It happened faster than Kir could process.
One mont, he was falling backward, the mimic’s core in his arms, and the next, his clothes flew off and Mimzy pulled her entire bulk from his dinsional storage, washing over him as she dove for the mass of dying mimic spreading herself into its bulk as she began to consu it.
She’s gotten much bigger than I thought... Kir thought, realizing that the sheer amount of Mimzy on display should not have fit into his dinsional storage, and her implied weight should have left him completely drained of magic... How did she get so massive?
Kir had trained Mimzy by feeding her magic pulses to produce his clothes, feeding her magical garnts that she could reproduce far better than regular ones.
Unheeding of his thoughts, Mimzy left Kir completely naked as she finished leaving to consu her parent.
Thankfully Kir was able to keep his ring on, and he had the foresight to have his glamour work even when he was naked... But the interpretation was rather generous.
"Oh wow..." Kordia said, staring at the fake organ which had been added between his legs.
A lot of the beastkin present blushed, but a mont later there was a large explosion from about half a block away. Seconds later, Michelle landed, depositing a very exhausted Daisy and soone who had to have been the carriage driver.
"The girl drained the carriage dry," she reported. "Why is he naked? Are we still under attack?"
Mimzy, it turned out, was a sweet creature. At least because the mages had been too shocked by what happened to continue attacking.
"Mimzy?" Kir asked.
There was a curious-sounding burble, high and almost bird-like.
"Are there people inside you? I need you to let them go."
A burble of resistance.
"Mimzyyyy..."
Finally, acceptance sounded from his hopefully-not-forr clothes as Mimzy ford a massive, sowhat moist-looking sleeve that looked like part of Kir’s professorial outfit.
Sliding out one by one were the victims, and the forward mages rushed to get them away from the massive mimic, which had ceased to be a building and was slowly coming to resemble a massive pile of garnts.
"Good girl," Kir said.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Michelle shrieked, practically next to Kir’s ear even though she was two ters away.
"Ah... Michelle... et Mimzy."
"You made a mimic your familiar?! Are you mad?" One of the older mages asked.
"Actually I made her my clothes... I’ve been wearing her for quite a while."
Mimzy burbled proudly.
"Don’t worry, she’s quite ta."
"How do we know you didn’t plant the other mimic?" Michelle continued. "Arrest them! Kill the new abomination!" she gestured widely at Kordia and Kir. Kordia stepped forward and put up a shield, cutting off the guards and watch folk, who paused instead of attacking.
"I wouldn’t advise that!" Kir held up his hands. "Mimzy is ta but I can’t guarantee she won’t defend herself. Things could wind up as a repeat of what we all just endured, only with all of you tired. I assure you, I did not plant any mimics, and that my bond with Mimzy has nothing to do with what happened here." Well... almost nothing.
Perhaps it was hearing her na so much that made Mimzy reach out with a tentacle and poke Kir on his back, right where his dinsional storage tattoo was.
Kir let himself get distracted. "Are you sure? Will you even fit?"
An affirmative-sounding burble was followed by a sudden bulge along the tentacle, as Mimzy exposed her core to the air. It was blood red, and deeply rich in color, unlike the lightish-clear blue of its parent.
Stepping between the core and the others, Kir raised a hand and stored it, and in short order, Mimzy started to slip back into his dinsional space.
It felt burdenso at first, and then there was a weird feeling like soone was filling a balloon on his back.
If Mimzy couldn’t fit, Kir could only hope she didn’t accidentally explode or rend him apart...
It took two full minutes for Mimzy to pack herself into Kir’s storage, leaving him feeling like he’d been hitched to a yoga ball, but the feeling rapidly faded from whatever it was Mimzy was doing inside his storage.
After about three minutes, Kir experintally sent her a few magic pulses, laced with strong impressions of his previous clothes, and he was relieved when she obliged by slipping her familiar mass onto him, flattening and stretching herself into a perfect replica of what he had been wearing.
I’m really testing the bounds of this glamour...
Kir gave the ring a bit of a feel as soon as Mimzy finished. It felt... abnormally warm. Likely from having to generate his naked wolfkin appearance, and then readapt his clothes.
All that was left in Mimzy’s wake was an abandoned basent, with rotting bags of food and magic items, including Morn’s blue lamp. All of them were now completely drained of mana, and Kir had no idea if they were salvageable. The area leading out of the culvert was covered in dead mimic parts, sli, and the marks of the fight...
But at last, it was over.
"Kordia, let the barrier down," Kir said.
"But-"
"It’s fine. All we have to do is tell the truth."
As soon as the barrier dropped, Kir cleared his throat and said, "There is no need to arrest us. We will go quietly."
Kordia’s tails flicked with nervousness. Her ears had stayed alert, oriented towards the biggest threat: Michelle.
"Suit yourself," Michelle said.
But as Kir walked out of the alley, the other mages began to clap, slowly at first, and then faster and louder.
Kir held his head high, wishing he could be more intimate with Kordia, but knowing that he should not potentially ruin her image by touching her in public.
*
In an interrogation room of the new City Watch headquarters - near the south entrance of the second district - the adrenaline of the night had finally worn off when a lie-detecting maven was brought in to interrogate Kir and Kordia.
The man seed rather sleepy, and given the early hour Kir couldn’t bla him.
"Would you like so coffee before we start? I happen to have so." Kir reached into his storage and produced a carafe of lukewarm coffee, which thankfully had remained whole and undisturbed.
The man, a half-human of orcish descent, grunted and nodded.
"One minute," the maven said, before departing and returning with a tin cup. Kir poured and slid the cup to the man, only to have him slide it back. "You first," he said suspiciously.
Kir drank the whole cup, before refilling it and handing it back to the officer.
After draining that cup, and then another, the interrogator seed awake enough to do his job.
"Hmph. Can’t say I’ve ever started an interrogation like this," he said.
"It is in my interest to cooperate," Kir said honestly.
"And what would you be doing if you weren’t cooperating?"
"Stalling for ti, until soone in authority hears about what happened and cos to collect . The Chancellor of the Academy, naly."
"Clever. And now I have a baseline for you, Professor Kiryu Nasumi," the man referenced a report on his lap, which of course Kir could not read through the table. "If that is your real na."
"It is a na I go by," Kir said.
"What other nas do you go by?"
"Well... that depends on my relationship to who I’m with. Especially when I’m in bed..."
A look ca over the Guardsman’s face. "Are you flirting with ?"
"Perhaps."
"Yes or no."
"No, it is not my intent to flirt, sleep with, or co to an arrangent with you. I have complete trust in the process of the law and the testimony of the people that were rescued in order to secure my release."
"A partial truth."
"I may have flirted a little."
"Hmph. You’re not my type. I don’t do dick."
Kir had to resist the urge to laugh.
The questions that followed fit the standard template of confirming his identity, the details of his employnt and residence, and what happened the day of the incident.
Kir left very little out, he didn’t have much to hide aside from his identity. He answered as truthfully as he could about what he knew about mimics, including his discoveries from the night, and the guard appreciated the term "mimic" over "protean siphon." However, when the interrogator started asking about his students, Kir frowned.
"It would not be moral for to discuss the personal details of my students," Kir said.
"The Captain wanted to be thorough. She’s enough of a hard ass that I consider her word as law."
"The law is the least form of ethics."
The guard frowned and shrugged, pausing as if to see if Kir truly believed what he said. "Your belief, not mine," he concluded.
Given how interchangeable the roles of the Guard and the Watch were, of course, there was enough overlap for Michelle to wind up as a pain in Kir’s ass.
As if thinking about her summoned her, a mont later Michelle slamd the door open, startling both Kir and the interrogator.
She took the interrogator’s report. "The fuck’s a "mimic?"
"Easier to write than siphon. And they do mimic things."
"Whatever. Professor Nasumi, you are free to go. But know that if another ’mimic’ shows up in this city, I’m going to hold you responsible."
"That’s not fair at all. I can’t be expected to control when and how they appear."
"I don’t care. Tell it to the judge." She produced a sheet of paper, and read out the summons.
After the weekend, he was expected to report to the courthouse first thing in the morning.
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