Isaac rubbed his eyes after putting down the piece of soapstone. The last line was finally drawn in. At least these were runic symbols that could function when cut roughly. The script taught by the Conservatory, and therefore the Vorona Academy, would have been impossible to make with such a crude mark-making tool. Soapstone was a very soft mineral that would crumble and smear dust on top of harder surfaces in a way very similar to chalk, but that meant the material was unsuited to holding a point. The task was finished though and he noticed that Chandrakanta had sat down next to him at some point. “Oh, Candi.” He might have fallen over top of her if he’d moved quicker.
“I was admiring you working, Isaac. Though I have a concern, looking back on this morning. You and Neasa seemed to be having an intimate moment that we disrupted in our haste to see you.” Jin’s head jerked suddenly as she listened from nearby.
“Oh, um, I guess. She did seem like she had more she wanted to say.” Isaac still got confused about intimacy. Did it just mean bodily closeness? Was touching required? Was interacting at all? The word’s usage was blurred like a lot of words in the English language. Other languages too.
“Perhaps you should try to do something special for her. She did evolve very recently, you know.” Chandrakanta tipped her head towards Isaac, causing a small cascade as the part of her hair shifted.
“I don’t know if she wants to celebrate evolving. She didn’t want to be an Elfqueen and she evolved fighting against her own people.”
“That is part of why I think you should seek her out. Think of it as affirming your relationship. She has changed, she could be worried. Go show her there is nothing to worry about.”
Jin interrupted. “What about me? I’m worried too!”
Chandrakanta chuckled softly. “Go, Isaac. I’ll hear Jin’s worries and also explain to her why you going to Neasa right now will be good for her in the possible future.” Neither tamer nor pokegirl looked convinced, but Jin’s focus was on the Megami and the set of her eyebrows challenged an explanation be brought forward.
When Isaac lingered Jin shooed him away with her hands. “I’m okay, go go. I want to hear what she says.” Isaac left the old greenhouse. Jin’s gaze was very intense and could easily be mistaken for aggression. “Explain.”
“Neasa is the first pokegirl who has joined herself with Isaac to evolve. That means how Isaac treats her establishes the tradition of how he treats all of you should you evolve. Isaac will want to treat you fairly, after all. However, Neasa cannot evolve any more and Oleksandra is very unlikely to evolve.”
Jin’s face lit up with comprehension. “Okay, that makes sense…” The light dimmed quickly. “I’m confused about evolving though. Should I be an Enchantress or a Sorceress?”
Chandrakanta looked up at nothing in particular and tapped her chin. Her eyes shimmered brightly as they snapped open in surprise. The Megami made a small noise of shock, a short sort of woop mixed with a hum. “What, what is it?” Jin asked excitedly.
“That is strange. The two paths are incomparable but converge on the same point further down. It is a very rare thing to see in my experience.”
“What does that mean?” Jin made a face, her mouth partially open in a confused grimace, and cocked her head.
“I cannot say for certain. Just that, whatever choice you make does not seem to alter your greater destiny.”
“That doesn’t help me at all.” Jin’s voice rose petulantly. “Which one would you pick?”
“Oh, I would definitely be an Enchantress Jin, but I do not enjoy fighting as you do. The things that make me happy are not the same things that make you happy.”
Jin was suddenly grinning in a manner that was only partially friendly. “I think what you did with Isaac would make me happy.”
Chandrakanta’s mouth dropped open in outrage but her eyebrows set playfully. “Jin! I do not know what you speak of!”
“Candi-neesama, you had your blouse pulled down and your chest pressed to his face before we shut the door.” Chandrakanta blushed furiously and descended into blissful twittering for a moment. Then her rainbow tinted eyes fell on Jin and the Witch perceived a dangerous light in them as the giggles transitioned to a low chuckle.
“You are right, Jin. I am something of a fiend when it comes to those for whom I care nursing at my bosom.” She leaned forwards and let her chest spill against her blouse. Jin's eyes got wide and plunged down. “Now, when you said it would make you happy, how did you imagine yourself? Were you me,” she shifted into a stalking crawl, lifting herself up on the tips of her fingers as she slowly invaded the Witch’s personal space “Or perhaps were you in the place of Isaac?”
Jin found herself unable to focus over the fantasy invading her imagination and her incredibly dry lips. Chandrakanta’s eyes vanished as she smiled disarmingly, she tapped the tip of her finger against Jin's nose. This caused the Witch to flinch away as the celestial pokegirl sat back up; her movements fluid, serpentine, and unavoidably swift.
-
“How did you earn such a boon? To have all of the Vesna High Court indebted to you…”
Elena corrected Neasa’s assumption. “It is only the Eastmost court of the Vesna High Queendom. They come into conflict with humans from the league as well as the Goblina Whorde most often. As for how, the acting Elfqueen believed I was pivotal in returning her daughters safely. It was her forces and the league rangers who rescued them from the Whorcs. I merely sat in on the negotiations for the two forces acting together and provided some scrying magic.
“The token she gifted me is accepted by any Elfqueen with enough prestige to be allowed her own subordinate court, though, so I can see why you thought the entire High Court owed me. It is more a transfer of the specific debt from the queen I aided to all of her allies. It’s no different than the league’s credits, but the Vesna Elves are not nearly so free with distributing their currency.”
“And these are flower bulbs imbued with Elvish magic? Could you create a forgery?”
Elena chuckled. “Actually, I have another one I earned for aiding in breaking up a counterfeiting operation run by some poachers. They were planning to cash in on the Sewick’s outstanding bounty for any Vesna Elfqueens after luring them in with the fake tokens. These would have called out to the Elfqueen whose lands it was planted in like a genuine item, however if the flowers that bloomed were inspected then she’d be able to know it was fraudulent. The magic woven into each one will explain the identity of the individual rewarded with such a boon as well as what was done to earn it. The queens will confer with one another to check their records and confirm whether it is a legitimate debt.”
Neasa’s wonder melted away and her face showed the usual traces of negativity. “You would spend one of these on my behalf? I don’t think I’m worthy.”
Elena clicked her tongue. “Just because you are benefiting the most from my use of my wealth in this instance doesn’t mean it is solely for you. If all goes according to plan it will be well spent. Samodiva will be bound until the spring. You will become more formidable which means you will be able to better protect Isaac. He will benefit from this, as will I and as will the people of Slov’yanka and Dnipro. If you agree then you will have no choice but to become worthy, so cast aside your doubts now, girl. You’re a queen, your days as a princess were stolen from you.”
Neasa’s face twisted in frustration as she warred with her fear and anger. Then her mouth dropped in surprise when the door to Elena’s active greenhouse opened and Isaac poked his head inside. Recognition dawned on his face as he spotted the two Elvish pokegirls. “Isaac…”
“Hey, Neasa. Elena. I was looking for you two. I think I’m done with the drawings for your slab, Elena.”
Elena glided on graceful steps towards the door. She was obviously refreshed after her break. “Good. We were just finishing up our planning. Neasa gave me an idea for dealing with the treasonous snake to our North and I was informing her of the details and what part she would have to play. Neasa, why don’t you fill in Isaac while I go check over his work. Your choice will impact him, after all.”
With that the Grandelf slipped outside and shut the door behind her. Isaac and Neasa were left in their awkward silence. Isaac broke it after an uncomfortable second stretched by. “So, what’s the plan?”
Neasa hopped up to sit on a counter next to the hot tomato vines that had helped keep her warm when she was committed to maintaining her isolation. “When she challenged my mother to the duel, when she killed Queen Vershnyk, Samodiva invoked the Law of High Queen Vesna. She said that under this law, my mother had no choice but to accept her challenge. Otherwise the huntresses of the High Queen would be unleashed to decimate her court. To kill one in every ten Elves. Starting with any of the Elfqueen’s daughters. She didn’t get the law right and the High Queendom wouldn’t honor her invoking it this far East, but the fact that she did as part of her treachery… Elena thinks we can use it against her.
“It won’t be difficult to convince them that Samodiva invited their influence over this dispute and by their laws what Samodiva did could be seen as slaughter under trust. She was a guest to my mother and she repaid mother’s kindness with murder. It all depends on me, though…
“As the surviving daughter of Queen Vershnyk and having evolved to an Elfqueen, it is my right to demand vengeance. Elena believes she can call in a favor for them to treat this as if it had occurred within the High Queendom. They would train me in their ways, including summoning a living weapon and how their Elfqueens engage in their honor duels. Then, in the spring, I would challenge her for rulership of the court. Representatives of the High Queendom would be dispatched to ensure Samodiva doesn’t lead the court into ruin while I trained. Elena thinks they could also convince the Vorona to not act. The High Queendom actually has a good relationship with the Wronskis. A lot of Vesna Elves enlist as Vorona for a chance to see the world outside of the High Queendom.”
Neasa took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “Elena says I don’t need to do this, that the league will be able to burn her out. That’s how they’ll deal with her, with fire. Remove the entire forest and put down any Elves Samodiva sends to stop them. She’s seen it before. That’s why she was planning whatever it is you were helping her with. She doesn’t want to see that happen to my mother’s home and people. I don’t either.”
Isaac moved over to the same counter and leaned against the top. He wouldn’t need to hop to be seated on top like Neasa did, it was just a matter of pushing himself on and scooting back far enough to lift his legs off the ground. The muscles in his face all pulled down as he thought about what to say. This was all important information but what did it have to do with him? This wasn’t his battle nearly as much as it was Neasa’s or Elena’s. He was threatened by Samodiva’s actions, but only as much as any human would be threatened. It was all very impersonal to him. To him, a school friend had been injured and people he hadn’t even committed the memory space to register face and name together were hurt. Sergeant Skvirtitiyi was the closest person to him who had died, and that was a passing professional relationship. Cosmina was the casualty that had the most emotional impact and she had survived, medically recovered.
Neasa lost her mother and her home. Elena saw her community, one she’d been a part of and one she was nurturing for longer than anyone else’s living memory, torn apart by violence. Both of them were still bearing the weight of the threat of further attacks. The glimmer of Neasa’s eyes caught the attention of his peripheral vision. She was still expecting him to respond. “I guess… do you want to go through with this plan? I don’t think what I have to say matters.”
“It does.” Neasa said. “If I go train with them, then I would still need y- a human. And I trust you more than any other humans I know, so I want you… to come with me.” The last four words were rushed after a brief pause. “The Vesna Elfqueens might not allow it, but Elena is sure they’ll let you stay close so I can still come back to you. She says they’re dangerous for humans but they won’t persecute you, just that they have their ways and we’ll all need to respect them.”
She was staring at Isaac and her face was slowly starting to flush. She had told him she wanted him. It wasn’t the sole context of the message but she heard herself say those words, ‘I want you.’ Now she was beginning to understand how terribly true that statement was.
Isaac was silently examining her though, studying her face intently. He didn’t look happy or angry or sad, just fixated. It was driving her crazy because she doubted she was successful in hiding how she was feeling so how dare he conceal his intent?
The truth was Isaac wasn’t sure what his intentions were. He was simply transfixed. Neasa had transcended into some sort of higher creature. The vibrancy of her eyes was more pronounced. He wanted to keep getting lost in them. The delicate angles of her face and curves of her body were stronger. He wanted to caress them. The intellect behind her stare was more refined. He wanted to engage with it. He wasn’t doing anything right now.
He shook his head to try to clear the heavy fog. “I’m sorry, I honestly can’t focus right now.”
“Why not? Are you still exhausted?”
“No, it’s- it’s you, after you evolved. You’re just… I get kinda dumbstruck around really attractive women and you’re just suddenly so much more attractive.”
Neasa’s face bunched up in tight confusion. “What do you mean? I’m a little taller now and I’m stronger but that wouldn’t make me any prettier.” Isaac almost laughed because of how absurdly untrue that claim was. He’d need to find a mirror to show her. There was a window pane leaning against a wall.
Isaac pushed himself away from the counter and carried the flat sheet of glass over against something dark. “Come look.” Neasa hopped down and did just that.
Neasa brought both hands up in front of her mouth and gasped sharply while backing away. Her glinting eyes reflected dancing light as they opened in shock. “That’s me?” She touched her face in a few places, lingering on her lips. “And I’m taller too, Isaac can you come here so I can compare us.” Isaac moved so he could see his reflection next to hers. She studied the difference in their height for a second and then leaned back against him. She reached back and felt along his sides for his hands so she could take them in hers and wrap them around herself. Then she dropped her head back onto his chest and closed her eyes. “I want you.” She whispered.
Isaac was still not used to Neasa being this candid. “What?”
Her eyes came open and the green lights in them danced. Her mouth quivered in a frustrated and cautious smile. She twisted around to press her front against his as she brought her hands up to reach ahold of the sides of her head. “I. Want. You.” Her eyebrows rose in the inner corners but the outsides lowered disarmingly. She pulled herself up to his face with her arms and Isaac reacted by pulling her even tighter against him and leaning back to better balance their mutual center of gravity. Neasa’s legs wrapped around his middle. “Please, right now” were the last three words exchanged in the moment before they gave in to their lower selves together.
-
Elena’s ears twitched as she felt the empathic feedback across the delta bond. She let herself get lost in the feelings for a brief moment before shutting them out and shaking her head to focus. It was good for the long term but it was her body she wanted Isaac’s hands running along and focusing on the sensations meant for someone else would just distract her from her work. She’d still need to finish her stele as a contingency plan if this scheme with the Vesna High Queendom fell through. So she would push out all distractions.
She clicked her tongue. Distractions like Chandrakanta. She’d had to drive the Megami out of the storage building. She had the audacity to offer her a nipple to suckle as well. Jin had been greatly embarrassed and defended herself by saying she was only curious about the taste. The young Witch would learn about Chandrakanta’s ways eventually.
Elena sighed. She supposed it was simply the Megami failing to contend with her nature. She was always nurturing, just as Elena was always studying and Astoreth was always anticipating conflict. Even as aged and experienced as they were, the fear from the danger Isaac had been in was causing them all to revert to their less sophisticated mindstates.
It didn’t need to happen right in front of her though, especially in her home. She swept them out of the building and warned them off from the active greenhouse as well. Jin would doubtlessly find trouble and Chandrakanta would doubtlessly find someone who was troubled, and that was fine because Elena would be getting work done while they did.
-
Jin sat in the attic space that was now essentially Isaac’s room in Elena’s home. She pushed her back against the wall hard enough for the wood to groan slightly. Then she pulled her knees up to her chest as tight as she could and brought the stack of diagrams up close to her face. She’d let herself do something silly and stupid and then Elena had found out and gotten angry. It was because Jin wanted to be with Isaac that she fell for Chandrakanta’s trick anyway. Then Jin peeked into the greenhouse where Isaac and Neasa were, where Isaac was making Neasa feel special after she evolved. Paper crinkled in her grip as she impulsively squeezed too tightly. Jin wanted Isaac to make her feel special right now. Jin wanted to evolve so badly but she still wanted to be a Sorceress. She didn’t know what to do and the pressure of keeping everything inside was making her crazy.
-
Oleksandra’s nose twitched as she caught the scents clinging to Neasa’s body. Perspiration, sex pheromones, and ejaculate from both her and Isaac as well as potting soil. Their motivational drives were different from hers. She wouldn’t need such attention from Isaac for another few days and the nutrient rich dirt was an unnecessary and unexplained inclusion.
Chandrakanta had given her advice, which required her to seek out Isaac. Isaac had been engaged in sexual intercourse with Neasa so Oleksandra waited. Now Isaac was done and he and Neasa were putting the greenhouse back in order. There was a spilled bag of soil. Isaac smelled like sexual intercourse and Neasa as well. Oleksandra’s ears flopped back and she questioned the feeling she just experienced. She wanted to rub herself against Isaac. What would that accomplish? It would add her scent to him. She was experiencing a territorial impulse.
Isaac enjoyed sexual intercourse. Would Isaac enjoy her less because she didn’t? Not as much, anyway. Why didn’t she enjoy the process? She did not understand that but there was a very great deal about her body she didn’t understand.
Humans developed the practice of science to help them understand. Beru had been serving the Martian Office of Science. Science was what Oleksandra needed. Chandrakanta’s advice was to ask Isaac. Oleksandra started to address Isaac as ‘commander’ but stopped herself before she did more than move her jaw. Before she would have wanted to call him ‘master.’ It was curious that the word in her mind had changed. “Isaac, how do I learn science?”
Isaac heard the question and his mind began to form its automatic reply. ‘It’s easy, you just-’ but then it was nothing but a flood of years of compounding knowledge that he had built layer by layer up until this point. There was nothing about the process of learning that could appropriately be described beginning with that phrase. “Science is… a process. You don’t really learn science, science is how you learn. It’s a codified process of discovering and verifying information.”
Oleksandra had that large eyed look she got when intensely paying attention. “What is the process? I need to discover information.”
Isaac scratched the back of his head. These were old memories. “Well, the scientific method was codified hundreds of years ago. You start with a question. Um…” Isaac looked around wanting an example to use.
“What are the full capacities of my armor and weapons systems?”
Isaac stared for a second as his brain processed this seemingly off topic inquiry. Except it wasn’t off topic. This was what Oleksandra’s question was. The question she sought the power of science to answer. “Okay, you want to know what your capabilities are. Well… the next step is a hypothesis or no… It’s research. You research before you form your hypothesis.”
“What is a hypothesis?”
Isaac dug deeper into his memories. “An educated guess.” That was the grade school answer but it wasn’t a very good one. “What I mean by that is… you take everything you already know about the question you have and you try to explain what you believe the cause is. That’s why research is supposed to be before the hypothesis. If you don’t check what information is already accepted and verified you could be repeating work someone else has already done. Which is fine, if your goal is to verify or contest their work but… well with your armor and weapons I doubt anyone else has done much.”
“So I should conduct research and then formulate a hypothesis. What next? This would not establish the information I require.”
“No, it wouldn’t. After you get your hypothesis figured out you have to design a test trying to prove or falsify your hypothesis. This is a really difficult part. It’s all pretty difficult really. If you don’t ask the right question, you won’t know what to research. If you don’t find the right information researching then you’ll form a less useful hypothesis. If you have a bad hypothesis you’ll probably design a bad experiment which will produce bad data and then you’ll draw a false conclusion.”
Oleksandra’s dropping spirits were indicated by the lowering of her ears. “So I cannot do science?”
“No, that’s not it at all, Leksya. I mean, we’ve already been doing science with you. When we went to that sinkhole in Dnipro. That was, well it wasn’t very disciplined science but it was science. Our question was, ‘what can you do?’ Sergeant Letitia helped us with the research by providing the tactical primer on the Battle Angel and Battle templates. Then for our test you flew, and shot, and ran, and made your melee weapon. The results weren’t what we were expecting, but we really weren’t expecting anything because we didn’t really form a strong hypothesis. I guess it would have just been that you should be able to do what the observed traits are for your breed and template. So that was us analyzing the data and then the last thing…” Isaac stared up into space for a while. “The last thing is your conclusion which is when you compare the data analysis to your hypothesis and try to explain why things are the way they are.”
“So our conclusion is that I am capable of performing baseline tasks for my breed, subtype, and template but also that I demonstrate capabilities beyond what is expected?”
Isaac blinked. “Yeah, yeah that could be our conclusion.”
“So then is science done? We do not have the answer.”
Isaac smiled. He wasn’t sure why but he really enjoyed talking about this sort of thing. He loved acquiring knowledge, after all. “No. Science is never done. Now we ask the next question.”
Oleksandra’s ears stood upright and quivered as she thought deeply. “Why do I demonstrate abilities outside of what is expected? What is the full extent of my capabilities?”
“Yeah. That is the question…” Isaac got lost in speculation. Metallic armor from the skin and metallic armor formed by nanomachines stored in the body. They were obviously interacting in Oleksandra in a way that wasn’t expected.
“Then I must conduct research. Where do I go to learn about Battle Battle Angels?” Oleksandra’s ears flopped to the side as she tilted her head.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a pokegirl like you, Leksya. The Battle template is so rare and there’s so many different pokegirl breeds and the world is so big… We might be writing the book on Battle Battle Angels. It’s a huge question.” Oleksandra and Isaac fell silent for a long while. What did one do when faced with an overwhelmingly complex question? Questions were a specific sort of problem. Problems could be broken apart. “We need to ask better questions, more focused questions, I think.”
Oleksandra nodded her head. “Ask better questions. What I would like to know right now is,” Oleksandra’s right hand and forearm armored up and her steel mallet / mace formed. “How do I improve my melee weapon? I do not believe this configuration is optimal.”
Isaac studied the, essentially, giant tenderizing mallet. No, that wasn’t anywhere near optimal. “Well… weapons are tools. I guess, since you can alter the form of it so easily, the first step would be to learn about making weapons, or maybe just making tools.” A phrase popped into Isaac’s mind. An old, foundational concept. “Simple machines,” he stated with the same inflection one would utter when exclaiming, ‘eureka!’
“Simple machines?” Oleksandra’s ears canted in the other direction.
“Yeah, they’re old, the oldest mechanical processes humans ever discovered. We don’t even know who discovered them first or where. It might not have even been humans that discovered some of them but some genetic ancestor. They’re old and the foundation of all of our tools today, pretty much.”
“So I should learn about simple machines?”
“Yeah.” Isaac raced through his memories to try to think of some examples of the basic simple machines. He couldn’t remember them all off the top of his head but he could recall two. The wedge and the lever. “Let’s go get my camping equipment, my hatchet’s a good example.”
-
Elena stepped out of her storage house and rubbed her eyebrows. The sun was starting to set, which didn’t mean it was that late in the day given how the winter solstice was a handful of weeks away. But it did mean that Elena had been working for a while. Isaac’s work was satisfactory. He did have a recurring error where he mixed up two runes that were nearly the same symbol, but that’s what checking over the rough was for. This was a flaw Isaac was aware of, he’d struggled with the same issue when learning English reading and writing as well. Most of what Elena had to correct were the smudges from erasing, making the identity of the specific rune unclear.
The Grandelf found her bonded human and Oleksandra with an assortment of gardening tools and kitchen utensils piled up between them. They also had a handcart she hadn’t thought about for years. Isaac noticed her and she had no idea how to respond to the question he posed. “Elena, do you have any screws or pulleys?”
The tips of the Grandelf’s ears twitched as her eyebrow rose from intrigue. “No, I don’t believe I do. What are you doing?”
Oleksandra chimed in happily. “Learning about simple machines. This is a wedge on a lever,” she held up a hatchet, “and this is a wedge on a lever,” a knife, “and this,” a garden trowel.
Elena knew what wedges and levers were but she’d never really thought about all of those common objects being such things. To her a wedge was a door stop and a lever was, well, a lever. “I suppose they are, but why are you learning about simple machines?”
Oleksandra’s melee weapon sprung from her hand, but it was no longer a giant meat tenderizer. It was a conical hammer with a large spike coming off of the back. “I am learning to be more formidable. Isaac believes that an understanding of mechanical principles will aid me in discovering my potential capabilities.”
“I see…” Elena sat down on her patio furniture, shivering slightly from feeling the cold material through the fabric of her long and heavy winter skirt. “That makes some sense given your machine-like traits. I admit I never think about technology this deeply. Anyway, Isaac,” she waited until the human was clearly giving her his attention. “I’m ready to begin engraving and to be honest, while your help was appreciated I would like to be left alone to proceed. Would you be willing to return to Astoreth’s home to stay until I am finished?”
Isaac wanted to return to Astoreth’s house. There was a great deal of architectural splendor he hadn’t had the chance to explore. He sent a telepathic query over the delta bond with the infernal and the affirmative impulse he received in response was one with intermingled surprise and pleasure. Astoreth would be happy to host him and his pokegirls for longer. “Yeah, if that’s what you want. Take better care of yourself though or else I’ll send Candi to check up on you.”
Elena scowled as she fought not to click her tongue or move her ears. She particularly didn’t want the Megami meddling while she was feeling particularly clingy and smothering like today seemed to indicate. “I’ll manage. Why don’t you have her transport you back to Svyatlysche?” That would deflect Chandrakanta’s attention to Isaac or anyone else. Elena had work to do. A thought struck her. “I’ll need to speak with Neasa before you leave though. She never gave me her answer about our plan and the sooner we get things in motion the better.” Isaac nodded. That was certainly true.
(-[|]-) End 11.3 (-[|]-)
Nedezhda looked through the peephole to her mistress’ manor and saw that the young man her mistress had claimed as her male had returned. The young Succubus smirked evilly to herself. Astoreth had forbidden her from interacting with the man, none of her wards had permission when he was recovering. Those terms ended when Isaac regained his strength enough to leave, even if he had returned the same day. Now he was fair game.
She fluffed up the hem of her skirt so it stood out stiffly, exposing her upper thighs, and tugged the fabric in front of her chest down to expose more cleavage. She limbered up for half a second and then dramatically shifted her weight to accentuate the curve of her hips and ass and cranked her spine to put as many of her best features on display as possible. Then she opened the door only to scowl in contempt.
“Hihi,” Jin was draping herself over the male in a possessive display. The East Asian Witch’s eyes narrowed into a smile of cruel delight. “Jailbait.”