Chapter Title: Personality Change Much?
Summary: Apparently Nico hasn't seen it all just yet. Especially when it comes to a certain birb's mischeif and teasing streak...
Time Frame: Present, Main Story
AN: Beginnings are not my forte, that's why it's so slow going regarding updates XD
Well at least the werewolf was punctual.
Nico had to add that to the woman's rather short list of good qualities besides 'adorable when flustered' and 'clumsy.'
Still Nico merely cast a blank stare at the apartment door from the couch, is it worth it?... Probably not… Not when the couch was so comfortable and her brain was so scrambled.
Nico pulled the hair-ties from her pigtails and threw an arm over her tired face with the ties resting around her wrist.
Of course the last class of her day just had to be college math. Ugh. The worst line of classes to ever fantastically grace the world with.
There was then a long period of silence regarding the door and Nico found that she was mildly disappointmented that Maki hadn't really put much effort into actually picking her up.
Maki…
The adorably klutzy werewolf with a flashing temper and lots of mental and emotional walls. She was so hard to read, her emotions shifting constantly to the point where it would make Nico dizzy if she focused on her with her magic for too long.
Even being hard to read however, Nico found that while the redhead had sounded either dumb or stuck up all day, she could tell that Maki was primarily confused, just like Nico was. After all, life didn't hand out a manual on how to learn to get along with one's soulmate, as Nico was finding. It was up to them to make it work, even if one of them was a younger stubborn easily flustered werewolf.
"Hmph," Nico grumbled and rolled onto her side, facing the back of the couch where her fingers began to pick at her threads. "Stupid werewolf, get out of my head…" it was annoying catching herself wondering how the werewolf would react in a situation or to what she said and even more frustrating when Maki had been offensive and haughtily above her all day.
Especially when Nico had seen the messy red hair and striking purple eyes after each of her classes, standing silently studying a complicated medical textbook and waiting for her. The exception had been her last class and it had been odd to not not make eye contact with silent amethyst eyes and hear her silently following after her or leading the way in an almost, dare she say it, protective way? as she led her around to each of the classes that Nico was still familiarizing herself with the locations of.
It felt so strange and yet fitting to have known someone for less than a full day like Maki and to have a real connection with them. Like even though Maki should've been a near complete stranger to her, there was just something there. Something there that made the young red head seem drawn to her and made Nico feel so at ease with her. Even if they seemed to butt heads on literally everything so far.
The sound of a lock disengaging and the door opening pulled the sulking mage from her thoughts and Nico craned her head around the edge of the couch.
"Excuse the intrusion," Maki was now standing there in the entry of the apartment, violet colored eyes wandered methodically around the room around her. The redhead had changed clothes from earlier, wearing a pristine white lab coat over a black v-necked t-shirt and earlier dark jeans with her beat up converse she had been wearing all day.
"I don't know, should you be excused? You are intruding in my home." Nico found herself saying with a snort and relaxed on her back on the comfortable but mildly lumpy couch. Maki vanished from her eyeline as she did so, which provided her a few seconds of time to recover. Because what the hell? For someone who was as moody as Maki seemed to be, it wasn't fair how effortlessly gorgeous she was.
"Only for now," Maki replied a lot more of a levelhead than she had been at the cafe with her pack. "Where do you want me to put the gift I brought?" Right, the customary gift when entering someone else's home.
"Take it with you," Nico mentally added, 'aware of manners,' to her list about Maki and rolled her eyes beneath the arm now hiding part of her face from sight that included the faint blush she could feel on her cheeks, "don't need it."
She heard Maki shuffle deeper into the apartment, her footsteps approaching her at a lazy pace. "Well it's going on the coffee table, because it would be stupid to take chocolate home that I won't eat."
Nico perked up a little at the casual mention of something sweet, which sounded really good right now after her math class that all but turned her brain to mush. However she merely grumbled under her breath and removed the arm from her face to glare at the redhead. " Do you mind?"
Maki ignored her glare and set the small but rather expensive looking box of chocolate down on the coffee table before she turned back toward her with an unimpressed smirk. Her right canine tooth poked casually out from beneath her upper lip and her waves of thick red hair was loosely held to one side over her shoulder with a scrunchie at chin level. "No, I don't," she replied to Nico's comment and tucked her hands into the pockets of her white lab coat, "and for a college student you're acting like a highschooler at finals. It's just math."
"Everyone has a crappy subject Maki," Nico pushed herself up into a sitting position, "unless of course, you're an academic genius or something too?"
Maki shrugged her shoulders but Nico could see the smugness in her toothy smirk, "graduated with honors and as valedictorian."
"Of course you did," Nico grumbled and felt a stab of self consciousness. Was she sure that Maki wasn't the one with some crazy talent magic?
Maki's expression flattened out and she jerked her head toward the door, "come on, if you hurry you'll get to see Kotori make the sun set."
Nico's eyes widened and she sat up straight, "wait, that rumor's true?!"
"What? That Kotori makes the sun go down and someone else makes the moon rise?" Maki blinked and appeared very confused that Nico didn't know anything about it. And while the expression was adorable, Nico had other things to focus on.
Nico got to her feet and pushed past the redhead toward her bedroom, "yes, that Kotori Minami can adjust the freaking sun! What kind of magic allows her to that?!" She checked through the bag she had packed earlier, before math had murdered her, to make sure she had everything as she heard Maki's cautiously slow footsteps.
"I.. don't know?" Maki said slowly, "I think it's a heritage thing. The luna's bloodline is an ancient one or something."
The term, 'luna' caught Nico's attention as she zipped the bag shut. "Luna?"
"The alpha's mate," Maki explained and Nico almost giggled at how lost she seemed as she pushed the bag into her hands and set off to find her bookbag for her keys and phone. "Lunas are the pack's other leader with the alpha... d idn't you learn this in school? I thought most schools taught about werewolves to keep the risk of lack of knowledge from being a problem."
"It's been ages since I learned it Maki-chan," Nico brushed it off as she finally located the bag, "and until now I hadn't been around a pack at all."
Maki's eyebrows shot up, "seriously? There's usually one central pack per city."
"Well I grew up in a small city and there weren't any werewolves there," Nico shrugged and rummaged through her books and doodled on notes to find her phone and keys, "Eli was one of the first ones I met. Ah ha!" She triumphantly pulled the needed items from the bag and tucked it into her purse before she gave the red head a grin, "let's go, I have to see this for myself."
Maki's purple eyes glazed over for a brief second, something Nico remembered Nozomi mentioning as a sign of telepathy back at the cafe, before their sharp gaze refocused on her. "Kotori said she'll wait for you," she explained simply and Nico could see the edge of a smile on the rather flat expressionless werewolf's face.
"Sweeet," Nico grinned and hoped at least a little of her good mood spread to Maki as she swiped the chocolate from the coffee table and flounced toward the door. After all, who got to see someone make the sun go down?
Nico's eyes widened as she stared at the house they were approaching, a unique build close to the edge of the city, "w-what…?"
How? Were they all rich or something? And how come it was built relatively by itself without any really close neighbors? The closest neighboring house was back at the cul de sac Maki had cut through to make it here faster.
The house was huge and very modern, with lots of extrusions, varying distances in regards to the building's front and sectional roofs in a slanted forty-five degree angle. It was built with lots of gray brick sized stones, spotless white paint, and sleek dark wood paneling with plenty of partially tinted black rimmed windows. There was a four car garage from what Nico could see, and judging by the open space around them, they likely had property too.
How?
"What?" Maki sounded genuinely confused as she took her wallet out of her bag and slid it across the gate's scanner. While Nico stared at her as she watched the gate's lock disengage.
"What do you mean what? You live in a modern mansion Maki!" Nico spun around toward the house and spread her arms out, "Nico's only visited these for a few of her acting gigs and you straight up live in one!"
Maki gave her an odd look and paused mid action to open the front gate, "Uh, sure...?" She opened the gate and stepped through before after a moment to pause and seemingly to think about it, she held the gate open for Nico.
"Do all of you pay for it or something?" Nico asked as she accepted Maki's polite behavior with a short thankful smile and turned her attention to the paved driveway and various plants and trees around the fenced yard.
"Why're you so fixated on this? It's just a house," Maki sighed and Nico frowned at the faint but clear annoyance in her voice.
"It's a house I've never seen before and I'm not exactly rich you know," Nico grumbled and reluctantly stalked toward the front door to get away from the other woman.
"Wait," Nico felt Maki's fingers around her wrist and found herself instinctively turning toward her with one foot on the stone porch.
Maki's purple gaze flickered away from her and she turned her head away from her with the beginning of a pink flush overtaking her ears and cheeks. "Um…" Nico watched as Maki nervously reached up and tugged on her beautiful messy red wavy hair, twirling it around one of her index fingers in what seemed like a nervous habit.
Now that Maki was touching her, Nico could sense the werewolf's complex emotions, a vivid mix of nervousness, confusion, irritation, and something else she couldn't quite identify.
"I'm sorry, I'm just used to this place by now," Maki finally admitted and Nico felt her eyebrows shoot up on their own accord. Where was the proud Maki from the cafe earlier? The snappy fiery Maki she had seen all day until when she arrived at her apartment.
However before Nico managed to come up with a reply, the facial change had already had an undesired effect on Maki.
The werewolf released Nico's wrist like she had been burned and a wolf-like yelp escaped her mouth before she scowled and shoved her free hand into the pocket of her lab coat. "Look whatever," Maki snapped, her face still turned partially away from Nico, "Umi's an elite bodyguard who works for the central commerce of supernatural creatures and has protected their greatest asset for I don't know how many years."
Nico slowly nodded, so this was Umi's place. That made more sense the more she thought about it, but it was still kind of awe-inspiring to be around a house like this one with the knowledge that at least for the current moment, she was free to wander around inside.
"Just stop questioning it and go inside," Maki snapped Nico from her headspace with a sharp retort, the red-faced very flustered werewolf was now at the front door and pushing it open with her key in her other hand.
Nico bit her tongue to keep from snapping back at her that she was being rude and unreasonable, but something in the back of her head nudged her to leave it and so she settled on a short glare and walked through the front door with her nose held high.
The inside was beautiful too, warm and cozy with an expertly designed interior with plenty of color and various wild plants and flowers in pots and on windowsills.
She guessed Kotori was responsible for most of it as there were hints of other styles here and there but what she imagined the fashion designer doing with her home was the main theme that she was seeing.
Nico could see that the wide sliding doors of the back were open across from her and the back of Nozomi's purple head at a patio table while the other three were who knows where from what she could see.
Maki bumped past her, shedding her lab coat and now barefoot, "take off your shoes and don't bother with slippers," she explained in a cranky mumble, "socks and shoes aren't a werewolf thing."
Nico rolled her eyes, "of course it's not," she deadpanned even as she watched Maki's retreating form clad in a simple black t-shirt and skinny jeans. That lab cat really did no justice to the werewolf.
Once Maki vanished outside to sit beside Nozomi, Nico took a slow exhale and really looked around as she braced herself against a wall and unzipped the zipped on her beige ankle boots to take them off.
Okay, so she was in a massive house she'd never thought she'd be in until she made it into the real acting world and it was super neat and clean cut from the outside which made it intimidating. However, the inside shattered that illusion and Nico felt more at ease standing in the entryway of a beautifully large but well lived in home.
It was a little messy, with an impressive amount of folded laundry sitting neatly on floor near one of the couches in four mesh bins and on the couch itself; Maki's lab coat and bookbag were thrown uncaringly onto the microfiber bench in the entryway; two suitcases seemingly partially packed while two others sat empty beside them in the living room; there were a few dishes in the sink and scattered throughout the large kitchen; and there were bookshelves stuffed with various books and a series of wicker organizer drawers beside the back and front doors.
Nico smiled, it looked like a place well lived in and loved by its inhabitants, and Nico could feel the aura this place gave off. Her magic read the room and came up with the same conclusion as her eyes. This place gave off being a sort of safe haven and a place to really be yourself.
"Nicochi!" Nozomi was turning in her seat to smile at her while Nico could see a redness on Maki's cheeks and ears, "we're all out here!"
"Yeah yeah," Nico called back, "I'm coming, keep your hair on Nozomi!" She nudged her boots into a line beside the door and wandered toward Nozomi as the future-scryer turned back around in her seat.
There was something else in the air here as well, something… wild, untamed. She could sense it, but her nose was telling her that she could smell it as well. She could smell cinnamon, the fresh air from outside, an earthy mix of the plants around, and… an almost unnoticeable amount of what smelled like oak wood mixed with a rich vanilla. How did any of that contribute to something untamed and almost dangerous? Either way, it had to be from the werewolves, because otherwise she had no clue.
"Okay, I'm here now, happy?" Nico drawled as she shook off her confusion about the scents and dropped down in the chair between Maki and Nozomi.
Maki shifted a little in her seat and didn't look at her but also didn't snap at her.
"Welcome to the back house," Nozomi smiled and Nico rolled her eyes but smiled back at her.
"This place is gigantic Nozomi," Nico told her flatly, "why do you live here?"
Nozomi chuckled to Nico's confusion, "Nicochi, this is a pack house. Werewolves meet up here and come here for safety if something happens so it should be rather large, correct?"
"Ugh, when you put it that way it's logical," Nico groaned and crossed her arms over her chest before a wolf-like yelp and loud snarl startled her, "Aak!"
"Sounds like Rin went too far," Maki sighed with a roll of her eyes.
Nozomi merely hummed in agreement.
Nico could now hear faint laughter to accompany the animal sounds and now she was very confused.
What? Nico turned in her chair toward the direction Nozomi was facing only to see nothing but green grass and bushes. "What're you two talking about-"
A massive female ginger wolf came bursting out of the bush toward them followed by a blonde wolf of the same size and a running Kotori laughing.
Kotori's long ash-blonde hair was braided in a neat fishtail and she was definitely wearing a shirt of Umi's, seeing how the blue t-shirt was at least a size too big for her, with a thin belt cinching it at the waist. It was paired with black leggings beneath short denim shorts and white and green fuzzy socks inside running shoes. A clearly comfortable but decently fashionable outfit that she could clearly run like hell in.
After all, how the hell was the angel keeping up with a wolf almost half her size? The wolf stood at probably just below Kotori hips so how wasn't she falling behind?
The ginger wolf yipped and skidded past the table while Nico ducked and the blonde wolf nimbly swerved around the table, her tail brushing lightly against Nozomi's legs as she ran. Then, the ash-blonde angel, who Nico had believed to be very soft spoken and quiet, daringly pushed herself off the ground. Her white wings unfolding at her back just a few feet, enough to give her a few brief seconds of air time over the table and the three people sitting there. Before she hit the ground running.
What the hell?! Nico gawked, staring at the angel's wings poking just barely through carefully crafted slits in the back of her shirt that she hadn't ever seen before. Was that how her wings had been folded loosely at her back at the campus and were hidden in the cafe?
"Uumii stopp!" Kotori sprinted toward the other side of the massive fenced yard toward the small pool and a gate while the blonde wolf merely darted off inside and the ginger wolf ran through another set of bushes.
There wasn't a verbal response rather there was a bigger crash and the biggest distinctly male wolf Nico had ever seen came crashing through the series of bushes. It was easily over four feet tall and longer than Umi was tall with unnatural royal blue fur and had a white diamond between it's dark amber eyes that were the same shade as Umi's.
It charged after Kotori, running toward the running angel with a loud howl and heavy pounding footsteps that Nico could feel briefly through the ground when it ran past her.
Was that… Umi? But the werewolf was a girl right? And so was her wolf-dog when she had supposedly touched her leg with her nose?
Kotori meanwhile broke into a sprint, "No!" she shrieked with laughter as Umi, or what Nico assumed was Umi, ran toward her, inching closer and closer to the sprinting angel-mage.
Kotori's wings unfurled, white wings flaring out and catching air as her feet hit the pavement surrounding the pool and Nico watched with wide eyes, staring as the angel's wings flapped once as she pulled her feet up, the wolf playfully attempting to grab her by the foot. "Hey! Wings aren't cheating Umi-chan!" Kotori swatted the wolf's nose with one of her hands when it jumped up again and twisted so she was higher up and over the pool with mischief twinkling in her eyes.
Nico then watched, amusement bubbling through her body as she watched the massive wolf wiggle it's butt while in a low crouch almost like a cat before it's muscles rippled through it's pelt as it leaped up into the air.
Kotori's soft golden eyes widened, "Umi-chan wait!" She threw out her arms while rattling off a protection spell, "Ασπίδες ενέργειας προστατεύουν το σώμα μου από βλάβες!"
Nico understood the greek without thinking, the language being the base language of creation magic which was what her own magic type fell under. The spell itself was a high intensity ward spell, drawing consecrated light around the body to form a type of damage prevention ward.
Sure enough a pale green glow enveloped Kotori's body just as the massive wolf collided with her and knocked her down into the pool with her with what was easily a twelve foot tall splash.
"What, did I just watch?" Nico couldn't help but ask blankly as she stared at the pool while Maki chuckled and Nozomi began to laugh, another voice joining in as they came back outside, revealing it to be Eli.
"Meet Kotori Minami," Eli chuckled and Nico shot her an unamused look.
"I already met her, stupid," Nico deadpanned, "though clearly I may need to get my eyes checked."
"No," Maki spoke up, her voice cranky but smooth and mostly impassive like usual, "you met Kotori on guard, out in public."
Eli nodded as Kotori broke the surface of the pool on her back. "This?" she gestured to the ash blonde angel who's hair was plastered to her face from the water.
Kotori, wing's were functioning as floatation devices while she had a massive wolf partially on top of her, a faint green glow showing up here and there from her wards. The ash blonde turned her head and spit out a mouthful of water. Mixed amusement twinkling in her eyes as she turned her head toward the wolf that was making her sink up to just before her shoulders from its weight and flinched when it shook the water from it's lion sized head. "Now how am I supposed to make the sun set, huh Umi-chan?" The angel asked playfully as her hands shot out from the water to playfully ruffle and cause all of it's wet fur to goofily stick up.
The wolf let her for a moment before it licked her nose with the tip of it's tongue, then paused.
Kotori's eyes widened again and she held up a finger in front of the massive animal's nose, "Umi-chan, don't even think about it…" The amusement in her eyes though broke through her sharp seriousness and the wolf took advantage of that.
It lunged forward and began to rapidly drag it's massive tongue all over her face almost like a dog licked it's owner.
"Ew!" Kotori squealed and wrestled to overpower and push away the massive wolf's head, "Umi-chan that's disgusting!" laughter was bubbling up into her high-pitched voice as she squealed and tried to shy away from the animal, "stooop it!"
"This is the side of Kotori Minami the general public doesn't get to see," Eli finished.
There was a part of Nico that suddenly felt very honored to have this opportunity. Even if she was watching the liaison be practically licked to death in a pool by a very playful wolf the size of an african lion that freaked Nico out just a little.
"Well I'm not sure how I feel about having another person as mischievous as Nozomi around," Nico eventually settled on deadpanning and brought laughter from the beta and future scryer and the tiniest of smirks from Maki.
"Kotori likes to tease," Eli admitted, "but most of that goes toward Umi. She's still really sweet just like Nozomi."
Nico snorted, "sweet? Gentle? I don't know what you get those descriptions of Nozomi Eli, but those are once in a blue moon descriptions. Most of the time she's meddling or being really nosy," she grumbled.
She was relieved though, she didn't know how she was going to handle another person like Nozomi for a friend and unfortunately, probably a packmate. Seeing how she was getting dragged into a life with werewolves without having much of a say in it thanks to destiny.
Maki spoke up, "don't worry about Kotori, Nico, she's just more playful and teases Umi about eighty-five percent of the time. That woman is so sweet and gentle to the point of it being nauseating and she doesn't have a nosy nor harm seeking bone in her body. This is her way of getting Umi to decompress after working all day. What you saw in the cafe is relatively how she acts besides how affectionate she is and her teases."
"What're you guys talking about?" Kotori's breathless voice chirped curiously and Nico jumped, having been so focused on her tablemates to have completely missed the dripping angel's arrival. Half of Kotori's "feathers" on the top of her head were sticking up in the air from Umi's tongue, her other half were flat from how she was currently running her fingers through them and while the rest of her was soaked besides her white wings. Which were dry as Nico watched her fold them against her back and hidden from sight behind her back .
"You," Nozomi smiled warmly at the ash-blonde and Nico shot her a betraying glare, "Nicochi was curious about you, Kotori."
"Ah," Kotori giggled and Nico saw her golden eyes glow with the telltale sign of magic before all at once the angel was perfectly dry and her eyes were back to their earlier droopy gentle golden.
Nico could detect strong traces of magic in the air surrounding the skilled angel-mage hybrid, a scent similar to sunlight tickling her magic-sensitive nose in particular. Judging by how she hadn't moved much nor gave a verbal annotation, Nico could accurately guess that the angel-mage was as strong as the rumors suggested and was perhaps even stronger than them.
Kotori took a seat across from Nico and smiled gently at her, the same kind of smile Nico had received multiple times from her throughout the day. "You can ask me questions you know," she affirmed, "I'm not going to get upset or anything."
Nico shrugged and leaned back in her chair. "I'd rather just move on with this conversation right now, after all aren't I supposed to be watching you make the sun go down?"
Kotori's golden eyes perked up and her smile changed to be a little more on the sheepish side, "oh, right, I forgot I haven't done that yet… I'll do that once Umi-chan comes back out here~" She hummed.
I'm coming.
The phrase pierced through Nico's skull and the mage curled inward on herself when her head practically exploded in pain at the ringing. Immediately outweighing the disbelief of hearing someone speak in her head and not out loud.
Her brain was in endless agony, working itself into circles in it's fight to combat the ringing bouncing through her skull and Nico clenched her teeth, one of her hands instinctively rising to touch her forehead.
She vaguely felt Nozomi touch her arm with concern in her voice, "relax Nicochi, you're… Umi…. broadcasting to… pack…"
The words faded in and out as the pain increased along with the insessessent ringing in Nico's ears.
Nico winced at the ringing changed to increasingly loud static that just got louder and louder in volume, giving her a splitting migraine that felt like it went on for hours.
"...help...you have to… something…"
Then the pads of someone's fingertips brushed over her knee before a warm hand rested on it. A calm reassurance oozed from the gesture and made it through the blinding static in her skull and she clung desperately to it, seizing it with her magic and feeling the emotion in the gesture flood her panicked system like a tidal wave as a slightly raspy voice pierced through the static with only a few words.
"Breathe, it's alright," the voice was like a breath of fresh air and Nico instinctively took a deep breath. The action filling her burning lungs with the oxygen she hadn't realized she had needed.
It was Maki, the annoying, easily flustered, clumsy, maddening werewolf was talking to her. Not just talking, she was actively helping her.
"Keep breathing slow deep breaths, it's alright…"
The static in Nico's head broke, it's hold on her breaking under Maki's needed interference and Nico's eyes shot open, vision unfocused as her brain tried to catch up with the rest of the world around her.
"Are you okay Nico-chan?" Maki's voice wasn't angry like it had been earlier, rather now it was smooth with it's usual light rasp with concern weighing a little heavily on the almost musical voices of hers.
Nico dimly registered the honorific as she blinked and tried to refocus on the world swimming around her as her brain caught up and her vision cleared up. Only to freeze up at the sight of Maki's pretty face a mere half a foot away from hers. She felt her ears flush red at the sharp expression of concern on the younger woman's face, this being the most emotion she had seen on the redhead's face so far. "W-what?"
Maki's purple eyes narrowed from where she was sitting on the table in front of Nico, wait, hadn't she been sitting in the chair beside her that Kotori was now half kneeling in?
The silver of the moon swirled in the deep purple of Maki's eyes as she studied her for a few moments, "are you okay Nico?" Before Nico felt a light squeeze on her fingers and she inhaled sharply as it all clicked and she jerked her gaze down at her lap.
The back of Maki's hand rested lightly on Nico's right knee, her slender fingers trapped by Nico's smaller ones and Nico hadn't realized that instead of just seizing the calm emotion to drawn on with her magic, she had literally grabbed Maki's hand and was still had a tight grip on her warm fingers.
"What're you doing?" Nico snapped in her fumble to get away from her and yanked her hand back with enough force that she would've tipped her chair over were it not for Maki's quick reflexes and catching one of the chair legs between crossed ankles.
Maki frowned, all concern wiped from her face as Nico felt someone else's hands on the back of her chair. Before they gently pushed her forward till all four legs of her chair were on the floor of the back patio.
"I was protecting you," Maki deadpanned and Nico watched her not bother to move from the table.
"First, get off the table, that's terrible etiquette," Nico snapped, her embarrassment fueling her harshness, "and second, what the hell just happened?"
Maki's frown turned into a scowl, "you could say thank you," she snapped back but reluctantly got off the table and moved toward Kotori. She seemed to open her mouth to continue her rebuttal, but a look from the ash-blonde Nico didn't really catch made her simply clamp her mouth shut and set her jaw in irritation.
"Don't get mad at Maki," Kotori quickly spoke up, the ash-blonde in Nico's peripheral vision even as she let go of the chair and got up from her own, giving it up to Maki. "She was just protecting you from the telepathy."
"Telepathy?" Nico stared at the ash-blonde as she made her way around the table to sit across from her again, "you mean every time you guys do the whole telepathic crap you feel like your brain explodes and you give each other migraines?"
"What? No," Eli appeared offended at the thought, "telepathy isn't painful-"
"Well sorry blondie," Nico shot her a look of disbelief, "but I just experienced the most powerful migraine I've ever had and I even still have a headache from that shit."
Kotori broke in again, irritating Nico in the process because what the hell? Why was the annoying angel not letting her get any steam off when she could practically feel it coming out of her ears?!
"Telepathy isn't painful once your bonded to a werewolf," Kotori explained a little hastily and Nozomi nodded in agreement, "and only after your mind doesn't believe you're being attacked."
"Excuse me? Someone literally just assaulted my brain!" Nico retorted at the angel, "my mind is private you know!"
"That's why it was painful," Maki broke in as she sat back down, speaking at a deadpan and holding up a hand toward Kotori to stop her from speaking. "Someone's more insecure than she says she is."
"Maki-" Nozomi gasped and Nico saw Kotori's eyes widen, but the small mage didn't care as she saw red.
"Want to say that again Nishikino?" The werewolf's last name popped into Nico's head from nowhere as she snarled and lunged, grabbing the redhead by the collar with a sneer.
Maki's purple eyes looked smugly back at her, "say what? That you're insecure? Or that the telepathy was painful?"
"I'm not insecure," Nico snarled, she wasn't, she was just mentally assaulted and this… this… animal of a human insisted that she was underconfident?! "My mind's private you asshole! Maybe you don't understand that kind of privacy, but not everyone in the world's just fine with people talking through and being able to view their thoughts!"
"Umi wouldn't view your thoughts, only Kotori's able to get a general read on every pack member's general thought subject and emotions," Maki deadpanned and Nico could feel the magic in her palms making the fabric in her hands stiff and unmalleable due to minor slips in her control of her time magic.
"Like that's any better!" Nico spat but with less heat than earlier. "I would appreciate a warning before someone just jams their voice into my head! Even if a certain redhead in front of me wouldn't care either way!"
The knowledge that her mind was still private, and her own, with the sneaking suspicion that it was only just for now, had doused most of the flames that consisted of her ange.
"W-what?" She asked as Maki's expression changed and she didn't reply.
Maki's expression softened into a more curious and just slightly warm expression even as she lightly knocked Nico's slackened grip away from her shirt, "feel better?"
"What?" Nico frowned and dropped moodily back into her chair, "what're you talking about?"
"You looked angry," Maki shrugged half-impassively then changed the subject, much to Nico's mixed confusion and odd appreciation. "Kotori," she glanced at her wristwatch, "the sun should be down by now…"
Kotori jumped, the intense confusion and curiosity on the angel's face faltered. "Oh, sorry! Umi-chan!" She called and Nico stared at the redhead.
"Seriously? How long was I out?"
When Maki ignored her and stayed focused on Kotori as Umi reemerged putting her hair up, Nico whirled around toward Nozomi.
"Nozomi how long was I out?!"
Nico didn't miss the glance at Umi and Kotori Nozomi gave before she responded, but she merely filed it away for later as Nozomi responded to the question.
"Close to half-an-hour Nicochi," Nozomi admitted softly, "it took Maki thirty-minutes to break through the telepathy buzz so it's almost eight."
Eight? It was almost eight PM?!
Nico stared at them for a few seconds, could her day get any more chaotic than it already had?
First she had met Kotori Minami of all people after her drama class; then met the adorable but emotionally complicated werewolf who was her soul-mate of all people; then the crazy people of the redhead's pack; learned Kotori was way more of a mischief maker than she appeared; and had her own skull attacked by a telepathic prod from a werewolf.
If Nico wasn't as resilient as she was, she doubted she would've survived today without passing out and believing it was a dream. However, she was this resilient and this was her reality now. A reality intertwined with the strangest creature of them all, werewolves.
"Hold up, is this how chaotic a normal day is for you guys?" Nico couldn't help but ask with a minor groan. "Because I don't know about you, but this was and still has been the craziness day of my entire life."
Something nagged at her she would regret saying that even as the pack of supernaturals around her laughed and smiled at her.
A/N: I haaaate writing beginningingss XD
I literally have 35,000 words of just stuff written for this AU and alas, I can use straight up nothing XD I mean I'm glad it helps me work out the inner mechanics of werewolves here, but otherwise I just get to groan and drag my feet into continuing to write the beginning of the story…
IAmNotSatan ~ Love the username btw, and I'll do my best to make their relationship progress well, even if it's accelerated due to werewolves ^-^