Despite everything that's happened today, I'm glad we've found time to relax like this, just sitting on a bench in comfortable silence, not thinking about what we have to do later. Even if I have to make a bit of an effort to ignore the huge bonfire that is not far away.
But... Now that I'm really calming down, the weight of events is starting to sink in. I spilled a lot of blood today, I don't really care, I saw the Xenos devour more than one person. My new magic is cool, if a little strange, I'm still excited about it, it's good, I'm not complaining.
But what weighs on me the most is that I had to heal so many people, sure, it's great that I did it, and it was gratifying to see wounds heal in seconds that would normally take months or years to heal. But I hated having to do it, I don't even want to think too vividly about what I saw today, so I'll sum it up by saying that I saw too much of a lot of things that are normally under the skin. I hate blood... and my new instincts and need to help forced me to see a lot of it today.
And most disturbing, my new instincts. The ones to heal are still fine, that can't be bad, but suddenly knowing the best ways to take the life of something is terrifying. I saw a Xeno approaching me and my mind said things like, just kill it and it will go away forever, use one of a thousand possible ways to separate its head from its body, or, feel that slimy thing on the side of its chest? Destroy it and the job is done, or impale it so that even if it doesn't die it's no threat, or cut off its legs and it'll stop running…
If they really are experiences from another life, what kind of wild life did I have? Somehow, something inside me tells me that I should be so grateful that I can't remember.
"You need to take a break." Nicole says suddenly.
"Hm?", I look at her, a break, aren't we resting now?
As if reading my mind, she replies, "I mean a break from everything, from academics, from your hobbies, from me, from people”
"I don't want to..." I'm surprised that my voice suddenly sounds so tired. Is it because I've calmed down? Even though it's been over an hour since I stopped doing anything important, my mind was very alert, but I guess the crisis has passed.
"Why?" She turns to look at me.
"I get depressed when I have nothing to do"
"... I knew that, but I think you'll be okay." She gives me a little smile.
I raise an eyebrow at her assurance. "How can you be so sure?”
"We are similar, I have noticed that some problems become much smaller when you get tired of thinking about them so much, I think you are at that point now"
I think about her words for a moment before I answer her, yes, I am tired of being depressed. "Do I look that tired?”
"Right now? You look like a mess. You usually look good, but you would look better if you smiled more, you know what I mean?"
"And you think that by making me depressed I'll smile more?”
"No, I think if you take a break, you'll see that it's not as easy to get depressed as it used to be," she corrects me.
Should I listen to her? Mmm... I really don't want to, but... if I keep doing the same things, it won't change anything. Screw it, I'll try.
"Well, I will, anyway, I doubt there will be classes for a while." I say as I look in the direction of the Academy, there are still several layers of buildings so I can't see the details, but I'm sure it had more towers yesterday.
"We have to close a wound like this before we can move on, even if the academy had been intact, a lot of people have died, the city won't be the same for a while"
"..."
"..." Is still a comfortable silence, but it feels more charged than before.
"Nicole, my dearest person... "
"What?"
"I really want to go home and sleep..." I think I'm being too optimistic when I assume that I'll be able to sleep after seeing so much blood, but if I'm going to burst into tears or whatever, I'd rather do it in my bed and not here.
"Well… Okay, I have to go to the castle now, I suppose there will be a lot to do..." Her face tells me that she really wants to come with me, heh, she's rarely so expressive.
"Thank you! I'll be off then." I say, standing up and stretching when I feel my tail being grabbed. I turn and see my tail in her face, ah.
"Sorry"
"Do you know how to get back?"
I try to sniff around a bit... ‘Ugh, bad idea. All right, one more try, do your best to ignore ninety nine percent of the smells around here...’ There it is, our home, eh, it's not that far, even though I've been running for hours, too many detours, I guess.
"Hehe." Huh? I look at my cousin and she's looking at me with an even more relaxed face than usual and a small smile on her face as she rests her head on her hands and her elbows on her knees.
"What?" I mimic her earlier response.
"You look cute sniffing the air like that~"
"... Bye." I ignore the cheerful wagging of her tail and leave.
Half an hour of walking later, I'm back at home... Before I enter, Galito greets me.
"So, you're okay, I'm glad." I say, not even bothered that he came back to peck at my legs.
I just put him back in his garden and go into the house...
I'm in no mood to think too much, so I grab something nice, a pair of comfortable grey cotton panties with a few ruffles and a lightly padded black bra.
'Why do I bother describing my underwear? I guess it's my hobby.'
I go back downstairs to get some water, and while I'm here I take a shower in the bathroom. I won't worry about it. I'll leave my laundry here till tomorrow.
After a shower in the first floor, a much longer one this time, I don't bother to put on anything but my underwear and lay down on the couch in the living room, too lazy to go upstairs again...
…
I open my eyes, huh, that was a good nap, I'm surprised I didn't have any nightmares, oh well. I look over to the window, it's dark, did I sleep the rest of the day? It's unusual for me to have such a comfortable nap, like the simpler old days...
...
Unfortunately, the next time I open my eyes it's because I'm woken up by the cold, damn it, I touch my stomach, it's freezing, 'don't sleep almost naked in the middle of the living room, you idiot.' With this horrible feeling of being tired but still having to get up early, I go to my room, grab a blanket and throw myself on my bed.
"Haa~," at least I can go back to sleep again without having to worry about anything. After tucking myself in, I hug my tail and close my eyes again...
I'm woken up by Galito, who starts to sing at the top of his tiny lungs. I try to go back to sleep, but... I'm starving. What time did I go to sleep yesterday? Three o'clock in the afternoon?
I get cleaned up and go to Nicole's room, she hasn't arrived yet? My condolences. I go down to the kitchen, still in my underwear, and put on an apron. Let's see... In the refrigerator there is turkey, chicken and beef meat, bacon, various cheeses, milk, vegetables... In the drawers there is bread, rice, lots of jams, spices, oils, pasta, almonds, macadamia nuts, cashews nuts, black nuts, walnuts... and several jars of unlabeled nuts... Nicole just loves nuts.
Well. Lots of good ingredients, but... meh, I'm still a little lazy and a lot hungry, some bacon, eggs and toasted nuts bread will do.
"The most important meal, of the day~ Serving it up, Gary's way~ ... Who the hell is Gary?” I quickly finish cooking, pour myself some orange juice and sit down at the table, classic breakfast ready! Then I hear some keys being pushed into the door.
I sniff a little, Nicole has arrived! She must have been busy the whole night, so I'm going to prepare something nice for her. I put my plate aside, to the protest of my stomach, and decide to indulge her a little... I know, I take five chicken breasts, not too thick, and put them on a rectangular baking casserole, over some grape oil, some cream cheese, salt, black pepper and bacon bits on top, surround with cheddar cheese and a sprinkle of parsley.
"Good night..." Nicole mumbles as she walks into the living room next to the kitchen.
"Before you go to sleep, come and eat!" I put the lid on the casserole and put it in the oven, which I had turned on before getting everything ready. I watch as Nicole shuffles into the kitchen. I go back to my own plate and finally start to fill my empty stomach, when I realize I didn't make the healthiest breakfast for Nicole...
I put my plate away again and cut up some carrots, tomatoes and zucchini and put them in the oven as well. When I turn around, I see that Nicole is eating my breakfast...
"Leave that, I'm hungry too, it'll be ready in 30, uh, no, 20 minutes." I stop her hands, at least I give her a slice of bread with nuts to appease her hunger. "Haven't you slept at all?”
"Mmm... just a few naps here and there", she says, nibbling at her bread.
"So... how bad was it?" I chatter between bites.
"Over five thousand dead and still counting, luckily it fell on the academy, so the resident staff attracted quite a bit of attention from the horde, we did well compared to the Carian kingdom." Five thousand dead for a city with a population of around ten million, huh, if we were to speak only in terms of numbers, we certainly did well, although she did not mention the number of injured.
"Oh, they fell there as well?" The Kingdom of Carian is a neighboring country to this one, the Kingdom of Ciren, further towards the center of the continent. They are very similar kingdoms and practically ruled by the same royal family.
"Yes... you know which is the kingdom of Carian, don't you?" She looks at me with accusing eyes.
"Y-Yeah, uh, I don't care much for nobles, but at least I remember the names of the most important countries, don't look at me like that"
"You didn't know the most important duke in the kingdom." Ugh.
"I know a bit of his history, but the names of people I don't care about don't stay in my memory for long... Wait, how did you know they attacked there too? Did they fall from the sky too, and where?" Assuming the meteors fell at the same time, it was about a day ago, if I remember correctly, it takes two to three days just to get to the border from here, by train.
"We have ways to communicate instantly over long distances... Is it ready yet?" She says looking at the oven. Mmm... It smells good, but it still needs a little bit more.
"Wait a few more minutes." We continue to chat while she waits for her food and I finish mine. Apparently the Xenos fell across several countries, especially the Carian Kingdom, meteorites fell in the middle of cities, well, normal cities, no academy with super strong magicians, nor several different orders of knights, nor large armies at their disposal... Ouch. Here it was contained relatively quickly, but it seems that Carian's army will be very busy traveling to the most affected places as soon as possible.
A few minutes later, I serve Nicole her meal and a glass of orange juice. I wash my dishes, looking at the adorable wagging of her tail from time to time, I'll never get tired of watching her tail, looks like she liked the food, I'm glad, I improvised a little.
"Thank you for the food~,” she says when she's finished, lying down on the table and looking like she's going to fall asleep at any moment.
"Please take a bath first, you stink a bit”
"Mh..." Was her not very coherent answer.
I put off washing her dishes for now to drag her down the hall to the bathroom, "I'll help you, so wait a little longer, you'll be able to sleep more comfortably if you clean up first"
"Mmm... Okay"
... You're not moving? Ugh, fine, I'll do it. I go to the front to unbutton her jacket and take it off, she just stands there, trying not to fall asleep. Now her shirt, unfortunately there are no buttons, "l-lift your hands", ah, I stuttered, although we've seen each other naked many times, I've never undressed her before.
I carefully pull her shirt over her head, doing my best to avoid the pulling force on my eyes. So, now her pink bra... H-her pants, yes, better that, or are they trousers? Eh, no matter, I need a little mental preparation. I undo the button on her trousers and pull the zipper down, giving me a glimpse of her purple lace panties.
Isn't it a bit early for trousers to have zips?- Hey! Silly thoughts, don't interrupt me now.
Her trousers are high waisted, so I check the bottom of her tail with my hands and... Yes, there's another button there, I prefer pants with room for the tail to those with buttons and a hole in the back, they're never the right size and I have to fix them, oh well, I unbutton and pull them down.
"Get out of there," I ask as her trousers slide down her legs all the way to the floor, I pick them up and look up... 'W-wow, you can see her, uh, black bush through the lace of her panties, that's hot.'
I try not to pay attention as I pull her panties down as well, repeating the same as before, and making triple the effort to ignore a certain amazing smell that suddenly assaults my nose.
Okay stop! I should stop for a moment and calm down... I take a deep breath, undressing someone is much more stimulating than I thought, luckily, I don't feel like jumping on her or anything, I'm sure I'll never feel anything but familial love for Nicole and... appreciation for her body. My excitement comes mainly from revealing more and more parts of her body that are usually hidden, without the other party objecting or anything like that.
I stand behind her to unhook her bra and pull it forward. Now that I've calmed down a bit, I have the luxury of appreciating a nice sway it causes. Well, I'm better now, for some reason I'm more excited to see a woman half naked than completely naked, maybe I have an underwear fetish? Mmm... no, I think it's more of a woman wearing underwear fetish, eh, wait, calling it a fetish might be a bit much... Anyway. I take off my own underwear, and we go into the shower.
I wash and rinse her hair, I repeat the same with her tail, although more gently, I put enough liquid soap on a sponge and wash her whole body, it looks like she will fall asleep any moment, so I better ask her to sit down, this bathroom has only one room for the shower and the tub, and the latter has a quite wide edge where she can sit, finally I wash her feet and lead her back to the water.
While I leave her to soak, I quickly wash my own body. Just a quick shower. Finally, I dry our bodies by creating a light tornado of wind and a little bit of fire magic, doing it this way leaves our fur very fluffy and tousled, but it's more important to get her to bed as soon as possible.
... I just realized I didn't bring any towels or a change of clothes, eh, I'll take my chances, there's only one window in the living room facing the street, with the curtains half open, w-well, it can't be helped, come on.
We crossed the hall to the living room and quickly, with words of encouragement from me, go upstairs, which of course had to be right in front of the window. Praying that no one would walk by and see our naked butts, I led Nicole to her bed, and as soon as she touched it, she started to snore lightly...
"You did your best." I stroked her head a little.
First of all, I go to my own room to get some panties to finally cover my butt and a bra, I liked what I wore, so I'll go for the same, but this time I'll combine top and bottom in red.
Now back to the other room... What is the most comfortable way for someone to sleep? I go through her drawers until I find one with her underwear, mmm... Some cotton panties will do, as for the bra... I take a look at her breasts... F-cup? yes, a little tight, but not too tight, and one that is elastic...
Oh? She has one of those pillow bras, but even though they're supposed to be comfortable, I don't like them, the weird thing in the middle of my chest keeps me from sleeping... maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it, but she doesn't seem to wear this one much either, so I'll play it safe. A sports bra is best.
Let's get her dressed without touching too much... Slowly, step by step... Huh? How is it easier to dress her when she's lying down than when she's standing up and cooperating? Okay, I just put this through her arms, head... lift her up a bit and... done, bra in place, her being upside down helps a bit, unexpectedly. Since when can I lift her so easily? Have I become stronger? Something to check later. Now the panties, even easier, I pull them up over her legs and lift her hips a bit.
Finally, I turn her over so that she lies on her side, should I take care of her skin too? Mmm... Better not, it might wake her up. A light blanket on top and ready, 'sweet dreams.'
'Haa... that was exhausting, in many ways... But I really liked the feeling of taking complete care of someone you love very much...' You know what? The day is still starting, I'm going to take that time off now. I go back to my room, I don't want to think about anything complicated, so I grab a simple black tank top to show a bit of cleavage, white shorts to show the shape of my bottom, and brown combat boots.
I look at myself in the mirror... 'Ah, right, I urgently need a hairbrush and another one for my tail, also, not my best thought out outfit, but whatever.’
When I am done, I go to the kitchen to get a big glass of water for when she wakes up, waking up thirsty or wanting to go to the bathroom ruins the mood early in the day, which is something to avoid if you can.
I leave the house after taking our clothes to the laundry room and doing the dishes, will there be any restaurants open? Maybe everything is closed with what happened... or not? I guess I'll just walk around looking for a good smell.