Becoming monsters is the creation of AiLovesToGrow, setting used with permission

 

This idea comes from Amethyst Dragonfly. Amy and Dawn are her characters, as well. Neppy, Dandelion, and Vanilla are the creation of the inimitable kdlf, who does most of my character art. Rough Draft is the creation of David Silver, to whom I owe a more personal thanks as one of my inspirations to become an author.

 

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Chapter 12: In The Neighborhood

 

Justin was once again glad he’d been actually taking care of himself the last two weeks. Ish. Okay, maybe not completely as his Stamina and Mana readouts indicated, but better than before. He could now, for example, walk briskly a quarter mile up the sandy beach without feeling like he wanted to die. This let him do so without embarrassing himself in front of the two women who were apparently his new neighbors. Thankfully, the Fox and the Unicorn were honest about their home being close. They hadn’t been too far along their long walk on the beach before they ran into him.

 

It turns out he had been quite correct about the possible value of the stretch of land the Seaside manor had landed on. According to the ladies, small communities dotted the area. Occasional resorts and tourist villas, neighborhoods, public beaches, and… well, this. Justin figured it might count as a neighborhood. Certainly, a wildly eclectic bunch of people resided in this wildly eclectic bunch of small homes, going about their day with friendly smiles and an open attitude. On the other hand, his eye could quite clearly recognize that these small homes were not arranged normally.

 

It seemed like every one of them was attached to a workshop of some kind. Glass blowers. Painting. Metal workers. Writing desks. All set up to enjoy the open air when the weather was good. Seemingly, all occupied by people at their craft. Amy, the Fox walking him around, seemed a bit apologetic. “It’s not normally this crazy around here,” she said, waving at a Human who waved at her before going back to dipping extremely elaborate candles. “You might have noticed that we’re situated close to the Guild Hall, though, and next month is Dungeon Expo West. There’s a lot of tourism that comes with that, so if we miss the opportunity to make sales then the beans and rice don’t taste all that good. Lots of accidents have had me running around, too.”

 

“You’re a healer?”

 

“Channeler. Not Delver certified and no intent to be, but I can fix up the various burns, scrapes, and assorted other mishaps that can happen around an artisan town. Dawn and I,” she nodded at the Unicorn walking next to them, silently looking around,” are kind of the town’s keepers. Someone’s gotta keep things up and running when the maintenance crews aren’t here yet or the ambulance ride will eat your next month of profits.”

 

Justin looked over at someone at an anvil, swinging a hammer at full force at something with a shape he could not quite make out. “Yeah, I could see that. Kind of a shock I hadn’t heard noise from the town, you’re not all that far away.”

 

Dawn shook her head. “Combination of the sand and the trees dampens the reach of the sound. Plus most of us try to be courteous, I get hired for a lot of mystic soundproofing.”

 

Justin looked over… and up… at her. “Mystic soundproofing? I thought you’d be a… more fighty Class?”

 

“A lot of people think that. Just fine by me, it keeps the idiots off my horseshoes if they think I can chuck them into the ocean from my workshop.”

 

They were interrupted then by a chipper voice coming from the left. “Hey there! Someone new move in? Welcome to the neighborhood!” When Justin looked towards the source he saw a smiling woman, looking feline but quite striking. Her left side was a light golden color, her right pink, split directly down the middle from nose to tail. She was standing before a canvas set up on an easel, and behind her a much more normal-looking white cat played with a ball of yarn on the grass next to her.

 

Amy the Fox smiled right back. “Hey, Neppy! Projects going well?”

 

“Yep, this one’s already sold. Dandelion’s inside getting the digital gallery updated. And, you are?” She looked significantly at Justin, clearly trying her best to give him a deliberate opening.

 

Justin, for once, could take the hint. “I’m Justin, art student in Seattle. Just moved in a little ways down the beach with my girlfriend Abbey. Kind of accidentally, but it worked out.”

 

“How do you move in to a beach house with someone ‘accidentally’? You know what, don’t answer yet, I’m sure it’ll make a good story to tell when you can all visit. Oh, where are my manners, standing out here while paint dries. Come inside!”

 

A window opened at the front of the house, and out popped a rather cute woman’s face… who happened to be a Red Squirrel. A skunk stripe ran down her back and a wicked look on her face as she practically yelled “that’s what SHE said!”

 

“And this is Dandelion, Vanilla here is her companion,” Neppy said with a sigh as the cat rolled around in a rather laughing manner. Despite this, Neppy walked over to the window and shared a deep, tender kiss with her… roommate… before the other ducked back in the window. “Have you told him yet?”

 

Justin’s eyes narrowed. “Told me… what, exactly?”

 

“Ah, they didn’t. Take a look around, Justin. You told me you’re an artist, too. This is no ordinary craftsman’s retreat.”

 

It took Justin a few more moments to realize what else was different here. All of the people at their crafts were doing so with their hands and skill alone. Justin could not see a single magic spell being cast, nor a single Class Ability, not a Racial Trait that he could determine. “It’s… all by hand?”

 

“Pre-Change art, yes. Can’t really say it’s all ‘by hand’ when we have an author who types on a hoof-pad.”

 

A tenor man’s voice came from the street behind him. “Hay, I heard that!”

 

Justin whirled around to find the speaker. It took his eyes a second to register that there was exactly one entity who could have even remotely been in the place his ears insisted. A horse. One whose coat was in inky browns and grays, whose mane, fetlocks, tail, and hindquarters were in inky black, and who had a brand on his flank depicting a pen and scroll. “I’d say hay is for horses, but it seems that’s the point. I’m Justin.”

 

The horse whinnied out a laugh. “Rough Draft. I must say that I enjoy people with unbridled senses of humor.”

 

In spite of the groans behind him, Justin grinned. “I just can’t seem to rein it in.”

 

“At least you have the bit in your teeth!”

 

“Can’t stall it.”

 

“That would be putting the cart before the horse, yes.” Rough Draft… the name was odd, sure, but no worse than Dandelion… grinned broadly. In a horse’s mouth, that looked oddly unpleasant, but it was friendly at heart. “And before you ask, I’m an Equuleus. The body can be inconvenient, but at least my transit times are quick. Gimme a hoof before I have to hoof it, this was entertaining but I’m late.” He offered one forehoof forward, which Justin awkwardly fist-bumped before Rough Draft trotted away.

 

“Is he… always like that?”

 

The Unicorn lady behind him snorted and shook her head, another oddly animalistic gesture. “Only if he likes you. Which, given that he likes pretty much everybody… yep, he’s always like that. He’ll make puns until he’s hoarse.”

 

Even Justin had to groan at that one. “Looks like it’s getting late. I’d best get back, but I look forward to coming by again. Um, most of my art is digital painting, but I’m a Shaper. Been experimenting with that as a material medium recently. Do you all mind that?”

 

Neppy smiled. “We don’t discriminate, just don’t try to claim it’s from Neptune Row if you do. Heck, bring it by and we can give you some feedback. Nothing like a bunch of creators to make sure you’re up to scratch!”

 

There was a bonk sound. Vanilla the cat had managed to find a paper towel tube somewhere and tapped the multicolored feline lady upside the head with it in retaliation for that last pun. With a chorus of laughs, Justin got moving… then checked his phone. There was an alert there that he’d missed, about fifteen minutes prior. There was only one person (other than his boss) who would be texting him at this time of the evening. Abbey.

 

“Do you mind if I bring a few guests to the house through the Door?”

 

Guests? Really? Bit soon for that, but he figured that Abbey wouldn’t even ask that unless she had an extremely good reason for it. He rapidly typed back “sure, I’ll be back there through the beach door in about ten minutes.”

 

“We’ll talk at the house.” Ominous.

 

Justin picked up his pace. Significantly. He was again thankful that the distance really wasn’t all that far, it would be nice to bring Abbey by and introduce her. The next time circumstances permitted… which might be tomorrow and might be thirty years from now. Really no telling what was going to happen these days. It was like life itself was just getting crazier day by day. As he got in the front door, there was no noise or motion. Just the light of the setting sun streaming from behind him. Good, enough time to take a quick shower to get the sand and sweat off. A quick text to Abbey to make sure he’d have at least five minutes, and he hopped in.

 

He likely should have waited for a response.

 

Justin emerged from the shower and toweled off his hair. As he took off the towel, he realized something quickly. Standing in front of him, looking slightly apologetic, was a woman. A woman with deeply tanned skin, wide hips, a tight core, frankly enormous boobs, a devastatingly pretty face… oh, and horns, wings, a tail, and clawed feet. And not one singular shred of clothing. His yelp was legendary, and he extremely rapidly wrapped the towel around his waist… and Shaped the seam closed to improvise a sort of white, fluffy kilt.

 

“Oh! Sorry about that. Kind of used to not waiting for the showers to empty, you don’t mind, do you?” Her voice, like literally everything else about her, was designed to directly bypass his brain and go directly south. He found himself tenting his kilt dramatically.

 

“Um, it was unexpected. Let me get out of your way.” Justin, despite the wishes of certain parts of his body, edged as far around this unexpected visitor as possible so as to avoid contact with the prominently protruding breasts.

 

“Don’t be so embarrassed. Ever since I got pregnant, they kinda went out of control. I don’t object to occasional brushes.” She took a deep breath in, which had the side effect of pushing those remarkable globes outward. Justin fled before he could see more.

 

Then found that he’d accidentally locked himself into his improvised kilt. One torn seam, several thoughts about ice water, and a change of clothes later, and he left the master bedroom. Sitting at the kitchen table was Abbey, along with three others. An Indian and a Korean woman, and one guy in a frankly ridiculous shirt (and Justin had seen MANY ridiculous shirts in his time as a barista, so he knew them when he saw the ) who was holding a baby in his arms. The nerdy guy looked over at him. “I assume from the yelp you’ve met May?” Justin nodded. “Hello, then. I’m Todd, and here’s Ghata and Song. This little one is Alex.” He leaned down to kiss the top of the sleeping child’s head.

 

“I’m Justin, and I assume you already know Abbey?”

 

Todd grinned. “Can’t claim that one, but we found her. Pregnancy complications with May and Alex got us sent over to Central Cascadia. Best one for Racial complications, and a lot of people don’t want to work with Greater Succubi.”

 

“That still doesn’t really tell me what you’re doing here, in our home.” Justin glanced over at Abbey, who half-shrugged.

 

“So, here’s the thing. A couple of my professors noticed that a bunch of weird stuff has been happening in a few places.”

 

Abbey shook her head. “You’re going to have to be a lot more specific than that. You know, in case you forgot about the Change and all. Don’t blame you, it’s been five years.” Her tone was bone-dry, and the laughter that followed it was just short of hysterics.

 

The Korean woman, Song, took a deep breath to settle herself. “You’ll have to excuse him. Math majors hate making specific statements until they get their data. Thing is, a lot really has been going on here. You got a spike in Dungeon activity, major demons running around the streets at least twice that we know of, and at least three or four Wish-tier effects that we have been able to determine. That’s… not normal, even now.”

 

Todd nodded at her. “And that doesn’t even count this particular bit of… call it surreal estate. Mansions appearing out of the blue aren’t exactly normal, either… uh, what’s so funny?”

 

Both Justin and Abbey were laughing so hard that they could barely breathe. Ghata, the Indian lady, took a moment, but started to chuckle with them. “Todd, I think that sound is your Dad Joke qualification accidentally developing now that you’re a father. I think we can scratch a couple of mysteries off the list, too. Going to make a wild guess. Abbey, you’re a Marid, and Justin has your bound object, so this is the result of one of the Wishes that were detected?”

 

The blue woman sat up. “Correct on all counts, though how you got the bit in the middle I’ll never know.”

 

“My family is a bunch of priests and clergymen. You don’t make it far in our faith trying to do that without being at least decent with people, so I picked up some of it.”

 

The door to the bedroom creaked open and May stepped out, freshly showered. “Oh, so glad Alex stayed calm for that. Thanks for holding him, dear, I was starting to feel a bit gross after the hospital stay.”

 

“My pleasure, May. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of holding him.”

 

The ladies couldn’t help it. For that matter, neither could Justin. The chorus of “awww” emerged immediately from everyone in the room, completely unhindered.

 

The sleeping baby reminded Justin, though. The sun had been setting outside, and given the season that meant it was getting late. “I hate to be the wet blanket, but it is starting to get late. Where are you all staying?”

 

Todd perked up a bit. “Oh, we’re at the… oh.” He seemed concerned. “Uh, guessing the hospital isn’t an option now, is it? You all know of any places nearby that aren’t too expensive?”

 

Abbey thought for a moment. “Actually, I might. Justin, do you know if there are any guest rooms unlocked? We have a nursery, after all, it seems a shame to need it and not use it.”

 

“Good point. This place is enormous for just two people. Really, still big for six and a baby, but no point making them get a hotel.” Justin stood. “Getting the baby to the nursery seems like the big priority, I think. Let’s get started?” The nursery, thankfully, was not far from the kitchen and main bedroom. The crib was apparently comfortable, or at least Alex didn’t mind being put in it. A guest room had also sprouted… immediately adjacent to the nursery on the other side. It was mostly bare, even the mattresses were on the floor (and there were only three of them instead of the four guests), but it was there. Justin had a sneaking suspicion and checked his Status. “I’m back at 20% Mana, Abbey. You’re probably a bit limited, too.”

 

Her eyes got a blank look as she checked herself. “Yeah, I am. How did you guess that?”

 

“Because I’ve been almost physically restraining myself from Shaping all day and somehow lost 26% of my Mana pool at the same time we discovered a new room opened up.

 

Todd looked over at them and pulled a small flip notebook out of one pocket. “Sounds like what I’m here for. If you two don’t mind giving me the data, I might be able to help out a bit more precisely.”

 

Ghata and song had to suppress giggles. May just smiled, a warm kind of thing that told Justin and Abbey that there was an inside joke somewhere and that it was an endearing one.

 

Abbey yawned. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. We’ll have time for all of this then, I think. I’m not going to lie, there is a lot to write down, and neither Justin nor I were exactly writing down the particulars as we went.”

 

Todd pretty obviously tried to hide his disappointment. He also pretty obviously was stricken by the news like Abbey had personally stabbed him through the heart and left him to bleed out. Mostly metaphorically.

 

“We both have work shifts tomorrow, remember?” Justin again did not enjoy being the wet blanket. “I don’t know about the bank, but I know I’m not allowed to stand around chatting to customers even if they come by and order caffeine on the hour.”

 

The guests looked back and forth at each other. “Uh, none of us drink coffee,” Song delicately interjected.

 

Abbey facepalmed. “Boy are YOU in the wrong state for that.”

 

Song raised her hands defensively. “A lot of the students at Yellowstone have Status issues over it! Even if we used to, two years is enough to get out of the habit.”

 

“Hold up, two years?” Abbey was sharp enough to catch that much. “You’re still students?”

 

Todd grinned sheepishly. “Um, call it work-study. We have remote accommodation for streaming classes, but since all of us are ahead of the power curve we could take the time to do this. If it all comes together right, I could further knowledge of the Status worldwide as people explore the upper edge of what is currently known. If not, then I add to the data for someone later.”

 

“Aaaaand… them?”

 

“Ghata and Song are medical and veterinary track. They’re getting some on-the-job training credits at the hospital and zoo. May is going for Business Administration.” He looked over at her with a significant look. What that look meant, Abbey had no idea.

 

“That’s what I went for, May! I can help you out while you’re here if you need it. I mean, not exactly applying it right now, but I remember the academic side.”

 

“Thanks,” May said with another warm smile. “Kind of taking it easier this next semester or two. Alex is going to take a lot of our life for a while. Our university was kind of built with adaptations in mind, and I kinda already had a few in place.” She looked down at her lush body. “I already had problems stepping into live classrooms without derailing lessons, adding these probably won’t help.”

 

The Indian lady, Ghata, got a wry grin. “At least we know the baby won’t go hungry. Speaking of, May, you need to pump before you go to sleep. Remember what happened last night.”

 

“Don’t remind me. I’d rather not swim back to wakefulness again.” The Succubus looked at Abbey and Justin. “I know I don’t mind, and neither do my friends or husband, but since I’m about to drop top and get to work you’re going to get an eyeful if you’re still here.”

 

Justin’s cheeks went bright red, but Abbey looked thoughtful. “I think I’ll stay and watch, at least once. Don’t need it yet, but when I do I think I will really want to know how those things work.”

 

Justin’s cheeks went much, much redder. The double entendre was not helping his mind stay where he wanted it to be. With a few stammered words (and quite a few laughs from the others, he made his excuses and left the guest room. Standing outside the door, he caught his breath. Then, slowly and deliberately, he walked past the Nursery door and the peacefully sleeping baby within to go back to the room he shared with Abbey.

 

He sat on the bed he shared there, but found he just couldn’t bring himself to go to sleep. It just wasn’t the same without his azure amore there with him. Instead he reached into his backpack and pulled out his tablet and stylus. There were things he probably should have been working on, sure, but he found his hands moving to a different train of thought. Not a wildlife study. Not a correction to his still life. Not his mandala assignment. Not even refining his plans for the glass sword. For the moment, his portfolio didn’t matter. It was just him, his stylus, and an idea he wanted to put onto the page.

 

Being honest with himself, he wasn’t even sure what he was drawing. Just dark blue scribbles as far as his eyes could tell, but his heart and his hand had other ideas. It began to resolve as he chose another color, a warm tan. Two people, it looked like. One tucked under the other’s chin, with pointed ears. The other with a slight trace of a smile. Something in their arms, wisps of blue smoke trailing off of the bundle.

 

His thoughts were interrupted there as the door opened. He turned off his screen quickly, not quite sure why but quite certain that this particular thought needed to stay inside his head for at least a little longer. Looking up, he saw his favorite shade of blue moving towards him. “Abbey, glad you’re here. Learn anything useful?”

 

“Yeah, I’m glad I have some limited shapeshifting. Production is going to be important, I think, but carrying those around when it ISN’T time to be feeding a little one doesn’t look like fun. Todd seemed more interested in the proceedings than I was. Couldn’t sleep?”

 

Justin got a chuckle. “No, too many thoughts my head and too little Abbey in the bed to make that easy. I think having you in my arms will fix both.”

 

“Cute. Been practicing that line?”

 

“Would you believe I came up with it on the spot?”

 

“In that case, I think you need to hang out with more Bards. I like it.” Abbey was grinning broadly as she changed into pajamas.

 

“They’re Bards?”

 

“Just Todd, didn’t catch what the others were. Just that Ghata and Song weren’t Human despite appearances.”

 

“Huh. That’s… interesting. You didn’t get the chance to tell me how you met them.”

 

“No, you were in the shower for that part.” Justin shrugged. Fair was fair. “What they told you was the same thing they told me. Walking around looking for the source of a ton of thaumic disturbances, they realized that the bank teller who helped them might be a Marid and came to check if i was the source. The looks on their faces when they realized I was only two of them, let me tell you…”

 

“So you brought them here to… what, check out the house?”

 

“Basically. That, and I could see that they probably didn’t have a place to stay.”

 

“I’d ask how, but I think I’ve got a few good guesses.”

 

“Yeah. And the thing is… I think the house knew they were coming. That’s why it sprouted a nursery for them, the adults could have slept on the floor but Alex needed a place that was a bit more peaceful.” She climbed into bed and they both laid down, Abbey snuggling up into Justin’s arms.

 

“As the peaceful fog of sleep began to come over them, though, one last errant thought escaped Justin’s lips. “If the Nursery was for them, why is there a second crib in it?”