"We were outside, and we had a couple of accidents. These things happen, I'm sure you can understand."
"That didn't look like an accident."
"What can I say? I don't know my own strength, and I'm just so clumsy. Sometimes when I'm around, accidents just happen."
"Well, I expect some sort of compensation."
"Of course, of course, I mean, if I saw something happen to someone I care about, I don't know what I'd do. The thing is, I'm just so young, and sometimes I just let my emotions get the best of me." Cara looks confused, but I keep pressing. "I mean, if I saw someone taking advantage of one of my friends, I don't know what I'd do. Just thinking about it makes me–"
'Crunch!'
I grip the edge of the wooden table and crush it with my bare hands. Splinters litter the floor as two chunks are pulled away between my fingers.
"Oh, sorry, I'm just so clumsy. It was an accident, of course." I smile aggressively as the pieces of wood crumble away in the palms of my hands. "Accidents just tend to happen when I get worked up like this."
I shrug nonchalantly and give Cara a chance to digest my threat.
"What's going on? I heard a noise." Josh's father comes running down the stairs. I can only imagine how he felt seeing the shattered remains of his table in my hands and a look of fear on his wife's face.
"I'm sorry, I haven't gotten your name. I'm Nick." I bow and drop the pieces of the table to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Me? I didn't do anything. It was just an accident. We all have accidents sometimes, right? Of course, we do. By the way, I didn't catch your name."
"I'm Thomas, and I'd like to ask you to lea–" I use flash step and appear in front of Josh's father before he can finish speaking.
"You know Thomas; I came over here to check up on my friend Josh because I worry about him. He's a good kid, but he can be a bit naive." I move so that I'm blocking Josh's vision of Thomas. While speaking, I use my left hand to casually fix his shirt bunched up while he was running. I then place my free hand on his shoulder and begin squeezing. "Of course, I'm sure you're aware that people might try to take advantage of him, right?"
Thomas grits his teeth. I can tell he's in pain from my fingers digging into him. His jaw is clenched too tightly for him to speak, so I do it for him.
"I'm sure your blood boils at the thought. Of course, well, mine does as well." A heated tension brings silence to the room.
"If anything happens to us, the guards–" Cara starts, but I cut her off.
"Yes, the guards," I say as I twirl around to face the housewife. Thomas finally gains a chance to breathe as I release him. "I always feel so safe when I think of the city guards. I mean, I'm the rising star of the adventurer's guild. The wealth I'm bringing in from the forest is changing the entire structure of the town. I'm the son of a noble, and I have a personal relationship with the guild master of this town. On top of that, I have several other powerful connections. If something were to happen to me, I know the city guard would do everything in their power to ensure I'm safe. I'm sure you feel the same way. If anything happened to you, the city guard would…."
I stop and raise a finger to my mouth as if to ponder before continuing.
"Hmm, what would they do?"
The blood drains from the faces of the two adults in the room as the threat I'm making becomes more apparent.
"Hey, Josh, there's something I want to show you outside." Sakura grabs the boy by the arm and drags him out the back door.
The air in the room freezes after the children leave. I make sure to keep a smile stapled to my face.
"What do you want from us?" Thomas finally works up the courage to ask me the question I'd been avoiding. I wanted to make sure they understood that they needed to comply or there will be consequences.
"It's simple, really." I walk around the table with my arms spread. This gives the impression that I own the place. I want to make our positions clear. "I want you to act like parents."
"But we–" Cara begins.
"Ah, I think you're going to say you do act like parents, but you don't. And if either of you tries to make that claim, I'll break every bone in your arms." I drop my smile for the first time since entering the house.
"..."
"Good." My smile returns with renewed vigor. "I want you to feed him well and do the chores around the house. I want him coddled like the child he is. I want him to have some love and affection for the first time in his life, and I don't care if you have to pretend. If I ever, EVER hear about you abusing him or taking his money again, I'll strangle you both to death with my bare hands. And before you try to guilt trip me by asking where he'll live if you're dead, Sakura loves him to death and would be more than happy to take him in. Are we clear?"
"..."
"I said, ARE WE CLEAR?!" I slam my fist down on the granite countertop, and it shatters into several pieces before falling to the ground. Warm blood trickles down my hand, but I ignore it.
"Yes, yes!"
"We're clear! Yes!" They both respond in a panic and nod their heads repeatedly.
"Good. I don't want you asking him for money anymore, which means you're going back to work."
"Okay!" Thomas doesn't give me any excuses and agrees immediately.
"If you need any cash, come talk to me."
""Okay!""
"I don't know why you wanted to show me that." As if on cue, the kids walk in. Josh seems befuddled as he poses his question to Sakura.
"I just felt like it." She responds casually.
"What happened to the counter?" Josh quickly notices and walks over to access the damage.
"Oh, it's nothing, sweety. We just had an accident." Cara mirrors my language as she stands up to comfort Josh.
"Okay."
"Sometimes accidents just happen, so we all need to work hard to prevent accidents, right everyone?" I spread my arms as I ask the question to pressure them into agreeing.
"Yes."
"Of course." A wave of agreement comes from the peanut gallery.
[I think we're done here.]
"Well, that's fantastic. I think we should head out now. We don't want to be a bother."
"Oh, you're no bother at all." Cara lies through her teeth. Her smile is so forced it's painful to look at.
"Perfect, then we'll make sure to stop by again sometime." Both his parents freeze when I suggest another visit. "That won't be a problem, will it."
"No, of course not!" Thomas jumps in with an answer.
"Perfect, perfect. Oh, Josh, before we go, can I see your room?" I glance at Cara as I ask.
"Okay. It's ups–"
"It's messy! You don't want to see a messy room." Cara covers Josh's mouth and makes up an excuse. I can tell he turned toward the stairs, so it's safe to assume that's where his room is.
"That doesn't really bother me." I nonchalantly head for the stairs. The smile is noticeably missing from my expression. I want to set a more relaxed tone now that we've got everything hammered out.
"Wait!" Thomas shouts in a fluster. "We had him stay in a different room while we were getting him a new room!"
"A new room?" I raise an eyebrow skeptically.
"Yes, a new room with a new bed."
"I'm getting a bed?" Josh unwittingly spills the beans. Fear rushes up both of his parents' faces. I smile, but it doesn't reach my eyes.
"That's wonderful. I can't wait to see your new bed."
"Yes, it'll be great!" his father says.
"Of course, because it's a gift, you wouldn't make Josh pay for it, right?" I ask as I narrow my eyes at him.
"No, definitely not."
"Then we'll be going now. I'm sure our next encounter will be very different, right?"
"Yes, absolutely!"
"Of course, of course. Oh, before I forget." I grab a handful of gold coins and place them on the broken table. "This should cover the damages. We wouldn't want Josh to pay for it."
"No, no, of course not, thank you." Thomas sweats profusely as he sees us to the door. I send one last grin his way before heading outside.