Salt & Pyrrha

A Changing World Novel

Chapter 06 - Finding Friendship

 

[ - content warnings: sad backstory - ]

 

My family and friends congregate at the dining table in the kitchen. Dinner is decided by the majority to be pizza, which was the original plan for tonight before Pyrrha was added to the mix. 

 

“Pizza?” Pyrrha asks curiously, after the vote is cast, “I don’t believe I’ve tried pizza yet, I tried some of the food around here but didn’t find anything I loved.”

 

“What did you try?” Carlos asks interestedly.

 

“Oh what do you call them, burgers? I had a burger, and fries, once.”

 

“What have you been living off of?” Mum asks with some trepidation.

 

“I don’t need to eat food to survive,” Pyrrha explains calmly, “I have to feed on the sexual energy of humans, which I’ve been doing as often as I can stomach.”

 

I raise an eyebrow. “You don’t enjoy doing that?” I ask.

 

“Nope,” Pyrrha says, “but I’ve been surviving for twenty some years, I’m not about to give up now.”

 

“Damn, that sucks,” Storm says. 

 

Pyrrha looks mollified. “It’s not that bad, I can always find a willing and eager participant,” she says.

 

Mom takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. “Pyrrha, are you saying that you’ve had to ‘feed’ on people by having sex with them since you were a child?”

 

Pyrrha looks uncomfortable. I’m about to step in and redirect the questions away from her, when she speaks up.

 

“I was quite young when my... my true self, I guess, manifested. I went from a lonely boy who lived with his mother to the most stunningly beautiful girl in the land. Unfortunately, my powers manifested in the middle of the village market, and everyone saw me for the demon I am. I was hunted by that village for the next twelve years, though once I figured out my shapeshifting I was easily able to avoid detection.”

 

My moms share a Look. I catch expressions of shock and surprise flitting across Storm’s and Carlos’ faces. Mom, Mum, Storm, Carlos, Pyrrha and I are seated at the dining table in the middle of the kitchen, and Raya and Cynthia sit together north of us at the counter that separates the kitchen from the living room.

 

“Pyrrha dear,” Mom says from her position at the south head of the table, “is there anything we can do to help you? Would you consider letting us help you find a place to stay, for instance?”

 

Pyrrha looks taken aback. “Oh, no, I don’t need any help,” she assures from her seat next to me.

 

“You can stay in my room!” I say excitedly, grinning at Pyrrha, who looks even more alarmed now.

 

“That’s really not necessary,” the succubus says.

 

“It’s not ‘necessary’ perhaps, but it’s what we truly wish to do,” Mom says firmly, “You’re allowed to accept help, everyone needs it sometimes.”

 

Pyrrha’s cheeks color brightly. Her storm-cloud colored eyes dart down to stare at the plate of pizza before her, and she seems to consider the prospect for a moment. Then she sighs.

 

“Very well,” she says, “I suppose I’m in no position to refuse.”

 

“So you’ll stay with us?” I ask, my tail wagging excitedly out the back of my dining chair. 

 

Pyrrha shifts in her chair a little bit, away from my enthusiasm, but she doesn’t look put off. “Yes,” she says with a small smile, “And thank you.”

 

“Yyyes!” I exclaim, pumping a furred fist into the air.

 

“Salt, can you calm down a little? I think you’re a bit loud for our guest,” Mum says.

Then she looks back to Pyrrha, “Am I right, Pyrrha?” 

 

Pyrrha, who again had shrunk away at my outburst, looks embarrassed, but nods. 

 

“I’m so sorry,” I say quietly, hoping my fur hides my blazing cheeks, “I’ll try to keep it down in the future.”

 

“Thank you Salt,” Pyrrha responds gently, “I want you to be excited and happy, it’s mostly the volume plus the enclosed space that’s hard.”

 

I give her a smile. “Thank you, I’ll do my best to remember that,” I say.

 

“Do you have anything you’d like to grab from your residence in the forest?” Mom asks Pyrrha.

 

Pyrrha thinks on that for a moment. “There’s nothing from my old life that survived my arrival here, though I did manage to find the small selection of clothes that I’ve been wearing. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to go back for the rest of that?”

 

“Do the clothes fit you?” Mum asks curiously.

 

Pyrrha blushes. “I um, I fit myself to them. They’re all around the size I like to be.”

 

“Right, you can shapeshift,” Carlos says with mild awe.

 

Mum has a similar emotion in her expression. “Well, if you like them enough to go back for, I say let’s do it.”

 

There’s a chorus of agreements from the lot of us.

 

Pyrrha again seems nearly overwhelmed by the support we’re giving her. She’s staring wide-eyed around the room at each of us in turn.

 

“You all are... very helpful,” she says softly.

 

“Yeah, it’s called ‘having friends’,” Carlos chimes in cheekily.

 

The succubus blushes. “Right,” she says, “still new to that concept.”

 

“Luckily you’ve come to the right place!” Cynthia calls from her spot at the counter to Pyrrha’s left.

 

“Yeah,” Raya says from beside Cynthia, “Salt’s family’s place is like the capital of friendship around here.”

 

My moms and friends all laugh, and now it’s my turn to blush. I do have a tendency to merge all my friend groups together into one big happy found family, though it wasn’t always that way. 

 

Long before I came out as an enby, back when I was still living near Chicago in the states, I was a loner with only a few close friends. Sometime in high school though I found a cute little cartoon about friendship and magic and tiny horses, and it helped me realize how much of a shit I gave about having friends I could be my true self around. So I started being more of a person than an emotionless blob, and I found some really great friends, most of whom stuck with me through my transition. We’re long distance now, due to my having abdicated to the U.K., but that’s okay.

 

I shake myself out of my reverie, and glance at Pyrrha to find her smiling at me. “I’m suddenly very glad I ran into you today, Salt,” she says.

 

I grin. “Want a hug?” I ask.

 

Pyrrha blinks, then returns my smile hesitantly. “Sure,” she says, “why not?”

 

There’s a chorus of ‘awww’s from the rest of the room as I semi-awkwardly lean closer to her and wrap my arm around her waist, half-hugging her. I get a deep whiff of her forest-laden scent at the same time. Hot damn, is this succubus beautiful. I feel my cheeks burning as I have the thought, well aware that Pyrrha can see it. 

 

By the time I let go and get back in my seat, the both of us are blushing hard. 

 

Carlos does two quick high then low slide whistles, and I shoot him a glare. He just grins back at me, and I catch Storm smiling too. The newly-minted trans girl has been fairly quiet, but I can tell she’s far more at ease now that her secret’s out and she’s been accepted by her found family.

 

The remainder of dinner is relatively quiet and short, and I’m already up and washing my plate at the sink by the time someone speaks up again.

 

“I think it’s time for me to head out for tonight,” Raya says. “It was wonderful to meet you today Pyrrha! I hope we can hang out again sometime soon.”

 

I watch furtively as Pyrrha freezes with a piece of pizza halfway to her mouth. “O-oh!” she says, “Um, thanks Raya. I hope I get to see you again too! I hope I get to see all of you again, really.”

 

There’s a chorus of agreements from the rest of my friends. “Oh we’ll be around,” Storm says from her seat at the table.

 

“Yeah you can count on that,” Carlos agrees from beside her.

 

“If you need anything from us, just get Salt or one of their mums to call or text okay?” Cynthia says.

 

Pyrrha nods. “Okay I’ll do that, thank you.”

 

The evening continues to wind down after that. Storm, Carlos and Cynthia stay a bit later and we end up chatting about school, work, and life for a few hours, until they decide to head home as well.

 

When they’re finally gone my moms, Pyrrha and I are all seated at the dining table, Pyrrha and I on one side and my parents on the other. 

 

“How are you holding up Pyrrha?” Mum asks. “I’m guessing you haven’t been in a room full of people in a while.”

 

Pyrrha grimaces. “No, I haven’t. I’ll sleep well tonight, I expect.”

 

“Sorry for putting you on the spot before about staying here,” Mom says, “If you’d truly be happier in the forest we can drive you back there.”

 

The succubus shakes her head. “If it’s alright with you all, I’d like to try sleeping under a roof again.”

 

“It’s more than alright with us,” Mom replies with a warm smile.

 

“Thank you so much Sarah, Mist, and Salt,” Pyrrha says sincerely, “I truly appreciate your kindness and generosity.” 

 

“You’re more than welcome hun,” Mum says.

 

“We’re happy to have you here, truly,” Mom adds.

 

The brown haired girl has tears brimming in her stormy grey eyes. “Thank you,” she repeats quietly.

 

We give her some space after that, my moms and I all finding some excuse to get up from the table and clean or get ready for bed. I hover near our guest, wiping down the counters in the kitchen.

 

“Salt?” she asks tentatively, after maybe five more minutes have passed.

 

“Yes?” I answer perhaps a tad too eagerly.

 

“Where am I to be sleeping?”

 

“Oh!” I say, “Upstairs in my room, I can show you now if you like?”

 

“Sure,” she says, pushing back her chair and standing up. She stretches in place for a moment, then follows me back towards the front door then up the stairs to its right.

 

My room is a relatively small space compared to the kitchen and living room, but it’s got enough room for my twin sized bed and an air mattress if I have people over. I set about stripping the sheets off of it and throwing them in the laundry bin, then I get out a clean set and Pyrrha helps me put them on the bed. 

 

“You’ll be sleeping on the bed,” I tell her matter-of-factly.

 

“Isn’t this your bed?” she asks. “Where will you sleep?”

 

I smile, and kneel down to grab the air mattress and pump from under my bed. “I’ll be sleeping on the floor beside you, on this,” I say.

 

She stares at the misshapen lump of plastic on the floor beside me. “That... does not look very comfortable.”

 

My smile widens. “It’s called an air mattress, see, we use this pump to blow air into the mattress and then it’s ready to be slept on. You might want to cover your ears though, this thing is loud.”

 

Pyrrha frowns, but obligingly covers her ears with her hands as I plug in the pump and get the mattress laid out properly. 

 

I switch on the pump and Pyrrha startles badly. I switch it off immediately. “You can go downstairs for this if you want?” I suggest.

 

She shakes her head. “No no, it’s fine, just a lot louder than I was expecting even with your warning. It’s such a tiny device.”

 

“That it is,” I agree. Then I gesture towards the pump, “Ready for round two?” 

 

Pyrrha rolls her eyes, but claps her hands firmly to the sides of her head. This time she doesn’t move when I turn the pump on, and we sit there waiting for the mattress to fill. It seems to take forever. But, after an eternity that is probably about ten minutes long, I have the mattress filled with air. I switch off the air pump, let out a sigh of relief that’s echoed by Pyrrha, and then set about clothing the air mattress with sheets and blankets. 

 

“Alright,” I say satisfiedly, “I’m going to go get ready for bed. Do you need a tooth brush or anything?” 

 

Pyrrha raises her eyebrows. “A what?” she asks.

 

“You know like, to clean your teeth, get all the gunk off of them before you sleep?” I say.

 

The succubus shakes her head. “I did not know teeth needed cleaning besides washing one’s mouth out with water.”

 

“Surprise!” I say quietly but cheekily, “They do need regular cleaning. Unless you can just grow them back in when they rot out... which I guess you probably can, can’t you?” 

 

Pyrrha looks perplexed. “I’m not sure,” she says, “but why don’t you show me this ‘tooth brush’ just to be sure.”

 

I lead her to the upstairs bathroom, and demonstrate and explain the very basics of the science behind dental hygiene. She listens with rapt attention, and agrees to take one of our spare brushes for herself. Her first ever teeth-brushing is careful and focused, and she thanks me for introducing her to this whole toothy new world.

 

Soon enough we’re heading back to the bedroom, and I start automatically grabbing some PJs from my dresser. 

 

“What are you doing?” Pyrrha asks. 

 

“Putting on pajamas, sleep clothes,” I explain. 

 

Her eyebrows rise. “Do you happen to have any I could wear?” she asks. 

 

I think on it for a moment. “Well, I’ve only got stuff my size, and you’re quite a bit bigger. But if you want to try being fun-sized, you can borrow a set of my PJs?”

 

She tilts her head thoughtfully.

 

“Sure,” she says after a moment, “why not?”

 

I grab a set of pink shorts and a light pink tee shirt and she takes the clothes from my hand. Then her body shrinks right in front of me, until I’m eye-to-eye with the brown haired succubus. She smiles at my shocked expression, then turns around and starts taking off her now-oversized clothes and putting on the pink PJs.

 

Only a few minutes after that and we’re both crawling into our respective beds. Pyrrha makes a lot of appreciative noises as she acclimates to the soft springy mattress of my twin bed.

 

“Goodnight, Pyrrha,” I say as I shut off the lights.

 

“Goodnight Salt,” she replies happily.

 

I grin as I settle into my own sleeping cocoon, wriggling until I find the most comfy spot. 

 

Then I drift off into sleep.

End of 

S&P 06 - Finding Friendship