"God this guy's life was boring." Laura said as the two of them ate dinner.
It's been a couple of days since the incident and Laura was still going through the man's memory. To be specific she was slowly receiving parts of his memory and life, and had to sort determine if it was trash or useful.
"You did learn what the perception filter did." Zenesha pointed out.
"I guess."
The device the fox man named Samual used didn't erase his presence from one's mind like Laura thought it did. That part was probably only unique to her since she was a void creature and tended to be more affected by the Ather. What the device really did was make people not question his presence.
It allowed him to go anywhere. While people did notice him, they wouldn't question why he was there in the first place. Of course it wasn't foolproof. If someone for some reason scrutinized him a little too much, they could see through the filter. So, he was unable to just attack people or brandish a weapon.
His actions were still perceived after all and anything too outside the norm, or even life threatening broke everything. It was a mixture of this and Zenesha's increased sensitivity to these greater energies that allowed her to see through the man's filter. It was also why he was so shocked when she stopped him from pouring tea.
"Still haven't got a memory of who they worked for though." Laura growled. "They trusted him with a very important item; there's a good chance he met with someone important."
"Just be patient."
"I can't, you're still in danger till I purge this place of all-"
Laura stopped mid rant at feeling a hand on top of her head. With a stunned look on her face, she turned towards Zenesha. Her arm was stretched out disappearing from view as it went over her head. Laura couldn't believe it. The fox was petting her head.
"This always made me feel better when you did it." she said.
"It works for me too, princess." Laura answered with her tail wagging.
The relationship between the two has grown considerably since Laura ate the fox man's soul. To be specific, Zenesha was much less reserved in showing the wolf affection. Laura has been on cloud nine because of this and wishes things could just stay peaceful so she can cuddle with the cute fox.
After the two of them finished eating dinner they cleaned their plates and headed back to their room. The wolf was excited because she was promoted from sleeping on the floor, to the foot of the bed, to now using Zenesha as a body pillow. Surrounded by her calming minty scent.
"Hey Lola, should we go somewhere?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"We have nothing to do right now until you get the memories we need, so let's go out."
"Is this a date? Is this the thing couples do?!" Laura asked excitedly.
Zenesha rolled her eyes and continued talking. "I was thinking we could go to the movies in the city, what do you think?"
"What movie are you thinking of seeing?"
"I'm not sure, let's figure it out when we get there."
"Let's go now!" Laura said with barely contained excitement.
"Hold on, let's change clothes." Zenesha said, stepping back before the wolf could teleport them.
"...Huh?"
"I can't go out like this; I'll be recognized immediately."
"Oh, right."
"Let's get changed then we can leave."
Feeling extremely impatient Laura snapped her fingers and changed her clothes. She wore her grey jacket with an orange inside, black shirt, and military fatigues. She still wore no shoes, she wasn't a real Arves, but she understood why the majority preferred to walk with their bare paws.
"... That's convenient. Wait here while I change too." Zenesha said feeling envious.
Laura watched her leave then looked down at her paws as she considered putting on shoes. She did own some footwear designed to fit the paws of Arveses.
'This is a date….' She thought, snapping her fingers again, two dark grey boots appearing on her feet.
After doing that she waited for Zenesha to come out of her closet. After a few minutes the adorable tall fox stepped out. She wore a light blue hoodie that matched her eyes, comfortable looking jeans and black boots. Laura was over the moon.
"Collector's edition princess!" She shouted.
"How do you even know what that is!?" Responded the flustered fox as a blush painted her face.
"Let's go!" Laura said, grabbing the still embarrassed fox and teleporting into the city.
They appeared in the middle of an alley, the same one Laura cut her arm off in. Considering she could only teleport where she's seen or been to before the wolf didn't have much choice. She only visited the one alleyway in case of emergency, but she's realizing she might have to start visiting more places.
"This way… Zen." She said, leading her fox out of the alley.
"Zen?"
"We're on a secret date. Your name is Zen now."
"Mmhm." Hummed Zenesha, happy with a proper nickname for once.
"You're going have to guide us to the movies though, I wouldn't know where to start."
=======
—Zenesha POV—
The two of us walked into the theater and walked up to the ticket counter. The last time I went to the movie theater was with my mother. Once a month the both of us would head to the movies and just spend the day together without worrying about anything.
"What movie would you like to see?" Laura asked me, bringing me back from my thoughts.
"Hmm, how about you choose?" I spoke.
Laura nodded at me and looked at the available movies. Despite having no intentions of ever going to the movies again, I still made it a habit of checking which movies would be in theaters. There were the popular ones, or the ones made by a famous director, but those weren't what I was looking for.
I looked for experimental movies. Movies made by an independent, but relatively unknown director, movies with small budgets. The movies that no one talks about simply because it's new, unknown. Me and my mother made it a point to avoid the mainstream movies.
'The smaller ones were either really good, or really bad, but we always ended up having fun.' I reminisced. 'If she was here, she would pick-'
"How about this one?" Laura said pointing at the movie I was just looking at. "Looks interesting."
"...."
"Zen? What's wrong?" Laura asked when I didn't answer.
"I, uh, nothing." I stammered, my voice thick with emotions.
"... Will you be alright?"
"Yeah…. Yeah, I will." I said before tapping the consol a few times and paying for the tickets. A little dispenser next to us spit out our two tickets and I grabbed them and held them up to Laura.
"Let's enjoy ourselves a movie"
=-=-=-=
After we got our snacks and sat down in the mostly empty theater, me and Lucilla got ourselves comfortable. As the movie started, I glanced over to Laura and found her looking my way from the corner of her eye.
"What?" I asked my voice low.
"Nothing, just checking on you." She answered back. "But since your tail is moving back and forth, I guess that means you're happy."
I rolled my eyes at her, but after she pointed it out, I noticed the excited way my tail moved, and how it seemed to become more active after her words. It was… nice having someone pay such close attention to my mood, even when I chose to not explain why it was fluctuating.
I turned my attention back to the screen, hoping the darkness hid the slight blush I felt creeping onto my cheeks. I really shouldn't be falling for Laura, even if she truly cared for me. But I honestly couldn't bring myself to not care for the void wolf.
As the movie continued however, I felt more and more baffled. It was like someone saw my and Laura's relationship and decided to create a movie based on it. I knew that wasn't the case since this was probably made over a year or more ago, but some of the parallels were… too accurate.
It was a movie of a medieval Queen and a Demon falling in love. Their first meeting was after the Demon saved and nursed the Queen back to health because of a traitor in her queendom. It showed the Demon learning to love and the Queen slowly developing her own feelings in turn.
I was embarrassed but was truly enjoying the film until the end. In the end the Demon was dragged back to the nether realm against her will. Forever separating the two lovers for all eternity.
=======
We teleported back to my room and changed into our night clothes getting ready for bed.
"I really would've loved to rewatch the movie if not for the ending." Laura sighed.
The both of us were in the middle of discussing the movie. We both agreed it was a well put together film and has the potential to get a cult following. The only issue we had was the ending. What upset us the most was the fact the ending wasn't bad, just not in our personal taste.
"I would've preferred if they managed to avoid having to send her back." I grumbled.
The both of us saw the ending coming, it wasn't a shocking twist since the movie kept foreshadowing the outcome.
"Yeah. this movie honestly hi-" Laura paused her expression morphed from surprised to joy.
"Guess what I just found." She said with a grin.
"Did you get the memory?" I asked perking up
"Yeah, and Xavier was surprisingly close when it came to guessing who the culprit is."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and they're still just some nobody," Laura said. "To us anyway since she wasn't even a consideration despite her rank."
"Let's have the investigation team focus their efforts on this person then." I spoke. "We need proper evidence to explain why we're arresting this person for treachery. It'll also keep us having to explain your abilities."
"Do we have too?" She asked with a sigh
"The Condor's need a reason at the very least." I explained. "If the people and soldiers see that everyone at the top is under agreement then they're more than happy to accept whatever we do."
"I see. Then I'll be back, I'm going to inform them that the second in command of Condor Daniel must be investigated." She said standing up.
"Daniel's second in command?"
"Yes, my princess. I'll be going now."
"Wai- and she's gone." I sigh. "Did she even realize I could've sent a quick email to them?"
I shrugged and waited for my wolf to return so we could go to sleep.