"You really figure that's the best way of handling it?" I asked as I set my empty glass down on the table. My ears were both angled forwards, while I had my tails all tucked down out of the way beneath my chair.
Shirley shrugged slightly then nodded, "Yeah I do."
"I know it's not a great solution," she added as she scooped up another forkful of her dessert, "And I know it probably feels unfair to Yuki. But I really don't think our folks can handle that many shocks at the same time."
We'd spent practically the entire meal talking about how to break all this to our parents. Mom and dad already knew I was trans and they seemed more or less ok with that, but the instant magical transition was definitely going to be hard to explain. Especially considering how different I looked. That went double for the ears, and triple for the tails.
Then trying to explain Cara ontop of that would be another huge hurdle. Like if she showed up in her normal form I'd have to explain why I had a 'pet' raven, and why I insisted on bringing her to my parents' place. Except the likelihood of her keeping quiet was pretty much zero, so we'd have the whole 'talking bird' thing to get over.
The other option was have Cara come in her human guise, but unless we tried to tell mom and dad that Cara and I were a couple it'd be hard to explain why I was bringing this woman they've never heard of before to meet them while also explaining how I magically transformed during my vacation.
Wes tried to suggest Cara could just stay at home for the night, which would certainly make it easier on the rest of us. She could always meet our folks another time. But she vetoed that idea. Our bird friend reminded everyone that the three of us were a team, and we needed to stick together.
And to be honest both Yuki and I agreed with her on that. Even without the whole 'working for Gaia' thing, just the fact that we'd survived so many crazy things together made it hard to imagine not having Cara with us. Even if it was only for an evening.
However that meant mom and dad were going to have to find out about magic, my instant transition, the fact that I had fuzzy ears and three floofy tails, and that I had a bird-girl companion and roommate, and potentially that we could both do magic. All that at once was already a huge hurdle to get through, and our parents were probably going to be completely overwhelmed already.
Trying to talk to them about plurality ontop of all that seemed like too much.
Honestly it was going to be difficult enough as it is just trying to convince them that I really was their daughter. Everything else beyond that would just be increasingly harder to explain all at once.
"What do you think Yuki?" I asked quietly. My ears drooped to either side as I added, "I'm sorry we didn't tell mom and dad about you earlier."
Luckily the little arctic kitsune didn't seem too upset. Her ears flicked and her tails swished around behind her in our headspace as she replied, "It's fine Aster. Shirley's right, there's too much to hit them with all of it at once."
Then she suggested, "We'll probably have to change the plans as it goes anyways? Depending how they handle things, I mean. And who knows? Maybe they'll take all the other surprises ok, then we can introduce them to me as well. If not, we can always try again later."
At that point the waiter came by to check on us. I was only about halfway through my poached pear with the chocolate parfait, while Shirley was nearly finished her dark chocolate fudge. And Cara had eaten every last scrap of her coffee custard doughnut. Wes was the only one who'd passed on dessert, but he'd more than made up for it by filling up on mains and sides during the large meal.
On the other hand we were all ready for more drinks. My sister asked for a second mug of the Irish coffee, while both Yuki and I were ready for another half-glass of the Late-Harvest Riesling. Finally both Wes and Cara ordered another double of the Laphroaig ten-year old Scotch, which I found kind of funny. Both that the Scots raven would fancy Scotch whisky, and that Shirley's boyfriend would share similar tastes with our bird girl.
The waiter collected Cara's empty plate and all the empty glasses, then headed off to fetch our latest drinks order. Meanwhile my sister and I continued working on the delicious food in front of us.
"Thanks again Aster, Yuki, Cara," Wes announced with a wide smile. "You folks are super generous, bringing Shirl and me out to a place like this."
I smiled, "You're welcome Wes. Like I said earlier, we wanted to celebrate the new jobs and everything."
He smiled back as he commented, "The way you lot are making money, I bet you could eat like this every week. Hell you could probably afford places like this every day!"
"Maybe," I blushed while my ears drooped. My tails wanted to wag though. I could feel them twitching around as I forced them to stay put under the chair, so they wouldn't get in anyone's way. "I don't know if we'd even want to do this weekly. Definitely not daily, that'd be too much."
Cara sniffed, "I could get used to being waited on like this. And the food here is acceptable. We should visit some of the other establishments around here too of course, so we can make a fair comparison."
I rolled my eyes but before I could respond to that Wes spoke up again.
"So I don't think you ever answered when I asked this before," he said, "But I don't suppose your new boss has any other openings? Maybe you can put in a good word for me with her?"
This time it was Cara who beat me to the punch with an answer. The beautiful aloof bird girl stated, "I don't believe our employer is interested in hiring humans."
"Fortunately we may have access to a cure for that particular malady," she continued as the waiter returned with our drinks. "Certainly we're unable to make any promises or guarantees, but frankly Wes I think some feathers or fur would do you good, regardless of the circumstances."
That left both my sister and I cringing, while our bird girl simply thanked the waiter then had a sip of her whisky. Meanwhile Wes was looking back and forth between Cara and me, like he was torn between the possibility of a cosy job that paid a fortune and the reality of maybe turning into a kitsune or bird-boy.
My sister thanked the waiter as she picked up her fresh mug of Irish coffee, then while he headed away she sort of half-whispered "Let's drop this conversation for now ok? You two attract enough attention as it is, no need going on about your new job. Or its benefits and requirements."
"Right," I nodded quickly.
Cara's expression suggested she thought Shirley and I were being overly paranoid, but fortunately she didn't try and press the point. So she and Wes quietly enjoyed their Scotch, while my sister and I finally finished our dessert and drinks as well.
Eventually the waiter returned to clear away the last of the dishes and glasses. When he came back with the bill I counted out a decent stack of twenty-pound notes to cover everything, along with a very respectable tip. And as I did that I could definitely see Wes's point. A week ago I'd have choked at the thought of spending that much money on a single meal. Now it was barely a blip in our budget.
Then when everyone was ready we all headed outside, but rather than immediately call for a ride-share we all agreed to take a bit of a walk first. After all the food and drinks it was nice to move around, the night air was brisk but not too cold, and the Lanes was a popular area for posh shopping and dining. Not that we'd be doing any shopping at that time of night, but it was Saturday night and there were some popular nightlife hotspots around.
We ended up wandering south towards the seafront, and sure enough we found ourselves entering a busy karaoke bar on Black Lion Street. The place was so large it spanned a handful of floors, each of which was subdivided into separate areas so they could have a bunch of different people all singing at the same time. None of us were brave enough to try it though, so we just watched and listened for a bit.
Eventually we made our way down to the lowest level, where they had a cocktail bar set up like a speakeasy. They specialized in fancy-sounding mixed drinks, but Yuki and I agreed that we'd already had enough alcohol by that point. Luckily the place also offered non-alcoholic cocktails too, so we tried one of those. It was called 'Lucid Dreams' but it was mostly just a blend of local and exotic fruit juices.
The others all opted for the stronger drinks. Cara got a 'Purple Rain', Shirley went for the 'Watermelon Sugar High', and Wes tried the 'Ziggy Stardust'. Which actually looked like the grown-up version of the one Yuki and I were drinking.
That was it for the night though, by the time we were all done one round of drinks Cara and Yuki and I had had enough of the noise and the crowd. And I was positive Cara had had enough alcohol for the night too, she seemed to be a little tipsy. Same with Wes and Shirl for that matter. So I used my phone to arrange a ride-share back to my sister's place, then the five of us made our way outside.
It was just a short walk up to the corner at Prince Albert where we were supposed to meet our driver, but we'd only made it a dozen meters when the five of us stopped short. A couple guys emerged from the unlit doorway of a closed shop right in front of us, and the way they were staring at us as they stood blocking our path said they were looking for trouble.
The one on the left appeared to be the younger of the two, probably somewhere in his mid-twenties. He was unshaved and his hair was a bit messy, he wore white pants that looked like they could use a wash, black sneakers, and a t-shirt with some faded band logo on the front. He had a bit of a sneer as he looked me up and down, and his eyes lingered when he looked at my fuzzy fox ears.
The guy on the right looked a few years older, and seemed a lot more presentable. He was clean-shaved and his hair was neat and tidy, and he was dressed in black slacks and polished black shoes, with a white button-down short-sleeve shirt. He also wore a scowl on his face, as he looked back and forth between Cara and I.
"Those ain't just costumes," the younger man stated. "You freaks are for real. An' I reckon that means you're with her, that bitch on TV that's threatening everyone. Maybe we haul you lot in to the cops, see what they have to say about it? Or maybe we just take care of things ourselves, might make us a couple heroes here."
My heart was already racing, while my ears folded back and my tails hung down but twitched uneasily. And Yuki let out a soft warning growl, although nobody but myself and Cara could hear it. Her ears were also folded back like mine, while all her tails swished back and forth behind her.
At the same time Cara straightened her back, while her expression became even more aloof. Meanwhile Shirley looked anxious, while Wes's hands tightened into fists like he was getting ready for a fight. Knowing him I could easily imagine he'd want to defend the rest of us, as the guy he'd feel like it was his job to protect us girls. Unfortunately I also knew he'd probably only get himself hurt.
"Hold on a sec," the guy on the right said to both us and his friend. "This doesn't have to go that way. Maybe we can come to some kind of an agreement?"
His eyes fixed on me and he gave me a cold calculating smile, "I happen to know the little furry one's got a purse full of cash. I've seen you flashing that wad around tonight. Maybe if you hand it over me and my friend here will forget we saw anything at all."
Unfortunately Cara was the first one to respond. And it turned out that instead of making her more relaxed, the alcohol just turned up the dial on her imperious attitude.
"Absolutely not," the bird girl stated in her typical haughty tone. "You won't get so much as a penny from me, or my companions. So begone, our time is much too valuable to waste it on a pair of uncouth servants."
Needless to say, neither our raven friend's words or her attitude did much to improve the situation. Meanwhile I was momentarily confused by her referring to them as servants, but then it hit me. The presentable guy could have been a waiter at the restaurant where we ate. He wasn't our waiter, but he was certainly dressed like one. And the other one looked like he worked in a kitchen.
"Right," the younger guy growled as he started advancing on us, "How 'bout we just go straight to the beating part, then take the money and leave you for the cops?"
"Sounds good to me," the older one agreed as he began moving in as well.
My sister took a quick step backwards, while her boyfriend raised his fists and started moving forwards. And Cara huffed as she set her shoulders, as if she meant to stop the roughians with attitude alone. At the same time Yuki seemed to pounce forwards, and I felt her magic surge through us.
Just then all the street lamps on the narrow lane burst at the same time, while the restaurant and bar signage all blinked out and plunged the narrow lane into darkness. A moment later the lights went out on Prince Albert Street as well. Then the ones on the next street over. And the ones beyond that too, as a blackout swept through the entire downtown area.
"What the -" the younger guy hesitated as he glanced around in surprise, while the older one also faltered.
That's when Cara made her move. The tall dark beauty took one step forward as she raised her arms up and out to either side. Then she brought them both down in a motion that looked a whole lot like a bird flapping its wings. In fact I was positive I could see a large pair of shadowy black wings overlapping her human arms.
Our raven friend's magic flared to life with the movements, and both men were blown backwards off their feet by a powerful gust of wind. Apparently that's all it took to send them packing, the pair scrambled to get up then took off running in the opposite direction.
"Woah," Wes mumbled as he lowered his fists.
Then he looked at us and added, "You girls gotta get your old buddy Wes a job. Seriously, I need to get in on this magic stuff."