Rising Shards

”Yummy, yummy!” I said as I scanned through the menu. Everything at this joint was breakfast related, giving me many good options to choose from. I pulled the menu down, expecting Kitty to call me a loser or something when I said something like ’Yummy, yummy!’

”What?” Kitty asked when she noticed my glance.

”Usually you just have some kind of cutting remark there,” I said. ”Everything alright?”

”Yes, everything’s fine!” Kitty sighed. ”Trying to be...like.” She crumpled the paper that formerly covered her straw. ”Sensitivity trainings or whatever...”

”You muttered a lot, and I didn’t catch any of it,” I said.

”OK, if you’re gonna be extra annoying, I will be an asshole, but I’m trying to be nicer because since I got this stupid new promotion I’ve had to do sooo many sensitivity trainings so I’m trying to be nicer to people!”

”Oh, right,” I said. ”And you actually went this time and didn’t just make me go for you?”

”Yeah, They wouldn’t let me do that this time,” Kitty said. ”I thought when these schools were merged Wildfire Hearts would get all the attention/power as per usual with Cani schools with the Endoran/Atrian mix. But there’s new people on the school board that push back on the Endoran bullshit, but only for me it seems! Rest of the schemers can do whateeeeevver they want, but Lil Miss Kitty Kilander? No I get told I’m being to mean and I can’t keep telling staffers how shit they are at their jobs like I do. Unfair! So, yeah. Trying to be like, a ’pleasant person to be around’ or whatever.”

That seemed pretty reasonable, but I had another theory, another piece to the equation that would explain Kitty’s sudden kindness.

”And you’re probably being nicer to me because Pippi is so cool and is intimidating you,” I said.

”Pfft,” Pippi didn’t seem to buy that one, but I had a feeling I was right.

”Whatever,” Kitty said.

”I just noticed I’m the only one who went to primarily an Atrian school,” Pippi said. ”Or was working at one before our schools became a mix?”

If you asked me, a teacher with a storied career and a published author on how to explain the difference between Endoran and Atrian Cani (and Calestians? Is that a thing? I think that’s a thing.) I’d...struggle. One seemed like ”good side” and the other ”allowed to enact cruel pranks in hopes of gaining special specific powers,” but that didn’t really explain much. I just tried to go with the flow, and keep my Endoran schemes a bit more sensible.

”It’s not like they’re that different,” Kitty said.

”They’re kinda different,” Pippi said.

”One is evil coded, yes! But the actual teaching isn’t like, totally different,” Kitty said. ”But like I told you on the phone, it’s just easier to be at an Atrian one in the end even with my bitching. Yeah, setting up those big events to absorb Endoran energy are fun, but they take soooo much fucking effort. I gotta do trainings and be ’nice’ to people now, yeah, but I don’t have to set up big-ass schemes either and presumably have to go to less court hearings.”

”Honestly, I don’t really get it,” I confessed. ”To me, both schools feel the same. I am respected by my peers and students all around at both!”

”Good one,” Kitty snort laughed. ”But for the school part, yeah, don’t they feel similar? Atrian and Endoran...like isn’t Calestian in the mix too? Nobody talks about that shit! It’s all so stupid.”

Our food finally arrived, with me getting a big platter that had pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, sausage, the works, while my girlfriend got just a waffle stack, with Kitty getting pancakes that were dyed pink.

”Your reaction’s interesting, though,” Pippi said. ”Would you rather be doing this, dealing with this whole debate between types of Cani schools, or go back to the pop singer/wrestler/governor trifecta you had going on?”

”Oof, that’s a good fucking question,” Kitty said, grabbing her syrup bottle and pointing it at Pippi like we were all at the bar and that was her beer. ”You’d think duh, go back to pop singer right? I miss it, yeah, and the fame, but it had drawbacks too. Post-Kitty Era Kitty—I hate that name by the way, the people who name my eras talking about me like I died—doesn’t have to deal with paparazzi, interviews, scheduling, injuries...the governor thing was basically a paper title, aides did everything there I barely even went to the office...but yeah, I dunno.”

It was downright strange hearing Kitty let it out like that. It was like Kitty had grown up so much, should I be proud of that? Did I play some role in Kitty being less of a rude, cruel person?

”Now if it’s just getting the money back? Oh yeah, rich and famous, easily,” Kitty said. ”Buh-bye teaching job! You would never see my ass again. I would be on the beach getting fanned by beautiful women all day long.”

Well, she still had a lot of room to grow, too.