Ventus’ ears flick as the sound of springs compressing, and a slight shifting of the bed wakes her. The moon is still high in the sky, indicating that she hasn’t slept long.

Ventus reaches up to her eyes, rubbing them as she wakes up. Opening them fully, she sees Avery in the process of climbing into her bed. Panicking she rolls away, and ends up falling off of the bed with a yelp as her tails get squished beneath her. “Ow, that hurt. What is Avery doing?”

As Ventus looks over at Avery, she notices that Avery’s eyes are shut. Despite this, she is now crawling over the bed and reaching out to Ventus. Looking at the threads, Ventus sees little chance of getting away if she stays in the dorms, so she vanishes, traveling along them until she ends up in the park among the felled trees.

Looking down at herself, only covered in a thin fabric, she sighs. “Of course I get chased out in my pajamas again. This had better not become a thing.”

Too frustrated to try and find somewhere to sleep, she tries manifesting that claw again. At first nothing happens, but when she flexes her hand, the clawed gauntlet appears once more. Relaxing her hand, she sees the gauntlet wavering before merging back into her.

Not really knowing how to manifest the gauntlet longer, she summons her echo in hopes of getting advice, since the echo had taught her how to make the spatial bubble.

All that appears is her echo’s hand holding a note, which she drops before disappearing while flipping Ventus the bird.

Blinking in confusion, she grabs the note, thankfully able to read it due to the moonlight. The note reads “You woke me up, so you get a note. Don’t know what you were going to ask or have me do, but you don’t need me for every little thing. You have a brain, so use it you idiot. Also, you suck at using your mana. The only thing saving you right now is our absurd affinity. Use more than just your desires. Now I’m going back to sleeping with my Lilith and Desi. Don’t try calling me again until morning.”

Chuckling at the suddenness of beratement she shrugs before frowning. “I wouldn’t want my sleep interrupted either. I guess I really have been treating this without care, just happy to be myself at last. But if that giant bird is any indication, I’m going to need to step up my abilities and treat my life more seriously. How do I improve my abilities without hunting the beasts though?”

She sits down on a nearby log and thinks, her tails fanned out behind her, absorbing the higher ambient mana due to proximity to the cavern. After an hour of trying to figure out ways to improve, she finally notices the flow of mana through her tails into her body. Tilting her head, she tries to follow the flow and gets lost in it. She doesn’t notice as first minutes, and then hours pass, just following the flow of mana in her body. There are some places that the flow feels thin, almost stagnant, but as each cycle of mana that she is focusing on flows by,  the stagnant areas shrink, and the overall flow grows more energetic.. While focusing on this, the sun rises and soon is directly overhead. 

Just as the last stagnant area clears, her meditation is interrupted by a stern, “There you are. We’ve been looking for you since dawn.” from Avery.

Shaking her head to clear her brain fog, Ventus stands up, stretching as ten pops are heard in rapid succession. One from her spine, and another from each tail.” Ah it’s morning already? How’d you find me Avery?”

“Morning? It’s afternoon. I don’t know how I found you, but I wasn’t the only one searching for you. I just had a feeling that you would be this way I guess.” Shaking her head, she places her hands on her hips “Enough about that though. You’re needed at the lab as of three hours ago. We don’t have time for you to eat.” She leans in for a peck on the lips.

Ventus backs away and sighs before shaking her head. “You’ll have to give me time. This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t tried to slip into my bed in the middle of the night. It was really annoying honestly. Also, no kissing me right now.”

Avery pauses, face starting to flush slightly, before she mutters “I’m sorry I sleep walk, but why no kiss? I deserve a reward for finding you.”

Ventus shrugs “Not really my problem. Get your reward from someone else and just make sure you don’t climb into that someone else’s bed. Especially without their consent. Also don’t kiss them without asking. Anyway, I’ll head to the lab, please just arrange food..” Looking down she adds, “Make an ice wall around me too please, so I can change. This isn’t an appropriate outfit for anything other than sleep.”

Ventus’ request breaks Avery out of her blushing state, and she nods. Forming a similar ice wall that she did yesterday, she makes sure to add a domed ceiling this time so that nothing from above will see Ventus either. As the dome finishes forming, Ventus changes, wincing slightly as her red blouse slides over her bra covered breasts, before buttoning her white skirt into place, grateful for not having to slide them up over her tails. Thinking for a moment, she decides to not slip on her heels, staying barefoot to walk on the damp grass.

Knocking on the side of the dome, she holds her ears to her skull and shouts “You can let me out now.”

The dome dissolves, Avery turning to get a look at Ventus and frowns. “You look good, but did you get the right sized blouse? Looks a bit tight on your chest. Maybe you needed my help anyway. Also, where are your shoes?”

Ventus shrugs “I decided to feel the grass under my feet, and yeah I got the right size. It fit perfectly yesterday. Also, I appreciate that you like looking at me, but eyes on mine please. We’re really not that close. Sure I feel an attraction to you, but mostly just to tease you. I mean maybe one day you’ll be my partner, but that day is far off, so again, please don’t look so intently at my breasts.”

Breaking off her gaze with a glazed look in her eyes, she turns it towards Ventus’ tails. She starts to reach out for Ventus' tails before her eyes clear. “Oh okay, sorry Ventus. I really don’t know what came over me.”

Ventus pauses, having seen the glazed look. “Okay, tell me the truth. Are you taking anything? You looked drugged. And I don’t mean a little bit either.”

Avery starts to look angry as she vehemently denies it with a “No! Never! That would get in the way of my ability to research all these fascinating changes in the world.” To which Ventus shakes her head.

“I see. Well I won’t judge, but I honestly don’t believe you. No one’s eyes look like that when they’re sober and healthy. I don’t think you’re sick, so that leaves being drugged. I’m sure the base has plenty of resources for this sort of thing. Maybe you are inhaling something strange in your lab, but you’re definitely on something.”

Ventus ends the conversation there, feet crunching the damp grass as she turns quickly. She steps lightly enough that only the faintest of imprints are left. She travels along the threads when she comes across a rocky section, moving to the next part of the grass. 

As she moves, she thinks on her interactions with Avery, wincing at how much she let go due to her being too happy just being herself. As she approaches the lab, a trace of determination gleams in her slowly color cycling eyes.

Upon making it to the lab, she steps in, shivering slightly as the cold stone sends chills through her slightly damp feet. Focusing briefly, she feels the icy flame still in the core of her being. Drawing it out to her feet, she quickly dries them off, while causing a thin patch of ice to spread on the floor before she stops. Tilting her head, she mutters “That didn’t take nearly as much mana as when I first woke up.”

This is overheard by a nearby scientist, who upon seeing the rumored kitsune who woke up five months after everyone else, rushed over. “Oh that’s simple, you need to spend more of the energy designated as mana to cause changes in the caverns. Scientists from Canada theorize it is due to the concentration of ambient energy resisting change, so an awoken needs to spend more of their own reserves in order for something to take effect.”

Blinking at the sudden exposition, she tilts her head, ears half folded as her tails turn in the same direction as her head “Do I know you? I appreciate the information, but why did you rush up to a woman you don’t know just to tell her that?”

The scientist scratches his head “Well, lead researcher Avery told us that if you came here with questions to answer everything with plenty of detail.”

Frowning at that, her tails start flicking the air aggressively, clearly agitated. “Did she say anything else? And is she working with any new substances that could cause excessive affection, or feelings of high intimacy?”

Shaking his head, the scientist responds “No. The latest thing she’s been working on is performing tests on this weird strand of hair. It’s red and.” He pauses, putting connections together.

Ventus has a feeling she knows what the other color of the hair is. “Let me guess, white? Where’d she get it from?”

The scientist gulps, but nods. “Yeah, she has a brush with some on it. She refuses to let anyone touch it though, locking it up after each of the two times she’s worked with it. The second of those two times was this morning by the way.”

Groaning, Ventus slumps in defeat, tails falling to hang low to the ground. “Great, so she’s drugged off something in the lab, and so obsessed with me because of it that she took the brush I used the day I got here. Well, I guess there isn’t much more I can do about that right now. Did the bloodwork she took get done? Also, are Desi and Lilith here?”

Nodding, the scientist leads Ventus to a room where Lilith and Desi are, before saying. “The physician looking over your blood will be here shortly,” before scrambling away.

Ventus smiles at Lilith and Desi, before she sits down on a bed, choosing that instead of a chair so she doesn’t have the impulse to lean back. “It’s good to see you both again. I’ve had the weirdest day so far with Avery, she seemed  odd. I’d almost say drugged. Probably something she was working with in her lab, but still. It’s concerning.”

Desi chuckles as she continues to piece together a skeletal bird, “That would explain a few things, yeah. Her being drugged I mean. Doesn’t explain your side of things though.”

Ventus tilts her head, having a suspicion but asking to confirm. “My side of things? What do you mean?”

Lilith answers this one “We mean you letting her basically have her way with you. We heard things in the hotel lobby. A kitsune was being led around with her hand being held, a kitsune was groped. Similar things to that.”

Flushing silver, Ventus stammers out “I think, I uh, just didn’t care. I was too happy being me. Still am, but it’s not overwhelming now.”

Before Lilith or Desi could respond, a doctor walks in and heads over to Ventus’ chart, not sparing a glance her way. “Ah, I see you’re a ten year old awoken. Sad you have to go through all this at such a young age. You’ll be happy to know that you’re perfectly healthy aside from starting puberty.” 

Lilith and Desi start laughing hysterically while Ventus flushes silver “Look, I know I look younger than I am. But ten? Really? I’m clearly an adult.”

The doctor starts to repeat, “Your bloodwork shows you’re about ten, no need to lie about your,” she stops having finally caught Ventus out of the corner of her eye. Turning fully, she looks back to the paperwork several times.

“This can’t be right. You’re clearly an adult, but the bloodwork we have shows a young child at the start of puberty. What trickery did you use?”

Ventus sighs before asking a simple question. “Which sample?”

The doctor looks confused before looking further into the chart, seeing a second sample with more clear signs of aging. Despite the difference,  it still has the exact same genetic information.. “What? How is this possible?”

Ventus shrugs “No idea. So, which is right.”

The doctor looks at both sets of data very carefully, before tossing it into the air. “The more recent sample is the one where you have fewer signs of aging. What is with you awoken. Tossing all reason on its head for the fun of it.”

Hearing this, Ventus gulps at the implications. “So, despite the more recent one being the one you thought was ten, but both are me. Am I about to go through puberty? Again?”

The doctor shrugs. “I don’t know, but that probably isn’t the right word for it. We’ll figure something out. You’ve gone through it once though, so it shouldn’t be the end of the world, right?”

Panicking, Ventus looks between Lilith and Desi before sighing in defeat. “Alright alright. Fine. What’s said here doesn’t spread, right doc?”

The doctor nods, not quite seeing where this is going.

“Then I’ll uhh, need to be taught how to deal with that. It wasn't a problem until I awoke.”

The doctor just looks confused. “So you really are ten? Why’d you put up such a fuss then?”

Lilith sighs before speaking up “No, she was trans. She didn’t have a feminine body before the change.”

The doctor pauses, before grabbing some items out of her lab coat’s pockets “Well, I was prepared to give examples of these anyway, so I guess we’ll just do that.”

Several embarrassing minutes later Ventus looks oddly happy. “Thank you Doc. Hopefully I’ll actually need this information.”

Desi looks over, confused this time, the bird she was assembling complete. “Why would you want to need it?”

Ventus shrugs “Look, I’ve wanted to be a woman for a long time. That means every part of that. Sure it’ll most definitely be painful, but I couldn’t care less. Should I expect any other changes, doc?”

Nodding, the doctor says “Yes, probably a bit of growth. For some reason Awoken have more malleable bodies, and with the hormones that are rushing through you, expect to be a bit taller, and have larger uhm, assets. We’ll need more blood work if you want to narrow down the cause of this though. While it could be an age problem, given all that changed with you it’s unlikely.”

Ventus chuckles “Alright alright you vampire. Any other tests that could help with this? Or do I just wait however long for Avery to get here for whatever she needs to test?”

The doctor takes the samples, muttering about how awoken make no sense when she sees Ventus’ pulsating black/silver blood fill the vials. The doctor then heads out of the exam room, saying “Just wait here.”

Desi finally gets tired of not being part of the conversation, so she sends her mana into the bones of the tiny bird. The skeleton twitches before the bones turn to ash. “It actually moved that time, so I guess progress meow.”

Shrugging due to not entirely being sure what Desi had just attempted, whether it be necromancy or just animating. “What’s the problem Desi?”

Desi looks over at Ventus before looking back, causing Ventus to chuckle and get up from the bed.

Walking over, each of Ventus’ steps cause her tails to dance as she smiles widely. “I don’t know that look, but I’m sure I know what you want.” She then leans down and kisses Desi, wrapping an arm around her head to keep her still. Only after several seconds does she part. “Better love?”

Desi pouts at Ventus pulling away. “No, you need to keep going.”

Ventus laughs, “That’s not happening here, but good to keep in mind. Maybe if I can get a room at the same hotel tonight. Cuddling only, of course.”

Pouting at that, Desi meows a few times before starting to assemble another skeletal bird. “These are so hard to get mana into without them exploding.”

Ventus’ ears go up as a smile spreads “Wouldn’t it be better to try something bigger, before you try it on something so small? I’ll be back.” Traveling along several threads to Lamu’s office, she finds it empty. A note is on the desk though. It says “If you read this Ventus get out of my office. You really need to stop breaking through our security. I’m diving into the caverns today, so don’t expect me back for a bit. Everyone else knows this, but you were missing when the briefing was held.”

Rolling her eyes at Lamu’s lackluster security, she travels back. Arriving with a sigh, she says “Well, Lamu is diving into the caverns right now. Guess I could ask Avery, but I am hesitant. She’s too clingy for how little we know of each other. Even if she’s drugged because of something.

Lilith chuckles “Picking up from earlier, since it relates. You’re kind of oblivious aren’t you Ventus? Worse than Desi is.”

Desi shakes her head, “I don’t think so Lilith, at least not worse than me. We both were in a similar situation when we changed, high on life itself. Isn’t that right Venti?”

Blinking, Ventus questions “Venti? Also I was going to see Lamu about if we could use the giant bird I killed for your necromancy.”
Desi shakes her head before shrugging “No need to worry yourself about that love,. I was already planning on it, with or without permission. I guess you don’t like the nickname Venti?”

Ventus nods at that. “I really don’t. Maybe Vena, but not Venti. I wonder how the dive is going though.”

Above Lemu’s party, in the center of the field of energy that Ventus had fallen through five months ago, a small crack in space appears. Not large enough for anything to pass through yet, but it is slowly expanding, rather than quickly closing like the ones Ventus caused.

Vincent shivers, his arms and legs covered in bruises but nothing having broken from the beating Lilith and Desi gave him. “Lamu, sir. I’m getting a really bad feeling. We should probably move deeper, I think something bad will happen if we stay in this room.”

Lamu opens his eyes and starts to stand. “If you insist, Vincent. You do have that weird sixth sense. Well I guess it would be seventh or eighth these days, what with awoken being able to sense mana and the insides of their bodies. Prepare to move out everyone.”

As they move out, a small egg falls from the crack, landing on the floor of the cavern unnoticed. The impact of the egg causes a sticky substance that is attached to it to spread, securing it in place. After the egg is through, part of a large eye peers through the crack, staring in the direction and tracking the movement of Ventus.