Page 41 of Culture and Curiosities
“Yes, we’ve got snow but it’s on the other side of the world from the portal.”
I was starting to build up a mental map of the other world but it was still like picturing something I’d read in a fantasy novel and not a real place.
“You did a good job with the contractions, Daddy.”
For some reason that’d been one of the hardest things for him to manage on his own. I was really going to have to figure out who he’d first met because someone really needed to get out of the house more.
“Thank you, my mate.”
Before I could ask him if he thought a small cupcake would be fine instead of getting another big one, I noticed drama on the other side of the room.
“Oh, something’s happening.”
But what?
Everyone had been more interested in gossip than getting anything done, but it seemed like Pierce and the human deputy were pissed about something.
“Have they finally decided to be productive?”
Daddy was not impressed with the nonsense but he’d seen enough of it on his side of the portal that he hadn’t been surprised. Dragging their feet and getting distracted seemed to be universal with dragons and mages.
“I don’t know but the deputy guy is pissed and Pierce is grumbling about something. Oh the deputy just had enough. Look.”
Deciding to just show him, I widened the bond and showed him what I was seeing.
“Ah. Yes, he is highly upset for a local and this is fascinating my mate.”
Huh?
“Oh. Here we go.”
This was going to get good.
“Alright. We’re getting started. If you brought cupcakes to one-up Kenzie, you have to leave. He gets to stay because he was just being nice and he’s got a place on the council for this situation.” The deputy looked more pissed off about his mate and the cupcakes than whatever else had gone down.
He was a good Daddy.
“If you’ve been going around giving out welcome baskets, you’re going to meet me over at the sheriff’s office at three o’clock with a very good excuse for why you’ve been drugging our visitors.” The deputy’s glare had several women who’d been standing beside me running for the door which had Daddy laughing in my head.
“I think I like the human deputy.”
Me too.
“He calls everyone fucking aliens when he gets pissed off, so I’m kind of excited to see what he says when he finally meets you.”
That was going to be amazing.
I loved everything about the crazy town…and it just kept getting better.
“If you’ve been given gifts by our local welcoming committee, please be alarmed because we don’t have one. We have locals who make ridiculously bad decisions.” The deputy paused, shaking his head like he was frustrated by all of us. “If you ate or drank anything that they gave you, please see me before you leave or before you do anything stupid.”
Yep, still fabulous.
“I’m turning the meeting over to Boyd as our local representative and Pierce here to represent the visiting councils.” That was the part of his speech which got reactions from around the room. No one cared about being drugged, but someone else getting to be in charge was ridiculous.
The deputy wasn’t having any of it, though, and stopped it immediately. “Enough.”
“Most of you didn’t realize you’d been drugged by old ladies and the rest of you were waiting for someone else to take charge so you could blame them when shit hit the fan.” No one had a good comeback for that, so they went quiet fast. “Congratulations. Someone took charge.”
