Chapter 13 : Noon

“F-f-fuck y-y-you al-al-all!” growled Mica as she desperately held on to the last shred of fabric that was once her silken scarf “F-f-f-fucking! D-d-d-die! Al-al-al-all of-of y-y-y-you!”

“Quit being so dramatic, you little shit...” said Kianna as she reached over and worked to pry Mica's fingers apart “And let go. We're throwing this away...”

“St-st-st-stop!” cried the kiochi as she tried in vain to keep the fabric in place over her bust “N-no!”

“Enough, seriously. You're not even covering anything...” sighed Kianna as she yanked the fabric away from Mica and tossed it aside.

Mica growled through her chattering teeth in frustration as she watched the lightweight silken material flutter to the floor where it joined the pile of ripped up scraps that were once the rest of her scarf and panties.

Naked now, save for the belt still wrapped tightly around her waist, Mica turned to Kianna and gave her a hateful, scowling glare as she hunched in on herself, wrapped one arm around her bosom and held the other down across her torso so as to bury her hand in between her pressed thighs and cover her hidden slit.

Smirking, Kianna stuck her tongue out at her in a teasing manner before turning away with a dismissive huff. With her own condescending smile on her face, Fiona laughed mockingly at the incensed kiochi before turning away from her as well and following Kianna's gaze to the archway that led out from the bathroom.

All three of them were now sitting on the edge of the large tub as they waited for Anton to return from where he'd gone to gather more potions.

Having removed their soaked clothing, the two dark elves sat huddled together for warmth. Though still heavily chilled, they were no longer shivering as Mica still was and, also unlike the seething shinoccubus, they once again seemed to have no issue with their nakedness as they made no effort to cover themselves in anyway.

Glaring at them for a moment, Mica took advantage of the stillness to slowly inch closer to Kianna and tentatively press herself against the dark elf's side.

Kianna sucked in a gasping breath through her teeth as a sudden sharp chill shot through her body. Turning to find Mica trying to huddle up next to her, the dark elf immediately pointed her ears straight back as an irritated scowl marred her face.

“What the Hell do you think you're doing!?” she growled as she loomed over the smaller female “Don't fucking touch me!”

Cowed and cringing away, Mica groaned miserably and hunched even further in on herself as she continued to shiver.

“Aw! Is the little ninja-bitch still cold over there!?” mocked Fiona as she leaned forward to look around her sister “Poor little ninja-bitch!”

“Poor nothing!” snapped Kianna as she nudged her shoulder into Mica's and gave her a shove “It's all her fault that we're all like this in the first place! Stupid little idiot!”

Clenching her teeth in anger, Mica said nothing as she looked away and tightened her arm around her chest.

“Now I don't think that's all too fair to say, Kianna.” said Anton as he stepped back into the room “As I recall it, you and Fiona both volunteered to be punished along with her.”

Having returned from his home through the portal he had set up in the other room, Anton's hands were both filled with an assortment of small glass bottles that each contained a different colored liquid.

“We weren't trying to get punished along with her!” complained Kianna “We were trying to help her. Which was a stupid move on our part!”
“Very true.” nodded Anton as he made his way over to the counter-top and set down the collected potions “And while I do think your intentions were commendable, that was still a very poorly thought out decision. And even though it could be argued that Mica was ultimately responsible for what happened to the three of you, it's hardly right to try and blame her for choices that you and your sister made all on your own.”

“...Wait! Are you actually defending Mica right now!?” exclaimed Fiona “Seriously!? Where is this coming from!?”

“I'm merely being fair. Mica's antics may have been a catalyst, but you two sealed your own fates yourselves.” explained Anton “She had nothing to do with your decision. And so I'm not going to let you take out your frustrations on her, when for once in her life... She is actually innocent.”

Picking up one of the bottles from the counter, Anton brought the dark green colored brew up to eye level and gave it a quick shake before making his way over to Mica and standing in front of her.

Though clearly aware of Anton's presence, Mica made an effort to feign ignorance as she kept her head bowed and stared off to the side.

Unperturbed by her efforts, Anton twisted off the wax seal from the mouth of the bottle and unceremoniously dumped its contents across the kiochi's head.

Startled by the sensation of the potion landing on her, Mica went to shake her head but in her reduced state she could hardly manage to twist her head to the side before going still.

Anton stayed silent as he watched the potion sink down and disappear as it was absorbed into Mica's body. Once it was fully gone, he lowered himself down to rest on one knee.

Despite herself, Mica couldn't help but to shift her glaring eyes to Anton's as he knelt down in front of her.

“Unfortunately, that potion I just gave you was rather old. So I don't know how well it's going to really help you. If anything though, it should still take the edge off of any muscle pains that you're currently experiencing.” said Anton as he looked the kiochi over and assessed her condition “I do have another potion that will help you far more. But we'll save that for after your bath.”

Mica's eyes narrowed in suspicion as Anton looked at her directly.

“...I'm going to release your tail.” he said calmly “I would be surprised if by now the muscles in it haven't become cramped. And I'm sure that this has made it quite uncomfortable, if not down right painful for you... Do not make me regret this.”

Blinking in surprise, Mica went still as Anton reached around her waist and began to open the lock that held the belt in place.

“We will be having a conversation soon, once you have had a chance to recover a bit. There are several things that need to be addressed. And I'm sure you have your complaints. We will discus all your misgivings then.” said Anton as he worked to slowly and gently undo the straps of the belt “I'll give you the chance to say all you want. Then I'll answer any questions you may have, and explain my own actions. As I do want you to fully understand why you were punished today. ...I suggest you take this time to get your thoughts in order.”

Mica's expression went from thoughtful to hateful as she listened to Anton speak. As the belt was removed from around her waist, she went to uncoil her tail but almost immediately wrapped it tightly back around her body in a futile attempt to keep it warm.

Anton sighed through his nose and slowly shook his head as he watched the miserable looking kiochi struggle to maintain her modesty as she tried and failed to keep herself from shivering wildly.

“You might be worse off than I thought... We really do need to get you warmed back up.” muttered Anton as he stood up “Kianna.”

“Hm, yes!?” chirped the dark elf as she looked up at him.

“Mica is really suffering at the moment. Do you mind letting her rest against you while I get the bath going?” asked Anton as he made his way around the tub to where the facets were located.

“...Seriously!?” mumbled Kianna “...Do I really have to?”

“Well, no. You don't have to.” chuckled Anton as he tossed the belt on the counter and began to open the tub's facets “I'd really appreciate it if you did though.”

Pointing her ears straight back in annoyance, Kianna rolled her eyes before letting out a exasperated sigh.

“Fine!” she exclaimed as she shifted around until her back was facing Mica “But you better watch it with those horns!”

Mica wasted no time as she frantically scooted right up to the dark elf and huddled in against her.

“Oh crap! That's cold!” grumbled Kianna as she involuntarily arched her back and pointed her ears straight upwards “Seriously! ...How are you still this cold!?”

“Infernals don't generate body heat in the same way that Terran people do. Because normally they don't need to.” said Anton as he absently felt the water coming out of the now open taps “Since the hellscape type of environment that they come from is naturally always extremely warm, they can rely on said environment to help keep their bodies regulated. Now, this doesn't mean that they're fully ectothermic like a reptile is, they're not, though they aren't that far off from it either. They do generate their own body heat, they're just not very good at it. And once they've been chilled in the way that Mica has, they'll need to either use magic, or get some outside help to warm themselves back up again. Otherwise it could take a very long time for them to do it themselves. This is why chilling them like this is the best method to use if you want to take them as prisoners.”

“Hm, so if we really wanted to warm her up real quick...” mused Fiona as she leaned around Kianna and looked Mica up and down “Could we just stick her in the oven for a little while?”

“We could. That would actually work.” nodded Anton “A warm bath will be far more comfortable for her though.”

“...All the more reason to go with the oven then.” mumbled Kianna as she gave Mica a quick shove with her shoulder “Or maybe the microwave...”

Grunting, Mica kept her head lowered and didn't say a word as she tentatively pressed herself back against the dark elf. Grinning wickedly, Kianna began to lightly sway back and forth so as to prevent the kiochi from getting comfortable in any way.

Watching this, Anton frowned as he waited for Mica to get frustrated and lash out with either her spade or her horns. He was pleasantly surprised when instead, all she did was shift her head away, so as to point her horns to the side, and do her best to follow along with Kianna's movements.

“Hm, well that's a good sign...” he mused to himself as he began to magically heat the bathwater.

Seemingly sensing the heat of the water behind her, Mica looked back over her shoulder and gasped in excitement as she immediately made to twist herself around.

“Hold on a second, Mica.” said Anton as the kiochi stopped just short of toppling over backwards “Let it fill up a little more first.”

“W-w-w-why!?” whined the kiochi as she stared longingly at the few inches of water “C-c-can I-I j-j-j-j-j-just g-g-get in-in-in!?”

“I need a little more water in there to keep warming it up.” explained Anton “I don't want to damage the tub by heating up such a small amount of water too fast.”

Chattering and shaking uncontrollably, Mica whined in frustration as she pressed herself even tighter against Kianna's back.

Watching her out of the corner of her eye, Kianna couldn't help but to feel a sympathetic tightness in her chest as she saw that desperate tears were forming in the quaking kiochi's eyes.

“...Dammit.” she muttered as she turned around and wrapped her arms around the smaller female “C'mere, you! Hold still!”

Though surprised to find herself suddenly being pulled into the unexpected embrace, Mica offered no resistance and instead gave up on her modesty as she ducked her head in under the dark elf's chin, pressed herself up against her torso and clutched her as tightly as she could.

“God's alive! You are seriously so cold!” muttered Kianna as she did her best to hold on to Mica's shivering body “No wonder you can't even move!”

Shutting her eyes in bliss, Mica's only response was a long, drawn out, appreciative sounding sigh.

“Aw, how cute!” snickered Fiona “Are you keeping the poor little baby warm?”

“Shut up!” snapped Kianna as she pointed her ears straight back and tightened her hold on Mica “...And yes. ...I am.”

Both Anton and Fiona chuckled as they watched Kianna's jaw tighten in annoyance.

Once the tub was nearly a quarter of the way full, Anton heated the water in it to a comfortably hot temperature before nodding to the dark elves.

“Okay, you girls can go ahead and stick your feet in now.” he said as he gave Fiona a pointed look “If that triggers the need to use the restroom then go and do it. Don't try to hold it.”

Grimacing up at him, Fiona stuck out her tongue before she and the other's twisted around in their seats on the edge of the tub and dropped their feet into the steaming water. Sharp gasps were quickly followed by heavy sighs of relief as all three of them moaned in satisfaction.

After a few moments, Fiona began to bite her lower lip and press her thighs together. Noticing this, Anton gave her another pointed look that was complete with a raised eyebrow.

“Fuck!” grumbled Fiona as she huffed in irritation and rose from her seat before quickly jogging out of the room.

Watching her leave, Kianna grimaced as her own source of warmth left with her. She became startled as Mica suddenly started to buck in her arms.

“P-p-p-p-please!” whimpered the now struggling kiochi “C-c-c-c-can't I-I-I j-j-j-j-just g-g-get in al-al-al-al-al-already!?”

“No, not yet. You could end up sending your system into shock by jumping your body from one extreme to another like that.” explained Anton “Give it a few more minutes with just your feet in there and then you can get in.”

Wailing in misery, Mica's tail began to quiver wildly around her waist as she stared at the rising water.

“Hey! Settle down, you!” exclaimed Kianna as she hugged the kiochi to herself and did her best to hold on to her.

As Fiona came trotting back into the room, Kianna immediately called out to her.

“Fiona! Come here! I need your help!” she cried out over Mica's gibbering.

“Huh? What, what do you need?” asked Fiona as she pointed her ears straight upwards.

“Help me hold this little bitch! She's trying to get in the tub and she's not ready yet!” exclaimed Kianna “She's gonna end up shocking her system if she jumps in too fast!”

“...Okay? And? Who cares if she does that?” asked Fiona.

“You... Argh! Just shut up and help me!” growled Kianna “Please!”

Laughing smugly, Fiona sat down on the other side of Mica and pressed herself against the kiochi's back before quickly wrapping her arms around her and speaking into her ear.

“Hey there... You better calm down you naughty little ninja-bitch...” cooed Fiona as she gathered one of Mica's breasts in each of her hands and gave them both an ominous squeeze “Unless you wanna get pinched again...”

“Ah! N-n-n-n-no! St-st-stop!” cried Mica as she tried to pull away from the groping dark elf “N-n-n-not ah-g-g-g-gain!”

“Then sit... still!” breathed Fiona as her fingertips began to tentatively tap at Mica's hardened nipples “And maybe, just maybe, we can avoid that...”

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Mica scowled angrily as she forced herself to go as still as possible.

“Good girl...” smiled Fiona as she gave each of the kiochi's breasts another gentle, but still menacing squeeze “See, Kianna. This is how you get an unruly bitch under control.”

“Hm, right. I'll try to remember this the next time I need to put you in your place...” said Kianna as she gave her sister a smug grin.

“Yeah, sure. Good luck with that.” said Fiona as she returned Kianna's grin with her own.

Still shivering, even as she was sandwiched between the two clinging dark elves, Mica's eyes widened as she felt Fiona's warm, soft breasts mold themselves across her back as the dark elf pressed herself against her. Try as she might to push this realization out of her mind, she just couldn't keep herself from blushing a bright, crimson red. Her blush grew in intensity and spread to her ears as Fiona's weight forced her forward and caused her own bust to become mashed against Kianna's. Grimacing in embarrassment and expecting to be ogled, her eyes immediately darted over to Anton, were she was surprised to find that he was instead still preoccupied with the rising bathwater and thankfully seemed to be ignoring the dark elves antics.

As the water level reached the tub's halfway point, Anton gave the dark elves another nod, and, while towing the excitedly whimpering kiochi along with them, they immediately clambered into the tub and sat themselves down in the rising water.

Huddled in between the two dark elves, Mica's shivering lessened down to almost nothing as the steaming water rose around her. Once the waterline reached to just below her shoulders, Anton shut off the taps, and she and the dark elves all hunkered down to soak in the soothing warmth.

Taking his place in his deck chair, Anton pulled his phone from his pocket and settled in to wait for Mica and the dark elves to recover.

“Let me know when the water needs to be warmed up again.” he said as he began to go over his emails.

For the better part of the next hour, the room remained relatively quiet and peaceful. Anton had to rewarm the bathwater several times during this period as Mica seemed to be literally soaking up the heat from around her.

As time went on, the life started returning to both Fiona and Kianna at a much faster pace than it did with the kiochi that was dozing in between them.

Glancing at one another and grinning slyly, they looked down at their intended victim and covertly positioned their hands in place on either side of her head.

“...Ow! Quit it!” cried Mica as the dark elves, moving in unison, gave her ears a quick tug at the same time.

“Wakey wakey!” teased Fiona as she flicked Mica on the nose “Don't want to fall asleep and drown now, do you?”

“I'm not!” snapped Mica as she glared at the dark elf.

Looking back and forth at her two tormentors, Mica's glare grew into a full scowl as she took in their mischievous grins. She could now easily have just moved away from them, but was reluctant to give up on the warmth that could be had by staying in place between their two bodies.

“Wha!? Hey! Stop!” she cried as they suddenly wrapped their arms around her, held her wrists against her stomach and planted their chins down on top of her head “What do you think you're doing!?”

“What!?” sang Kianna as she tightened her hold on the struggling kiochi “We're warming you up!”

“Yeah, don't worry!” exclaimed Fiona as she smiled broadly enough to show off her short fangs “We're just trying to help you!”

Mica cried out in protest as the viciously smiling dark elves preceded to rest their full weight atop her shoulders and cause her to involuntarily hunch down into herself.

“No! No! Stop it!” she cried as they then pressed their chins down hard onto her head and forced her to slowly sink further and further into the water “Stop, sto-!”

Mica began to sputter in panic as both her mouth and nose were held just below the waterline by the now wickedly giggling dark elves.

“Hey, knock that off you two. No drowning the shinoccubus...” mumbled Anton without looking away from his phone “If anyone's going to drown that little brat it's going to be me. And if I don't get to do it, then no one does...”

The still giggling dark elves both let up on Mica's head but kept their grips on her wrists as they held her in place.

Mica's eyes were misty with light tears as she popped her head up and coughed out a mouthful of water.

“Ack! Ack! W-w-why!?” she cried.

“Why? Well, it's simple... We just can't help it...” cooed Fiona as she leaned in close and began to whisper into Mica's ear “You see, it's in our nature to be... mean!”

“That's right...” soothed Kianna as she followed her sister's lead and began to whisper softly into Mica's other ear “We are dark elves after all... And we're supposed to punish people... Guilty people...”

“People, just, like, you...” continued Fiona “Cute, little, kiochi's... Who have been bad little girls...”

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Mica went stiff as she pressed her lips together into a thin line.

“Naughty little kiochi's... Who get captured...” whispered Kianna around a smile “And who can't escape... Or teleport away...”

“Trapped, little kiochi's...” breathed Fiona as she let her teeth just barely graze the edge of Mica's pointed ear “Squeezable... Pinchable... Spankable... Little, kiochi's...”

“Kiochi's, who are just, like, you!” teased Kianna “One's that are small, soft and helpless!”

Blinking, Mica's expression hardened as she stared down at the water in front of her and listened to the dark elves mirthful snickering.

“Soft, and helpless...” she growled as she tightened her eyes into a glare “Who do you think you're calling soft and helpless...”

The dark elves were instantly silenced as they felt an unexpected flurry of motion take place around them. Glancing at each other in uncertainty, they both shifted their eyes forward as a long, thin shape began to move about in the water in front of them.

Rising into the air in a manner that was reminiscent of an angry cobra, Mica's coiled tail broke through the surface of the water and arched upwards until her bladed spade came into view.

The dark elves eyes went wide as they both locked onto the tip of the spearhead-like spade and watched as it slowly twirled in a circle as it rose above them.

“Well!?” grumbled Mica as she flexed the muscles around the base of her spade so that her barbs would bloom out in a threatening manner “You were saying something about soft and helpless!?”

Staring up at the menacing display, the dark elves watched as Mica's curved barbs began to curl inwards and then spread back out in time with each of her breaths. Narrowing their eyes, they glanced back at each other before slowly loosening their hold on the kiochi and easing themselves away from her.

“Heh! That's what I thou-Ugh!” exclaimed Mica as Fiona and Kianna both planted their hands on the back of her shoulders and violently shoved her forward.

“Humph. Moody little ninja-bitch.” mumbled Fiona as she and Kianna both moved back and away from the staggering kiochi “You're no fun anymore.”

“What are you talking about? This little bitch was never fun...” said Kianna as she planted her foot against Mica's back and shoved her again, this time hard enough to force her head underwater.

Once the panicked kiochi quickly recovered herself, she whorled around and glared at the two dark elves while arching her tail up high over her head and pointing its bladed tip at them.

Moving to the other side of the tub, Fiona and Kianna sat together with their backs resting against the sidewall as they gazed icily at the angry kiochi.

“If you think we're going to be scared of you or that little toothpick you have at the end of your tail, then you're wrong, sister!” said Fiona “You aren't intimidating anybody.”

“You better get all this viciousness out of your system now, Mica.” said Kianna as she narrowed her eyes in warning “Because you will not be threatening us again.”

A silent standoff between the three women thus commenced and lasted for nearly a full minute until with a dismissive huff, the two dark elves stretched out their legs, let their heads lull back onto the edge of the tub and closed their eyes before starting to doze.

Unnerved by their apparent indifference to her, Mica tentatively lowered her tail before glancing over at Anton. She stiffened in unease as she found him staring right back at her with a keenly thoughtful expression on his face. Looking away from him, she scooted herself back until she nearly hit her own section of the tub's sidewall and hunkered herself down by pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her folded legs.

Having positioned herself in such a way that she could move just her eyes to see either the dark elves or Anton, Mica watched the dark elves do nothing as Anton went back to looking at his phone. Settling in to focus on her own recovery, she kept her silent vigil on her enemies as she tried to figure out a way to escape from them. After a moment of contemplation, she reached up to her neck and began to lightly pull on the ring of steel and inlaid silver that kept her pool of mana locked away from her. As she sat there thinking, she once again became acutely aware of the sharp pains that still plagued the muscles throughout her body. And so, in search of relief, she began to stretch out said muscles as covertly as she could.

To say the very least, Anton had found the exchange that had just taken place between the dark elves and Mica to be more than intriguing. Though he hadn't intervened in any way, he had certainly been ready to. His hesitation to get involved, though difficult for him to maintain, was at this point very important, as it had now become necessary for him to look at things in a broader scope. Where as before, Mica had merely been a problem that once resolved would then be completely over and done with. The end result being that she would be gone, and everyone involved in this fiasco could simply move on with their lives. Now however, this was no longer the case. The shinoccubus wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. And this meant that this situation had to be handled far differently from here on out. And Anton knew that the first step that needed to be taken, was to change his own mentality.

It was unfortunate that hindsight was such a cruel mistress, as had he known that things would have eventually led to this outcome, he would have made vastly different decisions early on. As it sat, in an effort to make her second guess any idea she may have had of attempting to harm either himself or the dark elves, he had been working towards establishing a sense of fear and dread in the shinoccubus. In other words, he had gone down the path of attempting to control her by forcing her to surrender.

This had been a mistake. And had he known better he wouldn't have allowed her to be treated so brutally and would have instead been working towards establishing a level of trust between her, himself and the dark elves. And this, despite being set back as far as they now were, was his new goal.

Now, it wasn't necessarily the worse thing that Mica had been subjected to such harsh punishments, as she would now understand that any consequences she was threatened with would be quite real, and she knew by now that she could believe him and what he said, even if she didn't like it. This was far from the foundation of trust that Anton would have preferred to have built with her, but it was at least something he could work with. It was also helpful to know exactly where he and the shinoccubus currently stood in regards to each other. They were enemies, plain and simple. This was something that they both understood, and something that he did intend to fix.

Now, Mica's relationship with the dark elves however... that was a bit more complicated.

On the surface it would appear that they all had every reason to see each other as enemies as well. Strangely though, this didn't seem to be the case. For reasons that he still didn't fully understand, the dark elves had felt compelled to speak out in defense of Mica, and she in turn had elected to defend them physically. This was quite the shift in attitudes all around. And he did intend to further question the dark elves about this as soon as he had a chance to be alone with them.

Fiona in particular seemed to be more inclined to be amicable towards the shinoccubus, or at least she wasn't quite as aggressive towards her as she could be, and he was beginning to think that this was due to the fact that Fiona had found Mica and her situation relatable to herself and her own past decisions. That she somehow saw a bit of herself in the headstrong and overly eager shinoccubus. This would certainly be interesting if true, as it would mean that he should begin to regard Fiona as a person with far more depth than he had previously thought.

Kianna, on the other hand, was clearly of the complete opposite mindset. And, surprisingly, was at this point the bigger problem between the two dark elves. As she had no issue with making it known that she had no intention of ever being on friendly terms with Mica. And was instead far more interested in making the kiochi as miserable as possible. This cruelty was in stark contrast to Kianna's normal demeanor, and Anton couldn't help but to feel that this was more of a false projection than anything else. One that she would possibly drop if given a good enough reason, he simply needed to find that reason...

And in the meantime, he would also need to keep an eye out for any opportunities to shift the current mentality the dark elves seemed to have in regards to the shinoccubus, as they had made it fairly clear that in their view, she was going to be treated as a pet, and this was something that was definitely not going to work.

In his time among the dark elves, Anton had seen first hand exactly how the different types of slaves would each be treated. With servants, lovers, thralls, etc and etc, all being shown different levels of respect, freedom and dignity. And among these levels, a “pet” was far from the top. To the dark elves, a “pet” meant something very specific. Essentially, a pet was given little to no autonomy whatsoever. They were not given a choice in hardly anything they did and were instead treated in the same manner that one would treat a small breed of dog or even a doll. And what was down right uncanny was how easily the dark elves seemed to be able to suppress an individuals sapience down to the point that they would become indistinguishable from said dogs or dolls. The beings subjected to this fate would become literal pets, completely tame, willingly obedient and fully dependent to the point of obsession with their given master or mistress.

Now, although it would certainly be interesting to watch and see whether or not Fiona and Kianna could, through some form of instinctual process, successfully tame Mica down and turn her into their pet, this, unfortunately, just couldn't be allowed to happen.

Mica had a job to do. And in order to do this job successfully, she would need to maintain a level of independence and not be reduced to a harmless, quivering mess who was forever craving the touch and attention of her mistresses.

The dark elves would need to see her as something other than a potential pet. Now what that something should be was still to be determined. There were options to be considered of course. And even just now, Fiona's recent quip did offer a new and interesting alternative that Anton hadn't thought of before...

One problem at a time though, as on the other side of this battle-line was the more glaring issue of Mica herself...

Anton's thoughts were interrupted as Mica suddenly let out a small sneeze which caused him to glance over at her. Gazing at her for a moment, he turned back to stare idly at his phone as he let one new plan after another begin to slowly form in his mind.