The Interplanar University, # 10— "Phi Nu Iota Chi"
- David Parker
- Oct 3, 2023
- 3 min read
[Short stories, images generated by hotpot.ai]
Ron was silently dreading telling Ginny and Hermione about his proposal. He had learned from Kilik what he must do, and he had little experience when approaching this subject. Harry was with him, as well as Styfe the elf.
“I might not be a psyker,” she said, “but I can tell you’re anxious.”
“I’m not anxious,” said Ron, “It’s just, well… I really want this to work.”
Harry said, “There were reliable witnesses that Kilik is a seer. Plus, he seemed legitimate.”
Hermione and Ginny agreed to meet them in the commons for lunch. The food was paid for by mystical bracelets clocking hours doing something productive, which the powers imbued in the interplanar college had the ability to monitor. Even studying the surrounding planes of existence, or Ron’s fraternity, counted as productive if it edified you in any way. Money, called Coin, increased at the pace of self-edification, using an equation none of their number but Hermione could understand.
“A sorority girl? Please, Ron, I don’t want to be one of those,” said Hermione.
“But it will be yours. You and your sisters. You can do what you want with it, like a club just for you.”
“But we’ll be an extension of, what was it? Peanut Yuki?” Said Ginny.
“Pi Eta Nu Chi. The letters are basically Phoenix without the vowels.”
There was a respectful silence as Hermione did something with her hair.
“That’s actually quite clever,” she said.
“But we aren’t in it?” said Ginny.
“I’ve thought about it,” said Ron with pride, “You can be Phi Nu Iota Chi, or Iota Chis, for short.”
“Why is that?”
“In English, it’s FNIX, so you’ll be co-equal with us.” said Ron with happy grace.
The girls, including Styfe, looked at each other.
“Tell us more,” said Ginny.
“The Nu Chi’s badge is a sword with phoenix wings. I thought yours should be a shield, with phoenix wings. That way, we’re a mated pair.”
“Oh, how lovely. What else?”
This was going better than expected.
“Well,” said Ron, and showed them some of the affects he had produced. “I want five values for our bit, and I have two so far. I’m also writing a bar to get in, and there are other things the other ones have, like a Creed, Patrons, mottos, heraldry. And stuff.”
The women were visibly impressed.
“Is it a Wizarding society?” asked Styfe, “I am Magos, but not like you.”
“We thought about that,” said Harry, “And we’re thinking anyone who shares our values can join.”
“You mean anyone? The Bloc? Tech? Ethos?” said Styfe, not quite incredulous.
“Well, I mean— yes,” said Harry.
“But how will we know?” said Styfe.
“We thought about that. Ron?”
“There are people who can track auras. We need to find them.”
Styfe said, “I only identify ether and energy signatures. But what about Briggs?”
That was a good start. At length, the females, particularly Hermione, were enthused to develop their own foil to Ron’s idea. They agreed to meet at the same gatherings, but there was one thing that Ron had left out.
“Kilik said we would both fail unless you wore, well… hats. But only at gatherings when we both meet, and at formal events.”
“That… sounds okay?” said Hermione.
“Why hats?” said Ginny.
“Well,” said Harry, “any kind of head-covering. Including hats.”
The women looked at each other.
"Do the men wear head-coverings?" said Ginny.
"Do the men wear dresses?" said Ron.
"We don't gender dresses anymore," said Hermione.
To emphasize his point, Ron looked around. "Not many people here making a point to be a cross-dresser."
"We're not joining your sorority."
"Kilik said if you don't wear your Sunday best as a show of respect, it will fail."
There was silence.
"Who's Kilik?"
Ron said, "He's a seer from the Moslem Bloc. And you think I'm being bigoted? We went to one of *them* for help. In some worlds, the Bloc burns witches, you know that?"
"Then why did you ask him at all? How do you know he's a Seer?" said Hermione.
There was an interlude of quarreling.
Harry said, "This talk will get us nowhere. Why don't we have you women meet Kilik? That way, you'll know we're not doing things arbitrarily."
And so, the group resolved, after gathering a number of potential pledges, they would confer with Kilik and his companions once again.
*-------------------------------------------*
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