novelraw Chapter 461 - Keeping Things Clean & Fair
Chapter 461 - Keeping Things Clean & Fair
"Whether he has a connection to something other or not doesn’t change his practice or his contributions. Just like it would not change yours."
Mrs. Callaway gets us all back to the matter at hand, after standing up and physically directing the gremlin of a doctor back to her seat. I guess a stickler for terms doesn’t mean she’s necessarily socially appropriate.
...Honestly, the most effective in distinct area people that I know are actually *very* socially inappropriate. In some way or another.
"Kitchen witchery is about what you put into the world through care and intention. The same as your motherhood."
"I understand. I respect ritual magic. I’m not denying that I thought he was a good person. Just like I had positive feelings for each and every one of you."
> It’s not a lie. I’ve had at least one positive feeling, even for the person hoarding *my* sweets. <
"But fae creatures..."
Avoid. Avoid and avoid. It was drilled into me along with so many horror stories by one of the few people I respected... in my way. The blind old fox gardener told me plenty of tales in the years that I visited him.
They helped him pass the time as he worked, since I wasn’t going anywhere anyway if I’d actually been in the mood to bother him. Now that I think of it, maybe he was trying to make me avoid him because he kept scaring me with these tales?
> That reminds me, I need to go see Edgar and apologize. Not that a cabin in the woods is a good thing anymore, but I did take that key he offered under some pretty false pretense on my end. <
"Are we still doing this, or did the scary numbers ruin your day?"
"...They ruined my hour, at least. I’ve found that I don’t have whole day long moods anymore."
"Anymore?"
First Michelle, then Martha! Treating me like I’m the one being unruly... why am I being bullied by M’s while the S is quiet?
"If it would make you feel more comfortable, I’m willing to leave this meeting early. What I wanted out of it is done - and I trust the consensus of the others."
Webber stood to his feet making me flinch and nails grow out into claws again. I really, really need to get a handle on this... emotional form of shifting.
"Plus, I’d like to go check in on my folks and show off my new superpower. It might ready some more of them into a state of willingness to take part in this whole pack thing. Mrs. Voss."
Raising that agriculture book in a lazy salute, he starts to walk off without really being ’dismissed’. Something that I doubt one of Kyrie’s wolves or anyone from my kingdom facing royalty would ever do.
Something I appreciate, even as it irks me. I truly don’t think I could have kept calm. Even if his name in the pack roster now shows as Holunder, proving he might not have been lying. At least not entirely.
The door clicks shut behind him and the remaining three women seem to breathe out and change posture all at once. The way a room in the middle of discussion changes when the person complicating it the most removes themselves.
My claws slide back as I rise from the playpen and resettle myself at the table. Asha hadn’t stirred while I was over there. Good. May he sleep through the remainder of this, so that I don’t have to split my attention between politics and parenting.
> Because unlike my mother, I’m certain I’d choose to coddle a single child over a group of them. <
"I’m not going to pretend I handled that gracefully."
"You wouldn’t be fooling anyone if you did."
"-but! If we’re going to trust each other, that means seeing me lose composure over things that matter to me and still coming back to the table once I settle. Does this not sound quite fair?"
"It does. Which of you want to be next?"
Martha’s face held something to it that I’ve seen on advisors to various nobles. Not quite blatant approval, but the marked absence of disapproval.
When nothing is wrong, that means everything is right. There was a time that sort of thing made me feel a lot better about myself.
> Damnit, I kind of wanted to be praised. And I definitely wanted someone not even here to do it. <
Kyrie’s face pops in my head again. Just like it was when I was protecting my son just now. All I could think of was to bolt out the door and run to her.
Not out of the tower, but to... the one who has claimed me. The Alpha that has tried protecting and caring for me since the moment she scented me in her city.
"Earth to Citra? Head in the clouds much?"
I blink rapidly at Claire’s voice from the monitor, realizing that I’d well and truly spaced out. The three women around me look at me with concern. Michelle even with her ungloved hand still on the table next to mine.
With a bottle of hand sanitizer held in a white knuckle grip that makes no sense to me. She literally stuffed her mouth with a bunch of things I touched already?!
"Sorry. I’ll get to it."
I place my palm over her bare knuckles without explaining my seeming torpor. The green glow begins in my vision as I hope no one can see the red glow on the top of my ears.
| TARGET: Michelle Lifton |
| SPECIES: Human |
| VITALS: Normal, Stressed |
| NOTES: ??? |
| ANNEXATION SUCCESS! |
Her contribution settles at a steady 11 according to the roster. No strange jumping values. Her hand pulls away from mine and she stares at it like it’s a particularly dangerous creature.
> Perhaps a snake or a mongoose? Somehow... I really get it. <
That sudden lack of feeling things for true. Getting that sensation of data about temperature going into her brain.
It suddenly really hits me again that I did that to *lots* of people at once yesterday. Honestly, how chaotic must every one of my choices be?
"Acceptable. Dr. Mei? You should try this."
She says it somewhat enthusiastically, despite layering on the disinfectant. Like I myself am a hive of particularly... dangerous bacteria.
It’s not rude. Definitely. Just hygienic. Yes. Very reasonable to keep sanitary in conditions where we are all grouped together.
But I kind of want to sneeze near her ’on accident’ anyway to see how she reacts.