Wildcat

Curtain Call

A few weeks passed after Asriel's little outburst and ever since then things felt even more different from when they felt after your little trip to the city's more lively district. You didn't know why, but for some reason you wanted to help Asriel even though you had no idea how. Despite Asriel's best efforts to share his understanding of resets with you, you still failed to grasp the concept. All you understood was that it worked similar to save files in video games. Right now however, you had greater worries than wrapping your head around something you wouldn't be able to understand anyway. Midterm exams were coming up, and you spent most of your time studying. Seriously, why does the topic of SOULs have to be so overly complicated?

You groaned in annoyance and kicked your feet off the ground, hoping your chair would roll backwards. Unfortunately you only had a simple chair instead of an office chair. As a result the chair, in which you were still sitting, toppled over and hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Are you alright?" Asriel immediately rushed over to you, bending down to you with a concerned expression on his face. "You're not hurt, are you?"

You simply rubbed the back of your head as you looked around the room with a stunned expression. Did that seriously just happen?

"Yeah, I think I'm OK," despite your initially dazed state, you found your way back on your feet.

"You know, if you have any question regarding SOULs let me know. I'll try my best to explain it to you," the prince offered his help like he has done many times before.

"I think I pretty much got the hang of it by now. What you told me a few months ago helped immensely," you spoke with confidence as you placed your chair back where it belonged.

"Then tell me what you've learned," your caprine friend insisted.

"A SOUL's color is determined by how strongly each of the seven primal traits are present. A SOUL's composition also determines it's compound traits. Black and white souls have all seven traits in balance though they vary in how strong they're present. If all traits are equally strong it's white, if they're equally weak the souls tends to appear gray or even black. Then there's the case of negative SOULs, who invert the color of surrounding light but seem to have no effect otherwise. A SOUL can be turned negative when events 'traumatize' a person. The effect can be reversed if the person overcomes their trauma," you confidently gave him a quick rundown of your knowledge.

Asriel raised his hand to his chin, sinking deep into thought as he determined just how far off you were. His emerald green eyes began to dart back and forth like he was reading a text printed across a way too large paper, while the gears in head began running red hot. If he was thinking this hard you should probably just give up and accept that F.

"Got nothing to add to that. Pair that with what I told you a few weeks back and you should have no troubles with the exam," Asriel happily announced, easing the worries that were on your mind.

"I just hope you're right," you sighed, feeling a little more convinced that you could actually pass the upcoming exams.

"Can you believe it's already been half a year since we joined college? Feels like summer was just yesterday and now we're already busy with midterms," Asriel sighed as he began to reminisce of the first few days of college.

"Yeah, time really flies by when you're not paying attention," you reply sounded almost absentmindedly as you were focused on your studies.

It was obvious that Asriel was looking for a way to strike up a conversation but right now you had other priorities. Even though Asriel offered you numerous times to just live a life of luxury with him, you still wanted to get your degree so you could be independent, or rather get the chance to become independent. Finding a job without a having a home was impossible. Ditching your studies and living with Asriel would mean that you'd be dependent on him, and you didn't want that either. You wanted to have the freedom of shaping your own life.