Luminary Institute

6: Taking Advantage of the Cat Bias

Nyssa was back in her favorite form: a pure white-haired cat. She wasn’t quite sure why the cat’s hair was a pure white, but perhaps it was because it mirrored her human hair. Or did her human hair mirror her cat form’s hair... 

Questions for the ages indeed. 

She didn’t care though. To her, the cat form was superior for one simple reason: it was optimal for napping. It was built as heaven’s perfect form to enjoy every nap position! The apex predator of naps!

Sprawled out on her stomach against a picnic table she had found on one of the third floor’s balconies, she had set up her laptop so it provided the perfect amount of shade for her eyes. For learning of course! Not for napping... totally. 

Over the course of the next few hours, having chosen the perfect position, Nyssa managed to blaze through her general education requirements for the day. There wasn’t much to it in all honesty. She used to have approximately... zero friends, so she had put probably a little too much time into making sure she was solid on everything she needed to learn. 

In all honesty though, there wasn’t much to general education these days anyway though. She wasn’t planning on becoming a doctor, a professor, or any other intensely academic job anyway. Therefore, the artificial intelligence style general education did its job. Her specialized classes necessitating in-person instruction were well... what she was going to get at the Luminary Institute. 

Whoever invented the AI run general education system deserved all the awards. Plain as that. It made life so much easier. Or, well, that’s what she had heard, anyway. Growing up she had always had the AI run general education system. 

Checking the time, Nyssa broke out into as wide of a smile a cat could break out into as she realized she had about a half hour left before they had planned to meet up for lunch. Setting an alarm, she rolled over into the sun and let herself be taken by the warm, cozy, and inviting embrace of sleep. 

Oh how sleep was nice... it was just a shame that she could no longer continue her five naps a day sleep schedule... 

Like always, however, the nap ended far too soon. With her alarm blaring, she forced herself to stretch out before closing the laptop. Biting the strap of her bag, she dragged it on top of her bag before wandering off. 

It was safe enough anyway. The Luminary Institute didn’t have a stealing problem—or a bird problem for that matter. 

Leaping off the table, Nyssa, too lazy and too sleepy to transform back, wandered off towards where their meeting spot was. Taking her time, she realized she had come in contact with her greatest enemy once more: stairs. 

Deciding to just be late by a minute or so, she took her time meandering down the steps. After all, breaking her neck on the first day of class did... not seem like a great start to her school career. 

Coming across a walking Celeste, Nyssa ran up to her before launching herself into the bag of Celeste’s legs. One meow later, and she managed to catch a ride in Celeste’s arms. 

Victory!

As always, no one could resist the cuteness of cats!

Basking in the warm Celeste radiated, Nyssa couldn’t help but appreciate the supposed ‘star engine’ in her chest. She hadn’t noticed earlier because of Mr. Air Conditioner’s presence, but Celeste gave off heat like... well... a star!

An intense battle to not fall asleep once more later, and they arrived at the meeting spot. Cuddled up in Celeste’s arms, Nyssa let out a few contented meows as they met the others. 

“Look what I found everyone! Luminary Institute’s elusive cat!” Celeste nodded downward to the cat in her arms. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in this half of the school. It usually only roams the administrative building, right? And sometimes the cafeteria building?” 

“You're right about that,” Angelica stifled a couple laughs. “This is the first time I’ve seen her during my time at the Institute. I’m not surprised you found her though. She does have quite the distinct coat of white fur.” 

“Hm?” Celeste tilted her head as a faint spark of enlightenment tickled the back of her mind. “Wait a second, Nyssa?” 

Looking left and right, Nyssa gave a few slow nods as the rest of the students stared at her. Saddened by the reveal, she leapt down from her warm perch before transforming back into a person. Blushing as she recalled the cat antics she enjoyed while Celeste didn’t know her identity, Nyssa stared at the ground. “Yeah, I’m the rumored Luminary Institute cat, dad used to bring me here a lot so I wasn’t too lonely at home...” 

“Ah... no wonder. I probably should have put those two together sooner,” Celeste sighed while facepalming. “Okay, sorry for holding everyone up though, let’s get going.” 

Waving over a couple of the others who were returning from using the restroom, Angelica led the way as they left through the front double doors instead of the breezeway. Making their way across the stone-paved pathways, the eight of them drew an interesting picture. 

The eight students were dressed in white and light blue school uniforms while Angelica was wearing a black, and quite formal, suit. Drawing a picturesque scene, the eight of them contrasted against the gray pavement, green bushes, and, overall, bright scenery from the noontime sun. 

... It was still chilly though. 

“Why do you radiate cold all the damn time,” Ryker grumbled as Albion let out misty breaths one after another. “Do you feel cold?” 

“No.” Albion breathed into his hands. “I think it's quite warm right now actually. The sun is out.” 

“We all disagree with you, literally all of us.” Ryker rolled his eyes as everyone else murmured in agreement. “Titus, can you radiate heat? I know Celeste does naturally, but she can’t outcompete Mr. FREEZE here without putting herself in danger.” 

“Unlike most of my family, I don’t radiate abnormal amounts of heat actually. Unless I’m consciously doing something with fire, of course” Titus chuckled while shrugging. “You'd be better off asking Electra perhaps. Electricity, heat? Who knows, there’s some sort of connection there.” 

“No, Electra can’t,” Ryker sighed while staring at his hand. “Too bad I can’t detonate a body part slowly...” 

“Now, I’d prefer if you just didn’t detonate body parts at all,” Angelica raised her eyebrows from the back of the pack. “It would certainly not help this class’s reputation with the rest of the school. Just look at those students from... what, the Class One track over there.” 

With everyone pausing their various conversations and looking over... they couldn’t help but agree with Angelica’s point. Nyssa, from what she could see, noticed there was a whole mood board’s worth of emotions. Some were envious, some were afraid, and others were standoffish. 

It didn’t quite seem any were ‘amicable’ though. She had overheard various rumors about Class Zero because of its small size. With only a single class of students after combining multiple years, it was dwarfed by the various other class tracks. 

Class One, the premier track for the normal person, consisted of what... five classes per year? Some years it went all the way up to seven of eight. Then there was the Class Two track, built a little less prestigious, but more accessible and still a great education opportunity nonetheless. It had a minimum of about ten classes per year?

If Nyssa was remembering correctly.

It did make the Luminary Institute very large though. She didn’t wander too much usually though because she didn’t want to get caught and relocated outside the school by an overambitious security guard...