Arthur had to stifle a yawn as he prepared yet another cup of tea. The last cup’s effect had already worn off, and he desperately wanted to remain awake. The arrival of his brother set him on edge for the last few days. He had been setting up protective spells, patrolling around the house and property at night. It was all he could do to soothe his paranoia. Whatever his brother ended up deciding to do, he would at least be aware of any magical activity. This however, did nothing to help him sleep at night. He could hear Samantha humming in her room upstairs, at least she was unaware of the state of things. And I would like to keep it that way he thought as he sipped at the freshly made tea. He also needed to act like nothing was wrong, hence the fourth or was it fifth cup of tea.
Unfortunately the tea did little in clearing out the fog in his brain. The protective shields should help and he had sent his familiar Mint to do some patrolling as well. The little green winged bunny knew to immediately alert him if anything was amiss. But he couldn’t be sure that it was enough. Oh, he knows that he could or rather should go to Francis and inform him about this recent development. But that could mean being uprooted and moved elsewhere or even going back to living under the MDA’s supervision.
Sam was too young to fully remember what it was like living under them. He had hated the constant surveillance and at the time it felt like exchanging from one prison to another. He wanted to live a normal peaceful life with his daughter, and going to Francis about this problem would end it. He was certain of that...
A knock on the door causes Arthur to jolt out of his thoughts and onto his feet, the massive amount of tea he consumed had done a real number on his nerves. He approaches the door and glances through the peephole. Oh bloody hell, what is Francis doing here?! He quickly looks over himself, making sure he looked presentable and not like he had been suffering from a lack of sleep for days on end, schools his face into a neutral expression and finally opens the door.
“Ah Bonnefoy, what brings you here?”, Arthur asks trying to keep his tone light and casual.
Francis greets him with a laugh.
“Arthur~ I thought that by now you would be used my periodic check ins!”
“Oh.. right..” Arthur looks off to the side and rubs the back of his head. “I must have lost track of time,” he adds in a murmur.
“Hmm, is something wrong?”
“N-no! Nothing at all” Arthur says quickly trying and failing to keep a level tone. God, if Francis caught any hint that something was wrong… Francis is staring with a look of concern now. Damn! Arthur takes in a sharp breath to try to calm himself. “Everything.. is fine.”
“Have you been sleeping well? You look tired..”
“I’m just a little tired. Lots of classwork to look over, you know, the usual” Arthur says dismissively. But Francis’s look of concern only deepens. Arthur sighs and forces a casual tone. “Why don’t you come inside?”
As he leads the other man inside, Arthur can hear his daughter’s footsteps come down the ladder from the upper floor. She must have been attracted to the sounds of a guest being let in. Samantha jumps off the last rung of the ladder and rushes over to give Arthur a big hug.
“Hey sweetheart~” he chuckles softly as he ruffles her hair. His daughter always cheered him up and this only strengthened his resolve to keep her safe.
“Daddy, no!” She whines as she pushes his hand off her head. She glares at him with puffy cheeks as she continues to cling. Arthur looks down at her smiling.
“What are you doing?” He asks with a soft laugh.
“You looked like you needed a hug” She says with a nod as if that was a grand statement. She pulls back and looks up with a smile.
“Oh? I’m fine, darling” Arthur says trying to hide his growing worry that his daughter was now picking up on... or worse, had been picking up on his recent discomfort.
“Arthur… something is obviously bothering you.” Francis cuts in crossing his arms with a bit of a frown. “Even your daughter has picked up on that..”
“Everything. Is. Fine”. He says through gritted teeth as Samantha looks back and forth between the adults.
“Is Mr. Francis here because of the monster?” she asks softly. Arthur’s heart nearly leaps out of his chest. Francis narrows his gaze at the other man.
“So something did happened.. Kirkland, you know you can come to me for help” Francis frowns in concern.
“It was nothing I thought I couldn’t handle myself..” Arthur settles on a half truth at this point. “There was… a magical creature hanging around the property. I chased it off and I’m taking the proper precautions to make sure it won’t come back. I’m handling it.” He adds stubbornly.
“You look as though you haven’t had a good night’s rest in a while, so how am I to believe that you are ‘handling it’?” Francis inquires seriously. “Besides it is a part of MDA’s work to deal with dangerous magical creatures.”
Arthur groans feeling the other man staring him down.
“Well, now you are aware of it.” he grumbles as he flops down on the sofa, rubbing his temples. This was not going smoothly, but maybe hopefully this semi-explanation would get Francis off his case.
Samantha blinks and bites her lower lip, feeling like she just made it worse for her dad somehow. She walks over to him, pulls herself onto the couch seat right beside him and starts patting his hand gently trying to soothe her stressed father. Arthur feels his sour mood lift a bit after that. Francis, however, was looking at him with a frown of disappointment.
“Look I’m sorry for not going to you sooner about this” Arthur adds in softly.
“I was hoping you would trust me a little more than this by now Kirkland” Francis says as he crosses his arms. Arthur feels a stab of guilt at that. Francis was the only person he felt that he could trust in the MDA anyways and the Frenchman did place some trust in him in turn. Still if Francis knew the whole truth… He really didn’t want himself and his daughter to be moved away from this peaceful home to be under the supervision of the agency again... Arthur sighs in part from frustration and guilt. The half truth would have to do.
“I’m truly sorry” Arthur says softly.
Francis sighs and shakes his head.
“You can’t keep trying to handle everything on your own.” Francis looks slightly frustrated and Arthur can’t blame him for that.
“I understand..” Arthur replies guiltily.
“I’ll make a report and we’ll get an MDA officer to help keep an eye on your home for the next week or so. Though I’m afraid that I won’t personally be available for this assignment...” Francis says thoughtfully. “I believe that I can have Antonio come over to hand-”
“What? Why him?!” Arthur sits up straight and his daughter jumps back in her seat a bit all confused. Francis arches an eyebrow and looks at him as if he is a child throwing a fit.
“Antonio is the only one who has enough time to come by” Francis says sternly. Arthur flushes in embarrassment feeling immediately foolish. He couldn’t help but feel that this was some sort of punishment for his transgressions. He does his best to push the thought out of his head.
“I’ll… be on my best behavior” He mumbles with a defeated sigh. He can probably handle being civil to Antonio… or he will try his best to.
“I trust that you will be” Francis says with a smile. The niggling feeling that this is a punishment returns and Arthur does his best to ignore it.
“I’m afraid that I’ll have to cut this visit short, I need to return to my office and begin the arrangements for Antonio’s relocation” Francis adds in with a nod.
“Ah.. right, I’ll be sure to expect him then” Arthur says dryly.
Francis goes off with a friendly wave as Arthur and Samantha see him out the door. As they stand there waving, Arthur notices a small green blur flying towards them from the forest. It was Mint, returning from his reconnaissance, a look of happy satisfaction on his face. Once close enough Mint squeaks at him and through the bond with his familiar he gets the sense that the surrounding area is safe for now. He breathes out a sigh of relief, and informs Sam that he is going to relax and lie down for a bit.
“And if you go out, do not go out too far and do not go without Mint.” He reminds her sternly. She is about to protest, but then notices her dad looks like he’s not in the mood to take no for an answer. She quickly bites her tongue as to not retaliate then watches him make his way to the couch, flop over and go out like a light. Mint gently lands on her head and squeaks.
“I know, I’ll keep quiet…” she says to him as she gently takes the throw blanket that was on the couch’s arm and throws it over her sleeping father. She tiptoes out of the room to the outdoors, heading over to the chicken coop all while pondering over why her dad was acting so weird, who was this Antonio guy and what is he gonna be like..
2087
stormborns
tangentwithtanner
pixelskylines
snowghoul