ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 100: Can We Talk

Chapter 100

Can We Talk

Monday

“Can we talk?” Alexa of all people asked Julie immediately after class was released to go to lunch. Of course, Julie herself had been simmering all morning waiting for just such an event. Though she was caught flat footed by the fact that Alexa would come to her. After all, she had half expected to try to chase Alexa down and all but shake her and demand answers for why she went into another Trial of Ascension, when she told everyone she wouldn’t do so until Thanksgiving.

“Yes, I would like to talk.” Julie replied, trying to regain a lot of her anger that had been driving her throughout most of the class this morning.

At that Alexa nodded and then began walking away from the dining facility and off towards a corner of the building that was out of direct line of sight from the rest of the school. While this would do little to hide the fact that the two were talking from a student body that mostly had supernaturally improved hearing, it did offer the illusion of being secluded.

Once they were around the side of the building and out of view, Julie was the first to speak.

“Okay, what is this about?”

“I could ask you the same.” Alexa responded, her voice cold and calculating.

“What?” Julie questioned.

“You have been unusually mean to Luke, all through class giving biting words and snapping at him for no reason. He was targeted by a seasoned seductriss, someone that he easily turned down for you. Then rather than applauding him, you glare at him. He didn’t get mad that the male tried to seduce you.” Alexa said.

“I…” Julie trailed off, at that.

“So, I will ask. What is this about?” Alexa asked, repeating Julie’s original question right back at her.

Julie paused for a second, before clenching her fists. “You okay. This is about you. You promised that you wouldn’t go through with the Trials of Ascension until Thanksgiving, and you lied. Worse Luke tried to pretend like it didn’t happen, and denied knowing anything about what was happening.”

At that Alexa nodded.

“I see where the miscommunication took place.” Alexa said, “you misunderstood the comments being made. I said I would not skip ahead to the tenth stage of the Trials of Ascension, nor would I complete said stage until Thanksgiving. In no way did Luke nor I break that agreement.”

Julie paused, the fire that had been burning in her a moment ago suddenly extinguished as she realized what was said.

“But then why all the deception?”

“I wanted to test you and your new analytical capabilities. Both you and Gina increased your analytical capabilities by leaps and bounds and your classes all but confirm this. So, I was wondering if you could deduce my true operations and actions even though I mislead you. You were right to be on edge, I purposefully tried to set off warning bells in your minds. That said, it might be a level thing or might be a factor to get used to, but we need to get better.”

“Wait what?” Julie asked confused.

“We need to get better at using our classes, all of us. I already have a few ideas for how to improve Luke’s class, but with you and Gina I might need to get creative.”

“You can’t play this off like you intended for all this to happen.” Julie said, once again trying to call upon the confusion that was coursing through her mind as a way to push herself forward.

“I don’t play around when it comes to training. You two were close, you clearly knew something was going to happen, but you couldn’t predict what.” Alexa said.

“We knew you were going to go do something sketchy, even before we emerged from the dungeon.” Julie said, pointing towards the center of campus, where the dungeon exit sat.

At that Alexa nodded, “good, so we won’t have to do too much training. You have the instincts, but you are unable to fully put the pieces together.”

“What, I could and did. I read you like a book.”

“Then why are you mad at Luke and taking your frustrations out on him?”

“I…” At that Julie paused as she realized she had overstepped. “Oh wow… I was a … wow, I need to apologize.” Julie said, as she turned to go and find Luke right then and there. She had taken a half step away, when she turned back to Alexa and said, “don’t think this means I’m done being angry with you.”

“Good, anger is apparently a good training tool. You will need that.”

At that comment Julie’s face dropped, as she could suddenly see all the different training scenarios that Alexa would put her through in the coming days. Despite having an analytical class, she couldn’t help but feel that Alexa had out maneuvered her on some deep fundamental level. Julie held up her finger as if to offer protest for a second, but then quickly dropped the digit, spun about on her heel and left to go track down Luke.

Luke for his part had been just around the corner, surrounded by the other pack members of the Sophomore class. Previously this would have been well outside of his maximum hearing distance but with his recent focus on absorbing Perception crystals, and his class upgrades he could easily follow the entire conversation that had taken place on the side of the building.

As she emerged, her eyes went wide at the sight of Luke standing there of all people, but she quickly regained her composure.

Seeing Luke, the person she inadvertently directed her frustration towards, she let out a long sigh and apologized.

“Sorry.”

“What was that?” Luke asked, pretending like his superior hearing couldn’t hear her comment.

“I said I’m sorry.”

“Okay, but for what?” Luke asked, again pretending like he hadn’t just spent the last few minutes overhearing the conversation between the two.

“For taking my frustration of being mislead by Alexa out on you.”

“Oh.” Luke said, nodding his head sagely at the comment. “Sorry, I might have missed it, when was this?”

Grr.

“In class when I was insecure about the female twig girl coming onto you. I was both frustrated and slightly frightened that you might actually fall for that ditz’s act, and I tried to squash it early, before it could go anywhere.” Julies said, the more she spoke, the more she realized her own insecurities led to that scene that Luke clearly didn’t deserve.

At that admission, Luke paused and then realized something. “Wait, you were jealous of the elf?”

“Well yeah, she likely has some superior seducing powers and I didn’t think I could compete with her.”

“The fact that there was never a competition between you two is inarguable, but not for the reason you are describing.” Luke said, as he spoke Julie looked up and made eye contact with him, at which point he continued. “You are just better and more amazing than some self-righteous elven diplomat ever could be.”

Hearing that, Julie smiled brightly and ran up to hug Luke. “You know, sometimes you can be pretty charming when you want.”

“I am always…”

“Stop, don’t ruin this for me.” Julie said, holding up on finger in front of Luke’s lips and making eye contact with him.

“Right.” Luke said, nodding in agreement.

There was a second where she stared into his eyes, but then relented and rested her head against his broad shoulder. “Just promise me, that you will not put me into a similar situation like that again.”

“Look, you can try to argue with Alexa all you want. In fact, if you win let me know how, I will take notes. But there is no way that I can say with any measure of certainty that I will be able to argue against Alexa’s plans.”

At that Julie just nodded her head in agreement. Then finally she paused and spoke. “You know the more I understand Alexa, the more I realize she is on a different level of planning. Do you think she delivered Gina’s gifts to your house with the intention of using them as a plausible plan of deniability? Or did she just make up an excuse to use them there on the spot, as way to get one more dungeon delve out of the way?”

Hearing that, Luke’s eyes went wide. “Oh sunnuva…” He cried out as a look of pain filled his face.

“What?” Julie asked, a note of concern filling her face.

“I forgot the packages.” Luke said. “Now I have to drive there and back.” Luke said.

“You could just jump through the dungeon.” Alexa said, jumping into the conversation as she made her way around the side of the building.

“Are you kidding, the dungeon is like two miles away from our house.”

“And?”

“And, and. That means I would have to go home. Go the two miles to our house, then come back two miles with a bunch of packages.” Luke said.

“A bunch?” Julie asked.

“There are three, but they can all fit into a backpack if you take them out of the boxes.”

“And commit mail fraud, no thank you.” Luke said.

“Fine then, you can send me through and wait for me to return.” Alexa said.

At that Luke visibly relaxed, clearly liking this idea much better than having to go through the portal himself.

“All right, when do you want to do this?”

“Tuesday after classes.” Alexa said.

“So tomorrow?” Luke asks.

Alexa nods.

“Okay, yeah sure. That shouldn’t be a problem.”

Gurgle.

Julie’s stomach made a loud gurgling sound.

“All right, can we go eat, I am starving.” Julie said.

“Right.” Luke said, gesturing for Julie to follow him to the dining hall. Julie took a step to follow him, while Alexa stayed still.

“You aren’t going to follow us?” Luke asked.

“No thanks, I am going to take the last few minutes as a chance to relax.” Alexa said, “besides you two might need some time alone.”

“Right.” Luke said, as he could clearly see that Alexa was up to something, but couldn’t quite place his finger on what.

Wrapping her arms through Luke’s Julie began pulling Luke forward, away from his sister.

“What…hey.” Luke said.

“Come on, I’m hungry and they stop serving food at five till.” Julie admitted, her words causing Luke to move forward at a quicker pace himself.

“Right.”

The two moved awkwardly arm in arm for a moment, before breaking apart to race each other to the dining hall.

They managed to get some of the last few plates of hot food and sat down just in time to begin eating. While they sat, Luke couldn’t help but think something was odd.

“Do you think Alexa is up to something?” Luke asked.

“It’s Alexa, when isn’t she up to something.” Julie shot back.

“I know, but I can’t help but think something is off. I mean why Tuesday to get the packages. If it is as short of a trip as she says, then why not go this afternoon. I know four miles is a light warm up for her.”

Hearing that Julie just smirked.

“What?” Luke protested seeing the way Julie was looking at him.

“You don’t get it. Well, I don’t blame you. I almost missed it and she just warned me about this very thing.” Julie began.

“Wait, what?”

“She said we need to begin to use our new analytical skills more critically. Then the next time she talks to us, she gives this convoluted plan about getting presents, knowing that you would much rather spend a few minutes waiting for her at the dungeon entrance than driving the thirty minutes to your home and back.” Julie began.

“Well yeah, gas prices aside, it is just much easier to spend thirty minutes doing a task, than an hour. That is just common sense.” Luke said.

At that Julie just shook her head. “No, that is just half of it.”

“Half of it?”

“Yeah, don’t you see. She is going to go on her seventh stage on Tuesday, after she makes her appearance and then comes back.” Julie said, making sure to speak in a hushed whisper at the end so that her giving away Alexa’s role of Aru’ka won’t be overhead by everyone.

At that Luke paused and began to have a partial moment of understanding fill his mind. “Okay, I get not missing that, as that thing, is a big part of her. But how do you know she will go on a trial run?”

At that Julie just shook her head. “It’s about predictive analysis. Knowing a person and their underlying motivations and predicting what the most likely outcome is.”

“Shouldn’t this be something Gina would be doing?” Luke asked.

At that Julie just shook her head. “It is something we all should do, and honestly, I think it is a good point. We all now have the ability to do predictive analysis, but unless we work on using it, we won’t be able to think ahead. To prepare for what is coming.”

Hearing that Luke nodded along, “so wait, that entire thing was a test of hers?”

“Well and to get the packages that you left behind. Did you do that on purpose?”

Luke was about to deny, but then paused and answered, “yes, my forgetting the packages was all part of her plan.”

Julie just stared at Luke for a second, then shook her head. “You are a terrible liar. While I do agree your forgetting the boxes was likely part of her plan, I don’t believe she would have told you that.” With that Julie paused as she leaned back in her chair and clearly began to think. “No, I think the most likely chain of events was, you went to the house, found the packages on the front porch. Took the packages in, but were so tired that you took a nap where you overslept and ended up racing back to campus early in the morning, forgetting the packages on your way out.”

At that Luke just stared at Julie, a look of concern filling his face.

“You know, I am afraid of what she will turn you into once she is done.” Luke said, staring at Julie and imagining what she will look like when this is all over. Alexa 2.0? A slightly smaller, less scary version of Alexa? He didn’t know, but he could already see the molding there, just waiting to be filled. Coming to that conclusion, he asked himself the most important question he could. Am I dating a watered-down version of my sister?