Chapter 43: Chapter 42

As time passed and the sky grew dark and the wood in the fire crackled, Adriana sat close to Etrius and wrapped her tail around it. Sitting in her lap, Abby sat trying to stay awake, though it was a losing battle as her eyes were half closed and unfocused. With her head on Etrius’ shoulder, her mind wondered before questions appeared in her mind, ones that she couldn’t ask in Zen’s presence.

 

“Darling dear, what was that creature?” Adriana asked.

“A forgotten creation of those so-called gods.” Etrius said.

“Is it dangerous?” She asked.

“For Abby, yes.” it said.

“And your injuries?” She asked.

“Our base structure suffered damage, however it was not enough to hinder the operations of this unit. All damage could be and was repaired with no issue.” It stated flatly.

“The fact that you were damaged at all is concerning.”

“Unfortunately the presence of the two organics hindered our abilities.” It reported “If it was just us or one other designated support unit, we could have eliminated it with no risk of damage to us.”

“You.” She said firmly. “You are you. You are Etrius.”

“The temporary designation of ‘Etrius Washington’ is not recognized by anyone other than yourself and select few organics.” It clarified.

“You are Etrius. You are my one and only.” She said.

“Correction. We are CR. V-Observer fifty six delta. You are aware of this information.” It reiterated.

“Command override, simulation ‘Dusk Nine’.” She sighed.

 

There was a slight change in Etrius. The familiar hum inside it was interrupted though only for a moment. 

 

“Come on, its getting late.” Etrius said sweetly. “Let’s go to bed.”

 

Continuing to lean against it for a moment, she felt it’s hand run through her hair and brush against her horns. As it did so, she felt even closer than she already was. Giving a small smile, she agreed and released it’s from her grasp. Freed from her, Etrius stood up and looked at Abby who still wore her outside clothes.

 

“Come on Abby, let's get you changed.” Etrius said.

“Up…” Abby said, putting up her hands.

“Up we go.” Etrius said, lifting Abby.

 

Responding as well as a sleepy child ever could, Abby held onto Etrius as she was brought to her room. Only a few steps into this, did Etrius realize what had happened. Having determined that there was valid, though not critical, command override, Etrius had to make sure to perform correctly in the future. Deciding that now was a good time to start, it properly saw Abby and put her to sleep. Though because of that, an internal process was disrupted. It wasn’t a critical function, however in the moment there was no knowing what this affected. So, in order to prevent future instances such as this, it was decided to delay non critical commands during certain processes. Not only that but it needed to prevent damage to its base structure.

The problem was that the materials for those upgrades were rare. Though glancing back at Adriana who was sitting by herself, they weren’t too rare. That being said, it would have to extract those materials from inside of her. She wouldn’t be harmed from this, however there were very few, non violent ways, to do this without alerting her. However given Adriana’s previous advances, it wouldn’t be hard to do so.

Looking back at Abby, all it needed to do was to make sure that she got a good night's sleep. Given her state, it wouldn’t be hard to accomplish that. Sitting Abby on her bed, it fetched her pajamas and dressed her. She had yet to brush her teeth, but that might wake her up. With her clothes quickly changed, she laid her in bed.

 

“Goodnight sweetheart.” Etrius said.

“Night dad…” She muttered, eyes already closed.

 

Pulling her blanket up, she quickly fell asleep. Ensuring that she was soundly asleep, Etrius turned and left the room. Closing the door behind it, Etrius saw Adriana rise from her seat.

 

“You ready?” Etrius asked, guiding her to their room.

“Well, to be honest, my belongings had yet to be delivered.” Adriana admitted. “I’m afraid that I have no pajamas.”

“We won’t be needing those.” It said pulling her closer.

“Darling?” She asked.

 

Closing the door behind them, Etrius kissed her. Not rejecting it at all, Adriana’s arms slowly wrapped around it. Pulling away ever so slightly, Etrius encouraged her dress to slip off.

 

“Oh darling…” She smiled, kissing it deeply.

 

As her dress fell, Etrius created a barrier around them to prevent anything from the inside escaping to the outside. Not noticing or caring about this, Adriana removed Etrius’ shirt. They traded clothing until Etrius gently removed her blindfold. A few rapid clicks escaped Etrius as it saw her eyes. Darker than black and surrounded by a deep red haze. They saw nothing but took in everything. Etrius as well couldn’t help but be drawn into them. Slowly, the two of them made their way to the bed, though they did anything but sleep that night.

With the sun very close to shining in my face, I opened my eyes. Looks like at some point I wound up in my bed. The last thing that I remembered was falling asleep in mom’s arms? Well, that doesn’t really matter. With the familiar scent of bacon in the air, I knew that dad was making breakfast. Throwing my blanket to my side, I quickly got dressed in some comfortable clothes. Because dad was injured, I didn’t really plan on going outside if I didn't need to. Trying on my slippers, I saw that they fit just a little bit better, though this was likely because they were tearing where my claws were. Not wanting to tear them anymore, I placed them to the side. That all said and done, I headed out to see the familiar figure of dad cooking breakfast.

 

“Good morning dad.” I said.

“Good morning.” Dad said. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“That’s good. Go wash your face and wake up your mom for me. Breakfast will be done in a moment.” He said.

“Is she still asleep?” I asked.

“It sure seems like it.” He said.

“Okay.” I said.

 

To be honest I think dad should be the one sleeping given that he was injured and all. But when I thought about it, dad was the one to do the cooking and most of the chores. Although I helped out with some of the cleaning, dad did most of it. And it wasn’t like myself or mom can cook. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if mom can cook, but probably not since the servants did it for her.

Vowing to better myself to help out dad, I washed my face at a small basin with a polished metal mirror. Being a bit careless when drying, I brushed one of my antennae and sneezed so hard that my eyes started watering. Once I was cleaned up, I went into dad's room to see mom still under the covers. Climbing up on bed, I poked mom’s side.

 

“Mom. Wake up.” I called out.

“Huh…” She lifted up her head a bit.

 

It was only now that I noticed that mom didn’t have her usual blindfold on. Did she not sleep with it on?

 

“Mom, wake up.” I said pulling the blanket off of her.

 

Huh? Why was she naked? Doesn’t she usually wear pajamas when she sleeps?

 

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“Darling…?” She asked.

 

As soon as she said that, something strange happened. From outside the room, I heard that same clicking from dad as I did when mom showed me her magic. Not only that, but something changed, and the air suddenly started to taste like iron.

 

“Mom?” I asked.

“Ah!?” Mom quickly covered her eyes with her hand. “Abby, are you okay!?”

“Huh? Yeah?” I said. What did she mean by that?

“You don’t feel strange anywhere!?” She asked, frantically searching my body with her free hand.

“No?” I asked.

 

Why was she acting like this? As far as I know, nothing happened. I thought that the air tasted weird, though it seemed normal now.

 

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“Yeah…?” I nodded. Did something happen?

“I see… Hahah…” She laughed nervously. “Can you… Can you pass me my blindfold?”

 

After a bit of searching, I saw her blindfold on the nightstand next to an unlit candle. Picking it up I found that it was much heavier than I thought it would be. Handing it to her, she quickly turned away from me and put it on. I already knew that there was something wrong with her eyes, but I didn’t think that she would feel self-conscious about it. Wanting her to feel better, I pat her shoulder.

 

“Thank you sweetheart…” She smiled shyly, once her blindfold was on.

 

Not wanting to dwell on the subject that made her feel bad, I decided to change the topic.

 

“Mom, why are you naked?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Eh?” She said surprised.

“Eh?” I repeated.

 

Did she not notice? Apparently not as she touched her body with her hands. As her hands went under the blanket, she froze.

 

“Ah…” She said. “It would seem that I am.”

“Why?” I asked.

“W-well…” She hesitated. “Uh- my clothes weren’t delivered yesterday, so I had to sleep naked…”

“Oh!” I said.

 

That was brought up yesterday. Something about having her clothes delivered here. I don’t remember getting any delivery after Zen left. Poor mom.

 

“You must have been cold.” I said to her with pity in my voice.

“Yes that’s right!” She said. “I was cold! So cold!”

“We can use more firewood tonight.” I said, as that was one of the things dad let me help with.

 

Truth be told, I only decided how much wood we use each night. Dad is the one who got it and put it in the fire. It was one of the few chores that I did, so I was proud of it.

 

“I’m grateful!” Mom said. “Now, go and help you dad. Let me get dressed.”

“Okay.” I said.

 

Climbing off the bed, I headed back to dad’s side. From behind, I heard mom quickly close the door as I left. Looking back, I decided not to worry about it.

 

“Mom’s awake.” I told dad.

“That’s good.” He said.

“You know, mom was cold last night.” I said. “She didn’t have any pajamas.”

“Oh?” Dad said. “Well that’s no good. How much firewood should we use tonight?”

“Um…” I took a moment to think.

 

Yesterday I didn’t think it was that cold, but mom was, and we used four logs. Rather a single log split into four pieces, so tonight we should use six pieces?

 

“Six?” I said. “Maybe seven?”

“Well let’s see how cold it is going to be tonight.” Dad said. “I don’t think it’ll be any colder but let’s find out first.”

“Right.” I said. That sounded like a plan. “Should I set the table?”

“Yes, would you?” Dad asked.

“Got it!” I said.

 

Walking to the counter, I reached deep inside to pick up four plates. One for each of us and one for the bread that dad had made this morning in that cast iron pot thing. Since it was already cooled off, I placed it on the plate and made slices with my claws.

 

“Abby.” Dad said.

 

Looking over, Dad handed me a knife with a disapproving gaze. My hands were clean! Though I wanted to say that, I knew better. Obediently taking the knife, I finished cutting thick slices for each of us. None of us were really big eaters when it came to bead but I still made sure to make two slices for each of us. As I finished setting up the table, mom came from dad’s room in the same dress she wore yesterday.

In my mind I scolded the delivery boy, whose name was probably Michal. I decided to complain to Zen when she came over to visit. It was either going to be today or tomorrow that she was going to visit. I don’t remember what she said. I hope that it’s today so mom might at least get some pajamas.

Regardless of what I thought, mom whispered something to dad, who turned to look at me. He did so only for a moment, before turning back to mom who sighed in relief. Was something wrong? I wanted to ask this, but decided not to. If there was a problem, dad would tell me. Thinking nothing more of it, I took my seat, I waited for breakfast.