The rest of the first week was nothing special compared to the first day. In Homeroom, Ms Quadreign covered simple maths, language and geography. Combat training with Mr Lindt turned into running raps and gym work, while Mr Durnoff simply recited the various moral codes of the Orthodox Churches. By the time Friday rolled around, everybody had fallen into a clique.
Zeze and Gordan paired up, while Alexander seemed to find Ophelia an appeasing target for harass-for friendship. He would occasionally include Altair too. Nezra and Nephelae becomes loners that stuck to themselves, while Elizabeth and Altair mostly stuck together. It was in such an environment that life progressed for Altair, and he found it quite pleasing.
Yet as always, there came a time when the desire for more made itself prevalent. Altair was sitting in the apartment, listening to Sia recount her day. His sister made friends with ease, though he could tell that she was keeping a fair few secrets from him too. From what he had gathered, children from House Ornstein had been placed in the same Class as her. While they would almost certainly do nothing to her, their mere presence was likely enough to set Sia on edge. After all, the Ornsteins could be the ones that hired the assassin to kill her and Altair in their manor.
And while Raphaniel and Jace had done their best to cover up the incident, replacing nearly a hundred servants overnight was bound to attract attention. So the chances of the other Great Houses knowing something had gone down was as certain as the sun rising in the east every morning.
Sia had just gotten to the part where a girl named Emelia-the daughter of a Marquess-had offered to hang out at the Academy mall when Altair felt like his head was about to burst. His sister's chattiness had far surpassed his expectations, though he figured a part of it was because she w as trying to distract both him and herself from the stress of acting around the other Great Noble's children.
Altair stood up and heaved a sigh as he addressed Sia. "Sister, I'm sure you have had an amazing week, but shouldn't you save that report for Jace? If I may be frank, my ears feel like they are about to fall of from all this talking."
Sia fell silent and stared at Altair, before huffing and frowning at him. "Are you insinuating that I am boring you, little brother?" she asked in an icy tone.
Altair opened his mouth to answer but paused, thinking over his response. 'What would be the right thing to say here...Mother says you should never lie to a lady's face, and you should always consider her feelings...'
As he mulled over the correct answer, Altair nodded to himself and looked at his sister with a set expression. He then spoke:
"Yes"
Silence fell in the room as Sia slowly narrowed her eyes till they had become slits. Her face was also stiffening by the second, her countenance turning icier as the silence dragged on. When it had reached a point where even the socially inept Altair realised he had just answered wrongly, Sia jumped off the coach and stomped over to him. She swung her arm over his neck and pulled him into a chokehold.
"Grrhk-"
Altair tried to say something, but his airflow had been blocked off. He floundered in his sister's grasp for several moments, before frantically tapping the arm that was strangling him.
"I-I'm sorry...all right?!" he managed to rasp out as his vision gradually turned blurry around the edges. With a huff, Sia released him and sat back down on the coach, crossing her legs and folding her arms. As Altair wheezed and tried to steady himself, she commented from the side.
"Next time, think carefully before you insult your Big Sis!" she demanded haughtily.
Altair rubbed his throat before shaking his head. "I did think deeply about it before answering" he mumbled, though Sia apparently heard him. She leaned forward with a shark grin on her face as she cupped her ear with her hand.
"Did you say something?"
"...No"
At that moment, the door to the apartment opened and Jace strolled in. He was wearing his professor suit, matched with a tie and slicked-back hair. He sat down on a free chair and surveyed his two charges with a sharp eye. After reading the remnant tension in the room, he sighed and rubbed his brow with one hand.
"I am seriously worried about leaving the two of you alone for extended periods of time. I fear that I will come back to a burning crater of an apartment, which will have to come from MY pocket by the way, since I'm your legal guardian during your stay here at Sky Cross. And knowing those old stingy fuckers in your House, they will refuse tor reimburse me for the money."
Altair scoffed as he looked at Jace. "Please, I would never be as brash as to destroy my home. I would go outside the apartment block before starting a fight" he said confidently.
Jace's eye twitched as he slowly looked over at the young boy. "The point I'm making is that you shouldn't be fighting at all!" he snapped. Sia giggled from the side, gaining enjoyment from their interaction.
Jace and Altair still hadn't grown any closer during the week, with Altair barbing Jace with remarks holding subtle content, while Jace made no effort to hide his own disdain for the young boy. In his own words, "he had all the cockiness and ego of a fucking rich brat" and none of the decorum of a Noble. In other words, he was a pathetic failure of a Noble.
In turn, Altair saw Jace as shoddy, rude and generally upstandish. His lack of respect for the children of his employer, plus the people he was charged with protecting, made Altair see him as unreliable for the scope of the job. And of course, he hadn't forgiven Jace for his rudeness to Sia in their first meeting.
Jace turned his attention to Sia and asked her how the day went, to which she happily recounted everything that Altair had just been told. Groaning at hearing her lengthy speech for the second time (and earning a glare from his sister) Altair stood up and moved towards his bedroom. "I'm heading to sleep" he casually called out. Sia begrudgingly bade him goodnight, while Jace paid him no mind at all. 'Prick' muttered Altair.
Once Altair was alone in his room, he immediately spread his senses to cover it and make sure no one was eavesdropping. While it was incredibly unlikely, he wanted to take no risks with his subsequent sequence of actions. Once he confirmed he was in the clear, Altair took a deep breath and focused on his shadow, which was lying flat on the ground like normal.
After staring at it for several seconds, he closed his eyes and softly recited the name of his Skill.
"Split Double"
At once, Altair felt an overwhelming sense of vertigo, like the ground and sky were both simultaneously falling away and towards him at the same time. His head spun and, if not for the fact he had closed his eyes and braced himself sufficiently, he likely would have thrown up. After several seconds, the vertigo gradually dissipated and Altair felt...something new and different on the edges of his mind. He opened his eyes cautiously and took in the sight before him.
A young girl that was no older than thirteen stood before him, with purple eyes that glimmered like jewels and silver hair that fell to the small of her back. She was naked, revealing her entire body, which was sculpted and smooth. Her skin was a supple and creamy white, with nary a mark or dent. Now that he could actually get a good look at it, his Split Double was quite the beauty. But rather than being pleased, he frowned instead. Where Altair planned to send her, such beauty would attract a lot of malicious attention, especially given her young age and lack of companions.
Deciding to deal with that once he was out of Sky Cross though, Altair went over to his drawer and pulled out several clothes he had bought earlier in the week. Some were female, some were male and the rest were unisex. He handed the girl a Spatial Bangle in the form of a bracelet, which had cost a pretty penny, and all the clothes and other supplies was sucked into it. Once everything was done, Altair closed his eyes once again and focused on the connection that was tethered to the corner of his mind.
When Altair opened his eyes again, he saw a young child with long red hair and soft gold eyes looking back at him with a slightly dazed expression. The boy's face didn't change, even when he waved a hand in front of his face. Seeing this, Altair...Endyr frowned as she consulted the System.
"You said I can have two functioning bodies at the same time. So how do I give my other body a sentient conscience?" she asked.
[Host must focus on what makes up {Altair Atrazark} in their mind. Then, Host must project these feelings and memories into the Split Double. Remember Host, your Double will act based only on what you provide it. How you see yourself must match with how others see you to avoid suspicion.]
Endyr did as she was instructed and created a mental portrait of Altair. After a few minutes, she pushed that portrait along the connection and into the mind of her Double. It shuddered and grimaced before going still. Then, its eyes snapped into focus and looked back at her.
"You're right, such an appearance will attract a lot of bad attention" Altair stated as he sized her up.
Endyr felt her lips twitch as she responded in a similar tone. "Well, I'm sure there are a few people that will be trying to get in your pants soon enough too, whether they be male or female. You're pretty androgynous and perverts at that level usually don't care about the gender."
Altair frowned as he nodded. "Yes, I do foresee a rough future for ourselves. But enough about that. Shouldn.t you be going now?"
His words caused Endyr to swallow her own as she looked out the open window, and at the moonlight streaming in. They had chosen a day when the moon was at its brightest, as to maximise the blessing received from the Hyppiliote-Nyx Bloodline. Finding herself with nothing else to say, Endyr walked over to the ledge and jumped on it. She then turned back to Altair, who was watching her silently.
"Take care of Sia" she said, causing Altair to nod. "I planned on it" he refuted stoicly.
With that done, Endyr jumped out the window and began to fall towards the ground. Halfway down, she suddenly shrunk into the shadow she cast on the building behind her. She had transformed, making her shadow gain more substance and grow slightly in dimensions. Her shadow then fell to the ground and rapidly moved towards the nearest exit point. From here on out, Endyr was on her own.