Waking up, the first thing I notice is a distinct ck of my hot dy-shaped cooling bnket. Or well. Cold dy-shaped, I guess. Interestingly, Drusil's body temperature isn't affected by outside sources and only goes up if she consumes blood, and even then only for a few hours. Vampires are weird. Pretty though.

  Pushing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I make a whistle, and it takes but a moment for me to have Batsy to cuddle with. My adorable little fleshball. Man, I'm weird. Ah well.

  "Yes, you're just the cutest. The bestest, most handsomest little eyeball monster. Who's a widdle behbeh?"

  Awww, the way he squints when I scritch his wings will never cease to be adorable. Giant floating eyeball or not. Pretty sure this is supposed to freak me out on some level, but eh, I'm pretty sure I was always more icked out by teeth than eyes.

  I'm mid-cuddles and about to fall asleep again when Drusil enters the room looking... huffy? Yeah, imma call that huffy. Aww, she smiles when she sees me, though.

  "I see you're awake. Good. Yes. Alright, since you've been pestering me, I guess it's time."

  Uuhhh, time? I'm more than a little apprehensive about this.

  "Time... for...?"

  "Meeting my family. At least the ones alive. You wanted to meet them, no?"

  The ones alive? Yikes. Better not prod yet. Let her bring it up on her own time, I guess. How do we retionship? Is this a retionship?

  "OOOOOOH! Yes! Animal people! Your friends! I mean family!"

  I start running towards the door only to stop short when my tail is yanked. Rude.

  "Clothes. You need clothes, Strax."

  Ah. Right. Gotten a bit too used to being in my, um, natural state.

  "Yes! Right! Oh, watch this!"

  I scramble for the pile of notes and metal disks in the spare bed. Drusil yanked in here on the first day that I've since turned into my work area. I do my best work in a bed, bent over like a shrimp, with my legs crossed, so what. Hmmmm, nope, not this one. Which one was it? Bsted runes and focuses and bullshit. Ugh, I should really sort this instead of having it in a pile. AHA! Found it!

  "Ta-daaaa!" I present my test practice project, a focus disk with my own combination of runes that are only possible for me.

  "That's... interesting," she says with a tilt of her head.

  Oh, that's adorable. Anyhoo, if I focus and run my mana through this... Hmm, I haven't tested it, but worst-case scenario, there's a mess I can burn away with pretty fire. Ooo, it's working!

  "It's working! Yessss!"

  I run over to Drusil's mirror and admire my work. Instead of having to wear clothes, I figured out a way to combine nature mana with an internalized image and runes that combine in a mix of conjuration, abjuration, and transmutation. The whole thing is a mess, but the result is gorgeous. It's really a robe made out of a hemp-like pnt that then lets pnts grow on top of it, making me appear as if I'm wearing a gown of vines, flowers, and grass.

  "It's. Working? You activated an untested focus disk with magic, targeting yourself right now?"

  "Oops?"

  Ugh. Stern Drusil makes an appearance. I mean, in my defense, I was pretty sure it'd work, and I can heal injuries?

  "No. It's fine. It worked, and I can scold you ter. Now let's go."

  Whoa, someone's a wee bit stressed. I can't imagine why. I'm a very nice person, and they're her family? Worst-case scenario, they don't like me. As we're walking, power-walking really, Drusil speaks up again.

  "Remember, they can't hurt you. If it gets to be too much, just tell me and we'll leave again."

  Ah. That's what it was. Right. I didn't make the best first impression. I'm not that socially inept.

  "No, no, no! I'm looking forward to it! They sound really cute! And they're your family!"

  She pauses a moment to fix me with a stare. I think she may have noticed my slip of the tongue.

  "Yes. Well. Freki is very enthusiastic about meeting you; Sonne has a, hmmm, special interest in anything demonic, especially succubi. Zauberfee is the least likely to cause issues, but also don't be offended if she doesn't speak to you at all. Kalisa is probably going to be insulting. She's very blunt but means no harm and probably doesn't have much interest."

  "Uh huh. Sure."

  Animal people! Beastfolk! Furry people I can nuzzle and squish! Eeeeee! THE EARS!!

  It takes almost no time to arrive at what looks like a rather normal door. Well, normal for this pce. Although why we're just standing here and not going in is beyond me.

  "Drusil?"

  Oh, yikes. That startled her. Hmm, should I actually be worried about this?

  "Yes, let's go..." she says with a sigh, pushing the door open.

  Inside I'm greeted with… a surprisingly pink room… Are those plushies? I'm distracted from pondering further as Drusil cps her hands.

  "Alright everyone. This is Strax, our guest to whom all expectations of hospitality are extended. Strax, this is everyone."

  She pces a hand on my back and guides me over to a sort of furry-looking Dark Elf-type person whom she greets with a tender smile.

  "Strax, this is Zauberfee, our resident expert on all things magical. Zauberfee is her title, as she does not share her name except with a select few. Zauberfee, this is Strax, whom I suspect you'll be working with after I finish educating her in the basics."

  Zauberfee is fairly emotionless as she takes me in, although there's a slight widening of her eyes after a second or two, and she bows to me in a very nice, elegant manner. Right. Nobility and whatnot are a thing here.

  "Mistress. Lady Strax."

  "Hello! I'm Strax! It's very--"

  I'm interrupted by a white furry rocket knocking me on my ass. Oh! That's a wolf person! So pretty and white. Does she have fire blood? Fire mana? AND HER EARS! They're so big and fluffy! Gosh, this person is snuggly. Are they sniffing me?

  "Hi Strax! I'm Freki! You smell funny!"

  As they keep sniffing me and rubbing their head against my body. I look to Drusil for guidance and notice the shaking of her shoulders as she hides her mouth behind her hand. Traitor. Help.

  "Uhm. Good girl?" I pat her head, and she leans into it.

  "Dru! Can we keep her? She's nice! And warm! She smells like you."

  Oh. Ahem. Don't blush. Don't blush. Don't blush.

  "Freki, she's not an object and is her own person. Now get off her."

  Aww, she's gone, and wow, is she fast. I didn't even hear her move, and she's already standing behind Drusil, Dru, I guess, and hugging her. It's nice to see she's loved and it's not all noble nonsense.

  Dusting myself off and getting up, I look around and can't see anyone else, but I thought there were supposed to be four of them?

  "Are the rest coming ter, or are—OHFUCKGOD!"

  As I'm speaking, there's an upside-down fox head in front of me. Just a fox head. No body. Holy fuck, my heart.

  "Oh Dearest, you didn't mention how fun she'd be. Can I borrow her ter?"

  What the fuck. Okay. So beast people seem to come in a version that's more animal than person appearance-wise? Interesting. Oh, and she's right side up again, and I'm guessing dismissing her invisibility. So a fox person. Shorter than me. That's adorable. Is she dressed in a tomesode kimono? Huh. A person with a full fox head and giant ears. Paws for hands. Oh, but actual feet. Furry feet but actual feet. Huh.

  "Hello darling. It's simply wonderful to finally meet you. You can call me Sonne."

  Don't fuck this up, Strax.

  "Uhm. Right. Hello. Are you a kitsune?"

  Silence. Followed by what I'm guessing is either mental communication or just them knowing each other as Drusil & Sonne stare at each other for a bit.

  "Yes. Though if anyone asks, I'm just a foxkin."

  With a slight glimmer, another five tails pop into existence. They look so fluffy. No. Bad Strax. No touching people's tails.

  "And the snake is still on her way, Dearest. I had to threaten to burn her pnts with foxfire to get her moving."

  "Sonne, behave. Why you two can't just be nice to each other is a mystery to me."

  "Because her reactions are funny?" Sonne says with a tilt of her head.

  Oh wow. Okay. Don't react to Sonne's shenanigans.

  Backing away a bit from the awkward silence, a door to my left opens, and in comes the st person. Oh. My. God. Why did no one tell me about Kalisa?

  "Not as funny as you'll look dangling off the ziggurat flea bag."

  In no time at all I'm right in front of Kalisa. She's GORGEOUS. She has thick bck hair and a face with Egyptian traits. Her eyes appear completely bck, although with a closer look they're actually a brown so dark the pupil is just hard to distinguish. Her skin is a lovely tan that you'd expect from a person born in a desert, but it quickly gives way to scales. A mia! A REAL-LIFE LAMIA! Complete with gorgeous scales covering her back, side, and tail! Her scales are different shades of brown that have a wide bckish edge growing in diagonal rows and forming beautiful chevrons. Her stomach scales take on a gorgeous yellow shade along the edge, and they all look so smoooooooth!

  "OHMYGOSHAREYOUALAMIA!? A NAGA? VALUSIAN? SERPENT PERSON? GORGON? MEDUSA? YOU'RE GORGEOUS! CANIHUGYOU? YOURSCALESARESOPRETTY! Whereareyoufrom--"

  She puts a hand over my mouth, and I keep mumbling into it. Screw it. I push forward and wrap my arms around her waist, where she's mostly snake and I was right. So soft and warm~AAAAAH!

  Behind me I hear someone mutter "Really? The snake is what does it for her?"

  TriNcess