"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.