Chương 32: Day Thirty-Two

Dear Diary, Saffron woke me up yesterday, since we had class together. This time she didn't go all goggle eyed when I opened the door naked to let her know she'd woken me, but her face got a little bit red as she first stared at my tits, then slowly raised her gaze to meet mine.

"Do I want to know if you actually put a nightgown on before going to bed?"

"I mean, I'm not a telepath. You might. Just in case, I don't. Sandpaper chic just ain't my thing." She rolled her eyes and headed for the Dining Hall chuckling. Sister Siobhan and Marshall duBois both showed up to teach Basic Heroic Skills, and when I got to class Doc Roberts had the Mana detector all set up. DuBois had me partner up before Doc put me in my practice bubble, so I had Saffron in there with me.

"I'll probably show you Cadets Inspect shortly before lunch today; I don't think any of you have Status down to a Skill yet, but most of you ought to be getting close, and I want my prep day back." He smiled as he said it though, so I doubt he hated teaching us all that much. So Saffron and I sat there practicing our Status spell. When I popped off my new version, she stared at me like I'd grown another head.

"What the hell is that?"

"Status. Just smaller and anchored to my cheekbone instead of my thumbnail."

"Who the Hell taught you that?" I shrugged.

"I came up with it on my own. Works, though, and I don't need either of my hands to do it." She shuddered, then reached out to take hold of my chin and move my head until she stared me right in the eye.

"Can you promise not to kill me today?" I grinned down at her.

"I mean, I promise I won't do it on purpose. I don't have all that many friends I can trust here at PCHA, y'know?" She just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die, and it won't even be fighting monsters or Heroes."

"Do you want me to show you how to do Status this way?" She shook her head.

"I'll stick with this one until I've got it down. Also, anyone watching you can see how you do it, what with all the pyrotechnics. They might blind themselves watching details, but the general Mana flow is pretty impossible to miss."

"Huh. Okay then. You're sure you're okay being my partner?" She shrugged.

"I don't want to die, but I figure dying trying to be a Hero is better than getting shanked over in the Yards."

"True that." We spent the rest of the morning practicing Status, until around eleven I noticed Saffron gasp quietly.

"Anything wrong?" She leaned over to whisper, "I just got the Status skill!" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I pulled her into a one armed hug, since I didn't know what would happen if my Status window intersected with her head.

"Awesome!" She actually blushed at that, but raised her hand to get duBois to come over to our little corner of the room.

"Yes, Cadet Aetos?"

"I just got Status as a Skill!" she whispered. I could tell she wanted to get noisy about it, she practically vibrated with excitement.

"Can you show me Inspect now?" He nodded.

"Just a moment. Cadet Aetos, I'm about to Inspect you, are you okay with that?"

"Yes, Sir!" I remembered this time, and thought, Loki, I need that mana vision help now. After a slight pause while duBois did his Mana Shaping, I heard, oh, a simple Inspect. Go clockwise instead of widdershins, then rotate it one hundred eighty degrees. If you think of Status as a kind of mirror, Inspect is more like a magnifying glass. So, like this?

I looked at Saffron and pushed Mana out of my cheekbone a little further than when I did Status, sent the triple circle in the opposite direction from Status, then spun the thing a hundred eighty degrees before letting it snap into focus. NAME Saffron Aetos RACE Hybrid HYBRID Bag (12. 5%) / Human (87. 5%) AGE Young Adult ATTRIBUTES STRENGTH 2 AGILITY 3 ENDURANCE 2 REASON 3 MEMORY 3 PERSONALITY 2 AFFINITIES Air (6. 25%) / Earth (9. 375%) PATRON Artemis SKILLS STATUS 1 RACIAL SKILLS None DuBois stared at me.

"What the hell is that, Cadet?" I smiled sheepishly.

"Inspect?" He mouthed, 'the fuck?', followed by asking, "who the Hell taught you that kind of Inspect?"

"My Patron?" DuBois facepalmed, then turned to Saffron.

"Are you sure you're okay with being the walking disaster zone's partner?"