Without asking, she took a hold of one of his hands. The ink that had flowed over it made her feel a slight burn, but Will seemed to be fine. "Amazing, he doesn't look hurt at all."
"Didn't that hurt?" she asked to confirm her suspicion.
Will shook his head. Raising a confused eyebrow at the question, as it seemed odd to him.
"Just you wait until we show this to the rest." Mira was excited. This was surely to make Three more happy with Will. He could easily help them out if he could simply soak up enemy fire.
"Let's tell Lia Tomorrow, we'll be seeing her in a museum."
Will nodded as to let her know he understood. "I really need a set of headgear next time I try to talk to him."
Putting her guests to bed made Mira get the idea she understood how her mother must have felt. Will seemed to grasp the concept of pyjamas and how to lay in a bed, but Kim and Devon had to have their hand held every step of the way.
After having explained to them for the third time that one is supposed not to sleep with three in a bed meant for two, Mira hoped that they finally understood and headed to bed herself.
"Yesterday I thought I'd seen it all, but now I sincerely doubt that." She looked at the weather forecast, that depicted a nice sunny day with a chance of some dark clouds in the afternoon. While she looked forward to going to the museum, as it was a quiet place where she at least could relax somewhat now the calm of her own house had been taken away from her, she still wasn't to happy that she had to meet Three there.
"I hope she at least tries to act nice, maybe she even knows more about… what even do they have at the museum? I guess I'll see that when we get there. But at least I hope those three know how to behave themselves."
Mira pondered about this for a moment and soon after fell asleep.
When she woke up, she wanted to turn to lay on her back and slowly sit up. As she did so, something felt out of place, the mattress was warm on the other side, like someone had just gotten up. She heard the sound of her rooms door opening, rubbed her eyes, and looked.
Devon stood by the door, her hand on the handle, wearing her armor that she had worn yesterday.
"I am sorry to wake you ma'am." she bowed down to her.
"Why are you in my bedroom?" Mira yawned.
"As you said, your beds have the capacity to accompany two. When I went to go to bed after Kimberly, She had taken the bed that Will was also using, so that left your bed as the one with a vacant spot."
"How late even is it?" Mira rubbed her eyes again before looking at the alarm clock next to her bed.
"six hundred seventeen ma'am." She had no idea what she meant by that, but it was still only past a quarter past six in the morning.
"Why are you already awake?"
"I am late for my normal routine, yesterday has been hectic all things considered."
"Just calm down, we don't have to leave till half past seven."
"Then when will we attend breakfast?"
"I dunno, When we feel like it?" Mira laid back down, ready to continue sleeping for another half an hour.
"But we only have five fifteen minute periods left."
"Alright then…" She sounded annoyed as she sat up again and started getting her clothes. "... I'll get something ready for you all."
Mira got up and dressed. When she headed to the living room, she found not only Devon but also Kim, both of them playing that game the human had brought with him. "They seem to enjoy it, perhaps I should give it a try one day."
She headed for the kitchen after being completely ignored as the both of them were solely focused on the pieces on the board. The fridge wasn't very well stocked as she hadn't done any groceries for three days now. A few slices of bread with some scrambled eggs where what she could find to at least make a somewhat decent breakfast.
After preparing and then dividing the food over four plates, she brought the first two of them to the octolings on her couch. Both of them looked up from their game as each took her plate
"Thank you."
"Thank you ma'am"
"you're welcome, and please stop saying that."
"Me?"
"No Kim, I meant Devon."
"Then what did I say wrong?"
"Nevermind…"
The two of them turned to their plate and started making short work of it. She took the third plate and headed over to the guest bedroom to see if Will was already awake. He was not.
Mira slowly walked up to him and called his name. surprisingly, this was enough to wake him, although he didn't seem to happy by having his sleep grumbled something and let out a yawn.
"I've got you some breakfast." Mira held out the plate to him.
He looked at it with hungry eyes and took the plate, setting it on his lap as she sat up.
"We'll be leaving in a small hour."
He didn't even seem to notice her anymore as chomped down on the food. "Where they really that hungry? I thought they had had enough to eat last night."
She went over to the bathroom and freshened up, put on some new clothes and went back to the living room. Will passed her on the way out and closed the door behind him. Mira noticed that he carried a small bag. "most likely some soap and stuff. Makes me wonder what he uses to clean that hair stuff."
Even when the clock showed that is was already a quarter past seven, he still hadn't left the bathroom. She knocked on the door as he really had to leave, since the other two were still awaiting their turn and they only had about a quarter left. "Why do I even want to arrive on time? If anything Three should be making her excuses, not me."
Will yelled something. Not knowing what he said, Mira decided to take a peek and found him in front of the mirror, using some sort of brush to get his hair into different configurations. Whenever he stopped, he looked at himself for a bit before sighing and starting over, not happy with the result.
"Are you done soon? We only have a good ten minutes left and people still need to use the bathroom."
He sighed again and lowered the utensil, looked at the mirror again, sighed some more, turned around, and left. "What's his problem now?"
After that both Kim and Devon had done whatever they had to in the bathroom, they left. It was already twenty five until eight, but Mira hoped they could make up for it by not letting themselves get distracted as they made their way to the museum at a pace that made it look like they had to arrive in time or otherwise their world would end.
"Why are we marching at this rate ma'am?"
"So we can arrive on time." Mira kept it short, as to not run out of breath as they walked down a road from where they could see the large building that housed the museum at the end of the street.
"Why are we visiting a museum?" Kim asked.
"Lia wanted to meet us there."
"But why not at the captain his place?"
"You tell me."
"But I do not know why. I asked you because of that."
"I was being figurative."
"How do figures have to do with…"
"Nevermind."
She hurried to the entrance, expecting to see Three waiting on them. However, she wasn't there. "I guess I could act as if I arrived on time, but why even isn't she? Three didn't seem like the squid to be late."
As she waited for Lia to show up, she saw two of her teammates enter the museum. Mira was happy to find that Jake nor Jish had seen her as they showed their tickets, although she knew that there was a chance that they would run into each other inside.
Mira also noted the signs. It seemed like a history exposition, although she couldn't make out what era.
The two were just about to head inside as one of them noticed her.
"Hey, Mira." Jake called out. "Fun to see you here."
"Not really my choice, but why are you here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He answered as he came up to her, followed by Jish.
"We're here because we wanted to visit with our sister." Jish told her, stressing the last part.
"It's not my fault she ran off."
"It is and you know it."
"I didn't chose to take her to some dusty old museum."
Mira looked around. When the two of them started arguing, it was hard to get through. To her relief, she saw Three walking up to them, although she was surprised to see that when Lia saw the two brothers standing next to her, she froze. Now Four also saw that she was holding the hand of a small inkling that still hadn't fully formed her humanoid form, as had not only orange tentacles, but was orange all over.
Four put up her hand and waved at her, making the two boys look over as well.
"Jake, you see her too right?"
"Yea, why you ask?"
"Then go up to her."
"Dude, I was gonna." He took a single step and then stopped again as he saw who stood next to the little girl.
"I think I see the problem now."
"oh. Now do ya!?" Jish sneered back at him.
"What's wrong? Is that your sister?'' Mira asked, confused at what the fuss was about.
"The orange one is…." Jake began.
"... and she is here with our cousin…" Jish filled him in, clearly not happy about it.
"Lia is your cousin?" Mira was unsure if she wanted to laugh or feel bad for the boys.
"How do you know her?"
"She's a colleague from work." She quickly replied.
"Really, she never tells us about what she does for a living."
"Neither did she ever tell me. Not like she seems talkative."
"That makes me wonder, you have never told us what you do when you are unavailable because of work." Jish said, hoping she were to tell him what it was that she did for some extra coin.
Mira was happy that she didn't have to answer as now Lia and the girl came up to them. Only now did she notice that Devon stood behind her, she only saw her because she decided to look where she, Will, and Kim where. The other two still sat on the stairs leading up to the building, having a mostly one way conversation.
"Jake. Jish." Lia said with a cold voice as she gave the two a short conservative nod as she named them.
"Lia." Two responded in the same manner.
Mira looked at the little girl, hoping to avoid being caught in the crossfire of gazes.
"Hi, I'm Joline." she told her. "Are you the lady that Lia talked about?"
"That depends, did she give you a name?"
"She said that you are ignorant and oblivious, although I don't know what that means." She continued, like she hadn't heard her.
Mira had to put in effort to hold up her phony smile. "Of course she'd describe me like that, she made that clear yesterday. To tell such things to your younger cousin though."
"I also heard her say that you are bad with people. How can anyone be bad with people?"
"I think that's indeed me." She tried not to sound sad.
"But she also said that you seemed like you try your best and that you would maybe even be good at something I couldn't understand." she again said without seeming to register her talking.
"oh"
"She even said that-"
"And that's enough of that." Lia had noticed Joline talking with Mira and didn't seem to happy that her cousin was sharing her thoughts about others with others. She stopped after feeling Lia pull on her arm.
"Do you want to enter already?" Jake said in a different angry tone then the one he used when arguing with his brother.
"Let's just get this over with." Lia sighed. "Call the others, we're going in."
"The others?" Jish looked over as Mira signaled Will and Kim to come over.
"So she is with you?" Jake asked, looking at Devon, who had been standing behind her, somehow going unnoticed until now. Jake's voice got more calm and soon sounded as slick as ever. "How your doing my lady?" He even made a slight bow to her.
"I am fine, thank you for asking." she bowed down to him as well, thinking it was a way of greeting each other, seeing as how he did it.
"And how are you, gorgeous?" He bent even further for Kim as he saw her. She in turn simply gave him a confused look.
"How can someone feel gorgeous?"
Jake ignored her question as he now focused on Will. "How's it hanging my dude?" He stook up a hand to give him a high five, and Mira was relieved to find that he knew what he wanted and answered by giving him one.
"So these are more of your colleagues I assume." Jish more stated then asked.
"They are." Lia replied to him.
"so it's like a company outing?"
"exactly" her voice kept having this chilling sound to it. "And since Joline ran off to me again, I decided that since you were going to show up anyways, it would be easiest to return her to you here."
"Of course you would…" Jake made fun of her.
"I don't want to leave you." Joline said with a trembling voice as she clamped to Lia's arm.
Lia turned around and crouched down in front of her. Her cold voice seemed to have warmed up as she comforted her. "You know you can't stay with me. But if you call me you can be sure that you can come to visit another time, okay?" she made gestures with her hands as she said it, and the young girl seemed to be concentrated on them instead of her face.
The little orange girl seemed to cheer up some and hugged her, getting it returned by her cousin. "How can someone be so cold and so heartswarming at the same time?"
When the two let go, Joline walked over to her brothers. "I want to go home now."
"But we already payed for the-" Jish got cut off by Jake.
"Sure, not like I wanted to go anyway." Jake made a gesture towards their sister.
The three of them turned, and after Jish gave the museum one last look, they left.
"That were some family matters I hope you'll never bring up."
"So you can be kind."
"And you are missing the point. But how did you know those two inkbrains anyway?"
"They're in my turf war team."
"You don't say… But are we still going in or what?"
"You have the tickets, we were waiting for you."
"But you don't seem eager to go in."
"Where did you get that idea?"
"I'm not looking forward to having to work with you either, but at least try to relax around me, I don't intend on hurting you if that's what you think."
"It's not that-"
"Great, than let's get this over with."
She turned and quickly found herself at the entrance proper, handing over the tickets as the rest came walking after her. After a short greeting and being wished a good day by the doorman, they headed inside, only to immediately be greeted by one of the prime pieces of the exposition. In front of them stood a large skeleton of what the sign read to be a giraffe. It's long neck made one feel small and insignificant.
As Mira looked around, most of the museum seemed filled with parts of mammal skeletons, most with a name as well as a small description of what could be seen. Some parts were of legs, the other of the spine, there were a few intact skulls, and the list went on as they ventured deeper into the museum. Kim and Devon seemed to be intrigued as they stood by the displays like little kids stood in front of an ice cream truck, Lia however seemed to only be eager to continue on, as to get things over with. Will had taken Devon's roll of following Mira as they went, he seemed not to be interested. "No wonder, he's probably seen these things living and walking around and stuff."
As they continued on their small tour, Mira couldn't help but have the feeling that some disaster was waiting to happen.
"Lia?"
No reply.
"Can I ask you something?"
"What?" she answered, clearly not into conversation.
"Why do I feel like there is something about to go wrong?"
"How should I know?"
"I don't know, maybe you felt it too."
"I don't, so don't bother me with it."
"Okay…"
Mira felt even less significant next to her than next to the large skeleton in the lobby. She was happy to spot a tour guide a bit further ahead as listening to someone rattle on about something might help her get her mind off of things, or at least to get her to think about other things instead.
"... has a spectacular tail, as it was assumed to be used to not only help with stability, but also be used to climb. Some experts even thought that they were able to hang down from a branch using their tail alone. Now if you would look over here we have…"
"Why do I always find myself drifting off when others talk? And why do I always seem to find myself with people that like to talk a lot? At least Three keeps it short, not that that is any better."
"... These monkeys were often found with sharp rocks. Those rocks were most likely used as makeshift tools for things as cracking nuts and cutting."
The guide paused for a moment and turned to the end of the hallway.
"Now we are proud to present our most valuable piece of this whole exposition…"
The group started walking after the guide, closer to the brightly illuminated display case. Mira got a better look at it and could see that it was yet another skeleton, although this one seemed complete. "oh no"
"... It is one of the few complete skeletons to ever be found, and it is also in near perfect condition." The guide happily continued.
"Why did I bring them with me? Why did I not see this coming as we entered?"
"I am proud to show you… You know what? You should already know what this is." He waited on their response.
"A human." Some of the small crowd that had followed him gasped as they reached the case that held a humanoid skeleton. The case itself was almost lower then the ground and besides it even stood a small stool.
"Who wants to take a picture?" The guide asked, clearly not knowing that that skeleton wasn't the only human in the building. "Step on that stool and take a picture, but please don't touch the glass."
Mira tried to nonchalantly look over at Will. He stood behind her, staring at the glass box that was now bombarded with flashes from phones taking pictures. "What have I let happen?"
He stood there for a bit, and a bit longer, and kept standing perfectly still, even when the guide and the group moved on to something called a 'platypus'. He didn't even move it's eyes to look at the whole thing, he simply stared it in the eyes, or the hollow sockets that used to house its eyes.
"eh… Will?"
He didn't respond.
Lia came up to them, having kept a slow but steady pace while they had ran off to follow the guide for a bit. She looked at the case, then at Will, back to the case again, and then to Will once more as she walked up to him.
"Yep, That's all we knew about your kind until now."
"Really smooth Three." Even Mira knew that that was a horrible way to cheer someone up, even though she had no experience with comforting someone, let alone with one who has to accept that their entire kind had gone extinct.
"You can stand here and wait until you look like that, or you can move on and help us."
Will seemed to find inspiration in those words, since he looked away again.
"Now, let's get a move on." Lia said in a somewhat bossy voice.
He somehow seemed to take it and started to walk along the route that was set out through the museum. Mira decided to let them be for a bit and waited on Kim and Devon to arrive.
The two of them soon after showed up, giggling like little kids.
"And the neck…."
"How would it even turn its head on that…"
"So you two are having fun."
"Indeed ma'am."
"This has been a great day so far."
"Don't get your hopes up, we have to 'work' this afternoon."
"That…"
"We shall be at our best ma'am."
"At least it's good to see that you're enjoying yourselves."
"We are enjoying our time in this museum and the company of each other, not ourselves."
"That's what I meant Kim." Mira sighed.
"I do not understand ma'am. You keep using words to say something that those words do not equate to."
Mira let out another sigh. She didn't want to get into that, not that she didn't think that they wouldn't understand. She just wasn't up for another lecture, not even one that she could give.
"Can you take pictures of us with these skeletons?" Kim asked.
"Why?"
"Is that not what friends do when visiting these places?"
"I guess it is..." She sighed some more before pulling out her phone.
"Shall we continue?" Kim asked as to try to not loose Lia and Will, since they had already gone off.
"Sure, lead the way."
"But the path is marked with those arrows that are printed onto the ground ma'am."
"Follow those then…" Their capability to not know of basic concepts made her want to give herself a good slap in the face.