Chapter 399 – Recap for the family

Chapter 399 – Recap for the family

After having noticed that their mother had tried to contact them, Sophia and Steph briefly returned to their old world to meet up with her to tell her everything that was going on. Once the older sister was done with her slightly emotional reunion with her mother, which included lots of hugging and crying, the two, mostly the older sister, pretty much told her everything that had happened during the past year.

“Just what are you talking about...?” After the oldest daughter finished her recap, her mother obviously did not believe a single word. For various reasons. “I understand that you might’ve gone through something, but I am your mother, you know? You can talk about it with me. I was really worried, as well. Is there really a need to tell me such an elaborate yet utterly stupid lie?”

“I am not lying!” Sophia stared right back at her. "Obviously, I get where you're coming from, though. It is slightly hard to believe.”

“You can’t expect me to believe any of this, do you?” Her mother kept shaking her head. "A different world? Talking animals? A princess? Stopped being human? A dog? Tiger?!”

“It’s absolutely true!” Steph sided with her sister. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes after she told me all about it! I also learned magic! I became fluffy, too!”

“...” Their mother changed her attention to the little sister. “You, too? Really? You must realize just how ridiculous all of this sounds, no?”

“Reality is often stranger than fiction~.” Steph just smiled at her.

“In this case, it’s clearly fiction, though!” It was not something one could easily or readily believe, after all. “I’m not forcing you to tell me what happened to you, but could you please not lie to me, at least? Especially not in a way like this?”

“What should I do to prove it?” Sophia tilted her head. “How can I show you that this is actually what happened the past year?”

“Show me. Use your magic and grow an animal tail or whatever you just claimed. Afterward, once you two are done with this, we can get serious again, and I’d love to hear why my daughter has disappeared... You can’t do all this to me in this situation...”

“Oh, I was planning to do that, anyway.”

“Perfect, I want my fluffy tail back and couldn’t hold it out much longer, anyway!” Even though it had just stopped being itchy, Steph already couldn’t be without it anymore.

“You two are really trying your best to- H-HUH?!” Their mother briefly rolled her eyes before she immediately froze with a flabbergasted expression.

“Ta-dah~.” While she was talking, the sisters were suddenly wrapped in thick smoke and turned into their usual selves before long. Tiger Sophia and dog Steph, that is.

“E-Eh...?” Mom needed a moment. “W-Wait... what?”

"See?!" Sophia smiled at her. "Everything I said was the truth!" She moved her tail around to show it was alive to further prove her point.

“I missed you so much!” The dog-girl immediately started to lovingly pet her tail.

“...” She simply stared at her daughters for a while. “Huh?” She couldn’t process it.

“Also, I kinda forget to mention it, but I also became younger when I ended up in that world if you're wondering about my looks. Most of the the other changes came from becoming part tiger. And Steph... Well, she went all out with her visuals. You know how she is... She’s always been like an overly excited dog that doesn't know how to hold back."

“Hey!” The girl in question got loud. "Well, true, though.”

“What the heck is going on here?!” Their mother finally lost it. “Y-You two look completely different! Especially you, Steph! A-Are those actual animal parts?! W-Wait, Sophia! Your eyes also look like those of a cat!”

“It’s cute, isn’t it?” The tiger was quite proud of her eyes.

“...” She froze up yet again. "A-Also, that smoke just now... where did that come from...?”

“Magic~!” Sophia’s mood was great. “We used magic to change our looks.”

“Yup.” The dog-girl nodded.

“B-But magic... that’s not supposed to exist!”

“In this world, yes. It doesn’t exist here, but in our new world, it does.”

“Y-You’re actually trying to tell me that there are d-different worlds...?”

“As much as magic and human-animal hybrids are a thing.”

"As you can see on exhibits one and two." Steph pointed at herself and her sister.

“N-No way...” It was still impossible to believe, even when looking at it with her own eyes.

“Do you want to see it?” Sophia tilted her head. "I can show the world to you if you want to. Don't worry. I can bring you back again afterward. It's a great world! Oh, and you could also meet my girlfriend while you're at it.”

“YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!”

“Why is that the loudest reaction yet?!” The tiger glared at her mother.

"That's really the most surprising part out of all of this, right?" The little sister could understand it.

“I hate you all...”

“B-But you were so bad with people before... You couldn’t even talk with the parents in the kindergarten when they came to pick up their children.”

“...” She had nothing to say in her defense.

“It is true, though.” Steph tried to defend her sister’s honor. Not that she wasn't on the other side mere moments ago. “She’s really cute, too! Not as cute as mine, but still very cute! Sassy, too! She’s a good one!”

“Hey!” Sophia didn’t like it. “I’ll admit that Chloe’s fluffier, but there’s no way Maya isn’t the cutest!”

"You have a girlfriend, too?!" Their mother looked surprised yet again. In fact, she had yet to stop. "Okay, that's a lot more believable, and it was more than clear that neither of you were straight, even without formally coming out, but... how fast did that happen?!” She focused on Steph. “I mean, things weren’t that well between us, but haven’t we seen each other just a month ago?!”

"Well, it happened after Sophia took me with her to the new world. I met someone there, and I just knew she was the one, so things went pretty fast!”

“I’ve never been this confused in my life before...” Things kept being overwhelming for her.

“I know that feeling.”

“Yeah.” After all, the sisters had gone through a lot of confusing stuff.

“Are... Are those really animal parts on you two...? Is this really happening...?”

“It sure is~.”

“D-Do they work like the real thing, too...? Or is it just fancy decoration?”

“...” She stared at it for a moment before eventually lightly touching it with one of her fingers. “It actually does feel like the fur of a cat! Maybe a little less soft, though.”

“Well, I am no cat, after all! I’m a majestic tiger!”

“Ah, I see...”

“I hate you so much...” Steph suddenly sounded extremely tired.

“What is this about?” Their mom looked confused while she glanced at the younger one.

“I-Ignore her!” The majestic tiger, who’s 85% textbook cat, didn’t want her to find out about that. “Anyway, if we vacate the apartment, we need another place to go to and from the other world because we obviously can’t do that out in the open. Do you have a free room in the house we could use for that? An empty supply room in the basement would already be plenty.”

“Yeah, there’s lots of space in the basement.” Their mother nodded a few times. “I don’t really get what you need, but you could also use Steph’s old room. She hasn’t used it in forever because she was basically living here already before you disappeared.”

“Mmhm... I think the basement would be a better place for this.” Saying so, Sophia opened one of her purple portals in the living room.

“W-W-What is that?!” Naturally, she immediately started panicking.

“It’s a thing we call portal.” The striped daughter smiled at her. “If you go through it, you’ll be in our new world.”

“Y-You can go through that?!”

“Sure thing~.” She then faced her sister. “Steph, would you mind?”

"Everything for my majestic tiger." Still slightly salty about that, she rolled her eyes before standing up and going through the portal.

“S-She’s gone!”

“As I said, it’s a portal.”

“And I’m back~.” A moment later, Steph returned to this side, as well.

“W-Wow...” Once again, she had trouble putting her feeling into words. “Is there really a different w-world on the other side of this...? Magic really is something else... Things I never thought I’d say, either...”

“Almost,” Sophia answered her. “It leads to another place where I put a ton of portals leading to all kinds of places in that new world. Kinda like a hub, I guess.”

“What has my daughter been up to the past year...?” She started holding her head. As usual, one of Sophia’s biggest skills, causing a massive headache for others, was going strong.

“Lots of fun stuff~.” Her mood was excellent, though. “It’s a lot to take in, huh?”

“That’s the understatement of the century! It certainly doesn't help with the migraine attacks I get every now and then lately... One of the secondary reasons to go offline for a while, as well. Less overstimulation and sensory overload...”

“Wow, you really would love the other world, then. No sensory overload of that kind exists there. Also, migraines, huh?” She had some experience with them. Mainly in causing them, though. “Are they bad?”

“They are certainly not fun. I can tell you that much.”

“Ahaha...” The tiger scratched her cheek before getting closer to her mother. Afterward, Sophia put a hand on her forehead, which then started shining in a pale blue light. "How is it now?" After the light was gone, she removed her hand again.

“H-Huh...?” Her mother looked even more confused while she touched her forehead. “What just happened now...? Wait a moment... my headache, it’s gone?!”

“Healing magic is amazing, right?” Sophia smiled at her. “I said before that a common cold or a headache is good for character building, but not if it gets too excessive. Because of that, I healed you~.”

“And to flex.” Steph just looked at her.

"T-This, and that are unrelated!"

“Is it?”

“Y-Yes!”

“You healed me...?” Their mother was still trying to understand that part.

“That I did~.” Her smile got bigger. “I was serious when I said that magic takes care of pretty much any disease or injury. With me around in my new home, no one, be it friends or family, will ever have to suffer from anything serious.”

“...” She was speechless again.

“Hehe~. So, do you want to see that world?” Sophia then pointed at the portal again.

“I, uhh... what?” Their mom was still hung up on the healing magic. “N-No, I don’t think I’m ready for it. I want to talk about it with Pete first. If your dad even considers the possibility, we might do, but I don’t want to go alone. Especially because I’m starting to feel like I’d like that place. I want to talk with him while having an unbiased opinion.”

“Sure thing. Whatever you think is the best course of action for you.” The tiger had no plans to push her into doing anything. At least consciously. Unconsciously, she had been advertising it for quite a while already.

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The trio kept chatting for quite a while because there were still many things the sisters wanted to tell their mother. Many hours had passed in the blink of an eye, and more visitors had also shown up.

Their father, together with Sari, had cut the trip to the grandparents short in order to see the sisters, who obviously had a much higher priority in this situation. It had just taken a while to return from there.

He was quite shocked about their looks, but once he had gotten a rough explanation, more hugging and feels happened for a while afterward because he had missed them, too. Once this was taken care of, he also got told the whole story of the sisters, and he was just overwhelmed. This time, Steph had done all the talking, though. Sophia had more important things to take care of after his arrival. Sari, that is. She loves kids, after all.

Once she had laid her eyes on the little baby, it instantly became her number one priority for the time being. She was immediately taken by her and did her very best to entertain her newest little sister, as she was still too small for actual games. It was too early for Sari to walk and talk, too. She did seem to love the tail of her oldest and striped sister and refused to let go of it for a long time until she eventually fell asleep. Even then, it took quite a while until Sophia got her tail to herself again.

Naturally, their father was rather confused about everything, as well, and had a hard time believing the different world story. Still, seeing how the sisters looked and witnessing some magic, there was little room for denial.

He also wasn’t sure how to feel about the idea of going there, even though he, too, thought it sounded very enticing, especially learning about healing magic and how that world seemed to be in a much better state regarding the climate and general pollution. Just like their mother, as a rational-thinking person, who had to take their baby into account, as well, he couldn't simply make a decision on the spot, either.

The family kept chatting for quite a while longer, but they eventually decided to take a break for the time being. Their headaches being healed aside, it was still a lot of very tiring news to wrap their heads around.

They decided to meet again in a while to further talk about the idea of visiting the new world and maybe even staying there if it became a better option for raising their child. Some other details, like getting a room for the portal in their house’s basement, would be a topic at that time, too.

It took another little while before Sophia was able to part with the sleeping Sari because she had already gotten attached to her to a very high degree, but the sisters were able to return to their new home before long after a long day.