[Story] Once upon a time in Kebre (DMFA-fic)(PG-13)

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

*Gives cookies to Evgenija*

I suspect she'd prefer it if you ate them and she stared at you hungrily the whole time. ;-]

[ZacAttac21]

I'd have said he was a Being except for the rampaging at the end.

Come to think of it, if he's a descendent of Dominus and Nanbi, he would have some Angel blood in him...

[Meany]

This will be the last of the short chapters.


Chapter 3- Making a Monster pt4

He took her to a cafe near the docks.  Remarkably upscale for somewhere close to a heavily used dock.  Evgenija inquired about it.

   "The docks are used by everyone," the little ferret, Domino, answered.  "From the highest king, to the lowest serf.  In Ti'baltr, you don't get your own private docks unless you're military.  Our military," he clarified quickly.  A waitress politely remained quiet while escorting the two to an outdoor table cooled by a parasol.  She didn't understand why no one was giving her odd looks; dressed as she was, with her headwings out.  She probably smelled awful too, she decided.  A quick whiff of her wrist confirmed that, to her mortification.

   "Your nobles must share space with your peasants?"

   "See, that's a thing you Kebrians never seemed to get," the ferret set his bag down on the table, and the vulture noticed his left arm wasn't just bandaged, it was missing it's hand.  "In Ti'baltr, there aren't nobles.  The closest we got are the Ti'balt family.  They run the show.  Everyone else is what you'd define as a peasant."

   "I see.  So you only have one group of nobles, and this is how they want things."

   "You're getting it, better than most of your countrymen do anyway."  The waitress left, and while she was gone, Domino struck Evgenija with a fistful of light-brown sparkles that seemed to form in his hand in seconds.  She fluffed out in shock before glaring at the tiny man, who grinned back.  "Not to be mean, ma chère, but you needed a cleaning."

   "It is acceptable to cast spells upon others without their consent in Ti'baltr?"

   "Of course it ain't... if you live here.  But you're Kebrian.  Unless you get a job, a house, or someone to watch out for you, you're free game."

   "And you would like to apply to be such a someone, after that incident?"  The ferret shrugged.  His thoughts were growing foggy to her, she didn't know how to focus on that while the emotions of the street loads of people began to overwhelm her.  The vulture tried to play off rubbing her temple as brushing hair out of her face, but alas.

   "You look like you're having trouble.  Do you not know how to set up an emotion filter or something?"  Evgenija was grateful the dye she used for her feathers lasted years.  Even with... how long had passed, there was enough red on her head to hide her flush in embarrassment.  "Hey, nothing to be ashamed of.  It's a learned skill, and you look, what?  Eighteen?  You shouldn't have popped this early, and you're alone."

"It is impolite to guess at a lady's age," the vulture tried to growl.  But the headache was getting worse.  The ferret's pain was colored with concern.  He seemed to know what he was talking about, perhaps he could help.  "But... no.  I do not.  Do you?"

"I know the absolute basics.  Worked with a cubi for almost eight years; you pick up things."  Pain so acute it brought water to her eyes.  The ferret looked taken aback by her sudden wincing, and dragging her nails along the table briefly in reflex.  "Yeah, I think we should probably do that now before the waitress gets back."

"That would be desirable, yes."  Domino described the process of creating a basic filter, and despite the simplicity when it was done, she was relieved enough to sigh in contentment.  It wasn't all that different from the trauma coping mechanism the adventurer school had taught: focus your mind, and push away the undesired emotions.  She could still feel particularly intense emotions, but it was like background chatter rather than a cacophony now.  "Thank you."

"No problem."  The waitress emerged with their menus, and Evgenija found hers had a variety of bone-marrow specific dishes.  She leaned the laminated paper backed with leather down enough to give a raised eyebrow look to the ferret, who seemed to be only looking at his own half-heartedly.  "Hmm?"

"My menu seems... rather specific."

"It's actually a menu used for a type of mythos that visit occasionally.  They feed primarily on the marrow of whales, but have our tiny morsels as snacks when they're around."

"But how would she know?"

"You're a lammergeier," Domino said as if it answered everything.  "You guys eat bone marrow a lot, don't you?"

"There are many of my kind here, then?"

"A few.  Mostly transitioning on their way to Kebre.  Good guys, hard workers."  Domino snapped his menu shut and held it up for the waitress who had returned without the vulture even noticing.  "I'll just have some boudin balls and water."

Evgenija quickly scoured for something as the waitress looked for her.  "Um, bone marrow pate on wheat crackers, and cranberry juice, please."  The waitress nodded, and took her menu.  With the uncomfortable topic of emotion filters passed, the two sat in silence.

"So," Domino said, breaking the silence.  "After this, I was thinking we get you to a salon to clean you up, then a tailor to get you something 'decent'," the finger quotes thing looked even more ridiculous when the person attempting it had only one hand.  "And then off to the immigration station to get you a visa."

"What makes you think I do not have a visa?"  Evgenija arched a brow, and put as much drawl into her her voice as possible.

"Well," the ferret started to tick off reasons on his four fingers.  "One, you're a Cubi and we don't let those wander around unescorted."  The vulture tried to avoid flinching with limited success.  That seemed obvious in hindsight; who in their right mind would let a foreign shapeshifter go unwatched? "Two, you wouldn't be so obviously filthy if you had gone through immigration; they clean you up as part of the delousing."

"Delousing?"  Now that was just insulting!

"Yeah.  We had a moncholio outbreak six years ago from Kebrian fleas.  Not risking that again, hoo boy."  Oh.  She'd read about that outbreak.  It had been spun as an amusing slice of the suffering of the government's enemies.  "And three, your stolen dress doesn't have pockets for a visa, and you have no purse."

"What makes you think I stole the dress?"

"The tags are still on, ma chère."  The vulture's blood ran cold.  She hastily felt around the dress and sure enough ,there was an adhesive tag on the back.  "Don't worry about it, this ain't the first time this has happened.  You're on the run from the secret police, yeah?"

She blinked.  "What?"

"Yeah, we get like six or seven of you guys a year when I was last in the bureaucratic office.  We usually keep you around if you're useful, or put you on a ship to the Union or Kalpakstan if you're not.  We only send you back if you're crazy beyond all reason."

Evgenija didn't have time to respond as their meal had arrived.  She still wasn't hungry, but ate out of politeness.  The pate was indeed good.  Domino had to fork is boudin balls and chew them whole due the lack of his hand.  "Thank you," the vulture said at length when her crackers and pate were gone.  "You didn't have to help, and you did."

"Technically all I've done is feed you food you don't strictly need to survive.  Try thanking me after we get you sorted at the immigration office, hmm?"  The waitress brought the check, and Domino started fishing around in his bag before pulling out an alarmingly feminine coinpurse.  "Let's see... aha, checkbook."  The waitress graciously held the check for the ferret as he wrote it out, even before he had to try fumbling around with it, and left with... pearls for her tip.

"Your currency is pearls?"  Again with the arched brow, if she kept making this face it would stick.  Her mother had told her so.

"Hmm?  Oh, no.  The pearls were a gift.  That's how we tip in Ti'baltr.  Small gifts, maybe adding a meal of their choice to our bill so they can eat, stuff like that."

"But would not money be more directly helpful?"  The ferret shook his head, put the purse in his bag, and stood up.

"Money practically grows on trees in Ti'baltr.  Why give money when you can give something a person may cherish their whole lives?  I bet she's going to make earrings out of those pearls.  She'd look good in 'em."  The vulture tilted her whole head at the one-eyed, one-handed ferret who helped complete strangers and gave pearls as gifts while projecting emotions that she'd expect of a trauma patient.  "What?"


"You confuse me, Domino."  The ferret grinned.

"Means I'm still doing my job right, I guess.  Come on, I know a salon nearby who will love having having a feathered customer."


And thus Evy's chapter is done.  Off to Dommy again.

[VAE]

"What makes you think I stole the dress?"

"The tags are still on, mon cher."  The vulture's blood ran cold.  She hastily felt around the dress and sure enough ,there was an adhesive tag on the back.  "Don't worry about it, this ain't the first time this has happened.  You're on the run from the secret police, yeah?"

She blinked.  "What?"

"Yeah, we get like six or seven of you guys a year when I was last in the bureaucratic office.  We usually keep you around if you're useful, or put you on a ship to the Union or Kalpakstan if you're not.  We only send you back if you're crazy beyond all reason."

Okay, this exchange made me laugh like crazy in the middle of the office. Well done, owl. Well done.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

"short" chapters. Yeah, right.

Good work on the pacing, and the interaction is interesting. I await with bated breath the next installment.

[Meany]

MeanyOwl studios is not responsible for any bodily injury caused while reading its products.


Chapter 4- Just Say Yes

   She was almost like a younger Urd, Domino considered.  So stiff, so 'proper'.  Before Domino had spent a near-decade wearing her down, sanding down the rough edges.  Maybe she'd find someone to help her with that.  If he could help her do that...  maybe Urd's ghost wouldn't hate him so much for leaving her alone.

   Alone in the cold water, to be picked at by fishes.

   The ferret worked through the sentiment, guiding the girl to what had once been one of his favorite parts of town.  Rainbow Road; a neighborhood as old as the city, and every bit as glamorous as the name implied.  Dominus had it built to spite the then governor of Kebre who had accused him of being unmanly for marrying a male.  The prevailing attitude of the neighborhood was 'live as you wish, and tell everyone who tries to stop you where to shove it.'

   The vulture girl, Evgenija, seemed taken aback by all the tropical-suited clothing people on Rainbow Road sported; at the vibrant colors, and the elaborate decorations.  He couldn't blame her; on Rainbow Road, it was as if Mardis Gras never really ended.  Though people usually charged more than a necklace of beads to take their tops off.

   "Ah, here we are."  The ferret stopped the vulture, who was eyeing a statue of Dominus hefting Mikhail's axe over his head, while standing on the decapitated head of the Dragon Rheroddra.  "Swoon's Boutique," he opened the frosted glass door to the fashionable hair salon

   "Aren't boutiques usually stores?"

   "So help me," came a frustrated growl from inside, that Domino recognized with a smile, "I will eat the facemeat of the next person to say that!"  The girl gave Domino a look that quite plainly questioned his sanity.  He gave her a winning smile, and pointed his stump inside.  She stepped in, hesitantly, and growing far more self conscious as she saw the shelves of designer hair and fur care products near the store, the booths with swivel chairs on metal poles, the pink on everything.

   "I immediately regret this decision, Domino."

   "Yeah yeah, they all say that.  Swoon!  Swoon, ma belle, where are you?"  Domino didn't need to shout, but he did.  It helped get him excited for seeing Swoon, and forgetting the... things that had happened.

   Swoon's arrival was preceded by the clicking of heels on the linoleum floor.  Swoon came rushing around the corner, skidding a moment to stop herself.  Pink and orange were made as one in Swoon, an Angel Siamese-patterned cat.  She'd been a part of the business longer than Domino had been alive, or so she said.  Cats were narcissistic like that.  Garbed in a mermaid dress of tangerine orange, and no makeup despite her profession, she probably set off a negative reaction in the vulture woman.  Domino turned to check.

   She actually seemed numb to it.  Like she just stopped being surprised by anything.  He'd have to try harder,  but later.  Swoon was approaching, her high heels clicking on the floor dangerously as she glared down at Domino with her orange eyes.

   "Ma belle," Domino tried to be charming in the face of Swoon's 'angry eyes'.  "Not happy to see your petit?"  She reached down, and picked him up under the arms.  Uh oh.

   The cat put a hand on the bandage over his missing eye, which stung a bit.  Then she gave his stump of a left hand a look.  Not blinking once.  "You will tell me what did these things to you," said the cat.  Her voice cold as the grave.  "And I am going to murder it.  Until it dies to death."

   "Heh.  Well, I think I lost my eye to an explosion.  And a shark took off the hand.  But I did not come by to set you upon my enemies, ma belle."

   "I could care less why you came here- Are you in hospital clothes?  Did you rampage your way out of the hospital again-" She started to shake him while lecturing him in Ti'baltic.  The old tongue.  The old old tongue that he only understood because his grandmother had been a harpy about it.  Domino held up his hand and stump to try and get her to stop ranting.

   "Ma belle, ma belle, listen.  I came because I need your help."  The cat stopped her lecture and shaking, thank the gods, to glare at him.  "My new friend from Kebre requires the use of your magic.  She has a date with the immigration officials."

   "I cannot possibly see how this is more important than-" Swoon turned to look at Evgenija, and was going back to Domino when she double-taked, and screamed at the top of her lungs at Evgenija, backing away frantically while squeezing Domino to her chest.

   Normally he wouldn't complain but ye gods his spine ached.  Swoon had somehow gotten ahold of a broom and was brandishing it like a sword at Evgenija.  "Do I really look that bad?"  The vulture woman sounded less 'from on high' and actually a bit hurt.  Oh now that just wouldn't do.

   "Ma belle," Domino played up the gasping for breath bit.  "I can't breathe."  The Angel grudgingly let go of the ferret, letting him stand on his own again, and approaching Evgenija slowly.  Sizing the girl up from top to bottom, reaching out and touching a bit of the long, rather unkempt looking gray hair she had.

   "It will not be easy," Swoon admitted, letting the lock go.  The hair slowly fell back into place, crackling and popping all the way.  "But I can fix this."  She pointed at the back room door, and pushed Evy in the direction.  "But it will take a while, even with my magic.  And you," she whirled and jabbed Domino in the nose with the handle of her broomsword, "I am not done with you yet.  You will be here when I set her down to soak in one hour, understood?"

   "Of course, ma belle."

   "Don't you 'ma belle' me, Domino.  Not when I must be strong for your friend."  The cat flipped her mane of pink hair, and strode off to the back room.  "Pray for me, petit."  Domino smiled faintly, and sat down in one of the waiting chairs, occupying so little space in the tall-legs-sized chairs that he could rummage around his his bag to see what he had lost on the....

   "The Harridan's gone, Domino," he told himself.  "She's dead.  Get over it, you know that's what everyone'll say, get a head start."  He couldn't even really remember the night of the attack.  Or how much of the crew was lost aside from Urd.  Hell, he didn't even know if the Antiquity had already arrived.  A ship of the line was a slow beast, especially when, if Marlyn was smart, she took an alternate route in lieu of Demon attack.

   But then, it was Marlyn.  All brawn, some brain, no wit.  Dumb girl would probably charge into any potential attack, thinking she'd punch through.  And with the number of Demons in her crew, she would probably manage.  At an unknown amount of damage, unknown loss of life, and a VIP young and stupid enough to try helping.

   The ferret hoped the kid got to town safe, and was with his foster family already.  Hyden was a nice kid, needed someone to talk to and he'd be perfectly happy for the time being.  But back to the bag; Domino found the rings for his right hand, and had to put them on with his teeth, changed his shirt from the virgin white hospital linen to his silk taupe shirt, not feeling up to changing his pants in Swoon's shop with only one hand.

   Not after last time.  Woo.

   During this process, Domino noticed an unfortunate little consequence of being hospitalized.  His choker had been removed, which meant his stripes and eye had been visible in public.  Ugh.   And he'd been smiling too, hopefully the girl hadn't minded his teeth.  From the den of spikes he'd seen in her mouth when she was eating, she probably didn't.  Probably.  Maybe.  Hopefully.
   
   At least the hospital staff hadn't broken it this time.  He was still hearing about breaking the last one from his grandmother.  Constructed of bones dyed red, black beads, and threaded with sinew, no one guessed it was actually a Creature-Being amulet; due to the gem that powered the morphing magic facing backward, and covered by his hair.  Easy to clasp, even with one hand.

   And when done, the stripes of tan in his fur faded to the normal brown, his eye regained its rounded pupil, and his teeth shrank down and lost serration.  Was weird when the 'fake' you felt more natural than the original.  Perhaps that was how some Cubi felt.  At least no one he knew had seen him with his stripes out this time.  No one was going to buy the 'impersonating a zebra' thing twice.

   Domino looked at his stump again, and sighed.  He'd lost bits of himself before, you simply didn't go a career in the navy without getting cut a few times, but this time....  He wondered if he even wanted to get the hand regenerated.  Or his eye.  Keeping them as reminders of Urd and the Harridan would be the poetic thing to do.  And the stupidly emotional thing to do, Urd would say.

   And he'd have to explain to the rest of the family why he'd gone with prosthesis instead.

   It's so easy to hide in the persona of being a fop, isn't it.  Almost like you won't have to attend Urd's funeral in a few days.

   Domino remembered now why the captain he had served under drank so much, all those years ago.  It made one's brain shut up.  So wrapped up in his thoughts, the ferret didn't notice Swoon coming back into the room until she was picking him up again and sitting him in her lap, while she brushed at his hair.

   "Ma belle," he said sidelong to her, "I ain't a kid, you know."

   "And when you stop coming to me looking like you ran through the jungle," said the cat in a lofty tone, "I may believe you."  The brush was traded for a fine comb, and Domino didn't want to think too hard on where she kept all these implements.  "Are you going to tell me what happened now, petit?"

   He didn't want to.  Swoon was nice, kind of a bitch sometimes, but nice.  And he didn't want to start talking about the ship.  About Urd.  About being alive when they weren't.  Because then the rage would come back, and he didn't know what he'd do.  "It's... personal, Swoon.  I'll tell you, I promise.  Just... not right now, okay?"  The combing stopped, and Swoon was hugging him.  Not the squeezing life-or-death embrace of earlier, but a normal hug.

   "Its alright, petit.  You tell me when you want, okay?"  Domino put up his good hand to try returning the hug, difficult with her at his back and all.  "Is the girl related to it, at all?"

   "No, she's just a scared kid running from Kebre I found on the docks.  I couldn't just let her bumble around all day like that and make a fool of herself before she realized we'd just accept her.  She'd never forgive me," Swoon wouldn't know he was referring to Urd when he said that.  Thankfully she wasn't a Cubi.  "Did you happen to see her clan mark on her when you were cleaning her up?"

   "Oui, it's on her inner thigh, the mark of Kish'Ta.  Is not the Kebre Secret Police serving another Kish'Ta?"

   "If I remember right, yeah."  Maybe Theo was going insane at last.  One could only take daily political intrigue for so long before it began to affect their mind.  And Theo had been at it for three centuries.  "Hopefully neither of the resident clans have issues with her."

   "They should not.  She is young, and cannot help whom she is related to."  The Angel let Domino go, and resumed combing.  "Will you be in town long, petit?"

   "For a while, yes."  Domino doubted the Company would trust him with another ship.  Or that he could captain another ship.  "Maybe long enough to see Mardis Gras this year."

   "It would be nice to go to with someone this year."  He could hear the smile in her voice.  "My girls are all off getting their preparations done."

   "Has Aina been any trouble?"  Aina Kynaston, a swan phoenix Domino had pulled strings to get a job with Swoon.  The two had been having workplace spats last he'd been in town.

   "She was angry at the world," Swoon flicked her hand flippantly.  "Anger comes and goes, and hers is gone.  She's almost earned my respect, though she cannot perm to save her life."  The cat pushed Domino off her lap and stood up.  "Your friend will be ready in another hour, and if you bring her to me looking as she did again," the Angel cat narrowed her eyes dangerously, leaned down, and placed one clawed finger under the ferret's chin, "then a certain petit will have to get the deep clean by all of my girls.  Why, such a filthy ferret may need multiple soaks."

   "You are so cruel to me, ma belle," Domino replied in a mock hurt tone, not at all concerned with the claw near his neck.  The cat stood up and walked back to the door to the rear of the store, putting some sashay into her gait.

   "Only because you love it."  She wasn't wrong.

   The hour came and went.  And when Swoon emerged with Evgenija, it was as if night and day had switched for the girl.  Her feathers were clean, a new coat of dye added to her head, neck, and shoulders.  Giving her a dipped in blood sort of look; enforced by her hair being dyed a slightly darker shade of red.

   Swoon pushed the two from her store afterward, claiming she needed a nap from all the hard work.  It might have been true, but with how cats were with naps....

   The next stop for the duo was the tailor, who couldn't fathom why the vulture girl needed a new dress; she was already wearing something from Gloria Hoo, after all.  Domino cut her off from snapping at the poor skunk tailor about 'proper' clothes, and said that she needed a more regal look to her.

   While she was being fitted, Domino ran next door to pick up some shoes for the girl.  Nevermind he'd been going barefoot all day.  It didn't bother him unless he walked on glass or something.  Guessing foot size wasn't Domino's thing, but the store owner assured the ferret that they had resizing shoes in stock.  Wonderful things with a mana-filled gem that allowed them to fit their wearers perfectly.  And a price tag to match.

   One did not skimp when being charitable, though.  So some heeled sandals were bought for the girl, and Dom returned to the tailor... who was having difficulty getting Evgenija out of the dressing room.

   "Madame," the skunk man implored, "I am sure Mr. Ti'balt will love the dress, but please come out."

   "I will not, it was bad enough to go around dressed like a medieval wench.  This dress makes me look like a loose woman," came the indignant voice of the vulture succubus.  "I refuse!"

   "My good man," the ferret interrupted.  "Is there an issue?"  The skunk adjusted his glasses and pushed air out through his nose.

   "She says she wants a regal look, I give her a dress suit in a nice dark red."

   "Ah, I see the problem."  Domino set his own bag, and the box with the shoes aside, while looking through the aisles.  "She meant regal more in the traditional sense.  Floor length dresses, that sort of thing."

   The skunk gave a grunt of disapproval, but wisely chose not to give advice.  "I'll see what I can find.  Will we be fitting you as well today, Mr. Ti'balt?"

   "Nah, not feeling quite up to it today."  The tailor nodded and vanished into the clothes while Domino pretended to be examining shirts to keep his mind off more unpleasant topics.

   "Domino," came the voice of the vulture in the dressing room, seemingly calmed down.  "You said the only nobles in Ti'baltr were the Ti'balts... and that man alleges that you are one."

   "You haven't given me your surname either, Evgenija."  Domino saw himself in a mirror and noticed a red flower that Swoon must have snuck into his hair without his knowledge.  He coouldn't identify it, so pulled it out and placed it in his bag.  "I didn't think it'd be an issue."

   "You're part of the ruling family, and being exceptionally charitable.  What should I think about this?"

   "That I'm either disgraced in the public light so that my being nice to you won't matter politically, or that I'm leading by example?"  The ferret looked around, not seeing the skunk anywhere, and stole into the vacant dressing room to change pants.  "I mean really.  You're a Cubi.  You can read thoughts and emotions; and I don't have a mind shield, so you would know my intentions by now."

   "I'm sorry," she said quickly.  "It's just that... my mother taught me to be suspicious of men who seem too eager to help."

   "I see."  The ferret wondered who had hurt the girl's mother so bad to be suspicious like that.  "Well rest assured.  I just want to help you out."  He just got the hospital linens into his bag when the skunk returned with a long dress and knocked on Evgenija's door.

   She didn't react badly to the dress, and minutes later, came out.  Nearly the entire back had to be exposed due to her wings, and the unique tail lammergeiers sported; like a diamond shape.  To account for that, the dress had rigid wire in the front, along with a narrow strip that went around the back under the shoulders for support.  A proper floor-length dress, with semi-detached sleeves.  A purple-red color, with a slightly darker shade along the hem and around the bust.

   The skunk had to fit it to her slightly, and after the sandals were added, she was nearly taller than the dressing room door.  But she seemed to like the dress; at least she was smiling a bit after it.  Less so when she saw the price tag.

   "Domino, this- No, I can't ask you to spend- I've never even seen that much-"  But while she ranted, Domino wrote out the check, and handed it to the skunk, who in turn handed him the receipt.  "I mean the food, the salon, this- how can you even think to afford this?"

   "It could be that I'm fabulously wealthy you know," Domino pushed her in the direction of the door.  "And for all you know, I could spend my days helping people I find at the docks.  Now come on, the immigration station closes for lunch soon."  He wasn't wealthy.  And given the unknown number of funerals he had to pay for, and the lost ship... well, he wanted to spend money while he still had it.

   The immigration offices were rather empty; the morning surge had already gone, but there will still some stragglers.  While Evgenija looked about awkwardly, the ferret casually slipped under the desk and started trotting to the back offices.  None of the desk workers noticed a thing.

   "Hey, Aunt Flo, you still here?"  Domino's aunt Florine, called Flo purely as teasing by the family, was seated in her well-decorated office with her walls of accolades and her mahogany desk, and comfortable swivel chair that she never let anyone else sit in.    A ferret similar to Domino, but with a cosmetically added facemask and red hair bleached to pink, she was dressed in a pantsuit, and had a stack of paperwork to her side.

   "Domino," she said, not looking up.  "Out of the hospital already?"

   "Yeah, them doctors sure know their medicine."  Domino slunk into the office, being careful not to come too close to her desk lest she go for the letter opener.

   "And let me guess, you came to visit me at work so close to lunch because you need something.  Again."

   "You know me too well, Auntie dearest."  The older woman pointed her pen at the male warningly.  "Aww come on, Aunt Flo, you know I wouldn't bother you unless it was important."  She stopped writing on the item of paperwork that had been occupying her attention to recline in her chair, arms crossed.  "We got another Kebrian on the run from the secret police.  A succubus, even.  One of Theo's clan."

   "Ugggh," the she-ferret rubbed her face, likely seeing the paperwork the process would cause.  "Okay.  I'll do it for you, my beloved nephew, on one condition."

   "Is it I stop my feud with Marlyn, because I am still upset about that time she set me on fire-"

   "It was an accident!"  The woman leaned forward and shook her arms emphatically.  "No one knew the wind would carry it that far!"

   "Six months in a burn ward, Aunt Flo."  He did his best to look dour on the subject.  Truth was he never blamed Marlyn for the accident; just used it as an excuse to torment her.  She was a bitch, and deserved it.

   "Argh, but that's not what I was going to ask."  Flo put on her 'serious mode' face, no silliness in her expression or tone.  "I'll get her a visa, in exchange for you being her chaperone until she's out of the probation period."  That actually surprised Domino, and it must have shown in his face.  "We can't send her to one of the native clans, they'll just shove her off to their Academy, where she might see Theo again, and they work things out, and bam, she's back in Kebre.  You know how Cubi work, and you've obviously got nothing better to do right now-"

   Domino glared at her.  Some of the more administrative family members tended to forget that lost ships and personnel weren't really just numbers.  Sometimes a death glare would work on reminding them of the Being factor.

   "Okay.  Touchy subject, sorry.  But I'm not budging on this.  The Company has enough trouble with the succession claim, let alone a Kish'Ta succubus.  Killing two birds with one stone seems appropriate is all."

   "I don't follow."  It was Flo's turn to look surprised.  "What?"

   "The Company rep at the hospital didn't tell you?"

   "Tell me what," the ferret's tone was colored with frustration at the cliche the two were living out.  But the older female got an evil look on her face.

   "Oh man, I hope someone has a camera when you find out.  Going to be priceless.  But I ain't going to spoil the surprise," she flicked her hand at the door.  "Now git, while I get the papers for this cubi girl you dragged in here."  Frustrated, annoyed, feeling dread the likes of which normally preceded a press conference, Domino returned to the lobby, and to the vulture girl.

   "Where have you been," she asked in a angry hiss.  "The lines have been empty and I have no idea what to do, and the workers are giving me odd looks, and-"  Domino stopped her by holding up his good hand.

   "Relax, I've been greasing the wheels of politics.  They should have a visa for you in no time."  Sure enough, one of the workers called her up to the desk by name, and the two started talking rapidly.  Mere minutes later, they were leaving the office with the vulture's new visa, and en route to Domino's apartment near the wharf.

   "I still cannot believe how forward that bureaucrat was," Evgenija grumbled.  "Asking to see my clan mark, as if I were some tavern wench."

   "It's policy, ma chère," Domino replied, ascending the stairs to his apartment while several burly Beings were carrying down furniture.  Someone was apparently moving out.  "Not his fault your mark is in a bad spot.  At least they got a woman to confirm, eh?"

   "Thank goodness for small mercies.  I hope your apartment is not in an unfit state for company."

   "My dear girl, I haven't been home in six months, it should be just as I left it."  Unless his brother used it as a spot to sleep off a hangover.  Completely possible.  They continued to ascend while Beings descended with more furniture.  From the quality of the stuff, Dom was suspecting someone from his floor was moving out.  Weird, because the apartments on his floor had the best view.

   And then he saw two bears hauling an armoire; his armoire, the armoire that his first girlfriend had locked him in for two hours during one of their fights.  He knew better than to attack the workers for their thievery.  Don't antagonize the common man, and all that, so he moved like a man possessed up the stairs to find the brains.

   "Easy there, lads, don't want to scratch the finish," came a voice from the top floor.  Turning the corner, hair on end, a vicious growl burning in his throat, Domino saw his baby brother helping a feline Being get a coffee table out of his door.  Demo, the barely-out-of-his-teens ferret wore an unbuttoned floral patterned silk shirt, board shorts, and open-toe sandals, completely in line with his personality as a freeloading, carefree burden of a person.  The younger ferret noticed his brother, and then the state of rage said brother was expressing, and any lackadaisy attitude present in the situation vanished.

   Demo held up his hands placatingly, backing away from the door as Domino approached.  "Now bro, I can explain," came the far too often heard started to how most conversations between the two went.  Domino had a decent idea of what likely happened; Demo had lost a game of cards after wagering his absent brother's furniture.  It had happened before.  And Domino didn't care to hear how the 'cards totally cheated' Demo this time.  Instead, he started running down the hall after his brother who in turn was running away.  "Dude, chill!  It isn't my fault this time!"

   The two ferrets made quite a sight, running between the legs of the taller people, in and out of apartments, up and down the stairs, around the rooftop pool, and back down to Domino's apartment, when the younger one tripped.  Domino pounced, eager to lay into his freeloader brother before getting his stuff back, but was caught around the middle before he made contact.

   "Easy there, captain," said the soothing voice of Zoos as he held the snarling, raging ferret trying to claw his way through the air to the cowering younger one.  "He's being honest this time, not his fault."  Evgenija stood off to the side, looking confused and alarmed, while Domino took several deep breaths to calm himself down.  Zoos, seeing the calm put him back on his feet, then caught him once more as he lunged at Demo a second time.  "Jesus nailed to a cross, captain, he's telling the truth!"

   "If it's not his fault," Domino snarled, "whose is it?"

   "Well, um."  Zoos turned his head to look into the apartment for a moment.  "I guess your dad's?  He's moving you to a bigger house, um, said you'd need it."  Impossible, Domino thought, his father would never give him a bigger house.  The old man was too into the 'earn it by your own merit' attitude that had prompted Domino to join the Navy.  "Um, I guess since Demo's a bit shellshocked..."

   "Teeth," the freeloading ferret said, rocking back and forth on the ground, "so many teeth."

   "...it'd be best if the kid explained."  Wait, what?  Domino was too surprised to maintain the pretense of being angry, as Zoos bodily turned the ferret to face into his own apartment.  Standing there, looking awkward among the laborers was the Demon kid from days ago.  Hyden, he remembered the kid's name suddenly.  Looking like he'd been dressed by Demo, and holding a Ti'baltr tourism brochure.

   "Um, hi captain," the young ram waved.  "I'm sorry about your ship.  Um.  The people at the Company headquarters asked who I wanted to be my foster family, and I suggested you, and they said yes?  I'm sorry if I made you mad..."  Jesus, the kid was doing the 'Doe Eyes' technique and it was making Domino feel weak and emotional.  Like he'd done a dance on the kid's birthday cake while wearing golf cleats.

   The kid was young, and the Company would want him put into school, and vaccinated regularly, and he'd need to get one of his Demon friends to ask about all the things the kid would need that were different with his growing up.  And Evgenija, too, having to import Cubi books to get her a grip of her powers, and maybe even a tutor, in addition to whatever career she decided to take, on top of the time needed to really grieve the loss of Urd and the Harridan.

   He really didn't want to do it.  Uh uh.  Nope.  But...

   Domino gave the kid a warm smile he certainly didn't feel.  "Of course, kid.  You coulda just asked, you know."


The Ti'baltic accent is influenced by the Cajun accent, and the language is naturally drawn from Cajun French.  Given this is a text-only story, and I am not using phonetic spelling, I advise the readers to use their imaginations.

[ZacAttac21]

So Domino is part Demon (the teeth thing)?

Also, you gotta get somebody to draw these characters of yours.

[VAE]

This is getting funnier and funnier.

[Meany]

So Domino is part Demon (the teeth thing)?

Also, you gotta get somebody to draw these characters of yours.

Well he's using a Creature-Being amulet at the least.   Also the only avenue at the moment to get art of these jerks is to make them so lovable that people draw fanart of them.  Fanart of a fanfiction.  Recursive fanworks!

[Meany]

Warning, this chapter was written while listening to "Yatta!" by Happatai.  If you are allergic to Japanese pop music, please see your doctor before reading this chapter.


Chapter 5- Friend?

   The gryphon cart ride with the Captain and his lady friend was awkward beyond all reason.  The vulture woman... she was scary, scarier than Grandfather had been, Hyden realized.  Black and red feathers on her wings, her hair, and headfeathers near blood red, in a fancy dress, but her eyes were baleful.  She had given him a death glare until he buttoned up the shirt Mr. Demo had bought for him.

   She hadn't spoken much, and only to the Captain.  Hyden had been too afraid to introduce himself to her.  Speaking of the Captain; he looked awful.  His hand, and eye missing, slumping when he didn't know Hyden was watching.  His smiles... there was something different.  Like the smile Oresse had put on right after Auriga brought home news on the back-alley murder of Hyden's father.  Covering up how you felt inside.

   "So, Hyden," the little ferret started as the gryphon changed directions, out of the big hustle and bustle of the city and to what was likely a suburb.  "Had a fun day?"

   "Well," Hyden started, hesitantly.  Rubbing his arms, where his fleece was frighteningly thin.  "Mr. Demo showed me around town.  There's a lot of really nice looking places.  And before he took me to get processed, he um."  The ram tried to retell them memory without stammering and blushing too much. "He took me to the beach.  There were, um.  Lots of people there."

   "Yeah, that's typical for beaches."  From the Captain's tone, he didn't understand why Hyden was reacting this way, then suddenly leaned over to the ram.  "Wait, did he take you to the one by Rainbow Road?  The one with the star-shaped fences?"  The ram nodded mutely, while Domino stood up on the seat to turn and shout at the cart behind them.  "Demo!  You asshole!  I'm going to rip your face off!"

   "Dude!  He's a Demon, I thought he'd be cool with it!"  Came the distant reply of the younger ferret.  Domino made a rude gesture to him, and sat down, running his hand through his hair.

   "Explain to me what your brother did, Domino," said the vulture woman.  Her accent was weird.  Rolling 'r's, flat-voiced, but almost as rigid as Hyden's own.  She sat with her hands in her lap, her back straight as a rod, her wings folded over her torso and her backwings flat against her head.

   "Demo, the idiot, took a minor to a nudist beach."  The ram's face burned, and he folded his wings over his head to hide away from the other two.

   "You have a nudist beach?"  The vulture-woman's tone was positively icy.  While somehow also offended.

   "It's a region of no-clothes necessary.  To accommodate mythos who can't wear clothes.  But also for those feeling adventurous yesss- Waitaminute."  Hyden felt small fingers poke at his wings.  "It's nearly three in the afternoon.  How long were you there?"

"Mr. Demo said he wanted to introduce me to all his friends..."  The ram could feel the air around them getting colder, and the growing growl coming from where Domino sat.

"He didn't try getting you to... you know?"  Hyden pulled his wings tighter around himself, rather than answer.  Which seemed to be an answer in itself, because Domino talked again.  "Evgenija, ma chère, watch Hyden for a bit would you?  I need to talk with my brother."

"Of course, Domino," said the woman, whose name was Evgenija apparently.  The ram heard a creek of wood, a frightened squawk, and Mr Demo soon screaming about 'the teeth!'  He emerged from his wing cocoon to see Domino no longer in the cart.  Turning to look at the cart behind them, he saw the two ferrets rolling around in the second cart, while Mr. Zoos tried to stop their fight.

"Did he...?"

"I am surprised at the accuracy of his jump, yes."  The vulture woman held out her hand, limply, "I am Evgenija Morozova.  We have not been properly introduced."  Hyden stared at the limp hand for a second, pondering how to shake it, before twisting his arm to grab it sideways and shake it horizontally.

"I'm Hyden Bloodstone.  Pleasure to meet you."  The female looked puzzled at his attempt at a handshake.  "Um, did I do it wrong?"

"It is considered polite," she said slowly, as if to a child, "to kiss a lady's hand on being introduced to her."

"Why?"  He tilted his head, thinking on it a second.  "Oh!  Is it because it exposes the back of the neck?  That's why they bow in some countries, right?  But why do it for only women.  Are women in charge where you come from?"

"Curiosity killed the cat, little Demon." Memories came back with that nickname.  Ms. Zed.  Always willing to answer a question.  Helping where others didn't.  Stealing him away from his family.  The ram shook the memories away.  "It is simply good manners."

"But it has to serve a function, right?  It can't just be a thing you do, where did it come from, then?"  The woman gave him a glare, and the ram scooted away to the absolute edge of his seat.

"I presume," Evgenija had the tone of indulging a topic she found unworthy of her time like what Uncle Rayl did whenever he had to speak to Hyden about anything, "that it was originally a means to compliment the woman.  The gesture has romantic connotations, you see."

"Oh... sorry."  He'd unintentionally called her ugly, no wonder she was so irritated with him.  "Should I try again?"  She sighed, and offered her hand a second time, which Hyden gave a light peck too.  "I'll try to remember that.  We don't kiss hands in Vecenstein."

"Vecenstein," the vulture looked deep in thought for a moment.  "Ister Union, right?  Near the cost?"

   "Yeah, you know it?"  Maybe she had been there recently, maybe she had news.

   "I've never been there, but I'm from Veldun in Kebre.  We live across the mountains from the Ister Union."  A twinge of disappointment burned in the ram.  Veldun was eighty miles inland, far too far away from Vecenstein's neighborhood to have heard news.  "Is something wrong?"

   "Hmm?  Oh Captain Ti'balt told me that Vecenstein had started an anti-Creature thing.  I'm hoping for news of my family doing okay."

   "If they are Demons, they should be fine."  Her tone was of polite assurance, so Hyden didn't read too much into it.  "You are here in Ti'baltr... why?"

The ram blinked, and flushed given the awkwardness of his arrival. "Um.  I was kidnapped.  And they can't take me back because Vecenstein isn't safe to visit yet."  It was Evgenija's turn to blink.

"You... were kidnapped."

"Yeah."

"You're taking it well?"

   He shrugged.  "The person who did it meant well, even if she was wrong.  And if I was there, I'd be too weak to fight back.  Probably get someone in my family killed trying to save me."  He wanted to be sad.  To be angry.  But it had been nearly a week since Ms. Zed had taken him away.  He'd had time to think.  "Plus, I get to go back, if my Mom survived anyway."

   He hoped she was okay.  That the new baby was okay.  That even Mr. Cral, Oresse's new husband was okay; he tried to be nice at least.  The vulture woman reached over and patted his knee.  "It will be alright."  She sounded genuinely sympathetic.   Hyden smiled at her, less afraid than before the conversation started.

The first thing that caught his attention, nearly twenty minutes later when the gryphon carts touched down, was the fragrant smell in the air.  Demons of all kinds had powerful noses; it was needed to find prey.  Evgenija smelled it too, and the two of them spent a few moments sniffing the air, looking around for the source of it.  "Sandalwood," the gryphon chimed, when he saw the ram and vulture looking like fools.  "The trees are bewitched with Phoenix magic to grow faster, it also makes the smell more powerful.  You guys are lucky to have a house here."

"Fragrant trees," Evgenija huffed as she left the cart.  "This land is mad."  Hyden couldn't disagree with her; even if he personally liked the nutty smell.  The second cart landed, and after that the heavy transport carts that had multiple gryphons pulling them.  So caught up with the smell of the trees; Hyden hadn't looked around much.

A forest road, beaten into the soil by feet over many decades, perhaps centuries.  Occasionally trees seemed grown oddly to hang glass balls over the center of the path- lights, perhaps?  A sharp hill was on the side people were unloading things, and Hyden saw a brief tunnel cut into the landmark, edged in stone.  Was their house underground?  He was told those were easy to keep warm, some people built them in the coldest parts of the Union.

The young ram hopped out of the cart, and trotted back to the laborers.  They were good people, who didn't seem scared of him at all.  Which was nice!  "Can I help?  I'd like to help."  The Beings looked at each other, unsure, but seeing Mr. Zoos still trying to pull Domino off Mr. Demo...

"Jesus nailed to a cross, captain!"  Screamed the dog.  "Let him go already!"

"Not the face!  I need that to earn money!"  Poor Mr. Demo shouted.

...they wisely just handed him an endtable, which he was able to carry on his own, and told him to put it where everyone else was putting things.  Happy to help, Hyden trotted past the scene of continual violence and through the tunnel.

On the other side was a clearing in the forest, with what at first looked to be a second hill, but turned out to be a strangely designed house that seemed to have grass growing on the roof.  The house was surrounded by a porch of smooth, red wood with no railing; an elaborate wind chime hung from the corner.  The walls were white, but occasionally decorated by minimalist details of small things; a feral squirrel, a leaf, an orange, and more.

Hyden fell in love, eager to get in, explore the rooms, find which one was his, then go out and walk through the woods.  He'd never walked in a forest before, especially not a tropical one.  He wondered if they had wolves.  The gentle poke of a laborer moving a coffee table woke the ram from his hypnotic state.

In between runs, Hyden checked out the house.  Strangely, it had lights hanging from the ceiling rather than fixed to the walls.  There were also bladed contraptions fixed to the lights, of various degrees of ornamentation given the room.  They could be turned on to spin around the lights, producing a slight breeze from their movement.  Hyden assumed you were supposed to throw people into them if they attacked you; but then why didn't they have sharpened edges.  Maybe the edges only came out when it was spinning, he thought.  It'd certainly make it safer to clean them.

A lot of the house was constructed of wood; odd given nearly everything in the big city had been made of metal or stone, and Mr. Demo said wood was a luxury since most of the island was covered in sandalwood, which was expensive and hard to replace even with magic.  The house was only one level, but spread out.  Each of the bedrooms had a bath near it; but with no buckets for hauling water.  There wasn't even a well outside, from what he could see.  Just a shed.  He'd have to ask Evgenija, who seemed to be busy placing things after the laborers finished moving them, or the Captain, who was still mauling Mr. Demo.

Mr. Zoos was getting obviously tired, so Hyden put down the reclining chair he'd been carrying to go fix them.  "Captain," he said imploringly.  "Mr. Demo's sorry, and you've been at this for forty-five minutes, please stop."  The two ferrets paused in their melee to look at him, Mr. Demo obviously the worse for wear.  "Um.  Sorry?"

"For your sake," Domino grumbled, spitting out a piece of Demo's floral shirt, and crawling out of the cart.  Mr. Zoos gave the ram an appreciative look, and checked on Mr. Demo briefly.  The maimed ferret strolled through the tunnel, with the ram lugging a chair behind him.

After that, Domino helped Evgenija place furniture.  Given it was meant for an apartment, not a house, there was decidedly less than needed.  Domino gave his bed to Evgenija, as she was a woman and had been through a lot that day, and told to Hyden that they would sleep on the couch and reclining chair respectively.  With their work done, the laborers left with their large cart, leaving the ferrets, half-Demon, succubus and Mr. Zoos to talk.

"So," Domino started.  "What's the plan for the boy?"

"Getting the paperwork to enroll him in school will take a couple days; during which you will obtain his supplies, and additional furniture."

"With what money?"  Hyden and Evgenija looked mutually surprised.  "I have a lot of unknown expenses to pay, Demo.  Funerals, a sunken ship, lost cargo, an unknown fine, plus all this?"

"Come on, Dommie," the well-tenderized ferret made a flippant gesture while moving to sit on the couch.  "Would Dad leave you out in the cold with all this?"

"Do not ask questions to which you don't want the answer, Demo."  The Captain paced by, and pushed his brother's feet off the coffee table.  "You're lucky grandad left you so much money.  I've had to work for mine."

"Accepting a foster child earns you a monthly stipend, along with the stipend from being the chaperone to a foreigner," Mr. Zoos said, reading from a card.  "Your dad gave me some notes on what the new policies were because he knew Demo'd forget."

"Am I at least getting the security deposit back from my apartment?"

"Well, the landlord is contesting it...."

"So no.  Wonderful."  Hyden rubbed his arm awkwardly, and shifted his weight from one leg to another as Domino paced, and Evgenija sat primly on a dining chair.  "Demo, shame of a brother, take Hyden out and explore the woods.  Show him the old haunts we used to have around here.  Don't take him anywhere risque."

"I'm not your babysitter- okay, right!" Demo's tone changed mid sentence seeing the death glare Domino gave him, hopping off the couch and leading Hyden out the sliding glass door to the porch.  The youthful ferret led him out through the grass, which Hyden hesitated in entering.

He knew it was just a type of plant, but it looked like a tiny forest of green knives growing from the ground and that was actually kind of cool.  But also terrifying.  His first steps into it were hesitant, but as he started to move through the grass, it became pleasant.  Kind of tickled if he went too fast, though.

"Yo, nark!"  The ram looked up from examining a different type of grass that seemed vastly longer and ended in a colorful yellow tumor to see Demo jumping from branch to branch on a large, thick-trunked tree.  "Ever climbed a tree?"

"Um, no?"

"Then get up here, it's awesome exercise."  Hyden ran, happy to have someone to 'hang out' with.  Even if they called him a nark.  He had no idea what it meant, but it couldn't be good.  He got to the base of the tree, and looked up where Demo was hanging upside down from a branch.  

"Is there anything I should do?"

The ferret gave him a look like the ram had grown three additional heads.  "You grab a branch, pull yourself up, climb up."  The ram tilted his head to the side, confused for a moment.  "Think ladder."  That helped instantly, and Hyden started to slowly ascend the tree.  The ferret was swinging while upside down by the time Hyden got to a branch close to his level.

"Okay.  How do I do... that?"

"First thing is, you grab the branch, and hold tight with your lower legs.  Then you fall backward.  Simple as pie."  Hyden wilted, thinking of all the times he had tried baking and failed horribly, but followed the instructions.  It seemed simple at least.

And instead of hanging upside down, the ram fell off the branch and hit every branch on the way down, landing face first into the dirt.  "Owwwww...," the ram whined.  It didn't hurt terribly bad, but failing in front of someone was always worse than failing in general.

"Frig frig frig frig!"  Demo hastily climbed down to check on him, pushing Hyden in to a sitting position.  "You okay kid?  Please don't have a broken arm or something, Dom will murder me-ee!"  The ram flexed his arms, and while they still stung, he couldn't feel any broken bones

"I think I'm okay.  Just a few bruises."

"And your fur is dark enough that they won't show.  Woo."  The ferret sighed, wiping sweat off his forehead.  "Had me scared for a second there.  Maybe we should do something less dangerous than... climbing trees."

"I'm sorry...."  The ram's ears went down low, and he slumped.  Ruined another fun thing by being a screwup.

"Hey, not your fault.  Not everyone gets it on their first try."  The ferret smiled and laughed a bit, trying to make the ram feel better.  "I didn't.  Dom got in so much trouble with mom when I fell out my first time.  Granted, I lost some teeth."

Demo showed him some less hazardous activities, teaching the ram how to tell the difference between sandalwood trees and the far-rarer fruit-bearing trees.  They were out of season he said, but come the rainy season, they'd have flowers and eventually fruit.  That led to a brief explanation of the rainy and dry seasons.  After that, Demo showed him how to find monkeys in the forest, and answered the uncomfortable question of if they were good to eat.

"They're a bit stringy, but you can eat 'em, yeah.  No laws against it, you just gotta do it barehanded," the ferret explained, weirded out by the question.  "It's sort of a Demon tradition that everyone adopted.  If you want to eat the monkey, you catch the monkey.  Not easy to do, because they're smart, they're never alone, and most aren't afraid of anyone."

Hyden looked at the monkeys, five fingered, lanky, covered in shaggy brown fur, with hairless faces, big eyes, prehensile tails, sharp teeth in their smiles.  They moved through the trees silently and with agility that surprised him given their odd construction.  It was then that he made himself a promise.  One day he would catch a monkey.  And eat it.

There was much exploration to be had in the jungle, Hyden learned.  Demo showed him a swimming hole that he and Domino had used growing up. Apparently the house had originally belonged to their parents, but had been abandoned in favor of the Ti'balt palace when it came their time to rule.  The ram admitted he didn't know how to swim, and Demo offered to teach him but hastily retracted the offer after giving the pond a once-over.  He didn't give the reason, but Hyden suspected some water-dwelling animal had moved in.

An abandoned mine was next, but Demo was leery of letting the ram explore it, fearful of Domino's retaliation.  Hyden had been practicing the 'adorable eyes' technique, however.  And the ferret's willpower melted under his stare.  "Mind your head," the ferret said not having to duck at all under the boards that half covered the door.

"Why did this mine get abandoned," asked the ram as he crouched down to make the same track.  "Ran out of minerals?"

"Nah, a couple hundred years ago we reverse engineered the spells to conjure stuff.  So most of our iron is conjured now."  Dust came down from the ceiling as Hyden made a simple magic light.  "Plus there's always the risk that you'll find a mythos or something camping out in here."

Hyden admitted, he hadn't thought of how he'd react if something had been living in the mine.  It wasn't all that big, though.  A few side passages, an overturned cart, one near-dust skeleton.  Not even an ominously glowing pond or something.

"Heh, to be honest, Domino and I usually just came here to look at Dad's magazines, or hide stuff we didn't want the folks finding."  The ferret giggled at the memories.  "Back when he was still fun to be around.  Now it's all teeth and grr and serious bin'ness," he made an exaggeratedly serious face which got a laugh from the ram.  The two started to head back, Demo regaling the teen with tales of the Captain's youth.

Hyden almost ran into the Captain as he ducked under the boards to the mine.  The one-eyed ferret gave the ram and his brother long looks, before sighing.  "Not exactly safe, Demo, but at least you didn't take him to the old Amazon camp or something."

The younger ferret slapped his head in frustration.  "Man, I completely forgot about that!  That would have been an awesome place to go."

"Why do I bother thinking the best of you?"  Domino turned and gestured with his stump for the two to follow.  "Zoos is going to see to getting a warp-aci from one of the native clans for Evgenija, that'll let us get furniture and clothes quick, and be your transport to school."

"I... don't understand how a group of fish applies to this?"  The ram tried to make it sound less like he was completely lost and more just mildly confused.

"Oh right, the Union doesn't have an education system.  Well," the ferret explained as they walked through the jungle, as it turned to night, that a school was an institute of public learning that all children older an age five, but younger than sixteen had to attend.  They were taught basics of language, math, history, and magic over the course of years.  From age sixteen and up, attendance was optional, but the classes expanded to include vocations, and advanced forms of all the basic classes.

Since Hyden was only fourteen, he'd have to attend the school with other teenagers from the area.  Most would assume by his accent that he was a foreigner, because Ti'baltr's usual citizenship was through bloodline, and that if any of the students tried to make an issue of it, that he was clear to deal with the problem, or go to a teacher.

"Will Evgenija be going to school as well?"  Hyden enquired as the passed the tree he had fallen out of.

"No," Domino replied.  "She's an Adventurer, she'll go to the guildhouse in town every week to get back in form, and take some classes from home, mostly Cubi things.  I'll have to go with her for those, so I'd really like it if you could make friends at school to stay with during those times...."

"I could watch him," Demo offered.  "Kid's rather fun for a nark."

"Hmm, have a complete stranger watch the kid, or trust my freeloading, burdensome, takes-a-minor-to-a-nude-beach-and-asks-him-to-join brother....  Such a difficult choice."  Domino rested his hand under his chin as he walked.  Miming consideration.  "I think I'd rather have him watched by thirty swarms of wasps than you, Demo.  No offense."

Hyden smiled faintly.  Domino was sounding like the ram's father.  A bit painful to remember, but most of his memories of Sebur were happy.

Demo was sent off to the city, which Hyden could see as a faint cascade of light over the trees, dimming the stars, Evgenija went to bed after being assured by Domino that a waterbed was perfectly normal and healthy, while the ferret and ram made themselves comfortable in the living room.

"Domino?"  Hyden asked while the Captain was adjusting the lamp next to his recliner.

"Yeah?"

"Um.  How do you make friends?"  Domino gave him a long, progressively growing sadder look until the ram felt horrible for asking. But the closest to a friend he'd ever had was Ms. Zed... who had been a succubus and kidnapped him.

"You find people," he said at last.  "Who enjoy having you around.  Whom you can enjoy being around.  Who you can understand, and be understood by."  The ferret reclined, turning out the light, and pulling the quilt he'd found in the attic over his head.  "A friend will go out drinking with you, a good friend will take you home after.  A best friend will spend the night in jail with you, and go on about how awesome the night was."

Hyden considered this while wrapping himself in the fuzzy blanket Domino had given him.  Did that make him and Domino friends?  Or him and Demo?  He didn't know, and it seemed that the Captain was already alseep.  Maybe Evgenija would know more.

"Stop thinking so loudly and go to sleep!"  Came the screech of the vulture, shaking Domino awake, and startling Hyden.  The two looked at each other, shrugged, then laid down.

Hyden dreamed of chasing monkeys through the trees.


That's right boys, girls, and squiggles.  There's going to be highschool in this fic.  Ah ha ha ha ha none of you can escape.

In other news: Have a map.  Made by Vaelynx, I added the notes of what the hell is where.

If you're wondering why the note for the Ister Union is pink it's because the Ister Union likes to feel pretty sometimes and that's perfectly normal.

[Meany]

Third post in a row.  Perhaps I shouldn't have started the fic when Anthrocon was going on.

But we press on!

Chapter 6- Surprise!

   Evgenija dreamed she was in... a sewer?  She wasn't certain.  The ground was of smooth, seamless stone.  Concrete?  She couldn't tell.  Bricks formed the walls, the ceiling had a shallow barrel vault to it, and pipes were anchored to the tops of the walls.  The tunnels were poorly lit; she couldn't see much beyond six feet in front of her.

   Further, she was dressed as she had before... the vampires.  Resized to fit her new dimensions, and her knives were gone.  Marvellous.  Behind her was a door the likes of which seemed intended to keep out some terrible beast; heavy steel and interlocking mechanisms with no knob or sign of a keyhole.

   With nowhere to go but forward, the vulture advanced.  Her first step produced a hideously loud 'clak' on the ground that echoed a bit.  If anything was down here with her, it now knew she was there.  Old instincts of stealth, burned into her mind through hours of practice went into work.  In her dream, there was not four years where she had let such talents atrophy.

   Silent as the grave, she walked, passing a glowstone encased in a steel caged and affixed to the wall occasionally.  What a strange dream, she decided.  Just sneaking through a tunnel.   Where the pipes occasionally burst, and steam poured out into the air.

   It wasn't even the same tunnel style as the prison she'd escaped so why had- Evgenija stopped.  Standing in front of her was a dog in the outfit of green and brown she'd come to accept as the Secret Police.  Golden eyed, fangs twinkling in the dark.  Him.

   Wings became tentacles, mouths agape with their false teeth, a haze of black colored her vision as she charged the vampire who had murdered her mother.  He ran, not so fast that Evgeniija lost sight of him, but too fast for her tentacle-mouths to catch him.  Though they swung and snapped at him, biting off bits of fur from his tail, slicing through pieces of cloak.  A venomous hissing noise was filling the air, and Evgenija realized it was coming from her,  proprietary forgotten in the urge to harm the dog.

   A room emerged from the darkness, filled with dusty machinery, and a hole surrounded by waist-high fencing.  The vampire vaulted the fence and dove down the hole, followed closely by the succubus.  No hesitation.

   She fell for an indeterminate span of time, before the sides of the hole gave way to a vast chamber with no visible light.  An updraft of warm air filled her wings, allowing her to hover in the air, as she looked around for the vampire.

   Illuminated by the faint light from the tunnel, the vampire appeared.  But where before he had been shorter than Evgenija, now he appeared enormous.  He filled the whole room, too large to stand, his breath pushed the vulture away from the light.

The dark is your ally.

   She drifted into the blackness, where seemingly the enormous vampire could not see.  Flapping her wings slowly, she glided through the air around him.

You are Succubus, never are you without weapons.

   Putting strength into her flight, Evgenija gained altitude until she felt the cold of the stone ceiling on her back.  The vampire was totally unaware, which she intended to exploit.  Launching herself downward, the vulture let instinct guide her as her wings changed into two massive tentacles, edged in the burning rage she felt for the dog.

   Adventurer Rule number seventeen: Most things die when their head is cut off; but not all.  She remembered that, when the two tentacles went cleanly through the back of the giant vampire's neck, detaching the head as she fell through the gap, only to be snatched from the air by his enormous hands.

   The head fell into the dark, splatting unseen against the ground, while the vampire's body adjusted itself into a seated position.  Evgenija, righteous anger turning to dread, struggled in the dog's grip as he moved her closer to where his head had been.

   "N̕o͡͏r̨̛m̡͠al͡l̢̢ỳ͘͡,͢ ̵͞I̢ ͞a͝m ͏a͞ga͜įn͢͡s̷̢͜t̵̸ ͡th̵̡e̛͜ ̴͟ų͠se͝ ̡o͘f͡ ̵̛vìo̕͝l͟͢en̡c̶͏e҉.̶̴͞," said a voice from everywhere and nowhere.  It was as if it came... from within her.  "B̛͢u̧̢t̨ ̴Í̷̀ ͞҉c̨͠͞a̡҉n̛̕͜ m̸͡a̷͟ķe̸͠͞ ̵an͘ ̡e̸xc̢̀ép̷̵t̶̷͢i͞ó̵n͟͞ ̨͟g̡į͟͝v̢é̵͝n̴͘ ̴͡y̴͟ó͏ų̶̛r ͝͝y͏͟ơ͡͝u̵̧t̢̛͞h̨."  The words itched, they made her think of wolves hunting in the forest, of desperation, of her heartbeat pounding in her head.  "G̷̛͝r̸̀e͠͠e͏t̷͞i̧ńg̵̡s,҉ ̢c̕h͘ì̸̵ļd̵. ̨̕ ̢I̶ ͘͡a͟m̶͟ ̛K̴͏i͘͏s͠h'T̷a̷͝."

   The vulture looked around, made easier by the dog's hand releasing her, to rest on his open palm.  "You are... the vampire?"  She inquired, unsure.

   "I̛̛͟ ͏a̢̛m҉̸ ̷̧th̀e ͢v̶̷̧a̷̡m̨p̛͢ir͡ȩ̀.̧̀ ͏ I̸͝ ̛am̸̀͜ ͜t́͘h͜e̸̶̕ ̢d̡͝a̵̕͜rk̵͏ ̧t̛͘h̸̀a͘t̸̀͘ ̸̶̀s͟u̶͢ŕ̀r҉o͘͞u͘ǹ͢ḑ̢s͏̴ ́͟u̴̸s̡͝.̡ ̴͟I͏͘ ̴̴̕a̛m̧ ͘t̡͞he͝ ͠s̵̛t̶̵ò̸́ń̛̛e̵̛͟ś͏ ͝͞t҉̸h͏a̶t̴ ͜͞ĺ̕͟i͘ne̛͠ t̨͢hi̶̶͘s̵̷͠ ͢͟ro̵҉o̡͜m͞,͡ ̕an҉̨d ̨͝f̵̨or̀m̷̕ ̧̀͡t̵͜h҉̢e͘͡ ̀͜c̵o͟m̶͜p҉̀l͞҉e̛x́ h҉i̷g̕͜ḩ͟ ̕a̡͡bov͟͜e̶.̧͢"  The other arm of the decapitated vampire reached out into the darkness.  Moments later, a winged figure began to sashay down the arm, and to the shoulder.  The darkness clung to it, forming a black gown with a train that seemed to go on into infinity.  Evgenija noticed it was a woman as it approached, the figure unmistakable, as tall as she.  Long, straight red hair came from her head, along with solid black wings at the head, back, and... hips?  Furless, she was covered in an opaque black skin, and where her face ought to have been was a mirror.

   "Kish'Ta...."  And as she said the word herself, she remembered.  The Minister of Security; the one who had set the vampires upon her and her mother, Theophillus, was of that clan.  Ideas swirled in her head, that Kish'Ta would take her to him, that somehow her very existence offended the powerful succubus.  Evgenija wanted to run, but as the mirror-faced figure approached, and she found herself staring into her own expression, her limbs would not move away.

   "Well met, daughter of mine."  The woman's voice was different so close, sounding in part like Evgenija's own, but warbled and distant.  But no longer did it speak to primal fears.  "Be certain that I mean you no  harm."

   "You are not my mother," the vulture said.  And her reflection in the mirrorface changed to that of Anevka.  "And why should I be certain that you mean no harm when you invade my dreams?"

   "Grandmother with a score or more greats, then."  The woman pulled forth her dress, and sat down on the dog's giant thumb which curled unnaturally to form her seat.  The fingers curled similarly behind Evgenija, and the paralysis that had taken her seemed to fade.  Clearly, it was intended that she sit.

   Remembering how to fold her legs to keep a smooth, elegant seating, the vulture sat, keeping her eyes on the faceless... thing sitting opposite her.  "You mean to say that I am of your clan?"

   "Yes."  The mirror changed to reflect the black symbol on the inner of Evgenija's thigh, before returning to the reflection of Evgenija.  "I understand you and Theo will have issues to work out.  I will keep him from you until you feel ready."

   "You have spoken to him about this," not a question, but a declaration of fact.

   "No.  All that Theo knows, I know.  All that you know, I know.  That you and all my clan be my eyes and ears in the world is the price for the power and protection I grant you."  The vulture felt pressure rising up from within.  The violation, the invasion, the false promise of protection- "You are not dead, are you?"

   The question stopped the rising tide of rage cold.  The faceless thing spoke again, tone of boredom, "I only became aware of you when you manifested the mark.  And when I saw what was happening, I gave you the strength to escape.  I wish you had the cleverness to do so without violence, but not every child can be perfect."

   "I am sorry my deficiencies upset you."  The acid Evgenija put into those words could burn through glass.  "I am sorry that I'm so disappointing, how ever could I change to please you?"

   "Well for one you can up your game on passive aggressiveness," the figure leaned back slightly onto a portion of  the thumb that developed cancerous growths to accommodate her lounging.  "I saw those responses coming from decades in the past.  You're young, you're new, you're still grieving your mother.  Everyone starts somewhere, and if you live long enough, you'll develop your own artistic style."

   Totally taken aback, the vulture opened and closed her mouth a few times before speaking.  "Artistic... style?"

   "Of course darling.  Your own way of inspiring and collecting fear.  From the look of you," the lounging mirrorface flicked a hand at her, "I'd say you're going to develop an intimidation look.  Inspiring fear by presence alone.  Oh, that's so good to watch when it's done well."  The mirrorface had the tone of appreciating a fine art.  "You'll need to cut down on your speaking if you want to do it right, though.  Keeping what you say to a minimum, conveying what you would normally say through looks or simple gestures; it keeps your voice gravelly from disuse and makes what's said more poignant."

   "What."  From offhand references to her emotional state to giving advice on personas to adopt; such a radical change cut off Evgenija's processing ability for a moment.

   "Yes, like that.  But with a bit more... mm, menace is so heavy-handed, maybe if you made it a gravelly whisper you could make menace work."

   "You're mad," The vulture decided.  Nodding slightly with her own decision on the mirrorface's mental state.

   "Of course I'm mad.  Everyone is mad.  Sanity is an illusion, a comfort to hide the cruelty of the world from your delicate mental fleshy bits."  The mirror changed to a piece of esoteric artwork that caused Evgenija's eyes to hurt if she stared too long.  "The Fae figured that out a long time ago.  Now, let's see..."  Portraits of men of various species, colors, and social classes passed over the face of the mirror.  "Let's play a game of 'Who's the daddy?!' eh?" The vulture blinked.  Kish'Ta could figure out her father?  "Of course I can, my little bloody gem; it's a simple task of taking the common factor," the image of Anevka's face appeared on the mirror, "and finding who remembers seeing her in a compromising position."

   "No!"  The vulture didn't mean to shout, but she did.  The anger from before seemed to have burned away, replaced by the profound urge not to think of her mother canoodling with anyone.  "That's an invasion of privacy!"

   "Privacy is also an illusion, dear.  And I happen to have rules in my clan about getting girls pregnant and leaving them alone."  Kish'Ta twisted as if she had no bones to where her feet and head had switched general positions.  "Speaking of which, if you ever get a girl pregnant and she takes it to term, you own up to your mistake and act like a father."  The vulture's face burned at the thought, and she physically restrained herself from shouting this time by holding her beak partially shut.  Manners be damned.

   "I am a woman."

   "Gender, like privacy and sanity, is an illusion.  I've seen enough of the world to know that."  The upside-down mirror locked on a portrait.  "Aha, here we go." Her form twisted, the trains of darkness snapped away from their infinite connection to the dark and formed around her as she vanished in a whirlwind of color.  And when she was done, someone else was standing there.

   "My name is Tharach," said the new person in a charming masculine bass.  Evgenija blinked repeatedly as she took in the new shape.  Taller than her, but leaner.  "I was born in the city of Alar before it was destroyed."  A cat... but with no hair.  Skin a dark gray with patterns of near-black looking almost like burn scars.  "I am two hundred and eighty-eight."  

   Dressed in a dapper suit of Kebrian fashion, covered in a lab coat, with white gloves over his hands.  "I knew your mother for two years before taking her to my bed."  His eyes were covered by gaudy sunglassses in rhomboid frames.  "I don't know you exist."  He had feathered wings, black, but with gold eye markings along the boundary of secondary and primary feathers; and larger ones on the inside of the primary feathers.  

   "And I'm already married, with two children both of whom have already manifested their power."   No, not eye markings, the vulture discovered.  Actual eyes; for they blinked at her.

   And in another, much shorter blur of color and movement, Kish'Ta took back the shape she had before.  "I'm going to be speaking with him about this later; I doubt you want your first meeting to occur anytime soon," said the mirrorface.

   "Thank you," Evgenija said, distantly.  She'd imagined her father as various things growing up.  Seeing virtually nothing in her reflection that was not present in her mother had made her assume he was a lammergeier as well.  Certainly not whatever that had been.

   "You're welcome, now there's something else-"  The mirrorface cut off her sentence and looked up to the hole in the ceiling from whence their light was coming.  "I think we're going to have to finish this off at a later date."

   "Why?"  Evgenija stood up, looking up at the holes as well.  She could hear something, and strained to get a grip on the sound.  Rushing water?

   "Because you're going to wake up when that hits you."

   "When what hits-" As if the dream knew when she would invoke that cliche, a torrent of liquid, as if pressurized, erupting out of the hole faster than gravity would propel it.  The blast struck Evgenija hard, taking off the giant decapitated dog's hand as it pushed her down with the torrent.

   It was emotion she realized, as she fell.  Despair, chiefly, but also grief, shame, self-loathing, guilt, and pain.  So much pain.

   She woke with a jerk, launching herself into a sitting position.  The emotions continued to pour through her filter as if it were not there; perhaps it had lapsed in her sleep?  She threw the covers from her and tried to stand.  Grief and shame burned in her mind so intensely that it caused her to stumble and fall to the floor.

   'Where is it coming from?'  She thought, pushing herself to her feet and stumbled for the door, not caring that she was dressed in only a silk slip found in Domino's closet.  Stumbling through the halls to the living room where the men were sleeping.

   The boy, Hyden, seemed peacefully asleep, and the calm he radiated gave her strength to press on to the source.  Domino.  The ferret was curled into a ball in the seat of his reclying chair, quilt cast aside.  He was asleep, but his hand and stump were curled over his head, like he was protecting it from phantom blows.

   A spike of pain threw the vulture to her knees.  Cubi were creatures of emotion, she remembered.  Why could she not simply absorb these emotions, then?  Why was the ferret's emotions affecting her so strongly.

   She crawled to the chair, reaching up to try shaking the ferret awake but-

A crowd of accusing faces-

   The vulture's vision was obscured by a hazy image, of people she'd never known, and likely would never know from the grief spike that followed her seeing it.  "Wake up," she rasped, her throat drying from the ashiness of the grief.  "Please wake up."  She tried shaking him a little, but to no avail.

A bat succubus in a gray dress sinking down in the ocean, a spear lodged through her chest-

   Such pain followed that image that she retracted her hand, as if burned.  "I said, wake up!"  Consuming the pain rather than let it harm her, by force and necessity, gave her the strength to seize the sleeping ferret again and shake him forcefully.

   He woke, startled, and rolled away from Evgenija, off of the leg of the chair, and pointing his good hand at her while red magical energy sparked from his fingers.  All done before she could recover from the sudden stop of emotions.

   "Evgenija?"  The ferret said, relaxing and yawning.  "What's up?"

   "You were having a nightmare," she hissed slowly standing.  "Your emotions burned through my filter."  He looked properly contrite for something he couldn't help.  "No harm done, it's done.  Let's go back to bed."

   "Um," Domino said leaning back slightly and looking out a window.  "Hate to break it to ya, but the sun is rising, ma chère."  Sure enough the sky outside was turning to purple, an indicator of dawn oncoming.  "You go get dressed before the boy sees you in Swoon's nightie, I'll make breakfast okay?"  He looked at his stump, then drooped.  "Or I could just get everything ready for you to make breakfast, that works too."

   "Wait," Evgenija said, processing what had been said.  "This belongs to that hairdresser woman?"  She plucked at the silk slip, "how did you get it?  Augh!  No!  Don't answer!"  The vulture woman waved her hands emphatically as the ferret got a devilish look on his face, and graphic images filled her mind.

   "You see, ma chère, when a man and a woman find each other mutually attractive they-"

   "I refuse to have this conversation with you!  Augh, I'm never going to feel clean again.  Where's the shower?!"  She shouted as she rushed away to her bedroom to change, ignoring the evil cackles of the one-eyed ferret who moments ago had caused her so much suffering.

   An hour, and many baths later, she was fully dressed and using her wings as an improvised apron while making breakfast for the three housemates.  Most of what had occupied Domino's cupboards and refrigerator had been dried foods.  Dried fruits, evaporated milk, oatmeal, peanut butter; things that could go without observation for perhaps months and remain good.  Combining some oatmeal, evaporated milk, hydrated fruits, and honey for sweetener into a porridge seemed the only thing she could make at the time.

   No one complained, at least.  "Alright," the one-eyed ferret started after the meal was concluded.  "Until we hear word about that warp aci, or Zoos brings out a working phone because no one thought to grab mine," he was only slightly bitter about that Evgenija noticed, "we're stuck out here.  So, let's go through the house, spruce everything up.  Get her as slick and shiny as we can."

   "How do we do that?"  The ram boy asked, chewing on his spoon.

   "With chores, that's how."  Evgenija nodded, but the ram didn't seem to comprehend.  "What?"

   "What are chores?"  Both vulture and ferret gave the teen a dumbfounded work.  "Is it a type of exercise?"

   "Chores.  You know, do the dishes, scrub the floors, clean the windows, do the laundry."  The ferret shrugged.  "Chores."

   "Ohhh," said Hyden, comprehension dawning on him.  "I forgot we don't have servants to do all that."  The boy was used to having servants?  Was he a noble?  "What's my job?"  He sounded far too excited for manual labor.  It grated against Evgenija's childhood memories of dreading such work.

   "Something that needs to be done early in the morning, and that only you have the hands to do."  Domino nodded solemnly.  "Mow the lawn."  The Demon tilted his head to the side, confused.  "Come on, I'll show you."  And the two left the house for the backyard, leaving Evgenija to do the dishes.  Not that she wouldn't be saddled with the dishes anyway; Domino certainly couldn't do it.

   The ferret, upon returning to the house, filled a bucket with hot water from the sink using the hose, and occupied his time by scrubbing the floors until they shone.  "So," the vulture said, putting a bowl on the rack to dry.  "You were a captain?"

   "Yeah," Domino replied, not looking up from his work.  "What of it?"

   "I remembered that you and the dog, Zoos I think his name was, went off to talk about funerals for a while.  I wanted to offer condolences."  The ferret kept on scrubbing.

   "Eh, it's not like you knew 'em."

   "I know them as well as you did, Domino.  Cubi are telepathic, remember?  And as last night showed, your nightmares affect more than just you."  The vulture filled the lull in the conversation with putting more oomph into scrubbing a glass.  "If you want time alone... to grieve.  I can-"

   "Do nothing," the ferret cut her off curtly. "Because I'm your chaperone, and I need to stay within a radius of you that overlaps with the radius a Cubi can pick up emotions.  If my emotions are bothering you, I'll see about getting you someone to teach you a stronger filter."

   She sensed resentment from the ferret, and decided not to comment.  Domino had explained that she needed to stay within a certain radius of the ferret at all times, or her visa would activate a recall spell tied to her aura which would bring her to the local police station.  The Ti'baltic government had a more refined passive aura sampling technique than Veldun's adventuring guild; merely signing the visa and holding still for a moment had attuned the spell.

   It effectively made her a domestic adventurer until eighteen months had passed, and her visa was moved to long-term residency.

   Moments later, the Demon boy entered the kitchen, covered in grass clippings and smelling of freshly mowed lawn.  "Did you know grass has a smell when it's cut?  It's awesome!"

   "Yeah, Hyden.  I figured you'd like it, now go take a shower before you get grass all over my nice clean floor."  The ferret moved to brush what clippings had already fallen outside with magic, following the ram to blow out more and more as more clippings fell down.

   "Ch-yah, that kid seems excitable."

   "Yes, I imagine he came from a rather repressive background," Evgenija said in reply to the otherworldly voice that she took about five seconds to recognize as something that shouldn't have been there.  Spinning, she drew a kitchen knife from the suds and held it at the throat of the floating black almost-bird thing that she found at her side.

   "Jeeze!"  It shouted, trying to flap away but was soon grabbed by the vulture.  "You're not the type to take surprises well, are you?"

   "No, I'm not.  I'm also not the type to brandy words with home invaders."  The vulture flicked some bubbles off the knife and adjusted her grip to more easily stab with the knife.  "Now tell me who you are, and why you're here."

   "Ch-yah, I'm a warp-aci.  Name's Surprise, I'm here to do whatever you tell me."  Evgenija blinked, and examined the creature.  Given the... warp-aci was black, it was hard to tell, but she could faintly see a deeper black mark on its head.  Kish'Ta's mark.  "Um, your great grandma says hi?"

   The vulture sighed.  "This country is working hard to drive me to drink."

   "Oh, you want a drink?  I can take you to a bar if you'd like- okay, okay just put the knife down, jeeze!"


No, Evgenija does not take surprises well.  Yes, when she does go to the Academy it will be one long train wreck of an event for her.

And it will be glorious.

Also Merlin did some awesome fanart.  Go and see it.  Give her your views.  Your delicious views.

[ZacAttac21]

Third post in a row.  Perhaps I shouldn't have started the fic when Anthrocon was going on.

I'm still here!

I check the forums at least twice a day, as a matter of fact.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I, also, am watching. But then, that's hardly a surprise to anyone, is it?

Also, I look forward to the glorious havoc.

[Tapewolf]

Third post in a row.  Perhaps I shouldn't have started the fic when Anthrocon was going on.

Yeah, it did make following it a bit awkward - the rapid pace of updates made it worse, not that being able to update this quickly is a bad thing by any means.

I think the only thing I found problematic was Kish'Ta's voice - it didn't look like it was supposed to be text at all - think the Lovecraft font and magical symbols Amber sometimes uses for other languages in the comic.
I'm not sure the unicode characters are rending right on this machine and there are still a couple of words I can't make out.

[Meany]

I'm not sure the unicode characters are rending right on this machine and there are still a couple of words I can't make out.

Translating for ya:

"Normally I am against the use of violence."  "But I can make an exception given your youth."  "Greetings child, I am Kish'Ta."  "I am the vampire.  I am the darkness that surrounds us.  I am the stones that form this room an the complex high above."

[Tapewolf]

Translating for ya:

"Normally I am against the use of violence."  "But I can make an exception given your youth."  "Greetings child, I am Kish'Ta."  "I am the vampire.  I am the darkness that surrounds us.  I am the stones that form this room an the complex high above."

Yeah, I tried it on another machine.  It's pretty legible under linux, but the Mac seems to insert spaces and occasionally drop characters.

[Meany]

Fortunately the Zalgo text won't be making a comeback; so that should help with future legibility.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

FWIW, Chrome on Mac appears to show it the same as firefox on linux does there.

[Meany]

I had too much fun causing mischief in this chapter.  About twenty-percent too much.    


Chapter 7- Too school for cool

    Evgenija's new pet glowrat made getting into town easy, so the afternoon was spent shopping.  Hyden loved shopping, and having money to buy things even if Domino was worried about things being too expensive.  It posed an interesting challenge; getting the most for the least.

   Ti'baltr had this thing called 'coupons' that the Demon ram was fascinated by.  Offering certain items at reduced prices by presenting the cut out slip of paper; he couldn't wait until he went to 'school' to learn about how they managed that.  For the grocery store; Evgenija would give him a list of items needed, and the ram would go out to get the cheapest type.

   Domino seemed impressed with how little the total came out to at checkout anyway, which made Hyden happy inside.  If he could do this after one afternoon with Ms. Zed, what could he do with a proper apprenticeship?  Start a business in less than a year perhaps?

   "You are getting overconfident," Evgenija told him as they were bagging the groceries for Surprise to help them take home.  Surprise was apparently a glowrat present from Evgenija's great grandmother who had innate teleporting powers.  "It is okay to revel in minor achievements, but there is a massive difference between budgeting a grocery run, and owning a business."

   Oh right, Evgenija could hear his thoughts.  That was weird.  But she hadn't hit him yet, which was nice of her.  "Aww, mon cher, let the boy dream," Domino chided playfully, pulling Surprise away from the grapes.  "It's good to have goals."

   "Realistic goals, yes."  Hyden stretched out his arms as the succubus loaded them with bags.  They weren't that heavy, and she seemed to expect him to take the biggest things.  "You have good work ethic for a boy your age, Hyden.  But you're too energetic."

   "But I'm a Demon," Hyden said, tilting his head to the side.  "We're all like this."

   "Not all, just most."  The ram stopped to think.  Oresse had been positively hyper at times; as had grandfather.  But Auriga hardly ever showed emotions beyond being angry; did Kebre have many Demons like her?

   After unloading the grocery shopping came furniture shopping.  Which took unexpected turns, because they didn't go to a store to start off.  They went to a thing called a 'yard sale.'  In the suburban areas of the city of Ti'baltr, people organized small events on their personal property where they sold off unwanted possessions and furniture.  Domino said it was a great way to keep items in use, rather than throw them away, which calmed Evgenija when she objected to buying used goods.

   "Man, there's a lot more nuance to merchanting than I thought," Hyden said as he and Evgenija moved a chest of drawers intended for Hyden's room off to the side where Surprise was sitting with other such furniture.

   "See, exactly my point earlier.  Unf," replied the vulture woman, setting the chest of drawers down on the grass.  "I will watch these things, you go check with Domino, see if he has anything else to buy here, or if we're leaving."  The ram nodded and trotted off.

   The ferret was examining clothes on hangers, with a small pile already over his bad arm.  Seemingly aware of Hyden's approach, the Captain spoke up; "This one has a lot of clothes in your size, if we find more sales like this, all we'll need to get you from the store will be socks and underwear."

   Face warming a bit, the ram joined in examining the clothes.  A lot of silk, cotton, and linen; some with patterns or logos on the front, but most were solid colors.  They didn't seem to be cut for a person with wings, though.  "Um, Domino.  I'm not sure this'll work, my wings...."  The ferret leaned back to look at the limbs then returned to looking at the clothesrack.

   "I have a brilliant plan, Hyden, don't worry."

   "It doesn't involve sawing my wings off, does it?"

   "I have a slightly less brilliant plan, Hyden, don't worry."  The ram worried so intensely for a few moments before realizing the joke for what it was.  "You won't be setting any fashion trends with this, but you're a Demon; they expect that sort of thing from the Angels."

   "Do you know if there will be any Angels in my class?"  There hadn't been an Angel in the Ister Union since Raldbathar the Greater over twenty-two hundred years ago, and Hyden would love to meet someone of the race equal and opposite to his own.

   "No, unfortunately."  The ram tried to hide bitter disappointment.  "After Nanbi died they either scattered or went into seclusion.  A couple like Swoon stayed in the public light, or eventually returned to it.  But they have their own fortress deep in the jungle; we only bother them when wartime comes around."

   "Nanbi was the Angel that Dominus married, yes?"  The ram saw a nice shirt that had a floral pattern he liked, but the tag inside said it was a girl's shirt so he put it back.  Domino promptly took it off the hook again and over his arm with the rest of the clothes to buy.

   "Well yes and no.  Angels don't marry, they take mates which last as long or as short as both parties want it."  Domino roughly pulled on the ram's foot to compare size to a strange, flexible-soled shoe with thin, broad laces and tops slightly above the ankle.  "I imagine they like it that way."

   "What, why?"

   "Lets them end a romantic encounter when the situation calls for a quick escape."  Finding the shoe sized within an acceptable margin, Domino tied the laces together and threw the shoes over his arm.  "Such as when the Angel's angry father busts down the door.  Hoo, that wasn't fun."

   Hyden chuckled, but also went a bit red in the face.  It wasn't as bad as his mom making lewd allusions, kind of funny even.  Maybe that's how it would have been if Sebur was still alive; or if that was just a reaction friends had.  "Should we look for things for Evgenija, as well?"

   "She's too tall, and she'd never accept secondhand clothes after this morning."  Hyden didn't like the evil look the ferret had on his face, but had seen that expression on his mother's after she'd gotten to mischief enough to avoid asking.  "No, I'll take her to a tailor.  Now you," he elbowed Hyden just below the ribs, "go through the odds and ends and find something you'd like for you, mmm?"

   "But we have everything we need-"

   "Not need, mon grand, want.  It'll be a couple of days before you go off to school, and you'll burn through chores quick with how you do 'em.  Find a book, a puzzle, something."  He gestured flippantly, and took the items to the matronly woman hosting the sale, who seemed pleased with the amount of things he'd bought.

   Hyden went to the tables covered in nicknacks, a few  toys he was too old for, and examined them.  A fountain pen caught his eye.  No ink, but with some and a book, he could start a journal.  The pen seemed to be made of sandalwood, for it had the nutty smell attributed to the tree, which meant it was likely expensive.

   "I'll get something simpler later," he told himself, crushing the swell of longing.  He found a pocketwatch of simple steel with a cracked face that wouldn't wind, a book called 'Dancing with Dragons' that had a rather romantic cover of a male dragon and a female Being and appeared alarmingly worn, and another book titled: 'Household magic: Higitus Figitus!' that actually looked interesting.

   Ms. Zed had used a lot of household magic in her shop, and with the Captain unable to help very much with chores due to his missing hand, Hyden hoped it started regenerating soon, the ram and Evgenija were going to need every bit of help they could find.  Grabbing the book, Hyden went to meet up with Domino for paying.

   Several more yard sales later; and Hyden was seated at the new desk in his room while Domino helped him with something called a 'placement test'.  "And this will let them know what class to put me in?"  He asked the ferret.

   "Yep."

   "Hmm, I had not anticipated a caste system...."  The ram started marking the answers he assumed were correct for the math portion.  That part was easy; follow the pattern his tutors had taught to get the same result.  Math had been one of his better subjects.  "You're part of the Ti'balt family, right?  Does that make you noble caste?"

   "Mais," the ferret waved him off with a foreign word, "there are social classes here, but not a caste system.  Groups of students taught by one teacher are called classes, like how a group of birds is a flock, or a group of lawyers is a mardiquain swarm."

   Hyden tilted his head, confused.  Why would one master teach multiple apprentices?  That seemed more work on the part of the master than was necessary.  But rather than focus on that, he focused on the next segment of the placement test: History.  Fortunately, it was world history, and not Ti'baltr's regional history.

   "Name five city-states... Does Ti'baltr count as a city-state?"

   "Nah, we're a confederacy."  Hyden nodded, and wrote down what he could remember; Zinvth, Vecenstein, Mag'nithor... and left the other two spaces blank while going to the next question.  "Historic cities also count, you know."  The ram gave the ferret an odd look, even more confused.  "What?"

   "Sorry, just not used to people helping me during tests."

   "It's an unspoken tradition that the parents help the kids during these tests," the ferret nodded solemnly with his hand over his heart; like it was some sacred duty.   "As your parran, your foster father, I must do this as well."

   "You're using a lot of foreign words...."

   "Yeah, that's the Ti'baltic in me coming back from being at sea so long."  Domino smiled faintly.  "People on the ship tend to use the more widely understood words; to deal with customers you understand.  Parran means godfather, but also means foster father as a slang term.  Na-nan is the female equivalent."  He tapped the paper a few times rapidly, "now get back there and add two dead cities."

   The rest of the test went like that, Hyden filling in some information, while Domino would put a spin on the question or the answer that would let the ram fill up any empty space.  The ferret insisted on short breaks every ten minutes or so, and would often retrieve snacks or let Hyden read from his new books until the next portion of the test needed doing.

   The whole thing took about two hours to complete, and Hyden was worried about the evaluation the test would net; going over answers again and suddenly seeing ways he could say things so much better- but Domino took the test away before he could enact any of them.

   "Mon grand, it's fine."  The ferret handed the folder the test was contained in to Surprise, who popped away to deliver it.  "Besides which, ma chère Evgenija is likely finishing with supper soon.  Would be rude to make her work for naught, no?"  The Demon's stomach gurgled with hunger; porridge and a lunch of beef patty sandwiches hadn't held up well.

   A dinner of boiled potatoes, baked chicken breast, and a strange green vegetable Hyden had never seen before called a 'green bean' followed.  Not exactly filling, but tasty.  Evgenija said it was 'expected of a woman to know the ways of the kitchen', and tutted disdainfully when he told her neither his mother or female cousins knew how to cook.

   "Poor form on their parents then," she said.  Frowning, the ram was going to say something but Domino poked him with the knife tied to his stump that he'd had to use to eat.  Hyden took the hint to let the subject drop.

   The next couple of days were filled with activity.  Hyden was pushed onto the couch and given a strange rectangular device and told to learn the ways of 'television' while Domino and Evgenija went to the tailor.  It took him a bit of reading the manual but he figured it out.

   And when he did; wow.  News programs.  Sports.  Documentaries!  There was so much to watch and learn, that Hyden had a hard time choosing at first.

   "-We have for you now, an update on the difficulties facing the Ister Union."  That settled the topic of what to watch for Hyden as he set the remote down, and drunk some of the fizzy acid drink 'soda' from the strangely shaped glass bottle.  The screen, projecting an image of a vivacious canine Demon woman in a dress suit seated at a desk with the city of Ti'baltr as the backdrop, had smaller images detailing a map of the Union to her right.

   "As the maps show, the duchy of Borovec is in full rebellion at the moment," said the canine Demon, with an alarming amount of cheer.  "The rebellion started in the city of Vecenstein, where tensions with the local Demon clans reached a breaking point.  Refugees from the duchy fleeing the conflict are going inland or across the mountains to Kebre."  The image changed to one showing winged police officers, one of which Hyden recognized as a cousin mowing down Beings in civilian attire with magic.  

   "The death toll is currently around five thousand as riot-suppression groups were authorized to use lethal force to bring Borovec back under control.  The Kebrian navy has set up a blockade of the coastal side of Borovec on request from the Union government.  Uzir Zezzuva, Minister of War for the Kebrian government released this statement."

   The screen changed from the Demon's desk and image to a tall, well-built elk incubus of black, red, and white colors dressed in a blue officer's uniform standing behind a podium in front of many Beings with cameras.  

   "The Ister Union is one of our staunch allies," the elk said in a grinding growl.  "I respect them greatly for going so far to restore the peace without external interference."  He gestured flippantly and smiled something most unpleasant, "our ships are only in the area to help capture rebels attempting to flee, and return them to the government.  At this time, it is not expected for serious deployment of ground forces to assist the government of the Ister Union in putting down the rebellion."

   "Our best of luck to the civilians in Borovec caught between the two factions," said the canine Demon as she returned to the screen.  "Next is Taisho with the latest on the blitzball tournament-"  Hyden turned the television off.  It was good to see his cousin alive; even if it hadn't been a cousin he'd known particularly well.  It gave him hope that Auriga and Oresse were alright.

   Hyden hadn't been particularly religious.  None of the Bloodstone Demons were; to many a Being they were themselves gods of death and destruction, why would they venerate higher powers?  But Hyden's father, Sebur, had been a shaman.  The spirits that existed outside the physical world and looked in; spirits of the primal forces, spirits of emotions, spirits of concepts.  He didn't know their names, Sebur had died before sharing that powerful part of his religion, but the young ram knew they were there.

   "If you can hear me, spirits... heroism, goodness, whatever you are," the young demon started, staring up to the wooden roof plaintively.  "Help them, please?"  The roof didn't answer.  Hyden sighed.  "Invoking spirits without the training, real smart," and left the living room to go take a nap.

   He would not learn until years later that his words had been heard.  And that invoking the spirit of 'heroism' on the Bloodstone Demons, butchers of the northern realms, was a bad idea.

   The next day came, and with it: School.  The two older housemates were busy getting ready for the trip to the hospital for Domino's talk with the regenerator, and Evgenija's training session at the Adventurer's Guild.  After they woke the young ram up early to get ready, he was on his own for the most part.

   Domino's 'brilliant plan' for fixing the shirts to account for the Demon's wings was to work with Evgenija to cut out a segment of the back, requiring him to put his wings in first, but allowing a comfortable fit.

   "You're going into the eighth grade," Domino told him as the ferret bagged a lunch for the ram.  "Last year of primary education, so even if you're new the younger kids will give you some respect.  The school provides a lunch, but you can use these snacks and sandwiches to barter for things like hall passes, school supplies if you want, or direct snack exchange.  Or just eat them along with that lunch, that works too."

   "Do not promote gluttony, Domino," chided Evgenija who was sharpening the knives Domino had bought her.  Elegant leaf-bladed things; nothing like the dinky knives some of Hyden's cousins would carry on their belts growing up.

   "He's a growing boy, ma chère.  Needs all the fuel he can get."  The vulture woman huffed, but didn't respond.  Hyden smiled, the two were already becoming friends despite the awfulness of their meeting.  Now all the ram had to do was become Evgenija's friend, and the triad would be complete.  "You remember when the school lets out?"

   "Three-thirty in the afternoon," Hyden supplied.  "And I wait by the main doors for Surprise to show up to pick me up, and when I get home finish doing my chores and do any homework before watching the tv."

   "And to think I was worried about him going off and setting something on fire out of boredom," the ferret laughed to the vulture woman, who raised her beak loftily.

   "He is well-behaved, if ignorant of proper manners," she commented.  Almost a compliment.  "Surprise, take him to school."  Hyden grabbed the sack of assorted foods the ferret pushed at him, and waited for the glowrat to come to its mistress' call.

   "Rassa frassin' birdwoman and her rassa frassing work expectations," the bird-like glowrat said as it circled Hyden and sent him off through the dimensions.

   When the darkness of teleportation lifted, he was standing in front of a stone building, on a street filled with people, in a suburb he had never seen before.  Some people were looking at him odd for coming in via teleportation, but went back to their business of crowding the doors to the building, rather than going in.  "See you in a few hours, Surprise," the ram said in parting as the glowrat teleported away.

   He examined the crowd while slowly approaching.  Beings and Demons occupied the vast majority, while a few Mythos clustered in their own groups.  He didn't see any Angels, or Beings with feathered wings even.  The ages for the people were young; none looked older than Hyden, and some were as young as six years old, and accompanied by their parents.
   The hum of noise and chatter filled his ears, and he had to flip them back.  He'd never seen so many people at once, and never heard such noise.  He'd thought the wharf of Vecenstein was noisy at times; but this din was to that subarctic harbor as a mountain was to a hill.

   A shrill bell filled the air, and the people started to go inside.  The young children left their parents to run in, excited, and Hyden followed unsure of what else to do.  A tug on the leg of his three-quarters pants alerted him to a small figure trying to get his attention as he crossed the threshold.  "Mr. Bloodstone," said the feather winged white and sky blue mouse dressed in an impressive suit, "I'm Principal Hopecho, I'll be showing you to your homeroom.  Please come with me."

   "Yes, sir," the ram replied meekly, following behind the obvious Angel.  The lobby and administrative offices of the school were indoors, Hyden observed as they walked, but the classrooms were all open to the outside, connected by stairs and covered walkways.  "A few rules while we walk, my boy."  The Angel had a weak version of the twangy accent Hyden had come to accept as the default for Ti'baltr.

   "Um, one sec, I need to get my notebook."  Hyden fumbled with the satchel that contained his school supplies, before getting a simple lead pencil and a flip notebook out.  "I'm ready, sir."

   "Good.  Rule one, no magic in the hallways.  If someone is hurt, get a teacher, don't attempt to heal them on your own."  Hyden nodded, and wrote the rules down.  Most had to do with basic safety, some cultural understanding, and the dress code; the last of which he found almost too light.  "Got it memorized?"

   "Yes, sir."

   "Good, we're here."   The mouse angel gave the ram a warm smile and gestured to a door with a bronze plaque reading '8-D' on it.  "Let me go in and make sure the teacher is ready for you."  Principal Hopecho vanished into the room, and while he did Hyden got a glimpse of the other students.  Three Beings, three Demons, two mythos, fairly even on the male/female split.  No sheep like Hyden, though.

   A moment later, the Angel came back out and held the door open for him.  Hyden stepped in to the door to enter, but froze at the the entrance, his fleece puffing out in alarm.

   What stood next to a desk was a nine foot tall bird-thing; muddy brown bony plates comprising the body with metallic black feathers for bird-like wings.  No visible hands, bu a pair of short tentacles at the bending joint of the wings that looked like vertebrae, with a long tail of similar design coming out the back.  A beaked head resembling a dodos but with a third eye in the forehead, all three eyes of different colors and blinking out of synch with each other.  Naked except for a long scarf of soft pink ending in red feathers wrapped around a neck that had to remain hunched or the head would scrape the ceiling.

   It approached him, pulling its wings closer around its body.  "Hello, sweetie," it said in a sound like sheet metal being cut while not moving its beak at all.  "Don't be scared, I'm Miss Estiiv, your homeroom teacher."  The mouse gave Hyden a push toward the creature, which seemed to snap the Demon out of his 'it can't see me if I don't move' mental state enough to approach the obvious Mythos with caution.

   The bird-type Mythos folded one wing over Hyden, effectively trapping him from running as the Principal closed the door.  Hyden stiffly turned to face the class, looking probably like a deer in the torchlight.  
   
   A female dog Demon in the front row, her fur of ash gray and black waved to him while Miss Estiiv introduced him.  "Class, this is Hyden Bloodstone, he just came here from the Ister Union.  Say hello, class."

   "Hello,  class," came the sarcastic reply of a gray rat Being in the second row who stuck his tongue out at the Mythos as she gave him a look.  Most of the other seven students gave a greeting of some kind.

   "Since Hyden is so new to Ti'baltr, I'm wondering if one of you could buddy up with him while he gets his bearings."  The Mythos looked around at the class, expectantly.  "Anyone?  Someone?  I can verify he doesn't have any diseases."

   A mythos from the front row nearest the door rose a stubby hand.  It looked like a hairy snake of blue and white with a sort of canine head; arms and legs short and scaley and given the sheer length of its body, far apart.  The tail ended in a fan of white fur, it's nose covered in scales with two fleshy barbels resembling a moustache, except that one of them was wrapped around a pencil.

   "Zenuma, you're volunteering?"

   "Yes," the Mythos said in an oily voice.  "As class representative, I feel it is my responsibility."  A bovine Being from the back also raised her hand.

   "Renet, what is it?"

   "Zen has to go off for school meetings sometimes," the cow said.  "I can watch him while Zen's away."

   "I'm so happy to see people volunteering to help our new classmate."  Hyden's fur was not anywhere close to going down and the ear closest to the... disturbing Mythos had to be folded back for the sound of her voice at such proximity was painful.  "Now, Hyden, there's an open desk behind Zenuma.  Ask your neighbor to share some notes while I start the first lesson."

   The almost ran from the proximity of the nine-foot-tall monster to the desk.  His neighbor, another dog Demon, but this one a male and considerably beefier; red with a near-black red forming almost tribal patterns, with an unbuttoned shirt and cargo shorts.  He gave the ram an evaluating look before handing over his notebook for Hyden to quickly transcribe while Miss Estiiv started the lesson on 'identifying injuries'.

   Hyden grew used to the teacher's... unusual voice as the lesson progressed from telling the age of simple bruises to the difference between a pulled muscle and a sprain.  What was odd was that at the bell, the teacher packed up a small bag of her notebooks and folders and left, and moments later, another teacher came in to start the class' lesson on Language.

   It would repeat every hour, from the times he checked on the clock.  After Language came Maths, then Magic.  After the bell rang for the Magic lesson, however, it was the students who stood up, Hyden following after them as they marched out of the classroom.

   "This is the lunch period," said the oily voice of the furry-snake dog-faced Mythos that had volunteered to be his guide; Zenuma the ram remembered.  "It is a two-hour period that allows students to eat and play out on the playground or in the fields."  Hyden looked where the Mythos pointed with his barbels to the space behind the school where a field of short grass and strange equipment was arranged in a giant sandbox.  It was then that Hyden also noticed that Zenuma wasn't standing, but floating in the air.

   "Um, thanks.  I'm Hyden, nice to meet you," the Demon offered, extending a hand to shake, which Zenuma wrapped a barbel around and shook with surprising strength.

   "Zenuma, class rep.  Follow me, the cafeteria is this way."  The floating snake Mythos led the ram through the halls, passed the crowds of surging children and to a massive, cool room of tables and benches with an enclosed area off to the side where people were lining up.  "That's the lunch line, first come first serve.  You take a tray," the Mythos used his scaley hands to take a molded plastic tray from a stack.  "And you take things as you want from the items they have for you.  You allergic to anything?"

   "No, no."  Hyden shook his head while taking a tray.

   "Good, the lunchladies hate having to remake things because some kid went into shock."  The lunch that followed, while not as tasty as Evgenija's cooking was certainly filling, enough that he started trading the snacks Domino had made him for drinks to wash the food down with.

   After eating, people started to leave for the outside, where the younger kids were playing on the equipment, most of them, Hyden noticed. His neighbor from homeroom was doing pullups on some sort of equipment where kids would swing from horizontal bar to horizontal bar along a path.  The older kids were out and about on the field.

   The ram joined the group in the field, though some of the equipment looked fun.  The older kids were playing a variety of sports or chasing games, or just sitting in the grass talking.  He stood out among them, rubbing his arms awkwardly without an idea of where to go.

   "Hey, Hyden right," said the bovine Being from the ram's homeroom, Renet, trotting up to him with a red rubber ball under her arm.  She was mostly brown, with patches of black, black hair, and dressed in a vest and breeches with no shoes.  "Want to play kickball?  We're starting a game."

   "What's kickball?"  The ram said without thinking, recoiling at the cow's scandalized expression and backing away.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend-"

   "How can you not know about kickball?!"  The cow reached out and grabbed Hyden's arm, dragging the smaller male behind her as she trotted to a group of other children in their age group.  "Right, we're going to play and you watch, and when the next game starts, you give it a try, okay?"

   "Sure?"  The ram didn't have much to do, and was slightly glad he was being included in something.  The name was an accurate descriptor of the game.  Two teams, one team kicking, the other receiving; the receivers would roll the ball to the kicker at the origin point, and after kicking would attempt to run a circuit of three fixed points before someone could retrieve the ball and cut them off, or tag them with it directly.  If the ball went too far to the side, it was foul, if someone caught the ball before it hit the ground, the kicker was out their turn.

   Oresse had told Hyden that sports arose as training to warfare, and Hyden could clearly see where the warfare applications of this 'kickball' came.  Scatter enemy forces by foiling their attack, and completing timed objectives before they could regroup with the ever present chance that the enemy wouldn't be scrambled at all.

   Hyden's first attempt to kick however was caught by Renet, who gave him a smile as he walked dejectedly to the back of the line.

   All too soon, the lunch break came to an end, and the classes resumed.  Having lost track of Zenuma, the ram followed Renet back to the homeroom.  When the Mythos did find him again, the strange Creature gave Hyden a quick lecture about wandering off.  It was strange to be talked down to by someone his own age; but Hyden fell into the usual routine of appeasement and promising not to do it again.

   The two classes that followed lunch were Music and History.  Of the two, Hyden preferred Music, as it was taught by a peppy bluejay Phoenix, who distributed instruments to the students.  Hyden found he quite liked the trumpet, even though he didn't have enough fingers to play it quite right.  The teacher, seeing this said she would bring a trombone by for the next lesson so see if he liked it as much.  After the final class, there was a period before the end of school where everyone worked on some of the, for the horror stories Domino had shared, light homework given to them.

   And after that, everyone left out the front entrance they had come in.  Hyden bade goodbye to the Mythos and Being who seemed to like him and waited outside the front of the schoool for Surprise to teleport in and pick him up.

   Half an hour passed, and Hyden sat down to finish what little homework had not been done in the homework period, while he waited.

   An hour passed, and the ram's stomach began to gurgle for food, but still Surprise didn't show.

   And then two hours had passed, and the sun was beginning to set.  The ram paced in front of the school, wanting to just leave, but not knowing which direction to even go in.  Or if he was on the Big Island at all.  Had they forgotten him?  Had something happened?  Did Domino have an accident on the operating table and was bleeding out while doctors scrambled around him?

   Had some monster attacked a remote outpost and only Evgenija had the skills to help them slay it?  These and more scenarios played out as the streetlights turned on while the sky grew dark.

   "Ahem," said a voice, causing the ram to jump slightly.  Standing on the sidewalk was a bulldog Being in a long coat with a small shield of gold metal on the breast, a cap with a five point star on the front, and a very obviously enchanted truncheon in his gloved hands.  "Lad, what're you doing out here at this hour?"

   "S-supposed to pick me up hours ago," the ram babbled, alone in a foreign country and just barely fighting the urge to panic.

   "That explains where your chaperone is, let me see your visa."  The bulldog approached, letting the truncheon hang from its chord by his wrist while he held out his opposite hand to the ram.

   "Don't have-"  Hyden flinched from the pointed glare the Being gave him, trying to sink his neck into his shirt.

   "You're not supposed to go without your visa, lad.  For exactly situations like this, didn't your chaperone explain this?"  Hyden shook his head no, folding his wings close to him.  For being so tropical, it was rather cold at night.  The dog sighed, long-suffering and muttered something about foreigners before addressing Hyden again.  "Where do you live, lad?"

   "Don't know-"

   "How do you not know where you live?"

   "Teleported- glowrat-"  The officer gave an exaggerated sigh and put his hands on his hips.

   "If a glowrat's involved, it'll be one of those shifter folks.  And I know the only shifter in these parts, and where they live.  Come on, lad, I'll show you how to walk there."  The dog started off down the sidewalk with Hyden following close behind, hoping against hope that the officer was referencing Evgenija.  Domino had said Cubi were rare in Ti'baltr, right?


Will Hyden make it home safely?  Click the link to get a hint!

[ZacAttac21]

Blitzball? Bonus points for you, sir!

[Merlin]

Haha awww, poor Hyden can never seem to catch a break, can he?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Bonus points for the Joker. Heh.

[Meany]

Haha awww, poor Hyden can never seem to catch a break, can he?

One day, he will be King.  One day, he will win.  Today is not that day.

Also on a random note: Most of the dogs for Ti'baltr are floppy-eared.  Pointed-eared dogs are a Kebrian thing.  Random backstory element~

[Meany]

Today's post is brought to you by the number Guatemala.

Please note: There is some language that may be inappropriate for some users.  Please speak French responsibly.


Chapter 8-  Long Knives

   His insurance couldn't cover regenerating both the hand and the eye, Domino's doctor had told him.  The eye would be the cheaper thing to regenerate, and the insurance company could get him a good prosthetic hand.  But the prosthetic would pose other complications.  The ferret was glad that Ti'baltic doctors had mindshields in place, or Evgenija would have likely picked up something.

   She was having enough problems with his inability to deal with the loss of his ship and crew than to worry about medical problems.

   "The ship's stern section is stuck on the reef.  We're dragging it down to hand over to the Mer."

   The words of his third officer, Zoos, echoed in his mind while the doctor strapped him down to an operating table.  He'd have preferred to kept his pants given the cold steel, but at least the hospital gown wasn't backless.

   "Final totals say the ship went down with thirty hands.  We're the only Beings among the survivors, Captain."

   And Zoos had only survived because Urd threw him bodily off the ship with a lifeboat.  Everyone else had died either in the initial attack, or from wounds incurred.  Many of the survivors had seen the business end of a shark.  Among the dead, Isarra Que'tnar was a surprising name.  Domino had thought she'd bailed the second the ship started sinking.

   The doctor dulled the ferret's senses in his stump and eye socket.  Not totally deadening, as some sense was needed to confirm functionality.  Nurses and another doctor hovered over him, while Domino's doctor removed the glass eye, and adjusted equipment beyond the ferret's vision.

   The attackers had been two Demons, both female.  The younger was the distraction, getting the most combat able of the crew in one place while the older launched a magical strike to take them out.  That's how the bosun and most of the junior officers died.  

   Domino winced as a cold liquid was poured into his eye socket, some sort of cleaning agent he heard the doctors mutter about.  They'd wanted to put him to sleep for the operation.  The ferret's reaction was a solid 'no'.  Followed by an emphatic and threatening 'no' when the doctor pushed the issue.

   No one who survived the wreck accurately remembered the older Demon's appearance,  but the younger was added to the list of active bounties.  A female Demon sheep, green and blue fleece, scale mail, sabre as main weapon.  According to Zoos, Domino had nearly killed the younger one with a three-burst red gryphon spell.

   They were multitasking now.  One doctor opening up the sealed wound of his stump, while the other started to get instruments into the eye socket.  The surge of magic filled the air, along with the pain of old wounds being opened and the scraping of steel on bone.

   The funeral was being postponed as the Mer had indicated that they'd recovered a couple of crewman who had been trapped on the reef.  Negotiations for their return were underway.  Urd wasn't among them; her soul stone was dark.

   They'd made him take his choker off for the surgery, and most of Domino's effort went to suppressing his magic from acting up.  They had a specialist waiting in the wings if he couldn't, but the service was expensive, and money was getting tight.  After the initial pain, it was a matter of waiting.

   Less than an hour later, the surgery team pulled away to let Domino adjust to the changes.  "Mr. Ti'balt," his regular doctor told him.  "The prosthesis is working fine, you should have total vision in your left eye now."

   Blessed depth perception.  The shaped metal ball layered in bronze and a glowing rune where the pupil was supposed to be, it fit like a glove in the empty socket.  It was a bit sticky in regards to changing focus with the organic eye, hopefully something that would work out with use.

   "Could you try moving your hand, Mr. Ti'balt?"  The digits felt like the limb had been asleep rather than bitten off; the fingers stung from pins and needles at his movement.  For a minute, the fingers made tiny jerking movements at the first knuckle, and the muscles wanted to curl into a fist.  "A little adjustment," the doctor touched a hand glowing with magic to the limb, "and there we go.  You're going to have to build your muscles in the hand back up, but you should be fine."

   The doctors and nurses left while Domino stood and went for his stuff.  Being part of the big family in town earned him a private operating room if not totally sliding on the bill.  Evgenija was being kept in a nearby waiting room while the ferret was operated upon, and soon he was out to collect her after getting dressed.

   "You're certain on needing your hand more than your eye?"  The Kebrian asked as they strolled down the streets of Ti'baltr, Surprise floating with them while chewing on a candy bar the vulture had bought it.

   "Yep.  Definitely.  Ooh, let's go to Swoon's place," the ferret said enthusiastically, "she'll love the new look!"

   "We don't have time for you to visit your... romantic companion."  Domino had turned and given her a saccharine smile prompting her to chose a less insulting term than what she had likely intended.  The two were synching up like that.

   "Of course we do, I need to stop for lunch and you need more of that soap that doesn't mess with your dye."  The vulture woman sighed, defeated, while the ferret rushed ahead to Rainbow Road and Swoon.

   "Petit," the Angel said as she shampooed Evgenija's hair after they arrived.  "I am thankful you did not bring her to me in an awful state again."  Domino sat in the waiting area while other woman and other hairdressers worked in the booths.  He'd found a very nice crawdad cart; and was eating them in between Swoon glancing in his direction.  "Is the water to cold, chère?"

   "No, it is adequate," replied the vulture.  "Why are there slices of zucchini over my eyes?"

   "Its tradition."  Then came the shampoo.  "Has mon petit been a good host?"

   "A bit flippant, but he sees to my needs adequately."  Both ferret and cat gave her a moment to realize the double-meaning of what she said, and Domino at least enjoyed her flustered attempts to deny and retract the statement.

   "I can see to the next customer," said one of Swoon's girls as she took the money and tip from her previous customer.  An elderly cow Being stepped up to the counter and was escorted to a chair.  The ferret was content to sit and wait for Swoon to finish on Evgenija, and eat his crawdads.

   A shadow passed behind him, someone out on the street walking by.  A succubus; headwings exposed, unusual, tall with the tell tale nose of a bat-

   Domino almost turned over his bag of crawdads as he turned to stand in the chair and look out the window.  He knew he'd moved fast enough that the person should still have been there; but the sidewalk outside was vacant of a figure that could have cast the shadow.

   "Something going on outside, petit?"  Swoon's tone was politely concerned.  The ferret didn't respond at first, sitting back down first.

   "Just thought I'd saw a familiar shadow."  It was stupid, Domino told himself.  Urd never went out with her headwings exposed; she'd often do with breeches while on shore leave so that people couldn't see her clan mark.  Many a Demon would mock her for her clan's weakness.

   The Tri-winged succubus Canora had been a diplomat, a great negotiator.  And when the chips were down, she'd had no real strength to fight back against someone who had no interest in talking.  The remnants of her clan, all sixteen of them, served Ti'baltr now.

   Canora, Que'tnar, Une'jysune, the three pocket clans of the island nation.  Of the three, Une'jysune's remnants were the most likely to give Evgenija a decent eduation but they'd still recommend her attending the mysterious 'academy' part-time.  Canora would be bitter about the loss of their only child in centuries, Urd.  And Que'tnar's clan would likely just lock Domino in a box, tie that box to Evgenija, and send her to the academy anyway.

   For all of their administrative skill, the Que'tnars weren't the most stable of people.  As Isarra had demonstrated; they didn't care that she was dead.

   To go unmourned by your own family... Domino hadn't liked her, but she didn't deserve that.  She'd served with merit for eight centuries, and all she got for it was a white cross in the TTC's graveyard.

   An incubus of Une'jysune would be stopping by the house the next day to help with some absolute basics, and to make the pitch of part-time academy work.  Domino would be there, so if she wanted a tour, no problem.

   He hadn't realized how much he was brooding over the situation until someone picked him up under the arms and was carrying him to a booth.  "Ma belle," he grumbled, "I have legs."

   "I'm not your 'belle', Domino," said a grumbling voice familiar to the ferret.  Looking up, he saw the slightly annoyed face of a swan Phoenix, her raspberry red hair in loose curls, similarly colored eyes alight with amusement betraying her voice.  "Long time no see."

   "Aina, darling," the ferret crooned putting on a smile he didn't feel.  "Good to see you again, ma belle tells me you're getting along well."

   "Better now," she sat him down in a chair and motioned for him to take off his coat.  He'd worn a sleeveless shirt, so she clearly saw the divide in new and old fur on his regenerated hand.  "I see someone's been to the  hospital."

   "A wound of a gallant battle that I'll have to tell you sometime," the ferret never wanted her to know what happened that night.  He didn't know himself, and the Phoenix and Urd had been frenemies.  "Now what am I in for today?"

   "Miss Swoon said you wanted a haircut and shampoo, anything else I should know about?"  Domino shook his head, and the Phoenix shrugged.  "Then we're good."  She threw a barber's cloak over the ferret, and started to trim.  Not enough to show his amulet, though.  And after that, the shampooing.

   Aina huffed when she saw Domino had taken a bite out of one of the zucchini on his eyes.  "Can I help it if they're delicious, Aina?"

   "You most certainly can; your friend did."  The shampooing continued from there, scrubbing, rinsing, soaking.  "So, I heard your ship sank."  Any good mood Domino had developed burned away in moments.  "I, um.  Got an invitation to the funeral."

   The ferret deeply wanted to find the person in charge of those invitations and to set them on fire.  But he didn't let it show in his expression.  "It's been postponed.  The Mer found survivors, we're negotiating for their release."  He didn't like talking about it, and tried to imply that in the monotone he said it in, but he knew why Aina was asking.

   "I see... I just wanted you to know, I'm here if you need to talk, and I'm in a good spot... Hardol's going to therapy, maybe he'll get a job soon."

   "You know he won't," the ferret flexed his new hand, popping the knuckles as he clenched it into a fist. "I'll have a new job soon, and your next check.  Don't worry."  Her hands stopped massaging his scalp.

   "It isn't about the money, Domino-"

   "I know what it's about, Aina."  The ferret took off the partially eaten zucchini from his eye and finished it off.  "We're friends, you're worried about me, yadda yadda, and I made certain promises which I might not be able to keep and you're worried, blah blah blah.  It's a personal problem, I'll deal with it.  And I'll have some money for you in short order, don't worry."

   The swan huffed, returning to her work on Domino's hair.  "You don't have to be rude, you know."

   "You didn't have to broach a topic you knew I wouldn't be comfortable talking about.  We all make mistakes."  Neither of the two spoke to each other while in the store.  And afterward was Evgenija's meeting at the Adventurer's Guild.

   Based in the fort from which all Ti'baltr had grown, the guildhall was one of the most rigid pieces of architecture in the city, both artistically and structurally.  The poor old building needed repairs every time there was a tropical disturbance.

   Domino didn't take too active a role during the vulture cubi's processing.  Many of the younger members and trainees wanted to know why a succubus would be an adventurer; which she responded to politely and firmly:

   "I was an adventurer before I was a succubus."

   That seemed enough for them, and aside from confused looks, none gave her any trouble.  From there, it was training.  Knife combat, knife throwing, stealth, flight, and basic fitness.  The ferret felt a bit inadequate given how fit everyone in the guildhall seemed to be, even other ferrets, and so closed his jacket, and sat in a corner while Evgenija was tested.

   "Hey, Cousin."  And as usual, he was bothered by someone rather than allowed to think in peace.  The ferret didn't need to turn to see who it was.  Marlyn, his cousin.  Older and positively ripped for a ferret or a woman, her light brown hair kept to a short braid, and her wardrobe consisting of breeches, boots, a tank-top and a vest jacket.  "Why so blue?"

   "Not now, Cousin," the ferret growled.  "I'm not in the mood to deal with you."

   "Well tough-shit, princess."  The she-ferret punched Domino in what was likely meant to be a playful way, but transmitted as painful. "We all got to do thing we don't like."  Evgenija was being shown the worth of incorporating a Ti'baltic throwing axe, the tomahawk, into her armory in the distance.  "She that foreigner you're chaperoning?"

   "As if Aunt Flo didn't tell you- ow!"  The ferret winced and rubbed his shoulder from the obviously intended for pain punch.

   "Don't call my mom that, jerkass. I'm here to offer you a job out of the goodness of my heart."  Domino rolled his eyes and started counting things off on his fingers.

   "One, the Antiquity already has a captain.  Two, I'm pretty sure the Company isn't going to trust me with another ship.  Three, I'm pretty sure I don't trust me with another ship."  Marlyn nodded understandably and returned the gesture.

   "One," she whirled and punched the younger ferret in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.  "As if I'd give you my boat!  Two," she returned to her previous position and continued as if Domino was not wheezing for air on the ground.  "The Company won't.  Three, grow a spine."  She gave him a winning smile that made Domino realized how punchable that expression was.  "Anyway, I was more going to pull strings, get you a job as an Adventurer."

   "I have a kid now, Cousin," the male groaned.  "I can't go wandering off for months."

   "Then don't.  Stay on the Big Island, plenty of adventure to be had."  Domino got back to his seat and glared at her.  "Or stay at home, brood, live off the stipend of your two friends, oh wait."  Her grin turned into a scowl.  "The stipend for her ends in eighteen month, the stipend for the kid ends in two years.  And you have a little in breach of contract hussy you're keeping afloat, right?  Looks like you need money and don't have a lot of options."

   "You leave Aina out of this."

   "I won't so long as she's giving you problems, and by extension me problems because your mom complains to my mom who complains to me."  Once more the buff ferret punched Domino in the shoulder.  "So suck it up and take the job."

   "Or what?"  The woman ferret blinked at the male, who arched a brow at her along with a flat expression.  "You'll put me in the burn ward for six months because I told you no again?"  And her expression went to awkward, a mix of obviously wanting to be angry, but also kind of humiliated.

   "It was an accident, you stupid little idiot!  I didn't mean for it to hit you!"

   "You got upset at me for telling you no, and minutes later a molotov hits me, odd coincidence."  The male felt sweet vengeance at watching his cousin squirm under the inquiry.

   "It was supposed to scare you, not hit you, how many times do I have to say sorry before you'll listen?!"  She groaned, putting her head into her hands.  "I'm trying to be nice here, Dom."

   "You come to me," the male started, acid dripping from his words, "after the death of my ship, my lieutenant, and half of my crew, after being made a parent and a lifeline for a total stranger, after putting their needs ahead of mine for almost a month now, and say 'suck it up and get a job'."  Domino stood, adjusting his coat, looking nothing like the near-murderously angry thing he felt like.  "Cousin, thanks for the offer.  Maybe once I think on it a bit, I'll take it.  In the meantime, Marlyn?"  He got close to her, the rune of his false eye flaring to project a small magical fire, while the other fought against the amulet to slit.  "Go to hell you friggen bitch."

   He left then, to stand by Evgenija's side and pretend to be interested for the rest of their time at the guildhall.  The time for school dismissal was coming soon, so Domino got the vulture's attention for the matter of picking Hyden up.

   "Surprise," she told the warp-aci.  "Take these bags home first, then go to the school to pick up Hyden."  The handed some woven fabric bags to the bird-like 'aci, who grumbled before teleporting off.  "What's next?"

   "I need to get the phone at the house connected to the network, and fighting with my old landlord over the security deposit," the ferret told her with far too much excitement for the topics.  "Ready?"

   "As ready as I am to kill myself, yes."

   The landlord, after having a brief chat with Domino and Evgenija who conspicuously occupied herself with her gaping-maw tentacleheads during the proceedings, credited the safety deposit.  Which helped them get not just the house phone but personal mana phones for the trio.

   He got Hyden a snowflake patterned phone, maybe giving him something to remember the good parts of Vecenstein would help his mental state.  Evgenija volunteered to call the house with hers while Domino set up Hyden's.

   "Surprise?"  She sounded confused for a moment as apparently the warp-aci picked up.  "Put Hyden on.  ...Well where is he?"  Domino grew alarmed by how quickly the girl puffed up from whatever the answer was.  "What do you mean he's still at school."

   Now it was Domino's turn to puff up as he easily jumped to Evgenija's head height, and snatched the phone from her loose grip.  "Surprise, it's me Domino.  Why is Hyden still at school?"

   "Ch-yah," the warp-aci scoffed.  "Because he's not here yet, obviously."

   "But you were supposed to pick him up!"

   "Oh, was I?  I knew there was something I was supposed to do but there was a funny monkey on television and-"  Domino quickly ended the call and tossed the phone back to Evgenija, who caught it numbly.  Both of them staring into space, they quickly concluded their business, paying for the phones and signing contracts, before leaving.

   From there, they numbly hailed a cart gryphon, and flew through the darkening sky to Hyden's school.  Both of them plotting how they were going to savagely murder the warp-aci if anything was wrong with the boy.


   "Is the tea to your liking, Hyden?"

   The ram took a sip of his tea, his ears going straight up in surprise.  "This is yak butter tea," the boy exclaimed.  "Like in Vecenstein!  How did you get it here?"  The other man chuckled, putting one leg over another as he reclined in his seat.

   "I don't know if my kind are native to the Union, but my species is from a colder climate as well."  He wagged the long, bushy tail of a snow leopard to prove the point.

   "Oh.  I um, didn't see anyone like you there, Mr. Donya."  The man held up a hand, shaking his head good naturedly.

   "Please call me Dosve."

   The two were seated in an opulently decorated sitting room.  High backed leather chairs near a bay window with a lovely view of the night sky, oil portraits of people long dead decorating the walls, odds and ends placed on tables and shelves, a rich red and gold rug of a dying dragon on the floor.  Dosve Donya was wealthy, and this room was but a slice of it.

   "So, you know Domino?"

   "I was there when his mother went into labor with him," the incubus told the Demon honestly.  Poor girl had been giving a presentation.  "Though he doesn't know I moved out here."

   "He'll be happy to see you, I bet."  The ram's enthusiasm shone in a toothless smile.  Odd for Demons.  "Thank you for taking care of that policeman."

   "The man was doing his job, he didn't know you were a true citizen, and the good book tells us to open our doors to people in need."  The snow leopard stretched his arms out, "and as you see, I have plenty to share."

   While they drank, Dosve examined the boy.  Bronze in his fur would do him well, bronze was the color of the Beings of Ti'baltr, they'd identify with him.  He almost completely contrasted Dosve's own.  Blue and orange snow leopard pattern, to green and bronze speckles.  The boy dressed for civilian life, the cat dressed for a business meeting.

   "You think Domino got your maid's call yet?"

   "Tiring of an old man's presence so soon?"  Dosve smiled warmly, burning through the boy's awkwardness.  "If you promise not to set the room on fire while I'm gone, I'll go check with her.  Be right back."  Pushing off from the chair, the snow leopard walked out of the sitting room, closing the door behind him and silently locking it.

   As he went down the hall, his form changed.  From feline to canine, from happy-faced to grim, from colorful fur to drab gray.  From business suit to button-up shirt, slacks, and trench coat.

   The maid gave him a report of the ferret and vulture en route to the school in a cart-gryphon's company.  An order was given to divert them to the manor, and the maid bowed away.  With that done, Dosve entered the room directly behind the sitting room, where two important guests were shackled to a steel table.

   Captured in the air over the jungle, they'd been roaming around the edge of Ti'baltr.  From what their dreams had revealed, they were going to try and pose as tourists and wander the town for their quarry.  Two Demon ewes, both green and blue.  One marked in the pattern of lightning, another in smooth waves.  And one in the midst of recovering from a miscarriage.

   "Oresse and Auriga Bloodstone," the incubus said in a gravelly voice, naming the two.  "Thank you for joining me here."  The Demon ewes looked like hell.  Auriga missing part of a horn, both of them covered in cuts and scrapes, the older one, Oresse looked like she had a broken arm that wasn't healing correctly.  That'd need to be fixed.  "I think you'll enjoy seeing this."

   A gesture, and a segment of the wall turned into a window, beyond which the two Demons could see the boy, sipping his tea, happy as a teen could get.  The older one grew agitated, pulling at her shackles uselessly, standing, and shouting for the boy.  Dosve almost felt sorry as he roughly pushed her back to her seat.  The ram hadn't heard them, the room was soundproofed.

   "What do you want?"  The younger, Auriga, said.  She'd been giving Dosve daggers since he entered the room, not doing more than glancing at the boy behind the magic window.  He could feel the rage and worry writhing under a layer of forced calm.  From Oresse, all he was getting was longing, worry, and despair.  She certainly wasn't taking her family's genocide well.

   "Well, I'd like you two to co-operate and stop trying to fight your way out of a situation you can't win."  The 'dog' walked behind the two, their wings gone from the Creature-Being amulets sewn onto their fur, resting his hands on their shoulders.

   "My son," Oresse Bloodstone babbled around her broken nose, vainly trying to reach for Hyden through the mirror despite the obvious impossibility.  "Please, he didn't do anything."  As if he'd hurt the most promising candidate for the throne since Mikhail himself had lived.  As if he'd harm someone under his own protection.

   "He's fine, Oresse."  Dosve leaned in to whisper in the seven hundred year old Demon's ear, "can't say the same for the both of you, though."  Going back to his full height, the incubus made a circuit of the table.  "Now, the two of you... you attacked one of our ships.  Killed our people.  Ruined a perfectly good captain."  Auriga kept trying to follow Dosve as he circled them, while Oresse seemed obsessed with Hyden in the window.

   "So you will kill us?  Get revenge?"  The younger ewe growled, baring fangs reduced in threat from the amulet.  "Then why show us that Hyden is safe?"  Poor Isarra had underestimated the 'cousin' of the boy.  Perhaps not the powerhouse her father and aunt were, she seemed to be asking the smart questions more than either.  Unusual for Demons her age.

   "Safe, and this is the important bit, happy."  Oresse stopped reaching to look at Dosve as he leaned on the table.  His voice was absent of pity from there on, "happier than he ever could have been in that backwards town with either of you as his only protection from being made a meal."  Auriga flinched, Oresse's shoulders shook like she was going to cry.

   "What.  Do.  You.  Want?"  Dosve fought the urge to snap at the impertinence, but that would just land him with another 'abuse of prisoners' charge again.  God damned liberals in the policy makers.

   "I want the pair of you to agree to serving a not terribly lengthy prison sentence," Dosve nodded his head with each point, trying to make it sound as reasonable as possible.  "I want the pair of you to agree to a long stint as minions of the Company, going places where we can't send valuable Ti'baltic citizens who may die.  Oh, and I'd like it if both of you could lay with some of my men, and produce at least one child in case the weakling in there," he jerked his thumb to the window and to Hyden, "dies before we can wring one out of him."

   "You vile, sick- monster!"  Oresse found her voice again.  Wonderful.  Dosve fought the urge to roll his eyes before responding.

   "Miss Bloodstone, let's not pretend you're anything but marauding murderer with a side order of enemy combatant."  Auriga was thinking.  He could see bits and pieces of her thoughts, but she knew he was listening in.  Thinking in code, numbers, hiding bits of thoughts behind her cracked mind shield.  "But I see you need further convincing."

   "You ask us to become incubators, we're people!"

   "No, you're Demons.  Big difference there, as the crew of the Harridan found out."  Dosve snapped his fingers, and a sheet of paper appeared in a shower of gold sparks.  He laid it out between them, and stood again to stand between them.  "I did a little bloodwork on Hyden, make sure he was who Isarra thought he was, and would you look at that."  The incubus pointed to a line of information that made both of the females stiff with shock.  "Explains a lot, doesn't it."

   "You can't tell him," Oresse pleaded.  "Please, I'll do anything- It'd break his heart!"

   "I know."  Dosve didn't hide how much he enjoyed having her in this state.  Word on the street was he was a monster.  "Agree to the terms I put forth, and I bury this report in the deepest, darkest hole I can find."

   "And if we don't?"  Auriga questioned, eyes on Dosve, not the horrified look Oresse was giving her.  "What happens if we say no?  Or if I say no?"

   Sighing, the 'dog' picked up the paper, folded it, and placed it within his coat.  "If you say no, you go back to the cells until you say yes.  But I submit my findings to the Company, unedited.  And that means, eventually he'll find out."

   "Please," the older Demon pleaded with the younger.

   "It was your mistake, Oresse," the younger ewe snarled.  "And you ask me to give up my freedom for it?"  She sighed.  Dosve could smell the sweet emotion of defeat upon her.  Beautiful.  "How long of a prison sentence?"

   "One hundred and five years each."  Auriga looked devastated; from her file she was only fifty years old, so that could be understood.  "Followed by fifty years of service.  Every child you agree to have will cut five years off your prison time."  He snapped again, and two parchment contracts appeared before the Demons.  "This is a limited time offer.  Going once."

   "Auriga, please-

   "Going twice."

   "Grr, fine!  Fine!  I accept your terms."  He poked her in the nose with one finger, and pointed to the contract.

   "Blood fingerprint, then."  Oresse hastily scraped some from her broken nose off on her hand and pressed it to the parchment, while Auriga bit her finger and pressed it.  As they pulled away, the bloodprints sank into the paper, before being replaced with flowing signatures written in what would appear as red ink.  "Pleasure doing business with you, ladies."

   He picked up the contracts, and left the room, handing them off to a maid who was waiting outside with a healer for the women.  Once the doctor was tending them, Dosve cut off the window letting them see into the sitting room.  He ignored the wails of Oresse as he closed the door, and walked back down the hall, assuming the form of a blue and orange business suit snow leopard on the way.

   "Hey Hyden," he said as he popped his head back in.  "Domino's on his way with a gryphon cart, would you like my maid to bring you something to eat while you wait?"

   "Oh, thanks!   I am really hungry," said the young Demon awkwardly.  "Got any meat?"

   "I'm a carnivore too, lad.  I'll have her send up something to keep you from going on a hunger rampage, don't worry."  He left the boy in peace, energized from the misery, rage, betrayal and shame of the ewes the boy so desperately wanted to know were okay, and less than twenty feet away from him.

   And perhaps in fifty years, he'd know.  And be upset, but by then Dosve would in a much better position to deal with him then.

   'The gold, only blood can inherit.  The silver is chosen by merit.  And third, the bronze, though many despair it, can only ever be held by a ferret.'  Gold and bronze were soon going to be full, leaving only silver vacant.  Perhaps, Dosve thought, it was time to turn to politics.


Before anyone asks, yes, Canora and Une'jysune are clans that I and my friends on the IRC created.  There will be a little detailing in later chapters.

[ZacAttac21]

Yay, another character whose name I can't pronounce!

[Meany]

Dosve.  Dahs-ve.  His full name Dosve Donya is a play on the phrase 'do svidaniya', Russian for 'goodbye.'

[Meany]

Replies help me know what you like and what you don't like.  Just sayin'.


Chapter 9- Neapolitan

   The cart gryphon changed course mid-air after having a brief chat consisting of 'chi' in various tones and inflections with another, salt and pepper patterned gryphon.  It shook Evgenija out of her stupor, as she coughed loudly to get the blue gryphon's attention, and from there learned that the second gryphon had brought word that what the passengers were looking for was elsewhere.

   Which made Evgenija question what insane air traffic control laws that this fool nation had that the gryphon flying the cart could choose where it went beyond what it's rider told it to do.  The presumption!  Something she was noticing, as she huffed back into her seat was that no one in the country had a sense of what 'place' they were in.

   Domino was a noble, yet he served in a military role, and then a civilian one as a homemaker.  The Swoon woman was a merchant but likely longed to become a noble by marrying Domino at some point.  The merchants talked back to the customer, the civil workers unafraid to ask deeply personal questions... It was if social convention did not exist in Ti'baltr.

   It did, she remembered.  But with different focuses.  Such as giving gifts of pearls to waitresses, or some such nonsense.  Maybe taking a course on local mannerisms was in order.  Or she could try teaching the whole nation to act like normal people.

   The scenery was changing from a semi-forested suburb to a heavily forested region with a foot path visible through the canopy, leading to a low-built, sprawling manor in the woods.  Constructed of stone, with greenhouses along the back, and a sizable garden with a small maze.  Almost what she expected of some noble.  Perhaps one of Domino's relatives had picked up Hyden?

   "I don't know who lives here," the ferret said looking over the side of the cart at the house, after she asked.  The gryphon was spiralling to land in front of the main doors, constructed of ebony wood almost in their entirety.  "Whoever it is, they have money flowing out of their ears."

   "A crude, if accurate summation," the vulture conceded, standing from her seat and stepping down off the cart in what she thought was a regal way.  There were torches of blue fire along the stone patio before the ebony door, the light playing on the carved depiction of a quadrapedal Mythos with a frilled head, and jaws agape.  "Is the owner of the house expecting us to knock?"

   "Mais," the ferret replied, handing a glittering green gem off to the gryphon who cooed in delight.  "It would not be so unusual.  We are the ones coming to him... or her for help."  Leaving the bird to marvel at it's shiny stone, the pair ascended the stone stairs, passed over the patio, and went to the door.

   "I do not see the knocker."

   "Ma chère, these doors are ebony."  Domino's tone was of gentle chiding, which irked the vulture.  "Do you know how hard you'd have to hit them to make a loud knock?  The term is mostly metaphorical in this instance."  He  leaned to the sides of the double-doors and pressed at segment of the masonry resembling a small carved flower.  A series of gongs rang out from somewhere inside the manor.

   "What was that?  Magic?"  A simple but inventive solution to using such sturdy materials in the making of a door.  Maybe it was used in the noble residences of Kebre as well, she pondered.

   "A doorbell, ma chère."  The ferret arched a brow at Evgenija, who was grateful once more for the red dye in her feathers keeping her blush from being visible.  Moments later, the ebony doors opened a crack, allowing a female white cat in a maid's outfit to peak out.  "Um, hello.  Have you seen a Demon sheep around here?  Skinny wings, green fleece?"

   "Yes," the maid said softly.  "He is in the dining room with Master Donya."  Evgenija sensed surprise from Domino, but didn't notice his facial expression change.  "Please come inside, I will see if they are finished."  The doors swung open revealing a stone foyer of gray stone similar to the exterior, decorated with chandeliers of glittering crystal, a rich blue carpet that went up the grand staircase, and oil paintings set into recesses along the walls.  A pair of royal blue couches with gold accents were set to opposite sides of the room, next to doors of mixed wood and stone.

   The maid bade them to sit on one such couch while she vanished off into the house.  "This Donya is one of your relatives?"  The vulture inquired into the quiet.

   "Friend of the family," Domino replied, kicking his feet in the air.  "Don't know why he'd have brought Hyden here."  Thoughts of a tall snow leopard of gaudy blue and orange coloration floated from Domino's mind.  Feelings of warmth, trust, and a slight amount of fear.

   "You're afraid of him?"  The ferret gave her a miffed look.

   "Would you stop peeking into my head already?  I thought you'd be bored with it by now."  Evgenija smiled faintly.  As much as politeness would allow.

   "But it's so interesting to look into the mind of a madman."

   "I'm mad, then?"

   "Of course.  You're Ti'baltic, and all Ti'baltic people are mad."  The ferret huffed, and didn't answer the question.  Instead, he stared off at the painting beside the couch opposite them.  Noticing her question would not be answered, she joined him.  The picture depicted a war between Angels and Demons, fighting over a region of gold with an empty space in the shape of a crown.  In the bottom right corner was a brown ferret sneaking off with the crown.  An allegory for Ti'baltr's founding.

   The door near them opened outward, and from around it came Hyden looking none the worse for wear.  Still, both the ferret and the vulture got to their feet and were fussing over the retrieved ram for a minute before they noticed the amused chuckle of someone else in the midst.

   Standing in the door frame was the snow leopard from Domino's mind; a base of blue with orange spots, loosely curled dark blue hair, feathered wings of blue and orange from his back and head.  Bearing teeth of glittering white in a smile that didn't reach his eyes, he bowed and offered his hand to Evgenija.

   "Dosve Donya, lord of the house.  Charmed to meet you, my lady."  Evgenija offered her hand, despite a growing sense of unease, and to her surprise the cat kissed it like a proper gentleman should, before releasing the gesture and standing up.  "Your lost ram was brought here by police who assumed I was his parran."

   "Sorry uncle," Domino started, shrugging and trying to smile.  "Our glowrat got mixed priorities and forgot to pick him up."  The snow leopard's smile lessened, and he looked at Evgenija appraisingly.  Not to be outdone by some insane Ti'baltic incubus, she felt around for the snow leopard's emotions and recoiled at what she found.

Hunger, all consuming hunger.  Hunger that made her want to clamp her beak down around Domino's neck and feast on his flesh.  But she didn't, forcing the intense emotion away.  After a moment, the snow leopard tilted his head to the side, confused.

   "A basic emotion filter, no mind shield, but able to resist an emotion jammer successfully.  And all before you should have even manifested your headwings."  Dosve smiled at her, genuine this time.  "Can't wait to see how you develop.  But!"  The house master clapped his hands together emphatically.  "It grows late, some of our number have class on the morrorw, and others have work to do.  I expect Domino to visit now that he knows I'm here."

   "Yes uncle," the ferret said, resignedly.

   "Good.  Lovely to have you as my guest, Hyden.  Good to see you again, Domino.  And well met Evgenija."  It wasn't until they were in the cart back to the house that the vulture realized she hadn't given the snow leopard her name.


   "Please let me out!"

   "No."

   "I promise I'll be good next time!  It was an easy mistake."

   "You ignored my orders in favor of watching television, Surprise."

   "But it was good television!  Not that gunk that's on in the mornings!"  Evgenija, tired of hearing the excuses of the bird-like 'aci placed the glass jar she'd forced it into in the top cupboard, and closed the door on it's last pleading shouts.  Some time out would serve the creature well, in lieu of the lash.

   Domino was about the house, using his new hand to see to minor repairs.  Shelves being wobbly, cleaning out the gutters, tending to the roof grass.  Evgenija, meanwhile, was starting on lunch.  A type of beef noodle soup called 'ramen' that she had found in one of the cookbooks from the house's attic.

    No decent Kebrian food, but she would not let the foreign dish best her, gathering ingredients that she had to search cupboards for like 'soy' sauce or 'miso' paste.  The names didn't sound Ti'baltic, so she had to guess the foods were foreign even to the mad country.

   This was her life now.  Playing cook, nanny and laundress to a teenage Demon boy, and a depressed, disgraced ship captain in a foreign country.  Her old life in ruins.  Her career shattered.  All because-

   Anevka, bound and choking on a garrote.  The vampire dog that would kill her batting aside Evgenija's attacks.

   The vulture stabbed the flank steak needed in the recipe with the carving knife so fiercely that it buried itself in the plastic cutting board.  She could feel the iron grip of suppression she'd had on the emotions around her mother's death and the loss of four years of her life slipping.  "Not now," she said to herself, mustering will to lock the emotion away, liquid gathering in her eyes.  "Not yet."

   "Not yet, what?"  She froze at hearing Domino's voice, and a moment later Domino himself padding into the kitchen.  "Are you okay, ma chère?"

   "I am not your 'chère', whatever that word means," the vulture hissed, forcing the emotions back into their mental box.  "And I'm fine."  She couldn't keep doing that.  The coping mechanism was meant to prevent dealing with trauma until it was safe.

   But she couldn't grieve.  Crying was ugly.  Wailing in mourning unsightly.  Anevka would never approve of outwardly grieving anything, just as she never approved of funerals.  "You don't look fine, Evgenija," the ferret said, a bit of worry creeping into his emotional state, through the layer of pain that constantly surrounded him.

   "How I look, and how I am are two vastly different things."  The succubus gripped the stuck carving knife, and yanking it out.  "Now I have cooking to do, begone."  Domino looked from the woman's glare, to the incomplete food, before turning to leave.

   "You're using the wrong knife for that," he called over his shoulder.


   "So doing this will help me, hrnf, get stronger?"  Hyden pulled at the metal bars, lifting himself so that his chin cleared the top bar.  The assembly was confusingly called monkey bars, despite the extreme few monkeys who attended the school.  His arms were burning from the workout, but the other Demon told him that was natural.

   "Yeah.  If you keep doing it every day for a few minutes, your upper body strength will improve."  The dog said, not having any problems with the pull-ups.  He wasn't even using his wings to help, as Hyden was.  Tyrone Backbreaker, the dog's name was, and proud to say

   "I think I'm at my limit."  Hyden hated how whiny he sounded when he said that, and was about to drop down from the bars, but Tyrone beat him to it.  The dog started pushing on Hyden's feet to push him up over the bar more.  "What are you doing?"

   "Spotting you.  Now lift!"  The beefier Demon didn't care for the odd looks the Being children were giving, or the strange respect coming from Demon kids, instead focusing on lifting Hyden until the ram just couldn't keep his grip on the bars, and fell over backwards into the sand.

   "Owwww."

   "Man, you're in terrible shape," the dog Demon said as he stood over Hyden a moment before pulling the ram to his feet.  "What have you been doing, nothing but reading?"

   "Yeah," Hyden groaned, "it's pretty much all I had to do with my free time."  His arms hung limply by his sides, but a pins and needles feeling was going through them as his regeneration took care of the soreness.

   "That's crazy, you could train and scrap and explore!"  Tyrone's expression was confused, but became excited near the end of his sentence.  "Where do you live?  I can come over on the weekends and help you work out if you like?"  Hyden thought about it.  Domino had said to make friends that he could hang out with when Evgenija needed to go into town... and without Surprise to pick him up, it was a long walk to and from school.  Having someone to talk with would be nice.

   "Alright."  Hyden pushed his arms to move his right hand into a thumbs up.  "Only if I can do the same."

   "Awesome!  I gotta ask my mom today, and I'll make sure none of my brothers try to eat you if you can come over!"  The dog Demon whacked Hyden in the shoulder, prompting the ram to lock up and keel over.  "You okay there?"

   "Yeah, fine.  Just working through the searing pain."  Hyden replied through clenched teeth, while slowly relaxing.  The bell that signaled the end of lunch break rang, and the ram once more had to struggle to stand up.

   "Hmm, your regen sucks," Tyrone said offhandedly, like it wasn't slightly insulting.  "You're going to have to scrap a lot to get it up, but I'll help!"  He grinned, showing impressive chompers for his teeth.  "Now come on, let's get you back to class before Zenuma tries to lecture me."  The dog picked up the ram, and threw the smaller boy over his shoulder, running back to the classroom.

   "Tyrone, I can walk you know!"  The younger kids were watching, some even laughing a bit.  Most of the kids in his age bracket however just saw it as normal.  "Come on, people are laughing."

   "Who cares what they think?"  The dog didn't even seem slowed down by the ram's tone.  "I'm doing you a favor, getting you to class without straining yourself, enjoy the ride!"  Between the options of watching the kids giggle a bit at Hyden's expense, or watch Tyrone's thin tail wag happily, the choices in view were limited to say the least.

   "Tyrone, why are you carrying Hyden around?"  The ram turned to see Renet's tail bobbing in the air as she jogged alongside the dog Demon.

   "Oh, he just wore himself out doing some light exercise.  Kind of a pansy, really.  But I'll have him in proper shape in no time!"  Hyden grunted when the dog started to ascend the stairs, his gut jamming into Tyrone's shoulder with each bounce.

   "You know he can hear you, right?"  The ram actually rose an eyebrow at the cow's concerned tone.  Hadn't she been going to this school for years?

   "This is how Demons help each other, Renet.  Why gussy up words when getting right to the point works so much better?"

   "He's right," Hyden grumbled.  "It isn't polite, but it's how most Demons do things."

   "Well... don't you care how other people feel?"  Tyrone shook his head, while Hyden shrugged.

   "Feelings are nice, but sometimes you can't afford to be nice in a Demon family."  The ram remembered the long, rambling rants his uncle Rayl would go on about how Hyden's weakness was an insult to his mother, to his grandfather, and everyone who had come before them.  It had hurt, hurt deep, but it needed to be said.

   "That sounds... pretty bad."  The ram couldn't deny that, and the three remained quiet for the remainder of the trek back to class.  Over the course of the last two classes, Hyden got equal parts rest and more activity for his sore arms.  The trombone it turned out, was just what the musician ordered for the ram, and he had a grand time learning the basic notes while everyone else practiced a musical piece.

   The blue jay Phoenix music teacher seemed happy that Hyden was happy, and gave him a booklet with trombone notes, and told him he could take it home if he wanted.  With the road between the house and school still so new to him, the ram decided not to do it that day; he'd do so when he was sure neither Domino or Evgenija would object to his attempts at music, or if it was safe to transport.

   The history homework for that day referenced material covered earlier in the course, which sent Hyden flipping through the texbook to find.  However, a chapter caught his interest while skimming.  'The silk road', a chapter on the trade route that allowed vast amounts of wealth to be transported over land; of the brigands that plagued the caravans, and the nations that sprung up around the road.

   So engrossed in the story, Hyden didn't notice the rest of the class getting up to go right away.   Bookmarking the chapter, he packed up and left.  This time at least, he knew in which direction to start walking.

   "Hyden!"  Tyrone shouted and joined the ram on the dusty path up a series of hills and into the jungle, not five minutes away from the school.  "My mom said I could come over today."

   "That was fast."  The ram looked up into the canopy for perchance a monkey, but only a snake in the branches was seen.  "Do you run fast or something?"

   "Nah, my house is close to the school."  The dog Demon jogged in place a bit, before making a quick circle around Hyden.  "Why're you walking so slow?"

   "I'm looking for monkeys in the trees."  The ram did move a bit faster in response to the beefier Demon, a bit jealous of the dog's seemingly endless energy.

   "That's silly.  You're way too slow to catch a monkey."  The dog switched to walking on his hands, still keeping up with Hyden's pace despite the change.  "Your legs are so skinny!  They look like toothpicks!"

   "Your legs are so thick," Hyden grumbled, "they look like tree trunks."  Checking to make sure no one was around to see, the ram quickly gave the dog's legs a shove.  Immediately Tyrone started to teeter, flailing as he tried to regain balance, and ultimately tumbled into the brush.

   He came out smiling, though he had a snake biting his nose.  A constrictor, easily pulled off and thrown back into the jungle.  "Not bad, though you hesitated a bit."  Tyrone put his hands behind his head as they crested the hill and started down the road to Domino's house.  "What you want to do is commit, like this."

   The dog's leg lashed out, hooking behind Hyden's, and kicking them out from under him.  The ram glared weakly at the dog as he continued walking while Hyden got back to his feet.  "Is this normal for kids to do?"

   "Of course!  Why, were you raised in a convent or something?"  Tyrone started walking backward, grinning from ear to ear.

   "Well, back in Vecenstein...."

   "Vecenstein's a dump compared to here."  The ram fluffed up a bit at the direct insult, putting a bit more vigor into his gait to catch up to the dog Demon.  "Am I wrong?  Because I don't think I am."

   "Vecenstein is my home."  He tried to suppress the memories of Beings who only looked at him with bitterness.  Of family that preached togetherness but were anything but.  Of being trapped and unaware of anything to be done about it.  The boy tried, but the images and general sorrow that came with them remained.  "But... yeah.  I guess it is."

   "Then maybe the way they treat their kids is as crappy as their choice of locations.  'When in Ti'baltr, do as the Ti'balts do.'"  The dog stuck his tongue out at the ram, who still appeared slightly miffed.  "And in Ti'baltr, if it's fun, you do it."

   The ram couldn't dispute that.  People in the tropical nation seemed to enjoy their lives a lot more than those in the Union had.  "If it's fun, huh?"  And with that, Hyden lobbed a magically generated snowball at the dog's head.  The snow melted rapidly in the tropical heat; leaving the dog sputtering and wet while the ram went into a full run down the road.

   "Ack, hey!  You get back here and tell me what that was!  No fair!"  The chase was on.


   Domino looked down at the pair of young Demons, covered in dirt and mud where water had gotten involved.  "Evgenija's never going to let either of you into the house, you know," he told them, arching a brow while putting his hands on his hips.  "Especially given how your friend wears his shirt."  Standing on the porch while the two teens were in the yard gave the ferret a slight height advantage over them.

   "Um, yeah.  I taught Tyrone how to do a snowball spell on the way here, and it got kind of out of hand," the ram said, patting some road dirt out of his shirt.  Domino, gradually getting back into the fop persona had divided his rings between his two hands, put a bit of sandalwood oil in his fur, pants and shirt of different shades of blue silk, along with a white apron.

   "Ah, Tyrone is it?  Nice to meet you, I'm Domino, Hyden's parran," the dog and ferret shook hands, with the dog not even seeming to care about his dust.

   "Tyrone Backbreaker, sir."  The dog said.  A good, Ti'baltic accent he had, hopefully the association would help erode Hyden's Ister accent.  Just so jarring to hear when the ferret was getting used to home again.

   "Well, Evgenija's still with her tutor at the moment," Domino considered ways to sneak them in.  "And given this is the first time your friend's come over, might as well make a good first impression.  Hmm."

   "So this Evy girl's a prude or something?"  The dog looked from Domino to Hyden, the former nodding affirmatively, while the latter looking scandalized at the thought.  "What?  She sounds like a prude."

   "Prude is a word that describes Evgenija." Domino's tone was neutral, ignoring the bit of mirth he felt at imagining her reaction to the brazen young man calling her such.  "Hyden, you and your friend go explore until dinner, alright?  Rinse your clothes in the pond when you're coming back."

   "Mr. Demo seemed scared of something in the pond, though," Hyden said, arching a brow.  "Should we go by there if there's something inside?"

   "Hmm, you're right.  Killing a snapping turtle or a crocodile that somehow got into the water several miles away from the lake is far too much for two young Demons who have enhanced strength and diamond hard skin- oh wait."  The ferret stuck his tongue out at the boys.  "If it bites you, hit it hard, if it bites again, hit it until it learns better.  Have fun."

   The two Demons trotted off into the forest after Domino took their bookbags in with him to make dinner.  Evgenija was still in the living room with her tutor, learning some basic things such as the mindshield spell, how to hide her headwings, and how to direct her tentacles.  The Une'jysune incubus was seemingly avoiding bringing up the Academy, which was great.

   The less Domino had to worry about it, the better.

   Tending to the food for the evening meal; Domino wandered in his thoughts.  All through the day, he'd been thinking about the situation he and his new household found itself in.  Marlyn's offer, still fresh and still sore from outrage haunted him.  Almost as surely as Urd's ghost haunted him in the corner of his vision.

   But to become an Adventurer would require months of training, Domino's combat ability was lax even when the Harridan had been in one piece.  As the captain, it was expected of him to be a tactician, not an active combatant.  And then even limiting himself to the Big Island, he'd possibly be gone for weeks on end.  Hyden was only going to be a kid for a short time, and if what half of Isarra had reported was accurate, he needed every second to be mentally healthy.

   But Adventuring would bring in money, direly needed even in Ti'baltr, where money was not the end goal of all things.  Doubly so if he and Evgenija pooled their resources, but that was unlikely.  The girl was likely going to put her money into a savings account, add to it over the eighteen months where she was shackled to Domino, go to the Academy for a century or two, and return without any need to work from the accrued interest.

   Perhaps if he took his  sort-of-maybe-sometimes relationship with Swoon more seriously, she'd move into the house, and help with Hyden while Domino and Evgenija were away?  The cat Angel wanted children eventually, perhaps she could be the loving mother Domino couldn't be for the boy.

   The ferret never noticed when the Une'jysune incubus left, or Evgenija came into the kitchen to help prepare food until someone knocked on the sliding door.  Domino hopped off his stool and went to answer, finding a hulking Mythos standing irate on the other side.  Covered in scales, with obvious gills at the neckline, fins protruding from his elbows and head in mimicry of hair, shiny black eyes with a small mouth on the head, and a larger one on the chest.  It was covered in bruises and scratches.

   "Can I help you... sir?"  The ferret asked, polite but a bit worried.

   "Do these," it said in a warbled voice of annoyance from the chest mouth, "belong to you?"  It held up it's long arms to reveal Hyden and Tryrone held by their scruffs in webbed fingers, dressed in their underpants with their clothes in their arms.

   "I take it you're the one in the pond, eh?"  The Mythos nodded, and dropped them unceremoniously on the wood porch.  "I can't apologize enough for this, sir.  I'd be glad to cover any damages they caused."  The mythos looked, Domino assumed, like it wanted to launch into a tirade, but a shadow passed over him.  A figure with feathered wings spread wide, from Domino's perspective.  The Mythos froze for a moment, then grumbled.

   "Just... don't let them wander off again.  Next time I may not be so nice."  That said, it started to waddle away into the forest again.  The two Demon boys came inside, Tyrone recovering quickly from the event, and obviously having no problems being 'indecent' in front of a woman, while Hyden was desperately trying to hide behind his own clothes.

   "So.  I think you boys should go get dressed.  Tyrone, you staying for dinner?"  The dog shook his head no.

   "Nah, it was fun exploring this part of the woods with Hyden, even if he's a bit of a scaredy cat, but I gotta head home.  Was nice meeting you guys!"  Without so much as stopping to get dressed, the dog Demon trotted off to grab his bookbag, and then ran out of the house again.  The three remaining stood awkwardly for a moment before the ram broke the silence.

   "Are you mad?"  He asked, as if he already knew the answer.

   "Did you have fun?"  Domino returned.

   "Um.  Yes?"

   "Then no, I'm not."  The Demon boy looked genuinely surprised.  "I'm the one who told you to go ahead and go to that pond, it's my fault.  Now go get dressed for dinner before Evgenija realizes you don't have trousers on."  Domino smiled as both the Demon and the Cubi remembered that detail, the latter shrieking about indecency, while the former bolted.  "Back to mashing potatoes for me."


Yaaay, Hyden's making friends.  And enemies.

The next chapter is likely to take place after a timeskip of three years.  See where these wackos get to.

[Merlin]

Yessss, yesssss! More, more!!

[ZacAttac21]

Replies help me know what you like and what you don't like.  Just sayin'.

So far, I haven't found anything I don't like.

Except your avatar. Seriously, stop staring at meeeee!

[Tapewolf]

A three-year jump is a bit unexpected - I thought there was more that needed tying up first, but yes, it'll be interesting to see where things have gone by that point.