A/N: I'm beginning to wonder if Quaxo has any regular patients other than Gus. Also, I am now accepting requests for the main "patient" character in the next chapter (because I'm almost out of ideas). And this time I'm trying to keep it 1st Person. But who knows how long that'll last?
Quaxo: Not very?
JJ: Shut up, you're not supposed to speak until the story starts.
Quaxo: Alright, fuehrer. *sarcastically goose steps away*
JJ: So anyways, R&R, but more importantly, enjoy!
Well, it looks like Mungojerrie took up my thinking day. Shucks. Well, I guess I can think at lunch. Whatever, I'll just get Jemima to send in the next patient.
Giving Etcetera her cough medicine, which was really mostly sugar and water, he showed her back to the waiting room, and called the next patient in.
Suddenly, Coricopat ran in, completely disregarding the tremendous lineup in front of him.
"Quaxo! I need to talk to you! Urgently!"
"But I need my palsy medication!" protested Gus.
"Don't worry, shakes. This'll only be a moment."
Quaxo then ushered Coricopat through the door. "Thank you so much for seeing me, I..." the psychic said, as Quaxo teleported him outside the building.
"Alright then, I believe Gus was next."
"Yes, thank you very much, I..."
"That wasn't very polite of you, Quaxo. Hasn't Jenny talked to you about that yet?" Coricopat said, strolling in casually.
"I'm sorry Gus, I assure you, this will only take a minute..."
"I'm never gonna get my palsy medication, am I?" the aging theatre cat lamented.
Once he was certain they were out of earshot, Quaxo lost his positive attitude.
"Coricopat, what in the fells is wrong with you? The agreement was that if you and your sister don't tell anyone about my secret identity, you receive free treatment. Line-cutting is not permitted by anyone who is not unconscious, dying, or preferably both. Would you like to be dying?"
"No, but this is an emergency..."
"What could possibly be so urgently wrong with you that you can't get an appointment and wait a half an hour?"
"Well, y'see Misto, the problem is, I've stopped hearing voices in my head."
"YOU WHAT?" Misto shouted.
"Well, you know how I..."
"GET OUT!"
"But I..." "NOW!"
At that, Coricopat vanished, appearing in his own den.
"No luck?" Tantomile asked him.
"Nothing. He says it can wait until I get an appointment."
"Wait...you didn't get an appointment?"
"Well, no, I..."
"No wonder you got teleported back here twice. You don't know how to manipulate him like I do. Watch and learn."
"So, as usual, take one a day, just before breakfast. Hope to see you again soon!" Finally, I get to move on to my next patient. At least this time he didn't find some horrific insult I applied to him, Bustopher never did take kindly to that kind of thing.
"Are you saying you want me to get hurt?"
Here we go. "Dad, I was trying to be polite and you know it." "No you weren't! Saying that you want to see me soon, while working as a doctor! I've never been so insulted!"
"Love you too, Dad," Quaxo called to his father, leaving in a huff.
"Alright Jemima, who's next?"
He didn't notice what she said, as at that moment, Tantomile strode in. Her brother wasn't too far behind, but seemed less in-sync to her than usual. Quaxo didn't notice though, he was just staring at Tantomile.
"Why hello, Quaxo. You seem well." she said, wrapping her arms around the stunned tom's waist.
"I um um I uh ah I..." Quaxo said, overwhelmed by the psychic queen's sudden appearance, and flirting. Obviously, she knew he liked her, but this was not something normal for her to do. Normally she just didn't react...
"That's great. Say, when's your next break?"
"Ah, ahem, uh, soon! Uh, yes. Very soon. Uh, um, why?"
"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go hunting with me, down by the creek. You interested?"
"I, um, uh, sure, yes, of course! I uh, just need to, um, uh, file, some, uh, stuff. Yeah, uhh, important stuff."
"Alright then. See you soon!" she said, winking at him as she left, with a flick of her tail. "See Cori? How hard was that?"
"Well, I can't very well do that, now can I?"
"True. Even if you were a queen, that took a lot of practice. How was I, anyways?"
"Convincing. I noticed you were taking lessons from Bombi back while I could still...umm..." Hear your thoughts, he though to her, afraid to say it out loud.
"Haha, yeah. I knew that would come in handy some day..."
"WHAT? NOW YOU CAN SEE THE FUTURE?"
Normally, our hero would have been more suspicious, but he was just too happy that Tanto was finally acknowledging his love for her. So needless to say, he was somehow surprised when...
"Coricopat? What're you doing here?"
Tantomile smirked at him. So naïve. "Well, I suppose you've heard of my brother's recent ailment. You gave us these powers in the first place, just do what you did before."
"Oh cat. Well, gee, how can I explain this...I'll have to show you guys, otherwise you won't quite get it...In the meantime, about that date..."
"Romance later. Magic now."
"Aw, come on..."
"I know what you're about to say, and no, not that kind of magic. The kind that'll make Cori psychic again."
"Phooey. Can I at least eat before we go?"
"You can eat tomorrow. Magic now."
When they got to the old pipe that Quaxo called his home, they found a neat little den inside, with a bed, a table, and a bookshelf containing various boring, sciencey-looking books. Leading the psychic twins through, he pulled the bookshelf out of the way, revealing the secret passageway to his alter-ego's hideout.
Upon entry to the Magician's lair, there was very little different, but for a large cabinet containing Magical items, and the bookshelf containing magic books instead of science books. There were also faded geometric patterns criss-crossing incoherently over the floor, some clearly older than others.
"Now that we're actually here," Mistoffelees explained, "I can show you why it won't be so easy finding the spell. You see, my books don't just teach magic, they ARE magic. This wouldn't be a problem if they weren't so fond of organizing themselves."
"So what?" Coricopat interrupted. "The book isn't where you left it. It's still there, right? I think it was IIXVI or something, right?"
"Oh no" the magician continued, "It's not just the books that change. It's the pages within. Albeit the content rarely if ever changes, but it moves from page to page, and even book to book." To illustrate, he grabbed a random book, and opened to page eleven. He then closed it, and upon reopening it, revealed a completely different page.
"Well at this rate we'll never find it." Tantomile lamented.
"Well, it's easier than one would think. I just need to figure out their sorting algorithm."
"And how long will that take?"
"About a week, with the rate they change at." "A whole week? But...But...I can't hear the voices...It's driving me crazy...You gotta help me Quaxo!"
"Well, if you guys helped, it might not take as long."
And so they did. In the end, finding the spell only took the rest of the afternoon, which turned out well, as they work best the closer to midnight they are performed (as any experienced magical cat knows). Coricopat regained his psychic powers, yet once the ceremony was over, Tantomile had left.
*Meanwhile*
"Roight. Ah coase. Tha secon' oi step inna the lil' tom's room, the doctor vanishes. Now what'm oi s'posda do 'bout moi cold?" whined Mungojerrie.
"At least you can keep your paws still." grumbled Gus.
Quaxo: One paragraph in? You lost track of the perspective one paragraph in?
JJ: Whatever, at least you had an excuse to be a jerk this time.
Also, I'd like to give a great big thank you to Ravyn's Wing, Broadway Khaos, and Kristin-Kai-Lundy for reading and reviewing, as well as RumTumTugress, Loveydovey14, and Rawrrkitty for responding to my reviews and acknowledging me as a fan, and of course NekoSoda, just for being a genius at writing, even if you ignore me :(
Finally, to my loyal readers, as well as passing perusers and the occasional lost monk, I ask you to vote on how Quaxo and Tanto should end up.