<h4>Chapter 327: Winding Down</h4>


    After that the gang headed home. The car right was exceptionally quiet, as Sylvie was curled up underneath Kat''s left wing and wrapped in her tail sleeping peacefully. They considered stopping for lunch somewhere but nobody in the car was hungry enough to bring themselves to wake Sylvie up for it, so they just headed back home.


    Once there, Kat carefully carried Sylvie onto the couch, before they ate the sandwiches Callisto left on the table. As Kat was biting into her second slice, she had a thought though… *How did Callisto know we''d need food? I don''t think the n ever came up and I''m not sure… no I''m certain I didn''t see Vivian text Callisto while she was driving, and I certainly didn''t. I don''t think Lily did either… she looked like she had a short nap as well, but she was clearly awake when we got back… hmm…*


    Kat just shrugged and decided not to mind the strange appearance of food… until she decided to just double check. *There isn''t any magic in this right system?*


    User Kat is consuming food without any traces of higher energy on it.


    *Thanks system. I mean I thought so but… well, with using straight from Chekov''s I felt the need to ask. Makes me wonder what other magical things I might be able to find here on Earth. Sure it''s not real magic, but we can get damn close… and I think that says something. Not sure what, but something certainly.*


    *Though… I guess it isn''t a ''we'' anymore is it? I have magic and I''m not human… hmmm.* These thoughts upied Kat while she was happily eating lunch. Nobody else wanted to speak either with Sylvie so close nearby. The three had shared a few looks to figure out if it was better to take Sylvie up to her room, but decided the couch was better through silentmunication. It was probably better she woke up and ate, even if it was close to three in the afternoon, rather than skipping the meal, but nobody could bring themselves to intentionally wake Sylvie so this was thepromise.


    Luckily for them, Sylvie did start to stir just as everyone was finishing lunch. After rubbing her eyes, Sylvie got up and ate with everyone who was content to just sit around and wait. For some reason nobody was able to put their finger on, the silence continued though. It was peaceful and they wanted to keep that atmosphere for a bit longer.


    By some unspoken agreement once Sylvie finished, the three moved to the couch to nap. Kat surrounded Vivian and Lily with a wing each and put Sylvie on herp and wrapped the little girl in her tail before letting herself sink into meditation. This is how the three sat until Callisto came down muchter, waking them to inform them that dinner was ready.


    "Urgh… I didn''t realise I was still so tired" said Lily as she pulled herself up from a sitting position.


    "Nah, we just needed to rx" said Vivian getting up and doing a few stretches.


    Kat herself, was able to simple sit straight up. Her minding together extremely fast once she heard Callisto''s voice. Sylvie seemed simrly refreshed but clung to Kat anyway with a smile on her face.


    As they sat down to eat however, Lily realised they were about to have a problem. "Um… eh…" mumbled Lily.


    "What is it Lily? I can see that something''s bothering you" said Vivian, implying that it wasn''t due to the various attempts at talking that tipped her off.


    "Well… um… it''s just…" Lily stumbled over her words and Kat started to form a guess as to what was going on. Recently, it was much rarer that Lily would stutter so much in her speech, and it was normally around a few specific topics.


    "Take your time" said Vivian.


    "Thanks" said Lily looking back down at her food and jabbing her steak with a fork a few times. Once Lily had sufficiently mangled the steak in question, she seemed to find some reserve of strength to exin the situation. "Imaybesorta… didn''t… tellmyparents"


    "Well, we can rectify that problem by informing them. Or simply using the fence and Kat''s superior strength to lift it over and straight into your room. Then just pretend that nothing is unusual and wait till they call you on it. Once they do, simply deny everything. If they insist the desk wasn''t always there, ask for proof" said Callisto


    "Um…" said Lily slightly overwhelmed by Callisto''s suggestions.


    "Don''t worry about her Lily. I cane and exin it to your parents if you want?" said Vivian.


    Kat nodded along thinking that was probably for the best, and that she should make sure not to be in eyesight… or known as Vivian''s adopted daughter… *Actually do Lily''s parents already know that? They might… and that could cause Vivian issues… huh maybe Callisto does have the right idea.*


    As if they could hear Kat''s thoughts, Sylvie echoed them "I dunno, Callisto''s idea has quite a lot of merit to it. I mean, we have ample evidence to suggest Lily''s parents won''t react to this situation in any proper manner. I wouldn''t put it past them being unable to admit that they were unable to notice their daughter ending up with a work of art for a desk.


    "In fact, because it is of such a high quality, they will wonder how Lily could have purchased it without them knowing, if that was in fact true. In addition to this, the figures inside of the library make it clear that the desk is Lily''s. There is no room for interpretation, and it couldn''t belong to anyone else.


    "The only issue with that might be the fact that if they are looking so closely at the artwork to recognise the fact that it must belong to Lily, they will also be able to recognise Kat and see that she has demon wings and a tail. We might find that sight normal but if anyone was going to take that as a sign that Kat waspletely irredeemable it would be Lily''s parents. Furthermore, it isn''t like we can show them Kat to prove she doesn''t have them, because she very much does… and that would probably just make their attitude worse."


    Lily groaned and moved her te out of the way before letting her head fall onto the table. "Urgh… and to make matters worse, they already think Kat is an evil temptress that''s always distracting me. If they found out she was a subus, which is supposed to be a race of demons known for being an EVIL TEMPTRESS they might chain me to the wall and keep me locked up until they were certain I wasn''t ''under her spell''" said Lily putting as much vehemence into thest few words as she could.


    Vivian groaned. "That… that is something I hadn''t considered. This has gotten moreplicated hasn''t it. Convincing them the desk is for you has some dangers, simply saying it is and just moving it in after I exin things might work… but yeah that carving of Kat might actually be a big problem"


    Kat decided to add in some thoughts of her own, for once, not totally confident. "Um… well… I don''t want you to take this the wrong way… but if you think your parents will react that badly… you could always just keep it in my room for the time being? I won''t be here all the time and I''m perfectly happy for you toe into my room whenever to use it if you think it will be that bad"


    Lily groaned from her position, admiring the table from an extremely close distance and said "Well… let''s make that ast resort. Not that I wouldn''t love an excuse toe over more often… but-"


    "You don''t need an excuse you are always wee" said Vivian


    As soon as Vivian finished, Lily continued as if nothing was said "I do want it in my own room. That might be a bit selfish… and I''m almost certain it will cause us a tonne of trouble at some point but… remember I''m nning to give up my humanity in the future. I still have some interesting races to go over a few more times but… if they can''t even get over a desk with Kat''s demonic appearance on it… how will I ever stand up to them as even a vampire let alone a slime or a fox."


    As Lily continued speaking, she removed her head from the table and started to speak with a conviction she didn''t have before. "I mean, I''ll still do it. My parents would hate to hear this but… that is a dream I can''t give up. I mean… I already gave it up once thinking it the impossible dream of a lonely book obsessed child… I WILL NOT give it up again because of my parents, and I won''t risk losing them over something like this if I don''t talk to them. If I have the courage to get my whole body changed then I can look my parents in the eyes before and after I do it as well"