Aiden, Kyute and Luz stood before the door leading into Room 49.
"Okay," Kyute said. "The girl beyond's name is Thirsha. Her kinks are-"
"Shh," Aiden said.
"Huh?" Kyute blinked. Her little fairie wings fluttered. "But-"
"Shhhhhh," Aiden said, putting his finger on her lips.
"...ohhh!" Kyute said, drawing back slightly, grinning impishly. "I getcha. You dicked me, so you already got my superpowers. Which means you already know everything I'd know with my love fairie senses." She pointed her fingers at her temples.
"No," Aiden said, shaking his head. "No, Kyute." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't get people's powers by
dicking
them."
"Yeah!" Luz said. Then her cheeks darkened. "T-The dicking does help a little, sometimes. It depends."
"It's all about treating people with humanity. Compassion. Treating them like they're people - not just puppets and simulacra made for my own entertainment," Aiden said, gesturing between himself and his girlfriend. "By going against the assumptions of the dipshits who made this pocket universe, we're all getting ahead. So, do you know what's a
really
dehumanizing, shitty thing to do to some stranger you haven't even met yet?" He pointed at the door, and the girl beyond it. "Stalking her, and using magical powers to determine her
kinks
and her
likes
and
dislikes
before you even say hello, then using those to
manipulate her
into
fucking you
."
Kyute looked at him in pure incomprehension. Her brow furrowed. She opened her mouth. Closed it.
"I don't get it," she said, shaking her head, her wings drooping.
Luz snapped her fingers. "He's doing a challenge run to poon!" she exclaimed. "For bonus points."
"Oooooooooh!" Kyute said, nodding slowly. "The challenge run is actually falling in love and shit, I getcha. And the extra points are powers." She made finger guns. "Bam bam, got it. Have fun running a solo train down to aussy town!"
"Aussy? Luz whispered.
"Don't-" Aiden started.
"Autistic pussy, duh!" Kyute said.
"All right, that's enough of Kyute for the rest of this chapter, possibly, the rest of this entire narrative," Luz said, grabbing onto the lithe fairie's arm. "Come on. Come on. We're going."
"But-"
"We're
going
!" Luz shot one last smile back over her shoulder, then yanked Kyute around the corner.
Aiden took hold of the door's knob, breathed in to settle himself, then stepped inside. The room itself was one of the many set aside for...ostensibly studying, but considering the deeply pornographic nature of this "high school" (populated entirely by fuckable and just barely legal eighteen year olds), it was entirely possible that these rooms existed purely to provide private, quiet places for students to get their fuck on. Considering the last time Aiden set foot in one, he had found Romeo plowing Juliette and Rosaline at the same time, he was pretty confident in this assumption.
Fortunately, this room had only two people in it. The first was a white haired, ethereally beautiful woman with a fine boned face and a kind of complex, technologically anachronistic headset on her head. Her fingers twitched as she cocked her head to the side, operating and manipulating things that no one else but she could see. The other girl was hunched over in the corner, thumbing through a large book. She had raven black hair that tumbled down her narrow shoulders and two pointed, elfin ears peeked out from the glossy lines. She was dressed in a kind of ribbed leather jacket, with a complex, bone-capped latching around her throat, like a rather outre piece of gothy paraphernalia.
"Uh, Thirsha?" Aiden asked.
The white haired girl lifted her hand - then pointed at the black haired girl. "That's her," she said, dryly.
"Oh, uh, hello!" Aiden said, stepping over. The black haired girl lifted her eyes up to him. They were bright blue and slitted like a cat's. She had shockingly pale skin and, up close, Aiden could see that her ears weren't
pointed
like an elf's. They were curved and ribbed with the same structure and shape as a
bat's
ears, save without fur or fluff. The tips twitched and the whole ear swiveled slightly to listen more closely to him as the girl cocked her head. Her eyes flicked to look into his eyes, then back to the book.
Thirsha's voice was husky, deeper than he expected. "What do you want?"
"Uh, to talk?"
"Okay," she said, then closed the book. Then she stood up.
And up.
And
up
.
Aiden took a step back - not quite out of fear, but more simply so he could keep his eyes on her face. Thirsha was
tall
, easily topping seven feet, maybe more. She was thin and long limbed, and as she turned to face him, her leathery jacket slid from her shoulders and unfurled outwards into a pair of bat-wings that looked like they could reach either side of the room. She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, a bracelet glinting around her wrist - the only sign of adornment that Aiden had seen on her.
"...whoa," Aiden whispered.
"I'm tall," Thirsha said, dryly.
Aiden smiled at her. "I can see that!" he said, chuckling. "Uh, do you know which, um, fictive world you're from?"
"Do you?" Thirsha asked.
"I'm from Earth Prime, I'm...Aiden," Aiden said, his ears perking up.
"Oh," Thirsha said, blinking. Her eyes swept along him slowly. "I thought Aiden was human. You don't smell human. Or look human."
Aiden grinned, weakly. "I kinda got transmogrified by unexpected exposure to alternate universes energies. I saw a giant koala, it was a whole thing."
"...what was it eating?" Thirsha asked, cocking her head to the side.
"The koala?" Aiden asked. He scratched his jaw, trying to remember the hazy, horrifying images that had unfolded in his mind as he had struggled for coherence and comprehension while within the depths of the Manifold. "Nothing, really. It just smiled at me."
"Huh. Must have been happy to see you," Thirsha said, then shook her head slightly. Her fingers went to her hair, brushing it back behind her ear. "So, here to add me to your harem?"
"Only if you want," Aiden said, sliding his hands into his pockets. "I mean, obviously, I can't just snap my fingers and order you."
"Sure you could," Thirsha said. "I'd just rip your head off if you tried."
Aiden chuckled. He hadn't really heard a
joke
in her voice. "I like you!" he said, nodding. "Definitely want to ask you out on a date. Which, you know, is why I'm here! To ask you on a date. Cause, again, can't just order you into my harem."
"Oh my god," the white haired girl thumped her head backwards, thumping it into the wall. Aiden ignored her.
Thirsha's arms were still crossed over her chest. "What kind of date?"
Aiden paused. Movies? He considered her obviously acute senses and discarded that idea - who wanted to sit in a dark box full of other people and loud noises and bright lights? A walk in the park? Kind of staid for a date. But possible. Then his brain threw up the idea of-
"How about the zoo? He asked.
Thirsha brightened. "When?"
"Why not now?" Aiden asked, spreading his hands. "It's not like we have a ton of homework, right?"
Thirsha considered. "Some. But I can do it later." She bit her lip, before looking out the window, as if she was measuring the distance between the horizon and the sun. Her eyes narrowed and her ears twitched upwards - swiveling to face him in attentive excitement. "...okay."
"You two are just...adorable," the white haired girl said, drawing a picture frame with her fingers. "Absolutely nova."
"Shut up, Lucy," Thirsha said, earning a middle finger from...well, from Lucy, Aiden supposed.
***
Aiden hadn't been sure if Dimension City had had a zoo until he googled it. Fortunately for him and any plans for romance, it not only had a zoo, it had a
huge
zoo. It was simply named Dimension City Zoo, once again underlining the slapdashed nature of this place's construction, and there was quite a crowd heading inside. Thirsha frowned and rubbed her shoulders with her hands as they came to the entrance. She had changed from her school uniform to a black T-shirt and jean shorts, which showed off the length and strength of her thighs, knees and calves. Her skin remained as pale everywhere on her body, Aiden noticed.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I don't like people," Thirsha said, flatly.
"In groups or in general?" Aiden asked.
Thirsha shrugged, as if to say 'is there a difference' as they walked up to the front ticket booth, to find it operated by an extremely bored looking black woman and her bright, preppy, purple haired partner - a white guy.
"Welcome to the zoo," the black woman said.
"It's zoo-arific!" the white guy said. Then he elbowed his partner. "Come on, perk up Becky."
"Ugh, I hate my fake made up new name, it sucks!" Becky said, throwing up her hands. "I'm called
Becky
, for crying out loud!"
Aiden coughed, getting their attention. Thirsha leaned forward, having to bend almost in half to be seen by the pair of them. "Tickets," she said.