"Okay, how about you move into this room?" I ask Asya, as we both stand in a big bedroom on the second floor, located to the right at the end of the hallway. "Since my own room is the opposite one, I feel like this would be the best solution. How about it, Asya?"

"Sure, I don't mind, Alexandr Bulatovich," responds the black-haired aspid with a smile. Satisfied with her words, I nod and take a look around the room.

Besides its sheer size, it also had a full sized bed, a wardrobe in the lower left corner, a carpet covering the parquet floor and a shelf on the right wall. Walls themselves were covered in grey wallpapers with a black floral pattern. A pretty neat room, if I say so myself. My grandparents used it as their sleeping room, so, excluding my own, it was the most furnished room on the second floor.

Opening the curtain behind the bed, I inquire my guest, "With that settled, how about I make us something to eat? You must be hungry after all the moving, right? But I'm kind of low on food at the moment, so can't promise much." As the light started pouring into the room, I turn around to see Asya nodding in response.

"I am hungry a bit, actually. Thank you, Ale-*GROWL~*" she started speaking, but was shortly interrupted by a loud and lengthy sound from her stomach. As I stifled a giggle at the sudden noise, the girls face turned deep crimson. She then clutched at her still growling stomach and, most hilariously, wrapped herself in her black wings, with only the head sticking out of the feathery cocoon.

And I proceeded to straight-up laugh my ass off at this cute moment of embarrassment.

"W-what's so funny?!" Asya shouted, raising her flushed face to stare furiously at me. But, you know, her angry expression was just too cute to actually make me stop. The fact that she looked more pouty than actually offended didn't help, either. Few seconds have passed before I could speak clearly.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," I said, putting my hand on the aspid's head for the lack of a better alternative, since she was still enveloped in her wings. Stroking her hair gently, with my back facing her, I continue, "Well, start unpacking your stuff. I'll be in the kitchen. Go to the living room when you are done." With that, I put my palm away from Asya's head and walked up to the door.

…Also, is it me, or did I just hear her hissing?

As I stepped out into the hallway and turned around to close the door, it was slammed shut before I could do anything. I was so surprised that I didn't react at that in any way, just standing there dumbfounded. The only things I could make out were Asya's blue eyes with tears in their corners and the tip of her massive black tail swinging upwards.

"Fuck," I exhaled wearily, scratching my head. There's no use denying that I've messed up. After all, who likes it when they're being laughed at in their embarrassing moments? Nobody, of course, and that girl is not an exception, I'm sure. Why is it at these moments that I act like a jerk?

"…And it has been going so smoothly," I mumbled, going down the wooden stairs and into the kitchen. I mean, Asya looked like she was having fun while I showed her around the house. She was asking me a lot of questions about the different electronic devices in the house, especially the microwave. She just couldn't comprehend how one is able to heat food without using fire until I had roughly described to her the device's inner workings. At least I didn't have to tell her how a computer works, primarily because we didn't get to see my room - the only room with such a device.

Remembering this made me snicker as I stepped into the kitchen. Once there, I started rummaging through the fridge's insides in hopes of finding something to eat. Although there were enough stuff such as vegetables, meat and eggs, I had ignored it, instead looking for something that can be prepared in a few minutes; I just didn't feel like actually cooking for now. At last, after a minute of searching, I found two packs of blintzes lying in the freezer. One had them filled with meat, and the other – with quark, each package containing 10 pieces.

"Well, that's something, at least," – I mumble, putting the two packs on top of each other in the microwave, setting the device on "unfreeze" mode. In the meantime, I've taken two frying pans from a cabinet under the countertop and put them on the stove, pouring a bit of sunflower oil on each one. Then I went to the living room to turn the TV on, just so I could have some noise in the background while cooking. I wonder what the news agencies have in store for us today.

"…Yesterday, the forces of the Directorate "P" of the FSB Special Purpose Center have successfully captured Emil Pâslaru in his mansion in Shilovo, Ryazan. He is a Romanian strigoi, who first came to Russia as a participant of the C.E.P…" the announcer's voice said before being interrupted by the oil sizzling as I put another blintz on the pan.

Lately, a lot of operations against liminal criminals have been carried out. It's already the third time in the last two months they report such an event. It's a shame that there are individuals out there who use their status as a C.E.P. participant to commit crimes, although, as far as I heard, that Romanian one has become a legitimate citizen a year ago or so. Don't know anything more than that anyway, mainly because I'm not really interested in this whole thing.

In less than 20 minutes all 20 blintzes were ready, lying on the plates, and, as I turned off the burners, a creak came from the hallway. When I turned around with dishes in both hands, I found Asya standing in the living room without her cardigan on and sticking her tongue out, it's forked tip twitching slightly. Witnessing such a weird sight, I stopped in my tracks and stared at the aspid girl with my own mouth slightly ajar. Should I mention that the tongue was at least 10 centimeters long? Is she doing this because she's partially a snake? Regardless, after looking around the room, she stopped her gaze on me.

First, she relaxed her tongue, which dropped down, hitting her chin with a quiet slap. Then her eyes widened from the shock as she slowly realized that I've just seen her demonstrating her less human side. After that her cheeks turned deep crimson. And, finally, she drew her tongue in and hastily turned away from me.

…Yeah, I'm not unseeing that one. Although it was fascinating in a weird way, not gonna lie.

Just as the awkward silence starts filling the room, I shake my head and take a deep breath to put my mind back on tracks. "Okay, Asya, food's ready," I say, putting the plates on the dining table in the living room. "Come take a seat."

With a tense nod as a response, Asya sat herself next to me, looking at her lap as she fidgeted in her seat anxiously. Her cheeks have gotten a little bit less red, but she still didn't dare to look at me. As for me, well, I just stared at the ceiling, leaning into the chair to the point where it had started to creak audibly.

…Damn, okay, okay, pull yourself together, Sanya. Why are we having this moment? Because you are an asshole, who just had to laugh at the girl just moments after she finally looked like she is feeling comfortable around you. How can you fix that? Probably by apologizing.

…This is just hilarious.

"Hey, As-" I start speaking, turning my head so I can look at Asya, but stop, as my gaze meets with a pair of blue eyes staring at me, mere centimeters away. The aspid in question was facing me with a complicated expression.

"U-um, Alexandr Bulatovich," she stutters, "I w-want to apologize…"

"…For what, exactly?" I ask, taken aback by the sudden statement.

"W-well, for slamming the door and… for h-hissing at you…"

"Uh-huh." I mutter, facing away, so that Asya doesn't see my current expression.

Well, that was unexpected. I've figured that she would be angry at me, wanting an apology, but it seems like she is a self-conscious type or something. Not that I don't like it - just a little surprised. And realizing that made me feel even worse, because I still believe that I'm the one who should be sorry.

"…Well, you forgive me, too," I say after a moment of silence. "Y'know, shouldn't have laughed at you and stuff. I'm sorry if that offended you in some way."

"N-no! You d-didn't offend me in any way!" Asya denied frantically, waving her black-scaled hands before herself, before putting them back on her lap and turning away slightly. "B-but I'd prefer… you not doing that again."

I smiled slightly at that last part. The fact that she had expressed her displeasure at my actions made me feel somewhat relieved. I don't really like when people hide their feelings. This shit causes too many fights, and I don't want such a thing happening, not in my house. Yeah, shy, but honest. I like this girl.

Well, since we now have this little situation of ours cleared up, I guess we should get to the reason we are here in the first place. I slam an open palm on the table, startling Asya, who had jumped a bit in her seat, and say, pushing the plate with meat-filled blintzes closer to her, "Here, these are for you. I'd thought that you would like some meat for lunch, since you're partially a snake."

"T-thanks," the aspid stuttered, reaching out to the dish and taking a blintz. Again, she had her tongue flicker out of her mouth, probably trying to taste the scent better, if I'm not mistaken in my knowledge of lamias. Letting out a satisfied hum, Asya then proceeded to take a huge bite off the thing. She chewed it loudly, which, while somewhat cute, wasn't all that amusing to hear.

"Hey there, your manners. Watch them," I say with a smile on my face, eating a quark-filled blintz of my own. "Eat quietly."

A muffled apology was the answer, the words of which I didn't even bother to understand, opting to just sigh instead, "And don't speak with a full mouth."

"S-sorry," Asya apologized after swallowing. "I'm just not used to human manners."

'Yeah, I can see that,' I retort in my head, choosing to nod instead of speaking, silently eating my own share of food.


Author's notes time!

My apologies for uploading such a short chapter, I was having some problems. And I was also being a lazy asshole who'd rather make a few runs in TBOI instead of doing something useful. So, in order to not make you wait for God knows how long, I've decided to upload this little chapter. It's just a bit of extra character building, and I'm still not so sure if it was really necessary in terms of pacing and story flow. There's also a few moments regarding the world building, but I'll leave it for you to think about, my readers (I also don't want to waste the space on explaining all this shit).

And I've FINALLY managed to put some line breaks in the first chapter!

Anyway, thanks for reading, leave your reviews and, maybe, PM me some suggestions, if you really want, though I can't promise that I'll put them into the story. This was ChillingComrade. До встречи!

Update to answer a question:

So, blintz. What is this. It's a blin (блин), which in itself is a Russian form of a pancake, which is then folded to form a casing, inside of which you put some filling. Like a crepe, probably, but closed. Just search for "Blini" on Wikipedia - it's explained there in more detail, with pictures. Should've described it in the actual text. Sorry.

Also, TBOI stands for "The Binding of Isaac".