(These are not my pictures, i found them on pinterest and across the internet, the credits belong to the original owners)
Loyalist Committee Gown Coruscant
After Zam Wesell's first attempt to assassinate her, Senator Amidala visited Chancellor Palpatine's office while wearing gown consisting of a beaded dress under a patterned velvet overdress. The gown's colors were sober, but it was made of rich fabric with ornate details. She wore it with a severe hairstyle that conformed to diplomatic etiquette, and a choker necklace that was a gift from the Naboo Royal Advisory Council.
I apologize for the rather abrupt ending of the last record, as circumstances became rather frantic after the recorded incidents.
I will apply my best efforts to summarize the following events shortly. After the human volunteered to perform the repair of the damaged outer hover engine, a rather heated discussion broke loose, concerning the risks and other possible solutions to the current situation.
The Vitrichl decided that the human should perform the repair, as long as it was proved that her chance of survival was high enough.
Several tests were performed, and all of them concluded that the human had a surprisingly good chance at surviving the excursion, although it was unclear whether she would return unharmed, as there was simply not enough information known about Terrans.
The Vitrichl ordered for a group of personally selected mechanics and scientists of the crew to supervise the excursion over the video recording of the space suit the human would be wearing. I was assigned as a part of this group.
The human itself, inexplicably, remained incredibly calm, seemingly not grasping the gravity of the situation at hand.
Despite my best efforts to make her aware of the responsibility she was assigned, she remained unresponsive.
"I am applying my best efforts to make you aware of the risk you are taking.", I stated, trailing after her.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I read the safety thingy, like, three times. And basically the entire board team will be there to guide me through the entire process and tell me exactly what to do. I'll basically not even have to think myself."
"I would appreciate it if you did not neglect your thought process during such an important task."
"Of course I won't actually stop thinking, it's just a way of speaking. Anyway, you'll have the entire video footage from my suit and as long as the suit remains intact, I should be fine.", Quinn continued.
"Still, the probability that the system fails and you do not return…"
"Is low enough.", Quinn cut me off.
"Listen, you oughta stop worrying. I might know nothing about alien technology, but this crew knows about it. And, to our luck, I'll have direct contact to them the entire time."
She stepped into her assorted suit, machines around her closing and tying everything into place. Eventually, a helmet was lowered onto her head, the reflective surface hiding her face.
She extended her right arm, lowering all her fingers except for the first and biggest one, which she pointed upwards.
I could not decipher the purpose of this gesture, and as I could not see her facial expression, I was not able put any of my previous knowledge of humans to use.
The human underwent several further safety checks, before the medicals decided it would be appropriate to start the mission at that time.
The task of the human was first to simply observe the entire damage, in order to confirm that our monitors grasped the entire extent of the damage. Furthermore, she should, under our supervision and precise instructions, reverse the worst damage she could and, at best, reverse the engine into a working state.
The human was transferred into the duct from where all outerboard missions that did not require any larger equipment where started. As soon as the door opened and the human stepped into the void, medicals and scientists scrambled to examine her vitals.
"Vitals are steady", a medical informed.
Wrin pressed several keys on the control board, establishing the communication line between Quinn's suit and the SIIR Noxos.
"Okay, Quinn, how do you feel?", Wrin, who was, for their standards, surprisingly sober, spoke into the communication tool.
"Well, I feel like I've just drank a shit ton of water and then gone onto a roller coaster one too many times. Besides that, wow", Quinn's voice sounded from the other end.
"Alright, I'm just going to pretend I understood any of that. So, give us a bit to get the suit camera sorted and then you can go on.", Wrin drawled, pressing a few more keys on one of the monitors.
As the technicians confirmed a stable signal, Wrin began to guide Quinn into the direction of the damaged engine.
The human's vitals remained stable as she approached the engine in question.
As instructed, the human began a scan of the area through her suit, linking the results directly into the main control quarters.
Through the analyzation of the information, the technicians were able to confirm that there was no worse damage than our previous scans had recorded.
The human began to work on the engine. She removed the outer layer of metal within a few moments, which was almost fully demolished.
As she worked towards middle of the structure, I observed her every step. She moved coordinated and careful, as if frightened that the engine might implode if she didn't (which was, admittedly, a rather real threath).
Eventually, she removed a piece of charred metal, exposing an accumulation of cables.
Wrin straightened as I took the communication tool from them and spoke into it: "Quinn, these cables are of high importance. Would you be able to reach the brown cable and remove it from its place? As careful as possible.", I added.
Despite my, in my eyes, rather clear instructions, the human continued to reach towards a completely wrong cable.
"Human", I interjected. "I do not mean to be insensitive, but that is not the cable I was referring to."
"Huh? But that one's brown?", the human responded, tone signaling possible confusion, although I could not be sure, as her face was still hidden.
"Human-", I started once again, thinking of the most polite way to phrase the following statement, but I could not finish, as Wrin pushed me away rather aggressively before taking the communication tool themselves.
"Quinn, the mechanic‘s referring to the second cable from the far right.", Wrin eludicated.
"…but that one's Magenta!", Quinn protested further.
"Not to the mechanic. Different eyes, different colour perception.", Wrin quipped.
Quinn said something indiscernably quiet, before continuing, carefully following Wrin's instructions.
As these records' purpose is to observe human behaviour, I will not go into much detail describing the repair. If you wish to obtain more precise information about the details of this particular repair, I suggest you visit the archives, in which we keep all records of repairs, routine check-ups and everything else regarding the state of the ship, to gain a further insight.
The human proceeded the repair, although another thing of note happened rather towards the end:
After the human had reconnected several wires and added a new protective layer on the engine's surface, the technicians tested whether or not the engine would start, obviously after the human had moved to a safe distance.
The technicians started the engine at its highest setting, but with no success. No sound emitted from the engine.
"Wait, let me try something.", the human sounded over the communication line.
In spite of any common sense, the human moved closer towards the engine.
The human inspected the engine, before suddenly, for some to me inexplicable reason, hitting the engine repeatedly with the flatter side of her hand.
"Alright, try again."
"Human Quinn, it is imperative that you move out of the immediate proximity of the engine.", I stated, but the human refused.
"No, I wanna try something."
"Human, it is-" "On one, come on, guys.", Quinn cut me off. "Start the engine on one."
Against better judgement, the technicians began to prepare another start of the engine.
"Okay, ready? Three, two, one, go!", besides my best efforts to stop them, the technicians started the engine at the exact time as Quinn hit its outer layer again.
Fortunately, the engine did start. Unfortunately, the stuttering start of the engine produced a pressure wave that catapulted the Terran away from it.
Eventually, her body was stopped by the cable attached to form a connection between the space suit that the human was wearing, and the SIIR Noxos.
The body of the human did not move.
Wrin, seemingly concerned, spoke into the communication line.
"Quinn?"
It took a few moments before we received any kind of answer, the silence filled with a slight buzzing sound.
Then we registered the human's voice over the line. At first, the human only produced several sounds, possibly signaling pain.
Then: "Well, I'm never doing that again." A pause. "Did it work? Is the engine stable?"
"The engine is running. I wouldn't call it stable, but it will get us far enough.", one of the technicians informed.
Silence.
"Alright, Quinn, we‘re going to pull you back into the ship. Try not to move too much and uh…don‘t die.", Wrin spoke up.
"I can do that."
As the retraction program was started, I, accompanied by Wrin proceeded towards the intertravel duct. The human arrived shortly afterwards.
The suit seemed to be unharmed, a good sign, but its owner did not.
As a robotic arm removed the helmet and started to disassemble the suit, the human stumbled out. Stumbling, that was not a good sign. The human’s complexion was even paler than its naturally bright shade. And the skin of her face seemed to have a slight green undertone. Had it always been there? I could not recall. Perhaps their skin changed colours, similar to Wrin‘s species?
I was brought away from these suspicions, as the human opened her mouth and released a brown-green, odd-smelling fluid out of her mouth and onto the floor. This couldn‘t be normal, could it?
The human was immediately referred into the, for a ship and crew this size admittedly rather small, hospital wing. The medicals are currently observing and recording any interesting observations regarding the human‘s body. Unfortunately, while the medicals are treating Quinn to the best of their ability, it is difficult, as there is so little known about humans.
Although, perhaps this way I will receive more information regarding the anatomy of humans.
I will continue to record the recovery and the state of the human.
Curio jumped out of the way of one of Shaun's weapons. A sharp pain shot through his foot and he immediately stumbled, almost falling.
"Cure?" Shaun called out "You alright?"
Curio cussed under his breath, holding his ankle. He blinked at the blood piece of metal sticking through his foot.
"...Just stepped on something..." he said, winching.
Immediately Shaun, lifting a hand to show the instructor that they were stopping their sparring and ran over to where Curio sat down on the ground. He knelt next to his friend, eyes going to bloody piece of what looked like a rusted nail or something, going through Curio's foot.
"What the hell is that?" he asked, glancing at Curio.
"I... think it's a nail.. or something..." Curio their their clenched teeth, confirming Shaun's suspicion.
"We need to get you to the infirmary...." Shaun said.
"Can't we just... pull it out?" Curio asked, his face a bit paler than usual.
Shaun shot him a disappointed look. "NO" he said, almost sounding insulted "You idiot.... When there's something poking through you, you don't just go pulling it out... That thing went right through your foot"
Curio pulled a face as the instructor came over to them.
"What's wrong?" the man asked, crouching down.
"LS stepped on a nail, Sir" Shaun said, pointing to Curio's foot.
"Go to the infirmary"
"Yes, sir"
"You help him, SilverBlood" The instructor said.
Shaun nodded before he helped Curio to his feet. He threw Curio's arm over his shoulders, letting the other guy lean on him as much as possible.
"....Just my luck..." Curio groaned as he hobbled next to Shaun ".... and that right before the field trip"
Shaun chuckled. "Yeah.... But that's just how you are" he said.
"Ha...ha..." Curio said, rolling his eyes "You're hilarious...."
"Yeah, I know" Shaun said.
By the time they reached the infirmary, the pain from his foot was a steady pulse going up his leg. He gasped out of breath, holding on to Shaun just to stay on his feet.
He thankfully sank down onto the chair in the room. Now they were just waiting for the nurse and doctor to come help.
When the nurse came, she just sighed when she saw, Curio.
"Hallo Curio" she said, shaking her head "What happened this time?"
Curio lifted his foot. "Stepped on a nail, Ma'am" he said.
"That is why I keep tell them to provide you guys with proper shoes when training...." she said, shaking her head "Now let's take care of that.... Shaun, help him on the bed"
Shaun nodded and helped Curio to limp to the bed.
"We need to get that out.... and then off with the shoe so I can clean it"
Curio sight, his hands clenching into fists.
"One.... two.... three..."
The nurse pulled out the nail, and Curio bit back a whimper. His hands shook as he looked away.
"Shaun, hold his ankle for me, so I can get his shoe off" the nurse said.
Shaun took Curio's ankle.
The nurse quickly managed to take off his shoe. Immediately, blood started to drip from the wound.
"Did you dance on the nail, Curio?" the nurse asked with a sigh "Because you bruised your foot badly and for that nail to get through your shoe and right through your foot.... you must have stepped pretty hard"
"He practically danced on it" Shaun said flatly.
The nurse shook her head. Gently she pressed some of the gauze pads over it.
"Shaun... hold this here, keep pressure on it so the bleeding can slow down" she said.
Shaun nodded and glanced at Curio as he pressed against the wound. His friend winched and clenched his jaw.
"You good, Cure?" Shaun asked.
Curio just nodded, shutting his eyes for a moment. "....that.... hurts...." he said.
The nurse came back and took over from Shaun again. Gently she pulled the gauze away and nodded. Then she started cleaning the wound, putting some antibiotic cream on it, before bandaging Curio's foot.
"Now... Curio, I want you to stay of that foot, you got me?" she said "No jumping around and definitely no fighting"
"Yes, Ma'am...." Curio said, just staring down at his bandaged foot.
"I want you back here in two days so we can do a healing" the nurse said "And before you go... since that was a rusted nail, and we don't know where it's been...."
Curio groaned. "A tetanus shot...." he said and the nurse nodded.
Curio pulled a face, as he looked away. The shot burned and he clenched his jaw again.
"There we go... you're free to go, Curio" the nurse said.
"Thanks..." Curio muttered, as Shaun helped him down from the bed.
Curio jumped on one foot, until Shaun slipped beneath his arm and the two started limping towards the dorms.
***
Curio limped between Roland and Shaun. The two just stayed with him to make sure that he didn't do anything stupid, like step on his foot to much.
"You don't have to babysit me...." he grumbled.
"With your luck, you'll end up with tetanus" Roland said, shaking his head.
"Why couldn't I just stay at the dorms?" Curio asked, looking at the entrance to the underground catacombs.
"Because...." Shaun started "This is an historical place, that all children should see and know about...."
Roland snorted. "Yeah... What he said" he said.
Curio pulled a face at them as they stepped into catacombs. The entire class walked after the teacher as he droned on about the history of the place. Half way through the tour, everyone took a break, to eat and drink something.
As they started moving again, Curio just frowned. His foot was starting to hurt.
Before they've made it five steps, the ground shook violently.
Everyone got thrown from their feet. There was a loud rumbling before an ear shattering sound, followed by the roof caving in between them, separating half of the class.
Curio fell back, stumbling as his leg gave in beneath him.
When the shaking finally stopped and the noise died down, the only sound that was left, was of coughing and groaning.
"Lan.... Shaw....?" Curio gasped as he looked around.
"..Cure?" Shaun's voice called.
"I'm good...." Curio muttered, as he looked around. There were dust hanging in the air all around them. He struggled onto his feet, limping to where Shaun's voice came from.
"....guys...?" Roland's voice called.
"I'm alright" Curio called as he kept on limping to where he heard Shaun.
"Me too" Shaun coughed "Anyone else here?"
"Me..." a soft voice said.
"Fae...." Curio said "Are you alright?"
"Cure... Yes, I'm alright" Fiona said softly, before she coughed again "Are you three alright?"
"We're good..." the three guys said at the same time.
Curio felt relieve as he finally managed to reached Shaun. "You sure you didn't get hurt?" he asked as he sank down next to the other guy.
"More than you" Shaun said, patting Curio on the shoulder "How's you foot feeling?"
"Hurt like a bitch..." he said.
"Just stay off it for now" Shaun said.
Curio nodded, just rubbing his leg a bit. "I think I actually pulled a muscle as well...." he muttered, looking up as footsteps reached them.
Fiona and Roland.
"Hey guys...." Roland said, before coughing.
Curio lifted a hand to them. "Hey...."
"We're all good...."
Shaun nodded. "Good.... Do you guys know what happened?" he asked.
Curio looked over at the rubble that blocked them from the rest of the class. "A cave in?" he said.
"Obviously..... but why?" Roland asked.
"....." voices called from the other side of the rubble.
Roland ran over to the wall. "WHE'RE HERE!!" he called.
Curio blinked, before he shot up and grabbed Roland, pulling him away from the rubble. "Don't touch it!" he snapped.
"What...." Roland said, blinking at Curio.
"There's... electrical charges going through it...." Curio said, staring at the rubble.
Roland nodded, but turned to the rubble. "WE'RE HERE!" he called.
"...is everything alright?" a voice called from behind the wall ".... anyone got hurt?"
"WE'RE FINE!" Roland called.
".... stay where you are.... a team will come get you guys out..." the voice, the teacher's voice, called.
Roland sighed and turned to the others.
"They said we should wait here...." he said as he helped Curio back to the others.
Curio sank down, winching slightly.
"What did you guys find?" Shaun asked.
"Cure says that the rubble got electricity running through it" Roland said "We can't touch it and they say we should stay here and wait for them to come get us"
Curio sighed, trying to ignore the throbbing in his foot. Maybe he should have stayed behind, all this walking really didn't make him feel any better.
Shaun glanced at Curio. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah... my foot hurts that's all..." Curio said.
"Can I take a look?" Fiona asked, folding her hands together.
Curio nodded, sitting down. Fiona knelt in front of him, before taking of his shoe and held her hands over the bandaged foot.
"Alright... It looks good..." Fiona said with a smile "Just be careful.... It looks like it's starting to get infected, So when we get back, go see the doc"
"Thank you, Fae" Curio said.
Fiona nodded, before pulling back.
"Now what are we going to do here while we wait?" Roland asked.
"We wait" Shaun said.
"Why don't we just go back...?" Roland asked.
"NO!" Shaun said "We're staying right here"
Before anyone could say a word, the world started trembling again.
"What the hell....?" Roland said.
Just as the trembling started getting worse, it just disappeared.
"Well now... what do we have here?" A voice asked.
All four spun towards the voice, Curio's foot almost gave in beneath him.
"Who are you?" Roland snapped.
Curio grabbed Fiona's hand, pulling her back, behind him. "What do you want?" he snapped.
"Looks like there's some rats trapped in our nest...." the voice said as a group of five men appeared close to them.
"This should be interesting" the second guy said.
The third one leaned closer to them. "Well now... that looks like the Academy's logo...." he said "We've got little wanna be heroes here...."
"What do you want?" Curio repeated.
Again the ground shook.
Curio narrowed his eyes at the men, but did not say anything again. He glanced at Shaun and shook his head slightly.
"Just let us go... we're not looking for trouble" Roland said.
They weren't allowed to engage with villains without an instructor or teacher close by.
"Aren't you guys supposed to be heroes?" the third one said "Fighting bad guys and everything?"
"We follow our rules...." Roland said softly.
"Good little students..." the fourth guy said, before lifting his hand. Before anyone could do anything, black ropes shot out from his hand, grabbing Curio and slamming him against the wall of collapsed ruble.
"HEY!" Shaun snapped "Let him go!"
The first guy snapped his fingers and a bolt of electricity ran through Shaun, making him scream. Curio tried to reach out to his friend, but the binding kept him pinned against the rubble.
"Leave them alone!" Roland snapped.
The second guy shot forward, grabbed Roland and threw him into the ground like he weighed nothing.
"Stop that!" Fiona called out.
The ground beneath their feet trembled and she stumbled, before the black ropes wrapped around her as well.
"Leave her ALONE!" Curio yelled at them, struggling against the bindings.
Kaito quietly descended into the park on his hang glider. When fully on the ground he deactivated the glider and it immediately flared out into his iconic cape. Hopefully he was far enough away for his taskforce to not find him once more. A sniffle from behind him made him glance in it's direction. To his surprise there stood a little girl no more than 5 with tears rolling down her cheeks. What was a child this young doing out so late at night especially with no parent or guardian in sight. The sniffles and soft cries continued.
He turned around and crouched down in a dramatic manner making his cape flutter out just as dramatically as it's owner. The sudden movement had startled the child enough to forget her tears. He put a hand on his hat and said soothingly “Hello little lady, what might you be doing out here alone with tears in your eyes?” She looked at him with wonder. “I wanted to go out and play but mom and dad said it was too late so I sneaked out” she said as the tears began anew “But now I'm lobst” she wailed.
Kaito's heart wrenched, poor girl. Wanting to calm her tears he took off his hat and held it out between them. He tapped the hat and then he counted “One two three” a poof of smoke erupted from his hat and out came flowers confetti and doves, she giggled in surprise. “For you my lady” he said and prompted her to take some flowers. Wide eyed with wonder she took a few flowers and sniffed them in delight.
A dove landed on his hat and cooed at her. She reached out to pet the dove but stopped “Mom says to ask first” she said shyly. He grinned “That you do” he reached with his other hand and showed her how to pet the dove. She did it just like he showed her making his dove warble in delight.“Now then” he said and with a poof of smoke made everything vanish, his hat once more on his head. He put a rose behind her ear as she looked at him curiously.
He smiled “Do you want to know a secret” he whispered to her, she nodded. “I'm lost too” he said conspiratorial, he really wasn't. She giggled at that “You are Mr. Magician?” she asked. He nodded seriously “I am I am” she giggled again “Hey don't laugh” he said in humor. “So do you want to help each other find home?” he said. She nodded excitedly. He smiled and stood up stretching out a hand to her, she took it eagerly. Together they walked out of the park in search of her home.
It didn't take long. He walked up to the steps of her house “This is your house right?” “Yep” she said happily he smiled down at her “Alright then my lady time to say goodbye” he was just about to knock and make his escape when the door swung open almost hitting the two if not for Kaito’s fast reflexes. The father stood frozen with the door handle still in his hand the mother right behind him. It seems they were just about to run out and search for her.
A few too many seconds had gone by in staring for his liking so he eased the tension. “Good evening, I was just about to leave this princess in your care and leave” he said with as much charm as possible. The mother covered her mouth “Karen” she burst out in relief. The father kept a sceptical eye on him “You are Kaitou K-” Kaito made a shush sound and put a finger to his grinning lips. “No need to alert the Keibu of my presence” he said humorous and crouched down to ‘Karen’.
He smiled gently “I'm glad you got home alright” he said sincerely. Suddenly he had an arm full of 5 year old girl hugging him with all she could muster “Thank you mr magician!” she yelled happily.He hugged her back thinking of his own little boy at home. He needed to get home to his detective and son waiting for him. He stood up after she released her hold “It was a pleasure little lady, bye bye” he said waving and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
The little girl watched the empty garden and squeezed her flowers a happy smile on her face. She then ran to her mom and dad hugging them tight “I'm sorry I sneaked out” the parents hugged her back earnestly. Silently thanking the Phantom thief for getting their little girl home.
“Hey Curio look at what I found!” Roland said as he walked up to the other guy, holding something against his chest in both hands.
Curio frowned as he looked up from his work, blinking a few times. He was tired, hurt and over worked.
And stressed out.
Very, very stressed out.
“What is it, Lan?” he asked, rubbing a hand over his face.
Roland grinned from ear to ear, quickly walking over to the window, glancing outside before going back to the door and closing it with his foot.
“What did you do?” Curio asked, his frown deepening as he looked at his friend.
“Take a look at this” he said, kneeling front of Curio and slowly opening his hands, holding them out towards Curio so he could see the small curled up ball of fur.
Curio blinked a few times before looking at Roland and looking back at the small ball of fur in his friend’s hands.
“Is that a...?” he started.
“Kitten” Roland chipped in “I found him outside the school gate. Do you think we can keep him?”
Curio just blinked again, mouth opening and closing before he just gave up and shrugged, not knowing what to say. Slowly he reached out, stroking the little ball of fur with the back of his fingers. He froze and slowly looked up at Roland.
“What are we going to tell Shaun?” he asked slowly.
Roland just stared back at him, as if he never even thought of the possibility that they might have to tell Shaun about it.
“We don’t?”
“How do you plan on hiding this from him?” Curio asked, his eyes going wide “Shaun will find out and then he will kill both of us. Slowly and very painfully”
Roland swallowed. “Maybe he wouldn’t?” he whispered.
Curio glanced back down at the kitten. “Cat’s don’t like me” he said slowly.
“They don’t like your lightning” Roland said “Maybe if you got one while it’s still small, it might get used to the electricity on your skin?”
Curio shrugged.
“It’s not bothering the little guy now” Roland said, glancing down at the kitten before looking at Curio.
Slowly Curio started stroking the kitten’s fur again. After a moment the little creature started vibrating, causing Curio to flinch away and look up at Roland. “It’s happy?” he asked.
“Looks like it”
“Back to our other problem” Curio said, keeping an eye on the kitten “What are we going to do about Shaun?”
“Here hold it” Roland said before Curio could protest, he placed the kitten in his hands “About Shaun. We get Fiona to help us out. If we can get her on our side. We might be able to convince Shaun to help us hide the little guy”
Curio swallowed, missing half of what Roland just said, as he stared down at the little animal in his hands.
“Alright” he said slowly, not sure to what he just agreed. Cats hated him, they always ran away or hissed at him. So he was not sure what to do about this little guy.
Roland got to his feet. “Good” he said “I’m going to find Fiona, keep an eye on the little guy”
Before Curio could say anything, Roland already disappeared through the door.
With a sigh, Curio carefully placed the sleeping little creature on his lap and turned his attention back to his work. After a while he started absentmindedly stroking the kitten.
“The hell am I supposed to do here?” he muttered, looking at his work “Because this just looks like crap”
The little creature vibrated under his hand again and he scratched it behind the ear. “Yeah, you’re right. I should just start over again” he said, crumbling the paper and throwing it towards the trashcan “This should be better”
***
“Roland what were you thinking?” Fiona asked, staring at him with wide eyes “You know it’s against the rules to bring an animal into the hostel. And you thought it’s a good idea to leave it with Curio?”
Roland nodded. “Cure loves animals, he’s not going to hurt it” he said.
“That’s not what I’m worried about” Fiona said, folding her arms “Cure’s a lightning user and animals hate the electricity that constantly runs over his skin. I’m worried that the animal will freak out and then the rest of us will also get into trouble because we didn’t report it”
“What did you want me to do?” Roland asked “Curio needs something to help him relax, maybe this will do the trick”
Fiona shook her head. “I agree, he needs something, but I don’t think this is going to be the solution”
“Let’s just go check on him and see if he’s still fine”
“Alright, but I’m not going to be the one to convince Shaun about this”
The two made their way towards Curio’s room. Fiona kept an eye on the lights, just to make sure that she’d catch anything that might indicate that Curio’s lightning were going out of control.
Without knocking, Roland opened Curio’s door and stepped inside, Fiona right behind him.
“See it’s going to be alright” he said, grinning at Fiona and nodding towards Curio and the kitten.
Curio was still sitting at his desk. The kitten sat on his lap, its front paws on the edge of the desk, while Curio scratched it behind one ear, writing with the other hand.
He looked a lot calmer than Fiona had seen him a quite a while. Maybe the little kitten helped him to stay calm.
“So what do you think?” Roland whispered in her ear, trying his best not to distract Curio from his work.
“It might work”
Curio flinched and quickly looked over at them. One hand twitched almost like he wanted to draw on his power, but after a moment it seemed like he relaxed again.
“Don’t you know how to knock?” he asked, one hand clenching and relaxing. Once. Twice. And then he just took a deep breath before starting to stroke the kitten.
That drew questioning looks from both of his friends, but neither said anything.
“I think this might work” Fiona said softly.
“Sorry, Cure” Roland said as he started to grin.
“Get out” Curio said annoyed, waving the two of them away “I’ve still got a lot of work to do”
***
“What the hell were the two of you thinking?” Shaun snapped “Curio is already over worked and now you want him to take care of a pet?”
“It’s not that bad” Roland said “He likes animals and this one doesn’t run away from him. And he already gave it a name”
Shaun stopped and slowly turned towards Roland. “You allowed him to get attached to the thing?” he asked slowly “This is Curio we’re talking about, you cannot let him just do something like this”
“What do you want me to do?” Roland asked “I’m not going to take away the one animal that actually likes him, just because you don’t think that it’s good for him”
“Good for him?” Shaun sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Yeah, you’ll see”
Shaun shook his head.
it took them a few minutes before they reached Curio’s room. It was already late and close to lights out, so they did not have a lot of time left.
Shaun knocked lightly before opening the door. The lights were still on inside as he stepped into the room. It was neat, just like every other time. Curio’s head and power might be a mess, but the didn’t mean that he didn’t keep everything else neat.
What caught his eye, was Curio curled up on the bed, with a small black, grey and brown ball of fur, curled up at his shoulder, against his neck.
“He’s asleep” Shaun said surprised.
“The little guy really likes him” Roland said “And I think it’s good for him to have something else to take care of other than himself”
Shaun sighed and shook his head. “Fine, I’ll help the two of you to hide the cat for now”
Roland grinned. “Thanks man” he said “You don’t know how much this means to us”
