FSE

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“Jiffy’s going to be here soon.”

Tommy perked and looked over from his laptop. Kyle was lounging on his bed and staring at the television. Tommy getting a TV and bring consoles was great. Kyle was playing Mario Kart. Or, more specifically, getting his ass kicked while playing Mario Kart online. He hadn’t played for a few of the games and the rust was showing.

He glanced over briefly, seeing Tommy had his paw up to pull one of his headphones off his ear.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t realize you couldn’t hear.” Kyle’s eyes flicked back to the screen. His muzzle wrinkled as he got hit by the third red shell in a row. “You really like music huh?” Kyle shifted his tail to gesture at all the posters plastering the walls on Tommy’s side of the room.

“Uh, yeah,” Tommy meekly responded. Kyle could hear the headphones be set down on the desk. “Sorry, I just like to listen to music most of the time. I don’t really like it when it’s quiet. Uh… Guess I’m picky about sound.”

“Yeah, no problem. Looks like you listen to a lot of feline artists?” Kyle’s tail gestured again. Then he grunted, lowering the controller, paws resting in his lap. Tenth place. He used to be so good at Mario Kart. Then Kyle looked back at Tommy to find the cat staring again.

“Uhm… yeah, but also a lot of other species’ work. I guess I just got posters of a lot of felines.” He turned his gaze to the wall, now looking rather guilty.

Kyle laid his ears back a little. He quickly tried to backtrack, “Oh, dude, it’s chill. It’s fine. Lots of people have a preference for their own group. It’s not something you should worry about. Seriously.”

At least that got a bit of a smile and nod from Tommy. He went to put his headphones back on. Before he could Kyle interrupted, “Oh! The thing you didn’t hear. Jiffy’s going to be here soon.” And then there was tapping at the window. Kyle chuffed a laugh, “Uh… Jiffy’s here.” He rolled forward and stood, moved to the window, and opened it. “We’re going to nab a quick dinner. Then we’re playing Crossroads tonight.”

“What’s Crossroads?”

Jiffy chirped happily as he slipped inside. He launched himself, landing and hugging on Kyle’s front. “Big boomer!” He chirped, earning a laugh from Kyle. Kyle wrapped his arm around Jiffy then shut and locked the window.

“Crossroads is a tabletop. The game’s actually ‘Walking the Crossroads’, but everyone just calls it Crossroads. Dungeons and Dragons kind of thing? Angel’s the dungeon master, telling us a story and narrating, we play characters, roll dice…” Kyle trailed off.

Jiffy hopped onto the bed and sat back, adding, “And it’s the best!”

Tommy nodded. “Yeah, I gotcha. I used to play Dungeons and Dragons with a few friends. One of their dads was crazy about it and did the DM thing.”

“That’s cool,” Jiffy responded. He looked at Kyle, tail twitching with excitement. “I’ve missed it SO much.”

“Couldn’t tell,” Kyle laughed while teasing his claws through Jiffy’s swishy tail. Kyle flopped on the bed with Jiffy, the squirrel quickly dodging out of the way and hopping atop his favorite roo.

“Uh, if you don’t mind… what’s with the goggles?” Tommy ventured, gesturing to his own face. Kyle looked down, spotting the black goggles Jiffy was sporting. It was so normal to him he hadn’t even registered them.

“Oh, I didn’t feel like wearing my contact lenses. These are my glasses,” Jiffy poked at a lens with his claw tip. “Us climbers can wear underloop glasses but they fall off too easily when you’re running upside down or sideways. Around the ears just… pull my ears too much. These are comfier to wear.”

Tommy nodded, “Ahh. I see. Never knew that.”

It piqued Kyle’s curiosity. He glanced to the window then back at Tommy. “You know your keycard will let you in through the window right? Never seen you use it to get in.”

Tommy did that weird cat thing. Where he froze and just kind of stared. He glanced back to his laptop before meeting Kyle’s eyes again.

“Uh, yeah. They told me at orientation and all. It’s just not like… I don’t know.”

“Do you file your claws too dull?” Jiffy queried, sitting up further.

“No, it’s uh… like not everyone can right? So it’s kind of rude to do it. I know some of the big cats upstairs do, but like… it’s nicer to not do it. Right? Less crime where all species do the same.”

It hit Kyle just a little too slowly. “So like, I shouldn’t hop around?” he blurted out. Then he realized what Tommy was talking about.

“No! Uh… like, everyone should do what they want right? What’s right for them? But it’s just that there’s less crime where everyone shares what every other person has. When everyone’s equal and celebrates what we all share, not what makes us different.”

The weight of awkwardness in the room was so very oppressive. Kyle desperately rummaged through his knowledge for anything to respond with. The only items coming to mind were vehement arguments on what bullshit that was. He felt Jiffy ready to respond. Kyle had to be first, to cut off whatever Jiffy would say.

“So, you’re really into music right? Why aren’t you a music major?” Kyle ventured, hands teasing through Jiffy’s tail fur, encouraging the rodent to chill.

“Oh, I’m a criminal justice major. That’s what I’m supposed to do. Like…” Tommy’s eyes flicked between Kyle’s and Jiffy’s. “Just like, it’s what my family does? Dad, uncle, grandpa… but if I have a degree it’ll go better for me.”

Another hit. Kyle moved his arms around Jiffy, hugging and squeezing the little chirper against himself.

“What kinds of music are you into the most?” Kyle resisted gesturing to all the posters this time.

“Oh, all sorts! Rock, R&B, hip hop, some blues and jazz are really cool. How about you?”

“Mostly old music,” Kyle chuckled, “I grew up on my dad’s music. Lots of stuff I guess, but it’s all old. After the divorce it was kind of… what I listened to to chill. So I’ve got old man music.” He lifted his paw from Jiffy’s tail, pointing to the squirrel, “And this nut listens to like… death metal. That’s it.”

“Hell yeah,” Jiffy chirped happily. “Best music there is.” He wriggled and pushed free of Kyle’s grasp. “It’s kind of recent to the scene back home but I’ve been listening to it for ages,” Jiffy added as he scampered down the bed and dove to Kyle’s desk.

“Neat! I haven’t listened to that much.”

Kyle could hear Jiffy rummaging through his stuff. He already knew the squirrel was getting his gaming stuff together, tucking it into Kyle’s backpack.

“So, you’re doing that major thing. Why not get a minor? My advisor told me it was pretty easy last year. Like… if you’ve declared and set up your schedule and all.”

Tommy stared for a bit. So eerily. Long enough for Jiffy to climb back up atop the bed and flop against Kyle’s feet. Intentionally rubbing against one as he did. Kyle shivered, toes curling while his paws were teased.

“... Yeah I guess I could.”

Tommy pulled his headphone back on and turned back to his laptop. Kyle pushed at Jiffy with his foot. “Keep that up and we’ll be late to Crossroads.”

Jiffy smiled wider. He leaned over and gently kissed Kyle’s middle toe, the largest one, of Kyle’s left footpaw. “It’s kind of hot. Not like, feet are hot. But it’s fun for sure. Such a big, powerful boomer… putty in my paws.”

Kyle tugged his foot away and huffed, “Seriously? Putty in your paws, and…” Kyle gestured to the faint bulge in his shorts. Then he saw Tommy’s head tilt. He quickly looked back to Jiffy and chuffed. “We should get going.”

Jiffy peeked over at Tommy, snickered, and nodded. “Yeah.”

They loaded up, Jiffy climbed atop Kyle, braced on his tail and shoulders, and they made their way out. Kyle saw a couple of his floormates on the way, greeting while hopping down the hall and stairs. Soon the mild evening air hit him. It was refreshing. A sign summer was fading into autumn. Kyle’s favorite time of year.

“So you told your dad we’re fuck buddies?”

Kyle was, thankfully, mid-bound and gliding through the air. If he had been landing at that moment he might have crashed. Luckily he got himself together before he landed and bounded forward once more.

“What?”

“I’m defiling you, remember?” Jiffy’s muzzle bumped at the back of Kyle’s ear. “Pretty sure that means he knows we have sex,” he teased. Savored. Kyle knew Jiffy too well to know he wasn’t loving teasing him so.

“Well… yeah. So uh. My dad and I…” Hop. “We talked a lot on the way up here. I should tell you about it. It’s not …” Hop. “He’s not like I thought. He’s actually probably one of the best dads ever. Feel bad that I thought all that stuff about him.”

“That’s awesome! That’s really great to hear. I’m really happy for you.”

Kyle winced as he hopped again, the campus cafe not far off now. Did that hurt Jiffy? Kyle had been wrong about his dad. There was no way Jiffy was wrong about his own father. That squirrel was a monster.

“... So the ‘us having sex’ part?”

Kyle chuffed again. Head up, hop high. “Yeah. Dad was asking about my boyfriends, and if I was dating anyone here. I told him about you, and that uh… we’re not exactly dating.” Kyle slowed, hops becoming shallower. “I really want to be honest with him, and kinda… I don’t know. I told him I had the best squirrel friend with benefits ever. I guess I kind of want him to know that’s normal too. I’m trying to convince him to, like, find someone again. He’s sorta spent his whole life working to support me behind the scenes. He should do his own life again, find someone…” Kyle shifted to walking. “And there’s not a lot of us reds around. I wanted to let him know that you can like… interspecies.”

There was silence for a little. Finally Kyle turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Jiffy was smiling at Kyle. Not teasing, not disgust, just… smiling affectionately.

“You’re adorable, big boomer,” Jiffy happily squeaked before giving Kyle’s cheek a nuzzle. “That’s really cool. I hope it helps him out. You were looking pretty chipper. Wasn’t going to pry, but… makes sense now.”

“Pry all you want little nut. If I’m going to be open and honest with my dad I should definitely be open and honest with my best friend.”

“Such a romantic,” Jiffy cooed. He nuzzled at the back of Kyle’s ear before hopping off to walk beside the roo. “What’re you in the mood for?”

“I am dying for some chana dal.”

“Cricket burger, here I come!” Jiffy chirped happily before turning toward a different counter.

“Ugh,” Kyle grunted.

***

Dinner was wonderful. A relief. Kyle was so glad he got permission from Mimi to eat away from the dorm despite the ‘week one’ thing. It gave Kyle some private time with Jiffy before their Crossroads session. Moreso, dinner let Kyle get so much off his chest. Jiffy prodded and chirped to know and Kyle was more than happy to divulge. The drive with his father. Getting dinner together, bonding and talking at length for the first time in ages. Learning the truth about the divorce. How his father was a guardian angel. Not just for Kyle, but for his panther sister. Rupert’s absence hadn’t been disinterest or lack of love. It was all his non-stop working, non-stop dedication, to Kyle and his new family. Kyle had gotten blurry eyed during it, but thankfully, kept it together.

It felt so good to spill everything.

Everything except the one bed. The blowjob. The tug session in the shower. Kyle kissing Rupert and freaking his poor dad out…

It was far better than keeping -everything- inside.

When Jiffy mounted up he squeezed Kyle extra tight. “I’m so happy for you big boomer. You’re like… different. Good different. Just like, less…” Jiffy paused. He rode, moved with, as Kyle took off hopping towards the science building. Jiffy muttered in his native language for a moment. He pressed his face to Kyle’s scruff. They moved so fluidly together as Kyle hopped. “It’s like you’re more relaxed I guess?”

Kyle was silent for a bit as they hopped along.

“I guess it’s really cool to know that the bad things weren’t there. Like… Aadi being college dad was awesome. But that wasn’t fair to my dad. I’m less damaged than I thought, I guess.”

Jiffy kept nuzzling while they sailed through the air. It was a bit before he chirped, “I’m glad.”

***

Thunder rumbled low and reverberated. The room grew a little lighter when lightning arced across the screen. Kyle looked around the table, Jiffy settled in his lap. Three goats, a snake, a dog, a badger, and Kyle and his little lap mate.

“So… how do you play? What about your dice rolls?”

They had all settled. And then Ray just probed right in, blunt as could be.

“It’s easy. I have my character sheet memorized. I just remember my health and anima points. All of the dice are shaped differently so that part’s easy. I just have to trust that those I’m playing with are honest about my rolls.”

A pale goat with milky eyes that were, mostly, hidden by blacked out sunglasses. His name was Billy. Kyle did his best not to be amused by it. No worse than a kangaroo named ‘Ru’.

“Which helps when you can trust your sister,” the straw-colored goat next to him added. Betty, which made the twins even cuter to watch. The BBs, as Angel called them.

“No, no way, all of you have to make sure she’s telling the truth. She’s been a terror my whole life.”

Angel laughed, the rest of them joining in on it. The two new goats were Angel’s friends from back in Goat Land. At least, what most everyone called it- eighty-five percent of the population were Caprinae. And incredibly dedicated to the All-Father. Which the newest generation appeared to rebel against.

“Am I really the only new Crossroads player?” the snake asked. Kyle struggled to tell the snake’s sex. Reptiles were always hard but this one was in particular. Shannon. A few searches had led Kyle nowhere- the name was unisex in most areas. The green and blue-black colors implied male. But only some boomslang females were shaded brown. Probably maybe male. But Kyle had little desire to be wrong on that.

“Well, Ray was a Crossroads virgin before this campaign, so not everyone has a ton of experience. I finally roped him in a few months before classes ended. But it’s not really his thing- that’s why we get to add you all. We’re replacing him and the friends that graduated. I like having four to six in a party so this is perfect,” Angel explained. “But don’t worry,” she excitedly proclaimed, raising her arms up, “The Crossroads welcome all! To their boon, or to their demise. Ha ha ha ha ha.” The laughter was, purposefully, comically awful.

“Are they joining now, at the end of this campaign?” Jiffy squeaked while rolling a D20 back and forth over the table. Always unable to sit still. It was probably worse at the moment with a snake on the other side of the table. The snake was kind of long but comically thin to Kyle. His- her? Their head and torso were smaller than Jiffy’s. Kyle wasn’t quite sure why someone smaller would freak Jiffy out, but instincts were instincts. Another thing Kyle didn’t want to be wrong on.

“Sort of. Shannon is going to take over playing Echo for Ava,” Angel gestured to the badger. Ava had always been quiet until they got a bit into the game. She was one of the best players Kyle had met but she was so quiet and reserved outside of game.

“Which is Angel’s way of saying she’s too lazy to any more,” Jiffy squeaked before leaning to the side so he could half hide behind Kyle.

“The dice heard that,” Angel bleated forebodingly.

“Oh yeahhhh, the scary DM dice. The jizz crystals of death,” Jiffy continued, peeking from the spot. Kyle suppressed a snort. The dice Ray had gotten for Angel were meant to look like marble. But they really did look like milky swirls of cum.

“Anyway. Shannon’s playing Echo. The BBs will be playing some former NPCs. We’re probably… three to five sessions from finishing. Ten if you all get lost in a cave again. depends how it all goes. Then we’ll all swap to a new campaign. That’s what I sent you all a few weeks ago. We’ll be starting fresh at level one, a totally new world, everything. And all of you are pretty much ready to go except one particularly big marsupial.”

“I was busy!” Kyle chuffed in defense. He folded his arms over his chest, just above Jiffy. The little rodent settled back in his lap, Kyle’s arms opening and drifting down to hold around Jiffy. It was a lie. Kyle had plenty of time to work on it. He had just felt so lazy over the summer. Other than working out at his dad’s gym, Kyle had just… lazed. Malaise, Jiffy had told him over messengers.

“Yeah yeah, hopping, kicking things, we get it.”

Kyle squeezed Jiffy to keep him from retorting at Ray.

“So, all good to go?” Kyle asked, looking around. The screen flashed with lightning as if it were answering. Angel being the president of the science club had many advantages- one that she could use the largest lecture hall of the science building for their Crossroads sessions.

“Before we begin we’ll do a character intros. Lots of new people, been a while. So,” Angel gestured to her right at Ray. Ray tapped at his phone a little too long before setting it aside and looking up.

“I play an assassin class. It’s a bounder.” They had all agreed playing other species was fine, so long as they weren’t being derogatory. Bounders weren’t exactly macropods but the connection wasn’t subtle. Angel pulled up a portrait of Ray’s character on the large projector screen. It looked like a kangaroo who had been mummified. All bandages. Its eyes were the only part peeking out. And it wore armor atop the bandages, making its form basically indiscernible. The stylized lighting and glass sword looked beautiful. Kyle was always amazed how Angel could be so incredibly smart in science and an amazing artist at the same time. One person having that level of intelligence and skill was almost unfair.

“It never gave a name. Since they’re all wrapped up and clothed it's impossible to tell if it’s a girl or boy.” a brief pause, “Or anything else I guess. The party has been calling it Wraps. It’s an agent from an underground group that keeps the balance the way they want it. Kingdoms where they should be. Money flowing through the right hands. Basically an emotionless murder thing that got roped into a group hoping it might lead to killing the queen of a different nation. And now they’re learning emotions and stuff and can’t seem to convince themselves to leave the group.”

“Inspiring.”

Kyle chuffed and snout bumped atop Jiffy’s head.

Angel hit a key and a new character art appeared. It was a demonic badger. She leaned toward the ‘scary’ side of the sexy/scary line. Still attractive. For someone into women, at least. The demi-devil wore a billowing robe with huge sleeves, a long silk scarf floating around her shoulders and arms. Fortune cards floated around the demi-devil, several shedding from a beautiful butterfly creature. The butterfly looked like it was made of something between fortune cards and stained glass.

“Uh. I’m playing Dee. She’s a demi devil.” Ava pointed at the screen, “and her class is visionist. She joined the group because she prophesied something that she needs to … uh, well, she wants to witness it.” Ava reached out and patted atop a deck of cards in front of her. “Visionists use a deck of cards instead of dice, so… Shuffling, pulling cards, choosing them… that kind of thing.” She lowered the token. “Her familiar is Echo. Was Echo. He’s not a familiar anymore. Dee got a boon from a true devil and Echo became his own person. Echo was an amplifier. He looks like a really big butterfly made of cards, and he helps her refine her visions and attacks. Now they still work together but Echo is kind of like… Pinocchio. He’s a real boy now,” Ava briefly laughed.

“I’m the real boy now!” Shannon chimed, arms above their head. “I’m playing Echo for Ava.” Shannon dropped his arms, folding them across his chest. Her chest? Kyle laid his ears back a little. Even Shannon’s voice didn’t help figure out male or female. Kyle’s ears quickly perked upward when he thought Shannon might have noticed. “Ava is going to be coaching me and helping me learn how to play. I’m some sort of butterfly card thing,” Shannon turned and gestured up to the screen, “and I have no idea what I’m doing,” Shannon gave a dry laugh.

Ava reached out and ruffled atop Shannon’s head affectionately. “You’ll do fine, stop worrying.”

Kyle had a moment of pause. The way the two looked at each other. He had always thought Ava wasn’t … that she was asexual? That’s what he thought. But being attracted to a snake was… Jiffy shifted in Kyle’s lap. Being attracted to a snake was totally fine. Just like being attracted to someone so much smaller than yourself.

There was a long silence. Billy was next and Kyle had no idea how to address the fact Billy couldn’t see that. It apparently wasn’t an issue. Billy nudged his sister with his elbow. Betty rolled her eyes, “We’re playing some NPCs that … well, you’ll see.”

Billy snorted, “Great work Betty. Eloquent as a salt lick,” as relaxed back in his seat, hands behind his head. He ignored the headbutt to his shoulder.

“Our turn? Kyle and I are playing one character. Sort of. I’m playing a dragon named O. His scales are iridescent. Kind of green-purple depending on the angle you look at him, like a scarab beetle. He leans toward a serpentine style dragon. Shorter limbs, long torso, and he’s a quadruped. Long prehensile barbels, really really long tail. Dragons aren’t actually too big in Crossroads like a lot of other fiction. O is about our age, but he’s pretty tiny. Like, the biggest dragons can grow would leave their head the same height as Kyle’s. Except four legged and all so they’re bigger. Just the same height. Anyway, O’s too young to shed any significant magic like we all-” he paused, laughed, looking apologetically to Shannon. “Like most of us shed fur! So he can’t be a source of magic for the Crossroads. Er… Anima, not magic. He’s like… he’s an adult, but you have to be thousands of years old and ancient to shed significant anima. O doesn’t like how things are, and how the older dragons work with caste and anima, so he escaped to the… like, dragons are in a separate dimension. He wants to make a difference, but he can only do it in the… Sorry, do you all know about the dragon dimension and anima thing?”

Betty shrugged while Shannon shook h- their head. Jay looked to Angel. Kyle was sure Jay had no idea what Jiffy was talking about.

“Okay. The crossroads are the point where every dimension meets and overlaps. Dragons live in their own dimension that exists over the crossroads and every other dimension separate from them. They see the same world and watch the mortal world. They see mortals and can affect the mortal dimensions but mortals don’t see them and can’t directly affect the dragon dimension back. Dragons consume caste and shed m- anima. Like scales or fur or dander. It’s just part of them and it sheds. It soaks into the mortal dimension and that’s where all magic that mortals can cast comes from. When mortals use anima it turns into caste which then soaks back into the other dimension for dragons to use. Kind of like oxygen and carbon dioxide. They cycle back and forth between the dimensions.

“O wants to experience how it actually works, do his best to alter it in the mortal realms, and then return to change anything he can to help mortals. Because he’s seen how mortals suffer. And that’s why he escaped to the mortal realm. But the mortal realm can’t support a dragon. He’d basically suffocate. So as he passed into the realm, he panicked, and sought out the closest mortal. Then bound to the mortal, which kind of… gives him a tether to continue living. Basically like getting an oxygen tank underwater. And the mortal is Kyle’s character. And now they’re kind of one character. ”

There was a long pause as those new to the group took it all in. Angel finally moved to the next piece of art. A white bounder with blue highlights wearing heavy armor, holding a lance at his side. His arm was lifted. A tail was wrapped around his arm, the length leading to a dragon perched atop his hand. O and Kyle’s character gazing into one another’s eyes. Each had one draconic, purple eye and one mammalian eye, bright blue. Their eyes were opposite, mirroring one another’s when their eyes met.

“Thanks for taking the hard job,” Kyle chuffed, stroking a single finger along Jiffy’s ear. “I’m playing another bounder. His name is Justice. He was the fourth son in a royal family. That pretty much means he’s useless. Worse, he has no ability to access anima, which his family is known for. They’re a line of really powerful mages. And justice is blue. For the bounders race males are brown to yellow, while females are white to blue. Justice was born blue. Not like, blue blue, but like…” he paused for a moment, then gestured to the screen. “Like that. Sort of like snow. The color is virgin white. It’s actually white but it has a blue tint to it and blue shadows. So Justice is blue. All of that makes it weird for his family. He had sisters, but he wasn’t one of them, and his parents had to acknowledge another son… that looked weird. Anyway, Justice really wants to be useful and to make up for being born wrong. He was out mapping new territory when O crashed into him and knocked him out. Like Jiffy said, dragons are too unstable to exist on the plane, so O forced himself on-”

“Hey!”

Kyle cupped his paw over Jiffy’s muzzle, “On justice and the two can’t separate since then. O and Justice have to be in close proximity at all times, preferably in physical contact, or both of them become unstable. Justice’s body will be destroyed by massive amounts of anima while O’s physical form will destabilize and rapidly decompose. They often introduce themselves as a single person and call themselves Joust now. They’re still two brains and personalities and different people. But they share thoughts and can talk to each other without speaking, like psychic talk. That kind of thing. They still consider themselves two people but it’s easier to communicate when people think O is a familiar or summon or the like. Mechanically they count as one character in the game, so one turn per round and all, but count as two characters toward how difficult our encounters are.”

“Mmph!”

Kyle let go of Jiffy’s muzzle, looking down at him, grinning.

“It’s rude to do that to smaller furs, you know,” Jiffy sassed, his puffy tail fwapping Kyle’s cheek.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. The last thing he needed was some potential new friends thinking he was disrespectful like that. … Then again, he had been disrespectful like that. But he would never do it to someone other than Jiffy, and it wasn’t because Jiffy was smaller. So…

Jiffy looked up, tongue stuck out, tail stroking back and forth over Kyle’s muzzle. “I’m just messing with him,” he chirped as he looked back at the rest of the group. “Kyle’s the best. I promise.”

Kyle slumped back, looking upward and rolling his eyes. He could only assume Jiffy was making it worse. Of course the little fur in the big fur’s lap would be scared and pretend it was a joke.

“That’s cool. Is that why you’re in his lap? Because you two play one character?”

Kyle sat back up, looking at the snake again. Shannon’s voice was’t very masculine or feminine, but it was very distinct. Reptile voices always seemed to be. Not so ‘hissy’ as many stereotyped, but breathy and monotone. Dry.

“That’s because they’re fuck buddies,” Ray snarked.

“The best fuck buddies!” Jiffy quickly squeaked, before Kyle could say anything. “But yeah, ‘cause we share a character sheet. And Kyle’s comfy! And I don’t have to use a high chair. Just better all around!”

Shannon looked over to Ava and smiled, “Dee and Echo are sort of linked right? Even if he’s independent now?”

Ava chuckled, shrugged, then nodded. She held her arm out to Shannon, the snake reaching out and gripping it with both hands. Shannon pulled themself onto the arm and slithered up along it to Ava’s shoulders. Shannon ended up wound around Ava’s shoulders like a scarf, elbows propped atop a coil and resting their head atop their hands.

Apparently they were together. Huh.

Jiffy was tense and fidgeted in Kyle’s lap. Kyle stroked along the squirrel’s belly and chest, trying to comfort away the instinctive fear the rodent had. “Shannon, if you don’t mind, what’re your pronouns? Since we’ll be hanging regularly for Crossroads,” Kyle chuffed, trying to distract from the display.

“Oh, I’m… cis male. That’s it. Er, he-him.”

“Cool, thanks, good to know.”

“Alright… One God’s favor for everyone! Two favors to Ava and Echo for saving the entire game last time. When we left off the party had just finished traversing a cave system. It was unnatural and clearly enchanted, even though all of you rolled shit and thought it was just the most ordinary thing ever. Luckily, Dee and Echo were there with their sound abilities.” Angel paused as she ducked under the table. She pulled out a fortune card, lifted it to show it had art of Echo on the front, and slid it across the table to Ava and Shannon.

“Finally got it printed. Last session with Dee singing, and Echo amplifying, they were able to recognize the party was in a looping space. Seriously, go Dee, you were all going to die of starvation. And that’s why you both get two favors.”

Ava smiled bashfully, eyes down at her paws. She turned her token back and forth between them, the small devil creature turning one way, then the other, as she did.

“And now we’re finally at BBEG’s house. Probably. That’s what you all decided it was even though I never said anything like that, or even hinted at it,” Angel rolled her eyes as exaggeratedly as possible. “Aaaaanyway. Let’s get going. The wide cave steadily narrows, the rough rock giving way as it slowly becomes smoother, gray transitioning to black and white. Eventually the cave becomes a hallway, the floor and walls lined with black and white marble. The vertigo and disorientation have faded away. You all get to remove those debuffs from your sheets. With that, we come to the end of the hallway. There are two ornate doors.”

***

“Alright, bathroom and drink break. Things are about to go down and I don’t want to interrupt that.” Angel pushed herself up and stretched. Kyle watched curiously as Billy rose. He walked, tracing his hand along the table, until he reached the corner. He turned away from the table and walked straight to the water cooler. Kyle stared. The goat reached out, slowing and pausing, until fingertips touched the water cooler. He leaned down and started filling his water bottle. A moment later he stood, turned, and returned to his seat, once again hand feeling out in front of him.

Kyle pushed himself up after Jiffy slipped out of his lap. He didn’t mean to stare, but he couldn’t help but feel it was weird. Billy didn’t use that walking stick that was folded up beside him. Could he actually see? Or see a little? Maybe he had memorized the area already. He couldn’t help pondering on his way to the bathroom. Was it offensive to think something like that?

Kyle pushed the door to the bathroom open, Jiffy following in practically under his feet. Kyle made his way to one of the urinals. Jiffy’s paws made it to Kyle’s zipper before he could. Those deft rodent paws undid his button and pulled his zipper down before Kyle could respond. He chuffed and laughed as Jiffy’s paws pulled his boxers down, tucking them under his sheath. Jiffy was massaging and nuzzling his heavy boomer sack so quickly. Kyle rested a hand on the wall above the urinal, leaning forward, his hips pushing into the touch.

Kyle huffed, “You getting into watersports or something?”

Jiffy recoiled back, giving Kyle such a dirty look. “Ew, hell no. I just have a lot to catch up on. I’ve missed these.” His small paws were so good at massaging Kyle’s balls. Kyle felt a couple inches of his shaft pushed free. He curled the tip, puffing out again. “My roommates texted to see if I wanted to head into town for a double feature. They’re going to be at the movies most of the night…” Jiffy leaned back in, kissing Kyle’s peeking shaft. He looked up from there, “Want to stop by my room after the game’s over?”

Kyle shuddered. His claw tips pushed at the wall, clicking against the tiles. He bit his lower lip, chewing a moment. His shaft curled, stroking around Jiffy’s muzzle. Jiffy laughed and pushed away from him, pawing at his whiskers after.

“Yeah, I could do that.”

“Sweet!” Jiffy quickly made his way over to the urinals for smaller furs. Kyle rolled his eyes and moved his right paw down. He took his shaft and started relieving himself. He mused what an odd habit it was for him- just as his father had taught him- to do that. Prehensile. He didn’t need a paw to aim. But it was like other furs did. Like Tommy said- every fur doing the same.

By the time he was done, pants and boxers back in place, Jiffy was already at the sink. He was soaping his muzzle and whiskers, eyes closed. Kyle washed his paws and chuffed and, in his most offended tone, “Awh, you don’t like how I smell?”

Jiffy rinsed his face and rubbed over his muzzle with his paws. He grabbed a towel and dried before responding, “Don’t even start that. Last thing I need is Ray bitching about smells. And I’m already horny enough without smelling your dick on my face all game.”

Kyle laughed heartily as he dried his own paws. He opened the door for both of them. When they got back to the lecture hall Angel, Ava and Betty were still missing. They settled back into their seat, Jiffy in Kyle’s lap again. Kyle used his right hand to rub Jiffy’s belly, then slipped it lower, fondling and groping his rodent lover. Kyle used his other paw to pull a bag of alfa puffs closer, reveling in how Jiffy’s tail squirmed and batted at him.

“So what’s it like having two dicks?”

Ray had a bored expression, his head resting in one paw with his elbow on the table. But he had that shitty smirk that Kyle knew all too well meant he was stirring up trouble. He asked questions, feigning curiosity and a desire to learn about other species, but he always asked it in the shittiest way. And at the most inappropriate times.

“It’s awesome. You wouldn’t believe some of the crazy stuff I can do with them.” Shannon had this confident smile as he rested on the back of Ava’s chair, seemingly unphased by the question. “What’s it like having external balls?”

“Vulnerable,” Billy bleated and laughed. The rest joined in shortly after.

“I need more girlfriends,” Ava sighed as she returned to her seat. “The second girls are gone you all start talking about your bits.”

“Sorry sweety,” Shannon got out between chuckles. He turned, lifted, and flicked his tongue against Ava’s cheek. She huffed, feigning indignation, but her paw raised and stroked along Shannon’s back. Well, that certainly quelled Kyle’s curiosity.

Kyle popped an alfa puff in his mouth as Angel and Betty returned, everyone settling back in their spots around the table. The conversation had shifted to Jiffy engaging Shannon, much to Kyle’s delight, about heat concerns. They were discussing Aadi’s heating device and what Shannon used. Apparently he was a bit old fashioned, using heat lamps and heated blankets. A far more palatable topic for the two goat ladies to return to.

“Alright! Let’s do this.” Angel clapped her hands, rubbed them together, and started sorting through her notes. “You all suck. I can’t believe you avoided my awesome traps. So this went way faster than expected.” She shuffled through her papers, nodding. “Okay, Dee pulls the curtain open. It reveals a mirror wall. Floor to ceiling, one entire wall is one solid mirror. At first it looks normal, but it quickly becomes obvious something is wrong about the reflection. Without a visual check you can see everything reflected is grayscale and silvery, almost metallic. Other than the lack of color it’s reflecting pretty true to reality- except your expressions. The expression of every one of your reflections is sorrowful, pained. What do you do?”

There was the crackle of a die rolling on the table, “Nat twenty spot check. Thirty-one total. I’ll share what I see as I see it.”

“Nice Wraps. Ruins like, an hour of trying to figure it out, but… Everything I said is true- but you spot one other difference. Wraps, Dee, and Justice’s reflections are each holding something in their hand.”

“I’ll put my hand close to the mirror and open it to see what it is,” Kyle interjected. Ray tended to grab the reins and if someone didn’t act fast he tended to take over the game.

“I’ll walk down his arm so I can get a better view too,” Jiffy added.

“Excellent. It’s not hard to make out what it is. You’re all familiar after all that research into Justice’s family. It’s the royal line’s missing totem.”

Kyle blinked slowly, looked down at Jiffy, then back up at Angel. “Wait. Like, THE totem? The ‘familial disease is gone’ totem? No more anima madness, no more turning evil from using our magic?”

“That’s the one,” Angel nodded. She reclined in her chair, hands up behind her head. “It doesn’t affect you at all, of course, since you’re unable to use anima. But yes, THAT totem. Get it to your dad and he’s purified, no more evil. Everyone sharing his blood can use anima freely, no more madness.”

Kyle tapped his claws at the table, thinking about it. It was his character’s goal. ‘Scouting territory’ was cover for trying to save his family, as did most of Justice’s siblings and cousins. The big family secret, and there was the solution to it. He knew the game was wrapping up but he hadn’t quite expected it.

“Okay, I’ll bite. I hold my hand up to the mirror. What’s my reflection holding?”

Angel turned to Ava, nodding, “Stuck to your reflection’s palm is one of your missing cards.” She paused, glancing at her notes, then back up. “Exemption.”

Ava’s muzzle dropped open. Just a little. Kyle figured he must have had a similar reaction. Shannon looked between Angel and Ava, then gently tongue flicked Ava’s cheek again. “What’s the Exemption card?”

Ava shook her head, glancing to her side. She could only look at Shannon with one eye with how close he was. Kyle could sympathize with that. The same happened with Jiffy.

“It’s the card I need… to see forbidden stuff, pretty much. Exemption frees someone from some limitations of their existence. Dee’s a demi-demon but she’s still mortal. The things she wants to see cannot be seen by mortals. It would drive her insane or kill her. Exemption would prevent that.”

Shannon nodded as he settled back to her shoulder.

“And mine?”

“Oh, sweet Wraps. You know what’ll be in your reflection’s palm.”

“Kingslayer?”

Angel nodded as she sat forward. “A shard of Kingslayer. Your little sword project could finally be complete.”

“Fuck yeah. I reach out to touch the mirror.”

“Wraps hold on, it’s probably-”

Jiffy got cut off by Angel, “Your fingers pass through it. Your reflection’s hand stops a few inches from the other side of the mirror, presenting the Kingslayer shard. Your fingers touch their hand, if you go far enough.”

“Hell yes. Can I grab the Kingslayer shard?”

“Yep.”

“I grab it and pull it out of the mirror.”

“Your hand slips free. It’s hard to tell, since they’re all wrapped up, but Wraps’s reflection doesn’t look so sad any more. They resume mirroring Wraps perfectly, and their eyes look a lot happier.”

“Common sense check.”

“Ditto”

“Same. Can I make a knowledge check too? I’m going to go with caste and anima artifacts.”

Ava nodded, gesturing for them to go. They all rolled. Kyle grunted and narrowed his eyes at rolling a ‘2’. Everyone else got good rolls, spare Jiffy’s knowledge check. That was a disappointing three.

“Common sense. Yep. That’s a real Kingslayer shard. Not cursed, no traps on it. No obvious deceptions. The mirror is weird. O has no idea what’s going on with it, never heard of anything like it before. Otherwise, it’s a mirror. It looks weird, you all know they’re making weird expressions, but there’s nothing obvious.”

“I press the shard into my glass sword’s hilt.”

“Just like the last two. It takes some pressure, and the sword glows a shade of radium green as the shard melts into it. This third one completes the item- your glass sword gains the full Kingslayer ability. Jagged streaks of green bolt through the blade. The edge of it has a faint green tinge.”

“Hell yeah.”

They discussed it for a bit before they agreed to get the remaining items. Dee and Justice reached through at the same time, grabbed their items, and took them free. After assessing and several checks they verified they were the true items.

“What are their expressions like now?”

Kyle had entirely forgotten until Shannon asked. They all looked at Angel. The smile she had was concerning.

“Justice and Dee’s reflections look happier. O’s and Echo’s look horrified. Well… much as a butterfly’s face can look. He is pretty expressive after being awoken. Wraps’s reflection looks malicious. More evil than Wraps usually looks. With that, reaction speed checks for everyone.”

Of course they were all crap rolls.

“Fuck that one, this is what Wraps is good at. Burning up my favor,” Ray grumbled.

“Go for it,” Angel nodded as she marked something down.

“HA, twenty.”

“Alright. O and Echo’s reflections dash out of the mirror, still monochrome, and grapple the real O and Echo. They drag them back into the mirror. Justice’s roll is fast enough for him to follow, but not catch O. Dee’s too slow to react. And of course, Wraps can dodge just fine.”

Ray’s tail nub thumped against the chair rapidly.

“Dee’s going to yell out when they come out of the mirror. She’ll reach out and try to grab Echo before he’s pulled away. When she misses she’ll keep her hand out, extended toward where Echo disappears into the mirror. I’ll follow him into the mirror when my turn comes around.”

“Uh, do I get to do anything?” Jiffy chirped.

“You can say something, but it’s a magical effect. There’s no strength check or anything, you failed the reaction save.”

Jiffy huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Kyle pet atop the squirrel’s head and nodded, “I’ll jump in after him.”

“O. What’s your strongest memory of your siblings?”

“... The last night. When O stated that he wanted to change things yet again. When they all ganged up on him and mocked him. The moments before O jumped between planes.”

“Perfect. That’s what I thought. Justice. After stepping through the mirror you’re teleported to the graveyard. The one where wights attacked you as a kid and your father had to save you. It’s very foggy. You can only see a few graves in each direction before the fog makes everything fade to white. You hear O whimpering, but you can’t tell what direction it’s from. Then you hear the all-too-familiar screech of a wight.”

Kyle laid his ears out and looked down at their character sheet. He puffed out of his nostrils. “I thiiiiink… Justice is kind of going to freak out. So…” Kyle rolled… then chuffed happily. “Well, looks like he’ll keep it together. He’ll pull up his lance and shield.”

“Excellent.” Angel shifted her gaze, “O. You’re back with your siblings. Your mother rests nearby, ignoring as they pick on you. Being the youngest, and smallest, you can’t stand up to the five of them, but you can try. Once again Tah, being the largest and oldest of your siblings, mocks you for your dull scales. She pulls one of your whiskers. She talks about how you’re too weak, too useless, to do anything that matters. How do you respond?”

“Same as always… I hiss at her. Then try, again, to use my animus breath. Hopefully for the first time.”

Angel nodded. “Alright, Justice. You hear O whine and hiss. Then out from the fog steps a truly monstrous wight. It looks like two wights have been forced together. Two arms on one side, one on the other. It has two heads. It walks up to you undefended and it walks at a slow pace. You can take a proximity attack as it closes in.”

Kyle nodded, rolling his dice. “Twenty two to hit… seventeen damage.”

Angel nodded. She leaned forward, elbows on the table, head resting atop her fists. “O. Tah spins and strikes at you with her tail. What’s your strike resistance?”

“Fourteen…”

“The tip of Tah’s tail slams into your chest, hitting you for seventeen damage. Justice, the wight takes the hit without flinching. It rears back, its hand turning to a fist, and slams into your chest. Seventeen points of damage.”

“Angel this is fucked up.” Jiffy crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at her.

“It is what it is. The crossroads welcome all, but give justice to few. Eh?” She grinned, gesturing to the sheet. “How does O respond?”

“He cries out, of course… That’s a big chunk of his health.”

Angel nodded, “Justice. The wight stands before you, towering over you. It seems to have taken damage from your first attack. You now have a full turn. You hear O crying out in pain, echoing from behind the wight. What do you do?”

“... I guess I do my full jousting attack set. Because Justice wants to get past the wight to get to O. And has no idea about this dumb mechanic.”

“You’re such a good boy Kyle. Staying in character, resisting meta knowledge. Roll it.”

“... Nat 20. Fourteen damage, ten perfect strike damage… then four, seven, and three to hit.”

“O, you still can’t use your animus breath. Seeing that you are trying, Tah breaths deep and uses her animus breath on you instead. As you know, you are exceptionally susceptible to her entropy breath weapon. It causes thirty-six damage. … Are you down?”

Jiffy shook his head, tapping at his sheet with a pen, “Two points left.”

“How perfect. She snaps at you three times, but each misses. You are struggling to move, but you barely roll out of the way of each. How does O react?”

Jiffy was quiet for a long moment. “... He cries out, asking for their mother to help. For his siblings to stop her just this once. Pleading for her to stop.”

Kyle’s ears laid back as he looked down at Jiffy. The squirrel had always taken the game rather seriously. He could feel how upset Jiffy was from the lack of movement, how lax his usually tense body was.

“Justice, you hear O cry out in pain. Pleading for you to rescue him. To stop letting them hurt him. While you hear this the wight blasts you with necrotic breath. You take thirty six damage. It swipes at you, clawing with its hands, but you manage to parry and dodge them.”

“Jiffy cried out right when I hit the wight right?” Angel nodded. “Common sense check,” Kyle grumbled. Justice’s weakest area. He tossed rolled the die out of his hand. … “Twenty. Total seventeen.”

“Fun! Dee,” Angel looked over to the badger, “You follow?”

“I hate you Angel. You’re evil,” Jiffy huffed while glaring at the goat. Kyle could feel his ears laying back and down, just like Jiffy’s were. Angel waved her hand dismissively.

“Yeah. I run in the moment I can.”

“Excellent. Sorry, Shannon. I planned this out ages ago and didn’t really have a role for Echo in it.”

Shannon shrugged, “I don’t mind.”

“Dee, when you enter the mirror you pass into … well, mirrors. It’s basically like an elevator, but all four walls are mirrors. The ceiling, the floor, all mirrors. You get that infinity effect where it’s reflection after reflection in every direction. As you enter you catch movement out of the corner of your eye. As you turn right you see Echo flying frantically. Searching. He’s about eight reflections back. He seems to be stuck in that reflection, unable to approach or move away. As he moves to a corner he disappears. You notice movement in front of you. He’s twenty reflections back. Whatcha gonna do?”

Ava sat, quiet and still, thinking for a while. Kyle was vaguely aware of Ray typing away at his phone. Mostly because Jiffy would glance over. Ray’s phone had the tapping sound on when typing. Kyle never really noticed but Jiffy seemed incapable of ignoring it.

“I hate puzzles. I will keep watching Echo and try to see if there’s a pattern to where he appears, how he flies… that kind of thing. Can I touch the mirrors? I want to touch the mirror that has his reflection in it.”

“Happy to tell you- no pattern. You don’t even have to roll- it’s just random. Closer, further, random which wall he appears in. I wouldn’t make you do a puzzle at the end of our game. I’m not -that- evil,” Angel glanced at Jiffy, winked, then back at Ava. “The mirrors are solid. They feel oddly warm, but it’s just like a real mirror otherwise. Smooth glass. Your fingers glide over them easily. You don’t notice any seams or imperfections.”

“Can I do a search check? I want to see if there is anything else in the room.”

“What if it’s an illusion? Like Kyle and Jiffy have,” Shannon quietly asked. Kyle hadn’t noticed the snake move around, now resting his head atop Ava’s.

“Oh, good point. I want to do a search check and a manipulation check.” Ava rolled her dice. Each roll was high. She looked expectantly at Angel.

“Nothing on the search check. You’re in a perfectly square room of mirrors. Manipulation check lets you know you’re in an extradimensional space. Blatant space time manipulation, but nothing you can benefit from in that regard. As you analyze you see Echo continuing to flutter around, desperately searching, panicking. He starts to hit against the walls of glass, the reflections he’s trapped between, as he flits about and tries to return to you.”

“Bonk bonk bonk. I’m like a moth on a lightbulb,” Shannon laughed. “Leaving wing scales all over. They’re gonna have a bitch of a time cleaning all those different reflections.”

Kyle barked out a laugh, startling Jiffy in his lap. He quickly covered his muzzle, muffling himself. Ava laughed a little too. Kyle was looking forward to Shannon taking up the comic relief mantle. Their last funny player had graduated the year prior.

“Can I tell what they’re made of with the manipulation check?”

“Yeah. The mirrors are anima objects. They are equally physical material, caste, and anima.”

“I’ll strike one with my cudgel. One of the ones that doesn’t have Echo in it.”

“No attack roll, it’s not going to dodge or anything. No matter how hard you hit it won’t outright break. It cracks under your attack but the cracks refill with mercury like liquid and the mirror is healed pretty much instantly. And that’s when you hear a cackling laughter. A familiar voice fills your ears.

“You don’t care about anything but your stupid visions,” Angel spoke in a high pitched voice, ojousama style. “You don’t care about your friends. Friends, hah. These ignorant fools that dragged you along, burdening themselves, for what reason? You’re just here to watch them die. To save yourself from tedium, to savor knowing how it actually happens. Do you think you actually care now? And Echo… Just a tool. Forcing the creation of something just so anything in the universe could love you. Free will? You’ve only wasted the boon of a demon on further deluding yourself. You don’t even love him, whatever you say. You just use him, another card in your deck.

“He’s better off here. A specimen for my observations, where he won’t be used.” Ava looked up from her script, “Echo’s flight becomes more frantic. He smacks into the reflections harder, trying to get back to you. You can see him talking, yelling, but you don’t hear anything. He starts to visibly take damage. Roll three D6.”

Ava did so.

“Echo takes 15 points of damage. The Archivist continues. ‘Better agree to let me have him soon. Then again, a corpse is just as good as a live specimen for me… how about for you, Dee?’. She laughs, the laugh echoing before fading.”

“Jeeze…” Shannon mumbled, looking down at Ava.

Ava sighed through her nostrils and sat back, crossing her arms. She thought a long moment before lifting up her deck and shuffling it while thinking. She set the deck down. “Dee’s going to watch Echo for a little while, considering what she said. About the Archivist’s past with her. About the stolen cards, her mother stuck in the collection until her death. She’ll look down at her hand, the one that reached out for Echo as he was pulled into the mirror. Her eyes get wet as she stares at it. She’ll quietly say ‘give him back’.”

“There’s no answer. Roll another three D6” … “Echo takes 11 damage.”

“She’ll repeat it, louder this time. She holds her hand up and her deck starts shuffling in the air before her.”

“Still nothing. Echo is taking significant damage now. Roll three D8.” … “Echo takes five damage. Hah, so much for more significant damage. How’s Echo doing?”

Shannon had moved to the side and hung from Ava’s shoulder, hovering over the table, dry erase in hand. “He’s down to twenty four.”

Ava nodded. She picked up her deck again, shuffled, “Dee’s going to hold out her hand. One card from her deck slips free and flits between her fingers. She yells out, “Give him back!” before flipping the card.” She pulled one free from her deck, flipping to reveal a card with a single bloodshot eye on it. “It doesn’t matter what card it is. The card’s face turns black. Ava’s thumb gets cut on the edge, and blood glides up onto the card, spelling ‘fateless’ in thin filigree. The card turns to ash.”

Ava pulled her Crosswinds book closer and opened it to a page marked by a sticky note. “Fateless does… twenty plus two D10 necrotic decomposition damage to everything around me in a thirty foot radius. That destroys material, caste, and anima in its range… I get to declare one name that takes half damage. Usually a caster would name themself. Dee names Echo.” Ava rolled an eight and two then took the eye card and tucked it into the book.

“Damn. Alright! Echo takes fifteen points, Dee takes thirty, and…” Angel turned back to Kyle and Jiffy. “I love the dice. The attack rolls and common sense rolls we’ll group up together.” Kyle slid his paws under Jiffy’s arms, rubbing his belly with both hands. “Your crit hits and you realize that O is crying out when you attack. It causes you to falter, your second and third attack lack the gusto to hit. Justice realizes that every bit of damage he does is returned, and is hurting O. What does he do?”

“Uh… Hm. Justice is scared, but he is going to trust himself and what he noticed. He stares up at the wight. It’s terrifying to him, after what happened when he was a joey… but he drops his shield and lance. He steps forward and hugs the wight, hoping it’s actually O.”

“O. You feel yourself slipping toward unconsciousness. Tah stares at you with delight. She readies to attack again, and you feel a faint tug. Like the ground is falling out from beneath you. You think it’s death, finally coming for you. Hands reach out from the void, calling to you. What does O do?”

“... Death is better than what he goes through. He can be reborn as a better, stronger dragon, even if it takes a thousand years in the void before a dragon is reborn. O goes for the hands.”

“Wait… O didn’t actually want to change things? He was fleeing his family? He’s been lying to Justice this whole time?” Kyle quietly asked. He looked down at Jiffy.

“... Kind of.” Jiffy looked up at Kyle, meek and still. “... He was picked on because he spoke out about magic and caste and how the mortal realm was treated. He was too small and weak to stand up to the backlash, but still was outspoken about it. But he didn’t know he’d slip between realms… he wanted to die.” Jiffy’s ears laid out.

Kyle stared down at Jiffy, feeling a weight in his stomach. They had designed Justice and O together, knowing how they’d be paired together. They each had small parts they had designed with Angel but Kyle hadn’t expected something so drastic as that. And that Jiffy had hid it from him for so long felt… It hurt in a weird way.

“And Justice learns all this in character. As his arms pass through the wight and he sees what O went through. He learns the truth. And as the world fades. He’s left in the void. The space between dimensions where dragon’s souls rest between lives. To his left is the totem. Your purpose in life, what you’ve spent years questing to find. You can return it to your family and become a hero to your entire nation. You can stop the evil spreading in your family. To the right is O, hanging limp, barely alive, just as you met him when he first slammed into you. Weak, broken. The wyrmling that has lied to you all this time, who has distracted you from your quest. Jiffy shut up. O is unconscious. What’s going through Justice’s mind?”

There was a very indignant grumble from Jiffy. Kyle sat there, silent, reeling as he tried to think of Justice’s in-character reaction.

“You’re really trying to scare off the new recruits, hm? Ain’t gonna work Angel,” Betty tutted.

“Seriously,” Shannon added from their spot hovering over the table, still hanging from his coils around Ava’s shoulders. His arms were folded as he stared at the character sheet.

Billy bleated for a while. Kyle couldn’t understand caprinae, of course.

“... Translation please?” Ray huffed.

“Oh. Sorry. I like it. I’m glad it’s a game that’s not just non stop rolling damage. Those get boring and the guys back home were obsessed with minmaxing and who could break the game and deal the most damage.”

Betty quickly added, “He was talking about him and his friends measuring their dicks.”

“Dick measuring contest. It’s metaphorical, jeeze, Betty.”

Kyle half heard the conversation. He was still staring down at Jiffy, their tokens, and back. When another moment of silence passed he looked up. “Justice thinks about his own life. How it was a lot like O’s. His family treated him the same way. Brothers besting him in training, not holding back. Using anima even when they were supposed to be learning physical combat. His sisters refusing to use anima for him, since he was blue and should be able to heal himself… how he’s dedicated his life to them. To eradicate the evil in his family, hoping that might make them good bounders who loved him like he deserved.

And he thinks about O. How O has been with him the past two years, their adventures together, how they’ve grown together. How they’re opposites and complement one another- anima and caste versus physical. And how, after all that… It was based on a lie. How O has lied to him for so long. Justice understands why, but…” Kyle shrugged.

After a moment of silence Angel spoke. “So… Justice innately knows, deep down he has to choose one. Does he choose his family, or O?”

Kyle looked back down at Jiffy. His friend was pointedly not looking upward, claws tapping at the table as he maintained his Angel-mandated silence. The little squirrel’s body tense in Kyle’s lap.

“... His name is Justice. Some people think justice is someone getting what they deserve. Do bad, get bad. Do good, get good… balancing the world. But Justice knows what his name really means. It is measured in actions, not in words or results. Somewhere I heard the quote ‘do your best, and when you know better, do better’.” Jiffy, who had told Kyle about that one, shifted in his lap. “Sometimes your best will fail, hurt others, and do bad things. And that’s what O does. Despite everything he’s been through, O does his best. Justice goes to O and cradles O against his chest.”

“Oh thank the Father, I did not want to miss out on the last battle,” Jiffy huffed as he slumped back in Kyle’s lap. Kyle chuckled and squeezed around Jiffy, nosing atop his head. He noticed Ava watching them, her eyes wet. Kyle felt dampness on his own muzzle. As if he hadn’t cried enough lately.

“Excellent. Ava, sort of a similar situation. As Dee and Echo take damage the mirrors all crack. The interweaving of caste, anima, and physical of the item is actually quite unstable. They shafter and dissolve. Then the next one. And the next, and the next… reflection after reflection breaks away. You’re left in the void. To the right, ahead of you, hangs Echo, battered and unconcious. To the left is your card. You also have the knowledge that you can only choose one.”

“Echo. Not even a question, Dee is going for Echo right away. She doesn’t even have to think about it.”

Angel nodded, “I figured. Alrighty guys. Justice, you have no way of healing O, and he’s pretty messed up. But as you cradle him to your chest, pressing him close, something flows between you and him. It’s not the cold chill of him channeling anima into and through you for attacks or casting. It’s hot- fiery hot. It’s not painful, but this immense heat flows into your chest. O, you feel the heat as well. The familiar sensation of caste. Justice can’t use anima, he can’t create caste, but anima and caste begin flowing through you both. As Justice holds you tighter, you feel yourself becoming a part of him, and he a part of you.

“Dee. As you hold Echo you feel something flutter. A card drops through the air, floating down like a leaf, until it lands atop Echo. It lands face up. You see a different missing card- not Exemption. But the card Beyond. It lifts, turns, and shuffles into Echo’s wings, and becomes a part of your deck.”

“O and Justice. The world goes dark, fading into the void, before you awaken again. Just you- you are now truly Joust. You transcend together.” She tapped at her laptop a couple times. A new piece of art came up. It looked like Justice but his fur had blue, purple and green accents. He had long barbels hanging from his muzzle. Four eyes, two purple and two bright blue, and four arms. His torso was a bit longer, and his tail far longer than it was before. The tail split at the midpoint too. Each had a tuft at the end. Joust looked feminine and masculine at the same time, beautiful and graceful and strong. At the bottom of the art was ‘Joust’, stylized in beautiful script.

“And here’s Joust’s character sheet. You can transcend once per battle. It lasts three turns.” Angel passed the sheet over, Jiffy starting to study it intently. Kyle couldn’t stop staring at the Joust art.

“Dee. As the card shuffles into Echo you see his wounds healing. His body becomes larger in your arms, so large you can no longer hold him. Light starts to flow over him like he was in a room of stained glass windows. He grows larger, and larger, and…” tap tap. “Congratulations. You cannot witness that which you should not… but you have witnessed the birth of a new dragon soul.”

The art was, as always, beautiful. A large dragon with four wings. Their wings weren’t quite connected, more like giant stained glass windows hovering alongside its body. Its scales were all sorts of colors along its body, like chips of colored glass, with pale white belly plates. Dee was riding on the dragon’s back, a hand atop its head. Angel lifted a card and character sheet out of her bag. She handed them to Betty who passed them to Ava and Shannon.

“Similarly, Echo can activate Beyond once per battle. Three turns of dragon form.” She looked to Ray, who finally put his phone down. “And, finally, Wraps. You see the mirror fade and fade until it’s just a pane of glass. On the other side you see Joust separate into O, who’s fully healed, and Justice. Echo’s scales melt together and he shrinks back down to his butterfly form. It seemed like it was only a few seconds for you but it’s obvious a lot has happened. What are you going to do?”

“I guess I’ll just walk to the glass and push into it. If I can, I will go through and join them.”

“Wonderful. This object is called the Mirror of Mortal Greed. It’s created from fragments of caste and anima created in another area of the crossroads. One of the other dimensions. You chose your greed without facing your trail. Your equipment, except the sword, take fifty decomposition damage. Which… I think… destroys your wraps,” Angel ‘tsk’d.

“... Well shit.” Ray suddenly perked his ears, grinned, and turned toward Kyle. His smile was so very wicked. “So, Kyle, you like to keep it in the family huh?”

Kyle went cold as his heart dropped into his stomach. He felt his tail flex and his nape fur stand up. He raised his eyes from the sheet and looked at Ray. His heart was suddenly racing.

“... The fuck?” Jiffy asked, staring at Ray too.

“Well you’ve been flirting with Wraps this whole time, and… you’ve been hitting on your sister.”

Kyle slowly blinked, heart pounding in his chest. Justice’s sister. Not Kyle’s father.

Angel rolled her eyes, “You shit. Yes, Justice’s sister, Mirth, is revealed.” Ava clicked around her computer again. A new piece of art popped up. It was another blue bounder, actually female this time. They had pink scars over her throat and one large line from shoulder to hip, swooping through her pouch. A few bandages hung from her arms, one over her muzzle, a couple barely hiding her nipples. At least, where other mammals would have nipples. Kyle doubted anyone else here knew a flyer’s nipples were located inside the pouch.

“Oh fuck off Ray, Kyle was just making you squirm and you know it,” Jiffy chirped defensively. Kyle was sure Jiffy could tell that the statement had upset him. Obviously he didn’t know just why. Kyle hoped. His mind reeled between his father and the burst of anxiety that Ray might have known. He breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm himself.

“Hey, it’s my turn, he did it all game. Only fair I got it once.” Ray was still grinning ear to ear. “So your dad didn’t kill Mirth. Well… almost. He attacked her and all, just like you saw, for being pregnant out of wedlock. The pup died, but she survived. And it was a perfect excuse to have a child in such a useful position. Didn’t you ever wonder why the queen Wraps wanted to kill would really benefit your dad and family? She’s the only one who knew about the anima curse, and had your dad under her thumb because of it.”

Kyle’s mouth and throat felt so dry. He scrambled to try and think of a response. He looked at the art then at Angel. He huffed, forcing a chuckle, “Really fucking with me this session huh?”

Angel shrugged, “I thought it would have been revealed a lot earlier to be honest. I did this art ages ago, and I’ve just been sitting on it. Just happened that it was revealed this session.”

Kyle rolled his eyes, slumped back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling.

“Alright! You’re going to pass through, but your equipment takes significant damage. Unfortunately Justice doesn’t have time to react when Mirth is revealed. Because just then the door opposite the once-mirror shatters open.”

“Oh, hello Dee. A pleasure to finally meet you face to face. I’ll be taking Echo now,” Billy boasted. He did his best to mimic the Archivist voice Angel had been making, but he wasn’t quite as good at the ojousama thing. Kyle saw the NPC screen pop back up, focused on a dark black insectoid.

“I lumber into the room behind the Archivist. She’s got one of her pets with her… A giant goat devil wielding an enormous war ax. I lick my lips, baring my fangs as I see the group,” Betty followed.

Kyle closed his eyes. His mind flicked back to his dad. How he wished he could just dive into a faux pouch right now. Kyle could tell his ears were red as could be. They felt so hot. He sat up fully and leaned forward, pulling the Justice/O character sheet back atop the Joust one.

***

Session had gone late. Even with the new forms, burning their god’s favors, and Wrap’s- Mirth’s- new weapon the battle had been a pain. They had barely scraped through. Ava got to have a great time landing the last blow on the Archivist, at least. And decapitating the corpse. That had been pretty graphic. Insectoid races made Kyle’s skin crawl as it was, and the details only made that worse.

Kyle pushed open the doors to exit the building, Jiffy walking beside him.

“That was pretty messed up, with how your sisters are… at least the younger one. She’s a real bitch right?... Angel’s pretty messed up for letting Ray do that.”

Kyle shrugged, scratching at an ear and looking up at the moon.

“Hey big boomer… Still think you want to head over?”

Kyle’s brain ached. If the whole O thing and Jiffy lying hadn’t thrown him for a loop, the anxiety of being (correctly) accused of incestuous desires still had his mind reeling.

“... I’m really worn out after that. And I have my first library shift in the morning.”

Jiffy rolled his eyes, “Morning. Ten AM. But yeah I get ya. I’ll just have to go pull up some of the hot pics you sent me over the summer… or maybe get Aadi to send me that video…” He smiled wryly up at Kyle. Jiffy leaned in and rubbed his head against Kyle’s side, squeaking happily. Kyle took a knee to nuzzle and hug his small friend.

“Sorry Angel swore me to secrecy. That really freaked you out huh?”

Kyle shook his head, paused, then shrugged. “Yeah, kind of. Just the whole thing… Ray razzing me the rest of the session. Really looking forward to that next game now. Then again… the Joust thing was pretty awesome.”

Jiffy rolled his eyes again. His small paws took Kyle’s jaws and Jiffy planted a kiss at the tip of Kyle’s muzzle. “Just ignore Ray. He’s a shit. But holy crap yeah, Joust is amazing. Really hot too.”

Kyle laughed, “Very true.”

“I love you big boomer.”

“I love you too, ya nut.”

Jiffy smiled so sweetly. Kyle couldn’t help but return it. Jiffy was so good at helping Kyle feel better when he needed it.

“Alright, I need some private time before the rest of the guys get back. See ya later! Have a good first day of class!” Jiffy chirped merrily before turning and walking toward the small dorms.

“You too!” Kyle called after him. He turned, took a deep breath, and started hopping back to his dorm. It was a short trip before he was hopping up the stairs and bounding up the stairs and into his room. Faint snoring greeted him upon entering. A glance showed Tommy was out cold, as expected. Kyle put his backpack on the desk and disrobed. He was too worn out for a shower. He flopped back onto his bed in underwear and socks.

His mind still raced. Even worse now that there were no distractions. Thoughts of Rupert, of how people would respond if they knew, about how wrong it probably was. Justice… Was Kyle doing his best? Should he be better? At the same time Kyle remembered how into it Rupert seemed to be. His dad enjoyed making Kyle happy, and the way he trembled, how hard he had cum… getting hard on the phone call… Kyle knew he was enjoying it too. Even if it was wrong. But it was really nice. His dad’s cock tasted so good… his feet were so big and hot.

Kyle’s paw slid into his underwear. He looked over, confirming Tommy was out, before his finger sunk into his sheath. His shaft tip stroked against it, the two playing over each other. He laid his head back, thinking about how Rupert’s cock had felt in his muzzle. How it tasted. It wasn't long before cum was soaking into Kyle’s belly fur.

Then the guilt and fears all rushed back.