"All over a hedgehog, that she wanted to keep as a pet?" Letta Carver said after hearing what she did from her neighbor.
Kurt Klied, who was closing in on when he needed to be at the hospital, nodded his head. After witnessing what he did on the twentieth, he was close to saying that the calm in the air was close to being over. Angel Irene and her husband had sure been in a big disagreement over them two animals that their daughter wanted to keep, and Mr. Irene, as he and some of the people on the street called him, had sure been fast in mentioning the time when his family was to be moved from the planet. All while he and Petra were in the house, they watched as the two warred on the two animals, and on whether their daughter could keep them. Eshal was tottering on the edge of crying during their fight; if not for the newcomer to the house, who, except for the color of his eyes, looked more like Hazaar's fader than Mr. Irene did, she would of gotten hysterical over her fader's apparent dislike of her wanting a pet and apparent favorism towards her bruders.
He and his family had just come home from a trip to Rastatt when Bile asked if he could search their yard for a hedgehog. After hearing why he wanted the animal, he gave him permission to do so; he and Petra decided to help him in finding one almost immediately after he started his search. In his mind, the family could take on as many hedgehogs as they wanted—there were plenty running around, they were a pest, and it wasn't like they were doing wrong in taking one or two on as a pet. Whenever a tourist came to Germany, then saw the animals, they took them up then took them home as a sort of souviner. To the people who weren't local to the country, or to the countries where the animal was also said to roam, they were cute while, to the ones who lived in Germany, Spain, and parts of France, they were a nuisance.
Mr. Irene, even after being told this, didn't listen or back down from wanting to discard the two animals. In the end, Miss. Irene had to get blisteringly mad at the man to make him back off and then decide that she was the one that they were to go by. He and Petra went home about ten minutes later; they told Mitzi and Sarah what happened right after stepping through the door. On a guess, he thought that Petra told Kirstin, who probably told her parents and friends what happened.
Along with making the trip to the Carvers' property to say hello to Letta, who was also getting ready for work, he wanted to see if she and her husband knew of what happened between their neighbors. From what he could tell, Letta didn't know what happened; with this being known, he guessed that her husband and children didn't know either.
"Hear anything from them since then?" Letta, who was in her car, asked.
"No, but seen plenty of them. Mr. Irene's still collecting the mail, the boys are still going out to do their usual during the peak daylight hours, and the girl is being seen as making her rounds of the yards. She's also been seen in town. Miss. Irene's still going to work too." Kurt replied.
"Almeric and I have noticed that there's someone else living in the house. A tall, dark blue alien who looks to have a small resemblance to Miss. Irene's husband." Letta said.
"Yes, he was introduced to me and Petra before we left. His name's Efagti... he's said to be Miss. Irene's husband's bruder."
"He nice, or something similar to our neighbor's husband?"
"As far as I can tell, he's the opposite of her husband. Seems to be very surely, mature, presentable, and predictable."
"That's good. It'd be a shame to have two of her husband in that house." Letta said while starting her car up. "I apologise but, if I don't go now, I'll be late for work."
He let her go then went to his own car. The act of his shoving off for work occurred two minutes later; while on the way to the hospital, he thought about the man who was introduced as his neighbor's bruder-in-law.
Mr. Ubalki, as he called himself, but Efagti after his older bruder came in to say what his given name was, was as he said he was. He felt no negative feelings after being introduced to him, and the man was very open to both speaking with him and disclosing certain bits of his life. He learned that he lived with his parents in another galaxy, that he had no job, and that he wasn't married or had any children. Even after learning the latter, he still thought that he had an uncanny resemblance to Hazaar—the skin color was what gave him this idea, while the act of the man looking to want to be around Hazaar when he and his daughter were at the house was the cementing part of it. Efagti was said to be seen in Karlsruhe three days ago with Lhaklar, and he was also said to be seen with Hazaar in Elchesheim-Illingen's one park a few hours earlier; the day following them two sightings, he was seen with Lazeer in Rastatt, then with Bile in Au am Rhein. While no sightings of him occurred the following day, he was seen yesterday—he, Mr. Irene, Lhaklar, and Bile were seen with a group of male teenagers in Rottlichwald, which was the nature reserve in Au am Rhein. The group was using an array of guns to fire at cans and other obstacles that were rigged up on the branches of some of the reserve's trees—there was nothing illegal about this; with their being in a reserve, and firing at inanimate objects, they were fine. Nothing else was seen of them after that sighting occurred.
"Maybe just jumping at shadows, or being too reminiscent of what happened in April and May, but it's still good to be wary of the ones around you... especially when they're not human." he thought.
Unlike some on the street, who were either for or very against the aliens who were taking up residence in the Americas, he and his family were mixed on what was going on overseas. They thought that the people who were taking up residence in the two continents had a right in moving there, and in making friends and living their lives where they chose to move to, but they also thought they were wrong in taking up the homes where human occupants use to live in. While Master Vile seemed to have the right idea going on in making a place where the aliens could live in, he was wrong in evicting people from their homes and then fixing their homes up for the aliens that he threw the doors of Earth's occupation to; the man should of found an unoccupied area, or cleared some area that wasn't claimed by any settlements for them people to live in instead. From what he and Mitzi had seen, there were now a total of twenty alien families in the Americas, with most being in the United States while a small percentage making the decision to move to either Canada or Central or South America—most of these people bypassed the areas that looked to be prepared for them, while four or five took up residence in them settlements. The humans in the neighborhoods that were bulldozed and then prepared for alien occupation were doing more than hissing at them families... While he and his wife sympathized with them, they also thought they should take the hint and move to some other location on the two available continents.
"Some of them look downright frightening, while others have odd appendages. Or lack there of." Kurt thought.
Last night, when one of the new families was shown on tv, he and his wife were fast in barring their daughters from seeing them. The people that they saw had these Gremlin-like heads, that had this bulbous sack on the forehead and crown that didn't look solid; while their eyes were green, and beady, they had a pug-like nose and mouth structure. Most of the creatures' bodies were covered in this coarse collection of blue and white fur that was long in some areas but short in others. Their hands, while having a thumb and two other, long fingers on them, were overly big for the seemingly four foot tall creatures; the legs were oddly muscular, while the torso and waist were half-stout. What caused him and his wife to bar their daughters from seeing them was the fact that they had this testicle-looking thing hanging from beneath their jaw.
Sarah was fast in voicing her disgust when she saw the next family. The more notable of the aliens, who was obviously of the female gender, had a long, slender neck from which a small, ovular head sat on. Her arms were around a foot and a half in length while her legs were slender and around five feet long; while she had no fur on her, she did have this scale or bone-like flesh-tone to her that was a little dry in appearance. What made Sarah go ew was the fact that her brain could be seen; she also had a network of around six or so tentacles hanging from where her mouth was suppose to be. Them slit-like, light blue eyes of hers had sure had a sad appearance to them, which made both him and his wife feel sorry for her and her family of four—curiously, the mature male of the family was two feet shorter than his wife while the two, younger members were around the size of either toddlers or very young infants.
Nothing really prepared them for what was seen next. He and Mitzi had just sent their daughters to bed, and were thinking about doing the same, when the news showed a clip of one of the alien families that was said to be in South America. He had to clamp his hand over his wife's mouth to keep her from screaming, and he had to force the scream that he wanted to emit down. The people in this third family had pale, translucent skin; they were very skeletal from the chest on down to the waist. Their arms ended in two-fingered hands while their feet were almost like those of a lizard. The head was big, and looked to sit right on the shoulders—it kind of resembled that of a Hybrid Xenomorph... without the skull-like facial structure, of course. Their tv was shut off after they saw the star-like, orange eyes that the creatures possessed. While Mitzi slept last night, he couldn't bring himself to do so—images of that strange family haunted him all night, and robbed him of any chance to sleep.
"My fader was famous for saying how the world around us is always changing... If the other species of the Universe look anything like what me and mine saw last night, we better get ready for the rate that its going in to increase in the next twenty to fifty years." Kurt said after pulling in the parking lot that belonged to the hospital where he and his wife worked at. Due to his wife not feeling well that morning, he decided to take up the spot that she'd normally take at this hour.
As Kurt Klied was looking for a place to park his car in, he and his brother were slowly making progress through a forest that was in central Italy. With what happened yesterday, between him, Bile, Efagti, and their father, he and Hazaar thought that a little hunting was in order. Italy was said to have a good array of animals in it, and they had permission to be here; with the energy that was being expelled from them, he had a feeling that plain hunting wasn't what they were going to do. He had a mind to check the nearby town of Montorio al Vomano out after nabbing an animal or two, and find someone to have a little spin with while doing so, while Hazaar was probably thinking about going to one of the cuisine events that were going on down south of them.
"Should one of us go with them?" Efagti was heard as saying before they left to go to where they were.
"Think they know what to do in the sport that they're to partake in." their father replied.
"You seen them hunt yet?"
"No, but I will one of these days before we leave for Moas."
And he sure hoped that he did. Maybe, after seeing the whole of them working the trade that their mother worked so hard to train them in, he'd let them continue doing it after the move to Moas was done. It'd be nice if they were allowed to continue one of their out-of-the-house activities after the move was done; unless they were allowed to make the occasional trip to Earth every once in a while, he and Bile would have to stop entertaining the ladies, and he and his brothers would have to give up smoking too. While them two things sucked, and while he wasn't looking forward to when they happened, he was holding onto the hope that, somehow, the old man would be lenient with some of the other things that they were allowed to do when they weren't at home.
"Dad cooled down towards Eshal's pets..." Lhaklar thought after stomping his foot, then grabbing the hard, compressed stone spear that shot up from the ground.
Yoswi and Elassi, despite being full-grown hedgehogs, who lived in the wild from the time they were babies to three days ago, were doing as well as they should. Eshal, along with doing her job in taking care of them, had already made her notes from the books that he bought her; at current, she was going back and forth, between the house and the mansion on Moas—according to her, she was making the trips to ensure that there was a place in her room for them, and that she had an adequate supply of food, treats, and toys for them for when they moved from where they were. Just last night, both he, Lazeer, and the old man popped into her room to see how the animals were doing—from what they saw, it looked like their sister was going to need a bigger cage for them and was also going to need to make and then give them the potion that'd give them a longer life and stop them from breeding.
The old man had already "briefed" his staff on Eshal's pets, so they knew that there were to be a few animals that had "spine-like growths" on their backs and sides coming to the mansion soon and that there'd be more than two in the coming months. Surprisingly, the man was already initiating the act of their getting their things ready for the move—a bunch of boxes appeared in the house a few days ago, and they were instructed to start filling them with the stuff that was in their closets; Guyunis, though slow in doing so, was the first of them to fill the boxes that he was given, while the rest of them had their boxes filled in nearly two days time. Judging by the boxes that appeared in the basement that morning, they were to do a repeat on packing something else that was in their rooms.
The matter of whether they were to retain their friends after the move was made was asked last night. Their father, along with being slow in answering it, said that they'd make new friends and that they would cancel-out the friendships that they gained in the months that they were on Earth—this, in itself, told them that they weren't to keep their current friends, or be able to speak or interact with them after the move was done. Maybe they could sneak in a means to keep in contact with them, or sneak in a visit with them after gaining the man's attention on how well they were in the hunt and then being allowed to come to the planet to continue hunting its animals?
"Guyunis was upset over not being able to keep Giovanni as a friend, and Bile's friends were equally upset over hearing that they were to lose their friend too. I've yet to tell my friends that we're to wave bye-bye to our friendship soon, so I don't know how they'll react and the same goes for Lazeer, who hasn't told his friends that he won't be able to keep being a friend to them."
Even though the emotions were being expressed over their not being allowed to keep their friends, their father wasn't budging on what he said. The man had yet to tell their mother that she, too, would be leaving her friendships behind and would be forgetting all about them after the move was done. He guessed that the man was either afraid or nervous of doing so—the two seemed to be getting rather sweet on one another lately, and Hazaar was constantly finding himself as being the referee in splitting them up whenever they were seen as getting affectionate with one another.
"Any further children bore to them might well be raised differently than us, or see us as inferior to them because of our different upbringings." he thought before snapping his mind shut then getting on with the task of finding something to hunt.
All around him was deciduous growth. There were a few rocks and boulders scattered around but, for the most part, he just saw trees and shrubbery. While the shine of a water source could be seen to his left, he didn't go in that direction. Instead, he followed his inner ears to where the sounds of a pig family were. On estimate, there were three to five animals and not all of them were adult. The ground underfoot was a little muddy after a fairly recent rain, so he was picking his way carefully. After going a ways, he jumped then ran towards the animals that he heard and wanted to hunt.
A squeal happened, then a stampede of pigs ran through the undergrowth. Due to the sow charging him, he had to ward her off and quickly; once she was sent on her way, and once his arm had two puncture marks on it from where her small tusks gored him, he threw his spear. It was all over after that occurred. The mother pig went off with her young; even though she was sans one of her piglets, she seemed happy in knowing that the threat had satiated himself. The piglet that he brought down wasn't big enough to accommodate a family of eight plus their guest, so he decided to preserve it as a trophy. He made himself the promise that, if he came across anymore sows with piglets, he'd waste not a second in trying to bring half of the young down—nine piglets would feed all of the people in his household.
The piglet was very small, so it couldn't be anymore than two or three weeks old. While it had an orangey-brown base coat, it also had cream and dark brown stripes on it. After taking his ground spear from its haunches, then finishing the task of offing it, he sent it home then set down to the task of finding something else to hunt.
"Someone must of let their domestic swine loose or run amok the wild ones." he said after coming across another family of wild pigs then successfully hunting five of its piglets. While three of the piglets were similar in color to the one that he brought down around fifteen minutes ago, the fourth and fifth were white and had dark splotches on their sides. After bringing the five piglets down, he spell-sent them home then found himself in a little trouble—another family of pigs was just coming into his area; in order to keep himself from being mauled, he had to kill all of them. Since this family consisted of six piglets, and one sow, he decided that they and what he previously caught was enough in that meat category. He spell-sent them home then got to business in looking for a larger animal that'd say his time here wasn't totally for nothing.
He came across a family of stoats, which he decided to leave alone, then he saw two Beech martins, which looked very similar to the stoats. After thirty minutes passed, and he found nothing in which to hunt that was a large game, he teleported to another location... where his luck was very nearly repeated in until he came across a small herd of wild goats. He readied his spear, then singled one the males out, then threw it before taking in what he came upon—only after the animal that he was aiming for fell did he see what he came upon.
The humans were sometimes famous for letting their eyes wander when their livestock were out in the field, eating grass and getting fat for either the meat market or winter. They were also famous in letting their domestic stock be free-roaming, or just releasing and then washing their hands of them. The animal that he brought down made him think that a species of wild goat had interbred with an Angora goat—his kill had dark yellow to golden-brown fur, that was quite curly; the horns were around forty-four inches in length, gray in color, and, while sweeping back gracefully, also splayed out. If he had to make any guesses, a Bezoar ibex found himself an Angora or curly-haired goat then bred with her, creating two or more kids with her and a sort of new species. After nabbing the goat, he sent it home then smashed his spear to bits. With his weapon of choice dismantled, he took care of his injured arm then teleported to where Montorio al Vomano was then started searching for a date.
For him, the act of finding a date was both easy and hard. Unlike some, who ran up then started making a woman nervous or uncomfortable, he preferred to either look around then approach one who was giving him an interested glance or find someone to speak to, and get to know, before asking if they wanted to spend some time with him. When it came to women, he had a preference for blonde hair and either blue or green eyes; he also liked for them to be tall—along with thinking that tall women were attractrive, he thought that a tall woman would suit him well. After going to a few bars, then making a few passes towards the women of his preference that were giving him a mildly interested look, he found himself as not being very successful in finding a date; he switched to finding a woman of the brown or black-hair variety afterwards, which got better results.
The first woman that he approached turned out to be the one that he fucked. She was around five foot, seven inches; her hair was black and wavy, while her eyes were gray-green. Her complexion was slightly dark; she had a pleasant rack on her that he couldn't keep his eyes from looking at. After spending around ten minutes of talking and learning about one another, he popped the question—Avellina, as she was called, smiled real big then led him from where they were.
He found himself as spending the next hour and forty-five minutes in the back of her car, which was parked near an alley and couldn't be readibly seen. Almost immediately after their date ended, Avellina collected her clothes, then put them on, then looked at him; he took the hint. He clothed himself, left her car, then went on his way—even though his date wasn't the best in the bedding department, he was glad to finally partake in a little female company and get rid of the itch that he wanted to relieve. Once his need for sex was satiated, he went to look for Hazaar.
"Depending on whether he's done with his hunt, he's either in Arista or Pizzoli." he thought after stopping to take in the sight of the Church of San Rocco, which was in Montorio al Vomano's principal city square, Piazza Orsini.
Montorio al Vomano was said to be much older than the church, which was one of its few remaining buildings that were built in the 1500's. In some documents, it was listed as being the old city of Beregra while, in others, it was stated to be on the location where that city use to be. All everyone knew was that the Church of San Rocco was commissioned by the Countess Vittoria Camponeschi; its construction was initiated in 1527. The irregular and asymmetrical façade of the church was built of stone, brick, and plaster; even after the last two World Wars, it still retained this design.
Of the four churches that were here before World War III, only two survived to the present. San Rocco was one of them, while the Church of the Zoccolanti, which was located in the town's historical center, was the other. A record existed that showed the church as being restored in 1755; thanks to this, it was thought to be a lot older than that.
The Capuchin Convent and Church of Santa Maria della Salute, which was founded in 1576, fell to three bombs that were dropped almost squarely on it, while the Church of San Lorenzo, which use to sit on the town's outskirts, was found to be too damaged after the war and had to be demolished.
Even though he wanted to stick around, and take in more of the town's sights, he decided to go on and teleport to Arista. Unless the food in one of the food events that were taking place in the Abruzzo region was better than exceptional, he and Hazaar should be thinking about going home and then taking care of their kills.
The event in Arista was big and looked to be over. He spent about an hour in it before teleporting to Pizzoli then looking for Hazaar there. While the food event in Arista was over, the one in Pizzoli wasn't. While looking for his brother, he took in the sights and bought a few things for both himself and his family.
"Eshal and mom will love these." he thought after buying more than a dozen of the Cannoli tent's fried, tube-shaped Sicilian pastries. He paid special attention to buying the ones that were either filled with a sweet and creamy, chocolate or raspberry filling... which, of course, contained Ricotta cheese in it.
A container of Italian-made meatballs was bought for Bile, then a Calzone, that was especially stuffed with ham, mozzarella, ricotta, and Parmesan cheese, was bought for Hazaar. Two containers of Arancini, a deep fried dish of stuffed rice balls that were coated in bread crumbs and filled with ragù, mozzarella, and peas, were bought for Efagti—there were just six to a container, so he decided to get two to make his uncle's experience in consuming them seem more long-lived. A foam bowl of fish stew, or Cacciucco, was bought for him next then a container of stigghiola, which was skewered and then grilled lamb, goat, or chicken guts that were washed in water and salt, then seasoned with parsley, onion, and other pot herbs, was bought for Lazeer.
Since Guyunis was such a nut for mushrooms, he got him two containers of Italian sausage stuffed bacon wrapped mushrooms—again, with the containers having just six of that dish in them, he decided to buy two to further the experience for the one who they were bought for. He had just bought a foam bowl of Baccalà alla lucana, which was cod and crunchy red peppers known locally as "cruschi", for his father when he saw his brother. After spell-sending the items that he bought home, he went towards his brother then got his attention.
"I should of known." Lhaklar said after seeing that his brother had a container of dipping sauce in one of his hands and three Reggiano Parmesan Cheese sticks in the other.
"Have you ever seen me turn down cheese?" Hazaar asked while giving one of his eyes a wink.
"Nope, so not surprised that you have what you do."
"Surprised that you've not gotten anything while being here." Hazaar said while taking a chew from one of his cheese sticks. "How long have you been here?"
"About twenty minutes, and I did buy something for me. It, along with the rest of what I bought, is home."
"Expect for it to not be there when you decide to go home."
"Got something for everyone, and I think that everyone will know that the fish stew is mine."
"Yuck! Get away from me y'freak."
He made the motion to swipe the items from his brother's hands then pulled back just in the nick of time. While Hazaar threw a few jokes, and told him about his time in the event that he tracked him to, he didn't say a thing on how his hunt went. After a few minutes passed, he picked up an iced peach and cream Italian soda then gave the signal for them to leave. Before leaving, Hazaar grabbed a very berry Italian cream soda then seven more sodas—a blue raspberry, two chocolate, a rhubarb, a mint, a vanilla coke, and a Vodka-induced blackberry vanilla; the rhubard was for Efagti while the one that had alcohol in it was for their father.
They went home after the sodas were purchased. Upon entering the house, they noticed that everyone was in the kitchen and dining room. Except for the Calzone and fish stew, everything that was bought was being consumed by the ones that it was purchased for. Seeing as everyone was busy with their meal, Hazaar set the beverages down then distrubuted them. He found himself as being in a bit of hot water after the alcoholic drink was given to the one that it was purchased for.
"Take it that you consumed something that has alcohol in it while you were at that event." their father said after receiving his drink.
"No." Hazaar answered.
"Don't be savvy with me, son. If you had none, why do you have this?"
"It was a buy then take what you want type of stall where we bought the drinks from. After sliding the funds forward, he grabbed what he thought everyone'd like." Lhaklar aided his brother by offering a very accurate explanation on why he had alcohol on his possession.
"Likely story," their father said more to Hazaar than to him.
"Tazir, if you don't like the offer that's been bestowed on you with that drink then put it down and leave the room." Angel, who, like the wife of their neighbor, wasn't feeling well and decided to take a sick day from work, said.
"If you don't believe either of us then search our memories for what you want to know." Lhaklar said.
"With that being offered, I'd believe them." Efagti said.
TazirVile looked at his brother. The man, who had no children or spouse of his own, should know better than to plain accept any old thing that came from the mouth of a child who has alcohol on his person... and he should also remember that, last year, one the twenty-third of October, his own father detected alchohol on Lhaklar after plucking him from the trunk of the BMW that sat under the house's carport. Now that his second youngest son came home with an alcoholic beverage on his person, he had a mind to not let him go out on his own again. Too much could be happening behind his back with this son of his and, honestly, with Lhaklar having the hint of alcohol on him last year, he had a mind to do the same with him.
Guyunis and Efagti looked to be cool around each other now, which gave him the idea that any further regressions may be small or short ones. While Efagti had yet to go into Guyunis's room, or have any lengthy conversations with him, it did look like they were getting along; Efagti was noted as fooling around with Sabine twice now, and he also spent some time in watching Guyunis build the skeletal motorcycle model, that Guyunis decided to bring down then build in the living room two days ago—he detected no hints of nervousness in him during them three occurrences, which gave him the idea that all was fine with him now.
He learned something about Bile and Lhaklar yesterday, when he, they, and Efagti were in the nature reserve that was in the neighboring town with them other boys. They were good shots, and did, indeed, own BB guns. He and Efagti were nervous after them guns were retrieved from where they were hidden; judging by how Efagti looked, he was about to drop a load in his pants. He about became a woman after them guns were exhumed from where they were, and he also came very close to rushing forward to prevent the boys from using them. Bile and his two male friends set-up the ground or lower branch-based targets while Lhaklar used his Telekinetic powers to hoist the targets that were to hang from the higher branches of the taller trees—he helped his son in tying them off, after seeing that Angus was having such a time in climbing them trees. Once the targets were up, the boys set to work in shooting them.
The humans, while also being good shots, didn't look to match his sons on how to wield and then fire a weapon—on each turn of ten firings, they nicked seven or so targets, while Bile and Lhaklar caught a target on each firing. He couldn't help but be surprised, shocked, and proud of them for their prowess with a gun. A few hours after that experience, he asked for Guyunis, Hazaar, and Lazeer to go to the backyard; a near repeat occurred with them on the targets that he set-up to see if they were like their brothers in how to handle a gun. While Guyunis didn't look to own a gun, all of his brothers did—the boy, when his turn came to fire at the targets, borrowed Hazaar's BB.
Seeing as the boys were so well atoned to their BB's, he said for them to not be returned to where they were previously hidden. At the moment, they were in their protective cases in the basement—on the day that they'd move to Moas, they'd be coming with them.
"Course, that doesn't mean that they'll be using them without an adult being around to supervise them. They'll only be allowed to use them every once in a while too." he thought before the doorbell rang, and two surprise guests were allowed to come in and disrupt the calm that was in the house.
When the foam containers showed up on the kitchen counter, most everyone went forward to inspect them. Guyuns was the first to grab one of them—with the boy being one for mushrooms, it surprised no one that he took the container that had the Italian sausage stuffed bacon wrapped mushrooms in it. When it was noted on there being another container that had that dish in it, he took it too. Lazeer took the container that had something that was both skewered and grilled in it while Bile took the one that had the Italian-made meatballs in it. Angel, who had a little more strength than what she did that early morning, called Eshal over after the container of Cannoli's was seen; he and Efagti were just coming over to see what was in the final four containers when another showed up. He claimed the Baccalà alla lucana quickly while Efagti took the two containers of Arancini—everyone assumed that the Calzone was for Hazaar and the fish stew was for Lhaklar.
While it was nice of the two boys to think of them while on their outing, and while it was nice to have something to wash their food down with, he was still shocked over being given something that was alcoholic, and that his son was sold something that had alcohol in it. Seeing as no one was paying much attention, or giving any concern to Hazaar's action of buying an alcoholic drink, he shrugged his shoulders, retrieved his drink, then continued with the meal that he automatically thought of as lunch.
He was just two bites in on his resumed meal when the doorbell rang.
"Ah man!" Lazeer moaned.
" 'Ah man' will get you the chore of seeing who it is that's at the door." Angel said.
While he wanted to finish his meal, and vanilla coke Italian cream soda, he stood then went to see who it was that was at the door. With it being the hour where the mail was being delivered, he thought that it was the mailman who was at the door. Bile had sent out for two knives last week—one was wrist-worn, and designed to look like scorpion, while the other had a rattlesnake's rattle for a handle and a forged railroad spike for a blade—and Guyunis sent for this custom bone bladed Boline sickle bladed knife just four days ago. They were looking forward to when they got them; he had a feeling that a "fight" would spark between Bile and Guyunis on the knife that Guyunis sent for while Hazaar had a feeling that Lhaklar was going to regret not sending out for the same scorpion-style knife that Bile was expecting to get.
With their mother not feeling well that morning, he opted to stay home and take care of her. Guyunis did the same, while Bile went out to see this knife exhibition that was taking place in the independent city of Pforzheim, which was forty-five minutes from Elchesheim-Illingen. Lhaklar and Hazaar, just after breakfast was served, received permission to hunt in Italy's Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park—they had yet to hear or see a thing of what they caught... but they did see that plain hunting wasn't what they did while being in Italy. He was about to ask them about their hunt when the doorbell was rung and he was given the chore of seeing who it was that rang it.
With the weather looking to be back in order, and with Oktoberfest being scheduled to happen as originally intended, the question on whether they were to attend it this year was asked during breakfast. Oktoberfest was a sixteen to eighteen day event, which typically took place between the third Saturday in September and the first Sunday in October; last year, due to the freaky weather that was experienced, which caused most of October's planned events to be canceled, the people who hosted the event decided to open it up for one night to lighten everyone's moods. The prices of most everything in the fairgrounds were also slashed in half, and admission was free. He, his family, and the Leinarts attended it and had a ball while doing so—er, up to when the old man and his sister came in to ruin their fun, that was.
The old foggy was adamant that they didn't go to it while their mother was willing to make the drive to it. She said that, if they were good between now and October 3, they would go to it. Along with hoping that everyone behaved between now and then, he was looking forward to going to it.
"Don't see why we can't go, or why dad's so against us doing anything that's away from home." he thought before unlocking the door then swinging it open.
He was shocked after opening the door. Instead of seeing the mailman, he saw two men... one who was an assured friend of the family while the other seemed to be a plain friend or associate of his mother's. After seeing the men standing on the door's other side, he gestured for them to come in. He then had them follow him.
"Hope we're not disturbing anything." Mr. Leinart said before entering the dining room. "Just wanted to come over and say hi."
"Not disturbing a thing. Mom's not feeling all that great today, so some of us stayed home to look after her. Lhaklar and Hazaar went to do a little hunting in Italy, and to attend some food event that's taking place there, and Bile went to a knife exhibition in Pforzheim." Lazeer said.
"She feeling better?" Stefan asked.
"Seems to be."
"From what I've heard, your father lives here now." the President of the United States, a man by the name of Horace A. Smith, said. "Is he still here? I'd like to see and speak with him."
"He is, yes."
After rounding the corner, he saw that he and Horace had happened on the family during a meal. While he felt low for barging in at this time, and without giving a fore-warning before doing so, he knew that it had to be done. Things at home were fine, while things at work were tedious, as always, but he still kept up-to-date on things with his friend and her family—someone who was related to them had moved into the house fairly recently, and was said to be staying with them until November came around; he met this person first, right after entering the room that he and the Irene's were in.
Except for being asked if he had any involvement in shooting one named "Qeeta", or having anything to do with shooting one named "Cheshire", he and Mr. Ubalki had a pleasant greeting. After seeing and then having a few words with Mr. Ubalki, he let Lhaklar and Hazaar claim him for themselves.
Lhaklar, after showing him the models that he built that month, spoke on the hunt that he did that morning while escorting him to the basement. He inspected the sow and piglets that he nabbed while being in Italy, then looked at the wild goat before being "dragged" to the basement's other corner. Hazaar was very enthusiastic in showing him what he brought down while being in Italy.
"Lhaklar and I started out together before splitting to hunt on our own. I nabbed this right after we did so." his young friend said while tearing the tarp from the bigger of his two kills.
The Père David's deer was said to be an extinct species in the twenty-first century; over the years, it migrated from its free-given territories to roam abroad, which was why it was sometimes found in Germany, Italy, France, and parts of India. The species, which was semi-aquatic, and seemed to prefer a territory of marshland as its home, was known to breed with other species of deer whenever they encountered a doe that was in heat—what his young friend caught was a hybrid of the Père David's deer and Red deer.
The hooves were like those of a Red deer, but were also cow-like in appearance, while the head was long and slender, like that of the Père David's deer. The eyes were also like that of the Père David's deer—large, and with very big preorbital glands. The nose was unmistakibly like that of the Red deer, while the ears were intermediate between the two parent species. The thin, branched antlers, that had long tines that pointed backwards, while the main beam extended almost directly upwards, were very reminiscent of the Père David's deer.
The coat's color was very vibrant, and was orange to orange-brown. Due to the horns, he knew that the animal was of the male gender but, to further this assumption, he saw that it had a mane on the throat and neck. Running along the base of the animal's back was a black dorsal stripe, which contrasted well with the coat's color. The final thing that he took in on the animal was its tail—on estimate, it was twenty inches long. It had a dark tuft on its end, which made it look almost Donkey-like in appearance.
"I'm getting dad to preserve the head for me." Hazaar said while going to where the other tarp-covered animal was.
He had to choke back the gasp of awe that he wanted to express. The animal that was just exposed was none other than a Babirusa—a prehistoric-looking hog that looked to be bald but really had short hairs on its body. The color was gray, while the length of the body was forty-three inches. The two pairs of tusks weren't tusks but the animal's enlarged canine teeth, which had punctured the flesh of the snout; they were curving back towards the forehead. This species, along with two of the sub-species, use to be found primarily in Sulawesi, Indonesia but, due to human-done introduction in the mid-3000's, they were now found in both its native habitat and Italy, Greece, parts of India, and China.
From what he had heard, the world's only population of Buru babirusa's were in India, and one of the Indonesian islands, while the Togian babirusa was only found in China now. The pig that Hazaar brought down was of the North Sulawesi babirusa species, which was the only species of this type of animal to be in abundance in its territories.
"Damn, Hazaar!" Lhaklar emitted a loud gasp after seeing the animal that his brother caught.
"Yeah, and I'm going to see if dad can get the whole thing preserved as a trophy." Hazaar said.
"Think that's a very good idea to do." Stefan agreed with what was wanted to be done on the pig.
When they returned to the kitchen and then dining room, he was reminded of why he busted his buns to get here. While he wanted to see his friends, he also wanted to be here to prevent any sort of altercations that may or may not happen between "Mr. Irene" and Horace. The North American President, along with his family and many others, took refuge in the underground catacombs and bases of Mount Rushmore last year, after Master Vile got into the shield that was over the Americas then took over them continents; he, along with everyone in them catacombs and bases, became refugees after relocating to Germany. Angel Irene had helped in getting them here, while the government of his country had helped in getting them set-up. Horace knew all about Miss. Irene's husband for a while now but he hadn't made any movements to go see him; after learning that the man, who was very concerned about the people in the United States, was making the trip to see him, he decided to rush over here to both intercept and try to keep him calm towards the man who was "married" to their planet's heroine.
It looked like he came up from the basement just in the nick of time. Horace and the alien man looked to be just starting in on talking to one another. He was fast in going over to supervise the pair.
"So, you're one of the leaders of one of the overseas nations?" TazirVile said after Horace introduced himself.
"Yessir," Horace Alexander Smith, an Italian-looking man who had a high forehead, a pair of full lips, a prominent nose, and high cheekbones, but very American, deep brown eyes, returned.
"How is it that you find yourself here, when my nephew's cut all connection from the western side of this planet off from the east?"
"Wasn't by choice." Horace sounded heated, despite looking very placid in his stature.
"I and mine want no involvement in your mixed emotions on my nephew taking over your country."
"My emotions lie strictly on my people, and on how they're being treated and subjected to forced invasion by races not of this world." for a thin fraction of a second, everyone could see the shine coming from Horace's thinning crown. Like with the hair that was on the top of his head, the rest of his hair was a mixture of brown and gray. It'd surprise a lot of people to know that he was younger than the man who ran Germany; while Stefan was fifty-four, Horace was closing in on forty-eight.
TazirVile stared at the man before him. While he was trying to figure him out, there was something stopping him from doing so. There was anger expressed in his eyes, but there was sadness too. For some reason, he kept seeing the jets that attacked him and his family's camps on January 27—there were seven in all; all but three were manned by humans, while the others were operated by non-humans. One of the jets' pilots was his own nephew, who he had it out with almost immediately after his ship was attacked.
The people in them jets were refugees. From the Americas, it was presumed. Due to Angel being sighted with the humans who met them, some of his staff followed them to one of the hospitals down south of where he and his were. The idea of his seeing one of the people in them jets before didn't strike him until after his conversation with the man before him was done. When it dawned on him on his seeing the man at the dance that his wife was seen at in February, a question formed on his lips. The man before him was fast in answering it.
"Code Red, which was never instated in the course of the United States' existence, was done right after Master Vile was seen as coming towards the capital. All but a few of my official staff made it to where we bunkered down in; after nearly a year passed, we rescued them then made our way here. While we've been treated well, I've been haunted by what's happening with my people." the man, who now seemed to be right humbled, said. "If I may, may I beseech you and your wife's assistance in getting my country back, so I can restore balance and help my people in this trying time?"
"Unfortunately, sir, I can't help you and neither can my wife." TazirVile said. When his wife made a protesting sound, he turned to address her. "Angel, with you being considered this planet's heroine, you should understand, accept, and allow for what's going on overseas to happen. It'll benefit the people of this planet to learn about the Universe around them, and it'd help in bringing their technologies up to par with most everyone else's."
"With Master Vile being in control of the planet's western side, I don't think that'd be achieved." Horace said. "I'll allow for the non-Earthly ones to stay where they are, but I can promise you now that, if you help me in getting my country back to my control, I will close the doors to the rest. There's a right and a wrong way to other ethnic or alien groups moving in among others, and Master Vile is allowing the wrong way to happen."
"With me and mine living in a realm that's under his control, I can't help you." TazirVile said. "Same goes for my wife. See her for your heroine all you want, but she won't be allowed to come between her father and the continents that he has control of. I forbid it."
"Sir—"
"And, with you signing your nation's control to my nephew, you should know that everything that's going on overseas is out of your hands." TazirVile said, effectively cutting Horace off.
"I never signed control of the United States to that man. He and I have never met, or spoken or engaged in any treaty making or signing." Horace was fast in saying.
He gave the man before him a long stare after hearing what he just said. Had he heard the man correctly? That no contact between he and his nephew occurred after the Americas were felled? Vile knew the rules of Galactic Conquest—in order for a proper turnover of control to happen, the former ruler had to sign all rights and responsibilities to his usurper, who both fought a gallant fight for the realm in question and was its new ruler. As far as he knew, Vile did the sign-over with the Dark and Betta Galaxies; the question on whether he did the same with the M-51 Galaxy, which was his first galactic conquest, was still being debated in secret by many, though.
Teluder Kakian, the former ruler of the M-51 Galaxy, was said to be killed in battle, and his family were said to be killed by either a wayward bomb or a group of militants who were in a fighting frenzy—according to the history books, where only one passage was allowed to be written of on the man, his nephew cut a lock of his near-white blond hair from his head after killing him then had it fastened as a trophy. The white-looking tassel, that hung beside the fiery red one, which contents use to be on his wife's head, was said to be made from that lock of hair. With Teluder being killed in battle, and his heir being said to be killed by warfare, Vile could of exercised the right of taking it upon himself to call the realm's crown and control his... but there were some who were as old as he that said his nephew didn't kill Teluder, or that Teluder's only son wasn't killed by warfare.
For some reason, Vile forbade anyone from talking or writing anything about Teluder and his family. The ones who wrote the history books were only allowed to write what they did in that one passage; the rest of what they wanted to write was either forbidden to be included in the book or destroyed. The ones who spoke in public, or were known to talk of Teluder and his family, were typically rounded up, jailed, and then disappeared after an unknown amount of time. He wanted none of that, which was why he didn't speak of the man, or his family; when it came time to teach Eshal, Bile, and Lhaklar their primary lessons during their early kid-years, he mentioned nothing to them about Teluder and his family.
If Vile and this man didn't draw up and then sign something that specified that control and responsibilies were unduly transfered to the usurper, which would be his nephew, then his nephew didn't really own or have control of the American continents. He could say that he "owned" them all he wanted but he didn't really own or have control of them.
"Don't suppose you have a system here where, after the usurper passes, or decides to up and abandon the areas in his control, the oldest descendant of the one who was formerly in control of them areas can come in then assume command?" TazirVile asked. Along with explaining why his and his wife couldn't, and wouldn't, help the man in getting his country back to his control, he explained what he knew on Galactic Conquest; he then explained why he asked what he did.
"People from the olden times did that, yes." Horace said.
"I'd resurrect that practice, teach it to your children, then either in-act it yourself when my nephew looks to be growing bored with the Americas or have one of your children's descendants do it." when the man looked doubtful, he said, "Either that way or no way, sir. I stand by what I said on both me and my wife having no involvement on who has control of what countries, nations, or governments of this planet."
The stay, for him and Horace, ended almost immediately after the man who "married" their planet's heroine dared to say that she, who worked so hard to protect and help them, couldn't and wouldn't be allowed to help them anymore, said what he did on descendant-based return to power. Horace, who looked to be swimming between being raging and very upset, left before him while he was two to three minutes behind him in going home.
In a way, he understood the alien's stance on wanting to protect his family but he didn't understand why he was so against his wife, who was already showing contempt towards her fader, and was still helping the people of the planet by keeping and maintaining the shields that were still over the countries that Master Vile couldn't get in and then change the government of, retaining her position as the planet's heroine. Just yesterday, Angel Irene went to Puerto Rico and then Cuba to strengthen their shields and tunnel networks and, late last night, she visited the Bahamas and then the Hawaiian islands to do the same. While she looked to be a little under the weather now, he had a feeling that she had plans to do something similar with the other countries of the planet that were still protected by her shields.
If anything, this recent visit of his told him that he best fear the man who was his heroine's husband. For all he knew, he might go and take the shields that were still over the non-Master Vile governed countries down just to have his "wife"s hands be washed of them.