Lucian paused when his son used his hair as support to stand up on his wobbly legs. Then used his right hand to make grabby motions above Lucian's head again.
His son's eyes were focused on the space above him, and Lucian's hair stood on end.
Mathieu's favorability points came to his mind, and he wondered if his son had the same ability as Mathieu did.
His son still acted like a baby, without any sign of maturity. He carried his and Celine's personality traits, so Lucian shrugged the possibility of another anomaly off.
Where did these anomalies keep coming from anyway? What was an ice cream truck? Why did the other Mathieu have to save a mother in a stroller from it?
Lucian imagined ice, then cream, then barter, which was closest to the term 'truck'. He tried to find out more about this strange combination of words, but came up empty.
Mathieu's combat moves, change of preferences, knowledge, and behavior were something out of this world.
Wherever Mathieu came from, Lucian was more interested in the mechanics behind his appearance. Entities like Voice and the Beasts which resided in every southerner, curses, blessings, all seemed to be working on similar principles.
They were connected to the Astral Plane.
'I wonder if my son can see you, Voice?' Lucian tried to push Voice out of his body to see his son's reaction.
His son didn't react to Voice's energy in any way, only continued to swat the empty air. So, he was not reacting to Voice.
'Could Celine see my favorability points this whole time?'
The thought struck Lucian like a lightning bolt. It would explain why she did the opposite of what he said all the time. She didn't react to his words, but to the numbers.
He hoped she didn't depend on them too much. How could numbers ever convey the depth of his feelings?
Lucian stood up with his son in his arms and dried them both with a towel.
He wrapped a towel around his waist, then walked to the bedroom to set his son down on the bed. He put on his son's diaper and a fresh onesie.
The baby immediately rolled onto his stomach, trying to crawl off the bed.
"..." Lucian quickly caught him before he could fall, then laid him back down. He noticed the child reaching toward the gift box his mother had given him, next to his pillow.
He opened the box and let his son pick the book he wanted.
His son chose a picture book with no words, just drawings.
They began making up their own story as they flipped through the pages together.
Celine had hand drawn all the pictures. It was about a winged lion falling in love with a fire dragon, and their adventures together.
The pages were made out of a fabric that couldn't be torn by baby hands, so Lucian didn't have to worry about his son destroying it.
The child loved the dragon's blue scales, and kept touching them, as if admiring the texture.
He also pointed at the dragon's fire breath, opening his mouth and trying to make a 'whoosh' sound, repeating what Lucian was doing when he showed him how the dragon could breathe fire.
"Ahh oosh," his son breathed out the fire with Lucian.
They spent a good hour doing breathing exercises, flapping their arms like lion's wigs, and wiggling their butts like a dragon tail.
A lot of giggles and laughter filled the room as Lucian pushed the furniture around his bed and pretended it was their lair, and they were protecting their territory.
He would let his son climb on his back and play king of the hill, as he crawled around the room like a ferocious beast.
By the end of their playing session, Lucian was so tired that he fell asleep on the bed, not even bothering to put on his clothes.
The baby's laughter died down as his father passed out, so he tried to wake him up by pulling his hair, his cheeks, his nose, and his ears.
Lucian didn't budge, his son's little attempts at waking him up only made him snore louder.
The baby then gave up and started to ask for his toys instead, "Ababababa."
Lucian's subconscious was a well-trained servant and automatically reached for the toy box on the shelf, handing it to his son without waking up. He didn't care about the no toy rules he had set earlier anymore.
The child rummaged through the box, taking out a wooden rattle and shaking it next to his father's ear.
ratatatata
ratatatata
"..." Lucian pulled a pillow over his head, turning to his side, his back to the source of the noise.
The boy threw the rattle aside, not having any fun with it when his father didn't react to it.
He picked another toy, a soft ball, and threw it at his father. It bounced off Lucian's back and rolled back to his son.
The baby threw it again, but the ball didn't roll back this time. His son got on all fours and crawled toward the ball, caught it, and threw it again.
The more Lucian ignored him, the more creative the child got. He started using his legs to kick the ball, making it hit his father's body, then bounce back to him.
The child was entertained for a good thirty minutes, before he got bored again, and crawled over to his father, pulling at the blanket to get under it.
Lucian, still asleep, put his arm around his son, pulling him close to his chest, and buried his face in his son's fluffy hair.
The baby snuggled against his father's warmth, and closed his eyes.
Lucian Junior was a miniature replica of his father, with the same habit of taking naps whenever and wherever he wanted.
The day's adventures had tired him out too, and he quickly fell asleep while sucking on his thumb.
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Lucian woke up a few hours later, his hand holding a tiny foot, which was about to kick him in the face. He moved the foot away and sat up, blinking the sleep out.
Someone was knocking on his office door, so he got up, climbed over the furniture he had moved earlier.
He fixed the towel around his waist, which had slipped down and walked to his office to open the door.
Lady Lily was standing outside, holding a stack of books in her hands, coughing to hide her blush at the sight of Lucian's naked chest, "I think it's too early for me to be seeing you like this, Mr. Arclight."
Lucian covered his yawn, then scratched his stomach, "Someone decided to visit a tired man's room without prior notice, it's only right I receive her in an unsightly state."
"Far from unsightly, Mr. Arclight," Lady Lily smiled at his teasing, her eyes sparkling with mischief, "Very pleasing to the eye, if I might say so myself. Almost too pleasi—"
Lucian leaned over her, his hand on the doorframe, blocking her view of the inside of his office, "Are you implying something, Lady Lily? Or is it wishful thinking?"
Lucian flirted with women he came to contact with to keep his womanizer act up, not because he actually meant anything by it.
Lady Lily was supposed to be a cover, not a real lover.
What could eight months of a man and woman spending time together lead to?
Lucian thought Lady Lily loved Edmund, and had no plans to pursue a relationship with him, but the way she was acting lately suggested otherwise.