~(Y/n)'s PoV~
Once I had recovered from... ugh, that, I pick up the gift box and follow Asch back to the living room. Noi is ogling over Rhys' ability to put on human clothes... okay.
"Rhys, how did you do it?!" The ginger-haired Daemos is wearing his hat backwards and the t-shirt and shorts over his armor.
"It's really simple." Rhys informs him, his tone ever so slightly smug.
"But the sorceress- A-Ava said that they're magic clothes from the sacred mall!"
Rhys crosses his arms. "Use your brain, I-"
I don't stay to listen to their conversation before I walk into Ava's bedroom, present in hand.
"Mrs. Oates asked if you could deliver this." I say, passing the box over to her. "She's said she could lay you for it later."
Ava nods. "Sweet." She stands up and takes a first glance at my face. "Why're you all red? What happened?" Something about her voice is almost panicked. At least I can tell that she cares.
"Daemos are..." I let my voice trail off and sigh. "It- Its whatever, I don't wanna talk about it."
"Want me to beat them up for you, dear?"
"Please." I say, a smile forming on my face. "That's probably a bad idea though. They have magic and you have a pencil."
Ava smirks, deviously. "A giant, sharp pencil." I give her a light shove, laughing before we go back out to confront the Daemos.
I wonder if anyone else will call me Pet. They seem to do what as Asch says or what he does... Oh God, I don't think my heart could take that....
"You guys suck..." I mumble, once we're out of the room.
Asch turns to face me. "Excuse me?" His tone is so threatening, it sends shivers down my spine, but I don't back off.
"You heard me!" I growl. "You can't just call me something like that, especially not in front of other people. Not only is it embarrassing but it's just really, really weird." My shoulders tense up. "And now I have to imagine sweet little Mrs. Oates- nope, nonononono." I hold my head in my hands, shaking it in an attempt to clear my head.
Asch glares back at me, menacingly. "Don't speak to me like that."
Johnny hisses at Asch on my behalf. This cat...
"Make me stop, then." I spit back. They'll need to learn how humans function, and as much as I'd hate to be the one in charge of them, I can already tell that's exactly what's happening.
Asch suddenly grabs my shoulder, holding me still while summoning fire in the opposite hand. I could probably break free of his grasp, if I wasn't paralyzed with fear.
"Hey! Cut that out!" Ava yells, trying to pull me away from him.
Asch's grip tightens around my shoulder as he shoots daggers back to Ava. "You're next, Sorceress."
"Your majesty, stop!" Rhys pleads, but it's made ineffective by a small, almost animal-sized, shadowy figure that separates us, forcing Asch to step back and sending me and Ava to the floor. It stands by in a corner, staring at us with glowing purple eyes.
"What is-?!" Leif questions, frantically, his eyes wide.
The shadows around it disappear to reveal a cute galaxy cat that looks as though its smirking.
Asch and I can only gaze in silent awe.
"Another spirit?" Pierce queries.
Ava hugs one of her knees to her chest, still on the floor beside me. "Th-That's not a cat I've ever seen..."
I can only shake my head in response. Johnny walks over to the spirt cat and they both hiss at each other, seemingly scowling.
Does that mean we get two smart-ass cats now? Nice!
Rhys squints, observing the spirit cat. "Fascinating. This spirit looks more like a spirit on Daemos, while the other looks like a E-urth one."
Ava stands up, still shaken up and looks to Rhys. "Okay, when you say spirit, do you mean... cat? Or..."
"A what?"
"A cat." Ava repeats. "So, for example, Johnny's a cat and this new cat is a cat."
I mentally face palm. "Great job explaining, Ava..."
"Shut up, at least I'm trying!"
We call them spirits on Daemos." Rhys explains. "Usually they bind to someone and at as guardians of a sort, but their uses vary."
Ava saunters over to the spirit. "Aww! So this adorable wittle kitty cat is a guardian?"
But Rhys said... Does she not hear him? Or does she just not care?
"Spirit." Rhys corrects.
The spirit walks around Ava and Johnny, ignoring that they're even there. Sassy cat, then.
"Not very friendly, are you?"
The spirit, instead, walks up to Asch, sitting on the floor in front of him and looking up at him. It meows, sweetly.
Noi goes starry-eyed. "Does that spirit know Asch?"
"It appears so." Pierce agrees.
Asch's face tings pink ever so slightly. "I-I-I've never seen this spirit in my life." He states.
"Are you sure? It looks like it knows you." I add, resting my chin in my hand.
"I said I don't know it!"
Rhys intervenes before this can become a fight again. "Maybe its just taken a liking to you. I've never seen this spirit before either."
Must've crossed from our world somehow." Leif wonders aloud. "Seen this kind of spirit before but... they're very rare to come across."
"Then Asch should consider himself lucky." Pierce states.
Asch looks down at the spirit, and it almost smiles back up at him.
"Hey, try to be nice." I scold. "Why would ever glare at something adorable, Asch?"
Asch, rather than scowling and brushing off my comment, looks over to me, seemingly surprised. "You said my name..." He remarks, quietly, before almost smirking. "Heh, never heard a human say my name before."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Ava asks, tilting her head.
"Yeah, you guys keep saying stuff like that. Why?"
"U-Uh, um, h-hey," Rhys stutters our, very clearly trying to distract us. "How about since tensions are calm now, you guys go back to figuring out how to put on the human clothes." His plan seems to work on Ava, at least, so I ignore it.
"Human... clothes? Oh right! I gotta go get mine on to deliver this gift for Mrs. Oates." She starts walking back towards her bedroom.
"Can I see how you do it?" Leif asks.
Ava and I both look back at him. "No!" We shout in unison. Ava slams her door closed. And the room goes quiet.
"I swear I'm going to figure this out if it kills me!" Noi declares, his voice filled with determination.
"It won't." I say, making sure no one else assumes that human clothes are deadly.
Leif draws his dual scythes and smirks. "I can help with one part of that!"
Noi only glares at Leif and I giggle at the display. Then I feel something brush against my leg. The spirit is nuzzling against me.
"Oh, hi spirit." I say, unintentionally drawing the attention back to myself. I move my arms away from my lap to pet it, cautiously. Without hesitation, it crawls into my lap. I gasp, my eyes lighting up. "I think it likes me!"
"Fascinating." Rhys remarks. "I've never witnessed a spirit take a liking to two beings before. Not to mention so quickly. And how odd it was you and not Sorceress Ava."
Right on cue, said Sorceress walks out of her room with the gift. "All right, here's what gonna happen: Rhys, you're gonna come with me to deliver this present since you were so good and managed to get your clothes on the fastest."
Rhys' eyes light up. "R-Really?"
"Not fair." Pierce says, his tone comedically blank.
Leif puts his scythes away while Noi objects as well. "Yeah!"
"Stop acting like children!" Asch demands, before turning to Ava. "And you, don't order my men around!"
"You wanna learn more about Earth, right? Then stop fighting me and let me help you guys."
Asch glares, but he doesn't fight back. He must also realize that this is the most logical thing Ava has said since the Daemos got here.
"Just trust me," Ava reiterates. "I'm not going to fight this anymore. I'm just.. gonna go along with it." She turns back to Rhys, biting her lip. "Now, uh... the horns."
Rhys sweat drops. "What?"
"Humans don't have horns. You're gonna hafta wear a hat or... something."
"But... we wore our horns before." Rhys reminds her, clearly sounding confused.
"Yes, but now it looks odd without your world's outfit." Ava clarifies. "It really stands out and if people found out about you guys, you'd be sent to like, Area 51 or something."
"What's that?"
Asch sighs, joining the conversation. "We can hide our horns with magic."
Ava only ignores Asch in favor of explaining Area 51 to Rhys. I don't really blame her, though. "If you get sent there, then- oh, wait, you can?!"
"Yes. We used to hide them when hunting down-"
"Food." Leif cuts him off. "Yes, they would, uh, glow under certain circumstances."
Noi scrunches up his nose, slightly. "Wait, that's not-" Leif hits the side of his head, causing now to wince. "Ow!"
Rhys only nods, paying no mind to Leif and Noi. "Like this, observe." He puts his hands over his dark blue horns and they disappear.
"Wow!" Ava gasps.
My eyes go wide. "That's so cool!"
"Yes, but only Daemos with magic can do it. Which means..." His eyes move to look at Noi, causing us to look at him as well.
Noi looks down, sadly. "I can't!"
"You don't have magic? Why not?" I ask, hoping I didn't bring up a sensitive topic.
"I used to but I used it up to get us here." The ginger whimpers. I look at him, sympathetically, though Ava just glazes over it.
"Hmmm, all right then. Rhys, we're heading out. You guys, figure out how to put your clothes on." She smirks, slightly, glancing at me.
I don't like that...
"In fact," She starts again. "Feel free to ask (Y/n)."
I jump up from the floor, the spirit in my arms. "W-Wh-What?!?"
"We out." Ava turns around and leaves, Rhys following behind her.
"She'll be the first to die when it's time." Asch mumbles.
Leif walks over, standing at his side. "Patience Asch, this will all work in time." Then they all turn to me. "Now, about those human clothes..."
Oh no... how can I do this...?
~Third Person PoV~
As usual for Sundays, Mrs. Oates visits Jake for a cup of tea, to converse and tell stories. Today, the story was Ava and (Y/n) and their boyfriends.
"Oh yes, I was so shocked!" She exclaims. "I didn't think Ava and (Y/n) were the type to have boyfriends, let alone any friends!" She laughs. "I never see anyone visit them, really."
"Is she- I mean, are they all right?" Jake inquires.
Mrs. Oates laughs and winks. "I'm sure she's in good hands. Anyway, thank you for the tea, Josh." She turns to leave.
Jake furrows his brows. "It's Jake. Josh is your grandson, Mrs. Oates."
"Love you, Josh." She walks off down the hall.
Jake looks down, now speaking aloud to himself. "But still, Ava and (Y/n) with three guys? That's odd..." He turns around and looks back through his open apartment doors, looking at his master key to the building.
~Ava's PoV~
I stepped out of Josh's apartment complex, walking back over to Rhys.
"Why did I have to wait here?" He questions as I approach him.
"Because Mrs. Oates' grandchild would think that you're my hot boyfriend and it's bad enough Mrs. Oates thinks I'm into-" I feel my face burn and I decide to shut up. "Uh, never mind. I start walking, Rhys following behind me.
"Into?"
Man, I really have to watch what I say around these guys...
I stop by the entrance of a small plaza area. "It's, uh..." I let out a short laugh, filled with anxiety. "Nothing, nothing." I glance to left, seeing an ice cream truck. "Oh! Ice cream truck!" I rush into the eating area, where there are some kids already standing there. "Out of my way, losers!" I shove one of them to the ground, standing at the front of their line.
The vendor looks down at me with a smile. "Ah, Ava, my best customer!"
"Can I get the Derpy-Eyes Munchie Bear Pop?" I ask, unable to keep the smile off of my face.
"Anything for you, Ava!" He steps to the side to get the ice cream for me.
Then I remember that Rhys is with me. I guess I should be polite then... fine.
"Uh, make it two!"
"Wait, wait, you have a friend! Oh... Oh my god- It's on the house, here!" He picks up the two popsicles.
I wince. "Oh, shoot! Right, money..."
"No, go ahead!" He interjects. "Take it! On the house! Celebrate this new friend!"
"I mean, he's not really a friend, but-" I once again, decide that I'd be better off shutting my mouth and taking the ice cream. "you know what? Thank you!" I take the ice cream the two find a place in the shade to sit with Rhys. I pass him the popsicle with a smile.
He squints, examining the ice cream. "What is this?"
"It's ice cream, try it!" I urge, beaming. "It's even better now that it's free!" Rhys silently looks back at the ice cream, squinting again. "I noticed something today..." I start. "You quint a lot, huh?"
"Some things are hard for me to make out. He eats some of the ice cream and his eyes light up, then he quickly finishes it. I've never seen someone so happy to eat ice cream.
"Wow, you didn't wast any time there, did ya?" I ask, with a small laugh.
"That was amazing! I've never had anything like it!"
"Your world is dark and gloomy, huh?" I finishes her ice cream as well. "Come on, let's get back before my apartment burns down thanks to Asch."
Rhys smirks slightly. "He would do that." And with that, we both get up and start walking down the sidewalk together.
I'm on my way, (Y/n)! Please still be alive...