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The Victoria Chronicles

**Chapter 06

Learning Curves**

Vix's emotions were twisted into knots, and her anger, confusion and fear were fighting each other to the point where she did not know how to feel anymore. And for someone who always had control over their emotions to suddenly find that her emotions had more control over her at the moment scared her.

All the events of the last couple days had come to a head and she needed to clear her thoughts somewhere away from anyone. She ran across the farm yard behind the barn running up the hill faster than she had ever run before in her life. As she crested the small hill she tripped on a stone unseen and drops down towards the ground. Before she could face plant into the ground however she put her hands out to catch herself and instinctively continue to run, but now on four instead of two. She continue to run like a true fox, her inner instincts having taken over, until she reached was far into the orchard and the underbrush, until she found a clearing in the center of the neglected orchard.

Vix sat down under an apple tree, crossing her legs and resting for a moment. It was then she realized that she had made most of the journey on four legs. She didn't quite understand what had just happened. But then again, she was still grappling with understanding what had happened over the last couple of days anyway. Vix also noticed that she was standing on her toes instead on flat on her feet. During her run her feet had changed shape!

"Percii? I assume you are listening to me?" Vix Said after letting out a long sigh.

"Of course." The AI replied in his usual not quite condescending tone.

"Of course!" Vix mimicked in the privacy of her own head. "The little pest is always listening in on me!" Vix thought to herself in slight aversion to the AI.

"If you are going to think such thoughts about people Mistress, you should do it with a bit less broadcasting." Percii replied to her last comments within Vix's own head. "Such actions aren't particularly very lady-like."

"You can eavesdrop on my thoughts?! Is nothing I do private anymore?!?" Vix exclaimed inside her thoughts.

"I can only hear your thoughts when you allow me to." Percii replied in her head again. "And so far you are broadcasting very loud and clear."

"Ok." Vix said aloud, wishing to take this outside her head. "First, a little privacy please. Second, how the hell are you even in my head in the first place? And third, stop with the Mistress!"

"I'm wired into your nervous system, remember? I can hear you, and you can hear me." The AI reminded. "You are going to need to learn not to broadcast if you don't want me to listen in on private thoughts. Try not thinking so loudly."

Vix decided to put a pin in this discussion for another time. She was getting off topic and with everything else going on in her head one more thing was going to give her a headache.

"What happened to my feet? Why are my feet different now than before?" Vix asked.

"Your instincts kicked in when you took flight instead of fight." Percii said.

"How do my instincts translate into my feet changing shape?" Vix asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Your body is more malleable and dynamic then your old static body was. In this regard your feet can go from plantigrade to digitigrade and back again as the circumstances dictate." The AI explained. "This holds true for the rest of your body as well."

"Right..." Vix said thinking. She'd have to inquire more about this at a later time.

Vix was silent in thought for quite a few minute before she spoke again.

"Look...I realize that you were probably trying to help. And that I should really apologize for my actions earlier this morning." Vix said apologetically. "But I am having a real problem grappling with all of this. This is just... Too much to take in all at once, do you know what I mean? Last week I was a human looking for work and having relationship issues. Now I'm some sort of fox human anthropomorphic hybrid, monster, something or other... Whatever the fuck I am."

Vix was silent for a minute before she continued. "I do appreciate the fact that you and Visalth saved my life. And I am starting to come to grips with the fact that I have some part to play in something In the near future. But I am going to need a little time to process all of this. This... Is a lot to unpack."

"Apology accepted Mistress." The little AI corrected. Vix decided to let the Mistress comment slide, for now. "On my part, I will try to give advice when it is needed and required. I am here to advise and to teach you about your new abilities. And prepare you for what is to come. Even I do not know the full scope of what Mistress Visalth knows." Percii explained. "But know that I am here to assist you. Not to make your life any rougher than it already is."

"Thank you Percii." Vix Said humbly and in a less aggressive tone than before.

Vix got up and wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. "It's just, every time I think of the asshole that started all this, I just get so mad!"

She balled up a fist and suddenly turned around with her fist gave a tight jab in ending in a straights arm aimed at the trunk of the tree she was under. Her fist connected with the trunk and sailed through, coming out the other side in a shower of wood, shrapnel and a loud bang. The resultant force she expended on the wood was more than sufficient to cause the cellulose in the wood to detonate.

*Boooom!!!*

Vix watched the tree fall over in a crash of branches. She was so shocked that she stood there for quite some time before she spoke again.

"Percii? What the actual hell just happened?" She said in a slightly stunned voice. Still trying to grasp what had just a occurred.

"It would seem that you took your anger out on an old fruit tree." Percii said not all that helpfully.

"Percii..." Vix said threateningly.

"All right, all right," the AI said in a more conciliatory way, "As I have tried to explain before, your new body is significantly stronger than your old one used to be."

"How is this even possible? I'm no biologist, but a body my size and mass should not be able to punch a tree over. Let alone cause a small explosion in the process." Vix said, looking at the slightly smoking stump.

"According to your laws of physics, no." Percii started, "But not all of what makes up your body conforms to such limitations of this universe. A good deal of your makeup consists of matter from another dimension entirely, and although you would not think it possible, it reacts differently in this world then your more crude matter."

"This is, hard to wrap my head around." Vix said. "What you're saying is that I'm made up of some exotic matter? What if I explode!?" Vix said with a bit of mortal panic mounting in her voice.

"You are not going to, ahem, explode, Lady Victoria. Visalth has spent several millennia in your world, and has not, exploded. Perhaps a more visual aid is in order." Percii said. And then the jewel on Vix's bracer lit up slightly brighter and what appeared to be an old-time British butler appeared before her in the orchard. He was balding, with neatly trimmed short hair that wrapped the middle his head from behind. He had a small, neat and finely trimmed mustache, and was wearing a crisp and neatly pressed white shirt under a black tux jacket with tails.

"Now then." The butler with Percii's voice started as a few charts and diagrams opened in the air near him, "As you can see from the charts here and here-" he started explaining before he was cut off.

"Woah woah woah! Back up a moment." Vix exclaimed, "Who and what is this?"

"I thought a more, physical avatar, was appropriate." Percii said.

"You made another body?" Vix said, staring the butler standing in front of her.

"Not quite. This is what you would refer to as a hologram. Although I am more advanced than that term would imply."

Surprisingly Vix could almost accept that at this point.

"And the butler routine?" Vix asked cocking an eyebrow.

"I thought it an appropriate form." Percii replied, "After all, I am but a servant for you, Mistress Victoria."

"I thought I made it clear earlier that I don't like such titles." Vix said, running a paw over her eyes in a tired fashion. "And you can cut the master/mistress crap right there!"

"You may dislike it if you like. But the fact remains that I was created by the mistress to act as an assistant and a servant." Percii explained. "It's in my nature and my algorithms."

"So what you are saying is that although sapient and self-aware you are subservient to whomever is wearing this techno-bracer?" Vix said as she held up her left arm and indicating the little AI on her wrist.

"Not at all." Percii said in his polite yet slightly condensation tone. "Although I was created to serve the Mistress gave me free will. I chose to serve, as she has been very kind to me. Others of my model were not as fortunate to get a kind and understanding master when created. And for that kindness I have chosen to remain loyal to her. It is her wish that I now assist you now that she is no longer of this physical world and beyond my services now." He said pointedly.

"Ok..." Vix said, still unsure about all this, "So, what is all this you were about to tell me about punching exploding trees?"

"Well, as I was saying before--" Percii said as he started to wind up another explanation.

Vix sat and listened while Percii lectured her on the inner workings of her new biology, explaining right down to her genetic code and even molecules and atoms. There was much that Vix was certain that was far beyond the science that mankind had discovered thus far, and even stuff that defied the laws of physics as she had previously understood them.

The thing was however is that she _actually understood_what the AI was talking about. At least on a basic understanding level. She wouldn't be able to replicate what he was talking about, but she did understand it.

An hour later Percii finished his dissertation, the butler-avatar turning back to her. "Any questions?" He asked, expecting a litany of questions.

He only got one.

"Actually, yes." Vix replied. "Why female?"

"I've already explained that this morning." Percii said, "With your complex makeup, unique biology and blend of three creatures it was the easier and safer to go with that gender change." The AI explained pointedly.

"Mm hmm," Vix said with her chin in her hand, "Pull up the chart showing my genome please. Hmm...let's see. Ah...here we are." The vixen said pointing to a complex sequence. "If you switched this with these, and substituted these amino acids here...Yeah. You could have preserved my gender and still remained within your safety margins and streamlined the process. Assuming I understand what you've told me of my biology." Vix said explaining her theory and pointing out several points on the 3D diagram.

"No no no, that would nev--wait a minute..." Percii said as the AI examined what Vix had said from all angles. "Actually...How the hell did you manage that?! That...that would have worked!" Percii said genially surprised.

"One question though Percii." Vix asked, her face showing a slightly confused look.

"And that is?" the AI asked.

"How is it that I knew all that? Let along understood it?" Vix asked a bit worried.

"That would be because of your boosted intelligence and excess to some of Visalth's memories." Percii replied simply. "You are much smarter then you were before, which according to my information was actually pretty smart. You really were not living up to your potential before, were you? Adding to that is the immense store of information and memories that Lady Visalth bequeathed to you and your understanding of such things become quite a bit simpler for you."

Vix was silent while she processed this. "Does that mean I'm not the same person anymore? Does that mean my personality is going to change to some sort of alien amalgam?!" Vix cried out, starting to get fearful that she was going to lose herself to these changes.

"No, not at all." The AI said slightly reassuringly. "Your personality is completely intact. You are still you. Who you are is your to make as it always was. All that's changed it your intelligence. Visalth's memories and experiences are merely additional resources there for you to draw on." Percii assured.

"So...what you are implying, is that the modded and boosted person that you created just found a mistake that the great hyper computer should have caught himself?" Vix said, giving a sly smile in spite of herself. "It all seems to line up with what you were going on about."

"Well I...I mean...it would have..." Percii stammered getting quite flustered. "Ok fine! Your right! I could have done it that way! It's all very simple when you look at it on paper, but in practice it's quite a different matter altogether." Percii huffed.

"You just don't want to admit that you missed something." Vix said smugly, enjoying the fact that she was, for once, the one that was doing the aggravating.

"Fine!!" Percii relented, "Are you going to start yelling at me about me screwing up your life again?"

"No." Vix said "I think I've made my point." She said as she picked an apple from the stricken tree and taking a bite out of it. "For now."

"I would like to know why my emotions are so...amped up." Vix said after a while of silence. "I've never had mood swings like this before."

Percii was silent for a bit before responding. The AI didn't want to incur her wrath again. His new mistress was nothing like his old one.

"Your body is still adjusting to the changes made to it." Percii explained. Then added quickly, "But it will settle in time. This is one reason why Visalth said that you need time to adjust."

"And the other reasons." Vix asked focusing on the 'one reason' Percii said in that sentence.

"Just look at the stricken tree behind you." The AI simply stated.

"Point taken." Vix said glancing over her shoulder at the fallen tree she had felled with a single punch. "So then, what else can I do?"

The hologram in front of her interlocked his fingers and inverting them and pressing out with straight arms in front of himself cracked his knuckles in a gesture of getting down to business.

"Let us begin." Percii said.

It was well into late afternoon before Vix returned to the farm. She headed not for the farmhouse, but instead headed to the shop building. Heading inside she found Pops inside working on a tractor with the upper half of the motor half dismantled.

"Feel better Victoria?" He asked calmly when he noticed her enter the shop.

"Much." Vix said walking up to the tractor. "Percii and I needed to clear up some stuff. By the way," she continued, her ears flattening slightly in trepidation, "you may be short one apple tree now."

"Not a big deal. Been meaning to clear out the orchard anyway, we don't use it anymore, and the whole place has become fallow anyway. But I am curious, what exactly is Percii?" Pops asked as he removed another bolt from the head of the engine.

"To me he's a minor annoyance," Vix said looking around the engine bay of the tractor and examining what Pops was doing. "In truth he is some sort of hyper quantum computing AI. And apparently now my assistant."

"And what does he assist you with?" Pops asked moving the ratchet to another bolt.

"Anything the Mistress requires." Percii interjected, answering the question before Vix could utter another word.

"What did I tell you about calling me that?!" Vix growled, rolling her eyes up toward the ceiling and looking up. In the process of looking upwards in exasperation with Percii's insistence on calling her Mistress, which she really hated for any number of reasons. Vix noticed the large dent, or rather bowl in the roof from where she had collided with it earlier that morning.

"Whether or not you like it you are my mistress now and I am your servant." Percii persisted. "That's just how it is."

"Regardless, I wish you would just call me by my name." Vix said.

"That kind of familiarity would be inappropriate." Percii replied in that tone that historic butler's used.

"Persistent, ain't he?" Pops chuckled.

"Oh, you have no idea." Vix said. "I've had to listen to him lecture for the last three hours. He's worse than any professor I've ever heard of."

Pops chuckled as he continued removing bolts from the head assembly.

"What are you doing anyway?" Vix asked, changing the subject.

"Well I started by removing the injection pump which was leaking. But in the process I discovered that some of the Exhaust valves are burned out. I'll have to rebuild the entire head assembly now." Pops explained as he removes the last bolt. Placing the balls to the side in the path straight pipes reach into the engine bay and tried lifting out the Engine head. But he was too far away to get any good leverage.

"Here let me help" Vix said. And before Pops respond she simply reached over with her right hand, griped the head in the center and lifted the engine head off the motor is if it was an empty cardboard box.

"Anywhere on the workbench all right?" Vix asked, still holding the engine-head one handed over the partially dismantled motor.

"Uh, sure. That's fine." Pops said marveling at how effortlessly she carried the part over to the workbench and placed it on the surface. "You're uh, pretty strong ain't ya?"

"I'd call it a perk, but I'm not entirely sold on the idea that it was worth the trade." Vix replied.

"What trade was that?" Pops asked.

"Being human, for one." Vix reply flatly.

"Look, I can't imagine what you've been through," Pops began, patting her the back, "and I haven't known you for very long, but despite how you may appear now you still human enough from my perspective. And that counts far more in my book."

Vix gave a small smile and nodded.

Before the conversation could go any farther there was a ding that came from one of the backpacks still sitting on the other workbench.

"Oh yeah, that's been going off fairly regularly." Pops said glancing at the bags on the other workbench and back over to Vix. "You may want to see what they want."

"Yeah," Vix sighed, "I have a pretty good idea who it is." She said with trepidation and walking over to the bag in question. Opening the backpack Vix reached inside and pulled out a fairly beaten up cell phone. Looking at the display she was dismayed that the screen was well and Trudy shattered beyond reading.

"Well that's not going to help out much." Vix said after poking the screen a few times just to see if she could get a response one way or another from the battered phone.

"Actually," Percii said from her wrist, "I think I can help with that."

"What? You can fix it?" Vix asked the little AI on her wrist without taking her eyes from the broken phone. She had already found out from their long talk earlier that such motions weren't necessary.

"No. But I can instruct you in how to do it yourself." Percii replied. "Put your hand I your pocket."

"What?" Vix said confused.

'Just humor me." Percii persisted.

Not sure what else to do Vix put her hand in her pocket. "Ok. Now what?"

Before she could inquirer further she felt something placed into her hand. Pulling her hand out she withdrew a metallic cylinder about 9" long and varying between 1/2" to 1" with what seemed like a handgrip slid out of her pocket.

"What is it?" Vix asked reaching out and taking the obviously far advanced tech into her hand. As soon as she gripped the device the hole in the air disappeared and the full weight of the device hit her hand. It wasn't particularly heady, but it did have some heft to it.

"It's a multi-diagnostic and repair tool." Percii explained while Vix turned it around in her hands as Pops looked on over her shoulder. "Visalth and her kind used it for scientific research and small repairs of their other devices and such."

"How do I use it?" Vix asked, not quite sure what she should do with it, or even how exactly to turn it on.

"It's intuitive." Percii replied. "Just think what you want it to do and it will basically do it. As long as it is within its abilities."

"Right..." Vix muttered. She looked along the length of the device and adjusted it in her grip into what she assumed was the right position. "All right, let's see what this does."

Vix decided to start small and just try turning it on. She thought "On" in her mind and nothing happened. "Uhm, Percii? Nothing's happening."

"You have to visualize what you want it to do." Percii said as if talking to a small child, "Not just think the word on."

"How do you know what I was thinking?" Vix said suspiciously.

"Just an intuitive guess." Percii replied smugly.

"Ok." Vix thought to herself, "I can do this." Vix concentrated on what she 'wanted' the device to do. Namely turn on. But this time she imagined what she wanted. She formed a picture in her mind of the gadget lighting up. Though because she had never seen one before, let alone functioning, she really had little other choice but to imagine what it may look like.

This time however, it actually did torn on. The cylinder elongated slightly and a small stem about 3/4 of the way extended out the top facing surface vertically and then split halfway up, with the main part of the stem remaining vertical and the second extending horizontal and perpendicular to the main stem, forming a three sided cross. A transparent holographic display popped into view after everything stopped moving and rearranging.

"That's, uh, quite the advanced gizmo, ain't it?" Pops asked rhetorically.

Vix would have answered if she wasn't so intent on what she was doing and listening to Percii's mostly helpful instruction.

"Ok, now what?" Vix asked while staring intently at the holographic display.

"Now switch to diagnostic scanning mode." Percii explained.

"How do I, never mind, I think I got it." Vix said as some of the icons on the display changed and a green highlighted horizontal line began at the top of the cell phone's casing and made its way down to the bottom, scanning the whole phone.

"Ok," Percii said after the scanning was complete, "now you want to highlight the cracks in the screen only. To do that you need to--" Percii began.

"Hang on, I think I see it...ok, done." Vix said highlighting an icon of the display and clicking it with her mind. It was amazing how intuitive this device really was. All she really had to do was to visualize her thoughts and the Devine recognized her intent and performed the act.

"Now you just need to stitch the molecule bonds in the crystalline structure back together." Percii instructed.

"How do I--never mind, I got it!" Vix said as she started the task. Slowly but inexorably a blue beam of light slowly traced its way along first one crack and then another. Is it dead so the crack slowly disappeared as the glass merge itself back together into one piece. Pops watched in amazement as slowly but surely all the cracks in the screen we're slowly stitched back Into a single piece of glass, the screen of the cell phone starting to become legible once again.

"That's the most darndest thing I've ever seen." Pop said amazed. "And this little gizmo can do this to just about anything?" He asked.

"Most things." Percii replied. " but it does have its limitations. For instance, it is good on smaller things, but for larger things it would take a very long time. It's more of a diagnostic and scanning tool than a large scale repair tool. For much larger things to be done this way in a timely manner you would need a much larger repair facility to do it in a short amount of time."

"Such devices exist?" Pops asked.

"They used to." Percii said. "Most have been destroyed or lost in the passages of time, or were taken off the planet when others of Visalth's race left this planet"

"So basically Victoria here is the last of her kind?" Pops remarked.

"Basically yes." Percii replied.

"You know," Vix said as she concentrated on her work, "You two aren't being particularly helpful right now. And I don't particularly like being referred to as the last of my kind." She said without looking up from her work.

"Sorry." Pops said. "I will just get back to my own work and leave you to this." Pop said before turning and going back to the tractor.

"I was just answering his question and stating facts Mistress." Percii replied.

"And what have I told you about that?" Vix said with a note of annoyance.

"What? Answering questions?" Percii asked.

"No. The other thing." Vix replied darkly.

"Not to call you Mistress?" Percii replied sheepishly.

"That's the one." Vix replied, "So knock that shit off! Or next time I'm going to crack you open with a large heavy object!"

"Before you did any real damage to me you'd sooner break your own arm." Percii said defensively.

Vix didn't say anything, instead she narrowed her eyes and cut them over towards the little AI on her wrist. Percii understood what her glare meant.

"Point well made Miss--er, Lady Victoria." He hastily corrected himself, noticing the large wrench she was reaching for on the workbench.

Vix Went back to the task at hand at repairing the screen. She wasn't particularly pleased with being called lady either, but it was by far a better option than being called Mistress. She worked for further five minutes before she got enough of the cracks out of the screen to make it usable again.

"OK done. What do I do with this tool now Percii?"

"Remember that feeling you had in the back your mind when you withdraw the tool from your pocket? Concentrate on that feeling when you put it back into your pocket." Percii instructed.

Vix did as Percii had instructed. Focusing on that peculiar feeling she had had when reaching into her pocket to remove the tool the first time. As she focused she could feel that feeling again and she slid the tool back into her pocket. It was an odd feeling one day she couldn't describe even if she tried, but as the tall disappear into her pocket she could feel that it was going into an empty space but not the internal space of her pocket. Withdrawing her hand again she could see that the tool is no longer in her hand, but nor was it in her pocket. As she focused she could feel that feeling again as she slid the tool back into her pocket. It was an odd feeling oneshe couldn't describe, even if she tried, but as the tool disappeared into her pocket she could feel that it was going into an empty space but not the internal space of her pocket. Withdrawing her hand again she could see that the tool is no longer in her hand, but nor was it in her pocket.

"Percii, what did you just have me do?"

"What you've just done is to put the tool back into a pocket dimension." Percii started explaining. "It is an artificial dimension, created for the sole purpose of storing and retrieving items."

"And I can place or remove anything I put in my pocket?" Vix asked, looking down at the pocket in question.

"Essentially yes." Percii replied. "But it doesn't necessarily have to be that pocket or even a pocket. It can be any hole, ring, or loop that has a closed diameter. As long as the item in question can fit within the confines of the closed ring you choose you can open a portal to this pocket storage dimension." Percii elaborated.

"Right..." Vix responded duly. This was yet another ability she now had to get used to having. Although, to be fair, a particularly useful one at that.

Deciding that this was yet another conversation she could leave for another time Vix pickup up her phone off the workbench and flipped through the list of missed notifications.

There were a lot of them. And most were from one person in particular. Jessica.

Ah geeze. Vix thought to herself. She had been dreading this.

All the text messages were all along the same lines.

Jess: Where are you?

Jess: Why haven't you responded to my txt?

Jess: Answer your damn phone jerk!

Jess: Why aren't you answering me?

Jess: What's wrong with you?!?!?!

The list just kept going and going. Vix after a while just skimmed through most of them as the repeated themselves often.

"God damn it. Have you no concept of patience?" Vix said to herself quietly. But not quite quiet enough.

"What was that?" Pops asked from the other side of the shop.

"Nothing. Just mumbling to myself." Vix said over her shoulder. Vix hadn't noticed that her ears had flattened down to her head and her tail thrashed about side to side in her growing agitation.

Vix tried typing out a reply. It took a bit of getting used to typing with claws, but she found that turning her thumb sideways a bit helped.

Victor: You remember that we were going camping, Right?

There was a long pause that lasted over five minutes before she got a reply. Meanwhile her tail continued to twitch and whip about.

Jess: Oh! Look who finally decided to respond!

Jess: Why have you been ignoring me!!?

Victor: I haven't been ignoring you. I've been in the middle of the woods.

Jess: That's no excuse! You still could have dropped a txt!

Victor: There was no signal. I didn't even get your texts till I came into the nearest town for supplies.

Vix tried to be reasonable in her Reponses while at the same time keeping certain details out of the conversation. She didn't think Jessica would respond well to...certain details. As it was she was being quite unreasonable about simple things, like lack of cell networks coverage in low population areas.

Jess: I don't believe that! I never loose phone reception!!

Victor: Have you ever gone for a hike in a national park before? They are notorious for bad reception issues.

Jess: Look Victor if you are just going to make up excuses for yourself then I don't see the point of this!!

Victor: I'm not making excuses Jess. These are the facts. I can't reply if I have no reception.

This debate went on for quite some time. During that time Pops continued his work on the tractor. Eventually Katie came into the shop.

"Hey Pops. I've finished the barn chores." Katie said, coming in through the door and walking up to the tractor. "How's the patient?"

"Not very good. I thought it was just a problem with the injector pump, but after pulling the head off I've discovered scoring on the cylinders." Pops said while pointing at the exposed pistons of the engine with the end of a screwdriver. "The whole top-end of the motor is going to have to be rebuilt. And who knows what the lower end looks like. I may have to rebuild the whole engine. I may even be better off replacing the whole engine, assuming I can find one. I'll have to call Frank and see if he has anything laying around the yard." Pops finished as he absentmindedly prodded the top of a piston.

At that time they both heard a frustrated huff from the other end of the shop from Vix. "Auggh! What is wrong with that woman! It's like no reason ever filters through her closed mind!" She exclaimed as she tossed her phone down on the workbench.

"Everything ok Victoria?" Katie asked, concerned as Vix stormed passed. Her ears still flattened to her head and her tail whipping about and ruffled up in agitation.

"Yes! No...I don't know!" Vix huffed, "I'm just--Aurgh! Relationships with difficult people are not worth the effort!"

Vix continued walking as she left the shop. a few minutes after leaving they both heard the unmistakable sound of a metal bucket being kicked across the yard and into the side of the shop.

"She seems pretty upset." Katie said concerned. "Perhaps someone should go talk to her?"

"Leave her be." pops cautioned. "She's having a tough time right now. Give her some space for now, that's the best thing we can do right now."

Katie nodded and while Pops was focusing on the engine, surreptitiously made her way towards the workbench where Vix's phone was still sitting where it had landed. Tapping the screen the phone lit up and she saw that not only had Vix not locked her phone, but her conversation was still on display. Katie made like she was looking for something on the workbench in case Pops happened to look over and scrolled through the recent texts while keeping her head turned towards anything but the phone, occasionally darting her eyes over the display and reading Vix's conversation.

"What are you up to there?" pops asked when he noticed her over by the workbench.

"What? Oh, um, looking for the screws." Katie hastily said while making a show of looking through small drawers and boxes of hardware around the bench. "The uhm, the brackets for the water buckets for the horse have worked free again."

"Top left drawer. There should be some longer deck-screws there." Pops replied, seeming to fall for her ruse.

"Uhm, oh right. I see it." Katie said pulling the drawer and rummaging through the hodgepodge of hardware within. She quickly finished reading the comments before grabbing a few screws and a screwdriver to cover her tracks. She also grabbed Vix's phone and shoved it in her pocket quickly while Pops' attention was elsewhere. "I'll uh, just go take care of this Pops. Thanks for the screws."

Katie made her way past Pops and hurriedly left the shop.

Looking around she eventually found Vix standing next to the horse corral. Walking slowly so not to disturb the vixen, Katie came over to the fence that Vix was leaning on. Vix's ears however swiveled around and zeroed in on her despite her trying to be quiet.

"Trying to sneak up on me Katie?" Vix said without turning around.

"I was trying not to bother you." Katie said, trying to defend her actions.

"Or you're afraid to upset me for some reason." Vix replied calmly.

"Well, you did storm off a few minutes ago." Katie said.

"It's been...a rough and eye opening day." Vix replied.

"What to talk about it?" Katie asked.

"Hmm, how old are you?" Vix asked in return.

"21." Katie said confidently. Vix gave her a long dubious look. "20?" Katie said nervously. Another long look. "19?" Katie tried again. Vix remained unconvinced. "Ok, ok. Almost 19. Or I will be in three months." Katie finally admitted.

"Alright then, almost 19." Vix said, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I seem to have made the mistake of getting into a relationship with a crazy person. Not in a dangerous way, unless you count verbal abuse and mind games dangerous. Which I happen to. Now I do anyway."

"Ah, I see." Katie said walking up to the fence and leaning on the top rail a few feet from Vix. "So what is you plan?"

"At the moment I don't have much of one admittedly." Vix said looking out over the coral at the solitary horse that was attempting to eat grass outside the enclosure. "When and if things calm down I will try to have a long talk with h--them and break things off as gently as possible. With things as they are it's not fair to them or myself, and I don't need any more crazy aimed at me."

"How many other crazy people do you know?" Katie asked.

"It's not so much people I know but rather the situation I have suddenly found myself in. Namely this!" Vix gestured to her body in general, indicating that her change should be more than enough crazy for anyone.

"Well, at least you look good." Katie said helpfully, "I can think of worse things."

"Ha! Yes, admittedly so can I. Even Percii said that he did a good job with my new form. But to be honest, I suspect he mostly modeled my body off Visalth's."

"Who's Visalth?" Katie asked.

"How much do you know about aliens?" Vix asked.

"Only what I've seen on TV and movies." Katie replied, "Fun to write stories about, but unlikely to be true to reality."

"Ha! Well, aliens are real, in a way." Vix remarked. "At least Visalth is."

Vix went on to explain the Cliff-Notes version of her, for lack of a better term, "Mentor and Benefactor", and what Percii is and does, as far as she currently understands it.

"That's kinda cool! In a way." Katie remarked.

"Yeah, I guess it kinda is." Vix said, staring off into the distance. "It's just, ya know, a lot to take in. Add to that my mind has been racing ever since then. I'm seeing all sorts of potentials and possibilities that I never thought of before. I'm also noticing things I never paid much attention to. For instance, have you ever looked at the gradient of the sky in the evenings? I'm not just talking about red/orange skies. I mean really noticing how many colors go into such a sunset? I can see at least 30 variations of red before it fades to 40ish shades of orange." Vix said looking at the sunset.

"I think you have better eyes then I do Vix." Katie said squinting at the sky. She could see the transition and gradient, but the color depth that Vix was talking about was a little beyond what she herself was seeing.

"That's the other thing." Vix continued, "Percii said that along with Visalth's natural abilities that I've inherited he also tweaked things in me. Made me stronger, faster, smarter. How do I deal with that kind of thing?" Vix bemoaned. "He keeps saying that I am better than the rest of humanity now. I don't like that at all. Strength doesn't make you better than someone else, just stronger. Maybe you can lift heavier boxes, but that doesn't make you a better person."

"I think Percy is right." Katie said slowly. She noticed Vix's hard look on her face and continued hurriedly. "No wait, let me explain. He is right, in a way, but not in the sense that those abilities have made you a superior person, but more that because of your moral outlook you are a _better_person than most people who would look to abuse such gifts." Katie finished.

Vix thought about this in silence for a bit but before she could voice a reply a loud clanging sounded out across the farmyard.

"Well, looks like mom's got dinner ready." Katie said looking back at the farmhouse. "Let's go see what dinner is tonight. Come on Vix."

The two crossed the farmyard and entered through the kitchen door. Vix could already smell the freshly cooked food before they had left the corals.

Inside the kitchen Kristine noticed her daughter and their guest enter the house. "There you two are. Dinners ready, go and take a seat at the table. Vix, why don't you sit at the far end?"

Vic crossed the room and took her seat, Katie sat to her right and Kristine after placing down the last of the food sat down to her left. The two younger kids were seated at the other end of the table. Pops came in shortly after everyone else had seated and had started dishing themselves out.

"Where's Earle?" Kristine asked.

"Oh he should be along shortly. He was working in one of the south fields." Pops said.

"And Victoria, how are you holding up?" Kristine asked turning to the vulpine her right.

"I'm...adjusting." Vix said slowly. "It's been an, eye opening day."

"Oh? How do?" Kristine asked.

Vix thought for a second while scanning the table for something. She found it in the form of the seltzer can Kristine had given her for her beverage. She hadn't yet opened it. Picking it up she instead of using the pop tab to open the can simple extended the claw on her thumb and curling the digit pierced the top of the can as if it were paper.

"Awesome!" Jimmy cried from the far end of the table and watching the vulpine with great interest.

Vix poured the can into her glass with an elegant flair. "A few days ago I could never do something like this." She remarked. Her British accent was briefly back in her voice again.

"Why do you do that sometimes?" Kristine asked, cutting Jimmy's meat for him.

"Do what?" Vix asked in her normal voice and mannerism.

"Sometimes you have a bit of an upper-class British accent." Kristine remarked.

"I...I don't really know. I didn't even know I was doing that." Vix said, her face becoming thoughtful for a moment. she would have to talk to Percii and Visalth as some point about that. As she was thinking this thought over her ears swiveled around as they heard a vehicle pull in across the gravel driveway. She didn't pay it much thought as she suspected Earle as the probable driver.

She was only partially right when Earle walked into the house, along with a woman dressed in a sheriff's uniform with him.

"Guess who ran into me near the south field?" Earle said as he walked into the room. "Sheila was wondering if anyone had seen anything odd lately."

All eyes in the room turned to Vix and stayed there. Vix sat uncomfortably for a tease few seconds wondering whether to run, duck under a table or try and explain her way out of this situation.

When no one said anything she couldn't take the stares of everyone. Everyone but the sheriff.

"What?" She finally asked, not knowing why no one was saying anything.

She looked down at herself, wondering why the family were staring. What she saw shocked her.

She was human!!