Chapter 12: Sammy Interlude

Today had been an absolutely insane day for Sammy. They wouldn’t even know where to begin if someone asked them, but the beginning would be a good place to start. It wouldn’t be fair to say it started off like any normal day, as the second they woke up they frantically checked their phone to see if their best friend Maria had responded to them at all.

Maria had now been missing for four days, and it was extremely worrisome for the enby considering all the stuff happening with Maria’s family. Maria’s family were wealthy and powerful, but according to the arrests that literally took place on Maria’s birthday, which also happens to be the first day she went missing, it turned out all the money and power were very, very illegal. Still, that wouldn’t have stopped the family from getting to Maria if they wanted her, which just made Sammy worry even more.

There were no replies, and, like they had done for the past few days, they called her. There wasn’t even any ringing, it just went straight to voicemail, which was now full thanks to Sammy.

They were legitimately scared for Maria at this point. They had even gone to her apartment, only to find that she had been evicted and there was nothing left in there. All in all, they sadly started thinking her parents might have done something to her…

Like every other day, Sammy went to work at their somewhat new IT job at a small office building. The job could be hectic, as most of the computers and operating systems the company used were pretty old, but it at least paid well. Well enough that in a few months they might even be able to get an apartment on their own instead of sharing it with three very stereotypical dude-bros. Though Sammy couldn’t fault their roommates, they were all incredibly nice, and had been insanely accepting of them being nonbinary and pansexual. One of them had even broken a guy’s nose when that person was making fun of Sammy at a party in their apartment.

Anyway, Sammy went to work like usual, and like usual, on their break they tried calling Maria again. This time though, it didn’t go straight to voicemail, it started ringing, then Maria picked up. Immediately a weight was lifted from their shoulders as they finally got a hold of Maria. It was short lived, however. Maria talked about a new girlfriend that she hadn’t had last time they talked, and how she was now living with her and didn’t have access to phones or the internet till just now. She didn’t even know the address she was staying at!

It was all fishy to Sammy. Fishy enough that they left work early and went to the apartment Maria was now staying at. The place was lavish, at least that was what Sammy could gather from behind a lobby gate with a security guard not letting them through. They argued with the hulk of a guard for nearly thirty minutes while he supposedly made calls up to the room with no answer. Eventually Maria came ‘down’ into the lobby with her new girlfriend.

There was definitely something up with them, especially when Maria started talking in a very strange language Sammy had never heard before. Things only got fishier from there as the trio went to the IRS office so Maria could answer some questions about her parents. While waiting, Sammy looked up the language and could only find that it was a fantasy thing. Also, when Sammy looked up where Edith was supposedly from, nothing showed up whatsoever.

It all came together at dinner, though. When Sammy finally blew up and felt something invisible touch their forehead. Everything changed. Suddenly there was a demon in Edith’s place. Maria had horns and glowing purple cat eyes.

Turns out the supernatural world is real. Not exactly as people would expect, but it’s real, alright. And so much larger than Sammy could comprehend. At least now Maria and Edith were being honest with them. Apparently, Maria is Edith’s magically fated wife/soulmate, and is turning into a demon herself. Which was somehow confirmed by Edith putting her hand down the back of Maria’s pants, and making her moan in front of the waitress.

This was all insane and way too much, but Sammy was at least getting a grasp of everything thanks to shutting down their more emotional side. Maybe not the healthiest of coping mechanisms, but at least they weren’t cowering in fear at the real-life demon in front of them. They even accepted Maria and Edith’s relationship, mostly. But then Ahti arrived…

The beautiful Egyptian woman plopped herself down next to Sammy, and made herself right at home. Eventually Ahti tapped Sammy on the nose, letting them see through her so-called ‘glamour’ to reveal her true form. She was a jackal. A full-on anthropomorphic jackal, just like fucking Anubis from ancient Egypt.

Now that wouldn’t have normally been a problem, well except the whole not human aspect, but Sammy had a secret they had only really confided in Maria. They were a furry. Now not the whole fursuit and yiff kind of furry. They just really enjoyed the art, especially the more realistic versions, not the cartoony ones. They also may or may not find some of them attractive. Which is a fact Maria knew, so when Sammy couldn’t help but suddenly stare at Ahti with a massive blush on their face, Maria couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Needless to say, it was quickly discovered that Sammy was a furry. Ahti actually picked up on it very quickly and began teasing them. As the jackal put it, they were a ‘cute little furry’. Being called cute by Ahti really didn’t help their seemingly never-ending blush, but they couldn’t say they didn’t enjoy it. In fact, they very much enjoyed being called cute by her. It also seemed she very much enjoyed calling them cute, as her tail was always wagging when she called Sammy cute. Often the tail was also lightly beating against them, and they couldn’t figure out whether she was doing that on purpose or not.

Either way, that dinner out with Maria, her demon wife Edith, and the flirtatious jackal Ahti will forever be a memorable night. That being said, it wasn’t quite over yet. By the time they got out of the bar and grill, it was pretty dark and late out. This city wasn’t the nicest of places at night even though they were in a better part of town, so Sammy was planning on getting an Uber home. Before they could pull their phone out Ahti took their arm.

“A cute little thing like you shouldn’t be walking about the streets at night all by yourself,” The jackal said looking down at Sammy with a smile on her muzzle.

Sammy couldn’t help but notice just how soft Ahti’s light coat of fur was. It was the kind of softness that made you want to bury your face in it, and Sammy really wanted to. But that didn’t help the blush on their face. To be honest, Sammy’s face was just perpetually flushed tonight night, and even their light makeup couldn’t help hide it. It only seemed to have spurred Ahti on all night long.

“Why don’t I walk you home?”

“Oh. I was— Um…” Sammy looked over to Maria for help, who only gave them a smile with raised eyebrows, as if to say, ‘why not?’. Edith meanwhile looked over at Ahti with a small knowing smirk on their face. After a second, Sammy finally mentally said ‘fuck it’ and decided why not? Maybe they could even find out more about the wider magical planes and stuff while they walk. Maybe even find out a little more on Maria and Edith’s nuptiae pact.

“Okay, sure. That’ll be fine. It’s a nice night out, anyway.” Sammy gave Ahti a small sheepish smile and was gifted a confident one in return.

“Great. I don’t really ever come to Earth, so this will be a fun little experience.”

“Yeah, it’s not the best of places,” Maria said.

“Still, it far different than most other planes, so it’s always interesting.” The scarlet demon wrapped an arm around Maria as she spoke.

“It really is,” Ahti mused. “Though the smell isn’t the best.” Her muzzle crinkled up lightly as she sniffed the air.

“True, but at least the restaurant is covering the smell,” Edith said with a chuckle.

““Earth smells?”” Sammy and Maria asked at the same time, gaining a laugh from the two Celesquians.

“Yeah, a little bit,” the demon said with a chuckle, before looking at Maria.  “You’ll probably be able to smell it after more transformation, and some time away from here.”

“Huh. I don’t know if I should look forward to that or not.”

“Don’t,” Ahti said with a laugh.

Maria simply nodded as her hand drifted to her head, feeling the small horns she had grown. Sammy noticed she had been doing that all throughout dinner, but they couldn’t fault her for it. Sammy would probably be doing the same thing if they were growing horns.

“Well, I think it’s time for Maria and I to head off to the gate. It’s been a nonstop day for us, so home sounds really nice right now.”

“Yeah, a bed sounds great,” Maria said with a giggle. “We should do something like this again sometime. I didn’t really go out a lot when I was working so it was really fun.”

“That would be nice. Just please don’t shatter my world again the next time we do.” Sammy couldn’t help but say that with a smile. Yes, tonight had been a little world shattering, but it wasn’t really that bad. Still, they might have a mini panic attack when they finally get home, but they’ll cross that bridge when they get there.

“No promises,” Edith said with a smirk. “It was really nice meeting you, Sammy.”

“You too, Edith, even though we got off to a pretty bad start.” Edith smirked a little and nodded.

“Alright,” Maria said. “Let’s go. We’ll see you guys later. And Sammy, text me later,” the budding demon said with a small suggestive smirk. Sammy only rolled their eyes. “Bye, guys!”

“Have a good night.”

“See you soon.” The human and jackal pair said in unison as Maria and Edith turned around to head home.

“That was fun,” Ahti started, “but now it’s time to take you home. Which way is it?”

Sammy paused for a second realizing that they were now alone with Ahti, a literal anthropomorphic jackal who they had just met that day. They weren’t scared of Ahti at all, it was more just the ‘I’m alone with someone I find very attractive’ kind of scared. Well maybe there was also a tiny bit of ‘those teeth could tear right through me’ scared, but it was thankfully taking a backseat.

“It’s— It’s this way,” they said pointing to the opposite direction the demon couple went.

Ahti gave the enby a smile, as she turned and started heading in that direction. She still hadn't let go of Sammy’s arm, so it jostled Sammy just a little bit as they started. Both were quiet for a little bit before Sammy gathered to courage to speak up.

“So, um, what is the gate thing you guys were talking about?”

“Oh that? It’s a portal between the multiplanes. It’s basically public transport for beings of the multiplanes. They’re free to use, but you actually have to go to one to use it. Some still prefer to use spells to planeswalk from one plane to another, so that they can pick specific points, but the spells are draining.”

“So you can planeswalk, like in Magic?”

Ahti raised an eyebrow. “Well the spell is magic, that kind of implied by ‘spell’.”

“Oh no. I meant like the game?”

“There’s a game called ‘Magic’?”

“Yeah, well it's actually Magic The Gathering. And there are planeswalkers as part of the overall lore of it.”

“Hm. I guess it might stem from actual planeswalking. I know a lot of human’s more fantasy-esque media is actually based on reality.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Same also applies to your religions. At least some of them. Speaking of religion, we didn’t break your beliefs by showing ourselves to you?” Ahti sounded a little worried as she knew religion can be very important to some people.

Sammy had to think for a second before they could answer. “Yes and no. I’m pagan so on some level I believed in all of it, but it was all less…” Sammy looked over at Ahti’s arm entwined with theirs. Her soft coat rubbing against their skin. “Tangible or physical, than what it really is. So yes, it kind of broke my understanding, but it didn’t break the fact that I already believed in it all. Though there might be something I still don’t know, or think I know but are wrong.”

The jackal nodded along to Sammy’s explanation. She was happy that they hadn’t completely destroyed Sammy’s world views.

“I do have one question, though,” Sammy said looking up at Ahti. “Athena is , right?”

The jackal chuckled lightly. “Yes, she is real. She actually has a nice podcast I listen to.”

“Athena has a podcast?”

Ahti nodded.

“Huh… I don’t suppose I could listen to it here on earth, could I?”

“Probably not at the moment. We could always see about getting you some Maginet stuff for your electronics if you would like to be able to, but that might take some time.”

After that the conversation died for a while as the two kept walking. Neither of them seemed to know what to say next, but both of them did notice the occasional and very obvious stares from other city goers.

Ahti was getting rather annoyed with the stares, as they all seemed to stop on her to ogle, then quickly shift to Sammy. When the stares reached Sammy, they turned into looks of confusion, annoyance, disgust, you name it. Ahti really didn’t like how humans saw others who were different from them.

Sammy was rather used to the looks, to be honest. Androgyny attracted a lot of attention in such a polar binary world. Though now Sammy couldn’t help but feel they were staring at the beautiful woman next to them. Even if they could only see a fake human beauty covering her true beauty.

“Is it strange having people not being able to see the real you?” Sammy ended up breaking the silence to ask.

The question took Ahti by surprise, though she still quickly found an answer. “Maybe a little bit. I know who I am, and I don’t really care what people think of how I look. That being said, I know if I showed my true self to humans, they would think that I’m a monster, and that doesn’t make me feel very good honestly.”

“I don’t think you’re a monster,” Sammy said without skipping a beat.

Ahti looked over at the enby by their side with a rather genuine smile on her muzzle. “Thank you, Sammy.” Even though she didn’t really care for humans all that much, it was really nice to know that this one didn’t find her atrocious. In fact, by their reactions they found her rather attractive, which made her heart jump a little bit.

The smile on her face also made Sammy’s heart skip a few beats, and the blush they had lost found its way back to their face. They really found Ahti beautiful, even though she wasn’t human.

Ahti turned back to looking ahead as they walked on, but her smile turned into a little smirk. “Though, a cute little furry like you wouldn’t think I look unattractive, would you?” She honestly couldn’t help teasing the enby, she just loved seeing them blush up a storm.

Sammy couldn’t look her in the eye. It was too embarrassing, but on some level deep down they liked the teasing. “I’m never going to live down being a furry with you, am I?”

Ahti giggled. “Not at all.” She paused for a few seconds before speaking back up. “I just realized that having people not see the real me here kind of feels similar to before I transitioned.”

Sammy almost tripped at those words. “Your transition?” They were a little afraid to ask, as transitioning can be a rather touchy subject for some trans people, but Sammy didn’t know if it was a trans transition she mentioned, or some other magical transition not related to being trans.

“Yeah. I’m trans.”

Sammy just blinked at how nonchalantly she stated that fact. “Oh. I didn’t…” They had no idea of what to say now.

Ahti pulled them in closer to her side with a smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not offended or anything. Being trans outside of earth isn’t really a big deal.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. No one bats an eye at anything related to being trans other than on Earth.”

“Oh wow. That must be really nice.” Sammy actually couldn’t imagine a world where there weren't people who wanted to kill them for being trans. Earth is really fucked up.

“It is. Though being safe and accepted doesn’t always mean it works out well. It took me five decades of misunderstood pain before I realized I was trans.”

Sammy suddenly stopped in their tracks, causing Ahti to stop. “Five decades?!”

“Yeah, still can’t believe it took me that long to figure out.”

“But you’re fifty years old?!”

“You know it’s never polite to talk about a woman’s age,” Ahti teased the enby, who immediately looked like they had just murdered someone. “But, I’m not fifty. I’m a hundred and nine.”

Sammy just blinked at the jackal. “What?”

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“I’m almost at my eleventh decade.”

“I… I…” Sammy seemed to be shutting down, then suddenly they shook their head and turned back to the sidewalk to start walking. “Okay then.”

“You okay there, cutie? I didn’t freak you out with my age did I?”

“Yeah. I just wasn’t expecting that, but I also wasn’t accepting a lot of things today. So it’s all fine.”

Ahti chuckled. “You’re cute.” She paused for a second, letting the remark pass.  “Though I do want to say, I know it’s really hard being trans here. I honestly couldn’t imagine the stuff you might have gone through to be yourself, but I do want you to know that I find you incredibly brave for being yourself.”

It shocked Sammy a little bit to hear Ahti say that, but it did make their heart swell up with happiness. “Thank you.” A few people had said something similar to them before, but they never felt it or believed it until Ahti just said it.

“You’re welcome.” She truly believed in what she said, and she was touched that her words looked like they really made Sammy feel good about themselves.

Once again, the pair fell quiet. Heavy topics didn’t typically lead to easily flowing lighthearted conversation. Still, they walked arm in arm, ever closer to Sammy’s apartment. The pair were quite close now, and Sammy found themselves thinking about today as a whole. It was fucking weird. And it all started with Maria fucking a demon. A literal demon.

An idea popped up in Sammy’s head and they couldn’t help but giggles as they went about doing it. Quickly they pulled out their phone and went to Maria’s contacts to change the name. Ahti, being curious about what the little enby was doing looked over just in time to see them change Maria’s name to ‘Maria, the demon fucker’.

“Ha! That’s pretty accurate.” Ahti said laughing lightly. “You should send that to her.” At Ahti’s suggestion, they did just that, and soon got a reply. It was an image of Sammy’s contact in Maria’s phone, but the name was now ‘Sammy, Ahti’s cute little furry’. Sammy blushed hard, because Ahti clearly saw the image, and she was now chuckling to herself. “I don’t think that’s such a bad name for you, cutie.” Sammy’s blush wouldn’t leave now and they buried their head in their phone, texting Maria.

 

Sammy: !!!That’s not funny!!!

Maria: No, it’s cute ;3

Sammy: …

Maria: She finished walking you home?

Sammy: Almost home now.

Maria: Then stop texting me and keep talking with her!

 

Just as that last text arrived, the jackal-human pair found themselves outside Sammy’s apartment complex.

“This is it,” they said a little nervously. Though they hadn’t really talked much in the last couple of minutes, Sammy didn’t actually want this to end.

“Oh.” Ahti looked over the tall building. It was pretty nice. Not the nicest and not anywhere as close to the apartments where the gate was located, but it was nice. “This is rather quaint.”

“Yeah. I can only really afford it because I have three dude-bro roommates.” Ahti raised an eyebrow at the remark, knowing well that the dude-bro type isn’t always the nicest to queer folk. “Oh no, they’re really nice and accepting. Jack even broke a guy's nose for making fun of me once.”

Ahti seemed satisfied with the response. “It’s good to know you’re in safe hands.” Ahti looked up at the tall building, not quite wanting this to end yet. “It’s pretty tall. What floor are you on?” Ahti asked with a little hope in her voice.

“I’m on six.”

“Would you like me to walk you up?”

“Yes!” Sammy definitely responded a little too fast and a little too loud, but it put a smile on Ahti’s muzzle.

Sammy punched in the security code to the lobby door, and they quickly stepped inside heading to the elevator.

“You know, I think it would be a nice idea if we swapped numbers. That way we could maybe do this again sometime?” It was a little more forward than Ahti wanted to be, but then again why beat around the bush?

Sammy’s eyes went a little wide, but they quickly nodded their head in agreement. As the two rode up the elevator, they swapped numbers. Sammy did ask if they would actually be able to text since their phone wasn’t magic or whatever, but Ahti quickly reminded them that Maria did call them from Celesque before. Eventually the pair find themselves in front of Sammy’s door, number 607.

“Well, this is it,” Sammy said a little dejectedly. Admittedly they were looking forward to their bed, but being with Ahti was rather nice.

“So it is…” Ahti didn’t really know what to say, but they knew they didn’t really want to say bye just yet, and it appeared to her that Sammy was feeling the same way. “Well,” Ahti started, finally thinking of something to say, “now that I know where you live, you better text me, or I’ll just have to come find you, cutie.”

Sammy blushed but laughed all the same. “I will. I promise. You won’t have to go hunting me down.”

“Oh don’t say that. Sometimes hunting people down can be really fun,” Ahti said with heavy implications and a smirk on her face.

Sammy’s eyes went a little wide, and a small wave of excitement rushed through them. Why did that excite them?! Still, they nervously nodded with a smile on their face.

Quickly the two fell back into silence, as they both waited for the other to say something. Eventually Sammy spoke up again and said, “Well, it’s getting pretty late and I have work in the morning, so I should probably be getting inside…”

“Oh right. It’s actually the same for me… so I guess this is goodnight.”

“Yeah. Goodnight, Ahti. It was really nice meeting you. Even if it did break my reality a little bit.”

Ahti giggled lightly, remember the cute face Sammy had on when they first saw them. “It was nice meeting you, too, Sammy.” She paused for a second, hesitant to suddenly do something she wanted to do. She had two options, and one was a little more forward than she was maybe ready for at the moment. She went for the lesser of the two. She gently reached up to Sammy’s face, cupping it as they leaned in and kissed them on the cheek. “Goodnight, Sammy,” She said, still close to their ear before pulling away.

Sammy’s eyes were wide, as they stared back into Ahti’s. They couldn’t get the feeling of her cold damp nose and lips on their cheek out of their mind. “Goo-- Goodnight Ahti,” they said with a blush that truly went all the way to their ears.

Ahti couldn’t help but smile at the incredibly cute and androgynous human. “Goodnight.” Before they could do any more awkward staring with no talking, she turned and headed back down the hallway. Sammy could see her tail wagging up a storm.

After a second Sammy looked away from the tail and actually walked into their apartment. Immediately the sounds of gunfire hit them as they looked up to see two of their roommates playing the latest Call of Duty game.

“Yo, Sammy! Where have you been all night?!” Jack commented, not looking away from the TV.

“Yeah? Have a hot date or something?” Derek asked before loudly shouting, “fuck,” as his character got killed.

Sammy, a little embarrassed, didn't quite know what to say back, but the pause was long enough to gather Jack’s attention.

“Bro! You did have a date!” He said, hitting the home button on his controller, ending the game for both Derek and him as he turned to look back at Sammy, still by the front door.

“Dude, what the hell? I was doing good!”

“Man, you’re K/D was fucking .25, don’t say shit. But Sammy had a date!”

“What? Really?” Derek asked now looking back and seeing the blush on Sammy’s face. “YO! Way to go! I’m proud of you.”

“It wasn’t a date!” Sammy finally managed to say back, but they still couldn't stop blushing at the thought of Ahti’s kiss. “It was just dinner with Maria and her new girlfriend… Who brought along a friend...”

“So a double blind date?”

“No! We just had dinner and she walked me home.”

“And you like this friend, don’t ya?” Derek asked a little hopeful. He had seen Sammy after their bad breakup and would be really happy for them to start moving on. Sammy pursed their lips but wouldn’t deny the truth. “See! I’m happy for you, dude. Go get her, him, them, or whoever.”

“We’ll see.” Sammy said finally making their way over to their room. “I’ve got work in the morning, so I’ll see you guys later.”

“Alright, Sammy!”

“Night, bro!”

Eventually they managed to make it back into their room and leaned up against the closed door. Quickly, they pulled out their phone and texted Maria.

 

Sammy: Why did you let this happen to me?

Maria: Because you’re adorable. Did you two stay at the front door awkwardly not knowing how to say goodbye, like two lovebirds in a romcom?

Sammy: Is scrying a spell you can cast now? Because if so, I don’t appreciate you spying on me. XP

Maria: That is such a forever DM thing to say. And that’s adorable!  Did she give you a kiss goodnight? :3

Sammy: ...Yes…

Maria: AWWWWWWW THAT’S SO CUTE!!!!!

Sammy: It was only on the cheek though!!!

Maria: Did you want one on the lips?

Sammy: ...maybe…

Maria: Aww… Well, will there be a next time for it to potentially happen?

Sammy: We gave each other our phone numbers, and she said I better text her.

Maria: !!!!! YES!!!! DO IT!!!!

 

Suddenly a text popped up from Ahti that read ‘Come outside, I changed my mind’. A little confused they headed back out the room and to the front door.

 

Sammy: Well considering she just texted me...

Maria: What did she say?

 

They didn’t get to reply as they finally got back to the front door. Their roommates watched closely but didn’t say anything and Sammy didn’t notice. They were more focused on what Ahti had meant. Did she change her mind and not want to meet again? To make them delete her number? Worry rose up in them as they finally opened up the door, to find the jackal waiting patiently.

“Hey, everything okay?” Sammy asked. Their nervousness showed in their voice.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just changed my mind on something.” Ahti said with maybe a little nervousness in her own voice.

“Oh, what did you cha—”

Suddenly Ahti’s lips were on theirs, making their mind instantly go blank. It felt like an eternity, before Ahti finally pulled away, and Sammy could see the biggest smile on her face as well as a massive blush.

“That’s better,” She said with a little smirk. “Goodnight, cutie.” With that Ahti turned away, worried she might go in for another kiss if she didn’t leave right now.

Sammy stood there a little dazed, but slowly they closed the front door and turned back to the main room, where their roommates were staring slack jawed.

“Sammy!”

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