984 Chapter 984 Strutting Around Town Part Kat kept herself busy by messing around with demonic fire, changing it into various shapes and putting on little plays for herself. You see, Kat decided to do this guard thing somewhat properly and was currently resting against the sloped roof just above the window for Bodeir’s room. Kat was very thankful that nothing happened between Bodeir and Sue today. She knew because there was a bit of an argument over that fact… but it wasn’t Kat’s problem. Sue also sounded disturbingly chipper during the whole thing… so it was probably going exactly as Sue wanted it.
Lily had tried to stay up with Kat and keep her company but the call of sleep was too much for the kitten. Kat herself was starting to be rather impressed with the control she had over her fire. It did get a bit unruly under certain circumstances but if she kept to a few specifics, it was surprisingly docile.
The first part was just how much energy Kat pumped into the fire. After ten percent Kat was limited to basic prodding more than detailed commands. Oh she could throw a fireball without a problem with more than twice that… but sticking below ten percent Kat found she could use her flames to write letters, make dancing figures, really whatever she wanted. That was the second thing, there was also still a limit to the amount of flames she could control even if she kept the total demonic power in them down.
A few little tricks she figured out though… was that the ten percent cap was just based on the amount of demonic energy in each clump of fire. If Kat continued to summon up little embers with barely a percent she could have hundred of the things out with only minor issues. If she moved them all at once, they’d listen fine, but not if she tried to give them too many unique instructions.
Kat was learning that limitation seemed to have more to do with her minds inability to properly multitask to that extent instead of having anything at all to do with her control over demonic power. It was… interesting to realise that the bottle neck wasn’t the demonic energy anymore it was herself. So that’s what Kat decided to work on as she passed the time. Kat found, to her surprise, that she could hold up to ten separate things in her mind at once. Despite being nowhere near her theoretical maximum limit… she was fairly proud of the fact she managed ten with no issue.
Her progress after that… was… less thrilling. Kat managed to get a whole one extra line of thought running without demonic energy, and three if she was using it on her brain after a night of effort. Sure Kat knew that this wasn’t really something a normal human could train… but it felt like she was behind for some reason and it irked her to realise she had a long way to go if she wanted to properly control her demonic energy. It seemed that she’d been taking it easy in her attempts to understand and control the energy, focusing too much on the energy itself and not enough on improving everything else.
When morning came around Bodeir awoke and went into the backyard for morning exercises. Kat’s jaw dropped when she saw that Bodeir was putting real effort into his training. *I really should stop being so surprised. Idiot he may be but I already know that his father tried really hard to make sure his son isn’t completely useless. That Bodeir knows how to exercise, and does so regularly really shouldn’t be a surprise to me.*
After exercise came breakfast and a shower, or, apparently a bath as Sue gleefully informed Kat when she met them in the hallway. Kat simply glared back and ran her hands through Lily’s fur to ignore the implications. Of course, eventually Bodeir was geared up and ready. Kat followed him into town, and their group was a bit of a strange one.
Bodeir of course led the way. Not only did he know the area, but he was the young master. Kat and Lily followed to make sure he didn’t get murdered horribly, two servants, one of which was Hromdir, followed behind him, presumably to do servant things. Finally there was Sue. Kat… wasn’t entirely sure why Sue was following along at the start… but that was answered shortly.
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Bodeir went into a few stores and then left without paying or really looking at anything just to insult the owners. Or well, that was Kat’s guess anyway. Bodeir didn’t actually say anything… but he definitely wasn’t looking at anything on display. One of the shops they entered was a somewhat secluded sex shop that disguised this fact somewhat by displaying a bunch of ropes out front. It was called ‘Trap Supplies’.
Kat could feel the burning embarrassment coming from Lily as she recognised that nothing in the store was a serious method of restraint. Granted, the fact that the handcuffs had pink fluff on them should’ve clued Kat into that fact… but it just didn’t click until she heard Lily’s mortified thoughts.
Bodeir didn’t seem to notice either, because he just walked in, gave one quick look around, tested one of the ropes, and left. No comments were made. No embarrassment was apparently on his face. The strangest thing was the fact Sue didn’t say anything. Kat made the mistake of asking “You’re surprisingly quiet Sue. I thought you’d be tempting Bodeir a bit in that shop,”
Sue just scoffed, “No, that’s all amateur stuff. It’s nothing new to me, and I’ve not got much interest in any of it. Basic BDSM stuff was like the first thing I tried on my fetish quest. It’s not bad, but to make things work you and your partner both have to really know what you’re doing and I’m not much of a physical sadist. Emotional… maybe but I haven’t met a someone with a proper humiliation fetish to test that part of me on,”
“I’m sorry I asked,” grumbled Kat as the box in her mind from Vivian’s ‘Talk’ rattled ominously, threatening to show her ‘helpful’ memories from that particular event. Kat of course threw some mental weight its way to keep it from opening even a crack.
They continued exploring stores for seemingly no reason until Bodeir took a sharp turn, backtracking a bit through several side streets and stopping at a small restaurant. Bodeir walked in like he owned the place, and slapped down a large sack that jingled. “One of everything,”
The owner was server was a middle-aged looking man with a nasty scar over one eye that seemed blind. He had a dirty apron, but gleaming metal knives on his body. The man nodded, not saying anything and immediately began to cook. Kat just sat off to the side silently while the meal was made.
Bodeir was supplied, in remarkable time really, the full menu. Some things were handed off to Hromdir to be put into a storage ring, others were handed over to Hromdir and the other servant to eat. A few dishes were pushed towards Sue and Bodeir ate the rest after Kat gave her first soup to Lily. Bodeir just glared at her a bit for it and then said nothing.
Bodeir was… almost delicate when it came to eating his meal. Everything was eaten with a proper posture, and with a noticeable break between each bite. Bodeir grabbed from all across his table with seemingly no pattern. The only exception to this would be once a dish was finished, if there was a decent amount of liquid, either as a broth or because it was a soup, Bodeir would always go back to finish that off before moving on.
Bodeir finished his meal after about an hour and a half. Kat… wasn’t sure if it was impressive or not. Sure he handed of a large number of dishes to Hromdir for storage, or eating, but Bodeir still ate like nine full meals. They weren’t necessarily large meals, but certainly enough for lunch. Bodeir didn’t seem to care about that though. Instead, he enjoyed the whole thing swiftly, but with care and said nothing to the owner, simply dropping another jingling stack off.
The chef received it with a small grin that seemed to have so much genuine feeling behind it. Kat wasn’t entirely sure why that was, but if she had to guess, Bodeir had probably spent more in this one session then the guy made in a month. Of course… even with that guess, Kat felt like the smile meant something else. She was right of course, but just because she knew there was more to it then that didn’t mean she could magically figure out the ‘what’ from nothing.
Best
Lily did speak highly of the food though. Apparently, it was quite rich but full of different flavours. Too many for her cat senses to really pick up. [I’m actually a little bit sad I can’t risk transforming right now. I think I’d have loved to know what this actually tasted like.]
*If we make money somehow we can come back here. I remember the way.*