Nod shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Being crammed into a tubur tin can was not what he foresaw in this pursuit. One look at Kyp beside him made him groan. The man had the gall to look excited, brimming with energy more than enough for the three of them. He was even listening attentively to what the inferior human woman had to say about the restraints on their seats.

  He decides enough is enough when Kyp leans over to replicate the instructions on his seat restraints.

  “I do not see why we couldn't have gone on foot. Or better yet, flown in our own ship.” He swats futilely at Kyp's unyielding hands.

  “You were the one who voted we blend in.” Kyp retorts, the satisfying click of Nod's seatbelt settling him.

  “No, I was the one who voted we tear the pnet apart, and decre an invasion till they surrendered the Crystal.” Nod pouts, crossing his arms over his chest in disappointment.

  “Sometimes Nod, the easiest missions take a little precision.” He reaches for the pamphlets behind the chair opposite him, fully intent on digesting them.

  Nod snatches a pamphlet from him, eyes squinting at its vivid illustrations. “How is being stuck in a flying metal tube easy?”

  Kyp sighs, at this rate he would never get to read his folded paper. “Let me guess, you would rather be stuck on our flying metal ship?”

  Nod huffs. “Ours is better because its technology is superior.”

  “It is a vessel that floats, same as this.” Kyp fires back. He lifts the pamphlet to his face, legs crossed, signalling the end of the conversation.

  The pne starts to take off, rumbling lowly as Nod responds to Kyp, who in turn combats, thus beginning a verbal back and forth. Their voices fade into the abyss.

  Nelzux is sat by the window, fingers gripping his arm rest with enough force to rip it off. The only thing stopping him from actually ying waste to it, was fear of the pne crashing, due to the faulty armrest. He squeezes his eyes shut, as the pne angles, willing the mechanism to move faster.

  The pne finally stabilizes, reminding Nelzux to let out the breath he was choking on. He looks around wide eyed, still reeling from the experience, and oblivious to the tugging at his sleeve.

  “Nelzux!” Kyp reports, like a child to its parent. “You will never believe what--”

  He is cut off by Nelzux's off-kilter look.

  “Are you alright?” Kyp asks, and Nelzux tries to school his face into something resembling dignity.

  “Of course he's alright, he's Nelzux.” Nod interjects slow as ever, and Nelzux is for once grateful for his ck of observation skills. “Do not think you can brush off the subject--”

  Kyp signals for Nod to swallow whatever argument he was about to embark on, and points to Nelzux. “He looks like he's seen a Draugr.” Kyp says, like Nelzux wasn't right beside him.

  This piece of information has Nod inspecting the Nelzux himself, his eyes first narrowing in consideration, before gleaming in barely concealed humor. “It appears you are right.”

  Kyp struggles to keep a straight face, his brain working rapidly to piece together the source of his discomfort and Nelzux considers tearing the roof off the pne. He would survive, he could fly after all.

  “Are you scared of flying on a pne?” Kyp asks.

  Aliens do not flush. But if they did, Nelzux would have put a tomato to shame. “Quiet.” he grunts out, and to his despair, not even in the least bit menacing.

  Kyp obliges, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Nod on the hand, was either not prepared or too foolish to grant him the same courtesy.

  “By the gods, you are!” he bellows in loud ughter, smacking a heavy hand across Nelzux's chest.

  “I said quiet, Nod.” Nelzux says, a couple of heads turning towards them due to the volume of Nod’s guffaw. He shrinks into his seat.

  “How is this possible?” Kyp sees his opening and takes it. “You can fly.” he asks, genuinely intrigued. If Kyp ever found an answer, he would do well to share it with him.

  “I'm not talking about this anymore.” Nelzux says, finding soce in the ear contraptions the chattering maid had handed to him before the pne took off.

  He fixes it over his head, like he had seen the aged man in front of him do, Nod’s ughter thankfully fading into a soothing silence once his ears are snugly sheltered. He closes his eyes.

  Kyp swats at a still ughing Nod, jostling him into–if not completely calming down, tuning the volume down on his preposterous ughter. Nod recedes to quiet huffs, and he settles. It would not do to draw attention to themselves on the flight, considering their aspirations.

  He chances a look around, making sure they hadn't drawn serious attention, other than the few heads that had turned during Nod's cackling. Everyone seems intent on their own thing now, heads faced forward in anticipation of the journey. Good.

  He turns around to confirm the same state of matters behind him, only to be started by a child.

  A little boy about 8 Earth cycles is seated behind Nod, eyes gleaming in surprise and mouth ajar. Obviously he had been eavesdropping on their conversation. Kyp’s head whirls forward again to frantically tug on Nod, who turns to the indicated child with a frown

  “Can the both of you fly too?” The child squeaks.

  “No.” Nod answers jovially. “Kyp can multiply himself, while I can release beastly tendons from my body.” He finishes coolly, akin to one concluding a nursery rhyme.

  Kyp gawks unbelievably at his complete ck of unsubtlety.

  “That is so cool.” The child complements, rexing in his seat. Nod however seems somewhat offended by the simplification of his abilities.

  “It is not cool.” he spits, the word dripping with venom. “The ability to crush your enemy in mere seconds without batting an eyesh, is sublime.” he lets a wistful look dart across his face.

  The little boy's eyes widen in his head, prompting Kyp to finally intervene. “Are you absolutely certain the little one can stomach your war stories?” he asks Nod, who has to shake himself out of whatever gory trance he had slipped into.

  “Of course he can. He is a man.” Nod decres, confusion darting across his face for a split second before addressing the boy this time. “You are a man aren't you?”

  The little boy nods quickly in affirmation, the worry lines dismissing from Nod's face when he returns to Kyp. “See?”

  He turns back to the child once more. “Let me tell you of the time I beheaded an entire pnet of dwarves all in time for breakfast.” he decres, hand outstretched, twirling an invisible sword.

  Kyp brightens at the announcement. He remembers this one. If the little one was prepared to hear it, far be it from him to deny the child a decent prose.

  He nods in agreement with Nod. “Oh yes, this is a good story.”

  Somewhere in America, 1788 …

  A whip cracks down on a boy, and the child screams in agony. Alex watches from her seat in a corner of the diner, wincing at the taskmaster yelling expletives along with the whipping.

  The boy writhes and twists on the ground, sweat and blood matting dark hair to his face. The man picks the child up with a painful grip by his hair, and she has a clear view of his features. Asian, about 13 years old, with the kind of eyes that looked like they had seen more than their owner appeared to have lived.

  “You thieving piece of shit!” The man yells in tandem with the whip cracking down on the boy. And the piercing screams that follow are getting really hard to ignore. Prompting Alex to swear softly before wrenching the whip from the man's grasp.

  “I think he's had enough.” She says, rolling the whip up and tossing it from reach.

  The man whirls to face Alex–she had yanked it when he had thrown his arm back–his scrutinizing gre pinning her to the spot.

  “Now who the fuck do you think you are?” the man gres so fiercely, Alex almost expects something behind her to catch on fire.

  “I couldn't help but overhear you calling him a thief, and thought I might offer my expertise seeing as I run a reformatory.” The man does a double take at her accent. His gre wrinkling into confusion, mouth parted in a little 'o', revealing stained teeth.

  “What?” He replies eloquently.

  Alex exhales slowly, biting down the scathing remark that had bubbled to her throat. “A prison house for children.” She simplifies a bit nettled

  “Oh.” The man’s posture rexes. “As tempting as that sounds, I paid good money for him.” He punctuates by kicking Akio's form on the ground, curled up in the fetus position. Best to hurry this up.

  “Well then.” Alex ransacks her coat, pulling out an impressive bag of coins and offering it. “Will this suffice?”

  The man's eyes widen in surprise.

  Nod, Kyp and the Boy are in a heated conversation, Nod aggressively shoving people out of the way as they walk into the airport arrival area. Nelzux staggers nauseatingly behind, palms digging into his eyes to clear them of their haze.

  “You see child,” Nod is saying, “the way to conquering this new father who steps, is by showing no fear in the face of adversity.”

  The child frowns at the advice. “But I don't want to conquer him, I just want him to like me.”

  Nod opens his mouth again, some battle strategy itching to seep through. Kyp shoves him out of the way, pulling the young child into his space with a firm arm.

  “Child, he should be the one trying to please you. He is after all the anomaly in your family.” He says soothingly, and the crease in between the child’s eyes disappears.

  “Exactly.” Nod seconds as soon as he has found his footing.

  They walk briskly, Nod bumping into someone aggressively and spilling her luggage.

  “Excuse me?” they say, and Nod whirls around to face them–A girl, about 24 earth cycles, dark skin, and short hair that sticks up everywhere like an Earth sea urchin. He scrunches his nose in disapproval.

  “You are excused.” He says, and he, Kyp, and the Child continue on, Nelzux in tow.

  Alex gres at their retreating forms, exhaling deeply to steady herself. She has half a mind to send the rude one sailing out the window. However bursts of aggression like that were at the top of the list of things Chris definitely did not approve of.

  She groans low in her throat instead, settling on righting her trolley box the lumbering halfwit had knocked down.

  “Asshole.” She yells before walking on, not giving a crap who heard her.

  Nelzux was growing increasingly uncomfortable with Kyp and Nod’s fixation on the child. He had expected a parent to whisk the halfling away upon disembarkment of the pne, only to discover to his increasing horror, that the child was something the female servant had referred to as an ‘Unaccompanied Minor’. Which meant he had no guardians present with him on the pne.

  Kyp and Nod had taken the information with a grace that Nelzux could have sworn Nod wasn’t capable of, choosing to look after the boy, and answer his insipid little questions. Like the present one concerning some new father who enjoyed stepping.

  “You have been present long before he was.” Kyp has a hand on the boy’s shoulder, he himself bent in a bid to meet the child’s gaze. “Therefore you must stand firm. You must not be threatened, you are the man of the house, not him.” he finishes.

  A woman waves to the boy from the waiting area, the child waves back.

  “That's my Mum. I gotta go.” the boy says, and Nelzux would do a little victory dance if it wasn’t beneath his status.

  “Never forget, little comrade. Fear has no pce in a warrior's heart.” Nod procims in parting.

  The boy takes in this piece of information with a great deal of attention and a rapid nod, stealing a quick hug from Kyp and Nod before running into his mother’s arms.

  Nod stares confusedly, his mouth open in invitation to the flies. It is with great pleasure that Nelzux snaps it shut, regretting profusely that it does not catch his loose tongue.

  “What happened to not mingling with the humans?” he scolds, a disapproving frown on his face as he shoves through the both of them, stalking toward the exit.

  Somewhere in America, 1788 …

  Alex exits the diner, the child in tow behind her. She can’t help but notice his nervous fidgeting from the corner of her eye, his hands wringing themselves into an intricate knot that just had to hurt.

  “I don't actually run a correctional facility.” She says randomly, and the boy’s head whips up to her.

  “What?”

  Alex sighs. “I'm not putting you in a prison house, because I don't run one. I'm not even certain there is one on this side of the world anyway.” she eborates, and he scrambles to keep up with her both in pace and conversation.

  “But you told–”

  Alex interrupts him with a weary sigh, and they halt.

  “I know what I said. Right now I'm telling you I don't have a prison, so you're free to go.” She gestures to the other side of the road. The building opposite was a bar, but hopefully he got the general message.

  Akio scrunches his eyebrows in thought, taking a moment to stare at the ground before looking back at Alex.

  “Go where?” he says finally.

  “I don't know. Wherever you want?” Alex says exasperatingly, eyes darting the length of the road and numerous buildings beyond them.

  “I don't know anywhere.” He says softly, head bowed. “I've lived with him ever since I got here.” his lips curl in disdain at the word ‘him’ and Alex sighs in frustration. Keeping a person, let alone a bsted warlock was not on her bucket list for any time period.

  “Do you at least have somewhere to sleep?” She asks, somehow trying to dey the inevitable of the boy spending the night at her home somehow.

  “No.”

  She anticipated the answer, and it still doesn't go down well with her.

  She throws her hands up in exasperation, trying not to pull on her hair. It had gotten longer than was acceptable, and needed tending to soon. “So what the hell were you pnning on doing after you bsted your meal ticket?”

  Akio's head whips up at that, his mouth scrambling to make up simple sentences. Oh, this was going to be interesting.

  “What?” He chokes.

  “Don't py coy,” Alex rolls her eyes. “I saw you twirling angry magick in between your fingers.”

  Akio stills, hackles raised. “I-I didn't–”

  “Rex. If I was going to say anything to anyone, I would have said it in there.” She assures, and a bit of the tension exits his shoulders.

  He pnts his feet firmer on the floor, back straightening in determination of something, Alex doesn't know.

  “I'm Akio.” He stretches a hand out in introduction.

  Alex stares at the outstretched hand, routinely not taking it.

  “Alexandria.” She says instead. “You can put your hand down.”

  He does.

  “Are you a-- like me, too?” He asks next, and Alex can't help a disgusted scoff in return.

  “No offense, but no.”

  She resumes walking, Akio running to keep up with her. She was getting close to her home now, Akio still not making any attempts to leave.

  “So how do you know about Warlocks?”

  Alex eyes him dubiously. “I've seen my fair share of things.”

  Akio hums. “Are they popur in Britain?”

  “Britain?”

  “That's where you're from, right?”

  “I'm not-- what?” Alex rears back incredulously.

  “It's your accent.”

  “I'm not British.” Macedonian actually, but that wasn't a story she was looking forward to telling.

  Akio ponders. “But the accent–”

  “I'm not British.” she repeats, voice firm. End of story.

  Akio raises his hand in defeat. “So, you don't care that I'm a warlock?” he clocks the look on her face and eborates. “I’ve lived through a lot of ugly moments, I'm just trying to make sure this isn't another Salem waiting to happen.” he stuffs his hands into tattered pockets nervously.

  Alex turns slightly to size him up. “What do you know about Salem?”

  “I lost my Mum to the stake.” He says with a shrug.

  Ah. She slows to a halt, Akio settling alongside her. “Sorry.” Alex says awkwardly, hands crossing behind her back.

  “Yea, it's fine.” Another shrug.

  Alex teeters uncomfortably for a moment, unfamiliar with navigating through grief or sentiment.

  “Salem.” She says, rocking on the balls of her feet. “So how old does that make you?” Best to steer the conversation away from misery.

  Akio perks up a bit. “I was born in 1650.”

  Alex rears back slightly, angling herself to properly size him. She does so for a moment, eyebrows dancing in tandem with whatever is going on in her head, before nodding impressively.

  “Pretty impressive for a 138 year old man.” she scores, and Akio preens.

  A moment, then her face crumbles into incredulity. “Yet you let that uncultured swine beat on you?”

  “It's like you said, he was my meal ticket.”

  Alex hums in agreement, head whipping to the impressive house they were standing in front of. Akio chances a look about, just then realizing they were now miles away from the meal pce, and currently situated just out of town. His eyes flick back to the huge house in front of them and Akio whistles.

  “Is this yours?” he asks, eyes not straying from the huge stone building.

  “Yes.” Alex replies, whipping out an impressive bunch of keys. “I bought it from a trader who was relocating.” Her eyes are squinted in focus, fingers rapidly thumbing through the bunch in search of the right key.

  Akio watches her for a couple of seconds, thoughts swirling about in his head. A particur question edges its way to the front of his mind, and he can't help but fidget in curiousity.

  “What now?” Alex asks, eyes not straying from her ongoing task.

  “How are you ... here. By yourself?” Akio wrings his fingers so tightly, he's certain he cuts off blood circution for a second.

  Alex raises a questioning brow, still busy with the keys. She doesn't seem affronted, so Akio takes it as a sign to continue.

  “I mean, you own a house.” he waves a hand at the building.

  Alex's second brow shoots up, and Akio can make out the faint outlines of a smirk fighting to spill. She was finding his anxiety amusing. Wonderful.

  “And?” she asks, drawing out the monosylbic word, in a very obvious bait.

  “Y-y ... You own your own house.” Akio stomps head on into the trap.

  “I do.”

  “And you're ... um.” He swallows hard, gesticuting in her general direction wildly.

  “… Bck?” she finishes.

  “Yes.” Akio bnches.

  Alex chuckles, finally abandoning her search to knowingly pluck a key from the bunch. And if she knew the exact key, why go through the show of searching in the first pce? Akio chews on his lower lip in thought.

  “Well, like you I've also got a few tricks up my sleeve.” She opens the door with a smile, gesturing for Akio to follow her in with a tilt of her head.