When Tomoyo arrived home, she was more than a little surprised to see a table full of lavish dishes. She was about to call out to Avery to inform her of her arrival. But her voice got caught on the tip of her tongue the moment she set her sights on those steaming plates.
Tomoyo eyed the table suspiciously, mentally checking if she forgot any important occasions for that day.
She didn't know what was going on.
The woman sat heavily on the genkan[1] and placed her katana[2] and its accompanying wakizashi[3] on the floor beside her. Tomoyo carefully unequipped her plate armor piece by piece. Her brows were scrunched together as though deep in thought. The warrior's methodical movements were purely guided by muscle memory, it was neither fast nor slow. While her hands dealt with the armor's straps, her brain was doing mental gymnastics.
Multiple thoughts ran through her mind. Occasionally, Tomoyo would take quick glances at the feast behind her. "It's not Avery's birthday so that's out. Bolt's second birthday is still a few months away. Lionheart... I can see his favorite [Roasted Rabbit's Foot] but [Forac Berries] are also on the table and Cobalt loves those things. Violet is on a strict high nutrition diet."
Tomoyo took off the last piece of her armor and just sat there leaning back on her arms and staring blankly at the door. She still didn't know what was going on.
Moments later, Avery came out of the kitchen carrying Bolt and Violet's food bowls that were filled to the brim. She caught sight of a black ponytail that had gone slack from a day's work. It couldn't quite keep those loose strands from straying off. "Oh, hey! Welcome home. How was work?"
Tomoyo tilted her head back and saw an upside down Avery setting down two bowls by the tank's opening.
To make moving around easier for Violet, her tank had a specially made opening on the third floor aside from the open area on the fourth floor. It had the shape of half a dome and would stop the water from overflowing at a certain point. Basically, it applied the principles of hydrostatics. Avery chose that design since it gave off a cavern like feel. Plus, it's a much cheaper method than having to use a magical restriction.
"The usual." Tomoyo bit her lip, hesitating for a moment, and continued, "What's all this about?"
Avery put her hand in the water through the opening at the bottom of the dome and made a few small splashes "Lionheart and Cobalt made a mess upstairs."
Tomoyo nodded; understanding had dawned on her. Evidently enough, this wasn't the first time something like this happened. "How bad?"
"Really bad. You should go up and see for yourself. I doubt they'd even be half done with cleaning up right now."
"That does sound bad." Tomoyo stood up and gathered the pieces of armor strewn across the floor and hung them on one of the the armor stands not far from the door. She then placed her swords on their designated racks.
"I'm guessing that they've been cleaning since..." Tomoyo glanced at the white numbers [ 10:09 ] on her time panel, "three - four hours ago?"
"Mhm," Avery grunted out a vague sound of affirmation.
Avery pulled her hand out of the water when she caught sight of a large figure peeking out of the relatively small rock formation in a corner of the tank.
The inside of the tank was filled with freshwater plants and rocks. Lacking the presence of other aquatic beasts, the environment in the tank was only one step short of becoming a small ecosystem of its own.
Avery wrung her wet arm then wiped it on her pants to dry. The aquatic plants were plentiful but they weren't so dense that they made it too difficult to see wall on the other side of the tank. So when Avery signalled for Violet to come out, even though Violet is practically half-blind she could still she could still more or less see her master's movements.
It didn't take long for the large spider to emerge from the water. Violet tapped a dry section of her tank's glass with her forelimbs.
Water Fairy Spiders like Violet are known to live their whole lives in water. They don't have gills and they can't, under normal circumstances, breathe underwater. What Water Fairy Spiders do instead is use their silk to create air sacs that they carry on their bodies at all times or store in their nests. On occasions that they do surface from the water, Water Fairy Spiders would often carry with them a large volume of water that they also use in battles. Their venom is also incredibly potent.
Avery petted Violet's head. A smile could be seen from the luster in her milky eyes. "Tell Bolt to come down for dinner."
Violet tapped the glass in reply before going back in the water. Avery watched the pregnant spider scuttle her way up and disappear above the ceiling. It's much more convenient for the spider to move around in her tank. Her size didn't exactly allow her to fit through the door frame without having to squeeze through it.
In less than a minute, Violet swam back down followed by a series of loud thuds in the direction of the stairs. Bolt jumped through the dog door and ran straight to Avery. The gryphon sat down and stared at his tamer. He was wagging his tail up and down, making low thumping sounds as it hit the wooden floor. "Kree!"
Bolt's excitement was clear to see, he knew that he would be able to enjoy a great feast. With all the commotion that happened upstairs, it would be odd if he wasn't. This time it was Bolt's turn to have a hearty meal while others watched. That thought alone brought him an immense amount of satisfaction.
Her familiar's actions brought a small smile to Avery's lips. Avery sat down by the table and called out to the warrior who was still arranging her armor on the rack. "Tomoyo everyone is waiting for you. Look at their adorable faces. Don't you feel any pity? They might just starve!"
Tomoyo laughed and said, " I don't know... They look healthy to me. In fact, they look healthy enough to skip dinner altogether."
Tomoyo took a seat across Avery. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
Just as Tomoyo finished speaking they heard a soft flap and small squeaking joints. Avery pointed at the dog door, "That."
From where they sat, they could see a large furry head poking through the bottom of the door. Cobalt hung right under the fox's ear with his little paws holding on to Lionheart's mane. Because of Lionheart's size, only his head could fit through the less than two feet dog door.
Lionheart knew how to open the door on his own but going inside would only torture them even more. Their favorite food was there on the table! The oversized dog could only sniff and stare at the giant [Roasted Rabbit's Foot]. Cobalt didn't fare much better at the sight of his species's namesake. The bowl full of [Forac Berries] was just too tantalizing.
The duo whined and squeaked only to fall on deaf ears. They really shouldn't have made such a huge mess.
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Random terms I decided to use:
[1] Genkan - a Japanese style porch. It's basically a pit right at the entrance of a house/building where you change your shoes/slippers before going in or out of the house.
[2] Katana - a Japanese style two handed sword. It's the standard weapon of choice for the Samurai
[3] Wakizashi - a shorter one handed accompanying sword for the katana. It's used in close ranged fights. Having both the katana and the wakizashi together (the combination of both is called "daisho") would symbolize that the samurai is of a higher rank and/or position.