<h4>Chapter 1245 Chapter 1245 Messing Around During Jump 1</h4>


    --- Kat --- (During First Jump)


    The first round had started. Gareth was making his jump… and Kat couldn''t see anything. Apparently Thyme wasn''t using space to show them what was happening this time, just more standard illusion magic. Something Kat could see through. She only knew that anything was happening because everyone had gotten much quieter, and Lily''s memories helped fill in the gap.


    It was a bit annoying to watch things that way though. It was a bit like watching a movie and pausing it every five seconds. Kat would look over the memory in Lily''s mind, but as it was still being written, it just stopped asionally. Kat wasn''t sure what was causing this disconnect, but it wasn''t pleasant. *I feel like we''re doing this the wrong way. Do you think it would be possible for me to look through your eyes? We''ve sort of done simr things in the past.*


    [True… but that was using your dream powers.]


    *Sure, but that does prove it''s possible. We just need to figure out how.*


    [Well what do you suggest?]


    *Probably best to start by closing my own eyes… then I don''t know? I''ll try and picture myself looking through yours. See how that goes?*


    [That makes sense. Let me know if you want me to do anything to help with that.]


    Kat nodded. The temptation to turn into smoke and watch from Lily''s mind was strong, but that would be cheating. No, it was better to try and figure out way to share Lily''s vision while they were both aware and moving around in the real world. That would probably open up more options. Even Kat had heard stories of wizards being able to see through their familiars, so it should be possible. Perhaps even easy now they were trying.


    Kat started to lightly massage Lily''s little shoulders while brushing the underside of her cheeks. As Kat''s hands did that, Kat herself closed her eyes and sunk into meditation. She could see her little pond, but that wasn''t quite what she wanted right now. No, she wanted to be more awake then this… but perhaps this was a start?


    Kat ''explored'' her little mental construct and saw a little pathway of water that went from her mind somewhere else. Probably to Lily''s. Kat pushed her awareness towards it and then tried to press down it. Kat hesitate, right at the edge, she could feel that if she pressed further she would get to Lily''s mind… but it would also activate her dream walking ability. Which was not the point of this testing.


    *Ok… so do I need a different image? Do I need to find… what a pair of floating eyeballs somewhere in my mental pond and shove them down the stream? Hmmm… that might actually work. If I could find them. I don''t exactly have a bunch of signs pointing out what body parts the things in here represent. If they even represent anything.


    Could I make them though? Maybe a fish or something? They aren''t exactly associated with seeing clearly but my mentalndscape is a pond. Then again… maybe I need something different? What about imagining an owl flying down the pathway between our minds and looking at it?


    Though neither of those things stays ''connected'' to me. A video camera might work… but that just seems really wrong. It doesn''t fit with how my mind is set up at all. I wish I knew more about how this mental organisation technique is supposed to work. Actually, could just duck out and ask demons. Wait. No I can''t, because Stan''s here and that might constitute an unfair advantage. Dammit.


    Does that mean I need to put this whole thing off then? Wait until we''re back on Earth or just doing another mission? I suppose that is possible… but that would be rather annoying. It''s not like we''ll have ready ess to illusions. So… am I just going to have to tinker around with it?*


    [I guess so?]


    *Wait you could hear my rambling?*


    [Yes? I''m not sure if you were trying to hide it at all, but yes I can hear it. Well, for a given definition of hear, but you know what I mean.]


    Kat sent over a mental nod of affirmation, and then got to work trying to mess with things. Creating a fish turned out to be really easy, but it also felt deeply wrong. Kat didn''t know why that was, but it seeing as it was even easier to remove, having taken barely a thought, Kat couldn''t help but feel that she was going about things in the wrong way.


    While Kat was doing that, everyone else was actually watching the jump… except Green. "Gareth''s about to jump you know? Aren''t you going to sit up and watch?" asked Nixilei.


    "I can see just fine from here," retorted Green from Nixilei''sp. Nixilei, an expert in sightlines, new for a fact this was a lie.


    "Why are you even bothering to lie about that?" asked Nixilei after a few moments. She''d considered talking around the issue, or poking Green about it a bit until she sat up… but it wasn''t even a good lie. It was easily seen through. Nixilei frowned, wondering if she was being distracted for some reason.


    Kress, over on the other side of the couch, was looking carefully at Kat and Lily who hadn''t really moved much recently. Their minds, hopefully, on other things. Nixilei was now ring down at Green, so it was the perfect time to mess with her. Kress pulled a tiny block of ice from his storage ring and flicked it over at Nixilei… and instead hit Kat''s horns.


    Kress could see Green give him a quick re that Nixilei, hopefully, didn''t notice. Kress suppressed a wince and looked over at Kat and Lily. Kat hadn''t reacted at all. It''s not like he''d thrown it hard, and he supposed that Kat mustn''t feel the cold… but it was odd she didn''t notice at all. Kress nced down at Lily who was staring back at him.


    ''Sorry'' mouthed Kress. Who then mimed throwing things over them and pointing at Nixilei. Lily rolled her eyes and went back to watching, but didn''t rat him and Green out, so that was something.


    All that movement had attracted Nixilei''s attention though. Kress, pretending not to have been looking, simply brought another bit of popcorn up to his mouth. He was hoping she hadn''t noticed, or if she had, that the movement she''d picked up on was dismissed as him eating popcorn like he had been for the past few minutes.


    Nixilei, sadly for Kress, had noticed. She was more bewildered by the fact that Green and Kress, assuming they were working together, thought that this was a good idea, or that she wouldn''t notice. Perhaps she needed to impress upon them that she still kept up with her spy training somehow.


    Eventually, Nixilei turned her gaze back to the jumps, making it look like her curiosity had been sated. Green, in another bid to distract Nixilei, first got Kress'' attention, and then pretended to sneeze. Nixilei, ying along, looked down at Green and said, "Are you alright? I''d rather not have you on myp if you''ve got a cold,"


    As Nixilei was speaking, Kress wound his hand up and threw another piece of ice towards Nixilei. Nixilei didn''t panic, just simply bounced her legs, throwing Green''s face upwards… and right into the path of the ice. Green spluttered at the rough treatment, "Hey what''s the big idea!"


    "I''m not so easily distracted, Green, Kress," said Nixilei with a grin.


    "Booo, you were so distracted," said Green.


    "Green, if that were in any way true why is it that you just got hit with an ice cube but I''m sitting here fine," returned Nixilei.


    "You can''t prove anything," said Green with a pout.


    "Green, I… you know what? Whatever, be childish about this if you want. I don''t even know what this is supposed to be revenge for," grumbled Nixilei.


    Green huffed, but didn''t say anything else. Kress just shrugged and went back to eating popcorn. Then Kat''s head caught fire. All three of them reared back in slight panic… but Kat didn''t seem… bothered? "Uh… Kat… you''re on fire?" said Kress awkwardly.


    Kat opened her eyes and saw that Kress was right. Her head was on fire. "Woops. Clearly that wasn''t right," said Kat before promptly putting the fire out and closing her eyes again.


    "What… what was that about?" asked Green confused.


    "I… I really don''t know…" mumbled Nixilei.


    "Are we being pranked?" asked Kress.


    All three of them looked over at Lily, who was definitely smirking at this point, then up to Kat who lookedpletely peaceful. "I really can''t tell," said Green.


    "I… I think even if those two weren''t trying to prank us before, by making a big deal about it we''ve turned it into one," said Nixilei.


    "That makes sense," said Kress with a sage nod and a fake moustache he''d pulled from somewhere.