Just Waiting

Part Nine, Day Thirty-two – 58 Days to Go

By Relm

It was day four of the boys' journey. With their supplies in hand they on their return trek home. Blitz was happy that he had gotten everything he wanted, De Tanga was happy Blitz was happy and letting him call Blitz by his name and Devon...

Well he was still pissed.

Instead of rescuing Devon from the mob Blitz and De Tanga sat around at the cafe chatting and eating lunch. The two sat at the cafe for hours while Devon made several passes with the angry mob hot on his heels. Maybe the first pass Blitz and De Tanga could say they didn't notice Devon or the mob, but ten passes later there was no excuse. The two men were clearly ignoring the chimera. This didn't sit well with Devon.

During the chaise Devon got extremely tired and had to hide so he could catch his breath. Stopping was always risky while being chased. Because if you were found you were screwed unless you could get away. Each time Devon hid he thought about what he would like to do with his traveling companions. Deep down he knew that the situation was ultimately his fault and therefore not De Tanga or Blitz's responsibility to help him out. But it was a matter of principle. Blitz was family after all! How could a person turn their back on a family member in need?

Quite a few times while being chased Devon had tried to escape the city. If he could have gotten out of the city barrier he would be free to use his magic. And if he could use his magic then the angry mob wouldn't be a problem at all. But Devon couldn't get out of the city. Every path leading out of town seemed to be guarded whenever he got close to escaping. Logically there weren't enough men in the city to guard the whole perimeter so Devon should have been able to get out on at least one try. But when being chased around like Devon was that somewhat made logical thinking a hard thing to do.

After several hours of chasing Devon, the mob grew tired and sloppy. This gave Devon his chance to escape. In his cloak Devon had a vile of a blue potion that he only used in case of emergencies. It wasn't something he liked to use, but he wasn't given much choice. So down the hatch the potion went when Devon got that window of opportunity.

Though there was a magic eliminating barrier around the city it didn't stop things like transformation potions from working. It just prevented people from casting spells. So once Devon drank the potion it began to work instantly.

The transformation was painful but quick as Devon crumpled into a ball on the ground. When he stood after the transformation he was a new man. Gone away was his scaled green skin and reptilian/demon eyes and everything else that defined him as a chimera. The Devon Larle that stood in that alleyway was the Devon had been before becoming a chimera.

Porcelain skin free of any wrinkles or blemishes, short wavy dark green hair as soft as silk, eyes a softer lighter green but extremely engaging, ears pointed and a smile that could melt anyone's heart. Yes Devon Larle an extremely hansom elf. He was so pretty that if he grew his hair he could even pass for a girl. Men and woman alike were charmed by his good looks. But he didn't like being an elf for one reason only.

He was short.

He wasn't two feet tall or anything but he wasn't the nearly the 6 feet tall he was as a chimera. As an elf Devon was just a hair shorter than Gavin. And though that really wasn't too bad Devon hated it. He didn't like people looking down at him. Especially when it was the girls he liked looking at him. This dislike of his height became more intense when he was first turned into a chimera. Being so tall was so alien to him. Though it was awkward at first Devon loved it. So much so that he never wanted to be cured. The person who cursed Devon had been trying to make Devon's life hellish by turning him into a chimera.

Since the man cursing Devon didn't get what he wanted he then decided to cure Devon and turn him back into an elf. There were several ways to turn something into a chimera and the process the man used on Devon was one of the few that were reversible. It was just a matter of magical potions. Making the curing potion was actually quite easy; it just magically nullified the bonds keeping the chimera together. So the three of them would separate. Putting them together in the first place had been the hard part.

When Devon was first cured he had been quite distressed. So had been his reptile and demon components. They had become part of Devon and didn't enjoy being separated. The two of them refused to leave Devon until Devon found a way to re-bind them. And Devon did find a way though it was complicated and required some special magical items to do the cursing spell.

So using that curing potion was something Devon rarely did. It was usually on in the case of fighting an opponent that required more magic power to deal with than what he had as a chimera.

But as he stood there in that alleyway he knew it was the easiest way to get out of town. They wouldn't be looking for a person quite so short. The problem with this solution was his demon part. The reptile Devon could hide in his shirt pocket since it was small enough. And it was a cute little lizard that was very affectionate. The demon however was another story. It looked scary and big, much bigger than Devon was as a chimera and towered over almost anyone it stood in front of. So the demon wasn't something that could blend in with a crowd. But the demon was fast, lighting fast so it would be able to speed out of the city in a flash. So that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the demon was extremely attached to Devon. It got very upset when it had to go any distance away from its' elf counterpart. So getting the beast to go ahead of him first was troublesome. Devon had yelled at the demon several times ordering it to run and leave. Of course Devon had promised the demon he would meet him outside of town. But that didn't matter to the demon. It didn't want to leave its' master alone in town.

So what did the demon do? It picked up Devon and ran like the wind speeding the three of them out of town.

Blitz and De Tanga had noticed this and finally decided to leave the cafe.

And that brings us to where we are now. The trio was on their return trip to Zelphilia but with others along for the journey. They had continued traveling till dark, set up camp and then moved on in the morning. Devon had refused to talk or acknowledge De Tanga or Blitz till morning. He was extremely angry at the both of them especially since the two didn't even try to apologize to the elf. In fact they acted like nothing had happened. And the two keep talking being all chummy with each other while Devon stewed in anger. In the morning he let the two of them have it after breakfast. Neither man was apologetic to Devon, as they reminded him that the mob was after him because of something stupid he did. That it wasn't their fault he angered the men of Valsteep.

"Devon why don't you just change back?" Blitz asked once again for the hundredth time.

"I told you I can't!" Devon huffed. Since he was still quite angry at Blitz and De Tanga he wasn't enjoying having to repeatedly answer the same question over and over.

"But why not? You just got a bunch of magic supplies. So you should have enough stuff to do the curse." Blitz rationalized.

"I told you I need some special magical items to do it!"

"So why didn't you get it those things when we were in Valsteep?"

"Because I was being chased around by an angry mob!" Devon screeched.

De Tanga chose not to comment during this argument between Blitz and Devon. He was too busy examining both the Devon's demon counterpart and Devon himself.

The demon was interesting; it was one of those feral types with limited intelligence that liked to cause mayhem. But being bound to Devon as a chimera seemed to have changed the demon's nature. Though menacing looking it was actually quite pleasant and good tempered. It also appeared to be smarter than your average feral demon. The demon seemed to understand human speech even though it lacked the ability answer.

And Devon was a big change for De Tanga too. Since Devon as a chimera was so tall the clothes he wore were meant for his chimera frame. Being stuck as a pure blood elf made Devon's clothes appear ten sizes too big on him. It looked like he was child dressing up in adult clothing. Devon's voice was even higher too. And even though Devon was irritated and yelling at Blitz there something melodic and soothing about the elf's voice. Devon was definitely one of those better looking chimeras and it was easy to see why. As an elf Devon was quite possibly one of the most beautiful people De Tanga had ever seen.

'He has more advantages as an elf.' De Tanga mused to himself. 'Being a chimera cuts down his magic abilities and his long lifespan as well as make him more sensitive to the cold. The only real benefit he gets is slight improvement on his speed and strength. Is being a little bit taller really worth it?' But as De Tanga thought that he remembered something about himself that he disliked. 'Living a long time means you have to watch those you love die. He's not immortal, but he'll definitely outlive any of the non-elves in Zelphilia. Living among so many humans, dwarves, fairies and other creatures that have limited life spans would be depressing.'

"If you didn't have what you needed to change back then why wouldn't you have gotten it in town in the first place?" Blitz yelled at his wife's cousin.

"Because we don't need those ingredients!" Devon yelled back.

"But you just said you didn't have them!"

"That's because I have them at home! I didn't bring them with me because I didn't think I'd have to change in the first place!" Devon yelled at the top of his lungs scaring all the birds in the surrounding woods to take off into the sky in flight.

"Oh." Blitz mumbled. "Well why the hell didn't you tell me that in the first place?"

Devon just shot Blitz a murderous glare. It was actually quite funny because even though the glare was meant to be angry and ferocious Devon just looked too damn pretty doing it.

De Tanga almost couldn't fight the urge to laugh.

Blitz however couldn't. "HAHAHAHAHA!"

Devon's fist would have connected with Blitz' head if it had not been for the demon grabbing Devon preventing him from hurting his cousin's husband.

"Let me go!" Devon screeched at the demon while struggling. "Blitz needs to die!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blitz roared with more laughter. He knew he should stop but he couldn't help himself.

De Tanga just shook his head. There wasn't much he could do to defuse the situation. No matter what he said it was likely to make things worse. So De Tanga just kept walking not saying a word.

...

After a couple hours the mood somewhat settled down and the men decided to rest for lunch. Of course De Tanga prepared lunch while showing Blitz some basic cooking techniques.

Blitz had originally written off cooking as being one of those impossible things to do or learn. That he was too stupid and clumsy to manage to make anything right. But he soon realized it wasn't as hard as he thought.

"You're going to cook for Faithe for her birthday?" Devon raised eyebrow at Blitz after Blitz' cooking lesson.

"Why you don't think I can do it?" Blitz barked back.

"Probably not. But if you can I wouldn't make anything that tastes too good. Otherwise she'll be expecting you to do all the cooking from now on." Devon sat back against a tree with a leisurely smug smile on his lips.

Blitz shot De Tanga a look that demanded an answer. "Is that true?"

De Tanga sweatdropped. "Well that could always happen. But I'm just showing you a couple recipes. If she makes you make the food after that you could just make things poorly. And rationalize it by telling her you only learned what you learned for her. But even if you should still spoil your wife once and a while. She has to cook so much all the time because your family eats so much. Doesn't she at least deserve a break once in a while?"

Blitz frowned. "Alright you have a point."

"So Devon..." De Tanga went to change the subject. "Do you have names for your lizard and your demon counterparts?"

"I don't see them too often so giving them names probably is kinda silly. But I call the lizard Dragon and the demon Imp."

De Tanga frowned. "And they were okay with these names?"

Imp chose to answer for him and Dragon by shaking his head rather enthusiastically. And we're assuming that both counterparts are male since Devon is male.

"Ironic since dragons are big and imps are small." De Tanga mused. "Are you afraid of how everyone will react to you when you get back?"

Devon shook his head. "They've seen me as an elf many times. I was born and raised as one in Zelphilia before I got turned into a chimera. And no one finds Imp scary."

"Zelphilia is definitely a different sort of a city... I never been in a place where having so many different kinds of people is so common."

"We have the biggest population of chimeras for sure." Blitz agreed.

"And the most beautiful chimeras." Devon boasted with pride.

"Yes Whynn is very pretty." De Tanga mused with a laugh.

"I was referring to me but she is beautiful." Devon let out a sigh. At that moment he thought about what she would be doing. 'I wonder if she misses me right now.'

De Tanga smiled at the change in Devon's face. It looked far off like Devon was in some place very far away. "Devon what's the story between you and Whynn? You're not dating her, you flirt with other woman all over the place, but you get royally pissed when someone flirts with her. So what's the deal?"

"She's immune." Blitz darkly chuckled.

Devon glared at Blitz. "I'm not a disease Blitz."

"She doesn't fall for his flirty crap." Blitz explained ignoring Devon's protest. "He's asked her out several times but she always manages to change the subject."

"She just doesn't think I'm being serious when I ask her out. Which I'm not, of course." Devon huffed defensively.

Blitz rolled his eyes. "A man's pride is their worst enemy when it comes to relationships. Because Devon is too stubborn to admit he's afraid of her rejecting him he can't ask her out normally. He's a certified grade A chicken, feathers and all!"

"I'm not chicken!" Devon protested loudly. "We just like to flirt with each other. You know a game. That's all!"

De Tanga was almost going to comment with his own judgement of the Devon's situation until he thought about his own. Playing games got him hurt before and here he was playing games again but this time with Luna.

'But she started it.' One part of De Tanga's mind pointed this out.

'This game could end up the same way, with your heart stomped to pieces.' The other part of De Tanga's mind countered back. Which was the emotional side and which was the rational side was hard to distinguish at this point.

'If you completely give in and bare your heart and soul to her she'll get bored of you. She's only doing this for the game after all.' That first part reminded the second part.

'That's true. She said if she wasn't bored with me by the end then she'll date me. If she's bored then it doesn't matter what I do.' The second part of De Tanga agreed.

With both his emotional and rational sides in agreement De Tanga knew that continuing with the game was the safest course of action. Because in this case it wasn't De Tanga's stubbornness wasn't the enemy preventing the possible relationship it was Luna's. She was ultimately the one in control after all.