Joseph and Dawkins nodded.

Joseph felt a static-y excitement brimming in his fingertips about the chance to take on a different kind of assignment. As he and Dawkins bounded over to the ladder, Dawkins chuckled. “Well. Maybe I was wrong. You’re nearly skipping with happiness. I can’t believe this is what gets you excited and happy and not a beautiful woman.” 

Joseph turned to his brother and shrugged. Dawkins couldn’t help a smile as he climbed down the ladder after him and they both headed home. On his way there, Joseph found himself yawning. It was a somewhat new and alien feeling, as he was not used to feeling tired. He always had a good night’s sleep, and when he remembered the reason he didn’t sleep as well, he found himself incredibly distracted by images flashing into his mind about Petunia and her lovely, dove-colored skin, delicious caramel eyes, and her waterfall of liquid gold hair.

He was seeing her, beckoning him toward her with a pointer finger, and not the lamppost quickly coming up as he ran, and he slammed into it with so much force that it wobbled and groaned. He didn’t know why, but he had the impulse to look around to make sure that no one had seen him, and averted his face slowly when he realized that a human couple holding hands nearby had seen him. His cheeks felt hot, and he decided that he didn’t like the sensation, so he thought running as fast as he could would cool him off again. 

He tried to focus on the successful day he had just had instead. They’re so impressed with me that they want me on a more complicated assignment. And I was on-task today with defending and killed more enemies than even some of the Erulanites did. He was satisfied with his work, and relived how clean his shots were and how swift his movements were.

However, upon thinking about the past, he realized that reliving his day on loop did not consistently provide him with the jolt of excitement that he craved. In fact, his mind began to wander again, and it was wandering back to Petunia. Luckily, the distraction of seeing his House coming up in the distance distracted him soon enough. Upon arriving, he had a one-track mind again as he brushed past the well-pruned rose bushes planted on either side of the front stoop. For the first time in his life, he found himself noticing the incredibly even, deep green grass on the front yard, as well as curios that the owners of his House found cute such as lawn gnomes, concrete frogs, and carved, copper standees in the shapes of dinosaurs. When he was inside the house, he saw Maru’Chi and the rest of the noble family having dinner at the table. He debated telling Maru’Chi that he had been assigned a new mission at that moment, but decided against it. Interrupting dinner time at his House had resulted in him being whipped for insolence before, so he didn’t want to risk the same thing occurring again. He strode past the dinner table without looking at the noble family, keeping his head bowed. However, Maru’Chi looked in his direction and hastily knocked her chair over in order to catch him before he left. 

Joseph bit back a sigh. He was hoping to avoid talking to her because she had ruined his harmonious morning. He turned to her, his eye twitching compulsively. Upon turning toward her, Maru’Chi blinked her blue eyes curiously at him. “Perhaps I have trouble reading human emotions, but your eye is… malfunctioning.”

Joseph put a finger to his eye and realized that it was, indeed, flinching. He recognized it was because he wanted to escape talking with her due to their earlier interaction. Joseph blinked both eyes and kept them closed for a moment until his eye stopped twitching, and then he opened them again. 

Maru’Chi’s face lifted in a smile. “That’s better. Much less distracting. Anyway…” she cleared her throat. “You’ve been behaving better today, right? Not putting yourself at risk unnecessarily?”

“Yes. I was helping to defend the wall for most of the day. My cheek was grazed by a bullet, but otherwise, I put myself in no unnecessary risk.” Joseph explained calmly. “In fact, the Erulanite Captain offered me an assignment.”

Maru’Chi lowered her orange face, glowering. “What sort of assignment?”

“He would like me to assist in finding the spy who drew what the city looks like, as this allowed enemies to teleport into the city. Maru’Chi’s blue eyes narrowed. “What good would you be on that case?”