Daily Life of Monster Girls in Alabama

by GoatManofAnime

It's time for a MonMusu fanfiction that takes place in sweet home Alabama, nuff said.

85. Friendly Terms

Chapter 79: Friendly Terms

…Hours later…

It was now time for the Chaos-Born meeting and Amara's pack made their way into the meeting room. Kaiya could be seen among her sisters and Tristan as the Pyrows and Beezlebubs greeted them in their usual fashions along with Hana and the others. As they got to their table they finally also noticed a couple of empty tables seemed to have moved from where they were last time. Not only that but some of the other chaos-born, namely Tubala's group and the Imps appeared to be irritated.

"Yeesh, what's happened here? Somebody die?", Tristan asked with raised eyebrow.

"Seems less like a funeral and more like a trial.", Kreã points out, "Only it looks like the judge isn't here yet."

It was at that moment Amara and the others realized a certain redhead devil was not in her usual spot. Kaiya glances around also noticing Caleb wasn't there, much to her disappointment.

"Hey? What's taking Scarlett so long?" Sharon yelled softly to the others who seemed equally on edge and confused.

"I don't know. She texted that she was on her way. That was like 15 minutes ago…", Hana answered while questioning her friend's unusual absence.

"You think she might've gotten sidetracked? Maybe found a cute outfit she liked?", Sylvia ponders.

"She's not easy to distract like you, Sylvia. It's gotta be something important knowing her.", Jocelyn suggested.

"Hey! I'm not easily distracted! In fact, I–", Sylvia stated, offended before Jocelyn conjures a blue magic seal open a small pocket space causing a Rubik's cube to fall out in front of Sylvia who immediately picks it up, "Ooh, a puzzle cube."

"Now then, should one of us go check on her before–"

She was quickly cut off when Tubala slams her hand against the table, getting all their attention, "Where is Scarlett?", she demanded

"Yeah? Some of us have sex lives and regular lives to get back to. The sooner we get things rolling the better.", Taokaloa, Pyrows representative, casually added as Tubala glance at her in annoyance while Beyla nods in solidarity..

"Well, Scarlett's running a little late cause uhhh she needed to take of something?" Sharon tried to explain, shrugging as she looks to Hana who also appeared just as uncertain.

"Then why don't one of YOU take the lead?", Tubala questions as the other devils at her table and the imps voice their frustration with them.

Hana and the others were taken aback a moment at the suggestion. It's always been Scarlett to lead the meetings since they began this faction and they'd never actually got around to establishing a second-in-command due to their individual activities in the facility.

They looked between each other seemingly waiting for one of them to take up the mantle.

Tubala scoffs then raises from her seat, "Fine then. If none of you are going to, then I suppose I'll–"

"I'm here!", interrupted Scarlett as she burst through the doors slightly panting.

"Scar! We were starting to get worried. Thought we'd might have to track you down.", Jannali teasingly spoke, gesturing to her nose while Tubala stares at Scarlett dubiously before taking a seat with folded arms and leaning back.

"Where've you been? We were supposed to start almost 20 minutes ago.", Jocelyn questions.

"Sorry, I was…getting a few things ready. One of which is community center permits for our newest members.", Scarlett explained, straightening up her clothes and hair. She then turns towards the door, "Come on in. You're more than welcome."

The doors fly open getting everyone's attention as, standing in the doorway were seven short petite young women in black robes and witch hats. Among them were Mars, Gala, and Nova. Standing in the center as the leader with a silver hat and robe was Venus who looked up with an amused grin.

The Beelzebubs, Pyrows, and Amara's pack look at them with intrigue while Tubala and her group and the Imp appear less than pleased to see them.

"Everyone, please welcome the newest members of the Chaos Faction, the Coven of Fantina and their acting leader, Venus.", Scarlett properly introduces.

"Good day dearies! Apologies for being tardy on our first day. Trouble with slow workers on a Monday.", Venus casually replies as Mars and Nova cautiously look around, noticing some of the Imps and devils whispering and glaring at them with scorn.

"No worries, kindly take your seats so we can get started.", Scarlett suggests while going over to her seat.

As Venus and her cover sisters take their seats, she ignores the whispers and derogatory comments made by some of the other Chaos-born.

Scarlett clears her throat preparing herself, "Hello everyone, welcome to today's Chaos-Born meeting. I hope everyone is well and apologies for my tardiness. To get things started, let's all welcome our newest members of the faction from the local witch coven. If you would."

Venus nods and stands to her feet, "Hello, my name is Venus and I'm acting leader of the Fantina Coven. Joining me today are my coven sisters: Gala, Nova, Mars, Asteria, Mercury, and Ceres", she gestured to the magenta, dark blue, red, cyan, silver, and chestnut haired witches, respectively, as they introduced themselves.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all! I have to say though, I thought all covens were led by a Baphomet", Heidi spoke curiously.

"Normally yes, but our Mistress is on important business so I am the appointed coven leader at the moment.", Venus casually answers.

"So, if you're not even the true leader. Why are you even here, wasting more of our time?", one of the greater devils in Tubala group questions, trying to provoke them. Scarlett was about to intervene but Venus beats her to it.

"I assure you, I may not be your typical leader but I'm the leader of my coven. As a show of good will, I've brought you all some treats from our home.", Venus casually replies with a smile, taking out wand and conjuring a large blue magic seal that cover their entire table. An object rises from the center revealing two large woven baskets piled up with red apples, peaches, pears, plums, and even clementines, "These were freshly picked from our orchard this morning. Help yourselves."

Everyone looks at them with reactions ranging from curious to skeptical.

"Cool, don't mind if I do!", Sharon happily spoke, appearing beside the basket as Jocelyn questions how she moved so fast. The blonde devil grabs peach and immediately sinks her teeth in, "Whoa! That's incredible!", She remarked as Tubala rolls her eyes.

"Thanks! Don't mean to brag or anything but our coven peaches are the sweetest around.", Nova proudly replies.

"There's a sentence I didn't think I wanted to hear today.", Jocelyn quipped.

"Mmm, I DEFINITELY needed to hear it.", Toakala remarks, licking her lips in hunger as Nova gives her an uneasy look.

"No kidding! That's one sweet peach I ever bit into!", Sharon happily praised.

"Heyy, Tristan said the same thing to me last week.", one of the Pyrows remarks, pointing out.

"I don't deny it.", Tristan casually admits as a few of his cousins roll their eyes, "Yo! Pass me one! Wanna do a comparison test.", He stated before Sharon tosses him a peach then.

"Oh! Definitely try the apples too, they're delicious! Mars grew them herself.", Hana suggested, giving a smile to the redhead witch.

"Thanks, I guess you REALLY liked the basket I gave you last time.", Mars responds as a few Imps sneer at her.

"Hey, who are we to turn down good food?", Malty says as she and her Beelzebubs cronies swarm the piles, snatching up as much as they could.

"Hey! Leave some for the rest of us you parasites!", Alkina barks as Maria and a few other Imps inspect their fruits and several fruits levitate to Jocelyn and her friends.

"Mhmm, Ohhh chaos. It's like giving a sloppy toppy to a jolly rancher dildo in my mouth right now.", Toakala blissfully hummed munching on a red apple, as did her cronies, all of which including herself wore lewd expressions of ecstasy.

"I changed my mind, THERE'S a sentence I didn't need to hear today.", Jocelyn expresses pointing to the aroused Pyrows.

Maria takes a bite of a pear before her face lights up, "It's…actually really good.", she admits as Tubala shoots a glare at her.

Tubala then notices, to her annoyance, Scarlett enjoying an apple and even a few devils in her group genuinely enjoying some fruits too.

'Tch, so what if the broom huggers brought some fruit? You're all acting like that's enough to welcome their lot in. For all we know it's some kind of trick to put us off guard!', Tubula thought, clenching her fists glaring at Venus and the others.

"Damn! I think I just found a new addiction. Witch peaches!", Beyla stated, earning a scowl from Tubula, as spiked tail swayed.

"~Mmm, now all we need is the cream. ohoooo~", Toakala saucily spoke with a lustful grin.

"Ok, suddenly regretting volunteering to rep the coven.", Nova whispered to Gala, put off by the manticores statement and the Pyrow's…everything.

"Shhh, don't be ridiculous. You should be honored to represent our sisters among other Chaos-born. Even if they are a bit…eccentric.", Mars lightly chastises, wanting to make a good impression.

"Hahhh, I'm just surprised that lady Venus chose me to come too. She said I was an 'ideal representative'. I just hope my Gregory isn't too lonely while I'm gone.", Gala softly bemoans as Nova and Mars look at her skeptically.

'Or maybe Lady Venus is just giving him a break.', Nova thought.

Tubula glares at the witches in disgust then noticed Amara and her youngest daughter, that one that was killed from the root beer, were enjoying the peaches as well with her daughters and that filthy male. She scowls in disgust, cursing her failure on that night.

"Alright, thank you, Ms. Venus and your coven for the lovely fruit.", Scarlett spoke in her magic microphone, finishing her apple and getting everyone's attention, "Now, as much a I'd love for us to get to know our new member right now, there's a very important matter we need to discuss today. It concerns last Friday's incident, where one of our Hellhound representatives' daughter nearly died from a severe allergic reaction. However, it wasn't an accident.", Scarlett spoke as Amara, Kaiya, along with her sisters and Trying all wore sullen expressions.

At the same time, Tubala, along with everyone else in the room looks to Scarlett intently; some of them mumbling under their breath amongst each other.

"Yeah! I heard it was a human that tried to do it too!", One of the imps in Maria's group blurted out.

Mars and the other witches look at each other becoming uneasy but Venus gently touches Mars and Asteria hand to reassure they were fine.

"I heard someone say he was one of the servers there. I heard of customer service people doing petty shit like spitting into your stuff but doing THAT a step too far.", Malty points out, munching on a peach in her insectoid claw prompting glares from Amara and her daughters, "What?! I wasn't making a joke. I take what I'm served at an establishment seriously!"

"You literally each garbage for me living.", Jocelyn casually points out.

"Yeah cause it's WHAT I WANT!"

"Point is, what exactly was that guy hoping to gain from that anyway?! Besides either crippling medical bills or a burial plot. Amara, you guys have any secret enemies we need to know about. We've already got Angels here, we don't need anything else!", Maria demanded answers as Tubala casually observes.

"I can assure you all that the only enemies my family has are all back home; even then they wouldn't DARE set paw into our territory. Let alone travel this far to harm one of my children.", Amara calmly answers as Kaiya fidgets to herself, remembering her mother's words earlier.

"Hmmm, got admitted no matter what you look at it, the motive simply don't add up. If it was aphrodisiacs or libido boosting syrups, I'd understand wanting go at it.", Toakala casually points out as Amara and several others look at the pyrow incredulously, "But trying to kill a sweet little doggy, well, that's just vile."

"Does he or any other human need a motive other than wanting to kill us?", Tubala spoke bitterly, arms folded, "It's fairly obvious he chose a hellhound because he knew he could get away with it."

"What are you saying? That I.A. wouldn't look into the incident otherwise?!", Lowanna stated, incredulously.

"Yes why else would you think they'd simply send him away after hurting one of their precious students? Why not make an example of him to show they won't tolerate that behavior? It's no coincidence it happened at a business funded by humans, right?", Tubala theorized, sending a few of them were letting doubt marinate subconsciously.

Scarlett see's the various Chaos borns talking among themselves before looking toward wanting to confirm with Venus who nods as she speaks up.

"It simply isn't within character.", Venus spoke, getting their attention.

"What do you mean?", Jocelyn inquires.

"The reports say they found that young man sobbing in a state of hysteria and very confused by his actions. Does that sound like a calculated killer to you?", Venus questions looking around as the others ponder the question. Amara and her children calmed themselves a bit.

"Tch, he was obviously faking! Trying to garnish sympathy so they'd go easier on him. Pathetic really.", Tubala scoffs, turning her nose up at the witch.

"Well, he must be the greatest actor of all time if he could keep up that act in front of 13 angry hellhounds.", Venus says with a smirk to the black haired devil annoyance, "You'd think someone who 'knew they'd get away with it' would have a little more confidence after being escorted by security. I guess not.", she half-joked, getting a few light chuckles from the pyrows and beezlebubs.

"You sound pretty confident in that statement, witch. What if you're just wrong?", One of the lesser devils in Tubala's group challenged.

"Yeah, broom hugger, what if you're just talking nonsense?", One of the imps bitterly remarks as Mars and the others flinch at the comment.

"The fuck you call us you damn–", Nova jumps up from her seat but Venus' shoots her a look, silencing her. Mars and Gala take her by the shoulders, calming her while they and the imps glared at each other.

"Then I'm wrong…but, until we know for certain if there was any true motive, it's all just hearsay. For all we know, another outside force might've had a hand in things.", Venus replies as several look at her with intrigue. Tubala, on the other hand, glares intensely at the witch, wanting to shut her mouth at that moment, "Buuut until we have answers, we're stuck simply carrying on. Besides, in the end, nobody really had die that day."

"Haha, yeah, we have Rocket Man to thank for that!", Jannali cheekily remarks with a smirk much to the other's confusion.

"Rocket Man?", Nova asks, raising an eyebrow.

"They're talking about Caleb.", Sylvia answers as Tubala tenses angrily at the mention of his name.

"Is that what we're calling him now? Whatever did he do to earn THAT nickname?", Beyla remarks with an amused chuckle to Tubala's annoyance.

"Not what you're thinking, unfortunately, he just works as an engineer where he builds rockets and other flying machines humans ride.", Sharon tried to explaining.

"Ohh, like the whirly cocks?", Toakala spoke earning a few eyebrow raises.

"...What?", Scarlett asks looking at her strange

"You know, the big metal cocks humans ride with the twirling blades on top that go 'whoop whoop whoop'", she emphasizes, making the sound effects and twirling hands in circles, adding to everyone's confusion.

"Helicopter! That's called a HELICOPTER! You illiterate thot.", Jocelyn stated plainly and with slight annoyance.

"I'm not illiterate, I'm just erroneously imaginative."

"We call that 'dumb' where I come from.", Jocelyn remarks

"Wait wait! Back up! He's the one who saved Amara's kid right?", Malty inquires.

"Yep! Chommie really came in clutch with that EpiPen. Ain't that right, Kai?", Tristan happily added, patting Kaiya's back, startling her.

"Y-Yeah, I guess so.", she softly utters.

"Speaking of, in light of what happened, I'd like y'all to know I got I.A. to supply my pack with plenty more EpiPens to prevent something like this from happening again. All of us carry two pens at all times.", Amara says, removing two small red capped pens from her pocket and presenting them as her children and Tristan did the same.

"Well, it's good to see you're better equipped now.", Heidi replies with a grin.

"Along with a couple dozens of those boxes put around our home, in every room just to be safe." Amara added.

"Somebody's definitely stockpiling for the end of the world via chocolate.", Jocelyn remarks.

"You are sassy today. What's up with you?", Sylvia asks curiously..

"I'm returning to work tomorrow, right as I was getting used to relaxing at home. I can only imagine how backed up with clients they are.", Jocelyn answered, not enthused about getting bombarded with dozens of massage appointments.

"Speaking of that human, don't you think it's a bit TOO convenient that HE had just so happened to have what you needed at the time? Who carries around a random EpiPen made just for canine liminals. It makes you think…" Tubala pointed out, purposefully trying not to sound accusatory but her tone making everyone suspicious.

"What are you trying to say?" Scarlett asked her but already knowing what it is.

"You think…it was staged or something?", Maria said as she started piecing together what might have happened as several of her fellow Chaos-Born, especially Amara, her daughter and Tristan, looked at her with shocked, even dubious expressions.

"What do you mean 'staged'?", Krea questioned, shooting up to her feet.

"You're not SERIOUSLY suggesting he and that other guy planned that are you?!", Sylvia added in disbelief as Tubala whispers something to one of the greater devils next to her.

"I don't know. It just all feels too convenient. He just so happened to be there.", one of the imps in Maria's group pointed out.

"Yeah, especially considering how he acted toward that hellhound man over there. Who's to say that Caleb human didn't plan that to gain our trust.", One of the greater devils in Tubala's group says as the other devils around her mutter in agreement while black haired devil smirks. Scarlett and her friends along with the hellhounds look at them in shock and disbelief at the accusation.

"That's absurd!", Hana defended.

"How could you even THINK that let alone say it?!", Sharon joined in, very displeased.

"Well, can YOU explain that level coincidence since you guys are so certain! Hopefully you're not biased because he's your little savior.", one of the lesser devils chimes in, much to Sharon and the others annoyance.

"Pretty sure the same can be said for you hellhounds. Don't forget, he clearly hated you all. Whose to say he wanted to hurt or even kill you but got cold feet?", Another greater devil questions, much to the shock of Amara and her pack.

At the same time, Mars and her friends look around nervously, sensing the atmosphere growing more tense. Venus remains calm throughout, also sensing their growing unrest in the room.

"N-No, you're wrong!" a voice yelled, making everyone turn and see it was Kaiya, standing up from her seat. Surprising even her siblings, mother, and cousin by the normally soft-spoken hound. Kaiya quickly realizes what she'd done as now all eyes were on her.

"No? What do you mean by that?" Tubula asking the hellhound with a harsh glare, making Kaiya even more nervous.

"I-I mean…h-he has a werewolf homestay w-who-", Kaiya tries to explain only for Tubala to interrupt her.

"Speak up! Hurry up and get to the point already!" Tubala yelled at her causing her flinch.

"What's a matter? Cat got your tongue, little doggy? Want me to give it back?", Beyla jeers, waggling her feline paws as few devils chuckled causing Kaiya ears lower to her head, losing confidence.

Suddenly, Amara rises up from her chair, towering behind Kaiya like a canine titan.

"First of all, don't EVER yell at my daughter!" Amara spoke with a deep growl, glaring down at both the devils and manticore with blazing eyes,"Second, I believe what she was trying to say was he has a student who canine liminal like us. Is that right sweetie?" Amara ask her daughter who nodded in confirmation then looks back at them, "Right, so It's not far off to assume he'd carry one or two off pure habit alone."

"And you're willing to put your faith in that assumption?!", Tubala shot back.

"Yes, and you know why? Because I'm a FIRM believer in actions over words. People show you exactly who they really are based on what they do, always! That young man, though he has every reason to fear us, he STILL chose to do what's right and save my daughter. We even had him over for dinner a couple days ago and he seemed to enjoy himself and was respectful to us the entire time . He showed us his kind heart and willingness to give others the benefit of the doubt. That's all I need.", Amara firmly spoke as her daughters voiced their agreement and Venus nodded in approval.

"I thoroughly agree. In all my years, I have seen time and time again that words alone don't determine true character. One's actions and choices will always show who they really are at their core." Venus says getting their attention as Amara grins warmly appreciating the feedback, "Besides, what proof do we have that he was a part of that cruel act other than more hearsay, dearie?" Venus asked, raising an expectant eyebrow much to Tubala's disdain.

"Thank you, Ms. Venus. Couldn't have said it better myself.", Amara remarks with a grin.

"I'd say you already did. I just threw in my two cents with a dash of salt. Hehehe.", Venus lightly chuckles then looks at everyone around her, "In the end, it all comes down to having an open heart and open mind."

"Well said, Lady Venus!", Mars happily remarks with a smile, clapping for her, quickly joined by the other witches, the Beelzebubs, the Hellhounds, even Scarlett and the others joined in.

Tubala clenches her fists in irritation and about to retort before Beyla cuts her off.

"Hey, where is that Caleb guy anyway? Maybe he can do a better job explaining himself instead of just us making guesses.", She inquired, honestly annoyed by their yapping but curious where he was.

"He had an assignment for this week he had to start. It's something to do with inspecting a restaurant?", Tristan casually answers before taking out his phone to check it and quickly lights uo, "Hey! He sent me a few pictures of the place!", he happily stated as the others, including Kaiya, look at him incredulously.

"You've had his number this whole time…and didn't bother sharing it with me?!", Alkina stated, slightly irritated.

"Forget that! What are you guys like…FRIENDS now?!", Beyla stated.

"Damn right, we're choms from different moms!", Tristan stated with a toothy grin to Tubala's disgust.

"Well, it's good to see you both getting along now!", Hana gladly acknowledged.

"Yeah, maybe he'll be able to keep you busy and not chase after every full moon skank you see.", Amara remarks.

"Yo, auntie come on, not in front of Kari. I just got another hookup going for the full moon Friday.", Tristan bemoaned.

"It's fine bae, I take it as a compliment. Hey, maybe you and your new bestie can join for a three way?", the pyrow offered as Kaiya, Scarlett and several others visibly tensed in surprise.

"Oooh, I'll have a piece of that action! Any other volunteers? Anyone? We've got sesame seed oil.", Toakala saucily offered her fellow Chaos-Born much to their annoyance.

"Um, can I–", Ceres begins to raise her hand since she haven't found her brother yet and now bit curious.

"No.", Venus firmly spoke, conjuring her broomstick, lightly smacking the witch's hand with the handle like a mother would with a slipper.

"Ahem! Moving on!", Scarlett firmly stated, her voice echoing in the magic microphone and getting everyone's attention, "Next, we'll be addressing the topic for our newest members and for our current members who STILL haven't joined any education or workforce training programs and explain the importance of it for you both here and once leave this facility."

"I motion to skip this part of meeting.", Tristan raises his hand and spoke in a diplomatic tone

"I second that!", Maria chimed in with her hand up and imp wings twitching.

"Denied, now put your hands down.", Scarlett plainly replies.

"I'd like to appeal the denial on the grounds that the question is volatile and detrimental to my social standing.", Tristan casually replies in a sarcastically professional tone getting a few chuckles from his cousins and the Pyrows.

"Haha! Your honor, my client pleads 'Nuh Uh'!", Jannali chuckles as a few others joined in laughing, including Mars and a few others witches couldn't help laughing too.

"QUIET!", "Hush!", Amara barked and Venus stated, both silencing their respective groups then looking at each other in surprise then giving a nod in motherly solidarity.

"Thank you. Now then, I once again can't stress the…"

As Scarlett carried on with her speech, Tubala sat silently fuming over the current circumstances. Not only were the hounds now taking that human's side, she's now forced to be on equal term with filthy, ill-bred witches. She glare at the pointy hatred troglodytes with utter disdain and revulsion, as did a few of her like-minded associates. Still, she knew in the back of her mind there was now opportunity to get rid of this faction's problem as she looked over at Tristan listening to Scarlett's rambling.

…Meanwhile…

Hours passed since Caleb and Drei arrived at the restaurant for the assignment. In that time, they closed down the restaurant for the rest; assuring their usual clientele it was only temporary. Last thing Caleb wanted was a couple of disgruntled Grizzly ladies after him.

In that time, they've learned several things Jovi and Carmine have been doing that would get just about any establishment in the world shut down in less than a week. Starting with the obvious, they learned the pair had been keeping live animals in a huge cellar underneath the building. Most of which were apparently third generation, save for the cats, opossums, and chicken; they were seventh or eighth. Carmine confessed a lot of the animals were snagged from transports for certain high value liminal residents that could afford to have shipments. Many of the animals were supposed to go to hellhounds called the 'Cerberjacks'. How on earth nobody in I.A. noticed any of this was beyond him. Needless to say, the first thing he started with was removing certain animals from their menu, ESPECIALLY the cats, much to their dismay.

Next, was the storage of excess meat and leftover side dishes. Not only were some of the containers missing the lid but some even had two or more different animal parts in the same container, creating a huge risk of cross contamination. The racks holding the containers had visible mold growing, evidence of lack of proper sanitization. There were also no labels marking the items in any way of what they were or when they were made. Carmine simply remarks that she 'had a system' and could accurately tell what part was what and if it was still good…by tasting the blood. At that point he heard enough.

Which brought up another deep and troubling concern, the poor sanitation in the workplace along with the presence of various animal parts posed so many different contamination risks for a number of different diseases like salmonella or E. Colli. As far as he saw, there's no place for the ghoul woman to sterilize her blades regularly after use.

Finally, there were only two workers here, a cook and a cashier/waitress, which only compounds certain issues and explains a few sanitation problems. Though from what he saw they at least kept most of the customer dining area and bathrooms clean, but it was obvious the two of them were not good at keeping the kitchen as clean on their own.

"Ok, after a…LONG and hard look at things here, l made up a list of mandatory suggestions for you guys. If we are to get you to pass a BASIC health inspection we have a lot of ground to cover in a short ass time.", Caleb spoke, now wearing a face mask and latex gloves which Drei provided for, as her hands Jovi the list. Next to him, Drei stood in similar attire to protect herself.

Jovi scans the list a moment as her eyes widen, "Wait, we can't harvest our meats in the establishment anymore?!"

"You've gotta be kidding!", Carmine complained.

"Look, you can't keep LIVE animals in your restaurant! Even if you ignore the chicken incident from earlier, the sheer amount of health and food safety hazards are too great. Literally any other inspector would shut you down for the potential of restarting the goddamn black plague!" Caleb explained in a serious tone.

"But this is the only place we have for them and I can't afford to rent out one of the stall barns!", Jovi pleaded.

"What's wrong with regular cuts of meat from a butcher?! I'm sure I.A. could help in getting the stock you need.", Caleb contested.

"Clearly you have never cooked with REAL meat before so let me educate you. Meat is a canvas and the butcher is an artist. You're probably so used to that frozen crap coming in the bag your cooking is more like amateur doodling.", Carmine accused.

"To be fair, he is pretty good even if he works with low quality." Drei added. Though, she understands where ghoul is coming from.

"Point is, if we are gonna be stuck with that shit meat to cook, you might as well shut us down now cause I see no point in staying open. I refuse to give up my craft for anyone."

Caleb looks at the ghoul woman in the eye seeing her mind was made up, "Haaa, fine, but if you're going to keep up your 'craft', you can't keep animals in or under this restaurant! You need a pen or something OUTSIDE of this building."

"And WHERE are we find one smartass?! Or maybe you want us to make one? Is that it?!", Carmine started getting up in his face, as he didn't back down, prompting Jovi to step between her.

"Take it easy, Carmine!"

"I mean you probably could." Drei says, getting their attention.

"What?", Carmine dubiously asks.

"Just can have the ant contractors build you a butcher's shack outside the parking lot.", Drei says, showing her the ContractANTS business card.

"Wait, those Giant Ant ladies in the hard hats? Don't they work for I.A.? Pretty sure they're expensive as hell.", Carmine remarks, arms folded in discontent.

"Shockingly no. I looked them up and their species don't exactly believe in the concept of monetary compensation. They're more than happy to work for food…maybe some sex, if that's on the table, literally in some cases. ", Drei explained, earning surprised looks from the trio," Incidentally, did you know their typical lifespan, at least for workers, is only about 25 years?"

Sidenote: 1 Giant Ant year = 3.5 Human years

"Ok, there is a lot of information and implications there that I do not want to unpack right now. Bottomline, they'll probably only charge you for the materials needed to build it.", Caleb replies.

"So how much would that be?" Jovi asked, still nervous about the price.

"Well, if I had to make a rough guess, I would say…four…maybe five hundred depending on how much square footage. Still, you'd at least have a place outside to do your butch–I mean craft with risk of animal escaping and people being traumatized.", Caleb told them as Carmine rolled her eyes at him.

"There's a hardware store close by that we could use!", Jovi stated.

"Good, now we still need somewhere y'all could keep your livestock. I doubt there's a big enough stable or anything nearby.

Jovi pauses a moment then begrudgingly replies, "Actually…there is one…at my old job. It's a few blocks down just from the angel congregation. They keep a variety of animals there to be slaughtered later."

"Oh, that works! I'm sure they'll be able to find some room for them. We can go talk–"

"NO!", Jovi interrupted him, to his surprise as Carmine looked at her in concern, "I-I mean, I'd rather you do it but don't mention my name. Say it's just for a new business or something."

"O…K? Fine.", Caleb replies, sensing that it was a sensitive subject. He quickly tries to change it, "Alright um… the next major issue is sanitation.", he says, prompting sharp glare from Carmine.

"Are you saying I don't know how to take care of my tools?"

"No I'm saying you take care of nothing BUT your tools. How do you keep most of your knives clean and sharp but can't take three seconds to wipe down a counter?", Caleb challenged.

"Look, the blood goes where it goes and dries up after a while anyway. What's the big deal?", Carmine responds, arms folded in defiance.

"Salmonella, , Bird flu. Those all sound like pretty big deals to me and any other health inspector who comes here. It's a miracle you haven't gotten yourself or anyone else sick yet!", Caleb firmly stated much to her annoyance, "Look, I know this is all a lot but if you're going to stay open you need to make changes for the better."

Carmine and Jovi glances with varying degrees of frustration and shame. Suddenly, Jovi gets a sharp, painful jolt going through her chest.

"Nngh, s-sorry, I'll be right back! Please, keep training Carmine!", Jovi says, rushing away from the group, cupping her arm under her chest as Carmine watches her with concern.

"Is…she ok?", Caleb inquires

"She's fine, just hurry up and show me your 'wisdom' on sanitation or whatever.", Carmine sarcastically gestured to him to follow to the kitchen.

"Ok. Drei, can you try getting in contact with that stable nearby she mentioned. Maybe call the ContractANTS too?"

"Sure, should I also make tea since I'm a secretary now apparently?", Drei commented.

"Only if you feel like it or need it or have time" Caleb replies, adjusting his mask and takes a deep breath mentally preparing himself to relive his kitchen nightmares.

"Hm, he's almost starting to get me.", Drei softly remarks.

For the next half hour, Caleb spent much of the time helping Carmine to clean up many of the animal parts still left in the kitchen. He could hardly believe a delicious sandwich came from this kitchen of all places. By the time they were done, there were two garbage bags full of animal parts, bones, and blood and bleach soaked paper towels. Caleb took to cleaning and disinfecting the large sink, filling it up with soapy water, while she gathered up all the pots and pans.

"Alright, that's all of them.", Carmine says, placing the list of the filthy, grimy pots next to him.

"Great. Now, when you clean them, try to make the hot water one part antibacterial soap and a little bleach to really kill germs and remove whatever filth on any surface.", Caleb informs, grabbing one of the pots to dump in the water.

"Uh huh…", Carmine unenthusiastically responds looking around at the now much cleaner kitchen. Though the bleachy smell assaulted her nose a bit, she had to admit she had forgotten how nice these white counters were. The entire kitchen almost looked exactly like how it was when Jovi first showed it to her. She then looks at the human male busily washing the pot, "You're uh…pretty good at cleaning huh?"

Caleb stops for a second then resumes, "Well, I had to learn when I was living alone. If I wasn't going to keep my house clean, nobody would."

"Ah, I can get that. In this life, all you can really depend on is yourself. Nobody is gonna help you unless it benefits them or you have something they want.", Carmine remarks, lighting up a cigarette.

"Can you not? There's already enough chlorine in the air."

"Who's fault is that?", She replies, inhaling, then blowing some smoke upwards, much to his annoyance.

"It's a necessary evil. That's just a vice. Unless your goal is just to suffocate us both in this hot ass room, I'll ask you just once to put it out, please. Or do you wanna clean all YOUR mess yourself?", Caleb giving his own cold glare.

Carmine scoffs, sensing he was dead serious, before putting out the lit cigarette on the sink, "Fine. For the record I CAN'T suffocate. I just don't feel like carrying your unconscious ass out here."

"That makes two of us. I'd rather we both walk out fully conscious.", Caleb casually replies, continuing to wash the pot, earning a curious look from her.

"...So…what do you want?", Carmine suspiciously asks, getting his attention.

"What?"

"You could've just walked away and not deal with any of this shit. Could've turned us in and had us out of a job in less than an hour. So why?", Carmine demanded.

Caleb looks at her, making eye contact and plainly answers, "Simple. The food you made was great and I don't wanna see this place close down.", Caleb said, proceeding to wash the pot as Carmine looked at him in surprise and confusion, "Do I need any other reason?"

"Was it…really that good?", she responds curiously, looking away.

"It was the best chicken I ever tasted. You have a real gift."

Carmine pauses, blushing at the sudden compliment, then turns away, arms folded, "I'd hardly call it that. I've…always been good at chopping meat. Not just animals either.", she says, picking and examining one of the cleaned carving knives.

Caleb stops cleaning upon hearing that.

"I used to be a part of a mercenaries group back in the day. Quite common for ghouls like me to form raider bands, going around, butchering who we're paid to by rich a-holes of just about any species who had enough cash and resources to wipe other a-holes off the planet. My gang mostly stuck around the Middle East but we branched out every now and again if the job paid enough", Carmine casually explained, balancing the tip on her finger then flipping it back to the handle.

"You…were a mercenary. That is an interesting profession.", Caleb replies, honestly not too shocked considering he lives with three assassins, "So, why the career change."

Carmine goes silent again then answers, "There was this one job the girls and I took in Egypt. Apparently, the ICEP branch there was dealing with an extremely dangerous lamia called an 'Apophis'. The clients were looking for anyone, regardless of background or species, to assist in the capture or defeat of said creature. They were paying big bucks. Huge red flag in hindsight. When we got there, it was COMPLETE mayhem. Fires broke out, vehicles destroyed, humans and liminals all dead with the thick purple cloud hanging in the air that we quickly found out was actually venomous but since we were undead it didn't affect us. There was this one guy who was taking shelter and the SECOND he took a breath of that gaseous venom, he collapsed and started foaming from mouth, these weird purple veins spreading all over his face and body while convulsing violently until he was dead a minute. I even saw he was rock-hard in his pants."

"Yeesh did not need to know that last part…or the death in general honestly.", Caleb replies to the ghoul woman's slight amusement, "Then what happened?"

"That was when we encountered…it. This huge lamia with a dark purple scaly body and four wicked purple eyes that could somehow move so fast it looked like it's body didn't touch the ground. The…next thing I know I'm lying on the ground, weapons beside me…and half my friends bodies dissolved in purple acidic puddles though that could be considered a mercy with what happened to the others. The rest had their bodies either crushed to paste or ripped to shreds. Only reason I survived was because I was knocked into a building that collapsed on top of me and I got dug out a day later by a rescue team searching for survivors. I later found out they didn't even capture the damn thing. They just lured it out of the city with help from our client! What's worse, because of how bad the damages were I only got a FRACTION of what the reward money that was promised! I Swear, I'll NEVER forgive that pharaoh bitch. She sent me and my team to a living death trap!", Carmine vented, hating to relive the memories before putting a few pieces of gum in her mouth.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. That whole ordeal sounds like a nightmare.", Caleb expresses.

"Believe me, I know. By the time I recovered, I decided I was done with that life. I didn't have my team or stomach to deal with any shit like that ever again. After some time to grieve, I got with those ICEP agents at the time since I heard they ran an exchange program. I asked to join, left Egypt, and arrived in this country. I jumped between hosts for a while until I realized the whole student life wasn't for me. Didn't help that a lot of humans in this country are not too fond of the undead types like me. I tried getting work through their visa program but I didn't have much skills except cooking and fighting. Eventually my coordinator and I had a falling out, where I might've broken a few of his ribs and I ended up here. Still…I couldn't really keep a job and most of these classes never interested me as a professional career. Only thing that caught my attention was their cooking classes but they soon kicked me out because of my 'unorthodox methods'. Fuckin' elf bitch. For I was jobless and on the verge being kicked outta and being homeless with nothing waiting back home.", She explained, her voice more sullen near the end.

Caleb pauses, understanding what she must've felt, "How'd you…get a job here then?"

"Hehe, believe it or not, I met Jovi at that Mothman club by the shopping district. We became drinking buddies that vented about our shitty days to each.", Carmine chuckles at the memory, "You could make a drinking game out number times she started with 'I hate my job' or 'Screw those damn dwarf hussies' every time we drank."

"Wait, you mean dwarves from the steakhouse? What did they do to her?", Caleb curiously asks.

"Well, before Jovi opened this place she was a part of ICEP's liminal resource program, particularly with the little halstaur dairy farm a few blocks from here. Everyday her job consisted of a little manual labor and…well, milk production. She seemed to hate having I.A. staff milking her and the machines they had were way too rough. After a while, she became dissatisfied with basically being treated like livestock instead of the proud minotauress she was. Heh, you know once, when she was having an especially bad day, so I decided to give her some of my roast beef. She told me…it was the best meat she'd ever tasted."

"O-Oh, is that right?", Caleb replies, noticing her softer eyes looking down at him.

"Yeah, one day she told me about her dream to open her own restaurant! How she wanted to do more with her than just use her milk. I told her IF she ever did it, hell I'd be her cook as long as I could cook MY way. Then a couple days later, I heard a knock on my door. I answer to find her on her knees begging me to be her cook. She told me how she finally quit her job and started her restaurant with the money she saved. The rest is history.", Carmine finishes her story, taking the gun wad from mouth, having chewed out the flavor.

"Oh. But wait…then why exactly does she hate the dwarf ladies at the steakhouse?"

"She thinks they stole her idea. When she finally opened this place it just so happened to be around the same time those two opened their restaurant AND made a business arrangement with her old bosses to supply halstaur dairy products. So it's kind of a jealousy thing. Two rivals making it harder for her place to stand out", Carmine shrugs nonchalantly.

"Ah. Yeah, I guess it would be hard for a startup to take off with SO MANY options around here. Still, it doesn't change the fact that you guys seem to have been doing ok, ALL things considered so you're doing…something right to have customers.", Caleb remarks, drying his hands, having filled most of the pots and pans with soapy water to soak.

"Yeah, most of them are from around the area but they can get rowdy some days when we run outta particular stock. A couple times I roundhouse kicked a chair some hyena liminal bitch chucked at Jovi. Stomped her chuckling ass in the jaw is what I did.", Carmine proudly remarks, flexing her small but firm bicep.

"Somehow I believe you. Food so delicious makes you wanna throw a chair at somebody.", Caleb smirks, making Carmine chuckle, "Hey, maybe that can be a restaurant slogan."

"Heh, I'll tell Jovi about it when I get a chance.", Carmine replies looking at him with a small grin before it slowly fades, "You know, not many people are big on talking to me like this. Before Jovi…never really got along with anybody. Not like I didn't try but…when you have a history like mine, a dangerous appearance, AND a whole 'danger' tag surrounding your species…I don't know. You get used to people hating you for what you are.", she in a wistful tone, her mind going back to the fearful human hosts she'd met and their disgusted expressions.

"Well, for the record, I'm not one to judge another because of their history. Hell, I've got a few skeletons myself. And those skeletons got hands, lemme tell ya. In the end, those people don't matter. People like Jovi do, who give you a chance. Honestly, amazing how strong you are to hold on…despite all the nonsense life throws at you. ", Caleb spoke with a grin, "Plus, anybody that can cook like you gets a pass in my book."

Carmine faintly blushes at the compliment looking at him in surprise before looking away in thought, "S-So, you…REALLY thought the sandwich was that good? So good you'd help us this much?"

"Yeah but, honestly, I'm doing it because it's part of my policy to help if it's within my power. I mean, I still wanna know what you did to make it taste THAT good. If it's a secret or family recipe or whatever, I'll respect your privacy.", Caleb replies, wanting to give her that respect.

Carmine pauses a moment, sensing he meant everything he said, putting her at ease, "You…really want to know?"

"Well, yeah if you want to tell me."

Carmine turns to him touching her finger to her lips with a smirk, "Here it is, the secret is this.", she pokes tongue out slightly between her lips.

Caleb raises an eyebrow at her thinking she was teasing him, "Y-You're…tongue? You're joking right?"

"Nope, it's not just my tongue either, it's my whole mouth in general. We Ghouls have the most sensitive mouths of any liminal. Our taste buds are so attuned that we can detect even the faintest of flavors and tastes in nearly anything but especially meat. All I need is one little taste for me to find the best parts of the animal to use. I let my blade do the rest.", Carmine explains as she proudly brandishes her butcher's knife, as she then "Also, before you say it, I ONLY slice a tiny piece of area I want to taste. I'm not a idiot to take out bites or anything.", she confirmed.

Caleb looks at her both surprised and impressed and responds, " I'm getting the idea, you're like a natural born taste tester. That's…actually kind of amazing. Still, it's probably best if you don't touch your lips to the blade. Contamination is still a thing."

"Are you saying my mouth is dirty?!", Carmine stated, offended.

"No, it's more so that you don't accidentally-"

Before he could finish, Carmine grabs his hand bringing his fingers to her lips, much to his surprise.

"W-What are you-–", Caleb stated, trying to free from her grip but she pressed his fingers more to her incredibly soft, supple lips.

"Proving my point! Do you feel it? Do these lips feel dirty to you?", Carmine asks, eyes locked onto his, the heat of her breath against his finger. She moves his thumb along her soft bottom lip as Caleb stares at her blankly, unsure of how to respond to the gesture.

"N-No but uh…you should still be…careful. Don't wanna put anything there that doesn't belong.", Caleb replies, staring back in her eyes, trying to remain calm and thinking of Jar Jar Binks.

"Don't worry.", Carmine saucily spoke with a heated breath, opening her mouth to show off her hot, wet pink tongue and lips. Her sharp teeth added a sense of danger. The fun kind of danger, "~Only thing that goes in here…is meat. Sweet. Juicy. Meat.~", She hung on each word, bringing his thumb dangerously close to being engulfed by her steamy, wet orifice. The skin of his thumb grazing over her sharp teeth and rests gently on her very soft, hot tongue making her shudder, then closes her silky smooth lips on his thumb. She noticed he still tasted a little bleachy but kind of sweet. Coupled with his unusually pleasant scent, it excited her more as her hot, wet tongue coiled around his thumb sending ripples of pleasure through his arm.

Caleb flushes in embarrassment, heart racing, wanting to pull away but the strangely sweet scent emanating from her oral cavity captivated him as did her piercing red eyes.

"Though, HIS meat is not for sale." Drei said, popping in and interrupting the two.

"D-Drei!", Caleb blurts out, quickly withdrawing from the ghoul woman who's grip had involuntarily loosened, "We were just…finishing up cleaning and uh…yeah.", he says a bit flustered while Carmine casually leans against a counter, not bothered at all.

"Uh huh, anyway the ContractANTS are here and want to know where you keep the floor plans for this building."

"Jovi normally keeps track of those, I can show you.", Carmine offers.

"Works for me.", Drei nods as Carmine looks at Caleb up and down a second and smirks devilishly seeing his flustered face before walking, swaying her hips as she leaves.

Caleb breathes a sigh of relief, looking at his wet thumb, still feeling those ungodly soft, full lips.

"I take it you were teaching her the importance of oral hygiene as well?", Drei asks, eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Sure, let's go with that. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have some cleaning to do…and a memory to bury.", Caleb went back over to the sink, running hot water all over his dirty hands.

"Yeah, no, there's some things even disinfectants can get rid of. Believe me I tried.", Drei comments, "Then again, I've never had to wash off undead saliva."

"Are you gonna stand there and roast me, help me out here, or leave?!", Caleb stated, furiously scrubbing the pot.

"Yes."

"Fuck you."

"Yes.", Drei responds, ignoring the insult.

…Elsewhere…

Further away, at the Angel's residence, Michael could be seen sitting outside at a circular table in a garden surrounded by white rose bushes with a couple of human ICEP representatives underneath a veranda. A female Cherub stood nearby serving them herbal tea and freshly baked crescent rolls.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. De'Angelo, and I hope you and the rest of your congregation are settling in nicely. My name is agent James and this is my associate agent Donald", one of the humans says with a smile as Michael enjoys the tea.

"We are and we appreciate your staff's continued support in that endeavor.", MIchael politely responds, giving them his best welcoming smile.

"Of course! We are here to help you all any way we can! "

"Speaking of, you have our deepest apologies for the horrible incident at that restaurant between you and the Devils! We trust no one in your congregation was hurt?", the other human inquires.

"No, thankfully no one was hurt."

"Still, an incident like that never should have happened. We know both your species have a rather…sordid relationship, that's why we've taken great care to ensure you rarely if ever cross paths. Obviously we need to improve in that area."

"If you ask me, the issues began when they started bringing more of them to this facility.", the other human bitterly spoke as Michael looked at him plainly.

"Donald, don't start…", the agent facepalms.

"No, it has to be said. Ever since the head office brought in more of these DEMONS, it's been nothing but disaster left and right! Like those devils who nearly killed a group of orc students at that mothman club a couple months back! Why they just pink stamped them and didn't deport them, I'll never know!", Donald vents in irritation as Michael sighs softly, gesturing to the Cherub woman for a refill on tea, "You realize how bad it makes us look if we let those things do whatever they want?"

"Donald! That's enough!", his partner firmly stated, forcing him to begrudgingly go quiet, he then looks at Micheal apologetically, "I'm so sorry about that."

"No, I should be the one apologizing…', Michael coldly spoke, catching them both off guard, "It was our fault to begin with. Opheia and Helga should never have gone into their territory, regardless of their reasons. Futhermore, Baliel acted on impulse to protect his niece, escalating the situation making it worse. I talked to him to make him, and the others, understand to come to ME with their problems and we can find a peaceful solution." Michael told two men in front of him as the Cherub woman smiled in admiration.

"Thank you. We're very grateful to have you…"

"I agree. It's about time we got angels here to keep the peace and stop demon trouble makers.", Donald remarks.

"Donald! Please don't mind him sir, this facility is open to ALL liminals…", He emphasizes, shooting a warning glare at Donald, "regardless of their species, cultures, or religion. As long as everyone abides by the rules and conduct established here, you are welcome."

"Understood. I'll continue to do my best to enforce that belief as well.", Michael assures, a part of knowing his words were hollow. He knew full well it wasn't that simple.

"We appreciate it. Now then, there's something else we'd like to discuss with you.", the ICEP James says while Donald pulls out a couple of large binders, "Recently, a poll was launched throughout the country by ICEP ranking the most popular and highly favored liminal species among the populace. I think you'll be happy to know that angels were placed as number 1.", He says in a very pleased tone.

"Oh, is…that so? How flattering.", Michael replies with a half smile, not surprised by the outcome in the slightest, even feeling a bit ashamed.

"That's right, and in response, we think this is the perfect time for you to begin merchandising. How do you feel about your congregation being one of the first in South central to launch an entire line of angel-themed restaurants?", Ronald says, opening white binder to show designs, schematics, even cartoony angelic mascots with exaggerated blue eyes like a baby doll, red dimples, and curly blonde hair. Michael recoils slightly, finding the design creepy-looking.

"Um, I don't think–"

"Now don't worry, we got all bases covered for this! We have the ideal location for the first establishment! We are putting together a staff to be ready and training them for opening day. We can even pull a few strings and get a few top class chef's to assist. Our marketing team have been brainstorming some menu ideas and they'd just need your feedback here. I even got some possible signature dishes right here." Donald said

"Now don't worry these are just demo photos, they're not final products we just want you to see the base ideas."

Micheal tried his best to keep an open mind while looking at the photos. The food had rather strange appearances, some dishes were mostly just baked bread, but even names felt odd to him.

" 'Nine Layer Heaven cake'? 'Honey Blessed Wings'? 'Lord's Prayer Eclairs'? 'Gospel Sweettooth pie'? 'Book of John Macarons?! 'What does the last one even mean?", Micheal questioned

"What's an Angelica Kiss?" The Cherub asked, seeming confused by the shaped cake as Michael frowned, seeing the mini white cakes, meant to look like face lips but looked suspiciously more like a female's reproductive parts.

"I'll tell you when you're older. For now, can you help Nepheli and the others. I think we had enough tea.", Michael replies with a smile, finding an excuse to get her out of the area.

"Ok!", She happily remarks before flying off.

"We've also teamed up with Oreo to create these. Angel cake oreos.", Donald continued and shows him photos of an white and gold colored pack of oreos with white creme and the normally black cookies snow-white with crucifix shapes baked in, making it almost painful to look at for the angelic man, "And get this, they're baked with REAL holy water! This is gonna FLY off the shelves come Christmas time!"

"I-Is that right?", Michael says with a strained smile. Though they did at one point infuse small volumes of water with their holy mana, nowadays most members of his race just SAY it's blessed. Knowing full well humans wouldn't question the legitimacy. A fact he was quite ashamed of.

"AH! I almost forgot! We also have a new Angel-themed clothing line in the making!", he flipped to another page showing him pages of various humans posing while wearing modernized Roman-esque style clothing.

Michael raises a confused eyebrow, "T-These are our species sacred Judean garbs. They're symbols of our liturgical practice and our connection with the Chief God over heaven.", he says, gesturing to his own grabs, not fond of his species' clothing practices being turned into a vapid, human fashion trend.

"Yes, we perfectly understand…buuut imagine people you could reach! There's already so many that strive to be closer to God and your species is the closest thing here. There are so many who idolize you already. What's the harm in having followers dressed like you? Imitation IS the highest form of flattery!", Donald contends, hoping to sway him a bit.

Michael sighs realizing it was pointless to argue since they only want to hear what they expect from him, "Alright…let's continue…"

"Excellent! Now then, on top of a promising clothing line, we ALSO partnering with Hanes and Victoria's Secret to create a robust Angel-themed lingerie and male underwear.", James says, opening a binder to show multiple pictures of attractive male and female humans in various sexy poses, wearing white and gold embroidered lingerie, tights, and boxers of briefs. All of them wore fake, white feathered angel wings and fake halos atop their head.

If Michael was holding a cup, he would have let it drop and shatter to the ground out of utter shock, confusion, and disgust right now. He had to blink a few times to make sure what he was seeing was real.

"Aha! I see you're surprised.", Donald spoke.

"That is…ONE word to describe it."

"Well, you'll be pleased to know that these particular designs tested most positively among our focus groups! In fact, women testers appeared to especially love the male underwear designs. If you get what I mean, haha!", Donald chuckles with a sly grin as Michael gives a hollow chuckle.

"Yeah…I believe I do…unfortunately."

"You know, you actually have a really strong jawline. Have you ever considered doing headshots? Ooh, or even better a full body underwear shoot for the Spring edition?", Donald points to a picture of a tall, chiseled man in fact angel wings and halo wearing ONLY a pair of gold satin underwear with a large cross on the front, "I'm sure our demographic is gonna love you!"

Michael flushes, eye twitching in embarrassment and shock at the proposal, "I…"

"I'm so sorry, could you excuse us? I need to talk to my partner for a minute." James said, giving an apologetic smile as he grabs Donald's arm then drags him far enough out of earshot.

"What the hell was that?! You promised we wouldn't talk to him about that!", James berated.

"What? It's just underwear. " Donald said defensively.

"You're asking an ANGEL to be a male model! Have you lost your mind?!"

"Sex sells and you know it."

As they argued, Michael ignored them, choosing to entertain them just a little longer. He then takes another look at the photos of humans cosplaying as angels. Then at the restaurant a human trying to eat like his people. It's like they were trying to BECOME angels at this point, in all the wrong ways.

"What have we done?", he bemoaned softly.

…..

While that was happening, on the far end of the congregation's building. Cherub's could be seen tending to beautiful potted plants and sweeping the stone column walkway. In a large, open grassy space surrounded by white Romanesque columns, well-crafted steps and white marble statues of biblical angels placed around the area. Several angels from the Cait Sith pizza restaurant incident could all be seen getting their daily training session with Baliel.

"HAA!", "RHAA!", two male angels cried out as their glowing golden shields, conjured from their own mana, crashed into each other ringing like the bells of Notre Dame. All the while, nine other angels observed them from the sidelines along with Baliel.

"Hhghh, is that the best you got, Camel?", the burly, taller and more muscular angel with curly blonde hair, blue eyes and broad jaw taunted trying his shorter opponent.

"Tch, it's Camael and you KNOW that!", Camael, the lean but well-toned, peach-skinned, shorter cut spiky blonde haired and green eyed combatant before shoving off him, sending himself back a few feet as his opponent stumbles off balance, "NOW!"

Camael throws the shield like a frisbee, prompting his opponent to quickly deflect it as it flies towards the other angels, Baliel tilting his head to the side as it flies past his shoulder with the same stern expression. Two females shriek as they dodge for their lives and the shield destroys part of a white column.

"WATCH IT, RAPHAEL! YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!", Helga shouted in agitation as the shorter blonde, blue eyed crown braided hair angel girl next to her legs trembled still in shock.

Too excited to hear them, Camael uses the distraction to rush the larger angel, Raphael, delivering a five piece jabbing in his abs and finishes with an uppercut, making the burlier angel stumble back slightly dazed. He then smiles in excitement at his opponent. Camael smiles back with equal enthusiasm.

"HAHA! Now we're talkin'!", Raphael chuckled heartily before rushing with open palms in a grabbling motion. Camael rushes him and both their palms clash in a struggle to overpower the other as both smile widely in excitement.

Suddenly, both male angels receive two hard bonks on the head courtesy of Baliel.

"Yowch!", "OWW!"

"That will be all for today's session!", Baliel stated in a gruff, annoyed tone whilst glaring at the two angels.

"Uhghh, that smarts…", Raphael grunted, rubbing the bump atop his head.

"Which is, unfortunately, in very short supply in your case, dear Raph.", Spoke a slender male angel with a decadent demeanor and regal posture. His long blonde had a large, woven braid with long hair obscuring his left blue eye.

"What was that?!", Raphael stated, offended before Baliel bonks him on the head again prompting another whine of pain.

"ENOUGH! Do you all think this is a joke?!", Baliel angrily chastises the other angels, even startling the cherubs nearby, "As we speak, the wretched devils are likely building up their forces! We cannot afford for you all to shirk your training! We CANNOT afford another humiliation."

""With all due respect, Lord Baliel, it was not entirely OUR humiliation. If certain members of our congregation had a bit more awareness of their environment—", the slender male angel points out.

"SHUT IT, don't you dare, Samuel! You prim prick! You are NOT throwing that in my face again!", Helga shouted in agitation, getting up in his face.

"Helga. Kindly learn to, as the humans say, say it, don't spray it, will you?", Samuel replies, taking out a white handkerchief and patting his cheeks as Helga glared at him with clenched teeth.

"Also, Training? Aren't these just regular exercises, my lord?", A slightly shorter male angel with bowl cut blonde hair, thin framed white glasses, and white romanesque vest with a light blue feather hanging off the shoulder. Baliel then glares at him with a serious expression prompting him to quickly correct himself, "N-Not that it wouldn't be beneficial either way! In fact, i've read there are numerous health benefits to cardio and–"

"Maalik?", Baliel cuts him off.

"Yes?"

"Be. Quiet."

"Understood, my lord.", Maalik responds with a slight bow.

"Hey, Maalik, how does your foot taste?", Helga remarks prompting a chuckle from Camael, Raphael and even Helga, who quickly clears her throat regaining her composure when Baliel glares at her.

"Hey, I like training! Nothin' more satisfying than a clash of muscle on muscle, the heat of fighting a worthy opponent!", Raphael cheerfully stated, clenching his fist making his bicep bulge.

"The rush of adrenaline when fists connect! Woo! Gotta love it!", Camael chimes in emphatically.

"Of course you meatheads would be all in. Mandatory or not.",

"Honestly, I don't even get what we need to worry about? The humans in this facility are already keeping the devils far away from us. So the chances of that happening again are nonexistent.", A female angel with strawberry blonde hair in pigtails replies while casually eating a bag of Cheetos, getting Baliel's attention.

"Oh, lovely for you to finally join us, Barbie.", Samael remarks, knowingly.

"Whaaat? I've been here this whole time.", She casually brushes off.

"I…literally just saw you sneaking towards us while Lord Baliel was scolding those two.", the crown braided hair angel girl skeptically points out.

"Whaaat? Come on, Muriel. You know me better than that. Want a Cheeto?", Barbie replies, offering her friend the bag.

"Y-You know I don't like that rubbish…"

"Come on. You gotta admit these humans have some really good snacks. I could never find such delicacies back home.", Barbie whimsically remarks, munching on more of the cheesy snacks.

"Surely, that's not the ONLY reason you're here. We're all representing our families and upholding the values of our angelic brethren, correct?", Samael questions, raising a dubious eyebrow as she pours a few Cheetos into Helga's hand.

"Can't I do both? You know, multi-task."

"Enough of this nonsense!", Baliel stated, tired of their mindless chatter, "It does not matter what the human laws dictate if the enemy could break it at any moment. As descendants of the Chief God in heaven, it is your solemn duty to keep this world cleansed of sinners and demons. Protect the followers of our teachings NOT the other way around! That is why we cannot afford another incident. Right now, they likely believe that they have the upperhand but they won't breach our defense so long as we remain vigilant.", Baliel stated, as the others looked at him with a mixture of understanding and intrigue.

"Is that why you have Callen and Uri keeping an eye on them, uncle?", came a familiar voice as they all turned to see Enocha from the corridor.

Baliel looks at her plainly and responds, "That's none of your concern, girl."

"It is if I.A. security catches them!", Enocha interjects.

"Wait, is that where Callen and Uri have been lately? I just thought they were playing that UNO game or whatever.", Helga remarks.

"Hey! I love that game! I played with them before, it's pretty fun!", Camael chimes in with a smile before noticing Baliel cold glare, "I-I mean if you have time for that kinda thing."

"As I was saying, THAT is none of your concern. I taught them a technique that would make them virtually undetectable to their flying scouts."

"But didn't we promise the leaders of this facility that–"

"WE promised to abide so long as the Chaos-born filth abide as well. I merely stationed a couple of my angels to ensure that peace is upheld. Remember, your sister is the reason we were made fools of that day. This is entirely due to her AND Helga's carelessness.", Baliel coldly replies as Helga visibly tenses up, clenching her fists.

"It's honestly for the best, Enocha.", Samael remarks, catching her attention.

"Samael…"

"I agree. Besides, who's to say the devils wouldn't try to take revenge for what happened. We're simply being cautious for our sakes and the humans that follow our teachings.", Muriel added.

"Yeah, we have to be strong if we're going to protect the humans if the devils ever go berserk. Like our ancestors before us.", Raphael stated with a toothy grin.

"Exactly right! We have a responsibility to care for the common folk as the noble, divine beings we are.", Samael proudly remarks.

"I'm divine.", Barbie utters with a mouth full of cheetos as Samael, Helga, and Muriel side-eye her.

"You're a divine piece of work, Barbie. Ha!", Camael teased with a chuckle joined by Raphael before high-fiving each other as Helga shakes her head.

"Still, I can't help thinking about that one human. The one that held back the devils. What was his deal?", Raphael questions.

Enocha and the others look at him with mixed expressions.

"He's nothing more than devil-loving scum! There's no salvation for that man. He's no better than them.", Baliel venomously spoke, still bitter over that human having the audacity to defy an angel.

"Are you…sure? He…didn't seem like he truly wanted to hurt anyone.", Enocha pointed out, remembering the look in the young man's eyes. They seemed almost desperate.

"Little girl, you have A LOT to learn.", Baliel says, walking up to her and placing a hand atop her head just below her halo. They were large enough to cover most of her head, "Given the opportunity, corrupted vermin like him wouldn't hesitate to drag you down with him. He's dangerous. Understand?", He emphasized, squeezing her head, putting just enough pressure on her to get the point.

"I-I understand.", Enocha replies, trying to hide her nervousness.

"Good."

At that moment, Nepheli the valkyrie descends from above landing directly next to Baliel.

"Blessed day to you, Lord Baliel, have you and the others completed today's training? We have finished preparing today's lunch in the dining hall.", Nepheli spoke with a gracious bow.

"Wooo! Lunch time!", Raphael cheers enthusiastically.

"Oh, Lady Nepheli, about my request–"

"Yes, master Maalik, we have the peking duck.", Nepheli assured then noticed Barbie, "Mistress Barbie, what have we discussed about spoiling your appetite? And you're getting that filthy orange dust all over your linens!", she scolds, gesturing at the orange cheetos dust on the angel woman's top.

"Whaaaat? It's just a light snack.", Barbie casually remarks, tossing a for my cheetos in her mouth, loudly crunching them, "As were the other two bags."

"Oh honestly, can't you show a little more dignity?", Samael questions, shaking his head as Barbie at him a moment then looks to the side at Nepheli, questioning, "I am talking to YOU, BARBIE!", he yells at her in annoyance.

"Looking mighty undignified there Sammy.", Helga jeers with a smirk to his added annoyance as she takes off on her wings followed by the others as Raphael and Camael cheer happily.

"I'll…go make sure they don't get too rowdy.", Nepheli assures to which Baliel nods, she then looks to see Enocha's ponderous expression, "There's strawberry cheesecake today. Your favorite.", She smiles warmly.

"Um, thank you, Ms. Lou.", Enocha replies while putting on a smile. The valkyrie nods before flapping her large wings, propelling herself upwards to tail the others.

"Remember your place, girl.", Baliel coldly and sternly spoke, walking past her before stopping and turning his head, "And don't forget to smile when you see the humans from ICEP. Keep them happy.", He added before continuing, leaving Enocha to herself as she glared at him.

Enocha sighs heavily before flapping her large white wings taking off to the dining hall. She was still thinking of when she first met Caleb and the concern in his eye when he thought he hit her with his car. She found it hard to believe a person like that could be corrupt. Her mind also went to her sister who was currently in a 'family meeting' with Uri, hoping it was going well. They needed it.

…Back to Scarlett…

It was nearing the end of their meeting and, thankfully, Scarlett and the others managed to keep the peace among the group. Despite that, she could still sense tension among her fellow devils and the general discomfort from the witches, even with Venus' support.

"And that's why it is important to enroll in GED program. Any questions?" Scarlett finished giving a refresher on the importance of basic level education for liminals like them. Mainly for Venus' coven but felt current members needed a reminder too.

"Ahh, this facility really does offer some interesting amenities.", Gala spoke in thought.

"I think I'd like to see what these GED classes are all about.", Mars added, intrigued at the concept.

"Pardon, are there places nearby where we could obtain study materials for these paper tests you mentioned?" Venus asked, holding a notepad in one hand and black pen jotting down notes for the other witches.

"They're available at Adult education building's main office. They print and digital copies of any subjects needed by course section. Also, you should know they do have a rental option if you intend to receive multiple copies instead of paying full price. It's just cheaper." Scarlett told her as Venus nodded, writing it all down.

"Yeah, so just make everything fits within your budget and it's a class you ACTUALLY want to do. That way you aren't struggling with groceries to the point where you have to bum around your friend's apartment eating cans of ravioli in your PJs while you question your life choices.", Jocelyn remarks plaintively, earning confused looks from the witches and the others.

"Chaos, it was ONE rough patch! I couldn't have known accounting classes were boring as shit!", Sharon vented in annoyance.

"It has 'COUNTING' in the name! You HATE counting!", Jocelyn shot back as Sharon puffs her lips out at her.

"What's ravioli?", Mars questions.

"Italian poor people food.", Sylvia answers.

"Ooh! That sounds tasty and within our budget. Right, Lady Venus?", Nova inquires with a smirk.

"You're certainly within range of my whooping stick, my dear.", Venus casually replies, radiating malice with a calm smile sending a chill down the young witch's spine.

"Can we please wrap this up already? Some of us have plans after this.", one of the great devil's from Tubula's table asked, finding this mind numbingly boring.

"Yeah I second that. We have been mostly talking about stuff we all already know.", Maria agreed, joined by her imp cohorts.

"That's because some of you haven't joined a program despite how long you've been here! It's valuable to your future if you plan on being residents of this country." Scarlett told them.

"Well, maybe we don't want. Not like there's anything really for us here anyway.", One of the greater devils in Tubala's group spoke.

"Come on, there must be at least ONE program you're interested in.", Sylvia points out.

"Ja, this place offers a wide variety to pick from. Even for species that, ordinarily, wouldn't naturally be involved in such work.", Heidi points out.

"Oh please, most of these programs are geared towards developing skills for HUMAN jobs. How does that help us? How does being like THEM help us?", one of the lesser devils contests, glancing at Tubala who nods in approval.

"That is not the point. What matters is developing skills beyond what our kind are capable of. Like it or not, mystical arts can only get you so far.", Heidi points out to them as a few scoff, "Regardless of your reservations, surely there's a program that interests each of you."

"Girl, the only things I'm interested in are saucy stories and a good fuck. If a program like that is around here, sign me up." Beyla chimes in with a wide smile as Tubala facepalms in embarrassment.

"Oohho, now THAT is a class I can join! I'd have perfect attendance AND attention, if you catch my drift huhuhu." Toakala remarks with a sultry chuckle, nudging one of her Pyrows friends who agrees.

"Do you know what she's talking about?", Nova whispers to Gala.

"No, but I'm gonna act like I do.", she whispers back.

"Is this a JOKE to you all?!" Scarlett yelled in irritation, slamming her fists to the table and jumping up from her seat silencing all of them. She glares down with clenched fists.

"S-Scarlett, come it's o–", Hana reaches her hand trying to calm her friend but she cuts her off

"NO!", Scarlett shouts, then looks up with serious expression, "Not about THEM or US it's about YOU. What do you want for yourself? Whatever kind of shitty or fucked up or unfair past you may have, it doesn't excuse you from trying to make things better now! This world…it's changing around us, little by little every day and soon you need decide where you want to fit in it. Even if you don't want to fit in it, you have to be doing something of value. Otherwise, you'll be left behind and alone?", Scarlett spoke in a sullen yet somewhat doleful tone as the others looked upon her with mixed reactions.

Tubala was especially focused on her, sensing the uncertainty in her words.

"We will discuss this further in the next meeting. Hopefully, I'll hear you're making progress. Until then…", Scarlett advised in a serious tone before making two devil horns hand signs then crossing both arms into front of her. Her friends and everyone else in the faction stand up mimicking the gesture. Venus and the others were confused but quickly stand up to follow along as the others started speaking, "Passion for Chaos. Affinity for Chaos. Honor in Chaos. Desire for Chaos. Confidence in Chaos. Benevolence in Chaos. Vitality in Chaos."

They finish their mantra as Hana looks at Scarlett in concern upon seeing her dreary expression.

…Elsewhere…

"Phew, finally done.", Caleb expressed, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he finished cleaning the freezer near the far end of the kitchen. He looks a moment at all the progress he made, feeling a bit proud at how he transformed the place, "This place should be good enough to pass a Mcdonald's level inspection. Maybe even score higher.", He says to himself with a little chuckle as he put away the steel wool, towels, sponges, dish detergent in a red bucket.

It had been over five hours since he and Drei first arrived. Drei and Carmine left with the contractANTS a good ten minutes ago to check out the animal stalls at Jovi's old job. Hopefully they, mostly Drei, can negotiate a deal where they can house the animals and prepare the meat FROM said animals in peace. He also hoped they'd be willing to allow a family of opossums there. At the same time, with how long he's been working he was starting to get hungry again and almost wished he could have another of Carmine's chicken sandwiches. Minus the gruesome execution, of course.

As Caleb leaves the kitchen, looking around the now empty restaurant, he notices some on the front counter near the register. He approached and noticed it was a weird light beige liquid. He shrugs, deciding to quickly wipe it up with a towel from the bucket only to notice droplets and tiny puddles of the liquid on the floor creating a little trail.

"What in the hell is this? She spilled some ice tea or something?", Caleb questions, following the small trail before noticing it leading to Jovi's office with the brown door tightly closed.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard inside like something dropping to the ground and Jovi yelping loudly in pain. Not wasting any time, Caleb goes to check on her and knocks at the door.

"Hey! You good in there?!"

"AH! Y-Yeah! I'm fine! Just a litt—AH SHIT!", Jovi cried out from behind the door, followed by a loud thump that shook the floor at Caleb's feet. A pool of the same beige liquid with little streaks of red pools from under the door much to Caleb's surprise.

Without hesitating, he turns the knob and flings open the door to make sure she's ok, "JOVI! Are you oka–"

Caleb stops in his tracks, eyes widened in surprise, upon seeing Jovi on her knees holding her now fully exposed breasts that leaked with liquid through her fingers and a large blue metal bucket and wooden stool turned over with its contents all over the floor. Her knee was visibly bleeding with a small cut as she stared at him mortified and blushing in embarrassment.

"Sorry!", Caleb stated quickly shutting the door as he turned his back to it taking a minute to fully process what he saw and remembers her knee was bleeding, "You…have any bandages? And maybe more towels?"

"C-Closet near the restrooms!", Jovi answers, clearly embarrassed.

"OK.", Caleb responds, taking a deep breath before teleporting to the location, quickly grabs everything he needs, hoping to give her time to redress, before teleporting back a couple minutes later with towels and a small first-aid kit, "I…are you…good? Your knee looked kinda bad so..."

"... …can come in now."

Caleb takes a deep breath, steels his nerves, then gently opens the door while keeping his gaze towards the floor.

"I'm…fully dressed now! You're making me feel more nervous here. Ouch. Dammit", Jovi expressed before wincing at the pain from her cut knee, getting Caleb's attention.

"Right, so sit down. Let me take a look at that knee."

A few minutes later, after laying down towels to soak up the liquid, Caleb could now be seen finishing up cleaning and bandaging her knees. The entire time she kept her gaze averted from him and arms folded in front of her large breast. Caleb also tried his best not to look too much, trying to ignore the wet stains on her shirt.

"Alright, that uhh…should do it.", Caleb spoke, trying to make the circumstance less awkward.

"Thank you.", Jovi weakly responds.

"Sooo what exactly happened here?", Caleb asks, in a careful tone, not wanting to step on any emotional landmines…or wet spots from the towels..

Jovi glances at him a moment then sighs before leaning forward and reaching under her desk. She pull out a strange device that looked like a pair of large, spaced apart, rubber suction cups attached to a black rubber squeezing pump and long transparent tubes running down the apparatus. Caleb raises an eyebrow, noticing the design, having seen it somewhere before.

"Is that a–?"

"My milking pump, yes.", Jovi cuts him off and softly groans, "I was in the middle of trying to extract this damn milk but this thing is so DAMN uncomfortable I couldn't finish! Feels like fucking tiny vice grips on my nipples! Ugh, maybe i'm just extra sensitive today with the stress of my business possibly getting shut down. I don't know.", Jovi bitterly mutters, hugging her breasts as they were still quite sore which Caleb tries not to pay attention to.

"Oh, well…sorry for stressing you out, I guess.", Caleb remarks, unsure of how else to respond.

She looks at him a moment and sits back down, "No…it's not your fault. We've all got a job to do…no matter how much it sucks. Did I ever tell you about my old job?"

"I…LITERALLY just met you today. So no."

"Oh, right. Well, I used to work for ICEP's liminal resource harvest program…thing. I heard it was good money, free room and board, all that jazz so I signed up. Little did I know they STILL expected me to do manual labor AND they basically lied about the free room and board. Half the cash from MY daily milkings went to that AND they had the nerve to take even more money out for the liminal tax!", Jovi vented in irritation as Caleb simply nodded, not bothering to process her questionable work ethic but did have one question.

"Liminal tax?", Caleb asked with a raised eyebrow.

"For us liminal workers and business owners, twelve percent of our paychecks are paid to ICEP. We basically pay money just to EXIST here!"

"Sooo just like regular taxes then? Got it.", Caleb replies understandingly.

"Tch, yeah, and just as shitty. Crazy thing is those other complacent Halstaur skanks are fine with getting milked by those stupid machines and pervy I.A. workers. Well, I'M not like them! I'm only half-Halstaur. My dad was a proud minotaur and so am I! Can't you tell by how big I am?", Jovi proudly remarks, flexing her muscles. At the same time, release her large breasts and revealing the wet stains still leaking prompting her to quickly cover herself.

"Yeah…you are pretty…muscly.", Caleb chose his words carefully while keeping his eyes ON her eyes, involuntarily glancing down a few times.

"I wanted to be more than just one of ICEP'S milk dispensers. I might be lazy but I have my pride! I saw other liminals opening their businesses and I said, 'why not me?'. So, I saved my money and opened my dream job. One that involves great food, minimal effort, and my new bestie, Carmine!", Jovi proudly stated then grimaces, "Then I found those little dwarf bitches across the complex stole my idea and my customers! Screw them and their fake accents!"

'Pretty sure it's just a coincidence but she's not wrong about the accents.', Caleb thought, remembering the dwarf woman's exaggerated Southern mannerisms.

"If only I had something to really make my business stand out! Nnnghh, shit!", Jovi groans, holding her chest.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I-It's fine. It's just…lately I've been producing a lot more milk than usual and I'm kinda backed up. And because of that I'm extra sensitive so that pump just hurts like a bitch. I need something…gentler.", Jovi replies, her body quivering and holding her breasts, the shape of her nipples visibly molded against her shirt.

"Oh, well uhh…maybe I can get you like an ice pack and a cold towel or something.", Caleb says, turning to leave but she stops him grabbing his hand.

"Actually…I um…I think you can help. You seem…pretty good with your hands by how you bandaged me up so…", Jovi trails, cheeks flushing in embarrassment and pouting lips.

Caleb immediately gets a sense of dread having a feeling where she was going but still deciding to ask, "What exactly are you asking me?"

"C-Can you…milk…me?"

Caleb looks at her stone faced for a moment then replies, "Absolutely not. I'm getting the ice pack–AH!", he turns to leave but Jovi stops him, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"You don't think I tried that?! Believe me, I WISH there were better options but…look it REALLY hurts man! Can't you just do me this ONE favor? You are an inspector right?", Jovi half pleads, getting up into his face, eyes locked onto his and her breasts dangling giving him an eye full of mountainous cleavage.

"T-That is NOT in my job description! Can't you just…do it yourself?", Caleb shot back, trying to avert his gaze.

"I tried that too and I can never aim straight. Milk got all over my room once! Come on dude, help a girl out. Please?", Jovi pleaded, giving him wide, soulful cow eyes and a quivering frown.

Caleb tries to remain firm but feels his stubbornness wavering. With a very reluctant sigh transitioning to a deep groan of frustration, he replies, "Fine."

Jovi's eyes widened in surprise, "What?"

"I said FINE! Let's get this over with already! Damn!", Caleb expresses in utter frustration.

"A-Alright! Let me get the bucket and stool ready!"

"What the fuck is life man?", Caleb softly bemoaned, rubbing his eyes as the large minotaur woman sat the small stool and big bucket into place and took her position. He then hears audible unzipping and unbuckling sounds, catching his attention.

"OK! I'm ready."

Caleb turns to her, immediately awestruck upon seeing her massive tits flop out upon being released from the prison. The best way he could describe them were large round, overstuffed fleshy brown pillow sacks more than twice the size of his head. He would definitely suffocate if he was smothered by them; not that he wanted to…mostly. Her dark brown areolas were noticeably puffier, slightly pulsating, and dripping with her liquids while swaying alluringly before his eyes.

"God damn…", Caleb mutters, jaw slightly agape and a lump in his throat.

"C-come, don't stare so much. It's embarrassing enough as is."

Caleb mentally slaps himself trying to regain his focus, "Right, lets…let's just get this over with before they get back."

"O-Ok.."

Jovi and Caleb take their positions with the stool and bucket right between them as the former bends over letting her huge naked breasts dangle freely over the bucket. Caleb swallows hard, takes a deep breath to calm himself, then steps up to her. She then, to his surprise, holds onto his shoulder.

"W-What are ya doing?!"

"I don't wanna risk my knees giving out again and it's super uncomfortable on my back to bend like this so…let me use your shoulders, kay?" She quickly replies with a flushed scowl, wrapping her arms tighter around him. Her face now directly in front of his, "B-Besides, I wanna make sure you…don't try anything funny."

"YOU'RE the funny one here!", Caleb rebuts in slight irritation then looks down at her breasts. He reaches up with his hands, hesitating to proceed.

"C-Come on already. What? These are the first tits you ever touched or something?"

"No, that honor goes to my wife.", Caleb replied plainly looking her right in the eye seeing her surprised expression.

"Y-You're married?", She asks, worried he was going to back out now.

"Yes, but I am still going to help out with this 'problem' of yours."

Jovi's eyes widen at his serious yet kind eyes, "O-Ok…i-if it helps try thinking about your wife during. How big are your wive's?"

"That WILL NOT help at all and I'm NOT answering that. Just…let me work.", Caleb quickly retorts as Jovi goes quiet, bracing herself.

Caleb closes his eyes, feeling the warm liquid trickling on her palms, he grits his teeth before digging his fingers into her silky, mushy flesh. Jovi lets out a surprised gasp before gritting her teeth, blushing deeply to where even her bovine ears changed a deeper shade. He begins groping and massaging her tits, noting how incredibly heavy yet malleable they were. His hands, lubricated by the ever increasing warm milk leaking from her udders, made his hand glide across her flesh sending ripples of pleasure down Jovi's spine.

"Ow, n-not so rough haaa. I-I'm ahh n-not your wife you know", Jovi says through heated breath.

"I know that! Don't make it worse. How's this?", Caleb stated before shifting up his technique, using his thumb and middle finger to do little circular motions, kneading her flesh.

"Haaahh nnhhaa…m-much bett–aahh…", Jovi moans in pleasure, feeling the tension in her breasts lessening and her heart racing from excitement.

She took note of his surprisingly strong but gentle hands mushing and contorting while striking just the right spots. She could hear her milk trickling more and more into the bucket as the rest lubricated her rippling tits accompanied by an audible wet slapping of flesh against flesh. Her legs, her entire body for that matter, trembled with ceaseless rippling heat of pleasure like being bombarded with unbridled, genuine attention. It was nothing like the machines at her old job and CERTAINLY unlike the I.A. workers that almost never took their time with her. Considering they each had multiple holstaur to see after most days. It didn't help that, due to her Minotaur blood, she may be physically strong but also more sensitive than others of her kind. This man's touches felt…different. Deliberate and attentive to her needs. Even his scent was much different. More comforting, alluring, even.

Jovi opens her eyes to meet his own, breath labored and drooling slightly at the mouth, surprised to find his eyes tightly closed as her milk trickles more and more into the bucket.

'Wow, t-this guy's really in the zone. Is this a regular thing for him or somethin'? Can't even imagine what's going through that head right now.', Jovi thought, feeling her legs close to giving out along with a hot, wet sensation between them.

'JAR JAR BINK IN A BIKINI! JAR JAR BINKS AS CAMMY! JAR JAR BINKS AS VELMA! JAR JAR BINKS AS ELPHELT VALENTINE! JAR JAR BINKS—", Caleb screamed internally listing all his favorite waifus as hideous amalgamations of the character to keep himself as flaccid as possible. He then increases his massaging, feeling the minotauress' hot, ragged breath against his face as she moans into his ear in delight. Her bovine tail whipping about wildly in excitement with every buck of her luscious hips. Running out of waifus to name, Caleb works doubletime to finish her off quickly by working her throbbing nipples, feeling spurts of her go into the bucket. Every motions of his fingers scissor her nipples and caress her areolas, sending greater waves of pleasure through every nerve in her body.

"FUCK!" Jovi yelled as her milk spurts wildly into the bucket "This is SO GOOD! I'm so close! PLEASE DON'T STOP!" Jovi said, breathing heavily, her breasts not feeling as full anymore, arching her back as her pants grip her larger, shapely rear tightly.

Caleb grits his teeth giving her tits a few more solid squeezes making her nipples bulge out before her limit was finally broken. A large stream of milk fired out of her tits into the buck as Jovi cries out in pure ecstasy, holding Caleb's shoulders tighter but enough to really hurt him. She feels her lower stomach clench as the crotch of her pants are soaked wet with her love juices. In less than a minute, the blue bucket is filled nearly to the brim with beige colored milk that radiates a sweet, somewhat meaty scent.

Caleb releases her breasts, his hands now soaked with her milk, and sighed in relief that it was finally over. He then feels Jovi's grip beginning to slack.

"Haa…haa…oh my god…", She lethargically pants, legs trembling and her balance gave out from fatigue. She was about to knock over the bucket of her milk before Caleb reacted fast not wanting his effort to be wasted.

"Shit!", Caleb expressed, grabbing her arms and quickly teleporting them both several feet away, propping her limp and half naked body against the large wooden desk. He checks the bucket again, seeing the bucket and stool weren't tipping over, much to his relief. He then noticed a smooth sensation against his cheek as he quickly realized he his pressed against her chest with his hand on her lower back. He immediately pulls away, wiping his wet hands on his shirt with a flustered expression.

"Wha…what did you…do to me?", Jovi utters, coming down from her euphoric state, opening her eyes, confused to find them on the other side of the office, "H-How we get over here?"

"...Adrenaline?", Caleb replied, saying the first thing he could come up with.

"O-Oh, well huhu, that explains that.", Jovi saucily giggled, gesturing his hardened penis outlined against his pants, much to his embarrassment.

"Wha—?! This is…this doesn't mean anything! Got it?"

"Relaaaax. I'm sure your wife won't be mad. You were just helping a girl out while on the job.", Jovi casually replies with a wink, putting her shirt back on.

"Saying it like that doesn't help in the slightest. Still, glad I could help, I guess.", Caleb replied, silently cursing his policy to help if it's with his power.

"Well, I appreciate it. You're really good with those hands of yours. I'm kinda jealous your wife gets to enjoy them. Though you could be a bit more gentle around the nipples."

"Noted. Though I'm not sure how I feel about getting feedback like that."

"Take it as is, Mr. Inspector. You're supposed to be evaluating me. How did these feel?", Jovi cheekily asks, raising an intrigued eyebrow.

"Pleasant, but nowhere as good as my Moon pie.", Caleb firmly replies, arms crossed.

"Yeesh, somebody's hard to please."

"I'm just loyal. So, what are you gonna do with your uh…milk? Follow up, WHY is it that color?" Caleb asked, slightly concerned by the light brown pigment.

"Oh that's normal. It's because of all the meat I eat. Most halstaur are strictly vegetarian but my minotaur blood requires I eat PLENTY of protein! That's where Carmine helps out. Anyway, I was just gonna store it with the rest not like I can sell it.", Jovi casually replies, picks up the bucket and carries it off, "Come on, I'll show you."

"Ok, this might be stupid question but why can't you sell it?", Caleb replies following her out the room towards a large black freezer

"Cause as asshole at that milking plant put 'It doesn't hold to the standard of our product'. Fuckin' dip shit. Tried getting me to take some fucking pills to fix it but I wasn't having NONE of that! Bet he used that to short change me now that I think about", Jovi vents in irritation, grabbing one of the large empty glass jars on the side, pouring the milk in then screwing the top on before opening the freezer, "So now, I just store it all here."

Caleb looks on surprise the see what must be over a hundred jars of light brown milk all crammed into the freezer, "Damn, all THIS is from you?"

"Yeah, runnin outta room too. Probably gonna need another freezer."

"So you kept all of your… excess milk here? What are you gonna do with it?"

"Don't know. Not gonna waste it though, it's MY product, in more ways than one. It's always really good. Wanna try a glass since you did help me? You deserve a treat.", she offers with smile.

"I'm…not much of milk drinker. Especially not that kind.", Caleb rejects, a bit weirded out.

"Aw, come on. Just have a little taste. You gotta be a little curious.", Jovi cheekily replies, pouring him a little white coffee cup with a cow on it.

"I'm good. Thank you."

"Come onnnnnn. It's not like I'm offering it directly from the source or anything. Though, I wouldn't EXACTLY be against it", She remarks, gently squeezing her right breast with a wink,

"You are NOT helping your argument AT ALL. What is wrong with you?"

"Please, I feel kinda insulted if you won't even have a little sip. Go on, try it.", Jovi offers him the cup, giving him the soulful cow eyes again.

Caleb winces feeling his spirit wavering again. The eyes. Why is it always the eyes?, "Haaaa…Goddamit. Fine but just ONE sip.", He says, begrudgingly accepting the cup.

"Yay."

Caleb looks at his cup of tit milk for a moment then tentatively takes a sip. The millisecond the liquid his tongue, he was bombarded by the rich, creamy texture and sweet but also…meaty flavor. In fact, it tasted kinda like…

"Chicken. Why does it…taste like grilled chicken but kinda sweet?"

"Oh, yeah, the taste of our milk is influenced by what we eat. Since I eat a lotta meat my milk kinda…adopts the flavor I guess? In fact, they're all from what I ate prior to milking. This ones from roast beef, this one's venison, Oh this one's Fried chicken!", Jovi says, showing the labels on each of the jars for a different kind of meat.

"Meat flavored milk? That's crazy. It's…", Caleb spoke before a thought immediately occurs to him, "might be just what you need."

Jovi looks at him curiously, "What are you talking about?"

"Ok, here me out. Three words: Meat. Flavored. Ice cream."

Jovi pauses, taking in the idea before her eyes widen in awe, getting a burst of inspiration. She then looks at him, jaw agape, "Oh my God…"

At that moment, Carmine and Drei walk back into the store.

"Ok, we're back! You now have a space to slaughter your animals in pea–", Drei spoke before Jovi cut her off.

"CARMINE!"

"What?!", the ghoul woman expressed, confused by the outburst.

"I GOT AN IDEA!", Jovi shouted with unhinged excitement, "I KNOW HOW TO GET THIS PLACE THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES!"

"...Cool?"

"Yes. This will show those stuck southern talking shortstacks. Hahaha AHAHAHAHA!", Jovi happily chuckles, growing more maniacal as Carmine hesitantly joins in.

Caleb watches from the sidelines with a slightly strained grin before Drei approaches him.

"What happened while I left you unattended with her?"

"Pretty sure I helped create a monster. Also, ice cream."

"Ah, so business as usual.", Drei comments then notices the cup in his hand he was sipping from, "Are you drinking milk?"

"Chicken milk.", He plainly replies, taking another sip.

Drei looks at him, deciding not to question it, "Kay."

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WN

SUP…FAM! How's everyone doing this Christmas Eve? Sorry, I'm not is AS good a spirit this year. A lot has happened on my end that, not only interrupted the progress on this chapter and the other two I intended to drop this weekend, but put me in a terrible state of mind.

Wednesday night, a week before Christmas and my birthday. My apartment was robbed. I suspect the teenagers in my complex due to a few witnesses in the area. Unfortunately, without 'proper' evidence I am left waiting for law enforcement to go through state procedures.

Do you know what it's like having someone invade the home you worked hard to build. The bedroom I sleep in, the one they tore apart, is my mother's death bed. She died right next to me. I struggled my whole life to get where I am. I was poor, I was hungry some days. I started myself working at a gas stating for less than 100 dollars a week guy to eventually becoming a quality Engineer for a supply company. I put myself through college(got a master's in engineering), even when everyone around me, even my family said it was waste of time, even through the pandemic, even through my mother's deteriorating condition. I graduated but neither of my parents were alive to see it. I struggled for what I have, never complained once. I did the work when I had to, even when I DIDN'T have to. I wanted to build a life I was proud of.

For these people, fatherless cowards, a disgraceful and pitiful generation to violate my home... an entire "everyone gets a trophy" generation. Parents that don't know how to parent and society that gives out participation awards. All their teaching this generation of kids they don't need to try or work to get anything. If if nothing is given they'll go out and take because they think they deserve it.

This Christmas I didn't want anything. I was just happy to be here.

Anyway, this is my long winded way of explaining why these chapters took longer than normal. I just couldn't bring myself to keep writing. I had to force myself to finish this one so I'm sorry if it's not my best. Now, I'm mostly out of it thanks in support to my friends, family, beta readers and co-writer Sandshrewmaster and of course you guys that make these stories worth it.

So, with that hug your parents, drink water, get some sleep, PLEASE tell me chicken milk is a real thing, and I'll see y'all in the next one. Merry Christmas and peace on earth fam!