"We should either remove each and every child from the house or have Bile removed!" Cyla exclaimed. "He's dangerous, and he can't be trusted to be around anyone that's either his age or younger than he is."
"I'm very surprised... he was acting very well-behaved before. This is the first time that he's attacked—" TazirVile started to say.
"Come off it, Boy! While on Earth, he was seen as trampling all over Lhaklar, and he was also seen as evicting him from a tree shortly after doing so too." DuruVile spat. Unlike the others, who were sitting in the house's living room, he was pacing back and forth before the fireplace. "That was not his first offense, Tazir. Judging by what happened, it's probably not his first period, and it probably won't be his—"
"They seemed to get along very well... the only ones that I've seen, or heard about fighting, are Hazaar and La—"
"When we got here, we saw that Lhaklar and Hazaar were fighting upstairs. It seems that they are all fighting, Tazir." Cheshire, who's elbows were resting rather uncomfortably on his knees, sighed.
"Pubba gets here and the first thing he sees is a fight," DuruVile shook his head. "What was said again? Bile broke Lhaklar's ribs or—"
"I don't know what all damage he inflicted on his brother. The second Lhaklar was awake, and was on his feet, Angel took them upstairs." TazirVile said. "She's been up there with them for half an hour now."
He was at a loss for words; while trying to be calm, and come up with a logical explanation as to what had just happened in his house, he was very aware that he was near to hyper-ventilating and that he was very close to getting up and then doing as his father was in pacing before the fireplace. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected for one of his current teenage children to turn on one of their brothers in such a violent fashion... he was hoping that this was both a one-time occurrence and that his subsequent male children wouldn't result to such atrocious actions.
He, his father, Efagti, and Amadh had gone to one of the wine cellars for both a "breather" from the womenfolk, and children, and to speak male; he had no idea where the women went or did after breakfast was done in being eaten and that went double for most of the children that were in the house. He had only just gotten through with smoking half of a Mogar when a "ruckus" was heard; instead of sitting in the wine cellar, smoking his Mogar, and conversating it up with the men, he had gotten up and then gone to see what all the commotion was about. After trekking two hallways, then coming upon the foyer, he had seen a shocking sight—his grandfather having a rather perplexed, yet shock-filled, look on his face, and looking to of just relinquished Bile to Angel, and a bunch of his Goblins standing around Lhaklar, who had been all sprawled out on the floor. Lhaklar had been on the floor for all of two or three minutes before making any signs of life; Angel, after seeing him as being capable of moving about under his own power, had taken both he and Bile upstairs—his adoptive son had only just started to disclose a little hysteria at the time of their ascent up the stairs while Lhaklar had plain refused to speak.
His grandfather had put in a few-minute stall to going up the stairs and then heading to where his appointed room was; except for the basics, he had said very little. With the exception of Losal and Homsi, the Goblins who had been seen as being in the foyer had shook their heads and then moved off—after seeing that Mr. Khrelan and Mr. Modulavich were remaining in the foyer, he had taken them to the side for a chat on the happenings of what he had just witnessed the tail-end of. Due to Homsi being so out-of-breath, he hadn't been able to get much from him at first; Mr. Khrelan had said that he had heard someone running about on the second level before hearing someone yelling out for another to "stop". According to Losal, Lhaklar had vaulted over the railing of the balcony that overlooked the foyer; Bile had followed a few seconds later. Before any damage could occur to either of his sons, his grandfather had stepped forward to grab and then separate them.
Once Homsi's wind was caught, and once he was calm enough to speak to, he had learned that he had heard the running, which had prompted him into sticking his head out from the employee lounge. He had seen Lhaklar zipping past him, then he had yanked his head back into the room after seeing that Bile was in heavy pursuit of his brother, then he had rushed out with the hope of chasing the two boys down and then putting an end to what they were doing. Due to his wife still being upstairs, and to his not being able to gain the courage to go up to see, or speak with either her or with one of his sons, he didn't know the cause of the two's charge down the hallway or why they had jumped down from the foyer's balcony.
At the moment, the fourth level was as full as he wanted it to be; no one else was to take up residency on it. The fifth, sixth, and seventh levels were ready for the ones that were expected to come for their visit—with what had just happened heavy on his conscience, he was near ready to call everyone up and then cancel out their invites to come over. He did not want more trouble, or stress, to happen in the house; he had a lot of people in his family... his family, in due time, would be "bumping" into each other too much if they all came over, which might well cause unnecessary fighting. He was very concerned for his wife's stress levels and he was now worried about his sons succumbing to their stress in a violent manner.
His grandfather had been assigned his usual chamber, which was on the house's second level; his brother and sister-in-law, and their three young children, had been pre-assigned chambers that were on the fifth level. If Triskull and Dara Dara were to come by, they'd be given rooms that were located on the second level.
The location of where his wife and two older sons were was known while the location of where his daughter and two younger sons were wasn't; this gave him another cause to be concerned. What were Hazaar and Lazeer doing and how was Eshal going to react after learning that Bile had been noted as chasing after Lhaklar? After the event of Bile chasing after Lhaklar concluded, most everyone in the house had relocated to the living room; he hoped that the ones that's locations weren't known were okay and he also hoped that his wife and two older sons were okay.
"Should I head up to see if Angel's alright?" his mother plucked him from his thoughts. "Or should I—"
"Stay here," a loud, strong, and husky-sounding voice said from the room's currently open doorway. They turned to look at the source of this voice at once. "Leave her and her sons be. Once she's gotten things under control with them, and once she's been told what's going on with them, she'll come down."
Her husband needn't worry about where their two, younger sons were—after hearing what they had of the events that occurred in the foyer, the two had made the trip to the house's third level. She had managed to keep her cool after seeing them entering Bile's bedroom chamber; the two, due to what they had heard of what had happened in the house's foyer, and in the second level's hallway, and due to what Bile had said to them before the event in the foyer and hallway occurred, were quite upset. After having a quick chat with them, she had sent them to their chambers and then returned to Bile's side.
Like her husband, she was shocked over what happened between her two sons but, unlike her husband, who was having a mild episode in not knowing what to do, she knew what to do in accord to the situation—no yelling at her son, or striking at him occurred after she had him in his room. Instead of doing either of them things, she had sat beside him and then spoke to him.
Bile was a mess. Period. Along with crying his eyes out, and pleading insanity, he had told her all of what he had said to Hazaar and Lazeer before the run down the second level's hallway, and then the jump from the foyer's balcony, occurred. He had also told her what he had been meaning to do to Lhaklar after catching him too; the cause to why he had done all of this was only five minutes in being exposed.
Lhaklar wasn't having all that grand a morning; after getting him to his chamber, she had found herself as having to nearly carry him to his bed and then tuck him in. The poor kid had fainted... all that he had gone through had caused some of his mental plugs to become undone and it had also caused him to experience one episode of either fainting or blacking out after another. She was holding onto the hope that he'd fall asleep and then stay asleep—maybe then he'd return to normal. At the moment, she was leaving the injuries that he had on himself be—the tending of his physical injuries, she thought, wasn't as important as his getting in a nap.
Her oldest son, while needing to be dragged down the hallway of the second and then third level, had collapsed and then done the crawling thing after reaching his chamber; the kid, though being the culprit to the experience that he and Lhaklar had gone through, had had a complete emotional breakdown. After following, then helping him to his bed, then sitting beside him, she had found herself as having her shoulder being both leaned and cried on. Between hitching sobs, and periods of his pleading for mercy, he had told her his reason in giving his brother such a spook.
Her son claimed that he didn't mean it; Bile wanted to take it all back, and he seemed to be very sincere in being sorry for what he had done. The bit on the dream that he had experienced a few days ago had been told to her while he had been draped over her lap—which was where he was now.
If not for his rambling on and on about the dream that he had been tormented by, and about her blind confirmation of the dream actually happening, she would of wondered if something wasn't dreadfully wrong with him. Was it the stress of what was going on in the house the cause of his sanity to break; was he starting to succumb to a mental and emotional disorder that had been brought on by the fact that he was inbred three times; or was he just experiencing a moment where all of his contained emotions were breaking to the surface—this was what she would of wondered if not for his telling her about the dream that he had experienced.
Angel looked down at her son, who's shoulders were rolling back and shaking with each and every sob that the one that they belonged to did; while a small smile tugged at the side of her face, she smoothed her hand down his shoulder then gently cupped his chin. While undoing the buttons to her top, she brought him up to where she wanted him to be. Bile wasted no time in latching onto the breast that she was presenting to him; while he took the milk that she was giving him, she rocked him.
"You know you scared three hundred years from Lhaklar's life, right?" she asked her son softly. Bile, who had been allowed to take all that was present in her left breast, looked at her for the longest of time before making the motion to put his head on her shoulder. "You made him go from being young and spry to old and feeble, Biley."
"I'm-I'm sorry." Bile gulped. "On the day that I told him about it, he tried to help me... I believed him and his help only to shame him and his given help this morning. I feel so filthy, ma!"
"Shhhh, baby. Calm down now. I'm sure that he'll forgive you." she said while patting him on the back of the head. "Can you tell me the whole events of what you saw in your dream? All you said was that you saw our old home go up in an explosion."
As he spoke of what he had told his brother about he remembered the events of what happened after he landed on Lhaklar. At first, he hadn't been able to remember who the man was; the maroon-colored hand had grabbed him, then had ripped him up, then had held him steady and he, in response, had swung at its possessor. The one who had grabbed him had responded by yanking him back—his teeth had clacked afterwards, and the colors in the foyer had become nearly one, and he had come very near to losing his footing thanks to that given yank. After being yanked, he had been thrown towards one of the staircases—Mr. Khrelan had been checking Lhaklar out at the time that he had rebounded from the stairs and then started back to where he had formerly been; the one who had thrown him had simply made a groaning sound before returning his hand to his shoulder and then holding him steady. A bunch of Goblins had come down the hallway after he had been grabbed... then his mother had come down the hallway... then his adoptive father had come down the hallway... at the time of his adoptive father's appearance, he had been swimming between being hysterical over what he had done to Lhaklar and scared of the one that had been restraining him.
His mother's face turned to stone as he told of how the apartment that he and his had lived in for three hundred and twenty-two years exploded in a plume of green fire and smoke; the woman that he hoped would give him mercy for his deed towards Lhaklar listened, then nodded her head, then went mhmmm but she didn't say anything about what he was telling her. She only stopped doing this after he spoke of the shadow-person. She looked out into deep space; her eyes became a bit clouded over before clearing up; and her skin grew cold for a few seconds before returning to its former temperature.
After speaking of the events that he had dreamed of, he searched her eyes, and her face, for anything that would say that he was in trouble; when she continued to look like stone, and look like she was a distance from him, he grew fearful that he was about to be given more than a plain dish toweling or chiding.
"That does sound scary, Biley. I can see why you're so freaked out by it." Angel said nearly a minute later. "Having them premonition-like dreams can be right frightening... they can make people think that they're crazy when they're really not."
"Am... am I crazy, mama?" Bile asked. "Am I crazy for dreaming what I did, and for finding out that something similar to it really happened?"
"No, you're not crazy. You got scared, that's far from being crazy." Angel answered. "You should of come to me and told me what happened. I'm glad that you have such a close relationship with your brother, but you really should of come and told me about it."
"I... er, after I woke up that first time... I kept having the dream, mama!" Bile strained. "I woke up a total of three times... I stayed awake for minutes on end after doing so, and I left my room to check on everyone too. When I went back to sleep, it resumed itself. It was like a movie was being played out for me, mama. It wouldn't—"
"Shhhhh, Biley. You just had one of them long and very much overdone premonitions—just something that wouldn't go away." Angel said.
"W-what happened to the apartment, mama? Did it really explode like it did in my dream? Did Expedition Island—" Bile asked.
"All of what you dreamed is spot-on to what happened." Angel said softly. "Everything but the shadow-person, I can't explain that one. And I can't explain why the military wanted everyone out of Green River, and Sweetwater County, either."
"That happened?"
"Mhmm. They evacuated Sweetwater, and its surrounding counties, about twenty to thirty minutes after the apartment exploded. A few counties in northern Colorado were also evacuated—as a precaution, they say."
"Because of radiation, right?"
"Would you like to read the articles that I brought back, son? They have all of what happened, and the reason to why Sweetwater, and its surrounding counties, were evacuated." Angel asked her son. Bile blinked his eyes before nodding his head; with her son's wish disclosed, she reached into the back pocket of her pants for the articles that were in it. Once the articles were in her hand, she pushed her son back then gave them to him.
From the Crook County Sundance, December 14, 4099 (Page 1)
Military Evacuates Sweetwater, Carbon, Uinta, Lincoln, Sublette, Fremont, and Natrona Counties
While the exact cause isn't known, authorities are saying that all who live in the county of Sweetwater aren't allowed to return to their homes until after its been deemed safe for in-habitation. The evacuation of Sweetwater County, and its surrounding counties, occurred on the heels of an explosion that blew a corner of the small community of Oak Acres, which is located in the town of Green River, from the map; the residence that was known to exist on 14235 Forest Hill Dr. is under intense investigation, and is said to be Ground Zero for the explosion, which occurred during the wee morning hours of December 13, 4099.
The area that the explosion stemmed from is said to be where a very important figure was once living at; Miss. Angel Irene, the one responsible for placing the shields over our planet, and the one responsible for keeping her evil alien father, Master Vile, from gaining control of our planet, retrieved the residence from an undisclosed location in the state of New York three hundred and twenty-two years ago. The residence was county inspected, and was repaired by the ones that were soon to live in it, before being moved into. According to the people who lived near the residence, the ones who lived in the apartment were quiet and very to themselves for nearly a month—many wondered if the alien activity, that was noted as happening close to the residence, hadn't caused the ones that lived in the residence to pack up and then leave. An investigator working on the case did manage to find that Miss. Irene had been told to end her tenure at Green River's local Food Lion; she was said to be working in the Food Lion that's located in Atlantic City, which is in nearby Fremont County, at the time of her reported absence from Green River's Food Lion. In contrast to Miss. Irene's reputed whereabouts, her four sons, who were regularly seen as moving about Green River and its surrounding towns, hadn't been seen in weeks by anyone who lived in or around Green River.
The ten apartments, that were known to be around the one that Miss. Angel Irene, and her four sons, lived in, sustained either heavy damage or were completely destroyed by the explosion; injuries are reported to be many, and the three deaths that have happened are being blamed on the explosion. Miss. Irene, and her sons, haven't been seen anywhere since the apartment's destruction—many are concerned and curious as to where they are and on whether they are the ones responsible for the explosion that claimed their home and neighborhood. According to one neighbor, who sustained minor injuries after the explosion occurred, no one was seen as walking in or around the residence; in contrast to this claim, another neighbor, who was sent to the hospital with internal bleeding and a severely broken arm, says that he saw someone walking away from the residence just after it exploded.
The state council claims that the evacuation is only precautionary; thousands have been relocated and questions abound on what's going on. Many are hoping that Miss. Irene, and her sons, are okay and that they'll show up somewhere where they can be picked up and then questioned on what happened in the area that they called home.
"Don't forget the other one, Bile." Angel said after her son looked up from reading the first of the two articles that she had given him. "The other one is about Expedition Island, and about the radiation concern that caused Sweetwater, and its surrounding counties, to be evacuated."
His breath caught in his throat as he read about how Expedition Island had gone up in "green" flames and about how the Green River Fire Department wasn't allowed to down the fire that had been raging on it. The article, which had been written on December 15, didn't mention anything about the apartment exploding; the fire on Expedition Island, the fire department not being allowed to do their job in downing the island's overly raging green flames, and the mention of radiation poisoning was what the article had been written on. It was a right lengthy article, and it was also from the Crook County, Wyoming Sundance newspaper; after reading it, then giving it, and the other article, to his mother, he looked at the wall. He stared at the wall for the longest of time before, finally, pulling his legs up to his chest and then resting his head on them.
He was confused, and scared, and he had a feeling that his mother was too. After a few minutes passed, he decided to fall back to the bed and then stare at the ceiling; his mother, after he was down, smoothed her hand across the sides of his face, and hummed to him, but she didn't speak any on what he had just read or give him any words of comfort. The kiss that she gave his left cheek made him feel a tinge better but it didn't make his confusion go away.
"Ma," he said after a full ten minutes passed. He pushed himself up then looked her in the eye. "I'd like to apologize to Lhaklar for what I did to him. Can I do that?"
"Think that's a fine thing to do, Bile." his ma said.
Upon leaving his room, they found that they'd not have to make the trek to Lhaklar's room or even knock on the door to see if he was awake or not—the one that he had so viciously and disgustingly chased and assaulted was in the hallway. He was walking around, in a near-daze, which caused both him and his mother to grow concerned.
His mother, who's Stress Meter, he bet, had been jerked up another notch or two, rushed over to his brother; she turned him towards his room, then she led him to it, then she came back for him. After entering his brother's room, he saw that he was sitting on his bed; his hands were nice and relaxed while his head was shaking back and forth. One look at his brother's eyes, which were doing the mad blinking thing, told him that he was having a mild episode—this caused him to feel even worse for what he had done.
He had turned his usually calm, cool, collected, and sometimes overly mature, but very confident, brother into this... If there had been a ruler anywhere nearby, he would of grabbed and then used it on himself. How dare he cause this to happen and how dare he attack Lhaklar!
"Lhakie," he said in the most gentlest of ways that he could. "I'm really sorry for beating you up, and for chasing you. I didn't mean it, or any of the things that I said to you."
"Don't think anything of it," Lhaklar said in a weak, but very strained, voice. What he said next neither he nor their mother caught. "I now know why you reacted in that way."
"Brothers?" Bile held his hand out; the intention was for Lhaklar to either grab and then shake it or just plain look at it. Instead of leaving his hand hovering in air, his brother grabbed and then shook it.
"Always and forever." Lhaklar said. After saying this, he looked down at the floor of his room.
After seeing that her sons had done the make-up game, and were getting along, and were speaking among themselves about the event that they had just shared, she left the room.
As she went down the hallway, then went down the stairwell that connected the second level to the third, she couldn't help but be proud of her sons for being as close as they were to one another or for bucking up in apologizing to one another for their misdeeds as quickly as they did. Unlike her sons, she didn't have all that good a relationship with her two siblings—Rita was of the highly jealous sort, and she seemed to despise her, while Rito... well, he was incredibly stupid, and he seemed to take after either Rita, or their father, in regards to her and her children. For her, for her sons to be as close as they were to one another was a good thing—there need not be any hating, or constant disagreements being experienced between them and that went double for their not having "bad blood" towards one another.
Her slow movement down the hallway that was on the house's second level was done purposely; while on the way down the stairwell that wound around the foyer's left side, she forced herself to move along a little faster. Once she was down the stairs, she went straight to the living room—she had a feeling that that was where everyone was; due to the events that had just happened, and due to just getting an explanation on why they had happened, she wanted to speak to everyone about them and she also wanted to do an attempt in calming anyone who was upset down.
She had no more reached the open door to the living room, or appeared in the doorway, before finding herself as being yanked clean from her feet. If not for her knowing who it was that had her in his arms, she would of screamed and then, possibly, started another event that'd cause her and her sons, and the rest of the people in the house, stress.
"Goodness! Grampy, I do suspect that you are where my boys get their warm hugs from!" Angel exclaimed after finding herself as being in her great-great grandfather's embrace. She was fast in returning the hug given to her.
"Surfeit trademark, Lass. We always give warm hugs to our kin." ShaamVile Kondee Surfeit returned.
No fear at all was shown towards the man who had her in his embrace; she felt as safe, and as loved, as could be in his arms.
Due to how big the man was, she wasn't able to do a full-on return of his hug; the man's size wasn't based from his being fat or grotesque—he was big as in being very muscle-bound. ShaamVile Kondee Surfeit, the only surviving son of RaalVile Dawlur Surfeit and Frahfrie Cloridona, stood an impressive six foot, six inches... his body matched his size perfectly. He had a very striking resemblance to an upside down spinning top—his back and stomach, she knew, were teeming in muscle while his barrel-shaped chest was just the epitome of muscle; his lower half, on the other hand, was more "slender" in build. The arms that were around her could well squeeze the life from her, or cause very horrid damage to her ribs—like with the torso that they were attached to, they were extremely thick with muscle.
ShaamVile Kondee Surfeit, or Shaam, as everyone in the family, and anyone who knew him, called him, had the typical body that was possessed by a Surfeit—it was bi-colored, with the left side being a carmine pink color while the right was maroon. The set of elongated ears, that went the entire length of his shoulders, were burgundy in color; the black, Tiger-like stripes, that were on them, contrasted rather well with that color. His eyes, with the exception of the pupils, that were small and red, were a glowing white color. The long nails, that were on the ends of the man's fingers, were maroon-colored.
"Ah will lock thes hug in mah memory forever." he said just before putting her down. Once she was on the floor, he bent down; the kiss that was placed on her cheek was tenderly given.
She remembered very well that he only spoke with a Scottish accent to make women smile—the accent got its desired effect from her well, because she wasn't able to stop herself from giving him a little smile after he used it on her. Despite his impressive size and muscle mass, he was a very smart man—along with knowing, and being very fluent in English, he knew and was very fluent in several other languages.
The man, who was both her and Bile's great-great grandfather, but who was Lhaklar's, Hazaar's, and Lazeer's great-grandfather, was very nicely attired in an outfit that was very him. The dark green jacket had gold hems and pockets on it; it went to his waist on its right side while, on its other side, it stretched down to the floor. The lime green vest, that was worn under the jacket, was very shiny; the gold buttons, that were running down its front, were also quite shiny. The shirt that was under the vest was a plain white one that had long sleeves and a button-down front on it. The pair of dark green pants that he was wearing had a series of light gold buttons on their outer sides; they, like Duru's, ran down to his knees before stopping. The artichoke green ties, that were around the ends of the pant legs, were holding the pants' ends to his knees well. A pair of white slacks ran from the pant legs' ends to the man's boots, which were dark brown in color, suede made, and had their tops pulled down. She had only to look at the gold chain, that was running from one of the man's vest's pockets to the other, to know that he still carried a pocket watch that had Roman numerals on it.
"So, our dear wayward mother returns to either tell us good news or to try to pull the wool over our eyes about what happened nearly an hour ago." Cyla said.
"And what, pray tell, is your idea of "good news" with what happened between my sons?" Angel asked hotly.
"That Bile was severely punished." Cyla said.
"Bile hasn't and will not be punished," Angel said. "What happened was—"
"Come on Angel!" DuruVile yelled at the top of his lungs. "He attacked his younger, half-brother! That calls for a beating by either a belt, a stick, or a whip!"
"Angel, I do tend to agree with my father on this one." TazirVile said. "That should of gotten a punishment of some sort."
"Does his flipping out after getting a blind confirmation on a premonition that he had several days ago call for such punishment?" Angel asked.
With the way Cyla was in contradicting people, and in being fast in interrupting others, she told all of what Bile had told her quickly; after speaking of what she had learned from her son, and then showing them the articles that she had brought back from one of her trips to Earth, she waited to see what was to happen next.
Premonitions, she knew, could be scary... to one who didn't understand them, they could even be terrifying. Sometimes, they caused the ones that experienced them to act out or think that they were crazy. Premonitions were a very misunderstood phenomenon that, really, no one had a straight-forward answer to—on Earth, it was thought that spirits, or deceased folk, were the cause for them while, elsewhere in the Universe, it was thought that demonic entities created and then placed them in the minds of the ones that they wanted to torment. From time to time, she had received a premonition that revolved around an upcoming plague or natural disaster—after each one was received, she readied both herself and her children for what may or may not come; about eighty percent of the time, her given premonitions had turned out to be right, which had validated the stress that she had gotten after receiving them.
The articles made their way around the room multiple times before, finally, being returned to her; she was fast in returning them to the pocket that they had previously been in right after getting them back.
"I will say, Lass, that I was very surprised in seeing what I did after being let in." ShaamVile said. "Lhaklar leaping over that balcony railing, and Bile following right behind him, was the last thing that I was expecting to see."
"Did you explain to Bile what a premonition was?" Ashaklar asked. "That it's nothing for him to be scared of, or to get violent over?"
"Of course." Angel nodded her head. "He's already apologized to Lhaklar; think everything's fine between them now."
"I suppose that his acting out due to a premonition isn't punishable." Cheshire said. "Other than his trampling all over Lhaklar, and then knocking him off a tree, he's never acted out before, right?"
"What and what?" Angel asked.
"During the first sighting that we had of Bile and Lhaklar, Bile freaked after Tazir placed his hand on him. He turned around, then ran right into, and then over, Lhaklar. Shortly after Lhaklar climbed a tree, Bile appeared; he knocked him clear off the tree, and then into the nearby river." Ashaklar explained.
"First time that I've heard of that happening with them." Angel said. "Neither of my sons said anything about it."
"Seeing Lhaklar get run over by his brother plum scared me half to death." TazirVile admitted. "He got up fine, and looked to be moving around well, but I was still concerned about him."
"I wonder—" Angel thought about the crates that her sons had mentioned as being found on the apartment's doorstep for a second before giving her head a shake.
"You wonder what?" DuruVile asked.
"Bile and Lhaklar, a few hours after everyone made camp near Expedition Island, said something about finding some crates on the apartment's doorstep." Angel said. "There were six in all, and all were quite full of stuff that we either used or sold. They had some clothes, shoes, and food in them—we had a good meal on the six lobsters that were found in one of them."
"Ever find anything like that on your doorstep before?" Ashaklar asked.
"Maybe once or twice a year—I always thought that it was just someone paying "restitutions" to me for what I did over two thousand years ago in keeping my father from taking over the planet." Angel replied.
"Wouldn't be surprised if they took something that was just lying out and in the open up and then brought it home." ShaamVile said. A minute to two minutes of silence followed before he said anything else. "I wouldn't concern myself over it, Lass. What I figure to of happened with them crates being found on your doorstep reminds me of how me and Zaal, my older brother, use to come back from town with bags of Oysters for our mother—we, without fail, pulled the old "finders keepers" thing whenever she asked us where we got them."
After spending thirty minutes with her family, getting reacquainted with Shaam, and listening to Cyla as she ranted about how she needed to stop the constant pacifying and dish out some discipline when it was needed to be given, she got up then left the room. Most of that day was spent upstairs; she went from room to room, checking on her sons, and seeing if they needed or wanted anything, before deciding to take up residency in one of the rooms that had no owner. When meal-time came around, she went down to make herself, and her sons, a small meal; she brought what she made up, then gave it to the ones that it had been made for, then returned to the room that she had taken up residency in.
Her sons spent most of the day going from room to room; Bile and Lhaklar played the Playstation 3 after Lhaklar was fully over his shock in what happened earlier while Hazaar and Lazeer spent time in either playing the Super Nintendo or the Playstation 2. When they weren't playing the game consoles, they read magazines or listened to music or watched tv.
When time came for them to go to bed, she made her rounds in seeing if everyone was alright before going downstairs to join Tazir. He, who had spent the last few nights on his own, was overjoyed in seeing that she was to accompany him in their chamber and he was also fast in "punishing" her for "abandoning" him. Around thirty minutes to an hour of bed-play was done between them before they rolled over then went to sleep.
The clock, that was on the room's bedside table, went off at its usually set time of 6:00 the next morning; even though they groaned over having to get up, they didn't shut the clock off and then go back to sleep or pull any lip over having to get started with the day.
"You will find a court citation in the mail today for touching me." Angel said after her husband's arm wrapped around her waist.
"And so will this woman for being so beautiful and sexy." TazirVile replied. Angel felt his face being pressed into the back of her shoulder. "Luckiest man in the Universe to have you as my wife."
"Luckiest woman in the Universe to have such a fine man as my husband, and as the father of my children." Angel returned. With this being said, she turned over then kissed her husband, who was fast in returning it.
She waited until after he was out of the shower to get up and then do her morning routine; after washing herself, getting that fresh feeling that only a shower could give, she threw a towel around her body then left the bathroom.
Tazir, she saw, was on the bed; he had gotten dressed in a slate gray tuxedo—the jacket, with its twin tails on the back, was very him while the rest looked very normal for the garment that it went with—before sitting down to put his socks and then his shoes on. With her husband's location known, she went to work in getting something for herself to wear—while donning a pair of purple panties, and the bra that matched it, she remembered that her husband was prone to being "grabby" after she left the shower and then started getting dressed; with this memory in place, she moved quickly in finding something to put over the underwear that she had just put on.
The loose-fitting, black blouse, that had spaghetti straps on it, and the pair of blue jeans, that were slightly faded on the knees, had only just been put on when she was grabbed from behind; Tazir, working as fast as any husband who had just grabbed his wife would, but also being as gentle as could be with her, pulled her in close then placed his head beside her own.
"I should make you remove everything that you just put on and then get back in bed." though sounding tough, he also sounded playful, which caused her sudden tense feeling to evaporate. "Much too beautiful in anything, My Love."
"You're one to talk," Angel replied. She twisted herself around after feeling her husband's grip on her loosen then she reached her hands back. Her husband was fast in jumping after feeling her hands wrap around his rear end. "Much too handsome."
He was playful in trying to throw her to the bed, and in trying to "tear" her clothes from her; after doing these two actions, he kissed her then left the room. She decided to stick around for a while longer. After putting the jewelry set that Bile had purchased for her on the 25th of November on, then getting her hair brushed and then looking somewhat presentable, she went to feed her Sekhems.
Zeox, Exutho, and Elaye were fed their mushy combo of oatmeal, potato and vegetable hash, and fruit "salad"; while they were eating, she filled their water dishes and then set out some of the toys that she thought they'd like to play with after eating. Her pets did as they usually did after eating their meal—Elaye grabbed one of the toys, then started flinging it all over the place, while Zeox and Exutho chased one another up and then down the cat tree. She laughed at their crazy antics for all of five minutes before leaving the room; with herself dressed, and looking presentable, and with her husband being either in his office, checking the messages that had been placed last night, when they had been sleeping, or looking into the paperwork that he was to do that day, and with there being some time before the task of making breakfast for everyone needed to be done, she went to see her great-great grandfather.
Due to the events of yesterday, and to Cyla getting on her nerves, she hadn't been able to give the man a proper apology for his coming in and then finding himself as having to stop her sons from fighting. She felt bad for not apologizing to him; if allowed to, she had plans to do so now and to make-up for not doing so earlier—the man, she remembered, liked to talk to the ones that were in his family, and he seemed to be rather fond of the opportunity to speak and spend time with her too. Maybe some time with him this morning, in both listening to him talk of how he had been during her sixteen hundred year absence and in telling telling him what she had done during her time in being on Earth, would set both his and her day off right.
Shaam was such a finely mannered fellow, and he deserved every ounce of respect that one could give him; despite the fact of his being a conqueror, and, on the times that he decided to partake in finding a woman to spend an off-fling with, a womanizer, she respected him and she loved him.
She automatically knew where he was; Tazir, on the day that the man came over for his first prolonged visit, which occurred at the time that her pregnancy with Lhaklar was coming to a close, had put him in a room that was on the house's second level. Her great-great grandfather was quite fond of this room, and Tazir made an effort to have it ready for him whenever he was slated to come over for a lengthy stay—it was just two rooms from the stairwell that went up to the third level, and it was also on the hallway's left side. She went straight for that room; after going down the hallway, then stopping before the door to the room that she wanted to go to, she hesitated in stretching her arm forward to knock on it.
Shaam, while being rather nice and polite, and mellow-headed, did like his sleep and he did like for no one to disturb him during his time in trying to rest. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he preferred for everyone to stay well away from him when he was in bed. She remembered a time when, at the end of her pregnancy with Hazaar, he had snapped at Eldass for his simple action of knocking on his door and then rousing him from a sound sleep—her water had just broken, and she had been in full-blown labor at the time, and the Goblin had just been making his rounds in telling everyone that it was time for the baby to be born. The man had gotten on Eldass pretty badly for waking him up; after learning the reason to why he had been disturbed, he hadn't apologized for snapping at him. He had just thrown some clothes on and then rushed over to the room that she was in.
With it heading on 6:30 a.m., she knew that her great-great grandfather was awake... but was he awake enough to allow her to see, and speak with him without biting her head off first?
There was only one answer to that question; with a sigh, she reached forward to knock on the door of the room that was before her. After giving the door two knocks, she waited. The man that she was there to see answered the door thirty seconds later.
"Did I knock at the wrong time?" she asked after the door to the room was opened.
"No, Lass." judging by the sound of his voice, he hadn't been up for very long. He confirmed this a few seconds after answering the door. "Been up for five minutes now. I'm a bit slow in waking up today."
"Should I come back later?" she asked.
"No, come on in." ShaamVile replied. Nothing else was said between them; after he turned, then went back into the room, she followed. The door was closed behind her.
The room that she entered was very elegantly designed; the feeling that was in it was very fluid-like... but she still got the idea that the room had another feeling in it too—whenever she entered it, she felt both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. She didn't know why but she had a feeling that this was why Shaam liked the room so much... it seemed weird but he did seem to like things that gave off that "exotic" feeling and, if she recalled correctly, he had mentioned at one time that the feeling that the room had in it was a "grand" one. The man claimed that he felt very comfortable when he was in the room—with the man being what he was, and with the room being designed in the way that it was, it definitely didn't look to match with the one that was currently occupying it.
The bar, that was in the room's far left corner, was pretty well stocked; it looked like Shaam had already "gone to town" with the beverages that were neatly stashed in the wine and beverage case, which was directly behind the bar's counter. The bucket, that was on the bar's surface, looked to have ice in it; the bottle of Ruinart Champagne, that was currently resting top-down in the bucket, looked to of had a glass to two glasses taken from it. The room's carpet was Zebra-striped—the two carpets, that were on either side of the bed, were either brown and cream striped or plain black; the white fur lining, that was on their edges, didn't look to match them.
The bed was large; it was sitting on a circular, step-like area that was made of solid marble. The sheets that were on the bed were gray while the comforter was gray and white striped. Except for the white tassels, that were on their edges, the cases that the bed's seven pillows were in matched the comforter well.
To the right of the room sat a red marble fireplace; a silver statue of a bull deer was to its right while, to its left, sat a tall candelabra. The mantle of the fireplace had three candelabras, and a garland of silver holly, on it. The statue had a series of five pillows arranged around it; she didn't need to be told that their black satin and velvet cases were expensive.
A silver marble bedside table, that had a silver lamp, and an alarm clock, on its surface, was to the bed's right; the other side of the bed was as naked of furniture as could be. The black and silver marble dresser, that was to the room's left side, had a right impressive stereo system on it; the 50" screen, that was on the wall beside the stereo, had a red and yellow frame to it that pulsated every ten to twenty seconds.
What her great-great grandfather liked most about the room, she truly believed, was the adornment that was hanging from the ceiling. The adornment was a chandelier of sorts, and it was quite delicate; the strands, that were hanging from the ceiling, and that were hanging both over and around the bed, were either gold, pearl, or silver in color.
The area that the bar was sitting on had no carpet on it; the floor that it was sitting on was pure black marble, which looked a little odd, but pretty, in the room. The marble was so shiny that one could see their reflection in it—or see that someone was trying to play the sneak-up routine on them, if that was what was going on in the room. The wallpaper, that was on the room's walls, was black and gray striped while the ceiling was a solid, dark gray color. Shaam, she remembered, had taken her husband to the side one day to ask him who it had been that had designed the room; to her recollection, he had hired that same designer and then gotten her to re-model one of the rooms that were in his house so it'd look similar to the one that he was always given when he came over for a lengthy stay.
"Give me a few minutes," ShaamVile said, jarring her from her thoughts, and from her trip down Memory Lane. "Need to grabs some wears."
She blushed after noticing that he wasn't dressed; except for the silver netted robe, which gave him very little cover, she was able to see that he was as naked as could be. His barrel-shaped chest was quite evident under his robe... so much so that she was able to see its bristly, dark red hair, that was arranged in a thin T. The muscle, and the vast amount of scarring that was on his body, could also be seen thanks to his robe not giving the cover that it should. After seeing what he was wearing, she turned; the man was given the privacy that he deserved to have right after she did so.
In all, it took just five minutes for him to get dressed and then to give her shoulder a "tap"; when she turned, she saw that he was wearing a near-identical outfit to that of what he had worn yesterday. With the exception of the jacket, vest, and pants being silver, everything resembled what he had worn yesterday. The only thing that was different about his outfit was his ear-piece—he had either been too thrilled in being able to come over to bother about putting the long, silver chain, that had a gold and silver, triangular-shaped adornment on its end, in his left ear or he had just forgotten about putting it in his ear. After being tapped on the shoulder, then turning around to see that he was dressed, she nodded her head.
"Thank you for waiting." he said after her head was nodded.
"Wasn't able to apologize for your coming in here and then finding yourself as having to break up a fight between my sons." instead of dilly-dallying around, she got down to business in doing what she wanted to do. "My sons don't usually act that way. They get along rather well, and are rather close to one an—"
"Say no more, Lass. They're lads—the occasional fight will happen with them." ShaamVile said. "Seeing them fight like that brought back memories of how me and Zaal use to fight, and on how our father use to always be the one to break us up and then get us straight afterwards."
"I've been getting a lot of flak lately for how I've been raising my sons—just wanted to offer an apology on how your entrance was." Angel said.
"My daughter-in-law does have a rather flappy mouth," ShaamVile, who had an idea on what she was saying, said. Angel blinked her eyes after he said this; never had he spoken like that of Cyla. This was rather new and shocking to her. "During supper last night, she spoke of how you're still letting the Lads nurse from you, and about the hobbies that you let them do."
"As long as I'm still producing milk, they'll get it." Angel said. Since she knew it was coming, she set her jaw then got ready to defend the action that most everyone seemed to be harking on her about.
"I have a slight issue with the nursing thing. The hobbies that they're doing, on the other hand, I have nothing against." ShaamVile confessed. "You do know that they have strong blood in them, right? Surfeit blood."
"Yes."
"Good. And, due to that good blood, they don't need any further nutrients from the milk that you're producing. They're fine without it."
"As long as I'm still producing milk they will continue to get it." Angel repeated firmly.
"Lass, let me ask you something. You listening?"
Before he even started, she knew that he was about to run out a lecture on when it was appropriate for one's young to be weaned of the sustenance that they gave them and on "how much" of that sustenance should be given when it was deemed "appropriate" for the child to take it. He, much like Tazir, bred and kept horses and, much like Tazir, he weaned his horses when they reached six months of age; while what he was telling her she knew was true—the milk provided by a mare had no real value in it for the foal that was over six months of age—she stuck firm to her notion in her continuing as she was in letting her sons have her milk. Her sons weren't horses, and they were still growing and maturing, so they did need what she was providing for them.
She let the man talk; she nodded her head, agreed just to agree with him then, after he was done, she let him be for a few minutes before diving in on another subject that she wanted to speak with him about.
"I'd also like to apologize for having slowed up your life." the man, who's back was turned to her, stood up straight after these words were said. She cleared her throat after he turned to look at her then she said, "According to Cyla, you couldn't be you after I left. Sorry about that."
"Lass, I wasn't myself for a reason, which you should know the name and cause of." ShaamVile responded. "You think I'm going to go around, acting like my old self, when several members of my family are missing?"
"No, but—"
"No buts, Angel. You and your sons are a part of my family, I love you five like crazy." ShaamVile said. "You had a reason to leave anyways so why are you apologizing?"
"The bachelor thing."
"Oooooh." ShaamVile laughed awkwardly. "I can't say that I've been a bachelor for all of the sixteen hundred years that you and your sons were missing, Lass. I did date, but I wasn't fully in it."
"Because of me and my sons."
"Correct—you five were all that I could think of... you were thick in my heart and mind, and you still are, Lass. It's how it should be." ShaamVile said while coming towards her. After reaching her, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I have plenty of time to find another Lass to be with—I'm forever, remember?"
"I do, yes." Angel nodded her head. "You still interested in having more kids?"
That was a stupid question—of course he was still interested in having more kids! Unlike his son, who wanted no hint of the question asked to him, he was very open to being asked about his interest in having more children and he was also very loud in saying that he wanted to be with someone and then have a few kids with that someone. Shaam, despite being in his three hundred thousands, was very virile—he had gone to get himself tested right after Hazaar was born; nearly a million wigglers had been noted in his ejaculate, so he was ripe and ready... he just needed to find someone to be steady with to make use of what his sacks were making for him.
She remembered a time where he had told her that he had a small issue in creating more children—like Tazir, he didn't just want to meet someone that wasn't meant for him or that wasn't interested in what he was interested in, which was a steady relationship and adding children to their lives. He was also concerned about how his soon-to-be partner perceived his family—Shaam was a big family man, and he wanted his family's respect to be honored, and he also wanted his family to get along with the one that he chose to be with. With his relationship being as thick as it was with Duru, he was also worried about how the potential parent-in-law was going to get along with his son.
After Shaam answered her question on his still wanting to have more children, she decided to keep her mouth shut on what she knew on how his only son didn't want any siblings; she ended the conversation that they were having, then she excused herself, then she went down to the smaller of the house's kitchens. Breakfast, on that morning, was swiftly put together by both her and Ulision Volvio.
"Mornin' ma." Bile said after walking into the kitchen. After seeing that she was sitting by the kitchen island, he went to her. The hug and kiss that he gave her was quickly given before he sat on the stool that was beside the one that she was sitting on.
"You feeling alright?" Angel asked her son.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Bile asked.
"Just asking—the hug that you gave me wasn't as warm as the ones that you usually give—"
"I'll change that now."
The plan had been to "throw her off" by giving her a quick hug and kiss before sitting down; it looked like she had taken the bait that he had placed before her. After being asked about the initial hug that he had given her, he stood up then gave her the real-deal hug and kiss that he had been holding in—his mother laughed as he lifted her from the stool that she was sitting on, and as he "saturated" her cheeks with kiss after kiss. He had no more placed her back on the stool that he had taken her from when Hazaar and Lazeer entered the room; they took turns in imitating what he had done in "lifting" her from the stool and in "saturating" her cheeks with kisses before backing off. Lhaklar, when he came into the room, just gave the usual hug and kiss that he was known to give to their mother—unlike Hazaar and Lazeer, who he had apologized to last morning, and who were acting very much like their old selves, Lhaklar was acting very reserved that morning.
After noticing that his brother was acting very stiff, and very reserved, that morning, he went towards the fridge; one of the bottles, that contained his mother's milk inside, were taken out, then a glass from one of the cabinets was taken down, then he went to the island. While pouring his brother a glass of milk, he noted the physical injuries that he had caused on him.
The flesh around Lhaklar's left eye was a very dark green color; the holes that were his nose had very dark green rings around them too. Along with the bruised eye and nose, Lhaklar was also sporting a bruised right cheek. The bruises, that were on his neck, were grotesquely horrible! All of these meshed in well with the heavy bags that were present under his brother's eyes—Lhaklar, it did seem, hadn't had a good go in sleeping last night.
Seeing his brother in such a state made him feel horrible; he felt guilty all over again. After pouring the glass of milk, he slid the glass to his brother then walked the bottle back to the fridge. Lhaklar muttered his thanks before taking a sip from the glass that he had been given; he took one to two more sips of the milk before placing the glass on the island's top.
"If I could take it back, Lhakie, I would." Bile said sorrowfully. "I'm really, really sorry for what I caused you to go through yesterday."
"Don't worry about it." Lhaklar mumbled. "I've already forgiven you, so there's no need for you to continue apologizing to me."
"Want me to be the Brother Slave today?" whenever he did something to one of his brothers that caused them grief, he always asked if they wanted him to act as their slave or personal helper the following day.
"No." Lhaklar replied. "I'm fine, just sore."
"After what Bile did to you, I guess you would be." Hazaar said.
"New hairstyle, Hazaar?" Bile asked after seeing that Hazaar's rattail consisted of four braided strands that had four oddly colored feathers embedded in them.
"Just trying out the new feathers that the old man surprised me with two days ago." Hazaar replied. In truth, after seeing the odd, red/orange/pink colored feathers, he hadn't liked them; like with the color-changing beads, he was only putting them in his hair as a way to not upset his father.
"Too bad you don't have a full head of hair." Bile said. He was fast in retracting what he had just said. "Actually, let's be glad that you don't. We'd be seeing you walking around with having all of it braided, or with half being beaded or feathered u—"
"I prefer my one rattail, thank you." Hazaar said. After saying that, he turned to look at Lazeer. "Just too damn bad that you don't have more hair than you do—the women swoon over me, and my hair, while they barely notice you and yours."
"At least I don't have to worry about one of my brother's doing the sneak-up routine with a pair of scissors." Lazeer winked.
"You even consider doing that and you'll find yourself as having no teeth in your mouth." Hazaar warned.
"Snip snip, oop, where's my hair?" Lazeer mocked Hazaar. "Ahhhh! Someone stole my hair! Someone stole my single lock of hair! That was my baby!"
"You're pathetic!" Hazaar exclaimed.
"I have a mohawk—I can afford to be pathetic. What's your excuse?" the corners of Lazeer's O-shaped mouth curved up as he gave his brother a mock-like smile.
Most of her sons were very energetic that morning—Lazeer was constantly saying jokes, and making mock threats to Hazaar; Hazaar was constantly lunging at, and throwing mock fists at Lazeer; and Bile kept "throwing the punches" on his getting more girls than his brothers did. She found herself as telling her sons to pipe down after five minutes passed. At around the time that they were calm, and at around the time that Lhaklar's glass of milk was emptied of its contents, her husband came into the room. He gestured for three of the nearby butlers to come to the room, then he told them to take up the trays and dishes, that were on the room's counter-tops, then he gestured for them to stand up and then follow him.
The trek to the dining room was a slow one; Tazir had to turn more than once to "help" her in getting control of her overly rambunctious sons and he also had to stop to see if the three butlers were doing as he had told them to do. Once they were at the table, they sat down then waited for their cue in starting in on breakfast. The three butlers placed the trays and dishes on the table then disappeared; Tazir, as usual, was the one to lift all of their lids. Everyone started making themselves a plate after the lids to the table's various items were lifted.
"Bile's a rather big Lad, Angel." ShaamVile said after filling his plate. The vanilla pancake, that was on his plate, looked rather "small" among the other items—the three bacon, cheese, and ham-stuffed Italian Calzones; the two Pancetta egg cups; and the two German sausage balls—that were either on or to either side of it. "Bigger than I was when I was his age."
"We've been trying to get him, and his brothers, to not eat as much as they do—Bile eats as much as a grown man does, and he also uses the gym too much for our liking." Cyla was fast in saying.
"How many times does he go to the gym?" ShaamVile asked.
"Two... maybe three times a day." Cyla answered.
"Need to slow up, Lad. For one of your age, the act of gaining too much muscle isn't good or healthy." ShaamVile said. Bile sighed—instead of accepting him for who he was, here was yet another who thought that he was too big and overly muscled for his age.
"Lhaklar is the same way," Cyla said. "He uses the gym twice a day."
"He looks a bit thin to me," ShaamVile said. "Or are my eyes playing tricks on me?"
"He's very athletically built." Angel said. "He's not thin."
"He's very nicely muscled; there's no fat on his body at all." TazirVile said.
"And Hazaar and Lazeer?" ShaamVile asked.
"They possess good, hard, lean bodies that have good, firm muscle on them." TazirVile answered before Angel could.
They said nothing as the man named Shaam spoke his mind on their appearance and, of course, on what they were wearing.
Bile saw nothing wrong with what he was wearing—the black shirt was lacking both of its sleeves, and had its usual rip in the chest area, while the pants, which were a dark gray color, were non-ripped or torn; the pair of dark brown boots, that were on his feet, had the signs of one having used them but they were holding up well to the task of the wearer so he saw no issue in them. The only thing that was "different" about him that morning was the necklace that was worn around his neck—the man that he had gotten the necklace from had said that the teeth came from a Sperm whale; while he knew nothing about Sperm whales, or about what their teeth looked like, he did know that he liked the necklace and that he was glad to be wearing it.
His mother was fast in giving his ankle a slight tap after their great-great grandfather said something about the shirt, and the necklace, that he was wearing; seeing as he was to speak none on what was being said of his attire, he kept his mouth shut. He went on in eating his breakfast after feeling his ankle being tapped.
Shaam didn't just having something negative to say about his clothes; after speaking on his shirt and necklace, he turned his attention to what his brothers were wearing. Lazeer was wearing his usual—a black mesh shirt, and a pair of pants that were very badly ripped in the knee areas; the brown and gray shoes, that were on his feet, were nothing out of the ordinary—and so was Hazaar, who was wearing a blue t-shirt, which was tucked into a pair of light brown pants, that were faded from the knee on down, and his usual pair of shoes that, except for the laces, which were a light brown color, were brown.
Bile grew particularly tired of the man after he said something against Lhaklar's clothing; Lhaklar, who was wearing a plain green, long sleeve, button down shirt, light green formal pants, and brown shoes, said nothing for the longest of time. He stared at his plate throughout the verbal exchange and pick-on that was being thrown in his direction before, finally, opening his mouth. His, and Hazaar and Lazeer's, mouths dropped after he spoke to the man.
"At least my brothers and I aren't dressed like a fuckin' pirate, or like someone from the colonial days."
"Lhaklar!" their mother exclaimed.
Before anyone could get up, or say a word to her son, she stood from her chair then whapped the one who had just run his mouth in the back of the head; when her son stood from his chair, then started ranting at her, she grabbed the kerchief, that was hanging from the right-side pocket of Tazir's pants, then used it on him. After her son continued to disobey her in running his mouth, and didn't reclaim the seat that he had just gotten up from, she grabbed him by his shoulders then shoved him from the room. She followed after him after he was out of the room.
Bile, after his mother and brother were out of the room, looked at Lazeer; when he saw the ghost of a joke forming on his brother's lips, he made a slashing motion under his chin—having one brother being disciplined, and then removed from the room was bad enough. Having another getting the same thing would be worse, and, he bet, would get a better than "fine" reaction out of the ones who thought they knew it all on parenting.
Lazeer, who was able to see his given motion, didn't seem to get the meaning of what he was implying; he opened his mouth, then said and there goes "cloth" whapping number one of the day. He usually gets five to ten more before being sent to clean the gutters and yard. Their mother, who had obviously been close enough to the dining room to hear his outburst, came into the room then promptly removed Lazeer from his chair. Like with Lhaklar, she shoved him from the room then followed after him. Bile, and his only remaining younger brother, guessed that the two would be grounded for either a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks. When Bile looked to his left, he saw that his adoptive father looked rather miffed—it almost looked like he was upset over having his chance in disciplining one or more of them being stolen from him.
Their mother, when she returned to the room, was fast in gathering the items Lhaklar and Lazeer had either eaten with or on; she took them from the room, then was gone for nearly five minutes, then returned. After returning to the room, she re-took her seat beside him; judging by the way she sat down, he guessed that she wasn't in the best of best of moods.
"Now, does anyone else wish to be disrespectful this morning?" Angel asked her two remaining sons.
"No, ma." Bile was fast in saying.
"No, momma." Hazaar said before looking down at his plate.
"Good. Eat your breakfast, and keep your mouths shut."
"Very impressive, Lass." ShaamVile said. "But, if I may, you was a bit too light on Lhaklar."
"I will not be using any sort of belt, whip, or other disciplinary weapon on my sons." Angel said.
"Lass, when one has sons, it's best to use strength over gentleness." ShaamVile said. "Sons, more so than daughters, will walk all over one when given the chance to do so."
"Must be true on what he says—not once has Eshal tried to get one over on me." TazirVile said.
"The Lads will still love you regardless of what disciplinary items you use on them to keep them in line." ShaamVile said.
Before she could re-voice her firm standing on the issue of her not using any disciplinary weapons on her sons, and before she could turn to give Tazir a look for his looking to be agreeing with what his grandfather had said, Losal walked into the room. She watched as the Goblin strode up to her husband, then she listened as her husband and the Goblin spoke, then she grew a tinge tense after hearing the words brother, family, and here—judging by them three words being said, she guessed that her grandparents, and their three kids, had arrived for their stay.
After hearing that her grandparents, and some of their children, were in the building, Angel decided to do an early conclusion to her session in the room. With her being as tense as she was, and with her having just evicted, and grounded, Lhaklar and Lazeer for most of the morning, she felt a need to collect her pet Sekhems and then take them to the room that she had been allowed to design for them.
Luck, on her end, wasn't with her that morning; she had only just finished her breakfast, and had just gathered herself to stand from her chair, when her great-grandfather started talking.
"Remember the lizards and monkeys that you helped me in getting a few thousand years ago, Girl?"
"Yeah," she knew what he was asking her about—one day, after she, and Bile and Lhaklar, had been retrieved from Earth, and then forced into staying with her grandparents for three weeks, he had gotten the idea about taking her to Earth and then spending some time with her to get a better understanding and, most importantly, relationship with her. After teleporting to Earth, he and she—er, really she, since he hadn't really been all that grand a help—had done some searching for some Jackson's Chameleons, Centralian blue-tongued skinks, and Draco volans, or Flying Lizards, as they were sometimes called by the people who called Earth home. Along with "helping" him in acquiring some of them three species, she had also found and then caught a black Blue-tongue skink and several Mini-pygmy lemurs for him too. At the time of her leaving Moas with her sons, he had still owned them lizards and monkeys.
"I still have them." DuruVile said. His deep, booming voice had a very present proud tone to it.
"Monkeys and lizards? My grandfather has both monkeys and lizards as pets?" Hazaar was thinking. "I have one hell of a weird family! A father that likes bats, Platypuses, and fish and a grandfather that likes monkeys and lizards. What else will I find out about my weird ass family?"
"Still have the Augrabies flat lizards that I caught for you as well?" Angel asked.
"I've had a time with them beasts! They breed like crazy, and the black ones keep popping out rainbow babies." DuruVile made a face. "Seeing as my wife is fond of the rainbows, as I call them, I've kept a few for her. I've only seen fifty to a hundred black babies hatch from the eggs that come from the ones you helped me in acquiring."
"And the Red-eyed crocodile skinks?"
"He has pah-lenty of them!" Cyla said loudly. "You said that he might not see any babies being born from them. Seems that whenever he goes into his lizard room he finds eggs in their cage... and they're always fertile!"
Unlike Tazir, who she hadn't had all that much trouble in persuading to Earth to look into the planet's bat and fish species, she had had a time in getting her great-grandfather to tag along with her to look for species of lizards and monkeys for his collection—she had tried to get him to go on the day of his birthday, then she had tried on a date that she knew was important to him, then she had just tried to get him to go on any old day that sprung up where he wasn't overly busy in doing anything. The man, despite her attempts in persuading him to the planet, had shot most of her attempts down—in all, it had taken two hundred years before he finally relented in saying yes and in following her to Earth.
Ten rare, black Augrabies flat lizards had been caught on the first trip that she and he took—usually, the females of that species of lizard were mostly dark brown in color, and had three, thick, cream stripes running down their backs, while the males were usually more vibrantly colored; to find them ten black Augrabies had been a shock to both of them. After them ten lizards were caught, and then shown to the man, he had smiled, then had thanked her, then had grabbed and then teleported them back to Gamma Vile—she had been forced to wait-it-out in his lizard room while he got his new pets' cage fixed up before being allowed to go home to her husband and children.
On the second trip, which occurred twenty years later, she had found and then caught ten Abronia graminea, or Mexican alligator lizards, for him; he had been agasp at their green, or blue, skin coloration, and in the fact that they resembled little alligators—unlike the first trip, where he had done very little in helping her in finding him his new lizards, he had helped in finding lizard #5 and 9 of his collection. Due to his not saying anything on his still having them, she wasn't sure if he still had them in his collection or not—he had had around thirty to thirty-five at the time of her "taking off" with her sons.
After the second trip was done, she hadn't tried to persuade him to go to Earth with her again; instead, she had done some research and then gone to the planet to find and then capture what she thought he'd like for his collection. Fifty years after helping him in acquiring his Mexican alligator lizards, she had found and then caught ten Red-eyed crocodile skinks for him—except for the red ring, that was around the animal's eyes, they were completely black; the skin texture, and the rows of pointy, rigid, bone-like scales, that were on their back and tail, had been the cause of the lizard being given its name. The ten individuals that she had slaved to find and then catch for him had been given to him as a birthday present almost immediately after the trip was made.
The species of monkeys that she had tried to turn his attention towards hadn't hit it off well with him; all of the trips that he and she had partaked in, and that she had solo-done, had been based on the acquiring of the lizards.
"They have yet to discover the Mini-pygmy lemur." Angel said. "Good thing too—if they had, the species might not be around anymore."
"Those mini-monkeys are rather cute." Cyla said. "Both Uevaa and I can't get enough of them."
"They have their favorites. Naturally, I like all of them." DuruVile said.
"Still have Brakol and Tuclo?" Angel asked.
"Oh yes, most definitely! I've had them for a very long time—as you know, they were given the Ever-Life potion almost immediately after I acquired them, so I'll have them... forever." DuruVile answered. "Cyla still has all of her cats, too."
"Do you still have Argiser and Datzav, Grampy?" Angel asked ShaamVile.
"Yes, Lass. And they still drive my staff crazy with their screaming. Like my son did for his pets, they've also been given the Ever-Life potion, so I'll have them for a very long time to come." ShaamVile replied. Argiser and Datzav were his two White cockatoo's; about fifty years after being returned from Limbo, he had acquired their eggs. He, and he alone, was their primary caregiver; after their hatching day, he had done all that he could for them.
"Did you ever acquire any Palm cockatoos?" Angel asked. The bird that she had just referenced was an Earth-based species; it was either a smoky gray or black bird that's red cheeks changed colors after it got excited or alarmed.
"No, I'm quite happy with Argiser and Datzav." ShaamVile replied. "And, of course, I'm also quite content with my three dogs and two cats."
"You going to start using the word Arrrgh now, buddy?" Hazaar thought. "I agree with Lhaklar—you dress like a friggin' pirate, and you have Cockatoo's!"
"Didn't you have some fish at one time?" Angel asked. "Some Koi or—"
"The pond is still located behind my property, Lass—right between the garden and outdoor court. The fish are still kept in it—though I find myself as having to re-stock the population after each cold season comes to a close."
When the low, croaky voice was heard, Duru got up then excused himself; he was gone from the room for a total of two minutes before returning—upon his return, he had a man with him. Bile, who knew well who the man was, eyed him while Hazaar, who was only half aware of who he was, slid into the chair that Lhaklar had formerly sat in. Angel, despite her still present tension, stood from her chair then went towards the man who was her and her oldest son's grandfather.
"Who's this—my granddaughter, or some other lovely woman who looks eerily like her?" the man, KurukVile Shonsinu Surfeit, asked after Angel stopped before him.
"Last time I checked my tags, I do carry your blood in my veins." Angel replied.
"Good girl!" KurukVile said. After saying this, he grabbed Angel up in a great big ol' hug. "I have missed you pretty damn greatly, Angel."