Outside of the Baths

After way too long spent pacing back and forth outside, Scarlet’s voice finally cuts off, signifying the end of the ascension. And both Leonidas and his father stop pacing to stand still right outside of the changing room connected to the bath, simply waiting for her to leave the bath and get changed.

But she never leaves.

Leonidas and his father share a look before Leonidas asks, “You think she passed out in the bath?”

His father frowns and glances at the door with a look that tells Leonidas that he’s probably considering going inside to check. But before either of them can do anything, a tanuki appears in front of them looking slightly down.

“Is she okay?” “How’s she doing?” Both Leonidas and his father ask at the same time, their eyes drilling into the tanuki completely lacking any sort of patience.

“She’s fine,” the tanuki answers, making both of them let out sighs right away. “But she decided to take a nap afterwards and is sleeping in the bath. So please don’t disturb her.”

Leonidas feels surprised that the usually meek fae prince would order him around, even if in a polite manner, much less the Demon King. But when he glances at his father, he just sees the man nodding while summoning a throne of blood and casually sitting in the hallways.

After a few seconds of silence, Leonidas nods and does the same, sitting outside of the changing room waiting with his father for his daughter to wake up.

And right before the tanuki vanishes, he can’t help but notice a surprised and slightly incredulous look on the ball of fur’s face. But he ignores it on account of how important he is to his daughter, along with the fact that he was the only one there to help her through her ascension.

Even if the fact that she was technically naked in the same room as the fae grinds on his nerves.

“Remember that-” Elara starts, only for Leonidas to answer in his head, ‘I know you fae don’t feel sexual attraction towards humans. But that doesn’t change how a father might feel.”

Elara stays quiet, but Leonidas notices faint waves of amusement wafting to him from their bond.

He tries to distract himself by thinking of whatever matter The Reaper was talking about before Scarlet’s ascension started, but that only brings his mind to the report about The Reaper offering his daughter a Catalyst. Something he shouldn’t have done.

If I had to guess, it was due to his dislike of how we blood lycans do things… but that was still almost crossing a line…

Leonidas shakes his head at the thought.

Well, nothing happened, so it’s better to not cause trouble with the ghouls.

The man then sighs, his gaze not leaving the changing room door. But his eyes go wide when he realizes that the fae is probably in there alone with his daughter as she sleeps naked in the bath, making his claws extend on their own at the realization.

I must not rip the tanuki apart. I must not rip the tanuki apart. I must not-

Elara chuckles this time, making him narrow his eyes. But then he continues the chant in his head.

I must not rip the tanuki apart. I must not rip the tanuki apart. I must not rip the tanuki apart…

Scarlet

After waking up feeling a lot more relaxed in the bath who knows how long later, I stand up and stretch a little with a short yawn before walking to the changing room and getting dressed. Then I hear Tar saying, “You’re finally up? Your father and grandfather have been sitting outside for about three hours now waiting for you.”

I blink at that and stare at the tanuki for several seconds.

Oh.

Oops?

I walk over to the door while activating my armor before opening it, not surprising them in the least. Until I say, “I’m okay,” and begin closing the door again so that I can check my messages, only for a hand to catch the door, making it stop moving instantly.

“Did you seriously think that would be all you needed to say?” I hear Leonidas’s voice ask rather incredulously as he pushes the door back open.

That has me tilting my head slightly, my head still more than a little sleep addled from my lovely nap in the bath as I mutter, “Yeah?”

I see the tanuki slapping his paw to his face in a display of exasperation as Leonidas’s mouth parts open in surprise and Gramps full-on belly laughs. But I’m still not sure what’s happening so I just turn around and walk over to the bench as I let the System Messages pass.

Ascension complete.

User is now Class III.