Chapter 61: Take a Seat
Kije and Kurome soon walked out the kitchen, Kurome carrying a tray stacked high with numerous rolls filled with a variety of different ingredients from hams and cheeses to various fish pastes and even a few salad toppings. While Kije carried along the entire pot of soup with a jolly grin and ecstatic humming after fawning over Kurome and her fluffy headband for an inordinate amount of time. So long in fact that the soup nearly boiled over.
Even now Kije had the image stuck in her head, the blushing Kurome awkwardly squirming while two, fluffy black dog ears with small white fur tufts poked through her hairline. Honestly, she was tempted to get Kurome to just keep them on for the rest of the day from just how much they fitted her. But she knew that for a girl such as Kurome that would only lead to undue embarrassment especially with her co-workers.
"They really fitted you," Kije whispered to Kurome giving the girl a small wink sending another bout of blushes through Kurome who'd been forced to wear them throughout the preparation of lunch.
"Thank you," Kurome whispered in return.
They soon arrived at the empty doorway leading into the dinning room where Wave and Bols were watching Seryu playing some form of tickling game with Logue who was giggling to the point of crying while Koro whimpered on the side, saddened at being neglected by his owner.
"Stooooop, hahahaha." Logue whined under Seryu's ticklish assault.
Seeing the sight, Kurome and Kije melted themselves but kept enough strength to keep walking towards the table drawing both Bols and Wave's gazes to them. Kije's locking with her husbands for a moment getting a small nod from him.
"Logue! Seryu! Lunch is here," Bols called to the two.
"Coming," Seryu called back, releasing a panting Logue from her clutches and stood. "Are we not going to wait for Run and the captain?" she asked as Kurome and Kije placed down their platter and pot.
As if they had heard her speak, a knock came from the frontdoor.
"I'll get it. Kurome, could you start filling the bowls with the soup please?"
Kurome nodded, making small steps to the table, silently reaching out to the ladle in the pot with one hand and one of the bowls Bols set out while they were cooking with the other. Stirring the creamy vegetable and chicken soup to get the various chunks of vegetals and meat to collect enough in the ladle for each person.
"No! Dear, I should get it." Bols pushed out his seat and stood up.
"Hush now," Kije huffed, wiping her hands down on her frilled apron, a similar of which she'd gotten Kurome to wear. "I'm sure the General won't mind your WIFE greeting her. Now sit."
"But-"
"SIT!" Though she raised her voice enough to cause Wave and Seryu to jump in surprise, Logue just started giggling once again while her father collapsed into his chair with his head down. On the other end of the table, Kurome's legs buckled nearly sending her into her own sit command, but soon caught herself when she processed it wasn't Parc's order, just something that instinctively came to her from Kije's commanding tone.
"Papa got yelled at by mommy again, hahaha!"
Kije had seen Kurome's little flub, even if the others hadn't. And it was to her by far the cutest aspect of Kurome's persona apart from her embarrassed face when she had the ears on.
Smirking to herself, Kije turned back to the hallway, making her way to the door. Kurome continuing to pour in soup into the bowls one by one. Hearing a soft click of the front door unlatching followed by muffled chatters of Kije and another voice that was much too soft for anyone to hear who it was.
"Sooo, I'm guessing she's the one who wears the pants in the family?" Wave whispered leaning towards Bols.
"Kije is certainly more open than I am. She's always been the one leading me along. My, uh, fear of people sort of made our relationship slow going in the beginning. I was… um, too scared to ask her out."
"I feel like I should be surprised at that. But I'm not." Wave said shaking his head. That was exactly something Bols, the elite, flamethrower wielding, plague infested burning super soldier with a fear of strangers, would do.
"I haven't heard about you from Bols. Are you a new member of the Jaegers?" All eyes found themselves drawn to the doorway where Run was passing through with a strained expression, directly behind him, Kije came into view, head tilted to the side talking to someone.
"Oh no, far from…" when the familiar mans voice came from the doorway the spines of Bols, Wave and Seryu tingled. And the moment the black-haired boy, stopped in the doorway staring at the three with a bright smile. They all burst to their feet, "…I'm a member of Night Raid."
Kije stumbled over herself, opening her eyes wide to Parc as if to ask if he was being serious.
"Ma'am! Get away from him!" Seryu bolted towards Parc, Koro chomping down upon her arm coming off to reveal a large blade.
"Eh?" Kije mumbled seeing Seryu charging her and Parc.
Parc remained utterly unfazed by the quickly approaching finger thick blade of the partly metal girl. In fact, he held a sharp smile.
"Seryu, stop!" Run tried jumped into her path but she ducked to the side, ignoring Run completely as she grabbed Kije's shoulder pulling her back with enough force that Kije went tumbling to her butt. Her bladed arm raised up, coming down not moments later.
"I wonder, does your justice like traumatizing little girls?"
Just as swiftly, the blade halted just millimetres away from his neck. "What?" Seryu hissed.
"Does, your justice, like traumatizing little girls? Its an easy question Seryu. You cut my head off, the little one gets nightmares for who knows how long. Just imagine the terror she'll feel every night watching as someone she idolizes brutally kills a man. Then think about how long that'll go on for, how the miss will have to spend night after restless night tending to her own child who can't fall asleep because the 'headless man' is watching her. Hell, maybe she'll even see your face instead. Cause quite frankly, right now she's looking more scared of that cute little face your making than me."
And a 'cute' face it was. Her eyes were wide and angled, with numerous wrinkles lining her eyes and forehead. Lips curled forcing the appearance of a rage induced slashers smile. Then came the thick bloodlust she exuded that it turned even Kije's face pale while Logue began to shiver, cowering behind her father.
"I-" Seryu faltered at the sight of Logue's tear stained cheeks and fear filled eyes. Watching as she quickly ducked out of her view, Bols large hand going down to pat his doughters back as she clenched fistfuls of his pants fabric. "L-Logue?" Seryu stuttered, her blade wobbling against Parc's neck.
"Pick one," Seryu turned back to Parc, "kill me now, traumatize Logue. Or put the weapon down so we can have some lunch. Okay?"
"I-I'm not going to fall for your lies!" Seryu spat returning to her psychosis induced expression, "she'll understand you are an evildoer and I'm bring about justice!"
"Really? You're saying a child will understand something as complex as 'justice?' Because I can tell you right now, when I watched my mom's wings get torn off in front of me, I certainly didn't think about justice. I was confused and terrified. More so when I watched my aunts spear go through my mom's assailants chest. I still remember every detail, Seryu. The blood pouring out of my mothers back. Her torn clothes. The mans body going limp. My aunts hateful eyes as she looked at me. The stench of blood blending in with the sweetness of cake and fruit juice. My moms sobbing. I remember. Everything.
"That something your happy to let little Logue see every night for the rest of her life? Not even I would go as far as this, Seryu. At least when I kill someone, I like to make sure that there's no children around to see it." His words bit into every fibre of Seryu's being. Her psychotic expression shrinking to one of confliction.
"She- She will…"
"She will what? Come on Seryu. Put the knife down." Parc's voice softened considerably, "I'm not here to harm anyone. Hell, why would I even be here if I escaped? I could have just run off back home."
"Except you wouldn't," From behind Parc, Esdeath made herself known, just her voice enough to cause Seryu to retract her arm and fall into a salute.
"Ma'am!"
"At ease, Seryu." Esdeath smirked, "and put away that little toy. We are guests in this house, so show some decorum and put it away… NOW!"
Seryu's arm shot up and Koro latched around it returning it back to her prosthetic arm.
Esdeath nodded her head approvingly to Seryu's quick compliance. An essential to any fine tools arsenal.
"Ma'am. Please tell me why he is here and not in his cell!"
"I've decided to give Parc a certain degree of freedom from now on. One such freedom is that he's free to leave so long as I am accompanying him." That was certainly not something Seryu wanted to hear.
"WHAT!? Ma'am! You can't be serious!? He could escape!"
"And yet he hasn't. Not that he plans to escape. Now do you, darling." Esdeath wrapped her arms around Parc's neck, pinching his cheeks together with one with one hand causing his lips to pucker just slightly.
The Jaegers all gawping from how close Esdeath was to Parc and was even nuzzling her cheek against his.
"Yeah, no, not really," he sighed, "Not with Esdeath and her whole…" his mind wondered to the sight of Esdeath's stomach and just imagining it growing rounder, "…situation going on."
Though he was hoping to get Esdeath under his control long before that ever became a pressing issue. He still had Najenda and a few other girls to deal with back at HQ before he was finished with this world and could get back to his own. That still having the issue of figuring out exactly what would happen to his girls.
Part of him felt no worry at the thought, as if it were guiding him to just conquer them and that everything would work out in the end.
"Situation?" Wave asked walking up to them.
Esdeath turned her head to Wave with a bright smile, "ah yes, I have an announcement." Esdeath released Parc's cheek, placing her arms on his shoulders and using as much of her power as necessary to push down on them, forcing Parc to buckle his legs. Ice forming around them freezing him mid-air in a position much like he was sitting against a wall, except there was no wall and his chair was ice that wrapped around his entire lower body, keeping his upped free to move.
Parc just groaning at being frozen once again, "I could have just taken a seat you know?"
"This is more fun," Esdeath retorted pushing Parc forwards with his feet sliding against the wooden floor like he was wearing roller-skates until he was just before the table where Esdeath skirted around his side with her back to him.
"Oh if you so much as-" Esdeath pressed the back of her skirt against her legs, lowering herself onto Parc's lap before pushing beneath the table. "Oh you little-" Parc stopped himself, remembering the child in the room not to far away from himself, "some days, I hate you so much."
"That may be," Esdeath shuffled her butt on his lap, "but I could care less about that." Turning over the various baffled people in the room Esdeath said, "I do believe I was offered lunch? Why don't we begin then? It smells absolutely delicious." Esdeath looked down to the barely steaming bowl of soup before her, one of the few Kurome had filled before the whole interruption with Esdeath and Parc arriving occurred.
Speaking of Kurome, Parc had been able to catch the faintest glint in her eyes when she saw Esdeath use his frozen lower body as her chair.
The Jaegers plus Kije shared a look, all as equally unsure of what to make of this whole situation as the others. Still all found themselves pulling out their own chairs and seating themselves. Bols besides his wife with a whimpering Logue on his lap while Seryu guiltily seated herself as far away from the little girl who would bury her face into her fathers chest whenever she looked up and saw Seryu.
Then besides Esdeath and her seat were Kurome and Wave and Run, respectively. Kurome having gotten the chair as close to Parc as she could.
Wave, unsure of what to ask about first, opted to ask the first question that popped into his mind, "what did Parc mean about 'your situation?'"
Esdeath rose her brow to him as she lowered her head down to sniff the soup a little better, "we shall eat first. It is inappropriate to allow such a hard fought meal to go cold."
'I don't think I care about the food anymore! I just want to be not confused!' he screamed in silence.
"Then, uh, why did you bring him with you?"
"Wave." Said person shivered at Esdeath's general voice, "silence yourself before I do so for you. I have said we shall eat first. If you have questions, you are welcome to ask them after we have sated ourselves. If that displeases any one of you, then I implore you to keep it to yourself or I will have you punished for the coming months. Am I understood?"
Even Kije found herself nodding rapidly at Esdeath's authoritative tone.
"Good," she lifted the spoon off the table, bringing it into the soup, "then let us eat."
Meanwhile, Esdeath's chest was thinking about how much his back was going to hurt after being stuck in this awkward pose for who knows how long.
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********contemporary romance
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Big Thanks to Nolan Nickleberry for the donation!
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Time for a terrible joke about a pornstar.
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What happened when the male pornstar was left in the sun too long?
He had a stroke.
done.co