The professor stepped over, but Tock didn't hear anything he said. A bit of overgiving had temporarily robbed her of one of her senses, this time hearing. Unaware of it, and too focused on the mystery before her to realize how silent the room suddenly was, she kept focusing on Bitey's aura. Every time she touched him, the same subtle shift happened, as if something about him were locking in place. But she couldn't understand what it meant.
She was feeling tired, and her head was starting to pound, but she seemed to get a headache
every time she used Auristics. She was coming to just accept it as normal. She kept focusing on Bitey, ignoring everything else around her. Finally, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Startled, she jerked around and almost swung a fist, looking up at the wide-eyed professor who stepped back, raising his hands to soothe her. His lips were moving but she couldn't hear a word.
"WHAT?" she asked. "OY, NEVER MIND. LOOK!" She pointed at Bitey, and touched him again. "YA SEE 'AT? 'IS AURA'S GOIN' ALL...
FUNKY AN' i DUNNO WHY..."
The professor continued speaking to her, lips moving without a sound. She frowned in confusion, not sure what was going on. Finally, the professor grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her into a chair. He pulled out a small vial and popped the cap off, waving it under her nose. Whatever was in it smelled
foul, and made her dizzy. She winced, trying to push him off, coughing and closing her eyes. Her concentration was completely broken, her Djed flow cut off.
She was handed a glass of water, everything still silent around her. She drank the water, and rubbed some of it on her face. Her nose was tingling and her eyes watering from the smelling salts, or whatever it had been. After a few minutes, when she felt like she was recovering (except for the continued lack of hearing), she looked up to see the professor writing something on a sheet of paper:
How are you feeling?
She frowned at the paper and irritably replied, "OY, WHATCHA DONE MEANS!? WHAZZAT STINKY STUFF ALL 'BOUT! BLOODY RUDE, IF'N YA ASK ME..."
The professor sighed and wrote another line, then held the page up for her to see:
You're overgiving. It's clearly robbed your hearing. Please stop shouting.
She scowled, waving a hand at the paper in disgust. "WHAZZA MEAN, 'SHOUTIN''?" she asked. She couldn't hear her own voice, and didn't realize she was instinctively raising her voice to try and make herself heard. "MY SPIDER..." She pointed at the table, where Bitey was cringing away from a few nearby students. Most of the class was watching now, curious to find out how to handle a case over overgiving sensory loss. Most of them were keeping away from Bitey, but a few were studying him curiously, though from a safe distance. The attention was setting his instincts on edge, and he was crouched down, ready to bite anyone that came too close.
The professor glanced at Bitey and wrote:
You can't channel any more Djed until your hearing returns. If you do, it could become permanent.
He held up the sheet of paper and tapped his finger repeatedly on the word
'permanent'. Tock stared at it for a moment, the repercussions slowly sinking in. She rubbed at her ears, frowning. She didn't understand what she'd done wrong.
Bitey raised his forelegs defensively when one of the students got a little brave and stepped closer. Not wanting to be blamed when the stupid git got himself bitten, she stood up and grabbed Bitey, cradling him against herself protectively. A few more written notes from the professor explained the signs she should have picked up on earlier: the cottony feeling in her ears, the fatigue, the headache. He accentuated the point by handing her a book, which detailed all the signs and warnings about overgiving. Then he passed her one final note:
From now on, you STOP at the first signs of fatigue or pain, so that it doesn't get this bad. And until your hearing clears, you read up about overgiving in order to learn better...
She read the note twice, then looked up at him and said, "BUT...!!!" All he did was shove the book at her, giving her a stern look.
Grumbling, she settled into the chair, spider in her lap, and started skimming the
stupid book about
stupid overgiving...