The figure lying on the sofa burped awake, startled by the sudden shout. He stumbled out, falling onto the wooden floors knocking the glass bottles into each other.
His dazed eyes looked up from the floor—grumbling. He saw Hotaru, "Akaren…?" he mumbled, only seeing the hues of red through his eyes.
"Don't you dare say her name," Hotaru dusted off the sofa, patting it violently over the fallen body. She moved away, allowing him to stand up; the other three still stood at the doorway.
He stood only a smidgen taller than Hotaru—maybe if he stood straight there would be a difference. Eyes of brilliant blue, but the whites were reddened and wrinkles aged. His body was skinny, clothes on the baggy side; not because of fitness, but out of malnourishment.
His hair- no, almost-fur was brown filled with greys. His nose was more on the wolf-side, a tiny spot of black at the tip that went back into skin like a mole; his ears longer and tail larger than Hotaru's.
The ends of his nails were more like claws, yellowed from improper care. A messy beard needing a shave, head of fur needing a haircut.
Only upon closer inspection of the half-human, could anyone tell his hair was fur, as opposed to Hotaru whose hair was hair, fur only upon her ears and tail.
Speaking of the redhead, her tail and ears were spiked up, fur standing on its end. Hotaru was not even facing her friends in the moment.
"Hotaru," he called, "Come on firefly, don't be yelling," her father's ears twitched.
Her fur seemed to spike higher, fangs in a grit, "Don't call me that," she pointed. "You're not supposed to be here, you're going to get arrested for being a squatter."
She sniffed the booze in the air, "Did you get into a damn bar fight again?" she scowled at the purple-black around his one eye.
"Not much of a fight; the other guy looked worse," he jested, scratching his beard, trying to wake up.
"Get the hell out," she ordered, done putting up with him.
"Firefly, I got nowhere else to go."
Hotaru huffed, "It's not my fault you couldn't pay rent and got evicted," she couldn't look him in the eye.
Her father sighed, "Fine, fine. It's morning anyway. You realize how cold it was last night?" he began wrapping up his blanket.
"Yes, it snowed because of velatos," Hotaru folded her arms.
"Snow? It doesn't snow in Kria," he muttered.
"Get out!"
He flinched, closing his ears, "Alright, alright, I'm going- Who are all these people?" he drowsily slurred.
Hotaru's eyes suddenly softened, almost forgetting the others were in the room. "We're her friends," Jotou commented, brows knitted.
Hotaru shook her head and her tail became soft again, "You know what? Stay. I only need to be here a few hours, you can rot in jail later for all I care," she dismissed, moving past him back to her friends.
"Hm… friends? With nobles and pretty ones like them? Either they must be desperate or you paid them. There's plenty to pick from in a tavern you know-"
"Dad!" she clenched her fists and twisted her head to face him.
"Yeah, yeah," he snarled. He got back on the sofa and pulled the blanket over himself before grunting back to sleep.
Hotaru exhaled and looked towards the three of them, "Sorry, he has no filter I swear," her eyebrows and ears relaxed.
Asobi poked out from behind Jotou, "I don't like scary Hotaru…" she hid again.
"Will you grow up already? I'm not mad at you, am I?"
"Hotaru," Jotou narrowed her eyes.
"Sorry," Hotaru took a deep breath. "I shouldn't be taking it out on you, I'm fine. He just gets to me, that's all. Sorry Asobi," she moved towards Asobi as Asobi leapt forward and gave Hotaru a hug.
"Sorry!" Asobi apologized hugging her head to Hotaru's waist.
Hotaru petted her raven black hair, "It's not your fault, you're fine."
"Who's Akaren?" Fumeko questioned, staring at the snoring figure.
Hotaru let the elf go, "My mother. He's Liam Lamray," she introduced.
"Then, Kinoshita?" Jotou enquired.
"Akaren Kinoshita—my mom. I don't remember her and I don't care; she didn't care to come take me away from this lucky-to-even-have-a-lover father anyway…
Still, I'd rather take her name, so I changed it legally. I don't even know where she is."
"…Luxinor…" her father groaned in his sleep.
"Right, she's from Luxinor. I moved to Kria when I was about three or four so I don't recall a single memory," she folded her arms once more.
"Doesn't that mean she'd be there?" Fumeko queried.
"Doesn't mean she can't move. Enough with the interrogation, we came here to eat and clean up so, let's move on with it already," Hotaru was about to walk towards her room.
Jotou kept an eye on her—the redhead's entire form had shrunken and closed off. Now she understood why she harboured such disdain for her old home.
The blonde was broken out of thought when a knock on the door was heard. "Madeline?" Hotaru turned, waiting for a response.
Asobi immediately opened the door. The shop keeper from before stood there, letter in hand, "Some Krialin came by, heard something about a beautiful blonde woman carrying a sword?
Thought of this one, I think I'm right," Madeline handed the letter which Asobi took.
"Thanks Madeline, I'll be out soon. Uh, make sure to clear up this place, you could probably rent it out for a better price," Hotaru gave a quick glance to her father.
"Always a lawyer," she bade, going down the steps.
"It's what I do," Hotaru said with a forced smile.
"Give me that," Fumeko plucked the letter from Asobi's hand. "This isn't from the Krialin, there's a sailboat seal on it. Krialin don't seal things- Hey!"
Hotaru grabbed the envelope from the brunette's hands and examined it. Her perturbed glance turned into an intrigued one, then to a mildly shocked one.
"You gonna tell us or am I going to have to read it from your face?" Fumeko crossed her arms.
Jotou kept staring at the snoring figure; she closed the door. 'Ugh, drunkard.' She counted the bottles on the floor.
"Jotou?" Asobi called.
"Hm?" she noticed the other three glancing to her, "Sorry."
"Don't mind him," Hotaru pouted.
"I won't. So, what's the letter?"
Hotaru had her suspicions, but unsealed it and gave it a quick read, "It's… an invite from the mayor? He formally invites us for an appointment in his office at noon; for a conversation of last night's events…"