Kelvin was the first to walk into Arc's accommodations. He had finished with his work for the day and was going to relieve some of his stress by playing with Arc and laying down in his feline form.
'Perfect! He will definitely raise a fuss about my walking. Foreign environments here I come!'
Slowly and wobbly, Arc began to rise to his feet using his hands to stabilize himself. It was a clever act, but he felt he needed to sell a performance. Once he was on his feet, he held his arms out a bit as if balancing and began to put one foot in front of the other on his way to Kelvin. To sell it even more, he fell on his but halfway to his chair before getting up again and completing his journey.
He was worried at first that Kelvin wasn't reacting, thinking maybe he had screwed up, but it turned out he was actually too excited to move or express his shock. Looking down to the corner of his chair at the little well practiced wide eyed face, Kelvin suddenly shot up, grabbed Arc, and began to dance around gleefully.
"He walks! Arc walks!" His voice lost it's high pitch before becoming very loud. "ZERRIN! MERRI! COME TO ARC'S ROOM QUICKLY!"
Arc could have sworn that he felt this voice coming from all around him, and even inside him.
-----
Zerrin and Merri were put into a panic. Rarely, if ever, had they heard Kelvin become so loud or aggressive. Rushing through the halls of the mansion in mere seconds, Zerrin arrived first. If he wasn't recoiling from his eardrums nearly bursting from the roar that was Kelvin's summon, Arc would have noticed the silver dagger and black baton that Zerrin was wielding.
Taking note of the lack of hostile presences in the room, he swiftly sheathed his weapons, curious as to why he was yelled at. In stark contrast to what he had been expecting, Kelvin could almost be described as giddy.
Merri arrived roughly a minute later. Fast as she may be, the mansion was far larger than it seemed. It was far less helpful to her case that she was outside disposing of garbage. Unlike Zerrin, Merri's response was less extreme. She realized that if there really was an enemy Kelvin needed help to handle, she was far from powerful enough to put up a fight.
Instead, given the location she was being called to, it was much more likely that someone did something with Arc. Even more likely that Arc did something.
As such, while she was certainly in no rush, she did keep a brisk pace. Not something that would be out of the ordinary if she didn't look extremely pissed off.
Her arrival was much less peaceful despite her slower pace.
You see, despite being a cultivator, Merri never really adopted the mindset of one. This was detrimental in her cultivation in many ways, but it made her more aware of the world and the way things work. She was especially keen to matters regarding people.
Her eyes first fell upon the child sitting in the middle of the room with his hands over his ears and his face scrunched up into a clear expression of pain.
Rage. Fury. Anger.
All of these emotions would be apt descriptors of her emotions even if they did not quite catch the full scope of it. Retaining at least some degree of courtesy towards Arc, who hadn't even noticed her presence, she boldly grabbed Kelvin by the ear and pulled him out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Zerrin could not help but shake his head.
-----
"YOU GODDAMNED MORON!" A few rooms away, the fuming Merri screamed at the submissive and kneeling Kelvin. "DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA WHAT YOU DID?!?!?"
Kelvin, still experiencing something of an emotional shock, could do nothing but shake his head.
"THEN I SUGGEST YOU TAKE A GUESS!!!"
Kelvin, at this point sweating, swiftly racked his brains trying to think of some way that he might have screwed up. Did he forget to clean up his lunch? No that would not be enough to warrant this. Did he interrupt her work? What was she doing? The faint scent of trash lingered into his nose, giving him an idea that at the the very least didn't sound stupid.
".....did I interrupt your taking out the trash?"
His answer could not be more wrong.
*SMACK*
Although not powerful physically, Merri's slap held a potent emotional effect to Kelvin. Very rarely did she ever get physical. He clearly fucked up BAD.
"Think about who was in the room with you..." Her voice was a lot quieter now. This only served to make her more imposing.
Kelvin once again tried to think of what he might have done wrong. But even after brainstorming for what might have been minutes, he still couldn't think of how Zerrin fit into this. He should have just been doing paperwork.
He opted for silence. Rather than taking a guess, he decided to hold his tongue and prevent his situation from getting worse.
Noticing his resignation, Merri leaned forward to look him directly in the eyes. "We might not have been affected by such a loud noise, but what do you think happened to Arc when you yelled that loud? He hasn't cultivated yet. Shit, he isn't even able to speak! What will you do if you hurt his hearing permanently? What if you damaged his Nexus with that burst of Xan? What if he starts to hate you?"
That last inquiry really hurt.
"Now if you will excuse me, I have to attend to Arc. Go back and do your work, I know you have piles of it."