15.2. Roots, Fur, Scales and Feather - Part 2

Ingri returns when Fefnir is establishing four servers, one for each race. The technicians are helping him with that and feel super anxious around him. Well, he does look like a proper reptile now.

"What's up?" Ingri sits down next to me.

I notice she's not wearing her corset today. She's still dressed in a lolita dress but it looks more casual.

"It was a bit suffocating," she says because she guesses why I'm staring at her outfit. "And my dress is starting to feel strange as well. The material is artificial."

"Order anything you want... within reason, of course," Liana offers. "Will organic cotton be better for your Earthborn skin?"

"Perfect probably but they don't make any nice outfits with it," Ingri looks saddened.

"Order just the fabric and hire someone to sew you a dress," Liana shrugs. "It seems we have to re-evaluate our fashion sense as well. Soon. Fefnir looks kind of ridiculous in his clothes and Aefener is shivering even if he's wearing a hoodie."

"Hey, who do you call ridiculous?" Fefnir purses his lips.

"Aefener, you feel cold?" Ingri is worried. "Should I adjust more clothes for you?"

"A bit, yes," I say. "And I didn't take anything else with me."

"He was okay just yesterday," Erik is also concerned. "Since this morning, he put on a hoodie and he has two t-shirts underneath."

"I'll tell Hana to order him some thermo clothes," Liana nods. "And for me as well seeing how the transformation progresses."

"Right, progress," Dr Stein speaks up. She's sitting in the corner, either typing another document into her laptop or communicating with doctors and researchers. "I should re-measure Ryuuto's wings."

I know that you don't want her touching you but we have to know, Erik tells me in advance because he notices my aversion.

"O-okay," I agree and let Dr Stein do her job.

I get goosebumps when she stretches my wings so I close my mind completely. I still catch what she's thinking about but at least she isn't pouring all her stuff into me.

"They've grown by three centimetres each," she announces enthusiastically.

"That much?" everyone is surprised.

"My laser measuring tape is very precise," she confirms. "Later, I'd like to weight you as well, Ryuuto, to see if your bones are getting lighter."

If you get any lighter, a gust of wind will blow you away, Erik touches my wing to send me a joking thought and at that moment his phone starts ringing.

"Sorry, I have to take it," he sighs. "It's from work."

This time he doesn't want me to hear it and goes outside. I hope they aren't pushing him too hard about the fact why he's away. Come to think of it... I should probably check my school email. I guess I must have missed some assignments. Do Draconians get extensions due to our condition?

I open the university mail inbox and stare at it for a few seconds. Every professor of mine wrote me an email and there're several messages from the dean of my faculty as well as various student organisations. Also my classmates whom I've hardly spoken to wrote me for some reason. Damn, I need a whole day to go through this avalanche of messages.

"Are you okay, Aefener?" Liana asks.

"School stuff," I sigh. "Oh, Li, what am I going to do? I have a degree to finish. Will they let me attend university again when things calm down?"

"I don't know," she says truthfully. "The world will most probably radically change with four new races on it. We can't be certain about anything. You heard Deminas—he might lose his job just because what he's transformed into. A new form of discrimination."

"I need my laptop to go through all those messages," I stand up and exit the study. The salon, which became my and Erik's room, isn't that far.

I can almost walk normally again. Erik forces me to eat a lot so I have lots of energy. Still, Celestials will be weakened for several days after their transformation which might pose danger to us. Not everyone is going through it in a safe environment. What if someone gets hurt? What if humans attack us?

I walk by two bodyguards and a shiver goes down my spine because they look at me strangely. They must know I can do telekinesis so they're wary of me. I feel a mixture of fear and fascination coming from them. The tone of their emotions is so... human? So unlike Liana, Fefnir and Ingri.

Out of the blue, I get nauseous. I somehow manage to pass the guards without flinching but then I run towards the bathroom. My fancy breakfast ends up in a toilet bowl. What the hell is happening? Why did the guards make me feel so sick? Was I disgusted by the mere fact I have to perceive human emotions?

My hands are trembling when I'm washing my mouth and face. Then I glance at myself in the mirror. Golden eyes, a pair of white wings that are getting more beautiful and elegant each day and... two coloured hair. I touch the black part of my hair and feel that it's just wrong for some reason.

I don't know what exactly I'm doing to be honest but a second later I'm rummaging through various drawers, looking for scissors. And there they are. My logical thinking gets hazy when I put scissors to my hair. I just know that I need to get rid of the black. That's not me anymore.

I cut. And cut. And cut. Until there's no more black and my original locks are lying on the ground. And I feel better.

"Ryuu, for God's sake, what are you doing?" the door bursts open and Erik is standing there, staring at me in disbelief. "I was looking for you."

"I... I have no idea," my eyes start to water. "I just felt uncomfortable. Oh, Erik, you don't make me sick, that's a relief. I was worried that..."

He doesn't know what happened but he goes for a hug as a default. The familiarity of his thoughts calms me down. Erik is okay... I love his mind... it's all okay.

"So... what happened?" he softly asks me when my breathing slows down.

"I'm not sure," I dry my tears. "I went to fetch my laptop but as I was passing two bodyguards, I suddenly started to feel nauseous. Their emotions did that to me."

"And the hair?" he points to the floor.

"I looked at myself in the mirror and didn't like what I was seeing," I admit hesitantly. "Does it make any sense?"

"I guess nothing makes sense anymore, we just have to go with the flow," he says and caresses my all-white hair. "Let me fix your haircut, okay? It's crooked."

We quickly tidy the mess and Erik takes the scissors into our room. He seats me on the chair and tries to make my hairline even. He's no hairdresser but it's much better than my clumsy work.

"Strange seeing you with shorter hair," he comments when it's done. "But considering how quickly your hair grows, it won't stay short for much longer."

"Thanks," I ruffle my hair. "I feel much better now."

"You were panicking again, Ryuu," he's saddened.

"Erik, did you notice any changes in my mentality?" I ask. "For a moment there in the hall... I felt repulsed by humans."

"That might be impossible to answer," he shakes his head. "I don't have any means of comparing. You're the only telepath I know and normally people can't delve into each other's minds. I can judge your friends only by their behaviour."

"And my behaviour?" I press him.

"Your behaviour is too influenced by you being a telepath I'm afraid," he shrugs. "I don't mean it in a bad way by any means but you always acted abnormal. Which I've liked," he adds quickly.

"What if being a Celestials and a telepath isn't compatible?" I worry. "My ability started acting weird around the time I was beginning to transform."

"It's getting stronger, not weirder," he reassures me. "And it actually might be connected to the current events somehow."

"It might?" I'm surprised he thinks that. I don't see any connection whatsoever.

"It's evident you see it as natural since you were born with it," he bites his lip. "But Ryuu, you do realise that having telepathy would normally be totally unimaginable? Something from science-fiction?"

"Ehm... I guess?" I feel lost.

"Dummy, you don't really, right?" he smiles at me encouragingly and kisses me. "My cute psychic angel, you take it more as a condition than something miraculous and extraordinary."

I blush and kiss him instead of answering. I love how he makes me feel confident in areas I feel most vulnerable. Could I be even proud of my telepathy one day?