled students starting to snicker. It's never a good sign to hear a psycho say that sentence, he thought. "I... uh... no, thanks, really. I should probably leave. Right now."

{{{Dante would approve of it, you know?}}} Ink asked innocently just as Kitzi got up. {{{He'd congratulate you for getting credit for my classes, actually. After all, it took him years to get the points you could earn in just an hour or two. And most of that time will be spent on theory, so your volunteer action will effectively be reduced to just a few minutes.}}}

"I... I guess that maybe... I think-" Kitzi stammered helplessly, desperately trying to find a good reason not to volunteer.

{{{Wonderful! I wish more students would show this sort of spirit when it comes to volunteering!}}} Ink quickly guided Kitzi into the room the placement test had been held in. {{{Just sit down here, Kitzi. Oh, and place your lower arm on the table, palm facing downwards. Yes, just like that.}}}

This is a terribly stupid idea, Kitzi thought while Ink talked with his students about spells and anatomy. And I somehow doubt that Dante will congratulate me. In fact, he might throw a fit and keep me locked up in our room for my own protection since I proved to be too gullible to survive without his help. ...assuming that I actually survive this hour...

Kitzi's musings came to a halt when Doctor Ink patted his back. {{{And armed with knowledge, we come to a first practical test. Merabi? Rikudo? You will handle an example case. Then, we will discuss how you handled it. You may use any and all spells and abilities, just like in a real situation requiring first aid.}}}

"Uh, Doctor Ink, do I have to do anything special now?" Kitzi asked, once again feeling everybody's eyes on him.

{{{Just act naturally, Kitzi,}}} Ink replied cheerfully. {{{So, without further ado, your test begins...}}}

Kitzi twitched when he heard a knife being rammed into the table. The pain signals coming from his hand apparently bypassed his brain and went straight to the vocal cords, causing him to scream incoherently. Only after a few seconds did his consciousness process all the new information, leading Kitzi to a very clear summary of the situation: "YOU FRICKEN STABBED ME!"

{{{...now.}}} Ink said calmly.

MY GOD, GET OUTTA THERE! PSYCHO'S TRYING TO KILL YOU! JUST RUN! Kitzi tried to pull his arm away, but the knife kept his hand pinned to the table. GET IT OUT! QUICKLY! He frantically touched the knife, trying to figure out where the handle was.

{{{Notice the patient's reaction,}}} Ink narrated. {{{He is acting as expected, trying to increase his freedom of movement in order to run or fight back. Now, it's naturally hard to apply proper first aid to a patient who is moving. Let's see how our two candidates are going to deal with it.}}}

"Don't do that!" the Succubus called Merabi snapped, apparently having noticed that Kitzi was tugging at the knife.

"Why's he using his tentacles?!" Rikudo shouted, tugging at Kitzi's wings.

Ink chuckled quietly. {{{Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that Kitzi hasn't quite mastered his Cubi abilities yet. So he can't be expected to have full control over his tentacles in an extreme situation like this.}}}

In the middle of the chaos caused by him and the two students, Kitzi managed to get a proper grip of the knife and finally pulled it out. It took him half a second to realize that that decision didn't exactly lessen the pain. Quite on the contrary, the now completely open wound hurt even more than before, and Kitzi guessed that the increased blood flow played a role in it.

Ignoring his panicked yelps, Merabi grabbed the hand that was holding the knife. "Rikudo! Keep him pinned! He's losing it!"

"Give me a minute!" Rikudo shouted angrily. The Cubi had jumped onto Kitzi's back and had wrapped his arms around the wounded Cubi's neck.

"That's more than I can spare! So... STAY!" Merabi wrestled with Kitzi's hands and finally pulled down the one holding the knife in one swift motion.

Kitzi let out a strangled gasp when he felt the knife slamming into his injured hand again. "OH, FOR THE LOVE OF FU-" The rest of the sentence was cut off by a tentacle that had quickly wrapped itself around his muzzle. Similar tentacles started to wrap themselves around his torso and wings. Being doubly pinned like this only heightened Kitzi's sense of panic, leading to him struggling wildly against his bonds.

{{{In case you've just joined the activities, these two Cubi are trying to heal their fellow student,}}} Ink commented and sighed dramatically.

"Tighten your grip!" Merabi ordered the Cubi that was keeping Kitzi immobilized with his wing tentacles. "I don't want him to break free while I cast the spell!"

Kitzi howled in pain when the tentacles around his chest squeezed with greater force than he would have thought was possible. The pain that came from Merabi removing the blade suddenly seemed like a minor nuisance, compared to the feeling of cracked ribs and the inability to breathe. After what seemed like hours, the tentacles around him abruptly retreated, letting him collapse onto the floor. Kitzi wheezed and coughed for a full minute before realizing that the assault had apparently ended, just like his hand had stopped hurting. "Oh gawd..." he whined quietly.

{{{Two minutes,}}} Ink said and started to pace. {{{That's not too bad, I guess. Now. Does anybody have anything to say? Good things, bad things?}}} When nobody spoke up, the doctor sighed. {{{Fine. I'll make a few general observations then.}}} He stopped his pacing next to Kitzi and gently let his hands roam over his back. Then he took a closer look at the hand. {{{The wounds have healed nicely. Almost no scarring, and the little bit here should heal naturally. Nice work with the spell, Merabi.}}}

"Thank you, Doctor Ink!" the Succubus quickly replied, sounding happy and relieved.

{{{However, you also stabbed the patient,}}} Ink added, causing a few students to snicker. {{{Next time, disarm the patient before making sudden moves.}}}

"Yes, Doctor Ink." Merabi whispered.

{{{Rikudo, you broke... three ribs, if my quick check was correct. Additionally, you almost cut off the patient's air supply. Needless to say that this is unacceptable, considering that you two were only supposed to heal a stab wound in the hand area.}}}

"He kept struggling!" Rikudo snapped. "How was I supposed to-"

{{{With spells?}}} Ink asked. Although he hadn't raised his voice, it was very clear that the doctor did not appreciate such replies to valid criticism. {{{You should know various helpful spells by now. You could have stunned or paralyzed him. Or you could have induced sleep. Or how about simply neutralizing the pain signals, just like we discussed last week?}}} For a few seconds, nobody made a sound. Even Kitzi had stopped groaning. Finally, Ink sighed again. {{{Very well. Now, before we go on, I'll just heal those ribs. Hold still, Kitzi...}}}

Kitzi groaned quietly when he felt an odd warmth spreading across his back. I pray that the "going on" part doesn't include more tests, he thought. I wouldn't want to get killed in a freaking First Aid lesson.

{{{There, done,}}} Ink finally said and helped Kitzi to his feet. When he was reasonably sure that Kitzi wouldn't collapse, he let go and addressed his class again. {{{Since the last test had been more... intense than I had anticipated, I will cut Kitzi's involvement a bit short. Just one demonstration on how to do it correctly, and our young volunteer will be free to go.}}}

"Can't I simply go right now, Doctor Ink?" Kitzi groaned quietly.

{{{I would like to set a positive example in terms of healing here, Kitzi. Just to let them know how to properly deal with things.}}}

Well, he's a professional, so it should be less horrible than the test, Kitzi told himself. "I... guess you're right..."

{{{Wonderful!}}} Ink exclaimed. {{{Say... do you still need that robe?}}}

"...why?" Kitzi asked, suddenly feeling very concerned again.

{{{It would make the scenario much more believable, and it's quite educational to show how to heal wounds that are partially hidden by clothes.}}}

He's got to be kidding me. I've had this robe for years. My mother made it for me! He opened his mouth to say just that, but something held him back. Or... I could just behave like an adult and acknowledge that even nice people like Dante told me to get something new. "Fine... if it makes you happy, Doctor Ink," he sighed. Anything to get it over with.

Ink sighed happily. {{{Oh, how I wish that more Cubi were this cooperative!}}} A few of the assembled students coughed nervously. {{{Just move a little bit away from the table... yes, just like that. Now. Everybody got a good view? Questions can wait until after the demonstration. The wound technically won't be lethal, but it's in everybody's best interest if Kitzi doesn't have to suffer very long, understood?}}}

"Wait... why technically not lethal?" Kitzi asked and crossed his arms in front of his chest, determined not to take them down until he got a reply.

{{{It means that your body will react to my precision cut as if it were lethal, but you'd easily survive for one or two hours before actually dying, so there is plenty time to heal you,}}} Ink explained. {{{So, if we're all done chatting, I suggest we start- now what?}}} The doctor was silent for a few seconds. {{{Fa'Lina, you're interrupting my lecture, so you could at least be polite enough not to give me a cryptic order.}}}

Must be telepathy, Kitzi guessed and frowned. I wonder what they're talking about; Doctor Ink seems to be annoyed.

{{{Oh,}}} the doctor suddenly muttered. {{{That... changes things. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll cancel the- ...what? Are you serious?}}} He started tapping his foot. {{{I see,}}} he finally whispered and sighed.

"Something wrong?" the Succubus called Merabi asked timidly.

{{{Let us continue with the lesson,}}} Doctor Ink said, completely ignoring the question.

He sounds... anxious, Kitzi silently observed and let his arms hang by his side, sensing that this was a very bad time to show resistance. "I'm ready when y-GHHHHHHHHHH!" Something had abruptly sliced across Kitzi's chest. The young fox clutched his chest and felt something warm on his hands. Blood? He shook his head in disbelief. Ink's voice suddenly sounded very distant, as if the doctor was standing at the other end of a long tunnel. Kitzi tried to say something, to call for help, but he couldn't hear any words coming out of his mouth. I'm dying. The realization robbed him of his last strength and made him sink to his knees. That psycho... he lied to me... lied... God, I really should... should...

Oh, don't worry, an inner voice suddenly whispered. You will.

And with that, Kitzi lost consciousness.

---

Author's Notes:
- First of all: llearch is my hero.
- I deeply apologize for the MASSIVE delay, but a number of things kept me occupied. Among them is the fact that this chapter had the most plot revisions ever, which in turn led to me banging my head against the wall as I tried to evaluate the long-term consequences of each plot idea.
- My interpretation of "mirror space" is loosely based on what I speed-read in the old SAIA RP (while looking up description notes about Doctor Ink), but so far, it should fit into the regular universe (mostly because we didn't see it in use very often, so the conflict potential is low).
- The next chapter is ready to be posted, but I'll delay it a little bit (so I can at least start with chapter 10 in the meantime). Should be up in a few days, I guess.

[Tapewolf]

Ah!  Good to see this has returned.  I await the next chapter eagerly.  Not least because you went and did a cliffhanger ending.

I guess next time he's going to wait for Dante, hmmm?  Assuming of course that he isn't left catatonic by Ink's demonstration of what murder feels like...

[Roureem Egas]

Wow. I gotta thank you for taking my mind off things, Sid. This is an awesome chapter here. 

[Sid]

Chapter 9: The Date

"If I had known a few years ago that roses are this expensive, I would've learned how to conjure them," Dante muttered, giving the flowers in his hand a look. "Ah well. I said I'd try roses, and she seemed to like the idea." Standing in front of Yasma's room, he gave his outfit a last inspection. His robe had been quite dirty after his encounter with the elk, and he had spent a few hours washing his clothes and himself to make a good impression during his first date. "Well, here goes nothing..." He cleared his throat and knocked.

"Jeez, are you too drunk to just touch the fricken doorknob now?" an angry voice came from the other side of the door. "I should just break your kneecaps so you spend a few days without sex and alcohol. You know, it's really no wonder that you're that close to failing your exams in-" Yasma complained as she yanked open the door. "-...oh, it's you," she said softly and blinked.

"Uh... don't hurt me, please?" Dante asked and held up the roses like a shield.

The elk blinked and then started snickering. "Oh, sheesh, I'm sorry! I thought you were my roommate. Didn't expect you here so soon!" She quickly waved him into her room, which looked almost like a perfect copy of his own room, only messier. "You okay, by the way? I hadn't expected you to fly that far when I poked you..."

"Poked? You punched me!" Dante gave her the roses and smirked. "If that was poking to you, I don't want to be around when you start fighting for real."

Yasma gave him a grin. "I've been told it's quite a sight." She put the flowers into a vase and took a quick look around, apparently looking for a nice spot. Dante did the same, noticing that the table was buried under more than a dozen books. A quick glance at the drawers made him blink.

"Your roommate collects plushies?" the mouse Incubus asked and raised an eyebrow as he pointed at the heaps of plush toys on each drawer.

"Those are mine, actually," Yasma replied and gave him a silly grin. "Same goes for the books, which is pretty much the only reasons why I'm not going to throw them onto the floor."

"Your roommate's a pest, huh?" Dante noticed that even the chairs in the room were covered with books, so he sat down on the bed.

Yasma rolled her eyes. "Totally." She carefully placed the vase on a pile of books. "Real party girl. Doesn't know when to stop, though."

"Is she in our class?"

The Succubus blinked. "Our class? We got a class together?"

Dante's jaw dropped. "Advanced Elemental Studies? You're sitting... in the third row, right side!"

"You're in that course? Since when?" Her face showed genuine surprise.

"Since it started? I'm, like, one row behind you, over at the left side?" Dante gave her a look. "Are you that focused on the lessons that you don't even notice who's in class with you?"

"I'm not!" Yasma protested. "I just... never noticed you. Heck, I think I don't even know your name!" She cocked her head. "You're a quiet one aren't you?"

"My name's Dante," he informed her, "and I don't exactly have many friends to chat with." When the elk gave him a blank look, the Incubus rolled up the left sleeve of his robe, exposing a dark blue, vaguely triangular symbol on his upper arm. Yasma didn't react visibly to the Clan mark, but Dante could feel her raising a full set of mind shields and countermeasures. "Don't bother," he said and sighed.

"And why shouldn't I?" she asked, giving him a glare.

"Two reasons. First of all, I'm not like most of my Clan. I don't wipe people for shits and giggles. I beg you to trust me."

"And the second reason?" Yasma asked, obviously not being impressed by the first one.

"The second reason is that even those shields can't keep me out. If I really wanted to, I could still erase your memories of the last century before you even realize that I'm inside your head."

The elk hesitated, trying to decide what to do now. "You're lying," she finally hissed, still keeping up her shields.

Dante sighed. "Would you like a demonstration? No memory erasing, of course. Just a test to see if I can get in."

"You can try, rodent. You can try." Yasma gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

"Very well," Dante whispered. He let his mind reach out, carefully probing her shields. "Oh, nice," he commented, "you're able to set up interlocked shields. I assume you got the willpower to resist a pretty hard frontal assault."

The elk smirked. "Giving up already?"

"Hardly." Especially since that's not my style, he added silently. While most Cubi try to overwhelm shields with brute force, I simply get in because few Cubi manage to shield every angle of their mind against an attack. The trick is to find a blind spot. He smiled when his mind felt an unshielded part of her consciousness. Like that one... Before Yasma even noticed what was going on, he was inside her head, browsing through her memories. Now... how to prove my point without violating her trust... oh, my... The smile widened. "Zerthoz."

"Wha-?" Yasma asked, her eyes widening slightly.

Dante quickly withdrew from her mind before she managed to detect his subtle probe. "The guy you had a crush on. Snake Incubus, and... quite the sex god, from what you had been told. Pity that he didn't like girlfriends with fur..."

"You... you... stop..." she whispered, but Dante noticed a hint of a grin on her face.

"And you actually shaved off your fur for him... just to make him happy..."

Yasma started snickering. "And, boy, did I look stupid. I didn't even have my headwings back then. Not even to mention shapeshifting." She shook her head and gave him a grin before turning more serious again. "How did you get past my shields?"

"It's a natural talent," Dante told her and shrugged. "I might be able to teach you, but it would take some time since it's not the regular approach to breaking into another mind. Your established knowledge might even get in the way, who knows? If you compare it to breaking into a house, you learn in class how to kick down the door. I, on the other hand, go through a window, the chimney, or something like that. It's kinda subtle."

"So... are you telling me that my shields are effectively useless?" The elk frowned heavily. "They sure didn't tell us that in the Mental Shielding class."

"Trust me, your shields are useful and strong. They will protect you against most Cubi, excluding maybe the professors and Cubi of equally high rank. Like I said, you've got some pretty tough shielding against conventional attacks." He smiled encouragingly. "It's just that I'm able to attack in a more... refined way that few, to my knowledge, even know of."

Yasma sighed deeply. "So I can either trust you or avoid you."

"Guess what way most students choose." Dante looked at the floor, his bat-like headwings folded closely against his head.

The Succubus started to pace. "And why does the new kid trust you? Or didn't you tell him of your Clan's history?"

Dante looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Told him about it when we met, don't worry. But how do you know you that he is new or that trusts me?"

"Well, I didn't detect any negative emotions, and he didn't beg me to finish you off, so I figure he doesn't consider you his enemy." She shrugged. "And I assumed that he's new because of his clothes. I mean, not even a blind guy would dress like that!"

Dante smacked his forehead and snickered. "Actually, he is blind."

Yasma hesitated and gave Dante a shocked look. "You're kidding."

"I'm not. He's completely blind."

"Damn..." The elk frowned. "Okay, I guess that kinda answers my other theory."

"What other theory?" Dante asked and cocked his head.

"I assumed that he's gay," Yasma replied with a sheepish grin. "You know... since he didn't even give me a second glance, not even to mention checking me out."

The Incubus grinned. "He didn't even know that you're an elk - I had to tell him that afterwards. But since he's my roommate, I'll most likely be the first to notice if he's actually gay."

For a few minutes, both Cubi just snickered as they reflected on that first encounter. But in the end, Yasma crossed her arms and gave Dante a serious look again. "So, why does he trust you?"

Dante looked down again. "To be honest, I have no idea. I told him about my Clan's history and promised that I wouldn't abuse my powers. He just... trusted me then." He sighed deeply. "On the other hand, I don't know how long he'll be willing to hang out with me."

"Why should he leave you?" Yasma asked and sat down next to Dante.

"Because I'm an idiot who gets horribly sidetracked all the time?" Dante asked back. "I dragged him from the placement test to the changing room, but when we were almost there, I dragged him back to our room just to make a point about the staircase. And in our room, I told him about how the staircase became so crazy."

"Staircase and Ink's test in one day? How long has he been here? A week?"

"His first day in SAIA, his second day of knowing that he's a Cubi." Noticing her curious look, he continued, "He grew up in a village full of Beings."

"So you dropped dimensional theory and the placement test onto the pile of weird stuff he already goes through?"

The mouse nodded grimly. "Told you I'm an idiot."

She frowned lightly. "And where is he now? Please tell me you didn't just abandon him somewhere in SAIA."

"No!" Dante quickly exclaimed. "He's asleep now. Had been close to the breaking point, so I let him rest a bit." He let his head hang again. "So he can think things over, and once he's rested, he'll tell me to go to Hell because I'm not good for anything aside from-" Dante's pity-party was interrupted when the elk pushed him off the bed and straight onto the floor in one fluid motion. Before he could even think of getting back up, he felt her vise-like grip on his neck.

"Okay, here's the deal," Yasma stated. "Where I come from, we don't support self-pity. So if you just needed someone to go all 'Poor Dante! Your roommate will hate you because you suck! Oh, woe is you!', you've come to the wrong Cubi."

Dante squirmed, but her hand easily kept him pinned on the floor. "You solve all your problems with violence?" he asked when he realized that he'd have to talk his way out of this one.

"Only the ones where I think that talking alone won't solve things," the elk replied. "Now, are you going to stop pitying yourself?"

"Look, it's a fact that I messed up," the mouse muttered. "And Kitzi is going to request another room, hopefully finding somebody who is better suited to guide him. Or maybe I should just drop dead so he can find his own way. Might be better than-"

"Oh, you're IMPOSSIBLE!" the elk snapped and let go of him. After getting back to her feet, she took a few steps away from. "FINE! Here, I'll grant you your wish!" Her hands moved quickly, leaving sparks of magic hanging in the air. "Releasing the Seal of the Sixth Order," Yasma whispered and held her hands above her head. "Burial, First Degree." The sparks quickly moved upwards, circling around her hands. Moments later, a massive boulder appeared above her, dropping into her outstretched hands.

Damn damn damn damn she's serious! Rock Elemental magic! Dante frantically looked around, searching for cover or an exit. Crap, who am I kidding, nothing in this room will protect me against this pebble on steroids! And the door is too far away. No chance. "FINE!" he screamed, raising his arms. "Stop! I'll be reasonable! No more silly pity parties!"

The elk was panting slightly under the weight of her summoned boulder. "Isn't it interesting how I always have to summon boulders just to make you listen?" she asked and let the boulder disappear again.

"Yeah, that's because you're a crazy elk!" Dante told her, forcing himself to grin. Two near-death situations in one day. Kitzi is bad influence.

"Admit it, you're just jealous," she replied and smirked.

The mouse carefully got up again. "Of what? Summoning boulders?"

"Of course! Heck, you should see the Second Degree of that spell! There's no way you're not jealous. Unless of course you got one of the more exotic elements." She put a hand on her hip and rubbed her chin with the other one. "Wouldn't put it past you, actually... many self-appointed outcasts choose elements like Fluffy Animals or Cut Toenails in order to stand out..."

Dante smirked. "I'm about as mainstream as you can get, don't worry. Water magic is my primary element."

"Water? Odd choice." Yasma cocked her head. "I heard that you have to do daily meditation to achieve unity or something..."

"Not exactly," Dante told her and shrugged. "Being calm and focused does help since Water magic can be kinda hard to control at first, but it's not a requirement. On the other hand, I'll be the first to admit that it really is an odd choice, and if it had been up to me, I would've picked Wind maybe."

"You make that sound as if you didn't have a choice. I thought everybody was supposed to pick the element he or she feels the closest to at the beginning of the intro-level course..."

Dante opened and closed his mouth. "So anyway," he finally went on, "what made you pick Rock?"

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily!" Yasma held up her hand and grinned. "I sense a silly story..."

Oh boy. Dante rolled his eyes and silently cursed his big mouth. "It's... well... I..." He sighed. "I had a vision."

"Vision," the elk repeated, and blinked.

"Yes. A vision... by the Great God of Water. And he told me to pick his element. Aaaaaaand so I did. The end!"

"Riiight." A wave of her hand caused a plush deer to hover across the room. "Evil Bambi demands that you tell the real story now," she teased him, making the toy fly slowly around his head.

Dante tried to ignore the levitating plushie and sighed. "Oh, fine... bluntly put, I got stoned on Antifreeze Tea and signed up for Water magic."

The plushie fell to the ground. "Y-You... what?" Yasma stammered and gave him a look of disbelief. "That stuff is on Doctor Ink's list of Interesting but Lethal Poisons! What part of LETHAL don't you understand? It's not something to drink for kicks!"

"I didn't drink it voluntarily!" Dante snapped, gesturing wildly. "Do you think I would drink something like that because I felt like it?"

"Then tell me what sick crackpot gave you Antifreeze Tea. And while you're at it, tell me how you actually managed to survive it."

The mouse sighed. "Let me put it this way: If you ever sign up for Ink's Emergency Treatment class, don't drink anything he offers you at the beginning of a lecture."

Yasma's jaw dropped. "Ink poisoned you?"

"He offered everybody a nice cup of tea at the beginning of the lecture. Once all cups were empty, he told us that one cup had been spiked and that we'd practice curing poison and, if push came to shove, reanimation on the 'volunteer'. When I finally came to my senses again, I had somehow managed to fill out the form for the Elemental Studies course with the request for Water magic 'because the Great Water God told me so'."

There was a long pause. Finally, the elk shook her head. "Tell me again why we let an evil psychopath handle the medicine courses and the infirmary."

Dante shrugged. "Well, he's the best when it comes to healing magic and medicine." He gave her a silly grin. "Besides, being responsible for the well-being of a bunch of crazy magic-users is bound to drive any Cubi insane. And you could argue that he's got a head start there..."

"Good point, come to think of it." Yasma chuckled and let the plush deer hover onto the bed. "I don't know, though... 'Dante, the Water Mage' sounds a bit odd, somehow."

"You really enjoy teasing me, don't you?" the mouse asked wearily.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Yasma admitted. "But your name really does sound more... I dunno... aggressive. Like... it makes me think of 'Dante, Lord of Eternal Hellfire' or something."

Dante grimaced. "I blame my parents. They always had high hopes for me and my siblings. And by 'high hopes', I mean that they hoped for me to get into things like 'terrorizing entire continents' and stuff like that." When he noticed her cocked eyebrow, he shrugged. "At least I'm one of their oldest children and got a fairly normal name. I think my youngest brother is actually called 'Destructo the Terrible'."

"How subtle," the Succubus commented and started to snicker. "Even though my parents also have a somewhat questionable taste when it comes to names."

"How so? 'Yasma' sounds like a very nice name..."

She rolled her eyes. "I did some research. Turns out that I'm named after a plant."

"So? There are many plant-related names. Like... Lily, Rose, Tul-"

"A carnivorous plant," the Succubus interrupted him.

Dante froze. "You're going to kill me if I say 'How fitting!', right?"

Yasma crossed her arms and smirked. "That depends. Did you come up with a very romantic way of spending the rest of the day with me?"

"Uh..." The mouse Incubus frowned and finally chuckled nervously. "Not really, come to think of it... you see, I'm not really experienced in the dating area, and... uh..."

"Then yes, I'd kill you if you say that." The elk gave him an amused smile. "First date, huh?"

"Yeah... never found the right one in my Clan, and since few people here like to hang out with me, dating was pretty much out of the question..." His headwings twitched lightly, giving away how nervous he actually was.

Yasma smiled warmly and was just about to reply when somebody burst through the door. "Yas, ya totally gotta hear this!" a snow-white vixen with shoulder-long black hair yelled, stumbling into the room. When she tackled Yasma, Dante noticed a thin, black stripe running from her neck straight down to the tip of her tail, making her look a bit like an inverted skunk. "It's, like, totally awesome!"

"Hello, Iris," Yasma said with little enthusiasm. She gave Dante a look. "My roommate."

"Irisienne!" the vixen corrected her sharply, her white, feathery wings twitching in a way that nicely showed off the black flight feathers. Dante guessed that the movement had been well-practiced.

"She thinks that Iris, her real name, is too common," Yasma explained after noticing Dante's confused look. "Anyway, what's so awesome?"

The vixen let go of Yasma and grinned. "Guess who finally snapped and went on a killing spree?"

"...killing spree?" the elk asked and raised an eyebrow. "What happened to the rule about not injuring and killing students within SAIA?"

"Oh, I bet Ink's above that rule, anyway..." Iris flashed her a wicked smile.

"...Ink snapped? Doctor Ink?" Dante froze. Ink was an expert when it came to shapeshifting. And while most Cubi would discard it as an offensive power, Dante knew that Ink could be... creative. Not even to mention that he can morph his wings into extremely sharp blades, he reminded himself and shuddered. "Please tell me you're making this up..."

"Well... sorta..." the vixen admitted and scratched her head. "The profs just told people on the second floor to stay in their rooms, and then they told the others to stay away from that floor for now. But hey, the infirmary is on that floor, and the orders strongly hint at some serious psycho going wild there, so that sorta limits th-HEY, WHERE'S THE FIRE?"

Dante didn't pay her cries any attention as he ran out of the room and down the corridor. Kitzi's still on the second floor! Panting slightly, he reached the main staircase. Once inside, it took a few glances at the ever-shifting exits to figure out the fastest way to the second floor. Of course, he may still be asleep... and the door's locked. So he should be safe. Dante shook his head. And what if he decided to leave the room for some reason? What if Ink simply uses his shapeshifting powers to walk through the closed door? I've seen him do that... He ran upwards, having spotted his exit nearby.

"Where are you going?" Yasma shouted, obviously having followed Dante.

"My room's on the same floor as the infirmary! I gotta check if Kitzi's okay! Who knows what a rabid Ink might do with a guy who can't put up any sort of defense?" Dante turned around and gave the elk a pleading look. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to decide if he should tell Yasma to get to safety or to cover his back.

As if having read his mind - a quick check told him that this was not the case or that she was a lot better at getting past barriers than him - Yasma crossed her arms and cocked her head. "I'm not going to let you go in there alone, Mr. Ink-managed-to-get-me-stoned-with-spiked-tea," she told him. "Ink is way out of your league, and a rabid Ink would kill you without a second thought."

"Oh, so you're that much better than I am?" Dante regretted his words as soon as he said them and clenched his fist. Stupid thing to say! Way to make her mad!

"No," the Succubus replied, her expression softening, "but if we work together, we should be able to slow him down enough to escape."

He smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. My room's not too far away from here. Maybe we can get there without running into anybo-WHOA!"

Yasma had dragged Dante out of the way just in time to prevent him from being trampled by a small group of injured students rushing into the staircase. "Get outta my way!" one of the students shouted. "He's crazy!"

They watched the students flee through the nearest exit and exchanged worried glances. "Well," Dante whispered after a few seconds of silence, "those were fairly young students, and they survived..."

"Who knows how many had initially been in their group?" Yasma whispered back. "Let's just rush in and out. Waiting here won't help Kitzi."

"Right, right..." The mouse Incubus started to dash into the corridor, determined to set a new record for the distance between the staircase and his room. However, his attempt was cut short after just a few steps. Somebody was standing in the middle of the corridor. Much to Dante's relief, it was not a rabid Doctor Ink. However, Dante was far from happy with what he saw. "...Kitzi?"

---

Author's Notes:
- Evil Bambi is a WAY old inside joke between me and a great friend of mine. Yes, it had been hovering back then, too.
- Yasma's collection of plushies was inspired by my own collection. Ironically enough, I don't have a Bambi plush toy.
- I like quirky characters, thanks for asking.
- Antifreeze Tea and its effects are pretty much directly inspired by Mynarski Forest
- Casting spells had been a tricky subject. I eventually settled with my own system, which should be open enough not to completely clash with the comic. I'll go deeper into that subject once Kitzi gets around to explore it.
- Tapewolf will most likely hate me for (1) not resolving the cliffhanger and (2) introducing another one. Sorry about that 
- Next chapter will take longer than this one since I had this one all written and beta-read by the time I posted the previous one.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Nuts. I knew there was something I forgot to do.

"No running in the halls, boys" might impact the last segment of the story. Or it might not...


Oh, and I'm still in fits of giggles over the Antifreeze Tea. :-]

[Sid]

Nuts. I knew there was something I forgot to do.

"No running in the halls, boys" might impact the last segment of the story. Or it might not...


Oh, and I'm still in fits of giggles over the Antifreeze Tea. :-]

A good point (and I had completely forgotten about it while writing that chapter), but fortunately, it will turn out to be pretty much a non-issue in this case.

[Tapewolf]

- Tapewolf will most likely hate me for (1) not resolving the cliffhanger and (2) introducing another one. Sorry about that

Nah, I was expecting it to go off on a tangent anyway.  Besides I get the feeling they are both the same cliffhanger

Keep it up...