Luminary Institute

13: Home Sweet Home, Nap Lovely Nap

Returning home with Kaiser, Nyssa couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief wash over her as she reunited with him. He was... safety. The person she knew the best. Staring out the window while mulling over her thoughts on the car ride home, she debated whether or not to ask him about his thoughts on the situation. 

“Something on your mind?” Kaiser asked as the car accelerated forward after a stoplight. “I’m free to talk about whatever, as you know.” 

“Yeah... I don’t know,” Nyssa sighed as she propped her chin up. “Maybe we can talk during dinner?” 

“Of course,” Kaiser pat Nyssa on the shoulder. “Same as usual? I’ll work out and you can have some free time before we cook together? If you’re too tired from school though, I can cook.” 

“No, no! I’m totally fine with cooking as well,” Nyssa laughed before thanking Kaiser for the offer. “The usual works, I’m just going to take a nap so wake me up when you’re ready to start cooking.” 

“Sleepy as always I see,” Kaiser joked while keeping his eyes on the road. “Didn’t get your daily five naps in?” 

“No... only one,” Nyssa shook her head. Feeling Kaiser slow down for another red-light, she took a moment to thank the heavens for Kaiser’s much safer driving style in the rain before returning to her zoned scenery-viewer mindest. 

Rain was made of water... yes... 

---

Once home, Nyssa felt her priorities, thoughts, and humanity fly out the window as she transformed into a cat and wandered to the cat bed next to the heating vent. Having also put a space heater there long ago, she turned it on before snuggling up. Drifting off to sleep, she felt the warm lull of dreamland call to her once more. 

Back in heaven, she only stirred from her slumber as hand rubbed her stomach. 

Blink. 

Blink. 

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“... Good morning?” Nyssa murmured as she sat up. Still in a cat form, she drew an almost unnatural image. 

“No, good evening,” Kaiser answered with a towel draped over his neck. “I just finished a shower, want to come cook?” 

Escaping from her warm corner of sleep heaven, Nyssa transformed back into a human before realizing she was still in her school uniform. “Give me a couple minutes to wake up and change. I’ll be out in a second.” 

“Sounds good,” Kaiser patted her on the shoulder before standing up. Making his way to the doorway, he turned back towards her while cracking open the door. “I’ll start prepping the ingredients. So, take your time.” 

Closing the door behind him as he left, Kaiser left Nyssa to sit alone in her room and wake up a little. Nyssa, moving to sit on her bed, yawned as she rubbed her eyes. Her nap did not feel restful enough. They never did... 

Staring off into space for a minute or two, she spent the time digesting the fact that she was, in fact, actually alive and awake. Pulling off her school uniform she changed into a warm set of thick clothing. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it got the job done, and who cared about looks when she was at home anyway? The all-gray outfit ruled! 

Grabbing a pair of socks, Nyssa began doing the weird hop in the middle of her room while trying to pull them on. Succeeding after a couple minutes of stubborn hopping, she made her way out of her room and towards the kitchen. 

The house was... small. Which was nice. Dearest papa was quite rich, but he didn’t have many material needs. So beyond an expansive, underground home gym, their house was still quite modest. 

Sliding her feet against the wooden floor like an ice skater, she turned the corner with world-class elegance and speed before tripping over absolutely nothing. Face planting, Nyssa picked herself up with an awkward cough before deciding to walk along like a normal person. Arriving in the kitchen with a nonchalant slide through the doorway, she ignored Kaiser’s raised eyebrow. “What are we making tonight? Also, I’m not too hungry so no need to take out so many ingredients...” 

“Ah, Slade’s coming home tonight. I’m thinking of some steak? Any thoughts? I’ll have some lighter dishes as well if you’re not feeling it,” Kaiser pointed to his phone. “Did you not see the text from your brother?” 

“... No,” Nyssa murmured while pulling her phone out of her pocket. Skimming the texts, she shrugged, nodded, and put the phone on the counter. “I see... Well, I’m glad he’s coming back! Woot woot, we can gossip about Roxanne then. Since she doesn’t text me that much these days.” 

“Indeed, it is nice he’s paying us a visit. He’s wrapped up an extermination mission recently, and since he missed the holidays, I think that’s why he’s coming back,” Kaiser chuckled while preparing a seasoning. “Would you like to chop the vegetables I laid out by the cutting board over there?” 

“Sure!” Nyssa bobbed her head up and down a couple times while making her way over. Rolling up her sleeves, washing her hands, and tying her hair back, she pulled open the drawer to grab a chef’s knife as the sound of the front door opening made its way into the kitchen. “Slade! We’re over here in the kitchen! Welcome back though!” 

“Nyssa!” Slade laughed. “Give me a second, I’ll be right there!” 

One ‘clunk’ later, as he tossed his shoes onto the ground beside the rack, Slade and the sound of his hurried footsteps made their way through the hallway. Doing a slide through the doorway not dissimilar to the one Nyssa did moments prior, he spread his arms as he came through the doorway. “Nice to see you two! I come bearing gifts! These are to make up for missing the holidays!” 

“Oh, wow, thank you,” Kaiser’s eyes widened as Slade came over and gave him and Nyssa a hug. “Just put them in the living room for now, we can open them after dinner.” 

“Sounds great to me,” Slade chuckled while making his way over to the living room area. Setting his bags down onto the couch, he walked back and took a seat by the island in the center of the kitchen. “So~ how are you two? I heard that a certain someone started their first day at the Luminary Institute today!” 

“I did! It was... it was interesting,” Nyssa nodded as she focused on not slicing her fingers off. “Angelica’s a really nice teacher!” 

“Angelica, huh,” Slade murmured before shrugging. “I can’t quite comment on that part really. She got that position long after I left... Oh how time flies, listening to you having her as a teacher makes me feel so old.” 

“Just think about how I feel,” Kaiser shook his head. “She went from coming over to hang out with Roxanne to now being one of the teachers under me to... well, teaching one of my children.” 

“Yeah, now that you mention it, that is kind of crazy,” Slade laughed while tapping his lips. “She is, what, four years older than me? Same year as Roxanne, right? But now she’s teaching Nyssa! I mean, perhaps that speaks more towards the huge gap you had between adopted children two and three.” 

“I didn’t expect to ever adopt more than you two,” Kaiser raised his hands as he paused mid-seasoning of the steak. “You all know the complicated situations back then.” 

“True...” Slade trailed off before standing up. “Anyway, let’s change the topic. Nyssa, why don’t you tell us a little more about your day? And, what can I do to help?”