-Earlier that same day-

(Sino’s POV)

“Emma tell me, what do you feel?”

“Hard, unbreaking and cold to the touch, almost pushing me away. But it gets warmer, more familiar and my fingers feel like they even sink slightly” She has a really good perception of the world that one.

“Very good and how about you Clara?”

“It’s a metal block”

“…You’re not wrong…but do you sense anything beyond it being just a metal block?”

“erm, it’s cold like metal”

…

..

.

“Keep trying”

If it was the first time meeting her I’d surely say she’s joking around but after listening to her rather inexpressionate self for a few lectures, almost to the point of bluntness, I can tell she lacks the words, or rather the ability to speak her mind.

“So does that mean we’re done?” But you know I could be completely wrong and she hates this class. Please don’t I’m trying here…

“Yes we are done, now go have your breakfast nap or whatever we’re supposed to do at ten in the morning” Hmm I could sneak in a good thirty minute nap if I try…but then again breakfast is top priority.

I’m assuming they’ve all opened their eyes as I hear them walking about and preparing to leave.

These past three lectures have actually gone pretty decently, considering I’m blind, have no idea about art and am just sort of using personal experiences to teach them a different perspective on textures. Apparently that’s part of the syllabus and really the only one I could do so I’m doing it.

“But before you leave, have some homework. I want you all to touch at least ten things with your eyes closed and try to get a feeling so that you know what each is without looking”

“Er Sean, this is university, we don’t get homework”

“Who is the lecturer here? You get homework” I’m enjoying the power.

Finally finding the trapdoor, I hear the grumbling Clara pass me, only stopping momentarily to say bye.

Guess she doesn’t completely hate me then, woo!

Slowly walking down the spiral stairs of doom, I feel a slight heat reaching out to my arm and locking it in place.

“Thank you Emma but there’s no need, I am more than capable of going down these stairs this time” We’ll ignore the last two times where I tripped and almost fell to my death…

Lucky Krudel was there to save me from the impending doom. He’s got a fantasticly firm grip.

She does let go of my arm respectful of my wishes and I begin the hellish descent once more.

Whoever decided to give the blind guy lecture duty in a tower is a very bad person.

One step at a time., slowly does it with my clank clank stick.

“Sir”

“Just Sean” too formal, an I’m barely twenty one, don’t give me premature wrinkles please.

“Sean, what does the metal feel like to you?” and very curious too, always asking me questions about blindness as if she’s never encountered a blind person before

“As Clara puts it, it feels like metal. And before you ask, being blind doesn’t give you superpowers to feel things better” Yeah I wish

“So what’s the difference between you and I?”

“I can taste my saliva, smell your strawberry scent and hear the birds whistling outside, just like you. The only difference between us is that I can’t see any of this.”

“Oh” Oops I believe I’ve made her slightly depressed

“But I do have one well I guess you could call it superpower”

“Ooh what is it?”

“I can’t see people”

“…how is that a superpower?”

“Tell me, have you ever looked at a person and not liked them?”

“Yes”

“Why didn’t you like them?”

“They were looking at me strangely”

“Now I don’t get any of that, I cannot see the person I’m talking to”

“So…you can’t tell if they’re good or bad?”

“Not quite; I can’t judge them based on their looks, only by who they are. I can see the inside of a person more clearly than any person with eyes can”

“Ew”

“Metaphorically”

“Oh”

“I have made many friends that I know I wouldn’t have made if I could see them, and you’d be surprised how many people you can actually like if you speak to them before you see them”

“But how do I do that? Do I just close my eyes when about to meet someone new?”

“That…is one way. But you’ll find places like chatrooms to be a simpler method”

“Rooms for talking in?” I mean she hasn’t been to a chatroom once yet?

“On the internet”

“The internet?”

…

..

.

Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. What kind of rock did she live under? Or castle by the posh, hightailed tone of her voice.

“I would ask you to google the internet…but of course that’s just wrong”

“Google?”

“You know what, let’s get back to the point I was making” I’m not going to begin explaining the internet, especially as I don’t really use it either, just kind of hear about it and sort of be there when Mom did important things for me on there. “Now where was I?”

“You were talking about how you can like someone when you can’t see them”

“Ah yes, well you see when you look at a person, the Lemon effect I think someone called it, you make a decision about them in a few seconds based on just how they look. I can’t do that so I end up making friends with a lot of people who are called ugly, funny-looking or just generally sociatelly ostracized based on their looks”

“Oh…people are ostracized by their looks?” I honestly have no idea what planet you’re from because Earth is full of ostracization of people who don’t fit the norm. I mean people make fun of me from my mismatched clothes.

“It’s a big thing in some places, but an example you can see right now is people make fun of my mismatched clothes”

“I quite like it, the blue shirt with a orange tie and black trousers and shoes” Huh I actually wore something pretty decent today, good on me. “Fits the rule of three perfectly”

“Why thank you” No idea what the rule of three is supposed to be but it’s the first compliment about my clothes I’ve received in quite a long time.

“So are you able to tell a bad person from a good person then when you talk to them?”

“Ehhh ish, it’s not like I’m perfect in reading a person but I usually can figure out whether this person wants to be friends or wants to punch me”

My clank clank stick slaps wood. Aha I have reached the door at the bottom, without falling!! That is an achievement considering the horribly narrow spiral staircase without rails. And it’s only my third trip down too!

“Mistress, I belive we need to be on our way now” I hear her intake of breath cut short by Krudel…someone I’m actually quite familiar with.

“O…well I’ll see you tomorrow Sean, thank you for answering my questions. And it’s actually a cool superpower!” I imagine she’s doing something called a curtsy, whatever that’s supposed to look like.

“No problem it’s my job after all” Well temporaryish job/ I’m really only supposed to teach you but whatever!

I hear the two of them quickly running off, leaving me clanking through the slowly bustling corridor filled with whinging and whining students, mostly from the ‘wicked’ headaches they drunk themselves into last night.

The music is somewhat fun to listen to…but the dancing, however the hell it’s supposed to happen just does not happen. Clubbing only ever happened once for a good reason.

Today seemed to be my lucky day with these usually swaying into me people, as I don’t get collided into and nobody gets thwapped by my clank clank stick.

Somehow getting outside with no tripping or problems at all, I start down the bustling street, fully focusing on the dangerously cobbled path which usually screws me over on a good day.

Many clank clank sticks have been lost to the gaps between the cobblestones…

Though today was not one of those days: Miraculously I made it all the way down the hill and across the bridge and actually got into the residential area without tripping or breaking something. Truly, today is going to be a good day!

“Babe look we can talk about this?”

Oh I hear a fight about to go down in one the houses above me somewhere. Right not my business and I don’t want my day ruined by real life just yet.

“Talk, is that what you want to do? Is that what you and Shaniqua were doing late last night?”

“Yes, totally babe, nothing happe-BABE N-”

*Crack* the miracle day is over with a hard tackle to stone.

*BADUM*

“-YOU BI-”

*TSS*

“AHHHHHH” Holy mother of god that was definitely a scream of pain.

Not from me though, somehow I’m fine, albeit feeling slightly crushed by something muscular

“You ok?” Oh it’s Ted! And he helps me back to my feet probably checking me for damage.

Checking myself over, huh that tackle did surprisingly little to me, if I don’t count being winded and almost having a heart attack from the suddenness.

“Yeah im fine” though something did crack but nope no pain so it wasn’t me.

“You either leave through the door or I will toss you out the fucking window” She is just saying it, but that just makes it sound more terrifying.

“What happened? It sounded like a drum set was thrown to the ground” I’ve got a pretty good guess what just happened but as a blind man always got to ask to know.

“Yes, those two are fighting”

No don’t go help them Ted, you’re way too kind as it is, gee like how many times have you carried me home already midway through your morning sprint?

“Indee-”

*Cre-Thud*

“Run you little bitch AND IF YOU COME BACK I’LL CLAW YOUR EYES OUT YOU CUNT JUMPING WHORE” the image in my head is of one man running quite fast away from whoever this deadly growling woman is.

“Miss” Ted starts to confront her. Please don’t hurt yourself Ted!

“You want to play with me too? I will fucking claw your face to ribbons.” She growls, what an animal of a human!

“Woah woah missy, Ted isn’t trying anything”

“Then why, is he, looking at me with such a gaze!”

“Because you threw a drum set out the window”

“Yeah and? I didn’t hurt nobody did I”

“Actually it would’ve fallen on me if he hadn’t pushed me out the way”

…

..

.

“…Oh shit…er sorry, my apologies, whoops, didn’t mean to almost kill you.” Woah complete 180 change of personality, where’s the angry growling gone? “Just had a fight and heat of the moment er sorry”

“I heard”

“Uh, well…are you ok?” give people two chances and you definitely see a different side of them each time. How terrifyingly true.

“I’m fine” Ted probably isn’t knowing him, too self-sacrificial.

“Hand hurts”

“Oh my god, jesus, please come upstairs I got some first aid for that. And uh can I buy you a drink as sorry for almost throwing a drum set at you?”

“I don’t drink” huh would’ve thought Ted participated in the drinking side of university. Guess not?

“Oh then….how about I make you late breakfast?” She’s actually trying to recompense us, without us having to ask too. Ok I’m always up for free food, which technically almost cost me my life but eh whatever.

With my nod, I begin wiping my foot along the ground looking for my clank clank stick.

“Broken” Ted gives me a light tap on the shoulder before placing the broken into two clank clank stick in my hand.

Well lucky I’ve got a lot of spares, or was that the last of them…

He quickly hoists me into a carry, letting me rest on his deliciously muscular arms.

Before I know it, the trip upstairs is over and I’m placed on a seat with a cold, stoneish, marble(?) counter in front of it.

“Ted was it? First aid kit is here, gauze, iodine, you need a pain killer?”

“For what?”

“Good answer, because I don’t have any of that”

*guuuuur* Oh I really should have eaten breakfast this morning.

“I can do it” Seems Ted is pushing her to begin the cooking as I hear the oven flicker on.

“Right, what are we having for breakfast, er…”

“Annalise. And it’s bacon we’re having er…”

“Sean, and just bacon? No like full English?”

“Can’t crack eggs without the shells going everwhere, hate mushrooms, hash browns suck and whoever thought creating the physical form of burn and adding that to the mix was a complete idiot” Apart from the hash browns she’s actually pretty spot on.

“And sausages and beans?”

“…All I’ve got in my fridge is bacon, deal with it” Alright, growling, keep that down, it’s actually quite scary.

“Annalise, can I?” Ted calls out from somewhere behind me somehow already done with his bandaging. That was quick.

“Sure”

*poof*

Wait that’s the sound of a punching bag? And chains? What’s that doing in a student house…although she could not be a student.

But then again, what respectable adult has only bacon in their fridge…yeah she’s a student.

“Actually you shouldn’t do that, especially with that grazing” Oh so that’s what happened to him. I was starting to worry it was worse.

“I’ve had worse” Yeah Ted has been hit by a car before…to think that’s how we met.

“So Annalise, what’s with the punching bag, that that guys’?”

“Nah it’s mine, I do MMA”

“Claws aren’t allowed” Ted calls out

“Fine ex-mma, claws grew out when I stopped”

“To scare people”

“The dangerous ones, it works pretty well”

I can imagine…

Sitting in slightly awkward silence as Annalise cooks, only bacon, while Ted continually punches in a rhythm.

He does need to learn how to relax a little: all I ever see is him do is working out.

“Breakfast is served”

“Do we get water with it, or bacon juice”

“Open wide and I’ll pour the sizzling juices right into your gullet or I could get you some water” I definitely should stop any sort of joking that I would try do…she’s one of the violent kind.

“I’ll take the water please”

“Water please”

Right the glass is in my left hand and time to enjoy(?) this full bacon breakfast.

*crunch*

…

..

.

Oh.My.God…that is amazing.

It’s crunchy, honey tasting and even slightly smoky flavoured. What kind of bacon is this?

“Seems like you enjoy it, this is real bacon, not like any of that floppy stuff you English like”

“But it’s like crispy, how did you do that?”

“Frying, while lathering it in honey and slightly burning it” I definitely have a new way of getting Hymn to cook me bacon from now on.

With no more interruptions the bacon crunch begins and all too soon my hand reaches the bottom of the bowl.

“I can make some more if you want”

“I would like that so very much thank you”

“…Ah, bugger I’ve actually got something to do now. Could you come by tomorrow and I’ll cook you some more?”

I mean free food so how could I say no?

“Sure. That reminds me, Ted what time is it”

“Ten thirty seven”

…

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Oh no, I’m late too.

“Oh god I’ve got to go too, well thank you for the bacon Annalise, it was enlightening. I’ll see you tomorrow” Rushing off the chair, Ted catches the stumbling me and once again carries me within his bulging arms.

She says a goodbye, closing the door after us as we leave, and soon I feel the wind rushing upon my face as Ted sprints through the streets.

Ah, I kind of understand why he does morning sprints: the slightly chilly wind almost tickles my face.

All too soon, he slows down and finally stops, putting me down on what I assume is my front door.

“Thank you Ted, I’ll see you again tomorrow”

“Goodbye Sean” He sprints off like the wind itself.

Feeling just in front of me, yup it’s a door.

*BANG BANG BANG*

That should get it moving.

“We are late” Hymn immediately starts scolding me as he opens the door, quickly rushing me inside with a helping hand. “Have you eaten?”

“Yep”

“Good” He almost chucks me onto my bed yet carefully places the headset on my lap.

Right, onto Aria!

…

*clack* Ah echolocation, how useful to let me see blurs of people so that I can sort of see their basic outline.

Well it lets me see the basic outline of everthing else which is indescribably messy and hard to figure out what is who.

“Hey Sino, nice of you to join us, I was just about to suggest we should have some nice roast owl for breakfast” a snarky Grawla barks somewhere from my right.

“Actually I’d like some roast hyena from the equally late Grawla” Pinky Juniour, a rabbit-beastlady(?) talks from ahead

“I do not recommend that my loliness, Hyena meat is chewy and rather unflavourful from their poor diet of usually old corpses” Zzoid, a person with a slight hiss, from the middle calls out

“Actually hyena can taste pretty decent if it’s been eating well, owl however is a quite stringy” Honey has a biggish figure, what I’d imagine is muscularish I guess, and a veritable fount of strange knowledge, only second to Zzoid as I’m quickly learning.

“Alright can we stop talking about cannibalism, we’re in a bit of sticky situation here” The other rabbit-beaslady(?)called Baila whines from the back.

“Don’t get me muddy, keep that chest held high” A matured woman, Rassin was her name I think, sit on top of Baila’s shoulders.

“Sticky hehe” the little one Zzand giggles out

“It isn’t funny little brother” The slightly elder Zzard has different opinions on slight forms of wit.

Both have the same slight hiss as Zzoid has.

“What’s so funny?” The seriously innocent Emma…wait Princess is what she’s called here, always completely missing the point.

“Mistress, Baila did a form of witty use of words based upon our situation, since we’re in a muddy swamp it could certainly be called a sticky situation” Krudel takes charge in explaining things to her, probably since he’s her butler or retainer of innocence or something.

“Ha ha?” That is the proper reaction to most terrible forms of wit, still don’t get much of the ‘phrasing’ that many people do nowadays. I guess I just don’t see what’s so funny about it.

“Such low brained jokes could not stimulate me in the slightest” Anoobis, a rather high-self-respecting but intelligent individual, also leading the front, right at the front too.

“I doubt much could stimulate you but yourself” The equally intelligent woman, Ravenna, also leads the front.

“Ha ha?” Pinky Seniour another rabbit-beastlady(?), but obviously the junior, laughs(?) unsuredly, possible since she didn’t get the full meaning only that it was ‘a sick burn’.

“Can we focus on the lizards please, I don’t want to get my robes bitten at again” the one called Lenny, an elderly man, sort of looks like he’s floating above the swampy according to my outliney echolocation, but I could definitely be wrong about that.

I did talk to a tree for the better part of twenty minutes believing it was BoneCracker yesterday…

These…squiggles? I guess that’s what people call them. They’re just so hard to figure out, I hope my echolocation helps.

“Don’t worry I’ve got enough acid to deal with them” Charmine, a very dangerous woman from what I’ve learnt as she apparently has acid that melts acid lizards…acid lizards…ACID. She strolls behind the silent BoneCracker, who was carrying me earlier, but had now put me down to let me enjoy the stickiness with the rest of the group.

Well as to the acid lizards, I believe they’re actually normal lizards that spit acid according to what everyone shouted in combat…but that’s still terrifying that they get affected by acid to such a degree.

Originally thought she was quiet…

“Do not giggle again, it is unbecoming to laugh at one’s death” The one called Hobo trudges along also in the back. A religious man by his speech but bad hygiene from his stench.

But he does speak a good point: Charmine giggles when she kills things…we learnt that yesterday while we were all struck silent with the acid lizard dying from acid (well according to the rest that’s what happened at that moment). And apart from those moments she doesn’t speak much…

“I told you I giggled because I was happy my experiement suceeded” I barely just caught that from her reserved speech.

“Giggling……save it…for somet…hing worthy to…giggle…over” Another old man, slow in speech and probably dying. He’s called Nathan apparently.

“You know instead of starting a debate about whether she should giggle when she experients, how about we focus on the previously mentioned lizards. All four of them” Squiggles are moving under more squiggles, that only means like twenty different things…so let’s choose the most likely?

“No! Not my robes again!”