- Yvere and Fensyr -
As the team approached Vázoluna's border, and Fensyr signaled for the guards to lower the wall, Yvere put her hand on Fensyr's shoulder.
Fensyr looked. "What are you--FUCK!" he knocked Yvere's hand away and rubbed his cheek.
Yvere motioned to Lucifer and Peter that everything was fine before turning to Fensyr.
"How long has the tooth been a problem?"
Fensyr rubbed his cheek. "Since I left with the twins to travel to Hell. Didn't feel like askin' a healer on the way, and it wasn't botherin' me in Hell so I thought the problem had fucked off."
The guards looked at the two, unsure of what had just happened. They hesitated to move while they waited to see what was going on.
"LOWER THE FUCKIN' WALLS!" Fensyr shouted. "Ow, fuck!" he shook his head. "Why are healed teeth always so fuckin' painful?"
Yvere sighed, "Ask me when you need healing otherwise I'll do what I just did," she looked over at Lucifer and Peter and shook her head no. "How'd you hurt your teeth anyways?"
"Bite block," Fensyr said. "Y'know what that is? You probably do...I bit through one."
Yvere exhaled in surprise. "Given that those things are designed to absorb a bite, I'm more surprised you didn't put a hole in your mouth."
Fensyr tried not to look back at Lucifer. "Yeah it, uh...it's strange. I've never bit through one on accident. Purposefully? Plenty of times," He bragged. "We should start moving. I can feel Lucifer's eyes digging into my back."
As Yvere turned around, Fensyr grumbled.
"Thank you."
Fensyr walked past the guards and waved in the rest of the group. Fensyr overheard a guard mumbling.
"Fuckin' red-eyes..."
The guard realized Fensyr had heard him and turned to apologize. As his eyes met Fensyr's, he froze in fear.
"Ya get one," Fensyr warned.
- Lucifer, Amaterasu, Peter, Vázi, Meli, -
Yvere took Tsukuyomi and Elijah into the back of one of the carts to manage inventory. Fensyr's wife, Siffen, had been waiting for Fensyr in the center of town. She told Fensyr she wanted to spend some more time together before the group left.
"Don't they spend enough time together?" Amaterasu commented.
"We're not in a rush," Peter said. "Besides, given Luce's reputation, she might be thinkin' Fensyr won't return."
Lucifer looked around at the staring lycans, hiding his suspicion as he searched for any potential problems. He was snapped out of his scanning by a familiar voice joyfully screaming what he assumed was his name.
"LUCY!" Vázi waved from atop the shoulders of her brother.
Vázi jumped off her brother's shoulder, stumbling as she landed. Before her brother could check to see if she was okay, she ran off.
Lucifer knelt. "Hi Váz-" he caught Vázi mid-tackle. "How's the family been?"
"It got bigger!" Vázi giggled. "MELI!" she turned to face her brother. "Stop hiding behind Fenmyn's legs!"
Lucifer was thinking how strange it was that Fensyr had had another child old enough to be walking around since the last time he had been in Vázoluna.
"V...V-V," Meli peaked out from behind Fenmyn's legs.
Meli's voice was soft and restrained. Lucifer immediately noticed the fear that was subtly present. As Lucifer met eyes with Meli, Meli quickly looked away.
Vázi ran over to Meli. "Come on," she was speaking softer. "Lucy isn't a bad adult. He's just like Paw."
''Pa'?' Amaterasu and Peter wondered.
''Bad adult'?' Lucifer was questioning.
Vázi slowly led Meli over to Lucifer. Meli's eyes stayed looking down the entire time. Meli's white hair and red eyes gave Lucifer an idea of what the child might have been through. Lucifer slowly offered his hand to Meli.
Meli flinched. "S-s-sor..." she tightened her grasp around Vázi's hand.
Amaterasu shuddered as she saw a familiar change in Lucifer's eyes. Peter tapped Lucifer on the back a few times. Lucifer closed his eyes and smiled.
"I like your hair," Lucifer complimented Meli as he opened his eyes. "Reminds me of my old wings."
"Show her your wings!" Vázi bounced with excitement.
Lucifer conjured his wings, startling Meli. Meli's fear was slowly replaced by curiosity as she eyed the black wings.
"Careful," Lucifer joked. "They're warm."
Vázi grabbed the tip of one wing. Lucifer moved the wing closer, pretending as though Vázi was moving it.
"You've gotten a lot stronger!" Lucifer said.
Vázi smiled and placed Meli's hand on the wing. Meli was immediately intrigued by the warmth she felt. She slowly reached out her other hand and grabbed the wing. Vázi went over to the other wing and hugged it.
"I like these wings so much more than the old ones!"
Lucifer noticed Meli's expression shift after hearing that. "White wings, black wings, it's all the same. Feather color, hair color, eye color, it doesn't matter."
Meli's mouth moved slightly as if she was about to grin but couldn't bring herself to. She slowly lifted her head until she was making eye contact with Lucifer. As soon as their eyes met, Meli looked away. Lucifer took this chance to ask Meli a question.
"Are you and Vázi friends?"
"Y-y-y-"
"Of course, Lucy!" Vázi interrupted. "I thought you were s'posed to be smart?"
Lucifer chuckled, "Being smart doesn't mean I know everything."
Meli grinned and hid her face behind Lucifer's wing. Lucifer noticed Fensyr coming back.
- Lucifer, Fensyr, Vázi, Meli, Peter, Amaterasu -
Fensyr ran up to Lucifer. "Sorry 'bout this, I wanted to ask if-"
The look in Lucifer's eyes as he turned to face Fensyr stopped Fensyr from continuing.
"Go on," Lucifer said politely as his eyes hid severe anger.
"Lucy?" Vázi worriedly asked.
Fensyr looked over at Meli, who was now fully hugging Lucifer's wing. Fensyr knelt and tussled Meli's hair.
"See, V-V and I told ya he wasn't scary."
"Mmm," Meli responded. "His eyes r-really d-do l-look like mine."
Fensyr signaled to Fenmyn to take the two children. "We'll be here until tomorrow, but for now, Lucifer and I need to talk about stuff."
Vázi pouted. "Fine..."
As Fenmyn led the two children away, Meli looked back at Lucifer. Meli lifted her hand halfway in an attempt to wave goodbye. Lucifer smiled and waved back.
- Lucifer, Fensyr, Peter, Amaterasu -
Fensyr sighed, "So the thing I was going to ask is if it was okay if we stayed here a day? I wasn't tryin' t'guilt ya."
"It's fine," Lucifer said as he stood up. "What's the story behind Meli?"
Lucifer's tone was a warning sign to Peter. Peter signaled to Amaterasu to be careful. Even though Fensyr was unfamiliar with the tone, he could still sense something was off. Fensyr started explaining carefully.
"I got a message about a runt years ago. I set it up so that any time a new runt was born I would be notified, because, as ya saw, our runts are born with white hair and red eyes. I had a lot of other things to handle, so I didn't meet Meli until she was the age you see her at now. I didn't know her situation would be-"
Lucifer interrupted, "The name 'Meli' seems highly unconventional. Is it short for Melifen?"
"No..." Fensyr said. "Her original name was Namele. I'm not sure if you know, but in lycan culture-"
"Her original parents?" Lucifer interrupted again. "Did she lose them?"
Fensyr felt his instincts yelling at him not to answer the question truthfully. He swallowed the feeling and tried to get out ahead of the problem.
"I handled it."
"How?" Lucifer didn't relent.
Fensyr took a breath. "As you can see, I adopted her into my family. She and V-V get along well, which has helped-"
"Last time," Lucifer warned. "What happened to Meli's parents? What happened to the beings that gave their child an orphan name?"
Fensyr gritted his teeth. "Look, I took Meli from them, and removed their right to have children so long as they're in this territory, which for lycans is one of the highest forms of punishment."
Lucifer clicked his tongue. "You think that's enough?"
"No," Fensyr admitted, surprising Lucifer. "But I can't kill them. If I had killed the parents and taken Meli it could have been wrongfully thought of as me killing in Amaterasu's name. As much as I want those two pieces'a shit in the ground, they do more good alive, servin' as examples."
Lucifer's unnerving tone eased, "What about taking their child though? Is that not seen as a clear Amaterasu-sided action?"
"No," Fensyr said. "Taking a child away and removing the parents' right to have more children in the territory has precedent. Every lycan knows the reason why I did it, even those in the Fenrir faction who are against me understand that they can't twist what I did."
"What if the parents are killed?" Amaterasu asked.
"First of all," Fensyr looked from Amaterasu to Lucifer, "I'd prefer if they weren't. But if they do die, so long as it isn't someone closely associated with me," he stared at Lucifer, "then my hands are clean. So, please, keep whatever the fuck was behind those eyes of yours under control."
There was a moment of silence. Fensyr, Lucifer, and Amaterasu were all thinking about their place in this situation. Fensyr from his position as territory leader. Amaterasu from her position as a faction icon. And Lucifer, from his position of a furious bystander. Peter broke the silence.
"So your daughter calls you 'Pa' now?"
"Yeah," Fensyr grinned. "Don't ya dare say a thing to make her stop or I swear-" he stopped as he noticed Lucifer's glare from the corner of his eye.
- Yvere, Tsukuyomi, Elijah -
Tsukuyomi sorted through the box. "What exactly are we 'managing' here? I would have thought this task had already been handled?"
"It was," Yvere said. "I just wanted to speak with you in private. Elijah," she looked up, "feel free to leave. I only asked you to join to hide my intentions."
Elijah grabbed a harmonica out of one of the boxes and sat down. "Unless it's personal, I'd prefer to stay."
Tsukuyomi sighed, "Why do you humans act in such an intrusive manner?"
"Eat a dick," Elijah responded casually as he flipped his middle finger at Tsukuyomi.
"Why would I-"
"Enough," Yvere groaned. "I'm just going to say 'stop' when you need to stop talking," She stared at Tsukuyomi. "If you have something you want to say but are unsure of, run it by me first, I'll let you know whether it's appropriate."
"Fine," Tsukuyomi agreed. "It is strange to me that you are reiterating what has already been established."
Yvere took a breath. "I'm 'reiterating' this while Lucifer isn't around. It's in everyone's best interests if your behavior is genuine and not just because you're trying to impress Lucifer."
Tsukuyomi looked down in contemplation. "I suppose that is fair, given...given my family's history with your team."
Yvere held out her hand for a handshake. "Welcome to the team."
Tsukuyomi hesitated for a moment. He shook Yvere's hand and left the cart. Elijah started playing on the harmonica. He stopped when Yvere looked at him.
"What?"
"Nothing," Yvere shrugged and sat down across from Elijah. "I'm certain whatever your problems with him are, they're justified."
"Hate his type," Elijah said. "And his sister, but I'm suppressing that feeling. Seems like she's genuinely trying to atone." He continued playing his harmonica.
"You're pretty good," Yvere complimented. "Past life skill or?"
"Sorta," Elijah stopped. "Satan said that musical instruments are a good tool for training certain aspects of magical control. Learning music from the devil," he chuckled, "somehow feels more surreal than the literal magic."