Threads of the Soul

Chapter 471 - 471: The Struggles of social interaction

"This man is called Zero, We have worked together a few times on some special project." Alfie explained to his child with a smile. He paused for a moment, looking around in an exaggerated manner before he leaned close and stage whispered to Blueberry loud enough that Zero could easily hear him."He's in charge of a super secret place and does all sorts of secret work for the Lord. But you can't tell anyone."

He tapped her nose with a playful smirk, causing the girl to giggle in his arms before clasping her hands over her mouth, as if she was trying to hold in the secret that she now knew.

Zero couldn't help but laugh at their antics, gazing at Alfie's kids with a complicated, slightly sad expression as they ran amok.

"Your children are very cute. How old is this little one, Two? Three?"

A mischievous smirk danced across Alfie's lips as he answered plainly,

"Almost. Blueberry here is coming up to four months old, while my oldest is closer to nine months. They just grow up so fast, don't they?"

Just as he expected, Zero's face twisted with a mixture of confusion and surprise as he looked between the children who looked years old instead of only months. His brain whirring as he tried to deal with the conflict of logic, and try to decipher if he was joking or not.

It was when smoke started to literally curl off of the directors head that Alfie finally burst out into laughter, prompting a slight nervous laugh from the director.

"Oh... Oh, I see. You were kidding around with me."

"Oh no, I'm totally serious. It's just my wife is an evolved plant being, they have different growth cycles."

The Director bobbed his head in understanding but still glanced warily between the different children. He had really only met one child, at least one who was actually alive, since everything changed.

But he was sure that Nixie had to be the exception and a completely unique case, considering the circumstances of her birth and what she came from.

However, if this man really was telling the truth... Was every kid like this? Was their species destined to skip being babies forever now?

The director shook his head and let out a deep sigh, muttering softly to himself about how times never stop changing. He had barely got a hand of telephones before those new fangled computers came onto the scene. Now he had to deal with superpowers and rapidly aging children?

It was days like this, that he wondered what life would have been like if he had never found that damned thing on that cursed day.

"So, what are you doing out of your secret club house?" Alfie asked, snapping the Director out of his thoughts of the past.

"I didn't expect to see you here at all. Do you need my help with more projects or something?"

"Ah well, While that would be useful as there are still many experiments we could carry out with your abilities. That's not why I am here. I'm actually on vacation."

Zero straightened up with a smile, gesturing to his casual dress. At least, it was casual in his mind. In reality he was still wearing a suit and had simply loosened the tie and undone his top two buttons.

To him, that was the height of comfort and relaxation. The concept of a T-shirt never crossed his mind, and when it came to shorts? He would never dare expose himself like that, he wasn't some degenerate.

Alfie nodded softly, looking over Zero's 'relaxing' outfit, with a strained smile.

"Oh... right... I see it now, very relaxed. Tell you what, how about I take you shopping, huh? We've got time to kill before their favourite challenger appears for their final fight. Isn't that right kids?"

"Yeah! The Wolf Knight!"

All of the kids shouted at the same time, just the mention of their favourite jouster filling them with even more energy. The older kids started to play fight with each other, using sticks as swords and jousting lances as they pretended to be their favourite fighters.

The two men laughed at their antics, before Alfie put a hand on Zero's shoulder and started to direct him through the town. He had a floral shirt store in mind that was perfect for an older man on vacation.

The best part was, the shirt would actually smell like fresh flowers and would get rid of any body odour. Perfect for the larger men that tended to sweat a lot under the hot sun, which was most of them considering their country rarely got any sun at all never-mind a blazing hot one.

"Say, are you a gambling man?" Alfie asked with a sly smile, "Because I happen to know who the famous Wolf Knight is and I have it on good authority that they are definitely going to win.

They have low odds because they aren't as flashy, but it's really a sure thing."

Alfie laughed as the Director gave him a suspicious look, the type anyone would give when hearing about a 'sure thing'. It was the look that screamed that they thought they were going to get scammed.

Honestly, he couldn't blame him. But when he was about to start his speech to convince the older man to part with his money, something caught his attention from the corner of his mind.

His head whipped around, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the streets. He might have been running a city, and he might not have stepped into the territory of all of the Celestial nonsense. But Alfie still routinely hunted with his people.

Not just for morale, but to keep his senses and instincts from getting rusty.

It was those hunting senses that were being tickled and drew his attention to the crowded streets behind him. But before he could figure out what it was, he heard a loud crash and whipped his head around in annoyance.

"Fern! What have I told you about whipping your vines around? Dammit."

He let out a sigh, rushing over to help the stall owner pick up their wares after his daughter accidentally pulled the leg out from under their stall. His parental duty overwhelming and pushing his hunter instincts to the side, as he forgot all about what had alerted him.