Double Trouble – Chapter 8 – A Surprising Connection

Charlotte

I stared at Bonny the Bunny. She stared back, eyes wide and nose twitching. I nodded to myself, content with the cuteness, and placed her down on the ground.

“Don’t go running now, you hear?” I warned her. “Or-”

She ran the second she was on the ground, crashing right into a spider web in her blind rush to get away. 

“…Or I might not be able to protect you,” I continued, casually swiping my bloody dagger through the webbing. Of course, I was also superheating the blade to ensure it cut smoothly, so it didn’t take long at all to have Bonny free. “Now, you can run if you really want to. I’m not interested in forcing you to be my pet. But if you want a warm bed, good meals, and a safe future then I suggest you follow me and behave yourself.”

“You’re talking to it like you think it can actually understand you,” Reckt commented, shaking her head. “I don’t get how you’re even still standing after taking that thing’s horn to your chest, but I’m telling you it’s a bloodthirsty, mindless beast who-”

“Who’s currently staring at you with an expression that practically screams ‘shut up!’ don’t you think?” Mikaela interrupted. “A bloodthirsty beast that monster may be, but mindless she isn’t. She seems to understand Sollian, at least a little bit.”

“That’s probably because of you-know-whose you-know-what,” I pointed out. I was referring, of course, to Granny Liz’s English Spell – the world-wide spell that made English super easy to learn. Granny apparently created it so that she wouldn’t have to bother learning a bunch of new languages… of course, there was more to that story – like how it basically exploded and accidentally turned Solla into a fantasy world – but the most important bit was that even monsters benefited from it a little. Even if little Bonny couldn’t completely understand me, the intent of my words was clearly getting across.

As for Bonny’s choice? She… apparently needed a second to think about it. She kept glancing between me and the webs, as if she were judging which of us she was more afraid of. I pouted at how rude the little bugger was being, but also couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the obvious reluctance in her eyes even as she chose to hop her way over to my side.

“Good choice,” I declared, bending down to give her some ear scritches. “Stick by my side and you’ll never go hungry again.”

“You’ll have to deal with her using you as a hug pillow at night, though,” Mikaela cheekily warned.

Bonny froze, and for a second I thought she was going to rethink her decision, but in the end she didn’t move away from me.

I, of course, did the mature thing and ignored… ah, who am I kidding? I stuck my tongue out at Mikaela and told her, “Just for that, you’re not allowed to hold her.”

“I wouldn’t want to anyways,” she replied, turning her nose up into the air. I caught the glance she shot at Bonny, though! That fluffy white fur was calling to her, same as it did to me, I just knew it!

“Whatever you say, Sis. Just so long as you know it’s not happening. …At least until you apologize and admit that your wonderful older sister was right.”

“Like that’s ever going to happen,” Mikaela scoffed, but I saw her glancing at Bonny’s fur again.

“So… You’re really taking that thing with you?” Reckt asked. “You do know you’ll get in huge trouble if anyone finds out, right?”

“Why?” I asked. “Just because I tamed a pet? She’s harmless!”

“So long as you’re around to keep her that way, maybe,” Reckt conceded, “but if she ever gets out of your sight-”

“If she hurts anyone, I’ll take care of her myself,” I promised flatly, doing my best to ignore the guilt I felt at just thinking about hurting my pet. “But she won’t, because she knows what’s good for her, doesn’t she?”

Bonny nodded, bobbing her head so rapidly I thought she might hurt herself.

“See? It’ll be fine. If anyone sees her, I’ll just make up a story about a demon gifting her to me as a pet or something. It’s not like the average human actually knows enough about demons to know what’s normal or not.”

“You say that like you do,” Reckt replied, narrowing her eyes at me. “Who… who are you two?”

“We can’t tell you,” Mikaela said before I could. “Suffice it to say that we’re individuals sufficiently strong enough to keep a single rabbit in check.”

“I don’t think you get how vicious those things are,” Reckt warned. “A friend of a friend’s cousin once got lobotomized by one of those things!”

“I’m sure,” Mikaela replied, rolling her eyes. “Look. You’re not going to change Charlotte’s mind with hearsay. Just… trust her to take care of it, alright? I know she acts a little lax, at… all times, but she’s not the sort to endanger others.”

“…I just think you’re all a little too confident in your abilities,” Reckt said.

“Like you’re one to talk!” Mikaela huffed. “You came in talking about teaching us to party, and such, all bravo and bluster – and yet the moment there was actual danger, you were the first to-”

“Mikaela!” I interrupted, hands on my hips. “You can’t just rub salt in the wound like that! I mean, sure she’s maybe not the strongest guide to the guild we could have gotten, but… She’s… Uh… Well, I’m sure most people in her situation would be in the same boat.”

“Y-yeah… Most would…” Reckt agreed in a subdued voice. She didn’t seem entirely convinced herself, though. “I mean… My dam would probably just punch her way through things, while my mom would just… I don’t know, wait patiently for Dam and then complain about how long it took her to get there?”

“Dam?” Mikaela asked, frowning. “That’s a demon term, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah,” Reckt agreed, blinking in surprise. “I’m surprised you know that. I usually have to explain it to people, but you were pretty good with the whole pronoun-introduction thing, too, I guess, so… Have you actually been in contact with demons?”

“The pronoun thing?” I asked. “You mean when you came in talking about being called she and her and stuff? That’s not demon related, that’s-”

“Something we learned from our Mama,” Mikaela interrupted. Which was probably for the best, since I was totally about to spill the beans on Earth. Not that Reckt would likely be able to figure out that I was talking about a completely different world just off of that, but… yeah.

“Really?” Reckt asked, not seeming to notice. “It’s something my dam was taught by a demon friend of hers… She uh… I guess she didn’t really know what to make of it, when I first started using Mirror Lily potions to change my body – especially since sometimes I kinda felt like a guy but didn’t want to look like one, if that makes sense? Except… you know, most people will tell you that you just sort of… are what you look like? Like, if I grow a dick I’m a dude, but if I keep my pussy and boobs I’m a girl? My Dam’s demon friend said that it didn’t work like that, though. That sometimes people could just… be girls, or guys, even when they don’t look like it. That it’s separate somehow? I… I don’t know. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it sorta resonated with me, you know?”

“Not through personal experience,” Mikaela replied with a frown, “but the principle is sound. And familiar…”

It was familiar. Not from demon culture, mind you – we were all girls, so it didn’t exactly apply there – but from Earth.

“Wait a minute,” Mikaela murmured. “Modern gender theory was shared with your dam through a friend who happened to be a demon?”

“I guess?” Reckt said. “Though I don’t really get what you mean by modern?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I interjected. “Your dam, though – she wouldn’t happen to be the sort to just… punch her way out of everything, would she?”

“Despite being theoretically a noble of great rank?” Mikaela added.

“…What are you…” Reckt glanced between the two of us. “Wait… you don’t know my parents, do you?”

“Only if you count annual meetings at the Dragon Festival,” I replied.

“I’m more familiar with your grandparents, myself,” Mikaela admitted. “Which I suppose is why it took me so long to place the familiarity I have with you – you have the Duchess’s nose and the Duke’s ears, but not much else.”

“The… so, you actually do know my dam!?” Reckt asked in shock.

“Grell, right?” I asked. 

“Or rather Lady Agrellissa?” Mikaela added.

“Wait…” Reckt said, backing up a step both figuratively and literally. “I get that you met Dam at the Dragon Festival, but… how do you also know about my grandparents? Dam’s noble status is supposed to be a secret!”

“Well, we are nobles, ourselves,” Mikaela admitted. “It’s hardly surprising that we were able to suss out her true identity, no?”

“Nobles of high enough upbringing to be casually meeting with a duke and duchess?” Reckt demanded. “Not to mention you recognized all that weird advice Dam got and said it isn’t actually a demon thing… Which means your ‘Mama’s’ gotta be that one lady Dam keeps in touch with, right? Also known as-”

“The Demon Queen, Devilla Satanne,” Mikaela confessed with a sigh.

“…I was going to say that really big eater, Eena, actually…” Reckt whispered. “What do you… You mean she’s… That’s… Dam’s actually friends with…?”

“They never told you?” Mikaela asked, blinking in surprise. I could practically see the gears in her head snag and stop.

“…Mom always said that having too many big secrets on my shoulders would only weigh me down… and that I’m not good at keeping them anyway…”

“You should at least know the connections your family has!” Mikaela protested. “Surely you realize what a great role your grandparents had with this kingdom’s acceptance of demonkind? If not for Grell introducing our parents to your grandparents, it’s hard to say what might have happened during the instability following Granny Liz’s freeing!”

“‘Granny Liz?’” Reckt squeaked, her voice coming out strangled. “As in, Liz the Goddess?”

“Just giving away all our family secrets, aren’t you, Sis?” I teased, seeing my chance to get even for my sister’s earlier ribbing.

“I… that’s not… I mean… how do you not know this!?” Mikaela demanded with a delightfully flustered expression.

“I didn’t want to know this!” Reckt said. “I didn’t want to be involved with politics, or nobility, or… or… oh by Liz… you’re the demon princesses! And you… you…” she pointed towards me. “I was going to fuck you…”

“I mean, you still can,” I said cheerfully. “If anything, you knowing makes it easier since I won’t have to figure out some way to hide my tail during sex…”

“You didn’t even think of that?!” Mikaela demanded. “I would have thought you’d at least be keeping a few Hair of the Kitsune potions on you!”

“Ooh, that’s actually  a really good idea!” I admitted. “Guess I’ll scoop some up next time we go home to the Tower?”

“The Tower…” Reckt mumbled weakly. “I was going to fuck a princess from the demon tower…”

“Again, it’s still on the table. Though it might not be for much longer if you can’t wrap your head around me being a person first and a demon princess second.”

“Ah! Sorry, sorry, I just… You’re… I mean, you’re… and I’m…”

“A duke’s granddaughter with familial ties to the royal family?” Mikaela pointed out. “In all honesty, the two of you are close enough in status to be wedded…”

Reckt and I exchanged looks at that. The sheer panic in her eyes was enough to make me start laughing. Not that she took long to follow.

“The look on your face…” I wheezed, doubled over in laughter. “Like you’d just been forced to watch your childhood home burn, or something!”

“What… about you?!” Reckt demanded between slightly hysteric giggling fits. “You looked like someone stuffed a dead fish into your mouth at the thought of it!”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m not ready to get married yet,” I admitted with a blush.

“Me either…” Reckt said. “I want to travel and go on adventures like my dam did at my age. And I want to have sex with lots and lots of different ladies!”

“Including a Demon Princess?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Reckt hesitated – but only for a moment, before nodding.

“Hell yeah! I’m going to rock your world!”

“You can do whatever you’d like,” Mikaela declared. “After you help us get those wolfberries.”

I stared at her. So did Reckt. We stared hard enough that she looked away before responding.

“…What? I just don’t want to fail my first quest, alright?”

I couldn’t help myself, and I guess neither could Reckt, because once again we both burst out laughing.

~~~

Author’s Notes

An entire chapter from Charlotte’s PoV! Guess that means the next one should be all Mikaela? We’ll… have to see how that goes, I guess.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter. Especially the sudden Gender Talk in the middle… Someone pointed out that the mention of pronouns in Reckt’s introduction was a little anachronistic, though – and they’re not wrong, in that it does in fact go against how I imagine the people of this world treating gender/sex… So I did what I always do with plot holes, and made it part of the plot!

As such, we got the reveal about Reckt a little sooner than I was planning, but… Oh well. I hope everyone enjoys?

Many thanks to FallingLeaf for editing, as well as coming up with the chapter title.