Maxine looked on with a dumbfounded expression on her face as Vellus Callaran practically inhaled the breakfast pizza that she made. I didn't think it was THAT good, but I guess it's possible that he hasn't had a decent homemade meal in quite some time. At least, Emily, Howard and myself got a slice of it before Vellus decided he would eat the rest on his own.

Maxine turned to look at Emily and saw a similar expression on her face. "Slow down, young man," Howard said calmly, "We're not in a warzone, so there is no need to eat so quickly. You should savor the meal that Maxine went through the trouble of making."

Vellus Callaran looked up from his plate as shame flashed across his face. "Sorry," Vellus Callaran said, "I didn't mean to behave like such a glutton. It's just that it's been so long since I've had such a good meal." Now, I feel bad for him. He must've been living off of those bland survival rations sold at the Mercenary guild.

"It's alright," Maxine said, "I know you've rarely had a chance to slowly eat a meal. And if I had known you would eat that much, I would've made more. I'll just have to double up the portions for next time."

"Does that mean you will make me another dinner?" Vellus Callaran asked hopefully.

"I don't see why not, but next time, try to leave some for my shadow lord bodyguard," Maxine said.

"You have a bodyguard?" Vellus Callaran asked, "I havn't seen her. Where is she?"

"You would think that the Shadow Lords would send a woman to perform that task, but they sent a man without doing any research on me. And he likes to remain invisible most of the time," Maxine said, "But he's smart enough to give me some privacy. Right now, he's standing outside keeping watch. I know this due to the fact that I saw faint depressions of his feet in the grass just before we came inside."

"You must have amazing eyesight," Vellus Callaran complimented Maxine, "I didn't see anything like that."

"It's more like I've gotten used to looking for the signs that he's there," Maxine said offhandedly.

"I can't say that I like the idea of you having a bodyguard that's a man, though," Vellus Callaran said with obvious discomfort, "I can't even imagine how it is for you."

"It's not that bad. I've known him for roughly a decade and he's one of the few men I trust enough to let him get within arm's reach," Maxine said honestly.

"And you've known me for only a few days, yet you trust me," Vellus Callaran pointed out, "It can't be just because you see me as a hero."

"You make me feel at ease," Maxine replied, "I don't know any other way to explain it than that."

"Then do you trust him enough to hold your hand?" Howard asked out of nowhere.

"I don't know," Maxine answered honestly, "Maybe? I'm not repulsed by the idea, but it makes me feel a little uncomfortable at the same time." Howard simply nodded his head at her response.

"That's more than I was expecting," Howard said to himself, before turning to Vellus Callaran, "Maxine was kind enough to let me see some of the information that her grandmother dug up on you. I have to say that your exploits are impressive."

"Thank you, sir," Vellus Callaran responded respectfully and Howard gave him an approving nod. However, Maxine found it odd that they didn't say another word to each other. Ugh, they must be talking via spiritual sense. I wonder what those two are talking about that can't be said openly.

After a handful of second, Howard finally spoke, "So, do you have anything else planned tonight, Maxine?"

"Not really," Maxine answered honestly.

"How about a movie?" Emily offered.

"I'm game," Maxine said happily. Although, I hope it isn't an action movie. A lot of the allure in those things comes from the fact that they perform all sorts of amazing feats of athleticism, but I can do anything that that those actors can do, then some.

"Awesome. I'll help you guys clean up in a minute. I need to, um, powder my nose," Emily said before she walked out of the dining room.

"Just sit right there, Vellus," Maxine said firmly as she picked up his empty plate and silverware, "I don't think Howard will hold it against you for not helping. You're still in recovery."

"Are you sure there is nothing I can do to help out?" Vellus Callaran asked.

"Trust me. You would just get in the way in your current condition, but the next time, you will be helping. You should have both of your arm and leg fully restored by then," Maxine replied as she created a couple shadow clones to help cleaning off the table, "Just wheel yourself to the TV room. We'll be in there in a few minutes."

"Alright, so long as you're certain," Vellus Callaran replied as he wheeled himself into the TV room. Once he was out of earshot, Howard approached her while picking up the empty pizza pan.

"I was never in favor of your and Emily's relationship and I like the idea of you and her being in a polygamous relationship with that young man even less," Howard said bluntly as the two of them walked to the kitchen. But you did nothing to stop us from exploring that relationship. You have no idea how grateful I am for that.

"I figured as much," Maxine replied.

"Then, why did you bring him to my house?" Howard asked with obvious anger as he roughly dropped the pizza pan into the sink.

"First off, I actually like him, so does Emily after a fashion," Maxine answered honestly, "Second, he seems too good to be real, so I wanted to know what you thought of him. And before you ask me, neither of my fathers would like him on principle and my mothers are just be happy that I've found a boy that I like. Out of everyone that I know, you're the one that can look at him more objectively than anyone else."

"I see your point. As far as I can tell, he seems alright, but that doesn't mean much," Howard answered, "I've known men that could behave like perfect gentlemen in public, but do utterly horrible acts of violence and cruelty in private. The best course of action is to observe him as long as possible before you take things to the next step. Which brings me to a question. How long are you intending on getting to know him before you're satisfied that his intentions are as they appear?"

"I don't know," Maxine answered, "A few years, at least." Probably more.

"Good," Howard said calmly, "But don't take too much longer than that. I want to be able to hold my great grand children before my time in this life runs out." And there is his motivation for letting this happen.

"If it wasn't for Emily being stubborn, you might have one on the way already," Maxine said with a smirk and gently patted her belly.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh, yes. I forgot about those 'potions' that your father made," Howard commented and at that moment, Emily walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Emily asked.

"No, nothing at all," Howard said as he moved to leave the kitchen, "I'll keep an eye on our guest while you two finish up in here." It only took Maxine and Emily a few minutes to clean and dry the dishes.

When they finished, they walked to the TV room. Unfortunately, neither Vellus or Howard had picked out a movie yet. So, the boys are going to let us pick a movie. That's awfully sweet of them.

Emily reached to grab the remote when Howard said, "I think we should do something else for now."

"Such as?" Maxine asked.

"Vellus asked if he could see your ability to disguise yourself," Howard said.

"Why?" Maxine asked with a suspicion.

"Idle curiosity and I thought it would be much better than watching some movie," Vellus Callaran said honestly.

"I guess that's alright," Maxine said, "Do you guys have any requests?" And it's not like I use that ability that often, even when I should.

"I've always liked it when you look like a kitsune," Emily suggested. Like is a weak word for how you react when I make myself look like a kitsune. You practically purr as you rub face on my extra fluffy tail when I take that form.

"As you wish," Maxine said as she used her energies to conceal her ears and make a pair of fox ears appear on top of her head as a very fluffy fox-like tail sprouts out of her lower back, "So, what do you think?" Maxine spins around to give everyone a better look.

"That's amazing," Vellus Callaran said softly in wonder, "You look just like the real thing."

"Feels like the real thing too," Emily practically purred as she stroked her hands across Maxine's tail.

"Any other requests?" Maxine asked.

"How about an asura?" Vellus Callaran asked. Maxine undid her illusion and began to build the new one. Two sets of arms sprouted out of her shoulders and just below her armpits as a pair of small blunt horns began to protrude out of her forehead.

"Come on. Give me something hard," Maxine said with a smirk.

"A cyclops with a particularly big eye," Howard said calmly. Of course, he would ask that. He knows what my limitations are and that's beyond them. It's very hard to change my facial structure too much using illusions. It just wouldn't look right.

"You know full well that I can't do that," Maxine said flatly.

"How about a lamia?" Emily suggested.

"Alright, just give me a little bit of room," Maxine said as she undid the illusion that she was an asura.

Maxine put her legs together as she wove her energies around her legs and extended them to create a twenty foot long tail. Next, she arched her back and legs and lowered herself as her new 'tail' started to form serpentine scales. She added a few cosmetic scales on the sides of her face and neck and made it appear that her pupils had become vertical slits to complete the illusion.

"There," Maxine said, "It's a good thing that I'm so flexible. Otherwise, this would be very uncomfortable and you would be surprised how much pressure this is putting on my waist. No wonder lamia have such developed abdominal and back muscles. It takes a lot of effort to keep themselves propped up like this while they move around."

"Quick question," Vellus Callaran spoke up, "Would you feel it if I stepped on your tail?"

"No, I wouldn't," Maxine replied as she slowly undid the construct woven around her body, so that she wouldn't fall flat on her face, "For that to happen, I would have to create faux nerve fibers and connect them to my own. I tried to do that once and it hurt like hell. Needless to say, I'm not going to try it again."

"You better not," Howard said firmly, "You scared Emily half to death when you started screaming out of nowhere."

"I know and I said I was sorry," Maxine said apologetically, "I honestly didn't think it would hurt THAT bad. And like I promised before, I'm not going to do any kind of experiments like that anymore."

"Can we talk about something else, please?" Emily interrupted.

"Alright," Maxine said as she turned to Vellus Callaran, "I was wondering. What kind of weapon do you use? I havn't been able to figure it out. I know it's some kind of polearm just from the calluses on your hand."

"A glaive," Vellus Callaran replied simply.

"Isn't that just a blade at the end of a pole?" Emily asked.

"That isn't all there is to it, but yes, in essence, that is what it is," Vellus Callaran said.

"I can see how that weapon could be very effective on either people and beasts," Maxine commented.

"That it is," Vellus Callaran agreed and he frowned for a moment, "I know that you use two blades, and that requires you to get much closer to your opponents than I would have to. It also increases the chances of injury and it's a small miracle that you are not covered in scars. So, that made me wonder about something. Are you concealing your scars or did you use potions to make them go away?"

"Neither," Maxine said with a smirk, "My bloodlines make it damn near impossible for any scar tissue to form. My regenerative abilities are strong enough that I could loose a limb and if the cut is clean enough, I could just reattach it by doing nothing more than sewing it back on. I would probably regain partial use of it after a few hours and full use after a day or two. Although, if retrieving my limb wasn't possible, it would regenerate on it's own given enough time."

"That's a rather handy ability," Vellus Callaran pointed out.

"But not one I like to test out. I lost about a foot off of my tail while in my battle form before and it was not a fun experience," Maxine admitted, "Thankfully, it grew back, but I was worried that it wouldn't for awhile." Howard raised his eyebrow at Maxine, but did nothing else.

"You were just worried you could've been paralyzed from the waist down if you reverted," Emily said.

"Wait, why would she have been worried about that?" Vellus Callaran asked.

"At the time, I wasn't aware of how my tail was formed," Maxine admitted, "I hadn't actually watched my skeletal structure change after transforming before then. So I was worried that my vertebrae had lengthened rather than new ones being formed out of my tailbone. I now know that it wouldn't have crippled me. Instead, it would've just clipped the end of my tailbone. Still I rather err on the side of caution than risk partial paralysis like that."

"I would have to agree with you there," Vellus said as he gestured towards his stumps, "It's a lot like loosing a limb."

"Thankfully, that wasn't the case," Maxine said happily.

"Indeed," Howard said.

"So, are we going to watch a movie or are you going to show off some more?" Emily asked.

"Let's watch a movie," Maxine said.

"How about 'Free Guy'?" Emily asked, "It's a comedy about a NPC that gains self awareness."

"That sounds interesting," Maxine said.

"Uh, this may be a dumb question, but what is a NPC?" Vellus Callaran asked.

"Non-player character," Howard answered, "Think of them as the very lowest form of artificial intelligence within a computer or video game."

"Is that particularly safe to use artificial intelligence like that?" Vellus Callaran asked.

"Completely, they have no self-awareness and have no chance of ever achieving it," Howard replied calmly.

"Then it's a misnomer then," Vellus Callaran said, "It's more akin to a virtual intelligence since they posses no real decision making abilities aside from those programmed into them."

"Exactly," Maxine said, "And while I would love to continue this discussion, I would much rather enjoy the movie and not pick apart it's premise."

Within a few moments, the movie was put on and Maxine did her best to enjoy it. Unfortunately, she kept hearing crunching sounds as if someone had just stepped on a bug. Out of annoyance more than curiosity, she extended her spiritual sense to find out the cause. She found the remains of more than a dozen ant-sized spy drones with traces of Turan's energies on them. Why am I not surprised that those pieces of scum would try this shit?

She extended out her spiritual sense even further and found the culprits more than fifty miles away. She immediately roared into their minds, [You will stop spying on me. OR, I will break every bone in your body, heal you and do it again.] She didn't hear a reply, but she saw them scrambling to key in commands into their data pads. Good, I really didn't want to actually have to do that. Fully healing every bone in their body with any kind of speed would be both expensive and time consuming.

With that out of the way, she could finally enjoy the movie. It wasn't quite as engaging as she hoped, but she still found the infrequent fight scenes within the movie amusing. All in all, it was a nice movie.

"I think I should head home," Maxine announced as soon as the movie finished, "I have to get up early tomorrow for the UN assembly. I'll need to be fully rested to deal with the issues that they're probably going to bring up."

"I see," Vellus said, "I'll head back to my hotel as well then."

"I'll create an arch for you to save you a few minutes," Maxine announced as she got behind his wheelchair and helped him out of the house.

"I enjoyed the time that I've spent with you," Vellus Callaran said once they were outside, "In fact, ever since I've been on your world, it's been like a fanciful dream that I don't wish to wake from."

"Charmer," Maxine said and she created an arch that lead to Vellus Callaran's hotel, "There's your portal back to your hotell."

"Good night, Maxine," Vellus Callaran said in turn before he wheeled himself through the portal.

"Good night, Vellus," Maxine said happily. If he keeps this up, I may end up actually falling in love with him. Now, I better say good night to Emily and Howard before heading home. I do not look forward to the UN assembly. I know that they will agree with my plan to get additional agricultural technologies for Earth, but for some reason, I have a feeling they will try to strongly advise me to vote on something that might piss somebody off.