There’s a girl on the 72nd floor of the Aerie Tower. She’d give anyone without wings a heart attack, since she’s on the floor’s landing platform, sitting on the edge and kicking her feet idly.

There’s a little silver snake with blue eyes on her neck. She holds up a punctured juice box, and the snake is drinking from the straw.

She’s looking at a notebook, full of scribbles of different colored pens and handwritings.

3/1: If you’re feeling like swan diving, ask auntie Gray for those horrible little peppers she grows –Seth

11/14: Remember that Seth is a bastard, all the time. –Emi

11/14: A bastard who’s being paid to make sure you stop splatting on our concrete. –Seth

2/9: Remember that Dullahans are freaky to everyone. Morgan doesn’t hate you. –Az

2/10: No, I don’t hate you. –Morgan

2/10: She totally hates you. Don’t believe anything that comes out of her mouth, she’s a insert creative insult here--Celine

2/11: I’m not letting you remember whatever the fuck I just read. –Azzy

2/8: IMPORTANT: Do NOT be in the same room when Morgan and Em get into it. –Emi, Gavin

12/16: Let me know when you’re free, I have a new breed of pepper for you to try. Hopefully you won’t impale yourself on a lamppost again –Auntie G.

11/1: Please let me know when you need to go flying, rather than parkouring. We’re tired of your footsteps and bloodstains. We’ll get one of the winged creatures to fly you. –Principal Norman

11/2: Do NOT let anyone else fly you around, they’re stealing MY paycheck and MY entertainment —Seth

11/3: Bets on if Azzy uses Seth’s eyes for jewlery! –Gavin

2 Drachmas –Karina

14 kuai – Jia Hui

100 –Morgan

100 what? –Gavin

200! –Celine

400 –Morgan

1700 –Celine

11/3: Reminder that this is to keep Emi relatively stable and is NOT a betting book. Also, I’m not fond of amethysts –Azriel

11/4: you fucking love my eyes, fuck you --Seth

11/5: kids, please remember the school’s policies on PDA. And Emi, stabbing pencils into your eyes is NOT a valid reaction to seeing your friends in a compromising position. Suffer the memory like the rest of us. --Prof Shelley

11/6: sorry, we should have told her to knock on all the doors sooner. --Gavin, Morgan, Celine

The distinctive beat of gargoyle wings reached them first, and then gusts of wind. The pages of the notebook fluttered, and the book started to slip, and Emi jolted, reaching for the book as it slipped from her lap. The snake made a distressed hiss as she lost her balance and toppled over.

A hand grabbed the back of her jacket and dragged her back to the safety of the ledge.

“They’re going to start fining me if you jump again.” Seth scolded.

“Sorry. I just didn’t want to lose the book.” She hugged it close to her chest.

Her memory was starting to heal. A specialist had figured out that the neurons on her head were twisted and rotting, which was why her memory was so shot. It was actually a kitsune that started to work on her mind, what with their shape-shifting abilities.

Until it was fully functional, or as functional as an undead person (she hated the word zombie, and apparently Azriel’s number 14 was also loud about that as well) could be, she was writing everything she could in her book. Because every time she not-died, she was always sure it was simply a dream.

The book was her everything, at the moment. Full of tips and interactions from her classmates. Azriel insisted that they were her friends, but she wasn’t quite sure.

Azriel materialized in their human form next to her. “Apple juice, peasant.” They raised a brow at Seth and his bags of McDonald’s.

“I’ll kick you off the roof. See if snakes have enough terminal velocity, eh?”

The three of them headed for the center of the platform, making a circle of their bodies with the food in the middle to keep the wind from blowing it away.

“…Good lord. You’re thinking too loud.” Seth groaned, throwing a fry at Emi. She held up a pickle threateningly. Seth held his hands up in surrender, and she continued to eat.

“That was an invitation to talk.” Azriel nudged her.

“I was just wondering if this was all one long, crazy dream.” She mused softly.

Seth cursed. “I told Gavin not to show you Inception. I’ll pluck his feathers--”

“It’s not a problem,” Emi said quickly. “I… think I’m pretty okay to stick around, even if it is a dream.

Seth blinked slowly. “Mildly concerning. But whatever. If it is a dream, stick around, you’re paying for my new glasses.”

“Ugh.” Azriel kicked Seth. Seth kicked back.

It devolved from there, the two bickering as Emi leaned back on her hands and stared up at the overcast sky.

She frowned, as a sliver of blue slowly appeared in the sky, and then the sun broke through.

She laid back, reaching a hand for the sky, as if trying to cup the sun.

“Emi? You good?”

“Mmhmm. I’m just thinking about what it would be like to fly without Seth carrying me around like a sack of potatoes.”

There was a loud sigh from Seth. “Honestly, flying isn’t all that. It just makes you feel small.”

She smiled. “The grass is always greener on the other side, right?”

“You’d be the only person in Cognito to say that, I think. We all still hate each other.”

“Mm. How human.”

Notebook

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