Chapter 446

Chapter 446

Waking up the next day, he was tight in Thera’s grasp as he let himself enjoy the feeling of a lazy morning for the first time in a week. He still had a couple of days until it was time for his test at the library and he was content to take things a bit easier until then given all he’d done, both with helping so many awaken or level their magics, as well as with the after party only the night before.

Speaking with John had done wonders for his mood, along with after when he’d spent time with the other humans he was genuinely close to in the world, talking a bit with Will and Steph and getting a laugh from watching others react to the relationship that Amy shared with Jake and Yuzu. Even if plenty had been a pain, there’d been enough fun to be had that made it worthwhile and he was content to reminisce on it as he gently stroked Thera’s head, waiting for her to get up.

“Hmm, hey,” She said, obviously groggy as she nestled in closer. “You should have woken me if you were up.”

“There’s no rush. Besides, I don’t get to see you sleep too often, gotta enjoy it while I can.”

Which reminds me, I wonder if Sonya awakening her life magic was enough to make Thera comfortable with discussing us sharing a room with her aunt. Eh, I guess I’ll mention it whenever we get back.

I’ve already let her know I’d like to, there’s no rush. Much better to enjoy things as they are.

“Mmh, don’t say that or I’ll go back for more,” She told him, eyes still closed and making no effort to start the day. “Were you going to do more studying at the library today?”

“I’m honestly not super worried about that, there’s a chance I don’t pass for the fifth floor this time but there’s no way I don’t get the fourth. I was actually thinking we could maybe have a date day if you’d be up for it?”

That was enough to get her to open her eyes. “What did you have in mind?”

“I overheard about something that sounded pretty fun in the area and maybe we could get a meal someone else cooks for a change too?”

“Ha, tired of it after yesterday?”

“More like in need of a small break. I'll be back to wearing myself down into a fine paste before you know it, just you wait.”

“Then I better take advantage of you while I can,” She laughed, finally starting to get up as she did. “What did you have in mind?”

“Something a little different. It should be fun, you’ll see.”

After they both got up and dressed they went off, going through the streets of the magic towers in search of a certain sight, something he’d only heard about thanks to some of his spare minds eavesdropping on the people around him as he did his reading in the library. They were going to a zoo.

“Haven’t gotten your fill of seeing dangerous, exotic animals in person?” Thera laughed. “Something’s going to escape and maul you.”

“We are absolutely not being so negative about my chances of surviving a romantic day out. Everything should be caged, there’s no way anything goes that catastrophically wrong.”

It was just snow so it wasn’t a big deal, but in an instant his thought speed skills pushed all of his minds to their limits and he forced his body to react as it sailed forward, getting his face just out of the way and letting the ball fall harmlessly to the ground, having missed its target.

“Safe!” He cheered, throwing his hands in the air and turning to give Thera his cockiest of smiles at having successfully dodged the only attack to come his way that day despite her constant teasing him over his poor luck, only to feel the cold smack of snow and ice as he did, a second, unseen one of the creatures having taken aim at the side of his head while he was distracted and getting a better result then it could have ever hoped for when he’d turned just in time to get it head on, enjoying seeing it explode into slush before Thera clung to him, using his body as support to handle the intense fit of laughter she was dealing with after having gotten to see all of it up close.

“What are these things called? Challils?” He asked, giving the one that hit him a dirty look as it insisted on waving its arms and looking cute. “I think we could hunt them to extinction. Their parts would probably be great for making water affinity weapons, what do you say?”

“Ha, I say don’t bully them and let’s get you a towel to dry off.”

It was taking all she had not to laugh even more, leaving her with a huge grin stretched across her face as they made their way to a canteen and explained the situation as a helpful employee was more than willing to help him dry off, after which they sat for a while, enjoying some snacks and drinks.

“So, having fun?” He asked, already knowing the answer as he looked at her.

“Mhm, we don’t have anything like this in Anailia so this is great,” She told him happily. “An all-around excellent idea. It really is incredible seeing just what’s out there.”

“Ha, yeah, it’s crazy what this world has to offer. I like it though, it’s neat to see a bit more of what’s around.”

Seeing all of the strange life of his new home left him thinking on how it compared to his old one, something Thera was interested in herself.

“If you don’t mind, wanna tell me a bit about the animals on your world?”

She knew Earth could be a complicated subject for him, but she wanted to know more about his old home, and talking about it wasn’t the fresh wound that it once was given the years that had passed.

“Sure, there were plenty of pretty neat ones,” He told her, holding his hand over the table to materialize a number of thumb-sized figurines for her to look at, each of them capturing the likeness of ones he’d personally seen. “We’d have a thousand some-odd varieties of dogs, with these ones being retrievers, chihuahuas, and bulldogs,” He told her, trying to show off the range of them as she laughed.

“These are not all the same animal, try something a little more convincing.”

“It’s true, this is what happens when people take domestication and breeding to an extreme. Otherwise, there were a few breeds of cats too, though I don’t think I could name many, along with squirrels, horses, and raccoons. We’d also have eagles and hummingbirds, along with bluejays like the one I made for your necklace and honestly a bunch of others too.”

“Hmm, the cats look cute,” She said, picking up the small figure he’d made and looking it over. “And you had more right? Something-pants? That had ears similar to Vasta?”

“Haha, elephants, yeah, but I think the only time I saw them in person was when I went to a zoo back on Earth. They were from a very different part of the world. Let’s see, if I’m also talking about other creatures I know were on the planet then we have a few species of bear, larger cats like lions and tigers, giraffes and hippos and rhinos and more.”

With each one he named he kept bringing forth more small statues with his mana, letting her pick them up and look them over as she asked her questions and he gave whatever answers he could, both of them enjoying the experience and the day.