Chapter 40: Cake And Cocoa

“So….you took control of a gang?” Kane said, shaking his head.

“You. Have. Been. Gone. Less. Than. 10. Minutes! I just can’t with you! Ugh, let's go home, okay? My heart can’t take much more of this.” Kane asked, groaning.

They went back home and found Anne sleeping on the couch.

“Sweet, more dessert for the rest of us,” Evan said, grinning.

Kane stared at him, exhausted.

“Lime, how the heck do you put up with him?” Kane asked.

“How? I love being with him. He makes me happy. It’s been like that since I first got him out of stasis, and I don’t think it’s ever going to change.” Lime said stubbornly.

“..... I see. So you’re both loonies.” Kane said.

“Lime isn’t a loonie. She’s a sweet person. Oh, right, speaking of sweet. Are we making dessert or not?” Evan asked.

“Yeah, I’m gonna wake up Anne, though,” Kane said.

Kane opened the fridge and pulled out two cans of beer.

He went over to Anne, laid one on top of her head, and popped the other open.

She grabbed the one on her head and got up.

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“It looks like my little drinking buddy woke up. Anne, we’re making dessert right now, do you want to help or do you want me to call you when it’s ready?” Kane asked.

“Call….” Anne said, falling back asleep.

“I’ll wake you up when we finish, then. Sweet dreams until then, Annie.” Kane smiled. He kissed her on the cheek and left.

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“Did you just call her Annie?” Evan asked as Kane walked back into the kitchen.

Kane's face reddened.

“Y-You heard that? Um. No. No, you must have misheard me.” Kane stammered, embarrassed.

Evan started to grin, ready to make fun of Kane, but was interrupted by Jessica.

“Dad, weren’t we going to make dessert before they have to l-leave?” Jessica asked, popping up from underneath the table.

Kane jumped slightly, startled.

“Jessica, what are you doing down there? It’s dirty, and you might get hurt somehow. I don’t want you to get injured. Come on, get out from under there.” Kane chided.

“I dropped my spoon, j-jeez. You worry too much. And I’m already 11, I can take c-care of myself.” Jessica puffed, annoyed at being talked to like a kid.

“Not yet, you can’t. Maybe I’ll agree when you graduate from college, but I’ll still watch over you until then. I’m your father, Jessica. It’s my job to take care of you. And it’s a job I enjoy, so you aren’t going to get rid of me easily. All right?” Kane asked.

Jessica sighed.

“Okay….Sorry, dad.” Jessica said, defeated.

“That’s better. Back on topic. Yes, we are making dessert. Mom’s going to be staying on the couch and sleeping, though. So it’s just us four.” Kane replied.

“First, I have a question. If she can use magic, can’t she heal an injury pretty easily?” Evan asked.

Everyone looked at him, confused.

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“Heal? Magic can heal people?” Kane asked.

“Well….Yeah. Of course it can. There’s a few ways, actually. One takes from the exotic properties of mana, making injuries pretty much heal like the magic in video games, and the other is just doing something simple, like cleaning and stitching up the wound with physical mana manipulation. For example, using a form of water magic to clean and sterilize a wound, and creating mana stitches to close a wound with creation mana. You can also use it to connect severed limbs. If you attach threads of mana to a person's nerves and stuff properly, you can connect anything back together. You can even make a temporary artificial heart out of mana. But that’s pretty hard. You can do things like create artificial optic nerves as well, and displace space to see things remotely. At least, I think so. I was just thinking about the possibility after our previous conversation on space and mana. So I’m not completely sure, but it should work.” Evan replied.

“Huh...I...see. And how the hell do you do any of that?” Kane asked, not understanding a damn word.

“I’ll tell you next time. I want to help Jessica learn magic, so I’ll be coming back later for sure. I also have some other business to take care of here. So let’s just make dessert already. There’s less than an hour left before I and Lime have to leave.” Evan said.

“Fine, fine. Here.” Kane said, handing Evan some ingredients.

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Kane wiped flour off of his hands and shook some out of his hair.

“Oof, finally finished, eh? That took a while.” Kane said.

“It took 40 minutes. That’s nothing!” Evan said, impressed.

“It’s probably because I worked on the kitchen appliances myself. I haven’t even seen another kitchen in ages.” Kane said.

“...Do you have any friends other than me? If you do, surely you’ve seen their kitchen, right?” Evan asked.

“Well, I’m pretty good friends with some of the moms who take their kids to school. There’s also a few dad’s other than me, and they’re pretty nice, too. But we usually just go out drinking and stuff.” Kane sighed.

“Wow. You really are horrible at being social. It’s been over four centuries, and you still haven’t improved. That’s kinda….sad.” Evan said, pitying Kane dramatically.

Kane punched him.

“Oof. What was that for.” Evan said, faking injury.

“Damnit! Stop mocking me!!” Kane yelled, roundhouse kicking Evan.

“Nah, it’s way too easy, and way too entertaining.” Evan chuckled, grabbing Kane's foot easily and laughing as he jumped around on one foot, trying not to fall over.

“Ack! Fine, I give, I give.” Kane said, still hopping around.

Evan released him.

“Jeez. Last time I try that one. Four centuries of training and you can still kick my ass.” Kane said, smoothing his clothes and brushing off some flour that had dusted his shoulder.

“I’m going to go wake up Anne.” Kane sighed.

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“Jessica. I have a question.” Evan said.

“Y-Yes? Did you need s-something?” Jessica asked, smiling.

Evan looked at her smile and shook his head.

“Nevermind. You seem a lot less withdrawn than before. That’s all. You should smile more often. It suits you.” Evan said.

Jessica tried to hide her face, blushing from the compliment.

Anne walked into the room, yawning.

“Aaawof course it suits her. She got her looks from me, after all.” Anne said, swaying.

“She’s going to grow into a nice young lady. I guarantee it. Come on, Anne. You literally just have to walk a little bit further.” Kane said, pushing Anne as she started to fall asleep again.

“Kane, why don’t we let Anne just rest for tonight. I’ll be back again later anyways, and she looks extremely tired.” Evan said.

As if to prove his point, Anne fell asleep, falling onto Kane.

Kane shifted her into his arms so she wouldn’t be laying on the ground.

He sighed, looking down at the sleeping woman he now held.

“Yeah. I guess you’re right. It’s past bedtime for us. I’ll put everything in stasis for the next time you visit. It’s not a good idea for Jessica to be staying up this late, either. It’s way past her bedtime.” Kane agreed.

“I-I’m fine, dad. I can stay awake a little bit l-longer.” Jessica said.

“It’s not an issue of whether or not you can stay awake. You shouldn’t be staying up too late, period.” Kane replied.

“Yeah, it’s bad for your health if you don't sleep. It might even affect your control over mana if it gets bad enough, which can be very dangerous for someone who's inexperienced with magic. It’s a good idea to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.” Evan said.

“8? Are you sure it’s 8 hours?” Kane asked.

“Well, technically it’s not 8 hours exactly. But it’s still a good idea to try and sleep for about that long. It’s hard to recover from any lack of sleep.” Evan said.

“I’m guessing you speak from experience. Actually, that’s not a guess. It’s a fact. I should know, considering we used to pull all-nighters all the time. You worked me like a damn dog.” Kane grumbled.

“Sorry about that.” Evan laughed.

“No, you’re not. Ah, whatever! I’m taking Anne to our room. Jessica, you go get ready for bed. And Evan? You and lime are free to do what you want until you have to go. As long as it’s within reason. Good night, I’ll see you guys later.” Kane said, heading upstairs.

“Good n-night!” Jessica said, trailing right behind her father.

“Good night. I’ll see all of you later.” Evan agreed.

Lime waved goodbye to them.