A Weapon’s Serenade

Isha chuckled at Serena’s insistence on swimwear and tucked at the shoulder straps of her dress. “To me, this is weird. I didn’t wear anything until I was turned, and yes, decorating your body with fabric is nice but we are going into the water.”

Kate nodded in agreement. “We are all women here, we all know what women look like naked and we are all attracted to women. The worst thing that could happen is getting distracted by a lovely pair of boobs.”

“I mean…” Serena was blushing severely. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate good boobies, it’s just that… I don’t… Ugh. Mine aren’t that great, alright?”

Kate stepped close to the smaller human, towering over her and looking down at Serena’s chest with a raised eyebrow. “I respectfully disagree. You have nice boobs. Still, if you want to take a detour to get changed, that’s not a problem. I would have to conjure swimwear for myself though and I don’t think you could convince Isha to dress for water.”

Serena pulled her top forward to peer underneath. “Demons generally don’t do swimwear, right?”

“Unless it’s absolutely necessary, no.”

“If I ever want to properly integrate here, I need to get over myself.”

“If you want to get your swimwear, you can just tell me and I will teleport us to wherever you keep it. Trying to adapt to how we handle swimming is a great thought, but I also want you to be comfortable.”

Serena forced a smile. “I appreciate that. I’m just used to people judging my body, my mum especially. No matter what I do, I’m too thin, too fat, too whatever she wants to nitpick about today. I know you guys won’t do that but… ugh.”

“Whatever your mother says, visually there is nothing wrong with you. The physical defects you currently think about are all invisible. If it helps your self-esteem, all of us here think you are attractive. Different aspects for each, but we can all agree on the basics.”

“Alright, I will do it. But I will insist on the breathing device.”

“Of course. You have one already?”

“There is a tent on the beach on Tehom that has our breathers in it.”

“Kuria? Can you get them?”

Kuria nodded.

The Acheron delta was defined by its massive waterfall. In contrast, the similarly sized Higan meandered into a flat and extremely wide delta that barely seemed like one, it was more a huge wetland. Further along the coastline in either direction, massive reefs had formed. These reefs were the destination for the girls, who had left their clothes at Kate’s home.

Now, they were diving towards the reef. Isha pointed towards an animal gliding around the fire-y glowing coral. “There, this looks like the descriptions in the report.”

Serena made a happy noise. “The stingray tail! And the wings! It’s truly a ray cat in the truest sense of the words.”

Isha had already gotten close enough to hold out her hand for the ray cat to notice her and carefully approach. “Kate, can you communicate with them?”

Kate nodded. “I can, give me a moment.” Not even a minute later, Kate chuckled. “I don’t even need to, of course. They are still cats after all and understand you just fine.”

“Of course. So… I guess you know about the demons then, don’t you?”

“Let me translate the responses. This one has heard of demons but never met one.”

“Well, now you have. These three are humans, from a different world but still very nice people, and we three are demons. We came here because our cat friend told us that you are awesome.”

The ray cat decided to take a closer look and make sure it had a good idea who had come to visit, swimming circles around everyone.

Isha smiled. “I am actually a special kind of demon. You know the leviathans, I am a bit more like them, I can be very big under water.”

The ray cat seemed intrigued.

“Do you want me to show you?”

Kate translated again. “It wants to see and it wants to know if there are more like you.”

Isha shifted back into her massive siren form, causing the ray cat to dart back for a second before approaching again.

“I am sorry I scared you. Can you see that I am like the leviathans?”

The ray cat rubbed against Isha before circling the others again, causing Kate to translate. “It recognizes you as similar and wonders if we all can do that.”

“No, the others here can’t but there are more like me. They are coming to this world to be safe, our old home isn’t safe anymore and I hope you can accept us here.”

“If you are like the leviathans and provide company and play, this one thinks that the other ray cats will easily accept you. This one also wants to know where the demons are so they might come visit. Little one, hey, as a demon I can tell you that we have a place further along the coast. We don’t settle near the reefs to not disturb them, so seek out the coast with houses, weird caves built from wood and stone.”

The cat seemed to understand.

“Yes, we are on the land. Can you go on the land?”

The response was an affirmative nudge.

“Very good. We can go into the water with you if you are more comfortable here, but we need to know that you want us to visit, alright?”

Another nudge. The ray cat turned away from Kate and pushed against Isha, causing her to roll onto her back. The cat seemed satisfied and set itself down on Isha’s stomach and simply sat down. Tiny followed and did the same. It almost seemed like the two cats were conversing silently. The girls just kept watching for a while

After a little bit, Kate summarized what just happened. “So, Tiny and the ray cat just had a pretty big conversation about the trustworthiness of demons and humans and why so few ray cats ever met demons. The big question at the end that took a long time to discuss was why most cats have started hanging around the settlements of the demons. Tiny explained that we demons get lonely without cats and that we provide comfy places to sleep and good food and in return the cats provide companionship and make sure the younger ones don’t do something stupid. She is talking about the humans who will be demons eventually with that, but she calls you girls demons already.”

Anne chuckled. “That is so cute. What was the reaction to all that?”

“The ray cat wants to check out some demonic places but only after the next nesting season, which should be soon. The reef needs to remain protected, even if they admit that there is no possible threat here. They will also tell the others of the sirens and that they are friendly. They know about the portal near Tehom, just didn’t know why it’s there. Now they know.”

“You said they can understand us like the other cats?”

“Yes.”

“Well, hey… uhm… I just want you to know that it is an honour to be out here, so far away from everything I have ever known, just to meet you. To meet a wonderful cat that barely anyone even knows exists. I will always cherish memories like this.”

The ray cat got up, stretched and swam over to Anne to rub against her.

Kate once again translated what the cat wanted. “You have permission to pet.”

Anne complied. “Meeting new friends is just the best. I hope we can meet again after today. We will only stay as long as you want us here, of course. We don’t want to intrude, just get to know you.”

The cat understood and decided to allow the other some physical contact as well.

Eventually, everyone including the cats agreed to get back to the surface. Isha was floating on her back, allowing her friends to sit on her stomach and chat and pet the cats. The ray cat was a little clumsy outside of the water but was happy to spend time with their new friends anyway. Isha only had to return to demon size when it was time to share food. It proved impossible to find a spot to sit properly in the wetlands, but Kate simply conjured a solid picnic board instead of just a blanket. Of course the ray cat joined the others for delicious demon food, someone had to taste test it to tell the others how good it was to entice them to visit their new friends.

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