Xavier didn't think anything. He didn't give them any hint of what he had picked.
Naturally, it would be something terrible. That was just the way Xavier was. Too bad they couldn't transfer out of a class until tomorrow.
If you signed up for Seduction Basics, I am going to murder you, Hashim thought aggressively.
Let's all calm down, Corpse thought. Everyone braced themselves for the next part. Corpse wouldn't just say something nice...
If it was possible, I would have murdered all of you by now, Corpse continued.
Of course, Hashim sighed. I thought we agreed not to do this. Strongest gets the body.
I was the strongest, Xavier argued. Besides, Toon gets his own class. Multiple, in fact. We signed up for at least three engineering and science classes. Why can't I get one class?
Just calm down, everyone, Jake thought to them. Xavier, tell us what the class is.
. . .
Xavier... Hashim thought warningly.
I don't know, Xavier finally admitted.
What do you mean you don't know? Hashim was angry. Jake could tell. His thoughts were quieter, and he saw less. He was drawing back so that his anger didn't affect Jake. Hashim was a careful, methodical person.
By that you mean he would carefully, methodically remove everything inside Xavier if they both had bodies? Toon thought jokingly. Gravely, Jake nodded. Needless to say, both of them would be taking a small break from controlling the body.
How long is a small break? Hashim asked, concerned. He had plans, of course. Or at least goals. Running multiple lives out of the same body was hard.
Until you're trustworthy again, Jake affirmed. They would not give up the precarious middle position they had cultivated over the last week here. Ever since orientation he had worked hard for it, despite Xavier's interference, and he would not allow it to be ruined like this.
They really needed a mastermind... Well, mind. They didn't have a personality for handling long drawn-out plans. For now, Hashim and Toon in concert did the best they could.
But that was for later. For now, they needed to know what class Xavier had signed up for.
It's called Miscellaneous Experiences, Xavier thought. From what I understand, it's a class where we are given an overview of some activity or action, and then we spend the rest of the time practicing it. It's different every day, though. It could be any of us.
That's... actually quite tame, from what I expected, Hashim admitted. He wasn't really angry anymore, not that Jake could sense. He might still not be entirely trustworthy, but he could control the body with minimal risk.
Hashim broadcasted appreciation.
Well, where is it? Jake asked.
You can just let me...
Where is it? Jake asked again, more firmly. He wasn't about to let Xavier take control, not after finding out about this.
Third building, room fifty-seven. Xavier thought reluctantly. This is only because it would be bad for us to be late, especially for this class.
Right. Navigation. The first real test with real stakes. So far they had done alright, but that didn't mean it was easy.
The Academy was a veritable maze, with twelve different buildings, each with around seventy classrooms, aside from Building Four, which had ten massive cavernous rooms for physical activities, and Building Eleven, which had over one hundred thirty separate offices. They hadn't even heard anything about Building Twelve yet. And even those twelve were just the official ones.
Technically, the Academy's grounds encompassed around fifteen hundred acres of land, which included some neighboring towns and nobles' manors.
All of this was not to account for the Great Hall, the main feast and meeting hall with labrinthine passages twisting around and beneath it, along with containing many other things, such as a dungeon, rarely used, and also an inside field when they needed one. When building four wasn't enough.
All of this was information Jake, and sometimes Xavier, had gotten out of students in the past few weeks. They had arrived, by design, around a month before school actually started. Many students lived here the whole year, so it was easy to find students to talk to.
Even though Jake didn't like Xavier, or what he stood for, or what he did, he had to admit, Xavier did get results. Sometimes better than he did.
Thank you, Xavier thought smugly.
Shut it, Xavier, Hashim thought. You're still an idiot.
Jake smiled as he walked toward what he thought was building three. Until it turned out that Xavier had been giving directions, not naming a place, so when he spoke up and tried to direct Jake, everyone else groaned.
With much frustration, and quite a few arguments, they eventually reached the right room. Inside there was a small group of people near the front of the room. They appeared to be conversing over something.
Alright, Hashim, Jake said. Test run. If you get out of control, I'll take over. Got it?
Hahsim broadcasted acceptance, and Jake slowly ceded control of the body to him, telling Corpse to keep Xavier back.
Hashim, strangely, seemed to have a perception-based ability. Though they hadn't yet tested its capabilities, they had been using it in social situations to smooth over awkwardness. Which Hashim had a lot of. Out of all people, he was the one that got that sort of ability? Jake would have loved it. Xavier would have loved it even more, though Hashim shuddered to think what he would do with it. Anything would be better than this basically useless one he had, anyway. It hardly did anything that mattered.
Who cares whether he was able to participate in a conversation? Not him, that's for certain.
Hashim walked up to the group, joining them, and watched. In the center was a small animal. It was fuzzy, and red. A few people were slowly reaching their hands out to touch it.
Skye? Hashim questioned. He received a negative from Toon and Jake, and annoyance from Xavier. Xavier had never liked Skye, but he was gone now anyway. Recycled into the back of their Deep Consciousness. There had been a good reason, of course, but Hashim still missed him sometimes.
Hashim watched silently, along with the rest of the class, as the animal went up to one girl's hand and nuzzled against it. When she pulled her hand back, it was slowly changing color, into a deep maroon.
Likely used to measure magnitude and type of ability, Toon thought. After a moment, Hashim nodded. That made sense. If she had some sort of...
Abigail, third year, and her ability has something to do with not getting drunk, Xavier supplied. I don't know what exactly it is, though.
Hashim almost winced trying not to think of how Xavier had gotten that information. Had he gone drinking with her? Probably.
Her and friends, more likely, Jake noted. Hashim stopped himself from sighing, reminding himself that he was around other people.
"Hashim, why don't you have a go?" someone said. It was another girl. Inwardly, Hashim broadcasted an intense displeasure with Xavier as he looked up to see who it was.
Also named Abigail, Xavier thought. Second year, kind of the other Abigail's lackey, in all but name. Though literally speaking, you might call her a follower in name too.
Jake? Hashim asked. He wasn't good at talking, or responding, to people.
Just go ahead and do it, Jake instructed him. She isn't looking for a response, but you can grin at her if you want.
Needless to say, he didn't want.
Without saying anything, Hashim reached out his hand to the creature. It immediately turned and looked at him. Hashim tried to remember what Skye had done when he had kept snakes in the yard before. Keep still? Approach slowly?
Hashim went with the second one, moving his hand closer, watching the little fur ball closely in case it decided it didn't like him. Hashim had always been fascinated with creatures. It was so much easier to tell what they wanted than it was with people. People were complicated, thinking, choosing, having emotions. Animals weren't, not really. They wanted food, water, some wanted affection or attention, you could scare them or make them happy, but that was pretty much it. Easy.
So when the creature cocked its head and puffed up its fur like spines, Hashim froze immediately. He left his hand there, as drawing it back could be as provocative as continuing forward to some animals. He didn't know about this one's temperament at all.
From behind, he heard a slow clapping sound.
Professor- Xavier began, but Jake and Hashim shut him down.
We don't care, the two thought in concert, drowning out Xavier's information. It wasn't true, necessarily, but they didn't want to hear it from Xavier.
Jane Scotch, Corpse thought.
How do you know? Hashim thought. Corpse never took control of the body, and he never talked to anyone. How could he recognize someone by the way they clapped?
She has the most feminine hands, aside from Lady L, and Lady L doesn't clap, Corpse said. Hashim, Toon, and Jake all broadcasted confusion, but then she spoke, and Xavier and Corpse, ignoring their concerns, both broadcasted a sense of confirmation.
"Well done, well done," Professor Scotch said.
She does, Jake admitted, sound very much like a girl.
"It could have killed you if you had tried to withdraw," Professor Scotch continued casually.
Skye would have loved her.