On Shielding

So, with the weather and whatnot, my life has been a little weird lately. Candlemass is cranky with me for trying to expose him to a larger public, which I suppose I can only blame myself for. The Punishers are a public order,  but, as he explains to me frequently, it's not a public order in this realm, and he'd rather keep unwanted attention from himself for as long as possible.

He tells me that it's mostly for my sake, as my attention towards him has a habit of attracting attention to me. 

Remember the thing that I saw in the kitchen a (few?) week(s?) ago? 

It wasn't the only thing I had to worry about, apparently.

Candlemass told me he's had to chase off things around my house as well, which he doesn't appreciate with his new workload of missions. 

I woke up the other night, hearing a sort of scratching, so I lay in bed for a few seconds, trying to figure out what the hell it was. It skittered over me across the ceiling, then down a wall near my bed, prompting me to sit up to stare at the place I'd heard it.

Nothing.

When nothing kept happening for the next five minutes, I decided it wasn't worth it, and fell back asleep. When I woke up again, it was almost three in the morning, and I apparently didn't wake for any reason in particular. It was quiet, my bedroom door was still closed, and I couldn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary.

And then, almost instantly after I'd thought that, I heard a sort of gasping cough behind me coming from the other side of my room. So I turned around, and Candlemass was standing there, holding something black, furred and dog-sized in one fist, and sort of gagging quietly with the other hand over his mouth.

Even from where I was sitting, I could see the thing's eyes glinting a tail-light red back at me; it's mouth was open in a grin or a hiss, and a noxious odor was leaking from it. It looked a cross between a stoat and a wolverine.

The smell had me gagging, too, shortly, which attracted Candlemass's attention and upon noticing me, went to the window, threw it open to let some fresh air in, and turned back to chastise me.

He was basically upset that I'd been practicing my attention so much without doing any shielding. Apparently, I stand out like a sore thumb, and anything with half a brain could find me and eat me if it wanted to.

I was contrite, so he caved after a little while. He told me to go back to sleep, and that he'd see me in a little while, and he'd talk to me more then, and threw the covers up over my shoulder after I lay back down.

I don't know exactly what happened to the weird-ass weasel thing, either, but I saw Candlemass leave with it.

So, basically, now I have to work on shielding.