Chương 5: It's Always Chaos At Home

The moment Avery set foot on the fourth floor she was greeted with the scene of a messy house and Cobalt dragging the completely soaked Lionheart by the mane. It was a wonder how such a small rodent the size of a palm could have the strength to drag a Shadow Fox two sizes larger than a fully grown man.

When the duo saw Avery, they froze. The Verdant Forac Mouse quickly let go of Lionheart. He feigned innocence while hiding his tiny paws behind his back. The little fella looked everywhere but at his tamer. Lionheart took advantage of this and hid behind Avery. He gave Cobalt weary looks from behind her legs.

Avery didn't say anything, she just crossed her arms and stared down at the little rat. Seeing Avery keep silent, Cobalt shivered in fright. He knew he was in trouble. He started squeaking franticly and waved his little arms here and there occasionally pointing at the still hiding Lionheart right behind Avery.

Cobalt's emerald eyes glossed over as he spoke. Cobalt did all he could to give Avery his excuse, not forgetting to include Lionheart's shenanigans. He didn't want to be left without food for the night but since he knew that he wouldn't be able to avoid punishment, he might as well drag the smug looking fox down with him. It was the over sized dog that started the whole ordeal anyway.

From what Cobalt told her, Avery found out that Lionheart used [Shadow Bind] on the mouse while it was playing in its ha--er... mouse ball. The poor mouse was left suspended in mid-air for almost half the day before he managed to escape.

Cobalt chased down the Shadow Fox all over the house, knocking over more than half the furniture in the process. The filling for some of the couch cushions have spilled over. Large and small puddles of water could be seen everywhere. Pieces of cloth we're strewn across the floor. One of the curtains was barely hanging on and the other has mysteriously disappeared.

Judging by the direction that Cobalt was pulling Lionheart to, it was pretty obvious that the little rat wanted to throw the overgrown fox into Violet's pool one more time. It was bad enough that Lionheart doesn't exactly know how to swim. These two just had to go and disturb Violet while she was getting ready to lay her eggs.

The only plus side to this chaos was that there was no sign of broken glass and that none of Avery and Tomoyo's personal items had been touched.

Avery thanked her lucky stars that she decided to separate her and her familiars' living space. Except for Violet who made her nest inside her tank/pool that took up a corner of the third and fourth floor, Avery and Tomoyo occupied the third floor.

Avery looked over her shoulder at Lionheart laying prone on the floor. He whined and used his large paws to cover his watery eyes. He then peeked over his paw checking -- hoping -- that Avery had laid pity on the fox.

Avery was inwardly happy. The acting skills of her children, so to speak, were improving. It meant that she didn't waste her time training them. This of course doesn't mean that she would let them off the hook. Especially not when they made such a huge mess of the place.

Avery and her familiars might not speak the same language but she did raise them since birth. How could she not know what was going on? Adding on the fact that a [Beast Tamer] has a special bond with their familiars. That same bond would help them understand each other. It would be strange if she didn't.

Avery raised one of her eyebrows and said, "Wait 'til Tomoyo sees this mess."

Lionheart's ears visibly dropped. The fur on Cobalt's back stood on end. The duo looked around and saw that their surroundings were in shambles. It was as if a maelstrom came and left.

Although the two knew that they wouldn't escape punishment, they still harbored that tiny speck of hope that they'd get off with just a little more than a slap to the paw and one less meal. When Avery reminded them of the aftermath of their mischief, they realized the gravity of their actions. They couldn't even hope that Tomoyo would be a little bit more lenient with them when she finds out.

"Lionheart, go dry yourself up. Afterwards, you two should hurry and clean up this mess. Don't ask Bolt to help you. And do not disturb Violet. You wouldn't want to see Violet getting angry while she's getting ready to lay her eggs, do you?

We'll talk about how we're going to ground you later. I'm gonna go prepare dinner. And no, you two are not getting food tonight."

Avery shook her head. She was in a relatively good mood and wanted to ask her pets what they wanted for dinner. But after seeing the mess they made, she decided to make those two regret being so mischievous. It was a good thing that Avery didn't decide to make dinner in the tavern's kitchen on the first floor.

Ok, maybe it's not a good thing to starve her pets but they do need to be disciplined. What better way to discipline them than to let the two trouble makers watch the rest of them eat their favorite dishes and not let them have any?

Avery conveniently pushed aside the memory of those rare moments of her familiars rebelliously ignoring her instructions and just steal food while they thought she wasn't looking.

Finally deciding on the menu for that night, Avery made a beeline to the kitchen on the third floor. She had full intention to cook up a feast for four.