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"You aren't seriously thinking of putting that on, are you?"

Those had been Jasmine's exact words when Jerrett had shown her the mask. As usual, she had regarded his discovery with an uncanny mixture of jealousness, repulsion and amusement. Jerrett had been expecting no less from her.

"Why? What's the problem?" he had asked anyway. He wasn't entirely sure, but he believed Jasmine might have had more information than he had regarding the unusual mask.

But it turned out she only knew the basic stuff.

"It's creepy," she had answered with a shrug. "I would have that tested before trying it on, I mean. It's probably cursed or something."

As much as Jerrett knew Jasmine was probably right, he also knew he didn't want her to be. That was why he had decided to simply disregard her advice.

But he was not so stupid that he wouldn't take any precautions, obviously. He had locked himself in his room and set a weak magical barrier on the door. The fox had also casted a few spells that would technically allow him to expel any dark spirits that might try to possess him once he decided to put on the mask... or at least, that was what he believed.

He'd never tried those spells anyway, so he was really hoping they would work. As soon as he felt something weird going on, all he needed to do was think about it and his body would naturally reject any external energies being projected on him.

Easy enough, Jerrett thought.

Having sorted that out, the fox regarded the creepy mask closely. Jerrett thought it resembled a deer, although he surely wished whoever had sculpted it wasn't thinking of a deer when doing so - it had too many eyes, ears and/or antlers. The expression in the mask was completely devoid of any emotions as well, but Jerrett was willing to say that usually happened with masks. Hard to convey any emotions at all when the eyes were just a bunch of holes.

He picked the mask up and considered doing something entirely different with it. Perhaps he could let someone else wear it first... just to see if there were any secondary effects he needed to be wary off. A guinea pig was always useful. Look at me, thinking like Jasmine, he thought.

He had found the mask. It only made sense that he'd be the one to put it on, as well.

He brought the wooden mask closer to his face. His paws trembled briefly - what was that? Had he just heard distant whispers somewhere? Don't be stupid, he told himself. You're alone in your room. And if the mask wanted to transmit thoughts into your head, it'd probably do it only once you've put it on, right?

That made enough sense for him to disregard his reservations, at least for the time being. He pressed his forehead against the smooth wooden surface and brought it down to his muzzle until it was tightly clasped against his face. It almost felt like it'd been made to fit him perfectly.

He stood there, in the middle of the room, waiting for something to happen.

"I can't believe it," he whispered after a while. "Nothing weird is going on."

He had expected voices to ring in his ears, an unknown impulse to take over his body. Perhaps to be controlled like a puppet and feel his limbs lifting to the ceiling, or spreading like the arms of a zombie. There was no sense of losing control, no dread or danger, nothing to worry about.

In fact, Jerrett didn't think he'd ever felt this calm. It was like floating in a void, much like the mask, devoid of all emotions. He was simply there, standing in the room, waiting for something bad to happen. And it wasn't coming.

He stretched his limbs as if he hadn't used them in a long time and considered his situation.

Jerrett could keep waiting there, in his room, just to see if the mask was indeed cursed and he needed to find someone to purify it.

_Or_he could simply disable all the protective spells in his room to roam free around the building. Then, the fox could keep walking around until he found Jasmine and then put the mask on her face. As a prank.

As a prank?

Yeah. That was an interesting idea. Besides, she was a much more powerful caster than he was. He didn't know why that was important and why it mattered when he was considering whose face to put the mask on - but it mattered. It was almost as if he knew by instinct.

Jerrett chuckled and his laugh sounded empty and cracked. He knew what to do now. He waved a paw and all the protective spells around his room crumbled like a castle of sand. Then, he walked outside and began his search for a more powerful owner.

Free at last.