(3rd person PoV)
"Today should be a weekend. Don't you think, captain?" Henryk said. Henryk was intentionally ignored. Not just that, Bell even gave him the cold shoulder and turned away.
'Just look at him, that 'Bunbun'! So, that's how you're playing, huh? Prepare for battle!' Henryk thought of accepting a one-sided battle.
Bell's hairs got goosebumps. A chill travelled down his spine and back up to shock his brain a little. He was in danger, and he knew it.
"FEY! LICK 'EM!" Henryk shouted.
"Fey'll lick captain rabbit's face with pleasure!" A wild Fey was unleashed upon the poor 'Bunbun'.
Her eyes were shining at the opportunity of fulfilling her dream from the night before. She dreamt of her prior days, when she chased hares between trees and through shrubbery. She enjoyed hunting them since their size and escaping methods gave her a challenge as compared to a stag.
'The boring stags required the work of more than one Fey!' Fey thought.
"IYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Bell gave his most girlish scream yet and closed the 'secret' brick door to the basement behind him.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Henryk continued laughing until his sides hurt.
"HA ha! Fey, you can stop now...." Henryk stopped to observe the incoming comedy.
Why is that? Well, Bell peeked from behind the slightly opened door only to have Fey's tongue lick his entire face.
"Mind not being a big child, captain~?" Henryk squatted near a white-sheet-of-paper Bell and prodded him. He deviously accentuated the word 'captain' just to play with him a bit more.
"Call.... me... little... brother...." Bell said weakly. He was completely and utterly defeated by his natural predator.
'This is bad! When and why did I start thinking of Fey as my natural predator?!!' Bell's mind was locked in a dilemma.
"Anyway, little bro, do you think we could have a day off every week? It just happened that I need it to be today, if it could be" Henryk said. His voice was a lot softer and a lot more composed now.
"Why is that?" Bell asked, curious.
"Long rant or short answer?" Henryk gave him two options.
Bell wanted to know the reasons but hearing Henryk saying 'long rant' was dissuading him from it. He ultimately decided to listen to all of it.
"Long rant, please. I need to hear everything that may affect the familia's future activities" Bell said as he stood up.
"Good answer! I'd have had Fey lick your face again if you chose the shorter answer!" Bell's face paled like a white sheet again.
"As for the reasons I suggested that, I have many of them.
Number 1: Rest is important. No matter how resilient falna makes us, it still has a limit. The day'd come, when we could get depressed from constant work and no change of pace. This's needed for our overall performance to be higher when we need that to be the case.
Number 2: Nurturing hobbies/talents. By immersing ourselves in the dungeon everyday all week, we lock our talents away, to wane and fade from lack of use. Those hobbies and talents could also be helpful in our dungeon delving if we discovered them and took them a little seriously.
Potion making, which fits Blanc's analytic nature. Gracie might enjoy it too; her serious and careful nature fits that of a competent pharmacist, one that wouldn't accept giving their patients the wrong treatment by mistake.
Fishing, which I could picture Mont and Noland enjoying while having a nice chat.
Cooking, which could both make use of Scarlet's skill and have her learn patience and how to stay in control of her mood, rather than letting anger occasionally take over, like moments prior.
Sewing and stitching, which Olympia silently looked at from afar as we walked our way to the dungeon every day. Pretty girlish for someone who pretends to be hardy and headstrong"
"Hey! If you knew it, then don't say it in front of everybody! That was my little secret!" Olympia stormed off, going her own way for the day.
"Cute" Henryk grinned. "Anyway, gardening. I already see Flora being glad to see the fruits of her labor, literally. Maybe Melia and the others could enjoy the flowers' nectars from her garden and have a nice get-together over them.
There're other things for each of my children to know about themselves, but that doesn't stop at them. You too need to have a day off.
Training with the intent of improving could be done everyday, but you can put more focus on it that day of the week. You need to stay alive.
Number 3: Socializing. If we go to the dungeon nonstop, some of our acquaintances may not be seen in over a few weeks to months. That isn't ideal. You want to always maintain the relations you have with your acquaintances. You may need their help later, so keep them positive towards you.
Alternatively, their relationship with you may transcend transactions and benefits and become a friendship.
Number 4: Dating. You need to arrange a day to try to pursue your ladies once every few weeks, maybe every week if they had the time" Bell's face flashed red and back to normal then red again. It was like a lightbulb that went haywire.
"I also need to spend my day going around with Ray every now and then, enjoying things together and getting closer"
Ray was already sitting by his side. When she heard him, leaned on him a bit and grabbed one of his arms, slinging it over her shoulders. It looked a bit out place with him being 120% her height, but she still did it. In spite of the power difference, being able to encompass her makes her feel safe and protected. Henryk did not notice her movement since he was so focused and since she also did it as naturally as possible.
"Number 5: I need some time alone. Let me tell you, I lived too long alone. Suddenly finding myself dealing with a lot of people in this short time and continuously, it's tiring, stifling and suffocating. I need that time alone to calm down my self-made social anxiety" Henryk finished his rant.
"We can take today off. As for making it the usual, lady goddess and I will talk about it today" Bell said, a finger at his chin.
Just as Henryk made the slightest movement, he noticed the drag of feathers under his arm.
'This bird woman!' His annoyance bred a very strange bravado in him. He carried Ray away in front of everyone.
"PAPA! MAMA! WAIT FOR FEY!" Fey flew right behind Henryk's steps.
"Did Henryk just do that? And he was teasing me about my love just now!" Bell rabbitly complained. (AN: Yes, I just created that term back then)
Some eyes were drawn to the strange sight of a man carrying a siren around as if he was carrying a girl, and the hippogriff that flew behind them while calling them papa and mama.
Henryk was running at first, but he slowed down to a simple walk. He noticed the eyes that were looking at him.
'Well, let them see. I'm not going to try hiding my relationships just because of public opinion. Let them think what they want. I can do what I want while not caring about what they have to say' Henryk thought with disregard for his public image. Being called a monster lover was not so bad, considering the human-like side of the monster that he became lovers with.
He ignored them and moved onto the spot he was thinking of spending his time alone in.
'I guess I'm not really alone anymore. Although, I guess one more person wouldn't hurt' Henryk thought.
"Is this where you wanted to spend your time?" Ray said, taking the scenery in.
"Yes. The riverbank's empty most of the day, and those who come here're few and far in between. They also sit away from each other. Being here's the same as being alone. Add to that the fact that the sound of running water's relaxing" Henryk said. The sound of flowing water was cathartic to him.
Henryk descended the slope of the riverbank and sat down on the levelled edge of it. Ray stood up and sat to his side, leaning on him.
"Mama, pet Fey's feathers!" Fey sat in front of Ray and demanded attention.
They sat in that calmness and silence for a while.
"I never thought of this before, but human hands would have been a blessing to have in situations like this" Ray was becoming fond of Fey by the day. It was one of the things she wanted to do to pet Fey like Henryk does every day.
"Your feathers make it harder to feel the touch of other things, huh? Try to imagine your body reforming into a completely new shape. Wish for it from the deepest depths of your soul. And maybe then, a skill or a spell could manifest to fulfill that wish of yours. Alternatively, you could try reversing your [Mystical Feathers Armor] and, rather than sprouting feathers to protect yourself with, try absorbing those feathers back in. It'd defeat the skill's purpose for no real benefit, though" Henryk said.
"Can I give you something?" Ray said.
'That's an abrupt change, but oh well' "What's that thing you want to give me?" Henryk said, looking at her with anticipation.
"I heard a couple talking about this thing called a lap pillow. I want to try giving you one" She looked forward to it. His reaction is going to be priceless, as always.
".... Ray? What's become of you? Who corrupted your mind in such ways? Do you know how lewd a lap pillow is?" Henryk overly exaggerated his reaction on purpose.
"Henry, you do not need to make a joke now. Will you lay your head on my lap?" She took it calmly... on the outside. She discovered a new side of her in the past few days. She enjoyed it when Henryk's reactions made him do unusual things or make jokes to escape a situation or two when he could.
"Ok, I give in. You get to give me a lap pillow" He said, raising his arms in surrender.
"Why were you trying not to get a lap pillow? I heard that most humans, especially males, loved it?" Ray said. She picked up on the whispers of some people, her sharp senses helping her to do so.
Henryk put his head on Ray's lap. He indulged her desire to give him this little thing when he had no reason to refuse. He would not admit it, but he was enjoying the fact that she was giving him one purely on her own.
"I'm just not 'most humans'. Normally, I would've refused anyone giving me one. But you and I being in a relationship, whether mixed with mutual benefit or purely out of mutual feelings for each other, gives you the privilege to ask me that without me flat-out ignoring you for the rest of existence" Henryk said, expressing his extreme measures as means to react to such things.
"And if I was not in a relationship with you?" Ray wanted to know what he would do to other women when some eventually appeared.
The news some of her kind heard every now and then told of some women who got close to those in power to abuse that power via a relationship that could form after some questionable acts.
Some of the targets were already in another relationship before that but still got tangled in needless problems. They were scum that deserved what happened to them afterward.
"If a woman did that to me, which I doubt since I'm both a weak man with no abnormal potential and am below average-looking, I'd ignore her existence as if she was nothing but air. The only way for me to forgive a woman who did that's for her to apologize and refrain from such rude behavior. You don't just walk up to a person you aren't in a relationship with and flirt with them. That's indecent, immoral" Henryk displayed a very disgusted face, one mixed with an unadulterated and a justified rage.
"Your face..." Her tone was a clear question.
"Oh, that? I remembered the incident that nearly made my parents divorce when I was six, and the primary reason why I hate this kind of women" Henryk said, not bothering to calm down or to hide his feelings.
"Can I hear more?" Ray said, one wing brushing against his hair.
"It isn't really a secret. It's just something I don't tell people unless they specifically ask about it" Henryk said.
"So?" Ray said.
"It all starts with a woman who was my mom's so-called 'friend'. She just so happens to be working at the same place as my dad, totally a coincidence, totally unplanned" The sarcasm was clear in his voice.
"She was using her connections to stay in the same department as my dad because she wanted to flirt with him, to get him away from mom, to get an already married man for herself. She felt the sick pleasure of wining over a man's love when he already had his love given to another woman" Henryk's voice dripped with venom.
"What a shameless and brazen woman. I would hate to have a woman like her as a friend" Ray said.
"She was one of the worst. The filth went to great lengths in creating fake pictures portraying her with dad and crying to him about it. She was acting as the victim to get him to pay attention to her.
That filth, after getting dad's sympathy, immediately went to cry about the same thing to mom.
I didn't get it at the time. Looking back, I realized she was trying to get both of their sympathies and sustain that for as long as she could. Then, when she got enough, she was going to try to make a move on dad.
Now, I understand why mom had that filth in the presence of the jury once mom had evidence of her scheming.
It was a crime to interfere in a married couple's relationship negatively or destroy it in my country. It warranted being banished without your identification documents. Any records of you being a citizen're also burned.
She got what she deserved much later, though. When dad was on a business outside the country, that filth tried to go and suicide after killing dad, since she couldn't get him. She was sentenced to be kept alive inside a prison for that offense, and that was the end of it.
This experience made me alert to such things. I swore if I ever got married, no other woman would be flirting with me unless she wanted the law to fall with all its weight on her shoulders, or so was the case in my old country.
Maybe I would allow it if the woman I was in a relationship with first allowed her to. But even then, I would like to not be in a relationship with two women or more. It's just too much responsibility.
The incident also made me avert my eyes from women whose bodies aren't covered enough for my tastes, as my awkwardness wasn't the only reason I did that"
"I am glad to hear that your family came out fine" Ray said, her softly smiling face looming over his.
"Thanks" Henryk said in a hushed voice.
They remained in somewhat blissful silence, with Henryk trying to get used to the lap pillow. It was both flustering him and making him comfortable at the same time. He simply laid himself there. He emptied his head from any more thoughts and just gazed at the blue sky. The mood was serene enough that he dozed off and slept in that position.
(Line Break)
"This sensation..... Did I sleep laying my head in your lap?" Henryk kept his eyes closed after waking up.
"Yes, and I enjoyed rubbing my wing on your hair. From what little sensation I could feel through the feathers, your hair is soft" Ray said as she continued rubbing his hair.
Henryk wanted to say something to Ray without Fey hearing it. He checked her status.
(Line Break)
Name: Fey Williams
Location: Orario's Edge/River's Bank
Condition: Sleep (Sleep Paralysis)
Recent Activities: Toggled Off
(Line Break)
'At least, she wouldn't be able to interfere in the coming conversation any time before it ends. Her overflowing innocence could ruin it' Henryk thought in guilty relief.
"Ray, what's your purpose of coming to the surface?" Henryk said before promptly adding. "I want your personal reasons. Not what Ray, the leader, wishes to achieve. I want to hear what Ray, the siren, wishes to achieve"
"..." Ray's expression was about to spill over with emotions, emotions she normally repressed to be able to lead her people. She managed to keep her emotions at a manageable level. "I came here to assist you in your quest for my kin's freedom. I guard you for that to happen"
"What about what you want as a person" Henryk raised an eyebrow.
"..." Ray was lost in thought. Her entire life she spent in thought of her people's benefit, not that of her own. She did not know what she would do by being up on the surface. While yes, she had things she wanted to do with the man she loves, which Henryk has become, she did not know what to say when it came to her herself.
"I don't remember saying anything about requiring your assistance with that, nor for you to be my guard outside of the dungeon. What I brought you up here for were only two things... no, make them three.
I brought you up here to help me overcome my awkwardness around women who flirt with me, even if I wouldn't accept their flirting except as a joke.
Fey wanted to call you her mama, and I see you accepted that. That's the second reason to bring you up with us.
The most important reason, however, was to let you experience the surface and its open skies. I want to let you know what awaits you and your kin and go back to tell them, so that they know what they wanted and desired while knowing what it truly is.
Now though, I started not wanting to let you go back to your kin without me accompanying you on the way there and back. I came to have the desire to make you want to remain by my side for life. I might've my own reasons to fall for you, ones I won't disclose, but I'm gonna go the entire way forward.
And if people were to say anything about me asking for your 'hand' in marriage when the time comes, they can shove their opinions where the sun doesn't shine.
I consider xenos to be people with different bodies, just like chienthropes and other demi-humans. That's why people's opinions of you don't matter to me at all. If I like you, I strive to make you fall for me deeply" Henryk was pushing himself hard. His face, oh boy, his face. It was not agreeing with saying any of what he said.
Ray saw this and started singing him a lullaby to put him out of this dangerous state. His blood pressure was higher than recommended now. He was clearly pushing through the embarrassment and saying whatever came to mind.
"Before you put me to sleep," Henryk yawned but powered through the drowsiness. "know that you aren't my guard. You're just a girl, one that needs to know what she wants, not for the xenos but for herself, and go for it. Search for your own happiness, Ray, for you're no longer a leader nor were you brought up here solely to be a guard. You've no responsibility to hold you back on dreaming for yourself, to be slightly selfish. Be a little selfish.
As for helping your kin, I remember the promise being made with Lord Ganesha. You've no obligation to do anything to make me do it, for I have already made the promise to someone else before you" Henryk's eyes closed and he fell to the lullaby. Her voice did not help him either. It was soothing when she sung her songs.
"What should I do then? If I am neither a leader of the xenos nor your guard, then what should I do? And I am a woman, not a girl..." Ray mumbled to herself. Something she forgot long ago started to crawl back to the light, to the edges of her conscious thoughts.
"Mama can try flying more! Maybe mama could sing more too?!" Fey broke out of her sleep paralysis demons. She did not like the feeling very much. "Fey suggests trying to win papa over! Papa loves feathers! Oh! Oh! Mama can take mama's skill to the extreme! Mama should try to remove mama's [Mystical Feathers Armor] completely! Showing a bit of skin's something humans're attracted to when it's a marriage partner or a lover! Fey remembers papa and mister walking spoiler talking about the subject!" Fey deviously started to try to corrupt Ray to have Ray charm Henryk. Poor Henryk, his daughter is scheming to make his lover tempt him.
This side of Fey was something she tried to hide from Henryk. She wanted to help him have her mama so he could be happy. Oh, do not be mistaken. Fey does it for her own benefit.
'Fey's benefit!'
Oh, you little demon! You should not talk to the readers!
'Fey breaks the fourth wall whenever Fey wants to!'
(AN: Okay, these three lines were my way of having fun. You can take them as non-canon if you want. Teehee!)