"Well that was fun," Lhaklar said after sliding into the driver's seat. The item, that he just got through purchasing, was slid into the trunk only minutes before; with there being a set of blankets on top of it, it was good and safe.
"Surprised that he dropped the price like he did for you." Astor said immediately after getting into the BMW.
"Me too, and a good thing because it leaves me with some cash." Lhaklar said.
"Good to blow on Molsheim." Astor said.
"Yes and no—seeing as I need to keep some cash in the envelope for next month's bills and pantry purchases, I can't spend it all while being in Molsheim."
"Grab your dat around the neck then force him to fart out some dough for you guys." Astor said. "That way, you can blow half to nearly all of your paycheck on yourself."
"Nah, I prefer for the family to use most of what I make at work."
"Stingy Green Man!"
"Toughie,"
"And damn proud of it!" Astor said. After saying this, he looked behind him. "I see that you, Seth, aren't doing the hiding game but you, Jarvis, are."
"Just until we start down the A35 motorway." Jarvis said.
"Good thing too—my dat says no contact thanks to my "refusal" to clean the garage." Astor said.
Refusal was light-talk in regards to what he did. Most of the time, the garage was where the unneeded or unsellable items, that were brought into the shop then either lost or sold to his fader, were put. His stepmutter was constantly getting of his fader for how cluttered the building was; his fader, though promising to clean it up, and get rid of what wasn't needed, or couldn't be used or sold in the shop, almost never upheld his promises in that storage space. As of the last few weeks, he was putting it off because of the weather. Just two days ago, he gave him the instruction to clean it out; along with doing a little grumbling over doing the chore, he tried to pull a fast one in imitating his fader's actions in putting it off because of something that was going on "in the hood". Unlike his stepmutter, who seemed to like the empty promises that she was given in regards to that building, his fader hadn't accepted his "refusal". His punishment for the ten minutes of trying to get out of his given chore? Not being allowed to speak or do anything with most of the people that he called his friends.
It was only by hearing that he was to be the one to handle the pawnshop's recently done transaction that he was allowed to go with Seth and Lhaklar to Molsheim. After seeing how "mature" and "professional" he was during Lhaklar's purchase, his fader gave him the signal to go with them.
"Before we hit the A35 motorway, drive over to the small, boarded up shop that's down the road a bit." Astor said after swinging his seatbelt over himself.
"Reason why?" Lhaklar asked.
"Yeah, I left a cooler in it yesterday. Just before them twisters were seen down south of us, I made a trip up this way with it."
"What's in it?" Seth asked.
"The usual." Astor replied.
Of course, none of them needed to know what that meant. Astor Bonnaire Sr. was a fan of drinking Grafenwalder Pils beer and, really, so was his son. Astor Bonnaire Jr., who would pommel anyone who dared to call him Junior anything, had scarfed around a half to a six-pack and a half of his father's beer sometime before taking the trip to the shop that was down the road a ways—his father, who was constantly purchasing and stocking the fridge with the stuff, never connected the dots on why his beer dwindled so quickly. The man consumed somewhere around two beers a night before bed, so he had plenty left in the two six-packs that he purchased each three to four days. While Ada knew of her brother's shenanigans with their father's beer, she never spoke on it—from time to time, she consumed a half-can of the beer that her brother stole from their father's supply.
Ada and Ivonne had decided to spend some time with some of their female friends that day so, it was just the three of them that were going to Molsheim.
Lhaklar did as he was instructed to in driving to where a building that matched his friend's description was. Once he parked before the building, his friend got out; Astor was gone for all of two minutes before reappearing with a hefty, green and white cooler that looked more than a little heavy. Lhaklar was fast in getting out of the car, and in going to the trunk. A spell was done to make the trunk appear bigger than what it really was, which allowed for the item that he purchased to remain unscathed and for the cooler to be put before it. After the cooler was in the trunk, and the trunk's lid was closed, they returned to the car. They were well one their way down the road, and just nearing the A35 motorway, when Astor Bonnaire Sr. stepped out to see if the car was still on the street that his shop was on.
"Is it safe?" Jarvis asked.
"Oh, you still back there? Thought you up and grew chicken on us." Lhaklar said. "We've been going down the motorway for ten minutes now."
"Thanks for letting a man know!" Jarvis shot up like a Jack-In-The-Box.
Though the purpose in using the A35 motorway was to get to Molsheim, they were also hoping to see some of the damage that occurred yesterday, when the tornadoes started dropping from the sky then making everyone get in a bind. Jarvis, while no camera fanatic by any means, had a camera on him that he was planning on using once the damage was seen—it started being put to use right at the thirty minute mark of their trip.
The more smaller of the three tornadoes, that were seen south of Elchesheim-Illingen, was only on the ground for fifteen minutes. Except for the trees, and other foliage that was able to be seen on either side of the road, everything looked in good order. The trees almost looked as if they were snapped in half by the tornado, and there were holes where certain bushes use to sit. Jarvis snapped only a few pictures of the snapped trees, and of the ground being eroded of the matter that use to be on it; when they passed by Renchen, and then Appenweier, Jarvis's camera was more readily used.
Certain bits of the road were yanked up, and certain trees were either debarked or completely yanked from the soil that they grew in. The tornado, that was initially seen near the rather crowded, small city of Renchen before, five minutes later, going right through the city, had created a lot of damage. Due to the section of the A35 motorway that they were driving on being on an incline, they were able to see some of the destroyed buildings and some of the path that the twister took.
One of the schools was halfway demolished while the other looked... very messed up. Some of the business buildings were skeletal in appearance while others looked barely touched. In certain areas, the road was completely ripped up. There were road and community workers all around; the same went for folk of the military and police force. Thanks to the military and police being around, no looting or unrest was happening. Jarvis was particularly savvy with his camera when the two schools were seen, then he went nearly insane after the city's one hospital was seen. The hospital looked unidentifiable. With the outside being gone, and the insulation, pipes, and certain rooms being able to be seen, and with smoke billowing up from the building's wreck, he couldn't help himself in snapping as many pictures as he could.
The city of Renchen had a population of nearly double that of what it was in 2014; with the way things looked, both Lhaklar, Astor, Seth, and Jarvis bet that it was cut in half by the tornado that reeked havoc on it yesterday. It really almost looked like a war-torn city, and a city that either needed serious repairs or to be torn down and then rebuilt from scratch.
"Good God!" Seth exclaimed after they came upon the municipality of Appenweier.
Some two thousand years ago, Appenweier consisted of three areas—Appenweier, which was its main municipal, Urloffen, which was known for horseradish-growing, and Nesselried. The district of Nesselried ran through the Wannenbach valley, while Urloffen was north of Appenweier; while both still did, they were very different than what they were in 2014. In 2304, all three were merged and then came under the name of Appenweier; while horseradish was still grown in Urloffen, it wasn't as abundant as it use to be and most of Nesselried was abandoned after the fourth World War. Of the portion of Nesselried that was still being inhabited by humans, most of it was being used for farming purposes instead of for strictly town or city interests. Other crops were now known to be grown in Urloffen, and a small city was created and then allowed to grow into disarray soon after the third World War in that district.
It was main-town Appenweier that the bigger of the three tornadoes that were spotted yesterday struck. With everything almost being down, and all the smoke billowing up, and the military being all over the place, none of them said a thing about wanting to stay around for long in seeing what the tornado's aftermath was. Jarvis's finger was pretty much stationary over the camera's initiate button; he got more than enough photographs to last a lifetime, and he also got enough photographs to use up the available space that was on his camera. After the clip was all used up, he removed it then replaced it with a new one, which he decided to save until they saw something spectacular, or got to the Bruche river and started catching things.
"What's the biggest tornado on record again?" Astor asked after they went past the destroyed main-town portion of Appenweier.
"Nearly three and a half miles, and that was recorded in the Americas in mid 3075." if not for his storm-crazy little brother, Lhaklar wouldn't know this. "Y'two ever seen Tornado Rampage?"
"No." Astor replied.
"Uh-uh." Jarvis shook his head.
"You should. It was based on the weather system that brought all them tornadoes to middle and lower Kansas on June 5, 3075. My mother was the one who did the special effects for it." Lhaklar explained what the film that he mentioned was about.
"I'll check into it." Astor said. Jarvis nodded his head in agreement.
In all, his mother was accredited to some twenty or so movies. She did the special effects for each of them. The more notable of the films that she was involved in? Well, for the current era humans, that would be Water Works, Shake, Helen Erupts, and Volcano Eruption; the lesser known of her film associations were Tornado Rampage, Tsunami!, HMCS Genesis IV, Blackness, Sea The See, Ke-Rash! , The Thunderstorm War Part 1, The Thunderstorm War Part 2, Chaotic Seas, and The Year Of The Hurricane. The other films that she was accredited to, but were either forgotten or ignored, were either very low-budgeted, or didn't do as well as the ones that were behind them had thought they would, or were complete failures. She had only done the films to gain the revenue for him and his brothers to be able to go to school, and so they wouldn't have to worry about having to miss out on any of the programs, clubs, or activities that their classmates were doing. Their mother was only able to gain the revenue for their educations through the means of exercising her right in asking for the ones who were in charge of the films to let her set her own salary.
Tornado Rampage, Tsunami!, and HMCS Genesis IV were done to gain the revenue needed for Bile's education; she did Water Works for the remaining $55,000 needed for when Bile went off to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. Shake was what gave her the required revenue for his tuition at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. When his tuition was paid, she used what remained of her salary from that film for the family savings, and for repairs that were needed on their old apartment. Blackness and Volcano Eruption were done for Guyunis's initial education while Sea The See, Ke-Rash!, and The Thunderstorm War Part 1 were done for Hazaar's initial education. The Thunderstorm War Part 2 and Chaotic Seas were done for both Guyunis and Lazeer's initial educations while The Year Of The Hurricane was done for Guyunis, who expressed a wish in wanting to go to Goboshu's Academy of Meanness. Helen Erupts was done for him, Hazaar, and Lazeer; after they started showing certain skills in being able to do Telepathy, their mother went to gain the required revenue that was needed for them to go to the University of Telepathy.
He and his brothers were given the education that they needed and, thanks to their mother, they weren't allowed to skip out on the things that their classmates were doing. Their mother was smart in gaining that money for their educations and they more than ever thanked her for the opportunities that she allowed them to partake in when they were in school.
"Dude! Look at the sk... uh-oh!" Jarvis started acting all panicky after noticing that a tornado was starting to drop to their left. The thin rope, that dropped from the green-colored sky, grew in size rather quickly in a span of nearly ten minutes; if they had to make any guesses, it was heading towards being an EF3, which was very powerful. Due to the funnel being both a distance and heading away from them, Lhaklar didn't break out in a sweat about it. While keeping an eye on the tornado's path, he drove towards the bridge that overlapped the Rhine river. He was just starting across the bridge when Jarvis started photographing the tornado, and when his father's voice rang from the left pocket of his cream and brown striped corduroy pants.
"Son? Lhaklar, you available?" his father's gravelly-sounding voice said. He dug his communicator out from the pocket that it was in then pressed the button to talk to him.
"Right here." Lhaklar said.
"Thank the Gods!" his father sounded relieved. "Where are you? Hope its nowhere near the funnel that's heading towards Müllen."
"Just crossing the bridge that goes across the Rhine." Lhaklar relayed. "We're some miles from it, but are keeping a good eye on where its going."
"Alright, as long as you're away from it, you're fine." there was a staticky sound following his father's correspondence, which meant the man turned his communicator off.
"Surprised that I've not heard from my m—" the sudden sound of a cellular going off stopped Seth from speaking. Seth was fast in both digging his cellular out from the pocket that it was in and in answering and talking to who it was that was calling him. It took a total of two minutes for Seth to end his conversation; when he snapped his phone shut, he leaned back then sighed. "Astor, Jarvis, I expect for the both of you to be getting phone calls in the next few minutes."
And they did. Astor Bonnaire Sr. called his son about three minutes after Seth returned his phone to his pocket while Jarvis's aunt called him about ten minutes later. Unlike Astor and Seth, who had a step-parent in their lives, Jarvis had no parents to look after him; both of his parents had gained a type of cancer, which claimed them both and caused him to be both orphaned and be put in the care of his paternal aunt and uncle. Mr. Bonnaire, who obviously wasn't paying any attention to the news, or had any working radios or tv's near him, just asked his son how things were going and where he was before hanging up. Jarvis's aunt was apparently near a tv; she had seen that a tornado was seen near Müllen. She jowled Jarvis for nearly the whole second half of their trip to Molsheim before finally hanging up. Judging by the sigh that Jarvis gave after hanging his phone up, they knew that he was relieved to be off the phone.
"Can someone turn on the radio or something? Music over the news, please." Jarvis said when they were within twenty minutes of their destination.
"Sure." Lhaklar turned the radio on, then searched for a channel, then, once a channel was found that catered to their needs, returned his hand to the wheel.
The last several miles of their drive were peaceful. They listened to the radio, and spoke on who they were hoping to meet and then entertain after getting to Molsheim, then fell into a quiet spell. Their tranquil faces grew rather alarmed right when the outskirts of the commune were seen. It looked like France had also seen tornadic activity. Certain buildings were in disarray; there were certain areas where grass and asphalt was either missing or where the mud was very wet; and there was no mistaking the gasoline smell that was being detected. Jarvis documented some of what they were seeing before putting his camera away—there were cops all over the place where they were; they were ushering people along at break-neck speed.
They drove along after receiving word to do so by one of the on-call cops then, after reaching the middle part of the town, calmed down. While the outskirts of the commune looked tornado ravenged the other parts didn't; if they had to make any guesses, a small tornado just side-swiped the town's south-eastern outside edge. Cream-colored buildings, that had brown trim on them, were on either side of the street; when they drove on for another half-mile, they found that there were certain buildings that moss was allowed to grow on in the town too. The buildings really did give the town an old type of feeling. With the oldest known record on Molsheim dating back to the mid-1600's, where it separated from the Holy Roman Empire and then found itself located on the French side of the border, it really was old. According to the books, between 1871 and 1918, and 1940 and 1944, it was annexed by Germany; another note in the history books claimed that a number of Merovingian tombs, dating from the sixth and seventh centuries, were discovered in 1935 just north of the town, on the Roman road leading from Avolsheim. Most discredited this claim because there was no solid documentation to validate it. If the town was around in the sixth and seventh centuries, then it was one of the oldest known towns to still be around today.
Along with Molsheim being an hour and ten minutes away from Elchesheim-Illingen, both he and his friends wanted to get away from things. Just get away, breathe a little uncorrupted air, and have a good time before having to return to the other side of the river—which, by standards of the country that they were in, they called the Rhein out of respect. After nearly ten minutes of driving, he found a place to park; after the car was parked, he and his friends got out. They walked around, stretching their arms and legs, before going back to the car then meeting up near its trunk.
"Everything'll be safe in there, right?" Astor gestured at the car's trunk.
"With this being a parking lot for a convenience store, and with it being open on three sides, I don't see why nothing wouldn't be." Lhaklar replied.
"Man, let's hope that no one gets in then plays around with taking anything. I'd hate to see what you purchased from Astor's dat get stolen, and I'd hate to see our fishing poles and other stuff being taken too." Seth said after Lhaklar opened the trunk. The many bags, and the four fishing poles and baskets, that littered the floor behind the driver's and front passenger seats, were put in then it was closed up.
"It should be safe." Lhaklar said.
The first two hours of their visit were spent with checking out the ladies, dropping a few flirts, then gaining a date. After their antics with the ladies were done, they returned to the car then grabbed the stuff that was stored in the trunk.
The lake, that was between Mittlere Gebreit and Zichmatten street, was their destination; they got to it in a little under twenty minutes time. According to Astor, the lake use to have a name a long time ago. After the third World War, which caused some of the administrative buildings to become non-existent, the documents on it were lost; nowadays, it was just called the Molsheim Lake. After the Chamydia Plague, which occurred in 3080, the lake was allowed to absorb the two river arms that use to be apart of the nearby Bruche river. Along with being a big lake, it was a better than grand place for them to use as both a swimming hole and a place to fish in. The little storage building, that was to the left of the lake, was where a lot of people went to do drugs or throw parties; they stayed clear of it after reaching the lake. After reaching their destination, they disrobed then jumped in for a swim. They swam and goofed off for about an hour, then took in the oddly green and lush matter that was around them, then got out. Instead of donning the whole of their clothes after leaving the lake, they just donned their underwear; they grabbed their fishing poles, then their baskets, then set to work in getting them ready for use.
"Nice rod 'n reel, man." Seth said after seeing the fishing pole that Lhaklar was nearly done in putting together.
"Thanks, your pole is nice too." Lhaklar said.
"Pervert!" Seth laughed.
"Carbonlite? They any good?" Astor asked after leaning over to see the name that was on the side of his friend's fishing pole.
"As far as I can tell, yes." Lhaklar, who's Carbonlite baitcast rod and reel combo was all ready to go, said before going towards the lake. "Anything good in here, or am I wasting my time?"
"According to my stepdat, who took a trip here with his bruder a few months ago, it's full of something that someone just released on the spree." Seth replied.
"Excellent!" Lhaklar said. He was quiet for all of five minutes; his friends finished with the setting up of their fishing poles then joined him. Up to when the first bite was noticed, none of them moved an inch. "If we don't catch something in here, we throw you in the Bruche river then leave you behind."
"Hot damn!" Astor exclaimed after the reel in his wheel started zipping out, and after his fishing pole nearly bowed in the middle.
Apparently, the humans had the idea that releasing a species of Bichirs, which were a streamlined fish that had ray-like fins, into the lake was a good thing. The fish, which, unlike most of the other fish known to be on the planet, could surface and breathe air, were a predator species that ate small vertebrates, crustaceans, and insects; they had, for the most part, desecrated the natural fish population that was in the lake and had since taken to eating anything that either came to the lake for refreshment or breeding purposes. The fish that Astor reeled in took approximately twenty minutes to land. It was an odd green color on the top but the belly was white; there was a row of fins on its back that were set much like a serrated knife, and it only had pectoral fins on it. The mouth was long; there were two, little protuberances jutting out from the top jaw. Astor was fast in putting his fish, which was close to being thirty inches long, on the ground, beside his basket; after placing his fish down, he re-baited his hook then tossed it back into the water. He was just thinking about taking a seat when Lhaklar's line started zipping.
In the course of three hours, each of them caught six of the same type of fish. Of the four of them, only one kept all of what he caught. Lhaklar, seeing his chance in proving his sister wrong in what she said on her doubting whether he was really going out to fish the Bruche river, decided to keep all of what he reeled in; at around four in the afternoon, he reeled his line in then went towards the river. Like with the lake, the humans also had a brainy moment in releasing several species of fish to several of the European rivers. Bruche was one of the rivers were three species were introduced. After relocating to the river, then throwing his baited hook into the water, he found himself having to suppress a yell—his line screamed from the wheel; he barely had time to push the lever that would prevent the spool from running out.
It took a solid forty-five minutes to land what it was that was on his line. When he finally reeled the fish in, he was exhausted. He decided that seven was enough; five of the six Bichirs would treat the family well for a meal while one of the Bichirs, and the one fish that he just caught, would do well as trophies. He collected his rod and reel, then slung his fish over his shoulder, then started on his way back to his friends.
"Dad's not the only one to be keeping in contact with you while you're gone." he remembered Eshal saying just before he left to go to the pawnshop. His sister had pretty much been at his elbow all while he was collecting his gear and filling his two duffel bags with the stuff that he'd need on his trip; she had tried to stop him in packing an extra set of clothes, and she came very close to snatching and then snapping his rod and reel in half when he was getting ready to leave. After getting all of what he needed for his trip squared away, he wished everyone well then broke his neck to get out of the house. Unfortunately, his sister followed him to the BMW and tried her best to put a big damper in on his day. He had just gotten to the car when she grabbed and then swung him around, and when she said that.
"Back off, Eshal." he recalled saying to her. "I'm making use of my time, and having a good time while doing so, so quit it."
"I bet you'll be having a "good time" in smoking and doing what all you and your friends are planning on doing while going to where you said you're going." Eshal came back. "Just you remember that all that you do will, in time, come back to bite you in the rear."
"Being tired after coming home, and needing a few-hour nap, sounds like a good thing to be bitten in the rear by." he said before putting all of what he had on him in the car.
While he managed to dodge the slap that she was about to deliver, he wasn't able to miss her kick, or promise in spilling what she saw at Scheidgraben. While slightly unnerved by her promise in spilling what she saw at the right tributary that came off the Alb river that ran down from Karlsruhe, he told himself that all would continue to be fine and that his father probably already knew about what happened in that water source—his friends, Ada and Ivonne included, were skinny dipping in the Scheidgraben and he and Guyunis were about to join them when Eshal and her entourage showed up. Eshal and her four "friends" were more after Guyunis than he at the time but, still, he guessed that she might try to use blackmail on him in an attempt to get him to remain home. If anything came from her spilling the beans on what happened on that day, he'd admit to it then say that he and his friends were just being their age and enjoying the water in one of the nearby water sources.
The fact that she said that he'd have no alibis on his activities that day made him smile. If a quick call to Astor and Seth, and the fish that he caught, weren't alibi enough then someone needed to get his or her head examined. With the exception of that one time where his father used his communicator to contact him after the tornado was seen, he hadn't heard anything from either him or his sister—he was allowed to enjoy a day of fun with his friends... which was, sadly, about to come to an end. With it heading on six, he and his friends would need to get their stuff together then go back to the car then start the trip back home.
"Wonder how Bile and Guyunis did in their hunt?" he wondered before returning to his friends, then donning his clothes, then giving the word that they need to get ready to leave.
The hunt, in regards to him and his brother, didn't have all that grand a start. With no game being found in Germany, they split then enjoyed some of their old fetishes before joining back up to give it another try. According to Guyunis, he saw a movie in Elchesheim-Illingen's one theater before deciding to find and then take up some mushrooms. After collecting an untold amount of mushrooms, then sending them home, he went to find where he was. He, instead of finding a film to watch in a theater somewhere, or finding some mushrooms to collect, had looked for and then gained an hour and a half date before hooking back up with him. With the game being so scarce in Germany, a quick call to their mother was made then permission to go somewhere else, where there was game, and where they'd have a more fruitful hunt, was gained. With their going to Asia, then splitting up for about half of their time there, they had a much more successful hunting experience.
Guyunis nabbed a Lesser bird-of-paradise, a Tibetan antelope, and a Colugo. While interested in all of his kills, he was most fascinated by the Colugo. He had plans to look the animal up tomorrow—er, if the weather shaped up and nothing was going on at home, that was. The animal was relatively light built and had long, slender front and rear limbs; its tail was about mid-long. While its head was small, it had large, front-focused eyes and small, rounded ears on it. The multi-gray coloration was nice but what got him was the fact that there were flying membranes extending from the animal's front limbs to the back ones—the animal was just sixteen inches long. It was much too small for a meal; according to Guyunis, he didn't bring it down for that purpose. He was intrigued by it and, after felling it, wanted to make it into a trophy.
He was able to take down a golden-colored Takin, and then a Serow, before finding himself as not being able to find any other game to hunt. Unlike Guyunis, who was hunting with the dual-purpose of catching something for the family and for trophy means, he was hunting just to get out from under the roof that he and his lived in and to bring something home for his family. He was going to keep the horns and pelts from his kills but the rest would be cultivated and then used by the family.
"I'm plannin-k-g on doing as you did with your Mountain G-k-oat and Hartebeest heads," Guyunis said after sending his kills to the house's basement. "The head and neck of my antelope will be severed and then sen-k-t to someone for mounting."
"And the bird?" he asked before they teleported to the house that they lived in.
"Getting it stuffed then put in my room." Guyunis replied.
No more was said between them for a few seconds. A Guyunis-sized cloud of smoke was left in Guyunis's wake after he teleported while a black implosion effect was left in his after he followed in his example. He thought that both he and his brother had picked a fine teleportation effect during their tenure at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. After appearing before the house, he grabbed his brother by the arm then pulled him to a stop. Unlike he, who was both unscathed and adhered to their mother's instruction in returning to the house in one piece, Guyunis had some injuries to him that needed to be assessed.
According to his brother, when he was going to retrieve the Colugo after it fell from the tree that it was on, he was jabbed by a bush that had more than enough gnarly thorns on it. While all of the thorns were removed from his brother's arm, they made for a bunch of scrapes and scratches to appear that were still bleeding.
"Wha-k-t?" Guyunis asked after being stopped.
"Just looking at your arm." he said.
"Its fine, Bile. Nothing-k but scratches." Guyunis pulled his arm from him then went towards the house.
Before leaving the house, they had both his father and Eshal at their elbows. While his father was adamant on their being careful in what they were planning on doing that day, he also wished them luck; he also asked them if they had everything that they needed for what they were planning on doing and if they had a communicator and what its frequency was. Of the two of them, only he acknowledged him and gave him his communicator's frequency. Guyunis, though looking to want to voice his annoyance over his following him, had remained close-lipped and didn't give his communicator's frequency to him—this had caused the old man to be a little antsy, and verbal, with him but he hadn't pushed the envelope or made a return to how he was last month. If not for him saying that Guyunis was going to stay near him that day, the man probably wouldn't of let neither of them go out.
Eshal had gotten on Guyunis for his not speaking or disclosing the frequency of his communicator. Along with reiterating what he said to the old man on where Guyunis was going to be that day, he stood between her and his brother; she gave him a mean look before stepping to the side then nodding her head towards the door. He didn't need to be told that Eshal's antics with Lhaklar, Hazaar, and Lazeer were getting to Guyunis—during their first session in trying to find something to hunt, his brother confided in him about his feelings with their sister; he was right nervous of her, and of her turning on him, and of her becoming like the other sisters that the other "families" that had him over the years had.
During their time spent out of the house, he had heard from the old man twice—once just after nine and again during noon. Correspondence with Eshal was done five times—she was constantly calling to ask what they were doing, if they were doing what they discussed that early morning, and if they were together and okay. He lied on the bit of their being together when they were separated, and on some of the activities that they were doing, but he was truthful with the rest of his responses to her questions. Either the old man came across her bugging him and told her to stop it or she decided to do it on her own accord.
With it heading on six, their mother was home and it was getting very close to curfew. He and his brother went into the house quickly then found themselves being stopped almost immediately after entering the dining room. Their mother, who looked to be manning the stove, had Eshal with her. Eshal, once she saw them, came at them; she about laid an egg after seeing the marks that were on Guyunis's arm. In a way, he wasn't but so surprised over seeing her coming after him about them.
"You go out to do an adult hobby, and take one of your younger brothers with you, and, when you return, the little brother that you took with you to do that dangerous hobby with is injured. I'm not surprised that even you can't be trusted to do anything without adult supervision."
"They're just a bunch of scra-k-tches." Guyunis said after ripping his arm from Eshal's grasp.
"These are not scratches!" Eshal came close to screaming. She lunged for the arm that was full of scratches and scrapes then, once she had it, started showing it off; for Bile, the act of her taking Guyunis by the arm was a bit funny. Eshal's hand, while small and feminine, was made to look ever smaller once it was on his brother's big and well-muscled arm. "You promised! You promised that you and he wouldn't get into trouble, and that you'd be home long before now, and—"
"I don't recall making any agreements on when I or he were suppose to be home." Bile said.
"Take your hand off me!" Guyunis hissed while wrestling his arm free of Eshal.
Before being adopted by his ma, Guyunis was rather reluctant to show any defense towards himself. Whenever it came to anyone getting physical with him, he'd either back off and accept what was given to him or have an episode where he forgot what he was doing or what happened during his going to his own defense. Along with watching him and his brothers, from when they had their own, personal squabbles, and having a talk with their mother on when to show defense, he had learned and learned well on when it was appropriate to defend himself. His adoptive brother, while disclosing his annoyance in having Eshal so close to him, and having her touching him, was acting in his own defense when she started grabbing and then pulling his arm. When Eshal went through with grabbing his arm, then gave him a shove, he reacted by ripping his arm from her then shoving her right back.
Even though he put himself between his sister and brother after the defense-made shove was made, he knew that Eshal wouldn't come forward to touch neither of them again. His mother, who looked none too happy at the moment, strolled over then put an end to what was going on quickly.
"Eshal, that's enough." his ma said after coming between Eshal and him and Guyunis. After speaking to Eshal, she asked for Guyunis to come forward. Along with being compliant in doing this, the expected happened after his brother reached their mother; his arm was picked up then inspected before being released. "I see nothing to grow concerned with on his arm. Like he said, just a bunch of scratches, and scrapes, that can be treated with normal medicine."
"You said for them to not get into trouble, and to not be hurt when they came back." Eshal said after their mother examined Guyunis's arm. "Dad also said for them to be home by noon. After you left to go to work, he said for them to—"
"He did not." Bile said. "He said for us to be careful—"
"Which you weren't!"
"—and he wished us luck on what we were going to do. No word on us needing to be back at a set time was made by either ma or dad." Bile finished what he was so rudely interrupted in saying.
"I can overlook the scrapes and scratches, seeing as boys are almost always coming in with them, and that they're nothing to be overly concerned over." their mother said. After saying this, she turned her attention to the activity that they did that day. "Take it that you two had a good hunt?"
"After calling-k and then getting the word from you on changing-k our location, yes." Guyunis replied before Bile could.
"Since I see no bite wounds, or lack of flesh on neither of you, I'm not going to snap or ask anything else on how your hunts went. Go on and tend whatever you brought in." their mother said. She was fast in retracting some of what she said. "Guyunis, you head to one of the bathrooms and do a quick session in cleaning your arm before going on to getting what you caught squared away."
"Yes, mum." Guyunis turned then went towards the stairs.
"Other than what you told us, we got no other instruction from anyone on what we were to do today." Bile relayed to his mother after Guyunis went towards the stairs.
"Yes you did! Don't try to pull that, Bile. I was there when he gave you the order to be home by noon. Dad gave Lhaklar the same order. Dad's right mad at both of you for—"
"If he is then where is he? If what you say is true then why isn't he here, giving both me and Guyunis a royal ass-chewing for being nearly six hours late in coming home?" Bile asked his sister.
"Bile, Eshal, that's enough." though Angel didn't say anything on it, she believed her son more than her daughter. Upon coming home from work, she found a very happy husband waiting for her; no hint of anger or nervousness was disclosed in the man. If what Eshal had said was true then she would of come home to find the exact opposite in her husband.
Angel told her oldest son to go on to wherever the items that he caught during his hunt were before returning to the stove; while the workday was pleasant for her, her homecoming wasn't so bliss-like. Tazir did as he said he would—along with taking a few, short walks around the house's backyard, he kept an eye on the news and did a few sessions in the boys' cave. According to her husband, a total of four tornadoes were noticed as forming down south and south-east of them; he admitted to calling Lhaklar when one formed near Müllen, then Bile when the Baiersbronn and Ettenheim tornadoes were spotted. The fourth tornado, he claimed, had formed near Tuttlingen. Of the four tornadoes that touched down that day, only two were destructive—the one that struck Müllen did a little bit of damage to the town while the one that struck Baiersbronn caused half of it to be almost completely leveled. Other than them few times in "bothering" their sons via communicator, he left them be; Eshal was what claimed most of his attention that day—he was starting to get both concerned for her and annoyed with the way she was acting.
Tazir, that early morning, said that he wasn't going to be adding more minutes to Eshal's phone, and that she couldn't use his after she went to ask him about it. Despite hearing this, she still, somehow, lifted his phone from where it was and used it. Tazir came in from one of his walks to find her as both possessing and using it; he wasn't very happy with this. Along with taking it from her, and checking who it was that she was calling, he got on her for stealing from him and for disobeying an instruction of his. The three text messages, that Eshal sent out, were sent to two of her friends and to her father's mother. Tazir was fast in sending the three that received her correspondence a message explaining the situation on why she wouldn't be responding to any of their replies and to tell them that Eshal was on "phone arrest" until the start of next month. Following the lift and then use of his phone, Eshal went upstairs to listen to some music. It took her husband all of a couple of hours to discover that she wasn't just listening to music. Apparently, their daughter made a few trips to Hazaar and Lazeer's rooms. All of their CDs were taken and then hidden somewhere, all of Lazeer's models were removed from his ceiling, and their stereos were disconnected from the wall; between doing this, she was bugging Bile with her communicator. Tazir saw to returning all of what was taken from the two rooms, and in returning Lazeer's models to their accustomed places, and in plugging the two stereos back into the wall. After doing that, he got on Eshal for her touching and tampering with things that weren't hers; due, in part, to Eshal's actions in bugging Bile, Tazir decided to leave Bile and Lhaklar be. Tazir had just gotten the rooms fixed to looking the way they were before Eshal came in when Hazaar and Lazeer returned home.
Hazaar, as good as his word, had stayed home to both work-out in the "Cave" and play a few video games. He had his father join him on one of them; though he did give an effort in including Eshal in the playing one of the games that he played, he wasn't successful in getting her to do so. Hazaar also watched a disc from his DVD set, Screamers, while being home. Eshal waited before he left to get some fresh air to make her rounds of his and Lazeer's rooms. According to Lazeer, his plan of hanging with Eli followed through—her son's friend was, apparently, with her son when he came in, which validated the claim of what her son did that day.
Following the discovery of what she was doing while being upstairs, Eshal decided to man the stove. Instead of making an appetizing grilled cheese sandwich, something that her father taught her how to make fairly recently, she came close to setting the kitchen on fire—Tazir took care of the issues in the kitchen, and in making her the meal that she wanted to consume. Eshal spent the rest of the day in the living room, with her arm, and head, propped on the side of the sectional; she was bored and Tazir knew this but any attempt on his part to get her to go outside for some air and exercise was for nothing.
Following her return from work, Eshal started following and jowling her a mile a minute. Eshal was bored and she feared that she was trying to take it all out on her brothers, who were just as innocent as could be. Seeing as Eshal wouldn't leave the house, or find anyone to be friends with for the duration of their stay on the planet, the only thing that she could think of to keep her entertained was getting her to help her with the house chores, and baking. After getting home, she did a load of laundry, then the dishes and floors; Eshal helped with all of that, and she was happy all while she was doing them. During the making of the Swiss roll, which would be that night's meal's dessert, she found that Eshal was less involved in helping her. Eshal, for the most part, just watched as she put the ingredients in the bowl then put and took the cake from the oven.
"Except for Lhaklar, everyone's home and accounted f—" she started to think while returning to the stove.
Ring! Ring!
"Tazir! Can you get that, please?" she called to her husband, who she knew was in the living room.
"I'm on it." her husband called from the room that he was in. It was a short few minutes before he rounded the corner; the phone was both answered and to the side of his head. "I'm near your mother now and will pass along your message, just stay safe and don't get into any accidents while you're on your way home, please."
The phone was hung up, then placed on the counter. It was a little while before her husband addressed her on who it was that called and on what the message that was meant to be passed off to her was.
"According to Lhaklar, he's stuck in traffic in France and won't be able to be home before curfew." her husband relayed.
"And, due to his having two humans in the car with him, he can't teleport." Angel said.
"Yeah, that was the other half of his message."
"I'll let his missing curfew slip this one time." Angel said.
"You shouldn't do that. Mam, instead of letting him miss curfew, you should call him back then say for him to drop the two humans that are with him off somewhere then teleport home." Eshal said.
"Them boys that are with him are in their teen years, Eshal. It wouldn't be right for him to leave his friends, or a bunch of teenagers, on the side of the road." Angel said.
"Mam..." Eshal drawled.
"Eshal, stop it. Your brother has a good excuse to be late for curfew." Angel said. The look, that she gave her daughter, was all that was needed to set that matter straight.