A Day off Part Two
Chapter 15: A Day off Part Two:
Author's note: I thought I should add more personality to my characters so I have their favorite songs.
Lacyus: ABORT//CLEAR by TM Revolution (Japanese. Translation at http://www.takanori-nishikawa.com/turbo_lyrics_abortclear.shtml)
Sunset: Link by L'Arc~En~Ciel (Japanese, http://www.animelyrics.com/jpop/larcenciel/larclink.htm )
Ennica: Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne
Mira: The Joker and The Thief by Wolf Mother
***
(Ennica)
After Sunset and I had gotten dressed, we headed down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Rykuu was standing in front of the stove with a kettle on the burner.
"What's going on Rykuu?" Sunset asked.
"Neph's sick. She just caught dragon's flu."
Sunset shook her head. "Nasty."
"I'm just making some tea for her. Do you mind bringing her some fireproof blankets?"
"Fireproof?" I cocked my head at the mention of such a stupid thing.
Sunset smiled. "You'll see soon enough. Let's go."
We headed upstairs to the linen closet. There, Sunset picked up several fireproof blankets. We then headed to Nephilla and Rykuu's room. Nephilla was sprawled out over the bed. Sunset knelt down where Nephilla could see her.
"Hey sis, how're you feeling?
Nephilla groaned. "Awful."
"Here. I brought some fireproof blankets."
Nephilla sat up and gave a confused frown. "That's nice of you but why Ah-Ahhhh-AHHHHH!" Nephilla was about to sneeze.
Sunset swore and threw the blankets over the bed. She then grabbed me and thrust me to the ground. When Nephilla sneezed, a column of flames leaped from her mouth. Instant, she clamped it shut with her hands.
"What was that?" Nephilla squeaked out.
"Your fire breath is over stimulated by the flu." Sunset explained.
Nephilla's hands gradually released her muzzle. "I can breathe fire?"
"All dragons can. We just don't use it that often."
Nephilla took a couple of experimental puffs. Licks of flames came out of her mouth. She blew some smoke out. Then she burped and a fireball spewed out of her snout. Instantly both Sunset and Nephilla were laughing. For quite a while, Sunset taught Neph how to control her breath.
"That's basically it. All you need to remember is to aim." Sunset finished up.
"Wow. I just can't believe that I can do that."
Rykuu entered carrying a steaming mug. "Here hon. Drink this."
Nephilla took the mug carefully and smiled. "Thanks." She kissed him on the cheek.
***
(Sunset)
Rykuu and Nephilla's relationship was a very unique one. It was almost like a human dating a dragon. Nephilla acted more like a human than a dragoness. Unfortunately, I could see that their love would eventually need more from Nephilla at one point. With Lacyus and I, I gave and received from him (though Lacyus didn't expect anything in return). With Nephilla and Rykuu, Nephilla definitely took more than she received. Much to Rykuu's dismay, she wasn't very sexually active. They only mated when she was in heat which was once every two months. Lacyus and I mated at least twice a week. We were also sure of our feelings for each other. Nephilla on the other hand was nervous. She seemed to like Lacyus more than she did Rykuu. They still slept together and went on dates, but sooner or later, one of them would run out of patience. But for the moment, they were happy.
"I'll leave you two lovebirds." I smiled and left with Ennica.
Ennica and I got a muffin each for breakfast and we headed off to the salon. All the time I could feel the gentle thrum and flow of Lacyus mind as he worked on his test. As I edged nearer, I could feel Lacyus gently reach out and touch my mind. It was his way of showing affection when he was distracted.
Ennica yawned. "So how did you two fall in love?"
"Well, no one's asked me that before..." I thought for a bit. "It's sort of a series events.
"You probably already know but Lacyus basically just plucked me out of the slums so to speak. When we were five, I kinda had a crush on him. He wasn't the strongest or best looking. He was just really nice and friendly. Living in his room only made it worse. However, he was already going out with another dragoness named Maylu. The two just seemed to hook up literally overnight. They became very close very quickly and soon Lacyus seemed to just start straying away from me. Maylu eventually became the center of his life. I started to try and force my way back into Lacyus' life but one night, I caught the two sleeping together. Nothing happened but I felt like a piece of trash. To see my own crush sleeping with some other girl than me. I just fell into a depressive slump. Then one day Lacyus figured out how I was feeling. Not with love and all, but how depressed I was. So eventually began splitting his time between me and Maylu. However, Maylu didn't take too well to it. She began freaking out and tried to push me out of the picture completely. Lacyus finally snapped and dumped her. So we went on as friends, with Lacyus not even having a clue about my crush. After we went flying one day, Mira convinced me to tell Lacyus I loved him, and he said he felt the same way. So we went out a couple of times and then, when Lacyus' dad wasn't home, we started sleeping together."
"Why when his dad wasn't home?" Ennica asked, puzzled.
"His dad seemed to hold something against me. Never really friends with him. He always seemed to get mad whenever Lacyus tried to show affection for me in public."
We got to the salon and checked in with the attendant. Both of us took a seat and we just chatted more about Ennica's crush. It turns out she was like me. She was too nervous to even let him see her. To most people in the Order, she was seen as a duty-obsessed pantheress that gave no second thought to her personal life. I told her that with a bit of a makeover and she would be absolutely stunning.
The door to the salon opened and a male fox kit scampered in. He looked almost to be about three years old.
"But mama! This is boring!"
Behind him came a very familiar vixen.
"I know Will, but you just have to sit through it. Don't forget we're going for ice cream later."
"Yay!"
The vixen knelt down to the kit's eye level. "There's some toys over there. How about you go play with them, eh?"
The kit yipped happily and scampered off. Then I realized who it was.
"Sarah!"
Sarah looked up and a complete look of shock dawned on her face. "Sunset? Oh my.." She laughed and walked over. "Aren't you a bit more er.. scaley normally?"
"Bad circumstances."
"Who's your friend?" Sarah asked.
"Me?" Ennica pointed to herself. "I'm Ennica Mykai."
Sarah looked like she was gonna faint. "Y-you mean from the Mykai family!?! Those millionaires!?!?"
Ennica frowned. "I was disowned at an early age and adopted by a dragoness."
Sarah sighed. "Good god. I thought you actually were one of them. How come you were disowned?"
"I was a shadow creature and my parents didn't like that."
Sarah looked fearfully at me. "I suppose it would be a good time to tell you something Sunset. You see, Lacyus is a-"
"Shadowdragon, I know. We already fought over it."
"Ah, I see."
"Oh, and before I forget, that's my son, William." She pointed proudly to the fox kit who was playing with blocks in the corner of the waiting room.
"Where's his father?" Ennica asked politely.
"We broke up." Sarah growled a bit. "Guy was an asshole. Said 'Sarah, you're pregnant. It's your choice. Me or your child.' I chose William and never regretted it."
William trundled over holding a marker. "Can you open this mama?"
"Sure honey." Sarah took the marker and easily popped the top off and handed it back to Will.
William was in shock. "You're so strong mama!" He turned and started to run back to the corner.
"Ah-ah-ah!" Sarah wiggled a finger at him. "What do you say young man?"
Will stopped and turned around. "Ummmmm...Ummmmmm...Ummmmm..." He searched for the proper word. "Thank you mama!"
Sarah smiled. "Good boy. Now go and doodle."
An attendant walked up. "Is there an Ennica here?"
"Right here." Ennica raised her hand.
"Please follow me."
Ennica got up and followed the attendant. While I walked, I noticed how fluid she was in her stride. It was common for felines to walk like that, male or female
On our link, Lacyus mind gently quieted and slowed to a normal pace, indicating he had finished his test. He reached out and gently took hold of my mind.
*How about we grab lunch together love?* He asked.
*Sounds good. Let's talk in the Sanctuary.*
The Sanctuary was our special place within our minds. Whenever we felt like it, we could leave our bodies behind and put our minds in it. We actually saw it. It was a stone arch bridge over a pond. Whenever we went there, we'd start off on opposite sides of the bridge. Each side mimicked our personality and thoughts. On my side, there was a forest of cherry blossom trees. On Lacyus' side, it was a desert with a single oasis with lush vegetation, trees and flowers. I ran over the bridge looking for Lacyus. He was walking over it, scanning for me. As soon as I saw him, I ran up to him and hugged him tightly.
"I missed you Lacyus." I murmured happily, nuzzling him.
"I was only gone for a couple of hours." He said, licking me playfully on the tip of my snout.
Obviously, he didn't get the hint. "What are you going to do after lunch?"
"I'm probably gonna go to the Guild and check if Mira- What wrong Sunset? You're crying."
It was true. Tears were welling up in my eyes and beginning to roll down my cheeks. "I miss you."
"But I'm always there for you." He whispered reassuringly pulling me in closely. That did nothing to improve my emotional state.
"I know." I whimpered. "You're just spending less and less time with me."
"What do you mean?"
"I've come in numerous times to the guild to visit you during lunch and you've always left saying you'd come back and I talk to Mira an hour later and she said you went straight back to piloting that dumb armor. And then at home, you never apologize."
"Sunset, I'm sorr-"
I cut him off. I needed to get it all out. At this point I was on the verge of breaking down. Behind me, my cherry blossoms were rapidly wilting. "You never take me out to dinner. Or when I offer to take you somewhere, you always have plans with the guild or university. Even after you get back usually all we do is mate or I just sit back and watch you write some stupid, fucking paper!" I was almost screaming, anger beginning to seep into my mind. However my sorrow quickly overflowed and I just shoved Lacyus away and collapsed onto my knees sobbing loudly. Lacyus stumbled back and fell onto his tail. I just ignored him. "It hurts. It burns my heart. You're doing that."
Lacyus simply stared, trying to figure out something to do for me. As soon as he noticed I was starting to cry harder and harder he crawled up to me and hugged me tighly.
"I never want to hurt you Sunset. Physically or emotionally."
"It still hurts!"
"What can I do then? I will do anything to make you happy."
I looked up at his eyes. They were full of love and sincere worry for me. "Anything?"
He nodded. "I'll even leave every trace of being a bounty hunter behind for you."
I knew how much Lacyus liked being a bounty hunter, even if he was just a test pilot. "No. Don't do that. Just spend more time with me."
"I'm allotted three days a week of paid breaks from piloting. I haven't scheduled them yet. How does that sound? And please stop crying. It hurts me when I see you cry." He took his hand and gently wiped the tears out from under my eyes.
"Can I choose the days?"
"Of course, my love."
My heart skipped a beat when I hear him say that. That was my favorite thing for him to call me. Every time he called me that, I could tell he meant it. "Okay. How about Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday? And today."
He nodded and smiled and I hugged him tightly. He sighed. "Now for the next battle."
"What Lacyus?"
"Choosing lunch."
I groaned and flopped over onto my side. Lacyus laughed. We never did agree on lunch on a regular basis, but we never held it against each other. I looked at my grove of cherry blossoms. They had flourished again, but with larger blossoms than before.
"They're beautiful." Lacyus commented, laying down beside me. "Is that what your mind is like usually?"
I didn't answer. I just pulled him in closely and nuzzled him. Then I got an idea. "How about you teach me how to fish?"
"Really?" Lacyus looked a bit surprised. "Fish?"
"Yeah. We can spend time together then. On the beach."
"Well.... I do have some crab traps left. How does that sound?"
"Wonderful." Suddenly I heard a whisper.
"....Sunset next please...."
"See you later hon." I gave Lacyus one final lick before I left the sanctuary.
As I snapped back into my body I found that I had transformed back into a dragoness. The attendant gave me a funny look.
"I could have sworn you were an Arctic fox. Maybe I need new glasses." She sighed and shook her head. "Right this way please."
She led me to a nail specialist station. I sat down had my claws sharpened. After having that done, I just had some dead scales plucked out of my face and I was done. Ennica was sitting and waiting for me. With her new haircut, she looked amazing. Her hair was down to her shoulders and neatly straightened. Her natural highlights finally came out. Streaks of almost black hair ran through her already impressive red hair.
"Ready to go?" I asked, smiling.
"Yeah. That was boring." She took a glance at herself in the mirror. "Although I do look a lot better."
"Good enough to attract a mate." I gave her a playful nudge.
***
(Ennica)
"So ummmm, how do I get a mate?" I asked nervously as we exited the salon.
Sunset scratched her head. "Ummmm.... to tell the truth, I don't really know. I just fell in love with Lacyus and he took me."
"You don't know in other-eep!" I scrambled behind Sunset using her huge wings as cover for me to hide behind. "It's Syar!"
Sunset got a mischevious glint in her eye. "Okay. Good luck and good bye."
"What!?! What are you doing!?!"
"Leaving you. I'm going fishing with Lacyus and it seems Syar's taken interest in you."
She was right. Syar was walking straight towards with a smile on his face. Sunset was already gone and I was just left to fend for myself. He walked up to me and all I could do was just stare at him. Syar was a panther like me. He stood a bit taller and had a huge amount of muscles on him which was highly unusual for panthers, since we relied on stealth to make our kills.
"Hey cutie." He said to me. "Haven't noticed you before."
"Well-I-er-err-eummm-er"
"What?" He gave a heart stopping smile. "Can't speak English?"
"Y-yes I can!" I blurted out.
"Oh so you can cutie." I blushed and smiled meekly. "How about you be my mate?"
It took every ounce of willpower I had at that time to keep from screaming. "Yes!"
"Syar! Eh, Syar! Nusi ma ve keessi jsu!" A ruby red dragon was leaning over the roof of the salon. Roughly translated from Aryian, the dragon basically said "Pass me the shingles please!"
"Nyu sie!(One second!)" Syar smiled. "Sorry, gotta go cutie."
He walked off to a stack of shingles. Suddenly I felt the familiar shiver of another shadow creature nearby. In the alleyway next to the salon, some of the shadow liquefied and reformed into a panther. He was nowhere near as muscular as Syar but he still looked handsome. His hair was sort of a earthen/terracotta red, darker than my fire red.
"Falling for him too, eh?" His voice was smooth as glass, but I could tell that he could quickly turn it into a lethal verbal blade at will.
"Jealous?" I snorted angrily.
"Not in the least... well yes a bit, you look very beautiful, but as soon as he finds out who you are, he's gonna dump you."
"What!?! What do you mean?"
He dissolved back into shadows as Syar returned.
"So, cutie, I never got your name."
"I-i-it's Ennica Mykai."
Syar stared in disbelief. "That Ennica? The fanatical soldier Ennica from the Order of the Realms?"
"Is there a problem?"
Syar shook his head and turned around. "Sorry, but I don't date girl soldiers. Especially not fanatics."
My heart plummeted. "What?" I grabbed his shoulder and suddenly he got angry.
"Let go of me you weirdo bitch!"
He stormed off angrily and my stomach twisted into a knot. I shuffled off and just sat down against the wall of the salon. The panther from before reappeared and set of comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Hey. Are you okay?" He murmured to me.
I sighed sadly. "Kinda. Should have listened to you."
"Syar's very picky. Either that or it's hump 'n dump for him. Shallow as hell."
I laughed feeling a bit better knowing that some stranger cared about me. "Figured that out." I looked up and gasped at who I saw. "ECHELON!"
Echelon was the closest I had ever gotten to having a friend. Him and I used to be in the same training cadre in the Order. He was always a hairpin trigger with the noblest intentions. He never liked see bullying or abuse and he often stood up for me whenever anybody teased me for being an orphan. And it was there that I realized how much he had grown. He was taller but still had his semi long hair with the little tuft over his left eye. He always claimed it was for shooting rifles better. The rest of his hair was done up in his Clan's traditional braid. When my mom had disappeared, I broke all contact with him and shredded all of his notes that he left me to remind me to do stuff. One of them, though, I thought it was actually a love letter.
I got up and hugged him. "It's so good to see you!"
"You too Ennica."
Without knowing it, I let my head rest on his shoulder. It felt like he was mending the little bit of hurt that Syar had created.
"Umm.. Can you let go please Ennica?"
I immediately release him, blushing madly.
"Sorry."
He smiled. "I would have never expected you to grow up looking a good as you do now."
I blushed even more and started to feel even more nervous than I was with Syar. " Yeah, you too."
"You feel better now?"
"A lot. Thanks."
He turned and started walking. "Well, see ya."
I frowned. "That's it?"
"Pretty much."
I started walking with him. "You're not going to ask me out?
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"I just don't see it as fair tactic to ask girls out when they're hurting emotionally. They may be looking for a shoulder to cry on and may make a mistake if they choose me."
I stepped in front of him. "You wrote me a love letter, didn't you?"
He blushed madly. "You received it?"
"Of course."
He stepped around me. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking straight that day."
I kept up with him. "So what, that's it? You have feelings for me and you'll just let them sit without even seeing how I feel?"
He was getting nervous. "T-they're gone now."
"Yeah right!" I cut him off again. "You wouldn't have helped me back there if you didn't care. And well... I did feel a bit of something too."
"You did?"
I nodded. "I don't know if it's love, but it felt good when you hugged me..."
"So, you'll be my mate?"
I nodded. "I want to have at least someone who I know loves me."
"Well, err , okay."
I smiled and hugged him. While we held each other, I could feel him stroking my back affectionately. I turned my head we shared our first kiss as lovers.
As we slowly broke it, I smiled and laughed softly. "I can't believe it."
"Neither can I..." He sighed. "Too bad it didn't happen sooner."
"Why?"
"Well, today I have to leave at 6:00 to go to Degreda for my older brother's wedding. It's three hours on train and by invitation only. If it was three weeks earlier, you could have come along."
"Oh well." I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. "At least we have a couple of hours together."
"So yeah. What are we going to do?"
"The beach. My friends are going there." Then suddenly it hit me. "Oh crap. I don't have any bathing suit that fit anymore."
Echelon smiled mischeveously. "I think I can help you choose some out."
I laughed at his comment. "You pervert!" I nudged him playfully. "Nothing too revealing though."
***
(Lacyus)
After Sunset's little breakdown, I felt like a jerk. To think that I did that to her in the last two weeks was inconceivable to my mind, but I had done it. I had changed into swim trunks at Mira's and gathered my three small crab traps, as well as bait, extra rope, my surfboard and a little present for Sunset (though it was longer than I was tall). As planned, Sunset was waiting for me at the corner of the street wearing her orange bikini already. I nearly ran up to her.
"I'm sorry!"
She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "It's okay, I probably went overboard a bit. Can I take some stuff?"
"Sure." I handed her a pair of crab traps and the bait. She slug them over her back and hung the crab traps over her wings.
"Ahh!" She gasped a little. "That reminds me! How do you fly with your spine wings?"
When I became a Helldragon, the membranes on my wings wilted and fell off, leaving just the bony ridges and the muscles on them. However, the scales that covered them were special.
"The scales catch the ambient electromagnetic energy in the air and convert it into raw kinetic energy. That energy is applied to my entire body and I can change it's direction at will."
"Oh wow." Sunset looked a little confused. "I get it...at least...most....."
"How about we fly there so you can see how they work."
I spread my wings and felt electricity coursing throughout my body as my wings 'charged up.' I felt the familiar sense of weightlessness as my feet left the ground. Sunset stared in astonishment.
"Lacyus! You're floating!"
"I know."
She quickly unhooked the crab traps from her wings and gathered them in her arms. "Doesn't mean you'll be any faster." She spread her wings, readying herself for flight.
"Fine." I said, smiling. "It's a race."