“You... You're okay with that?” This was far from the reaction she'd expected.

I kinda felt like she saw him as like, an estranged son or something... Aren't you supposed to be protesting, not immediately offering to help???

C shook her head, laughing again at Evelyn's baffled expression. Her reply made Evelyn wonder if she'd read her mind. “Babe, don't take offense, but you aren't capable of killing him, not for a long ass time. But it's gonna be fun as hell to watch you try.”

Evelyn winced, wondering just how painful failing would be. Az was so much larger he could probably hurt her without even trying to, and thinking of him trying to made her shiver. “That's cold.”

C shrugged, unashamed. “It's the truth. And I'm not saying it'll be fun to watch you fail, hun, but it's gonna be a blast to watch him avoid you. I think it'll be good for him, honestly. Keep him on his toes. He could use the exercise.”

She nodded to herself with a grin. “Yeah, I'll definitely teach you the ways of the assassin.”

Another thought struck Evelyn as she imagined Az slapping her away like a fly with invisible magic. “Wait—won't he... fight back?”

C shook her head, dismissively this time. “Naw. He went to all the trouble of healing you and dragging you down from Above—and believe me, girl, it was a lot of trouble—he's not gonna break you. Kid's a lotta things—self-absorbed, 'emotionless'” —this word was stated with a mocking tone— “way too obsessed with alternative fashion, but he's not an abuser, or a bully.”

Her face twisted into a half frown and her gaze was distant for a short moment. “I at least beat that much into him...”

“Okay, if he won't hurt me, and I don't actually have to kill him, then I want to learn,” Evelyn said. She realized she was literally on the edge of her seat with eagerness. This was something she could do, rather than just sitting around waiting for things to happen to her the way she'd spent her entire life. “And I might surprise you. I might get lucky and defeat him, and then I can just force him to let me go back, right? Or maybe it'll just annoy him so much he'll decide to do it himself!”

“Eh, maybe.” C seemed to have lost interest in the subject, regarding Evelyn instead with an up and down gaze. “Before all that, we gotta take care of something kinda major, kid.”

“What is that?” Evelyn asked, tilting her head thoughtfully. “Can you make me even stronger, or faster, or something, like you did earlier?”

“In time, sure. But for now...” C gestured up and down with her chin, and shook her head as Evelyn didn't seem to be following. “It's your appearance, babe. You're Below. Humans don't fit in here, you're seen as, can I put this nicely? Nope, I can't.”

She met Evelyn's eyes with a chilly glint in her own. “You're prey. Tasty food. Somethin' to toy with and discard, broken. This ain't a safe place for you. Might've been if you never left his basement, but fuck that, right?”

Evelyn nodded emphatically, trying not to think too hard on the idea of being seen as food. “I'd like to be able to go outside safely.”

“Well, that's another problem you're gonna have, hun. There is no 'outside' Below.” C leaned back, crossing her extremely long legs as she set them on the corner of her desk. Her tail grabbed her pipe and tossed it into her hand. She pulled on it again.

“Huh? How is that possible?” Evelyn asked. C's mouth twisted and her tail waved thoughtfully for a minute before answering, before waving her hand out over a stack of books on her desk.

“Take these books. See how they're one on top of the other, with no space in between? It's kind of like that.” Evelyn's face must have revealed that she didn't quite get the analogy, so she continued. “Think of it like... a series of interconnected buildings down here, but with no space in between. No sky, no plants, no animals, nothin'. Just room after illogical room, like one book pressed right against the other.”

“But what about the space outside the books?” Evelyn asked. C shook her head.

“You're using Above logic, which makes sense being as that's where you're from and all. But here? Those rules just doesn't exist. It's more like if I were to shove all these tomes up and against each other on all sides with no gaps from here to infinity.” She took a puff from her pipe, thinking again. “Maybe it'd make more sense if I told you rooms here are like the molecules of air Above. They're separate things, but still surround you everywhere without boundaries. Until you get through the atmosphere to space, of course, so just ignore that part. There's nothing analogous here to that vacuum up there.”

It was a little surprising that C seemed to know a bit about Earth physics. Evelyn tried to wrap her head around what she was saying; it was starting to make sense. C continued, pointing again with her pipe.

“And the rooms themselves don't even line up neatly, unlike these books. The rules of Above just don't apply.” She gestured to Evelyn's left, where Susu had left the room. “Outside that door? It's an indoor Olympic sized swimming pool. Next to it? A Japanese tea room, that leads into a train station's waiting room. And so on. No matter how many doors you open, or windows you climb through, you're just gonna run into another room.”

Evelyn's brow furrowed deeper than before. The claustrophobic sense she'd had in Az's library returned, stronger. “No outside at all? That sounds... unpleasant.”

I'm finally healed, but no animals, or even plants? No sun? No wind? No rain or snow or... anything?

C shrugged, clearly not having anywhere near the same feelings as Evelyn about it. “Eh, for some it works. Anyways, back to the previous subject—what kinda horns d'ya want?”

“Huh?” she said again, hating how clueless she felt. C's brain seemed to work much faster than she could comprehend, jumping from topic to topic without worrying if her conversation partner could keep up. She also had the uncanny feeling that, despite how quickly she spoke, C wasn't sharing even half of her thoughts.

“I'm gonna make you fit in. But unlike ‘Ass’ with your clothes, I'm gonna give you some choices.” She grinned, seeming to be looking forward to it. “So. Any ideas?”

“Er... I don't really think I have a preference,” Evelyn answered nervously. C nodded shrewdly.

“I have the perfect idea, then. Stand up. Gotta touch you again, you mind?”

“Uh, no, go ahead,” Evelyn replied, standing up. C walked around her desk and placed a single pointed finger on Evelyn's forehead again. Evelyn let out an internal sigh.

Seriously, Az—or should I also say ‘Ass’—it's not that hard to ask, or explain things, your teacher does it all the damn time! So why are you so...

C snapped her other fingers in another triple snap, and Evelyn felt a strange sensation on her head—and her back. She spun around. “Ah—a tail, too?”

She had a strange urge to wiggle it—and was surprised when it moved at her thought. She reached to it and curled it around her wrist. She looked at C with delight. “Prehensile!”

“Yu-u-up. Thought about giving you wings but I think he'd probably be too into that. We can always change it up later. So you like the tail, eh?” C leaned back on her desk with crossed arms, seeming proud of herself.

“Yes! This is awesome!” Evelyn said with a wide smile, using her tail to tap her own shoulder, then poke at some of the stacks of books.

“Damn, you're cute getting all pumped up like this.” C snapped again and held up a dirty mirror similar to how Az had earlier. “Whatcha think?”

Evelyn was surprised to see adorable round horns—the same shape and slightly pearlescent white color as Susu's, but a lot smaller—on her head. She touched them, then pulled slightly, feeling it tug on her skin. They were attached firmly. Her smile grew. “They are really, really cute!”

“Glad you have good taste.” C tossed the mirror and snapped to make it disappear, then lifted her pipe to her mouth and spoke again as purple smoke puffed out. “You need anything else while we're at it? Gender issues or anything you want me to deal with?”

“You can do that, too?” Evelyn asked, surprised but quickly feeling silly for it. “Oh, but no, I'm happy with my body type and how I look.”

Happier than I could ever have imagined!

“Good. The human binary is mostly made up, and pretty annoying when it's rigidly enforced the way it is in your century, but you seem to fit into yourself pretty nicely.” C exhaled more smoke. “Take that as an expert's compliment. As you can see with Susu, I obviously have excellent taste and a great appreciation of the feminine form.”

She closed one eye in a wink at Evelyn with a mischievous grin. “Oh, just so you know, Ass does too, though I doubt he'll ever show it.”

Evelyn's forehead wrinkled. “Huh? What does that mean?”

C didn't answer, tossing her pipe into the air and triple snapping. It vanished. “I know it's real early, but I just—I gotta see his face when he sees you with those. I'm gonna call Susu back to take us over now.”

“Wait, can you at least teach me a little about fighting first?” Evelyn's tail drooped. She felt a little distraught at not having a single tool in her arsenal to get started on her journey of attempted murder. “I mean, the sooner I can get started, the better, right?”

C shook her head again. “Naw, best not to today, kiddo. I did fix your muscles, but you're gonna be in a world of pain from it in a few hours. Oh, did I warn you about that?”

“Not really...” Evelyn gave a wavering, strained smile.

So she's good about consent, just not necessarily... informed consent...

Again, C didn't seem capable of feeling shame. “Whoops, my b. Just tell Ass to do something about it if it gets to be too much. He kinda always sucked at healing, but... well, just look at how you turned out, hmm?”

Her voice sounded a little strange. That, coupled with the look C gave her as she ran her eyes over Evelyn again, made her feel almost like shivering.

I feel like... she doesn't know how he fixed me, and she's not happy about that. Maybe that's just a weird thought, though. She seems really smart, and she just fixed my strength, so it can't be that confusing... right?

“I'm sure I can handle it,” Evelyn said, studying a suddenly intriguing plain book cover off to the side. “After all I've... I've had a lot of pain in my life.”

C nodded sympathetically. “Sounds like it. Feel free to tell me about it sometime if you want. Not now though. Hi, Babe.”

Susu had appeared in the distant door, and Evelyn could kind of see bits of her between the shelves as she walked through the maze-like books towards them.

I didn't see C do anything to suggest she was calling her back. I guess they use telepathy? That's wild...

Ugh, I hope that she can't read minds. That's a really uncomfortable thought!

"It is very soon?" Susu said as she reached them in a questioning tone. She looked over from her wife and noticed Evelyn's new appearance. Her eyes widened, and she gave a delighted smile. She said something to C in what seemed to be her main language, only adding in English afterwards, "Ev is very pretty!"

“I took some inspiration from you, babe.” C draped her arm around Susu's shoulders, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. “You don't mind if I tag along on this return journey, right? I gotta show off my work here.”

“Of course you may.” Susu held out her arm for Evelyn, but wrapped her other arm tightly around C's waist. Evelyn again felt the uncertain honor of being the shortest person in the room, seeing as there wasn't nearly as large of a height gap between C and Susu as Evelyn and everyone she'd met so far.

I think they last measured me at five one or five two... but I was still growing then. Right?

She shook off the thought as Susu flapped her cape.

Here goes! I wonder what else this strange new life is going to bring me.