***

  I woke up with my angel in my arms. Where she belonged.

  [This is going to be a problem isn't it.]

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Am I like, fully crazy? I recognize that I'm being a little intense here.’

  [We are concerned. Your emotional profile has spiked in a way that we have not recorded before. While you are a teenager, you are beyond your years of puberty - and even that would not account for your current brain state. But you are Tangerine, everything about you is some degree of abnormal.]

  ‘I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that.’

  [It certainly makes you interesting.]

  ‘Could you stop me? If I do anything too crazy.’

  [We could, with prior consent. But we would be loathed too.]

  ‘I give consent. Stop me if what I'm feeling for Sophia causes me to be reckless.’

  [Noted.]

  ‘Even asking for this is insane, isn't it?’

  [Yes.]

  I wrap my arms tightly around my angel and give her a gentle squeeze. “Come on sleepyhead. Time to wake up. It's the first day of school.”

  Sophia comes too groggy. “Uaghh?”

  She looked up at me, eyes traced with sleepy dust. I suppressed the urge to shower her with kisses. “Come on. We need to get ready.”

  I rolled out of bed, which gained me a grumpy little “Ugh.”

  There was no uniform for the academy. Apparently too many species from too many realms and cultures to make it work. So I get dressed in my usual Victorian drip. I might have started to compress my corset down half an inch. My old self would think me a traitor, but seeing that little waist dip - feels real good, you know.

  Sophia was dressed in a simir style to me. You wouldn't know she was a nun if it wasn't for the neckce with the Lord of Light’s symbol hanging around her neck.

  We drag our suitcases out of our room and down into the hallway, ready for pickup. I pick at my breakfast. I'm feeling a bit nervous because it's the first day of school, but also because Sophia is sitting so close that I can feel her leg pressing against mine. After our conversation yesterday she has become even more contact needy. I’m guessing it's a combination of her not having to hide it anymore, and some fear that I might pull away.

  Both of which are probably unhealthy, but that's a problem for future Tangerine and Sophia to deal with.

  It’s not like I hate it, quite the opposite. Even though I know we want it for different reasons.

  Either way I have double butterflies going on in my stomach. Lillian doesn't seem to be having any such problems, wolfing down her eggs and bacon.

  There's a whole lot of tearful goodbyes from Emily, when it's time for us to leave. I made a promise that I would come back and py with her next Voiday. She tried to get me for every Voiday, but I wasn't going to commit to that. She's six and six years olds never forget that sort of promise.

  The trip to the Academy doesn't take long. We take a private barge; the workmen handle the luggage so it's an easy ride for us. Maria lives in the Academy’s housing district. Which is kind of expected for the Dean and higher members of the faculty. Kinda like the prime minister living at number ten. She's probably wealthy enough to own a mansion in the Brightstone - the richest part of town. A pce with actual greenery.

  Maria is with us on the barge. Lillian is practically hanging off the edge craning her neck to look around. Sophia is sitting so close, she might as well be on top of me. Which did get me some looks from Maria, which I pointedly ignore. I’m not dealing with that.

  

  Fuck I forgot about the brain messaging. Looks like I'm not avoiding this conversation after all. Yay.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Maria just gave me a involuntary ‘what the fuck’ look.

  

  

  

  

  

  Maria just looked at the two of us sat together. Sophia pressed so tight to me that our shoulders rubbed. She has one of my hands on her p, csped between the two of hers, as she looks out at the City.

  

  Ugh more hope. That's all I need.

  I mean, I do. I do need it. Give me all the hope!

  

  The barge makes its trip around the Academy, the pce was a massive complex of towers and spires. Westminster taken to vertical absurdity.

  We nd on an open ptform jutting out of one of the rger towers. From there Maria left us in the hands of a boy not much older than me. A pin on his colr denotes him as a second year student.

  Yes I know about the pins already, I did do *some* research.

  He guides us to a lecture hall and motions for us to stack our bags against the wall. We find ourselves some benches to sit on. About half way up the raised seating, Lillian lounged to one side of me and Sophia pressed against the other. I recognized some of our cssmates - Bronson, Rupert and Daisy - sitting on the opposite aisle to us.

  There were twins lounging at the back of the css, ethereally elegant. Tall, stunning, the pointy ears a bit of a give away that they were elves.

  At the front there was a short greenish-red goblin with a bunch of scraps in front of him. I don't mean to stereotype, but those scraps look stolen, I can see the Academy symbol on some bits. He seemed to be constructing something that had an uncomfortably close appearance to a bomb.

  On the opposite end of the row to the goblin there was a mermaid in a wheelchair. They were awkwardly pced in the aisle at the end of the long desk. This pce was not wheelchair friendly at all. Her, tail? Was long and looked to be uncomfortably folded over. The top half was that of a pretty girl with long red hair. She had a translucent colr around her neck - fed with bubbly water.

  The eleventh css member was the most stunningly handsome man I had ever seen. Tall, and lean, dressed in what looked to be Georgian clothing. Pale fwless skin and deep red eyes. Long loose bck hair that I could just imagine running my hands through as I sit on his p and kiss the nape of his neck.

  What the fuck?

  ‘Gestalt. Why do I want to fuck that man so badly?’

  [You are under the effect of a vampire’s gmour.]

  ‘Eww, no. I have never wanted to fuck a dude before. Fuck, this feels yucky. Can you make it stop?’

  [Unfortunately it is a magical effect, not a biological one. We suggest looking away. You will become immune with time and exposure.]

  I immediately turn away. My thoughts slowly returning to normal.

  I couldn't see the twelfth member of the css. Maybe they were running te?

  The teacher turned up. It was Gideon, hadn't seen him in a hot minute. “Morning first years.” He said. “My name is Gideon Wraith. I will be walking you through orientation, I also teach your dueling css on Firday mornings.”

  ‘We have a dueling css?!’

  [Of course, what self respecting magic school wouldn't?]

  ‘I bet the Major hated that.’

  [Before he was subsumed into the Gestalt we taught the dueling css for a number of years. Our students were some of the most effective duelers in history. Unfortunately they never won anything because they kept breaking all the rules. Some new rules were written because of shit they pulled.]

  Gideon was still speaking, fuck I need to refocus. “As you are all new.” He said.

  Oh no.

  “We think it's best we all get to know each other.”

  Please no.

  “So one at a time, could you all come to the front and introduce and talk a little about yourself.”

  Fuuucccckkk. Fuck shit fuck. This is going to be so awkward.

  “Who wants to go first?”

  Not fucking me that's for sure.

  Everyone just shuffled a bit. The goblin looked around, scoffed and raised his hand. Gideon nodded and the goblin made his way to the front.

  “Name’s Shiv” He said. “Come from Grimreach mountains out in the Savage Lands. I like fire and I like things that go boom - like any proper goblin. Good at making stuff, most of it goes boom. Even if it wasn't meant to.” He just stopped talking at that, and returned to his seat without waiting for Gideon to say that he was finished.

  “Thankyou for that Shiv.” Gideon said. “Who's next?”

  Next up was the mermaid. She awkwardly wheeled herself up to the front. I don't think she was used to the wheelchair. “Hello, I'm Ria Corvidiva.” She said.

  ‘Gestalt is that fish named after a bird?’

  [No. That's racist. Corvids are a family of birds, and we cannot give information about other hosts.]

  ‘She’s a host?’

  [We cannot talk about that. But it is safe to say that anyone that does not speak Fracture, would have to have a brain slug to be able to join the Academy.]

  ‘Fracture?’

  [The most common nguage in the City of Door. You are speaking it now. Also pay attention.]

  Oh yeah, fuck. She's still talking. Stupid ADHD brain losing focus all the time.

  “I'm a Merefolk, obviously. I come from Atntis.”

  ‘Wait? The Atntis?!’

  [Focus.]

  “My father is Poseidon.”

  ‘Oh come on!’

  [Focus.]

  “I enjoy spending time with my family, reading and long walks on the beach.”

  That got a chuckle out of everyone.

  Bronson went up next. “I’m Bronson. You dies better watch out. I’m not giving all this away for free.” He’s flexing again. “I’m rich. I’m handsome. You might as well hand me the top spot now because I’m going to be the best at all this magic marky. I like women, guns, swords, drinking, money, my body, my face, my personality. Ladies please organize amongst yourselves who gets to ride the Bronson locomotive first. No uglys, no men.” He then eyed the elves in the back. “No ugly men.” he amended.

  With that he went back to his seat, flexing with every step.

  The Vampire walked to the front. “Hello, I’m Vincent.” He said.

  Lillian leaned into me and whispered. “I’m going to fuck that vampire.” I nearly choked.

  “I have excellent hearing.” he continued.

  Lillian just grinned and whispered “I knew that.” I did choke.

  Vincent looked a little flushed. Well, as flushed as a Vampire could get. “I'm a Vampire from Morgoth. I apologize to any of you who are affected by my gmour, I can't turn it off. To put your minds at ease, I don't use it to feed. Like any of you, I pay for my food.”

  “He can eat me anytime he wants.” Lillian sub-vocally smirked.

  I bit back a ugh, Vincent looked like he wanted to die.

  Again.

  “As for interests, I like reading, games of skill and hot summer days.” This joke only got a polite chuckle. The hot dorky vampire looked like he was mentally kicking himself as he returned to his seat.

  Lillian went up next. “Hi I'm Lillian. I'm from Arthurian, it's a shit hole, don't go there.”

  “Language.” Said Gideon. Maria must have rubbed off on him.

  “Technically I'm a princess. But I try to avoid all that. I like fighting, drinking, guns and going really fast.”

  Bronson nodded at her approvingly. Lillian just flipped him off. Which was even funnier as only her and I understood what that meant.

  “I hope we all have a great year together!” And with that she hopped back to her seat.

  The elf twins went up next, together. “I’m Arix,” said one. “And I'm Erix.” said the other.

  “These are not our real names.”

  “But they are acceptable from less developed tongues.”

  “We come from the great tree of Avendale.”

  “We have never been apart.”

  “We sense the magic in you all.”

  “You all have such interesting fvors.”

  “We enact the will of the forest.”

  “We enjoy archery.”

  “Animal husbandry.”

  “Singing.”

  “Dancing.”

  “And making merry.”

  The entire time they talked they danced around each other, closely. Too closely. Not like Sophia and me too closely - they were practically dry humping. These elves where really fucking weird.

  Fuck it. I didn't want to be st.

  I stand up to go to the front. Sophia only flinched a little at the break of our contact, she almost made a move to follow me, but steeled herself and remained seated.

  “Hi, I’m Tangerine.” I said when I reached the front. “Yes, like the fruit, my mum was a hippie. Though I’m not sure if you have that fruit. I’m not from around here, I’m from a realm called Earth, though I'm not sure what constitutes a Realm, is it just the pnet, or the whole universe? If it's the universe then our universe doesn't have a name, it's just the universe. I guess that's because it's the only one we knew of.”

  I'm rambling. “Sorry, I tend to ramble a bit. Err, yeah there's no magic where I'm from so this is all very new to me. But really cool, I’ve settled in surprisingly fast. The people have been very welcoming.”

  “Err let's see. I like video games, but you don't really have those here, which kinda sucks. I like making friends I guess, which I have a lot more here than I did back home. Oh and turns out I really like guns too!”

  Lillian grins and nods. Bronson flipped me off. But, like, approvingly? Did he take it away as a positive from Lillian?

  “Well yeah, that's me. Looking forward to doing magic and making friends with all of you!” I returned to my seat and Sophia almost managed to not grab my hand desperately.

  Daisy went up next. Stood at the front like a Greek sculpture. “I am Daisy Vanderbright. I enjoy all the pursuits afforded to a dy of noble birth. I hope that this will be a wonderful year together, and I look forward to working with you all.”

  Next up was Rupert. “Good morning, I am Rupert. My family is in construction, we built half the homes in Brightstone. You are all invited to the next soiree that we host. Hope to make this an excellent year.”

  Last was Sophia. She was hesitant to let go of my hand. But she channeled her nun persona, and walked to the front. “Good morning, I am Sister Sophia. Nun of the Holy Lord of Light. It is my desire and duty to fulfill his will in whatever means that benefits him most. I enjoy praying and of my duties; I enjoyed the time when I got to work at an orphanage the most.” She smiled and looked at me. “Lately I have also enjoyed making new friends.”

  Fuck, there goes my heart again, I’m worried that I'm going to go into some sort of arrhythmia.

  She returned to her seat next to me, and this time I took her hand.

  A fact that did not go unnoticed by Daisy.

  Or Rupert. But who cares about him.

  [Not us.]

  That was all of us in the room, but I only counted eleven, I thought there were twelve in the css?

  What I thought was a huge decorative suit of armour standing in the corner, walked to the front of the css. The thing was at least eight feet tall.

  “I have yet to choose a name.” It said, its voice was hollow and mechanical. “I was constructed by a master artifactor in his quest to save his son. It did not work, his son died in the process. When he understood his failure he wished to deconstruct me to reuse the impnted core of his son. I did not wish to be deconstructed. I informed him of such but he did not listen. So I destroyed him. The act was ruled as self defense by the Academy. Due to his son's core having the ability to Rift walk I was assigned the role of student and brought to the Academy. I do not know what I enjoy yet.”

  It turned around and returned to his corner.

  ‘Heavy.’

  [Interesting. Do you think it has a brain?]

  ‘You can’t eat the robot!’

  [That's double racist. We do not eat, we subsume. Also that is not a robot it's a construct.]

  ‘What's the difference?’

  [Robot means sve.]

  ‘Oof. Yikes.’

  [Indeed.]

  ‘...’

  ‘Wait. Do you even care about any of this race stuff?’

  [No. Not at all, we are fucking with you.]

  [We do not care about any species.]

  [...]

  [Except for their brains.]

  Okay. I ughed at that. Which got me a whole bunch of weird looks, because I essentially just randomly ughed - after the story about the construct who murdered its maker.

  Gideon coughed. “Well excellent. Now that we all know each other, we have a lot to get through.”

  Over the next few hours we did a truly insane amount of paperwork. Which fucking killed me. Also Gideon expined a whole bunch of shit about the workings of the Academy, which I’m sure was all very important. But I'm not gonna lie - I tuned out for like half of it. It's cool, I’ll just ask Gestalt when it becomes important.

  [We are not your secretary.]

  Well I’m just fucked then. Nothing new, I’ll manage.

  When the paperwork torture ended we where taken over to the dormitory where we’re going to live. It was a massive Gothic building with big double doors in the center spanning out into an east and west wing. Looked a bit like a smaller Houses of Parliament. If you squinted.

  The bottom floor was a dining hall that serviced all the floors. There was a gym down there too, and a smoking room. Which smelt awful.

  We were on the first floor. Apparently you go up each year. The West Wing of the first floor was the boys' side. Which the elf twins went to, which was kinda surprising. Though honestly, I’m still not sure both of them are male? It's really hard to tell. Whatever. The construct went to the boy's side as well. It didn't really have a gender, or a sex. But its core was from a boy so that's what decided it.

  What was more surprising was the goblin joined us women on the East Wing.

  I give him some side eye. “You're a girl?” I asked, a little incredulous.

  “Bitch, I've had two litters. How many kids you had?”

  Well not gonna lie. She's got me there. “None. You have kids?”

  “Yeah, fourteen of them.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Fuck if I know.”

  “I… What?” I'm stumped.

  “Bitch, I'm not going through the ins and outs of goblin biology and culture with you. Read a fucking book.”

  You know what, fair. “You know what, that's fair.”

  “Alright then.” She handed me a scrappy rusty ball of metal. “Bomb?”

  “Fuck yes!” I took the bomb from her. Holding it like it might explode at any moment. Because it was a bomb.

  “Do you want some bullets?” I asked.

  “Yeah I’ll take some bullets.”

  “Hold out your hand.”

  Shiv held out a reddy green cwed hand. And I drop a handful of bullets from my domain.

  “That’s neat.” She said, “You’re alright newbie. We can hang.”

  I am actually excited for that. Shiv rules. She gave me a bomb!

  The rooms had been assigned for us.

  Lillian, Daisy and Shiv all got assigned single rooms. Ria’s room was on the far end of the hall near the bathroom; it was essentially a mid-sized pool, filled with saltwater.

  Sophia and I got a double room. Which Lillian ughed at, Daisy frowned at, and Shiv just elbowed me in the ribs and said, “Nice, she's got good breeding hips.” which I shouldn't have ughed at. But I did. Fuck you, it was funny.

  We unpacked, and headed down for dinner. The food was great, but honestly at this point I have brain overload and I barely remember anything.

  Sophia and I returned to our room. I wanted an early night and I think she agreed. It was a strange new bed, but I fell asleep in familiar comfortable arms.

  Not a bad day.

  ***

  Sofatreat