We exited the portal like we had many planets before. I took in the scent of the air. Dry. Great.
"This is so great Heather, another world." My boyfriend, well, more like my fiance, Casey, said from next to me. We were experienced travelers and had all we needed and nothing more really.
We were Beastials, Anthro Beastials. I was a Pureblooded Blacktip shark beastial anthro. Try saying that five times fast. Being anthro means I can live on the surface, breath air, all that. Just gotta drink lots of water.
My hubby was a mix. Half fox, Half racoon. He had the racoon patterns but the foxes colors and was a good half foot shorter than me. Making him five-five.
"Brand new place to look around." I said honestly. "Enjoy the sights, sounds, and many other things."
"Photos." Heh, there it is. My love works as a Photographer for the Cartographers Guild. He gets photos of locations hard to get to and dungeons for them. Which is ironic given he's a passifict. That's where I come in. I'm his muscle and bodyguard. Heh, have been since we were kids to tell you the truth.
"You and your photos." I couldn't help but giggle at his enthusiasm...only to trip over myself as the next thing I heard from his position was the sound of a camera taking snapshots.
"Well, yeah. So many people just live normal lives even with all that's around us. Especially the Isekai." Casey said. He has an infatuation with them. The idea of being born in such… simple world's amazed him. Where did they come from and will they ever go back are among this world's biggest mysteries.
"I mean, that is true." I said honestly. "But come on, no need to take a picture of every square inch of the teleporter room."
"Heh, just eager. Dechamor is still largely undiscovered. And since it's a largely resource based world, it's got a lot of amazing natural spawned in structures and landscapes."
"From all the info about this planet we got, that is a definite." I nodded in agreement.
"So, where do you think we should set up camp?" Casey asked me as he opened up a map of the explored areas. "Majority of these places are mining towns. Some castle ruins, giant tree dungeon."
"Yeah, there's a whole lot of places to check out." I said honestly, thinking for a moment. "What are you in the mood for to start? Might as well start with that."
"Hmm… Well, there aren't too many aquatic places listed. Maybe my sweet little fishy would like to go for a dip and maybe we can even discover something neat while down there."
I smiled. He's so sweet.
"You know just what to say." I smiled happily.
"Heh. I think I know just the place." He said, showing me the map. "There's a large lake near a town called Coal Vein. The locals just use it for water and fishing and there's no official dives despite it being over fifty miles deep."
"Sounds like a plan." I nodded. "Best get a ride to Coal Vein then."
"Got our ship right here." Casey said as he took out our ship. He got it as a replica of the Millennium Falcon. From one of my favorite movies. "Upgraded the engine and gave it a Submersive upgrade for underwater."
"Amazing." I smiled. "To get the good pictures underwater as well huh?"
"Well, among other things~" He teased, giving me a hug. "I know you enjoy my shark form."
"Your shark form is great." I said as I hugged my hubby back. "But no matter what form you're in, I love you so much."
"I love you too babe." He said, giving my cheek a kiss. "Come on, let's go find the flight deck and head off."
"And let's not spend a day and a half getting there because you keep photographing everything." I teased.
"Well, I could just add to our… private albums if you prefer?"
I felt a jolt of excitement. The private albums were all of Casey and I being, heh, intimate. Or just sexy shots. "Sound like a good way to spend a day and a half trip?"
"Oh yeah, that's always time well spent." I smiled.
With a smile and another kiss Casey and I headed for the flight deck and once the ship was out we got on and Casey set the coordinates. The flight would take a day so we headed off to some fun. The inside wasn't like the actual Millennium Falcon, it was more modern, like a house. Bedroom, three bathrooms, armory basement, photo lab for Casey, and indoor pools and gardens. We sat on the couch in the living room, Casey already getting cuddly as I turned on the tv and began channel surfing.
"What you in the mood to watch?" I asked Casey.
"Hmm… any comedies?"
"Well...want to see something old or new?"
"Surprise me."
I filtered out for Comedies and put one on. Wale watched this channel for a few hours before we started dinner. Well, we set the kitchen to auto cook then went back to watching TV.
After dinner we got dressed for bed and were laying in bed. I was looking over the upgrade options for my Greatsword, Old Faithful. I've put a lot of time, work and rem into the old girl. Casey was reading about the lake we were going to and the town it was near. "Huh. Apparently Coal Vein is so rich in coal it's just sticking out of the dirt in large clusters. Anyone with a pickaxe is free to mine it."
"Guess that's why it's called Coal Vein, just a massive vein of coal." I said honestly.
"Heh, looks like." He said, taking a few notes before putting the book down. He then got up to my side, kissing my neck, his coat tickling me.
I couldn't help but giggle at his coat tickling me. "Excited for tomorrow?"
"Hmmm… Mostly just excited is all." He said, starting to feel me up. I put Old Faithful away and joined in, kissing his lips as we started getting into the mood. "Tomorrow marks three hundred years dating Heather."
Oh crap I forgot!
"Three hundred years huh?" I whistled. "Jeez, it feels like only yesterday we were celebrating our hundred and fiftieth anniversary." I said honestly. [i]"Saved like a boss."[/i] I thought to myself proudly.
"Heh, feels like yesterday your ball got kicked through the fence and broke my nose. We'd have never met had your brother not tried to show off." He laughed.
"Yeah, he just had to show off." I chuckled. "But...it was the best day of my life when I met you."
"Ditto." He said, giving me another kiss. "Heh, three hundred years. Think maybe… the next one can celebrate something more?"
"Something more?" I inquired. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well…" He said, scooting a bit away. "Most other couples are, well, married by five years or ten… and, well…" He took a deep breath. Wait… is he? "Well, I probably should have asked much sooner… but, Heather, I love you, and we've known each other for the better part of eight hundred years and dated for three hundred… we both have an eternity ahead of us, and I want you there with me… as my wife." He said, his hand flashing as he showed me a ring. Gold with the gems being two diamonds cut into the shape of a shark tooth. "Heather Jasmine, will you marry me?"
"Yes!" I shouted in pure joy, tears in my eyes as I hugged Casey. "Yes yes, a million times yes."
He hugged me back. We shared a kiss and I took the ring, putting it on.
[Enchantment Detected
Hydro Absorbent.
When in dry climates or hot environments your body retains water and your body feels the temperature as normal.]
"R-really?" I asked in surprise. "When did you get a Hydro Absorbent enchantment on this thing?"
"After our trip to Valthra, and with how bad you handled the heat I paid for it from some of the Desert Explorers Guild. Room a while to nab the proper materials for the enchantment without you getting suspicious. I've actually had the ring for the last… two hundred years…" He said with a blush. "I just kept getting cold feet when I tried asking before…" He said sheepishly.
"So that's why you sometimes looked either jumpy or sad…" I said in small realization.
"Heh, yeah… I'm so happy I finally got that off my chest." He said, climbing on top of me and planting a strong kiss I melted into.
I wrapped my arms around Casey, so thankful to finally call my trash panda of a fiance my husband.
The passion that night was… stronger than usual. For obvious reasons. When we woke up the next morning we started the day off taking showers then changing the bedsheets. So it was a good morning. We had a good breakfast and still had a few hours left before we were at the lake. So, I booted up my computer and began playing some old favorites that have kept popular.
Casey was, well… being the woman in this case and trying to plan out the wedding. I love them, and for as long as I can remember Casey has been more the female in the relationship despite me packing the female figure and genitals. "So, parents and siblings are a must but how many of our friends should we invite? Where can we even find a space big enough for that?" Casey asked as he was already making invite lists.
"We could probably rent out a party venue for that." I brought up. "Most of those are already prebuilt to be the size of however many party goers are if memory serves."
"True… Should we go classical, traditional, something modern?"
"Given your probably going to litter the place with Cameras, what do you think?" I asked. "Which will give us the best pictures?"
"It's more about the event itself over the photos." Casey said. Hearing him say that was like hearing a tree say it liked being on fire. It just didn't happen. "It's our special night after all."
"Never before would I hear you say 'no pictures, just party'." I said in honest surprise.
"Well, there will be but it's our night so I shouldn't spend it taking all the photos. I know a few people who can take care of that, that way I can focus on you and only you babe."
"You're amazing." I smiled in pure joy. "Hmm...when in doubt, Traditional is always a safe bet."
"Seeing you in a white dress does make for a beautiful thought. Should be on a beach then to best cater to your family too." He said, taking notes. "Heh, so when should we tell everyone anyway? I imagine our parents will be thrilled that their oldest kids are finally getting married. Heh, I know mom's been trying to get us to have kids for the last hundred years."
"Trust me, my parents have also been hounding me to have grandkids, either by riding you till you can't move or making you my woman...their words, not mine." I said sheepishly.
"Well, we have explored a lot of our fetishes, and I wouldn't mind~" They teased as they wrote down some more. "Though… it would be nice, little half shark, quarter fox quarter racoons running and swimming around. I mean hell my younger sister is only two hundred and she already got married and has her fifteenth child."
"Sounds about right." I nodded. "She always was happy to do that kind of stuff."
"If we do have kids though we'd need a babysitter… or… maybe a servant class?"
Hmm… Maybe. In all our adventures we've gotten a few Prize Pod People, but we rarely opened them. We mostly just dropped them off at the Matchmakers Guild.
"That is true." I said with some thought. "Still feel a little bad to just drop off those Prize Pod's at the Matchmakers Guild though…"
"Well, we never really needed help and, well… when it came to the Lover Class ones I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, how long did it take us to start dating? Then me asking you to marry me… plus you are pretty protective and aggressive when it comes to me."
"Yeah…" I sighed out. "But...well we don't need a massive harem when we have each other."
"Yeah. No need to turn out like your brother and his what, two hundred wives… and fifty husbands?"
"I'll at least take some credit in finally getting the guy to stop lying to himself about being Bi." I shrugged.
"Heh, these days who isn't?" Casey laughed. "I guess we should start opening those pods then. So, what are you playing anyway?"
"Final Fantasy 9." I said honestly.
"Ah yes, the game who's weapons still escape your collection."
I sighed. I love video games, and in this reality all forms of media are worlds and places and the like, and that includes their weapons. I collect them. They are cool like that, but some keep escaping me.
"Still have no idea where the hell Excalibur II is." I grumbled. "In game, you need to get to the final dungeon in less than 12 hours of play...it just has to be damn near impossible to find in real life." I grumbled.
"And the people who do have it aren't selling." Casey said with a chuckle. "Maybe it's just dumb luck?"
"There's that, then others said they got it from a special event in certain dungeons and I haven't seen any of them." I groaned. "Why does weapon collecting have to be such a bitch…"
"Because some weapons are more powerful than others?"
"More like some are just outrageously difficult to find." I groaned. "I know I'm looking for an 'Ultimate' class weapon half the time but come on…"
As I played video games Casey tossed ideas for the wedding back and forth and before we knew it we were at the lake. The air smelled pure and clean, the ship parked just before the lake's edge and we got a good view. It was four miles wide and fifty miles deep, and ran for the next two million miles. It was pure, clean water and tasted high in iron and potassium. Plenty of fish I could see from just the surface water was a lot of trout and some salmon. Yummy.
"So, shall we take the dive or shall we have a little fun first?" Casey asked as he saw my more primal instincts begging me to jump in for a swim and to hunt for fish.
"Let's have some fun first." I said, licking my lips as I was eager for some fresh fish.
I jumped in, the water hitting my skin and triggering basic instincts as I swam at speeds only one who is aquatic can reach. My first prey was a small mouth fish tried to swim away but my teeth grabbed it before it could turn around and I munched it bones and all.
Being a bestial who is a predator, a hunter, there's a unique relationship between my feral family and my sentient one. I'm smart, intelligent, yet I can enjoy and see the value in a hunt, a fresh kill. Raw meat. It satisfies a more primal side all beastials who are carnivorous have and have to learn to live with. So while I can enjoy bread or soda or fried chicken as much as anyone else, raw meat still has a flavor unique all its own only a carnivore can taste. Once that little snack was done I looked around for the next snack. Oh, catfish. Yummy.
After hunting around in the water for a good half hour I broke the surface, seeing Casey using a fishing pole and had a bucket with quite a few fish in it. "You look happy." He said, my recent catch, a striped bass, still flapping in my teeth as I swam over to him
I grabbed the fish in my mouth and put it in the bucket. "Yep, haven't had a good, simple swimming hunt in a while, plus the fish are great."
"Heh, happy to hear."
"So what did you catch so far?" I asked simply.
"Bass, a few catfish. This Threadfin Shad." He said, showing me the small fish. It was descaled and the meat munched away, leaving only the skeleton and head.
Casey, being part fox and racoon, was an omnivore through and through. I can eat veggies and all that fine but Casey was able to manage both and didn't really have a primal desire to hunt. Sure, he did it for the experience a few times but being a natural omnivore he lacked that hunters drive. Still, cooked or raw, plants or meat he was able to enjoy the taste as well.
"How was the Threadfin?" I asked curiously.
"Not bad, needed some salt." He said, tossing the bones aside. "I'll probably cook these over a fire then we can start the dive and hopefully find something cool down there."
"Or something creepy...cause for some reason all the creepy shit just has to be underwater." I sighed out.
"Well, you'll be down there so at least there will be something beautiful and sexy down there." He said, giving me a kiss as he helped me onto the shoar. "I'll go grab firewood if you dig the pit for the fire."
"Alright." I nodded as I started to dry myself off a bit, just to get most of the excess water off me before digging the fire pit.
Casey got up and ran off to the nearby trees and quickly gathered lots of burnables as I made a sizable pit and managed to get some rocks to line the edges. Casey came back and started the fire and we began setting up the fish to cook. It smelled good, but I did munch on a few raw before eating a cooked one.
With our bellies full we then prepared for the dive down, Casey switching to his profile of the same shark race as me. He was the same colors, size, just a shark like me and oooohhhh~ Do his abs show when he's a shark like me.
"Good lord you can grate cheese on those abs." I blushed at how...buff Casey was in his shark form.
"Heh, well having a fur coat does normally hide them." He blushed, but tried to give me a bit of a show before taking out his deep sea camera. "The lake is between a safe zone and hazard zone so about halfway through it we should find something. Or maybe just cool stuff. Ready babe?"
"I'm always ready." I said with pride.
With a splash we jumped in and began swimming down. Being aquatic beings, our eyes can easily adjust to the darkness and so long as you are an aquatic race, you can dive as deep as you want without issue. It's a nice little touch The Mother did. Once we got down into the dark we kept close to the edge and as our eyes adjusted we spotted many rocks, moss, some bottom feeders, tree branches. "So far just the usual." Casey said.
Being Aquatic, when Casey takes this form too, we can both talk under water. Just one of the perks.
"A bit more trees than I first thought." I brought up.
Casey took a few photos and I noticed something sticking out of the ground. I pulled it out of the mud and looked it over. It was a rusty sword, the handle rotted off and the blade chipped to hell. "Huh, looks like something Junker John would like."
I chuckled, yeah. Junker John was an Izikai we met about ten years back. He was traveling around for, well, junk items like this to restore. He was an interesting guy. Can fix just about anything.
"Wonder what this'll be when we get it to him?" I said honestly
"Probably something very shiny and nice." Casey said as we put it away and kept on moving. More random things were appearing. Some junk, some bits of ore and gems here and there. Usual stuff you'd find underground too- Holy shit!
"You're seeing that too right?" Casey asked as he took photos of the massive three story wooden ship resting on the lakebed.
"Yeah...I'm seeing this." I said in pure shock. "The hell is this doing here?"
"Must have spawned here. You almost never see ships that big in lakes or ponds." We walked up to it. It had a few holes inside that we entered through. The button floor was filled with rusty cannons, rotting equipment, some various skeletons. "Gross…" Casey said, taking photos of everything.
"As you continue to take pictures of the gross things." I joked, moving around carefully to see if there was any markings to show who owned the ship or what the name of it was.
There wasn't anything sadly. Most of the crates were all trash- Hello. I pulled the lid off a rotten crate, finding ten bottles of still corked wine. Scan showed that not only were they still perfectly preserved, but are aged two hundred years and worth two grand each. Oh this is so going with dinner tonight!
"Amazing wine find." I said happily, collecting the ten bottles and putting them away in my assistant.
"Sweet. Can't wait to try it out." Casey said as he swam around, looking through various broken and rotted crates. "Hm, some gold coins here." He said, pulling up a small box with probably fifty gold coins. "I think this might have been a cargo ship."
"The hell's a cargo ship doing here of all places?" I wondered.
"Meh." Casey shrugged.
The other crates all were broken or rusted to death. We swam up and managed to find a supply of gemstones and rusty ingots. Most everything was rusted but salvageable. The next floor was mostly bones and such. There was an office where a skeleton sat in the desk chair with a large glowing red sword impaling it's rib cage. "Ouch." Casey said, taking several photos.
I swam up to the sword, seeing it's red glow and the water around it was… hot. Almost boiling… Holy crap, this sword is made from Fire Gems.
"Holy damn, someone must have really wanted to see the limits of fire gems in a sword." I said as I carefully grabbed the sword's hilt and pulled it out of the skeleton.
The blade pulsated, keeping a steady heat as the hilt remained cool to the touch.
"Huh, you don't see those all that much." Casey said, swimming around me and looking at the sword. "Didn't John say they're kinda fragile?"
"Considering it's majority fire gems...probably." I said as I used my Scan ability to look over this fire sword.
[Elemental Gem Sword: Fire
A sword made from pure Elemental Fire Gems.
Att: 30
Mag: 200
Ability: Pyromaniacs Flame: All fire based spells and abilities are tripled in damage and halved in MP cost when attacking with this sword.]
"Well, if you ever needed to be a fire mage and needed a good fire based weapon, this is it." I said honestly.
"Into the collection then?"
"Yep." I said as I put it away. "Might figure something out, but I'm not really good with fire spells."
"Hm. Well, this looks like everything this shipwreck has to offer, maybe we… can… Sweet Mother's Tits…"
Woah, a swear like that means his mind was blown. I swam over to the window Casey was looking out of and… Sweet Mother's Tits!
It was a whole sunken city, like, an actual city! Skyscrapers and everything!
"Excuse me...but how and why?" I asked in honest surprise.
"This has been down here the whole time and no one knew because they didn't bother diving down here!" Casey said, taking pictures from where we were. "This is amazing! We've seen a lot of ruined cities but never one that's completely submerged underwater!"
"Want to see if it's a functioning sunken city?" I asked.
"Yes!"
We swam over to it and once we crossed into the city limits we got a notification. Now entering Hazard Zones. Oh, so this city is a dungeon.
"Well...didn't expect this place to be a dungeon that's for sure." I said, pulling out Old Faithful and preparing for a fight.
"Huh, that would make sense, most ruined cities are. I wonder what kind of monsters spawn here-ahh!" I spun around, seeing a giant twenty eyed squid grabbing Casey by the leg. "Ask and you shall receive!" He yelped as it spun him around like a yoyo.
"Oi! Get your damned tentacle off my husband!" I shouted as I bolted forward, swinging Old Faithful and cutting the tentacle holding Casey clean off.
The beast roared at it and began to attack. Experience guiding me to a rapid spin that let me slice off all it's attacking appendages before swimming in fast for a slice across it's giant head. It died roaring as it's guts and blood filled the nearby water. I got two thousand rem for that kill, sweet! Oh, and ink. Eh.
"You okay there Casey?" I called out worriedly, looking over to where he was spun around like a yoyo.
"Just dizzy." He said, still spinning backwards where he floated in the water. "Didn't barf this time, so that's a win!" He said, trying to keep himself still. I swam over and helped him before we continued on. "That was epic hun."
"Yep." I said with a smile. "Thanks to Old Faithful here."
"Heh, yeah. I owe my ass to that sword about as much as you." He chuckled.
"In more ways than one hot stuff." I said as I swam over and gave Casey's ass a little smack.
"Yip!" He yipped. I laughed. That never gets old. "I'll never understand how you can enjoy that without a fur coat."
"Eh, you get used to it." I shrugged.
Continuing on we swam through the city, I was fighting off monsters and Casey was either photographing or healing me. He was my healer and knew a wide variety of healing spells, status curing spells and had a large library of potions. We came across an old cop car and once I pried it from the skeletons hands I had myself a pretty neat crossbow.
"Neat." I said honestly. "So how's your photography coming? And how's your MP?"
"Good, I always pack MP potions." He said. "And so far these shots are great. The Cartographers Guild is going to be happy to see all this."
"Honestly, if Photo Finish wasn't constantly on the move, I'm pretty sure you'd be the best Photographer ever." I said honestly, that mare being one of the few rumored to have existed since before everything existed, but she never answered nor even wanted to share the photos she has actively stated she has.
"Eh. I think we can just get a few more photos in then head back and camp out til tomorrow. I can send what I got to the guild and we can relax some."
"Works for me." I shrugged. "Depending on how deep we go, we might find a miniboss."
With a nod we swam further in, looking around til I spotted a large clam just sitting atop an ambulance. "I'm betting it's not holding a giant pearl." Casey said.
"Want to find out what's in it?" I asked, gripping Old Faithful a little tighter.
"Might as well." He said, taking a photo of it. "Might be a miniboss."
"Alright." I rolled my shoulders as I started to swim carefully towards the giant clam.
Once I was up to it I jammed the tip of Old Faithful into the crack of it and began prying it open. After a few hard kicks and pulls the mouth opened wide and the clam's maw revealed a… Prize Pod. The kind for people.
"Well, that's unexpected…" Casey said as he swam up next to me.
"Huh…" I blinked. "Didn't expect this…" I hummed as I swam over to the Prize Pod. "Well...let's see who the person is."
We looked at the symbole atop the pod. It was a… rattle. Rattle… that's Lover Class, but a child. A… baby. "It's a kid." Casey said, looking over the pod. "Holy… you, these are rare. This would be… our kid…"
"Our...child…" I teared up, thinking of how amazing this chance is. "Let's...let's try opening it...together."
"Wait." He said. "Let's take it top side. Just in case they're not aquatic." I nodded, carefully, Casey and I swimming the pod up and back to the shoar. Once it was up there we were holding each other's hand. "So… we do this we, heh, we will be parents. Heh, at least our parents will be happy about that…"
"This is...honestly going to be the happiest moment of my life." I said softly. "God...how am I gonna take care of a kid...how are we going to feed them? I'm shark and...while I have amazing tits...I don't fully remember if I even can produce breast milk…"
"Well, if they're like you that won't be an issue, and if they're like me, well, we'll just go shopping." Casey said, a flash and he was back to the fluffy half and half I loved. "And if they're some other race entirely, we'll adjust." He took a deep breath. "So, ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." I said with a nervous smile.
Slowly, we both put a hand on the pod. It opened in a hiss of cool steam. Inside was a tiny little fluff ball, a dark blue coat. They were a wolf.
[Child Adopted: Genetic Markers set.
Name: Hex
Gender: Male
Race: Zerkalfer Dire Wolf
Mother Set: Heather Jasmine
Father Set: Casey Harper
Age: One Week]
He's so fluffy!
"He's so adorable and fluffy!" I cooed in pure joy at how adorable he was.
"He's so tiny… and a Zerkalfer Dire Wolf… he is gonna get huge." Casey breathed. Carefully he lifted the pup up and out the pod. The little one stirred and looked at us with their…their eyes. They're Like mine. Dark green. "Awh… We're parents Heather…" Casey said as he rubbed the pups belly.
"I…" I started, tearing up even more. "I...this is amazing Casey."
"Well, come on, take him." He said, handing little Hex to me. Holding them, they felt so… fragile. So small. Their size felt sixty percent fluff. They sniffed my hand then gave it a lick as they nuzzled into my arms. "Heh, he knows who his mama is."
"He's all fluff." I giggled, cradling the pup carefully.
"Guess… we best settle down then. Wow… heh, there's a sentence I never imagined saying… Why don't we stay here? The lake has plenty of fish, clean water, and the ship is a perfect home already. Woods nearby so he can learn to hunt like the little wolf he is, and after I send these photos in we can live off our savings for a while. Make extra selling fish or whatever that dungeon down there has." Casey said, wiping a tear off his eye. "It's nice here."
"It...it really is." I said with a smile.
"Maybe if we find a Servant class, they can stay with them while we work when they get older. Let's us keep working and exploring, and when they're old enough we can take him with us."
"That sounds amazing." I said warmly.
"Heh. Guess we better get some baby stuff then."
Shopping in Coal Vein, we got a lot of baby formula, lots of bottles, some parenting books and a book on raising Hex's particular race of wolf, toys, crib, blankets, baby clothes, and the works really. We set up Hex's Crib in our bedroom and once it was built we put the blanket and pillow in there and lastly we started on feeding Hex.
Apparently a Zerkalfer Dire Wolf pup drinks up to their body weight in milk a day and will continue to do so even after they've grown their teeth in until they reach age two… The little baby drank about five bottles before stopping. Thankfully he didn't barf when he burped and we carefully laid him to sleep. The full tummy helped lull him into slumber.
"Thank the Mother a majority of these stuff was free." I sighed out thankfully.
"Or cheap." Casey added as we sat on the bed. "Guess we best call the folks sooner than expected. Mother help us they're gonna move here when we tell them."
"Oh yeah." I chuckled. "They'll probably spoil the crap out of Hex."
"Heh, yeah. Oh god and his aunt's and uncles… cousins…" He gave out a deep sigh. "Bet you anything they'll still want you to birth a kid or two… thousand." He laughed. "Think we'll turn out like them when Hex is all grown up?"
"I'm pretty sure." I chuckled. "But...jeez...today is just one amazing thing after another."
"Yeah, no kidding." He gave a yawn. "I'll go compile and send the photos in, after that we can go to bed." He said, giving me a kiss before getting up and heading to his photo lab.
"Alright." I yawned as well. "Jeez...all this excitement is tiring…"
I looked over at Hex, the little pup sound asleep for now. Oh I hope he isn't too much of a crier. I simply stared at the pup, blocking out the world as I looked at… my baby. My baby. Heh. My baby! I giggled into a pillow out of pure joy. It was a little while before Casey returned and when he did we both laid in bed just the right way to look at Next as they slept. As per usual I was the big spoon here.
"I wonder what he's dreaming about?" Casey asked as he held my arms that wrapped around him.
"No idea. Maybe he's running around in a field or something." I shrugged. "But...our baby…"
"Heh, yeah. Our baby." He said, the two of us just watched Hex until we fell asleep.
[One Month Later]
Mmmmhhhh…
"Awooooo!"
Shit! I jumped up and- Shit! I sat back down as I looked where I stepped… ouch… so that's where that toy went… fuck my foot…
"I'm up!" Casey said from the floor next to Hex's Crib.
"Awooooo!" Hex howled. He's been howling every night at 3 am exactly every. Single. Night.
"Why does he keep doing this?" I grumbled in tiredness. "I know he's a wolf but...sweet mother…"
"I'm more curious how he can always tell when it's three am." Casey said as he pat Hex on the head. It didn't stop him for long but it helped to calm him down and eventually put him back to bed.
"Awooooo!" Hex howled again.
I got up and was going to grab another bottle of formula, hoping a full belly and a burp can help quicken his return to sleep when I suddenly felt… nauseous. Ugh, come on, I'm not that… oh no!
I quickly made it to the bathroom sink where I coughed up some rancid bile. "You okay?" Casey asked as he ran over and rubbed my back.
"It can't be this soon…" I coughed. "Well...you got a pregnancy test on ya?"
"Uh… no… wait, you think?"
"Awooooo!"
"I think so…" I said weakly.
After some quick searching I managed to find one and was waiting for the results with Casey while Holding Hex in my arms. At least he wasn't howling anymore but he won't go back to sleep.
"How many do you think it will be?" Casey asked.
Shark species, our primal cousins typically have many eggs fertilized internally, they hatch and, well, natural selection and such. My intelligent species works similar yet different. We still can have many eggs fertilized and the babies hatch and grow internally, but rather than eating their unborn siblings my womb will secret a yolk like substance that feeds them til they are born. It helps that they also don't grow teeth until after being born too. Still, keeping that in mind a female like myself can carry up to… ten… at a time while pregnant.
"I don't know... we'll just have to wait and see." I said honestly.
After the time finally was up I looked at the results… pregnant…
"Heh… wow…" Casey breathed. "Guess someone in The Family really wanted us to settle down huh?" He laughed weakly.
"I can certainly believe that." I laughed just as nervously.
He gave out a long sigh. "Guess we really will need those Servant class helpers then. Hex is a handful alone."
"Oh yeah...and we barely know why he's howling a whole lot." I said honestly.
Casey sighed. "Guess we should also tell the folks. I know they'll be thrilled by the news. At the very least they can help out with Hex, and the ones to come." He said, putting a hand over my belly. "Guess we'll have to go to the doctors to see how many eggs you got in there huh?"
"Hopefully they know Shark Bestial biology." I said honestly.
"I'm pretty sure they will. So, call the folks now or try and wait for morning?" He asked, giving a pat to Hex who ate up the attention.
"It's still three in the morning…" I started. "I doubt any of them are awake to be honest."
"Maybe. I'll send out a message to them anyway." Casey said as he typed out the message on his Assistant and sent it to our parents. "If we wake up with them banging down the door, at least we'll know why." He yawned.
We both fell back onto the bed and before we could even put Hex back in his Crib we were out cold.
Bang-Bang-Bang.
"Heh, called it…" Casey said as he sat up. Opening my eyes I saw… oh Mother that is cute.
Hex was asleep atop his Papa's head, almost like a hat.
"Absolutely adorable." I giggled. "Jeez...couldn't have given us a little longer to sleep?" I grumbled at our possible parents being here already.
"Well, it is noon already…" Casey said, motioning to the clock as he pulled Hex off his head and put them into my arms. "Come on then babe, let's go face the music."
"And the music is going to be my mom squealing like a mad woman." I chuckled, knowing she would probably be the most happy about this considering how much she nagged me about it.
"And my dad declaring me a man finally." He laughed.
We headed down and once the door opened Casey was pounced on by a taller vexen that spun him around in a rib crushing hug. "My baby's a dad! I'm a grandma! By both my children!" His mom yelled.
His mom and dad were both taller than him, about my height and his mom had a figure… I envy. I mean I have curves but I'd kill for her ass. To have… on me, not to… no. You know what I mean!
"Mom! Air!" Casey wheezed before finally getting dropped. "Thank you."
"Well can you blame her? Been waiting for this day for centuries." Casey's dad, a raccoon with physical features similar to Casey, just smoother, said as he walked up, giving his son a hug. "So you're finally a man huh?"
"Dad…" Casey growled.
"Hey, I tease, I tease."
"This is him?" Casey's mom asked as she looked at the little fluff ball in my arms. Hex had woken up at this point, and looked at the two newcomers with typical childlike curiosity and caution.
"Yep." I nodded. "Hex, meet your Grandma and Grandpa." I said softly to my little fluffball.
"Awh. Hi there sweetie. I'm your Grandma Hannah." Casey's mom said.
"And I'm your Grandpa Sheldon." Casey's dad added.
Hex spent a while sniffing them both. After a bit I let Hannah hold him. Hex proceeded to stare blankly at her. "Heh, so adorable." She said. "And he was in a prize pod?"
Casey and I nodded. "Inside a clam in that very lake over there." He informed.
"An entire sunken city hazard zone to be more specific." I added.
"Wow, look at you two making amazing discoveries." Hannah said as she gave us both a hug.
"It was pretty amazing." I said with a smile.
"Heh, so where's your parents then Heather?" Sheldon asked. "Honestly I expected them to be here."
"My baby's pregnant!?" Came the...very familiar sound of my mother who came barging in.
"Speak of the devil and they shall appear." I sighed out. "Hey mom."
My mom and dad are both Blacktip shark anthro beastials like me. Mom and I were very similar in our looks save for she had a wig for some brunet hair. Dad was mostly just tall and buff.
Mom hugged me tightly. "Oh I prayed for this day to come!" She said, tears of pure joy trailing out her eyes.
"Rebecca, please. She's carrying precious cargo." My dad said.
"Oh but Travis~!" Mom whined.
"Both outside, and inside." I said honestly. "But...yeah, it's been a long time in the making...but when Casey finally proposed...I suppose it was bound to happen."
"And it's about time he finally popped that question." Sheldon said, giving his son a hard pat on the back. "Took ya long enough."
"Dad…" Casey huffed. He took a deep breath. "So, how long are you all going to be stay-"
"Moved into a nice little instant house next door we just set up." Hannah said.
"And we set up a lovely little place under the lake in the safe area for us." Mom said. "It's so lovely down there. The second we saw the water I knew where we were setting up our home."
"Well...we might not entirely need babysitters or servant class if our parents are here." I said sheepishly.
"Oh trust me, we're expecting a lot of grandkids out of you two, and it's not like we've stopped." Dad said, making me blush.
"Oh I have been trying to get Sheldon to have some more, but he's such a traditionalist." Hannah said with a sigh.
"Tradition isn't always a bad thing." I mentioned.
After a bit of back and forth we all eventually sat down as my mom and Casey's mom began making some food. I was bottle feeding Hex, trying to stay awake as I did. "Heh, need some help there sweetie?" Dad asked as I tried shaking off the sleepiness.
"I can totally uh...deal with a massive lack of sleep cause he keeps howling at 3 in the morning." I yawned.
Dad chuckled. "Hehe, yeah all kids have the dead of night whales. For you, you'd start teething on your crib. Had to get you a metal one." Dad laughed.
"Casey would fill his diaper and then cry til we changed him every night around five in the morning." Sheldon added and laughed.
"God…" I groaned in embarrassment, not liking to hear our embarrassing baby actions.
"Embarrassing baby stories aside, how have you been dad?" Casey asked.
"Pretty good. Got a job at the quiver store. Kinda boring but it's easy work really." Casey's dad said.
"I'm thinking about picking back up on dungeon crawling." Dad said. "That dungeon down there sounds perfect for me and if it drops good stuff I can make a fair amount of cash on the market selling the excess loot."
"We would have done the same but...well…" I softly put a hand on my stomach. "Gotta make sure my kids are safe."
"Right, I forget Casey's a pacifist." Dad said.
"I just don't like fighting." Casey said.
"Shame really, your talent for magic is just like your grandpa." Sheldon said with a sigh. "Best mage of his time."
"How is your old man anyway?" Dad asked.
"Retired on Homeworld's Moon. Got a nice place up there."
"That's good to hear." I nodded.
"Good to know Grandpa is doing well still." Casey said.
The food came and finally Casey and I got to eat. Our parents said they'd look after Hex so Casey and I can catch up on sleep.
Once we were out we woke up in the realm of dreams and while we tried to have fun I wasn't able to. I already miss Hex...
"Why can't I hold my little fluffball here as well?" I pouted.
"He's still too young to show up here hun. He needs to be at least four to manifest here." Casey said as he held my hand while we walked the streets. "We can do something here though that will knock a few options off the checklist."
"Can't wait to have some fun in the dream world with you again hun." I said warmly. "Now...where to even start here?"
"Depends, what shall we do for fun, we've already done a lot before."
"Well...one thing we can do in the dream world is check how many kids we're going to have." I brought up. "That might be a first thing to do here."
"True, but honestly that kind takes the wonder out of it. Or, are you talking about how many kids this pregnancy?"
"This pregnancy." I told him simply. "I'm not gonna ask how many kids I'll have in the future, that would be a nightmare and a half to know that right off."
"Heh, fair." He said as we made our way to the tents area and found a Time Walker tent. We didn't go in here much. Usually when we did we asked basic things like if this area was a good exploration or not.
"Are you both ready?" The Time Walker asked.
"Ready as we'll ever be." I nodded.
"Yes." Casey said.
The Time Walker nodded, raising his Keyblade as soon two books, one with my name and one with Casey's appeared on the table before us. When he opened both we watched as pages suddenly flew out of both and formed a new book. Normally, the books that tell your life story are pure black with only your name written in silver atop the cover and spine. This book was all white with the image of a tree atop it's cover. He picked it up, and opened it. "Hmm… including that puppy you adopted, you will have six children."
"Five babies… woah." Casey said.
I gulped. I took health class and sex ed in school and… ouch...
"This is...gonna kind of suck for me when that time comes…" I muttered nervously. "But...it's gonna be a happy one."
"Indeed. Though, a little advice." The Time Walker said as he closed the book. "Travel."
Casey and I gave each other a confused look. "Uh, not to disrespect sir, but all Heather and I ever did is travel."
"True, but trust me, don't stop just because you have kids now, just remember that when your travels end, always return home." Time Walkers. Ever the cryptics. "I also recommend this place." He said, handing us a card with an address on it.
"Uh...sure." I said while taking the card and looking it over. "But...wouldn't traveling while pregnant be...dangerous still?"
"If it's to dungeons, yes, but you two travel to see the new and unexplored. It's time you both finally took in what already is."
"So we can travel, just no dungeons." Casey said.
"Yup." The Time Walker stated.
We gave one another a second look to each other before taking our leave. Time Walkers. You'll never get a straight answer out of them. That 'Yup' was the only clear thing he said.
As we headed towards the address I noticed some other numbers on it. Hmm, weird.
"So, where do you think he's sending us?" Casey asked.
"No idea." I said while looking over the card again. "Now where's the place we're going to?"
Looking at the streets I realized we were in the gambling district. Rem here was lost faster than anywhere else in reality, sleeping or waking. Doesn't mean you couldn't leave here rich either. It was all up to the Admin of Luck. She personally oversaw these types of places. Her and her Guild, the Golden Clovers. No casino in existence wasn't run by a member of Lady Luck's Guild.
"Huh, last time we were in a casino was that undead infected city dungeon back on Armageddon."
"Now that was a fun time." I chuckled at how I got to strut my stuff with Old Faithful.
After walking through this street around enough we spotted a unique machine. Enter a string of numbers and win a prize. Oh, so that's what they are for. Also, weird gambling game.
We put in the numbers and hit enter. The machine popped out a small plastic egg. Written on the plastic was 'Open when Awake'. Huh…
When Casey and I did wake up, feeling a million times better, we opened that egg. A summoning stone?
"Huh, wasn't expecting that." Casey said as he lifted the stone up. It was engraved heavily with all sorts of old runes and seemed to radiate way more power than normal for a summoning stone.
"So...why the heck are we getting an ancient summoning stone?" I frowned, trying to scan the old as crap thing.
It wasn't showing up in any Summoners or Familiars guild databases. "One way to find out."
"Might as well." I nodded, trying to use the summoning stone.
Using these things is easy. Just squeeze them. Casey and I both have the stone and a strong press between our hands. It faded as the summon, or familiar, began… to… manifest.
They were interesting. They were a Zerkalfer Den Mother Dire Wolf. Easily identifiable by the eight knockers on her chest… well, torso. She stood at about seven feet tall and wore a dark blue/grey dress that fit her lose and freely. She had a white bow just above the right ear and bright and attention grabbing yellow eyes.
"Hello, how are you two doing today?" The Den Mother asked politely.
"Uh… who are you?" Casey asked, surprised as much as I was at who this summon is. Most aren't so… well, anthro looking.
"My name is Nanny, a Den Mother." She introduced herself politely.
"Uh...huh…" I started. "It's nice to meet you Nanny...rather to the point with the name."
"So you're a summon that's more like a Servant Class pod person then?" Casey asked.
"Yep." She said with a nod.
"Then...why did the Time Walkers effectively give us something that we could have literally just gotten from the Matchmakers Guild?" I asked, now honestly confused by that.
"Time Walkers always know what their doing...always being vague." Nanny said, rolling her eyes like a mother would to a child doing something silly.
"Huh. So, you're a Nanny then… that is going to come in handy." Casey said with a sigh.
"Awooo!" Howled Hex. Is it three AM already? I looked at Hex's Crib, the small pup was running in a circle in there.
"Oh, sounds like someone's hungry." Nanny said as she was already moving through the kitchen. "Does he need breastmilk or formula?" Nanny inquired.
"Well, wait you're also a wet nurse?" Casey asked.
"What kind of Den Mother would I be if I wasn't one?" Nanny asked curiously.
"Well… fair enough…"
"But we've only been able to give him formula given...my race." I brought up, which saddened me a little but biology was a bitch.
"Oh you poor dear…" Nanny said softly, her voice sympathetic to my plight as a mother. "I understand, but how old is young Hex if I may inquire?" She asked curiously.
"Little over a month now. When he came out of the pod it stated he was a week old." Casey said. "Say… do you know why he howls at 3am every night?"
"Oh, that's a pack instinct." Nanny said while moving over to the howling pup. "He wants attention and cuddles, which in normal dire wolf situations they would have been sleeping together instead of separately." She explained.
"Really?" Casey asked.
"Makes sense I suppose." I brought up. "Wolves are pack animals, they eat and sleep together no matter where they are or go." I mentioned, having studied them in case I had to fight them in Dungeons, which I have several times.
"So, to stop that we just have Hex sleep in the same bed as us then? Huh… would have been nice to know that a month ago…"
"It would have…" I sighed out.
"It's alright." Nanny said softly as she cradled Hex. "Being a first time parent is always the most challenging when it comes to raising a child, especially one of a different race."
With a sigh Casey and I showed Nanny around and introduced her to our parents. With that all done she fed Hex and now I was holding the napping pup while Casey and I watched some TV. Nanny was more than just a nanny. She cleaned, cooks, and does… just about anything household wise.
"It's still pretty weird right?" Casey asked. "All… this?"
"Yeah...I certainly didn't expect this." I agreed. "But...it's also really weird why we got that ancient summoning stone for...what could have amounted to a normal Servant Class Prize Person." I said, my inner dungeon crawler still curious as to why we needed something super special from the Time Walkers themselves to just having a normal Den Mother as a familiar.
"Well, whatever the case at least she's good at what she does and frankly we're gonna need her help… Mother only knows what's ahead of us family wise." Casey said, placing a hand over my belly. "Cause… who knows how many more might pop up. Heh, guess we're gonna become our parents huh?"
"Who knows." I said, putting a hand over Casey's. "All I know is that things are going to get even better."
"It's definitely going to get interesting. Hopefully we'll be good parents."
"I know we will." I said warmly. "But...what will our kids be like? That's the worrying question…"
"Well… from how Hex is, I'd say he'll be a spitfire. And for those yet to arrive… well, they'll have your strength, loyalties, compassion. My curiosity, excitability. I'd say they'll be great adventures. If not, they'll still be good people and that's all that really matters."
"Yep." I nodded with a smile. "I wonder how fluffy they'll be though, even though they're only a quarter racoon and fox."
"Depends. They might be full of fluff or have barely any. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."
"Alright." I nodded. "We're gonna need to baby proof a whole lot of things though...mostly from teething…" I said nervously, kind of worried at how sharp teeth are going to suddenly come up in the near future.
"Heh, fair enough."
I felt content like this. Our lives were changing, and yet things felt… fine. I'm happy, and that's all I could want out of life.