Chapter 180: Interlude 40 – Making Friends

=::= Nina's PoV =::=

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Kaylee asked as my sister climbed out of the back of the van. "I can come in with you if you like?"

Cass's cheeks coloured slightly as she shook her head, "No thanks Kaylee. I'll be fine. Anyways it'd be boring for you to be stuck sitting around in there for an hour waiting for me."

"Thanks for the lift Nina," she added as she gave me a weak smile.

I blushed but gave her a friendly smile in return, "You're welcome sis. Good luck. We'll be back in an hour to pick you up."

Cass just nodded as she slid the back door shut. Then she waved once at me and Kaylee, before heading into the clinic.

"I still can't believe my goddess girlfriend is going to therapy," the small part-demon next to me commented after Cass was gone.

I responded quietly, "Apparently this therapist knows about the supernatural. I guess maybe she's been trained to help people like Cass? Or at least she's not going to be freaked out by any talk of magic and stuff."

Kaylee frowned, "Have you met her? The therapist I mean?"

"No," I shook my head. "Our mum brought Cass here the first time. That was two weeks ago. And Cass hasn't really talked about it to anyone as far as I know. She agreed to come back for another session though, so I assume the lady must be helping somehow."

"So um," I added quietly, "What do you want to do for the next hour?"

The small kitsune asked, "Are you up for some ice cream? I saw a place on the way here. And that looks like a park over there across the road, right? We could grab some cones then go hang out in the park. That way we'll be nearby when it's time to come back and get Cass."

That made me smile, since I was always up for ice cream. She probably knew it too. I nodded, "Ok Kaylee. That sounds like fun."

The place she spotted was only about five minutes away, except it turned out they sold frozen yogurt rather than ice cream. And they didn't even sell cones. On the other hand it was kind of like a build-your-own-sundae thing, they had disposable bowls and about two dozen different flavours of frozen yogurt. Then there were all the toppings, and I basically went a little wild.

By the time I was done I practically had a rainbow of flavours in my bowl, plus about a dozen different things crammed in on top. Kaylee was a lot more restrained, she limited herself to a half-dozen flavours and only had a handful of toppings on hers.

I paid for both of us, then she held the two bowls for the short drive over to the park.

It wasn't a huge park, but it was sort of in between townhouses to the north and a high school to the east. Bordering the park on the south was the road, and the clinic where we left my sister was on the other side of that. I parked the van in the little lot next to the townhouses, then me and Kaylee got out and started wandering around as we looked for a nice place to have our yogurt.

We quickly found a bench to sit on, with a view of a little duck pond and some pretty plants and shrubs and stuff. Then we both started to enjoy our frozen treats before they had a chance to melt in the hot mid-August afternoon sun.

"So when are you going to take your driving test?" Kaylee asked while her tails swayed lazily back and forth behind her. "You drive like a pro, which doesn't surprise me. You've been driving for what, eighty years now?"

I blushed as I stuffed a spoonful of coconut flavoured yogurt and sour candy sprinkles into my mouth. Then after I swallowed all that I shrugged, "I guess? It's been a while, but I never really drove that much? I think the last time I did any regular driving was the nineties."

"That's wild," the kitsune commented as she slowly shook her head. "Hard to believe you've been around so long, and seen so much. It's just as hard to believe I might be able to do that too?"

"Yeah," I nodded slowly, before taking another big scoop of frozen goodness into my mouth. While I was enjoying that Kaylee glanced at me for a moment, before looking back at the pond again.

Then she surprised me by asking, "Nina? You don't hate me do you?"

"Wha?" I asked as I almost choked on my yogurt. "Why would I hate you?"

Her ears and tails were drooping as she replied, "For one thing I was a complete bitch to you last summer. And now... I guess I'm worried you might see me as a freak or something? Like I'm not a real demon, and I never will be. The best I'll ever be is some sort of fake pseudo-demon that was created by Cass's chaos magic."

That left me with a thoughtful frown as I ate another spoonful of yogurt. I continued to think as the sweet treat slowly melted in my mouth, then after I swallowed it I finally responded.

"I don't hate you for any of that stuff Kaylee," I told her quietly. "I don't hate you at all. But that stuff... The way you acted last year was the way a lot of people treated me in the past. Nobody likes demons. People either hated me and wanted to destroy me, or they hated me but pretended not to because they wanted to use me. Sasha was the first person to really be nice to me..."

My voice trailed off and I sighed. "Cass and our parents and the rest of Club Luna are the first people other than Sasha who've been friends with me."

"As for you being a 'fake' demon," I paused as I thought about that for a few seconds.

I finally shook my head, "I don't think it's important? I don't know if other demons would care, but I already know I'm not like other demons. I'm glad you're my friend now, I'm glad you're happy, and if this is what you want then I'm glad Cass was able to do that stuff for you."

The small demonic kitsune was quiet all through that, and for another minute or two after. She eventually sighed, "Thank you Nina. You're too kind. Both you and Cass. I'm glad you don't hate me though. I really appreciate both you and her giving me a second chance."

"You're welcome Kaylee," I replied as I gave her a friendly blushy smile.

She smiled back as her tails started slowly wagging again, then we both focused on our yogurt for a bit. I wanted to try and finish mine before it melted, while she was eating hers a little more slowly. It only took me another two or three minutes before I was nearly done, when Kaylee suddenly called my attention to something.

"Check it out," she whispered as she pointed one of her tails towards the other side of the pond.

There were three young women walking together on the path about twenty or thirty meters from us, and it was obvious why they'd caught her eye.

The one on the left was a ginger tabby catgirl. Her shoulder-length hair was orange with cream-coloured stripes, and her ears were covered in fine orange fur. Her tail was orange too, with cream-coloured rings around it. She was about average height, dressed in skinny-jeans and a tight t-shirt.

"Another one of Cass's plushie people I guess," Kaylee commented quietly. "It's pretty amazing, seeing other demi-humans just walking around going about their lives. And her friends seem totally cool with it, like it's perfectly normal."

I nodded slowly as we both watched them make their way around the pond while chatting with each other.

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The human girl in the middle was shorter, she actually looked about my size. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pretty face. She was wearing a cute pink sundress and sandals on her feet.

On the right was a ravenette girl who was even smaller. In fact she looked smaller than Kaylee, which was unusual. She was dressed in a tight tee and some shorts, with sneakers on her feet. She definitely wasn't a child though, she and the blonde looked about equal in terms of how busty they both were. Age-wise I'd guess all three of them were around twenty.

Then I noticed that small raven-haired girl also had a tail, but she was no demi-human. Her tail had a sharp pointed tip and a barb at the end, and as soon as I saw it my blood ran cold.

I knew that was a demonic tail, and that meant trouble. I was positive the tiny girl wasn't a full demon herself, she seemed more like a cambion to me. That still meant there could be a full demon around though, and the last thing I wanted was to get caught on some other demon's turf. I hadn't forgotten what happened the first time, and I didn't want to go through that again. I had no idea how another demon might react to Kaylee either, and I couldn't risk her getting hurt in a fight.

"We need to go," I whispered, with a sense of urgency in my voice. "Before they see us. Back to the van. Now."

Kaylee's tails stopped moving and she frowned, "Why, what's wrong?"

"I'll explain later," I replied quietly as I stood up. "Please let's just go now?"

"All right Nina," she said as she got to her feet.

Unfortunately we only made it two or three steps towards the parking lot when a high-pitched girly voice called out behind us, "Hey stop! Wait up you two!"

I cringed as Kaylee turned around to look. Then I turned as well, to see the tiny cambion running along the path towards us as she waved her hands while her tail swished wildly back and forth behind her. The petite blonde girl was chasing after the small half-demon. And the catgirl was still some distance back doing a face-palm, while her tail hung down low.

The expression on the cambion's face wasn't anger or outrage or anything like that, which was a relief. If anything she looked excited and happy as she came running up to us. She stopped a couple paces back while her tail continued swishing around behind her. Then she gave Kaylee a big grin and asked, "Are you really a kitsune?! You have three tails, does that mean you're three thousand years old?"

We both just stared at her for a second or two. I had no idea what my friend was thinking, but I was starting to realize that the tiny girl in front of us didn't seem to know what either of us really were.

"I'm not that old," Kaylee finally responded while her tails twitched around behind her. "As for whether or not I'm 'real', that depends on how you classify kitsune. What about you, what are you supposed to be? I don't think I've ever seen a tail like that before."

"I'm a cambion!" the tiny stranger announced with a wide grin, as she stood up tall and proud while her barbed tail swayed back and forth behind her legs. Although 'tall' for her didn't even come up to Kaylee's nose. And she didn't come up to my shoulders, which was surprising considering I was fairly petite myself.

"Jinx!" the blonde human demanded as she moved to her friend's side. "We told you not to bother them! Sorry you two, she gets really excitable sometimes."

Kaylee's tails were swishing around lazily behind her as she replied, "It's fine."

I was still anxious, but I tried not to show it. And I was still focused on the tiny girl with the big smile. I could see her horns now, they were small enough to be hidden in her hair and easily overlooked. I knew to look for them though, and they weren't that hard to spot when you were paying attention.

"So um," I tried to sound calm and not let on how uneasy I was as I asked, "You said you're a cambion? Does that mean there's a demon around here?"

"Nah," Jinx replied as she shook her head. "Or if there is I haven't heard about it. The only demon I know is my mom, but she's back in England so there's no chance of her turning up here."

I noticed her tail was tucked down between her legs when she mentioned her mother, but it started swaying around happily a moment later as she continued, "There's other supernaturals around though! So far we've seen a goddess and we met an angel and we even talked to a nymph once. And now we've met a kitsune too!"

Kaylee's eyes widened, "You know an angel? And a goddess? Are they from around here?"

The tiny cambion shook her head, "Nope. The goddess goes to the same college as Cheryl and Tabby, but that's in another town. And that's where the angel is too, she works at the cafe. And the nymph works at a bookstore in the city."

"How about you?" she added. "Do you know any other supernaturals? Where are you from, I haven't seen you around before."

Kaylee glanced at me with a grin, like she was tempted to overshare. Fortunately before she could say anything the human girl spoke up.

"Ok I think you've bothered these people enough," the blonde told her friend. Then she apologized again to us, "I'm sorry for bothering you two."

"It's ok," Kaylee shrugged. "It was nice to meet you Jinx. My name's Kaylee by the way, and this is my friend Nina."

"Kaylee the kitsune!" Jinx grinned. "Nice meeting you too!"

The catgirl finally joined her friends in time for more introductions, so we learned that her name was Tabby while the blonde human was Cheryl. And the three of them lived in the townhouse complex next to where we parked. And Kaylee told them where we were from. They'd heard of our home town, but none of them had ever been there before.

Then while Tabby and I watched awkwardly Jinx and Kaylee both got a little carried away talking to each other. And Cheryl seemed torn, like she wasn't sure if she should act embarrassed and try to get her friend to settle down or if she wanted to join in the conversation.

By the time the three of them finally moved on Kaylee and Jinx had exchanged social media contact info and the enthusiastic little cambion had done her best to invite us both home to hang out with the three of them. Her energy was a little contagious, and it left a grin on the kitsune's face as she watched the others walk off in the direction of the townhouses.

"That was wild," she commented quietly, while her three tails swished around behind her. "Why did you want to leave? You acted like you were scared for some reason?"

I grimaced and blushed, "Yeah... I knew from the tail she was part-demon, and um, I was scared we were on some other demon's territory."

Kaylee turned and gave me a sad look, while her ears and tails drooped. "Aw, you were worried about another demon attacking you? Like when your horn got broken? You know Cass would protect you right? If anyone ever hurt you she'd let them have it. That's what big sisters are for. And I'd make sure she did it too. That's what big sisters' girlfriends are for."

It wasn't quite what I expected in terms of supportive words, but it actually cheered me up a bit to hear her say that stuff. I managed an embarrassed smile and mumbled, "Uh, thanks Kaylee."

"You're welcome Nina," she replied, as she gave me a quick hug. Then with her tails swishing around happily again she asked, "How about we head back to the clinic now? Cass should be done soon, we can be there waiting for her."

I nodded, "Yeah ok. Sounds good."