02x10 - These Feelings

[bunniefuu]

I must say, I didn't expect those

two to end up together. Oh, my.

I wonder if Rudy's tried dating anyone.

I think he likes girls, but maybe

he's taken a vow of abstinence.

Can't get too excited either way. After all,

he's waving at his friend, Master Fitz. Not at me.

Turns out silent is a girl his age,

and it's fairly obvious that he's interested in her.

The two of them share some kind of special bond,

one that I don't fully understand.

Whatever it is, they seem much closer

than Rudy and I were back in Buena Village.

She showed up in his life out of nowhere.

They act like they've known each other forever.

Always at each other's side. Uh.

What do I do? I'm too scared to make a move.

How did I just lose all my nerve?

I thought I was braver than this. What happened?

I've been at the University of Magic for about a year.

Enough time for me to turn .

I still begin each day with a workout.

Only new thing about that is some added motivation.

I never know how to talk to this guy.

I'm still kind of scared of him.

Tell me. Yeah. Why do you desire strength?

I'm not quite sure how to answer that.

I've known many men obsessed with the

pursuit of strength, fame and fortune.

Not a decent one among them, if you ask me.

All narrow minded. There are more worthwhile things to chase in life.

Like, what would you say? Like women, boy.

You'll understand once you find one yourself. Hahahahahahahahaha.

Speaking of Your Majesty. What is it?

Do you happen to know a cure for impotence? I do not.

After a little training, it's time for

breakfast and then on to class.

Can you believe this weather? It's just lovely.

Since that duel with bodyguard, most of

the other students steer clear of me.

Oh, hey.

Uh. Come on, you can

cut goalie out a little bit of slack, boss.

Her heart's in the right place and everything.

Besides, I'd like it if you tried

to make us look good in front of the other beastfolk meal.

With all the minions that you have.

At this point, it's gotten tougher being your number two.

Hey, meow. I'm the boss's number two.

No, no, there's no need to argue about it, okay?

I consider you both my number two. Huh?

Way to miss the point, boss. We need a clearly defined hierarchy.

Yes we do. Like, since you can b*at silent fits,

you can basically run this place.

Me in charge here. No. Thank you. No.

Grow a pair and show off your claws. Meow! Not happening. Mm.

Proteus. What all do you know about curses?

A growing interest of his lately. Curses.

Curses. Curses. Well, a friend once told

me that Laplace transferred his curse to objects

and that let him force the curse onto others. That's so.

He cursed the spheres he gave, the spurred, and the Laplace w*r.

They didn't use their own, and basically

it caused them to go on a bloody rampage,

which led to their whole race being vilified.

Seriously? That's how that started. Oh.

Sounds

like just according to what I heard, at least. Fascinating.

Transferring a curse.

That's very helpful. Thanks, Rudeus.

I've got an idea on what to do now.

Oh. After class. It's lunchtime.

How about we grab a seat right here?

Good idea. As Julie wouldn't be able

to join us on the third floor.

Hey. That's rudeus. Guy's a powerhouse. Took

down every other special student in his first year.

Yeah, not to mention one shotting the Demon

King in front of literally everybody.

I don't mind getting my ego stroked,

of course, but I can't let it go to my head.

Hahahahaha! If it isn't my mighty little

friend all tucked away in a corner. Ha!

Dogg.

Mastered that thing. His Majesty is drinking. Looks so yummy.

Spoken like a true dwarf. Incredible that she can

discern quality at such a young age. Yes.

You wouldn't be opposed to sharing a drop

or two with us, Your Majesty.

Surely you jest, boy. Few things are less fun than drinking alone.

But don't stop at a drop. Guzzle away.

Yes. This is not a beverage to be sipped.

Then maybe it'd be better to wait until after class.

Ha ha! That's your wish, I shall obey.

Ha ha ha! It's a tough road for you scholars, huh?

After lunch, I retreat to this lab

covered in magic resistant brick for summoning experiments.

My part in this isn't too demanding.

I just pour mana into magic circles that Nana Kyoshi devised herself.

They say most proven summoning circles have been lost.

But by studying the principles behind them,

coupled with lots of experimentation with countless different circles,

she's managed to invent a few of her

own original spells. Gotta say, I'm very impressed.

Was that a success? Nope. Another dud.

Now with me here. She's taking the kitchen sink approach.

We're testing more circles than I can count.

So, hey, what is the end goal of this experiment, exactly?

Eventually, I want to summon a person from our world.

But in the short term, I'm just

trying to work out the major principles on a much smaller scale.

It shouldn't be possible. But if she can

draw a circle that summons a person,

she should be able to draw one

that sends them back as well. That's the hope, anyway.

Let me ask you something. Say you do make that happen.

Besides getting home, won't that cause another big disaster?

I'm planning to avoid that. Of course,

if I can prove a few more theorems,

I can form a hypothesis as to why

it happened in the first place and how

to keep it from happening again.

Well, they say that failure is part of experimentation,

so please don't take the risk too lightly, okay?

Obviously. Why do you think I'm starting with the basics?

You know, I would love to learn about summoning magic myself.

You must understand this knowledge is my lifeline.

I need to be careful about sharing it.

Yeah, but part of this arrangement was that you would share it.

Okay, fine. I'll tell you one thing. After this experiment. Promise?

Only one doesn't seem worth it to me.

Well, think of it this way. As soon

as my research is done and I've gone home,

you get access to all my writing.

I'm sure you can be patient. In the meantime.

I guess begging before we actually get

anything done would be pretty pathetic.

So if you want to know that badly,

do some research of your own. Thanks, I appreciate it.

After dinner, I give Julie magic lessons.

And then on to figure making. This is still Julie's first year,

so harmonic capacity is fairly low, and

I wouldn't say she has much finesse.

I mean, she is good with her hands,

but she's only just started using sculpting

tools so her skills aren't honed yet.

We've got to think in the long term.

Since I met Nana Hoshi, I haven't

been to the library nearly as much.

And that's how my days go by.

Still no lead on a cure, though.

And I haven't seen much of Master Fitz lately either.

Then one day I received a letter.

Says it's from Soldat Soldat. Heckler. Head

honcho of step leader. Blast from the past.

Okay, so he's in Sharia for a big

guild meetup and he wants to grab

a bite to eat for old times sake. Catch up a bit.

I wonder if this is what it feels

like to reconnect with your old high school buddies or something.

Got to say, it ain't bad.

How you doing, quagmire? I haven't seen you in ages, man.

Yeah, it almost feels like a whole lifetime ago.

You gotta get rid of the baby clothes.

You look like a run of the mill rookie in that getup.

Maybe I miss those days, and I want to go back.

Give me your bag. Let me carry it somewhere.

You carrying our bags? Are you nuts?

We ought to be carrying yours.

You did? After that stray dragon fight.

We're good man. We made out like bandits on that one.

Anyway, what's up with you, Alpheus? What's

a mega slut like you doing with a boyfriend?

Is this a joke or something?

No. Merely proof that no man I've

ever met has truly won my heart before.

But now. I found the man of my

dreams and I couldn't be happier.

You may find it hard to believe, but I can be quite devoted.

No way. That's how baby soul.. Inter-party meeting..

Another. Are you kidding me? We talked all morning, didn't we?

What do you expect? The whole clan's fired up.

Might as well get it out of the way.

And here I thought I would go to enjoy myself this afternoon.

Sorry, quagmire. I got to run. Let's

do this again. All right. Yeah.

Just let me know when you're in town.

So what now? You two have anything

planned for the rest of the day?

Not really. No. But actually, we were talking

about giving Cliff a crash course in adventuring.

If you would care to join us. Uh.

You needn't come. I don't intend to rely on your help.

In that case, I'll just head on back to school.

Then. Do take care. Going back. And please give everyone our best.

And I know you know this, but please

remember that you have a beginner with you,

so don't go anywhere too dangerous. Cool.

Sure thing. Excuse me ma'am. Yes, Rudeus.

We'll be careful. No challenging dragons or demon kings.

Hey.

Should the two of them be out here?

Who's guarding the princess? Well, I better at least say hi.

Hey you two. Fancy meeting you all

the way out here. Who do you.

Oh, great. It's you. Sounds like he

still doesn't like me very much. But as long as I can stay

friends with Master Fitz, who cares?

What's up? You okay, Master Fitz? There's something different about you today.

I can't put my finger on it. The way he carries himself.

What do you need? Speak your piece and move along, would you?

Did I catch them at a bad time? Don't tell me.

Are they on a date? Yeah. Maybe.

Luke swings both ways and he and Fitz have a sparring practice.

I just happened to see you, so I thought

I would say hello. Master Fitz.

Uh. I see we appreciate the greeting.

I have to remind you, however, that fits

isn't permitted to speak while guarding Her

Highness. Apologies. I'm sure you understand.

I guess I really did come at a bad time.

Still, it seems harsh for him to ignore me completely like this.

What is it? Oh. It's nothing. Excuse me.

I don't think I let anything show

on the outside, but man, that really stung.

Why would he shun me like that?

It hurts so much I can hardly even think straight.

I've been mulling it over, but I still

can't figure out why Master Fitz was avoiding me just now.

I don't remember doing anything to offend him.

I just want to talk about my feelings with someone.

Well, no, I just want to gripe.

I'm pretty sure Zainaba is at the Mages

Guild right now for some blessed child research.

You probably took Julie with him. Now

Linnea and Percina would be terrible.

Listeners probably make fun of me.

And Nana Joshi kind of has her hands full.

She won't want to listen to my problems.

Okay, whatever. Might as well go to the library.

Oh, hey. Hey, Rudeus. Been a little while, hasn't it?

He's just his normal self. Is there a problem?

Do I have something on my face?

Why did you ignore me in the market earlier today? Oh.

I'm sorry, but it really is true

that I'm not allowed to speak while I'm on duty.

You know, silent fits. People don't take

me seriously because of my voice.

It's childish. So in public, I'm not

supposed to speak. Especially around Princess Ariel.

Okay, but I didn't see the princess anywhere around you.

She was in a shop nearby. We aren't her only protection.

Forgive me for demanding your attention, then. Poor timing, I guess.

It's all right. I feel bad that

I couldn't respond to you, though.

Okay, I think I see what's happening here.

I'm not positive, but I think Princess

Ariel has actually been disguising herself as Master Fitz somehow.

So she was trying to avoid me earlier

because any careless chit chat could blow her cover.

The more I think about it, the more sense it makes overall.

But either way, there's still no evidence

that Fitz is mad at me.

And that's all I really care about. So good.

Well, that's a relief. I was starting

to worry that you suddenly started hating me or something.

No, of course not. How could I ever hate you?

Oh.

Oh. Every little thing he does sticks with me.

The way he scratches behind his ears,

the way he stretches when he finishes a study session.

The way he smells when he brushes close by me.

And then there's that smile. Can't get

that bashful smile out of my head.

I know what all this means. Of course.

Oh. I'm in love.

Huh?

I'm in love with a man. Assuming he really is one. Which?

Professor genus.

Well. Hello, Rudeus. What brings you to see me today?

Well, I want to ask about Master Fits.

Then you'll have to forgive me. The staff

have been given rather strict instructions regarding him and his employer.

I see. Of course. Could you confirm

basic information for me? Like his sex?

Like his sex? Well, yes. Mm. Look silent. Fits is male.

Well, that was pretty unconvincing. And what was

that about strict instruction regarding fits?

Oh, what would I do if he actually

turned out to be a woman? Would I ask him out?

Wish I could at least jerk off about it. Oh.

Oh, sorry. What'd you say? Watch out!

Uh huh.

Oh. I'm so sorry. Master Fitz. Could

it be that you're actually a woman?

No. You're mistaken. I. I'm a man.

Mr. Fitz is a woman. That's a

big deal. But even more importantly.

I got a boner. Amazing. I can't..

Believe it. All because I came to investigate

the mining disaster. Thank you, Lord. Man. God.

Although Fitz obviously wants to be known as a man.

Well, fine. He she has done so much for me.

I can't betray that. I have a responsibility

to respect her wishes and help her keep

up the act for however long she wants.

Master Fitz definitely holds the key to curing my Ed,

but I can't get any more intimate with him now. Maybe soon.

Hey.

I guess this cure still has a long way to go.

Oh, well, I can see my way forward, so why rush?

Liar, liar.