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I slipped up: One stupid, funny moment from that frustratingly adorable little Dragon living with us was enough to make my tongue slip.
I called him Pops. I've made it a point to never call him that on purpose, or at the very least, to do it as little as possible. Since there have been times when he's acted more like father to me than whoever it was my real parents were...
I didn't remember them anymore: They died when I was three or something, so all I had before Pops was the dark alleys and horrors of the streets. Living in abandoned buildings, moving every few weeks as to not get caught by someone or something bad, going to the forest on occasion to grow stronger and get the occasional fresh meal, and making sure to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible...I will never understand why that one punk wanted my tail so badly--he got what was coming to him though, so it no longer mattered to me.
Who would've thought an Oni above level 200 would care about a little Shadow-Stalker Felid like me? I didn't even look like most of the other Hybrid-Kin in the city?! With digitigrade legs, more fur on the arms and body than others, and longer canines than any other Feline-Kin...even longer than some of the Fox-Kin.
The trip to the guild was actually pretty quiet and uneventful...thankfully. It honestly made me wish that Sc'the had actually followed along just so that something eventful would happen, but he wouldn't get off the grounds easily; Pops wouldn't let him, I'm sure of that. The entrances changed every few weeks, but there was always a noticeable series of patterns put out around the city. Looking for the signs was the easy part by now: One of the street signs pointing South instead of North, a Cat with a blue-tipped ear drawn on the side of a side-alley wall, advertisement flags with patterned rips in them, and a skew of other things...
And just my luck, it seemed this week's entrance was in the outskirts at one of the second district's outer Commerce Areas. Knowing where it was was the hard part of being a 'Shadow Blade' Guild Member, but I was getting better at it. The shop on the edge of the commerce area was displaying different flags of various shapes, and one of them--one of the smallest--was the flag of a silver ladle.
Why would a meat cutter be selling ladles? Simple. They weren't.
I confidently strolled over to it and ordered a pair of skewers with hot Feisty Reer meat on them, and as the vendor looked over asking for payment I put the full amount--twelve copper--and my Guild Coin on the counter. They wrapped up the skewers and set them on the counter, but just as they aimed to take the coins a familiar hand swiped them from the counter. I looked over hastily, thinking someone was stealing them and my guild coin, but a familiar foxy seductress stood there instead; looking at coins, and me with an amused playfulness.
She then dropped the coins on the counter and walked off: I quickly grabbed my skewers and followed after her noticing that my Guild Coin was missing. "Hey...Freija, give it back." I whisper- yelled at her, trying not to attract too much attention. She just grinned and looked at me with the silver-black coin between her teeth. Opening and closing her mouth a split second to let the coin fall in, humming, "I don't know what you're talking about kitty," as she continued to walk on.
I increased my pace and pointed a claw at her chest, not amused, "Give it. I am not in the mood to deal with your playful Fox-shit right now." I growled a little letting my claws glow up a little with (Light Aura).
She sighed and her left hand flicked the coin over, how she got it there after being in her mouth I still didn't know, "You're never in the mood to play a little...Can't a lady get have a little fun with their cute kitty friend every once in a while?" She leant in purring as I put my Coin in my Storage Ring quickly. "You never have any fun. I want you to relax a little, have a little fun kitty! Life isn't all about survival you know."
I just turned away and tried my best to not show any further agitation. She didn't deserve my frustration due to my slip-up at home earlier. She was one of the few people that didn't care what I was, but rather who I was here...
"I'm sorry. I just slipped up at home earlier..." I murmured, and then I realized what happened earlier and looked at my Skewers annoyed. A hand ruffled my head, touching my sensitive ears purposefully.
"Would you stop worrying about calling the Master your father, it's been a decade now and you've never looked happier and healthier since...past events." I ducked away from her hand holding it at bay above me and stepping to the side, a bit father from her now. I hadn't even realized but my ears had started drooping again.
Damn appendages showing my emotions so clearly...
"Kitty stop that." Foxy cheered, clearly trying to snap me out of my thoughts, "You need to stop thinking once in a while and just enjoy what's in front of you." She took one of the Skewers from me and held it up to my face expectantly. The wafting scent of the meat made my mouth water and I knew what she wanted but I didn't entertain her...this time. This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
I took the Skewer from her grasp, knowing that she could easily have kept possession of it, and skipped ahead of her for a moment to take a bite, on my own. They were just like last time: pure heaven. The spices mixed with the natural spiciness of the meat that it just made me want to melt into a puddle then and there; the aftertaste opened my senses more too, leaving a pleasurable tingle in my mouth that nothing could ever hope to match in life.
Foxy chuckled, shaking her head a bit as she caught back up with me, "I still don't understand how something so bland could--" I instinctively turned to her hissing and she put up both hands in surrender. "I'm just saying something from the Inner City would be so much better than a half-wit stand in the outskirts of the middle district."
I turned away from her coldly, gripping my Skewers possessively, "Nothing is better than these and nothing you say or do will ever change my mind on that." I heard the click of her tongue from slightly behind me once more but something caught my attention from earlier. "Was I at the wrong spot again?"
A chuckle answered my question and I dodged another petting attempt, "Yes kitty. You probably mistook the third signal for 'meat' when it actually meant 'mead'. It's not entirely your fault with that one though, I've been submitting requests for the system to change how they they structure some of the words, but the stubborn old bastards aren't budging."
"How did you know I would screw it up today of all days?" I asked and she smirked.
"A woman's intuition..." That earned her a punch in the shoulder and she broke out in full blown laughter.
"It was not," I scowled.
She wiped a few 'tears' from her eyes and grinned slyly, "No. I stalked you since you entered the Commerce Area, waiting to step in when you ultimately screwed up again." I noticed that we were coming up on a pub of sorts buried into a side alley a ways from the center, where everything else was here, and sighed. I was way off this time...
"Yes, kitty, you were." Foxy mused, seemingly reading my thoughts again...I firmly held my ears up at attention, scowling.
Damn ears.
"You're so adorable," Freija teased, stepping ahead of me to open the doors to the small establishment. As soon as she entered the place turned deathly silent and I couldn't help but delay my entrance inside, but she reached out and grabbed an arm to drag me in with her. "What's so interesting about us?! Get on with drowning your sorrows and complaining about your miserable lives!"
I froze, tense and waiting for something to erupt and a fight to break out, but the entire place just erupted with laughter. A few of the patrons even raised a mug to her before downing it and themselves. I looked over to see Foxy looking at me with that amused mischievous grin of hers, and I wrenched my arm from her grip.
"Awww, come on." She whined, "Your fur is so soft. I just want to hug and smother you with all the love I could ever give, but you won't let me..."
"It's your fault you're always causing me more problems than I cause myself." I hummed on my way to the bar and ordering a glass of warm honey-milk, "You are never getting me in a room alone..."
"Oh yeah?" She sat at my side teasing, "What about that favor you owe me for getting you out of your mess earlier?" I looked away, ashamed. I'd already forgotten about that by now: with everything going on recently, the favor I called in for her help had completely escaped my mind.
"You forgot about it?" She gasped, "Am I that bad of a friend that you'd just forgot about my help not a night before?!" She turned away, holding her face in her hands, letting out pitiful whimpers and I could see streams of light falling from her face. Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
"It's not like that...so much has happened...I'm sorry." I looked down at the glass as she turned back to look at me slightly. "I'll make it two days..."
"Really?!" Freija's mood did an entire one-eighty. She spun me around, gripping my shoulders a bit too hard, causing me to wince in slight pain and un-comfort, "You promise?"
"I promise." She beamed, her somber mood completely forgotten about and I mentally smacked myself: stop falling for the Foxy's stupid schemes, dammit.
"Great! I'm going to have so much fun these next few days!" She squirmed in her seat playing with her Magic to display a few ideas, "You're going to be at my mercy for the next two days so..."
"After tomorrow. I have someone I need to help today, so you'll have to wait a day...Sorry?" I interrupted, but that didn't faze her in the slightest.
"...You're going to look so adorable, so stunning that no one'll ever be able to forget about you for the next few decades!" She displayed a few costumes and dresses and I internally cringed. "Oh, maybe I should bring Wreign in on this too! Moons knows he wants to get back at you for embarrassing him last time..."
"Please don't--" She just grinned at me without another word. A dangerous passing through her gaze and I suddenly had need to run as far away from her as I could. I needed something to get her crazy mood off of me, "So why is it here?"
That seemed to snap her out of her maliciousness and she tilted her head confused, "Huh?"
I sighed and pulled out my coin setting it on my lap for only her to see, "You know, why did everything lead here and not the other place?"
"Oh right, that. I forgot about that..." She then tapped the desk three times and another two in a staggered manner and the barkeep huffed at the both of us before passing us a beaten up slip of paper with two words:
In Back
Really?! It was that simple this time?
There was no special object we had to hand over, no special item we had to order...just a series of tapping?! I looked at Foxy for an explanation and she just shrugged getting up, "Yeah, I don't know why that's it this time either. But it is what it is and I don't care why." I just looked at her exasperated and downed the rest of my milk, leaving a Silver on the counter as an extra tip.
Why was the Guild so strange about everything?
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