From the Vast

Chapter 19: Retreat

Despite her own and Aria's reassurances, Anne couldn't say she was as confident about meeting the Gardevoir's husband as she wished she could. Both because meeting new people never came easy to her, and because of the presumed looks of this particular person, as bad as it felt to admit that to herself. As worried as the human girl was, though, the Braixen was there for her.

And that was enough to make even the hardest struggles feel feasible.

"^D-don't worry Anne, Mr. Garret is r-really nice!^"

The taller girl nodded subconsciously at the reassurance; a weak shake went through her body as she leaned further into the fox.

"~I-I know. I'm... I-I'm worried about how I'll react, t-too...~"

"^I'm sure Mr. Garret will u-understand i-if you're a bit taken aback.^"

"~I g-guess...~"

Anne wished the exchange made her feel more confident. What words had failed at, though, a gentle, warm hug was doing a wonderful job of making up for.

The muffled sounds coming from behind the room's entrance made Anne grab her bearings and try to steady her breath. Her shaky hand held Ember's paw close as Aria slid the canvas flap off to the side. First the Gardevoir, and then...

The guest of honor.

With how terrible the lighting was in the room, it was hard to make out more than a handful of details. White fangs, bits of not-black skin on the face, ears, and angled eyes. Beyond them, a bipedal-shaped darkness that actively sucked the surrounding light in, sticking out from the dark brown canvas behind.

And then the darkness spoke, its voice a harsh, demonic snarl.

With a stutter.

"G-good evening, Anne."

The whiplash between the intimidation of Garret's voice and the utter meekness of the meaning it conveyed slapped Anne across the face. Parables of deceiving looks were a mainstay in the books she'd read, be it for class or on her own, but this example was so much more stark than anything else she'd ever seen. And really affable while at it.

"~Good e-evening, Mr. Garret.~"

"Oh, no need for titles, sweetie. I've heard you've had a fun day with the kids!"

Underneath the growls, fierce enough to stop Leo in his tracks, was a genuine curiosity. The kind that made Anne fluster a bit.

"~Y-yeah. I've had a lot of fun, I-I'm really glad they came over.~"

By then, there was no more risk of Cadence perking up to interject with the Kirlia having finally called it quits for the night, leaning on the vixen's other side. The sight of both his biological kids and the Gligar under his care snoozing after a long day of playing around brought a wide smile to the Grimmsnarl's face. Unfortunately, what those closest to him saw as a 'wide smile' most others just thought of as 'baring fangs', and elaboration to convey his happiness was in order.

"That's wonderful~! I see quite a few drawings strewn around, too. Did you guys draw each other?"

"~M-mostly it was me drawing others...~"

"^And really really nicely too!^"

Ember's telepathic comment, conveyed to Garret through his wife, didn't help much with Anne's fluster. What it was very effective at, though, was diffusing even more tension in the room through the form of amused chuckles by anyone but the embarrassed and the asleep.

"~I-I like to think so...~"

"I'm sure they're great, Anne! Mind if I take a look?"

A direct request spurred the girl to action; the 'nice' part of her responded before any of the fears clouding the rest of her could catch up. Within moments, she was sweeping assorted items away from a large patch of the bed immediately beside her to free up space. It was only once she had to say the accompanying line out loud that she realized what she was in for, but by then, her self-consciousness had declared it to be too late.