ZEN - Part Two [COMPLETED] [#WATTYS2017]

An Eye For This Sorta Thing

Chapter 69 - An Eye For This Sorta Thing

After sending Darya back to Kuro and Shiro with a complete library of magical tomes, Zen stuck around to loot practically everything else of value inside the Coat-mage's abode, slipped over to his co-conspirators' apartments to deal with them, and then returned to the training-grounds without anyone being wiser.

"Hey. Where've you been?"

Except the girls that she was supposed to be overseeing, of course. "Whut. I felt a bit peckish, so I went to get something to eat."

Jessie, who was leading their Sisters in a stretching-regimen designed to make their muscles stronger and joints more flexible, simply rolls her eyes at the thought of how much their leader ate in a day. Seriously, it was a certified mystery as to where she put it all. "Yuh-huh."

"Whatever. So, runnin's done, and yer stretchin', now. Good, good. I'ma be over there by the fire."

"Zen."

"What. Gods."

"Put in a little face-time."

The small Scout pans her gaze around the wide circle of twenty-two teens, almost all of which were regarding her with expressions of expectation. Only Mish and her human were frowning. "Ehn. Fine. Later."

"Zen!"

"Fine! Gods. Work, work, work." The short Cat-woman bids the girls to rise en masse, then beckons for them all to follow her to the beginning of the obstacle-course. "Alright. Since I'm being forced to show you all this next exercise, let's get it over and done with as quickly as possible."

The white-furred Husky-kin drops a hand onto the shifty feline's shoulder. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Hah? The Hell're you talkin' about."

"You don't smell of food. You smell of magic and blood."

Zen instinctively averts her gaze, but the tiny grin that pops up onto her lips betrays her attempts at lying. "You must've caught a cold, 'cause yer nose ain't workin' right."

"Bull. Who'd you kill?"

"I..."

"Mmhmm?"

"Just... some pieces of trash. They were threatening the girls. Actually." The small Scout looks to Jessie and inclines her chin a little. "You remember back when you were pudgy, and-"

"Choose your next words very carefully."

"No, no. It was just after we met, when you were a bigger, and-"

"Why are you reminding me of that?!"

"Huh? Whatever. Anyways, after we got back from your first dive, the next morning I had a bit of a kerfuffle in the Adventurers' Guild. Three dumb males wanted to rape me... or make a coat out of me. I stabbed them all a bit an' had them arrested, but it seems like they held a grudge."

"Gee. You think?"

"What. I was bein' merciful."

"You stabbed them."