[Kiel]

((cont. from Following Shadows))

Kiel had calmed down a little en route to his house, which could only be a good thing, really. He was taking this all very seriously, 'cause, like, he knew Phen and Isabel were both in heaps of trouble if they got caught by the bad guys, but he'd never been in this kind of situation before. It was kinda hard to keep in mind that every move they made could have potentially disastrous consequences, and seeing Nic had basically wiped all the "be careful, be careful!" out of his brain.

If there'd even been any there to begin with.

“Shane, I'm hooooooome!” The second he had a foot in the door, he could hear the rumble of her cute not-so-little paws chasing toward him from her favourite resting place at the foot of his bed where she could nap in comfort and duck under the covers if the sun became a problem. And, like, maybe it was a bit self-centred, but he also kinda figured it was 'cause she could catch a whiff of his scent there too.

“C'mon in, guys. Like, make yourselves at home, okay? I have food and hahahaha, I missed you too, I missed you, yes, yes, I missed you, hahahaha.” He wasn't even gone that long, but he really had, for sers, and he proved it by grabbing her around the neck and ruffling the fur on the top of her head even as he stepped over her to make room for the others.

“So, like, you guys want something to eat while we figure this thing out? Or just, like, get down to business? 'cause, like, I dunno about you guys, but I'm starving, and kinda don't really know what the heck I'm doing, hahahahaha.”

[Official NPC]

Intensely aware of Vicente's gaze on the pulse in his neck, Boris nevertheless kept his eyes on the road and his calloused fingers brushing the onyx hilt of the dagger tucked into his belt. “I never understand why you insist on walking behind me like that.” His irritation was clear; in all the time they'd spent working together, Vicente continued to act like a second-class citizen, but Boris didn't think that was the intention. No, he'd never been able to shake the feeling the other man was stalking him, like some predator in the wild, rather than walk with him as a friend.

“I told you I had your back.”

He said that, but the one time Boris did need help to fend off those puny citizens when they were griping about his dragging their eldest daughter to jail for being a fang, Vicente'd been too busy laughing to actually do anything. Until Boris' nose had erupted under someone's fist. That had his attention, and then suddenly the odd little man was a rage of movement, decking the lot of them in short order. There was something inherently creepy about the way he'd stood over their prone, bleeding forms, that maniacal look in his eyes.

“Yeah, well. I'd rather you had my front than have you creeping around back there.” It didn't help that Boris' black wings obscured his view of the man lurking behind him. Vicente could easily stick a knife in his back before Boris caught even a glimpse of it, but that was why Zolf had them paired up. Of the four of them, Boris seemed to be the one Vicente had the most respect for.

“Here, this one. Nobody's checked this one yet,” Boris finally changed the subject, glancing at the list in his hand as the other sought to check that he still had his warrant scroll. Zolf had gotten increasingly violent whenever they had to tell him they'd lost another, but was it their fault people took offence at having their homes invaded?

“Ooh, let me do the honours.” A second later, as Vicente stepped around gnarled tree that had massive teeth marks in it, he was grinning with glee and cracking his knuckles. “I do hope they fight us, Boris. I'm in the mood for a good brawl.”

“You're always in the mood for a brawl, good or not,” Boris countered, planting his fists, both curled around paper ready to present the warrant, and spreading his wings to look more intimidating as Vicente knocked.

Loudly.

((They're knocking on Kiel's door. ))

[Nicolay]

Nicolay's attention was not in the familiar house, the prospect of food, Shane or anyone or anything else. Quite simply, it was on more pressing matters: the idea of having crossed a murder scene unknowingly and the idea of vampires, none of which sat perfectly well with him and it could be seen in the way he frowned and his brows wrinkled.

He stood quite out of place, lingering between the doorway and the living room while at the corner of his eyes, he watched both his companions in their movements in Kiel's house. When the chance came, though, Nicolay had been unable to restrain himself any longer and like a cork popping out of a bottle, he shot his interrupted question none too pleasantly at their host, “Do this had something to do with the men from last day?” His voice bounced solidly against the walls.

“Yesterday!” he corrected unhappily with a strong shake of his head, displacing his fringes, and wave of his hand. He went on to tell his story: “They came yesterday. There are two of them and they knocked on my door--”

Someone banged on the door.

Nicolay's narration was cut short with a startled wail as he spun and stumbled away from the door, eyes the shape of bowls as he stared at the harmless wood, still feeling the back of his ribs tug out of place when his heart had jumped. His expression was frozen as he turned to either Kiel and Phenny.

Then to Kiel, he asked, “You forgot the rent?” It was amazing what his brain could make him say in situations like this.

[Euphenia]

Grateful to duck into Kiel's residence and out of the possibility of being spotted, Phen had to grind her mental gears to keep from darting after her best friend and slamming the door behind them. Her paranoia was rearing its nerve prickling head, and were it not for her trying to be the "calm and rational one", she would have long since broken out in a sweat and probably pace tunnels into Kiel's floor. Nicolay's presence only complicated things. Phen sensed that the poor fellow was a cat's whisker away from losing it again.

"Aw! Hello again, Shane," she was happy to coo at the shadowkin when Shane came rushing out to greet her Chosen. Some of Phen's worries eased just by watching Kiel and Shane interact. They had the kind of companionship that would last for a lifetime. The nyad's affectionate smile gained a wistful tinge, but she felt no less comforted by the sight.

Moving in for her turn to pet the shadowkin, Phen nodded in response to Kiel's question. "I'll need to get cleaned up first, though. We can't have your neighbors thinking that I was up to some noctivagant activities," she jested, tugging off her gloves one at a time before she gave Shane a good scratching behind her ears and down her back. "How have you been, little one? Have you been taking good care of Kiel for me?"

The nyad's hands stilled when Nicolay mentioned "two men from last day", then corrected himself with a "yesterday". She listened intently as he started to explain what happened after, then about jumped out of her skin when someone thumped what could only have been their fist upon Kiel's front door.

"You forgot the rent?"

Phen counted slowly to five inside her head. It didn't help. "If it's them, they will know me," she carefully whispered to Nicolay, exaggerating her lips' movements so he would hopefully understand her, "I'll go into the bathroom and wash up."

Twisting around, Phen tried to get Kiel's attention by waving her arms. With the walking stick she still held, a glove wrapped between it and her hand, Phen looked like she was trying to direct traffic. "Please distract them," she requested before making a beeline for the bathroom. The winged nymph had visited Kiel before, and figuring out where she had to go for privacy was always a high priority. Phen definitely knew where she was going.

Piper's Boutique # Raine # Celestial Star # DaFont # Angel

[Kiel]

“Naw, man, I pay rent direct before I even get to touch my wages.” That way he didn't dip into funds he didn't have when he went shopping for snacks and presents. “Besides, the landlady's way too sweet to bang like that,” Kiel pondered, sticking his tongue out at Nic for dissing his ability to balance his finances, or to at least know himself well enough to need to.

Tripping over Shane as she stalked Phen upstairs, Kiel flapped his hands. “It's probably not even - like, you know, I get visitors all the - well, like, actually I don't get visitors that often, it's lame, it's lame. Hahahahaha, maybe it's my mom or something. She's been threatening to come out here and check my art skills,” he explained vaguely, meaning that she'd wanted to come see how he'd decorated, that he was doing his own laundry (yes, like, most of the time) and stuff like that, but she was needed on the farm so she rarely had the time to get away.

She totally would have called first though, and he kind of had a bad feeling.

“Shane!” The 'kin had followed Phen upstairs, maybe sensing their nervousness or something, but she popped her head through the banisters on the landing to look at him. “Like, cover for Phenny, okay, man?” The 'kin mewed a bit like she was totally agreeing, and then tugged her head back - her ears totally doing a "gah, stuck!" dance for a second before he heard her feet pattering through his bedroom to the bathroom.

“Okay, like, Nic, man, don't freak, okay?” Another bang, this time more insistent, kinda made the door reverberate, and Kiel figured if he didn't answer now they'd be knocking the thing down next. “Okay! Like, dude, I'm coming, okay?!” Hopping to the door, he ripped it open, flicking the brim of his hat with his finger so it tilted back a bit and gave him a better view of the outside. “Like, we're not buying anything today, okay? And, like, hey, hey, are you okay? You kinda look like my boyfriend when he's about to rip me a new one.”

He just had to hope they'd show more ruth than he'd heard they would, especially if they realised Phenny was here.

[Nicolay]

A fly would have had all the time in the world to dart into Nicolay's digestive system with the way he held his mouth. He wouldn't have looked so foolish and silly, really, if Phenny hadn't suddenly mentioned an ambiguous 'them' which, after a moment of confusion, he could only relate to the two men who inspected his house and his teeth for cavities. “B, but if that's them then they will know me, too!” he protested to the escaping Phenny, calling out to her with an English “Hey!”, his arm reaching for her but even if he might be faster than her, she was definitely more supple and knew her way around the house better than he could ever. The knocks only persisted and even if it might be an impatient pizza delivery man waiting outside, the whole concoction of the previous day and that day was taking a toll on Nicolay and he'd pretty much lost all sense and capability of thinking rationally. His panic had helped him conveniently ignore Kiel's story of his life while he sought for the next best thing to do aside from join the lady in the washroom -- and then he saw Shane.

Shane, of course! Shane normally approached him whenever he called and the cat could turn into a monkey -- a monkey -- and clobber people up and she would be good to defend him--

--except Kiel had pretty much sent her away and now Nicolay was lost in the valley of hysteria. What do you mean cover for her? What about me? I've got no wings!! he wanted to blurt out at Kiel who was left to hold everything together by their seams.

“Okay, like, Nic, man, don't freak, okay?” Kiel told him as the door threatened to give out but gazing at the man with owlish eyes and flat-lined lips, it didn't take a noise from him to figure out that Nicolay wanted a ticket out the soonest possible he can get one. He wanted to shout or just...disappear (which seemed like a better idea) and wake up in his bedroom (wasn't this supposed to be a good day?!) and the bothersome contraction of his muscles at the back and the tingling on his fingers were not helping him. He never usually got this way when he was anxious or in the brink of getting scolded but for some reason, since he came to Elysia, it just started happening like a reflex to tension. He figured it was the air and the weird in general. Or it could be Xanth -- that also made sense.

In the end, he decided to just disappear.

The moment Kiel held his door knob, Nicolay squeaked, spun, and made a blind dash towards the kitchen. He held his breath when he zipped straight into the back of the wall just in time for the visitors to finally reveal themselves to the unwilling occupants.

Taking solace in the realm of food and fire, he leaned to the right just enough for him to get a rather uncomfortable peek at what was happening in the living room.

[Euphenia]

Nicolay's plea stalled Phen in her tracks at the foot of the stairs. Looking back, the winged nymph didn't even try to mask the feelings of ruth that were assaulting her conscience. "I'm sorry," she murmured before fleeing up the stairs.

Believing herself a coward, Phen stalked to the bathroom. Every step was as quiet as could be, but Shane was likely to notice that Phen was fighting down a fury that threatened to boil the nyad's proverbial lid right off in a gout of super-heated steam. What was she supposed to do? She wanted to protect her friends, and in turn their friends, while also stopping the threat to the community as a whole. Somehow, though, the consequences of her desire felt as if they followed her and whoever she got involved like flies seeking rotting meat. A part of the usually calm nyad wanted to pummel the people who dared to act like such bullies till they or she was blue in the face, but Phen had enough rational thought remaining to realize to do so would only lower herself to be at same level as those she was trying so hard not to despise.

"Remember, life is precious," Phen muttered as she reached for the bathroom door's knob, "Squeezing the madness out of them isn't going to work. Violence only begets more violence."

"Okay! Like, dude, I'm coming, okay?!"

Panic fluttered its wings against the insides of Phen's ribcage and anger clenched its talons about her heart. Breathing slow and steady kept the nyad from launching herself back down the stairs and shoving Kiel aside so she could take the brunt of whatever was coming. "Please, Mother Butterfly, please let it be just a salesman or something," she prayed, sliding open the door and ducking inside the small room with a speed lent by pure adrenaline. She did remember to hold the door open for Shane, though only just. "Nicolay will be scared, and Kiel will try to protect him. My Lady, I beg of you to watch over them. Please don't let them be hurt because of me."

Locking the washroom's door from the inside, and in as many ways as were available, Phen trudged to the sink and then held up her hands. She watched them shake for a long moment, then grimaced and tucked her gloves out of the way. "Be strong, Phen," the nyad whispered as she turned the water on at a trickle, setting the walking stick to the side before beginning the process of scrubbing away telltale dust and grime, "You can't be afraid. Stop worrying and trust in Xanth."

"Like, we're not buying anything today, okay? And, like, hey, hey, are you okay? You kinda look like my boyfriend when he's about to rip me a new one."

"Butterfly, please protect them," Phen pleaded again as she set to wrapping the still dirty stick in the rattiest of Kiel's towels that she could find. "Sorry, Kiel. I'll get you a new one," was mentally vowed as the ends of the odd bundle were tied and the whole thing awkwardly stuffed into Phen's satchel. A little more than half of the "package" stuck out at a weird angle, so Phen glanced down where she could have sworn Shane was last and asked, "Alright, now what do I do?"

Piper's Boutique # Raine # Celestial Star # DaFont # Angel

[Official NPC]

Who the hell wore hats inside the house?

That was the first thought that occurred to Boris as the door finally wrenched open under Vicente's fist. And then, Wait, boyfriend? This puny kid had a boyfriend? Okayyyyyy, that warranted a mental note to keep his distance.

“Hiiiii,” Vicente smirked. “Vicente de Lellan and Boris Strykerin, with the Marshal's office. We have license -” He gestured to Boris, who held up the warrant scroll very briefly. “- to search the premises for sign of Vampire. You wanna let us in, mate.”

It wasn't a question, and after giving the kid only the briefest pause to step aside, Boris shoved his way in with Vicente acting like a second skin. For a moment, the Skotadi dismissed the kid as a bystander - those pink eyes were a dead give-away - but then he remembered what Zolf had snapped the last time. Contacts, lads. Don't take what your eyes tell you as truth, and for Xanth's sake, don't think non-vampire means innocent!

“We need to see your teeth,” Boris snapped, the remembered humiliation of being snapped at by a man who looked like he'd blow away if a landstrider snorted at him venting through his words as he gave the place a cursory inspection. Vicente wandered, coming to a halt at a doorway that led to the kitchen if what Boris could see was anything to go by.

“Hallo. I think we did you yesterday. Not been infected since then, eh? Want to show me your teeth, just in case?”

Both men froze and glanced up at the ceiling as they heard a thud. “Oh aye. Who else do you have here, then?”

[Kiel]

((Please excuse the split focus. I don't normally like to do this, but I have so many charries to keep track of in this thread that it'd be too hard to do this separately. ¬_¬))

Upstairs, Shane had followed her Chosen's friend - the one who gave her treats - into the bathroom and then hopped up onto the closed toilet seat with her long tail curled around her butt to watch the Nymph lazily. She wasn't sure what the tree lady was doing, but it was fascinating.

For the first few seconds.

Downstairs, Kiel barely had time to, like, dodge out of the way before the two men hulked their way inside, shoving past him. He almost shut the door 'cause, like, that's what he'd do in polite company, but he wanted them gone as soon as possible, you know? So he left it open, and hurried after them as they took a few steps into the room, unconsciously crowding their space as he hovered. He wasn't panicking 'cause that'd be totally girly, but, like, he was way scared they'd find Phenny, man. And Nic seemed like he was either trying to hide something too, or, like, about to have a fainting fit or something, so he needed these guys gone, you know?

“Here, see, ahhhhhhh,” he kowtowed, flashing his teeth hurriedly. He almost Wah!'d when the other dude found Nic. Like, the dude hadn't exactly been hiding, you know, but he'd been kind of hoping...

“Like, dude, leave him alone, man.” Thinking fast on his feet for a reason for them to stay away from the poor guy, Kiel shot off, “He's Therian. Therian, Therian! He'd be, like, dead or something if he was infected, right? Me too, me too! I'm not dead, so, like, I'm not a vamp, right? Hahahahahaha, we're fine, we're fi-”

Crap. Why was Phen running water when these guys were here? He'd been kinda hoping they'd be settled up there enough to not draw attention, but at least since Shane was up there he could blame her. “Hahahahaha, that 'kin, man. She's so smart, she does thing thing with her teeth to turn the taps on when she's thirsty, man. She's awesome, she's awesome!”

Meanwhile, upstairs, Shane stared back at Phen for a second, unblinking and unhelpful. What was she supposed to do with it? The way her Chosen's friend was trying to hide it, it was like she didn't want it. Hmmm. Didn't want it? Don't you want it, Chosen-friend? I'll take it, I'll hide it!

Leaping forward, Shane snagged the stick between her fangs and shook her head violently to get it out of Phen's pack.

[Nicolay]

Nicolay, on the other hand, was torn between being a man and a mouse.

His heart leaped out of his body the moment his eyes caught sight of the very familiar faces of the pair and his soul chased after it when the brute of the pair (since he seemed like the more violent one) caught sight of him. He stifled a choke, feeling his lungs squeeze against each other and whirled around to press his back against the wall as he forced himself to think. If he was lucky enough, he wouldn't have been found just yet...

...but then he thought about it. They were looking for vampires, weren't they? And since he wasn't a vampire, then he wasn't who they needed! Nicolay breathed out and his body loosened in spite of the fever that was building up from tension. Stop being silly, you're human. Whatever could they want from you? This is all just secondhand panic, he thought to himself and felt like chuckling to relieve himself but he decided against it. Instead, he thought to put himself to good use and turn this men away. Since he wasn't a vampire, what else was he scared of? The priority now was to protect Phenny.

Nodding to himself, Nicolay spun out of his hiding place--

“Hallo. I think we did you yesterday. Not been infected since then, eh? Want to show me your teeth, just in case?”

“Huaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!” Nicolay wailed and promptly fell back to stumble into the kitchen and meet...some furnishing behind him painfully by the small of his back and with a medium thud. That right there was going to be a bruise. He clasped onto whatever it was that he hit as he gulped, his sight frozen against that look of enjoyment Brute was nursing (he couldn't even bring himself to curse the guy mentally) while his fingers shook and ached and itched. He was sure of it now, this was the very same man who not-so-very discreetly elbowed the woodcutter away just to get to him by the dining table yesterday while the Non-brute stayed back and distracted the woodcutter's wife -- just as he was doing with Kiel now, he figured. At that time, he was asked to show his teeth, too.

And to dispel the tension and their superiority, he beamed. Clueless.

It took him a solid second to let out a laughter and nod as he straightened his shaky self up. When they traipsed into his apartment, his female guardian told him, “Collie, don't panic! Just do as the good gentleman says and it will be okay.” Well, good gentleman his foot, he'd seen everything now! “Y, you're right,” Nicolay said to him, that smile still on as he cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. “Funny that you like to follow me, e...”

Outside, Kiel shouted, “He's Therian. Therian, Therian! He'd be, like, dead or something if he was infected, right?”

Nicolay had no idea what Kiel was talking about but it didn't sound like, “HE'S A VAMPIRE, HE'S A VAMPIRE,” so he stretched his smile and nodded his head like a nutcracker on fire. “Look at my teeth again,” and he beamed again.

“Me too, me too!” Kiel proceeded. Nicolay was starting to feel better about this! “I'm not dead, so, like, I'm not a vamp, right? Hahahahahaha, we're fine, we're fi-”

When the thud came, both he and the Brute tossed their heads up to check out the ceiling of Kiel's kitchen. Non-brute noted that there was someone else with them and here, Nicolay held his breath. Phenny! he remembered. If she was caught, then there'd be trouble. Nicolay didn't know why but he was pretty sure he didn't want one now. And if Brute and Non-brute found out that he was party with her, he'd be in deep--

“Hahahahaha, that 'kin, man,” Kiel started. “She's so smart, she does thing thing with her teeth to turn the taps on when she's thirsty, man. She's awesome, she's awesome!”

Nicolay took this opportunity to laugh away his tension and his shakes as he agreed with Kiel. “Very smart,” he repeated before he gestured to the stairs and announced to everyone, “I'll check her. Sh, she might...make water in the bathroom again.” He laughed. There went his vocabulary.

Having said that, he excused himself from Brute and started out of the kitchen and away from him. The sooner he got to Phenny, the better. She was in trouble, wanted, Kiel's friend and a woman and he couldn't imagine what these rude men might do to her (and him) if they found her. Nicolay decided it was best for all of them if he went to join Phenny and hide her or something since anyway, Kiel obviously had everything under control.

[Euphenia]

"Shane, please stop!" Phen hissed as she wrapped one hand around what she could reach of the thrashing stick and tugged in the opposite direction the shadowkin was trying to take it. Oh, what had she been thinking asking Shane for advice? "Be quiet, Shane, please. Bad men are downstairs, bad men that will hurt me if they see this stick. We can't let them see the stick."

They would probably try to hurt the nyad anyway, walking stick or no walking stick, but Phen was hoping Shane cared enough about her to understand that the shadowkin taking the stick was a bad idea. It was either that, or ... No. Shane taking the only piece of evidence that Phen had other than the button was too risky. "Let go, Shane," Phen tried to say both softly and sweetly. When that didn't work, she tried to imagine how the First Bonded would have addressed her shadowkin and drew in a deep breath. "Shane-friend, release the toy this instant!" growled from the depths of Euphenia's chest, and twilight eyes narrowed for effect. Were the nyad being any more vernacular, she would have actually yowled at Shane in Feline.

Such was likely when Nicolay reached the outside of the bathroom door to find it locked. With Phen so focused on rescuing her prize from Shane's maw, what were his chances of getting into the washroom? Hopefully he'd find a way to gain her attention.

Piper's Boutique # Raine # Celestial Star # DaFont # Angel

[Official NPC]

At first, Boris thought the kid was lying about the other being Therian, but one glance at Vicente, who had his head tipped back and his nose to the air, that predatory gaze on Nicolay, confirmed the pink-eyed 'Varian's claim. Then he thought the 'Vari was attempting to either lie his face off by saying he also was a Therian, or mock them, until he realised - no. He was just saying they were both uninfected.

Well, be that as it may, something was upstairs.

“Chosen?” On any other occasion, Boris would have been overjoyed. He was Anyeli, Skotadi. Shadowkin may have more to do with those poncy Nymphs now since they stalked the forests, but they were originally from his own kind. He'd wanted to meet a pair of Chosen since he heard the stories as a fledgling, and would have loved to see them interacting. But today, he was working, and these pair may not be fangs, but they were still his potential enemies. “Well, I know they're smart as all Hel, but they can do that? Really?”

Another look to Vicente confirmed that, yes, there was a feline's scent in the house. And by the look of disgust on his face, quite a strong one at that. Well, Boris could detect a vague scent for himself, but Shadowkin were too well-behaved - and too wild - to mess in the house. No, more likely it did its business outside, so its smell was too subtle for his nose.

Made a man wonder where Vicente got his sense of smell from. Hel knew, he wasn't Therian.

Boris' eyebrows lifted at the other kid's awkward speech, and the 'Varian's accent as he watched the Therian head upstairs. “Dardanian?” He wondered briefly he should have them bring the Shadowkin downstairs so he could meet it, but with Vicente in tow it was too risky. He didn't want to give the other man leverage against him, or show him a soft spot. “Well then.”

Vicente was still sniffing, like he could smell something but wasn't sure what, but Boris had had enough. His childhood stories only ever talked about Shadowkin choosing good people, so he couldn't for the life of him imagine either of these two fellows wilfully breaking the law. “Let's go. Keep your friend away from fangs,” he told the 'Vari kid, waiting for Vicente to lope across the room to the door before heading there himself. “You know if he's infected he could... become a monster.” It didn't matter to Boris if the kid died, only that he'd heard about the destruction that Hind thing had caused and he wanted no part in it. “If you spot a fang, make sure to call it in, here.” Holding out a plain white card with his COM number on it, Boris inclinded his head.

Pausing briefly, sure Vicente was out of the house now, Boris winked and said in a hushed tone, before yanking the door shut behind him, “And if you're ever up by City Hall with your Chosen, be sure and bring her by, I've never met one.”

[Kiel]

Shane would have let go the second the Nymph asked it of her. She was too good a 'kin not to, especially since the Nymph was her Chosen's best friend, and her own friend before that.

But. Her Chosen-friend's panic made it seem like the stick was a bad thing, and was contagious. Shane could sense her Chosen's concern and knew something very bad was happening to her Chosen downstairs and was wishing she'd stayed there with him, but she was also aware that her going downstairs now would leave his best friend exposed and vulnerable and just make matters worse. So she got stubborn, and her sharp teeth dug in, and she pulled harder.

It wasn't a toy. She knew it wasn't a toy. Her Chosen would have played with her if it was a toy, instead of letting his friend try to hide it, and the Nymph's worry over it smelled too strong. It wasn't a toy, it was bad, it was threatening her Chosen-friend and by extension her Chosen, and Shane wanted it gone.

And then, as she pulled and the Nymph pulled, pop! Shane found herself on her butt with one end of the stick still trapped in her jaw and staring at the other end still in the Nymph's hands, a rolled up piece of paper on the floor between them.

Yes, yes! I've killed the bad thing, I've killed it! My Chosen is safe!

---

Downstairs, Kiel had never seen "under control" and would have laughed himself into a stupor if he realised Nicolay's confidence in him. Like, it was so weird being the protector, you know? All his life, first his parents, then his older siblings, and then even Zeph, had been keeping him out of trouble, it was weird to be the one trying to hold everything together.

He kinda liked it, but mostly it scared the manure out of him.

But at least the dude seemed to buy the whole "It's only Shane up there" thing? Which was totally a good thing, 'cause that other dude was kinda weirding him out with the sniffing thing. Was he Therian? If so, then how good was his nose? Hopefully, Shane's scent was covering Phenny's, 'cause otherwise this was going south way fast.

“Well, I know they're smart as all Hel, but they can do that? Really?”

It wasn't often Kiel was asked to edify someone, but he nodded enthusiastically. He was eager to talk about Shane anyhow, but if this guy was as enamoured of 'kin as his tone suggested then he could be distracted, right? “Yeah, like, she can do all kindsa stuff, man, she's awesome.” He tried not to overdo it, though. Last thing they needed was this guy asking to actually see her.

“Hahahahaha, yeah, Dardanian. How'd you know?” He wasn't actually lying - which was a good thing, 'cause he totally sucked at it - because he wasn't saying "yeah we're Dardanian", but it was enough of an implication for him to feel his mom's virtual hand slapping him up the back of the head.

Thank you, Xanth. Man.

They were leaving. He almost burst into a victory dance, but managed to keep his hands at his sides. “Yeah, like, totally, man, that's way freaky, I'll keep him well clear, you know?” It was totally weird that they'd bought that whole "Nic's a shapeshifter" thing, though, if the other dude was one, but Kiel didn't have time to think about that. “And, like, I totally will, man,” he agreed as he took the card, but again let the dude infer what he wanted.

Finally, they were out of his house. He thought about warning his landlady next door, but figured they'd already be in there before he could get her on the COM. She was a tough old bird anyway, right?

“Um.” Flopping face down on the couch, Kiel yelled, “Like, I think it's safe to come out now, guys!”

[Nicolay]

Nicolay was desperate. And when a man was desperate, he did a lot of things.

He didn't know what was causing his fist to knock on the door, too -- his own volition or the shaking that had seemed to take a liking to his body. “Phenny,” he hissed into the bathroom door for the nth time, frightened that the pair would hear him from downstairs as he kept on with stubbornly twisting the knob while his knuckles kept connecting themselves to the material. Inside, he could hear Shane and Phenny talking furtively but whatever it was they were discussing (maybe a secret passageway because Nicolay would tear the door down for that), he didn't really care. He just wanted Phenny to come out so he could talk to her about whatever was happening downstairs.

But clearly, Shane was more interesting than he was.

“Phenny, Kiel's in danger,” Nicolay tried pathetically, himself really thinking he was in danger considering he left him alone there with Brute and Non-brute. His hands kept on their movements. “Phenny, Kiel's in danger,” he said again in a feeble voice.

And then: “Like, I think it's safe to come out now, guys!”

Nicolay felt like his entire body expanded and the only pain he felt from it was a throbbing on the sides which used to feel so constricted for the past few minutes. He let out a good sigh and muttered something in English to himself, shoulders sagging. Why was life suddenly so difficult?

“Never mind, Kiel's all right now,” he called into the door before he left Phenny to deal with Shane while he dragged himself down the steps.

Seeing the empty living room with nothing but an exhausted Kiel and he would have thought him dead except Nicolay was sure Kiel was the one who shouted them that message -- unless Brute killed him and hid somewhere and pretended to be Kiel to lure them out and--

Nicolay soon found himself standing beside Kiel and touching his shoulders and felt that it was warm. He embarrassingly let out a breath of relief. Really, his mind went to places faster than his feet ever took him. But while he was at such position, he gave the shoulder two pats and a squeeze and said to him with a softer voice laced with his heart, “Thank you, Kiel.” The man saved his everything, again. He knew he could count on him.

While he waited for Phenny and Shane to come down, he shuffled towards the front door and took the liberties to lock it. Just in case.

[Euphenia]

"S-Shane, you ... you broke it?" Phen asked rather numbly as she leaned back against the counter.

It was safe to say that the nyad was in shock. Dazed was another fantastically appropriate descriptor. She stared at the part of the stick that her hand still held in a death grip and tried to restart her brain.

"Never mind, Kiel's all right now."

Nicolay's voice was the perfect leather strap to rub the blade of Phen's mind back to something resembling sharpness. She blinked once, then switched her steady gaze to where Shane stood in her triumph. "Shane, I-"

Phen leaned in, her voice fading as her attention became absorbed by the fascinating fact that what had appeared to be a smooth and featureless cherry wood cane was actually designed to come apart into two pieces. The part that Shane was keeping aloft with her mouth had silver sticking out of where it had once connected to the other piece, and that silver looked like it was designed to screw into some kind of socket. The walking stick was capped. It was capped! Twilight hued eyes darted down as Phen sat up straight and brought the "broken" portion of the walking stick that she was still clutching to where she could see it plainly. Hers looked hollow, as if the top portion was really an oddly designed scroll case. Carefully, she ran a finger in a half circle along the inside and found it to be grooved. The puzzle clicked together in Phen's head. She grinned, nice and wide.

"Shane, you're a genius!" she praised the 'kin before swooping forward and trying to wrap her arms about Shane's neck in a hug to beat all hugs. "An absolute genius!"

Scooping up the paper that had been dumped to the floor during the "walking stick incident", Phen hurriedly unlocked the door. "They will want to see this," the nyad said as she wrestled with steel and wood, then paused once she got the door open. "What do you say we show them what we found together?"

Still wearing her happy grin, Phen flapped her wings in her hurry to get down the steps and into the living room. It wasn't until she reached the bottom of the stairs that she froze up. Nicolay had said that Kiel was alright, but he hadn't specified why Kiel was in danger in the first place. Phen could have smacked herself for being so oscitant. What would the guys have done if she'd just strolled into a dangerous situation? "Nicolay would probably get his Xanthmas present early. A neatly wrapped aneurism, complete with pretty bow," Phen only half jested in her head.

So, instead of blindly dashing into potential trouble, Phen peeked around the corner. She almost screamed when she spotted Kiel face down on the couch. Slapping a palm over her mouth, the winged nymph watched with wide eyes as Nicolay laid a hand on Kiel's shoulder, anxiety making the therian's face look older than its years, and then relaxed as the tension left his body. Overhearing his sincere, "Thank you, Kiel," only served to draw her into the room, though she did keep to a respectful distance. "Shane and I discovered something," she quietly announced, figuring that Nicolay was the sort who wouldn't want such a vulnerable moment as the one she'd observed remarked upon, "You might want to roll over and take a look, Kiel."

Piper's Boutique # Raine # Celestial Star # DaFont # Angel

[Kiel]

Shane couldn't understand why her Nymph-friend was upset. She hadn't broken anything, she'd killed the bad thing! That was good, right? Kiel would want her to protect his friend, and she'd protected his friend, so she was good, right? Of course she was good!

“Shane, you're a genius!”

Yesssss! See? She knew she'd done the right thing by killing it! Her Chosen would be so proud, so proud!

Of course I am, she mreowed, rubbing the side of her face into the Nymph's embrace. I killed the bad thing.

When Phenny opened the bathroom door, Shane shot past her and pounded down the stairs, both to double check he really was okay and to crow to her Chosen about her genius. She didn't know what Phenny meant about discovering things together, she was the one who'd killed it!

“Ehhhhhhhhh.” Kiel's reply to Nic's concern was muffled by the cushion he'd faceplanted against after his near-heart attack. Even he could tell how close they'd come to a whole lot of trouble, and he'd realised even more that there was nobody to rescue him this time. He'd never been the one doing the rescuing, you know? He hadn't realised how exhausting it was, man!

In his head, he was totally on a hegira, but then Phenny's voice joined Nic's and he realised he had to get up. “Ffnth eh fntheth? Found what?” he repeated, rebounding from the stresses of the last few moments within seconds as he bounced upright just in time to take a 'kin to the lap. “Wah! Watch where you're putting those claws, man, hahahahahaha.” He giggled as Shane's whiskers tickled his chin, neck, ears, eyes, hairline - even his mouth - as she rubbed her face all over his. She was clearly proud of something, and he kinda wished he could read her mind. “What'd you find, Shaney, Shaney, huh? What'd you and Phenny find, man?”

[Euphenia]

Before the 'kin got to her Chosen for a snuggle fest, Phen tried to recover the part of the walking stick that Shane still had. Regardless if she was successful, the nyad added to the happy chaos by sweeping her wings up and plopping her rump onto the couch beside her best friend. "Thanks for warding them off," she whispered for Kiel's ears alone. Then, with a bump of her hip against the dracovari's, she raised her voice to that of normal speech when she announced, "The stick has a hollowed out compartment. See?"

Phen lifted up either one or both halves to show the 'vari what she meant. "And this was inside."

Putting down whatever she was holding of the stick to have it be on the floor next to the couch, Phen chose that moment to look over to where Nicolay was probably standing. "Things hopefully can't run any more amok than they already have, at least for today," she tried to reassure the skittish therian, even if she didn't fully believe her own words. "Want to help me to translate this? I think it's some kind of code."

"I didn't get all that great of a look at it earlier," the nyad admitted as she tucked her wings over the back of the couch. Sitting up straighter, Phen unrolled and unwrinkled the paper as best as one could with hands alone. "Yes, definitely some kind of code. It's written in Elysian, but the sentence structure and spellings are all wrong."

Quote

Yvwilxp zmw Izevm'h Dzb.
Gsivv ivw hglmvh. Hglk. Ivkvzg.
Dsrgv hdzm lm z drwld'h mvxp.
Yzxp gl Y.

H

Piper's Boutique # Raine # Celestial Star # DaFont # Angel

[Nicolay]

Nicolay was standing just behind Phenny with his hands on his hips as he tilted his head a little to a side to read the message she had unfolded. If she, a perfect Elysian, was already having a hard time decoding the message, though, how much more he who was just being a fake one?!

“Is not there umm...some sort of...answer to that problem?” he tried to sound helpful but clearly, he wasn't doing a very good job at it. As he bent down to reach for the part-stick that Phenny had placed on the floor, he talked on. “There is one where I belong. We call it “cryptography” or “encryption”,” he said those two words in English. “I don't know it, though. I think like, the letters are opposite or every fifteenth. Like, the code's A is really Z or the code's Z is really O or N.” Nicolay occupied himself next with looking at the part of the stick he held for any clues, turning it over and around and looking inside.

“Why not try it?” he suggested.

[Kiel]

Shane didn't let go. She refused. She was the one who had killed the bad thing, and she was the one who was going to show off to her Chosen, and she was the one who was going to give the dead thing to her Chosen as a gift!

“See?”

Yes, Chosen, see? See what I did? I killed it for you! Shane pushed her nose insistently into Kiel's face, waggling her head to show off the present she'd brought him before dropping it to roll wetly down his chest and into his lap. Kiel giggled, grabbing her ears in both hands and rubbing furiously. This, she knew, was his way of saying thanks and she lapped up the attention with a few tongue-swipes to his chin.

Finally satisfied that he knew exactly who was responsible for the death of the bad thing, Shane settled her rump solidly on his knees and lifted her chin so he could give her a good scratching, glancing sideways at their Nymph-friend with triumph. See, see, he loves us!

As Nic read over Phenny's shoulder, Kiel drooped his head sideways to get a good look without blocking Nic's vision, then let it droop further onto Phenny's shoulder. He was totally acting like he was having couvades or something, man, like this whole thing was more than he could cope with, but he was a tactile guy anyway, you know? He liked his hugs, and they'd come pretty close to being arrested or something just now so this was totally a good time for one.

“We so don't need codes, man,” he claimed as he lifted his head from Phenny's shoulder. “I know what that says already.” He paused for dramatic effect, glancing at the Nyad out of the corner of his eye. He would have looked at Nic, too, but, like, the dude was behind them and his head didn't twist that far.

“It totally says "Kiel is hawt and awesome and a total hero and we worship him. That is all." Like, right?” Waggling his eyebrows, he giggled, but then admitted, “No, but, like, for sers, man, that blows. Who the hell even writes in code, anyway, you know? I mean, like, apart from kids when they have secret messages they don't want their parents to know about, hahahaha.” Like, totally not him and ChloChlo. “And, like, secret conspiracy plotter dudes and stuff.”

[Euphenia]

Some of Nicolay's words stood out from the rest, but Phen chose to address only what dealt with the matter at hand. She did, however, file away the therian's "where I belong" for future reference. If Phen got to know the man better, she might even ask him about it one day.

"A rearranging of letters, you say?" the winged nymph mused as she studied the note, keeping the paper taut between her fingers. "So ... We find a pattern and follow it?"

A quick glance at Shane brought the tug of a smile to the corners of Phen's mouth. The shadowkin appeared to be so pleased with herself, and she was obviously delighted with the affection that her Chosen lavished her with. Phen didn't comment beyond giving in to the urge to smile. At least, not till her best friend chose to rest his head on her shoulder. "I take it the 'brute squad' didn't suspect anything when they left?" was whispered as Phen's right hand released the mysterious missive in favor of absentmindedly stroking Shane's fur. She was swift to steady the paper so it was still readable for all interested parties, provided said interested parties weren't opposed to leaning in a little.

"This was typed," Phen observed, tilting her head to try and rest her right cheek against Kiel's forehead. Being cozied up with her best friend made Phen feel more at peace, and far less likely to dash up to check the front door every few seconds. "I'm not sure what device was used. It could have been printed off one of those new COMs.."

Phen blinked when Kiel made his wisecrack. A full beat passed before she giggled. Even then it wasn't one of her full-on, "I can't breathe!" bouts of laughter. The puzzle before her, and the possible answers it might hold, had too strong a grip on the nyad's brain for that. "Heh. Would you really want your name written on here, even if they were singing your praises?" Phen queried as she swished the note before Kiel's face, "Then you would be our only viable clue, Mister 'Hawt and Awesome'."

Since Kiel had lifted his head, Phen decided that turnabout was fair play and tried to nestle her cheek on his shoulder for a change. Once reasonably comfortable, she let out a little sigh of contentment and went back to studying the coded message. "I suppose we'll have to move so I can get us some scrap paper," she muttered, "Or at least sit up straight to write properly."

Despite what she was saying, the nyad made no indication that she was willing to shift position. Apparently that decision was being left up to Kiel.

Piper's Boutique # Raine # Celestial Star # DaFont # Angel