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He glanced back and forth a bit, then mumbled to himself discontentedly and got up, hobbling over to the television and flicking it on, before sitting down at the end of the bed â€" almost tripping over his own sword â€" and staring stupidly at the headline: ‘This Just In: Confirmed Hez'Ranna-Born Terrorists Lose In Ire.'

"‘Loose' is spelled with two o's, you douchebags, and none of us were born in Hez'Ranna. Technically." Zerrex muttered under his breath, then he made a face at the sight of old pictures of him and Cherry being broadcasted nation-wide, along with a slew of nicknames he'd never used or even heard before. "‘The white avenger?' Gods, I hate these news companies. At least it's still all targeting me and Cherry... either they don't want to acknowledge the existence of the others or they just don't care..." Despite Marina's shows of power everywhere we've gone? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me... unless they want me and Cherry for some reason other than being ‘born from hell' or whatever their reasoning was. I better ask one of the girls to go and tell Cherry about this.

He shook his head slowly, then glanced up as the door opened and Cindy slipped back in, carrying a brown paper bag and frowning a bit at the look on his face. "What is it, Daddy? Something bad happen?"

"They're putting up old pictures of me and Cherry on the inter... television." The Drakkaren made a face at the misstep, as Cindy gave an awkward cough. "Television. Although I'm sure we're being smeared all over the ‘net as well, with most of it now under governmental control. But pictures from when we were in the military, and... stuff."

"Daddy, you're stressing yourself out too much. Here." She dug in the paper bag, then tossed him a bottle of cola, before a small bag of chips hit him in the face, the female smiling slightly as Zerrex wrinkled his muzzle afterwards, then she stepped over to him and held out a miniature box of pizza, the Drakkaren blinking and taking it to stare at the plate-sized pepperoni pizza inside. "Don't make a pig out of yourself like Cherry, though. I'll be right back, I made a salad, too, that I'm just finishing up."

When Cindy returned with the large bowl of salad and a bottle of dressing under one arm, Zerrex had covered a fair portion of the bread in crumbs, eating the last half of a pizza before he coughed and shrugged a bit with a dumb grin at Cindy's glare. She brushed some of the crumbs off one side of the bed as she looked at him sourly, then sat down and sighed a bit, applying the dressing herself and mixing it into the lettuce and other vegetables as Zerrex sat up. "You're as much a child as anyone here, Daddy, you know that? Leave you alone and you make a mess all over everything..." A pause, then, before Zerrex could turn that into a sex joke, she added dryly: "And I went downstairs and told Cherry about the newscast, too."

"Thanks, Cindy... you're a sweetheart." Zerrex responded with an honest smile, and Cindy gave him a look for a moment before relenting to a smile herself, and he nodded to the salad. "We sharing that bowl?"

"Just like old times." Cindy responded softly, and Zerrex laughed quietly at this, remembering the days when she'd been young â€" and he'd felt young himself back then, had he not? â€" and they had stayed up all night watching movies together, eating things that Cindy would whip up from the same plate or bowl... and for a little while they revisted that past, Zerrex refusing to eat the other half of the pizza with how much he'd already stuffed in his mouth and then finally negotiating that he'd eat one slice and she'd have the other three. Of course, then they ended up scrabbling over the chips, which she won from him... but he flatly refused to share his precious caffeinated beverage with her, and then, when she left to get one for herself, he immediately liberated the chips from the other side of the bed before sitting up with a triumphant laugh.

The bed tilted under his weight, and Zerrex blinked before falling over and hitting the floor with a loud thud, his legs high in the air and potato chips spilling all over his face and chest; a moment later, the door opened, and the Drakkaren blushed deeply as Cindy glared at him and crossed her arms, her own bottle of Frost hanging from one hand as she muttered: "You ass."

Eventually, the rest of the family joined him in the room, after everyone had eaten their fill from wherever and revitalized themselves. Cherry surprised them all by not smelling like the men's washroom when she barged into the room and yet still waving a sizable wad of money, and then she proclaimed to the staring group: "And not only did I hustle about twenty sailors out of a good thousand and some dollars, I also met our ship captain and arranged our safe transport... everyone, say hello to Peg Leg Steve!"

"If you call me that one more time, I'm not taking you or your friends anywhere." A sullen voice said, and a moment later a short, aged canine stepped into the room, his long blue duster sweeping against the floor before he turned to face the group with a grimace, his eyes tracing over them â€" Zerrex sitting near the back of the bed, with Cindy on one side and Marina on the other in a two-piece swimsuit that was fashionably too-small, and Mahihko in his new flowery blouse and skirt-shorts hybrid. A pause, and the old male looked over at Cherry, before his eyes returned to Zerrex and he asked mildly: "I like to know what my cargo is, even if I'm smuggling it. I can better protect it from searchin' eyes that way... and although a friend from the navy told me this was a military unit, it looks more like a prostitution ring."

With that, the old male strode across the room slowly, half-dragging a leg behind him, and Zerrex noted the stiff knee... and also the arm on the same side that was stuck at a strange angle behind his back. And combine that with the scars on the right side of his face... "We're not exactly military, but the idea's about the same." Zerrex said softly, and the old wolf glanced over at him, his large, dirty hat shifting a bit on his head. "My girls and I are likely the best chance there is to save Lunis."

"Lunis be damned." The old wolf responded meditatively, then he turned slowly around, and the arm that Zerrex guessed was mostly prosthetic moved creakily up to grab his hat, the hand covered in a thick brown glove and hiding the nature of whatever was wrong with the lupine's limb. "I don't give a rat's ass what's going on here. I don't care about much anymore, and I certainly have no love for Ire and the way the Republic has taken to running it. But I do love me crew as me own family, and after what the Irenic Military did to me, any chance to cause some havoc will be one I'm glad to take. Besides, the big brute there looks like she'd do well in a fight, and she tricked most of my crew out of money, which I'll be takin' back as a fee for providing safe transport to one of the war vessels out there."

Cherry glowered at this, then she ran a finger through the large collection of bills, before stuffing them between her breasts and standing tall, saying victoriously with her hands on her hips: "Now you can't reach them, ‘cause you're like, four feet tall. And I could beat the crap out of you with my boobs alone."

"Cherry, stop antagonizing him... he's not going to help us if you keep being a bitch." Zerrex said mildly, then he glanced over to Marina, who murmured a single word inside his mind with her strange abilities. Bargain. "My name is Zerrex, and this is my family... Marina, Cindy, Mahihko, and the bitch is Cherry."

"Very nice." The old wolf said drolly, then he gave them a look before taking his hat off and bowing his head forwards a bit, his skull beneath covered by a worn, plain black bandana. "My name is Captain Armstrong Louvre, of the fishing and supply vessel Celeste-Delacour. She's the finest ship you'll find in these parts, remodeled from a classic sailing freighter and outfitted with technology old and new, and crewed by a hearty group of sea-slag. Right now, we do biweekly runs to the warships... our next journey is tomorrow, early in the morning, and it takes a good five hours of sailing to reach the blockade Ire has set up. We provide them with supplies, most of which we spit and shit in to show our appreciation for their stranglehold on the port."

Zerrex smiled a bit at this, then he nodded before the timberwolf added dryly: "But I do still charge for my services, pleasant as it is to meet you all. I take cash up front: one thousand dollars and I'll drop you at the first cruiser in line, furthest from the island. You'll have to take it from there yourselves, however that may be."

"We'll pay a thousand now and two hundred tomorrow before we leave... but I want you to drop us off at the flagship, by whatever means necessary." Zerrex said softly, but his gaze was steady as the lupine grinned a bit. "But I want to reach the ship in charge of the blockade, the main juggernaut."

"You crazy son of a bitch, they scan and check over every little piece of cargo that goes through there... the chances of you getting through are next to nothing." The wolf paused for a moment, then replaced his hat and shrugged a bit, looking meditatively over the group as he slowly rubbed at his bad arm. "But if you front me the money, I'll take you to the Ophelia... except I think you're about the only people in history who want to get on board that bitch.

"If that's everything, though, I'll be going now, and taking my thousand..." The wolf held out a hand to Cherry, and she grumbled something, counting the money out and then slapping it down into his palm, and he smiled crookedly over his shoulder to Zerrex. "You have yourself a nice day today. ‘Cause tomorrow morning at six AM sharp, you'll be coming on down to cargo bay six on the private docks and wishing you were anywhere but there."

With that, the wolf took his leave, limping off through the door... and the moment he was gone, Cherry put the rest of her money down and tented her fingers, saying mildly: "Let's kill Peg Leg Steve and take his boat by mutiny."

"That's not a mutiny, Cherry, that's piracy." Zerrex responded flatly, rolling his eyes as he relaxed back against the bed, Marina closing her eyes and relaxing against his chest. "Besides, I hate boats to begin with, so... I just want as smooth a ride as possible. Gods knows I'm going to be miserable once we get to the... did he say the Ophelia?"

Cindy nodded, rubbing a hand quietly along her father's muscular chest. "One of the ten juggernauts Ire stole from Hez'Ranna, and probably one of the largest warships ever built. It was originally part of the naval squadron Narrius deployed to blockade Lunis in the first place... so I guess there's sort of a sick irony here." She shook her head slowly, sighing and glancing up into her father's eyes quietly. "The Republic Council is almost trying to take the Patriarch's place in history... I never used to believe there could be so many evil people in the world."

Cherry made a face, sitting down at the end of the bed and turning off the television, before turning around to the others and waving her arms a bit. "You guys are watching too much of this shitty propaganda-pouring news... come on, cheer the fuck up everyone and let's play strip poker or something. Even Zerrex said we should take today to rest." A nod, and then she made a face as Mahihko gave her a strange look from where he sat on the floor beside the bed. "The fuck're you looking at?"

He blushed deeply, mumbling and shrinking meekly away, then finally whimpered: "But... but shouldn't we talk about what we're going to do? I mean, we have no money and no stuff and stuff... and we're down to only a little bit of ammo left and somehow we have to get the Hollow Stone, undamaged, through the Ophelia to Lunis... and we still don't know how we're even going to get into Lunis, since it's unattackable from the sea... right?"

"Almost..." Zerrex nodded thoughtfully, glancing over to Cindy, and she nodded, smiling a bit. "Since they've been sending in diving teams to destroy the pillar holding Lunis to the ocean's floor, we can assume there's a diving platform somewhere around the cliffs, too, even though it'll likely be stuffed with Irenic Military. If we get onto the diving platform, we should be able to find our way from there into the city itself."

"This is going to be fucking freaky shit though, Boss." Cherry added ruefully, rubbing the back of her head slowly and making a face as she idly tickled at Cindy's foot, causing her to twitch and stick her tongue out. "I mean, Lunis is like... one giant-ass city. One giant-ass sci-fi city at that, and possibly infested with all sorts of crazy demons by now: it's like we'll be walking into some sorta space battle film halfway through, when the evil aliens are attacking the earth and shit. Besides, I don't think none of us have ever been to Lunis before..." A pause, then a blink as Mahihko shyly rose a hand. "Dude, seriously?"

"I... I went when I was... you know, Lone... I went with my... my dad." he mumbled, lowering his hand to quietly lace his fingers together in his lap, looking down at the floor. "It was a business venture for the company I used to work for, he wanted to buy property out there and he wanted to bring me along with him to... to see how a real business person works, in his words.

"I know that I spent a lot of time drinking and partying at the techno clubs and shit, but between hangovers and parties, my... dad... dragged me around the city." He shook his head slowly, frowning and glancing up at them. "It really is... nothing but city there, and it's scary. The buildings are so tall, and some of the skyscrapers and towers go up literal miles, filled with offices and technology... and they have these... these greenhouses, too, every hundred blocks or so in the city, big, giant greenhouses that you go into, and when you look up, you see a blue sky instead of the looming buildings, and there's grass and trees and benches, and it's just like a park... it's really pretty." The wolf added bashfully, but then he looked down at his hands quietly, at the pads on his fingers and palms. "But you have to pay to get in for only an hour... but even in... in an hour, you feel... you see how fake it is, and it's really sad."

He paused, shrinking a bit and looking as if he expected to be chastised for rambling, but as his eyes travelled over the group, he saw all gazes on him, curious and expectant... and then Cherry silently motioned for him to go on with one hand, and he smiled a bit before licking his lips and continuing to talk. "I... everyone lives in an apartment building there. Some of them are like... like four good-sized houses like our home smushed together to make a wide base, and then stacked on top of each other with these silent elevators on the outside of the building... I... I remember going home with these..." A deep flush suffused his cheeks before he mumbled: "These two girls, and we took the elevator up to their home... and it was like a house inside and they... they even said that it was all soundproofed so..." He broke off, siren-red cheeks shining through his white fur as Cherry leered and grinned at him, but then he coughed and continued, rubbing at his face quickly.

"The other apartments are tiny, like cells... and the offices are the same way, either a bunch of businesses stacked together or one giant corporation in a whole tower... but as high as everything goes towards the sky, it also goes real low into the ground too." He nodded quickly, glancing around at them all. "There's the sewers, which all flood into some underground recycling plant I got to tour, and it was really clean and the water went from all icky to crystal clear to be recycled and pumped back up through the pipes after it went through these laser shield filter things... the technician was so sure it was clean, that he actually reached down into the water and took a drink of it from the good side. It was really neat... gross, but neat.

"And even though they ship in most of their food, some of it comes from... from underground greenhouses... and oh, all the party spots are under the ground, too." He nodded rapidly, then blushed a bit. "I also saw their generators... they have them set up in each district of the city, which are like... mini-cities themselves, which I guess would be about the size of real cities for us, out here in Ire, I mean... and they were neat, too. Everything's really advanced with all their stuff, and they had robots and machines of all kinds, and their military had special armor and guns and stuff... they were really, really advanced." He stopped, then rubbed at his mouth before blushing a bit. "Can I go get a drink of water please, Zerrex? My mouth is really dry from all that talking."

"Go ahead, wolf." The Drakkaren said gently, and the wolf nodded quickly before scrambling off towards the bathroom, and the reptile's eyes flicked to Cherry. "You know, Lunis is almost the same size as the moon's surface. We might have a hell of a time getting through the city."

"Is that why they call it Lunis?" Cherry asked absently, frowning in thought as she glanced up, before shaking her head with a sigh. "But yeah, I was just thinking the same shit. First things first, though... we gotta get our asses onto the island before we start moaning and bitching about how life and this whole frigging Hell deal sucks ass."

Zerrex nodded a bit, then he sighed and shook his head. "At least we have some information on the layout... but as always, it looks like we'll have to improvise once we get there. Might as well try and enjoy today as we can, then, like I said earlier."

Despite his own advice, the Drakkaren was probably the most worried of the group, much as he tried to hide it while they sat together and talked or played a game of cards after Cherry scrounged some up from Gods-knew-where. In the early afternoon, however, the group broke up, Marina firmly pushing Zerrex towards the bathroom and then glowering at shower stall before turning him around and then pushing him towards the door, as Cherry decided to go with Cindy and Mahihko and wander the small town for a little while to see what they could find out.

Zerrex grumbled as he found himself at the beach in a pair of too-small swimming shorts: Marina had wanted him to put on a speedo, of all things, but he'd flatly denied this, and so now he sat on a towel under a beach umbrella, watching as Marina frolicked in the showers with a few youthful, attractive males before shoving one of them over as his hands grew too adventurous and touched one of her buttocks.

She huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at the male as he stood quickly up, flexing his masculine body, and then she said something: from the all too familiar stance, Zerrex was willing to bet it was her old favorite line. One day she's going to threaten somebody who I actually can't beat up, and then we'll really be in trouble. Ugh. Half of me wants to kick the punk in the balls and the other half of me wants to make Marina film a porno with them to try in vain to teach her a lesson.

"Daddy!" And now she was waving at him, from where he sat under this stolen beach umbrella on the stolen towels in his stolen swimsuit, all things Marina had conned some poor beach salesperson out of, and Zerrex sighed before getting up and making a face as she ran up to him, grabbing his hand and jerking him down into the shallows, before beaming at the two horrified-looking Drakkaren as the reptile looked at them both sourly: he was no good with strangers. "This is my Daddy! Now, weren't you saying something, Jerry?"

"Nope. Hey, look at the time, me and my brother Carl should be going." One of them rose his hands, laughing stupidly, and then they both quickly fled as Marina pouted.

"Well, what the hell did you expect to happen?" Zerrex asked dryly, and he shoved Marina lightly before making a face at the water. "Now come on. I've still got a few stitches on my left side, and I don't want to get any saltwater in-"

Marina promptly shoved him over, and Zerrex flailed in the shallow water before sitting up and making a horrified face as the female giggled, covering her muzzle before grinning down at him and splashing him teasingly. Zerrex only continued to stare, then Marina blushed and reached out to run a hand through his hair. "Come on, Daddy, don't be like that! Let's play a bit, maybe some other people will come over and join us... or I could get some pretty girls to come and fawn all over you here in the water, and you could be the envy of every male here, how about that?"

"Marina..." Zerrex started, but the female was already bounding off through the water towards the beach, and Zerrex sighed before rolling his eyes as she spoke to a pair of pretty young girls in bikinis on the beach... and he could almost feel the psychic vibrations in the air as he made a face and slowly stood up, his body aching dully. This sucks all the fun right out of everything... I'm going to end up getting in a fight with some meathead for screwing around with his girlfriend...

The girls came over, and Marina grinned, winking as they both blushed and giggled at the sight of the tall Drakkaren: the smaller of the two, a raccoon, licked her muzzle slowly and her cute bunny friend held out a hand, saying in a friendly voice: "Hi! I'm Felicia, and this is my friend Myrtle... we're on a bit of an extended vacation here, since all the ports have been shut down."

"Why don't you girls take my father out for a swim, I'll be right back..." Marina said quickly, and she grinned a bit as Zerrex frowned slightly, feeling her mental fingers paging through her mind before speedily withdrawing. Oh crud. Marina, get out of my head.

Already gone. Marina responded cheerfully in his mind, and she winked at him before bouncing off... before Zerrex coughed as the two girls pressed close and slowly began nudging him towards deeper waters, and he looked from one to the other before pausing and asking in as casual a voice as he could manage: "So uh... what do you two like to do?"

"Oh, I'm in a band. I sing." Myrtle nodded seriously, then she winked and rubbed a hand down his chest. "We could always use a big strong guy like you around, though, you know... to watch the band. It's an all-girl's band, too... and I'm sure they'd all be interested in an older male like yourself, and the work wouldn't be hard, since we just play at my high school and the events back home." The raccoon said slyly, and another flag went up in the Drakkaren's head.

"And I play volleyball for the senior's team at my high school... I don't do much else, since my boyfriend Rod is always really protective." The bunny added, then she gave Zerrex a bright smile, the Drakkaren now just up to his waist in water but Myrtle already up to her shoulders, and the water lapping at the undersides of Felicia's breasts- Bad thought, Zerrex, bad thought! "I bet you wouldn't be like that, would you?"

"No, but I'm really old... and... bad at... stuff." Zerrex said lamely, but the girls only laughed before Zerrex stared in horror as he saw Marina heading towards him with another female, the Drakkaren groaning inwardly before he quickly waded past the two girls, saying dumbly: "Um, I'll be right back."

They giggled behind him, and the Drakkaren made a face as he strode towards Marina before halting and staring as he saw her leading the vixen waitress from earlier... except she was in a one-piece swimsuit now that made her look young â€" but thank crap that at least she can't be as young as those girls back there... "Marina! What the hell!"

"It's playtime, Daddy, now fucking play." Marina grumbled, and behind her, the fox blushed deeply at the sight of the Drakkaren, beginning to stutter out something that sounded like a hello before Marina added in a brighter voice: "But this is Angela. Angela, this is Zerrex... you remember him from earlier, don't you? In fact, you were thinking about him while you were doing something, isn't that right?"

Angela turned beet-red, and Marina added to Zerrex in a casual voice: "She grew up in this town... she likes outsiders, especially big scary strangers like you, Daddy. Cherry was right: she wouldn't mind you fucking her brains out, but I think she's got a too-romantic idea of you in her head and doesn't seem to realize your full stature, if you get my drift. Angela, take a look down at Daddy's shorts."

Zerrex immediately stepped backwards into deeper waters, but a bit too late as the fox's eyes settled on his crotch and stared, and then the male made a face before one of the young girls behind him yelled teasingly: "Oh Mr. Zerrex! Come and help me, I think my top popped off!" followed by a chorus of giggles.

"I'm going up to my room to kill myself. Please put your... ‘toys' back where you found them." The Drakkaren said in a disgusted voice, and Marina trembled a bit, swallowing loudly as Zerrex strode past her and back towards the shore, feeling both horribly ashamed of himself and angry with his youngest child and her way of all-but-sacrificing poor innocent souls to him. But worst of all, he hated himself because at the same time he knew he was denying his nature and what his deepest lusts and urges called on him to do.

But it wasn't right... and now he felt too old to play terrible games with people's lives and he felt more like leaving them well enough alone. But Marina was always pushing the envelope... and after a while, even being worshipped can turn into something... painful, forceful. It's scary how she almost dominates me, simply due to the fact that all she wants is for me to dominate everyone and everything despite how I think otherwise.

The reptile returned to his room to take a quick shower â€" much as he hated to â€" before looking himself over in the mirror and making a face at how long his hair had grown already: now it was down a good bit past his shoulders, enough that he could probably tie it back in a ponytail. His hair grew far too fast while he slept... but thankfully, only when he slept, thanks to the way the genetic virus that had been passed down from his mother worked. Experimental hair-growing nanites turned virus that were never removed from her body before I was born... and now here I am in all my hairy glory, with hair that grows down to my ankles after a good fourteen hours of deep sleep. Thank Gods it's rare that I get that much real sleep over even the course of a week.

He sighed a bit: nonetheless, he'd have to get Cindy to cut it back down to shoulder length. He made a face at himself in the mirror, then checked over his various wounds and scars before toweling himself off and finally putting on the clothing Cindy had left for him in the room, and flexing a bit against the plain white t-shirt. The jeans fit fine, but the shirt was tight enough that most of his musculature bulged and rolled visibly with every movement, leaving him afraid that if he moved around too much the shirt would simply burst into pieces. "Well, whatever."

He rolled his shoulders slowly, then limped his way over to the bed and sat down, before glancing up as a knock sounded at the door. The reptile made a face, then said loudly: "It's unlocked, go ahead and let yourself in."

To his surprise, it wasn't Marina, but the vixen from earlier, Angela. She was holding a tray with a teapot and several scones on it, and she hesitantly approached the bed, glancing down and then murmuring: "I... I wanted to bring this up to you..."

"If Marina sent you here, don't feel obligated to stay..." Zerrex said quietly, but she shook her head a bit, and the Drakkaren looked over her slowly before nodding a bit and adding quietly: "Thank you for the tea."

He brushed at the edge of the bed idly, and she set it down before sitting quietly on the other side of the tray, hands in her lap, and then she glanced over him and asked softly: "So... so Zerrex, do you... have you travelled a lot throughout the world?"

Cherry lagged behind as Cindy and Mahihko walked through what passed as the downtown district in Port Hope, making sounds of delight at all the quaint little stores and halting here and there at the tourist traps to discuss the ornaments and hold up articles of clothing, asking how it would look and then joking back and forth like little girls. Fucking fuck. And like... one of them's a genius who could write out a genetic blueprint for an adult of any species and tell you exactly how many genes you'd need and what type they'd be, and the other seems to learn anything you throw at him, even if he tends to forget it all within a few months. "Hey, shitheads. When are we leaving?"

"Go suck a steam pipe, Cherry." Cindy replied irritably, glancing over her shoulder. "You're the one who wanted to come out here with us."

"Yeah, because I thought there'd be something to do!" Cherry whined, flailing her arms a bit and spinning around in a circle as she stepped into the cracked street, motioning back and forth. "Look at this! I'm dancing around in the middle of the street and there's no cars honking at me. You know why? Because there're no fucking cars to do the honking! This place is deserted except for the vultures and the townies... the only tourists here anymore are the ones who are stuck here due to the military blockade off the coast, since Ire's not letting anyone within a hundred miles of those ships and ain't nobody want to come to a town where you can see the warships coming in to refuel every few hours."

Cindy sighed and rolled her eyes, then she muttered something to Mahihko as Cherry jumped from foot-to-foot, glancing back and forth before throwing her arms up in disgust and turning around, deciding to head back to the hotel to try and cheat more people out of their money. Then she paused before sidestepping over to the two, muttering: "Marina's incoming, and she looks pissed off. I also think she may have ‘borrowed' a truck."

A moment later, the female pulled up in a rusted blue pickup, glowering out the window at them and snapping: "Come on! If Daddy doesn't want me bringing him strangers, I'm going to bring you morons to him and see if that does anything to cheer him up." A pause as she sulked, lowering her head and muttering: "I'm a fucking useless idiot... I need to find a good way to surprise him and make him happy while I have the chance."

Cherry decided tactfully to not reply to this comment, but Mahihko wasn't as wise, immediately saying in a consoling voice: "Oh, come on, Marina! I don't think you're an idiot... and you make Zerrex happy all the time, happier than I ever make him."

"Maybe that's because in the past you were a worthless fatass who tried to kill him and always undermined him, and now the only difference is that you aren't fat!" Marina growled in return, then she glared at Cindy, her eyes burning: "What?"

"Nothing." Cindy mumbled after a moment, looking down instead at Mahihko, who was trembling violently with his ears laid back, looking like he'd just been shot in the stomach. "Cherry, would you like to ride up front?"

"Fuck that." Cherry grumbled, then she easily jackknifed into the back of the pickup, before coughing as Marina looked sourly through the rear window at her. "No offense, Bebop, I uh... I just don't want to say something bad and have my brain explode."

"I could still make that happen." Marina replied irritably, then she turned her eyes on the other two. "Hurry up and get in the fucking truck! We don't have all day here, I want to be back so we can prepare Zerrex that nice lunch we never got around to doing, since all this other nonsense happened and the rest of you decided to put that over pleasing Daddy."

"Well, pardon us for dealing with the zombie invasion." Cherry rolled her eyes, then she winced as she felt something like grating steel inside her head, grabbing her skull and mumbling: "Sorry, sorry, forget I said anything."

The ride back was short... but anything but pleasant, Cherry doing her best to keep her mouth shut and Cindy holding hands with Mahihko, all of them probably looking more like they were destined for some sort of prison camp instead of simply returning to the Inn. Once there, Marina dragged them upstairs, grumbling something about taking over the kitchens before her head perked up, and her mood changed considerably as she bounced down the rest of the hall to her room, saying something about sketching before adding: "Oh, and Cindy, it'd be wonderful if you could make up a plain salad to go with some takeout... Cherry, I'm sure you can get something nice downstairs or somewhere in town."

Then the door slammed shut, and the three stood looking nonplussed before Cherry said morbidly: "I hate that little bitch sometimes."

"But you'd never say it to her face, right?" Cindy smiled slightly, glancing over at Cherry with faint amusement, before nudging her big sister quietly and saying softly: "You know she just wants what's best for Zerrex. I think you're more jealous than anything else."

"Yeah, well, shut up." Cherry mumbled, and then she rubbed at one of her shoulders before turning around and grumbling to herself. "Give me an hour or so, I want to make some more cash before I go and get the food. You two can keep Zerrex company for a little while or something."

They nodded, and Cherry made her way back downstairs as the other two approached the door, Cindy knocking perfunctorily before opening it and then blinking at the sight of her father talking animatedly with the waitress from earlier. He paused as she looked hesitantly in, however, and the Drakkaren smiled, motioning for her and Mahihko to enter. "Cindy, Mahihko, good to see you two... this is Angela. You remember her, right, our waitress this morning at the table... there's still a bit of tea left, if either of you wants a cup."

"I'll have one, sure..." Cindy said after a moment, then she smiled a bit and walked over to sit on the bed next to her father, Mahihko sitting next to Angela on the other bed and looking at her curiously as the waitress automatically poured Cindy the tea and handed it over before the Drakkaren could even sit down. It made her smile amusedly, taking it and nodding her thanks, then she nudged her father, saying teasingly: "I was worried for a moment we were walking in on something else... Daddy here isn't usually so talkative."

"He's got amazing stories." Angela responded with a smile, glancing over at Zerrex and then blushing a bit as she bowed her head slightly. "You just have to get him talking, that's all. Then you can sit back and listen."

Zerrex smiled warmly as well at this, and then, at a glance from Cindy, he continued to speak, and she almost immediately recognized it as one of his stories from his old military days â€" the nastier parts no doubt carefully skimmed over, of course, but it still surprised her that her father had already gotten comfortable enough to talk about such things with the girl.

Angela stayed half an hour more, then left with a blush and a murmured apology, but Zerrex waved it off, saying he'd be glad to get together again sometime when he was back in town. He smiled after her as she walked away, and then he allowed Cindy to check over his knee, making a face and complaining through the procedure, but at least not fidgeting overly much as she poked and probed at his knee.

It hadn't swollen up much more... but the scales had gained a bit of discoloration, and she made a face, sighing and muttering: "Shit." A pause as Zerrex looked down at her with a wince, and she shook her head, saying quietly: "I'm pretty sure there's some sort of blockage in there... it could be almost anything, but I'm guessing it's something from the reconstructive surgery... how much does it hurt?"

"A bit more than usual..." The Drakkaren admittedly, then he shook his head a bit. "I dunno... it feels... heavy? Thick."

Cindy nodded, frowning a bit and then sighing, mumbling: "And it doesn't help you're walking around without a cane... Mahihko, can you run over to the General Store and ask them where we could find a cane or anything like that?"

"Sure, Cindy." Mahihko nodded quickly, then he turned and ran off about his task as Cindy turned back to checking over her father's leg, now massaging up towards his thigh and checking along it before he coughed as she tapped something else, giving her a mild look, and she smiled embarrassedly before straightening and sitting on the bed beside him.

"Give it to me straight, doc... how long do I have?" Zerrex intoned, and then he winced when Cindy slapped the end of his muzzle firmly. "You're mean."

"And you're dumb." Cindy grumbled, before taking one of his hands and squeezing it gently, and they sat together for a little while before Mahihko came back with a shake of his head, before mumbling something about how the only place in town that carried that sort of thing was a medical supplies shop on the other side of the town.

Marina, however, stuck her head in the door at this point, immediately volunteering to go and get the reptile a suitable cane... and before anyone could speak, she vanished, only for Cherry to walk in a moment later, frowning a bit. "Dude, what's up with her now? She's not going to go and kill anyone, is she? ‘Cause she has that scary focused look on her face she always gets when it has something to do with you, Boss."

Zerrex made a bit of a face, then he shook his head quickly before changing the subject, glancing at the paper bag she was holding that already seemed to be leaking grease. "What... the hell did you buy?"

"Uh..." Cherry coughed, rubbing the back of her head before she grinned stupidly, walking quickly over to put it on the table and tapping her fingers against it before turning around and mumbling: "Um. Well... I got some tacos, some burgers, and I even found a vendor selling some oriental food. So... I helped myself to a little bit of everything and uh... oh, right, I dipped into the register, too, while the guy's back was turned, and made myself a nice amount of money on top of things."

"I wish you wouldn't do that." Zerrex said mildly, rolling his eyes... but nonetheless, he was thankful indeed for the amount of money Cherry had purloined with the concerns for their funds beginning to grind down on them. He also had to admit that it was quite a good selection she'd chosen, too... none of it exactly healthy, but that was part of the fun and it admittedly made for some great comfort food while they relaxed a bit.

The real fun, however, came that night, when Cindy approached Zerrex with a grimace, several towels, and a few sharp instruments Marina had bought at the medical supply shop: Marina sat with her father's head cradled in her arms, and he relaxed against her, his eyes closed as strange images and a mixture of sorrowful and calm memories rolled through his mind, keeping his body low and relaxed and pain-free even as Cindy carefully cut open his knee with a scalpel, an improvised cloth mask over her face as Mahihko hid in the bathroom and Cherry watched from a short distance away, making a face at the impromptu surgery that was going on.

"Shit... yeah, there's been a lot of damage done here... most of it is to the synthetic, but there's a blockage that's been building up from cloth fabric sliding towards the veins and pus from a minor infection... but the problem..." Cindy made a disgusted face as she picked up a pair of tweezers, then pulled out a large, blackened chunk of some sick gunk, Cherry making a gagging sound at the sight of it. "Is this."

"What the bloody living shitting fuck is that?" Cherry asked in a horrified voice, and Zerrex half opened one eye, only to stare in equal shock at the thing that had just come out of his knee as Cindy put it aside on the towel. He felt a twinge of faint pain, and then Marina covered his eyes.

"Keep yourself calm and focused on something else... otherwise you're going to end up in agony very shortly." she muttered quietly down to him, keeping her hands over his eyes for the moment as she pulled him a bit together against his body. For a moment, Zerrex fidgeted, but the pain that immediately shot through his leg was enough to get him to still and return to the much-more pleasant, if sad, world of memories and daydreams.

Cindy worked for half an hour on his knee, cursing quietly and motioning for Cherry to come over demanding that she heat this up or help with this procedure, and Mahihko watched from the bathroom, his features pale and tense as Zerrex continued to keep himself as relaxed as possible... but pain was slipping through here and there now, and he could feel Marina's powers beginning to wane.

"Fuck, I'll have to improvise... uh... Cherry, cauterize that bleed while I remove that last piece of material..." A long pause, the smell of burnt flesh in the air as Cherry cursed under her breath. "Don't worry, at this point, an infection would be the least of our problems... can you get that? Thanks... okay... I'm going to close, sponge up the excess blood while I prepare the stitches."

Another pause, this one even longer... and then a sick, sludgy sound before Zerrex felt a burning sensation shoot through his knee, the Drakkaren wincing as Cindy cursed quietly under her breath. "Yeah, well, there wasn't a lot in there... the worst part is he's better off this way. Alright, cauterize that and then flash-fry from here to here, huh? Just enough to singe his scales, I want to protect against infection as much as possible... okay." A hiss, a crackle, a momentarily flicker of pain before a sigh. "Okay, that looks better now... I'm going to finish closing. Go wash your hands thoroughly and then you can dress the bandages... you're the least likely of us to be carrying an infection with how much fire you've been playing over your fingers lately."

"No problem, Cindy." Cherry responded, her playful vulgarity replaced by the cold professionalism that usually only came out during something serious... and I really, really hope my leg isn't in that bad a shape. "I'll apply a double layer and then use a helix formation overtop to add extra support... it'll be a bit stiffer, but it'll make up for the damage done."

"Normally I'd want to splint his leg at this point, but since what I did basically amounts to cleaning and sterilization, I guess I'll leave it open." A pause as Cindy added: "Marina, you should probably start slowly easing Zerrex down so I can check his pain levels. I'll want to monitor you throughout the night and see how you do in the morning."

Zerrex opened his eyes, watching as Cindy deftly did the last of a tight stitching pattern across the large wound in his knee, and then he made a face at both the pile of crap sitting on a towel on the bed, and the sheer amount of blood that had soaked into the ones beneath his leg. A pause, and then he winced as he felt Marina's powers recede slightly from his mind, murmuring quietly down to him: "Just let me know if it gets to be too much, Daddy... I'll tinker with your head some more and make the pain go away."

"I'm so glad that you're here... without you, I'm sure this'd be way too much like old times." A glance over to Cherry, who traded a rueful grin with him as Cindy walked quickly out to the bathroom, stripping off the medical gloves she'd been wearing during the procedure and then tossing them into the sink as Mahihko skittered across the room, looking ill. "Yeah... there's something even you don't miss, huh?"

"I'm a bitch, not a masochist." Cherry agreed, then she winked and rubbed her crotch, adding teasingly as she picked up a roll of cloth bandages from the floor: "But I guess I don't mind a bit of pain when we fuck... then again, even when we're playing gentle, the size of your dick makes me feel like there's been a log jammed in there, and we ain't even talkin' about my ass yet."

"Someone please shoot her." Cindy said mildly from the bathroom, and then Mahihko charged past them again, almost knocking Cindy over, before retching violently into the toilet.

Over the course of the night, the pain came and went in waves: when Marina withdrew her powers fully, it hurt to move it at all at first... but once he started getting used to it again â€" and after Cindy applied a salve she mixed up herself to his wound, when they changed the bandages a few hours later â€" he found the pain already beginning to fade out. Cindy also took the time to explain what exactly she'd done and what the clumps that she'd removed from his leg had been: just like she'd guessed, the overstressed materials that had made up for his lack of a knee had torn mostly to ribbons, and the continuous movements and stresses to the Drakkaren's leg had violently shifted many of them, damaging his ligaments further and corroding several of his blood vessels.

His leg had become infected, and blockages had started to build up: all of this explaining why he had been limping so badly. For perhaps the hundredth time, Cindy chastised him for not going for conventional or modern knee replacement surgery and instead going for a faster experimental operation that bypassed knee replacement entirely, instead based around strengthening the ligaments and designing a "pocket" of material that took up the place of the knee to allow for greater freedom of movement. And as always, Zerrex sulked a bit as he sat through it, but most of it was embarrassment and a bit of self-loathing: as always, he had ended up trying to push his body too hard and ended up hurting himself... and even worse, perhaps even turning himself into a liability.

Marina, of course, had shaken her head firmly at this and squeezed his shoulders tightly, glowering at Cindy and pointing out it might not be the best of times to say ‘I told you so,' and Cindy had blushed deeply and nodded. Time had spiraled out since then, and now here he sat, alone in his room and the pain at full intensity in his aching leg. Marina had been dragged off by Cherry to likely do something illegal, and Cindy was fetching him a snack from downstairs. Mahihko, too, had already gone to bed in the other room, although it was more likely to get his breath back rather than sleep... and the Drakkaren glanced back and forth before making a face and muttering as he sat up: "He who hesitates is lost."

The reptile held a hand down over his knee, biting his tongue and concentrating through the pain, his eyes intently focused on his hand as it began to glow blue... and a moment later, his knee began to glow faintly as well, the light seeming to pulse as he grit his teeth with a snarl of pain, his eyes bulging as agony washed through his leg... but at the same time he could almost hear the sound of tendons snapping back together and his blood purifying, feeling like it was boiling inside his veins as his muscles flexed enough to rip the shirt he was wearing slightly-

"Daddy, what the hell!" Cindy said from the doorway, frowning and walking quickly over as she kicked the door behind her, and Zerrex dropped back onto the pillows, wincing at the fact he'd been caught, his head pounding as he let out a groan of pain. Cindy immediately put the tray of food she'd fetched aside to reach up and touch his head, and she muttered: "That has to be around a hundred degrees... Daddy, what were you trying to do? You're sweating and your leg has started bleeding again... shit, at this rate I'll have to change your bandages and get you some hemostatic medicine, you've already lost too much blood as it is tonight... goddammit, you really need to stop experimenting on yourself..."

"Then go find me Cherry." Zerrex mumbled, and he winced as Cindy began to undo his bandages, rudely maneuvering his leg around as his eyes rolled back into his eyes. "I'm going to faint, puke, pee myself, cry, or beat the crap out of you later. Which would you prefer?"

"You've fainted maybe twice in your life." Cindy grumbled, as she loosened the rest of the bandages, then slid them down before checking the stitches. "Great, some of these have popped out... the others..." Her voice faded out, and she blinked a few times before shaking her head and quietly rubbing up along the uninjured bottom half of Zerrex's leg, murmuring: "Tell me when it hurts."

Zerrex gurgled stupidly in reply, and then he yelped when Cindy slapped him firmly just above the crotch, nodding rapidly and mumbling: "Fine, fine..." A long pause, then a grunt as she traced along his knee and hit a soft spot, his leg twitching a bit. "Okay, yeah, that stings just a little there, Cindy. Kindly remove your fingers before they go back into my knee."

"You're such a wiseass." Cindy muttered, then she shook her head slowly before tapping gently along the bottom of his knee and smiling slightly as Zerrex raised his head from the pillows and opened one eye to peer down at her. "What the hell did you do?"

A pause, and then the reptile frowned, sitting up. "That's not your usual expression when I've... hurt myself..." Zerrex looked dumbly down at his knee and the broken tangle of stitches, some of them torn from the reptile's movements and flexing over the last few minutes, but some of them sitting loosely along a red scar that now took up about a fifth of what had been before a deep wound. The rest of the cut Cindy had made looked as if it had started to heal already as well, even if unevenly at points, and the female glanced up at him curiously as he shook his head dumbly. "Well, that was unexpected. Uh... is that good?'

"Yeah... that's amazing." Cindy said softly, then she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, and Zerrex frowned a bit before she yanked him up to a sitting position, the reptile grunting and wincing. "Show me what you did, Daddy!"

"Actually, I sorta have a headache..." The Drakkaren rubbed the back of his head slowly, then he made a face at Cindy. "What, it's true? And I'm also a bit hungry..."

Cindy sighed, rubbing at her head slowly, and then she muttered: "Do this for me, and I'll go get you the hamburger and a can or two of Frost left over from tonight that I put in the fridge."

Zerrex mused a bit at this proposal, then he shrugged and nodded, holding his hand over his wound and making a face, before his features smoothed out and his eyes narrowed as he began to concentrate, his other hand rising instinctively up to his chest as Cindy watched thoughtfully as both his wound and hand began to glow with blue energy. The cut seemed almost to radiate the azure light as his knee shifted subtly, flesh sewing itself back together and hardening into thick scar tissue along the top, before even this began to change and become hard scale: for Cindy, it was an amazing sight to behold, and the ultimate goal she had always wish to one day witness.

Then Zerrex groaned and fell over, grasping his head before coughing raggedly, and Cindy immediately leapt up and began tapping along his chest as blood splattered over his own body and face. She winced, then lifted him to a sitting position despite him trying to weakly resist, before he coughed a few more times, more blood flecking his legs and along the mattress before he gave another long, low sound of pain, wincing and rubbing at his head slowly. "Feels like someone's hammering a gong in my brain... and I thought you were the smart one..."

"Shush now, Zerrex..." a pause as she felt his pulse, mumbling to herself before adding quietly: "Your heart's overstressed, I think something minor popped in one of your lungs. Is it hard to breathe at all?"

"No..." Zerrex made a face and then cleared his throat before spitting into his hand, and he made a face at the mixture of red and black goop that splattered in his palm. "Well, that's pretty."

"Ugh, stay there, you child." Cindy muttered, then she retreated to the bathroom for a moment before coming back with a wet towel a moment later, wiping Zerrex muzzle as he made a face before cleaning off his hand, and then she grumbled quietly as she saw his leg had started to bleed a bit again as well. "This is the last thing you need... why did I ever think it was a good idea trusting you with the usual madness you get up to..."

"That hurts my feelings, Cindy." Zerrex replied in a pained tone, and this earned him a distasteful look as he rubbed at his head a bit, adding mildly: "My headache's going away, at least. I think I just overused my abilities, like what happens with Marina or Cherry when she used to blow too many things up in a row..."

Cindy made a face and nodded a bit, then she frowned as she cleaned carefully around the wound, at the same time noting the progress Zerrex had made and hating to admit that, well... it's incredible. That has to be almost three-quarters closed. "Yeah, except they usually bleed from the nose and/or the mouth... you're coughing it up and your nose isn't bleeding. That makes me think the lungs, and I can tell your heart is still beating rapidly because you're doing that weird twitchy thing with your hand you always do when your blood pressure goes up. And you have no feelings, by the way."

"Bitch." Zerrex mumbled, but Cindy was right â€" at least about the medical part. I'm not that sociopathic... at least, not yet. Hell, even Cherry has feelings... I think. "So that- hey, where are you going?"

Cindy had tossed the towel into the bathroom before heading through the door, and she vanished through it without an answer... leaving Zerrex at least to raise a hand to his chest, closing his eyes as he pushed against it lightly, breathing slowly and painfully through his mouth as his eyes closed. Every beat felt almost painful, and it was hard as hell not to grit his teeth or just fall flat and wish it'd explode already with how it was going... but after a few minutes of controlling his breathing, his heart began to slow down. It helped with his headache, in any case: now it was just a dull throb deep in his skull instead of a loud jackhammer.

The Drakkaren opened his eyes, but before he could lay down, Cindy came back in with two cans of Frost and the hamburger wrapped in foil, and she added these to the tray of food she'd brought in previously, which was also loaded with a salad and a still-hot pot of tea. Zerrex blinked as Cindy walked over and put this on his lap, and then she grumbled: "I'm going to spend the whole night here with you."

"Do you want tea or a Frost?" Zerrex asked mildly in return, and she gave him a flat look before relenting with a sigh as he poured her a cup of tea and held it out. She took it after a moment, sipping quietly at the cup, and he added mildly: "I don't know why you insist on bringing me salads whenever I ask for a snack lately."

"Because you're getting fat." Cindy retorted, and Zerrex looked horrified before she rolled his eyes and smiled a bit as she slipped a bit closer to her father. "Dear Gods you're touchy. No, I just want to use up all the lettuce and other stuff I bought... I have a nice breakfast planned, too, and I bought some dry snacks we can all take into Lunis with us, in case we want to stop and have a pick-me-up before we find some food in the city."

Zerrex nodded a bit, opening one of the cans of cola and taking a long drink, then he added dryly: "If we can find any food, that is... we might have to resort to eating Mahihko or pieces of Cherry." A glance down at his fingers as he wiggled them a bit, looking thoughtful. "Do you think I could heal other people with this? I mean, that shield worked well around Marina..."

"I don't think so, to be honest." Cindy said softly after a moment, and the Drakkaren looked at her curiously as she put the cup down into her lap for a moment, smiling a bit and reaching up to grasp her father's shoulder gently. "Did it feel like you were pushing energy into the cut, or pulling it into the cut?"

Zerrex's first question was ‘what does that have to do with anything,' but after a moment of thought, he frowned a bit and realized that either did have much larger implications than he wanted to think about. "A bit of both, I guess." he admitted after a moment, then frowned a bit and added quietly: "More pull, though."

Cindy nodded, then reached up and brushed a hand gently through her father's hair, saying softly: "Daddy, your abilities focus around the use of energy... pure energy that you pull out of the air and generate and mix together in your body to form different things. I remember when we first discovered it, while we were back in Hez'Ranna to celebrate a year of... not peace, but that a year had passed since the end of the Great War... and you tried it out in all sorts of ways after you blew up a blockade of crates some idiots had piled on the road to try and stop people from getting to the ceremony.

"You never use your powers, even though you should, hell, even when you should..." Cindy smiled a bit and nuzzled his neck quietly, before she leaned away and picked up her teacup, gazing over him tenderly. "But remember that testing we all took? Your body is high in energy content, very high: as in, you don't seem as solid on the molecular level as the rest of us are, which is pretty weird. But your control over energy helps give you form, and I think that this is an extension of it. Maybe it came from... from when we were all hit with that big wave of that stuff from the Black Hole, or maybe it was because of that Dark Bezoar Marina forced on you... but either way, your abilities are increasing, Daddy..." A pause, and then her eyes met his evenly. "And we have to discover what you can do with your abilities once we get back into Ire, and how far they've come."

The Drakkaren nodded slowly, then he rubbed slowly at his chest before glancing down at the food. His stomach rumbled, but he didn't feel as hungry anymore before Cindy rubbed a hand along his back comfortingly, taking another sip of her tea before adding softly: "I think that Requiem would be proud of you for learning so much in the little time you've been given. I know that I'm proud of you... Marina's proud of you... and even Cherry's proud of you. Hell, I'd say even our little wolf compatriot is pretty proud of the male he sometimes calls his real father." Cindy winked, and that made Zerrex smile a bit as he glanced over at her softly. She's such a wonderful person... I wish I'd never dragged her into all of this.

"Now come on, eat up!" she instructed, nodding firmly, then she finished a glass of tea before sighing contentedly and placing the cup down, immediately reaching over and picking up the other can of Frost sitting on the table despite Zerrex's protesting exclamation. "Bite me, you aren't even done the first one yet. Besides, the tea's really nice, very strong. I think you'll enjoy it more than this."

"You bitch." Zerrex mumbled again dejectedly, and then he finished the rest of his cola in one long drink before crushing the can and dropping it back onto the tray, and then he unwrapped his hamburger, looking at Cindy distrustfully before digging in.

Once he started eating, he discovered that he was more than simply hungry: he was ravenous, as if he'd just spent another three days on the train. He ate quickly, devouring the hamburger in a few large bites and then starting in on the salad, before making a face as he found only the tea left before him and Cindy staring in surprise. "What?"

"And I thought you said you weren't hungry." Cindy said mildly, watching as Zerrex slurped down a cup of tea and then blinked at the flavor. "It's made with local blackberries-"

"It's delicious." Zerrex smiled warmly at her as he poured himself another cup of tea, then he drank it down as well in a few quick gulps before making a face as he only found half a cup's worth left in the pot. Cindy took a slow drink of the can of frost she wasn't halfway finished yet, then watched as Zerrex tilted the cup up over his head, trying to drain the last few drops before Cindy made a face, putting her can of cola on the floor and carefully pried the pot and cup from her father's hands.

She put these both down on the tray, then cleared her throat a bit. "If you want, there's a late-night dinner service, that Angela said goes on until one... I can go down and order something for you, since-"

"That would be wonderful." Zerrex said cheerfully, then he smiled again as Cindy gave him an odd look. "I dunno what's wrong with me, I'm just really hungry all of a sudden... I guess maybe it's all that energy I used up on myself. Besides, all these meals we've had lately have been so small with how rushed around we've been, going here and there... get yourself and the others some food too if you want, anything you like."

"Right." Cindy said slowly, glancing at her father and then watching as he twitched a bit, his hands beating a light tattoo against his upper legs almost nervously. And his eyes, too... it's almost like he's on a caffeine high, but the last time I saw that, he was so anxious over the fact Marina was going out shopping by herself that he drank a pot of coffee so strong I thought it smelled like pure evil. "You just uh... stay put, Daddy. Watch your leg, I still have to clean it off and bandage it up."

"Yep, sounds good." Zerrex nodded a bit, then he watched as Cindy left before fidgeting and making a face, glancing down at himself â€" still in only his boxers. "I should get dressed. It's too early to be wearing just these, they don't cover very well either." A pause, and then he made a face at his leg, adding morbidly as he continued to talk to himself: "Except look at this here... my knee's still all ugh and it hurts like a bitch, a raw bitch. You know, one that's already been screwed silly, so many times it's... I dunno where I was going with that."

The Drakkaren paused, then he peered at the door before grunting as he brought his legs up onto the bed, his knee screaming in protest... but admittedly, it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as it did before, and he grinned slightly before pausing and eyeing Cindy's can of cola... and he plucked it off the floor before tilting it back and letting out a sigh of relief as energy seemed to course through him, a bit of the liquid rolling down his cheek before he tossed the can aside and said mildly: "Cindy might be mad at me, but who cares? Anyway, anyway, anyway... uh... right, my leg."

Zerrex twiddled his fingers, then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding his hand over his leg as he clenched his other hand into a fist... and his twitching smoothed out into pure calm, his body flexing as he grit his teeth as pain washed over him again, his leg throbbing and his head almost immediately beginning to pound, but the Drakkaren continued to push forwards, this time concentrating not just on pushing energy into the wound as he had been before, but pulling it into his leg, visualizing a swirling vortex in his head...

When Cindy came back into the room, she found Zerrex sprawled on the bed, snoring loudly... and she made a disgusted face at the sight of his leg splattered with blood, muttering as Marina followed her in curiously: "Bastard just cannot be trusted... if he's gone and hurt himself..."

"Oh, no, he's fine." Marina said mildly, and Cindy paused by the doorway before Marina added cheerfully: "Just watch... don't forget Daddy's the strongest person in the world!"

A glance to Zerrex, and he tumbled out of bed, hitting the ground and immediately leaping to his feet, then howling in pain as he began to hop around on one foot, clutching his bad knee as Marina winced and muttered: "Oh shit. I think his bad knee landed on the edge of the can on the floor. It's still not fully healed, so it's a bit sensitive..."

"Marina!" Zerrex groaned, then he gingerly put his bad leg down, putting a bit of weight on it... before looking embarrassed as Angela followed Marina in, the vixen blushing a bit as Zerrex coughed and tried to pull the legs of his boxers down a bit, then tugging them back up as he mumbled: "You know, I should put on some pants."

Cindy rolled her eyes as she stepped up beside Zerrex, muttering: "We're all adults here. Besides, I heard she saw you in swim shorts, and that pretty much shows everything there is to see, doesn't it?"

"I hate you." Zerrex replied morbidly, then he sat down on the edge of the bed as Cindy put down the tray, Marina holding hers as Angela blushed deeply, heading across the room to put her tray on the small table on the other side of the beds before returning quickly to the door, and she mumbled something as Zerrex stared before vanishing and closing the door, and Zerrex fell back on the bed with a groan. "See that? I ended up scaring her away now."

"She tried to say that she didn't mind seeing you like that at all and thought you were very attractive, but all that came out instead was ‘holy crap you're big.'" Marina supplied, and then she made a bit of a face as Zerrex looked at her flatly. "I guess that could go both ways, but if it's any help, her feelings towards you are positive. Maybe she's too scared to actually fuck, but I bet she'd be willing to play with your cock and maybe suck you off, providing-"

"You know, I have more goals with people than sex." Zerrex said morbidly, as Cindy explored the Drakkaren's knee carefully, for once glad that her father was bickering with someone â€" then again, maybe she just felt a bit angry towards Marina over the way things had been lately. Except, on the other hand, it keeps Daddy's attention and I can avoid inflating his ego any further for as long as possible... my God, if he can do this after a meal, we should've just stopped at a restaurant after the Great War and skipped the weeks we spent healing our wounds... "There is such a thing as love in this world."

"Oh, I know that, Daddy, I love you no matter what." Marina smiled warmly, looking over her father adoringly. "But come on, father..." she softened a bit, glancing over Zerrex slowly as her mental hands stroked over his mind, touching him gently as another probed into his mind quietly. "You're looking for something, you're looking for companionship... you're looking for more people to adore you, love you, give you attention... because..."

She paused: something was locked down inside the Drakkaren's mind, and his eyes flicked away as an expression of sorrow passed over his features. Then Cindy quietly stood up and touched her father's face, a shadow of something over her features... and Marina felt the air change a bit. A moment later, Cherry and Mahihko barged in, however, distracting her as Cherry shouted cheerfully: "Gun parts! Hey, so Marina and I... uh. Mahihko, so... uh... maybe we should assemble these somewhere else. It looks like Zerrex's leg has been healed by some divine provenance, but on the other hand, it also looks like they just heard about the coming of the apocalypse, so maybe we should go."

Mahihko made a face, but Zerrex shook his head quickly, his features clearing a bit as he cleared his throat. "No, it's fine, come on inside..." A bit of a smile as he nodded, motioning at the trays of food. "I guessed you would be back soon, so I had Cindy order up some food... I didn't realize you were down there too. I guess you two must've ran into her, huh?"

"Oh, yeah." Cherry's grin returned, but her eyes searched Zerrex for a few moments before she reached down and patted Mahihko's head gently, the little wolf blushing as he carried a large crate full of smaller cardboard boxes into the room, stepping around Marina to put them on the other bed. "The little wolf here came down too, and said he was glad to help me assemble them... I figured we could have some eats in here and then we could sort through the shit we stole."

Cherry idly opened the door behind her as she put the box down, then she added in a pleasant voice: "Hey, Marina, there's one more box down in the truck... be a darling and go get it, huh? My back is killing me and my stomach is just begging for some of those eats." And if you don't go right away, I'll kick your fucking face in. she added mentally, then concentrated, adding an image of a hammer striking the smaller female firmly, and Marina reacted with a violent jerk, almost dropping her tray as her mental fingers stepped in the proverbial mousetrap.

She nodded mutely after a moment, putting the tray down and giving Cherry a wide berth before stepping through the door, and Zerrex said gently: "You didn't have to do that... it was... nothing, they're just old memories now, anyway."

Cherry grunted, cracking her knuckles as she kicked the door closed. "The past is the past, Zerrex. The past should stay where it belongs and not be brought up every five seconds to try and make someone like you more ‘cause you can associate yourself into their memories." Cherry made a bit of a face, glancing quietly behind her and adding in a softer voice: "I love that girl, I do... and I don't blame her in the slightest for it... but you gotta be firm with her to get anywhere. And I worry about that."

Zerrex nodded a bit, then he sat back on the bed before Mahihko suggested hesitantly: "Maybe you... maybe you should talk to Marina about it sometime in private, when you're ready... otherwise you know she'll just keep pushing you, and... she'll try and get to the memories through us, and it'll... it could really hurt our teamwork and stuff."

The others looked at Mahihko, and he blushed deeply before Cherry and Zerrex exchanged an amused look and the male Drakkaren glanced over his shoulder, saying softly: "Thank you, Mahihko. That's actually quite a good idea on how to deal with her... and we'll probably have plenty of time to do that during the voyage and the smuggling tomorrow." The Drakkaren paused, then he glanced over at Cindy, asking mildly: "So is my knee going to blow up?"

"It's back to normal... well... what's normal for you, anyway." Cindy quietly rubbed at it, and Zerrex made a bit of a face, nodding slowly as she added quietly: "I can't tell what the damage looks like inside... but it feels good, so to speak, and you don't seem to be in an excess amount of pain. Plus we got you that cane from the store."

"That cane is stupid." Zerrex looked at it with disgust, and Cindy snorted as the Drakkaren sat back down on the bed, making a face and then glancing around the room. "And where the hell are my pants?"

"First I'm going to bandage your knee up." Cindy responded mildly, and then she examined his muzzle before looking at him with distaste. "And you coughed up more blood, I see. Stop pushing yourself so hard."

"So Zerrex can lay his hands on people and heal them now?" Cherry asked with mild amusement, wandering over and idly picking up the reptile's new cane, before blinking and grinning stupidly at the bottom of it: the feet of the metal cane formed a triangle, with bars of metal between them to add extra support. "Dude, this cane is sweet. What the fuck do you mean it sucks? It's all... multiple-headed and shit."

"Those are feet, and you can have it if you want." Zerrex said morbidly, before he glanced down as Cindy put a tray on his lap, and he felt like drooling at the sight of the two double-hamburgers and extra-large serving of French fries, along with a side of potato salad and another pot of tea. "Thanks, Cindy... this is... this is really, really thoughtful..."

A moment later, the Drakkaren began to gobble up the food, and Cherry leaned slowly over to Cindy, muttering: "The fuck is wrong with him? He's acting worse than me."

"There's taco wraps on the plate over there, and some other meaty foods I know you like." Cindy responded idly, and Cherry immediately sprang over to it before Cindy walked over to the table and smiled at Mahihko, who hesitantly joined her as he looked over the foods on the tray, before blushing and nodding his thanks as he began to eat as well.

By the time Marina came back, lugging a large, groaning cardboard box that could be carrying anything from a computer to an assembled truck engine, most of the food was gone... although Zerrex patted the side of the bed and offered her a cup of tea. Marina looked all too glad to put down the box and join her father's side, snuggling against him and looking up at him adoringly. "I'm sorry for my behavior, Daddy... I'll wait until you're ready to talk about it." A pause, and then she smiled, adding quietly: "You're still hungry, you should eat."

"I'm not really hungry, though... I think at this point I'm just craving food." Zerrex replied, smiling back as he idly wrapped an arm around her, and she nodded a bit as she took the rest of the potato salad and the leftover fries: only scraps, but she still looked lovingly at her father as if he'd given up his full meal for her.

Once dinner was done, most of the food gone and Cherry harassing Zerrex for how much he'd eaten today compared to his usual rationing of food, the group began to sort out and assemble gun parts from the three boxes: Cherry cheerfully explained that she'd hustled a male who claimed to own a gun shop at the other end of town out of most of his money, and he'd threatened to come and shoot her after explaining the previous statement in far-less kind words. "So I decided to show the fucker not to declare war unless he's ready to drop the bomb, and Marina and I went and gathered up these boxes here before coming back into town and making use of our combined psychic might to break into empty businesses and homes without setting off the alarms." A pause, and then Cherry added mildly: "It's a good thing we're getting out of here in the early morning, because we're like, the first people the cops will come after."

"Oh dear Gods." Zerrex groaned, slapping a hand against his forehead before he glared across at her, asking mildly: "So why did you steal the guns and all these spare parts instead of actual weaponry, Cherry?"

"Uh..." Cherry blanked at this, then rubbed the back of her head, finally answering embarrassedly: "I uh... was... a bit hesitant about going into the gun factory since I really didn't want to add more murder charges to the ones we already got, and so I decided to raid his trucks instead. Besides, rednecks are scary and the place looked like shit... and it's not like these guns are in a lot of different pieces! It's like... I dunno. It seemed weird to me."

Zerrex nodded a bit, looking down over the weaponry as he picked up one of the strangely-marked, elongated boxes and slid a mostly-assembled handgun out: all it was missing was a clip and a stock, which was either sitting in a smaller box or the random parts bin with a matching tag laced around it. "And these weapons aren't standard Ire make, either. They're almost too plain... plain metal or blackened steel, no paint, no serial numbers, no make or company logo anywhere." A pause, then he asked mildly: "Do you have a box marked... uh... ‘HGUNCLM-B' in there?"

"Um, lemme check." Cherry rummaged through the box, then shook her head, looking at the Drakkaren with amusement. "Go fish, bitch. It's in the parts box somewhere."

"Or it's not, and we have another gun we'll have to toss just because we don't have the matching slide." Zerrex grumbled, then he reached for the box of parts and added: "Does it not occur to anyone how weird it is to transport stuff like this? I mean, the parts could get damaged and banged up pretty easily on a long haul when you've got all sorts of barrels, slides and clips just sitting together and a bunch of other boxes of the same are sliding all over the place... and by the way, I want to point out that the pieces are like frigging puzzles. We have a few of those handguns, but the slides aren't interchangeable at all..."

"Yeah, it gives me a bad feeling too, but what the fuck are you going to do?" Cherry shrugged a bit, as Cindy snapped a barrel into place on a rifle and handed it over to Mahihko, who loaded it from one of the many boxes of ammo sitting beside him, while Marina, who was sitting on the other side of the room, carefully went through the equipment she'd stolen with her older sister. "Hey, Mahihko, so what about those boxes of ammo? How much do you think we have of each?"

"Um... I'm not sure." The wolf shook his head, sighing a bit as he rubbed the back of his skull slowly. "The boxes all look exactly the same, but there could be any kind of ammo inside... I've even seen ammo I don't recognize at all."

"No shit." Cherry tilted her head at this curiously, and the wolf nodded a few times before holding up a bright blue shell that was shaped almost like a walnut but for the flat base, the female blinking a bit and mumbling: "Well, that obviously is your standard what-the-fuck round. Someone please let me know if we come across the gun that loads those, because I quite badly want to shoot it now and see what it does."

"Always a pragmatist." Zerrex muttered, then he shook his head a bit as he opened another box and found a revolver inside... except this one is fully-made. Barrel looks fine, chamber's attached...

A flick of the wrist, and it opened, leaving Zerrex staring at the bottom of six rounds ready to be fired... and then he tilted it upwards slightly as he rose it past head-level to try and peer up the barrel, and he could see light at the other end. "Cherry, here, this one looks like it's already fully made. Check if it's trapped for me, huh?"

Cherry nodded as the Drakkaren snapped the chamber back into place, taking it from the reptile and aiming at the ceiling before concentrating on activating her precognition, squeezing the trigger ever so gently to watch what would happen if she pulled it fully, ghost images of a round flying out of the barrel and shattering the ceiling flickering out in front of her eyes before she grinned a bit and tossed it onto the bed. "Yeah, seems like it's fine to me. Shit, what luck, huh?"

At the end of the monotonous snapping together of parts and pieces, they had assembled five handguns, three rifles, and the one pre-assembled revolver: all the rest of the pieces turned out to be spare or junk parts, other than an extended stock or two that Cherry fitted onto one of the handguns. They barely had enough clips to go around for the handguns, which Cherry determined to be 9mms and pronounced ‘worthless,' but they had more than enough for the rifles, which were the same strange make as the handguns... and a full box of rounds for the revolver, which amounted to twenty-four bullets.

Although Zerrex had first scoffed at the fact Cherry had stolen most of their equipment from homes and a hunting store, he had to admit that she had done fairly well. She'd dug up two duffel bags large enough to carry most of their spare equipment, and backpacks for Marina and Mahihko to carry the rest in. She also found a pair of combat knives, one for Zerrex and Cindy, and then she tossed a hunting knife with a curved blade over to Mahihko, who looked horrified at the prospect of gutting someone before Cherry muttered it was more in case of emergencies than actual combat.

It also meant that along with weaponry, they had a coil of rope, two flashlights, some small tools, and the small rations Cindy had prepared along with a few other odds and ends. It was like they had suddenly become a fully-outfitted team again... and Zerrex smiled a bit as he shooed them all to bed, saying softly: "We've done everything we can do tonight now... and I know we'd all like a few hours of sleep before the big day tomorrow. Get some rest: in four hours we'll get up and at five-thirty we'll be heading to meet... the Captain at six."

"Peg Leg Steve." Cherry supplied, then she grinned as she bounced out of the room, followed by Mahihko and Marina, who both wished the Drakkaren a good night. Cindy sighed a bit, then stripped off her clothes and folded them neatly on the table before looking at Zerrex mildly as he simply took off his shirt, staying in his pants as he flicked off the lights and then climbed into bed with a sigh of relief.

"I've never understood how you sleep like that." Cindy said mildly, as she walked over to him, abandoning the other bed in favor of snuggling up with her father: in reality, all five of them could probably have squeezed into these two bed with ease if they'd pushed them together, but Zerrex really wasn't in the mood for the orgy that Cherry would attempt to push them all into, since Marina would probably play along and Zerrex would get sucked into it whether he liked it or not. "You're gross."

"Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with the fact my daughter is getting into bed with me, completely naked." Zerrex responded dryly, wrapping an arm around her quietly, and they both smiled a bit as he kissed her forehead softly, squeezing her tight against his chest. He pulled the covers up over them as they murmured their goodnights to one another, and soon the two fell into quiet sleep.