Jack faced the girl, surprise evident on his face as his eyes fell on her body, her clothes were now almost gone, revealing a long, black tail that flicked and waved back and forth. Jack hadn’t looked closely before, but he was pretty sure he could see two black ears poking out of her long black hair, occasionally twitching, which shifted the hair around it. After hearing his question, the girl stood up, straight, placing her right hand on her hip while leaning slightly against her arm.
“My name is Sicauria Faeles, I am from the planet known as Animalis, and descendant of the legendary Cattus tribe.”
She responded with a trace of boredom and impatience leaking into her voice, while glancing around his apartment for the first time since she arrived. Jack, Jenny, Val, and Ellis remained silent as her eyes settled on the table that was next to her, catching her attention before she absentmindedly picked her clothes off the floor, and neatly laid them out on the chair that was sitting next to it.
Light shone through the window to Jack’s right, the morning sun casting long shadows through Jack’s apartment and illuminating the room with an iridescent golden light. The light reflected off her body, which seemed to shine with a golden color and contrast with her dark hair and tail which was a genuinely beautiful scene, but also reminded Jack of her nakedness. Jack snapped out of his stupor with a quick shake of his head, and returned his attention to the current situation.
“Planet? No, I’ll ask later, please put your clothes back on and tell me what you want.”
Jack retracted his gaze once more, and turned to face the wall and couch behind him, while Jenny and Val dismounted him, and stood facing the cat-woman. Under the disapproving gazes of the two girls next to Jack, Sicauria Faeles pulled her clothes off the chair with a frustrated sigh, and obeyed.
“I suppose hiding it will just drag things out, so I might as well tell you.”
She paused as she pulled her skirt back into place, and pulled the zipper up, never taking her eyes off the three people in front of her.
“I want your arm, or it’s design plans, and in exchange, you make take what you like from me.”
Her words were heavy, though she spoke them with confidence that can only be gained through numerous trials and experiences. She pulled her arms through the sleeves of the dark, log-sleeve button-down shirt she had taken off a few moments ago, and began to individually fasten each button.
“However, if you accept, you will take full responsibility for your actions, and tell me everything about how you managed to combine modern technology with magic.”
Jack held his left hand up in front of his face, his eyes skimming the surface and resting on his knuckles, which were previously damaged, and noticed a faint pink glow just under it’s surface. He turned to face the now dressed woman, and backed up until his calves bumped the front of his couch, then sat down heavily, before answering Sicauria Faeles’s question honestly.
“I have no idea. In all honesty, this...”
Jack displayed his left arm, releasing a small amount of magic and causing the pink light underneath to pulse lightly.
“...was completely accidental. All I did was direct the flow of my magic to run through it, and the rest happened on it’s own. I don’t even know how it’s designed, so Val would likely know more about it than me.”
Jack looked over at Val, who had followed him, and had just sat down to his right, leaning her left shoulder against him, while bringing her right hand up, wrapping it around his arm. She looked at Jack for a moment, before shifting her gaze to the woman on the other end of the room. Sicauria Faeles pulled the chair out from the table next to her, and sat on it, keeping the back of the chair to her right, and propping her arm up on it in a relaxed position.
“Do tell.”
She rested her chin on her arm, and moved her attention over to Val, who brought her knees up, placing her feet on the couch.
“Jack’s arm is made from ordinary materials. It was neither designed or made from materials that support magic, so the arm itself is nothing special. However, I did design it based off of human anatomy, so it would be easier for his body to accept, and the fact that he used to have an arm with magical flow allowed his brain to adjust the magic to properly fit the arm. In other words, since he had an arm, his brain remembers it, and where the magic used to flow, making it easier to place everything correctly.”
Val had clearly been thinking about Jack’s new arm, and gave a relatively detailed explanation about what might have happened. The woman nodded slowly for a couple of seconds, a contemplative look on her face as her eyes trailed to the roof, following the edge of where the wall meets the ceiling. She stood, pushing the chair away from her with her right hand, while digging in her pocket with her left, and pulling out a small device that resembled a smartphone.
“May I?”
She approached Jack, passing Jenny who was still standing in front of the couch, and stretched her hand out expectantly towards him. Jack shrugged, thinking there wasn’t much she could do to him with such a small device, and held his left hand out in response. As soon as he did, she grabbed his hand, and jammed his thumb on the screen, which lit up with a green light for a moment before fading away, and he realized how naive his previous thought was.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Sicauria tossed the device up and down victoriously with a broad smile spreading across her face, while Jenny, who’s eyes were too slow to keep up with their movements, just stared at the device for a couple of seconds, while Val continued to cling to Jack’s arm. Jack was filled with confusion at the sudden response, and looked up at the woman questioningly.
“What did you just do?”
The woman stopped tossing the device in the air, and held it up next to her head, small green words blinked on the screen saying [Contract Complete], though she was holding it upside down, so Jack probably wouldn’t have been able to read it if it weren’t for his advanced eyesight.
“We are now bound by a contract. The contents cover three things: Purchase, which includes you telling me everything you really know about that arm, and perhaps coming with me to explain it to a few others. Second is payment, in return, I will offer myself to you, and accepting the payment confirms the purchase, along with the third section. The third and final part is responsibility, if you “confirm the purchase”, then you will have to take responsibility for your actions and take me as your wife. If any part of this contract is broken, you will become a felon, and have a large bounty put on your head.”
Jack looked at her mischievous purple eyes that stared down at him almost challenging him to retaliate, however Jack had already found the obvious loophole and planned on exploiting it. He leaned forward on the couch, leaning heavily on his feet that were planted on the floor in front of him, and rested his left forearm on his knee before looking up and matching her gaze.
“So all I have to do is not sleep with you?”
Jack asked, expecting her to have some look of disappointment, but she didn’t, in fact her smile changed from a victorious one into one filled with malicious intent, and she began to approach Jack, much to the other girl’s dismay who shifted uncomfortably. She approached Jack, and leaned forward, placing her right hand on his left knee next to his mechanical arm, and placed her mouth next to his ear, close enough for him to feel her breath.
“Easier said than done.”
Chills ran down Jack’s back, and Jenny, who had been standing to the side, shaking in rage, walked up behind Sicauria Faeles, wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist and, shifting her stance, lifted her off the ground with a surprising amount of ease. After doing this, Jenny proceeded to carry the woman over to the table, placing her down in the same spot where she was stripping earlier. The smile did not disappear from the woman’s face, and she never took her eyes off Jack the entire time, making him uncomfortable, and causing Val to adjust her grip, wrapping both arms around his, and pressing the side of her face against him.
After placing Sicauria Faeles down, Jenny looked over at Jack, rage still visible in her eyes, hidden poorly behind a polite facade.
“Jack, Val and I need to have a talk with...”
Jenny looked over at the woman, who simply shrugged, turning her gaze away from Jack, while sitting down in the chair she pushed away earlier, and directing it towards Jenny.
“You can call me Fae if you like, though that’s what my friends call me, so if you do you will be admitting you’re my friend.”
Jenny looked back at Jack, switching between him and Val as she walked over to the table that still had Val’s suit and spear on it, and half-sat down on the edge.
“We need to have a talk with Sic here, girls only.”
Jack nodded hesitantly, and looked over at Val, who was still clinging to his arm, and she nodded towards him with a stubborn look. Jack sighed, and stood up, Val releasing her grip as he did, and placed his hands in his pockets as he began to make his exit. He walked by Jenny, and looked over at Fae with a sympathetic look in his eyes, thinking no creature should be subject to Jenny’s wrath. Jack paused for a second, and lightly placed a hand on Jenny’s shoulder while turning towards her.
“Play nice, please.”
Without waiting for a response, Jack left the apartment and entered a light grey hallway, before following the staircase down, and exiting the building through the lobby.
Jenny, Val, and Fae listened to Jack’s footsteps as he exited the hallway, and continued down the stairs, waiting for him to leave earshot. Val approached the small, wooden table, and placed her feet in the suit that was hanging off the side. A series of clicking and whirling filled the air as the suit twisted, wrapping itself around Val’s petite figure, turning the small girl into a deadly soldier, dressed in a solid black military uniform, her face hidden by a smooth tinted mask.
Jenny casually walked over to Val, standing next to her as the two faced the woman while the tension in the air grew. Despite being glared at by Jenny, and having a super soldier express hostile intentions toward her, Fae remained calm, looking almost tired. She readjusted her position, turning to face the two, while leaning back in the chair, causing it to rock back slightly.
“He doesn’t know yet? I figured you’d tell him by now.”
Fae started the conversation, breaking the silence with a voice that sounded like a friend casually addressing another friend, and the flame in Jenny’s eyes burned brighter as a result. Jenny and Val both knew what Fae was referring to, and were starting to feel threatened by her ability to see through them.
“Not yet, and it’s going to stay that way until I decide otherwise.”
Jenny’s voice was terrifying, human or no, Fae could sense something beyond anger, fear, hatred, or love, she sensed Jenny’s obsession. Fae leaned forward, placing all four chair legs on the ground, and taking a slightly defensive posture, crossing her arms across her stomach, and raising her right eyebrow curiously.
“Of course it will, because you won’t give me any reason to tell him, will you?”
Fae turned Jenny’s threat around, obviously used to intimidating threats, and able to hear the sincerity in her opponent’s voice. Without wasting a moment, Val whipped her arm around, flinging a dark blur at Fae’s head with an incredible speed, shattering the chair, before burying itself harmlessly in the floor. The woman had vanished, turning into black smoke and dissipating into the air.
“Now now, this won’t do. I won’t get any information out of the boy if I kill you, but I don’t want to spend every waking moment looking over my shoulder either...”
The woman’s voice echoed through the apartment, seeming to come from every direction which removed any target, and the other two just stood there helpless. A slight breeze blew, and a small, black cloud formed inches from Jenny’s face, quickly molding itself into a humanoid figure. Fae’s nose was almost touching Jenny’s as the blue and purple eyes stared at each other as their owners’ wills clashed.
“I think the dynamic of our relationship needs to change.”
Fae declared the words with no small trace of hostility in an attempt to break the current stalemate. Jenny did not back down, her indomitable will holding fast as she matched the woman’s gaze with a burning intensity of her own.
“What did you have in mind?”