Necromancer For Hire- Arc 2

Arc 2, Chapter 2

The Coloquy

"Finally decided to come back to the world of the living, eh?" Aunora murmured, drumming her fingers on the kitchen counter and cracking a wild grin. "Did 'ya have a nice rest?"

Umbra, Victor, Aunora, and Esper had assembled on the barstools that sat along the counter, prompted by Victor's awakening to do their discussion. Victor sat on the far side, separating himself from Aunora and Esper and clinging onto Umbra's arm.

Victor's gut twisted in an uncomfortable knot, sending a vaguely nauseous feeling up his throat. He felt awkward being directly spoken to, because he knew he couldn't respond.

Ever since he could remember, Victor had found himself unable to speak to most people, the only exceptions being ones he strongly trusted and cared for. However, getting to know people so he could speak to them was difficult, as he shouldered a fair amount of shyness.

Victor shrugged nervously, avoiding Aunora's warm stare and making a strangled noise. He leaned in towards his father, speaking in his quiet and raspy voice.

"Dad, how long have I been asleep?" Victor said, the words tumbling off his tongue at a quickened pace, mirroring his anxieties.

Umbra wrapped his arm around the flustered child, patting him on the head. "Victor, don't be concerned about that. We got home around three this morning; you haven't been sleeping for that long." he sighed, shaking his head. "I'd actually hoped you'd sleep a little longer."

From beside him, Aunora glared at Umbra sourly. "I wish I had slept a little longer." she muttered bitterly, poking the taller man in the ribs and making him grimace. "But Mister 'I Love Mornings' felt the need to wake us all up at six o-freaking-clock to have a big conversation!"

"Yes, yes, it was quite unfortunate that you weren't allowed any longer to drool all over my pillows!" Umbra hissed, histrionic sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Victor smiled at the two adult's bicker, staring at Aunora.

Aunora was a demon horse, which Victor had discovered meant she could turn into a large, scary unicorn-like creature. She wasn't as tall as Umbra, but her loud and bombastic personality made up for it. Her skin reminded him of a corpse- sallow and yellowish. Healthy amount of muscle lined her arms, which made sense, as she had demonstrated herself as quite the strong woman when Victor had watched her fight. Aunora fascinated him with her valiant speech and shameless actions, but Victor couldn't find a way to express that to her properly. He had hoped turning her into his own personal zombie hadn't dampened any possible of a future friendship.

Esper sighed, getting up from his chair and attempting to mediate between Umbra and Aunora. "Please, don't argue about this. We came to a consensus, and that's all that matters."

From what short time Victor had gotten to know Esper, he found him to be a pleasurable person to be around. He was shorter than Aunora and much more polite and placid. As a nature spirit, Esper was able to flow through various physical forms, but the one he seemed to favor the most was that of a human male. He also appeared to be blind, since, in all of his forms, his eyeballs were concealed by bandages.

Victor shuffled in his seat, pulling at Umbra's sleeve. The man immediately jerked away from Aunora to face Victor.

"Hey, dad." Victor whispered.

"Yes, Victor? What is it?"

"Like...what were you guys talking about?" He scratched at the collar of his shirt, feeling fretful. He didn't want to intrude upon his father's businesses, but his curiosity was near crippling.

Umbra stretched out his arm, plucking a cup of coffee from the counter in front of him. He took a long, calculating sip, his eyes closed.

"Victor..." Umbra paused, making Victor's heart flutter. The tone of voice he was using meant he had an important announcement, and important announcements made Victor nervous. "I believe I am going to make an alteration to my original occupational decision."

Victor stared at his father in disbelief, blinking. Umbra loved to use his impressive vocabulary, but for the most part, his fancy words flew straight over Victor's head. He had no idea what alteration meant, but he had a faint definition of what occupational was.

Victor was aware that occupational had something to do with jobs, as he vividly remembered his father ranting about OSHA safety codes to an unfortunate store employee. Later that day, Umbra had told him what the letters stood for, and the connection stuck in his mind.

Victor's frantic mind instantly tethered the word 'job' to 'familar', a word he did know the definition and implications of.

"Are you quitting your job as a familiar?!" Victor squeaked, tears welling in his eyes. The boy sniffled, throwing his arms around Umbra and burying his head in his chest. "I'm sorry for whatever I did, just please don't leave me!"

Aunora laughed dryly, showing off her sharp teeth to the now flustered Umbra.

"Good job, Drama Queen, you broke the kid." she said snarkily, thumping Umbra on the back of the head.

Umbra shot Aunora a severe stare, silencing her acidic cackling. He turned back to Victor, running his slender finger's through the boy's dull black hair.

"Dear, dear, listen to me." Umbra murmured carefully. Victor lifted his head, his face flushed. "Victor, no. I'm not abandoning you. You didn't let me finish my statement- I'm going to sign up to become a mercenary."

Victor wiped off his nose with his sleeve. "What?"

Umbra shook his head. "Just calm down, and I'll explain..."

Author's Notes- This arc will be told a lot from Victor's POV. It was a little difficult elaborating what goes on in his head, but I think I covered as much as I could. Please vote and comment!