Fox, Satyr, Dragon Pt. 01

"You've..." Sasha panted, wiping the sweat off her forehead with her sweater arm. "Got balls."

"No I don't." Jack grinned. "You can even feel. If you want."

Sasha laughed. "Wow, Jack."

Chapter 12: Some More Dates

Artificer Gilroy Flint raised up the sword Jack had forged a week before while the young Dra sat back in her wheelchair. He tapped the side of his glasses as he held the blade in front of his eyes. As the glasses zoomed in, his own eyes seemed to grow larger. "Your rune work is akin to calligraphy, Ms. Sarkan." Gilroy said with his deep, husky voice that belied his slight frame. "Leaps and bounds better than your father." He turned the sword to look at the other side of his blades. "You know I did his rune work when we were in school together. He'd say I was just making his work neater. No no. His runes were nigh illegible. Had to be redone or risk the Artifact going awry."

Jack knew. Gilroy brought it up often. "Thank you, Artificer."

He looked at her and blinked with bulbous eyes. "You've hidden a trick."

"I have, Artificer."

He tapped his glasses and his eyes looked normal again. Gilroy held the sword out, holding it by the blade. "Demonstrate, Ms. Sarkan."

Jack gripped the hilt and activated her fein. The sword shimmered briefly before disappearing entirely. The only indication that Jack was holding anything was her fist having a gap straight through. To add to the demonstration, Jack made the sword whistle by swinging it around rapidly then bringing it to a quick stop.

"Marvelous. Marvelous." Gilroy reached out slowly with a gloved hand until he felt the flat of the blade. The sword remained invisible. "By your fein and your fein alone, correct?"

"Yes, Artificer."

"Marvelous." Gilroy repeated. Then he smiled with the side of his face that had a mustache, lending a lopsided nature to an otherwise ruggedly handsome face. "Not the true trick. You've hidden a secret that even I can't see without a more thorough examination."

"Maybe, Artificer." Jack smiled back. She had assumed he'd be able to notice so she wasn't disappointed.

"Well due to the fein activation I have no choice but to relinquish ownership to you. That sword is just a standard Artifact sword in my hands." Gilroy sighed. "No blueprints as usual, correct?"

Jack shook her head, allowing the sword to become visible again, and handed it to Gilroy to put on her work table.

"Well, Jack." Gilroy took his glasses off to clean them before putting them back on. "Forging an Artifact that only works for you and only you takes skill that far surpasses your age. Alongside your clever rune trickery..." He spread his arms wide and shrugged. "I see no reason for you to continue in my class. I've got nothing to teach you. Not in a classroom setting."

Jack gaped. "What are you saying, sir?"

"I'm saying I'm informally dismissing you from my class. Consider yourself done with Artificery at Foxcastle." Gilroy smiled. The salt and pepper mustache on the right side of his face quivered proudly. "You may use my class time as you wish, with whatever project strikes your fancy, only coming to me when you need help. This is not permission to do nothing. I expect work. But I do not think that will be an issue as you have always complained about not having enough time to make the things you want to make."

"Really?!" Jack exclaimed. "But... What about homework? Exams?"

"Bah you don't need that nonsense. You've never scored below an A anyway." He snorted then winked. "We shall assume that pattern would have continued!"

Jack rolled until she could hug his waist from the side over the arms of her wheelchair. "Thank you so much, Artificer!"

"Yes yes you're welcome, Ms. Sarkan. I've already cleared this matter with Headmaster Blackvine since I had a feeling you'd impress me with your summer work." Gilroy patted her back. "Now I must go. More projects to look at." He sighed. "None will be as impressive, I'm sure. All predictable and by the book. Ticking off the rubric one by one. Except maybe Ms. Natalia Fox's. She surprises me on occasion with some creativity." He opened the door and saw Natalia outside with her hand raised to knock. "Ah! Ms. Fox. I trust you did not hear what I just said?"

"Hear what, sir?" Natalia asked. She truly hadn't heard.

"Good!" Gilroy bowed his head at her and Jack and walked off whistling a tune with no discernible melody.

"Hey, Nat!" Jack waved Natalia in. "Come in!"

"You're in a good mood." Natalia kissed Jack on the cheek before sitting on her lap. "What's up?"

"A proper kiss and I'll tell ya."

Natalia complied with one arm around Jack's neck and the other crooked so she could cradle Jack's cheek with her hand. When she was done, she bumped her forehead against Jack's. "Now tell me."

"Flint told me I'm done with his class. Don't need to show up anymore! Can just work on stuff instead and go to him if I need help." Jack said breathlessly. "Nat I just got so much more time."

"Jack, that's fantastic!" Natalia exclaimed, kissing Jack again. "I'm so happy for you."

"I am too!"

"Want a gift?"

"You've got a gift for me?" Jack raised a bushy eyebrow. "You didn't even know about what happened."

"You'll see." Natalia got off Jack. "I'm gonna need your jeans."

"My jeans...Oh." Jack smirked. She unbuttoned and pulled the zipper down, wiggling in her wheelchair to aid Natalia's tugging. "Don't have the sexiest underwear on right now. Didn't know you'd be coming."

Natalia tossed Jack's white cotton panties onto the crumpled jeans at her feet. She knelt on them then, giving her knees padding against the stone floor. "I felt like seeing you, Jack." She put her head on Jack's thigh and pouted up at her. "Is that not okay?"

"Always okay." Jack spread her legs and lifted herself forward until her pussy was right in Natalia's face. "Go on then. Reward me."

"Oh wow." Natalia squeaked. Jack was mostly hairless except for a closely shaved, narrow strip of dark brown hair. She kissed up Jack's thick, muscular thighs - alternating from one to the other - while gradually letting them settle on her shoulders. Their weight, once Jack relaxed, was soothing. As was the presence of having them wrapped around her head, their warmth spreading to her ears and face.

Jack sighed as Natalia's small tongue licked at her labia briefly before grazing up to her clitoral hood. Natalia sucked on the hood, taking care to not give too much attention to Jack's sensitive clit. Brief kisses and licks were all that the bare clit got. Otherwise all of Natalia's care was on the hood, the pleasure passing through the thin skin and sending shudders up to Jack's head. "Fingers too..." Jack spread her legs briefly to allow Natalia to bring a hand up. "Mmmm." Two fingers were pushed into her tight, wet warmth while her clit was kissed. Jack squeezed her thighs tightly around Natalia's head and she gripped an armrest. Her other hand went to the back of Natalia's head, forcing the Dra further in. "Pinch me if you can't breath." Jack rasped, her face twisted on the cusp of an orgasm. Her eyebrows knit together and her eyes clenched shut. Her pink lips opened as the flush on her cheeks grew stronger. "Nata...." Jack moaned and her eyes rolled back. She grinded against Natalia's face. Her grip on Natalia's hair tightened and the Fox yelped in pain and pleasure. "...Lia." She relinquished her grip and smiled down at Natalia.

"Did I do well?" Natalia wiped her mouth and stood before picking up Jack's clothes.

"Very well." Jack put her underwear on. "Let's go to my room."

"Why?" Natalia held Jack's jeans while the latter put on her prosthetics. "You gonna give me something, Jack?"

"You bet." Jack said. "You heard my moans. I want to hear yours."

***

"Afternoon, Anette." Branigan said from behind a haphazard stack of books that he couldn't see around or through.

"Afternoon." Anette waited for him to come around or at least show his face. She looked behind her, to the spot above the office door, to see if there was a mirror. Nothing. "How did you know it was me?"

Branigan popped his head around the stack and smiled. "I've got an alarm in my head that goes off when beautiful people are around."

"Always on with your flirting." Anette muttered, though she did smile indulgently. "You wanted to see me? Sorry I'm much earlier than expected."

"Yes! It's fine." Branigan said. "I am no longer willing to help you with what I helped with last week."

"Oh?" Anette's eyebrows raised.

"I have conflicting responsibilities now."

"May I know them?"

"Eventually! But relax. They've got nothing to do with potion development." Branigan chuckled. He waved his hand and two golems began taking the books and placing them on carts. "Put them where they belong, lads."

One golem saluted, as best as it could with its stubby arms, before leaving Branigan's office with a cart in tow. The other golem looked at Branigan for a second before doing the same. Anette noted all this with a bemused expression. "You taught them to salute?"

"Nope!" Branigan said. "Take a seat, Anette. You look like you have something to say."

"I do." Anette sat. Branigan looked relaxed and happy, with his tie loosened as it tended to get around the end of the day. "I was going to tell you that I don't want to use you as a subject anymore. But you beat me to it."

"I didn't give the results you needed?"

"No. You did." Anette sighed, her heart breaking again as she looked at him. "It hurt, Branigan. To see those chains."

The librarian nodded slowly. Then he uncurled his sleeves, buttoned them, and put his suit jacket back on before speaking. "Being here has helped like Dad thought it would. They're black again. As they should be. Foxcastle's defenses alongside all the love everyone here has for me. It's all having an effect. Would've been nice if my parents were enough but... It wasn't. I need to be here. And it's working. Unexpectedly quick, actually! Apparently it's quantity as well as quality"

"Which means you're trapped here, Branigan." Anette said. A chain link had briefly appeared on his neck and she had seen it. She felt as if she had been struck by a metal whip.

"A great place to be, Anette. More books than I could possibly read. Extremely good cuisine in the town nearby. Companionship with the greatest minds in the world." He smiled, though Anette could see it was for her. "Beautiful companions, might I add."

"All of which is tainted, Bran!" Anette said. "Your future has been robbed! Being Foxcastle's librarian isn't an honor given lightly but you could do so much more with your talents! But you're stuck here. How long will you be able to see the positives? How long will you believe in them?"

"Until I no longer can." Branigan said. "At which point, I will still be here. I will still choose to be here. It's only a prison if I don't have a choice."

"Branigan I don't believe that you've given yourself that choice." Anette said. "You've imprisoned yourself here, in Foxcastle, because you know what you risk happening if you don't."

"What should I be doing? Running and risking lives?" Branigan asked. "It's not even a risk as much as it is a guarantee. People would die until some clever and powerful Dra figures out a way to save the day. But in my opinion even a single death would be a tragedy. Since it's preventable by me staying here."

"And when your optimism grows jaded and you become tired of the same school and people you love so much, how will you find it in yourself to stay here? Everyone has a breaking point, Branigan. Even you."

"I'll chain myself to the floor of the Castle Depths if I have to, Anette. In fact I've given Neil that exact request. If I try to run, he is to keep me here. No matter what I say. No matter how much I beg. I'm here. For the rest of my life, however short it ends up being." Branigan smiled wide in a sorry attempt to lighten the mood. "I'll have to enjoy the town while I still can."

Anette clenched the armrests, her knuckles rapidly turning pale. "You can't be serious, Bran?! How...How could you?!"

"If it makes you feel better," Branigan said. "Neil wasn't happy about it."

"Of course he wasn't!" Anette snapped. "He's an educator not a prison warden."

"For the sake of the world, Anette, surely this isn't a huge price to pay?" Branigan asked. He withheld the fact that he had found, and shared, a near unbreakable imprisonment spell that Neil could cast on him if needed. A spell that would put him in a vegetative state if he left the school grounds. Killing him would be too risky.

"Most other people would say 'damn the consequences' and live what was left of their lives. They would not pay this price."

"My dad would do the same." Branigan said. "As would my mom. As would anyone else in my family, Stone or Malik." He pointed at her and smiled. "As would you."

"You have Balraj's love and trust in humanity." Anette said. "But you're wrong. You and your uncle."

Branigan was dead wrong when it came to Anette and they both knew it. She lacked the courage to say it so blatantly and he lacked the cruelty. "Perhaps."

"What about starting a family of your own? You'll start it here? Chain them here with you?" Anette was reaching and she knew it.

"Would you say you've chained your family to Foxcastle and Foxden?"

"No! Because we've got the option to leave!"

"My family, if I'm ever lucky enough to get one," Branigan started. "Will be able to leave on little vacations as they wish. Without me. Children leave the nest eventually, so my own will do the same when they're adults. And spouses...Well. I'll be telling them of my condition when things are getting serious but long before marriage is being thought of." After a moment of silence, during which Anette just stared at him with shimmering eyes, he sighed and spoke with a quiet and pleading tone. "What do you want me to say, Anette?"

"I... I don't know." Anette said. "I'm sorry. Not just for this ultimately pointless conversation but for..." She looked at him. Really looked at him. Deep into his eyes and locking him into her teary gaze. "I'm sorry, Branigan."

"There's nothing for you, and the others, to be sorry for. I made my choice back then, Anette." Branigan said. "And if I had to make it again, I would."

"I know you would. That just makes it hurt more." Anette sighed, taking the tissue he was holding out. She blotted the tears away before they escaped. "Sasha told me Simran came to visit. Said she conveyed her regards to me, which made me happy." She looked at Branigan hopefully. "Do you think she would be willing to talk to me again?"

"Not yet." Branigan shook his head. "But she did speak to Neil and Seymour before leaving. Mom's coming around. Give her time."

"I will. As long as she needs." Anette nodded despite the fresh tears welling up. They too were blotted away. "I miss her."

"Won't be long, I think."

They were quiet, again, for a long time. During that time Anette didn't look at him due to the shame she was feeling. She allowed her heavy thoughts to drag her down and flog her. As is due. She thought. As is due.

"Speaking of Sasha." Anette said eventually. "What do you think of her? So far."

"I think anyone who has her in their life is a lucky bastard."

"That they are." Anette smiled. Then, with hesitation halting her breath and words, she spoke. "She would accept, as you put it, your condition. I'm not offering her to you in her stead. I don't own her. But should you become interested in her romantically, you have my blessing."

Even as she said it, even as she added her own disclaimer saying she wasn't offering Sasha, Anette tasted guilty bile. To her it still sounded like she was trying to make up for her past mistake by giving up her daughter. Like a council offering up a virgin to a demon to save the village. Except this demon would be disgusted to even entertain the notion of a sacrifice. No. These insecurities were her own. Branigan would not be looking so deeply into what she was saying.

"Hmm. Good to know." Branigan said. He felt a touch of guilt as he and Sasha were hiding the truth from her parents still. But the guilt didn't last long. They had only just started dating so it made sense that it hadn't been announced to people. "By the way. Speak of the devil and she shall come."

Anette twisted in her seat. Through the bumps and ridges of the sandblasted glass in the middle of the door, she saw a vague blue and white smudge. A knock followed. "Your beautiful person alarm?"

"Something like that." Branigan laughed.

"Well then I'll be on my way." Anette stood. "Breakfast tomorrow in the faculty lounge? I promise there won't be any serious conversation."

"Sounds good."

"Good." Anette opened the door. "Hello, darling!"

"Oh. Hey. Mom." Sasha said. She was wearing a baggy blue sweater and tight white jeans.

"Don't bother him for too long. He has responsibilities other than helping students."

"They're not as important." Sasha smiled.

Anette simply shook her head at that and left. Branigan waited for the door to be shut, and the soundproofing spells to activate, before speaking. "Hey, gorgeous."

"Hey!" Sasha hugged him after kissing his cheek. "How are you?"

"Good! Busy. But good." He said. "You?"

"Same. Professor Wayne is killing us with essays. She assigned another one and we haven't even turned in the first one!" Sasha said. "She's insane."

"She actually is." Branigan said. "And you're insane because you enjoy it all."

"No, I believe my craziness is shown by me dating you." Sasha winked then scowled. "By the way you still haven't taken me out on a date. Natalia and Jack got them. But not me!"

"I haven't taken either of them on a date."

"Liar." Sasha poked his cheek. "Those two times you hung out with Natalia in your cabin. Just you two. Alone. Flirting. And you and Jack having dinner after making out. Those count."

"I was tutoring Natalia. We were just hanging out the second time."

"So you admit to that thing with Jack being a date!"

"If I take you on a date, will you be happy?" Branigan laughed and kissed her cheek. "Hmm?"

"Yes." Sasha nodded. "Tonight. Dinner. Pick me up at seven."

"You don't want me to cook?"

"My love language is people spending money on me."

"Good to know."

"Mhm." Sasha kissed him on the lips, allowing him to bear most of her weight. "Alright. I'm going to go do my homework."

"Later." Branigan pulled away after another kiss, patting her on the butt as she turned away.

That evening, Branigan borrowed Seymour's car and drove Sasha to The Tigress. After they were seated, a table over from where they had sat last time, Sasha said, "After having your mom's food, I don't know if South Panasian restaurants can compete."

"They can't. This place comes close though." Branigan said. "But I got you to laugh at one of my jokes here when you still hated me. Of course I had to bring you back."

"Awwww Bran, that's so sweet." Sasha crooned. "I didn't hate you though."

"Right."

"I didn't!"

"Uh-huh."

"I'm like that with everyone I don't know."

"You hate everyone you don't know."

"Not hate... Suspicious of."

"That sounds healthy."

"Is this a date or a therapy session?" Sasha scowled and kicked at Branigan under the table.

"A date. Definitely a date." Branigan said. "Although I prefer your feet to stroke my leg and not kick it."

Sasha stared, wide-eyed, at Branigan. He stared, eyes hooded, back at her. "Did...Were... How did you know about that?"

"About what?"

"What happened during my date with Jack!"

"What happened during your date with Jack?"