Chapter 33: Late Evening

Anton stretched his arms out over his head and grunted in relief as the joint in one of his elbows made a faint popping sound. Bringing his arms back down, he gave himself a final look over in the bathroom mirror before turning out the lights and leaving the room. Dressed only in a pair of comfortable athletic shorts, he was more than ready to embrace the late evening hour and call it a night. With this resolution having been firmly established in his mind, he made a beeline for his bed, but couldn’t help but to stop short as he entered the bedroom and caught sight of a merrily twirling female dark elf who appeared to be clad in nothing but a pair of panties and an oversized T-shirt.

With her back to Anton, Kianna had no idea she was being watched as she twisted her hips and shoulders in rhythm to a tune in her head and danced back and forth around the side of the large king-sized bed that sat in the center of the room. Hugging the oversized shirt to herself, and causing the hem to flutter about around her hips, the gleeful dark elf was inadvertently giving Anton brief, tantalizing glimpses of her round, panty-clad bottom as she bounced about in front of him.

Unable to help himself from appreciating the view, Anton crossed his arms, leaned his shoulder against the door-frame and settled in to quietly enjoy Kianna’s little dance show.

It wasn’t until she went to make a full twirl that Kianna became aware of Anton’s presence. Seeing him grinning smugly she quickly turned her back to him so as to hide the deep, embarrassed blush that was spreading across her face.

“Well now! What do we have here?” teased Anton “That’s an interesting looking shirt ... Is that yours?”

“ ... No.” mumbled Kianna as she tugged down on the hem of the shirt “ ... It’s, it’s something I found.”

“Oh? You just found it, huh? Well that’s a little funny. Because I think I have a shirt that looks just like that one...” continued Anton as he playfully tilted his head to the side “In fact. It’s actually one of my favorites too. And I’m sure hoping no sneaky little somebody is trying to run off with it. Because I’d be oh so upset to find out it got stolen away from me!”

Kianna stayed still for a moment before suddenly ducking her head and turning towards the archway that led to the closet.

“I didn’t know it was your favorite.” she mumbled as she kept her eyes on the floor and made to quickly move past Anton “I’ll put it back.”

“Whoa! Hold on a second there!” exclaimed Anton as he reached out and took hold of her arm before pulling her in close “I’m only playing with you Kianna. That’s not really my ... Wait? What’s wrong?”

Kianna laid her ears back submissively as she looked away from him in embarrassment.

“I wasn’t trying to steal it ... I swear!” she whimpered as her voice cracked a bit “I’m sorry, I should have asked you first. I’ll just put it-!”

Kianna was cut short as Anton wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to his chest.

“Hold on! Where is this coming from Kianna?” he asked around a half smile “I know you’re not trying to steal it. C’mon now, it’s not ... It’s okay...”

Kianna had begun to tremble in his arms as she quietly sobbed.

“I’m sorry! I know we don’t have this kind of relationship...” whispered the dark elf as she kept her face hidden from him “I just really wanted to try it though...”

“ ... What? What are you talking about, Kianna?” questioned Anton as he tried to look at her face “What do you mean by relationship? And what did you want to try?”

Kianna blinked up at him with misty eyes before looking away again.

“I wanted to just ... Like in movies, and TV shows. Where a girl will wear her guys shirts or other cloths. I’ve always thought that was really cool. And I’ve always wanted to try that ... But I never really had the chance...” explained Kianna “I’m really sorry! I should have asked you if-!”

Kianna was cut short as Anton hugged her back to his chest and held her tightly.

“Anything I have, Kianna. Whatever it is. You can wear it all, whenever you want. And for as long as you want to...” he whispered into her ear “You never have to ask, just enjoy it all...”

Kianna eyes went wide as she absorbed what he said. After a moment of hesitation she made a small sound and frantically wrapped her arms around him so as to return his embrace.

They stood together this way until Anton gently loosened his grip and with a whisper suggested they call it a night. Kianna agreed, but refused to release her hold on him, and so with a chuckle Anton scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. As they settled in, Kianna nuzzled her head in under Anton’s chin and quickly fell asleep in his arms. Listening to the gentle sounds of her breathing, Anton laid there on the verge of sleep for some time before a light impact against his chin jarred him back to full alertness. Realization quickly dawned on him and he couldn’t help but to chuckle quietly as the offending something again lightly slapped itself against his chin. Sighing into a thin smile he gave Kianna a gentle squeeze as he tried his best to ignore her sporadically twitching ear and drift off to sleep.

The next morning, Fiona yawned groggily as she made her way downstairs. Turning into the kitchen she stopped short and shook her head in annoyance as she took in her sister’s appearance.

Standing next to Anton at the stove, Kianna was wearing an overly large t-shirt that had been tied up above her waist to leave her mid-drift fully exposed. Slung around her hips were a pair of boxers, and over these were a comfortable pair of athletic shorts. These two garments were apparently much too big in size to actually fit correctly around her slender frame. So in order to keep them from slipping off, she had shortened their waistbands by gathering up a handful of their lengths and tying them into large knots that then stuck out from the side of her waist. Sitting loosely atop her head was a baseball cap, while on her feet were a pair of ridiculously large socks that bunched up and hung slack around her ankles.

Everything that Kianna was wearing was obviously meant to be worn by men and there was little doubt about whether or not it was all clothing that was owned by Anton. Although Fiona would have liked to believe that this was Anton’s sick way of making a claim on Kianna by forcing her to wear his clothes, she knew better than this, and correctly assumed that her idiot sister had made the stupid decision to dress herself this way on her own.

“Seriously, Kianna? Are you really going to start dressing like a hobo now...” stated Fiona by way of greeting.

“Huh? Oh, it’s you. Good morning.” said Kianna as she glanced back at her sister.

Taking a sip from his mug of coffee, Anton chuckled and gave Fiona a nod before he and Kianna both focused back on the skillet in front of them.

“This doesn’t look like bacon?” mumbled Kianna as she used a fork to lift a thin strip of meat out of an opened package “Are you sure this is right?”

“Yes, this is what bacon always looks like before you cook it.” laughed Anton as he watched her lay the strip down across the skillet and quickly follow it with another one.

When no more strips could fit in the skillet, he reached over and clicked on the burner.

“ ... So we really just let them lay there?” questioned Kianna as she stared down at the uncooked strips of bacon she had covered the skillet with “We don’t need to do anything else?”

“No, not yet.” said Anton as he leaned back against the counter-top “Once they start to cook we’ll flip them over. But it’ll be a minute before they’re ready for that.”

“ ... How will we know when they’re ready?” asked Kianna.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, we’ll know.” grinned Anton as he took another sip from his mug.

Making her way to the refrigerator, Fiona poured herself a glass of orange juice before taking a seat at the table and settling in to wait for breakfast.

Kianna’s ears were pointed straight upwards as she watched the strips of bacon. Her ears began to twitch excitedly as the faint sounds of sizzling started to rise out of the skillet. A hit of nervousness reached her eyes as a thin layer of grease seeped out of the bacon strips and began to pop and sizzle as it coated the bottom of the quickly warming skillet.

“ ... Hey! It’s popping!” she exclaimed as she leaned away from the stove “Is it supposed to do that!?”

“Mm hm, that’s normal.” smiled Anton as set his mug down and picked up a pair of long tongs “Don’t worry. It’s going to get a lot worse than this.”

Kianna glanced at him before focusing back on the quickly shriveling strips of bacon.

“What do you mean!? Why is it gonna get worse!?” she cried as she leaned further back.

“Because as the bacon strips shrivel up they’re going to release even more grease.” explained Anton as his smile broadened “And with the more hot grease you have, the more popping you’re going to get.”

“ ... Oh. Well that’s not good!” mumbled Kianna as she lowered her ears and took a step back.

Anton’s eyes were teasing as he watched the dark elf become more and more nervous as the sizzling grease grew louder and louder.

“ ... Alright. It looks like they’re about ready to be flipped now.” he said as he reached out to hand her the pair of tongs “Now you just need to flip them over so the other side can cook.”

Kianna hesitated for a second before taking the tongs and approaching the stove.

“Okay...” she mumbled nervously as she held her arm out and went to lift a piece.

The moment the bacon left the skillet a large glob of grease popped loudly and Kianna dropped the bacon as she jumped back.

“It’s gonna pop on me!” she cried as she laid her ears down flat behind her head and held the tongs out to Anton “Here! You do it!”

Anton chuckled as he took the tongs and moved to stand in front of the stove.

“It’s okay, Kianna.” he smiled as he began to flip the bacon with a practiced hand “It’s not going to hurt you. The grease is just being loud as it sizzles from the heat, it’s not really going to explode on you or anything.”

“Are you sure!?” grumbled Kianna as she peeked around him and glared at the bacon “ ... It looks like it’s throwing stuff in the air?”

“Well, it is. A little bit. But these larger globs are too heavy to travel very far before they end up falling back into the skillet. So as long as you don’t get too close they won’t land on you.” said Anton as he grinned back at her “So just don’t stick your face near the skillet, and you’ll be fine.”

Kianna turned her glare on him before going back to watching the sizzling bacon.

“Now, it’s also true that as the grease bubbles and pops, tiny bits might sometimes fly out of the skillet. But these are going to be so small that they’ll cool down as soon as they hit the open air. So even if they happen to land on you it isn’t going to hurt. It’ll just make a mess instead.” explained Anton.

Nodding in understanding, Kianna said nothing as she watched him shift the pieces of bacon about so that they would cook more evenly.

“Alright, while these are finishing up. Let’s go ahead and get the eggs started.” said Anton.

“Okay!” exclaimed Kianna as she dashed to the refrigerator. By the time she returned with a carton of eggs Anton had already gotten a second skillet ready for them.

“Are scrambled eggs alright with you, Fiona?” asked Anton.

“Yeah. I’m good with that.” mumbled Fiona.

Nodding, Anton demonstrated the proper way to crack an egg to Kianna before letting her prepare the rest. The eager dark elf ended up crushing a few of them before finding the right level of finesse to crack them properly. When the second skillet was finally full of waiting eggs, Anton clicked on the burner and instructed Kianna on how to cook them.

As she watched her sister excitedly stir up the eggs, Fiona’s ears began to twitch as an odd sensation suddenly took form in her head.

“Yo!” she exclaimed as she turned to look towards the front of the house “ ... I think the wards going off again!”

Anton and Kianna both turned to her a second before they too felt the wards internal warnings.

Narrowing his eyes, Anton reached over and clicked off both of the stoves burners before wiping his hands with a dish towel and making his way out of the kitchen. The two dark elves glanced at each other before quickly following him as he headed towards the front of the house.

“I doubt this will be our assassin...” mumbled Anton as he stepped into the front sitting room and gazed out the large bay window that overlooked the front of the property “Considering it’s pretty rare for an assassin to be bold, or foolish, enough to attack during daylight hours...”

“Don’t really expect an assassin to just drive right up in a white van either.” reasoned Fiona as said vehicle turned into the entryway and slowly came down the drive towards the house.

As the van rounded the bend of the circular drive and came to a stop, a bright logo reading “Realm Express Delivery Services” could be seen clearly as it ran down its side.

“Oh! It’s my orders!” cried Kianna as her face lit up with excitement “That was fast!”

Tilting her head to the side, Fiona pointed her ears straight back as she focused on sensing the mana signatures coming from the vehicle.

“ ... There’s one guy driving, and another one in the back.” she mused as she eyed the van with suspicion.

As they all watched, the driver, who appeared to be a halfling, looked over a tablet computer before ducking into the back of the van and out of sight. A moment later he reappeared with several boxes in his hands and hopped down from the van.

Standing at just over three feet tall, the halfling appeared human in almost every way, save for being, literally, only half the size of one. With dark, short cropped hair, a barely there goatee, large rounded ears and human-like proportions to his limbs and body. He could easily be mistaken for a human youth at first glance. His seemingly oversized feet, in proportion to the rest of his body, was the only feature of his anatomy that would clearly distinguished him for what he truly was.

Dressed in what appeared to be his uniform, the halfling wore a simple white, long-sleeved, button-up shirt adorned with his companies logo, khaki slacks and black trainers. Large sunglasses hid his eyes and a human-sized watch covered the entirety of his wrist. He had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up past his elbows and a healthy looking tan adorned the light-toned skin of his arms and head.

Seeing that he was making his way towards the front door, Kianna quickly dashed from the room and before the halfling was even a few paces away from his vehicle, she was coming to a stop just in front of him. After adding her signature to his device she excitedly took the packages from him and with a shouted thank you rushed back to the house.

Both Anton and Fiona narrowed their eyes in annoyance as they watched the halfling bite his lower lip and lean to the side while he blatantly gawked at Kianna’s backside as she walked away from him. Once she was back in the house and out of his sight he turned around and with a new bounce in his step made his way back to his van.

“Little shit.” grumbled Fiona as she watched the halfling settle back into the driver’s seat and again go over his tablet.

“Yes, he is...” agreed Anton as he crossed his arms.

They both turned away from the window as a giggling Kianna sped past the room’s archway on her way back to the kitchen.

Chuckling in amusement, Anton moved to follow her and after taking one last look at the van Fiona did so as well.

When they reentered the kitchen they found Kianna standing over the pile of packages she had spread out across the table. Having already torn open one of the boxes, she was reading over an order list and verifying the contents in the box. A bright smile stretched across her face as she turned to them.

“Hey! No peeking!” she cried as she slammed the flaps of the box shut in a bid to playfully hide its contents “Especially not you! Master!”

Fiona groaned in annoyance as Anton made a show of quickly looking away.

“Sorry, sorry! Didn’t mean to peek!” exclaimed Anton as he kept his eyes averted and made his way back to the stove “I’ll just stay over here then!”

“Yeah, you better!” smiled Kianna a she went back to checking over her ordered items.

Her face still showing her irritation clearly, Fiona retook her seat and absently looked over the unopened boxes for a moment before her eyes narrowed in on one in particular.

“Hey, this one’s actually for you.” she mumbled as she picked up the perfectly square box and turned to Anton.

“Oh really? Good. That was quick.” he said as he glanced back at her “Hopefully I won’t actually need those, but it’ll still be nice to have them just in case.”

“ ... What are they?” asked Fiona as she gave the box a light shake.

“Oh, you don’t want to know.” smiled Anton as he turned back to the scrambled eggs.

Shaking her head, Fiona tossed the box back on the table with an annoyed sigh.

Noticing that Anton was now preparing the food on his own, Kianna quickly gathered her packages back into a pile.

“I’ll be right back. I’m gonna take this stuff upstairs.” she cried as she picked up the stack of boxes and raced out of the room.

Fiona watched her go before slumping in her chair, after a moment of stillness she slowly turned her head towards the front of the house.

Still standing at the stove, Anton said nothing as he quietly flipped the now fluffy eggs. After a moment of stillness he too slowly turned his head towards the front of the house.

Fiona’s ears gradually pointed themselves straight back behind her head as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Turning to each other, she and Anton shared a knowing glance before they both turned back to stare at seemingly nothing.

Bouncing back into the room, Kianna stopped short as she took in their focused expressions.

“ ... What’s, what’s going on?” she asked as she pointed her ears straight upwards and looked from one to the other.

“ ... The delivery guy is leaving.” mumbled Fiona as she kept her eyes forward.

Shifting her attention towards the front of the house, Kianna too became aware of the quickly departing mana signature of the delivery driver as he supposedly drove away. She stopped short and widened her eyes to the fullest as she came to realize what Fiona and Anton had noticed already.

The second mana signature was still there, and it was not moving.

“ ... Hm, well now.” mumbled Anton as he leaned back against the counter-top and crossed his arms “Looks like this day might be about to get a little more interesting...”

Kianna glanced back at him before turning back to glare in the direction of the unknown intruder.

“I’ll go check it out!” she growled as she pointed her ears straight back.

“No! You stay right there!” commanded Anton “We’re the one’s with the element of surprise right now. And if that is an enemy out there, then the last thing we want to do is let them know that we know they’re there ... Let’s just wait for a moment, and see what it does next...”

Grimacing, Kianna set her jaw and waited. After a few moments the presence suddenly seemed to disappear from where it was and reappear several meters away and off to the side of the house.

“Whoa! What the fuck!?” cried Fiona as her head swiveled to where the presence now sat “What just happened!?”

“Oh! Looks like we might have a teleporter on our hands...” grumbled Anton as he cocked an eyebrow “That could be annoying...”

“Teleporter!?” exclaimed Kianna “ ... Does that mean it could get in here through the walls!?”

“If it is actually teleporting, which I’m pretty sure it is, then yes.” said Anton as he kept his eyes facing towards the presence “Now the question is whether or not its using a spell to do so?”

“ ... Why does that matter?” asked Fiona.

“Because, if its using a spell then it could be anything.” answered Anton “But if its using an ability then that will narrow down what species it could be...”

“ ... Is there a way to tell the difference?” asked Kianna.

“Possibly. If its an ability it can be used over and over again without any delay at all. A spell though, unless its been fully mastered, is going to have a pause whenever its being recast ... So far whatever is out there has only moved once, so I can’t-”

As he spoke the presence suddenly made two more jumps, one right after the other, and traveled both away from the house and around to the back side of it.

“ ... You were saying?” quipped Fiona.

“ ... I was saying-” started Anton before the presence made three more jumps and stopped out beyond the treeline behind the house “ ... That yeah! I’d say that whatever it is out there, its using an ability.”

“So now that you know that. Can you figure out what it is?” asked Kianna as she glared in the direction of the presence.

“Not yet. But like I said, it does narrow it down...” said Anton.

The room went silent for some time as the three of them all waited for the presence to make another move. As the time began to drag on, Anton turned to the stove and went back to cooking breakfast.