Chapter 287: Land of the Faunus 1


    His first step on Menagerian soil was warm. Not blistering, yet just as well not cold for theing winter times. The bright sun billowed over thend, cloaking the various old aged looking huts and buildings of Kuo Kuana with an almost ephemeral light. A pleasing sight, Parc considered.


    Unlike Vale, which was long touched by the cold chill of winter, Menagerie seemed wholly untouched by the concept. People still walked around in short sleeves and for some, bikinis. Completely unabashed by their bellies on disy. Not that Parc would everin not that they even minded the clothing in Menagerie was all about its breeziness and how it could cool them off in the boiling summer months.


    There was a purpose to everything, just from his quick once over of the bustling tropical city, Parc could see a wellid out street with buildings all tightly packed together with a decent bit of nature to everything. Trees and fields and the like, all seemingly loved and protected more than the very houses the inhabitants lived within.


    "Quite the ce," Parc eximed. "Where I''m from, ces like this don''t usually look so well off."


    That seemed to have hit something in ke, she lowers her head, her eyes hardening onto one of the buildings in the distance. One she remembered from her youth which held in it nearly eight grown people. "We''re not well off." He turned to her, puzzlement and questioning in his eyes. "Kuo Kuana, let alone Menagerie, is overpopted as it is. We''ve barely got the room to fit everyone." ke bit her tongue, biting back the scathing his she was tempted to let out. "And that''s not even taking into ount how remote we are from the rest of the world."


    Parc nodded, he knew that much. Theck of the titan tower looming over the city was all the evidence he needed for that. Casting his eyes to the sky, past a fly bluebird, he peered into the empty sky of blue, finding how miraculous it was that a world so technologically advanced hadn''t yet figured out how a satellite works. It would certainly make conversations across the world all the simpler, ignoring himself and the odd way his phone worked, practically ignoring that requirement of connecting to some form of signal booster.


    He shook his head, pushing those thoughts away to focus on the moment. ncing past ke, he saw Marigold limply hanging her head but also taking small nervous looks at the various people they passed. Any that came close she''d jerk just slightly away from them.


    Straightening his gait, he dug his hands into his pockets and sighed. ''Ghosts are annoying'' he thought. A chill running down his spine forced him to lift his head and twist rapidly his head to the side. His eyes dted, letting in more light as he sought the crowd for whatever that chill was. It wasn''t dangerous, nothing like Cinder or Esdeath, it was weaker but just as vitriolic. Yet it wasn''t cast at him but the girl to his side. He nced at her, ke''s hair swept back by a sudden gust of air.


    ''Is it Ilia?'' he turned back to the crowd but by then the foreboding gaze had long since faded into the city. Either to inform their leader or prepare for whatever illogical revenge the girl may have nned for her once friend.


    Just with his thoughts of satellites, he put that to the back of his mind with a low chuckle.


    "Something funny?" ke quirked and turned to him.


    "No, no. Just thought of something funny." He said, "nothing you''d be interested in." ke narrowed her gaze but didn''t question him on it further. "So, are we heading to your home first, or?"


    ke turned to face ahead, for a moment pausing on the small groups of women or singr ones who''d pause whenever the wind would waft by bringing with Parc''s scent. Their eyes would dte, their throats would roll, and ke could swear some of them were grinding their thighs together just moments from lunging and breeding Parc there and then. He wouldn''t argue or stop them, and that bugged her more than it should considering she knew to a degree how he thought.


    "Mmm," she nodded, "It''s not far away." At the top of the hill overlooking them all, she could see it. Thatrge hut where the chieftain lived. Chewing her lip, ke took the lead and guided them down Kuo Kuana''s streets. Doing her utmost to ignore the various brushes of womening much closer to Parc so he could feel their tails p his arm on their passing. Hoping he''d take the hint and follow them to somewhere more private.


    Soon they were upon the crossroads closest to the chieftain''s hut. She looked up to therge wooden structure, struggle in her eyes then looked over her shoulder to Parc, seeing that eternally cocky smirk on his face. With a shake of her head, she pivoted to the left and marched lightly, "it''s this way."


    For a moment Parc hadn''t processed her. He had heard her, no doubting that, but watching her march down the left and not straight ahead, it was wrong. Not like his memories told. "Shit" he realized, "Ghira''s not the chieftain." He''s not even alive. "Fuck, I didn''t think about that." In the corner of his eye, he caught Marigold''s confused gaze then shook his head. "Sorry, ns went a little haywire. Let''s go before ke leaves us behind." He doubted she would, he was simply too addictive for her to leave him in the dust.


    ***


    They came to a final stop by a much smaller house. Not minute, nor as tightly packed as the rest of the city. In fact, the was a decently sized yard with tall and healthy trees and grass yards surrounding the half a dozen buildings in the small wealthy district he''d presumably found himself within. The houses were of a simr design to the rest of the city though had a more sturdy and decorated outside much like the chieftains house not a twenty-minute walk back to the city center.


    Dark wood leads into white ster trims with the odd pir keeping the small overhangs and ensured they didn''t copse from any storm that Menagerie may be prone to. The roofs sloped just slightly before ending with hooks that reached into the sky. A swift look around the yard and he saw how neatly trimmed the grass was and how healthy all the various types of flowers were. One of thergest was therge collection of bedonnaspared to other flowers.


    While a single berry was unlikely to kill immediately, Parc knew only an idiot would think to try. Bedonnas didn''t earn their other moniker of deadly nightshade for being safe.


    Stepping up to the front door, ke lifted her hand and readied her knuckles to rap against the dark stained wood but Parc could see her hand hesitating. Giving her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, ke turned to look at him, her ears drooping as she saw his soft smile.


    Rolling her fingers tighter into a ball, she set three hard knocks on the wood and heard the noise reverberate heavily through the building beyond the door.


    "It''s been so long since I''ve seen her." She muttered. "It feels weird after everything that''s happened"


    "When did youst see her," Parc lifted his hand from her shoulder but didn''t detach as he trailed down her arm and took her hand with a soft hold.


    ke bit her lip, "five years when my dad died."


    The door clicked as itstches came undone and creaked slowly open. As it did, a woman appeared in its frame. To say she looked like an older ke was certainly an understatement. Her facial structure and skin tone perfectly matched her daughters but held on her cheeks a few tired wrinkles just beneath her eyes and head of short cut, ck hair. The ears that rose from her head wererger and more rounded than kes and had three ornamental ear piercings, two on the right and singr on the left.


    It took a second for her eyes to shift from a question to surprise at realizing who was stood before her. "ke?" For but a moment, Parc could see Kali''s chest still with her breath.


    In that moment, he scanned her attire, a ck hakama over a white kimono. Golden detail lined the hem of the shrug she wore, one with a longer right arm than left. Each arm was also d in ck arm warmers, the left of which had two-fold bracelets around her wrist and a purple band around her upper arm where the warmer turned into pristine white skin.


    ke lifted her hand in an awkward variation of a wave and a smile, "H-hi, mom."


    Needless to say, in the next moment, Kali had shot through the door and wrapped her daughter in what Parc considered the tightest hug he''d seen since Summer and Ruby. "Oh, my baby girl." With this heart pulling whine to her words.


    Watching them, Parc couldn''t help but to smile and chew his cheek. It was a wholesome scene, that much he couldn''t deny. Just as well, it was an enviable scene for a man without one of his own.


    ***


    ***


    Sorry bout the sudden stop to things. Been suffering with a blend of writers block and general indecision about what I want to do with my writing.


    And just a bit of fore warning, starting from october 2nd+ I will be taking on a fulltime Open University course, so I may end up tweaking the releases for both MGR and TCB to fit around that.