The group was in the middle of exploring the desert when a sandstorm was catching up to them. Maya and especially Ari didn’t like that issue overly much and wanted to avoid it. The tigers were highly curious about it, though. After a bit of convincing, and Sophia promising that it won’t be an issue, thanks to her protecting them with magic, they decided to head right into it.
“Phew, that was a close one!” Back in their cottage, Steph let out a relieved sigh as she and Chloe entered the living room.
“True!” The fox-girl reacted with a big nod. “The dry grassland already was pain, so it would’ve been over for in the desert!” Shivering once, she then sat down on the sofa to get comfortable.
“True!” Feeling the sa about it, Steph also shot for the sofa and snuggled right against her fox. “I don’t mind this type of warmth, though~.”
“Oh, you’re having one of your smooth days again, huh?” Chloe started smiling.
“Ehehe~.”
“This will significantly worsen our position the next ti the cats complain about being cold, though.” The fox awkwardly scratched her cheek.
“That is quite true.”
“Even though being hot is so much worse!” She started pouting. "If you're cold, you can always just wear more layers! If you're hot, once you are stripped completely naked, there's nothing you can do anymore! And unless we’re at ho, we can’t even go that far!”
“To be fair, with the help of magic, neither really is an issue.” Steph shrugged. “Personally, I just like to complain and strip~.”
“Since when do we argue with reason and sense in this group?” The fox just stared at her.
"A solid and fair point.” There was nothing she could say there.
"Being perfectly clear, stripping, and complaining is great, but still!”
“But still?” Steph tilted her head.
“Sophia had said it many tis before, but it’s a mood issue!” She got a little loud. “Sure, I can make it frosty around , but I’ll still feel hot if I’m walking through a desert while the sun is trying to cook alive!”
“Well, you are hot, so there’s nothing that can be done about that there.” Steph’s voice turned a little smug.
“I’m not sure if that was smooth or cheap.” The fox wasn’t so sure about that one.
“Why not both?” She smiled at her. “I’m an expert at either!”
“It certainly keeps things interesting.” Chloe reacted with a small chuckle.
“I’m the best at that, too!”
“You sure are~.”
“So, long story short, we aren’t going to change anything, are we?”
“Nope! We keep complaining!” The fox sounded quite energetic about it. “And stripping!”
"A decent compromise!” Steph liked that. “The stripping is what really sells it to !”
“I’m not exactly surprised.” She just lightly rolled her eyes. “I don’t disagree, though.” The fox also liked to wear as little clothing as possible, after all.
“Exactly what I wanted to hear!” She was looking forward to future stripping. “Though, again, the cats will continue to be a pain this way.”
“I an…”
“Fair, they’re always a pain.” Steph nodded a couple of tis. “Regardless of the topic.”
“You said it, not !”
“Ahaha.” Steph enjoyed the slightly panicked expression of the fox. “Regardless of all that, I’m still looking forward to the desert at night!” Even though Steph hated the heat, she still wanted to explore when it cooled off.
“Absolutely!” She felt the sa. “The last ti I was in a desert with Feyfey, I had to be there day and night, so I was busy being dead from the sun all day during the night that I wasn’t able to enjoy it.”
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“Poor baby!”
“Very much so!” Chloe raised her voice. “I only survived because I knew how to make ice with magic!”
“Why did you two go to a desert in the first place?"
“Because curious young was stupid and didn't think about consequences!” She let out a sigh before continuing. “Naturally, once we were there, Feyfey turned it into a learning exercise for .”
“Of course she did.” Steph wasn’t surprised.
“The only thing I learned was how much I really hate the heat, though!”
“Sotis, the way parents, well… parent, is beyond our understanding.”
“So true!”
"Well, yours is an especially obvious case, but let’s not go there.”
“Let’s not!”
“Although, speaking about parenting or parents in general, there has been a topic I’ve been wanting to ask but never dared to…” Steph’s voice and expression turned sheepish.
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“I am certain you don’t.” The dog-girl just scratched her cheek.
“Let it out.”
“Sophia and I are from the sa world as you, right? Where you, uhh… died in your previous life…”
“Yeah…” Chloe lightly nodded. “Well, unless there's so sort of parallel worlds type of shenanigans going on."
“I hadn’t thought about that!”
“Let’s assu it’s not, though.” The fox wasn’t so sure how to feel about her being so excited all of a sudden.
“That would be for the better!” Steph thought so, too. “So, Sophia and I are from the sa world you used to live quite a while ago. Thanks to her portals, we can visit Earth whenever we want. In fact, we go there to shop for specialty items quite often. Maya went there especially often, but you only went there when we first t and when I introduced you to my parents.”
“Honestly, I’m not too comfortable going there.” Chloe sounded a little awkward. “I love the stuff you all brought over from there, like the TV, the movies and gas, so clothes and food, and especially the toys, but…” She paused for a mont. "A lot has changed in the last 20 years, but it still reawakens so very weird mories of my past life I’m not too keen on going through again. I had a great, albeit short, previous life, but I want to live in the here and now.”
“That is very reasonable.” The dog-girl could understand that very well. “This is the paradise, after all!”
“It sure is~.” Chloe smiled at her. “Except all the hot places.”
“Ahaha.” She had to chuckle at that. “Does that an that you’ve never thought about visiting your previous family? Now that it’s technically possible.”
“Again, it’s been over 20 years since I died, you know?” The fox stared right at her.
“Well, assuming they weren’t way past 50 already back then, it’s likely that your parents are still around, no?”
“They were pretty young when they had …”
“That makes it even more likely.”
“How do you think a eting between us would go…?” Chloe’s voice was starting to sound heavy. “Also, rember, I was 14 when I died 20 years ago. I’ve already way outlived my previous run, and I've already been dead for my previous family for longer than I was with them. How would eting them not end in sadness and despair for everyone involved?”
“You have thought about it, haven’t you?”
“…”
“I guess it’s not really my place to talk about that, isn’t it?” The dog-girl could only imagine how difficult it would be for her.
“It’s complicated, to say the least." Her expression further scrunched up. "You ended up here entirely voluntarily, but it’s just… see what Sophia’s case did to you and your family. My family was with when I died. They had closure in terms of knowing what happened. They know I’m dead. Now, 20 years later, a girl who looks entirely different and has only vague mories of her life with them shows up and claims to be their daughter. Sure, that’s a great idea.”
“Yeah, complicated doesn’t even begin to explain your situation.” Steph couldn’t bla her. “Honestly, I have no idea how I would deal with that, so I was curious and a little concerned about you because it feels like it would be a big deal.”
“There’s another issue with how I regained my mories.” She scratched her cheek. “I wasn’t reborn with them and had them since the very start. I grew up with seeing scenes of them when I was the sa age on Earth until those mories stopped when I died. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence, either. It was more like a best of kind of thing.” Chloe made another short pause. “It feels incredibly rude to say, but it was more like watching a TV show, just in my head. It shaped my personality a little, and it was clear that it was , but… It’s also not anymore. I’m fond of those mories, but at the sa ti, especially after all this ti, my previous family doesn’t really… Feyfey is my mom. Mira, too.” She couldn't really put her feelings into words.
“The TV-like mories and the fact that it has been so long probably makes them feel a little like strangers.” Steph tried to understand it. “Issues aside, Fey has been incredibly loving and never made you feel like you don’t belong here. Mira has been doing her best, too.”
“Exactly.” The fox-girl reacted with a big nod. “The connection with my old life is pretty much non-existent at this point. eting my old family and telling them everything, assuming they’d understand and accept it, would do no good to anyone involved. I can only see it leading to pain and suffering.”
“It’s hard to wrap my head around, but it makes sense. If it had been only a few years, together with a different form of regaining your mories, or the situation of your life was another, it maybe would've been different. Still, you are right. It would only open old wounds that have already healed. Even more so if the attachnt is rightfully and understandably gone.”
“Yes.” Chloe had nothing else to reply. “Thank you for asking and looking out for , though.”
“Well, now I’m sorry I asked, but thank you for explaining it to .” She felt rather bad for making her tell her. “Different topic?”
“Please.”
Afterward, the couple took a short break to put the heavy topic aside and improve the mood by focusing on so more fun talk and activities later on.
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