Later that night, Carmen heard a knock on her door. “Come in!” She yelled, not looking up from her phone. She was texting Anna about how everything had gone once Anna got home, and she was savoring every word. They could have done it over telepathy, but it just felt…better doing it over text. More real, in a weird way.

It might not have been as good as seeing the chaos with her own eyes, but this was the best she was likely to get at the moment; Anna had forbid Carmen or Lilith from coming home with her, not wanting to give her family two huge shocks in one day. She had said Eve was fine, but Eve had sensed the danger present in being in Anna’s home without Lilith or Carmen and declined the offer.

“Hey, kiddo.” Kirdin said, shutting the door behind him and just sort of awkwardly standing near the door. “I, uh, have a request for you.”

Carmen had Lilith shoot Anna a text saying that Carmen would be busy for a moment and turned her attention to her grandfather. “Oh?” She said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a first. Do tell.”

He fidgeted, not looking her directly in the eyes. “Well, I saw what you did to those beasts, and then to that girl, um, excellent work, by the way, and I was sort of wondering that maybe if you were able to turn things that powerful into those little puppies if maybe it would also work the other way around?”

Carmen frowned, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I see no reason it wouldn’t work, but I can’t make an army that way, if that’s what you’re thinking. Well, not immediately. Think of it like just giving them the Racial Class and altering their appearances to match. Eve tried to do something like that to Fluffy, but it looks like he’s going to have to go through the normal growth period of his species before he shows any signs of being altered.”

“What race did she make him into?” Kirdin asked curiously.

“We ended up going with an advanced form of monster wolf called Plague Wolf. He’ll eventually become immune to disease and poison and will be able to suck it out of others. Then he’ll incubate it inside his body, letting him mix and match traits of those diseases or poisons at will, and secrete them through his claws and fangs. Honestly, it was less about the combat utility and more about making Fluffy live way longer and making his life and Anna’s life better by removing sickness from it.”

Kirdin nodded approvingly. “We’ll have to start keeping a few around the place, they sound handy. But I don’t want you to make an army or anything.” He scratched the back of his neck nervously, once again failing to look her in the eye. “I was wondering if…if was, uh, possible to…um, turn your human parents into dragons?”

Carmen froze, working that over in her head. “I’m…not sure. Why?”

“Well, I was thinking that training your parents would be a lot easier if they had a better base to start with. A-and they’d also be able to bond with Siph a little better because they’d be able to share that side of her life as well.”

It was a compelling point, but…“Is this about the race difference again?” Carmen asked, narrowing her eyes.

Kirdin waved his hands in front of him frantically. “No, no. Well, alright, it’s a little bit about that, but only a little. I just think it would make things way easier on them.”

She scrutinized his face, trying to decide how truthful he was being. She hadn’t known him long enough to get a really good read, but she was coming to learn that she really didn’t have to try that hard to know what he was thinking. He was an awful actor, and a worse liar. And so, she was pretty confident that he was telling the truth. “And you’re fine with the fact that you’ll basically have to raise their dragon sides yourself? They’re not going to know how to do anything like that.”

He paused. “It…should be fine. And I’m sure Siph will pitch in too.”

“Do any of them know about you asking me this?”

He shook his head. “I wanted to make sure it was possible before I brought it up to them.”

Carmen thought about that for a moment longer. “It’ll probably take a ton of Mana, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Although, I’m going to give the condition that they’ll have to be able to learn humanization within a month. Otherwise it’s going to be too big of an impact to their daily lives for it to be a good idea right now.”

Kirdin frowned. “Usually we take about 10 years to learn that but…they’ve already got the minds of adults and this new system should speed things up dramatically. I…think it’s doable.”

Carmen sighed. “Alright. If you get their permission, I’ll do it.”

Kirdin let loose a sigh of relief. “I appreciate it, kid. I’ll go talk to Siph now.”

He quickly fled the room, leaving Carmen alone with her phone once again. She let Anna know that she was back and immersed herself in the beautiful mess that was Anna’s current situation once again.

Siph gave her father a skeptical look as he knelt before her. “Stop buttering me up. What do you want?”

“I was…maybe hoping that you would help me persuade your spouses to let your daughter turn them into dragons.”

“No. They’re perfectly fine as humans. Stop letting your racism get in the way of my relationship.” She said, glaring.

“It’s not that!” He protested, then, seeing her face, amended that statement. “Mostly not that. I was thinking that this would make their training a lot easier, and it would help the three of you bond, because you can share a new aspect of your lives together. Plus, they’ll get the added bonus of our non-finite lifespan right away, so they’d go back to the prime of their youth now instead of having to wait until whenever humans get their longevity increases.”

Siph clicked her tongue in annoyance. He was right, and she hated that. She was sure this all came from not wanting his daughter to be in love with humans, but she couldn’t deny any of his points. And now that she was thinking about it, there were…other…benefits. Apparently, Familial Bond had made the two of them just as attracted to her dragon form as they were to her human form, but they couldn’t figure out how to do anything meaningful when they had such drastically different sizes.

But it was the prospect of making them young again that was the real attractive part of it all. She felt guilty about having a body that hadn’t aged a day since she hit her prime while her spouses were stuck with bodies that were already showing their age.

She contemplated that for a full minute, drawing out the awkward silence for as long as possible. Then, she sighed. “Alright, I’ll talk to them. Go to bed, I’ll let you know when they’ve made a decision.”

He gave her a smile. “Thanks, sweetie.”

She left the room and went back to her own. When she opened the door, she was ambushed by Jessica, who sidled up to Siph and seductively whispered, “Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you, you know.”

Siph smiled and gently pushed her wife off of her. “I’d love to play, but we have to take care of some business first.”

Jessica shrunk away, instantly back in serious mode. Siph really loved that about her wife; while her wife loved to romp around, she never let it get in the way of anything. If there was something that needed to be done while she was relaxing, Jessica would get that done without any fuss and only then go back to what she was doing.

“Of course. Do you need Mike as well or is this something that just needs to two of us?” Jessica asked.

“Well, it concerns the both of you, so yeah, we’ll need him.”

“Hear that, honey? You don’t have to be kicked out of our room until we finish!” Jessica teased, walking to the bed and giving her husband a kiss.

Mike rolled his eyes. “So, what’s going on?”

“Well, dad just asked me to come talk to him, and he wants me to convince you two to let Carmen turn you into dragons.”

There was a brief pause as the two digested that. Then, Mike spoke up. “What’d you tell him?”

Siph sighed. “I told him I’d try. Not because I’m unhappy with you or anything, these past few months have been some of the happiest of my life, but because I think it’ll make you guys happier.”

Jessica nodded, grabbing her husband’s hand. “I feel confident saying that we both trust you on this, but is it alright if I hear your reasons first?”

“Of course it’s alright.” Siph replied. “The biggest reason is that it’d make you two young immediately, instead of having to wait. I think that you two deserve that, perhaps even more than me, and I don’t like being the only one able to enjoy a youthful body.”

Mike smiled. “It’s fine to be patient about this sort of thing. If that’s the only reason then you don’t need to worry, we can wait.”

Siph paced back and forth in front of the bed, agitated. “But what if something happens while you wait?” She asked, “I don’t know much about aging, but I know that your bodies break down and sometimes will just give out with little warning. There’s only so much Lilith can do if she can’t get to you in time.”

“Hey, it’s OK.” Jessica soothed. “Both of us are perfectly healthy. It’s not until we’re older than we are now that something like that really becomes a danger.”

“But it’s still a risk I don’t like taking, and there are other reasons. Mike, I know you don’t like not having the power to protect our daughter, and this’ll help stop that. Dragons get stronger faster than humans, so you could probably be powerful enough to actually help within a couple of years.”

Mike sighed. “You got me there.”

Siph blushed but continued. “And I know the both of you were frustrated that the difference between my dragon form and you two was too big to do anything, and that wouldn’t be an issue anymore. And, I could show you two how fun flying by yourself is, and we’d be able to go hunting together and…” She trailed off, watching as Jessica shared a nod with Mike, then walked over and placed a hand on Siph’s arm.

“We’ll do it. We’ll be able to look human like you anyway, so I’m honestly having a hard time seeing a downside.”

“Well…that could take a little bit to learn, but yeah, you will.”

Jessica gave Siph a quick kiss. “That’s fine. Now, with that settled, are you up for some fun?”

Siph smiled. “I’m game as long as Mike is.”

“You know you two can do it without me, right?” Mike chuckled.

“So, you’re saying you don’t want in?” Jessica asked.

“Let’s not get hasty.”

Siph laughed. It may have come from a Skill, at least at first, but she couldn’t deny that she well and truly loved these two. And, for what seemed like the millionth time, she thanked her lucky stars that she was able to meet them.

Lilith paced around in her room, trying to think, really think about whether or not making this new Parallel was the right choice. Everything, every single thing was pointing to it being fine, so why had she been so hesitant?

But…she was less hesitant now. What was the difference? It couldn’t have been learning about the law, since Kali was right; that held little weight compared to Kali’s opinion on the matter. The only real edge it had was being “official”, and that wasn’t much of an edge.

And yet she didn’t feel much of an impulse to not make this new Parallel beyond the desire to stick to her previous decision. Her reasoning seemed…hollow. Mae and Eve were both plenty fulfilled, despite being essentially custom-made by Kali. So, again…what had changed?

Mistress, I think I might know. Mae said. Would you like me to tell you?

Lilith stopped her pacing, mulling that over. No, best not. She finally responded. I think it would be better for me as a person to figure this out on my own.

This is on your own. Mae replied. I’m you.

Perhaps as a person is the wrong way to put it. Maybe as a personality is better? I don’t want to always depend on all of you to figure myself out. If I’m ever in a situation where you’re not available, I don’t want to be completely lost.

Understood. Let me know if you change your mind.

Lilith resumed her pacing, thinking about the past month and a half. What had changed in the time between the first proposal of a dungeon master Parallel and now? She rather quickly discounted it being a direct result of her training with Kali. While she had learned to be somewhat more assertive, that wasn’t enough to radically change her viewpoint. And she didn’t think it had to do with her family or friends. She couldn’t think of a single thing that they had said or done that would prompt such shift.

That meant it came from herself, somehow. It was likely that part of her initial reticence was backlash at how…stiff Mae had been at first. But even given time for her to get used to Mae and for Mae to loosen up, that still didn’t justify the complete turnaround in opinion she had, nor did she think that just backlash would make her so vehemently opposed to things.

Keeping that in mind, what else was there? She could have changed her mind after being constantly connected with Mae and Carmen for so long, but she still felt there was more. And, if that was out of the picture, that meant it must have been something that happened after the Shift. Likely a large event of some sort, given how apparently sudden the change had been.

Meeting Titania was right out, and the meeting with her grandparents fell under “family or friends”, so that wasn’t it either. Then there was her big meeting she had held where she introduced herself to the world. That held a little more potential to be a catalyst for change, but she doubted it did much more than contribute to the desire to have a better dungeon.

That really only left when she chose to embrace being a girl, and, the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Was it possible that, perhaps, she had been reluctant to make more Parallels because they were all based on her, and she had yet to figure things out with regards to her own identity? Yes, most of the Parallels seemed pretty well-adjusted with regards to their gender, but it still felt wrong to make a new person have to deal with that sort of thing.

And between removing that barrier she wasn’t quite aware she had put up and growing used to the Parallels and their way of doing things, she had become much more open to the idea of making a new Parallel. As Kali had said way back when the subject was first brought up, as long as she wasn’t making new ones willy-nilly, it surely wasn’t that bad to make a new Parallel every now and then.

She took a deep breath, then sent a message to all the Parallels. Alright, we’ll make the new Parallel. You all are right, I should listen to you guys more on stuff like this.

Yes! Eve exclaimed. I knew you’d come around! Powerup get!

Good job figuring yourself out. Carmen replied. I’d tell you to give yourself a pat on the back, but I’m already doing that so it’s unnecessary.

You know that I would support you whatever decision you made, mistress. Mae said. But I must admit I am glad you chose this route. It makes things a lot easier on all of us.

So, first thing in the morning, then? Eve asked.

First thing in the morning. Lilith replied. That being said, I’m going to go to sleep. I want to be rested up for the inevitable crazy day we’ll be having.

And, after a round of goodnights from her Parallels, she did.

Fighterman481

So, the request to make dragons of Lilith's parents is something that's been brewing for a while now. After seeing what Carmen and Eve were able to do with the "dogs", there was no way Kirdin wouldn't ask this question. I also think the acceptance isn't that big a surprise either, if you think about it. Jessica and Mike have been living with Siph for quite a while, and they've learned that, hair and eyes aside, there's no way to tell Siph isn't a normal human unless you magically scan her or something. So, it lets them get closer with their wife and makes them stronger, so it's a win-win. The only "real" downside is that they have to spend potentially up to a month unable to be human again, but I feel that's a sacrifice they'd be willing to make for their child and their wife.

Lilith's thoughts on her reasoning behind making the new Parallel is a bit more of a recent addition, but I feel like it makes more sense than "Just stubbornly going to say no despite every single other thing saying it's fine". Is it a bit of a cop out and could have been foreshadowed much better? Yeah, and I'll probably add that in the rewrite. But, for now, it works well enough for me.

So, next chapter we're introducing the newest member of the Lilith gang (we're on our way to a sports team of your choice made of only Parallels slowly but steadily), who I eventually decided not to name Dahlia, simply for the reason that every time I hear the name it reminds me of Ash Ketchum's mom and I don't think I could handle associating her with that on the regular. So, I let loose my inner expecting parent and trowled baby name sites until I found one that works.

I'll give a couple of hints - it starts with N, continues with the semi-mythological theme Lilith and Eve have going on, and is not western in origin. Internet cookie to you if you're able to figure it out. And, aside from her introduction, we have a few other things too, so look forward to it!

And, as always, thanks for reading!