Darkness.

No light shines in this part of town so late into the night.

The middle-class district close to the harbour, at this time of the night most of the inhabitants of the houses on either side of the street are busy sleeping away their fatigue.  Nevertheless, I stick to the shadows given off by the moonlight, sneaking slowly towards the house I scouted a few days prior.

The inhabitant of this house is still awake. I can see the light permeate through the blinds of the window. I stop to asses my surroundings. No soul around. This should be easy. 

Ever so slowly, I walk closer to the house, holding my centre of gravity close to the ground as I stalk through the shadows.  I peer through the window as I reach it.  I am met with a living room, where the hearth of the house is still lit. I squint my eyes as I try to spot any silhouettes in it. Empty, but the table inside has 2 plates of food...one empty, one full. The inhabitant of this house is waiting for someone to come.

Annoyed, I circle around the house towards the backyard, keeping to the shadows as I do, making sure to remain unseen.  Once I get into the backyard, I go up to the window on this side of the house and peer inside, my eyes squinting.

I spot her, in the same room as the night before. Her beautiful delicate hands brushing her luscious red, curly hair. In her not so modest nightgown that shows her curves all in the right places, she is the kind of woman you just have to look at twice as she passes you by. Singing a small upbeat tune under her breath to herself, she finishes brushing her still damp hair. It is obvious she just finished taking a bath, by the basin still filled with water next to her bed.

My heart starts beating a bit faster as I glance around to make sure that she is alone.... that we are alone.

I will have to be quick, before the one she is waiting for arrives. I hurriedly walk through the shadows to the opening on the side of the house I spotted last night, a rickety door from the house's side deposit room. With minimal effort, I open the door with the broken lock just enough for me to squeeze inside without making too much noise.

Once I am inside, I freeze up and listen for any telltale sign that she became aware of my presence. When I hear nothing suspicious, I let out a small breath I didn't realize I was holding. I look towards the door leading to the inside of the house. My eyes widen as I realize it’s left slightly ajar. I slowly squeeze my way through the door and inside the house.

I am so close… close to the goal I worked and spent all these days watching her for. She can’t deny me my needs now that I am inside. No…she won’t deny me my needs. She won’t deny me… I will not let her. I will use force if I need to. I gulp as I wake up from my momentary daydreaming (irony intended). I freeze up as I hear her getting up from her stool and hide in the obscure shadows as she walks out of the room and towards the living room.

I release a small sigh as I see her luscious hair disappear behind the doorframe. I creep my way up to it, and peer inside the room. There inside, with her back to me, she is slowly stirring on the pot hanging over the hearth of the house.

So close.

I ever so slowly creep closer and closer to her, my heartbeat increasing as I am a few steps behind her, when she happens to turn around. We make eye contact, and she gasps and drops her wooden spoon, spooked by me. She puts her hand over her heart and smiles a bit awkwardly as she bends her knees to get lower to my level.

‘’Hey there little guy, how in the hell did you get into my house, hmm?’’ she speaks slowly and softly as she smiles at me.

‘’Mreoww’’ I respond to her, wary of her suddenly making those weird noises. I dodge her hand and get some distance in between me and her as I stare at the food on the wooden spoon she’s protecting. She notices it and smirks before grabbing it.

‘’Hmmm, you’re just like my husband ain’t ya? Show up at the house in the devil’s hour, not bothering to greet me and going straight to the food. What, are you gonna instantly go to sleep as well after you eat your fill?’’ She sighs as she walks towards a cupboard and taking a bowl out of it. She goes to the pot and fills the bowl with some soup before placing it on the ground. My ears flicker as she keeps making those strange noises.

‘’Mreow’’ I respond to the strange human, seeing she means no harm to me.

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‘’At least he comes up with better excuses, you little devil. Here, come and get some’’ She snorts while looking at me before rolling her eyes. Ever so slowly I inch closer to the bow, still wary of her.

She sighs as she sees my reluctance and she steps away from the bowl, opting to sit on one of the chairs at the table as she stares at me. Uncomfortable, I flick my tail as I get closer to the bowl and finally enjoy the fruits of my efforts.

Suddenly, the front door of the house opens and my eyes widen in a not so subtle way. Shit, I took too long. I take a few more sips from the soup and dart out of the room, running towards the door leading to the side storage shack of the house, but unfortunately the current caused by 2 open doors inside the small house closet it enough for me to be unable to go through it.

‘’What the ‘ell is this, Elena we got a fokken furball in the house’’ Chip says as he enter the house and looks at the scared cat standing in front of the door leading to the storage. He hears his wife sigh and sees her appear in the doorframe, in her sexy looking nightgown. Her glare keeps his eyes away from her curves and to her face.

He sigh and scratches his beard awkwardly and gives her one of his irresistible goofy smiles in attempt to placate her for working this late into the night. As usual, it doesn’t work.

‘’Well well well, look who decided to finally show up at my house.’’ She squints her eyes at him. He groans and closes the door behind him. As he turns around again, he spots her hair disappearing behind the doorframe towards their bedroom.

He grumble as he makes his way towards the living room and spots his bowl of food, along an extra one on the floor. He sit down at the table and begins chowing down… noting the new clandestine guest slowly make his way back in this room, warily eyeing him.

‘’I didn’t know we were getting a new cat.’’ He says out loud towards his wife. He can practically feel her eyes roll.

‘’Maybe if you came by home more often, you would know more about what is going on.’’ She says with a bit of heat in her voice. He sighs and finishes up eating. He chuckles as he notices the furball freeze up completely as he stand up.

‘’Say, what did you do to the poor guy. He’s like a strained spring, ready to explode into a run.’’ He chuckles and attempts to placate her through his peerless humor. He can practically feel her eyes roll.

‘’Hell if I know, he just randomly showed up in the house as I was cooking food for my dumb oaf of a husband.’’ She says while brushing her hair. She stares at his reflection in the mirror.

‘’Hmm, and I am sure that dumb oaf appreciates it very much.’’ He tells her and wrap his arms around her from behind.

‘’He better be, if he knows what’s good for him.’’ She snorts, but doesn’t push away from his hug. ‘’The water is still warm, take a bath if you want to sleep into the bed tonight.’’ She raises an eyebrow at his reflection in the mirror. He grimaces and complies immediately.

When he is done bathing, he goes outside and empties the basin before storing it back into the storage room. The cat took the chance when the door was open to dart out and hightail it. He chuckles at the sight and sighs, wishing he could do the same.

‘’I didn’t know you were such friends with that cat’’ his wife raises an eyebrow at him while standing in the doorframe with her arms crossed, one finger impatiently tapping an elbow as she stares at him.

‘’Dang furball has better survival instincts than me.’’ He grumbles under his breath.

‘’What was that?’’ She asks him immediately.

‘’I was saying how I am jealous he got to eat your delicious food before me, hun’’ He smiles and goes to hug his wife. She snorts and dodges his arms before walking back into the room. Grumbling to himself, he prepares for a night of persuading her to forgive him.

As the first rays of sunlight go through the windows of the house, Chip is already up and about. Leaving the bed with his still sleeping wife in it, he stretches and grumbles as he heads to the kitchen and siphons a bit of his concentration to manipulate some energy into the enchanted funnel shaped piece of stone. He lets out a sigh of satisfaction as water fresh water starts dripping out and into his cup.

He drinks one glass as heads into his backyard, that has a great view of the harbor. He may be a commoner, but he is one of the best boatwrights there is in this side of the United Kingdoms of Dutumia, which is why the lord of Brigatros gifted him this house, so close to his own. Chip has to admit, it is not half bad. He sighed as he realized that his moment of peace and quiet is going to come to an end soon. He glares towards the dock boy obviously heading towards his house directly from the docks.

Chip curses his luck… the lord wants 4 ships ready for war within the month, and the merchants are getting antsy for their delayed orders…he was supposed to start working on the half finished 4th ship this morning, but that plan seems to be going down the drain. He just hopes the problem the boys ran into is not too big, or hard to fix.

Chip grumbles to himself as he tries to think what in the hells could have gone so wrong for them to send a runner after him. Termites in the wood? He always thought the new lumber guy looked kinda shady… he will get an earful and a half if the wood he provides proves infested. Maybe someone broke in to the workshop and tried to get his blueprints again. Chip scratches his nose and smirks at that thought. Fools, they don’t know that my family has a spell passed down through the generations that lets us remember all of our blueprints down to a T.

Or maybe…they have another blasted rat infestation. This thought makes Chip pale a bit. Blasted vermin, maybe he should ask the lord for some more rat poison…like last month, just in case. Either way, he will find out soon…and by the looks of the dock boy frantic running, he won’t like the sound of it too much.

Chip sighs, unaware of a pair of eyes watching him from the shadows that are yet to be illuminated by the rising sun. Watching, assessing and flashing with some unknown intents.