Ansem Short Stories

[Ixtlilton]

BECAUSE I FELT LIKE IT BUT DIDN'T WANT TO GO BACK AND FORTH POSTING WITH MYSELF. D< Other people are encouraged to do little stories between their own characters too, even if they're silly or in strange format!

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Laelia and Jake in... Welcome Home

"Jacob, this is Laelia," they'd said. Geez, everyone was so expecting him to become a teacher when he graduated that they were already giving him the crappy first year teacher responsibilities like showing new students around. At this rate, was he even going to have to interview or apply? Or were they just going to hand him his diploma and a teaching certificate at the same time?

The girl was strange looking, but Jacob wasn't one to judge. She was too thin, like she'd been starving. She probably had. Her hair was black and white streaks. Not even individual strands, making grey, but whole chunks. It was messy and undone, like she'd never heard of a brush. Her eyes were golden, but odd eye colors were not particularly uncommon. Hell, Jacob's were a peculiar shade of teal, and Jacob could think of a couple of other people who had golden eyes, or golden-ish eyes. It seemed pretty common with shifters.

She was clutching her arm and looking around rapidly, her eyes moving so fast that Jacob had a hard time believing she was really taking anything in. She was dressed in new clothing, but she still managed to look like she'd just tripped in off of the street.

The way she looked at him when her eyes finally managed to land on him was... off. She stared a little too long and a little too intently, then she looked away a little too fast. Jacob tried to shake it off, and succeeded. He was all but never given the creeps by "mutants," even the ones like Zeke that seemed to give people the shivers by default.

"Hi, Laelia," Jacob said in his gentlest voice. She looked sort of scared. "My name is Jacob. Mr. Dmitri asked me to show you around the school."

Her eyes quickly locked onto his again, this time staring WAY too intensly. She sort of... wobbled from side to side, then shook her head. Jacob thought for a second that she was going to refuse the tour, but then she spoke. Her voice was hoarse and a little cracked. It was clearly an adult's voice, but the way she spoke was eerie, if only because it sounded... well...

"Mister Dimitri?" she asked, pronouncing it a little bit wrong. Her tone was childish, and her words small. Had he been talking on the phone, he would have assumed the girl to be nine years old. "Mister... The nice guy, yeah, the nice guy," she nodded, her head not quite going the exactly right way for a nod. "Does he like you?"

"Uh, well," Jacob said, a bit taken aback. "I suppose he does, yes. I think he'll hire me once I graduate."

"Mister Dim likes you, that's good," she said with a determined, childlike nod. "If he says you're okay, then you're okay." She eyed him suspiciously, as if she didn't entirely believe what she was saying. "But... but no funny business, okay? I'll... I'll eat you if you try anything!"

She'd... eat him? Well, the headmaster had mentioned she was a shifter of some sort. Clearly, she was something large and carnivorous. Damn, Jacob had been sure was a skunk or a zebra or something. Maybe she was a giant carnivorous skunk...

"I promise I won't do anything," Jacob swore. "I'm a student here, too. You can trust me."

Laelia had never really stopped eyeing him, but she nodded. "Alright. Mister Dim said I could never ever eat anyone here, anyway." She clutched at her sweater, then picked at it slightly, as if she was confused at it being there.

Jacob composed himself again and began the tour. The girl, Laelia, followed along behind him like a puppy, not really saying much, just nodding. She was almost entirely silent until they came to the library.

"--and this is the library," Jacob was saying.

"The what?" Laelia interupted.

"The, uh... the library," he said a bit more clearly, thinking she'd misheard him.

"What's that?"

"..." Jacob was a bit taken aback. Where was this girl from, anyway? Africa? But it was his job to educate her, if only for this tour. "It's a place filled with books, where people can come and read or do their school work," he said, not letting his confusion show in his voice.

"Ooooh," Laelia said, her eyes going wide. "Mister Dim said I'd learn how to read better. He didn't mention a whole bunch of books like this, though," she said, peeking into the room, where students were already busy at work on their first week's assignments. "I've seen places like this before, but I never knew what the signs said," she confessed.

"...Um... excuse me for asking, but where are you from?" Jacob asked curiously, despite the fact he was supposed to be the one explaining things.

"Canada," Laelia answered immediately. "Vancouver. I've lived there since I was little, but I got to visit Australia, once. I was told my dad is from there."

"Oh, that's nice-"

"Not really," Laelia said sadly. "I'm kind of glad to be somewhere else."

"Well, how about I show you the cafeteria, then?" Jacob said quickly. He didn't want to know what this girl had been through that involved her not knowing how to read and not enjoying Canada. He was definitely going to write his mother another letter that evening, though... Sometimes just looking at other kids his age made him want to hug his mom forever and never stop thanking her for just being his mom.

The tour continued much the same. She asked a few questions, which was nice. Jacob always prefered it when people asked questions; it showed they were paying attention. She showed a strange amount of interest in the cafeteria and how it worked, but she seemed to be adjusting.

"--and this will be your dorm room," he said finally.

"...We are in the basement," she informed him.

"Ah... yeah. I'm afraid the singles are in the basement." He glanced down at the piece of paper the headmaster had given him. "But this is definitely yours, room one twenty one."

"Do a lot of people live in the basement?"

"Uh... not really, I suppose. Most of the rooms are up in the towers."

"I see."

Laelia was clearly displeased about this turn of events. Jacob watched sadly as she paced around the room, examining the small, single dorm. Once again, he became aware that there was something strange about the way she moved. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, there was just something a little... weird. He was distracted somewhat by her sniffing the bed, though. She seemed satisfied with her findings, and sat down on it with a sigh.

Jacob's heart just about broke at how sad she looked.

"I have been told I'm a bad person," she said, her eerie golden eyes getting a little teary. "But I still do not like being put in the basement."

"Oh, Laelia," he said, sitting next to her on the bed and putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly (it was okay because he wasn't actually a teacher, right?). "I promise, it's not that at all. I'm sure the headmaster has very good reasons for putting you in this room, and well... some people have to live in the basement. We've only got so much room!" he said, trying to lighten her mood with a bit of a joke.

It didn't seem to be working. She still looked very dejected.

"There are other people living down here," he added.

"You promise?" she said, pouting. "And it's not all just people like me?"

"I promise, Laelia, I don't think there's a single person in this school just like you," Jacob said completely honestly. "There are other shifters, though," he added, wondering if that would make her feel better. He wasn't sure who had been telling her she was a bad person, or why, but she was here to get better, and maybe other shifters would understand her problems better than a guy who's biggest problem was making holes in shirts for his wings.

Laelia leaned against him, and sighed. "Thank you, Jacob. You are a nice person, for not trying anything."

He cracked a smile. "I told you, Laelia, you can trust the people here. This is a safe place. There aren't any bad people here."

Laelia looked at him very seriously. "There are bad people everywhere." She paused. "But I can't eat them."

"Uh... yeah, not eating people is probably a good idea," Jacob agreed, a little put off at her second mention of the act of eating someone.

"That's what Mister Dim said," Laelia said, cheerful again. "He said I would be fine as long as I never ate anyone again!"

Jacob paled quickly and swallowed hard. He tried to forcibly slow his heart and keep himself from jumping away from the bed. She'd... ug... god... Well... Well sometimes strange things happened to people with odd powers. But... she had... No, no judgement here, he reminded himself.

Laelia tilted her head, her unblinking golden eyes taking on a strange glint. "Jacob?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing," he said, forcing his voice to remain calm. He'd never judged ZEKE, had he? Zeke hadn't eaten anyone, another side of him argued, but that side had already lost. "Do you think you'll be able to settle in here okay?" he asked.

"I think so, yes," Laelia said with a nod.

"Alright. I'm in room 345 if you need me, alright? I showed you where it was." Laelia nodded, so Jacob stood up and gave her a last pat. "I'm sure you'll settle in here just fine, Laelia," he promised. As he left, though, he had to admit he wasn't sure he believed himself.

[Ixtlilton]

Shirogane's Story

A storm was coming.

Zeke only knew that, of course, because Jacob always got a certain look about him when a storm was on its way. Right along with the air pressure changes and the clouds rolling in, like clockwork, Jacob would get twitchy. His wings, normally folded gently against his back, would become restless, flicking about as though they longed to stretch.

There was no room inside the castle for Jacob to stretch his wings out, so he normally could be found outside, often on top of a tower somewhere, when a storm started rolling in. But today was different. Today, there was a hurricane heading straight for them, and none of the students were allowed outside (or too close to windows, for that matter). Most of them had taken shelter in the mess hall, and were enjoying their day off from classes.

Jacob, for once, had opted to stay away from the crowds, and therefore had inevitably tracked Zeke down to where he’d curled up in the basement with a book. Zeke looked up from his newest mental adventure, not really surprised to see Jacob’s smiling face and twitching wings towering over him.

“Are you a bird or a hound dog?” he teased. Jacob had a knack for finding him.
“I don’t have to have a good nose to find you,” Jacob said, plopping down next to Zeke. “I just have to find the quietest place on the grounds. You have an aura of silence,” Jacob teased right back.
Zeke stole a glance at Jacob’s wings. They were tense, twitchy. “Hey... You alright? I know you’re normally outside on days like this.”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Jacob said, his eyes a bit hard and narrow.
“Uuuhuh...”
“He won’t let me go outside,” Jacob finally snapped. “This stupid building wouldn’t fall over if we dropped a bomb on it, and he won’t even let me open a window!”
“Jacob, you know Dyedooshka is just trying to keep you safe,” Zeke protested.
“I know, I know! I just... I get frustrated sometimes. It’s like, there’s all this stuff I think I could do, but I just can’t generate the wind power to do it. And then, there’s all that wind, and I could learn so much!”
“You could also fall off the roof again.”
“That was different!”
“Or get stuck in a tree.”
“That was just the once!”
“....”
“Okay, twice.”
“......”
“OKAY!” Jacob laughed. “Message received loud and clear. I know you’re both right. I’m just...”
Zeke laid a hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “You’re always like this during storms, Jacob. You’re a giant ball of tension every hurricane season.”
“Heh, yeah.”
“Say,” Zeke said suddenly, remembering something he’d meant to ask. “Isn’t your mom visiting again this year?”
“Yeah!” said Jacob, noticeably brightening up. “I got her letter just two days ago. She’s visiting during the last half of December again. She’s on her way up from... well...” he shifted his hip bag onto his lap and pulled out a folder. Zeke knew what it was; Jacob always laminated the letters and envelopes that his mom sent. Jacob opened to the bag and showed Zeke this most recent letter.

“She sent it from Bulgaria,” he said gleefully. “God only knows what she was doing there. Well, she says that she’d been trying to get out of Egypt but couldn’t get a flight. So she got on a ship from Port Said and got into Turkey.”
Jacob’s eyes had that distant look in them, like he was seeing all the places his mother described, right in front of him. He shook his head slightly. “I don’t even want to know what she was doing in Egypt at a time like this. She’s got a love affair with Africa, but you’d think she could at least stay away from the more dangerous countries. Thank goodness she didn’t just waltz right through Saudi Arabia.”

Zeke snorted a bit. That would be so like Jacob’s mother, too. And as for her love affair with Africa, well... Zeke looked over into Jacob’s eyes again. That far off look. Zeke hated it, just a bit. Jacob wasn’t really sitting right next to him, he was imagining all the places in the world he’d never been able to go. The life with his mother he’d never quite gotten. Zeke couldn’t begrudge him it, but he didn’t have to like it either. Jacob was safe here, but he wasn’t entirely happy. Still, Zeke remembered the day Shirogane had explained to him just why Jacob had come to Ansembourg...

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It had happened when Jacob was only six years old. He’d been born in a hospital in Nigeria, and had been sired, Shirogane was fairly certain, in New Zealand. While in the womb, he’d been through Australia, Indonesia, and a little town between Osaka and Kyoto where she’d let her father know she was most definitely pregnant. Gleefully fleeing his rage, she’d taken her unborn son across the country to Spain, and somehow she’d wound up in Nigeria by the time nine months had passed.

Nigeria was nice, but it was no place for a newborn baby of questionable genes. She took him back to Ireland to get him registered as a citizen. She stayed with her mom for a little bit, then as soon as Jacob had an immune system, Shirogane was away again, this time with a baby on her back, because, well... why not? (Her mother and father came up with a few good reasons, but they went unheeded.) They travelled the world, mother and son. His adorableness served to get more than just a few lifts, she’d mentioned. The first place Jacob had been able to remember was France. Shirogane had found a very accommodating gentleman there, and Jacob had spent most of a year exploring the nooks and crannies of Versailles (and other nearby places, of course).

But Shirogane never stayed in one place, so they were off again. Shirogane had gotten a dream in France of a certain place in Africa, and decided to figure out if it was real or not. They spent the next two years in Africa, and that was where Jacob was really raised.

It was in a little village in northwest Cameroon, almost in Nigeria, where Shirogane had once more fallen in love. Not with a man, as she did regularly, but with a place, and with a culture. (Zeke could remember the lonely sparkle in her eyes when she spoke of it, so similar to Jacob’s far-off gaze.) By then Jacob’s wings had been growing steadily for years, and it was getting impossible to hide them with capes or jackets. The village elder had taken one look at the two of them and, at a time where the rest of the world was teeming with rage at the “mutant freaks” that corrupted the human race, had welcomed them with open arms.

For once, Shirogane hadn’t wanted to leave. Jacob had taken to the village like white to rice, as if he’d always lived there. The village children adored his pale skin and fuzzy winglets. With her their bronzed skin and vibrant red hair, they’d looked more out of place then a pig among guniea pigs, but you’d never know that by how the natives acted. Shirogane carved out her own place in the village, and for a time, everything was perfect.

The elder had promised them shelter in the village, safety from the execution policies in countries like the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Even the most progressive of countries was arresting mutants in the streets, tracking them down like dogs. Jacob played in the forest, learning to hunt rodents and birds, learning to play the tribal instruments, unaware that most of the world wanted him dead. Shirogane was certain that for Jacob’s sake, she could stay there for the rest of her life.

The rest of the world, however, was not content to live and let live. They had been there for a short year and a half, sometimes going hungry, and sometimes going cold, but relatively safe and happy. But word had gotten out. Two pale, red headed villagers was odd enough to attract notice, and once people were looking, the world noticed Jacob’s wings.

It was a dark and stormy night, as these nights are wont to be. Jacob slept in his cot, content as he could be. Shirogane had just finished reading him his favorite french fairy tale, “Le Chat Botté,” or, more commonly known, “Puss in Boots,” when the elder burst in. The older man was frantic. They were coming, he’d said, they were on their way, with fire and death in their eyes.

The village had tried to stand up and protect themselves. Their warriors were mowed down by guns and fire. Shirogane’s one hand gun did nothing in the face of rifles and shotguns and rage. It had been the elder, clothing a mess of blood, his, and that of his friends, that had shouted for her to run.

Shirogane had looked between her home, burning to the ground because the world hated so much, and her son, hiding beneath and oversized cloak. He watched his home burn to the ground and heard his playmates screaming.

Shirogane had run.

She hadn’t stopped running until the Resistance had caught up to her. The attackers had mostly been caught, but there was little chance of them getting much of a punishment. More importantly, there was a safe place, closer to where Jacob’s grandmother lived, where he could be safe. Shirogane, of course, hadn’t wanted to separate with her scared little boy, but she knew that she couldn’t keep him safe. And the one thing she didn’t want him to realize was that if it hadn’t been for them, that little village wouldn’t have burned.

So she sent him off to a school. She’d tried to stay nearby, she really had. But she couldn’t do it. The world still called for her, and the hope of finding another home like that little village burned like acid, filling the hole in her chest.

Why she’d told him all this, Zeke might never know. She’d said she wanted him to know Jacob’s story, because she didn’t have the courage to tell him what he could barely remember. But Zeke sort of thought she’d just needed to tell someone before it had eaten her alive inside.

“Zeke?” Jacob said. This time Zeke had been the one staring off into space. “Zeke? There’s a passage out of here into the courtyard in the back.” Jacob was grinning.
“...” Zeke tried to keep a straight face. “We shouldn’t.”
“Nope!”
“... Let’s go.”

And off they went, to see just how fast quickly you’d get drenched in a hurricane, and just how fast Dmitri would figure them out this time.

[Ixtlilton]

Disclaimer: I did this in like an hour because I felt like it. :I I know it's awful. Fuck oooffff. (Note: this is fan fiction for a fictional future of some five years from now)

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Dragon always had preferred people's shadows to those of inanimate objects. It was hard to explain, exactly, but there was a sort of warmth, and a relaxing motion, like the rocking of a boat across gentle seas.

It was such a shadow that she nestled herself into at the moment, but it felt better than the ones she remembered from her past. For once, she was neither a prisoner nor a stowaway... She was known to be there, and she was there because she was supposed to be. Somehow, that made it even better.

Of course, that night, it wouldn't be all fun and games. It often was, since the two of them had become more or less inseperable... even their respective boyfriends had trouble getting the two of them apart. They had even punked Jay, not that long ago, and now the poor boy was slightly paranoid that Dragon would be lurking in the corner, waiting to pop out and tell him he was doing it ALL wrong.

It had been a long and complicated time since the two girls had met, both new students at a very, very different school. Lilith had nearly killed someone (but in her defense, he could fly, so being knocked off a building hadn't been THAT dangerous), and Dragon had nearly died. They were older now, and had both decided to join the Resistance... there had never been a question, honestly. They went together like... like chicken and honey mustard. You didn't question it, you just went with it.

They covered each other's weaknesses. Lilith never HAD really gotten down how to do more than flail darkness randomly at people and smash it around like a loon. Dragon had much more finesse, but she could only ride around in the shadow that existed. The two together, however, had limitless possibilities. Dragon could tuck into Lilith's own shadow, or one nearby, and the less delicate of the two could simply chuck shadow and girl wherever she needed to go.

It was infiltration that night, their personal best, although neither of their favorites. Lilith had... never been very good at being subtle, despite dealing every day in shadows. And Dragon, well... Dragon wasn't very happy unless she got to stab something, those days. She had, uh... anger issues, that she was working through. Specifically, anger issues towards men. Seeing Flash was helping her with that, because that boy would take everything she dished out and then some. Although, to hear Dragon tell it, they weren't seeing each other except in the literal sense that they would make eye contact at some point.

But tonight, if all went well, there would be no stabbing. However... this was Dragon and Lilith. They'd been on the force for two years at that point, but they had yet to have a mission where they'd actually gone exactly by the book.

Dragon reminded Lilith to walk lightly, like they'd practiced, instead of like godzilla's PMSing wife, by tapping her gently on the ankle. Dragon could practically HEAR the scowl, but Lilith's steps did lighten. They could both almost SEE Jacob, who'd been giving them both lessons, glaring from the distance, DARING them to ad lib THIS time.

They would, no doubt, take Imaginary Jacob up on that. He was too pretty for both their tastes, and tormenting him was yet another hobby they could enjoy together.

What they were going in for tonight was video evidence of a new student. They needed to get the hard copy and wipe any computerized versions... fortunately, it hadn't hit the web yet. They couldn't let the student's face hit mainstream, or the boy would never be able to leave. They had to act quickly, quietly, and most importantly, they had to not be caught. Lilith took that one a bit more seriously than Dragon, just like Dragon took stealth a bit more seriously than Lilith. Dragon could stealth and stab her way out of most bad situations. Lilith would be the one sunk if they got caught.

Dragon gave Lilith a directional tap, letting the girl know she was going on ahead in the shadows, to see what they were dealing with. Why did people insist on keeping these sort of corridors so dark, anyway? They were asking for this sort of thing. Dragon's existance, however, was one hell of a secret. She'd had several very powerful men looking out for her at different times in her life... because of that, essentially no non-mutant even knew she existed. So most enemies didn't really think to shadow-proof their hideouts.

Also, Dragon's theory was just that villains were stupid.

Three armed guards stood between them and the tunnel they needed. She zipped back to Lilith and reported, and the two girls plotted in the silent little tapping sign language they'd developed together. Evil grins were shared all around.

Lilith snuck up to the corner, and peered down the much more well lit corridor. No way could Dragon sneak down that all by herself... and those stupid patrolling guards didn't look like they were going too far. Just walking around corners... there was maybe ten or fifteen seconds between when one went around one corner, and the next one came derping along.

There had been some debate about, but Lilith had REALLY wanted to try out her new technique, so... Dragon took the initiative, hopping momentarily out of the shadows and pulling something out of her tiny, multi-sacked fanny pack. Was it a robot chicken? Yes, yes it was. It was a rainbow chicken that did all sorts of things. In this case, it darted on treads into the well lit hallway and began cawing and crowing like dawn had stepped on its tail. All three guards came running, and circled around the crowing chicken in confusion, not sure what the hell to make of it, and unable to see the girls where they lurked a few hallways back. Dragon nodded to Lilith and ducked back into the shadows, taking the remote with her.

Now it was Lilith's turn to be dramatic. She stretched out her arms, ignoring the fact that she KNEW Dragon was rolling her eyes, swirled the darkness around to get it moving, and then sent it hurling out of the hallway and into the guard filled corridor, darkening out all the lights. There was shouts of alarm and yelps, and then three very loud thuds as Dragon cracked one after the other on the head. They hit the ground... but, unfortunately, the shadow didn't stop moving and just sort of raced its way through the hallways like a tidal wave. Dragon jumped out near the proper door.

"When are you going to learn to STOP?" Dragon hissed, slipping her hand into the shadow under the door and yanking herself into it.
"When it becomes NECESSARY," replied Lilith snarkily, staying back to keep an eye out and watch the three largely unconscious guards.

Ten minutes later, there was a thud at the bottom of the door. "FUCKIT I can't get out, you damn shadow tosser. Come stand by the door so I can climb into something!" Lilith scowled, but trotted over. She felt a brush by her leg, and knew Dragon had made it. Just in time, too... the guards were coming to, and one of them pressed an alarm, sending a siren wailing louder than Dragon's chicken could ever hope to be.

"Ah, fuck," Lilith swore for the two of them, and darted out back towards the exit, not bothering trying to be quiet. Dragon would have just made an escape of her own, through the ducts, but she had to make sure Lilith got out in once piece. Despite her brash nature, Lilith wasn't very comfortable with the idea of stabbing people, so Dragon always felt the need to stick around in case someone just really, REALLY needed to be stabbed.

However, it didn't seem like that would be the case today... Not until they came around a corner face to face with an armed guard, anyway.

"Freeze!" he shouted, pointing the gun at Lilith, who shot her arms into the air, trying VERY hard not to smirk and failing utterly. The guard, of course, assumed she was alone and probably just a cocky bitch... which was totally his problem, because not five seconds later one knife had knocked his gun towards the ceiling and another had lodged into his 'nads.

We mentioned the anger issues... right?

After the one guard, the two girls ran as one, quite literally, out of the compound. They hadn't found the way they'd gotten in yet, so they were able to escape the same way. Once they were far enough away, Dragon hopped out of her partner's shadow.

"I think that was one of our best missions yet!" said Lilith cheerfully.
"Oh, definitely! NEITHER of us got caught on camera, only one guy got stabbed, and we even got the stuff we were sent in after! I think they owe us a raise!" agreed Dragon jovially.
"Yep! ...Ice cream?"
"Fuck yes."
Then she ducked back into her girl's shadow and the two lunged off through the night, off to find the nearest 24 hour ice cream shop.

[Ixtlilton]

Have some Lilith and Jacoby goodness.

"Ugh! I'm just so fucking SICK of this!" the young shadow bender shouted into the sky, breaking her stance and storming over to the fence on the roof, glaring over the edge.

Jacob managed to keep his sigh quiet. They'd made progress since he'd introduced Lilith to a martial arts sort of way of training, but progress was jerky, stop and go. She seemed to get frustrated so easily, and constantly wanted to jump ahead to something she deemed more interesting or dramatic.

Jacob, for his part, was having trouble relating to the willful girl, something that had almost never come up before. He normally had no problem getting into people's heads... and while he could UNDERSTAND Lilith's personality, it seemed like he couldn't relate. He wondered if he'd ever been that stubborn... and then a flash of memory went off in his head.

He walked up to a stone post near the one Lilith was sulking by, and leaned, staring off the edge of the roof as well.

"Y'know... I was really upset when my mom dropped me off here. I was six, at the time, and you know how six year olds can be." He waved his hand vaguely. "I was so angry at the useless wings growing out of my back. I was determined to learn how to make some use of them. This was before anyone had any idea I could bend wind, of course... So it mostly consisted of me finding the tallest parts of the castle and jumping off repeatedly." He chuckled. "I broke a lot of bones... but I was really determined. Then, one day, during a storm... I glided. I hadn't the foggiest idea how. Mr. Dmitri did, of course, and wanted to put me into a tutor program. Try to get me to listen to that, though! I was really certain I could just figure it out by jumping off things enough, since that's what got me there in the first place."

Lilith was still sulking, figuring this to be a lecture of some kind. "Guess the moral of this story is how you came to your senses, huh?"

Jacob smiled and shook his head. "No... the moral of this story is how, last weekend, during the storm, despite having a broken arm already, I got frustrated with my inability to get flying from a cold start and jumped off that tower," he said, pointing over the ways at the tallest tower in sight, perhaps a good seventy or eighty feet off the ground. He laughed. "You should have seen Zeke's face... I couldn't get the wind under my wings. I was pretty sure that if the fall didn't kill me, he would. We have Ms. Wingates to thank for my not being dead, by the way. She managed to catch me half way down."

Lilith was clearly hiding a smirk behind her hand.

"The moral of the story is... everyone gets impatient and irritated with their progress, and everyone gets frustrated... myself included, no matter how much of a paragon of self-control I try to appear. Sometimes we have to listen to the people who care about us, because they care more about our safety than our personal progress. And sometimes, even though it's tricky... we have to care about that too."

Lilith was still smirking slightly, probably out of the gleeful mental image of him falling to his doom, but she did seem to be thinking... probably, if he had to guess, about her twin brother, or maybe her roommate, who she spoke about just as often (normally to bitch about how easy Dragon made it look). Either way, it seemed like a bit of reminiscing about how stupid he used to be... and how stupid he still was... had gotten her back into the swing of things.

"Now... let's practice punching the air like it ate the last slice of cake."