It was not for lack of effort that she was so withdrawn. Appearing to all others as rather entranced in some vaguely troubled thought or another, the cat rested a paw over her the bridge of her nose, steadily nuzzling the frame of her glasses as she did so. When the thin line started to ensnare her fur pattern, she paused and finally began to reflect.

A sharp but unfocused look escaped her eyes as she grappled the back of the dormitory in her vision. Vines grew along the bottom where a careless lawns keeper had not prioritized his efforts, but her look had not yet settled. Gliding up the columns with her gaze, she saw the window of her room about five stories up, sitting in an uncaring and oblique foundation for almost no one to notice but her. Artificially captivated by the gently spinning blades of the air conditioning system on top of the pile, she gave her mind another try.

Jupiter, or what was left of him, was bound to her laptop, a fact made subjectively worse from the sick puppetry she had performed on him with her modelling ideas. That was certainly no time for an unfounded quantity of such an odd creative burst! She was going to make up for that, guaranteed. Then, of course, there was the matter of the growing sensation that was invading and ravenously feasting upon her psyche.

...That would have to be shelved for now.

Footsteps.

A soft but ever-familiar pitter patter met her ears before a hug met her face. "Annddddeeeeeee." Lance squealed into one of the ear shapes on the feline's hoodie. Her companion stiffened as the mouse gave the object a small peck.

"Lance! Why are you in this vicinity? Is it not still fourth period?" The cat grumbled. The mouse placed a hand on each of her hips, a feat which required a noticeable amount of strain in part from her elbows. "They were covering material that was not even quizzable, much less to be found in any worthwhile exam, so I made haste and borrowed an exit from the ventilation."

"From the looks of it," she added, "I've arrived with appropriate timing."

"I guess you could always manage to read me," Ande sighed into her hands.

"It is not your, -occurrences- again, is it?" The mouse girl pried. "No, no. They've been causing some level of distress within the timeframe, but this particular situation trumps all other events." Ande replied, habitually breathing out an extra syllable caught in her throat. "I have briefed you on one of your previ- aha, a good acquaintance of mine's condition, correct?"

"Yes, but that simply cannot be. I am sorry, but you'll need to show me some evidence of this- apparently non-contrived tale."

Ande got to her feet. "With what, my laptop? That could be pointed out to just be any random selection of software!" She said with a huff building. "Just let me take take a proper inspection, I have the beginnings of a theory." Lance assured.

After giving her eyes a good toss sideways, the cat did as she was bidden and booted the relevant program. At first, the mouse did nothing but lean forward and push her eyelids together to better stare at the screen, but upon reaching the avatar, she froze.

With an ever-widening gasp, the mouse mouthed a silent "We'll talk later" and shakily hobbled in the direction of her dorm. If it was not for the generally preoccupied nature of the cat, she may have reacted to her friend's alarming mannerisms, but instead choose to casually dress the computer back into its sleeve and hiked her stubborn skirt down as she stood up to perhaps daydream while eating lunch. If she had been more intent on staring down the AC unit, she may have noticed a small smile creep out of the metal.

All according to plan.

---

In pursuit of the last of her assignments, Ande noticed a buzzing from her pocket. Once she scanned who the sender was, she gave a doubtful look at the chilly night out from between her shutters. That hesitation shifted rapidly once she read the rest:

Ande, meet me at the old warehouse you used to work grounds on.

Yes, now.

Bring your laptop... we can save him.

(sent 23:47)

Racing through the foliage as if her life depended on it, all she could think about above the rapid pulsing of her heartrate was Jupiter. Oh, please please PLEASE.

Seeing her fellow approach, Lance cocked a indiscrete expression at Ande's sightly smeared cosmetics as she wiped at an emotionally desperate eye. After being met with an intense return, she disengaged into an explanation. "Yes, this was probably not the most ideal time or location, but I've done some homework. Here." She tossed her feline partner a small, vaguely egg shaped gray sphere. "That is the Medium."

"Medium? What does this whole thing entail?" Ande asked, hesitation bubbling.

"Patience, patience. I'll grab the door." The rodent responded, yanking at the ancient handle to the complex with both hands.

A few tugs brought the whole frame close to the ground, where it rested in a suspended state between doorway and grass. Both animals passed through the entrance and set their sights on the middle of the room. "Okay, this may be vaguely occult in nature, but I promise it is only in service to freeing your... acquaintance." The mouse explained, a suspicious amount of hesitation riding on the last word. "Your computer?"

"I don't know if-" "YOUR COMPUTER, please?"

The cat snapped to and complied as one does in times of stunned distress. "Good, excellent." Lance affirmed.

The mouse plopped the device in the middle of a set of strange markings chiseled out in chalk and motioned towards the gray ball still in the possession of Ande. "Now, I want you to massage you fingertips across the Medium until you start to see markings begin to manifest." She requested as she sat down cross-legged on the dusty concrete. Ande mimed her friend's actions, feverishly pawing at the gray ball.

It did not take long for something to happen. Indeed, for her part, Lance was correct: The Medium did do its job and began to telegraph teal runes on its surface. What she was not correct about, however, was the lurking figure giving them an invitational wave from beneath a scattered bit of lighting.

"Lance, Lance, my little angel! Good work!" A shrill sound emanated from seemingly every surface inside.

"Oh, and who's this, another pal?" The slender figure turned in the direction his words had already hinted at.

The ball shattered from beneath the frantic clutches of the mortified Ande. "Tut tut, and that was your one escape route." The jester explained easily. "This is going to be a fun night, I can already guarantee it."

Lance, once properly recovered from the onset of her paralysis, jabbed a bold finger in the direction of the trickster. "This wasn't part of, uh, you don't look like, um, this is all wrong!" She stammered incessantly.

"Oh but girlie, it was all in the paperwork. You see, I was indeed here to help you gain your friend back for you, but I didn't care to mention under what condition you'd be left in afterword." Midnights crooned.

Ande turned a betrayed glance at Lance and proceeded to sob incessantly in a little ball of fur and fear on the floor. Lance had other ideas, however, and swiftly withdrew her blade from within its confines, stepping forward at the interloper.

"With that sword, you'd accomplish preciseleeeeeeeee..." The jester held onto the syllable as if to announce a prize. "Zilch! Nada! Sorry sister, things don't work that way down here. You're not exactly in Kansas anymore, sweetheart." He let every word dribble from his beaming glace as all five of his eyes focused down his would-be assailant as she ground to a halt, a rush of quavering anguish making her suddenly burst into tears.

"Let's cap off the fun, shall we? I was thinking a healthy dosage of social nightmares to begin the rounds. You school types really like that, don't you?"

"Ande!" Lance sobbed.

Before further abuse could be had, a trembling hand shot out from the cat's pathetic position. "Oh, hi there, I see you too!" Midnights began, "Yes, yes defensive postures, I've seen then alllll-ough?" He shifted tone without a clutch.

Capitalizing on the confusion, Lance managed to break her mental barriers once again as she swiftly careened out of the way of a dial of solid yellow and blue light that had manifested from the palms of her cohort's hand, culminating in a complex trail of sickly bluish-purple tendrils that dove immediately for the jester.

Both Lance and Midnights started at the magic for vaguely similar reasons as it wrapped itself completely around the latter. As a prison of beaming symbols constructed itself around the jester, pure white light poured in from above and cascaded over his entire body, sparing not an inch in its fury. His person withered by a few feet as necessary sacrifices simply had to be made in order to make the proper additions later.

Midnights was now the proud owner of a nose, not to mention the snout rapidly pushing it forward. His hat steadily morphed halfway into a set of ears, keeping its striped pattern as it grew more organic and fluffy. His body downshifted noticeably, abandoning the notion that anything would be spared from the Curing Force as his genitals swapped teams. Her hips and now her breasts flopped outwards like flaccid layers of pancakes as they gave her an enviable hourglass frame.

Fur clutched every square inch of her body greedily as if she was the sole oasis in the Sahara, mirroring the action that a fiery red-and-white tail had decided to take up as it squeezed its way from her back. Tassels defyingly adorned her hat ears as a small pink heart-shaped object clung similarly to her tail. A skimpy bikini completed the look as it nestled its way to faithlessly guard her loins from all watchful eyes as hers took on a strange tint and construction of their own, perhaps to reflect what she was feeling now: Unadulterated Love.

"Hah, hah, wow." She panted out as the restraints lifted. "Let's just... forget about my oh-so-rude end of the deal here. Where's that friend of yours again?" She asked hungerly.

Lance, working triple-time, stepped in. "Nuh, uh. I don't know what has just transpired, but you are not apprehending my boyto- friend's acquaintance from me- her." She garbled.

"Fine, fine, just to get us out of this stupid awful place." The coyote waved a spindly hand as the computer shimmered...

---

A lot more reports went undocumented, that was for sure. Whatever force had gripped the lives of the Island, most had by now been able to live with the fact that the malevolent component that had once existed was necked down into a far more agreeable appearance. It certainly did not hurt that the nightmares, too, changed into dreams that often set a man's heart aflame...