Comfort And Acceptance

Ms. Thavel

 'Mother ehh.'

It's not really a word I'd use to describe myself, but then again, who am I to judge the mind of a likely confused child?

 With a silent huff, I continued walking, my hazel orbs promptly ignoring how she seemed to be conversing with her extra appendage, even if no words were being shared between the pair.

 However, as I continued my walk, I couldn't help but enjoy how she leaned into me. It made me feel trusted, a thing that has often evaded me since my employment at the school, and sure, you could say my other coworkers trusted me, but outside of work, not a word was spoken between any of us, with the few exceptions being Mr. Demi, Ms. Sasha, and Ms. Emily.

 Something was going on between the trio, but I wasn't one to go off on my gut, so I'd need to look deeper into them if I wanted to really get into the mystery they presented.

 I was pulled from my conspiracy theorizing by the shift of the teal-eyed girl, her form squirming as she reached for her patchworked leg in an attempt to do something that would likely undo all the thirty minutes or so of work I put into the wraps.

 A single smooth, fragile horn sprouted from my head as I leaned it down to swat the reaching palm away from its meddling.

 The bone shattered into literal dust as soon as it came into contact with her skin, but that was fine, as I intentionally made it fragile for that very reason.

 The hand didn't react much, but the action drew her now neutral gaze all the same, the orbs filled with curiosity as she simultaneously stared at the falling remains of dust that was previously the horn.

 "Please don't touch that until I get you to someone who can properly review it."

 Her brow raised. "But why? I don't think mere leg damage will be enough to kill me."

 I rolled my eyes at her bluntness before responding, "Because I said so."

 She looked at me a second longer before nodding, her form shifting again as she made herself comfortable; it was cute, in all honesty, but also very telling of her personality, as she just accepted my argument without argument.

 Honestly, had she not displayed that reasonable aggression the other night, I would have thought she was emotionally detached. That notion was further disproven by her action just a few seconds ago, as I'm pretty sure someone emotionally detached wouldn't care if something was uncomfortable or not.

 My train of thought was broken by a sleek and really discreet movement of the girl's hand at the corners of my vision, its tented form wrapping around her backside before throttling the tail attached to it, the sheer force on display nearly making me stumble in surprise as I heard a pop or two respond from its base.

 Fortunately, it didn't seem she wanted to maim what was essentially another extension of her body, as the grip she had on it let up a few seconds later.

 After the tinted appendage receded back to her lap, it revealed the base of which she was squeezing, its form having shrunken an inch or two from its previous width.

 I didn't bother hiding my curiosity or concern as I questioned her.

 "Why'd you do that? And, doesn't that hurt?"

 She only glanced back for a second before her eyes went back to touring our slow-moving surroundings.

 "Kane was being annoying, so I shut her up, and no, it doesn't really hurt as there are little to no nerves in my tail."

 My head tilted as my pace slowed.

 "Right, and Kane is?" I had a feeling I already knew what this character was and where it was at, but I let her elaborate anyway.

 "Kane is the tail currently wrapped around your neck, and she loves teasing me to no end, so I put her on temporary leave by taking away her access to the outside, or in simpler terms, she's temporarily dead."

 My brow raised.

 "How does that work?"

 The girl's head tilted as he thought of something, however, it returned to its original position not long after, her voice following the reorientation.

 "To put it bluntly, she's in my head, so while it doesn't stop her from doing her teasing, it does punish her by taking away her ability to actually feel anything that isn't the stray thoughts and phantom feelings running amok inside my head; think of it as a more drastic timeout."

 My pace returned along with the silence, as my gut digested the new bits of information that would have otherwise been discarded, however, I couldn't help but compare what she just said to putting a younger sibling in timeout; that wasn't a notion I was familiar with as I was an only child, but I've heard enough from students to know that it was usually a real pain due to the younger one being so pestering and persistent.

 That reality really looked to slide into place with her explanation, and now that I was thinking of it, I should probably get to asking her the basics, like for starters...

 "Your name, what is it?"

 The girl once again paid little attention to the query but answered quickly nonetheless.

 "Asrel, my name is Asrel."

 I nodded a bit dismissively before moving on, "OK, Asrel, tell me, what the hell were you doing the night I found you, because, I don't know about you, but I don't often find teenage girls wandering around in a forest notorious for both beasts and hunters."

 That question did draw some pause from Asrel, but not as much as one would have thought, as it too was answered in short order.

 "I wasn't exactly alone at first, I was actually with my family; we were walking through one of our usual paths home when... something... jumped out; it was big, almost the size of a truck, closing in on a simi," she sighed, "it reeked with decay as it bared its deformed teeth before it lundged, ripping into my older brother Areis; his screams of agony made my gut churn painfully, but thankfully it didn't hurt as much when the thing got my little sister, Iris, yet, that was most likely because she didn't get time to scream before she was bitten in half," she huffed, "it was at this point that my father reacted, his form not too differente from mine, launched into a rage, as flames of pure void erupted out of his back before caking the creature, however, they didn't do much as the beast, seemingly invunlrible, whipped through the flicking flames as it tore my terrified mother into a gory mess next to me, and I would have been next had my own flames not kept me safe, their nigh transparent form burning the creatures face into a chard mess. After that, it's a mystery, as I had passed out not long after the flames spurted forth, with the only thing I remember being my father's face as it grew more distant."

 My pace had stopped at this point, just staring in shock and some pity as the recount hit me harder than I would've liked, but I've heard and personally seen worse, so it didn't faze me enough to discard the remaining questions I had, and it helped that she didn't seem to care all that much either, with her teal orbs flickering to random trees in lost wander, almost like it was the first time she'd ever seen them.

 I shook my head in silence before my pace once again picked up, my softer questions being asked in the meantime, as it would take up the short time necessary until we reached the destination I was aiming for.

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 Xiezhi

 My smile never faltered as I watched the shrinking spec that was Ms. Tanya, her form having cleverly bypassed me with relative ease, though, I'd say that semi-hole in her side would say otherwise.

 She probably wouldn't die, but even if she did, it wouldn't matter, as her use was starting to come to an end anyway, because with the project on the precipice of rise, not a damn thing will be able to stand up to the Inverse Organization, not even that beast of a creature Alice.

 I chuckled before darting off, my ghostly form completely vanishing as light itself seemed to forget my existence; you didn't have to be the fastest to be the sneakiest.

 It was hours later when I made it to a pickup point, with two others clad in the same coat joining me soon after; it truly was a coincidence that I ran into Ms. Tanya, but a happy one, as despite her being filled with so much rage and fear, I got to metaphorically catch up, with my eyes telling me stuff about her that would get most throne into jail or killed on the spot.

 It really made me chuckle to know that the one she chose as a claim was someone who was on her kill list before that oh-so-spicy stay at the island; however, it seems my chuckle wasn't just to myself, as I was quickly questioned by the more curious member of our lonely trio.

 "What's so funny, Xiezhi?"

 I turned to the coated visage of our only female member, her attire not too different from my own, with the sole exception being the color of the embroidered blades on her chest, their form taking up gold as its mantel instead of red.

 Her face bore a curious grin that was highlighted by her crimson hair, its strands reaching just past her neck, as her ever-changing yellow eyes stared on with literal question marks created by her white pupils; a neat little gimmick that I couldn't help but admire for its uniqueness and unpredictability; I've not once used my eyes her to find something different from what her eyes were showing already, and that really made me happy, so much so that I considered her one of my very few friends, even if her curious self didn't understand the concept of such.

 That little thought brought me to the thing that was constantly transforming and collapsing in on itself in the air just above her outstretched palm, its form resembling a cube that bore no untouched surface, as ancient ruins of divine origin embedded themselves on it.

 Pandora's box, an object of infinite possibilities and pathways that could end the world with one wrong turn of its endless puzzle. Thankfully, this would likely never be an issue, as the holder of the box, whose name is also Pandora, was a folklore entity just like me, her form coming forth into reality due to artificial means.

 What that is supposed to entail isn't too hard to figure out, but here's the rundown anyway.

 It was about a year after the world's merging that the box itself came to life under the fanatic cult of Pandora, a group of individuals who wanted nothing more than to harness the power Pandora's folklore said it held, but then in their lies the problem, as the foklore was never really about the box, but the girl in its words, and how her curiosity killed the cat, yet, using whatever 'Eko' forsaken process they had, they'd managed to force the box, and the box alone, to appear.

 This caused a lot of problems they did not foresee, as not only did they cut out the only person from the tale who could even slightly control the box's power, but they even made it more deadly, with its power once described as natural destroyers, now bears the title of World Ender, a power too deadly for any to wield, hence why it wasn't a surprise when our Unit came upon the room full of ashes that once were the members of the cult.

 However, the real danger was only shown to us when one of the founders tried to pick up the cube, with his form almost immediately puffing up like a balloon before popping into ash.

 The site of the cube was sealed off for years afterward as the higher-ups of the group tried to think of something to remedy its existence, or to at least contain it; eventually, they settled on a rather difficult operation, where they began to spread the idea of an entity that was the embodiment of the box itself.

 The idea was to use reality and the way folklore entities came to life through belief to artificially forge a being that could, in theory, wield the cube and its power, and that theory was put into practice a few years after the spread, as the duel entity also known as Pandora was born, her bare form being summoned in HQ after a successful attempt to pull her from her myth.

 It wasn't long after that when the girl was ushered to the box, where the theory was subsequently proved right, as she was easily able to pick up the box, and even channel it to some extent before she was forced to stop by me and a few other powerful entities, least she cause damage to the earth itself.

 However, that's where the higher-ups thought the good news ended, as now they had to figure out how to get an entity as powerful as her under their thumb, but being the folklore of Justice, I quickly put an end to their scheming as the artificial entity that was Pandora, and the subsequent Box of Pandora, were allowed free into the world to develop an identity unique to them.

 This allowed them to develop the uniqueness of their emotions and how they expressed them through their eyes via symbols and the like, with not even a single thought remaining hidden behind the walls of consciousness she most likely had.

 I, of course, along with many other entities, kept regular checkups on them under orders, and this, whether intentional or not, got the newborn entity interested in the group, which eventually led to her admission into it, leaving us with another chip on our shoulder that could combat the rising powerhouses reality was sprouting, a win-win really.

 I smiled as my two suns bared just a bit brighter before I answered her.

 "It's nothing, Pandora, I just ran into an acquaintance of mine who was running around causing some trouble, and they had some really funny things on their mind."

 The question marks in her eyes turned to exclamation marks as she became excited, her grin morphing into a smile that spoke of her cuteness; it was also a really good weapon against me, as I quickly caved.

 "Well, for starters, they have a Claim now," my smile grew a bit wider, "but here's the kicker, it's a young man who looks to barely reach her waist, and ohh boy did I see them do some things; he may be small but 'Eko' is he packing some heat."

 I thumbed to the third member of our trio as I continued to speak. "I'd even go as far as saying he'd be able to challenge you, Eros."

 The third and final member of our little unit, who had since been silent, finally stepped out of the shadows he had been hiding in.

 He wore the same garbs as Pandora and me, with the only difference being the embroidered emblem, denying both our colors, instead choosing to bear blue.

 His features were also remarkable, with his eyes bearing the mark of ruby, as his pupils were encircled by the blood red rings that were his irises, and surrounding those were void, as the usual white sclera were nowhere to be found, instead having been consumed by the depths of the sea where no light could be.

 Framing those jewels were long strands of stone-kissed hair that reached past his head and down to his stomach, where it would cut off just before his ass, the buns of which were very firm the last time I had them in bed.

 "An unusually odd place for the flower of love to bloom, but one that has bloomed anyway, and thus has my undivided support, should that love blossom further, but moving on; Xiezhi, Pandora, how were the Leviathan coats? Did you notice anything off when they were activated?"

 I sighed at the dismissal before answering. "Not a thing, boss, the hide doesn't seem to lack any of the abilities it had before being descaled, except for maybe its durability, but that's a given."

 Pandora quickly followed up with vigor as she joyfully replied with a smile, "Not a problem, Scary Boss Man, they were so super good that I could even do my puzzles in front of a deer without it running away like usual, oh and it also helped me sneak up on a bad guy before he disappeared in red mist again; I promise I'll catch him next time."

 Eros merely smiled like a loving father before gently patting her head, the effort requiring no effort as the height difference made it an afterthought, though most things like that would be an afterthought when you're as tall as an ox standing on its hind legs.

 "It's quite alright, Pandora, now, tell me, what happened when the red mist got all over you again?"

 At the question, Pandora's smile almost split the sky as she spoke praise.

 "It was amazing! At first, it was all icky and red, but then, there was some kind of wave that felt like bubbles, and it tickled! And then, boom! I was all clean again! It was the best thing ever!"

 Eros chuckled.

 "I'm sure it is Pandora, but for now, we must get a move on, as the project is almost complete, and they are going to need a lot of us to keep the thing stable enough for them to regulate its power flow."

 I chuckled. "You mean they're going to need you and Pandora because I don't know about you, but comparing folklore entities to a reality breaker and divine being isn't really fair."

 Eros huffed.

"Xiezhi, you and I both know that I'm no divine being any longer; nor is Pandora as good with the box as you give her credit for. In time, maybe, but right now, we three are nothing but equals."

 I couldn't help but cross my arms in a pout; he was right in all aspects, but even a blind fool would be able to see the favoritism the organization placed on the pair, and ya, sure, maybe they favored me too, but that was usually only whenever they needed me for something.

 My thoughts were interrupted when Pandora latched onto my arm with one of her most puppy-dog smiles.

 "Come on, Xiezhi, we can't do this without you!"

 This was once again a breaking point as I sighed.

 "Fine, but Eros has to buy us ice cream afterward."

 She smiled like the very sun in the sky as she giggled. "Yay! ice cream!"

I enjoyed the sigh of defeat from my front as I relished this moment; these moments of peace were always my favorite.

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Narration

As the new trio moved on with their plans for the day, we cut back to Asrel, while skipping how Claire and Alice had been welcomed to Nyx's newly built mansion, its form quickly being broken in by Alice as she called dibs on the biggest room for her and Claire to share; the activities they'd get up to in their were plain for all to see.

 Nyx swore he was never going to touch their door with a six-foot pole if he could help it.

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 Asrel

 "Alright, Ms. Asrel, you're free to wander while I speak to Ms. Thavel, but please, stay on this floor. I do not want to hear that you reopened your stitches three floors down; I already have one student who does that too much, and I don't need another."

 I nodded at the horned man before making my exit, all the while thanking Ms. Thavel in my head, as the clothes she put me in while I was out were pretty comfy, especially the pants, as they had been modified by her to accommodate my bushy tail.

 At first, I did nothing but wander, but that was soon occupied by stalking a particularly odd student, though it was more of a game of hide and seek, as every time I got too close, he'd turn a random corner and disappear; I'd find him a few halls later as he was once again walking.

 It got me to a point where I was painfully sprinting through the halls back and forth over and over again, just hoping to catch him before he did that trick again, and while I got a bit closer every time, it left a lingering feeling of impossibility, afterward, like all my effort would be for not as something unseen would stop me from truly catching him, and it was kind of disheartening.

 The final nail in the coffin happened when I was in another dead sprint down the hall, only for that sprint to come to an abrupt end as my leg gave out under me, leaving my form to free-fall and skid against the smooth stone floor.

 I grunted in pain as my jaw came into contact with the floor, a light crack whipping through the silent hall signaling the damage.

 When my body came to a halt, I just let myself lie there in disappointment, as I had further proven myself incapable of a seemingly basic task of keeping up; though, when you're as useless as I am most of the time, it really shouldn't be a surprise that you'd end up as a failure.

 Sighing in pain, I pushed myself up before taking note of the further damage done to my body, including the reopened leg wound that I was under specific instruction not to reopen, further proving how much of a disappointment I truly was; it was honestly quite pathetic.

 Deciding that I'd rather just stay here to let myself wallow in pain as punishment, I opted to watch as my leg slowly leaked my darkened blood, the liquid slowly pooling under me as it started to cake the clothes I was gifted. I didn't let myself cry in dismay, as it was due to my own hubris that I'd ruined them in the first place.

 Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to do so in peace, nor for very long, as someone showed up to take up my attention.

 Looking at the set of finely shined black short boots standing next to me, I let my teal gaze rise, before they eventually came into conflict with another pair of orbs, their slightly slit forms a dark blue.

 They swam with curiosity and satisfaction as they quickly broke the gaze conflict by looking me up in down in contemplation.

 It was a boy, about my size, if a bit bigger; he sported short black hair with a pair of round ears sitting on top of his head; they resembled those of a panther. Their forms twitched in what looked to be satisfaction as a very thin black tail almost as long as my own swayed behind him.

 He was dressed in a clean black turtle neck shirt that lay tight, while also donning a pair of jeans that hugged his thighs nicely, and had I been normal, I might have found myself slightly attracted to him, but I wasn't normal; I was just a waste of oxygen.

 My head dipped after the thought, its form returning to the self-pity it was trying to lock itself into as it watched the puddle of black continue to grow, however, it failed every time, not because I couldn't keep focus, but because the boy had switched from observing to touching.

 He was currently holding my limp tail as he gently stroked it while mumbling something incoherent to himself. The language of which sounded so very close to English yet fell short at every opportunity.

 Sighing, I took control of the limp appendage before forcing it out of his gentle strokes; even if I couldn't feel it, comfort of any kind wasn't something I wanted right now, even if it didn't seem to be his intention.

 Silence ruled over the hall for a brief second before the boy took a crotch, his own blue orbs digging out my teal gaze once again as I now looked at him while miffed.

 "Could you stop that? I'm trying to stew in self-pity."

 The boy merely tilted his head in further curiosity as he looked on, but his voice wasn't withheld for long as he went to speak.

 "I could, but I won't; not because I care, but because your body fascinates me, I've never seen something so unique mentioned or even shown in the vast swarms of glyphs and scrolls I've read before, not even the books in this unnatural school hold what you are; so please, enlighten me, what are you?"

 My brow raised at the question before I answered.

 "My dad was a demon, while my mom was like a werewolf, only she didn't transform or anything like that, she was just her."

 The boy's eyes lit up in further curiosity as he continued.

 "A demon, you say? And given your brief yet choppy description of your mother, I can conclude that she was likely an Anthro Wolf, or in simpler terms, a dimi human."

 With my own curiosity piqued, I spoke, "What's a dimi human?"

 It was his turn to be stunned, as his blue eyes narrowed in skepticism.

 "You're either really good at acting, or you actually don't know what a demi-human is, which is it?"

 My response was quick.

 "I've never been very good at acting."

 He looked on for a few seconds longer before a smile sprouted on his pale lips, its form parting enough to reveal the two rows of canines in his mouth, with the top two closest to the air outside having heavy scar tissue, caking the gums, keeping them in place, almost like something was ripped out.

 He nodded before taking a seat next to me, his form uncaring about the backend blood now layering his boots as he started talking.

 "Well, a Demi human is a subspecies of the baseline human, where it carries qualities and features that the most common form of humanity has never borne before; for example, tails, while once part of human biology, became degraded thousands of years ago, and thus have been defined as odd or unnatural for anyone to have; those who do have these are usually called Demi humans, or in simpler terms, humans who have features the vast majority don't. There is also another terminology for the definition of Demi-human, that being creatures that most closely resemble humans, yet fall short, as they were never human to begin with. I think there are a few other definitions as well, but I can't really seem to recall them at the moment, so you'll have to forgive me for my forgetfulness on the subject."

 I shook my head. "You're forgiven. What's your name, strange boy?"

 He chuckled. "My, I appreciate your straightforwardness; it's Kevin, and yours, strange girl?"

 A barely noticeable grin split my face as I spoke.

 "Asrel, my name is Asrel. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Kevin."

 He rolled his eyes. "You're right, the pleasure is yours, Asrel."

 His gaze drifted off for a second before we were both interrupted by the school's bell, its tune signaling the start of morning classes.

 Kevin sighed for a moment before getting up with a smile.

"Well, I must say, Asrel, that chase you had me in was really nerve-racking, and had you been able to go one more hall down, you would have found my near-exhausted form leaning against the wall for support."

 My teal eyes widened in surprise at the revelation.

 "You're that boy?"

 He chuckled.

 "I am indeed that boy, though since we're friends now, you can just call me Kevin."

 "Friends?" I questioned in disbelief.

 A nod.

 "Indeed, and like any good friend, we help each other out in our times of dismay, or 'in need' if you want to go for the more classical phrasing."

 I didn't even get to comprehend what he meant before all of my pain vanished, and he went along with it.

 Looking down and feeling my jaw, I was left in stunned silence to feel and see that both had been healed, with even the blood gone as it had seemingly vanished without a trace; even the stains on my pants were gone like nothing ever even happened; it was like magic.

 Getting up, I looked at the spot he had vanished from before, sighing, both in relief and appreciation, as I no longer had to go back to the horned man in shame, nor did my filthy blood stain the pants that weren't mine. I couldn't be more content with this friendly aid.

 However, it hurt my head to think of how I'd go about repaying this favor, so I opted to put it off for later when everything wasn't so hectic in my life.

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Narration

 And with that, Asrel made her way back to Mr. Demi and Ms. Thavel, the pair having had a long enough conversation on what to do with the girl while she was off wandering, however, it shouldn't have been too surprising to find that she would be staying with Ms. Thavel for the foreseeable future.

 Asrel, for her part, couldn't be more content with the morning, as she would go on to sit in on a few classes Ms. Thavel taught, listening intently as most of the things spoken of were in her interest. 

 Kevin never truly left her mind, though, as she was still thinking of ways she could repay the favor he did for her; she was miffed when she couldn't think of a single thing.