The Dark Mage

Chapter 23: Home Sweet Home

     After so many times and so many things going wrong in her life, Natalia loved being back home that when she landed at Florida International Spaceport she kissed and hugged the ground. And for all the effort she put in to maintain her athletic physique, she forgot about it and got a big burger with fries and a large soda. And although Katherine Ringtail found this strange, she could understand knowing how long Natalia had been away from her home and family. After all, Katherine wanted to meet Natalia's family and stay for a while so she could decide whether or not she would let her son marry Natalia.

     The four: Natalia, Buck, Katherine, and Titania then got on their flight to Kansas and made the 2-hour drive back to Natalia's house where Natalia had agreed to allow Katherine to stay. And thanks to Agron and Sylvia, the house was spotless as Agron and Sylvia's dragon Tatsu was roasting a feral hog before eating it. Natalia then said to Agron and Sylvia, "Thanks again for keeping the place kept together while I was away."

     Agron then answered her, "As I normally would. It's not my house with you letting me live here while my fiancé and I are almost able to make the downpayment for our own house. Anyway, who's the old lady with you?"

      "That's my soon to be mother-in-law. She wanted to meet my family before she lets her son marry me. Ain't that right?"

     Katherine then answered, "Of course. It wouldn't be prudent of me to have my son marry into Natalia's family without knowing them first."

     Katherine then went upstairs to her room to find Buck's other siblings already there, Sonny and Bonnie. And after not seeing them for so many years, Katherine embraced them and would not let go. Buck then let his mother and siblings be as Zenko sat on the front porch disguised as an ordinary human with her Kitsune illusion magic. Buck then said to Zenko, "Thanks for bringing my siblings along with you here. I know it's kind of out of the way for you."

     Zenko then blew a bubble with her gum and popped it and said, "You're welcome. I got fired from my job because my boss was a dick. I also got tired of living in such a cold place, so I moved to this town. And don't worry about me. I took the wrongful termination money, so I've got what I need for at least a year. Besides, I feel like I'd rather be around you and Natalia than a place where no one talks to each other. And so long as I stay in disguise, Julius Whitetail won't bother me. I had also heard from my sister who I haven't heard from in a long time."

     "What did she say?"

     Zenko then had an annoyed face with like something was bothering her after Buck mentioned Inari. "Honestly, she was incredibly rude. She began off asking me for help because of some bloodthirsty gal named Gumiho and Dark magic. But honestly, I couldn't care less about the Kitsune clan and would rather explore new ideas elsewhere. Inari has been nothing but controlling as long as I've known her. And she was rude enough to insult me by calling me unreliable and useless because I want to explore different ideas rather than be stuck in one place for the rest of my life doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. And not only that, but she also said she's grateful I'm not running the Kitsune clan in her place and that Vixie is a much better and cooperative person than me. To be honest, I really don't like Vixie that much but for different reasons. Why does she have to dress so gorgeous all the time and be so cold as the place where arctic foxes come from? Then she's a constant try-hard that can't seem to stop and enjoy life and acts like she's always moving onto the next big thing. Then with how eloquent she speaks and with how graceful she moves and that 'stare' of hers, it's like she silently is making fun of me being clumsy and average just by existing. It's things like that which make me feel very uncomfortable around her. Oh, what was I saying again? Oh yeah. Inari was just being rude going on and on about how grateful she was that Victor decided to show up instead of me and how he was obviously the better choice. I really hate my sister which makes living here so much better than the Kitsune clan."