=::= Kaylee's PoV =::=

"You know Melanie's road test is finally coming up next week?" I commented idly. "I'll bet she aces it. She's been getting plenty of practice behind the wheel lately."

After a moment I added, "It's a good time of year for it too. My dad says if you can drive safely in our winter conditions here, you can handle just about anything."

Cass looked thoughtful as she responded, "I guess that makes sense. Driving on ice and snow looks a lot harder than walking through it."

I glanced at her for a moment before focusing on the road again. Then I asked, "You don't really care, do you? That's why you haven't bothered with any driving lessons."

"Or have you been getting lessons in secret, so you can surprise me with your driving skills?" I added with a grin while my tails twitched in between my back and the seat behind me.

My girlfriend shook her head and sighed, "It's not that I don't care? I guess I just don't want to. Not that I don't appreciate it, I'm grateful you offered to drive me today Kaylee. I guess I just don't see the need? Almost everyone else in the club can drive, and I'm happy letting all our friends use the minivan whenever they need it."

I glanced at her once more before focusing on the road again as I said, "I get it. It's more fun to teleport, especially in winter. Teleporting is faster too, and we don't have to pay for gas."

"So I guess now I'm wondering, why you didn't just teleport today?" I asked after a few more seconds.

Cass grimaced, "There's no convenient spot I can teleport to without being seen. The receptionist can see the whole waiting room, and the entrance to the washroom. And the parking lot is in full view of two busy streets. Even the park across the street is usually busy, since it's right next to a school."

"Cassandra could teleport us into the waiting room with her subtle magic," she added. "And if you hadn't offered to drive then that's what we'd have done. But I don't like to rely on that, since I don't think it's perfect. For one thing I'm pretty sure it doesn't fool security cameras."

I couldn't help smiling as I teased, "So what you're saying is Cassandra's divine magic isn't infallible after all?"

My girlfriend blushed, "I just figured if I could get a drive then that was the best option? And you said you'd find something to do, that you weren't going to spend the hour sitting in the parking lot."

"Yeah don't worry about me," I nodded as we finally reached the clinic. I pulled into the parking lot and stopped the minivan by the front door as I told her, "I'm meeting some friends at a cafe. I'll be back in an hour though. Good luck Cass! and Cassandra!"

The two of us leaned in closer together so we could exchange a kiss, then she unbuckled and opened her door.

"Thanks again for the drive Kaylee," she said as she got out.

I watched and waved as she headed into the clinic, then turned the minivan around and headed back out onto the street. The cafe was only about a half kilometre down the road, close enough to walk if it wasn't minus twelve degrees outside with blowing snow. Fortunately the place didn't look too busy as I pulled into a spot out front. Then after shutting down the van I hurried across the little lot and into the relative warmth of the cafe.

"Hello Kaylee the kitsune!" a happy voice exclaimed as soon as I stepped in through the doors.

That immediately got everyone else in the place staring at me, but I didn't mind. There was a smile on my face as I flicked my ears and swished my tails for everyone to see.

Then as I made my way up to the counter I called back towards the source of the voice, "Hello Jinx! And Tabby and Cheryl! I'll be with you in a minute, just as soon as I get myself something to drink."

The little cambion waved at me while Tabby facepalmed and Cheryl cringed. I just smiled at them before addressing the barista behind the counter. I got myself a cream-filled donut and a large hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, and as soon as it was ready I headed over to the booth where the others were waiting.

The human and catgirl were sitting next to each other on one side of the booth, Tabby had a large latte while it looked like Cheryl shared my preference for hot chocolate. And Jinx was sitting across from them, with an extra large foamy pink drink. The little cambion also had a half-eaten slice of strawberry-vanilla cake in front of her.

"Hello again," I greeted the three of them as I sat down. "Thanks for meeting with me, I hope you didn't have to walk in that weather?"

Tabby shrugged, "We did but it's not that far. And we're used to it."

"Avery's off work today but she still wouldn't let us borrow her car," Cheryl grumped. "And she refused to give us a lift too, even though she's at home doing nothing."

"She's not doing nothing," the catgirl stated. Then with a smirk she clarified, "She's doing Raven."

After a big gulp of her pink drink the small cambion grinned, "Avery and Raven said they weren't even going to bother getting dressed today."

I smiled back at her, "I love days like that! Especially when the weather's like this? Just lazing around the house in pyjamas or a nightshirt or something is nice. Getting lots of cuddles to keep the cold away is even nicer!"

Tabby and Cheryl exchanged a look and a smile as the catgirl agreed, "Warm blankets and warm cuddles are perfect this time of year."

Jinx sounded a bit wistful as she commented, "Weather like this makes me miss having a fireplace. I used to like sitting by the fire in the winter. Except someone invented the furnace and central heating, which is actually pretty good too."

"Ooh a fireplace sounds nice," I replied.

My tails slowly swished around behind me as I had a big sip of hot chocolate and thought about maybe asking Cassandra if she could magic us up a fireplace in the clubhouse.

At the same time Cheryl agreed, "That does sound nice."

"Oh wow!" she exclaimed as she got an idea. "If we had a fireplace we could cook hotdogs over it! And toast marshmallows! And -"

Tabby interrupted, "Not a chance! You and open flames don't mix, remember? Maybe you've forgotten about the BBQ Incident, but I sure haven't. And I know Avery hasn't either."

The blonde human pouted as she slumped in her seat, "I haven't forgotten. But that was totally different, and I'm pretty sure fireplaces can't explode."

"BBQs aren't supposed to blow up either Cheryl," the tabby catgirl stated.

I stayed quiet through that exchange, but my ears were pointed forward and my tails twitched with curiosity. I was really tempted to ask for more details on this 'BBQ Incident', but Cheryl looked like she didn't want to talk about it.

Then Jinx spoke up again, "It's probably not that dangerous anymore Tabby? Cheryl should be mostly safe around open flames and combustible materials now, as long as I keep taking her bad luck."

That caught my attention and piqued my curiosity even more. I asked the little cambion, "Is that your demonic feeding thing? You consume luck?"

"Yeah," she nodded as she had another gulp of her pink drink. "Just bad luck though? It's a long story, but Cheryl's got loads to spare. Even if it's kind of weird."

"Cool," I smiled. Then after a bite of my donut I added, "I mean cool that you feed on bad luck? I'm sure that must make people happy. Or at least it stops folks from getting sad? Or something like that, if you're taking their bad luck."

I paused for another gulp of hot cocoa before continuing, "I'm kind of similar, but not quite? I feed on stress, so folks are a little more relaxed and calm afterwards. It doesn't automatically make them happy, but being less stressed means there's more potential for happiness."

Jinx frowned at me as she tilted her head to one side, "Huh. I thought feeding like that was a demon thing. I didn't know kitsune did it too."

"Oh yeah," I shook my head. "I'm not a real kitsune, I just look like one. I'm actually a three-tailed demon foxgirl."

Then I had another big bite of my donut, while Jinx Cheryl and Tabby all sort of froze and stared at me. The little cambion suddenly looked nervous while the human looked uneasy. And the catgirl asked warily, "You're a demon? An actual full-on demon?"

I shrugged, "Yeah but I'm not here to hurt anyone. And you remember Nina right? She's a demon too, she wouldn't hurt a fly. She actually volunteers at an animal shelter, she looks after the dogs and puppies."

"Honestly I don't know why everyone freaks out about demons?" I added as I picked up my cocoa again. "We're not evil, we're just different."

Jinx gave me a sad look as she slowly shook her head. "Some demons are very evil Kaylee. Trust me, I know."

Hearing that was like a little record-scratch in my head. After working to lose my prejudices against demons and learning to accept Cass and Nina then going so far as to become a demon myself, it was a little jarring to hear the cambion say that.

I found myself almost reluctant to ask for details, like I didn't want my new view of demons as kind and friendly and nice to be shattered. Then again I hadn't forgotten how Nina reacted when we first encountered Jinx, she was scared at the possibility of running into another demon. And there was that whole thing with the big blue demon she encountered when she was young.

"What do you mean?" I finally asked. "What demons do you know that are evil?"

The little cambion sighed, "My mother. She's horrible. Luckily she's in England, so we don't have to worry about running into her. But I know there's others like her. Some demons are nice, but some are really terrible."

Even though she didn't actually say why her mother was horrible there was enough emotion in Jinx's voice that I knew there had to be something really bad behind it.

I leaned closer and gave her a hug as I said, "I'm so sorry Jinx. I'm glad you're safe though, here with your friends."

"Thanks Kaylee," she replied as she hugged me back. "I'm glad you haven't run into any really nasty demons. And I'm glad you and your friends are all the nice kind."

As we let go I gave her a friendly smile and replied, "Thanks Jinx."

She smiled back, but before either of us could say anything else we were both distracted by the catgirl's phone when it pinged and buzzed with a notification.

Tabby had a quick look at it, and it seemed like whatever it was must have been important. Her ears perked up, so did her tail as she tapped and swiped, while a curious frown settled on her expression.

After a second or two her eyes widened and her tail twitched as she gasped, "No way."

That was followed by more frantic tapping and swiping, while her ears were pointed forward and her tail swished around inquisitively. When she found whatever she was looking for her eyes went wide again and a wide smile appeared on her face. She repeated her earlier gasp even louder, "No! Way!"

"What's going on?" Cheryl asked as she leaned closer to look at her girlfriend's phone. "Is everything ok?"

The catgirl was looking extremely pleased with herself as she replied, "So that story I based my fan-fiction on, the Spacefox one, the author's started updating it again!"

"Nice!" the human girl responded with a grin. "I'll have to get caught up, it's been like a year or something right?"

Tabby nodded, but it seemed like she was almost bubbling with excitement as she continued "But check this out? It seems like the author's read my story! It looks like she actually included a shout-out to The Captain's Pet in her Spacefox story!"

"Aaaaaa!" she added as her tail twitched around, "I can't believe it!"

I was smiling as I asked, "So you're an author? What sort of stuff do you write?"

"Tabby writes space smut," Jinx responded helpfully. "It's a story about a catgirl named Tabby with a girlfriend named Cheryl, but they're in space!"

The catgirl in question blushed as she mumbled, "Thanks Jinx. It's not just smut, it's sci-fi."

"Anyways it's nothing special," she added to me in an embarrassed tone, while her ears and tail drooped. "It's just fan-fiction, based on another author's story about a foxgirl in space."

I gave her an encouraging smile, "That actually sounds familiar? I'm positive my girlfriend's talked about it. I remember her mentioning a foxgirl in space story, and a catgirl in space."

"Now I get to tell her I met the author!" I added as my smile shifted to a grin.

Tabby blushed, "It's really not that big a deal, I'm not exactly famous or anything. It's just a webnovel, and I haven't even finished writing it."

"You totally should though!" Cheryl enthused. "Especially now that it's basically part of the official canon, right?"

The catgirl's eyes widened again, but she tried not to let herself get too excited. "Maybe? Maybe not. It looked like a shout-out, but I don't think anything was actually confirmed."

We ended up talking a bit more about Tabby's story, and the original work it was based on, until it was time to go. The weather was still awful outside so I gave the three of them a lift back to Cheryl's townhouse, before heading over to the clinic to pick up my girlfriend.

Then after she was settled and we were on our way back home again I casually mentioned, "So I remember you were telling me a while back about a webnovel you were reading? About a catgirl in space? That was called The Captain's Pet right?"

"Yeah," Cass nodded. "It was a cool story, but the author never finished it."

I grinned as my tails twitched between my back and the car seat, "Oh I think she might be inspired to keep working at it."

My girlfriend frowned, "What makes you say that? And why'd this come up now all of a sudden?"

"Were you reading it while I was in therapy?" she added with a frown. "That story was a little um, spicier than the stuff I normally read."

"Nah, I haven't read it." I shook my head.

Then I added with a smirk, "Not yet at least. I just had hot chocolate with the author though, now I'm all curious about it."

"Oh wow!" my girlfriend smiled. "You met someone famous!"

"Yep," I nodded as my tails swished around behind me.

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