Chapter 48 – The Pnning Stage

  “There doesn’t seem to be any set rules for how the paranormal family structure works. Even simir cultures among the same races have vastly different perspectives and norms. It truly seems to just be a ‘whatever they are happy with’ type of arrangement.” - Professor of paranormal anthropology at Harvard

  “Kate, girl. I love you to pieces but your going to die of that bleeding heart at this rate.” Les said after her daughter expined what she had asked Kurt for and how it got to this point.

  “If it makes you feel any better, Jamie was at least thinking about what might happen to them or the shop.” Val said while swirling her wine gss. “Nothing against wanting to do some good but consequences exist whether we want them to or not.”

  To Kurt’s surprise, when Don had asked about what brought them that evening, it was the kids who told the story. They did a pretty good job at expining their reasoning and some of the thoughts they had. They had yet to actually talk about the logistics or other details but that would come in time.

  Don gnced at Kurt before returning his eyes to his youngest child. “I hope you know how foolish that was, outing him like that.” He began, having held his peace while his children talked. “I know Kurt seems like a good guy and I am gd that’s the case but don’t back someone into a corner like that. You don’t even know what he is.”

  “Do you?” Kurt asked suddenly. He was curious about how much Don knew about him and paranormal creature in general.

  Waving his hand, Don dismissed the question. “Nope, figured it was your business and if you wanted us to know, you’d have seen fit to tell us.” He then shared a gnce with his wife. “Though, truth be told, there might be a small wager riding on it should one of us ever find out.”

  “So… what are you?” Jamie asked and quickly ducked a swipe from his mom’s hand. “What? I thought we were cool.”

  “Hmm. Not that cool.” Kurt said with a grin. “Maybe I just want to keep it a secret now that I know there is a bet.”

  “Oh, come oof…” Jamie said before he got a not-so-subtle kick to the shin from his sister.

  “What’s the bet?” Val asked looking from Kurt to Leslie.

  “I say he’s a mage” Don said. “Winner gets to pick the next five date nights.”

  Les looked torn between wanting to deal out more sps and finding out the truth. “I think he is something in disguise like a merfolk for some sort of fey” She said after finally deciding to find out the truth.

  “Well, your both wrong.” Kristi said. “But Don is closer with the mage though that’s not quite right.” She was trying to see the inside of her beer bottle, like she was searching for where it went.

  “Bruh.” Jamie said. “You mean that’s not a gmor?”

  “Yes, he is naturally pretty.” Kristi snorted. She apparently decided that wondering where her drink had gone wasn’t as productive as getting another and made her way to the fridge.

  “Et tu Kristi?” Kurt said. Which got another round of ughs.

  Kurt ughed with the others for a minute before he cleared his throat. “Listen, we need to talk about if you are going to try this and if so, what you need to consider.” Everyone sobered up pretty fast at his tone.

  “Here is the offer our company is willing to help with.” Penny said and expined what they talked about before their guests arrived. She outlined what they would be willing to help with and what the commitment would be like.

  When Penny was done, Kurt said he could help with some enchantments for their safety and even get them in touch with some locals to spread the word. He also stressed that it might be a good idea to be armed in case of an event like what happened in Texas. It also helped that one of the local paras could help with the arms and training, being the proverbial two birds with one stone.

  “…name is Alec, and he can get you set up with csses and all that. He is one of the local para’s that works at a local gun shop. He is also a close personal friend that you can trust.” Kurt finished around half an hour ter.

  “Also, your logo idea is neat but if it was paired with an enchantment from Kurt, you could use a stamp on the cup or wrapper of the para patron. If anyone asks about it who isn’t in the know, just say it’s an order check to make sure you don’t skip something.” Val added, bringing it back around to the original concept that started it all.

  Don was scratching at his stubble while Leslie looked at her hands, wringing them on the table. “Well, I think it’s the right thing to do with how things are.” He said eventually. “Figure you can handle it?” He asked the kids at their end of the table.

  “Yeah, I think we can. Not saying we have to be up and rolling tomorrow or anything.” Kate said after a moment to consider. “It would be good to maybe test it over the winter, during the slow period.”

  “There’s an idea.” Don said and spped his knee. “Do a trial run. If it doesn’t work, we can either try to fix it or we have to part ways with your company. What was the name again?”

  “Stability Incorporated.” Penny answered and slid a card over to them. Kurt noted it had the order logo but was rebranded to be the public facing name and information. “It is a para run security company that specializes in information security and physical security systems.”

  Kurt was feeling pretty good about the interaction. Everyone seemed to be satisfied with the end result and didn’t bat an eye on Penny’s summation of what the Order did. He knew that getting the involved in this side of society would have its risks, but it sounded like it was something they really wanted to do.

  As the hour grew te, they said goodbye to their guests and promised to stop by next week to really get into the details and make schedules. The point of this dinner wasn’t to put everything in stone as of yet, instead just ying the foundation.

  “They are nice.” Penny commented while helping to clear the table of the remaining gsses.

  Val popped up from where she was tying off a trash bag. “Yup, super nice people.” She said as her ears shifted into her fox ones. “I kinda wish Kurt had let them know sooner.”

  “Why is that?” The man in question asked from his spot at the kitchen isnd.

  “They seem fun.” Val said with a shrug. “Plus, anyone willing to make some jokes like that has to be alright. I bet him and Kate pnned that.”

  “Speaking of.” Penny began. “What is a ‘muscle mommy’ exactly?”

  Val dropped what she was doing, making a horrible noise, as the trash bag nded on the floor and Kurt was pretty sure there was now a puncture in the pstic. She scampered over toward Penny while digging her phone out of her pocket. “Oh, you’re going to, ooff.”

  The kitsune was cut off as a tail shed out and intercepted her, wrapping around Val’s stomach and yanking backward. Kristi then covered her mouth with a hand while answering.

  “It is a term used to describe women that have defined muscles in a fetish like setting.” She began in a stern voice. “Honestly, it’s yagh. VAL!”

  Kristi suddenly let go of her and grabbed a dish towel to wipe her hand. “Honestly, I would have preferred a bite over that… w-what e-e-ever you did.” She said thought a little shudder.

  Val stuck her tongue out and wiggled it at her. “That’s what you get for spoiling it.” She crossed her arms and pouted. “I had the perfect examples to show.” She then looked to Penny. “It’s a pretty common trope in certain types of ‘graphic’ novels.”

  The inflection and bouncing eyebrows around the word ‘graphic’ was enough to give Kurt an idea of what sort of media she was talking about, and it wasn’t the Sunday comic strip. Apparently, it also told their handler more than she wanted to know since she suddenly stood up and grabbed her bag.

  “Well, this has been… something.” She said while backing away from Val who advanced on her with a tablet. “Kurt, thanks for dinner. Ladies, umm, see you next week some time.”

  And with that, she all but vanished through the door back to the hub. Watching her go, Kurt wouldn’t be surprised if she sprinted the entire way, leaving a trail of fire behind her. Val just looked sad and hung her head as she stored her tablet in her ring. She muttered something under her breath that he didn’t understand.

  “What nguage was that?” He asked, curious at the odd tone.

  Val perked back up. “French!”

  “You know French?”

  “I know a few nguages.” She said and began listing them off. “English, obviously. Then I know French, Japanese, some mandarin and two of the common dark elf dialects.”

  Kurt was surprised but figured he should have known she spoke multiple with her background. He turned to Kristi, and she answered after taking a sip of water.

  “I speak English, Russian, my home world’s common and the draconic tongue.” She said proudly. “How about you?”

  Blushing a little he answered. “Just English and some elvish, enough to ask where the bathroom is but not fully fluent.” He hadn’t had much time to practice while growing up, only spending a couple weeks a year in his father’s family estate.

  Ears flicking and head tilted, Val looked at him. “I am kind of surprised you don’t have a transtion device.”

  “Never really needed one.” He said with a shrug. “I didn’t spend a lot of time on other worlds or even with people other than family when I was there. Do you have one?”

  Kristi nodded while Val shook her head. The dragoness answered when he gave her a questioning look. “It came from the horde. Nobody else could use it so they let me take it when they kicked me out.”

  “Why couldn’t anyone use it?” Kurt asked, now very curious. Any enchanted item would be considered valuable and what he knew of Kristi’s home situation didn’t lead him to think of her brethren being very generous.

  Rolling her hand over, Kristi summoned an earring. It was a small silver, leaf shaped pendant hung off a strange prong-less clip that looked like it wrapped around the ear lobe.

  “I was the only one in the horde that had ears. Well, only one with external ears.” She said with a smile. “I hate wearing it though. It works but there is a strange buzz that gives me a headache and I don’t like the feeling of one earring.”

  “Can I see?” Kurt asked and she handed it to him. He turned it over, inspecting it and finding the rather crude etching in the back side of the pendant. He noticed several imperfections in the lines where they were cut too deep or cut into the next part of the inscription. This one was a word-based enchantment and looked to be a version of a demonic nguage.

  “I can see why you don’t like it.” He said after handing it back. “Its pretty crude and only has one half of the conversational equation.” He had studied transtion devices and knew that they varied wildly in quality as well as ability.

  “Conversational equation?” Val asked while giving him a stare that said, ‘don’t mess with me’. Apparently, she didn’t like being the only one to not know something.

  “This lets you understand, not speak.” Kristi answered while storing the earring. “I don’t know if it was part of a set or if that’s how it was designed.”

  Val mouthed the words ‘conversational equation’ and then grinned. “Ah, I get it. Speaking and hearing together make conversation.” She clicked her tongue and made finger guns at him. “Tsk. Got it.”

  The wind was suddenly starting to pick up, the gusts growing stronger and more frequent, heralding the arrival of the storms that were supposed to st all the next day. Kurt checked his weather app one more time and saw they had extended the storm warning into the weekend.

  “I think I am going to call it a night early tonight.” He said after pocketing his phone again. “Looks like tomorrow will be shitty and I kinda want to do some enchanting experiments before just being a couch potato.”

  Stifling a yawn, Val agreed, and they went to get ready for bed after saying good night to Kristi. She had said that she wasn’t quite ready to sleep and would sit up for a while longer. She then settled down on the couch with her tabled and a bnket, just the mp on the end table lighting the front of the house.

  After Val closed the door to their bedroom, she stripped down before sliding into bed beside Kurt. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

  Kurt wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into the little spoon position. She wiggled back to settle against him as he answered. “Yeah, course you can.”

  “What do you think of Kristi?”

  She had a tone to her voice that made him unsure where this line of questioning was going but he responded. “I like her. She is really a good person to be around.” He paused and considered. “I think I am liking her more as she opens up and gets more… Bold isn’t the word.”

  “Expressive?” Val offered, finally finding a comfortable spot for her tail.

  “Yeah, I think so. At first, she was a perfectly nice ‘guest’ but that’s all, a guest.” He paused again, taking his time. “Now she feels like more. Like she belongs here, a fixture of the team.”

  Val smirked despite him not being able to see it. “Part of the pack? Haha, Ouch.” She ughed at her own joke but cut out as Kurt pinched a nipple.

  “Oh, stop. That pack stuff is ancient legends and myth.” He said. “Why do you ask about Kristi?”

  Val rolled around to be face to face. “Babe, we were ancient myths and legends to the humans on this world until a few years ago.”

  “Well yeah, I guess…”

  “Besides, I have a feeling that one particur demon isn’t exactly sharing the whole truth.” She said. It had been a suspicion of hers since he head hunted Kristi and Kurt. His entire program was designed around odd paranormal people. It also helped that he was a moderately high-ranking member of the Order who didn’t care about the stigma for some reason he never eborated on.

  “Yeah, but I have a feeling it’s for a reason. He is a daemon representing bance, not one of the keepers of secrets.” Kurt said. “I know he is pying at something, but I am having a hard time putting together what. It’s not like I know much about the Order to begin with so haven’t picked up the political maneuvering yet.”

  “Hmm, I am sure he will tell us at some point. We can always ask if it gets to that point too.” Val said. She gave Kurt a kiss and turned back around then wiggled her way back to her original spot. He wrapped an arm around her once again and gave her a little squeeze, hugging her as they faded into sleep.

  *****

  When Val woke up the next morning, Kurt was already up and out of bed. She could faintly smell coffee as she turned over under the covers and stretched. It seemed to be their routine tely where he would get up and she would roll around in his part of the bed. Something about it was always driving her kitsune half to bask in the scent.

  She was also gd that he was so easily led off course when he pushed back on her questions about his retionship with Kristi. While neither would admit it, both of them were getting very close. Val would be happy having him to herself for a while longer but also knew that it was inevitable with their kind living and working together.

  Her aunt, on her father’s side, had a harem of her own and Val had grown accustomed to the idea of sharing but didn’t think it would happen like this. She also wanted what was best for Kristi, wanting her to be happy. If she didn’t begin pnting the seeds for their mutual retionship, one or possibly all of them would end up heartbroken.

  Val thought about it for a while. She had seen Kurt’s stares, the way his eyes lingered on her friend and knew that there was some attraction. Her initial jealous thoughts had mostly evaporated when she looked at them together. It was also hard to be jealous when she also gave Kristi those same looks.

  She had been orchestrating things since Kristi moved in, pushing for them to all be closer both physically and emotionally. The goal wasn’t always for a romantic retionship, but that’s how things were beginning to go. Her friend’s literal starvation for companionship made things almost too easy when mixed with Kurt’s instincts to provide and protect. She would have to arrange some more casual nudity and see if that got any reactions.

  After pulling out her phone, she spent a few minutes reading the notes that she had made about what seemed to be the hold-ups. Kurt was, naturally, stupidly loyal which was great until she wanted to make things seem organic. She didn’t exactly want to have a sit down and tell them that she wanted them all to be romantically involved. That made her think about their earlier talk, the one after they had come home from the raid.

  “If being blunt works…” She muttered and quickly tapped into her notes about how to handle his personality. Val thought about just telling him outright what she wanted but also knew that might cause issues if she moved too quick. Her ending notes were to be followed up on, wondering if she should at least warn him.

  Kristi was another matter entirely for Val. Her shy demeanor was harshly contrasted by her draconic pride, creating an interesting dynamic where she could be herself only when strangers weren’t around. She also had an almost crippling need for approval, especially after her upbringing and early days in the Order.

  When Val considered how Kristi would fit, she knew that Kurt could give her that sense of belonging. She knew because he had done it with her when they first met. Granted it wasn’t hard with her own string of letdowns, but he still did it. His willingness to not only accommodate but to also fully accept them was admirable.

  While she was thinking of her friend and her… boyfriend? Mate? She didn’t quite know how to bel it, but went with boyfriend in her mind, despite not feeling exactly right. She also considered her retionship with Kristi.

  Val wondered what it would be like, how would it work with all of them. While she found Kristi attractive, it wasn’t exactly her primary attraction. She wondered if she could be with a woman like that. Sure, there was more than a little curiosity in her attraction but was that enough? She supposed that if Kurt was there…

  With a sigh, Val got up and threw on one of Kurt’s shirts. She was still thinking of how sex would be and trying to logic her way through potential acts with Kristi, with or without him present, when she walked into the bathroom.

  She opened the door and saw Kristi standing there, buck naked and looking at herself in the mirror. The dragoness seemed to be doing something with her scales but froze in a very alluring pose when the door opened. Val couldn’t help it as her eyes roamed over the naked dragoness, taking in the sight with a new perspective.

  Slightly stunned, both girls just stared at each other, not sure what to do next. Val considered if she should py it off and use the toilet anyway or give her some privacy for… whatever she was doing. After what felt like minutes, decorum won out and Val closed the door, backing into the hall with a muttered ‘sorry’.

  She went to use the bathroom near the living room and smirked on her way. ‘Oh, yeah, I can do this.’ She thought to herself. Maybe it was because she had been thinking about sex or maybe it was just how Kristi was posed but suddenly things began to fit in her mind.

  She finished her business before strolling into the kitchen, already plotting her next encounter with Kristi. She was thankful the pn was to stay in for a few days since it would give her plenty of excuses to be close with her ‘friend’.