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"Wait, you have how many siblings??" Puffy asked in between sips of her coffee. Her face was contorted into one of confusion, this was the sixth time Niki had mentioned a sibling —seperate from the ones already mentioned—so excuse her for being curious.
"A lot.." Niki laughed awkwardly, taking a sip of her tea before continuing. "I only have two biological sisters, and then six adopted siblings.."
"Six!?" She tried not to yell too loudly, since they're in a coffee shop and would prefer not to be stared at
Trying to even imagine that many siblings seemed impossible—even with three brothers it was chaotic
"Yeah, my family's pretty big, I understand.." Niki sighs, taking a sip and politely waving over a waiter, asking for a pastry for the two.
"How do you keep track of them?"
"I mainly focus on who's biologically related to who. I know my blood family, they know theirs." She explains, making small gestures—all in between the bites of the cinnamon roll she ordered. "But enough about my siblings, my mom was wondering if you would like to come to our family dinner? She wants to meet all of her children's partners."
Agreeing, Puffy listened as Niki explained the details and information
Two days later, Puffy found herself hesitating to ring the doorbell, instead fidgeting with and adjusting her outfit. She wore a simple medium length red skirt and a white blouse, gold jewelry adorning her neck and wrists, as well as a black belt wrapped around her waist. The outfit didn't stand out too much, but it was just fancy enough to impress.
Puffy startled at hearing a voice behind her.
"Hi?" There, stood behind her on the sidewalk, was a fox hybrid. They were clearly a zombie fox—if the rotting flesh wasn't a big indicator—missing an eye and sporting many stitches.
"You startled me, hi!" Puffy introduced "I'm Puffy, and you are..?"
"Cleo. I'm here for dinner?" They crossed their arms
"Oh! Well—"
The door opened suddenly, a tall piglin hybrid with long pink hair stood in the doorway, he looked between the two before calling into the house
"Niki! Lizzie!" And it left soon after, the space being occupied with two shorter girls, both with matching pink hair and cat ears, looking at them outside.
"Oh! Hi Puffy!"
"Hi Cleo!"
Both said in unison, moving back to allow them to enter the bustling house, noise coming from everywhere.
The pink haired girls each took their respective partners, Puffy going with Niki as she gives a quick debrief, giving names and pronouns, what's to be expected for food, and general praises.
"Mama might ask personal questions, don't be scared to say no to answering. She's not the best with people or english." Niki informed her, smiling wide as she leads Puffy to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, there's a shorter—shorter than Niki— lady standing at the stovetop, mixing something in a pan, she turns when she hears footsteps.
Niki's mother has short pink hair, cat ears flopping over as her tail lazily sways behind her.
"Hey! I am Karla, Niki's Mama," she smiles, there's a german accent clinging to her words. "You are Puffy, richtig… uh right? Niki say great sings for..was war das Wort dafür… about.. yeah about you!"
Puffy starts reaching a hand out for a handshake, Niki quickly taking it in hers. So instead Puffy opts for a small bow of her head.
"Yes, that's me ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you" Puffy smiled. Going with Niki as she starts walking out the room.
"I'll be introducing Puffy to a few others, Liz might come around with her girlfriend" At the mention of the younger's girlfriend, Niki's mother smiles
"Sag ihnen, sie sollen sich beeilen! Uhm be quick!"
"Will do, mama!" And they left, going up to Niki's room, but not before stopping at another room. Puffy watched as Niki pushed open the door, freezing as the two in the room pull apart from eachother, Lizzie blushing furiously.
"KNOCK!" Lizzie sputtered, pointedly looking away.
"Okay! But mama wants to meet Cleo! And soon!" Niki closed the door, pulling Puffy along as she rushed to her room, letting out a laugh once her door's closed. "What're the chances!" She covers her mouth with a hand.
Puffy lets out a few chuckles herself, before calming down and just staring at Niki with clear adoration in her eyes.
Niki's gorgeous, she's decided. Her pink hair is just faded enough to look like the soft pink in the early stages of a setting sun, with twitching black ears, spotted with white. Her smile was as sweet as cotton candy, leaving Puffy with a soft feeling in her chest. She's in love. She's in love and she's figured out that she doesn't mind. She loves her so much.
A warm touch is on her wrist, Niki's leaning in with a soft smile and worry creasing her brows.
"Puffy? You okay?" She asks, eyes glimmering amber.
"O-oh! Uhm.. yeah! Im.. amazing! Just.." Puffy stammers, pausing, she decides to close the gap. Giving Niki a soft kiss before pulling back to smile. "You're beautiful.."
Niki moves with Puffy, kissing around her face with a smile. "Thank you, you're a pretty lady yourself"
The moment is soft, warm, and comforting, laying over their shoulders like a blanket. Puffy's hands run up and down Niki's waist, leaving warmth to soak into her cold skin.
A knock on the door startles them out of the moment
"Niki?" The door opens, a girl with black and white hair peeks in. Blushing and looking away once she takes in the scene—Niki sitting on Puffy's lap, the latter's hands are still on the other's waist, both flushed red in embarrassment—she speaks with a mix of accents? Some words are said with an american accent, others are said with a light british accent.
"Mum says dinners ready"
"Okay, we'll be down. Thanks.." Niki's eyes flick to the girls wrist, at two bracelets with names. "Rayna and Clem"
The door closes and Puffy takes a moment to think about the interaction. "Uhm.. that was one person right?"
"Oh.. kinda? One body at least."
"Huh?" She's very confused, she knew what she heard—what she saw
"Don't ask me. If you're curious ask them, and call them Lilac, it's a safer guess." She starts moving out of Puffy's lap to stand, holding a hand out to help Puffy up.
Downstairs, the dinner tables are packed. Kids sitting in every seat available. Puffy currently sits at a table with Niki, her girlfriend's mother, Lizzie and her girlfriend, and the girl from earlier—Lilac
"Also, who… uhm. How is school?" Karla asks, looking around at all of them at the table. Lilac speaks up first
"Good. We've made a few more friends?" An I think is muttered soon after.
"Toll! Wer sind diese Freunde?.. Who are friends? Why have you not invite them?"
Puffy stops paying attention soon after, instead focusing on the delicious food in front of her. The flavours melting in her mouth as she takes bites.
"What is with you?" A question is asked, she doesn't know who it's directed at until Niki jabs a finger in her side
"Oh! Uh, schools been good.. the students aren't really needing my help as much anymore" she twirls a curl of hair around her finger, thinking about what's happened recently.
"Das ist gut." The silence from the table is slightly awkward, the chatter coming from the other table fills the air.
As she eats, Puffy attempts to look around at the other members in the room, taking note of each. The girl sitting at the other table with wings seem uncomfortable, slouching over her food, with a content smile. Theres a girl sitting next to her, mustache taped on even as she eats.
Looking around, she feels jealousy well up. She loves her family—she really does!—but it's not often or even common that they'd eat together, instead everyone choosing to eat at another time, eat at a friend's house, or just generally not living in the house much—peep Schlatt and Puffy at college. She wishes this was more common, wishes she could take a moment to recap everyones weeks over dinner.
Walking downstairs with Niki, they go to the door, opening it and starting to say their goodbyes.
"Thank you so much for letting me come eat here, your mother's cooking is delicious, I'm honestly a bit jealous.." Puffy smiles, holding Niki's hand and feeling around, taking note of little details.
"Of course!" She presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "It really is isn't it? She'll let me give you some leftovers to eat at home if I ask" she offers, squeezing Puffy's hands in a rhythmic pattern.
"No no, I don't deserve that"
"You do." Niki hugs her. "You deserve the world and if I could, I would give it to you" She whispers, as if it's a secret between the two.
Eventually—after the mushy stuff—they let go, Puffy starting on her way back home, fiddling with her phone to call for a ride.
After three rings, her twin picks up.
"What the fuck do you want?" Schlatt sounds annoyed, as he always does.
Ignoring his grumpiness, she responds cheerfully. "I need a ride home"
"What? No. Where's your car anyways?"
"At the house. It's just a quick drive, it won't even take long"
"I don't care how long it takes, I'm not fucking picking you up. You can walk home on your own, you don't sound drunk." There's shuffling in the background and Puffy grins
"I don't need to be drunk to need a ride home. And, I don't even drink as much! C'mon, I'm just on End st., it's not even that far!" Schlatt goes quiet for a long while, before groaning.
"I'm not getting out of bed for this."
"But you have." She smiles, seeing a car speeding in from the distance. Hanging up, she stands, ready.
The car stops and the drivers window rolls down, Schlatt looking at her with an unimpressed look.
"Get in. And hurry up!"
Getting in, she notes Schlatt's appearance; he's still in pj's, his hair just barely covering his horns, and he looks as tired as usual.
"Thanks."
"Yeah yeah.." despite his grumbles, a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. "Don't make this a common occurrence."
The rest of the ride is quiet, faint holiday music playing —it's literally June?— from his speakers. Puffy looks out the windows, occasionally checking her phone and responding to any messages she gets.
Wait—
"IS THAT YOU SINGING?" The exclamation makes the ram laugh.
"It took you halfway through the album to notice!?" Amused, he turns the music up. It's easier to hear his voice singing the same lines Frank Sinatra originally sang.
"When did you get this recorded? And where!? It's sounds too professional to just be at home.. and I would've heard—"
"My bud has a recording booth for his band, just asked him."
"And the sound mixing?"
"He also knows how to do that."
Even with every question answered, shock and confusion is still dressing Puffy's face. This was an eventful night..