Private Finished nature speaks

"My entire family can transform. I just happened to get shafted. Giraffe isn't much, especially considering my dad's got a dragon form and my grandma's an eagle." Linus always felt that he would have less issue with being a giraffe were his family also giraffes. They however were completely different and much more imposing, causing him no end of grief.

He was perfectly okay not knowing about Michi's ability. After all, not everyone had to go through hoops to be destructive like he did. Who knows, maybe this person could tell him to die and then he'd die.

Linus finished up weeding, and decided to flake for a bit. Technically he still had to clean up the nearby plots, but so little attention was paid to his job that he was safe leaving it be for a while.

"Alright, what do we do now?"

Linus didn't know either why his family's curse took on such varied forms, or why out of all his relatives he was the least imposing. "It's random as hell, and I'm unlucky. Everything else's kind of too normal to mention."

As a part-time maintenance worker, Linus had access to the service passageways, though they weren't exactly fun to be in. Then again, it fit the bill of "less known places."

"Students ain't allowed in the places I go in, so if you're interested in worker rooms and tunnels that's about all I can show you that I don't think other guys can. Otherwise, I just know where all the plants are."

"Oh, I meant everything else about me other than turning into a half-ton grass-eater is normal. Exceedingly normal."

Linus could vaguely feel something behind those comments of normalcy, but who was he to pry? He wasn't some deity like the others running around on the island. He wasn't blessed with supernatural gifts that could aid others in their darkest times. He was just a grass-eater.

The tunnels weren't exactly secret to his knowledge. They were just not necessary to most people, who could walk aboveground without issue, never needing to know the secret paths.

"Not exactly secret tunnels. Underground, yes; 'Nam, no. They're mostly just secret because no one bothers. Little to see down there, and if you're not a worker, the places they lead to aren't of much use."

Linus scratched at his head in confusion. He hadn't expected to need explanation for various unused and unremarkable service rooms, storage, and nooks of the absurdly spacious campus that were hidden in obscurity.

"Well, there's one place I actually like. Bit of a twisted path for little reward cause the only thing at the end of it's a small, rectangular, and empty plot but... something about the empty. It's familiar, in a way. The rest of the paths just lead to things like storehouses and dead ends."

The Empty Lot, as he liked calling it, was his one refuge that was only his in this labyrinthine campus. It was a small, nondescript rectangle, nestled in between buildings and unnoticed by everyone. While he always felt some level of ennui, when he was there, it was a little less... heavy.

He had no clue why he was sharing his secret lot. Maybe it was because this person would never find it on their own anyway. Or maybe... just maybe, something in her comments of misfortune told him that she could use a place to slip away.

There was a bit of a pause. Linus didn't expect people to show interest in his little hideaway, tucked in the concrete of the academy.

There wasn't any reason why he could refuse either. The Empty Lot wasn't his, and showing it to a single person was not something he had any reason to not do.

Then again, he had been struggling to find any reason to do anything.

"...sure. I don't see why not... I'll show you where it is."