The parents of Maya and Sophia finally met, and they had lots to talk about. While getting to know each other, they also learned how their daughters had been trying their best to impress their partner's family, as their perceived personalities differed greatly from how their parents saw them themselves.

  “It’s still so overwhelming that Sophia changed this much.” As they were learning more about their striped daughter, Lydia wasn't sure what to say anymore. “The picture of her being so withdrawn in the past still is fresh in my mind.”

  “For me, that’s the overwhelming part.” Eve scratched her cheek. “There were times, before reuniting with Steph, where she acted a little reserved and sensitive in a way that indicated some past trauma, but she’s always been one of the biggest extroverts I know since meeting her.”

  “I’d love to see her in action.” Pete had a warm smile on his lips. “I want to see her at her best and get to know our girl all over again. We were close, but her being confident in public would be such an amazing sight!”

  “Yes!” Lydia felt the same. "Seeing her glow up in action would be so lovely."

  “That might be a little bit hard at the moment.” Eve tilted her head. "Sophia and the others are currently traveling, so they're rarely in the capital. Everyone there's missing the sociable tiger, too.”

  “Then again, if they were to ask Sophia to give them a tour of the capital, she’d definitely agree to it.” Theo didn’t think it would be much of an issue.

  “Oh, you’re right about that!” His wife hadn’t considered that option before.

  “I’d certainly love to see our girl all grown up.” Lydia wasn't against the plan. “It’s still concerning that we’re in a different world, though. Unbelievable, too. Right now, it doesn’t feel real at all because we’re literally just in a house and chatting with a lovely couple. Okay, the cat features make it obvious that we’re not in our world, but we’re already somewhat used to that from our girls… Being in a city, a capital no less, with thousands of people from different cultures and worlds, is something else entirely, though."

  “It is quite concerning, yes.” Pete nodded. “I’m more than willing to give it a try, though. To see Sophia happy, at the very least. As well as seeing the full extent of our girls' new home."

  “That much is obvious!” His wife lightly raised her voice. "It's the very least we should do, but I still can be scared about the circumstances!”

  “If it helps, the capital is one of the safest places in the entire kingdom.” Eve tried to make them feel better about it. “People are incredibly friendly, and the public order is immaculate.”

  “That’s certainly reassuring and helps a lot.” Lydia smiled at her. “So is our own as well, though. How would you feel about visiting our world? The place where Sophia grew up in?” She turned it around.

  "A-Ah." Maya’s parents froze. “It’s easier said than done, we agree.”

  “Haha.” Pete let out a small chuckle. “Though, in your defense, visiting our world would be doubly difficult for you two because people with animal ears or tails don’t exist there.”

  “Wait, wouldn’t that mean we will have the same issue in their world?” Hearing that, Lydia tilted her head. “In our world, they'd be the only ones with animal bits, but in theirs, we'd be the only ones without!”

  “You are right!” Pete’s eyes grew wide. “We’d be way too conspicuous!”

  “Your looks actually wouldn’t be much of an issue in that regard.” Theo lightly shook his head. “The beastfolk are extremely diverse when it comes to the percentage of our animal features. It reaches from the sapient fulls, who look exactly like the regular animal, all the way to the hidden, who have no apparent features of their animal origin because it’s only part of their personality or inner body physique. They look just like humans, especially when not paying attention to any possible quirks they may have.”

  “Ohh!” Sophia’s parents got interested in that.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “There is a bit of an issue, though.” Theo scratched his cheek. "We beastfolk can sense magic power. That's one of the ways we can identify a hidden because they have the same magic as the rest of us." He then glanced at the couple. “Not only do you two not have the same amount of magic as the rest of us, but you have none at all. That fact would definitely make you stand out. Only your Sari would raise no suspicion because babies don’t radiate any magic until it awakens in them at a later age.”

  “That’s an issue!” Lydia and Pete looked at each other.

  “It’s certainly a hindrance.” Maya’s father nodded.

  “How did Steph obtain her magic after she decided to stay with Sophia and the others?” Eve was wondering if the same would be an option for them, as well.

  "Steph told us that she was gifted magic by Chloe's mother, Mira. I don't know if that would be an option for us.”

  “A-Ah.” Eve and Theo got a little awkward.

  “What’s wrong?” Lydia got confused over their reaction. “Do you not like her?”

  “Do you know who Mira is?” Eve looked at them. “Besides being Chloe’s mother, that is.”

  “Steph only said that she’s something really special.” Pete shook his head. “Which, I’d argue, isn’t saying overly much when talking about the mother of your partner.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Lydia raised an eyebrow over his wording.

  “Absolutely nothing!” He rapidly shook his head in return.

  “Special is a good description for the Mira, though.” Eve nodded a few times.

  “Putting it quite lightly, but yes.” Her husband agreed.

  “Eh?” The couple got confused.

  “Are there gods and goddesses in your world?”

  “That highly depends on who and where you ask that question.” Pete scratched his cheek. “Wait, why are you asking?”

  "Gods, goddesses, and deities in general do exist in our world.” Theo kept looking at them. “Not just in theory, but they also walk amongst us regular people occasionally for periods of time."

  “How did we end up with this topic?” Lydia couldn’t follow them anymore.

  “Mira’s one of them.” The cat-man cut it short. “Mira’s the goddess of magic in our world. She calls herself the Overseer of Magic, and Sophia told us multiple times that there’s a significant difference, which seems quite important to her for some reason, but I can't tell you the difference between those terms."

  “If there even are differences.” Eve also shrugged.

  “What?” The two looked utterly dumbfounded.

  “Yes, Steph’s girlfriend is the daughter of a goddess in our world.” Eve awkwardly scratched her cheek.

  “No way.” They had nothing else to say.

  "It's quite something, isn't it?” Theo couldn’t blame them for being overwhelmed. "Eve and I were already mentally overloaded when we found out that our daughter is effectively dating a member of the kingdom’s royalty, but a goddess is a good couple of steps above that.”

  “Oh, you have another daughter?” Lydia immediately jumped at this information to distract herself from the other bombshell.

  “No, I’m talking about Maya.” She shook her head.

  “Huh?” The blonde woman kept being confused. “Is she dating multiple people? Does Sophia know about that?”

  “It is Sophia, dummy.” Eve lightly rolled her eyes.

  “What!?”

  “Hehe.” Maya’s mother chuckled over the strong reaction of the couple. “Hasn’t she told you about the part where she’s basically a princess of the kingdom we live in?”

  “No?!” Lydia energetically shook her head. “She told us that she’s friends with a princess and regularly meets other royals, but… hah.”

  "How did our girl end up becoming a princess in that world?!" Pete raised his voice.

  “Tigers are the natural nobility of the beastfolk.” Theo smiled at them. "Sophia being close to Anna and the rest of the royal family more or less puts her on the same level, and she's treated as a full princess by pretty much anyone in the capital."

  “How did that happen?!” Lydia only got louder.

  “That’s just what tigers have always been in our world.” Maya’s mother shrugged.

  “No, I mean how Sophia ended up in all of this.” Her mother shook her head.

  "Well, it's Sophia, so she probably thought being striped was cute, so she went for a tiger look. She’s always been half of a cat anyway, after all.” Pete seemed to know his daughter rather well.

  “That’s pretty much what she also told us, actually.” Theo smiled at him. “She turned herself into a tiger because she liked the idea, but without knowing about their standing in this world.”

  “Ha…” Lydia could only sigh. "I guess that means tigers are also rather rare, and she stood out like a sore thumb, so the royal family instantly found out about her?"

  “I’d assume so.” The cat-man nodded. “Fortunately, Sophia’s someone who loves attention, so I guess it was easy for her to deal with.”

  “It’s mind-blowing how much she changed.” Pete wasn't sure what else to say.

  “Almost as mind-blowing as Steph dating the daughter of a GODDESS!” Lydia returned to that topic. “Like, WHAT?!”

  “Our girls sure went up in life.” Their father looked on the bright side. “One effectively became royalty while the other even shot for a higher plane of existence.” As he struggled to wrap his head around this fact, he decided to joke around to deal with it.

  "Well, yes, but also, huh?!" She only stared at her husband.

  "It looks like the sisters have some explaining to do later."

  “Indeed.” Eve and Theo felt a little sorry for them.

  The more Lydia and Pete learned about their daughters and the world, the more overwhelmed they became, and it was time for another break to let them recover a bit.

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