Chapter 147: 115. Awkward Introductions

"They're on their way now," I said after a quick look at my phone. "Brooke and Paige just picked up Melanie and Cerys from work. And Melody's already got Willow, she's going to get Kaylee next. So they'll all be here in just a few minutes..."

My voice trailed off as I felt my anxiety growing. It was Tuesday evening, and very soon I'd be introducing our guest to the rest of Club Luna.

She'd only been back on Earth for a day, we had an awkward dinner last night with our parents, then spent most of today figuring stuff out. We got her some clothes of her own, and I conjured up some ID and stuff so she had an identity.

That took a bit of thought and conversation since she didn't really have a last name before, and she didn't want to be known as 'Socha Hawthorne'. I suggested she could use Underwood, but my parents seemed a little uncomfortable with that idea. There was also the question of her first name, since 'Socha' was pretty unique and a little strange.

Eventually she came up with both a new first name and a last name for herself, so that's what I put on the ID when I created it. That became her 'human name', and she asked us all to start using it exclusively.

Now the three of us were sitting in the living-room at the wolfgirls' house, waiting for the rest of Club Luna to arrive. The fallen goddess was in the middle, with Nina on the left and me on the right. Our friends all knew me and Nina were here and that we had someone with us for the rest of them to meet, but we didn't give them any hints as to who she was.

"It'll be ok," Nina quietly assured me. "They'll be surprised, there'll be lots of questions, but it'll go ok."

Then she turned to our guest and added, "Maybe let me and Cass do the talking at first? Our friends are all good people, but last they heard you were kind of our enemy? So they might be a little wary at first."

"I understand," the former goddess replied. "And I will indeed let you and Cassandra handle things. I suspect I'm very much at a disadvantage among your friends."

I grimaced, "I'm not so sure actually? You're no match for me and Nina or our parents, but in terms of raw magical strength you're at least as strong as everyone else in the club. Plus you have way more experience and knowledge than all of them put together."

Our guest nodded once, "Perhaps that is true. But I am a century out of touch. You all use those small wireless devices to communicate and track your friends, that is as befuddling to me as magic was to humans a hundred years ago."

"We'll help you catch up," Nina responded. "And I know you're smart, it won't take you long to figure all this stuff out."

"Thank you Nina," the former goddess responded.

I picked up my water bottle from the side table and had a gulp. Then I looked at the front door as I heard something outside, and a moment later the door opened.

"Hey Cass, Nina," Melanie greeted us as she stepped inside, followed by Cerys, Paige, and Brooke.

"Hi," I replied as I tried to control my nerves. "Uh, grab a drink or something then get comfortable?"

Paige nodded, "Sounds good."

A half minute later the two wolfgirls were cuddling together on a big recliner while Paige and Brooke sat at the end of the other sofa. The others were all looking expectantly at our mystery guest, who was awkwardly fidgeting with the bottle of spring water I'd given her earlier.

Fortunately the other group arrived before things got any more uncomfortable. There was a knock at the door but I called for them to come in, so they did. Kaylee led the way, followed by Willow and Melody. They got drinks as well, then Kaylee squeezed onto the sofa to my right, so I was between her and my cousin, while Melody sat on the other sofa with the two tall athletic girls and Willow grabbed the remaining recliner.

Cerys spoke up first, she was our new club leader after all. She glanced around then looked to me and asked, "So we're all here now Cass, what's up? Who's your new friend?"

I did my best not to grimace or cringe, but I did have another gulp of water. Then I responded, "Thanks everyone for coming on such short notice. Like I said in my text, we can order something in for dinner tonight, my treat. Um, this is awkward so I'm just going to dive in with the introductions ok?"

"This is Sasha Blakeley," I announced as I gestured to the fallen goddess sitting next to me. "She's my cousin from England, recently moved to Canada. Or at least, that's the story we're going to be telling everyone else. That's the name on her new ID and stuff, and that's the name she'd like us all to use for her."

I ended up both grimacing and cringing as I got to the next part, "And the reason I wanted all of you to meet her is because she's um, I think she's probably going to be joining us? I'm hoping she can be part of Club Luna. I think she can help, she has a lot of experience with the kind of stuff we do."

There were lots of raised eyebrows and surprised expressions when I mentioned the club, and it looked like Paige and Cerys both wanted to say something. I didn't give them a chance to interrupt though, I pushed through with the last part.

"You've already heard some stuff about her under another name," I continued, "But I promise she's not like we thought. So please don't freak out ok? The other name you're all familiar with was Socha."

As soon as I said it I felt Kaylee tense up next to me, while both the wolfgirls seemed to go on alert. Brooke and Paige were both suddenly uneasy as well. Melody was a little wary too. Willow was the only person who didn't have much of a reaction, but she was also the only one who didn't know the whole story.

"Please don't freak out ok?" Nina asked as she looked to Cerys and Melanie. "Sasha isn't going to cause any trouble. Cass still has all her power and everything. Sasha isn't a goddess anymore."

"Wait what?" the sorceress exclaimed. "Hold on, that's a Goddess? But Cass has her power? So what's that make Cass?"

I cringed again as I said, "I told you you'd find out all the details about me sooner or later. So um, yeah. I'm half demon and half goddess."

"That's not..." Sasha frowned and shook her head. "You're not half of anything Cassandra. You are a complete demon, and you are a complete goddess. You aren't half of each, you're all of both."

"Oh," I mumbled as I felt my cheeks going red. "I didn't realize that's how it worked."

Then I noticed Willow was staring at me with a look of wide-eyed shock. In fact most of my friends were staring at me again.

Sasha took that opportunity to address the others, "Hello everyone. Like Cassandra and Nina said, I am calling myself Sasha now, Sasha Blakeley. Yes, I used to be the goddess of chaos known as Socha. That is now Cassandra's purview, she is the new goddess of chaos."

"What are you doing here?" Cerys asked. "For that matter, how did you get here? Last we heard you were permanently exiled from Earth."

Sasha responded, "Cassandra visited me in the remains of my heavenly realm yesterday. She brought me back to Earth and created this corporeal body for me."

I clarified, "At first I just wanted to meet her? After hearing about her from May and from Nina I wanted to get to know her for myself. And I found out she was nothing like what Miss Hawthorne told us. I decided I couldn't leave her to fade away, I had to try and save her. So I brought her back here."

The others all still looked somewhere between surprised, wary, and worried. Then Nina suggested, "We should finish the other half of the introductions. You all know who Sasha is, but she hasn't met any of you yet."

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"Right," I nodded. "Let's do that. Why don't we go around the room and everyone can introduce themselves, and maybe say a few words about yourself? Like um, I'm Cassandra Underwood but everyone calls me Cass. I'm um, the demonic goddess of chaos."

Kaylee went next, she gave her name and said she was my girlfriend, but didn't mention being a witch. Paige and Brooke went next, followed by Melody. None of them said anything about being witches either, and Melody didn't mention that she was a shape-shifter. Then Willow gave her name, and finally the two werewolfs.

Sasha politely greeted everyone in turn, but when the introductions were over another awkward silence settled over the room.

After a couple quiet seconds Cerys spoke up, "So now we've all met each other, what's next? Cass, are you going to suggest Sasha joins the club or something? Is that why we're all here?"

I grimaced for a second or two, then I felt all my awkwardness uneasiness suddenly pushed down as a layer of calm confidence came over me. The tension in my shoulders and neck relaxed as I sat up straight on the sofa and turned towards the blonde wolfgirl.

"Yes Cerys, that's part of it," I replied in a calm level voice. "Sasha might not be a goddess anymore, but she's still able to use magic and she has a lot of experience. And she's on our side."

I continued watching the two wolfgirls as I continued, "The more pressing reason is Sasha needs someplace to stay, and there's two empty bedrooms here. I'm hoping that you won't mind sharing your home with her, but if that's going to be a problem we'll start looking for other options."

Melanie had been mostly quiet so far, but she reminded me yet again "It's your house Cassandra, you're just letting me and Cerys live here."

Deep inside I still felt really awkward, and my anxiety was growing. All that stayed buried though, while on the outside I remained completely calm and casual.

"And I made those arrangements with the two of you first," I replied. "So while we're hoping you'll be ok with Sasha living here, it all comes down to whether or not you're comfortable."

Sasha added, "I don't want to displace either of you, Cerys and Melanie. And I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. If my presence here bothers you I will leave."

The werewolfs exchanged a look before the older wolf asked me, "What about you Cassandra? Are you going to move here too?"

"I can," I responded. "Would you feel more comfortable if I did?"

Melanie glanced at her girlfriend again, then looked back to me and replied "I think Cerys and I would feel better about her moving in if we knew you were here too."

I nodded once, "Very well. Sasha and I are ready to move in tomorrow, if that's all right with the two of you?"

"Sounds good," the wolfgirl responded.

At the same time I noticed Kaylee had tensed up next to me. She kept quiet, but she was definitely reacting to what I'd just said, the decisions we'd just made.

I suddenly worried she might be jealous or upset, like I agreed to move in with Sasha and the wolfgirls on a moment's notice. Instead of being around the block from her I was going to be a twenty minute walk from her house. If we were still going to school I wouldn't be able to walk home with her anymore, this place was in the opposite direction. And I made that decision without talking to her or warning her, without even mentioning it was a possibility.

A moment later my calm act broke and I cringed as I turned towards my girlfriend and apologized, "Kaylee I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to talk to you about this stuff in advance. I mean the possibility of moving? The last twenty-four hours have been really hectic and I really didn't plan any of this stuff in advance."

She leaned closer and pulled me into a side hug, "It's ok Cass. Maybe you and I can talk afterwards, in private?"

"Of course," I nodded. "As soon as the meeting's over we can go talk in my room if you like?"

She hesitated, "Your room here?"

"Yeah," I grimaced again. I hadn't even realized, but I was already thinking of the bedroom overlooking the backyard as mine. I mumbled another apology, "Sorry. Like I said, it's been hectic and it feels like new things keep happening before I have a chance to catch up to the last new thing."

She gave me a gentle squeeze but didn't say anything else yet. Meanwhile the blonde wolfgirl had another question for us.

"What's Sasha going to do?" Cerys asked after a couple seconds. "I'm guessing she isn't going to start looking for a job or something like that."

Nina answered, "For now me and Cass are going to be helping her learn about the modern world. She's been gone since nineteen twenty-one, there's a lot she doesn't know about. Like computers and smart phones and the internet, just to start."

Melanie asked, "So it sounds like she's going to be staying around the house most of the time?"

"Um, maybe?" I said. "I figure either me or Nina will probably be with her most of the time at first? Like at least until she knows her way around all the modern stuff."

The wolfgirl nodded, "All right. Thanks Cass. Cerys and I will be at work again tomorrow, but I guess you and Sasha will be moved in by the time we get home in the evening?"

"Yeah I guess so," I grimaced again. "It probably won't take us long to move stuff? Sasha doesn't have much, and we don't need to move any furniture."

There was another little pause, then Willow asked Sasha "So if you're not a Goddess anymore, what are you? A Demi-God? Or something else?"

"I am mortal now," the former goddess replied. "My corporeal form is a human-demon hybrid."

That led to a few more surprised looks. Then Melody asked me, "So is Sasha already part of the club? Is there going to be a vote on this, or was it already decided?"

That made me cringe again and I shook my head, "Sorry I didn't follow the normal rules. I know I should have talked to you all first, before bringing her here and everything? But we needed to find her a place to stay, and I knew we couldn't really talk to Melanie and Cerys about Sasha without also telling everyone else, because of who she is. Or was."

"What do you think Cerys?" Paige asked as she looked to the blonde wolf. "You're the new boss, how do you want to handle it?"

Our new club leader grimaced slightly as she thought it over. Then she nodded, "All right. Let's put it to a vote."