With a sneer of disgust, Sindri spat at the floating illusions which now circled their way around his head.
 
[i]Typical Kitsune trickery.[/i]
 
A pulse of glowing green light erupted from his eyes as he manifested his limited human form powers into action. Levitating himself a foot above the raising his long body arms above him as if in supplication to some dark heathen deity, before clenching his fists and turned to look at the foul vixen once more. This time she was clearly staring at him, in a way which made his skin crawl and blood take a level in temperature.
 
She was challenging him, [i]take the bait those eyes said, come on now, you haven’t yet not done it before.[/i]
 
But Sindri was not going to allow her to draw him into her manipulations this time.
 
With a burst of explosive green, a solid orb of magical flame erupted in a full meter around him, dismissing the false fires with some of his own very real ones. The flames abated after this blinding flash, instead coursing across his red clothing like green coiling serpents, bending to his will and design.
 
Slowly he approached the Kitsune and her companions, head cocked sideways as if he was a lizard inspecting a very fascinating insect before going in and crushing it between his jaws. Around his glowing green eyes, the façade of humanity was cracking away like old paint. Despite his attempts not to rise to the bait, he was failing quite badly.
 
Stopping a few feet from the seated Kitsune he glared down at her in hatred, the lying thieving cheat that this creature was repulsed him, stinking unbridled egotism and manipulative interests. Instead of rising to her challenge however, his eyes turned away from the Kitsune to her catlike companion.
 
A horrible vindictive smile of delight lit up his face. 

An idea.
 
He floated away from the Kitsune, and turned his gaze more fully on the cat Shifter, a smile like if the Cheshire cat had replaced its teeth with knives pointed in her direction. He raised slowly one boney arm to point directly at her, like an uncurling spider leg.
 
Turning to face the Kitsune again, he let out what must have been a chuckle, but which sounded more like the death rattle from torn vocal cords, undulating uncomfortably in the ears of those who surround him.
 
His intent could not have been clearer.

Lily eyed Sindri, first with interest, and then with caution. She hadn’t reacted to him extinguishing her flames, as doing so would have been a trivial task for anyone with powers similar to his or hers. She did, however, react to him gesturing at Tsukiko, pointing at her like some witch doctor from thousands of years ago would point a femur at a tribesman, declaring him dead. 

Her eyes didn’t quite narrow, though she did tense of slightly—readying herself to Shift should things go beyond what they currently were. She should have expected it of him, really. He was as vindictive as he was powerful, and there was no better way to hurt Lily than to go after those she cared for the most, and he knew that. 

When he finally turned back to her, she untensed, becoming relaxed again and—to what she suspected would be to his surprise—smiled at him. Not a fake, a mischievous, or a challenging smile like before. This one was as similar to the Kitsune’s signature Trickster smile and was, in fact, a genuine one. 

“I’m impressed. First time you’ve managed to not get back at me, Sindri. You’re one step closer to becoming someone great.” 

Beside her, still sitting by the table, sat Tsukiko with a confused frown marring her otherwise gentle features. [i]I guess you should expect to unexpected when dealing with a Trickster such as the Kitsune…[/i] 

“Your compliments are as empty as your existence Kitsune, you are merely one of many adversaries created by the Demiurge, and you will dissipate in time, like fog before the morning breeze.”
 
Despite his dismissive tone, his eyes began to regain their less hostile and more human appearance, the flames and distortions disappearing as quickly as they came, but still levitating a foot above the ground. “If I had wished I could have convinced your companion that her flesh was being feasted upon by an infinite swarm of rats and glutting maggots, but that would have been to acknowledge your existence, when you are but a figment of nothingness given form.”
 
His face by now had lost its contour of anger or hatred, instead sinking into an almost depressive outlook of misery.
 
“I must escape this place…” he seemed to mutter to himself, “the key… the key…”
 
Casually his eyes flickered to the newest companion at the table, a woman with extensive cybernetics and a fighters flame in her eye. He cocked his head once more eyeing her up critically, “What illusion are you, what name has he given you, to torment the chosen few with your emptiness?”

[i]So… I’m not the best at reading people in social situations- thanks dad- but I’m willing to wager these two aren’t exactly friends.[/i] Alice deadpanned in her mind, wishing she had just stayed seated. This really wasn’t the best situation to put her in- kill something? Easy. Lie your way out of a situation without showing a single trace of emotion? Child’s play. Figure out just what’d been purposefully broken in a rifle and told to fix it blindfolded and with cold hands? Been there, done that. Those didn’t require [i]really[/i] speaking to people unlike the current situation she’d gotten herself into. 

Lily whatever her name was apparently thought it was a good idea to harass the dark and edgy guy. If she hadn’t been standing right next to her when she did so, Alice would’ve been perfectly content to watch and take notes from afar. 

She kept her face blank as Sindri and Lily managed to calm down without landing somebody in the infirmary and kept it blank right up until he asked her directly what her name was, along with some other things that gave her the impression he had too much free time on his hands. She started very slightly, eyes refocusing on him as she snapped back to reality. Quirking an eyebrow but otherwise remaining more or less emotionless, she replied, “If you want a name to refer to me by, it’s Alice.” 

She casually reached down to the plate she’d set down on the table and snagged a few shrimp, before asking him in kind, “And who are you aside from the guy everyone either walks on eggshells around or can’t resist the temptation to harass?” 

[i]Empty my ass![/i] She mentally exclaimed, only realising too late that she had taken his bait, even if he probably didn’t mean to bait her. That was… just the way he was, she supposed. [i]He’s always had this thing about him; muttering about how people aren’t real and everything is a lie… I could understand it if Ikari had cast us all under a spell, but…[/i] She groaned internally, scooting closer to Tsukiko while keeping her gaze focused on Sindri. 

Her attention was diverted to the newcomer as she was addressed by Sindri. She kept silent for the moment as both he and the new girl talked. At least for a time. She couldn’t quite keep silent at the woman’s last comment, retorting indignantly. “That wasn’t harassment. I was only teasing. It’s nothing more than you’d do to a little brother or sister. Gentle teasing, nothing else.” Beside her, Tsukiko just groaned, albeit with a barely hidden smile on her lips. 

Alice glanced over to Lily, “Because [i]everybody[/i] feels the same way about something as you do. Of course, what was I thinking?” She sighed, rolling her eyes skyward for a second before looking back over to Sindri.

Instead of acknowledging Alice’s comment, and almost semi-oblivious to now small argument that was breaking out between her and Lily, he focused instead on Alice’s portion of tiger shrimp. Extending two fingers in a triangular or scissor like fashion he levitated one of them up under the nose of its current owner and launched it towards his fingers, catching it between the two outstretched ones, before bringing it to his mouth and beginning to munch it, seemingly without a care in the world.
 
Through a mouthful of shrimp his almost morbid tone took on a lighter aspect as he answered, “I am Sindri, and despite being an illusion I believe the figment Lily is correct for the wrong reasons, purely because she does not exist to actually harass me, and is primarily a figment of imagination.”
 
Scoffing down the last of the shrimp, me took on a philosophical expression, deep in thought, “I blame the Demiurge for her immense ego and conflated sense of self worth…” with this he broke into a demented cackle, before flicking his finger at a nearby students table and lighting the food on their plates on fire, the same students who had caused him to break the delicate operations of his watch earlier. 

“Sindri,” Lily said, standing up to her full—and not so impressive—height, attempting to draw the attention of the other two. “I have a question for you. One that might make you think a little.” She looked up at him, smiling faintly. “Why do people fear death, but love life? Why is it that such a natural part of existence is feared and hated; seen as a curse, when a journey through which you are put through so many challenges and exposed to so much hardship?”

Sindri gave her a big cheshire grin again, not tinted with anger of any form, instead almost patronising in nature. In a slow steady voice, as if reproving a child, he answered back in a series of short definite statements. “Life is illusory, death is illusory, you fear the concept of death because you fear the end of the illusion and what may be lingering beyond that specific sphere. You cling to what you know, despite its foulness, because its ALL that you know, and upon this falsehood you call ‘death’ you repeat this cyclical illusion for eternity. Only by breaking the chain can you understand the truth, this is a prison and you must search for the key.” His smile widened once again, even more patronising than before, “But you do not exist Lily, you are but a figment, when this world dies, so shall you.”

Looking him right in the eye, she returned the grin, albeit at a less maniac level. “You’re right, but you’re also wrong. Life is a beautiful lie, whereas Death is a painful truth. You, by saying that life is an illusion, acknowledge its existence and the reality of it. You live, do you not? You can plunge a dagger through your heart and end your life, but even doing so you acknowledge that you lived, and then died.” 

She reached a hand behind her, making sure that her hand was out of sight as she grabbed the fork she had been eating with. As she grabbed it she brought another knife into existence; a perfect copy that would be indistinguishable from the other one: A perfect copy right own to the food remains on it. “Which of these is the real one?” She asked, holding both of the up.

Sindri let out a barking laugh, “Death is no truth because there is no death, and by saying that life is an illusion I am saying just that! nothing here exists! If I ended my time here in this hell, it would simply recreate itself and repeat the process once more, there is no life or death, there is only existence and nothingness.” Stretching out both hands, he touched the forks, a spark of magic launching from each finger. In a blink of an eye both disappeared, he grinned at her again “There was no real one, because neither of them ever existed.”

Lily only smiled, tilting her head to the side. With a flex of her mind she brought one of them back, placing it back on the table. “Yet you pointed at them, affected them with your magic. You Deigned yourself to turn your attention towards them… If they’re not real, then would you not ignore them? If you acknowledge them in any way, then does that now prove their existence?” (Btw, how does our Valkyrie react to all of this?) (If you’re wondering the Valkyrie is just munching shrimp with a raised eyebrow at the moment)

He tilted her head again, looking at her with big inquisitive eyes, “If one night I dream, and in the dream I realise it is in fact a dream, does that make the events happening in the dream, ‘real?’ I cannot, not interact with the illusion if it is all encompassing. The only escape is the refutation of its own existence.”

Lily stood for a second, holding his gaze, unflinching, chewing on what he had said. His view on reality was… interesting, if a bit disturbing. In some ways he was barking mad, but he also made somewhat sense—from a strange point of view, though. 

She eventually turned to Tsukiko, arching an eyebrow at her. “What do you think, Tsuki?”

“...Nya?” The cat-girl looked thoroughly confused for a moment, nose scrunching up and ears flattening against her skull. “It’s really, really confusing. Why can’t you just… I dunno… do Jan-Ken-Pon or something?” 

Snorting, Lily reached out to scratch one of Tsuki’s ears, earning a pleased hum in return. “Perhaps we should… Regardless,” she turned back to Sindri, “by virtue of having to do anything but simply ignore it you acknowledge its existence. If you have to refuse it, then it ultimately means that there is something to refuse.” Her smile widened a bit, and she turned to Tsukiko, taking her hand and helping her stand. “Either way, Tsuki and I have stuff to do—”

“We do?”

“—and as fun as it was to talk to you, I think we’d better part now before we make more people nervous.” She glanced around, nodding her head towards some of the other students watching them cautiously. Lily’s and Sindri’s rivalry was not a secret in the Academy, and those who knew of it knew that getting too close to them when they were together wasn’t always a good idea. Especially when the air was as loaded as now. “So, without further ado,” she nodded to him, and then to the Valkyrie—Tsukiko mirroring her on both accounts—and made her way towards the exit. “I’ll see you!” She called over her shoulder, raising her free hand in a backward wave.

Sindri made a “mmmm”ing noise at that response, scratching his chin in thought “by that logic there is nothing which does not exist, and every falsehood is truth because you have acknowledged it… contradictory. Would this however, not mean that truth and falsehood in turn do not truly exist? Thus meaning that we return to the status quo of falsehood.” He raised an eyebrow, vaguely intrigued, “interesting nonetheless, faretheewell figment.” he waved back, eyeing up the Valkyrie in turn as if judging her for her philosophical abilities. raising one finger in the air he opened his mouth, pausing temporarily for one last look. 

“Something tells me you won’t be as fun…” he stated matter of factly, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Fun is a subjective entity we assign a meaning and a word to,” Alice replied, “It’s entirely based on our own perception of things, if indeed everything is an illusion are you really having fun?”

With an overly long finger he pointed directly at her, a small smirk running across his face “touche”. Turning around he took in the now slightly disturbed surroundings with an element of amusement, he began floating off, “perhaps I fool myself into believing so, but then again…” he turned back for one last grin, “fun is rather fun”. 

With this he levitated himself at high speeds towards the door, blasting it open with a deranged cackle, and leaving several just entering students in a state of complete confusement as he barreled through them.

Alice watched him go with a raised eyebrow, still munching on shrimp. “I must say,” she murmured to herself, returning to her previous seat in the corner, “I can’t disagree there.” She ate quickly and dusted her legs off before following the example the other three had set and striding briskly out.