Chapter 41 – Insight and Inspiration

  “Its always something. I can never just make a ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to some enchantments.” Kurt grumbling to himself while at his workbench.

  “Alright, let’s see how well this one works.” Kurt said. He screwed on the magical silencer and fired a round from the machinegun. It worked just as expected which meant they could move to the next step.

  He was using the same set up as his other guns, a bst can that was enchanted to work as a silencer but had run into a little issue. Under longer, sustained strings of fire, the device got too hot, and the enchantment weakened. He had thought hard about how to fix this but the best he could come up with was to not let it get hot in the first pce.

  He had id a second enchantment down on the cup like device after far too long trying to figure out where to put it. Turns out, the inside of the bst can was the winning location in terms of effectiveness. So, after a thorough scrubbing to remove carbon build up, he was able to carve the runes.

  It had been a real pain for him to try and carve runes in the inside of a tube that was so narrow, but he managed by creating a special tool. He had taken one of his normal chisels and bent it into a sort of ‘S’ shape that let him scribe the lines he needed. After making a second one with a sharp left bend, he was able to do the transverse lines and create a functioning, though unfortunately ugly, anti-heat enchantment.

  That multi hour debacle had been what had gotten him to where he was now. Crack-crack-crack…. Kurt fired a long burst into the berm, near the trees at the end of his field. The silencer worked just like it should, taking away any of the report from the muzzle but there was still the sound of the supersonic bullet.

  The hundred round belt slowly disappeared but the device didn’t lose its effectiveness, staying just as quiet on the one hundredth round as on the first. It was confirmed successful at this point. Previously it started to fail after fifty or so rounds in a continuous string of fire.

  What was it that he had carved into the inside of the bst can? It was a spell to deny the effects of heat to enter from that direction. Essentially it would prevent any heat from being absorbed from the inside of the device, only from the outside. The trade off was that it was now a bit more brittle, but it didn’t matter since it didn’t have to bend and only needed to be screwed on.

  “I wonder…” Kurt muttered to himself as he stared at the now cooling gun. He was back to thinking about the question that Val had asked. She had wanted to know if it was possible to enchant guns the way that some melee weapons were enchanted.

  Kurt decided that he would experiment on that ter, after he had time to draw up designs and do some testing and research. He did have plenty of spare parts now and could sacrifice a few to further his own research. He turned around and walked back down the porch.

  He normally wouldn’t be ripping rounds out of a machinegun on his front porch, but the dawn had brought with it a cold rain that was dousing the northern part of the state. It wasn’t scheduled to let up until noon the next day, so they were staying in and ‘working from home’ for the day.

  “Hey, girls.” Kurt said as he stepped inside. “How was your schvitz?” He had barely talked to them since breakfast and wondered what they had done besides sitting in the spa.

  *****

  Val and Kristi watched Kurt disappear into the basement, muttering to himself about rates of fire and wondering about cross compatibility. They had eaten breakfast together but it was obvious he was a little distracted and they offered to clean up so he could go get to work.

  “He knows he doesn’t need to cook for us, right?” Kristi asked as she dried off the pans that Val was passing her. She would put them away after a quick wipe down and come back to get another from her.

  “Yeah, I told him that I can cook but he just, I don’t know, just does it.” Val said while washing and rinsing. “I might actually be offended if his cooking wasn’t so good.”

  Kristi nodded. “Yeah, not exactly high-end restaurant, but its tasty and just satisfying. Maybe we should pn something?” She had learned a few things about cooking during her travels and actually liked the task, always feeling satisfied she had made something tasty.

  “Oh, that could be fun. Did you have something in mind?”

  Shaking her head, Kristi put away the st of the pans and coffee cups. “No but I also don’t know what the markets have avaible around here.” She said.

  Val wiped down the counter and hung up the rag. “Well, you can get an idea when we go grocery shopping this weekend. I do want to try making some things from my mom’s homend.”

  Looking out the window at the dark and cloudy sky that was letting out a consistent downpour, Kristi wondered about what to do that day. “So, got any pns for today?”

  “Well, not really. I don’t have any work to do so I was going to be a bum and rex.” Val said.

  “And how do you rex?” Kristi asked. “A movie marathon or binge reading?”

  Val snorted and waved a hand at her. “No, well, maybe. I was going to go for a steam and sit in the shower for a while. Want to join?”

  Kristi had to think about that one for a minute. She figured the shower was massive, so it was like its own walk-in steam room or sauna. The bench along the wall all but confirmed it. But was it something she would do with her friend? Would that be weird? What was different about this than the same thing at a gym?

  Sensing her apprehension, Val interrupted her train of thought. “Listen, it’s just like the steam room in the barracks gym. Only we don’t get the hateful looks from a bunch of fuckwads.” She hadn’t liked the way others looked at them and honestly felt bad that Kristi hadn’t been able to hide her true nature before meeting Kurt.

  “I guess you are right…” She hesitated for just a moment before just committing. “OK, I’ll meet you in there.” She then went off to her room and grabbed a couple towels to wrap around herself. She heard a soft click and could sense a slight vibration in the floor just after she entered her room.

  From experience, she knew it was the heating element in the shower stall that gave off the sauna like quality. She had no idea how it worked, just that it did. She did make a mental note to ask Kurt about it sometime when he wasn’t so busy.

  Walking into the bathroom when the shower was running was giving her a fshback to when she had walked in on Kurt and Val a couple days before. While the gss of the shower was opaque and couldn’t be seen through, it sure wasn’t soundproof or smell proof.

  Still, she was once again wondering why he had what was essentially a sauna and steam room along with the jacuzzi tub. “Hey, Val. Why did Kurt build this like a spa?” She asked after opening the door and seeing her friend sitting on the bench. She sat down next to her and leaned back, basking in the heat and letting her scales and tail out.

  “Because he used to suffer a lot when he shifted.” Val said before she stood up and took off her towel, folding it into a pad to sit on. “This was how he pnned to deal with the aches and pains of the ordeal.”

  Kristi was slightly taken aback by her sudden nakedness, but then again, she had seen it all before. She also had to admit, Val was rather appealing in that regard, despite not being Kirsti’s normal preference. “What do you mean?”

  Val returned to her spot after turning off the water, letting the room steam up on its own. “You know he is a half elf, right?” Kristi nodded. “And you know he is a werewolf…”

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?” Kristi was still confused.

  “He’s the only half-elf wolf we know of. Also, that elf half still does its thing and sharpens mental acuity. His body didn’t suppress the pain from the shift, and it certainly doesn’t help with the soreness afterward. Honestly, having seen the other side, I get it.” Val expined with a slight wince that the thought of that much bodily change in such a short time.

  “Wait, he shifted in front of you?” Kristi asked. She hadn’t heard about that in the few days they had been a team. “When was that?”

  “Couple weeks back. We took down a wendigo that had been killing tourists and campers. Our guns didn’t exactly do much against it and we ended up in pretty close confines.” Val began recounting the story. “It got the upper hand at one point, and he had to shift to fight it.”

  “So, he went toe to toe with one of those collectors?” Kristi asked incredulously. “I have a hard time believing he took it by himself. I mean, I bet he’s good in a scrap, but those things are big.”

  Val shook her head, leaning back and staring at Kristi after she turned sideways and put her feet on the bench. “He’s big. Kristi, he’s an alpha, like the legends talk about, back when they ran in packs and had territories they owned.”

  “Alpha?”

  “Yeah, he is literally like nine feet tall. He is a bit skinny being part elf and all, but that makes it all the worse. Well, worse for the other guy. Unlike the other wolves I have worked around and trained with, he doesn’t get all feral when shifted. That fight was more a dissection than an animalistic brawl.” Val decided to give more of an opinion than a blow-by-blow retelling.

  “Remember when those guys were doing combative in the gym a while back? Yeah, it was like that. He was a pro fighter going up against some untrained thug. Sure, the wendigo was a little bigger, but Kurt had speed, strength and a frightening amount of mental crity. Really shocked the cops that were part of the deal.”

  Kristi was getting sucked into the story. “What cops?” She asked while leaning in.

  “The chief of police for TC and a couple paras on the force. They came to help with the search.” Val answered. “They about pissed themselves out of fear after Kurt dismembered the damn thing like a high school science b.”

  “Sound like you were right to be scared.” Kristi said.

  Val snorted. “They were scared. My kitsune half was telling me to jump his bones.”

  “What?” Kristi was looking at her wide eyed. “Even after that?”

  Nodding and taking a sip from a bottle of water she had brought with her, Val shared her insights. “Yeah, that half has had some strong feelings ever since we paired up. Actually, I am pretty sure it’s why I all but forced myself on him after just a few days. I couldn’t help but want to be by him, touching him.” She gestured to her. “You get it, you know what it’s like, being around him.”

  Kristi did know what it was like. Kurt had a surety about him, a confidence and an aura of dominance that followed him. She thought back to their evening snuggle time on the couch and how she liked being cuddled up next to him. She was suddenly starting to get warm, and it wasn’t from the steam.

  After copying Val and taking off her towel in an attempt to cool off, Kristi responded. “Yeah, he um, has a way with things.” She took a sip of her own water bottle to buy some time. “But really just a few days?”

  Smirking Val nodded. “Yeah, and I regret not hopping on that thing sooner. The elf and lycan aspects really do work wonders on things like recovery and libido.” She said with a wink.

  Kristi blushed and looked away. Her tail was flicking back and forth, beating a rapid tempo over the tiles. She was starting to get a little flustered with how the conversation was going and felt the need to direct it elsewhere. Her own feelings about him were complicated when she accounted for her best and only friend already being involved with the man.

  “Aha, well, that’s good to know.” She hedged but couldn’t make a follow up.

  “Oh, you will know some day.” Val murmured into her water.

  “What’s that?” Kristi asked not clearly hearing what she said.

  “What else do you want to know?” Val said, clearly enjoying herself. Her inner vixen was happy with how that pyed out.

  “Does he have any other friends besides Alec?” Kristi asked. She briefly considered John and Mark but neither really seemed like they were that close. More like retives than actual friends.

  Val shook her head. “Not that I know of. He seems to have a lot of contacts. He knows a good amount of people and is friendly with them, but I wouldn’t call them friends. Honestly, I think he was lonely before us.”

  “What do…”

  They suddenly heard footsteps going up the stairs before walking down the hall. There was a tap at the door. “Hey, I am going to test fire something.” Kurt said from the other side. “Just wanted to let you know about sudden gunfire.”

  “Thanks, hun!” Val called back. She could almost hear the eye roll from the use of the nickname.

  Returning to the conversation, Kristi asked the question that Kurt had interrupted. “What do you mean, us?”

  Val gave her a ft look. “Come on.” Her tone was carrying a hint of ‘duh’ in it. “You are part of this too. I very much doubt there is anything you would do to change that.”

  “And he thinks of me that way?”

  “Like, he hasn’t said that phrase exactly, but we do talk, you know. He likes you and wants you to be happy. Partly for my sake but also just because you’re his friend too.” Val answered bluntly. “But while we are on the topic. What do you think about him?”

  Kristi ordered her thoughts as best she could on short notice. “Well, he’s very nice.” She began mely.

  “He is polite, you mean.”

  “No, I mean he is nice to me. Besides my mother, you and Penny, he is the only person that has shown me any true kindness. And that was before I joined the team.” Kristi defended her earlier words not realizing Val had baited her.

  Val cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, what else? Come on, ‘bare’ it all to me.” She said with that teasing smirk which suddenly reminded Kristi that she was naked.

  “Oh, um.” She shifted a little to try and angle herself away. “Well, he is clearly brilliant. His insights into enchanting are amazing and that he just hands these things out is inconceivable.” She was focusing on how he acted which she thought was important and the core of Val’s line of questioning.

  “That’s not what I was asking about.” Val said gently then heaved a sigh. “But I guess that is all I will get out of you today.” She stood up and touched the waterproof switch which clicked in response. “I am going to rinse off. Care to join?”

  They took turns rinsing under slightly cooler water before using the rock to dry off. The dragoness was still amazed that he just went and found a random rock to enchant to fix a problem. Then Val told her that it wasn’t some random rock, and it had been performing a very important function as a door stop. A function that was now slightly moot since that door no longer lead to the garage.

  While they had been rexing, they had heard the sporadic gunfire from outside and the opening of the door several times. One of those times was also ced with Kurt saying some very not nice things about the small cylinder he was carrying back and forth. Eventually, he came back inside looking rather pleased with himself.

  “Hey girls, how was your Schvitz?” Kurt said after setting his things down in the corner by the stairs.

  “Oh, it was nice. Had a little girl time.” Val said. “What did you get up to? Figure out the issue you were having?”

  Kurt nodded. “Yeah, sustained fire causes issues with these.” He held up the little magical silencer. “I figured out a way around it and will copy it over to all of them.”

  “How are the guns?” Kirsti asked from where she was making herself lunch at the counter.

  “Oh, they are great. Run like a thoroughbred racehorse.”

  Kristi smiled. “That’s good because I pn on commandeering one of those for when we take on a rift.” The smirk she gave suggested pyful, but Kurt saw determination in her eyes.

  “Sure thing, I figure they can just be part of the arsenal for anyone.” Kurt washed his hands in the kitchen sink and began fixing his own sandwich. He was beginning to notice Kristi coming out of her shell a little more every day. He liked it, seeing her more confident and getting to know her a bit better.

  “It is also nice that ammo won’t be a problem.” Kristi said while attempting to bance the three different kinds of meat on her bread. “The storage rings make the whole ammo pouch real estate problem a thing of the past.”

  Val pranced over and began pulling out leftovers for her own lunch. “Yeah, also helps that they can carry so much other stuff too. I will say it is super weird deploying with a nearly slick vest though.”

  “Yeah, too bad I can’t make a bottomless ammo can.” Kurt said. “That would really be something.” He had finished his sandwich and was putting some chips on his pte.

  Kristi stopped halfway through cutting her sandwich. “Why not?” She asked with a little head tilt and her tail flicking behind her.

  “Hmm?”

  Kristi finished her cut and put the knife down to look at him directly. “I said, why can’t you make a bottomless ammo can?”

  Kurt just stared back at her. He blinked a few times, gears turning in his head. Why couldn’t he make a bottomless ammunition feed? Well, a magazine wouldn’t work because the springs required for feeding are finite, but a belt fed gun…

  Quickly abandoning his food, Kurt walked over to where he set the machinegun. He pulled the small ammunition box off the bottom and looked at it. The ammunition had come in the standard pstic drum, but for testing he had used the small 100 round soft sided drums lovingly referred to as ‘nut-sacks’.

  The small drums had a zippered bottom that allowed you to put rounds in easily without having to press them through the opening in the top. The upper half was made of aluminum with a steel spring clip to hold it on the gun and an opening for the belt of ammunition to come from.

  “Kurt?” Kristi had followed him over and stopped just behind him while Val had stayed at the counter, watching with her tail dancing excitedly behind her. He held the small object in his hand and was muttering to himself. “Kurt?” She called again.

  “You, brilliant, beautiful woman!” Kurt said excitedly as he turned, hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “This is amazing!” He didn’t even realize what he had done and happily took his food and the ammo pouch downstairs calling over his shoulder. “Back in a few!”

  Kristi was still standing there frozen in pce from him kissing her and calling her beautiful. She turned around slowly to see Val leaning on the counter and wiggling her eyebrows at her. She flushed at the rather predatory smirk that her friend leveled at her.

  “Oh, my scales! I am so sorry, Val. I didn’t…” Kristi began but was cut off.

  “Don’t worry too much, beautiful.” Val said with more than a hint of amusement. “Why don’t you bring your brilliant, blushing self over and finish your lunch before we go and check in on the mad scientist.”

  Nodding numbly and shuffling over to the counter, Kristi plopped down on one of the stools and began to eat mechanically. The hug and kiss were fresh on her mind and after her talk with Val earlier, she was feeling all sorts of confused. A very happy confused but confused none the less.