"A dream," Lotte remarked sitting up. She looked at the cacophony of blankets and pillows.
"Hehe two teenagers made a pillow fort with little old me!" She snickered then looked at her brother. He looked so peaceful as he was right now. So blissfully unaware of what may most likely be his future. Instead of drawing on his face or taking a picture of his bed head
"My fun's just beginning."
"And I'm going to do it with my real family," the voice echoed in her head.
Even if it hadn't been reality, it had been a dream. Dreams were warnings.
"What an awful dream" she mumbled and brushed her hair. With unnecessary dramatic flair, she got up and twirled her wand, throwing it in the air. When it came back down she felt proud of herself for subtly using a spell to change her clothes.
After she changed Nico walked back into the room, already fully dressed.
"Why are you up at what must be four in the morning?" Lotte complained.
"The sun will be up soon, this is a good opportunity for me to do some personal things. It's early enough where no one will notice easily." Nico responded not looking at her.
"I don't want to be up so early -" Lotte started to whine and Damian rolled over in his sleep.
"The spider has no sense of humor" he mumbled.
"Quiet!" Nico hissed at Lotte. "If you're tired then go back to sleep, I don't really need you to be here to help me or anything," he decided.
"You weren't here when we first got here, My brother... He put on a brave front at the time but was otherwise disappointed in me. He used the disappointed brother tone and everything" Lotte confessed quietly.
"Nicodemus, he was disappointed in me for lying to him. He wasn't angry like he should have been," she said looking at him as he turned to face her.
Nico raised an eyebrow. "You sure you don't mean disappointed father? He does have to take on the role of a parent with how things are,"
"No I mean disappointed brother. He's my brother not..." Lotte trailed off. Nico looked at her again as he adjusted his coat. She was staring at Damian.
Damian was just silently lying on the floor and staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Nico.... Did you just dad zone me?" He asked finally. Lotte's eyes bulged.
Nico blanched. "Uh--"
"Do I have to walk around telling corny jokes? Can I walk around telling corny jokes? Can-" he yawned. "I forcibly adopt other kids with poor relationships with their families or other adults?" He asked sleepily.
Nico winced. "Why is that your train of thought? Do I need to make sure you didn't have any alcohol?"
"You woke up? How long have you been up?!" Lotte asked over Nico.
"Just woke up, don't yell I kinda have a headache from the sword nagging me and my adventurous dream of running in a circle while being chased by a..." Damian mumbled rubbing his eye and wiping his mouth even though there wasn't any saliva to begin with. As he opened his eyes they briefly appeared red and green before reverting to normal brown and green. Nico's attention was focused less on the abnormal eye color changes and more on Damian not wearing a shirt even though he had worn one when they went to sleep.
"Whoa you're.... Not wearing a shirt," Nico noticed, gazing at the muscles on Damian's arms and torso. Nico mentally reminded himself not to stare.
"Yeah I got hot during the night, sorry about that," Damian apologized. The shirt in question was covering up the sword of Destiny. Oddly it wasn't currently glowing as if trying to grab attention.
Nico stiffened and tried to be casual. "Would you like me to show you the kitchen? You can get dressed and work on breakfast if you want to," Nico asked and looked away as Damian stretched and yawned. Nico silently cursed his genetics for all the natural abilities he had.
"All the muscles from the track and field club and the badminton club are revealing themselves to mock me," Nico muttered. Lotte looked at him confused.
"Why are you up so early?"
"Why are you?" Nico asked
"Uh-- ahem I had a job once," Damian commented. Then the realization sunk in and he put a hand to his head in horror."Oh no.... I didn't show up for work yesterday,"
"And from the look of things I won't be able to today or in the near future," he mourned.
"I'm so fired" he lamented, distressed."Stuck here and no source of income,"
"There's probably a board of recruitment around that you can look at," Nico remarked sympathetically.
Damian looked up. "A what?"
"A poster board where people can post information about jobs they want people to take on and the pay it gives." Lotte explained.
Damian looked contemplative. "So like a job search??"
Lotte grinned. "Let's all go!"
❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃⍟❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃
Damian sulked, "Couldn't this misadventure have waited till actual daylight. It's hard too see in front of me let alone read anything," he griped. "This place doesn't have a whole lot going on in the outdoor light fixtures department,"
"Blame your sister, she wanted to know why I was getting ready to leave the house so early in the morning and didn't believe my explanation of not feeling comfortable in my own room."
"I'll bet- just bet, it's Because it's so barren!" Lotte cut in.
Daniel rolled his eyes. As did Nico who had personal reasons he couldn't add decor to the room. Lotte being the source of light and thus walking in front of them didn't see the action either time.
"Why were you up so early, anyway?" Damian asked. Nico looked abashed.
" It's personal stuff, I have things I need to take care of,"
"At this hour?" Damian asked.
Nico nodded. "For your and everyone else's safety."
They stopped in front of the board and true enough it was cluttered with papers pinned to it.
"Apothecary Assistant..." He read.
"No your weird maniacal organization side would rear its head and you'd rearrange the entire store within a day angering who knows how many people," Lotte refused.
"It's not weird!" Damian blurted offended.
"Or maniacal, it's orderly," he defended.
"How about Pelacuran watchman?" Damian asked reading another one.
"Nope," Nico refuted and didn't offer any explanation.
"Ah Lotte, Nico? What's a Pela-" Damian asked.
"Nope," Lotte affirmed.
"This doesn't sound so bad, server at the Nastaran Tavern," Nico remarked.
"Damian you worked at a restaurant, haven't you?"
"That's a faraway Tavern, like a four day trip away." Lotte explained.
"Oh- but Nico can te-" Damian started.
"By carriage," Lotte informed.
He moved on to something else.
Lotte's eyes lit up. "I got one! No experience or expectations in combat required.
It's perfect,"
"Why do I feel suspicious?" Damian deadpanned. Nico sighed.
"We're going monster hunting!" She cheered. "Our job will be to act as scouts. Just keep watch of anything attacking the campsite!"
"Lotte have you lost your remaining brain cells!?" Damian snapped.
"It'll be fine! You have the sword of Destiny! It'll be like have a chest code in a video game," she hummed.
"Sorry you didn't get something you have experience with," Nico apologized.
"It's not so bad. I'll like this chance to know my friends better," Damian commented.
Nico looked at him, "you aren't bothered that you were kept in the dark about something that concerns you? Or that we will be in danger by this time tomorrow?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
Damian snorted. "Oh no I'm very much bothered by it." He lidded his eyes and looked thoughtful.
"But you know, take things in stride and you'll be better off," Damian remarked.
At that moment they were interrupted by footsteps.
The dim glow of the lantern permitted a circle of view in which the newcomer was just barely in. They could see his blonde hair and emerald green eye. As well as the fain light of the evening reflecting on the silver heavy knight armor on his frame.
"I typically do patrol at this time to watch for thieves," he explained.
"Right, and who are you?" Damian asked hoping he was sparing himself of a monologue.
"My name is Arthorias Pendragon. My friends call me Arthur." Arthorias introduced.
"Aurthur Pendragon. Don't come back to my world, there's a couple of stories that don't paint you in a good light," Damian remarked.
Arthorias looked confused, surprised by the comment. "I-- pardon?"
Lotte sulked. "Damian why did you mention that?"
Damian and Nico looked at her curiously.
"No sense in being evasive, eventually everyone will know just from the sword alone," Nico commented. Damian nodded and Lotte frowned.
'those two are back to switching back and forth between being the voice of reason and the one to agree...' She thought to herself. Then noticed her wand was shooting off silent sparks of glitter.
"My Wand of Selection is sparkling, this boy must be important."
Arthorias grinned after a moment however.
"Ah it must be a joke of some kind. I know Jesters that were formerly knights, I'm certain one day I will master that art too," Arthorias smiled as his eyes flicked again to the recruitment board.
"Oh are you also looking for a way to make use of your skills and abilities that brings you pride?" He asked.
"Not quite," Nico remarked casually.
Lotte began floating. "My brother and his companion have worldly values and attachments. Also known as: they want money,".
Damian looked at him with a 'save me' facial expression. Lotte smiled at Arthorias "So we're joining those brave people who go monster hunting,"