Shi's School Diary

[Froggy Prints]

A New Beginning ...

Shi sat in the backseat of the taxi, his tail coiled along the seat next to him, and on the floor, and even up in the back window. Actually … it slid between the two front seats and took up most of the passenger seat as well.

To say that it was long was an understatement.

But it was as shiny as it ever was. He had polished his scales as he did every morning, hoping that his parents might have changed their minds and decided that he didn’t need to go off to school after all. But it was to no avail: the moment he had come out for breakfast, they had lectured him for not having packed yet.

Like he needed much.

But here he was. His few bags had been stuck into the trunk of the yellow taxicab, and he was stuck watching the scenery pass by as he headed off to some unknown boarding school. He could understand why he had to come alone … he was after all seventeen years old, and there was no way his parents, both of which were at least twice as long as him, would fit into a cab with him.

The taxi driver had been paid in advance. There was no way Shi would be able to make him turn around. He hadn’t been given any spending money, and wouldn’t be until he was settled in for the term. That was the way his parents worked.

He wanted to sleep, but it was impossible. He had never slept outside of water before, and he didn’t know if he would be able to. He wondered then … had his parents made provision for him to sleep in a body of water? He detested beds …

The car slowed, startling Shi. He sighed. Time. Once the car was stopped, he got out and slithered to the back of the car to get his bags. He closed the door with his tail and picked up his bags (only two, both of them small – all he had brought were books and a few knickknacks). Without looking at the driver, without thanking him or even acknowledging him, he slithered off towards the school and what he was certain would be the worst eight months of his life.  

[Froggy Prints]

An Encounter of the Slithering Sort

It was a cool summer day at the Fuilteach Puisenaigh School for Fighting and Magic, but unlike his reptilian relations, Shi didn't rely on sunlight for heat. There was enough human in him that he was warm-blooded. Especially since he spent a good deal of his time underwater, he didn't seem to be affected by the cold at all.

His long serpentine tail propelled him forward through the underbrush of the forest surrounding the school, towards the lake that he could smell just ahead. His narrow, black eyes were focused on what was ahead of him, and he kept his muscular arms folded across his equally muscular chest as he slithered through the trees.

Water. He hadn't been in water in so long ... hours, which to him felt like days. He needed it, more than craving it, it was a requirement. He swept his chin-length black hair back from his face and moved a little faster.

Deep within the watery deeps there were glimmers of a golden tail as a particular mer child (though she was no longer a child) swam taking in the wildlife and seeing if there was any treasure to be found at the bottom. Feng would enjoy her time before the official announcements for the school year began. Besides, it would be freedom before she was saddled with responsibilities that made her pout.

The lake came into view and the naga's black eyes grew even blacker as he headed straight for it. He slithered straight into its depths, breathing deeply and relaxing a bit. This was where he always felt the most comfortable.

He paused where he was for a moment, taking the rest of his long tail into the water with him, then turned over and lay on his back only a few feet above the bottom of the lake, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes as if he were going to sleep. The end of his shiny blue tail flicked back and forth lazily, the only sign of movement that was now visible on him.

The thing about lakes and any body of waters was that a ripple would distrub anything and it became clear to Feng that something else was in the lake. Not that it bothered her, it could be her brother for all she knew. In fact not having anyone else like her she thought just that and went off in search of her brother.

Though... it wasn't her brother she found, but someone else, had he drowned? He looked too relaxed for that. She swam around him and gently poked his tail.

The narrow black eyes opened a slit, and a soft red glow could be seen behind the enormous pupils. Without warning, the long tail shot around the arm that had poked it, wrapping around the person who had disturbed him.

When his mind had registered what he saw, his eyes narrowed ever further. His tail continued to wind around the mermaid, going around her stomach and moving upwards, entangling her arms at the same time.

"Who are you?" the naga asked in a soft, low tone, moving slightly closer to the girl so that his tail could wrap even higher around her torso. It had reached her shirt by this time ... the shirt that covered very little and was floating ever so slightly in the water ... He chose the more decent way and slid his tail over the outside of it, as tempted as he was to go the other way.

Feng giggled as she didn't see any real threat at the moment (it wasn't like she could drown or anything). His tail kept her shirt down while her hair float up like a black cloud. She tilted down as much as his tail would allow her to look at him.

"I'm Feng," she replied, "It's nice to meet you, who are you?"

The naga's tail crept up over her collarbone and along her neck, though he didn't wrap it around her neck. Instead, he flicked the end of his tail along her jawline, constricting his entire tail just enough to hamper any movement that she might attempt.

"My name," he replied in the same, softly-spoken voice, "is Shi ..."

The red faded from his eyes and he examined the mermaid from head to tail, not even trying to hide it. It had been bad enough that his parents had sent him to this school ... but to be the only naga here had been unbearable. But here he was, a mermaid in his grasp, another tail-bearer, another ocean-dweller, another water-breather.

Perhaps this year would not be quite so unbearable after all.

Had Feng been like say... Trisha... or any of her other siblings she might have freaked out, had Ryu been there, there might have been a fight ensued. However as it already was, Ryu wasn't around, nor was Donovan for that matter and Feng bared the trait very much akin to most Winters who were single or not yet mated or married. She was naive or dense, whichever the case maybe.

She smiled a bit, "That tickles," she murmured, "Shi... you're a student?"

The tip of Shi's tail came to rest hanging over Feng's shoulder, much the same way a friend would put their arm around someone's shoulder, the tip of it settling on her chest, just above the top of her shirt.

"Yesss," he replied softly, in a tone that almost sounded like a hiss. "And I would assume that you are one as well, hmmm?"

He moved in a slow circle around her, keeping his tail tightly wrapped around her body, but moving with him. It was almost as if he were slithering around her ...

She watched him in fascination at the way he moved, seeing as his tail was even longer than hers, she couldn't imagine him in a human form. Though for all she knew, he didn't know one, he was snake like after all.

"Yup, me and my brother are students," she replied back feeling the cool scales.

They weren't slimy, at least not to her, she didn't have that kind of concept since she had a tail herself. Then again she didn't have the concept of cold neither.

"Brother?" Shi was interested in hearing more about this brother of hers. Another water-breather, then. This year just might turn out to be interesting, indeed. "Do tell ..."

He came to a stop in front of her again, facing her, and his tail came to rest in the same position as before: around her shoulders, casually, and resting just above the top of her shirt.

"Well..." Feng laughed a bit she would have moved her arms if she could, "He's my twin brother, not that we look that much alike," minus hair and eye colouring that is, "We're both in Fighter class," she explained.

She looked down at herself for a moment noticing it was strange being just still in the water like this. No fish was ever that still.

"Could you let me go now?"

Shi stared at her for several long moments, debating with himself whether or not he should release the mermaid. She was very pretty ...

Best not to make enemies where one can find allies, he reminded himself finally; and he released his grip on the girl. His long tail fell from her in coils and came around and floated in lazy circles around him instead.

"I apologize," he murmured softly, his already narrow eyes narrowing a bit more as he watched her. He folded his hands behind his head and leaned back slightly, as if he were a human relaxing in a reclining chair. His tail came up once again and stroked her hair lightly, just once, then fell again.

"You are very lovely," he told her honestly, but in a tone that made it seem like a casual comment.

Feng wonderd idily if this was the sort of thing her mentor had always warned her about. Though he seemed quite nice and he was just complimenting her right? She smiled as she laid on her side in the water as she swam in lazy circles.

"Thank you," she murmured.

There was something odd about this one, something that didn't really say hug me (not like most of her victims ever said hug me).

"What class type are you?" she asked curiously.

Shi flicked the end of his tail in annoyance, though he kept the annoyance from his expression.

"Magic," he replied nonchalantly. "Not that I need the classes, my parents insisted. Seemed to think I was lacking something in my education."

Or social skills, they had said something about that, too.

He eyed Feng emotionlessly. "I don't suppose the magic and fighting classes have any classes together?" he commented dryly, appearing not to care.

Feng giggled at the thought, even if he didn't need classes the school was suppose to be a changelle so he should be just fine she thought to herself.

"Well, both classes take the normal history, math and geography classes depending, and just because you're part of one class doesn't mean you can't take the other... and.. oh!"

She smiled as she swam around Shi happily, "And there is meditation class, Fighters don't have to take it, but Mother insists I have to. Mages have to take the class."

"Well then ... Feng," he said, his voice so low it seemed almost like a hiss, "Perhaps we will see each other in classessss ...."

Now wouldn't that be interesting.

He was curious about one thing, though, and he had been wondering it for a while, though he was trying to keep his curiosity in check. He wanted to know how she got around outside of the water. Snakes, after all, had no troubles with that, but fish on the other hand ...

"That would be interesting," Feng nodded, she hoped so seeing as she didn't really attend as a full time student, or rather she had other classes to take on top of her classes.

She smiled a bit as she did a loop before heading to the surface.

"Speaking of lessons, I have clan lessons to go to," Feng remembered, if she was late Donovan was going to have a fit.

Shi was disappointed, but he let her go. He needed to stay in the water, though, he hadn't been in long enough to feel ready to leave again.

"Then I will see you again, sometime ... Feng," he nodded, crossing his arms across his chest. And without anything further, he flipped his hair out of his face, turned around and swam further into the water.

"See you later Shi," Feng grinned before swimming to the surface.

The only sense that someone had left was a set of female foot prints leading away from the lake.  

[Froggy Prints]

Water Dancer Second Encounter - Part II

Shi smiled to himself and slithered out the door, heading down the hall where he and Feng had originally come in. He went slowly so that he wouldn't get too far ahead of her: after all, he still really didn't know the place, and the last thing he needed was to get lost ...

"I guess," Feng murmured as she walked backwards to face Shi, "You probably want to go back to the lake right?"

He didn't seem to like confined places, but she didn't know what else he did for fun or anything like that.

Shi raised one eyebrow at Feng curiously. "Is there anywhere else worth spending time?" he asked in his same soft voice. "I've only just got here a while ago ... and I don't know anything about the school."

As true as it was that he had indeed planned on going back to the lake, it was so nice there, he was curious to know if Feng had any other ideas. She seemed to know the school very well, after all ...

"Uhm... well I don't know, I go to the gym sometimes, I'm allowed there and if I take you no one is going to care," Feng replied back even though she didn't know what Shi would do at the gym, "There are computers, but I don't use them... and there is the green house, that's always nice to hang out in especially in the winter..." she mused a bit more.

Shi took in the information and tucked it away. So this medieval hole had computers ... well, well ...

But Feng didn't use them. Later, then, perhaps.

"What about the gym?" he suggested softly, putting his hands behind his back. "I might be interested in seeing what sort of equipment is in there."

This place was getting marginally better all the time. It looked as though he might really be able to survive the year ...

"This way," Feng pointed down one hallway, "The school actually has several gyms, and one for track in case it rains but the teacher's aren't above making you run... or slither in it though. Not that some of us would notice," she added knowing that Shi, like her, it was all the same.

They didn't feel cold, nor did wet bother them, they were wet most of the time anyhow.

She rounded one corner to open the doors.

"I find it's actually rather nice outside during the rain," Shi agreed, following her around the corner. Rather than her holding the door for him, he put one hand against it to hold it open for her. "I don't suppose the magic students have classes in here?" he questioned curiously. Those were classes he wouldn't mind taking ... they had to be better than textbook work.

He wondered how often the gyms were open for the students' use, and if there were any weight machines anywhere ...

"Those mage students who wish to learn combat magic take classes with us, if they want to learn, the headmistress insisted they must take at least one course in any type of fighting, she herself is a staff fighter," another voice called out.

In the middle of the room stood a human boy, unusually tall for a human since he was standing roughly the height an elven male would. He had short black hair and brown eyes like Feng, and topless from the waist up. Though he wore pants, dark red tanned ones, which complimented his tanned skin.

Shi tensed upon seeing the boy in the middle of the gym, and he held his tail in front of him defensively, holding his fists up as if ready for a fight. After a moment he relaxed and took a good look at the boy. He looked ... an awful lot like Feng.

But she had said that she and her brother didn't look alike ... so who was this boy?

"Who are you?" he asked in a low hiss, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth, no longer defensive, but prepared to become so again. He folded his arms across his chest and looked at Feng sidewise. "Who is he?" he asked her, slithering behind her to her other side.

Feng smiled thinking that her brother had just startled Shi, after all about half the people in her family had that habit, "That's my brother Ryu," she replied back sweetly.

Ryu sighed as he put away his sword, he hadn't taken it for anything else than someone who would get into a fight head on without thinking. He really hoped this wasn't going to be another problem student.

"Feng?" he asked his sister.

"Oh!" Feng grinned and pointed at Shi, "This is Shi, he's a new student."

"Brother?" Shi repeated, surprised - though it didn't show. He studied the boy once more. Yes, he did bear a particular resemblance to Feng, but Feng had said they didn't look alike!

"You are also mer, then," he murmured questioningly, reaching forward with the tip of his tail and poking Ryu's leg gently, making sure to stay away from the sword. There was a reason he didn't carry any weapons ...

"Originally yes," Ryu replied watching Shi's tail carefully, "I'm a mer. You sound surprised," he commented.

Feng normally didn't make any bare bones about the fact she was related to a lot of people.

Shi pulled his tail back and let it coil around himself, letting the tip of it rest against Feng's foot.

"I apologize," he replied to Ryu, narrowing his eyes slightly at the boy's tone. "Feng told me she had a brother who was also mer ... but she said you did not look alike. I think you do, so I was surprised."

He paused, then asked, "I suppose you are also in the fighting class, then?"

Ryu chuckled a bit, "To Feng one needs to have more than same hair and eye colour to be considered the same, and yes, I'm also in Fighter class," he gave Shi a nodded bow.

Leave it to his sister to confuse someone like that.

"Well..." she pouted, "We're not, Yue and Yukito are more alike than us... well at least until they grew up."

It was true oddly enough strangers had a hard time telling the brothers apart when they were younger despite the fact that they were quite different.

”The magessss,” Shi nodded slowly. “You mentioned them earlier … that they will be the ones to put the pool in my room …”

It was of interest to him that they would know so much about the people of rank in the school … but he declined to ask. He bowed his head respectfully to Ryu, flicking the tip of his tail slightly in annoyance at the sight of the boy’s legs. Well … he would have a tail soon enough, Shi was sure.

He raised his head again and looked at Ryu through narrow eyes. “Do you always fight with a sword?” he asked softly. “Or do you ever use …” he hissed softly, “… magic?”

Feng smiled, "Yup, those two are the mage twins, you'll probably meet them quite a bit," she replied back.

Ryu in turn nodded at Shi's question, "Yes, I prefer to use the sword. Feng and I aren't much into magic, though we know a lot of transformation magic, but nothing for attacking."

It was just not what the two were interested it for the most part, so it never became a subject of interest.

Shi nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing. "I see," he murmured. Well, not everyone liked magic, and transformation magic was actually one of the most complex magics there were ... he could respect that. He did respect that - despite their choice of transformation.

"And what kind of things do you do in your spare time?" he asked curiously, leaning back and using his tail as a kind of recliner again, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing.

"Uhm...." Feng murmured looked thoughtfully, "Well, Ryu and I spend time in our birth world, we have a river there. Sometimes we go on our own adventures..."

Ryu rolled eyes, "At least they are saner than we were kids, sometimes we find out if there's anything at the bottom, Feng likes to collect rocks that can brought down from other places by the river," he explained, "I normally spend time reading when I can, Feng is the active one but she spends time dancing."

Feng laughed a bit sheepishly, "I guess the thing is, we spend a lot of time in lessons, more lessons besides school and practicing that we don't think about it sometimes."

Shi watched the two through half-lidded eyes. "Practicing?" he murmured softly. "That's what you were doing just now ... " His gaze moved to Feng, and he watched her curiously. "That's what you were doing out at the lake, wasn't it?" he asked. "And I interrupted you ... I do apologize."

He wasn't quite sure what she was practicing, but no one, even humans, jumped from rock to rock like that just for fun. It was too dangerous ... he had seen humans sprain ankles that way. Weak. They were weak, all of them. Their limbs ... so fragile ...

He shook off the train of thought. The two people in the whole school who were likely closest to being like him were both in human form at the moment.

"Are there any others like us?" he asked softly, rising from his reclining position and circling around both of them, his tail trailing behind him.

"You mean water dwellers?" Ryu guessed, somehow it wasn't hard to guess that coming from him.

Feng giggled a bit, "That's okay," she waved it off, "I take it you've never been to a school that specializes in fighting and magic."

After all she didn't realize it was an unusual thing that she was doing, others did it, only they did it on poles or some other thing that let them practiced their balanced. If they slipped and fell it just meant they had to get better at it, and better they would otherwise more bruises they would get, that would be doing it the hard way.

Ryu shook his head after a moment, "There aren't any others," he replied finally.

No Seconds and no non-Seconds that mainly stayed in the water stayed at the school.

Shi hissed softly to himself and flicked the end of his tail, annoyed. Well, three was better than one, he reminded himself; and he smiled at the two people he guessed would be his only friends during his time at this wretched place.

"I have never been to a school with any magic at all," he told Feng sadly. "Only human schools ... thousands of humans ... never any water-dwellers ..."

He had always been alone ...

"Aww...." Feng took his arm, "That's sad, there are mers were we like to go back to."

Ryu rolled his eyes, "Feng... an airheaded mermaid and one that threatens to eat you does not count."

"She's not that air headed and there's Deni!" Feng reminded Ryu with a pout on her lips.

"Feng... she tried to make friends with a creature that tried to eat her... twice," Ryu replied back bluntly, "She is an airhead, and for all Deni may still try to bait fish at his size at least he has enough sense to swim away, she doesn't even have that sense."

Feng looked up at Shi pouting a bit, "He's sore because there aren't a lot of merboys and the only mergirls that show up aren't very bright."

"Then thank the gods for you," Shi replied, patting her shoulder with his tail as if to say, There, there. "Obviously there's at least one mermaid from your world who has some intelligence."

He raised one eyebrow at Ryu. "You don't seem to enjoy your visits to your home world very much," he commented. "Is it really as bad as that?"

"I wouldn't say it's bad," Ryu replied with a grumble admittence, "It's a nice place to be, but I guess that's the problem. To a point it's too nice, there is nothing to strive for there, no reason to improve yourself, no reason to do anything but swim there day in and day out and rot your brain out."

Feng nodded in agreement, she loved her homeworld a lot, but there was nothing there for them. They were too seeped in the world of Gaia, they wanted something to do, something to go for.

"That... and..." Ryu replied wrly, "There are no mates, we are mers, but we're Second mers, the race is new and there aren't a lot of adults. A lot of the others are just sleeping and not growing."

"Oooo...." Feng's eyes brightened, "Which reminds me! Did you hear Trisha mated?" she giggled a bit, "She's lucky... even if a lot of others aren't going to think it at first, but since pickings are slim she's got a good one. It's good, she was one of the first, she deserves a good mate."

"Oh boy... there's going to be hell to pay, no one saw that one coming," Ryu mused, "Everyone thought Elnara would be the next mate.... err.. wait.. .she's an elven not not a Second... so the term is married."

Shi blinked, taken completely by surprise for only the second time since arriving at the school.

"What a boring world," he commented. "No potential mates ... nothing to do. Snorefest. No wonder you're here, even this place has to be better than that."

Feng let go of Shi's arm and hopped around a bit with a smile, "Yes, true, but really we're here because of Mother. We needed to learn how to fight, we couldn't learn to fight back home, she didn't trust the teachers there. So here we are," she smiled.

She nodded, true their world was boring but if they were just mages they would have stayed at home rather than come here to learn.

Ryu nodded, at least here there was something productive to do, "Oh well... we still have a ways to go before becoming adult, we don't need to be looking for mates now."

Besides Trisha had been an adult for nearly a year before finding who was her mate? He should ask Feng later.

Shi watched Feng as she hopped around. She really did have a lot of energy ... which he was lacking at the moment.

"I don't suppose either of you would care to join me in the lake?" he asked softly, looking from one to the other. "I'm afraid I'm feeling a bit ..." he hissed softly, "... dry ..."

[coloro=darkred]"Sure," Ryu replied slinging his sleathed sword over his back, "I'm done practicing and it's better to rest in true form anyhow."

And it wouldn't be bad to be in the lake instead of the pool, it was just fresher that way. Feng nodded with a smile, she agreed that if one wanted to rest, in a true form would be better.

Shi smiled, actually feeling ... happy? ... for once. He started slithering off towards the door, holding it open for the two of them again. Yes ... they might be mers instead of Nagas, and they might have a strange obsession with growing legs of their own ... but he would not mind spending time with them ... at all ... especially Feng, she was very ... nice ... to him ... the boy seemed a bit more edgy.

"You'll have to lead me again," he murmured as he waited for them to pass through the doorway.

Feng nodded, "Okay then, this way!"

She didn't mind leading on, she knew the school well having grown up (sort of) inside the school grounds. She knew most parts of the school at any rate.

"It's hard to get use to the size, but it gets easier to move around once you have classes to go to," Ryu told Shi.

Shi nodded. "Repetition and patterns," he agreed. "The best teachers. Though moving around with ease ..."

He frowned and hissed a bit.

"With more people around, as I assume there will be once classes begin ... moving around will be more difficult, not less."

Humans ... bipeds of all sorts ... stepping ... kicking ... running ... He pushed the thought away. Shame there wasn't an easier - safer way to get around.

"Hmm..." Feng thought about it as she opened the door to the outside world, "I suppose so... I haven't thought about it, it doesn't seem too overly crowded."

Granted they had students that didn't tend to show up that often, but now that they were going to have a system in place hopefully it would root out all the bad ones.

"Do you mean at the current moment?" Shi questioned, slithering outside and breathing in the fresh air. "Or once the classes start, there still won't be too many studentssss?"

That would be nice ... no one to step ... kick ...

He clicked his teeth and snapped the end of his tail, almost like a whip, but silently.

"I don't think so.... we're all pretty spread out enough and even if it is once it starts I'm sure a lot will leave," Feng smiled sheepishly.

"Once the bad ones get rooted out," Ryu replied softly.

Shi smiled as he headed towards the lake. He was confident that he would not be one of those bad ones. He knew he wouldn't be.

"You two sound as if you know the school very well," he commented as they neared the lake. "Did you attend last year?"

Feng nodded, "Yup, our family have been part of the school since it's founding."

Which was an understatement since their mother was the headmistress, but it never was such a big deal for them. Their big brother was a student and now they were too.

Shi was actually impressed by that, and as he slid into the water he asked, "How old is the school, then? It must be interesting to have been at one school for so long ..."

To him, anyways; especially when one considered he had been to four different schools in the past year alone, and had missed the second term of that entirely because his parents had run out of places to send him.

Until they had found this one.

"It's not really that old," Ryu admitted as he walked into the water once he had to tred water he turned back into a mer, while Feng dove straight on in, "The school was founded over a year ago, I mean.. the headmistress isn't even that old. She's like.. in her mid twenties, and she was one of the co-founders."

Shi watched Feng as she swam, then turned his eyes back to Ryu to answer him.

"But for such a long school," he remarked, "it's very developed. The forest, the lake ... it all seems so old ..."

He stretched his tail out as long as it would go (a considerable distance) to get rid of the kinks in it.

"The school was built near old forest and a bit ways away from the town," Ryu replied, "I was told so the towns folks wouldn't get nervous about us being here. I mean we practice magic... and most fighters know hand to hand, those are weapons you can't tell them to leave at the door."

"I suppose that's true," Shi admitted, impressed. "The angel did a good job with this whole school, or at least, it seems so to me, for now. I may have to reassess my opinion once classes begin, but for now ..."

He nodded satisfactorily.

"I haven't met the headmaster yet," he murmured softly, "but I would imagine that he must be as respectable as the headmistress."

The truth was, and everyone knew this, that the headmaster was a few bricks short of a wall, but from the sounds of Shi. No one was going to tell him that, if he heard it through the rumour mill then that was that.

"Well... Headmaster Tracy is more than twice the headmistress' senior," Feng replied back, which was funny because the headmaster often defaulted to whatever the headmistress suggested.

Age meant nothing to many races, and if the headmistress was in her mid twenties, say ... twenty five perhaps ... that meant the headmaster would be fifty or older. Still, it did depend on what race he was, and as Shi had been doing his best not to come to this school at all, he hadn't bothered to find out anything about it at all - as was obvious by his many questions.

"Well," he murmured, "I'm sure I'll meet him soon enough."

Given his track record for seeing the headmaster of all his schools within a matter of days of attending.

"Nah...." Feng popped her head back out of the water as she backstroked in the lake, "You could if you wanted go the whole time without meeting Headmaster Scott, since he heads Fighter class," she mused, "Each founder looks after a different class, and the students under that class answer to that founder. I don't normally get to meet the headmistress on school grounds... at least for school things."

Off of school grounds was another matter completely when she wasn't a student and just her mommy's little girl.

Shi chatted with the two (did he actually consider them friends? They would be his first) until his stomach rumbled a bit, reminding him that it was dinner time.

"Do you guys eat here?" he asked them, heading towards the surface of the lake again. "Or do you eat ... wherever it is you guys live. Feng mentioned you don't often sleep at school."

"We eat at home," Ryu replied as he and his sister followed Shi, "Family gatherings at dinner time are important back home, so we should be heading back."

Feng nodded in agreement, even though not everyone was always there at the inn, it was still the thought that counted.

"Then perhaps I'll see you tomorrow," Shi smiled at them, a friendly smile, perhaps one of the first in his life. He waved to them as he slithered off towards the cafeteria. "I look forward to seeing you both again," he added with a wave; and with a final flick of his long tail, he was off.  

[Froggy Prints]

Accidental Conflict

Classes were definitely starting soon. With every passing day, the halls were growing more and more crowded, and it was growing more and more difficult to avoid the bipeds that seemed to be even enthusiastic about beginning classes here. Shi couldn't understand it. Why would anyone be happy for school?

With the increasing student flow, Shi's temper also rose. It was hard for him to go anywhere nowadays without having to work hard to keep his tail safely out of harm's way. As wide as the halls were, he did need a lot of space. At the current moment, he was on his way from the library to the cafeteria, tired and hungry.

Going in the opposite direction to the libraray was a fellow student, one that was semi familiar to those who went to the school. He had transferred in on his grandfather's wishes, with his old fashion golden rimmed specs and dress shirt, Irvine River was a geek. He would rather spend his lunch hour coped up in the library, the only reason why he wasn't conisdered a nerd was because he at least had social skills. Granted, he was absentminded, and without proper watch would skip a meal or two.

He passed Shi in the hallway, it was nothing new, there were new students all the time. It did not deter him taht Shi was topless, for Ryu did the same as well, and as for Shi's tail. Well, it was Irvine, he wouldn't notice a hole in front of him at times until he fell into it. Unfortunately he didn't notice Shi's long tail until he tripped over that.

Which sent him spwarling to the ground, his shoulder hitting the polished floor hard as he tried to keep a firm grip on the books in his arms. Heaven forbid he wreck the school's precious library books.

Shi yelped when his tail was tripped over and stopped where he was, whirling around to find the culprit. His fists clenched at his sides as his face darkened with anger, and his eyes turned a dark crimson. Was it possible for him to go anywhere without someone stepping on his tail?! Would he never find anyone who cared about whether or not they stepped on someone's tail? Was there no one who had any decency?

He spotted the human lying on the ground, arms filled with books, and his eyes narrowed with fury.

"You ..." he hissed, darting forward with surprising speed. He wrapped his tail around the human's ankle and squeezed tightly.

Irvine yelped having not expected that as he hurried to try to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. His eyes widen at the sight of the huge Naga before him, it wasn't that he had never heard of Nagas before. In fact he had a unusual interest in water creatures, but it was just shocking to meet one in person. Who was obviously not very happy.

"S-sorry about that," Irvine stuttered a bit as he tried to pull back but the grip on his ankle was preventing him from moving, "I hadn't watched where I was going."

Which was normal for him to be honest.

"I noticed," Shi hissed, growing even more angry, his coils tightening. He dragged the human closer and raised himself up on his tail to tower over him. "You didn't think you needed to, did you?" he went on in a low hiss. "Thought it didn't matter, you're so much better than anyone else, aren't you?"

He reached down and grabbed the boy by his robes, yanking up him roughly.

The books dropped to the ground with soft thuds, his eyes widen as he realized that this student had seriously taken it the wrong way. Normally people laughed at him when he fell over, not get increidbily insulted!

"N-no! It's nothing like that," he tried to pry himself out of Shi's grip but that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Shi's face turned a livid shade of red, and he clicked his teeth together and hissed, shaking the human violently. "Do I go around hitting everyone just because I can?" he demanded harshly. "Do I spend my time flicking people with my tail? Do I?"

Irvine's fingers fumbled to the clasp of his robes, in reality his robes was actually a long cloak or coat like thing he used to wear to keep formal (his grandfather was always a stickler for that kind of thing) but underneath he wore jeans and t-shirt.

"It was an accident!" he exclaimed back.

Finally the clasp came loose and he slipped out onto the floor with a loud thonk. The boy skittered backwards on his behind as he readied a spell. He hated to use spells in the hallway, but he was more afraid of ending up in the medicial wing!

"Of course it was," Shi sneered, tossing the now-empty robes aside and rearing up again. If he was of the cobra variety, his hood would have been spreading now, and one could almost imagine it. He opened his hands and held them out to the sides, seeking out any water that might be nearby. His muscles tensed as he summoned the water to him, draining it out of the air, and tiny droplets shot towards him, gathering around his hands.

Water magic.

Magic itself was a lure to Irvine, who grew up with it, water magic especally interested him. Though he realized quite quickly he couldn't fight water magic with water magic. He held out a hand in front of him, muttering under his breath.

In the wings or rather at the far end of the hallway two men were watching the fight that was pretty much about to ensue, or was ensuing. Triton folded his arms across his chest, he liked Irvine, the guy was one of the few people who actually showed up for class, and he helped him get through computer class.

"Shouldn't you break up the fight?" he asked his brother.

Yue, the chief of security in the school shrugged, "It's Irvine, he maybe the more scholarly type, but he knows what he's doing."

Shi wasn't getting nearly as much water as he wanted, but he was used to making do with whatever he had available to him. He put his hands together to bring the water together into a projectile about the size of a tennis ball. Not much to work with, but enough for him.

He threw his arm out, palm forward, and the water shot towards the human. He spotted an angel and a neko standing down the hall a bit, but he paid them no mind. If they kept their noses out of this, he had no quarrel with them.

"Defense!" Irvine finally shouted allowing for shield simply powered by magic to erect in front of him.

The shield itself didn't cover him like a dome, in fact from where his hand was to where it spread out it was almost like a large circle shield invisble except for the subtle change in magic current that was suppose to shield him from attack.

The water ball exploded against the barrier, but before the water could hit the floor, Shi was calling it back to himself and preparing for another attack.

Irvine groaned as he realized that Shi was not going to stop, ths guy was quite determined to beat him up despite the fact it was he who took a fall! What higher up did he anger recently to deserve this? He scrambled to his feet, all he cared about was getting through this in one piece.

While to be fair he would have just runned away only he had his library books scattered all over the hallway. The wind picked up in the hallway, it seemed unusually strong though the hallways made perfect wind tunnels, the only thing was.. they weren't outside at all. Threads of wind gathered around Irvine tugging at his clothes and pulling at his hair.

s**t! This guy knows magic!

Shi moved back a few feet instinctively, startled by the sudden wind, but he kept his eyes on the human who had dared to insult him. A trace of a smile played about his lips. This might prove to be fun. He had never met anyone with magic before ... of course, this was after all a school for magic, and therefore magicians.

He brought his tail behind himself and coiled it into a spring, ready to shoot in any direction at all, then prepared his meager bit of water for whatever might come.

The wind whipped around Irvine, and with one shift movement he shoved the gathering wind storm towards Shi. It was his hope that the wind storm would send the naga off balance (granted he made it as strong as he was able which wasn't saying much). Irvine was hoping for a distraction at best so he could grab his books and run for the safety of.. .well anywhere with a teacher.

Rather than trying to dodge, Shi shot straight forward, directly into the wind, straightening his entire body for the least resistance. He scattered the water, sending it to the edges of the hall where the wind was weakest, then up the corridor behind the mage. If he could catch him from behind ...

So much for the distraction method, Irvine bit the bottom of his lip. He motioned with his hands shoving both his palms down to the floor, the wind dropped hitting the floor and following the path up the walls as the air became colder around them.

Come on.... freeze dammit...

His eyes glazed out as he put his focus into making the air colder, it had to be colder, the temperature dropped. The chill hit his skin but it wasn't cold enough, he needed it to be cold enough to freeze. The temperature continued to drop around him, frost was gathering.

No no no no no!

Shi could feel his control over the water slipping as it became less water and more ice. He couldn't control it in any other than its liquid form!

He let the water fall as little snowflakes to the ground, less angry now than he had been, but now his pride wouldn't let him back off and leave the human alone. He even felt a grudging respect growing for him - he was a powerful magic-wielder ...

But enough of that. He still had to teach the mage a lesson. No one stepped on Shi's tail and got away with it! He drew nearer and pulled back his fist, flexing his muscles; then aimed a blow for the mage's face.

"Gah!" Irvine put his arms across his face to keep himself from being smashed in the face by one very angry Naga.

Seriously he thought what did he do to deserve something like this? Unfortunately Irvine forgot he had still been in the middle of wind casting (one couldn't blame him, he didn't even like to fight outside of video games!). The cold northern wind he created slashed crisscrossed towards the middle of the hallway where Shi was. It's icy form now like ice and just as sharp coming towards the Naga.

Before his blow even fell, Shi hissed in pain, feeling his body being torn by the sharp wind as if by knives. He coiled up instinctively just like a wounded snake, cringing on the floor, trying to shield as much of his body as he could - except that he couldn't shield himself, no matter what he did it tore at him, cutting him, slashing him ...

"Yukito is going to kill you for not breaking it up sooner," Triton muttered as he went off to get Yuki, let Yue deal with the mage, it wasn't like it was Irvine's fault, it was always his weak point, the control part.

Yue shrugged as he began a spell to stop Irvine's magic, "He deserved it, you don't terrorize scholars, especially if they're mages."

The wind halted as quickly as it had begun, Irvine cracked open one eye to see the damage that had been done. The boy sank to his knees, his legs feeling like jello as he heard the cold steps of the head of security coming towards them.

"At ease River," Yue stated gently before Irvine can start explaining, "Yuki should be here in a moment."

Shi lay against the wall, his eyes closed tightly, and his tail slowly coiled around his body, shielding him from everything around him. He was bleeding from several cuts all over his face, arms, upper torso, and tail (basically everywhere), and the scent of it was so strong that he could almost taste it. His face still hidden behind his arms, he gnashed his teeth together against the pain and breathed deeply, hissing.

"I'm really sorry Mr. Yue, I panicked and...." it was not Irvine's strong point, he tended to forget everything he learnt in magic when faced with a possible self threatening situation.

His grandfather was going to freak when he found out about this... unfortunately he was an elemental mage, elements, summoning he could do, but healing was in one of those inbetween places.

"Yue," another voice spoke up, Yukito Winters, twin brother to Yue and chief healer sighed in experation at his brother, "You should have stopped it sooner, you know Irvine's magic gets out of control when he's in danger."

He brushed against Yue as he surveyed the mess. Well it certainly could have been worse, and he did understand what Yue had only meant to do. It kind of wasn't a sceret about Shi. The boy was suspected to be one of thier trouble students. Yuki's hands hovered over Shi's form, since Shi wasn't a fighter, he didn't have to hold back on healing magic.

It was cool to the touch, but that was just the way Yuki was but soon the wounds healed up and the pain would fade.

Shi felt a presence hovering over him and his tail flicked out defensively, panicking and thinking that he was being attacked again. His heart raced and he tried to back up again, but he was already against the wall ...

"Calm down..." Yukito murmured softly as he begun to heal Shi.

Though it was a cool touch, it was a soothing one that cooled and numbed the skin while he did his work. He did feel sorry for Shi, it looked like he had bit off more than he could chew, not that Irvine meant to do that. It wasn't going to help that Shi would have to see their mother. Regardless that Irvine had done more harm to Shi than Shi did to Irvine, Shi did start the fight technically speaking.

"Done," Yuki finally spoke up, "Yue I do trust you to take both boys down to the headmistress' office."

Shi closed his eyes and tried to relax, and as his wounds slowly numbed and faded he discovered that his only complaint now was of being tired - no, exhausted - and dry.

He heard the angel's comment about seeing the headmistress, and to his surprise he had mixed emotions about it. He was certain that he was going to be expelled (yet again, this made school number four in as many months) and he was torn between being happy at getting out and being able to go home, guilt for picking on someone he had believed weaker than himself (how untrue that turned out be!) and sadness ... he would miss his new friends.

Still, it was inevitable, and there was no point in prolonging it. He used his arms to push himself up off the floor and scowled in the general direction of the mage who had injured him so badly, waiting to be led to the headmistress's office.

"This way," Yue motioned for both boys, "Triton you're not getting out of this."

The neko unwinded his tail for a moment and rolled his eyes, "Fine, but you get to explain."

Since he knew Irvine was going to panic the whole time, not that he should really.

The two men escorted the boys to Kara's office, Kara who had been warned ahead of time through magic waited patiently. She wasn't exactly pleased with what happened, naturally speaking.

Shi followed them silently, keeping his distance from all of them and making sure his tail was safe from their arrogant feet. He examined his arms as they went, looking at the fresh scars and wondering how in the world he was going to get rid of them - and what his parents were going to say when they saw. Not that they would say much, they would be more angry that he had gotten himself expelled yet again.

Kara was waiting for them of course the moment they came in, Irvine had always found it eery how she seemed to know when someone in trouble was coming for her office. Then again rumour had it some of her anmals could talk, which meant they could report to her.

Yue of course was the one who give a recount of what had happened, seeing it was his job. Least to say, Kara was less than impressed.

"Shi," she laced her fingers together in front of her and rested her chin upon them, "May I ask, what on earth gave you the idea that Irvine would trip over you on purpose? Seeing as our floors are not at all comfy to land on, I find this unusual."

Shi folded his arms across his chest, and his eyes narrowed with anger, though he would not show disrespect for the headmistress.

"If he cared about tripping and landing on the floor," he hissed softly, clicking his teeth together and clenching his fists, "he might take care not to step on others."

He had to be careful here. He wanted to add that bipeds couldn't care less if they trod on others, or believed themselves to be superior for some reason; but she herself was bipedal, even if she was an angel, and even he wasn't stupid enough to insult her personally.

"I may take up more space," he hissed finally, his face growing darker, "but at least I don't get in everyone else's space or crawl over anyone."

Kara raised a brow, she had been warned about this by his folks, but this was the first time she was seeing the problem first hand. In fact it was quite tempting to send him to Yukito for a head check, though she doubted it would help at all.


"Shi," she looked at him seriously, "Accidents do happen, and quite frankly, no offense to you Irvine, but..." she looked at the other boy, "You're the type to lose your glasses when they're on your head. It's a crowded hallway, there will always be people who take a misstep or not watch where they are going."

She looked back at Shi.

"And while I understand your reasoning, my problem with this is that you make it sound like people go out of their way to bother you. That is not true, further more you picked a fight Shi, with another student even after an apology was given," she looked at Triton and Yue, "And you two should have broken it up, you both knew that Irvine becomes dangerous when put into harmful situations."

She finally looked at Irvine again.

"Unfortunately you seemed to be getting the blunt of it, even though it was an accident," she shuffled papers that were in front of her, "I've had time to think about this before you four arrived and all four of you are not getting out of this unscathed."

Shi scowled, but inwardly he was relieved. Certain expulsion for him, he could go home and be happy. There was nothing to do in this place, even the library became boring after a while. Still, he would wait for her to say it before going for his bags and a phone.

"Irvine," Kara decided to start with the easiest of the punishments that would occur.

Well to be honest it wasn't so much of a punishment as extra lessons, she was sure Irvine was going to end up with anyways.

"Extra lessons," she told him bluntly, "You can't keep going on with as little control as you do when faced with a situtation like that one. Yue, you will teach him more on focus and Triton, you will teach him staff. That will be you two's punishment for not stepping in earlier."

"Uhm... headmistress," Irvine cleared his throat, he did not do fighter classes.

"You can't get out of it, you need to be use to being nearly struck without panicking," Kara replied back, "Especially since I got a note back from your grandfather saying he refuses to list you as a non-combatant."

Irvine closed his mouth, confused at what she meant.

Kara smiled, "Ths coming school term, the school will annouce a new battle system, giving students ranks, and the ability to battle against each other, as this school does deal with fighting and even magic combat. The head students have been quietly chosen and letters sent out to parents. You've been signed on as combatants."

She sat back into her seat her gaze turning to Shi himself.

"Because of that, to be fair fighting should not be a problem. However the battle system is not yet in place, and further more... while Irvine has problems with dealing with a battle situation, you Shi have a different issue. You are quick to anger, quick to assume, quick to insult, you have an appealing sense of apathy towards others and one of these days you are going to insult the wrong person and get yourself killed."

She sighed a bit as if to think for a moment.

"Therefore, you will receive an extra assignment that will last you... hmm.... the rest of the year. Donovan, can you be a dear and...."

She looked up at her love, Donovan nodded, his eyes glinting behind his glasses, he was amused.

"Of course," he murmured as he exited the room for the moment.

Shi blinked. He wasn't being expelled? His punishment was going to last the rest of the year? What was going on?! His eyes grew wide (for him) and he flicked his tail nervously as he watched the headmistress's assistant leave the room. Where was he going? What was he going to get?

A few moments later Donovan came back with a little igrl in the crook of his arm, well little was an understatment. She wasn't even the size of a newborn, but she obviously wasn't a baby. It was also obvious she was related to the man holding her, for she had black straight hair, though it was speckled with browns, and her skin was as pale as the headmistresses and her eyes a vivid set of green. She looked for the most part, like the headmistress, but her clothes which were of dark blues and blacks, instead of her mother's light blues and whites had an uncanny resemblence to the man holding her.

Donovan once more took his place beside Kara, trying hard to keep a straight face, for he found this most amusing. The little girl was curled up in his arms holding to her chest a stuffed version of himself.

"Shi," Kara became sitting back forward with her hands on the desk, "This is my daughter, Lin, Lin..." she looked at the little girl, though she was sure Donovan had already told her, "This is Shi, he is going to be your babysitter for the rest of the year so I expect you to be nice."

Which translated into, please try not hitting him with a stick.

Shi twitched. Babysit? Him? And a biped!? Not to mention, the headmistress's daughter ... no wonder her assistant was always there. He was more than her assistant, obviously.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," he hissed softly, backing up slowly. Kids had more than tendencies to step on his tail: they did it on purpose. "Really ... not good."

"I think it's an excellent idea, you need to learn patience, you also need to learn how to get along with two legged people," she motioned to Lin, "Therefore, babysitting a child would make the most sense," she smiled.

Also, Lin would be the better choice, since Lin needed a baby sitter, and Kali would just be odd to Shi (and that girl didn't need a babysitter), and the others she wouldn't try.

"Concern it a character building assignment."

Shi groaned inwardly and his shoulders slumped in defeat. This was going to be a looooong year.  

[Froggy Prints]

First Day on the Job Part I

It was a dream, it had to be a dream. No, a nightmare. At least, that was what Shi tried to convince himself. He hadn't been humiliated by a human, he hadn't been ordered to babysit for the remainder of the school year.

But the scars on his body and tail proved otherwise. And so Shi was lurking beneath the surface of the lake, where the human child he had been assigned to watch was not able to come. After all, if she couldn't come down here, she couldn't step on his tail, and he didn't need to watch her.

Yes, that would work.

"He's probably avoiding the surface," Ryu commented drly as he and his sister stared into the watery depths.

Not that Ryu could blame him, he thought to himself as he watched as Lin played with her ghosty doll, making it 'fly' while she sat comfortably in his arms. Lin was perhaps one of the more violent members of the family, though she seemed quite content at the moment. She oddly seemed at peace when she was playing with her dolls, which might explain why Donovan had replaced her stick with Nikky her ghosty wishing doll.

Feng giggled, "Well he can't stay down there all day," she took a running leap into the lake transforming mid way as she dove deeper into the water.

She did feel sorry for Shi, but she also felt sorry for Irvine, Irvine was one of the few humans that didn't mind whom he talked to. Legged or fin he was always fun to talk to really.

Shi was bored, but he really didn't want to leave the lake. He didn't know what was worse, though ... it had been boredom that had made him so irritable the day before, and it was making him irritable now. There really wasn't a whole lot he could do on the bottom of the lake - at least, nothing he liked doing alone.

But when he saw Feng swimming towards him, he was heartened slightly, and he actually cracked a smile. He waved and headed over to her, cheering up slightly.

Feng giggled as she waved back, turning her body as she floated upside down in front of him.

"Shi... why are you hiding in the lake?"

Shi stopped and frowned suspiciously, suddenly not quite so happy to see Feng. "Who said I was hiding?" he asked cautiously, bringing his tail up to poke her gently in the middle of her forehead.

"Mother," Feng replied with an impish smile, "Ah...." she giggled again stretching out, "I remember the last person to pick a fight, he babysitted me and Ryu until we became old enough," she thought for a moment, "I miss him... he was so much fun. Anyhow."

She flipped right side up and put her hands on her fishy hips, "The point is, Ryu has Lin up on the surface and you're not getting out in looking after her. She's not that bad, if all else fails bribe her with ice cream mochi that tends to work... most of the time."

Shi was about to ask how her mother would know when he instead crossed his arms stubbornly and retorted, "I didn't pick a fight! He stepped on me with the same arrogance as any kid from any other school I went to! They say they don't see me but they just don't look! I don't hit them when I pass, do I?"

His face darkened and he set his jaw stubbornly, clicking his teeth together and hissing slightly. "Of course," he added softly, "you wouldn't know what it's like ... you don't have a tail on land ... the bipeds can't do it to you."

Feng smiled in that soft way she rarely did as she put her hands on Shi's shoulder.

"Shi... Irvine doesn't know how to arrogant, he doesn't even like fights. The guy spends most of his time cooped up in the library reading or something like that. You're right though... Irvine probably didn't look, but not because he was arrogant, the geek probably had his nose stuck so far into the book or his mind so far off into the clouds he wouldn't know the school is on fire unless he got burnt."

It was perhaps a mean thing to say about Irvine, but it was the truth, and Feng knew that, and knew that Shi was a bit paranoid about bipeds.

Shi looked away so that Feng couldn't see the look on his face, the one that said he was still hurting inside.

"That's what they said about the other kids, too," he replied quietly. "But they all laughed."

Laughed ... pointed ... and did it again.

"But did he laugh?" Feng inquired of Shi, "Did he laugh at all? Did he look at all happy to have taken that trip?"

She knew Irvine, Irvine had a freaky interest in water beings, he would be more likely to stare and ask questions than laugh.

"Of course not to my face!" Shi replied shortly.

They never laughed in his face ... they waited until they thought he couldn't hear anymore.

He rubbed his arms and looked away again. Maybe he should just go get the kid. At least she wouldn't pester him like this ... at least she better not. But he didn't want to do that either. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to do anything but go home.

"Shi...." Feng poked his nose gently, "My mother once told me, she liked to believe the best in people because it was easier that way. Just because some nasty bipeds who don't know any better laughed at you doesn't mean everyone would. Besides, we're grown ups now... or at least that's what Donovan always told me, we should know better."

She put her hands on her hips again, "Besides, Lin is not going away just because you aren't going to the surface."

Shi wrinkled his nose a bit ... that tickled ...

"What am I supposed to do with her?" he asked Feng, changing the subject. "I've never babysat anyone before ... let alone a human child. And how am I supposed to watch her once class starts?"

"Take her with you, play with her, talk to her, she can keep quite busy by herself outside as long as someone is watching her," Feng pointed out, "And she won't be with you all day, she has her own lessons too, she'll probably have them while you're in class."

Shi stared at Feng. "Play?" he repeated blankly. He was a little embarrassed now, but he couldn't help but ask in a very sheepish tone, "How ... do human children play?"

He nearly added, 'when they don't have someone to pick on', but decided it might not be such a good idea.

But even just playing in general ... he had never played with another child before, even when he was young. He had never played in the true sense of the word. His video games, yes, internet games, yes ... but never with another person, and never with a toy.

"It depends on the child," Feng replied back not believing that he had never played before, poor guy.

It was kind of a pity she was a bit too old to play herself, or at least she couldn't do half of hte things she use to do.

"In Lin's case, she has dolls, she likes to hold tea parties, court and other make belief stuff with them. If she's doesn't do that she likes tag or hide and seek, and if all else fails..." Feng shrugged, "Go hide something shiny and tell her it's her mission to find them, just hide them in an area where you can keep an eye on her. Heck, give her a stick and draw a face on a pillow and tell her it's a ninja and she'll be occupied for a while."

Feng paused.

"Actually don't do the last bit, that might be a bad idea."

Shi was intrigued. "Why, what happened?" he asked curiously, ignoring the fact that he didn't recognize any of the games she had mentioned. He was slowly relaxing, becoming even slightly interested in learning more about this human child.

"Well... she doesn't like ninjas overly that much," Feng replied back wrly, "And Donovan says we shouldn't encourage any violent tendencies."

He was one to talk, he was violent, but well...

"And you would have to replace the pillow afterwards."

Really she had done it only out of morbid curiousity.

"Ah, I see," Shi nodded. "Well, it's not like I have any pillows to give her anyways, I've never used one in my life. This is the first boarding school I've been to, and I'm able to sleep in the lake here, much like home."

He frowned again. "Just about the only good thing about this place."

Just about. There were a few other things, too. Just not many.

"As long as it's hittable," Feng smiled not even knowing if what she said is a word, "You'll be fine, she's not as young as she looks and she probably knows enough to keep herself occupied. Just need to get along with her."

Shi nodded and flicked his tail lazily back and forth, trying to delay going to the surface for as long as possible.

"I don't suppose there's any way out of this?" he hissed softly, for once not angrily.

"Uhmm... no," Feng shook her head at him, "It could be worse," she pointed out.

Then again she was under the impression that her mother would have sent him to talk to a doctor at the rate he was going. So yea... it could have been worse.

Shi didn't see how. He was being stuck with one of the very sort of people he hated worst: a biped, a human, a child, and a young child at that. He crossed his arms and looked away sulkily. If he didn't look so serious, one might have thought he was pouting.

Feng rolled her eyes, he made it sound like he was being sentenced to death or something.

"Shi.... she's smaller than a newborn," Feng pointed out, "She can't do much if any damage."

He was so stubborn, it made Lin look like an angel Feng thought to herself.

"It's the thought behind it," Shi replied quietly, looking away. "I've never met a biped who wasn't like that. Even if they don't do anything, they think it ... 'wonder if I can touch his tail ...' ... or step on it, trip over it ... you name it."

"The first I can see, but the other ones, not all bipeds think like that, will you stop stereotyping them?" Feng replied back, "How would you like it if all bipeds thought Nagas were mean, hot tempered and vicious? Honestly, she's a kid, if you don't like something tell her to stop and she will."

There were advantages to having someone as Lin would was a bit too pragmatic for her own good. She took his arm.

"Come on, you have to go to the surface sooner or later anyways, and the headmistress is not going to be happy to learn you coped out of taking care of Lin," Feng finally began trying to drag the Naga back to the surface.

Shi was tempted to resist and go back down to the depths of the lake where he felt the most at home, but he had to admit that Feng had a good point. The headmistress would not be happy if he skipped out of his punishment ... and if he did, he was sure that she would probably just give him some worse punishment rather than expel him and send him home.

It looked like he was going to have to suck it up.

He sighed and, rather than fighting Feng, swam alongside her to the surface.

Ryu watched as the ripples grew about time he thought Lin had to be bored.

Well to be honest Lin was sucking on the tail of her Nikki doll, it was one of the few baby/child habits she actually had thank god in some ways she was normal. Even though there was just a bit too much intelligence behind those green eyes. Though one had to be thankful she wasn't gnawing on it or anything.

Feng broke the surface first, waving back at her brother.

Shi surfaced right beside Feng, and he whipped his long hair out of his face and looked up towards Ryu and Lin. He nodded a silent greeting to Ryu, then glared at Lin.

He didn't really mean to, it was just ... after years of being tortured by humans, and particularly fiercely by children, he couldn't help it. She represented everything about his past that he hated - and, even worse, feared.

Lin looked up at Shi and continued to suck on Nikki's tail, but she didn't flinch, didn't blink, she just continued to stare right back. She wondered about this babysitter of hers that got into a fight with one of the students, it did not matter to her though. She was just here, because she wanted to be, and was here with Shi, because her parents insisted on someone to look after her.

So her baby sitter was a bit rude, she could climb steps later or beat something with her stick.

"Well..." Ryu held the child out to Shi, "Here she is, she isn't going to bite."

Fortunately that was true, out of all moves Lin would do, she would not degrade herself (her words) to biting people.

Maybe she wouldn't bite, but Shi wasn't sure she wouldn't try sucking the end of his tail or something, given the chance. He held out one hand, palm up, for Ryu to set Lin on, still glaring at the little girl. He had to force himself to hold his hand out there, because every instinct in him was telling him to turn around and race for the deepest part of the lake he could possibly find.

Ryu set Lin gently on Shi's palm, she was oddly docile today he had thought, maybe whatever she did that exchausted her to bits helped, it was that or Donovan bribed her with more than one mochi to behave.

The man wasn't above bribing Lin to do something if it came down to it.

Shi flinched a little as the child landed in his hand, and he had to force himself not to drop her directly into the water below. He tore his gaze away from her finally and looked to Feng and Ryu, his expression pleading.

"Are you guys going to stick around at all?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

"Sorry," Ryu replied back softly, "Feng and I can't, we have lessons away from the school."

It wasn't fully true, they just were going to clan grounds to practice, the truth of the matter was it was fully requested the two not stick around. Lin was their sister, and he wouldn't be learning anything if they stuck around.

Shi swallowed nervously and nodded, still not looking at the child that was sitting in the palm of his hand. "But ... you can stay for a little while at least, right?" he asked, his voice still hopeful.

"We're late already," Feng grabbed Ryu by the arm to tug him away, "Sorry Shi, but we had been waiting her a while. Don't worry, you'll be fine!"

Lin looked at her siblings warily before looking back at Shi, her mouth never leaving Nikki's tail. She thought her siblings were strange, but this guy was stranger. Personality wise, who cared if he had a tail?

Shi watched as Feng and Ryu left, then looked down at Lin. He stared at her blankly, completely unmoving, no idea what to do with her. He thought he should probably say something, but he didn't know what to say: to do something, but he didn't know what to do.

So he just stared.

Lin stared back, wondering what he was going to do now, but he seemed such a fish out of water, no pun intended on the water part. Finally she pulled the tail out of her mouth causing her to make a soft pop sound.

"Are we going to play?"

Shi blinked at her for a moment longer, still not sure what to do with her. Then he remembered Feng's words: If you leave her alone she'll play by herself. Well, then, that was what he would do.

He swam ahead to the rocks that Ryu and Feng had just vacated and plopped her down on them.

"Here, play," he told her, and backed up again. He lowered himself into the water so that only his shoulders and head were above the surface, and decided that he would watch her like that.

Lin looked around briefly clutching Nikki to her chest, she wasn't scared which was a good thing, but this babysitter was nothing as she expected him to be. Then again she didn't really expect much out of him since they were both doing this out of an agreement.

Nikki, her wishing doll made of fabric and stuffing, more fabric than stuffing, because of it's large size (compared to Lin anyhow), Lin was able to tie the ends around her shoulders like a cape, letting Nikki's head hang off like a hood. Lin decided if Shi wasn't really going to play with her, she was going to find something to do.

She hopped off the rocks onto land looking through the tree roots, for what only she knew.

Shi blinked, taken completely by surprise. "Hey!" he hollered after her. "Where are you going? Come back here!"

He slithered out of the water and up onto the rock, letting his tail drag in the water behind him. "Kid! What are you doing?"

"I'm going to look for sticks," she replied back as if the answer was perfectly obvious.

Well to those that knew her it was perfectly obvious and to Lin it was even more obvious. For someone who didn't have fancy toys (or just owned dolls), sticks were a kid's best friend. You can use them as swords, sharpen them to get fish, get enough and you might be able to make a little house if there was anything like vines to tie things with.

Yes... sticks were the best things in the world.. next to dolls.. dolls were the best things in the world.

Shi stared at her silently. Sticks? Not if he could help it. Feng had said that Lin plus sticks equals violence, and the last thing Shi needed was to be on the receiving end. But he didn't just want to say flat-out no either, he wanted to be able to suggest something else for her to do - just in case she threw a temper tantrum or cried.

Human children tended to do that.  

[Froggy Prints]

First Day on the Job Part II

Lin searched the roots of the trees, pausing long enough to attempt to pull some tough vines she saw growing. She was actually quite quick in what she wanted, she wanted dry sticks, not wet. They had to be large, but not too large for her. She would rather them be of pale bark, because she wanted to make a tent and pale was prettier than dark. She also wanted one very straight stick for the top to keep it all from sliding down. She hummed happily as she picked them up and kept them or discarded them.

It was only once she was sure she had enough for her and Nikki to stay in did she begin dragging them back to the rock. The rock was going to be her base by the lake, one could not have too many bases.

"Hey!" Shi hissed, side-winding off the rock so quickly it almost seemed as if he had teleported (though of course he knew no such magic). "Be careful with those ..."

He circled around her and moved back into the water where it was safe.

"They're not going to bite," Lin replied back not seeing what the big deal was, she played with sticks all the time.

She managed with some great effort to get all the sticks back onto the rock she was put on. Lin kind of wished there was some sharp rock around, but she was just going to hit the vine with a small rock a lot of times. The sounds of stone hitting stone filled the air as Lin used the vines to tie the sticks together. Two sticks tied together at the time would slide back down without something to lock it in place. She wasn't big enough where she could do it with ease, nor did she have someone to help her. (Lin assumed Shi didn't know anything about sticks, she probably assumed right.)

The trick was, to have two pairs of sticks close together and somehow manage to balance the one straight stick (use to lock it in place) on the top, and then slide one of those two pairs to the other end.

"Nikky," she called out to the cat wishing doll over her shoulder, "Let's start a town on this island."

It was a training game, in how to survive out in the wilderness... sort of...

Shi folded his arms crossly and glared at her. The little brat was making him feel stupid, but he wasn't going to let that show. Though just why she needed watching, he couldn't figure out. What he did know was that he was hungry - he had missed breakfast, hiding out in the lake. But now that he was out anyways, he might as well go in for some. The kid would be fine by herself.

He slid up onto the rocks and past her without a word, intent on leaving her there alone. He would be back in a while, after all.

Lin looked up sharply to see her babysitter slither away on her, on her! Now normally it would not be an issue, she had been doing things by herself for a while, but she promised her Mommy and agreed with her Daddy that she would behave. Now, she normally didn't have babysitters, but she knew that the sitted never went anywhere without their babysitter. So, Lin forgot her makeshift tent and ran after Shi.

"Wait up! You can't leave me here," she shouted after him.

"Why not?" Shi asked sourly, stopping and looking over his shoulder. "You're fine on your own. I don't even know why you need watching in the first place."

He hissed softly and clicked his teeth in annoyance. He discarded his earlier opinions of this place. It was official. This year was going to be hell.

"Because you're my babysitter, you're suppose to be watching me?" Lin stomped her foot before trying to continue to catch up with him, "What if I fell in the lake? What if some person came and picked me up and walked away with me?"

Granted for the later she would holler, yell and yes even degrade herself into biting the said person, but that was beside the point. Lin was not stupid, she knew she was the size of a doll and in Gaia needed a babysitter.

"Why on earth would anyone want to walk away with you?" Shi asked, puzzled. He lowered himself to the ground as if he were sitting on it, watching Lin as she caught up with him. "And if you don't want to fall in the lake, don't play on the rocks. Seriously. I'm not going to just sit and watch you talk to a ... thing all day."

Yes, it was true. He didn't even know what a doll was.

'Nikky isn't a thing she's a wishing doll!" Lin huffed as she contined to sprint, this baby sister was just aggverating, if she needed a baby sitter why couldn't her parents give her to Fluffy like Feng and Ryu, "I don't why anyone would want to walk away with me, but I'm told that happens to little boys and girls so it must be true because Daddy wouldn't lie."

Unfortunately Donovan wasn't lying about that point, but he was sure that whoever walked away with her would beg them to take her back. Lin was a hellion like that.

Shi rolled his eyes and turned his back to Lin. "Well then hurry up," he called back to her without looking. She was close enough anyways, he wasn't worried about losing her. Though he was half-temped to poke her with his tail as it slid past her, just to see what she might do. He decided not to.

"I am hurrying!" she shouted back, "Slow down!"

She muttered under her breath, it wasn't her fault she had short legs, or a short body or was just over all the size of a doll.

Stupid slow biped.

"Can't you go any faster?" he hissed, crossing his arms, frustrated. "Seriously ..."

Well he wasn't going to carry her. But he wasn't going to wait around either. Which didn't leave many options.

"I'm smaller than most animals!" Lin shouted back, "What do you think?"

He was being stupid, she thought and he wasn't going to slow down at all.

"Carry me," she finally said.

"What? No!" Shi snapped, his teeth clicking together. "I'm not going to carry you!"

He reached around behind her with his tail and prodded her forward again. "Come on," he frowned. "I'll try go slower, but I can't promise anything."

And he did find it a bit easier to go slower by sidewinding rather than going straight ahead, but he was uncomfortable with how close it brought his tail to the child. But he really didn't have a choice.

Lin huffed, she knew she wanted to get a good workout, but this was stupid. She was going to run all the way to the school? Even though he was trying to go slower, it wasn't helping all that much.

She watched his tail slither and though, closer up was so thick that she could sit comfortably and she wasn't that heavy.

"Can't I get a ride?" she asked again, "I don't want to run all the way to the school."

"I'm not carrying you," Shi repeated, not realizing how close his tail was to her, or that she was eyeing it, and assuming only that she meant for him to pick her up or put her on his shoulders or something.

Lin stopped for a moment, taking some deep breaths (she was fit but not fit and Shi wasn't giving her a chance to pace herself). She then took off, running as fast as her little legs could carry her so she could get as close to the front as possible, then with a running leap she pounced on his tail.

Landing on top of it holding on with both arms and legs, which was saying quite a bit since she could spread out and her little body wouldn't even begin to wrap around his tail.

Shi inhaled sharply, making a loud hissing noise, and he whirled around, livid with rage.

"That's - my - tail!" he hissed furiously, reaching with the end of his tail and wrapping it around her stomach to pick her up. He lifted her close to his face, which was bright red now. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I was going to ride it," Lin replied back not at all distrubed that he was furious with her or the fact she was lifted up to his face by his tail.

Actually it was an interesting view, she normally wasn't this high up unless she was with her elven friends.

"Since you won't carry and me I can run all the way to the school, I was just going to ride your tail. I'm not that heavy."

Shi glared at Lin, but for some odd reason he couldn't think of a reply that didn't make him sound whiny or paranoid. And though he didn't know anything at all about babysitting, or about kids, he did know that there was no way he was going to let her know that she had found his weak spot. And of course since he couldn't argue with her logic (she was right after all, she weighed next to nothing) there was nothing else for it but for her to ride on his tail then.

He turned and started slithering away, putting her back on his tail, but he set her towards the back, where it was thin, so that she would be as far away from him as possible.

Lin smiled and turned around so she could have a back view of the scenery that passed her. It was far more interesting to watch than seeing Shi's back and one would imagine she was beaming because well... she got to ride on Shi. Why wouldn't she be as pleased as punch about the situation at hand?

Sometimes if they were passing a flower she would reach out and grab it making up her own bouquet. The school always had nice flowers, so it gave her something to on the way back to school.

By the time Shi made it to the cafeteria, he had nearly forgotten about Lin. She was so light and he had grown so used to the feeling of her sitting on his tail that he didn't even notice her anymore. So when he picked up a tray and got in line for some food, he didn't bother getting a tray or food for her, or ask her if she wanted anything.

Lin looked up from the flower arrangement she was holding to see Shi was actually getting something to eat. She grinned, food sounded just right to her, they could eat something now. Though she wasn't sure he was going to get anything she liked.

"Do they have strawberries?" Lin inquired from where she sat.

Shi was so startled he nearly dropped his tray, and he looked back at Lin with wide eyes.

"Um," he replied stupidly, tightening his grip on his tray and looking towards the counter. "... yeah. Some."

The way she had asked made it sound as if he were expected to grab some for her if there were any, and he asked, "You ... want some?"

"Yes please!" Lin looked up at him with her usual wide green eyes like that was the most expected thing in the world.

What was it with the family and strawberries anyways? Then again it wasn't like Seconds that size ate a lot, maybe strawberries were the perfect thing for them.

Shi reached for a bowl of the strawberries and added it to his tray, then looked back at Lin again.

"Whipped cream?" he asked, an aerosol can of the white foam in his hand. "I like it best that way, don't know about you."

"I've never had it with whipped cream before," Lin replied back, though she knew what it was.

Fruit that was made fresh, or baked, or something like that was most common, but then again whipped cream in a aerosol can looked funny to. Why have that when you can have it as whipped cream and then you could whip it yourself (she got th lick the spoon it was fun), and add in as much sugar as you wanted (no one let Yukito add in the sugar.)

Shi grabbed a second bowl of strawberries and added some whipped cream to it for himself, then glanced back at Lin again. "Want to try some?" he asked her uncertainly, wondering if he might actually be getting the hang of this babysitting thing. Odd thought.

"Okay!" Lin smiled at that thought.

Also, he seemed to be less stuck up than he was originally, there was hope yet this would turn out to be a good babysitter.

Shi nodded and added a good dollop of whipped cream to one side of the bowl, just in case she didn't like it. Then he returned the can to the counter and grabbed some bowls of some other kinds of fruits. He headed down to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

"Drink?" he asked Lin, more out of curiosity than politeness.

"Apple juice?" Lin asked again.

Apple juice by nature was the choice of drink for little children, Lin was no exception, despite her unusual sense of logic, she was still a child.

Without replying, Shi grabbed a bottle of apple juice and stuck it on the tray as well.

"All right," he muttered to himself, heading straight for the door. "Now ... where to eat."

There was no way he was going to stay in the cafeteria to eat, there were way too many bipeds in there for his liking. He had never eaten in the cafeterias at his old schools either, he had always gone off to find an empty classroom. Somehow, though, he doubted there would be any classrooms for him to eat in here.

"The greenhouse?" Lin suggested since she didn't want to eat outside (who knows what buggies might come and try to eat her food?), and well... the greenhouse wouldn't be crowded.

As far as Lin knew there were no classes in the greenhouse, well that went without saying that they didn't start yet.

"Greenhouse?" Shi repeated thoughtfully. "Yes ... I think that would be nice." He could remember where it was from the map he had been given when he had first arrived at the school, and he turned and headed off in that direction. He moved quickly now, purposefully, and it wasn't long before he had reached it. Once inside, he looked around for a good place to eat - since technically he didn't need a place to sit, just a place to put the tray.

Lin stayed perched on his tail it wasn't like she had anywhere else to sit, and besides it was comfy where she was. Well that and she wasn't sure if Shi would let her back on afterwards. Not wanting a repeat, she would rather stay on his tail.

Shi found a nice large rock that he could lean against and made himself comfortable, almost in the same position as a human might be, sitting with their knees up. He balanced the tray of food on his tail, lowering the end of his tail to the ground so that Lin could get off.

"We're not moving anymore," he told her flatly. "You don't need to sit on me anymore."

"But you're nice and comfy," Lin replied back, it was so honest it was hard to tell if she was being cheeky or not.

She held out her bouquet of flowers to him, hoping that would sweeten him up, after all it even sweeted her Daddy up. Though to be fair Donovan only did because one, even he wasn't going to verbally shoot down a child, two, he knew it was normal and three... well it was something Kara would do.

Shi blinked. "I am?" he asked, taken completely by surprise. He eyed the proffered flowers cautiously. "Um ..." he muttered to himself, clicking his teeth together in confusion. What was he supposed to do with them?

He nodded at the flowers, uncertain as to whether she was offering them to him or just showing him. "Pretty."

And now he didn't know if it was such a bad thing that Lin was sitting on his tail. After all, as she had said earlier, she didn't weigh much ... and she was comfortable ... and really it wasn't making him uncomfortable ... so ... maybe she could stay there then ... With that in mind, he lifted her up so that she was sitting right next to the tray. That way she could at least feed herself.

Lin set the flowers down near Shi, because he needed them. It might sound a bit weird that someone with the potential to be violent like Lin would think this, but she did believe some people just needed to have hugs and good things. It was just that when all else failed there was always violence to fall back on.

She smiled at the strawberries as she picked one up and dipped it into the whipped cream before eating it tipped first. It was like a creature nibbling away at something bigger than itself.

Under norman circumstances, Shi would have fed himself using his tail as a third hand, but not only was Lin sitting on it, but Shi was so fascinated watching her (though he wouldn't admit it, even to himself) that he ignored his own food. The strawberry was half her size - he was amazed that she would even lift it, let alone eat it.

"Is it good?" he asked her curiously, wondering just how much whipped cream was getting in her mouth and how much was going to end up all over her face.

Lin... was the picture of perfect innocence with her whipped cream beard and rosy red lips. If Donovan thought watching Kara was interesting, watching Lin was just amusing.

"Very! It's good and ripe, but it's probably the last of last of the strawberries. Daddy says no more until next year," Lin took another big bite, fruit was normally a lot of water, so it wasn't so heavy she couldn't lift it, though perhaps going after the smaller strawberries was wiser.

Well there weren't any smaller, her family had normally gotten the farm grown strawberries that were very sweet but small, these were factory farmed so they were huge, but Lin thought, not as sweet. Though the whipped cream solved that problem nicely.

Shi chuckled at Lin's whipped-cream face, then full-out laughed. He had a rich laugh that emanated from his chest, and Lin was lucky to hear it: it was a rare occasion indeed that Shi laughed.

"I'm glad you like it," he grinned at her; and he was surprised to find that he actually meant it. To cover up his unease, he picked up one of his own strawberries, dipped it in the whipped cream, and tossed it into his mouth.

Lin tried to lick some of the cream off her face though her tongue could only reach so far. She gave up and just ate more of the strawberry, even though she wouldn't be able to finish it all though.

"What do you do for fun?" she wondered, after all he didn't seem to ever want to play.

Shi swallowed his strawberry and reached down to wipe the whipped cream from Lin's cheeks and chin.

"I read," he replied, still chuckling a bit. "At home, I played video games. Couldn't take them here, though. No room, and I think Mom and Dad wanted me to be without them for a while."

What he didn't add was that since coming here, he had been completely and utterly bored out of his mind. It wasn't that he was worried about offending Lin: if it was just her, he wouldn't care at all; but there was the chance that she might have passed the information on to the headmistress, and that would have just been awkward.

"Reading is fun, but I can't really read yet," Lin replied back as she tilted her head up as if to allow Shi to reach, "What are video games?"

Shi blinked at Lin blankly for a moment before realizing that she would be too young for video games ... if not, too small.

"They're games that you play on a video screen," he told her with a smile. "You control a character, and you have to go through levels and beat bad guys and save the world."

In most, anyways.

"A video screen?" Lin blinked utterly confused, "You mean like the way I pretend to protect the base from monsters?" she asked back innocently.

It was like make belief! She wondered if video games had tea parties.

Shi stared in wonder.

"No," he replied, "you see them on a screen ... like a computer screen, or a television screen."

He was as amazed at her ignorance as she had been earlier about him not knowing how to play.

"I don't think I've ever seen one of those things..." Lin murmured thoughtfully, "I must as Daddy, maybe he's seen one of those things."

After all her Daddy had seen a lot, or maybe her Mommy had seen one of these screens.

"You do that," Shi murmured, trailing off and heading into thought. He tossed a few more strawberries into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, staring out into space.

Lunch went smoothly in comfortable silence, besides it wasn't like they could talk with their mouths full or anything. Besides the fact, Lin and Shi obviously both in background and in hobby had very little in common. Still, they got along, which was good, she could still ride his tail, which was even better.

Now if only he would play with her, it would be perfect.

Shi finished his food and set the tray aside, then put his hands behind his head and leaned against the rock, looking down at Lin with a contented expression on his face.

"Now what?" he asked. "When do I take you back to your parents?"

He really had no idea what to do with her whatsoever.

"Probably, it might be almost time for lessons... I would tell you, but I can't tell time yet," Lin replied back.

Which was also true, besides where would she keep her watch? On her waist?

Shi nodded and picked up the tray again, then made sure Lin was safely seated on his tail (something he never thought he would ever do ... normally he did his best to make sure no one touched it) and headed out of the greenhouse.

"You'll have to direct me to her office," he told Lin without looking at her as he headed into the school proper again. "I still don't know the way completely."

He did, but he had learned that she preferred to be doing something rather than nothing.

Lin turned her body so she could be facing foward, she nodded excitedly, "Okay, off to the office we go! Maybe Tracy is there to bug."

Though she doubted it.

Shi nodded, wondering at her excitement, but he passed it off as her just being a kid. He slithered through the halls of the school, heading directly for the headmistress's office. When they arrived, he knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"Come in," Kara's voice wafted through the door.

It was the near end of the day of work and she spent some relaxing time with Donovan, she was quite pleased. Well that and she heard no reports of babysitting getting out of control.

Shi opened the door with one hand and moved inside, bringing Lin and the rest of his tail in with him.

"Time?" he asked, his tone bored as he held Lin up next to the headmistress's desk.

Kara smiled as she rose from her desk and plucked Lin off of his tail. She cuddled her little girl and she smiled at him. Her eyes twinkled impishly, not bad, but she knew Lin gave as good as she got at times.

"Yes, thank you Shi," Kara murmured softly, "Lin, what do you say?"

"Thank you! Next time we play," Lin replied back in a sing a song voice.

Shi didn't know if he wanted to, but then, he didn't know how to play with her, or how to play the games she did.

"Then you'll have to teach me," he replied, mostly for Kara's benefit rather than out of sincerity. He nodded politely to the headmistress and headed for the door again, not really sure where he was going to go or what he was going to do. After all, there was nothing more to do now than there was earlier ... but at least he wouldn't be bothered.

Kara giggled as she handed Lin to Donovan.

Donovan gently threw Lin up into the air with a smirk, "You are going to be a little hellion when you get older."

But then again he figured, that would be Tracy's problem.

 

[Froggy Prints]

A Slithering Terror

As the days had passed, Shi had slowly grown used to the human population of the school. That didn’t mean he liked it, but he was getting used to keeping his tail away from the bipeds’ feet, and as of yet there hadn’t been another incident like the one with Irvine, the elemental mage. But that didn’t mean that Shi still didn’t have problems with certain … issues.

For example, there was a little girl that he had noticed around. She was nothing remarkable, really, just a little girl with the biggest eyes he had ever seen (except for Lin’s but gray-green instead of bright green) except that … well … she seemed more grown up than most other children her age.

To be honest, Shi wouldn’t have even noticed her if she hadn’t kept reappearing so often. It seemed she was nearly everywhere he went, and each and every time he saw her, she was just staring at him, hands clutched around a thick folder. He considered confronting her nearly every time, but every time something else came up and just slithered past her without giving her a second glance.

Today, however, he had nothing else to attend to. He had already returned Lin to the headmistress and her assistant, and there were no classes, so there was nothing stopping him from approaching her. She was standing flat against the wall between two doorways, staring at him unashamedly as he headed past her; and as he turned around and headed straight for her, her eyes grew wide and her whole expression changed to … well, Shi wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it gave him the impression that she wanted to run away.

He remembered Feng’s words suddenly, that she had said to him a few days previous: Do you want everyone to think that all Nagas are mean, hot-tempered and vicious? And suddenly he realized what she had been talking about. Well, not entirely; but he did realize that to a child of that size, who had probably never seen a Naga before, he probably did seem quite scary.

So he did something that he had never done before. He tried to make himself less scary. He lowered himself closer to the floor so that he wouldn’t be so much bigger than her and actually tried to smile – though from her reaction, it had only scared her further. Probably those fangs of his, not that he ever really thought about them.

”Who are you?” he asked the little girl softly, though it came out more like a hiss. It seemed to scare her even more, because she started edging to the side and her face turned a deep shade of red.

”S-S-S-Serenity,” she replied finally, eyes downcast. She clutched at her folder fearfully and added, “Serenity Aldrich W-Winters.”

Shi nodded to himself and coiled his tail behind him, flicking the end of it back and forth lazily. ”And why have you been following me?” he asked even more softly, his eyes taking on a hard glint. He didn’t know whether or not she had in fact been following him, or if she just had the luck to always be where he was, but it bothered him that she was around him so often that he not only noticed, but could pick her out of a crowd.

Serenity swallowed down the lump in her throat and shrugged one shoulder, still unable to look at Shi. Her face was still bright red, and though her lips moved she seemed unable to speak.

Shi reached forward with the tip of his tail and poked her shoulder gently, and she started so violently at the touch that her hands fumbled with her folder and it fell to the ground, spilling papers all over the place. She let out a strangled cry, and knelt and scrambled to pick them up.

”Sorry,” Shi apologized sincerely. He really did need to work on not scaring people … He reached down to help her pick them up and glanced at one of them curiously. Pictures … and very well-drawn pictures, at that. He shuffled through the ones he had picked up, not noticing that Serenity had paled and was just about shaking as she watched him look through them. Of course, it didn’t help that she wasn’t saying anything.

”These are good,” he murmured softly. There were a lot of pictures of an elven woman, some kids and a few angelic children, and one or two of a white-haired elven man. As he continued looking through the pictures, he noticed that as he got closer to the bottom of the pile, many of them were coloured. And when he reached the last few pictures, he had to stop and blink at them to make sure of what he was seeing.

He was looking at pictures of himself, so well drawn that even the scars he’d gotten from his fight with the mage those days ago were visible, and in the right places. Even his face …

He blinked again. His face. He looked terrifying … was this how everyone saw him? He glanced at Serenity’s face and was startled to see how frightened she looked. Apparently he really was that terrifying. But if he scared her so much, why had she drawn a picture of him?

Serenity gulped again and squeaked, ”Can … can I have them back?” holding her hand out to him timidly.

Shi’s eyes were curious as he held the pictures out to her, and once again he asked, ”Why have you been following me? And why did you draw a picture of me?”

Serenity took the drawings from him and stuffed everything back into her folder, then took off down the hall without answering, a look of utter terror on her face.

Shi didn’t know what had happened, or why it had happened, but it made him uneasy. He was slowly realizing exactly how he seemed to others, and he didn’t like it. But he didn’t know what he could do to change their minds …