Chapter 220: Extras #4 – Highs & Lows

=::= Cass's PoV =::=

"What kind of writing is that?" I asked as I stared at the book in front of us. "It looks sort of like Fae, but different enough I can't read it."

The hand-written text had all the long swooping strokes of Old Fae, and some of the glyphs even looked familiar to me. On the whole though it was illegible, less like writing and more like someone saw some Fae once and tried to mimic it without actually understanding it.

"It's Fae," Cassandra replied absently as she flipped through the pages of the thick old tome. "It's modern Fae though, very different from the older stuff."

She eventually closed the book and set it down ontop of a half dozen others, off to the right-hand side of the coffee table in front of us. There was a smaller collection of books on the left, she'd only put four of them over there so far. I'd only been able to read about half of them so far, the ones in Latin, demonic or chthonic text were easy for me. Even ancient Greek wasn't that hard. The stuff I couldn't understand were the more modern human languages. And aparently modern Fae as well.

While I was thinking about language stuff Cassandra picked up a new book from the large stack that sat next to us on the sofa. There'd been well over two dozen books beside us when she started a few hours earlier, and it felt like in all this time she hadn't even got halfway through them. As far as I was concerned it was a boring waste of an afternoon, but it seemed important to Cassandra so I tried not to interfere too much.

I couldn't help watching what she was doing though, and every so often I had questions for her. The biggest one so far was where we actually were, because we sure weren't in the clubhouse. It looked like a posh apartment someplace, and the furniture was all fancy leather and polished hardwood.

From the brief glimpse I'd seen out the windows I could tell we were probably about ten stories up in the air. When I asked Cassandra she said it was a condo in the city, one of the properties she'd seized from the Council. She never said which city though, and I was pretty sure it wasn't Toronto. I had a feeling it wasn't even in North America.

My attention was finally drawn to the next book, which was written in thick black gothic letters that I knew had to have been done by hand with a calligraphy pen. I couldn't read this one either, but I knew it was another human language.

After a couple minutes my other half closed the book and placed it with the others on the right-hand side of the coffee table, before picking up the next one and repeating the process.

I was positive this one was written in Spanish, or something similar. The text also looked sort of casual and maybe a bit scribbly, like someone's personal diary or a journal rather than a formal book.

When it ended up on the smaller pile to the left I finally asked, "What exactly are you doing? What do the two different piles mean?"

"I'm reviewing the books we took from the Council," Cassandra replied as she picked up yet another from the stack next to us on the sofa. "The ones that end up in that pile on the right we'll probably scan and convert into ebooks, then release them to the public. I haven't decided yet if they'll be available to anyone or only those already aligned with us."

She added, "The books on the left are the ones which will not be shared. In fact I may ultimately decide to destroy them. Either way, they should never fall into public hands."

Hearing that made me frown, "I take it those ones are bad? Or they have nasty stuff in them? What about the good ones?"

My other half set another book on the pile to the right as she explained, "The 'good' ones are books of spells and rituals, treatises on the practice of magic, that sort of thing. They're mostly safe, although that's a very relative term in this case. The 'bad' ones are similar but much more unpleasant. They contain stuff that I don't want the general public to have access to or knowledge of under any circumstances."

I nodded quietly as I watched for another couple of minutes before the next question occurred to me. "How can you actually read all these different languages? I learned a few of the more obscure ones last year, but none of the normal human ones."

"It's a goddess thing," she explained. "I couldn't even write a single sentence in German or Spanish, but I can read them just fine. I can also understand any language I hear if it's spoken by a mortal, and they'd understand anything I told them even if I couldn't speak their language. I'd actually sound like a local to them, including accent and dialect."

"That's convenient," I frowned. "Too bad I can't do that."

Cassandra shrugged, "Demons and gods have similar strengths, just expressed in different ways. If you found yourself somewhere you didn't speak the language you could just read people's minds and learn it from them. You could learn to read write and speak any language you wanted, just by reading the mind of a mortal who happened to know it already."

"I don't want to read people's minds," I stated.

"I know that Cass," she replied. "I'm just saying what's possible, I'm not suggesting you should actually do it."

A moment later she added, "Anyways I don't mean to sound rude but maybe you could let me finish what I'm doing?"

I sighed, "I'm bored. I can't actually do anything except watch you. And it's frustrating watching you read all those dusty old books, since I wanted to read the latest chapter of that space-fox story. The author finally started posting the newest book, and there was another new chapter out today."

Before my other self could respond our phone played the notification tone for a text from Kaylee, so Cassandra pulled it out of our hoodie to see what she wanted.

"Where are you??" our girlfriend wrote. "You said you'd be home before 6pm and it's already 6:30! Everyone else is here and we've started the party, Melanie's ordering dinner now."

"Oh no!" I gasped, "How'd it get so late?!"

This was new year's eve and we had all of Club Luna at the clubhouse to celebrate. I'd even helped with the planning and stuff. Only now it was starting and we were off somewhere by ourselves looking at dusty old books instead.

Cassandra apologized, "My bad, I lost track of time. Anyways the rest of this can wait till later. I'll teleport us home then you can take over for the party, ok?"

"Fine," I agreed as we got to our feet.

My other self used her divine magic, and the condo faded away around us as our bedroom back home at the clubhouse faded into view in its place. I found myself in control of our body again at the same time, so I hurried out of our room to go join the others.

There was already music playing on the sound system while Cerys and Nina had a game going on the big TV. My sister was sitting on one end of the sofa with Sasha in the middle and Willow on the other side. And all three of them were close enough to call it cuddling. Same with our three guests on the other sofa, Jade had Sage pressed up against her left side and Violet cuddled against her right side.

Our wolfgirls were sharing one of the big comfy chairs, Melanie was busy putting our dinner order in with her phone while Cerys was focused on the game. And finally, Kaylee sat cross-legged on the other big comfy chair, pouting at me for being late to the party.

"Hi everyone," I mumbled as I headed across the room towards my girlfriend. "Happy new years! Sorry I'm late, Cassandra was doing uh, goddess stuff and she lost track of time."

I joined the tiny three-tailed fox demon on the big comfy chair, then gave her a more personal apology that involved a tight hug and some kisses.

Meanwhile Melanie finally set her phone down and teased, "We'll forgive you, but you have to pay for dinner."

"Ok," I agreed without hesitation, since it's not like money was ever going to be a problem for Cassandra or me. Beyond what we could already do with our own magic, we'd also ended up with a significant fortune after dismantling the Council.

We hadn't forgot what our parents told us though, about not flaunting it and showing off and stuff. The cash and bullion and stuff like that was hidden in a closet in that condo, while the money from the Council's various accounts was divided up. About half the funds went to various charities supporting queer people and animal shelters around the world, the rest went into secret accounts and trust funds and stuff like that. Some of it was in our name, some in fake names, and some of it was set up for our friends so they'd be taken care of.

"You know I was just kidding right?" the ravenette wolfgirl asked as she gave me a look, "You don't have to pay for everything all the time Cass."

I shrugged, "I know? It's ok though, me and Cassandra would have insisted on paying anyways."

"Thanks Cass," Cerys responded. "And thanks Cassandra as well. You're both too kind."

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Kaylee was perched on my lap by that point, and her tails swished around while she smiled at me. "My girlfriends might have trouble keeping track of time, but they make up for it with their kindness and generosity."

That got me blushing a bit, so I tried to change the subject by asking Violet and her girlfriends how their xmas went.

"It was good," Jade replied. "Busy though."

Violet elaborated, "We all had dinner with Jade's parents on the twenty-fourth, then came back home again that night so we could have a nice little xmas morning with just the three of us. Then we went back down to the city again for a big dinner with my parents."

Sage grimaced, "We were all peopled out after that, so the twenty-sixth was a quiet stay-at-home day."

"You mean stay-a-cat day," Jade teased. "I swear you were in cat-mode from the minute we got home on the twenty-fifth until you had to go to work on the twenty-seventh."

The petite catgirl just grinned as she had a gulp of her water.

Then Willow asked me and Nina, "Are your moms going to come over tonight? Melanie was saying earlier that you all had fun hanging out with them last new years."

"Mom and mum decided they wanted to have a quiet romantic night to themselves this year," my sister responded. "Cass and I were worried they'd be lonely, but they seemed happy about doing something special for the two of them."

I blushed slightly as I added, "I think after nineteen years of being parents they're starting to enjoy having some time to themselves again."

"Good for them," Kaylee grinned as her tails flicked around mischievously.

After that the conversation shifted away from my parents and onto safer topics, like if Club Luna had any new incidents to investigate. We didn't, but it was always quieter in the winter time so that wasn't unusual. Instead Kaylee and Cerys took turns telling our newest club members some stories of past exploits, while the rest of us listened and played video games.

Eventually the food arrived, Mel ordered us a huge feast of wings and things. We got a couple dozen each of six different flavours, including honey garlic, BBQ, sweet Thai chilli, chipotle maple, hot buffalo, and plain. Then there were a couple big boxes of potato wedges and a couple more boxes of onion rings. We even got a tub of coleslaw and a bunch of veggie sticks and dip.

It was messy and unhealthy but it was also really tasty and fun. We had loads of napkins out for everyone, and lots of drinks too, like soda, water, and juice. Even though half the people here were old enough to drink none of us ever really got into alcohol, so the only booze we had was a single bottle of champagne. My mum provided that, so we could all have half a glass at midnight.

Along with the food and the games and the music and stuff there was also lots of talking and joking, and a fair bit of cuddling and kissing. It was kind of neat that everyone in the gang was all hooked up, so nobody was on their own anymore. I was a bit surprised when I first figured out Nina was getting closer to both Willow and Sasha, and I still wasn't sure if my little sister was only in it for the cuddles and hand-holding. She seemed a little too blushy for anything else.

Later in the evening during a pause in the gaming and stuff Melanie looked at me and commented, "I don't know if this is like a tradition for y'all, but we did something last year that kinda stuck with me? And I wanted to do it again this year."

"Ok?" I asked, "What did you have in mind?"

The ravenette wolfgirl had a gulp of her cola then said, "I was thinking about highs and lows for the past year. Like for me, the low was when my dad outed me to those RSS podcasters then abandoned me when he moved away. It's hard to pick just one high though, there's been so many? Maybe the biggest was getting to move back in here again, along with all my friends. Y'all are like family to me now, only better."

"Same," Cerys agreed. She and Melanie exchanged a kiss then the blonde wolfgirl continued, "The low-point for me was last January, when my dad was trying to kill me. The rest of the year's been good though? Getting to live here with Melanie and all our closest friends is the best. I know we call it the clubhouse, but it's more like home and you're more like family than anything else I've had."

I gave them both a warm smile before I did my thing, "My low-point was in June and July I guess, when I thought I was going crazy and worried I was going to become dangerous to my family and friends. It's hard to pick a high-point this year, but I guess I'd have to go with the same as you two? Living here with Kaylee and all my best friends is great."

"My low point was in October when the Council almost killed my parents," my girlfriend stated in a low angry voice. Her mood picked up again though as she continued, "It's hard to pick a high-point, but watching Cassandra kick the council's ass was pretty good."

Then with her tails swishing around happily she added, "Same with my parents converting to chaosism. But I think the best thing was when Cassandra turned me into a three-tailed fox demon."

Violet went next, "It feels kind of tame by comparison, but I guess the low for me was just my regular everyday life up until June, being a lonely depressed closeted trans girl? And obviously the high point was meeting Artemis and getting a magical transition and becoming part plant-nymph, and all the other great things that led to. Like living with my two best friends."

"I feel kind of guilty now," Jade grimaced. "I didn't really have any low points this year, it was all pretty good. The best part was like what Vi just said though. I got to live with my best friends, we all became girlfriends, and we made friends with the rest of you folks."

Sage was a little quieter as she stated, "My low point was coming out to my parents and being rejected, then feeling unsafe around them. Same high-point as Violet though, getting my magical plushie transformation was awesome and getting to live with my best friends is like icing on the cake."

My little sister went next. In a quiet voice she said, "I guess the low points for me were all the council attacks and being worried about all my new friends? I think the high point though was being reunited with Sasha. And becoming friends with Willow."

That put a smile on the cute sorceress's face. She responded, "For me the low point was finally getting access to magic then not being able to control it and accidentally hurting people when I tried to use it. But the high point was being accepted and joining the club, and making friends with all of you."

"Including two really close friends," she added with a smile and wink directed towards Sasha and Nina.

That got my little sister blushing, while my cousin just smiled back. She was also the only one who hadn't done her high-low thing yet, so after a sip of her drink she began.

"My low point would be the entire first half of the year," Sasha admitted. "I was fading away to oblivion in my exile, with no hope of salvation. The first high point came when Cassandra gave me a second chance. The second was when Nina forgave me, and I was accepted into Club Luna."

After a slight pause my cousin added, "Some of you pointed out that this house is our home, and our friends have become our family. I agree with those sentiments, but I'd like to add something to that. This is a place where I actually feel like I belong, where I can just be myself. I wonder if anyone else feels the same?"

A few others nodded while Melanie agreed, "Yeah. I never really felt like I fit in anywhere before. First because of dysphoria and being trans, then because of being a werewolf. Even living here with my dad I still felt like I didn't really belong? But living here with all my friends, I can be a gay trans wolfgirl and it's no big deal."

"Or a tiny gay three-tailed demon foxgirl," Kaylee added with a wide smile as her tails swished around happily again.

Violet raised her soda as she nodded, "As a gay trans half-nymph I'll drink to that."

We all raised our drinks at that point. Then Cerys joked, "Now all we need's our own special pride flag. Considering everyone here's both queer and supernatural we ought to have our own flag, right?"

"Maybe we can come up with something ourselves?" Willow suggested. "I doubt anyone else has made a 'supernatural pride' flag yet."

That ended up being the topic of conversation for the last half hour leading up to midnight. Then in the final few minutes me and Kaylee went into the kitchen and opened up the champagne. Mum also left us with a bunch of small plastic wine glasses so we poured ten of them and handed the fizzy drinks out with a minute or so to spare.

Then we all counted down the last ten seconds, and when the time came everyone raised their little glasses.

"Happy new years!" Cassandra and I said together. "Here's to home and family and having somewhere we all belong."