#marehem

Stole the world and then swiped Hell too! You been busy, Lady!

“Oh indeed I have!! I’ll have to make a full post catching up!! And don’t you worry, I have M here as well. I had no idea he was a demon! Apparently he is an ArchDuke of the Wrath Ring, and his true name is Malphas, Marehem is just his mortal alias!! That sneaky bastard!

“Its not a damned crush. I swear you busybodies have nothing better to fuckin do. Get back to whatever the fuck you were doin!” M exploded, the faintest blush upon his cheeks as he stormed off to his room, slamming the door. Wally shrugged, “Ah he’ll get over it! Its not like its his first.” Daring and Kiros looked at each other with a questioning look, Daring asking, “Dad, has he done this with that other girl Molli?” He thought back for a bit, “My memory that far back is a bit fuzzy still but I think that was pure hook ups to appease her or using her as a vent for frustration. I dont remember him being that tender to anyone really. But then again like I said, my memory.. aint what it used to be.” Kiros hmmed a bit and shrugged, “I think I’ll see what he’s up to, maybe he just needs a bit of a chat and not bullying.”

Daring raised an eyebrow. “Like bro bonding time? You have already known him how long now?” Kiros chuckled, ruffling her bobbed hair, “Just because we’ve been teammates for a couple decades doesnt mean I cant check in on him. He’s usually a loner out of all of us. He probably feels a bit of pressure to get you up to speed on things.” Daring scowled, thinking. “I think you should let him cool off for a bit. I know you have some high security access, you could teach me a few things. Plus he still kinda creeps me out.” Kiros laughed, “Him? Other than the horror show wanna be vibe, he’s a big grumpy softie. Come on, I’ll tell you more while I show you more of the research lab and library. You’ll need to know how to access the good stuff.” They headed out and Wally sighed, scratching his head. “Well.. it sure is more quiet around here.. its like a mini vacation.”

It in fact was not quite like a mini vacation. That night Wally tried cooking a meal for everyone… which turned out completely inedible. And the cabinets above the stove also became a charred disaster. For the entire month, everyone had some sort of take out as the kitchen was slowly repaired like new. Daring was actually learning the ropes and liking it, as the month flew by, once planning a heist of her own and borrowing her mother’s coat and hat. As luck would have it, the TARDIS showed up shortly before and a blonde maned pink earth pony mare stepped out in a bit of a baggy coat one would see from a thrift store, with a mechanical component and an odd looking sonic screwdriver. “Right, hello. I’m the Doctor, I returned with that thing you needed for your portal door.” M, being skeptical, gruffed, “What the fuck happened to the older silver haired gent?” The mare chuckled, “Oh, thats me, new face. I was forced to regenerate but thats no big deal right now. Lets get you up and running finally, yeah?” M crossed his arms after showing her the way again, narrowing his eyes. “Bah.. too cheerful. I was amused by the bickering before.” The mare Doctor shrugs and begins to tinker about the console and installed the component, buzzing her screwdriver here and there. “Yeah well, times change and so do people. I bet you could change too. Always so angry and cold. You should find someone you like and I dunno. Have a date! Or just hang out. Something with someone you dont mind spending time with, doesnt have to be romantic.” M snuffed in silent retort, looking away as she mentions dates and such. “I have no use fer that fuckin stuff.” The Doctor got up from being on her back and under the console, dusting herself off. “Aahh, I see that eye avoidance though. You thought of at least one person you would consider. Obviously you dont have to, I’m not going to force you. You do what you want. You know you best.”

M rolled his eyes and went over to the console to inspect it, “So is this ready to go? We can open portals and not be fuckin flagged or seen? No beacons or flares or anything?” She shook her head, “Completely off the grid! Now when you see Carmen again, tell her that she owes me one. We aren’t even fully yet! She still owes me from stealing Sexy from me twice!” M scoffs, “Eehh you know Red, she keeps her word, but she is a bit of a weird monster fucker.. I suppose Police Boxes fit that category some fuckin how.” Daring walked into the mech lab with an oversized red trenchcoat and hat. “Are you sure I need to wear this? Didnt she have a smaller size?” She sees the Doctor and blinks, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didnt realize I was interrupting something.” The pink mare beamed, “Oh my gosh lookit you! You shrank! No. Not shrank. You’re not Carmen. Who are you?” Daring kept trying to adjust the hat, “I’m her daughter Daring Do. She calls me Adora.” The Doctor beamed more, “Oh that is stonkin!! A family heist then?? Is it your first one? Oh you’ll have fun! Ol Marehem here will keep you safe. I’ve heard a lot about you and your brother. I hope to see him someday! For now, I do have to run. Just call if you need me!” She had looked at her watch and was already half in the TARDIS before Daring got anything out to say.

M snorted a bit, “Liked the previous Doctor better. More realistic and not so… chipper.” Daring pointed to where the TARDIS was already faded away, “Did I just meet the Doctor? She’s kinda all over the place, isn’t she? Is she always that hyper?” M threw up his hands, “I don’t know, they’ve all had their fuckin hyper moments. Especially when they are fuckin easily excitable. Anyway, lets get this fuckin thing started up. You said you want a heist on a different Earth if we got this running before yer mom got back. Sooo.. Where the fuck you wanna go?” He took a closer look at her and gave a face. “What? Do I disgust you or something?” She huffed. He reached into the shadow and pulled out a fake horn and a brown wig. He fixed the horn to the hat and plopped the wig onto her head. “She hasnt been seen since the accident, so no one knows her change in appearance. She is fuckin self conscious of what the media says, so put this on and from security cameras, you should look spot on.” Daring scowled as she adjusted the wig, “Why would it matter if we’re going to another world? And where did you even get this stuff?” M planted the hat haphazardly onto her head, “Hey, I dont ask where you get your fucking audacity but here we are.. just fuckin use it, and we’ll go from there. Its all her fuckin image reputation shit.. Alright, call yer troops and let’s head out fer yer first heist.”

Daring smirked, “Right.. um.. Oh one more thing to bring.” She had him follow her to the loot storage and pulled out a rolled up tapestry from a museum from their world’s Italy. “I saw that Mom already nicked this one. What if I play a prank she may appreciate? What if we switch the tapestries? Another Earth is sure to have one like this as well? Right?” M took a look at the label Carmen had made for it and he chuckled. “Ya know, I think that would be rather hilarious. Probably against her wishes of letting this go to the hands of someone she doesnt know but, then again, we are fuckin providing her with a technically more rare one. I’ll run it through 079 and see if there is another one of these elsewhere in the fuckin multiverse.” He scanned the tag from his phone and shortly 079 brought up a result and even more information.

“So the tapestry you were seeking is from Earth N37FL1X, it was in display in Italy just a while ago. Mostly populated by animated beings called humans. Very basic species, not very colorful except in culture and language.. and there are reports of what looks to be a young Carmen in her 20’s running about, stealing from an Organization called VILE, oh what a coinkidink and is pursued by a policing agency called ACME. Sounds familiar. Currently if you leave now, I can set the date to when they are in pursuit in a place called Moscow, leaving this Italian museum open for your little field trip.” Daring smiled, “Sounds good! Wait.. why am I excited about that?” M puffed on his cigarette and grins, patting her head, smooshing the hat a little. “Because you just made a basic plan of action and its working in yer favor. Yer mom gets the same way, must run in the family. Now, next thing to do check what kind of other security is involved. Just because this ACME group is preoccupied, doesnt mean the rest of the world is unguarded. 079, can you get the layout deets fer that fuckin museum? A simple fuckin sneak and steal should be an easy first heist.”

Later that night, Blendin came in exhausted and covered in glitter. “Ugh.. I am never doing that again..” He paused as he closed the door, “Hello? Anybody here?” The house seemed very quiet. Asta and Ninoga were off for their anniversary, while Drake and Vasha were off on their own air pirate adventures, Molli was glued to her phone with earphones in, and Wally left a note saying he went shopping for snacks. Blendin had texted Daring and she hadnt responded back yet so he went to a wall display and checked the rosters, finding out Daring, M and Kiros went off world and Skyggja and Sigryn were in their lab. Blendin almost had the whole house to himself. He went to his room and flopped into his computer chair, turning on his gaming tower, and putting headphones on his head as he grabbed a game controller.

He was just about to start a game when a soft set of black pawhands covered his eyes. “Aah! You’re getting fingerprints all over my glasses!!” He exclaimed, hearing laughter from the young sphinx, “Ty! What are you doing here? Arent you in Guardian training?”

The sphinx teen hopped onto Blendin’s bed, his adult coloration coming in finally. He was a little more filled out muscle wise than slender Blendin, since he was part of the wrestling team. His fur becoming a soft midnight with a slightly lighter brown stomach, his humanistic parts were still a honey brown, his human features becoming more of that of a handsome middle eastern man, though still lingering in the awkward teen stage. His black hair was resembling more of black iridescent rooster feathers as was his chest fluff and tail tip. His eyes were a golden honey color, and he was wearing a simple blue tunic and khaki board shorts, sandals on his feetpaws. “I’m done with training, I graduated top of the class and was even given the choice of my Librarian to guard!” Blendin hung the bulky headphones around his neck and turned his chair to look at him, “Thats awesome, dude! Who are you thinking of picking? Is it Emily? Please dont say Emily.. she is sooo insufferable with the fairytale sector.” Ty laughed, shaking his head, “No, I think she’s allergic to cats anyway..” Blendin raised an eyebrow, “You sure she aint just sayin that because she’s a Mouskin?” The feline smirked, “She sneezes all the time around me, I’m not picking her. I was actually wondering.. if perhaps I could pick you.” The young stallion tilted his head curiously, “But I thought Guardians and Librarians often become lovers. At least I think they used to-“ Blendin blinked as Ty suddenly was pressing his lips to his, their first kiss.

After a moment the kiss broke and both boys blushed, Blendin smirking, “Wow. How am I going to refuse after that??” Ty laughed as he leaned on the headrest of the chair, “I was thinking of maybe having a code name Wonderland. You know, Lion and the Unicorn?” Blendin snickered, “Are you calling me fat? That unicorn eats all the sweets while the lion wins the fight.. if anything you have more meat on your bones than I do!” They laughed and Blendin rubs the back of his head a little, “So does this mean that we’re a couple now too?” Ty shrugged. “I was thinking about leaving that part up to you, if you’d have me.” Blendin felt his cheeks blush even brighter than before. “Hells yeah!! I mean..If you want to, I don’t mind..” Ty laughed and ruffled Blendin’s hair, “I wouldn’t be asking you out if I didnt want to!…is.. is that glitter? Why are you covered in glitter?” Blendin gulped and shrugged with a grin, “Fairies?” Ty raised an eyebrow, “As much as that tracks, try again. I know your recent missions were not involving fairies.” Blendin sighed defeatedly, “Okay, fine, but you can’t let anyone else know… its kinda embarrassing.” The Sphinx crossed his arms, “Dude, I’ve seen you after taco tuesday when experimenting with tofu and bean burritos. There ain’t nothing I haven’t seen you do for some fuckin toilet time.”

Soon the date came by that the wives were due to arrive back. A new tapestry hung in a display in the loot storage from Daring’s first heist and switch, the kitchen was restored to near mint condition, and M was relaxing by the pool, a large dunking device sitting next to him. The device’s long arm was dunked in the deep end, the subject tied to was bubbling and thrashing for a good few minutes. The changeling didn’t seem concerned at all for their breathing. He reclined, arms resting behind his head, eyes shut behind some sunglasses, yet he was still dressed in a full black and dark teal suit. He crossed his ankles, his fetlocked hoof tapping the air as if he had a song stuck in his head.

Kalai had wandered down the stairs from the main floor, since the pool was currently residing in the open basement looking out towards the ocean sunset. “I thought you were going to meet us at the entry point, Mr. Tall, Dark and Moody.” She shapeshifted her clothes to be more fitting for the poolside, a golden bikini with a sheer hip wrap. M raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You gave me a date. Not a time. Besides, I got… distracted.” He nodded towards the commotion under the water. He looked at his watch and stood up, “Pardon me a moment..” he grunted, stepping on a pedal that lifted the device’s arm, showing a very disgruntled and soaked red changeling girl, Molli. “Now what have we learned about putting C4 in Red’s room while she was gone??” Molli writhed against the ropes and spit out curses at him, “Fuck you! You’re an asshole! She’s no good for you and you know it!” He stepped off the pedal, careening her back into the water, “Correct observation, wrong fucking lesson..” he chuckled as he resumed his spot on the lounge chair. “Should I even ask?” Kalai chuckled. M lit a fresh cigarette and shrugged, “Neh, just a crazy jealous ex who thinks every woman is out fer my cock, which is fuckin hilarious since I haven’t fucked in like two hundred or so years. Just ain’t interested. And who told her it was only women? There’s other people out there who would love a piece of this.” He gestured to his crotch with a small hip-lift and took a slow draw from his cigarette, Kalai shifting her weight to one hip and curiously tapped her finger to her chin. “Well, is it just women for you?” He let out the smoke in a steady blow, shrugging. “Since forever and fer now, I guess. Never bothered to want to explore it. Broads feel comfortable fer now but what really tickles my fancy is seeing who is stronger. If I can overpower them, I can control them and break them, feed off them. If they are stronger, I respectfully know my place.” Kalai smirks, nudging his legs over so she can sit on the edge of the lounger, receiving an annoyed flash of a sneer before he readjusts himself to let her sit. “So whats the deal with your sister in law then? She’s obviously weaker, or was for as long as you’ve known her, yet you treat her as equal or higher.” M gives off this groan of uncertainty, “Neeehhh its.. complicated. We found common ground and common needs that we could help each other with at the time and it just went from there.”

“She outsmarted you with logic?” Kalai chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “What? Fuck no. It was just a deal to help each other out. And she just kinda grows on yeh. She’s very persuasive.” M grimaced and scoffed at the audacity of the notion that he could be outsmarted by a simple mortal unicorn. “Well then what about me? Where do I stand?” She leans closer to him, batting her eyelashes. He looked over his sunglasses at her, looking her up and down before leaning his head back. “Eh.. hard to say. I recognize your powers differ from mine, yet are extremely similar. Not quite eldritch as I like to describe it. You do surpass me in power levels, but that could be due to age and experience easily.” She cocks her head a bit, with a confused gaze, “Are you calling me old? I’m not even middle aged yet!” M smirks, “I call it how it is. Yer older than me and I’m fuckin old compared to the fuckin morons on this planet. To me, you don’t look a day over 1,000.” She smiles, “So what you’re saying is you like older women.” He sits up and looks over his sunglasses again, “What I’m sayin is that I know my place around you and I’m comfortable with that.”

She smirks with an upward chin tilt and stands up, stepping on the device so the arm lifts Molli out of the water, coughing and sputtering. “And you were comfortable with leaving her underwater for this long?” Kalai sends out her vines and unties Molli and holds her, wrapped up like a python. She brings the little changeling closer to try to soothe her, reaching out a hand to brush Molli’s face. Molli in return hissed and shifting into a viper and bared her venomous fangs and was about to strike Kalai. “You will never sssteal him from me!! I will make sssure you dont sssee another sssunrisse!!! DIE!!”

M ripped off his sunglasses, seeing the fangs and noticing her particular venom, he turned himself into shadow, within what seemed like milliseconds if not instantly, took hold of the captured viper from the vine’s grip and forced her to her true form as he solidified, slamming her against the wall by her throat. His body suddenly bigger, and more monstrous, almost hulking with multiple limbs, most thin and spindly like spider legs, caging around them. Tentacles swarming as three sets of insect wings splayed open, his face almost looking skeletal with multiple glowing eyes, green with shades of red, bared down upon the offending changeling who clutched to the claws holding her throat, her hooves kicking for some footing to stand on, her own segmented eyes filled with absolute terror, he slowly growled at her, threatening sounds of his chittering sounded in the back of his throat.

“DID YOU LEARN NOTHING WHEN I THREW YOU TO THE SIDE CENTURIES AGO? AND YOU DEIGN TO RETURN TO ME AND THREATEN WHAT I HAVE RIGHTFULLY EARNED ALL BECAUSE I DO NOT RETURN YOUR AFFECTIONS? LET THIS MOMENT SET THINGS CRYSTAL CLEAR. IF YOU REMAIN AT THIS DOMAIN, YOU WILL CARE AND PROTECT YOUR TEAMMATES AND HOUSEMATES AS FAMILY. GENUINELY AND WITHOUT SEEKING REWARD. I TIRE OF YOUR GAMES AND HAVE WORN OUT MY HOSPITALITY AND PATIENCE. CHOOSE YOUR PATH TONIGHT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO CONTINUE THESE GAMES, I WILL DEVOUR YOU COMPLETELY WITH NO REMORSE. YOU WILL BE SPARED WITH NO ILL WILL IF YOU STAY AND CHOOSE TO TRULY BECOME A VILE AGENT OR IF YOU CHOOSE TO LEAVE YOU WILL BE SPARED BUT NEVER ALLOWED TO RETURN. MAKE YOUR CHOICE BY DAY BREAK.” Molli nods panickedly as he lets her go, dropping her to the floor and turning back towards Kalai, almost instantly back to his normal form, straightening his tie and putting his sunglasses back on, striding towards her. Molli ran back upstairs into the rest of the house to think about what she needs to do next. Kalai, on the other hand, watched M with his hulking form while biting her knuckle, her legs crossed tight. She stands to meet him as he returned towards her, her tail swishing a bit excitedly. “I apologize that you had to see that. Are you alright? Did she bite you at all?” He took her hand, examining it. Kalai let him hold her hand, a deep blush spread over her face as she looked into his shaded eyes. “N-no. I’m very fine. She didn’t bite me. Even if she did, it wouldnt do anything to me. Hell, I’m still holding and processing your brother’s disease in my own body so I can cure it fully. That is proving difficult but its not impossible.” She shifts the shape of her own body, as if dropping an illusion, her body riddled with small crystals ripping through her flesh before putting the illusion back on. M frowns, shaking his head. “I know you are helping but endangering your own life like this, you’ll run out of time.” Kalai laughed, “No I won’t. I’m practically life and death incarnate. This cannot harm me like it does your brother. So be at ease. I have it handled. Just like how you handled that girl back there.” She looked past him at the partially cratered wall. “That was impressively sexy by the way.” She reached up and fondled his tie within her hands, looking up at him. “Wut, That back there? That’s not supposed to be fuckin sexy..” M gave a questioning look, before she pulled his tie, bringing him closer like a leash. “Shut up and take the compliment.” He growled close with a smirk. “How about you shut up?” She grins, daring him. “How about you make me-Mmmh!~” He didn’t let her finish her challenge before his lips locked with hers, his hands wrapping around her hips. She melted a little as they kissed, her hands on his tie still. She pulled away first, softly giggling. “Touché.” He smirked, “So, did I do it right?”

“Do what right?”

“Did I seduce you?”

“You are how old and you forgot how to seduce?”

“I didn’t forget!!”

“You did! You totally forgot how to seduce a woman!”

M huffed. “I can seduce any woman I want!”

Kalai slid her neck to the side, “Then why did you ask?”

“I dunno, Red makes it look easy! And I tried being, I dunno, fuckin coy or something!”

“How can you forget how to seduce?! Its like forgetting how to eat!“

“Look, I don’t think you are aware, but I don’t like actual food.. like ever.”

“You don’t like food?”

“I can fuckin absorb emotions, why would I need food?!”

“Its called fun!”

“I don’t need food for fun..”

“And this is why you didn’t get laid for the past 200 years.”

That night, everyone had sat down for a well deserved home cooked meal by Carmen and Lekir, and a few more settings were placed for the new visitors. A Dragon King named Anorath had joined Carmen and Lekir for dinner along with a Lizard woman named Celica and the black and green Vixen Kalai, who had chosen to sit next to M. A fourth individual was also welcomed to the table, sitting by Daring. A tall and slim Kirin teen with some wolf like features, about 18-19 years of age. His long mane was an arctic blue while his fur was white, a single blue curved horn jutted from his forehead as much smaller horns ran along his hairline. He was exceptionally pretty, as Daring couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Instead of a normal Kirin tail, he had a canine one, yet still had the cloven hooves with long blue fetlocks. He smiled and joined in conversation, one would notice his teeth were also canine.

As Carmen stood to help serve the food, she clinked a glass for the undivided attention of the table. “All right, settle down, I know we’ve been gone a long while, longer for us than most you, but I wanted to say how glad we are to be back home! I wanted to thank Anorath, Celica and Kalai for helping us during this whole endeavor! And I wanted to formally introduce a new member to the family. Not new to me and Lekir but new to you all.. ya know.. time travel..” The table chuckled, and she continued, gesturing over to the Kirin teen, “I’d like you all to meet Aciano. He is our son. Lekir and I had a baby apparently. I have also updated my birth control to be strong enough for this demon Jirvi-Ketsru blood I have, since thats why this happened. My old birth control was not strong enough for my body anymore. So yeah. Thats fixed now. Um, so Aciano is going to be staying with us, he wanted to go see this world and see if he is interested in any special talents he may develop here. He’s a bit shy right now but I’m sure he’s grow into his place here with no issues.”

The table erupted into welcomes and laughter, Daring somewhat dropped her shoulders, “He’s my brother?! I got two brothers now? Dammit, I was hoping he wasn’t related!” Kiros nudged her with his elbow, chuckling. “That quick to change crushes?” Daring sputtered and glared at him, “What?! Psh.. No… what? Mm-mm nope. I have no idea what you’re on about.” Carmen smirked, “I just wish Blendin was here to meet you. He’s been rather busy with his Librarian duties. Oh! That reminds me, Adora, theres a magic show in town this weekend. Why not get aquatinted with Ace and show him around, you’ll have a blast! I just know it! Aaand I hear the magician has a new assistant you may like. I hear he’s your age and already has quite a following on Tik-Trot.” Daring blushed bright red and slouched, hiding in her wings. “Mother!! Stop trying to set me up with random boys! I’ll pick someone when I’m ready!” Carmen blinked, thinking she was mistaken, “So sorry, Would you rather me see if theres any girls you may like instead? Just let me know if thats what you prefer..” Daring hid more in her wings, groaning. “No Mom! I like boys but I don’t need any help finding anyone! Fuck!” Carmen raised an eyebrow, “Adora Knapsack Yearling! Language! We have guests!!”

M piped in “Oy, Red, give the kid a fuckin break, yeah? She pulled off a hell of a first heist while you were gone. Give her some slack. And mind you, she was the FIRST VILE agent to go across dimensions for yer precious loot. I’d say she deserves extra dessert or somethin!” Carmen beamed, “Thats absolutely wonderful news! Absolutely she can extra dessert! And You can help her write up the report after dinner.. which by the way, M. Hand me your plate, I’ll put it in the cupboard for you.” M scowled, in mid reach of a plate of stuffed artichoke. “Um why the fuck would I do that? I’m eating right here with the rest of yez.” Carmen smiled wide, motioning to Kalai, “Oh Kalai and I had a nice conversation about dinner and how you dont like food in general. So I’m not going to force you to eat if you don’t like my cooking..” M stood up, insectoid chittering could be heard faintly as his ears pinned back, “What the absolute fuck? I never fuckin said I didnt like your cooking! I just dont eat for fun! Appreciating the hard work of a home cooked meal is a whole ‘nother fuckin thing entirely!”

Carmen slow blinks at him, and gestures for his plate again, “And your appreciation is noted and welcomed, but I won’t force you to eat if you don’t like to eat. Now hand over your plate.” M scowls and keeps his hand on top of his plate. “Fer fuck sake, Red! I want this food! Yeah I can fuckin absorb all yer good feelings and shit but I like having fuckin solid food too even if I don’t need it to survive!”

GAWDDAMMIT M!

Here are some current profile pictures for Carmen and Marehem I plan on coloring soon.

M: What the fuck you lookin at?

Artist: Nothing, you’re sitting still enough to try to draw you.

M: I ain’t much to fuckin look at, we both must be bored as fuck.

Artist: I just have a spare 20 min of my lunch. Don’t get too excited.

M: Looks like shit.

Artist:…. I draw what I see, so you just called yourself shit.

The holidays came and went without much issue, took about a week for Carmen to adjust to walking again and even quicker to adjust to her new arms. M had holed himself back into his room for the most part, much to the teen siblings disappointment. They wanted to see how bad his jolly could get. But nonetheless his gifts were set by his door for him to collect. On HearthsWarming morning, the teens came down from their prepared rooms to find that the little humble decor that was previously put up had multiplied tenfold, the tree was almost overloaded with ornaments, a curved fortress wall of presents for every person in that HQ was sitting both under and around the tree, almost as high as the tree itself. Walls had boughs of holly, evergreen, ribbon and poinsettia flowers in a classic red green and gold motif. There were straw grass goats, menorahs, different species figurines caroling, candles of nearly every color that was specific to multiple different holidays. It was like every winter holiday exploded into a single room.

Blendin and Daring’s eyes went huge and their mouths were unable to shut for a very long time, they were so stunned. Carmen had gotten up early to start the massive amount of festive food and blinked as she sipped her coffee, leaning a little on Wally’s walking cane. “Well. That was expected. Looks like M couldnt contain it in his room this year.” The kids looked at her, “M DID THIS?!” Carmen nodded, sipping more coffee. “Mmhm. This is what I was warning you about. This is just the living room. See all this? Embody all this into a single person. Thats what he is dealing with. And he HATES it. Like a song you absolutely hate being stuck in your head only worse.”

Vasha and Drake came through the front door and stopped short, “M got loose? And we missed it??” 079 blipped up on the tv, which was decorated in tinsel garland much to the ai’s annoyance. “Yes, yes, the rude one spent all night like a cartoon whirlwind, I’m surprised no one woke up with the incessant caroling off key.” Soon everyone, other than M respectably, had seen the holiday explosion and marveled at the little personal details for each agent and family member. After a hefty breakfast of meats, waffles, pancakes, french toast and various danish and fruit, they all gathered for gifts. Predictably the kids got the majority of presents since it was their first winter season with family. “There no way we can bring all stuff this back to our dorms…” they both lamented. Asta shrugged, “Why not just split the stuff between here and there? Its not like you don’t have a place to stay right here. You can come and go as you please!” Blendin absolutely loved the idea while Daring was a little more apprehensive. She then noticed everything of hers had a gift receipt, to which Carmen nodded, “To show you that we didnt steal any gifts. I want you to trust us. Our honesty is one of our biggest gifts we have for you.” Daring smiled a bit, still torn. “Everything is so nice, and not just blindly given. All these things are all part of my interests..” she paused and it looked like she was looking for something to be mad about it all. But all she could muster was, “Well, I still think you’re up to something! Quit trying to prove me wrong!” And after muttering a sincere thank you, she proceeded to curl up on the sofa, getting a feel of her new phone and laptop complete with writing programs to make it easier to write and publish her works.

Lekir plopped a bow onto Carmen’s head and joking poked Wally, “Hey Stripes, Happy HearthsWarming, we upgraded your wife! With those augments from Sky and Sig, and the demon essence, she’s no longer a little squishy! She can actually take a hit now!” Carmen thought a moment. “So I got stronger, live longer, my appearance changed and I have fire powers. What about the new fangs and am I supposed to draw heat to make heat? Because I made something cold with one hand and something hot in the other earlier.”

Lekir raised an eyebrow and suddenly got onto the mare’s lap and started sticking her fingers into her muzzle to look at her teeth. “What do you mean cold? What fangs?" She looks closer into her mouth and quickly clasps her hands around her wife's snout, "FUCK! Okay... so good news and... not bad news!" Carmen blinks, confused, “Well you said I was only half demon now. What do you mean not ba- Ow…You mabe me bipe my tonge.. mmh, I hope I’m not venomous or poisonous. Because that would suck about now. Or am I a fire vampire?” Lekir baps her lightly and sits back down, debating about getting a chart and crayons.

“You’re not a fire vampire, you’re an idiot sandwich. But no, You don't inject anything... well you could but don't try it, you could possibly liquefy someone from the inside out or freeze them entirely while removing all the water in their body, essentially freeze drying them.” Carmen narrows her eyes, running her tongue over her teeth, “I dunno if I like that.” Lekir waves it off, “Its not really something you need to worry about, its more a conscious thing like you would need to choose to do it. So first off, don’t bite people. Ok, I told you about the pendant that had my brother's essence, right? My two brothers have different parents, but we each share one, I'll leave out all the details of that, that's not important!” She takes a deep breath and tries to figure out how to simply explain it. “So, back in Cador, my home world, Larquez is what we called a Harbinger. They are a being who has purified blood due to Ketsru blood, demon blood. Instead of it causing mixed bloods to create a lesser of the two parents like in your world, it instead enhances both or more to 100%, meaning you're 100% Jirvi, Ketsru, Vesk and... equine. None of your history is removed, just... more if itself. It's hard to explain, but the title should be a hint. You are much more than you ever were, and likely able to overwhelm me now... which means... WE CAN BE ROUGH WITH YOU!” Carmen squints her eyes suspiciously, “And you got all that from my hand being cold and hot and by looking at my new fangs?”

The Vesk shrugs, “If you were only part Jirvi, fire demon, you would not be able to switch from hot to cold. It would be just fire. And the fangs aren’t a Jirvi trait. But this does mean you can also shapeshift since you are a Cador Harbinger now.”

Carmen scratches her head, “I honestly dont think I’m Harbinger material.. I mean I probably wont use most of what you say I can do.. I’m just a little thief.”

Lekir wags her tail, “A little thief who can fight and win wars and not break when having the most intense sex of her life! I’m sure Ninoga and Kiros are gonna be thankful not to have to treat you like bone china anymore!” Carmen’s face got as red as her blouse, “I dont want to fight in wars or anything like that.. but the sex does sound pretty nice..” Daring exclaims out loud, “Omg! Can we NOT talk about my mom’s sex life?! Its fucking gross!! We are right here! We dont wanna hear about our parents fucking everyone under the sun! Right Blendin?!… Blendin?” Daring turns and sees her brother not even paying any attention as he had new headphones on and was fully engrossed in playing a new handheld video game.

Lekir snickers and pats Carmen on the thigh, “Don’t worry, you’re now able to survive the gravity and atmosphere of Cador, I can bring you there and there’s a few Harbingers there that can teach you how to control your new powers. We can go starting next month if you wish. Maybe take a few weeks off or something. I’ll get to show you around.” Wally grins, “Wow, that is a lot to kinda sink in. So she is technically a main character now, not just the odd one out! Like an anime!!” Blendin looks up, moving his headphones, “Someone say anime??” Daring just gives a slow turn look at him, “You heard THAT but not all the other stuff?!” He blinks, “What other stuff?”

After cleaning up the wrappings and ribbons, there was a modest feast complete with desserts, to which after was the mountain of dishes that took nearly three days to clean completely down to the last fork. Luckily by then all the leftovers were already devoured and enjoyed, the wine cellar had never looked as empty in quite a while.

Soon it was the middle of the first month of the new year, the kids went back to their dorms and M stumbled out of his room all haggard and hungover. The HQ had been cleared of holiday swag and was back to its normal decor for at least a week or two. He made his way to the kitchen to brew some deathwish coffee, black, no sugar, no cream. From in the very large walk in pantry, the entrance to the wine cellar glowed blue and Skyggja and Drake were hauling stacks of crates of different liquors and spirits on dollies, trying to replenish the inventory that was consumed over the holidays. “Hey its the sleeping snow angel, awake from its nap!” Drake chuckled as M leaned against the pantry door, his response was just a deep growly groan as he sipped the coffee. His somewhat tattered teal and blue insect wings twitched a bit but his tentacles were still tucked in, not shown. His long slender and brushlike tail swayed with slight growing annoyance as he watched more crates get stored.

“Where’s Red?” He grumped, Skyggja raising an eyebrow, holding a crate for a moment. “Well aren’t you your bright and festive self. This must be you normally from what I’ve heard. Carmen is upstairs with Sig, she wanted to discuss possible add-ons to her hands. I think she thinking about storing lock-picks or something in there. Which is really easy to do. We just need to make sure her new superpowers dont interfere with the system or components.” M scratched his head with one eye closed, “New Superpowers? I thought I heard something about her only having fire.. ain’t yer stuff fireproof or some shit?” Skyggja set down the crate and put her hands on her hips, “Didn’t anyone update you yet?” M grumbled, “Yer the first two souls I’ve seen since waking the fuck up. I haven’t even looked at the fuckin calendar yet.” His face showed how much of a hangover he had, even his cheeks had a tinge of queazy green. “Oh, well Lekir can fill you in with details but the shortcut version is that the essence made her more than fire but rather she won the lottery and got like three other bloods? Something confusing but she’s considered a Harbinger now and has new added strength and other things. Like you could slam a metal chair against her back and she’s just look at you, not budging.” M smacked his lips and sighed, looking into his drink. “Well la-dee-fuckin-dah. Looks like I’ll need to find a Vesk and do some fucking homework. As long as nothing fucking changed her into someone she’s not..Then I’d have a fuckin problem.”

Drake chuckled, “Oh, no, she’s her usual stubborn self, just dealing with a lot changes. Rightfully so. She says she’s taking it stride but I’ve heard her break down behind closed doors once or twice. Its gonna take a bit for her to get over what happened.” M hmmed in return and turned to walk away but paused and looked at the glowing doorway, taking a sip. “Hm. Maybe I’ll work on the C5 doorway later. We do have that interdimensional item transporter just sitting in the mech lab. I bet I can access the fuckin multiverse if I connect the ley doors and Chronoskimmer to it.” He muttered. Skyggja stacked more crates, just about finished, “Just make sure you run it past me, I don’t want any funny business running through the system. I don’t need that goofy ass Dogma Metatron digital wanna-be nagging me for something I had no clue about!” M waved his hand, “Yeh, yeh..” and proceeded to talk a walk outside by the perimeter.

He strolled the beach and stood watching the waves for a few moments before he noticed a small boat that was dragged ashore. Looks like its been there possibly an hour with how the tide was currently. His gaze wandered up towards the gardens and saw a small moving patch of electric blue hair. Cracking his neck, he magically sent (a power that he called shadowing to summon or send away items from a short distance) his cup back to the kitchen with a small puff of toxic green flame and smoke and straightened his half open button down shirt, tucking it into his pants. He silently made his way to the intruder. An extremely slender dark balance changeling female, same body color and tail shape as M, but her hair was that electric fiberoptic looking blue hair in a half shaved/ shoulder length droopy mohawk style that he had seen from the beach and her eyes, segmented and gradient like his, only in red and yellow. She was crouching behind the bushes, taking account of the security cameras. Deciding to mess with her, he crouches down near her, rubbing his chin and whispers, “Do you think they’ll notice us?” Her long ears perked up as her eyes grew wide, whipping her head towards him. It took her a minute before squealing with delight, “Oh em gee!! Skaedfryd!! I didn’t know you were here! Were you assigned here too?! We can work together!!” She flung herself at him hard, tackling him and planting her lips upon his. He pushed her off his lips and leaned up on his elbows as she stayed straddling his hips. He wiped his muzzle with his sleeve.

Assigned? What was her game? M recognized the changeling as his ex from 200 or so years back. “Uh, yeh, I’ve been posted here for a while. Why are you here?” She flitted her little red and orange wings, shimmying her shoulders, “I got hired by this big shot no name contractor to put a hit on the red lady in there! Who hired you?” His ears dipped back as he narrowed his eyes, dropping the playful act, “I was hired by the red lady in there. I’m part of her fuckin security.” She shimmied again, grinding her hips, “Oh so a secret inside hit job then? You were always the best cause of death in our generation~” she practically moaned at him. She ran her fingers over his chest, slipping into his shirt, licking her lips. He sighed in annoyance and dropped his head back. “No, you fucking dumb bitch. I mean I am literally her protector. I don’t kill. I found something better to put my talents toward.”

This was news to her and her mood switched on a dime, “So you mean to tell me this cunty unicorn basically pussy-whipped you into submission? What the actual fuck? You were so sexy back when you were covered in blood, pieces of corpse littering the ground, your claws ripping through muscle and sinew like a hot knife through butter~” she got sidetracked again and started to grind again. She stopped and looked down, “Why arent you getting hard?” He growled, “Because I dont fucking like you, you annoy the piss outta me and I want you to get off of me.” Its not like he couldn’t just toss her, but he gave her a chance to move on her own. She leans forward, brushing some hair behind her ear, moaning, “Thats not what you said two hundred years ago~ As I recall, you used my horns like handle bars to bend my back in such a twisted way~ Ooohm, makes me wet just remembering!~” His eyes glowed as he picked her up with his tentacles and got to his feet, dusting himself off. She, on the other-hand, seemed to be in near orgasm just by the thought of being handled by tentacles. “For fuck sakes, get a fuckin hold of yerself!” He simply tossed her into a bush and shuddered. “Crazy ass bitch, get off our island and report back to yer boss that you failed. Fuck, you’re so fuckin one track minded. I’m goin back to work. Fuck this shit.”

She watched him stalk away but then hurried after him, she had shifted from her navy blue catsuit, to a baby blue pleated short skirt, a low cut light purple crop tank top and baby pink leg warmers and light green fishnet elbow length fingerless gloves. She whipped a vine around his ankles and swept him off his feet so he dangled upside down face to face to her, her smile to his grimace. “See? I turned that frowny frown upside down! We should totally sixty-nine like this sometime~” M nods, “Oh sure, how about the Tuesday after never, which is a week after Fuck off!” She laughed “You’re so funny! Now come on, you can tell me all the little details on this little chicky’s weaknesses~ I need to hurry and get this job done so I can do my nails. They’re gonna look sooo good around your cock… and scratching down your back as you take me, mmmhf!~” she squirmed as she stood in front of him, he was still upside down and quickly losing patience. He had learned to be extra cautious of his actions during his hangover, he had a bad habit of overreacting greatly. Things that normally make him quickly explode now brings him to a slow rumbling boil before going all out.

“So yer saying that you need a good fucking, right? You want me to rail you till you cant walk right for weeks, fill you up with my juices and make you my little sex pet, is that it?” He softened his tone to a low sexual growl, making her legs tremble just from listening to him. “Oooh fuck yes!!” She begged, letting him down to stand on his own. He caressed the back of her neck with surprising gentleness with his hand, the other sliding around the small of her back. He twisted her so she had her back to him as he pressed against her, his hand almost cupping her chin upwards as the other explored her front, his muzzle kissing and nipping her neck hungrily as she practically melted in his grasp. She writhed and moaned, he stroked her nethers just barely. She couldnt see his eyes but they were twitching in disgust. His hand wanted to recoil from feeling how drenched she was.

He removed his hands and grasped hers together behind her back, shadowing a pair of Carmen’s handcuffs and locking them in place before pushing her to the ground, face down, ass up. “Oohhh fuck! If I known you were going to be this kinky, I would have brought toys!! Aaahhhnnn~” she wriggled her ass as he got close behind her, he could feel her grinding, he reached and grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, “I always knew you were such a bad girl. You really want me to stick it deep, dont you? You want to feel every single inch…” she cried out and begged, her body already trembling in wanton anticipation. “Oh god yes!! Give it to me!!” He straightened up and shadowed Lekir’s spear into his grip and thrust it into her back by her shoulders and pushed it all the way through deep into the ground. The changeling mare screeched and her two vines whipped out by her wings, trying to attack him. Effortlessly, he catches both and pulls them taught, using a large folded pocketknife to slice them off by the base. She writhed and attempted to reach the spear but the way he had her positioned and bound, she didnt have proper movement nor leverage strength to rescue herself. “What the FUCK?! That shit is cold like ice!! Let me up! Skaedfryd!! I’m gonna kill you for this!!”

She, like M, was not so easily disposed or destroyed by a simple spear to the body. For good measure, he hammered the end a little bit to make sure it didnt move. He picked up the severed now-wilted vines and wiped his face with his sleeve, groaning. “Maybe now you’ll take the hint and fuckin leave.” He got halfway the path when Lekir starts coming towards him, “Where is it, bug boy? I know you took my spear! And Carmen’s cuffs. Only you have this green flamey smoky magic. I’ll have you know I was in the middle of- is that..? what is doing over there?” He looked over his shoulder at the struggling ex and shrugged. “I needed it for gardening, ya know, just doing some trimming, getting rid of some pesky horny weeds.” He tosses the vines into the compost heap and puts the knife back into his pocket.

A few days later, Lekir and Carmen were packing for their trip to Cador, after much discussion, since Carmen had been accidentally setting things aflame. The trouble was that the Doctor still hadn’t fixed the C5 Doorway to be functional and undetectable. Some components were not compatible then there were some that simply exploded in use. He had to rush off to a place he knew to pick up what he needed to replace and complete the work, and possibly save the world. Lekir was sour that she had missed him as they were about to leave. “Looks like we’ll just need to ask Kalai for a portal. She at least has the authorization to create one. Then we can set your device to return whenever.” She suggested.

Carmen thought for a bit, she knew she may be able to sneak past security as she was at the capital’s portal transit station, but perhaps not since she looked a little different than her passport pictures. Portal travel had been extremely tight to anyone with dimensional portal powers due to the uptick in dangerous activity. Its been restricted to only authorized use and the main portals at each region’s capitals. Lekir knew some folks in her homeworld that were high up the command chain that were able to create portals for them, Carmen has never met them though but she knew they wouldn’t appreciate constant portal requests for her heisting. Portals were rare enough, they were only summoned after months of preparation and consultation at the capitals, and heavily guarded. General teleportation was not as regulated since the amount of magic to be used to travel to different worlds is far too much for an ordinary individual of this particular world, and simple teleports were limited to short distances.

This particular morning, Carmen’s stomach was churning. She couldn’t figure out if she ate something that didnt agree or she was just too nervous. She hasn’t traveled this way before, and she hasn’t been this nervous before. She had everything packed in a single suitcase and ran through a list of things that continued to be done while she was gone. She met up with M and Wally in the foyer for the review. “Alright so we may be gone a few weeks, I don’t know how this training is supposed to go but it’ll help me control this fire thing going on.. Wally, I need you to keep a stock of food, make sure Ninoga doesn’t empty us out, and keep a check on the fresh produce, Blendin may come over and you know he’s a crunchy kid with his veggies. He prefers greens over junk, so make sure theres fresh stuff for him.”

“M, I would like to have Daring introduced to how things work here, she’s my eldest and I would like a family backup if I decide to retire or something. She’s the closest to my body shape and all, gotta keep appearances. Go over the protocols and maybe let her on the field with one of you on one of the lesser priority heists. She may not like it now but she may grow into it.” Her stomach flopped a bit, and she paused. Wally and M looked at eachother, M tilted his head, “You sure you wanna go travel in this condition, Red? You usually don’t have nausea.” Wally gently shuffled her to the foyer sofa, had her sit down, he opened her water bottle for her, “M’s right, are you sure you wanna do this? You do look absolutely green around the gills..” Carmen took a sip and waved them off, “I’m fine, its probably just nerves.. This Cador has much heavier gravity than here and before I was not able to survive, I’m now supposedly able to and I am kinda worried about it not working but I’ll be fine..urp!” She clapped a hand over her mouth as she almost heaved. She got up and dashed to the nearest bathroom, rushing past Lekir. “Whoa.. Is she still sick?? I can let Kalai know to postpone for a day..” M groaned and shook his head, “You know how hard headed she is. She’s determined to leave today as scheduled. We’ve even asked her.”

“Good thing we’re not leaving for a few more hours. Gives her time to settle herself.” Lekir put her hands on her hips, waiting for her wife to be free from the bathroom. “Well, I’m about to go to my physical exam, maybe I’ll bring her along and see if theres anything they can give her to ease it up.” Wally offered. M laughed, “Good luck with that, you know she fuckin hates doctors since she was hauled away after the fuckin fire. Its been years.” Wally shrugs, “All the more reason, its been too long.” Carmen stepped back out to the foyer, looking a little worse for the wear. She had tied her hair up to a tight high-tail, “I’m not going to any doctors. Its just nerves. I’m fine. Go, don’t be late for the appointment. See if they can give something for the pain at least, maybe get them to do a chest scan, we don’t know how far its gotten..” she fussed over him, picking a missed crystal from his shoulder, where the shards shredded a hole. Wally smiles and kissed her nose. “I’ll be fine, just drink some ginger ale or something. I’ll be back soon.”

Blendin rushed through, almost bumping into his father, “Whoop, sorry Pops. Hey Mom, have you seen my backpack? I’m heading to a mission but I need something out of it real quick.” He starts looking behind the cushions of the sofa, M’s tentacle actually held it right above his head in a corner, the two wives snickering, “Look up, sweetie.” Carmen chuckled. Blendin looked around the ceiling for a moment “Hey! I need that! I’m gonna be late!” M cackled as he kept it slightly out of reach. “Uncle M, come on.. please?” The young stallion begged, the brash changeling dropping the backpack into the awaiting arms of the newly eighteen year old. M shook his head with a wicked grin, “That kid cant jump worth a damn..”

While the wives were preparing for their trip, Wally made his way to his appointment in a large city. In a large concrete building that almost looked more like a facility management center like the city’s Water Works, he stepped through the door and flashed his Wander Society coin, “Waldric Wander. I’m here for my physical.” He mentioned to the front desk where he was directed to the waiting room. After a few moments, he was called into an exam room where a new doctor stood to greet him. The tall black and white stallion grinned as he outstretched his hand, “Waldo, Glad you could make it. I’m Dr Ravidel Soltek and I’ll be handling your checkup today…”

Daring walked up to the door right outside Skyggja’s lab, where Sigryn greeted her, “Hello Daring! We weren’t expecting you! Would you like anything to drink?” The young pegasus shook her head, “No, I’m just looking for Mom. Have you seen her?” The dovefox nodded and escorted her towards the workshop area, “Oh yes! Carmen is right over here, getting some adjustments done before her trip.” Daring soon saw Carmen sitting in a shop chair, with a snack-tray in front of her with papers and books, awkwardly trying to sift through things with one arm as Skyggja was just a few feet away, working on the missing arm. Carmen looks up and smiles, “Adora! What brings you here?” Daring huffs a bit in annoyance, "Mom, why do you have a thing in my schedule for VILE training?! You know I don’t want to be a part of this! And with Uncle M for that matter!” Carmen straightens up and takes off her glasses, “Honey, I don’t know what will happen when I’m away and I need you or Blendin to know how things work here just in case there needs to be a leadership shift in the event of emergency. That and if anything should happen to me or your father, you’ll know what to do. I don’t want this to dissolve, too many people have made their home here. So its just a little crash course on how things work. I’m not asking you to become me. I want you to be your own person.” Daring crossed her arms, “You’ve already proven that you are worse at dying than a cockroach. So why me? If you hadn’t noticed, I’m now the only normal person that hasn’t been altered or abnormally strong or have powers..” Her mother beamed, “Sweetheart, I’m talking about your intuition and intellect, your ability to notice details, quick thinking and even quicker reflexes.” Daring glares, “But you don’t see what is wrong here! You have a skewed sense of morals in which I don’t want any part of! You steal from museums and other locations! And its mostly for your own gain! You don’t need any of it! Its all to see if you can while trying to disguise it as a way to punish a more crooked individual!”

Skyggja looks over her shoulder, “It may be stealing but your mother has done more to help others than you realize! She’s not exactly a Robin Hood but she isn’t any Sheriff of Nottingham either! As for doing it to see if she can, I’ve seen first hand how easy she can steal things. No wonder she keeps trying to go for more complicated heists. Theres no effort in protection anymore in lots of places. Consider us like WhiteHats, finding holes in security, only we get paid with their loss.” Daring growls in frustration, “You can get hired legally for that! You don’t have to do it illegally!!”

Sigryn comes over with a tray of drinks for everyone, some spiked lemonade. “I think they learn the lesson harder when its done off a legal paycheck. Besides, Don’t you do similar to us, Daring? You steal things from temples and ruins..” Sig smirked, sipping her own drink. “But thats different!! I’m legally allowed to because its covered under anomalous archeology!! Its my job to collect and neutralize the unstable artifacts for the safety of the world!” Carmen puts her glasses back on and goes back to read a paper, “So its not that different, honey, just a different boss to answer to. Where here, that boss may be you someday.” Skyggja turns, holding the arm, and reattaches it with a couple clicks. Carmen flexes her hand, and moves it around to make sure everything is connected and functioning properly. Daring turns to leave, her mother calling after her, “Just talk to M, he’ll help you out!” Skyggja chuckles as Daring leaves, “You sure have a firecracker there. If she comes around, she’s gonna be a spittin image.” Carmen smirks, “I think she’ll warm up to the idea. She just needs time. Ooh I just got a craving for pickled beets and peanut butter, out of now where.. weird.” Sigryn laughs, “That sounds like a pregnancy craving if I ever heard one! Such a weird combo!” Carmen sips her spiked lemonade, “Nah, I’ve been on a strong birth control since having Blendin. I have unusually high levels of hormones during my cycles and I had to cap it somehow. Not even Kiros could get me pregnant with these pills. Besides, its not so weird, folks used to roast whole onions stuffed with peanut butter about a century ago and it was a household favorite! I personally havent tried it but pickled beets cant be too much different!”

Skyggja raised an eyebrow, “You capped your hormones during cycles yet some of us STILL can’t keep up with your stamina during your heats.” The mare shrugged, “I’m a medical marvel apparently between that and my disability to use my natural unicorn magic. Other than that I used to be perfectly normal!” Skyggja’s mechanical eyes whirred a bit, “Right, well ya ain’t normal anymore. Maybe you should cut back on the drinkin till after you get back. You said your stomach wasn’t too happy with the nerves, and who knows what the portal may do, especially since Lekir said the environment is different.” Carmen waved the notion off, downing the rest of the drink. “I’ll be fine. Thats why I’m double checking with you about my augments. If I can get used to the atmosphere quickly, I’ll be right as a rainbow.”

Within a few hours, Wally had returned, and had a small pill bottle in hand. He went to put it in his medicine cabinet after reading the label when Carmen knocked on the doorframe, “Hey, how’d the appointment go?” Wally smiled and shrugged, “Fine I guess. I got prescribed a new medication that may help slow the crystal growth and help with the pain. Still no word on a cure. But its better than nothing.” She smiled and rubbed his arm comfortingly. “We’ll find a way. I promise. Now you have everything you need while I’m gone? Because once I’m on the other side, its hard for me to get back on short notice.”

He nods, “I think we’ll be just fine. I’m already kinda feeling better. And I haven’t even had the new pill yet.” She points to him, “Take the medicine, even if you feel better now. You still need to take it. The doctors say it will help in the long run. I’ll check that bottle when I get back if I have to.” She chuckles.

Soon it was time to depart, Lekir sent word that they were ready and a shimmering portal appeared with a figure of a gracefully lanky black fox with green tipped ears, a green stripe along her back and emerald eyes, she was dressed in a modern version of a greek muse, the pale green shirt was billowy with draping sleeves and matching dress pants. Lekir crossed her arms and glared at the arriving figure, “Hello Kalai, Its about time you showed up..” The newcomer sneered smugly and got close to Lekir, growling, “About time you begged me to send you back, I expected more groveling.” The two growled fiercely at each other before bursting out laughing, giving each other a big hug. Lekir laughed, “Its soo good to see you, is everything ready for our arrival?” Kalai wiped a laughing tear from her eye and nods, “Oh of course! Everything is all set and ready. And you must be Carmen, I’ve heard so much about you. You are absolutely glowing!” Carmen blushed as Kalai looked her over, “Its a pleasure to meet you, and I’m just nervous. I’ve obviously never been to Cador and I’ve heard so many stories about it.” Kalai smirked, “Its a certainly more than that but I’ll explain more when you’re settled and checked out.” Carmen hesitated, “Checked out? Like customs and quarantine right?” Kalai tilted her head, “Its a medical standpoint to see how far along you are and to see how your new blood is effecting you.” Carmen relaxed a bit, “Oh right, haha, to see how far I’ve adapted to this, right. Got it.” Kalai chuckled with a confused look, “Did you forget that I can sense all life and health? Or did Lekir not relay that.” Lekir huffed, “No, I told her everything I knew!”

Carmen reached out in a sudden thought, right before Kalai was about to speak, “Wait! So that means you can heal, right? Like take diseases away? May I ask a favor before we depart? My husband, Waldo, has been inflicted by what we call Vivian’s Burden. Its fatal with no cure. We haven’t had any luck finding anything that helps. Can you help him?” Kalai sighed and had him stand near her since she couldnt stray far from the portal without it closing. She looked him over, “You recently took out all the shards of crystal?” Wally nodded, “We try to take out any that we see.” Kalai turns to Carmen, “I do not do these for charity, I do require payment and the cost will be steep. Are you prepared to pay my fees for such a service, even in your condition?” Carmen gave a confused face and looked herself over, “My condition? Like my limbs? Whatever my condition, yes I will pay whatever the price, I have plenty of money or priceless art, or if I dont have what you want, I can get it with no issues... Just.. we’re running out of time to find him a cure. He has less than a year and a half before it starts getting to his vitals.” Kalai looked her over and proceeded to reach out her hand, touching Wally’s chest and with a soft green glow, she pulled the illness from him absorbing it into herself and destroying it, healing his wounds from the crystals. “We shall discuss payment when you get settled then, and it will not be monetary.”

Wally lifted his shirt and smiled wide, laughing, “Holy moley! I feel amazing! I didn’t realize how much strength I lost!” He did a couple hops and ran over to Carmen, picking her up and twirling her, giving her a deep kiss. “Oh this is wonderful! Thank you Kalai! I have a new lease on life!” He woops out. Carmen smiles and laughs, “Better thank Lekir too! She’s the one who knows Kalai and had her come here!” Wally went right over to Lekir and gave a big bear hug to which Lekir patted his back and felt awkward. “Thank you so much!” Lekir pried him from her with a chuckle, “Yeah, no prob. I didn’t realize this was the answer you all were looking for.. “ Kalai smiled, “Its may not have been the main reason for my being here but if a life can be saved, I’m happy to help. Now, say your farewells for now, I’ll have you back safely within one month of your calendar.” M takes a draw from his cigarette and strides up to Kalai. “You better fuckin keep them safe. Those two are my charges, and I don’t like being fuckin far from them. If anything happens to them, I will have no issue rending your flesh into fuckin paste, myself.” Kalai looked at him and suddenly whipped vines from the ground to twist around him tightly, sapping his strength from full to near completely depleted, his breathing labored as he wriggled. She gets close to him, the vines pulling him lower to his knees, she ripped the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it, “And You should not be smoking near a mother to be! I have much to discuss about her and her son.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow, “Wait, you mean Blendin? He’s just turning 18…” Kalai never broke eye contact with M, “No, no, your other son.”

“I don’t have another son. I have a daughter.”

“I’m talking about the son you carry in your belly this very moment!”

Carmen’s hands instantly went to her stomach, “Wait, I’m actually pregnant?! How?! I literally just had this conversation.. I was on birth control since having Blendin! Do they not work anymore?!… oh my god they dont work anymore. Why dont they work anymore?!” She starts panicking and Lekir rubs her back soothingly, getting her some ice water. “It could be the demon blood.. your transformation could be enough to override it. Normally non Cadorian females who carry Cadorian Demon babies cant survive the pregnancy, but you can since you have had the blood transfer.” Lekir explained. Kalai smiled over to Carmen, keeping M bound still, “I thought you knew already, I apologize but this way I can assess both your abilities and progress! This has only happened once before with a human but never a unicorn! I’m very eager to learn what I can if you are willing to let me observe while you train your new skills.” She turned back to M and used her power to read his biology and such, smirking, “Oh.. now you are a strange one. Much different from the individuals in this building. Last time I was here on this planet, nothing like you existed yet.. Oh interesting.. Hmmm Lets keep some of that between us, shall we?” She patted his cheek and let him go, releasing his strength back to him. He stumbled back and shook his head, “What the fuck did you just do to me?!” He roared, his claws lengthening sharply. Kalai flicked her fingers and explodes his bones within his arms before flicking them back, instantly healing him as if no harm was ever done. “I am the Harbinger of Life. I can unmake you as easy as you were made to begin with. I am a scientist of biology and magic. I am older than you can comprehend. I have seen wars and seen my people die around me. I have felt their anguish and pain.” M straightened up and adjusted his jacket, “So we have something in common.” Kalai tilted her head, “You are a being who changes shape. Your biology doesnt show this feature you speak of otherwise. Please elaborate.”

M scoffed but went into detail of his kind and his experiences. “I’m a dark balance changeling, I feed off the negative of life. Every Murphy’s law, every bad luck streak, is my dinner. I use my powers to feed off those emotions of despair and hopelessness and chase it down with survivor’s bittersweet love and pain of the lost one. I don’t just kill and witness death. I absorb it, I feast upon it. Well, I used to kill. Red here has a no kill ban and I agreed to it.” The fox came much closer, her lips almost touching his, she breathes cold air onto him, breathing her experiences of those exact emotions and senses him taking it in. He licks his lips as the glow in his eyes shift slightly, “That was a nice appetizer. I never fuckin expected that.” Kalai smirked tracing her finger along his shirt, “I could feed you for a lifetime with all that I am. Take you home like a lost puppy.” He took her hand from his chest, “Don’t mistake me for a fuckin puppy. I can do more than just bark.” Kalai smirked wider, “Suddenly you have gone from just a passing thought to someone I may actually enjoy. Not many fully understand what I feel, but you do. Interesting for such a strange one.”

M growled, “I have a name. I didn’t just spend two fuckin decades fighting with an ai to say my goddamn name instead of Rude one, I ain’t gonna do it again with you.” The vixen crossed her arms, “Oh I know your name, Marehem Skaedfryd. I was hoping you would take my compliment instead since you don’t care for your full name being spoken. So you go by M, as I was saying, you are a strange one.” M grumped and adjusted his jacket, sticking his hands in his pants pocket, “So. You said a month, yeah? I’ll set my calendar. One month. On the dot. Be here, or I will come there and destroy what I can to get them back, gravity or no gravity.” She laughed, “I have seen extinction level events, you do not frighten me.” M lifted his chin before moving his muzzle next to her cheek, speaking low, “I’ve caused extinction level events. I do not intend to harm you if you do not intend to harm them.” She chides softly, “I am as gentle as a flower but certainly not as frail, no harm will befall them, I assure you.” He puts his hand on her arm, keeping his head close, “Even the smallest and weakest flower can be deadly just as a sturdy flower needs care to not wither.” Kalai licks his cheek, “Perhaps someday I will let you tend my garden. There are no gods to judge, we ate them, haven’t we?” He gave a soft groan, almost a low chuckle. “When we ate them, we became gods ourselves, ain’t that right?” Kalai grins bringing up a hand to cup his neck in a soft embrace, “Then perhaps gods shall lay with gods someday.”

Carmen leans over to Lekir, whispering, “What the fuck am I seeing right now?” Lekir shrugs and whispers back, “I dunno.. I wanna say they’re flirting.”

Carmen gives an unsure grimace, “With M though? Oh maybe he’ll do his fake out that he does with Molli. M never flirts seriously. Any minute he will give the middle finger or something.. any minute..” Lekir shakes her head, “I think he’s serious. Even look at his tail, its curled around both their feet. Not swaying like he’s plotting.” Carmen continues her grimace, “But M though?!” Lekir chuckles, “Almost reminds me of a Death and Deadpool type of chemistry.” Carmen shrugs, “A death and what? Whats a deadpool?” Lekir looked at her wife in disbelief, “Do you not keep up with pop and comic culture? Your own son reads them, ask him. It’ll make sense when you do.” Carmen scoffs, “I read comics! I’ve read… Garfield…” The Vesk pats her shoulder, “When we get back, we’re having a comic crash course.” They look back in time to see M kiss her hand gently, then he catches eye contact with the wives, and flips them his middle finger. “There’s the middle finger.. its just towards us instead of her. Great.”

After Lekir and Carmen finished farewelling, Kalai escorted them through the portal, looking back to give M a wink before the portal closes. Once the girls were gone, the two brothers stood, Wally giving a sheepish grin towards M who had crossed his arms in thought, tapping his chin. M gave a side eye to Wally, “What the fuck are you lookin at?” Wally grinned and chuckled, “M has a crush~” M cackles, “Right, and you are the king of Scotland. Bullshit.” Wally singsongy teased him, “You think she’s preeeetty, I think you liiiiike her, you wanna kiiiisssss her..” M grabbed him by the shirt neck and made a fist, “If you dont fuckin quit..”