Valen and Ranir arranged themselves on a couch, arms looped around each other as they watched the door, waiting for the newcomers to step through.
"What is this place?" asked Ranir softly, and Valen shrugged helplessly.
"No idea, truly," he replied. "But it's nice, don't you think? These people all seem just fine."
Matthew tapped his foot on the floor, he looked nervous, he had looked nervous ever since he entered the room. Skylar placed her hand on his arm and smiled reassuringly. He glanced at her and briefly broke into a crooked grin. "Thanks."
"Eli, darling, I have t—" Aura is interrupted by her hysband as she speaks, "—Do you think is a good idea, dear?" to which she responds with a look that says trust me, "Well, since it seems like everyone may not be so comfortable with this place, I must say that it is indeed safe, you see, as some sort of… psichic… I can tell nothing wrong is going to happen, of course, that is not the main focus of my abillities but… It's accurate, for most of the time."
"Abilities?" echoed Skylar.
"Eh– magic and whatnot I suppose." said Matthew shrugging it off. "Can't be worse than Christi."
"Do you know why we're here?" asked Ranir, sitting forward slightly. "Do we all have something in common, perhaps?"
Mutaro was the first to enter, having heard voices. His tail swayed to the side, eyes swirling from blue, to green, then back again. The pupils in his eyes remained round, completely relaxed, despite the room of strangers before them.
The woman on the other hand, seemed more tense than her partner. Her green eyes glowed slightly, pupils thinning into slits. A forked tongue slipped past her lips, testing the air. Nidatri, as was her own name, lashed to the side, moving faster than the male.
The purple haired male took the lead, stepping forward. He gave a slight bow before the others, then straightening again, "Greetings, hopefully we aren't intruding on anyone's territory."
Nidatri tilted her horned head, glancing towards the male, "Well, I wouldn't think we are, as this seems to be a somewhat gathering place."
Mutaro gave a slight nod to her, then looked back to the group before them.
"Hello," Valen called cheerfully. "Come on in, I don't think anyone here calls this place their own. I'm Valen King's Hammer, this is my wife, Ranir Kagent's Bane. Nice to meet you both."
Ranir settled back again, giving the newcomers a brusque nod. She would be the first to admit she was nowhere near as social as her husband.
Aura stands up and goes to greet the newcomers, Eli on the other hand tries to explain what Aura just said, "I want to clarify that psychich is a broad term, there are many branches, my wife leaning towards being a medium while I'm more on the mind reasing side, though both of us are near the empath side of the spectrum but I digress and—" he pauses and his eyes widen for a moment, "—I also want to clarify that I'm not reading anyone's mind nor plan to do so as it would be extremely rude and inapropiatte if I did, which is not my intention, we have no memory of how we got here, let alone a clue on why, though it seems, just like Aura said, this place seems to be safe."
"Pleasure."
Once again, the male gave that slight bow, then straightening again. He offered them a kind smile, posture completely relaxed, "Name's Mutaro…hm?"
The female next to him had lightly flicked his leg with her tail. Unlike Mutaro, she was indeed more tense, eyes darting back and forth between the individuals present. Though her gaze looked back forward once again. She was trying to stay as calm as her partner, but it was clear, she seemed to lack the social skills unlike her mate.
"Lady Nidatri and Lord Mutaro."
Mutaro would've rolled his eyes with anyone else, but, he didn't dare do such a thing with her. He instead only gave a slight shrug, "I doubt titles are needed, remember, suppose to be a relaxed outing my dear."
A soft huff came from the woman, moving to a chair further away from the rest. She settled down, neatly folding her hands in her lap, tail curling around the leg of the chair. She still seemed unsure, wary. Though, it was to be expected, this was a new place, with complete strangers.
The man watched her a few moments, tail sweeping to the side, then looked back to the ones before him. He seemingly lowered his voice, "I apologize for her if she may seem a bit…agitated. My mate hasn't gone out much since our chicks hatched. Only natural for her to be worried, and want nothing more than to return."
"Oh, is perfectly understandable," Aura said, "My name is Aura Coulson, he is my husband Eli." Who stands up and greets them as Aura introduced him, "I still remember when our daugther was born, we couldn't bear the tought of leaving her with someone other than us," he laughs and cleams his glasses, "Not until your sister trickeck us into going out and took care of Isla…" Aura added.
Matthew glanced from Nidatri, to Mutaro, then to Aura. "Well this will be great." he muttered. Skylar bumped his leg, looking slightly embarrassed. Matthew began tapping his foot on the floor again.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it, the first time is always the hardest!" sayd Aura while smiling, "I'm sure your little ones will be fine!"
"A pleasure to meet you both," Mutaro still held his smile.
The air the male carried relaxed, stating he had experience with social situations, knowing how to deal with them, "Ah, I can definitely believe that. Hell, Nidatri barely let's our eldest son out of her sight, and he's 97 years old."
"I have my reasons…"
Nidatri's soft voice came from the place she sat. Her green eyes shot a glare at her mate, then looked back to the woman who called herself 'Aura', "He was the first chick we ever had, so of course I cannot help but feel he is still too young to go out on his own…"
The dark purple haired male chuckled softly, shaking his head, "I know hun, I can sympathize, but he's gonna strike out on his own sooner or later."*
He paused, lifting a hand, resting it lightly under his chin, **"Though, I will say, he has been quite a bit of help with our second clutch, since I can't be around all the time."
"And hopefully Lady Nana is aiding him watching our the 3 of our most recent clutch."
"I'm sure she is, the Lady is adept at her craft in the brooding caves."
"I get that, our oldest is 26 yet we still can't help but to feel like she's still our baby, but she is an adult now, and we can only hope we raised her right." Aura sighs and smiles, she looks at Eli, "As much as it pains us, one day everyone grows up and has to lave the nest…" he adds.
"So it seems we're all parents," Ranir said, raising an eyebrow. Valen was quick to jump in.
"We have a son," he said, no disguising the pride in his voice. "His name's Boa. He's our first and only, that we've planned so far anyway."
He gave Ranir a smile which she returned, although slightly less enthusiastically. As much as she wasn't as social as her husband, neither was she as emotionally expressive.
"Yeah, we're, well we're only kind of parents." said Skylar.
"But at this point we've kind of adopted a large group of unruly teens." Matthew sighed, glancing at the two knives Mutaro was wearing. Skylar noticed at shook her head at him.
"Parents are more than blood," Eli says, "My older sister raised our brother and I and she is the adoptive one…"
Mutaro chuckled softly. The male glanced over to the man, whom seemed quite excited declaring they had a son. He received a nod from Mutaro, tail swaying slowly one way, then the other.
Nidatri lifted her horned head, tail remaining curled around the leg of the chair she sat upon, "Indeed. There is a creature back in our world who is always taking in orphans."
Mutaro looked back towards his mate, "Aye, Graakla. I should check on her again sometime."
His eyes that had once been a swirling mass of green and blue finally settled to a soft, blue hue. The male's pupils remained round, relaxed, "Though she is a rather misunderstood beast."
The male seemingly clucked his tongue, shaking his head, "Unfortunately some have a habit of judging someone or something based on appearance, rather than their soul."
Mutaro paused, feeling eyes towards him. His blue gaze shifted towards the man who was currently looking at the blades attached to his hips. As for the draconic male, he only shrugged it off, though he would put the other's mind at ease.
"You have nothing to fear from me. I'm quite harmless, my mate on the other hand, can't say the same for her."
The statement earned him a glare from the much shorter female, though she gave a soft huff, mumbling something in another tongue.
"Misunderstood beast? Sounds similar to my sister." Eli says.
Matthew quickly looked away, trying to pretend he didn't see the dragon's weapons. "Nope nothing to fear. Just a bunch of people, and some coffee."
Skylar groaned a little at his awkwardness. "Why don't you tell about your sister?" she asked, but it was more of a plea to change the subject.
"Well, she is a siren for starters, not the human or bird looking siren, more like a fish but with legs instead of a tail," Eli explains, "Dad adopted her way before he even met our mother, sirens live more than humans so she was way older than us. She took care of us after our parents passed away."
"Oh. I'm so sorry." said Skylar, looking like she hadn't expected that at all. Matthew's response was much less polite. "Fish, but with legs." He made a face and was obviously trying to picture it in his mind.
"That's how she calls herself, and no need for condolences, death is only… natural," he says, "Penny may not be polite, nor patient, let alone not scary, but she took care of us, even if that mean slaping some sence in a literal way, I think she's doing an amazing job now that she has kids of her own."
The male raised an eyebrow, "Coffee?"
"Probably a dark brew of some sort hun. Maybe like the brew made in 'The Dancing Nanny Goat'," Nidatri's soft voice came from behind.
The woman had crossed one of her legs over in an elegant fashion. She smoothed a few wrinkles from the gown, returning her hands to neatly fold upon her lap. Nidatri didn't seem as tense as earlier, pupils becoming slightly rounder. Though she was still nowhere near as relaxed as her mate.
Mutaro took a moment to look back at her, "Huh, so like the drink they call 'Black Velour'? Well, personally I'm more of a beer guy."
He seemingly shrugged, then looked back forward. The male quieted down slightly as the pairs started to converse with one another. He would be polite, and allow them to talk, not being one to interrupt, and instead listen.
"Oh, Didn't consider that you may want to talk," Eli lookee ar the dragon couple and apologized, "Enough with my sentimentalism.:
Matthew rubbed the dark circles under his eyes and glanced at the dragons again, they had tails and antlers, but he was too tired to care. Probably shapeshifters or something, he'd be fine.
Mutaro lifted his head as the male addressed them. His tail flicked a bit, tilting his head slightly to the side, "Hm? Oh, don't worry about it."
"I'm honestly used to it. I'm mostly a negotiator and speaker with other creatures in our world."
The male suddenly gave a soft sight, slight streams of smoke escaping out of the corners of his mouth, "A lot of my kind aren't as laidback as I am, and willing to work with others. That damn stubbornness and pride streak we dragons have."
The sigh turned into a grimace, "Though our relations with humans is probably the worse. Since the war started, any talk of trying to restore 'peace' with them has been tossed to the side."
"Can you blame our King," Nidatri's soft voice suddenly came from the corner.
Mutaro's own form stiffened slightly. He noticed his mate's eyes had softened, almost saddened. The once slit pupils were completely round now. Slowly, he made his way over to her side, a low noise seeming to come from his chest, like a purr, but rougher.
"The loss of the Queen, his mate. Only leaving his two heirs," the woman closed her eyes, "It's a burden I couldn't bear, a burden I fear may happen."
A frown crossed Mutaro's features. Shit, yea, he knew where she was coming from…it had been awhile since they had spoken about such a thing happening…if he were to suddenly never return home again…
"Politics are… often complicated," Aura says calmly followed by a sigh, "But I must accept we humans aren't putting nearly enough effort as other creatures to keep peace."
"Well," said Matthew slowly looking at Skylar out of the corner of his eye to see how she was reacting, "I've only ever met one person who wasn't human. A shapeshifter."
"Her name is Christi," Skylar joined in "–and I'm not sure she's the best person to represent magical creatures."
"The first time we met her she turned into a wolf and bit me." grumbled Matthew rolling up the sleeve of his shirt a little to show a crescent of red marks on his forearm.
"Granted, she did think you were going to attack her." Skylar reasoned. He shrugged in agreement and pulled his sleeve back down.
"We deal with non humans very often," said Aura in a somehow positive tone, "Eli himself is not fully human, actually."
"My mother was a fae, though I grew up the human way, I suppose, is not like my sister wasn't raised like human by our father…" he shrugs as he explains himself.
"Our line of work, while involving lots of humans as coworkers, deals with creatures that go from the rational to the esoteric…" she says, "Sentient or not, actually, from those who look like us to those who resemble abobinations that came out of a nightmare," Aura looks all around the place as she tries to explain it without sounding like crazy, in order to keep her away to stressing herself about it, Eli decides to add something else to the topic, "Shapeshifters included, though the ones we call shapeshifters to every being who can change form regardless of their species, is more of a categoty for us."