Lydia and Pete arrived in Sophia’s domain and were given a quick tour that ended on the floating islands of the tiger's cherry blossom forest. After all, the place had the biggest feeling of being in another world. Naturally, the two needed a break to let it all sink in. Sophia and Maya used the chance to go and get the cat-girl’s parents during that time to have them all meet.

  “I’m sorry we’re late!” Sophia and Maya entered the living room of their mansion in the capital, where the tiger hastily apologized to the cat-girl's parents, who had been sitting on the sofa there.

  “Yeah, we got held up a little.” Maya scratched her cheek while looking at them.

  “I don’t think you’re overly late at all. If anything, we were early.” Eve, her mother, a cat-woman in her forties with medium-long, streaked black and white hair, smiled at the two. Her ears were a little stubbier than Maya's, but her tail was the exact same.

  “Yes.” Theo, her father, a cat-man also in his late forties with short light-brown hair, nodded along. Maya had inherited her ears from him, but his tail was a good bit bushier than hers.

  “That’s great!” The two were relieved to hear that.

  “We still don't know why we are here, though.” Eve tilted her head. “We love to see you, Sophia… You, too, Maya. Still, you said it was important, so we're curious now."

  “What was that pause there for?!” Maya raised her voice.

  “Hmm?” Her mother feigned ignorance.

  “There are two things we want to talk about.” Sophia looked at the two. “You remember my portals, right?”

  “The thing that leads to a different world…?” Theo raised an eyebrow. “The one where you came from?”

  “Not just to my old world, but more or less, yes.” Nodding once, the blonde then opened a portal next to her. "They all lead to the same place. It’s a place where they all meet up and can be used to visit other destinations. My home world included. On top of that, it leads to a massive place where we can play around however we want, as well. It is also our home when we’re taking a break from traveling.”

  “We have a house in there!” Maya added some extra detail to it.

  “Wow!” Maya’s father had nothing else to say.

  “That sounds fascinating, to say the least.” Eve’s expression was a little complicated. “Is it a good place? I don’t want my daughter to live anywhere weird.”

  “I couldn’t have made a better transition myself!” The tiger energetically clapped her hands. “That’s reason number one we invited you over today. Maya and I want to show you how we live in that place because we think that you, as their parents, deserve to get a glimpse of your daughter's current lifestyle."

  “You are such a sweet and thoughtful child!” Maya’s mother loved her a whole lot. "Such a perfect future daughter-in-law."

  “Ehehe~.”

  "Things will get so complicated when they meet later…" The actual daughter felt that once both families met, their discussions would be something else, especially because her parents had already treated Sophia as their own.

  “I’m not sure how I feel about going through this thing, though.” Eve pointed at the portal.

  "Yes." Theo nodded a few times while looking in the same direction. "It is intriguing but also very concerning.”

  "And that brings us right to the second topic of the day~." Sophia liked how smoothly the conversation was coming along. “We currently have some special guests in our home inside the portal!”

  “Earlier today, Sophia and I, together with Steph, went to their old world, and I met their parents." Maya didn't want to let her tiger do all the explaining. “They’re lovely people, and any reservations regarding them being humans are unnecessary. The known humans around here, many of them at least, are of questionable morale, but the humans from Sophia’s worlds are different.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “The vast majority of them.” The blonde just had to make a slight correction there. “My parents very much included, yes.”

  “That is reassuring to hear.” Eve smiled at him. “We already had not the slightest bit of doubt after the first time we were told about Sophia’s past, though. After all, just like you said back then, there’s just no way the parents of such a lovely girl could possibly be bad.”

  “Feel free to tell them all about just how much you like me~.” The tiger enjoyed the praise they were showering her with. "My parents, Lydia and Pete, as well as my baby sister, Sari, are also currently visiting our home inside the portal because Steph and I wanted to show them how we live now. If you join us now, you can meet them in about a minute, and we can get the families to know each other."

  “Let’s go!” Eve energetically jumped off the sofa. Any fear of the portal had been blown away in an instant.

  “You heard the boss.” Theo had to chuckle over his excited wife. “Just to make extra sure, we can always come back once we step through this thing, right?” He gestured at the portal next to the tiger. “They aren’t one-way, are they?”

  “Of course!” Sophia nodded. “Whenever you want! We constantly use them to go back and forth.

  “That is quite reassuring.”

  Once they agreed to go with them, Sophia and Maya decided to waste no time in case they reconsidered. They guided Eve and Theo through the portal to show them where the group lives now and meet the tiger's parents there.

  ----------------

  “This does not look like a very nice place to live.” Arriving in Sophia’s domain, Eve looked around while slowly shaking her head. It was just a big grey room with a bunch of portals and nothing else.

  “This is just the entrance hall.” The tiger lightly rolled her eyes. From here, we can go to all sorts of places, including where we usually spend the nights.”

  “A-Ah.” She felt a little embarrassed. “That makes much more sense.”

  “Feel free to take a better look at the other portals. Most of them are see-through, so you can see what's on the other side." The blonde smiled at them. "A few are slightly dangerous, though, so don’t go through without asking me first.”

  “Alright.” Though slightly reluctant, curiosity got the better of the cats, and the two wandered around for a bit.

  “By the way, it’s kinda late to ask that now, but will our parents even be able to talk with each other?” While Theo and Eve were looking at the portals, Maya approached the tiger.

  “Hmm?” She tilted her head.

  “They’re speaking different languages, don’t they? I could only speak with them and Steph when I first met her because Canir blessed me with your language or whatever he did, right?”

  “Ohh, I see!” Sophia needed a second to understand her concern. “Back when we came up with the plan of having them meet in the future, I went to Mira afterward and sneakily had her bless your parents so they could understand their language without them noticing.”

  “Wow, you really thought this through, huh?” The cat-girl was impressed.

  “Absolutely!” She gave her a thumbs up. “This meeting might make my parents like this place, so I must give it my all! It’s a big chance!”

  “I hope it works out.”

  “Me, too!”

  “Sophia!” While the two were talking, Theo returned and addressed the tiger with a concerned expression. “One of the portal things is on fire! The inside, I mean!”

  “Ahaha.” She scratched her cheek. “That’s kinda on purpose. Ari, you know Ari, right? She set fire to a forest inside this place, and it's still burning because of some magic stuff.”

  “Okay?” He only looked confused. “Anyway, I guess that’s why you said some of the portals are dangerous, I guess?”

  “Pretty much.” The tiger nodded.

  "Some of them showed some beautiful landscapes, though!" Eve also joined them again.

  “Yes!” Sophia was happy to hear that. “Once you’ve met my parents, I can give you a tour. I wanted to show them more of this place later on, as well.”

  “That sounds lovely!” She was a fan of the idea. “Speaking of your parents, is there anything else we should be aware of? For example, I still don’t understand the whole other world part, but I assume there are some cultural differences regardless. Is there anything that is completely normal here that we should rather not mention?”

  “That’s a good point!” Theo hadn’t thought about that yet. “Or any behavior that might be considered inappropriate from where they are from?”

  “Mhmm…” The tiger paused for a moment. “It would be nice if we won’t talk too much about the humans of this world. We’ve already told them a little about that, but the topic is quite complicated, so I’d prefer if we skip that. There’s a chance they could take it the wrong way. Not to mention that the humans here had a management problem, so things might change for the better eventually, anyway.”

  “That’s fair.” Eve could see where her concern was coming from. “It’s also not like a whole species can be bad, so we were just unlucky with the ones in our area. There’s no need to talk about that.”

  “Perfect!” Sophia smiled at her. "Otherwise, I don't think there's anything to be mindful of. In fact, I'd like them to get as accurate an understanding of this world as possible. I want them to live here, but not based on false promises.”

  “You really are such a sweet girl!” Eve gently ruffled her hair.

  “Ehehe~.” She liked that. “Don't believe a single word my mother says that would indicate otherwise, by the way!”

  “Haha, sure.”

  “Speaking of, my parents aren’t quite used to the beastfolk yet, so please excuse any weird questions or remarks from them. They mean no harm whatsoever.”

  “That makes sense.” The two could understand that.

  Once they finished briefing Maya’s parents, the group finally took the portal to the cottage to have them meet the parents of Sophia and Steph.

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