literature

Cain's SHD 204, 1st Assignment

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Cain watched as Professor Drake welcomed the class back in his unique way, before launching into an explanation of the basics behind the Shadow Bandage technique. The teacher demonstrated it by summoning a few shadow tendrils and flattening them. Cain paid attention to the teacher's hand motions as he listened carefully to the instructions.

Cain took a deep breath as he summoned a shadow tendril of his own in his palm. Briefly, he clenched and relaxed his fingers for the tentacle to extend and retract its thorns. Cain next closed his fingers together, and in response the tendril became a thin ribbon which waved in the air as though blown by an invisible wind. Allowing his fingers to relax allowed the ribbon to resume its usual girth. He repeated the action a few times to get the hang of it.

Once satisfied, Cain resumed paying attention to Professor Drake as he gave the assignment: Flatten one's shadow tendrils, absorb liquid into them, and then convert the liquid into more shadow.

Later in the dorm, Cain sat at his desk gazing at three glasses of water in front of him. Behind the vampire, three shadow tendrils, one rounded, one thorny, and one flat, waved gently.

"Cain can you-" Eddy started to say as the roommate approached.

"Not now Eddy, I'm busy." Cain interrupted.

"But-"

"Shh."

"But I really-"

"Eddy I'm sure it can wait until I finish my assignment, can it not?" Cain snapped at the zombie.

"I... I guess yeah," Eddy nodded, a frown on his face.

"Sorry for snappin', man. I just... really gotta focus." Cain said, giving an apologetic smile before returning to his work, aware but not taking note of Eddy and the shadow tern observing quietly. He gently guided the smooth tendril over to the first glass and dipped it into the water, causing ripples to spread out from the submerged tip. "Okay... Umm... maybe I could think of it like a sponge?"

In response to the thought, a vague sucking noise began as the tendril began sucking up the water, draining the glass dry and swelling in response. Cain withdrew the engorged length from the glass and touched it, his hand coming away wet. "Alright, that's step one... now for two. "He closed his eyes and focused, his thoughts strumming in his mind steadily. Slowly, the tendril slimmed to its normal width, though its length had increased a bit.

Cain smiled proudly and wrote down his notes, being sure to take measurements as well. Next, he repeated the process with the thorn tendril. The end result of that was the sharp points elongating from simple thorns to slender needles, along with the increase in length. He made an aside to remember that in a combat situation before moving on to the third glass and tentacle.

The flattened tendril, as with the others before it, absorbed the water and hung thick and heavy before him. Cain took a moment to think over what he wanted the excess shadow to do to the  tendril. "I COULD make it longer... but I already proved I could do that."

"Why not make it wider then?" Eddy suggested. "Just making it longer won't be helpful when its wrapped around a limb; all you'll do is..." he trailed off, looking pointedly at the med student.

"Make it too loose to do its job!" Cain continued, looking impressed. "How'd you figure that?"

"I may be dead, but I'm not an idiot. It's just common sense; with a wider bandage, you don't need to use as much to cover a large area!"

"True, true." Cain nodded, before returning his attention to the tendril. It promptly began to re-flatten itself, as well as widen to nearly double its previous size. "Bingo!" Jotting down the results, he returned his sight to Eddy. "Now, what'd you need earlier?"

"Umm... I think I forgot, to be honest!"
:iconotherworlde:
Wordcount: 652
Professor Drake: :iconviralremix:

Cain experiments with shadowy sponge-tentacles and bandages
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