Anja and Natalia approached the Monster-folk and Phi’Scia. Anja figured it was high time they actually spent a decent amount of time with that bunch, since they had barely only just met. “Hey, what’s happening?”

“Oh, I’ve been talking to the Gaians about their society, it’s fascinating! Getting first-hand information on a previously undiscovered civilisation is incredible, Akasha will be most pleased!” Phi’Scia said gleefully, rubbing her hands together. The group were sitting together on some chairs they had brought over.

“I’d like to learn more about that as well,” Natalia said as she sat down. Anja couldn’t really blame her, she really want to know more as well.

Anja nodded, also taking a chair and sitting, “it’s high time we knew what the deal is with Gaia.”

Sonia came over as well to grab a chair. Apparently she had overheard them. “You said it, sister. What exactly is your deal?”

“You’ve come to the right folks, then! Time for the grand exposition dump!” Kat grinned. “Soooo… To start off… We live in a pseudo-plane deep underground, that’s where Gaia is.”

“Why is it called that?” Natalia asked, “considering the name is derived from the primordial Greek goddess of the Earth…”

“It’s because Gaia is her corpse,” Europa said, with an incredibly matter-of-fact tone. “About a thousand years ago Gaia died, but her body became an inhabitable underground space, which Queen Echidna settled, supposedly with Gaia’s blessing before she died.”

“Huh. Just… Huh,” Anja blinked. “I guess the pseudo-plane thing is why nobody on the surface really found it. But good grief, Gaia’s corpse?”

“It is not as gross as you’d imagine - her body transformed into massive caverns when she perished. Nearly all of the large ones have artificial, magically-formed skies and sunlight, so we’re not in the dark all the time,” Logos explained. “Still, we identify regions based on her original body parts, which generally have different purposes. The head is mostly the administrative hub, the lungs are forests that produce oxygen, the heart is both the financial hub and a superhighway complex. Most of the torso is mixed use leaning towards housing, the feet are entirely industrial, the limbs are mixed, the stomach and breasts are food production… You get the idea.”

Kat nodded. “Yep! And it’s ruled by Queen Echidna and King Typhon, though Typhon is still imprisoned in Tartarus under Mt. Etna. Only the Queen is permitted to visit him. All of us monster-folk are directly descended from both of them.”

“Firstly, how,” Anja said flatly. She had so, so, so many questions about that. “Considering the variety of species… Also how you never ran into problems with inbreeding.”

“Magic,” said the three monster-kin in unison.

Anja sighed. Why did she even bother asking was beyond her. “Right, should’ve figured…”

“Well, to be more specific, Echidna’s powers allow her to produce children of any species (aside from humans, apparently), especially those sired by Typhon,” Europa said. “Same powers also result in diverse enough genetics that inbreeding isn’t a problem, even amongst her children.”

“And the special powers?” Natalia asked.

“Something decided upon by Echidna and Typhon when they began producing a new generation of their offspring underground,” said Logos. “To make everyone more unique and more ‘useful’ in some way. At least, that’s the official word on the matter.”

“So your beef with the Queen is that she’s becoming a full-fledged tyrant?” Anja asked, arms crossed. “At least, that’s what you told me at the lab.”

Logos nodded. “Our Queen has become more distant towards proper governance, less people have seen her in the last several years. Corruption has increased significantly in the halls of power, and any peaceful attempts to draw attention to the problems caused by it are being cracked down upon. It’s become increasingly apparent that the government is not tolerating even peaceful dissent now, so we seek to uncover the truth of why the Queen has lost her way, and either force the government to reform or overthrow it entirely if necessary.”

Anja and Natalia looked at each other. Natalia’s frown told Anja they both thought the current state of affairs in Gaia were… Not a good thing for anyone.

“Logos was up here investigating a lab that we believe was being bankrolled by the crown,” Europa said. “While there’s some annoying plausible deniability in the documents you guys found, it has been helpful in gathering more proof that Echidna’s focus has been on areas other than running the kingdom properly.”

“So Echidna is bankrolling shady corporates up on the surface to experiment on stuff because… Reasons, I guess,” Sonia said, rubbing her temples. “Why would she be so interested in getting humans to do her dirty work?”

“Likely to keep her pet projects out of the public eye,” said Logos. “Even with the internal affairs division effectively defanged, there’s still press outlets who’ll run any juicy story even if it goes against the word of the crown.”

“So yeah, very few people from Gaia have gone up to the surface for centuries - it’s forbidden by the powers that be,” Kat nodded. “But we’re basically a rebellion, so fuck that noise, we’ll go wherever we want!”

“Amen to that, sister,” Sonia chuckled.

“Still, I’d love to see Gaia for myself sooner or later! It must be a fascinating to live down there!” Phi’Scia said, her eyes sparkling. She seemed to catch herself getting too excited, and cleared her throat. “But yes, what’s happening down there is quite unfortunate. I wish we could help, but obviously we have our own problems happening up here.”

Kat nodded enthusiastically, “yeah, seriously, a freaking alien invasion?!”

Logos sighed, “I was wondering what was in the sky when I first came to the surface, only to learn about the Salvron invasion from Gartho, as well as what was happening in Angel Bay. What an absolute mess we stumbled into.”

Sonia suddenly perked up. “Suddenly realised something - why and how are you guys speaking English?”

“They’re not, they’re speaking Greek. NIA has identified a translation spell effect in their vocals,” said Natalia.

“Yes, I noticed that… And surprisingly, not Mycenaean Greek,” Phi’Scia noted.

“The kingdom isn’t that old. I dunno why more ‘modern’ Greek is the kingdom’s official language, I guess it’s because it’s more developed,” Europa shrugged. “We’re got enchanted amulets that confer upon us some handy effects so we don’t get completely confused by the surface world.”

“Yeah, we got magic down there too!” Kat said with a giggle.

“Considering how magic is a notable part of Greek mythology, that does not surprise me one bit,” said Phi’Scia.

“Well, I hope things are going well enough for the resistance that they can afford to send you three up here,” Sonia said.

Europa waved a hand dismissively, “it’s not a particularly big problem. With my powers, I can get us back to our headquarters quickly if we’re needed.”

“Right, you’re basically a living portal gun… How many portals can you create?”

“Technically an infinite amount, but realistically holding portals open is a strain on my body. A single pair of portals is virtually nothing for me, but the strain from additional pairs does not scale linearly. So in practice I need to micromanage which portals I have open for anyone who might need them,” Europa sighed. “But I can mark any point visually as a potential portal location and activate it with a mere thought.”

“Neat,” Sonia said, turning to Kat, “we know basically what Logos’ powers are, but yours…”

“I’m not great at describing it, even though I’ve practised, but I like to call it ‘Power Fat’,” Kat purred. “The biggest secret is that I can manipulate gravity in and around my body. So I can make myself light as a feather, or heavy as, I dunno, several tons of anything, really, in any direction, letting me do all sorts of crazy shit with it. And my enhanced body fat makes sure I can handle all of that, plus also being able to tank lots of stuff. Like, shoot me with a gun and not only can I tank all of that, I can actually send it back with interest.”

“Geez, you must be a powerhouse,” said Anja.

Kat sighed, “well, yeah, when it comes to anything physical I can take and give back hits, but anything to do with elements or energy? Yeah I’m not so good with those. I’m still more durable than the average Monster against those, but…”

“Why do you guys call yourselves ‘Monsters’? Surely you know the connotations of the word,” Natalia said.

Anja nodded. Natalia had an excellent point, she didn’t really see these three as evil or ‘monstrous’ in any normal definition of the word. They were just people of a different… Species? Or many species. It was a bit unclear with them.

The three Monster-kin looked at each other, frowning, before Logos replied, “I understand what you mean, Natalia, but it’s very much ingrained in our culture and collective identity, especially considering who our progenitors are. I suppose ‘Gaian’ can work as an acceptable alternative, if you’d like.”

“‘Zoomorph’ might work, technically, but it does sound a little bit weird,” Anja said. “I dunno, we could potentially just workshop it.”

“Well, guess I’m related to you folks, then, if I was one of Echidna’s projects,” Prometheus said.

“We’d have to properly analyse your genetics to be sure, but I do believe that’s likely the case,” Phi’Scia nodded.

“Cool. Nice to know where some of my roots lie, at least. Shame we have no idea why exactly I was created.”

“Probably the only two people who would know for sure would be Echidna and her head scientist, Dr. Gappler,” Europa said. “Gappler is… How do I put this… Completely insane. The stuff we’ve dug up on him paints a picture of someone who is very much a sick individual with very few ethics, if any.”

“So Gappler is a mad scientist,” Anja sighed. “Lovely. Fuckin’ lovely. Another thing we might have to worry about at some point.”

“I don’t believe that’s going to be an issue for now, Anja,” Phi’Scia assured her. “As far as anyone knows, the Gaian government is not aware of what is happening here in Angel Bay, so matters relating to them can be set aside for now.”

“Well, that’s good. And it’s good to have you guys on our side,” Anja said, looking across the three Gaians. “You’re welcome here for as long as you want.”

“Aw, thanks!” Kat giggled. “You humans aren’t so bad, either! The official line about humans is that they’ll hunt us to extinction if they found out about us, but that’s obviously not true.”

Anja shrugged. “We’re all ‘people’. Whether you’re good or bad isn’t ingrained in one’s species, humans can be good people or complete assholes, or anywhere in-between. Same with Gaians. Just a fact of life, really.”

“Well, then. I say we celebrate the friendship between us in the way we do it in Gaia?” Logos said, as he stood up.

Natalia blinked. “And what way would that be?”

Kat bounced up from her chair, “obviously, we have an orgy!”

There was an awkward silence as Anja processed what Kat just said. She noticed Natalia was having a mental freeze. And Phi’Scia just looked a bit flushed, but otherwise amused.

Anja blinked. “Uh… Come again?”

“That’s what he said~!”

“Sis, can it,” Europa groaned. “Considering we haven’t seen humans openly fucking in public so far, we can presume your society is much less sexually open.”

“UH, YEAH?!” Natalia blurted. “You guys have sex in public?!”

“Echidna and Typhon promulgated the notion of being more free with one’s love and instincts in Gaian society. I don’t know if you know the term ‘Xenia’, the ancient Greek concept of hospitality, but it’s also ingrained in Gaian society, and one can argue that Echidna built upon it, resulting in why us Gaians are so sexually open. Exchanging sexual favours is fairly common.”

“I mean… Uh… Huh. That’s a thing, I guess,” Sonia said. “Eh, fuck it, I’m down. What about you, Anja?”

“Sure, let’s take it to my room,” Anja said, standing up.

“YeahhavefunwiththatI’mgonnagocheckonFlorrieBYE!” Natalia stammered as she got up and fled at a brisk jog, her face red as a tomato. Anja couldn’t really blame her, she was still in denial about how much of a dirty girl she was.

Logos and Europa just sighed. Kat, on the other hand, was laughing her ass off.

“I wouldn’t be against it, but I have other things I need to do,” Phi’Scia said, standing up and walking away, “I hope you have fun.”

“Alright, follow me,” Anja said, leading the other four to her room. This was going to be interesting.

❖

The walls of Anja’s room were a dark red, and a bit of an organised mess - if something wasn’t already on a shelf, it was in a pile on the floor against the wall, along with anything else even tangentially related grouped together. Old awards for drama and acting were gathering dust, along with a black belt. A small TV along with a couple of consoles in the corner and a bean bag chair had seen the most use, along with the desk and computer.

“Fuckin’ hell Anja, you need to get organised. I helped you clean up last time and you’ve got piles of crap again,” Sonia grumbled.

“What do you expect, I’ve got depression,” said Anja. Still, she couldn’t deny that she did need to get her shit together, which was very much easier said than done.

“Whatever, we can sort it out later! Let’s have some FUN~!” Kat grinned, as she began tossing her clothes aside, revealing a pair of pink nipples and aerola on her breasts, and a plump set of pussy lips between her legs. Anja was still somewhat amazed that she actually managed to fit through the doors in the house.

“Settle down, sister, we’ve got plenty of time,” Europa said, more elegantly putting aside her dress. It seems she had gone commando this whole time.

“Well, I hope I can please all of you ladies by myself,” Logos chuckled, removing his clothes as well. His body was athletic and well-toned, and an erection was emerging from the sheath on his crotch. Anja had been worried that he might have some kind of weird avian penis, but it turned out his was surprisingly humanoid, and it was bigger than any guy she had ever been with.

Sonia was blushed, as she began taking off her clothes. Her figure was comparatively modest compared to Anja’s, but then again, most women’s figures were modest compared to Anja’s. “I feel a bit… Inadequate. Between the girls with the huge tits and wide hips and the dude with the huge dick…”

Logos walked over towards her, smiling, “then I’ll go with you first. You have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to your body, Sonia, you are still a lovely female.”

Sonia was blushing profusely, “thanks… Alright, just be gentle with that thing, okay?”

Anja finished taking off her clothes, exposing her naked, voluptuous figure. Kat immediately grabbed her tits the instant they were exposed. “You’ve got a great body for a human! This is gonna be fun~!”

“Are all Gaians bisexual, then?” Anja said, finding this kinda amusing. She was being groped by a very chubby cat-girl, which was, to put it lightly, very new.

“Not all, but probably more than there are bisexual humans,” Europa commented.

“Oh, sis, I call dibs on the face-sitting!” Kat suddenly shoved Anja onto the bed. Before Anja could properly respond, she found her vision completely blacked out as her head was engulfed by Kat’s massive ass.

She heard Europa sigh, the sound muffled by the asscheeks pressed against her ears. “Kat, try not to suffocate her while you’re doing that.”

“I know, I know! You okay down there, Anja?”

Anja managed to find a nice position where she could properly breathe, making an audible grunt of affirmation, as her mouth found Kat’s, uh, pussy. A pussy’s pussy. Heh. It was funny in an odd way. But she began eating her out, as she managed to move her arms enough to grab a hold of Kat’s fat butt. She could barely hear Sonia’s moaning a short distance away.

She felt two furry hands push her legs apart and a feline tongue licking at her crotch. It was certainly a more unique texture, being more rough than human tongues, but it was still oddly pleasant, and Europa’s experience certainly showed, as she began to push her mouth and nose into her folds, licking the interior, making Anja moan.

Kat also moaned, purring happily in a way that Anja could feel through the vibrations, as she dug into the feline folds. “Oh, you’re good at this, Anja! You’ve definitely got experience with the fairer sex.”

“It is kind of obvious. I assume humans who haven’t lost their virginity yet would be more reluctant to join in on an orgy,” Europa said, before she continued licking. “We didn’t come up here with the idea of having sex with humans, either, otherwise we would’ve brought toys.”

Anja was trying to focus on eating Kat out, but damn was it difficult to not be distracted by the exotic feel of Europa’s tongue inside her vagina. And even more when Europa found her sensitive spots fairly quickly.

Anja was moaning louder, intensifying her efforts to dig into Kat’s folds, and managed to make her moan especially loud, signifying that she had found the cat-girl’s own sensitive spots.

But soon it was the human girl who orgasmed first with a lustful moan, her body shuddering, though she managed to drive Kat to orgasm as well shortly after, spilling girl-cum all over her mouth and neck as the chubby cat let out a lustful mew.

It took several seconds before Kat finally got off Anja’s face, and Anja could see Europa using her tongue to clean up the mess the human girl had made between her legs.

Kat stretched, sitting down next to Anja, “mmm, that was good! You know how to make a girl happy, Anja.”

“And speaking of making girls happy…” Europa looked over where Sonia and Logos were. Sonia was being held up by the griffin by her legs, looking very pleasured, her pussy dripping with cum, as he laid her down on the bed. “Looks like Logos is done with Sonia. We’ll help her settle down.”

Anja panted, standing up and walking over to Logos, “I’ll consider that expression on Sonia a five-star review in my book. You better live up to it, big guy.”

“It would be my pleasure, kyría mou,” Logos smiled, as he and Anja kissed. Turns out that beak was surprisingly flexible, making it much easier than she would’ve expected.

He wasted little time getting good, hearty gropes of her breasts and ass, followed by fingering her for a bit to get her back in the mood. Anja responded by stroking his cock with her hand, demonstrating her experience.

“One question. You sure you ain’t gonna knock me up without protection?” Anja asked.

“We can turn our fertility on and off at will, so we don’t need contraception. By default we Gaians are sterile, so it requires both partners to actively desire pregnancy,” Logos said.

Logos took a hold of her legs, lifting her up and holding her over his rapidly hardening dick. Once it was at full master, he lowered her down onto him, pushing into her and inducing a moan from her lips.

Now, size wasn’t everything, as Anja knew from experience, but sometimes it did help, like in this case. But it was the unique feel that immediately put Logos amongst the top of her male lovers. Because damn, he was good at it.

Anja brought her arms around his furry shoulders as his full length filled her, before he started slowly thrusting in and out of her. But she wasn’t interested in doing things slowly, and she started moving her hips on her own, bouncing on his cock at a much faster pace. Logos quickly got the message, beginning to thrust quicker and deeper, making Anja moan louder. Much better.

Anja looked over her shoulder when she heard Sonia’s moans - the cat-girls were giving her the threesome treatment as well, except with Europa sitting on her face and Kat eating her out. And judging by the noises Sonia was making, she was definitely enjoying herself.

“I’d ask if you’ve ever had sex in flight, but I presume you haven’t,” Logos remarked, causing Anja to look back into his eyes. “I’ve been told by previous partners that I’m quite good at providing an excellent service.”

“Wait, you mean flying while fucking? I’ll admit, that’d be an interesting experience, as long as you don’t drop me,” Anja smirked, letting out another moan as Logos intensified his thrusting even more. “But considering how good your dick feels right now? I’d definitely consider it…”

Logos just chuckled, and seemed to focus on thrusting as hard and fast into her as he could. And to his credit… Fuck, he was good.

He still came first, blasting her insides with his griffin seed, which was enough to completely drive her over the edge as well, letting out an loud, lustful moan as her body shuddered and their fluids mixed.

Logos laid her down on the bed, next to Sonia, leaving her panting and moaning softly. “Holy shit that was good.”

“There’s plenty where that came from,” Kat giggled, having also causing Sonia to cum a second time, as Europa got off her face.

Sonia was also panting, her face splattered with Europa’s girl-cum. “Guess I’m a goddamn furry now. Fuck me I want more.”

“We’ve got plenty of time and lots more fun to be had, if you girls want it,” Logos chuckled.

Considering the next hour involved intense, sweaty sex between the five of them? The answer was obviously yes.

❖

Anja groaned as she found herself sitting up on a cold, tiled floor. Right, she must be dreaming - last thing she remembered was going to bed that evening. She wondered if she was dreaming, but this felt so vivid and real, so she was immediately second-guessing that assumption.

She got up onto her feet, and took a few steps forward, blinking as she realised she was in some kind of grand palace. She looked behind her, to see that there was no exit behind her. Guess the only thing she could do was press forward.

As she continued forward towards another doorway, she noted the large square tiles, each with a different pattern. Columns with orange-red bottoms lined the corridor, the walls were decorated with beautiful frescoes of monsters, and the roof was artistically decorated with multicoloured patterns.

Anja realised that Estella had gushed about architecture like this once. It was ancient Greek, wasn’t it? No, it was Mycenaean Greek. And it was pristine.

As she stepped out into the next room, she came upon a huge bathing chamber, with a central pool. Light shone through the windows, and the windows were lined with red vines and leaves. The pool itself was steaming at a nice, pleasantly warm temperature.

Well, fuck it, she was naked and a bath would be nice. She slowly dipped her legs into the pool, sinking into the soothing warm water. It didn’t take long for her to find the deepest part of the pool, where the water was mid-way up her upper arms. She had to admit, this felt really, really good.

“Enjoying the pool? I don’t normally allow visitors, but someone like you is an exception.”

Anja was immediately alarmed by the sound of another person’s voice, because she swore she was alone in the pool. But she wasn’t. On the opposite side of said pool, sitting on one of the shallower levels, was a woman.

But not merely just any woman - the mere sight of her made Anja catch her breath. She was gorgeous beyond measure, with hip-length blonde hair, ethereal purple eyes, along with breasts and hips even larger than Anja’s. Somehow, this woman got Anja’s heart racing immediately.

The woman smiled as they made eye contact, washing her arms in the warm water. “You know, someone was trying to drag you into a different dream entirely. They’re fascinatingly good at dream manipulation, but it was still almost trivial to lock them out.”

“That fucking witch was trying to get at me to brainwash my dream self like she did my sister,” Anja said, her eye twitching, feeling annoyance and frustration. Prometheus was supposed to have handled that himself.

Wait. Why was Prometheus so oddly silent? Now that she thought about it, she felt a little strange, but she couldn’t put a finger on why.

“Then you’re welcome. Using dreams to brainwash people… How despicable,” the woman sighed. “But I digress. Come here, we have much to talk about, you and I.”

Anja blushed, wading over to that bombshell of a woman, sitting down next to her. “So… What is this place? Who are you?”

The woman put her finely-manicured index finger on Anja’s lips. “The first thing I need to mention is that we shouldn’t tell each other anything about each other.”

Anja was immediately frustrated and confused. “Why not?”

“Because knowledge is power, and even you knowing more about me can permit me insight into who you are and what’s happening around you. We have a unique but distant connection, you and I, but right now I only see shadows of your identity and who you are. I’d rather it stay that way. I know we’re merely delaying the inevitable, but it’s better that we do so as long as possible,” she said. “Because I know enough to know that the two of us in the waking world would be enemies. And I would rather not give my waking self information that would make the lives of you and your allies harder.”

“I’m guessing not meeting in this dream at all is out of the question.”

“It’s not something I can control, I’m afraid, now that certain conditions have been met. My mind is… Damaged, which is why I am your friend here but your enemy in the waking world. Even if my waking self isn’t properly aware that you exist, she seeks you out. I wish I could explain more, but that would only make her more aware of you.”

Anja sighed, leaning back, resting on her hands, “so I guess we’re spending our nights doing bugger all, then.”

“Not necessarily,” the woman said with a cheeky smile. “I can leverage what I already know as it is to give you advice with your endeavours. I know you’re working with people from the Gaian Resistance Movement, even if I don’t know who they are, and you face monsters of both bestial and human origin. I want to make sure you succeed.”

Anja chuckled. “That’d be nice of you, thanks. At least there’s something we can do productively.”

“And as for the other thing…” The woman put a hand on Anja’s cheek, and the other on her leg, as she turned to her. “If we run out of things to talk about? We have more intimate activities to indulge in.”

Anja’s heart thumped even faster. She didn’t know this woman at all. But at the same time? She felt like she needed to be with her. “We haven’t even met before, but… Okay…”

“As I said. We have a unique connection, you and I, even if it is, in some ways, artificial. One that draws us together physically… And emotionally.”

The woman pulled her in for a deep, intense kiss. Anja didn’t object, melting into the embrace.

Their breasts pressed together as Anja and the unknown woman kissed passionately, like long-time lovers. It was almost like she was kissing Matt again. Well, almost - she was kissing a woman and the connection between Matt and her had been much deeper. But in a way, it was almost a facsimile.

The blonde woman began moving their legs part, shifting their positions so their pussies started rubbing together, eliciting a moan from Anja’s lips. It was like the pair was scissoring on their backs. But then she realised it was a dream, anything could happen, so why wouldn’t this woman be able to make it feel like that? Still, the way their clits and lips were rubbing together would’ve been enough to induce a good amount of pleasure.

The woman’s mouth and lips had an interesting taste that Anja never had experienced before, but she liked it. Their tongues wrestled, and they put their hands on each other’s shapely rears.

The pleasure was simple, but intense, just the two of them making out like there was no tomorrow and rubbing their crotches together. Somehow, they both orgasmed in tandem, moaning into each other’s mouths.

But they kept going. Anja didn’t want to stop for even a moment.

❖

Anja blinked, finding herself waking up in her own bed, as the alarm went off. That had indeed been a dream.

“Well that was fucking weird. It was like our minds were merged there,” Prometheus groaned. “Gotta say, whoever that chick was, she was one hell of a lay. Will be fun to have her company each night.”

Anja, strangely enough, found herself with enough emotional strength to sit up, pressing the snooze button on her phone. “I wonder who she is…”

Weirdly enough? She couldn’t properly remember who she looked like. All she could remember was that the woman was absolutely beautiful and stirred something in her heart and between her legs.

“Well, looks like we won’t know until she wants us to know. But I don’t think she was manipulating us, so that’s good? If we’re that worried we can have the mages check for sure,” Prometheus sighed. “Well, we’ve got other things to worry about. At least you’re good to get up.”

“Being able to get up in the morning by myself is always a blessing,” Anja yawned, as she stood up and stretched.

Time for another day in her increasingly strange life.

❖

Another day at university. Anja wasn’t sure how to feel about uni now that her life had changed so dramatically in such a short time. When an attack could potentially happen at any time was certainly a factor, but the fact of the mater was that it felt so much more mundane now. Not necessarily more ‘boring’, just… Mundane. A regular university education felt pretty quaint compared to hanging out with aliens, animal-people from underground and actual fucking wizards. Oh, and now she just had a dream involving a mysterious beautiful woman who was rather nice but apparently her enemy in the waking world? Man, dreams were especially weird when magic was involved.

But all of that took a back-seat to her normal education on weekdays. Mostly. She still had Prometheus hanging out in her body, which was a constant reminder of how different things were. But having someone with her at all times to talk to her and reassure her when her mood swung the wrong way was definitely helpful.

As she walked, she spotted someone sitting alone at a small table. Harlan was quietly munching on a sandwich while looking at his phone.

Anja considered merely continuing on and just letting him be, but considering he could be potentially kidnapped at any point, well… She decided to go over and sit down with him. “Hey.”

Harlan blinked, looking up at her. “Oh, Anja. Hi. Uh… This is unexpected.”

“Hey. Just checking in you. I guess maybe I should start properly reconnecting with old friends outside of just Sonia,” Anja shrugged.

Harlan blinked, but he smiled, putting down his sandwich for a moment. “One of us probably needed to, at least. Thank you.”

“So yeah. How’re you doing? Still doing law and civics?” One of Harlan’s goals in life was to become an honest politician who could improve the lives of others, last she checked. Maybe that had changed, who knows?

“Yes, I am. Despite how things have changed, well… Someone has to work to make things better. My ambitions haven’t changed a bit.”

Anja leaned back in her chair. “Good to hear. Matt would’ve wanted you to keep trucking on. You used to go on and on about how you’d change the country for the better, or maybe even the world.”

“The ramblings of a naive, delusional teenager. I still do want to do that, but I do not have that kind of energy anymore. The person who used to help me stay positive is gone now. And despite how much I dream of a world where that is not the case… Matt is not coming back.”

Anja did wonder if Harlan actually had a crush on Matt, considering the effect his death had on him. As far as she knew he didn’t fall into the same kind of depression she did, but it sure as hell darkened his personality.

Harlan continued, “so, are you still doing biology?”

“Yeah. Would make Matt’s sacrifice feel like it didn’t matter at all if I didn’t keep going. Besides, I really like doing it, so why not?”

“Good enough reason as any, I suppose,” Harlan said, taking another bite out of his sandwich. “Do you have a part-time job? I know your parents are kinda loaded, but…”

“Yeah. I work at the library for a few hours on some days. It’s decent enough work. Everyone knows Es works at the Purgatory bar, and Nat works at a tech store. What about you?”

“Still working at my father’s butchery. Business is still just fine despite competition from the local supermarkets. It’s steady work, really. So, long story short, could be worse.”

“You keeping in contact with any of the others? I kinda am from time to time, but, you know, had my own shit to deal with.”

“Unfortunately, I am more or less in the same boat as you. I do wish I could properly reconnect with them again. Sometimes I wonder if I used Matt as an emotional crutch that I could never properly replace or compensate for. It sure as hell feels like it.”

There was an awkward, long pause. Anja wished she was in Estella’s shoes right now. She’d know how to continue the conversation somehow.

Suddenly her phone buzzed, and she took a look at the message in her notifications. “Oh. Sonia’s asking me where the hell I am. I’m still supposed to meet her for lunch.”

“Right, I won’t keep you. Tell her I said hi,” Harlan chuckled.

Anja just smiled and walked off. “Yeah, I will. Hope you have a good day, Harlan.”

“Still getting that odd feeling from him. I’m not sure I like him or not,” Prometheus said in her head. “It’s weird.”

“Dunno what to say, dude. I suspect a few things, but I’ve got absolutely no evidence one way or another, so I really can’t say,” said Anja mentally. It was really not following up on, at least for the time being.