A silence hung in the air throughout the lecture hall. The professor and the demon were gone. The only things left were the terrified girl dressed like a revealing, slutty, lightning-themed genie; and the boy pondering her with an impenetrable poker face.

“H-hey!” Katie broke the silence. “I asked a goddamn question! What did you do?”

Sebastian shrugged. “I mean, I got the shit kicked out of me, then it seems like I’m stuck with you. So, I got punished for getting punished.”

Katie, as indignant as ever, raised a fist in defiance. “Oh, you wanna see what punishment looks like?!” she screamed, raring up for a punch. “Cuz THIS is what-!” She cut herself off mid-sentence, fist inches from Sebastian’s wincing face and stopped by a golden sparking energy web. She didn’t move, and he didn’t move.

Sebastian was the first to try anything. He opened his eyes, carefully analyzing the predicament. “Stop doing that,” he tried.

Instantly, Katie’s fist retreated. Her eyes almost physically grew, widening to a sugar-sweet expression of childlike innocence. “I’m sorry, Master! I’ll be sure to take punishment for that from now on!” she chirped. Her voice was eerie in its sweetness. It wasn’t some fake mockery, or anything of the sort that anyone would have expected from Katie’s mouth; it was true, inimitable innocence wrapped in a bubbly, cheerful, and optimistic attitude.

“That’s… odd,” Sebastian blinked, a bemused frown taking over his face. “Honestly, might be even worse than just being stuck with you.”

“Oh, you’re fucking TELLING ME!” Katie shook her entire body like a dog drying off after a swim, trying in vain to get that cheery persona to leak out of her somehow. “Seriously, WHAT-”

“Please. Stop. Fucking asking. What I did.” Sebastian’s voice hissed with a newfound frustration, almost calling to mind the hiss of a lit fuse counting down to detonation.

Katie stammered at this. “I-I-I… look, hey, I just-”

“Just what? Fucked up, and now I’m stuck with you in some idiotic cosplay because I decided to actually do something RIGHT and try to stop whatever occult bullshit was in that bag?!” he roared. Katie had begun taking steps backwards, away from Sebastian. Her hands had moved to defensive positions, covering up what little dignity she had left. Her eyes were wide, her pupils microscopic and jittering, yet always stuck on the man she was now stuck to.

Katie Siegfred was terrified, and that unnerved Sebastian most of all.

“Are… are you scared?” he asked incredulously.

“I-I don’t know what you can- what that demon- what-” Katie stammered.

This terrified, rambling with fear this much, and yet she’s still not taking responsibility? That’s… Worry about that later, man. There’s almost definitely going to be a later. “Stop, stop,” he sighed. “Okay, let’s just… figure out what’s going on here. Learn the rules. I don’t need you in my life any more than you need… whatever this is. Okay?”

Katie’s jaw dropped with a huff. “I- wow, how can you even SAY that?! ‘Oh, I don’t need a person here’ like that’s anywhere near as bad as… WHATEVER happened to my clothes, and the fact that apparently everything you say HIJACKS my body now?!”

Sebastian kept his face blank and neutral. “Ah, you’re getting pissed again,” he noted.

Katie dashed towards him, curling a fist. “WONDER WHAT GIVES YOU THAT IDEA!” she cried, rearing up a punch. However, Sebastian didn’t flinch this time. He stood, unmoving, ready for her attack- an attack that never connected. The golden chains shot from her collar ring, forming a complex network of bondage that rendered her in a helpless hogtie just like before. “Ow, ow, ow, OW!!” Katie shrieked, writhing like a fish on the ground. “FUCK! Why does this hurt, it hurts a lot, please make it stop-!”

Sebastian reached for the central point of the chains, where her arms and feet were held adjacent in a bundle of glowing chains. As if by instinct, he reached into the chains- his hand almost sinking into them a bit- and pulled one chain more solid and radiant than the others. He hoisted Katie up by this one chain like he was carrying a small pouch of feathers. “Hm,” he grunted. “So this is what you meant by ‘punishment.’ You do this to yourself, and it hurts, and I assume I say when they can disappear. Did I g- actually, wait. Tell me if I got that right.”

The anguish melted from Katie’s face in an instant. “You’re correct, Master! And the carrying is for your convenience as well! You can take the pain and the chains away individually as you see fit, reintroduce them at your leisure, or even fundamentally change what constitutes punishment! It’s all in your hands.” She smiled a somehow-earnest customer service smile that instantly morphed back into animalistic growling. “GOD, this fucking HURTS! Kill me now or get me the fuck out of this, I don’t care which!”

Sebastian pursed his lips and squinted all around Katie’s body. One could almost mistake the face he was making for someone innocently scouring a colorful page, looking for Waldo. Instead, he was inspecting his dangling slave. Curious, he started shaking the chain in his hand; Katie began to bounce around, getting yanked and pulled in every direction as she remained suspended. “Woah-oah-oah-OAHWHOAAAHSTOPSTOPPLEASEEEEE!” she cried.

Sebastian obliged, and waited. “Be polite.”

“Y-you fucking-”

He yanked one more time.

“G-AAH! Th… thank you… for stopping,” Katie growled through gritted teeth and shuddering breaths.

“Are you going to attack me again?” Sebastian asked with a cold tone.

“N-no.”

“No, what?”

The wind got knocked out of Katie’s system. “Oh, no. You’re not getting that out of me.”

“Meh, fine,” Sebastian relented, dropping the chain and letting Katie thump against the floor. “You’re done. I think I’ve got the info I need.”

The chains shattered into light particles once more, leaving Katie face-down and gasping on the ground. Her back visibly stretched and relaxed with each massive, rapid breath. Sebastian waited, standing a few feet away. This is fucking lunacy, he thought. I just physically destroyed Psycho Siegfred, and she’s physically forced to listen to me. Hell, I could probably leave her here for now. Test the limits of how much we’re actually stuck with each other.

His eyes were locked on the pitiful sight of that mess of a girl on the floor. I mean, come on. She deserves no damn sympathy from anyone. Even if she did, the fuck do I do about it? I don’t… I wouldn’t know what to do. I can barely muster enough energy to willingly go to the lecture hall with all those people around, let alone… WHATEVER this is. Which just begs the question, WHY DO I WANT TO HELP HER?!

Almost against his own will, he stepped forward and knelt down to gingerly place a hand on Katie’s back, its rising and falling stabilizing every second. She bristled at his touch, as if every cell in her body set off the warning bells at once yet they all lacked the resources necessary to do anything about it. After about ten seconds, the tension faded from her muscles as she let out a sigh of actual relief. “I… I’m sorry. I think I’m just… scared.”

Sebastian raced against the speed of his own thought to find the right words to respond. “I… get it, I think. This is obviously kinda scary-”

“No, no…” Katie sighed. “It’s like… this direct thing screaming in my face that I just couldn’t do ANYTHING. That I… was listening? I don’t know how to explain it yet, I sound like a fucking moron-”

“Hey, hey hey hey,” Sebastian cut her off. “It’s all good. Words suck. I get it. I try to avoid them myself, most of the time…” He sat on the floor. “Can you sit up?”

“Yeah,” Katie groaned as she pushed herself up and sat next to Sebastian- before scooching a little further away, of course. “So…” she gestured to her outfit, “I don’t fucking know what this is about, and I didn’t hear everything Lord Bacculous was saying. What is this, exactly?”

“Well, that thing in Professor Ivy didn’t explain the outfit directly, but it did leave me with one suspicion.” Sebastian paused. “You mind if I test that?”

Katie thunked her head on the desk behind her. “Dude, I don’t know why the fuck you can’t just say it, but I don’t fucking care anymore. Knock yourself out.”

“Well, first… I think that thing intended your name to be Kelectrisa.”

A noticeable jolt rippled through Katie’s whole body at that word. “G’AAAH, what the hell was that?”

“Yep, I think this weird shit’s tied mostly to that name. Like it’s what it intended your persona to be. As for what I wanted to test…” he cleared his throat and checked his watch. “Yeah, we’re good. Kelectrisa, take us back to my dorm room!”

“That word felt weir- As you wish, Master!” Katie chirped. Her hair sparked to life with electric radiance, every part of her brimming with bountiful life and power as she clapped her hands together-

And Sebastian was sitting on his unmade bed again. Katie remained in her sitting position at Sebastian’s level, hovering in the air. She looked down and realized the situation, scrambling for something to grab onto before she realized she was floating. “What… the fuck… is happening? How did we get here? WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE?! What if your roommate was in?!” she asked.

“Son of a bitch.” Sebastian laid back in his bed. “I was right.”

“Don’t ignore me, why did you do this?!”

“Look, he’s out right now. Doesn’t tend to get back until 1am. So I’m usually here as a result.”

“Uh, alright…” Katie considered. “So, what were you right about, exactly?”

“That demon tried to fuck with us both by doing some weird therapy exercise, forcing us to confront aspects of ourselves or some shit. I get stuck with an extrovert, and you get stuck having to listen to someone.”

Katie blinked. “Listen to someone? Wait, WAIT, you don’t mean-!”

“I think you’re a genie. That’s the outfit.”

Katie nearly fell backwards and passed out. Thanks to her floating, however, she didn’t actually hit the ground, and instead just looped around to the same position she was in to begin with. “Ew, ew! What, is this some… like… fetish for you?! This fucking outfit?! What, so I’m your genie now?!” she cried.

“Pretty damn certain,” Sebastian coolly responded. “And, honestly? The outfit is a fetish. Dancers, I like that shit. But I bet you don’t know how to dance, the outfit just comes with the territory, and I have no interest in you like that. Honestly, I don’t think I’m interested in having anything right now.”

His response calmed Katie’s blaze to a flicker out of sheer confusion. “Wait, slow down. You just said an outfit like this… is a fetish you have. But you also said… that you don’t care, and you’re not looking for ANYTHING right now.”

“Yeah?” Sebastian raised an impatient eyebrow.

“You… don’t care that I’m wearing something this revealing? Would you care if ANYONE in particular was wearing this? Nothing’s going through your brain right now?”

“What, is there a problem if I’m ace?”

“Woah woah woah, nuh-uh, not a problem in that sense, I support rights, but-”

“Calm down. I’m straight. But anything like that involves dealing with people. I’m not exactly up for that these days.”

Katie looked over Sebastian, as if seeing him for the first time. “I don’t fucking get you, man. But… yeah. Not that a guy would ever get this, but it’s reassuring to be comfortable in my own skin. Okay, alright. So, I’m a genie.” she chuckled a bitter chuckle. “What, I gotta grant you three wishes? Wait, you wasted one getting us here! Heh, dumbass.” Katie’s body lowered itself a few inches through the air, then raised back up, and continued to jerk about. “Hey, I’m getting the hang of this.”

“Well, okay let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Firstly, that thing said I could just ask Kelectrisa for the rules because it couldn’t be bothered anymore.”

Katie stopped wiggling around. “Wait, so it’s… not the three wishes?” She asked, pensive.

“Might not be. Also, it- what’s the name, Bacchus?” Sebastian struggled.

“Lord Bacculous? He’s a dude demon.”

“Bacculous, right. He said ‘obeying’ and ‘granting mine deep wishes’ as two separate things.”

Katie scrunched her nose. “That’s dumb, it’s me doing shit for you. What’s the difference?”

Sebastian shrugged. “Kelectrisa, explain this to me?”

The chipper demeanor of Kelectrisa washed over Katie’s body, as she floated right up to Sebastian. “Of course! Anything of a rather paltry degree of magic, something this body could even learn normally, I can do without needing to use wishing magic, and I’ll happily obey! See, I can use wishing magic only once a day. That’s the rule. For as many days as we’re together, Master, I’ll grant you just as many wishes!” She threw her hands in the air for emphasis, before “switching” back to Katie, who almost fell out of the air before regaining control.

“Did you catch any of that?” Sebastian asked.

“Uh, no? But like, I also feel like I get it?” Katie threw her hands up lazily. “Like, anything I can just do, I’ll do, but big wishes and shit are once a day…?” She laid back on an invisible bed of air. “So much for conning you out of three wishes…”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “You really think you could?”

“Well, yeah! Isn’t that how it always goes, just make ‘em say ‘I wish’ when they never meant to and suddenly they blow through everything in two seconds?”

“I didn’t even say ‘I wish’ to get us back here. It’s based on intent.”

“What?! Aw, come on…” Katie pouted. “Gimme some good news. I can’t even leave, my instincts have basically just been screaming at me that I should stay here with you, there’s gotta be SOMETHING in it for me.”

Sebastian thought about that. “...was anyone expecting you anywhere this afternoon?”

“I mean, not re-” Katie’s eyes went wide. “...oh. That just sorta… yeah, that kind of brought the answer out in my instincts, same as before.”

“And?”

“I can turn it on and off. I can… change how I look, what people see, if they see me at all,” Katie said, her eyes a thousand miles away processing all the implications.

“And I’m guessing,” Sebastian added, “that I can change that with priority.”

Katie snorted at that, then continued. “But even if they do see me… Katie’s gone. They won’t know me.”

Sebastian leaned in at her words. “Wait, what?!” he said. “But… no one?! You’re GONE?!”

“Preeeetty much. People’re never gonna question what happened to Katie Siegfred, and instead be all like ‘hi, new person named Katie Siegfred that we’ve never met before and has absolutely nothing to do with Katie Siegfred who just disappeared off the face of the fucking Earth and we’re not questioning that!’” Katie droned, her voice almost as neutral as Sebastian’s now.

He was staring at her now, eyes full of concern. “You’re not feeling… ANYTHING right now? Like, you basically died! You’re a GHOST to the world now! I mean, you technically never have to be seen again! And you have NOTHING to say to that?! I mean, I’d-” he abruptly stopped himself. “I don’t know, I just feel like you’d have stronger feelings.”

“Eh,” Katie said. “Most it does is reset how many people I gotta kick the shit out of and…” she paused herself, now. “Well, yeah, that.”

“So… you’re not staying invisible?”

“Nnnnope. And you can’t fucking make me.”

“I…” Sebastian hesitated. “Pretty sure I can, but honestly I don’t care. Hopefully you can go do your thing away from me a little bit at a time.”

“Feeling’s mutual on how badly I wanna get out of here,” Katie said, “but… maybe there are some upsides here. There could be good things. And I’m clearly stuck, so…” she let a little crackle of lightning dance along her outstretched fingertips, “bad with the good.”

“Wait, but what’s the good- Oh, I get it. Reputation. Probably something about people not running away on sight, huh?”

Katie shot Sebastian a murderous glare. He wilted, and she sighed. “Ignoring that… well, let’s just go with that. Sure.”

A new silence hung in the air. A tender, confused, scared, and vulnerable silence.

“Dude, I don’t know about you, but this shit is MESSING me up and I need to get back on my feet. You wanna order a pizza or something?”

“Oh, fuck yes…”