Laws Of Attraction

Rainier getting into the shower felt like a godsend to Kir.

In answer to Stella's question, he said, "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Come on, boss. I can help you out! Hooking up is kinda my specialty..." Stella spoke with pride despite having admitted to being a virgin.

"I appreciate the offer, but I need to be alone. Please find something to do that isn't getting into trouble," Kir said.

Stella hmphed before flapping over to the window and pushing it open with far more strength than any ordinary bat should have had. A moment later, Kir was alone, with only the sounds of the shower and Rainier humming.

After about a minute, Kir stood off his bed and took the short walk out of his dorm room, into the common area at the center of the tower.

He needed to cool his head, and figure out why he was starting to feel like a hormonal teenager.

The obvious answer was that he was a hormonal teenager.

He had no idea how old he'd been when he died in his last life, and it didn't feel fair to leverage any of that to seek a relationship amongst his immature colleagues.

Taking a seat on the outer edge of the common area, he looked up at the ceiling before closing his eyelids, heedless of the other boys around him as he tucked his tail around himself.

Kir was only recently discovering he had types. Rainier was certainly physically attractive, and didn't seem to mind Kir's heritage at all. The latter, however, was the bare minimum. Maybe part of it was the fact that he was the first angelkin Kir had encountered, outside the barely remembered face of his mother. An attraction to what most people would consider his opposite... since even with his wings out, no one recognized the half of him that was angelic.

On the other hand, he'd also felt some sense of attraction to Kordia, and that had more to do with her sincerity and the hints of intellect he saw in her. She lacked courage, perhaps because of her insecure financial situation. Kir felt inclined to help her in ways other than financial, so long as she was willing to allow it.

As he thought for a long time about them, he realized that his sense of attraction had very little to do with a person's biological sex, although physical attractiveness was certainly a part of it...

...Or Stella's natural lust was having more of an effect on him than he'd been prepared for.

Setting that aside, his thoughts caused arguments and information to unfold in his mind as new memories rose up from his past life. He remembered wielding such arguments against people who didn't understand that the world was not reducible to simple binaries.

Faces passed before his eyes, but getting names out of his memories was rare. He didn't even know what he had been called. The bits he could recall about the faces he saw were that some were supportive, but most simply didn't get it, and chose not to understand even when he explained things simply. He had a sense that many would be of a similar mind in this world.

Much of the information he learned was tangentially related to his decade-old realizations with regard to his gender, but enough was new that he needed a significant amount of time just to think and process.

He was still sitting with his eyes closed when he felt a shadow loom over him.

"What are you doing here, demon blood?" A new voice growled.

Kir opened his eyes to see a minotaur, well, a beastkin boy who had bull horns and ears and about the same disposition as the mythical man-eater.

"Minding my own business," Kir said, aware because of his peripheral vision that on either side of where Kir sat were the bull-boy's cronies.

He didn't recognize the boy in front of him, so he must have been one of the normal first years or from a group that had tested after Kir. The fact he had cronies indicated the former, since Kir doubted anyone amongst the skipped ahead students had formed such bonds so quickly, though that didn't rule out pre-arranged minions, like the Princess and her maid.

"The only business you have is leaving my Academy. Nobody wants you here," the boy snorted heavily, stepping on the low table in front of Kir in a gesture that was supposed to be intimidating.

"It's not even the first day. I'd rather not have to deal with your bullshit," Kir replied, hearing the pair of cronies snickering until bull boy glared them down. "I'm not leaving. So how about you spare me the drama and back off before this becomes a fight." Kir stood up, looming over the punk by about ten centimeters, plus horns. He let his tail unfurl down to his feet, crossing his arms and staring down as he readied a multi-layered lattice shield in his mind. "Assuming you can put your magic where your mouth is."

The bull boy grinned. "I'm more than ready to beat you into the ground. You and me, the arena, we'll have a mage's duel right now." He was loud enough that many of the boys standing around the lounge turned to look, some making noises of interest.

Kir sighed. "Why not make it fair?" Kir proposed. "You and your cronies against me. That way you'll all learn."

The bull boy laughed. "Cocky bastard. It's your funeral!"

Kir didn't feel cocky. He'd spoken with a matter-of-fact, if slightly annoyed, tone. The bull boy hadn't bothered to ask Kir's name, so he provided it. "My name is Kir, if you can remember three letters."

Some of the students who had seen Kir on the bridge were around, and they very quickly gathered together and headed for the elevators.

Some of the students also took the stairs, and Kir suspected they were rallying other students to come and watch.

Several of the more enterprising students that remained were sizing up the bull-boy and his cronies, clear preparations for taking bets.

Kir looked around and saw a grandfather clock against the wall. He had an hour before lunch, which meant he'd spent far longer meditating than he'd thought.

Even though he didn't quite feel that he'd resolved his attractions, he sardonically chuckled at the notion that the one thing consistently attracted to him was trouble.