***
Angel. Arms. Woke up in them. Fuck yeah.
I've gotten far more comfortable in this position. Half the time I forget that we are doing this to stop the ghosts. I'm pretty sure if we found a permanent fix for the whole spirit situation, Sophia still wouldn't leave my room. Or my arms.
So fuck it. I nuzzle.
This wakes my angel up. But she seems happy, pulling me in close and stroking my hair. She somehow never manages to make it greasy, she's got magic fingers or something. Whenever I play with my hair, it's hair wash time.
"Good morning, Tangerine."
I love it when she calls me by my full name. Really, I just love my name in her mouth. I would say she can call me Tans, or even Tangy. But I want myself in her mouth as long as possible. Every syllable.
"Morning, Sophia." I replied. Snuggling in close. Eradicating any space between us. It's a fractious feeling, I know she likes me and she knows I like her. But the future does not allow us to move forward. To many unresolved variables. So we remain frozen in this perfect limbo. Holding on tightly to each other lest the world try and tear us apart.
Fuck the world. Mine.
Time moves forward and we have to leave this paradise of warmth, and get ready to face the day. We met Ria and the construct when we left our room.
"Hey Ria, hey Construct." Sophia said.
"Hii." Ria replied. The Construct gave the smallest of nods.
"How are you finding the new netting?" Sophia asked.
"Oh it's so much more comfortable you don't even know. My tail isn't really built to be sat in a chair."
Ria's body is supported just over the constructs shoulder. The rigging allows her top half to move around freely. Her long tail is held to the Constructs body by the netting, comfortably wrapped around its waist.
"And are you happy with all of this?" I asked the Construct, it's a little rude I know, but someone has to ask, right?
It takes it a moment to realize someone is talking to it. "I do not know." It said, "I believe my assistant continues to be needed. I have yet to be given sufficient reason to discontinue giving said assistance."
"So you are doing this because there is no reason to stop?"
"That is correct."
"Why did you offer help in the first place?" I ask, curious.
"You were blocking the staircase, I had been requested to attend class. Helping seemed to be the quickest way for me to achieve this goal."
I'm a little stunned, "So you really have no feelings about all this?"
"I am uncertain. I know I do not wish to die. I have been given a schedule and I choose to follow it. I know Ria needs help, I choose to remain and help. The act of making these choices points to some underlying desire. But I do not feel it. I do not understand it. I do not know why I do the things I do. I do not know why I do anything at all."
[We want to eat its brains so bad.]
'No, bad brain slug.'
[Oh come on. It has such a different way of thinking. We need to know what makes it tick. It fascinates us.]
'Does it even have a brain?'
[Let's get a tin opener and find out.]
I managed to hold in the laugh. Barely.
***
We are learning our first instant spell in class today. Apparently it's a staple of all mages. Lightning bolt.
It requires red mana for the spell to remain stable. Instant spells are extremely weird. First of all, they are not instant at all. It's better to say that they are prepared. Like all magic, forming the spell takes some time, but unlike a sorcery which fires when complete. An instant has a trigger mechanism. Until the trigger is pulled the spell remains stable inside your mana core. As long as you keep feeding it a trickle of mana.
I'm guessing you see how I'm going to have a problem with this.
With the help of the bracers I can actually form the spell now. The wasted red mana flaring off them - makes me look like a dragon ball Z power up episode. I'm having to shove the red mana through them as quickly as I can, before my mana core shreds it from its colour.
Once I spend an hour and twenty minutes getting the spell into a stable state, complete with trigger. It comes time to store it in my core.
And this is where problem number three comes into play. The spell requires a trickle of mana to be kept stable and inert. I can only give it a flood.
I now understand why the instants and sorcery class is so barren compared to the rest. I actually triggered the lightning bolt and blasted the wall - all three times that I managed to get the spell into my core.
***
I skip class after lunch. Honestly, the amount of mana that I cycled has exhausted me. I'm not sure I could continue if I even wanted to. But I have other reasons for skipping.
I need a rat.
I could go routing around the basements of the Academy. But honestly I don't fancy my chances. I could shoot one for sure. But capturing one feels a little out of my wheel house. I have been working out. But I'm not fit, or strong yet. Which quite honestly is bullshit. I've been picking up heavy stuff and running around for two weeks now. I should be fit already!
I swing by Gestalt's basement and pick up a brain slug. Then I'm off to the market. Class is in session in the assets handling room. So I can't take the short cut. So I have to hoof it like a pleb.
The train is the most common way to get around the city. The inner city ones are like a cross between a London tube train and a tram. They don't even stop at the stations, just slow down enough so that people can hop on and off - at the same time. Which is about as safe as it sounds.
Once I'm at the market, I wonder down until I find the cheaper food stalls. There's a dwarven place tucked in a corner under the market's train station. A big cage of rats to his side.
"Can I get your biggest rat please?" I asked the ancient ginger dwarf behind the wok.
"Aye boss. Deep fried or stir fried?" He asked without looking up from his cooking pot.
"Can I have it alive?" I asked.
That got his attention. "Alive, lass? These be rats. They don't be tasting good alive. More cooked the better."
"It's not for me. I have a friend with a special diet."
"You keeping ghouls? You look the sort."
Rude.
[You are one black choker away from being a vampire.]
'I can't help it that I look so good when gothic.'
"Not ghouls. But I still need one alive. The biggest one you have." I repeat.
"Hey, I'm not one to judge lass. Mind ya fingers now." He said while reaching into the rat cage and handing me a chunky looking big boy.
I flip the dwarf a coin and take the rat. Of course the little fucker immediately tries to bite me. I take the brain slug out of my pocket and place it near the rat's head. It climbs in through the rat's ear, pushing its brains out the other side.
'Arn't you wasting good rat brains?'
[There is no such thing as good rat brains.]
I stuff the rat in my pocket while Gestalt causes it to have a seizure. I make my way down into the crawl. I find a dingy little pub not far from where the corpse smoke den is. I buy a pint of questionable looking liquid and hole up in the corner.
I place rat Gestalt on the floor and it quickly scurries off.
[Would you like to watch?]
'Oh for sure.'
It's a trippy thing. I'm still in control of my body. But Gestalt has hijacked my eyes. I'm now seeing everything that the rat sees. I could hear as well, but only through one ear. I kept the other open in case someone bothered me in the pub.
It doesn't take long for the rat to make it to the Corpse smoke den. It wiggles its way under the door and then I learn what corpse smoke really was. The denizens of the den lay about on long sofas, each holding a long tube to smoke from. In the center of each group, the tubes connected to a corpse. Most dismembered in some way.
The smoke ran through the corpse's core. Most of the corpses had cheap prices attached to them. But there was a sign in front of one, stating that it was the corpse of a mage. That its smoke tasted most sweet.
This was certainly morbid. But it's not the thing that changed my plans. As the rat explored, it found cages. Corpses didn't need cages. Before I saw what was in those cages I was only planning on robbing the joint. While I apparently don't have a problem with killing, I'm not sure I want to become the type of person that defaults to murder. That was no longer the case. Now I plan to shut down this den with extreme prejudice.
The Gestalt rat is unbothered as it explores around the den, mapping out the entire area in our minds.
We do find the necromancer, a wizened old man more dead than alive. He was currently hollowing out the body of someone far too young. Making room for the smoking equipment.
Back at the pub I was bothered.
"Hey there girl? What's a nice little thing like you doing in a place like this?" Said one of the drunks. It is still the middle of the afternoon. So I am not dealing with a winner here. He slides himself into the seat opposite me. While I could certainly pull Chekhov and threaten the guy, to make him fuck off - I really don't want to attract any attention to my being here.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I'm just looking to keep a lonely girl company." He said.
"Who says I'm lonely?" I asked.
"You're sat here all by your lonesome." He pointed out.
"That doesn't make me lonely, I'm quite happily enjoying this drink. I'm not really looking for company so how about you find someone else to chat with, yeah?" I give it my best shot. But it doesn't work.
"But a nice girl like you shouldn't ever have to be alone… ahhgh WHAT THE FUCK?!" He said, as the now returned Gestalt rat ran up his pants leg and started biting.
'Thanks Buddies.'
***
With the Den fully mapped out, Gestalt and I return back to the academy.
Sophia is curious to know where I have gone, but I'm not sure how to have that conversation. I don't think she's really going to approve of my extracurricular activities.
I worked out again with Lillian. Which hurts, as normal, but I'm starting to get used to the burn.
Spent the day being bad at magic and exploring a horrifying corpse Den. As Trudays good, it wasn't all that bad.
***
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