Chapter 331: H-H-Harold Enters the Ring

When Evaline finally returned with Lily's father, Harold, she really hadn't managed to pull herself together any more. She'd left in hopes that it would clear her thoughts somewhat, but she still very clearly remembered Kat's new appearance, and she certainly didn't want to leave her daughter alone with her any longer than she absolutely had to.

So, it was a confused Harold, and an equally confused Evaline, if for different reasons, entered into Lily's room. What she saw, shouldn't have shocked her, but it did. Kat was sitting on the edge of Lily's bed chatting with her as if nothing was wrong… except she had her tail wrapped around Lily, who was happily chatting back as if nothing was wrong. Vivian was standing off to the side, writing something down on a clipboard and was swiftly removed from Evaline's train of thought.

Evaline cleared her throat and said. "Lily, would you be a dear and show your father your new desk?"

Kat made sure she wasn't in Evaline's line of sight as she grinned. *Yes! She isn't even questioning the desk anymore. She's more concerned about me. Of course, that was the plan, but still, it's pretty funny how off kilter she clearly is. If we hadn't planned this out so thoroughly I'd be tempted to mess with her more, I know she deserves it more than most… aw well, we have it in hand.* 

"Sure thing dad. I mean, it's pretty much what it appears" said Lily as she stood up and moved over to her desk. "Um… Chekov is the name of the person who made this… it was made for me pretty specifically, um…"

"Hmm" Lily's father knocked on the side of the desk as he spoke. "Is that mahogany? That's a sturdy wood right there" he then continued to tap, lightly in some cases, the other areas of the desk. Due to Chekov's construction though, you couldn't hear any of the hollow spaces.

"Um… no? Dad… I… why would you assume it's mahogany of all things? I mean… I guess it could be but… it doesn't really look like mahogany does it?" said Lily rather confused at her father's antics.

Harold shrugged and went back to examining the desk. Tracing the outlines of the various people featured in Lily's library, pausing for a moment when he reached the smaller versions of himself and his wife. Harold let his hand rest on them as he seemed to lose himself in thought.

Kat just acted like she wasn't paying attention, leaning backwards while bracing herself with her arms and letting her gaze wander the room seemingly at random. Of course, in reality, Kat was abusing her superior peripheral vision to move her eyes around the room while keeping an eye on both of Lily's parents.

Evaline… seeing everyone ignore the elephant… er… demon in the room stood with her mouth open in shock. Vivian wasn't any help, she was writing something vaguely official looking on her clipboard… Lily had come with Kat and wouldn't be any help anyway having defended the girl for much lesser crimes…

And Harold, Evaline wanted to scoff at how easily distracted he was. Instead of focusing on the clear and present threat to their daughter he was busy investigating a desk of all things. Sure it was well made, but it was just a desk, or so Evaline thought. She hadn't really taken the time to properly look at the sheer detail the desk contained nor thought there might be some hidden compartments.

No, instead her thoughts were firmly fixed on trying to work out what to do about Kat. She had 'clear proof' that Kat was up to no good, and now that she'd 'finally revealed her true colours' Evaline was sure she would've been able to convince her daughter to stay away from the girl… but instead she just nodded along, saying that yes, Kat did have wings, as if that was the end of it.

Evaline felt like she needed to scream at the injustice of it all, but to make matters worse, that Vivian women thought nothing of it either. That was when Evaline got a new idea. Perhaps Vivian was spelled as well. So she just had to bring it to Harold's attention.

"Say Harold, did you not notice Lily's friend here? You seem awfully distracted not to have said hello" said Evaline, injecting a little bit of pleading into her voice hoping that he actually hadn't noticed her and ignored her wings.

Harold stopped with his investigation of the desk to face his wife, but as he realised what it was she said, he instead turned towards the bed, knowing vaguely in the back of his mind where the room's other occupants were. "Oh. Oh yes terribly sorry. Hello Kat" mumbled Harold, clearly still with his mind on the desk.

"Hello Harold. It's nice to see you" said Kat with minimal fuss.

Evaline, for a brief moment, wondered if considerable application of force via introducing her face to the desk personally would relieve some of the internal screams she had rattling around in her throat. In the end though, she stifled that thought and said politely "Now, Harold darling, do you notice anything different with Kat here?"

Harold stifled a sigh, but Kat still caught it, which made her raise her eyebrows slightly in turn. Harold looked back to Kat for a few seconds before saying. "She has a lovely kimono on. Perhaps the best quality I've seen. Old silk too, and wonderfully cared for. I imagine it's an heirloom but… considering… your… upbringing I suppose that is unlikely"

Evaline was starting to reconsider her previous idea about excessive applications of force when Kat responded. "Well, I mean… it sort of counts as one? It belonged to Gramps' wife before she passed away and he wanted me to have it. I've taken good care of it since, and made sure it stays in perfect condition"

Harold nodded "Yes, something like that should be treasured… though I do wonder if it's best to be wearing such a thing when spending such a leisurely day."

Kat shrugged "Don't worry, I take very good care of it. It's probably still going to last my entire life even wearing it like I do. It's made of sturdy stuff" Kat sniggered internally. *Yeah it will last as long as I live alright.* 

Evaline… shaking slightly, though she hadn't noticed, looked from her husband to Kat, and back before saying. "So… you don't see those wings?"

Harold shrugged "Well of course I can but it seemed awfully impolite to point it out Evaline"

Evaline staired at her husband open mouthed while Kat thought. *Huh maybe he isn't so bad after all. I mean… normally I only ever saw them as a pair and Evaline sort of just spoke for the both of them… I wonder if it's because he's clearly distracted or if he really just doesn't care.* 

"Right…" said Evaline stretching out the word to its limit as she tried to wrap her head further around the fact that even her husband seemed to find no problem with his daughter's only friend growing wings all of a sudden. "Are those… real?" is what Evaline finally managed to say.

Kat smiled "Well of course. Why wouldn't they be?"

To further punctuate the statement Kat flapped them a bit but didn't show off any flying just yet. For good measure though, Kat flicked her tail around and curled it into various shapes proving it too to be real.

Evaline, deciding to save what little of her sanity was left and leave. "I'm going to prepare some tea" is what she said before fleeing from the room. She didn't even have the decency to ask if anyone wanted any.

As soon as Evaline left though, Harold started to chuckle. Everyone else in the room looked at him like they'd seen a ghost. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I was quite the prankster when I was your age. Well, not you Vivian, the girls, but still my point stands"

Lily kept staring open mouthed at her father, so he continued with a sigh. "Look, you know your mother loves you. I don't know why she dislikes Kat, but I was willing to defer to her judgement before. Now though, it's more than clear she's losing you, we both are. So, what's going on."

Everyone kept staring at Harold. *This… this was not part of the plan.* 

"Oh come on pumpkin, did you really think you got your smarts from your mother? No, wait don't tell her I said that. She did wonderfully on all of her tests really… it's just… she's a bit blind sometimes, and doesn't question things enough…

"It's clear you've been spending more time with Kat, despite what you've said, and it's also clear you felt it better to lie to us about it. And look, I don't fault you for it, Evaline has been unreasonably protective since we moved but… can we just talk about it?"

Everyone kept staring open mouthed at Harold.