This one is for MFerril for all of his support and wonderful comments. I really appreciate his feedback, and he's a very talented writer as well, now go check out some of his stories, he deserves it ;)
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Chapter Five
“And what does that have to do with us?” Lycurgus asked, patting Kiri on the head. “I can’t get Kiri involved in this,” he said firmly, his crimson eyes coldly watching the doctor.
“Well Lycurgus, knowing you, you’d be able to plot something out for us, you know- like a battle plan?” Mastiff asked, struggling to keep Reina in check while trying to drink his eleventh--or twelfth--mug of coffee.
“Why me?” Lycurgus asked. “Why not somebody else?” he inquired, turning to protectively stand in front of Kiri, who was hugging at his arm and happily bouncing on her heels, making humming noises.
“Mmhhh, hmmm, muuuu-“ she sang as she bounced, her new shoes making soft clicking noises as she bounced.
“Yehe-“ Reina smiled. “Just a hug, pleeaaaase? Don’t make me beg you to let me go,” Reina tried to pull away from Mastiff.
“No, I am not going to let you scare that little girl shitless, and I’m sure there are others here not wanting you to do anything with her....” Mastiff chuckled, frowning. “Oi, Reina, go get me some more coffee,” he said.
“More? Already?” Saubre blinked, making a face as she struggled to suppress a yawn. “But so much? You’re chugging it.... That can’t be healthy,” she said, tapping her fingers against her chin.
“Oh it is unhealthier for me not to have caffeine in my system,” Mastiff said. “You don’t want to meet me when I haven’t had enough coffee,” he said. “Now go Reina, before I pass out or something.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” Reina whined when he released her from his hold, pouting at Lycurgus, but her frown turning to a smile when Kiri giggled and waved a small hand at her.
“Reina,” Mastiff warned.
“I’m already gone,” Reina grumbled, stacking the mugs on the tray she had brought them in on. “Twenty-three mugs, I think you beat your record,” she laughed.
“Out,” Mastiff’s expression darkened. “Unless you’re prepared for the consequences of not obeying, then stay.”
“Buh-bye!” Reina swallowed hard, dashing out of the room at a surprising pace, miraculously not dropping anything off her tray.
“Mastiff, why is she so scared of you?” Lycurgus asked, his left eye twitching uncontrollably.
“Well Lyc-cy, that’s a se-cret!” Mastiff grinned, waving a finger along like a metronome with each syllable, finishing by fringing a single finger up to his pursed lips, winking.
“Oi, Lick Our Gus,” the Mai Shashi spoke up, waving her legs around. “Your friend here is some doctor,” she whistled. “My knee barely hurts any more,” she grinned.
“Her Doctor Mastiff? D’ya think you could fix our Lyle’s bad attitude?” she asked hopefully.
Mastiff chuckled and gave her a thumbs up. “I dunno, but I can try,” he said, turning to Lycurgus. “Oh Lyccy,” he called, dragging out his childhood nickname, his hands making odd grabbing motions in the air as he lurched closer, a dark glint in his eyes.
“Noooo! No takey!” Kiri whined, biting her quivering lip as tears spilled over from her wide eyes. “My Lycurgoose!” she whined, burying her face in Lycurgus’ jacket.
There came a sudden flash of silver, making Mastiff freeze in place, not moving a muscle, feeling the sting of cold metal against his neck.
“You make her cry again and I’ll kill you,” Lycurgus smiled, his expression a little too cheery.
“You got me,” Mastiff’s face was apologetic, he slowly raised his arms in surrender. “You surprised me there, you’ve always been good at surprising people, but now-- You’re just outright scary....” Mastiff laughed, his brown eyes meeting Saubre’s unnaturally green eyes, pleading for her help, but not counting on it as she was frozen in horror, shuddering from her place beside him.
“Ouch, that’s cold,” Mastiff forced a smile, his teeth chattering a bit as a new wave of dark energy sent another shudder down his spine.
“Do you understand what I’ll do if Kiri gets hurt?” Lycurgus asked.
“What?” the Mai Shashi asked, obviously very amused at seeing him angry, secretly a little nervous too. She was looking for possible weaknesses he might have, knowing if she figured some out they would turn out to very useful in the near future....
“Well, first I’ll turn that person into ground meat,” Lycurgus pressed the tip of his sword closer to the vulnerable skin of Mastiff’s neck, just below his chin, grinning darkly when he saw his Adam’s Apple bounce when he swallowed hard.
“And then, I’ll turn that ground meat into patties and grill them, then eat them and then once I’ve shat those ground meat patties out, I’ll use it to fertilize grass and then feed that grass to a cow, who’ll shit you out too, and then so on and so on,” Lycurgus finished, loosening his grip on his weapon.
“You understand?” he asked, receiving a desperate nod from Mastiff, whom had broken out in a cold sweat.
“Good, then I don’t think we’re going to have any more misunderstandings are we?” he asked.
“Nope,” Mastiff popped his p to annoy Lycurgus, but not daring to shake his head, a drop of sweat running down his forehead.
“Oh yeah, and the same goes for if you hurt wither the Mai Shashi or Saubre too,” Lycurgus added, sheathing his sword and crouching down next to Kiri.
Saubre let out a sigh of relief, clapped her hands together once and forced a grin, shrugging to Mastiff in apology.
Mastiff smiled and waved it off, not wanting to annoy Lycurgus while he was still in a dangerous mood.
“Kiri, he’s not going to take me,” Lycurgus’ expression softened as he pried her arms carefully from around his waist so he could look her in the eyes, brushing her newly trimmed hair from her face, sighing when he saw how blotchy and red it had gotten.
“M-m-m-m,” Kiri hiccupped, unable to get a single word out.
Lycurgus had a soft spot for crying girls--especially children--and was unsure of how to calm Kiri. “I’m still here, look, Mastiff didn’t take me, did he?”
“No-“ Kiri sniffled, rubbing at her eyes with the sleeves of her dress, which was really nothing more than an overly large sweater. The dark green sweater hung down past her knees, but she still had shorts (luckily they found a pair small enough) and a shirt on beneath (also a little too large for her).
“Is there anything that will make you feel better?” Lycurgus asked.
Kiri was able to get her tears under control long enough to think, her forehead wrinkling as she wondered what would make her feel better.
“Dinner!” Kiri finally decided, holding her stomach to try and keep it from growling too loudly.
Lycurgus chuckled, patting her on the head. “Well I think we can do that,” he smiled.
“And one more thing?” Kiri asked hopefully.
“What would that be?” Lycurgus asked, ignoring everybody else in the room, even when Reina came crashing in with another tray, loaded with mugs of coffee, this time having more mugs than before since she had stacked them like a pyramid.
She stayed quiet, blankly staring at Lycurgus and Kiri after having looked around the room to see everyone making faces.
Kiri grinned, her face not quite as red as when she had been crying and snatched Lycurgus’ old worn hat, pulling it on her head.
“Aye wear hat!” Kiri giggled, taking Lycurgus by surprise. “Lycurgoose’s hat is warm,” she smiled, letting go of its brim and having it sink over her eyes.
“SHE’S SO CUTE!” Reina called with delight. She probably would have dropped the tray if Mastiff hadn’t jumped up to take it, practically drooling when he smelt the coffee, and if the Mai Shashi hadn’t tried to get up, her knee looking like it was back to normal.
They were both in perfect positions to prevent a terrible disaster--a coffee and minced meat disaster--and played their part well.
Mastiff greedily pulled the tray of coffee away while the Mai Shashi tripped and crashed into Reina, unintentionally pinning her to the ground, both landing with a loud thud.
“Maybe my knee isn’t completely healed yet,” the Mai Shashi grumbled from her spot on top of Reina, who was groaning under the Mai Shashi’s weight.
“Well it’ll take a while,” Mastiff said between mugs of coffee. “The swelling and bruising have gone down, but another ten minutes or so and you should be good,” Mastiff winked, the mugs already stacking up on his desk.
Saubre bet if Reina was not there to supply him with coffee, and to carry away the mugs that there would surely be mountains of mugs, making her feel queasy.
This guy has a serious addiction, she thought, hoping she could help him get rid of it.
“Ouch,” Reina whined. “And I was going to get my hug,” she scrunched up her face in a pout, trying to push the Mai Shashi off. “I want a hug from Kiri,” she crooned, a distant look in her eyes.
Lycurgus shot Reina an icy cold glare, making her gulp. “You touch her, and I’ll turn you into minced meat,” he grinned, turning back to Kiri and lifting his hat up a little so she could see again.
“Ki- Aye like your hat!” Kiri grinned, trying to pull the hat back over her eyes.
“Well I like my hat too, may I have it back?” Lycurgus asked.
“Only when Kiri gets dinner,” the little girl huffed, leaving Lycurgus, and frankly, everyone else in the room surprised.
“Bwahahahahahaha-“ the Mai Shashi burst out laughing, slamming her fists against the ground, too close to Reina’s head for comfort, creating loud, painful sounding, smacking noises as she did so. “What a kid, already knows how to barter,” she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye once she had herself under control.
“Wee-heehe, there’s nothing like a good laugh,” she sighed, rolling off of Reina, who was trembling, both out of fear from Lycurgus and from the Mai Shashi, whose laughing fit had particularly gotten to her.
“No hug?” she asked, still pouting when she sat up, her honey colored eyes practically begging him to say yes, her long blonde hair falling pleasantly over her shoulders as she gave him her best set of puppy dog eyes.
“No,” Lycurgus said bluntly, suddenly embracing Kiri. “She’s mine, you can’t have her,” the expression he wore making him look like a little kid ready to stick his tongue out at some unfortunate idiot.
“Hey, she’s mine!” the Mai Shashi raised her voice to complain. “I’m the one who is going to be getting a hug!”
Lycurgus thought for a moment. “Fine, I’ll share, but only because Kiri said you promised to be her sister.... And with Saubre because she’s the most sensible of anyone here in this room,” he added.
“Is that an insult?” Mastiff asked, finishing off another cup of coffee, having already had almost a third of all the mugs empty and littering his desk.
Kiri squealed with delight, wrapping her bony arms around Lycurgus’ neck. “Hug!” she cried happily, her bell like laughter ringing through the room.
“Hey Lycurgoose,” the Mai Shashi grinned, getting up on wobbly legs. “You said dinner was doable, I’m hungry,” she said. “And I can walk now thanks to Mr. Doctor Coffee Sir! Thanks Mr. Doctor Coffee Sir!” she grinned.
“My pleasure,” Mastiff saluted her, a half full mug in the hand he used to salute her, making him nearly get its contents spilt all over his shirt and white doctor’s coat.
“Oh yes, let’s eat,” Saubre nodded.
“Aye hungry!” Kiri’s loud voice joined in.
Mastiff’s eyes narrowed as he looked down on Lycurgus, who was still crouched next to the little girl. A smirk slowly spread across his face.
“We can eat, but only once you’ve answered me,” he said, absentmindedly holding out a hand to help Reina up, who took his hand and let herself be helped up to stand again.
“What’s the question?” Lycurgus asked, his eyes also narrowing, starting a staring match with Mastiff.
“Are you, or are you not going to join me and help me start the war? I guarantee your harem’s safety,” Mastiff tried not to laugh at his own comment.
“We’re no harem!” the Mai Shashi yelled. “Tell him Saubre!”
Saubre’s face was blank, and she stared back and forth between Mastiff and Lycurgus.
“Are we?” she asked, making Lycurgus mentally slap himself.
“No! You are not!” Lycurgus yelled, making Kiri start clapping and yelling “no” herself, bouncing on her toes again, but still hugging Lycurgus’ neck, making his head bob.
Sighing, Lycurgus nodded. “Fine, but I swear, if a single hair of any of them is harmed, I will personally hunt you, and the people who harmed them down and turn them into-“
“We get the idea,” Saubre gulped, her face going pale.
“I’m hungry!” the Mai Shashi exclaimed, flailing her arms about, nearly whacking Reina’s head.
“And after almost hearing Lyccy go on about how he’d kill you, we’ll it’s nice to know that at least somebody isn’t scared to death,” Mastiff said, rolling his eyes and stacking the emptied mugs.
“Here Reina!” he shoved the tray, now half the load was gone, back into her arms and took another mug. “We’ll carry these to dinner,” he said.
“Dinner!” Kiri cheered, waving her hands in the air over her head, giving Lycurgus the perfect opportunity to reclaim his hat and put it back on his head, after which he stood up to his full height so his hat could not be hatnapped again.
“Mai! Saubre!” Kiri smiled, holding out her hands for them to take, giggling with delight when the Mai Shashi took hold of one of her hands.
Saubre tentatively took Kiri’s other hand and smiled, surprised at how warm the child’s hands were.
“Onward,” Mastiff said, snatching another mug and waving his hand in the direction they were to go. “To dinner, I’m starving!”
“Can you even eat after having had so much coffee?” Lycurgus asked, being the last one out of the room, just behind Mastiff.
“Oh, yes, I have an iron bladder,” Mastiff laughed.
Their voices and laughter faded into the hallway, leaving the office silent, the only real signs they had been there the stacks of coffee mugs on Mastiff’s desk, which would most likely stay there for longer than they should....
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Okay, so who else thinks Mastiff has a drinkink problem? Not the usual one people speak of, but he has one serious coffee addiction, it's like he breathes it.... okay, I like coffee, but I do't breathe it like Mastiff does xD
Oooh, Kiri sure is catching onto things fast, already negotiating OwO I love her, and I'd kill for the goose's hat xD oh no, poor Lyc is being ganged up on again :P
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, next chapter we have more Scrunchi and Thiên, you get to know them a little beter ^^