Chapter 834

Lily

—

When Lily returned to human form much of the anger had been stolen from Evaline. It was so hard to stay angry while petting something cute. That thing in this case being her daughter which really didn’t help her hold on to any of that anger. “Now that we’ve been sufficiently distracted,” said Evaline trying really hard to sound angry. She was failing, “can you see while I’m not terribly pleased with you at the moment Lily?”

Lily gave a slightly repentant shrug, “I’m not really sure what else I could do Mum. I couldn’t talk to you before so I don’t see it as mattering too much,”

“Do you think we wouldn’t want to see you?” asked Evaline, hard edge in her tone returning.

“Of course not,” said Lily. “But I wouldn’t have been able to really DO anything,”

Evaline huffed, “We’ll come back to that. What I want to know now is what’s this about you going on Contracts with Kat?”

.....

“I need to stay close to her for now,” *for now being forever,* “and being separated across dimensions isn’t particularly healthy for us at the moment,” *nor will it ever be,* “so I had to go. Now we can talk about it. I want to make it clear though. Even if I didn’t HAVE to go I still would want to go,” said Lily.

“Is this true?” asked Evaline clearly looking at Kat.

“It is,” said Lily.

“You’ve already said as much, now I’m asking your f- girlfriend Kat,” said Evaline. Go for it Kat.

“It is. For Lily’s health it’s best we stay in close proximity,” said Kat slowly taking care not to say too much or make it seem like she was hiding anything.

“Right... and can you tell me why that is?” asked Evaline still clearly looking at Kat. Lily opened her mouth to answer but Evaline raised a hand and glared at her daughter for a few moments before Lily backed off. In those moments Lily sent this towards Kat. *You can try and deflect if you want. Try not to have too many follow up questions available for her. I don’t want her to focus on you. This is MY problem and I don’t think Mum would press me as hard.*

[I’ve got a great idea.] “I was not involved directly with the entire procedure only for the establishment of the bond. Lily was given a much more comprehensive version on account of having time to speak with the doctors involved in it tall. I didn’t really have that chance,” said Kat.

Evaline frowned at the answer and looked to Lily who nodded. *Great counter move Kat. It makes me seem responsible and gives her little reason to keep asking you about it.* “I see... well can you tell me about why exactly this bond was necessary?” asked Evaline.

“It’s an important function of the race I chose. It helps stabilise the demonic energy I have now. It requires bonding with a demon and I of course chose Kat for that,” said Lily.

“Is this permanent?” asked Evaline, eyes narrowed.

“The bond can be broken but it’s not particularly easy nor would it be healthy for Kat and I... but it can be broken,” *and if she knew that wasn’t actually a good thing because breaking it means we DIE she’d be freaking out.* “so I don’t have any plans to break it and don’t want you thinking of them either. Not that I think you’d manage it...” said Lily.

“What sort of side effects does it prevent?” asked Evaline, “they must be rather important if you would willing chain yourself to someone for any length of time,”

*Oh sure they are... but I’d have ‘chained myself’ as you so crudely put it over a pittance. Heck I’d pay for the service. Oh WAIT WE DID!* “Mum... even if they side effects weren’t a problem I’d have still chosen to have the bond,” *because the bond is the whole reason I picked this race!* “so I don’t really like how you’re suggesting it’s a problem. Also the side effects are horrific,” said Lily... and if she was barring her fangs slightly... well... Evaline didn’t flinch so it probably wasn’t a big deal.

Evaline sniffed at her daughter and tried not to look too put out by the words. “I see... would you care to elaborate on those side effects?” Evaline said.

“Not particularly,” answered Lily flatly, trying not to sound smug.

“I wasn’t asking. I was telling you that you will elaborate on those issues. I was trying to be polite oh daughter of mine,” said Evaline with gritted teeth.

*No... no you weren’t.* “Are you sure? They aren’t great to talk about...” said Lily even as Evaline nodded firmly. So with a sigh she complied. “Well there’s the basic ‘turning into a mindless monster’ but in the short term you have... shakes... high chance of manic breaks, megalomania, narcissism, uncontrollable rage, horrific mutations, spontaneous combustion, sociopathy, more general psychosis, schizophrenia, psychopathy, depression, random mutations of the body, endless hunger... and insomnia. Those are just some of the issues that can occur but I think you can the idea...”

“And... and you think this was a worthwhile risk?” asked Evaline with an unimpressed look on her face.

“Well, I have three magical affinities, all potentially strong ones. I’ve got Paper, Shadows and Space with the full ability to manipulate mana. Most people have only one, some rare people have two, and three is potentially something you wouldn’t even see every generation. On top of that, I’m tougher and stronger than normal and my eyes have a cat’s low light vision even in human form. It’s... a lot of potential,” said Lily with a passion she didn’t really intend to come across, especially in the beginning. Her eyes burning with ideas, the light making it seem like the flecks of gold were moving around, shining on their own.

Lily could see Evaline wavering somewhat at that. Three schools of magic for her daughter to play with... but even still. “Lily. I can’t punish you for taking so many risks in your transformation. I want to, god I do but I did technically give you permission. Even if you withheld what seems to be a rather big drawback in my eyes, I can see to you that it isn’t. Still. Permission is permission. I won’t go back on my word there. Though don’t think I’ve missed the fact this bond is probably going to be permanent. Well?”

Lily was expecting it so she didn’t even flinch... she thought. Luckily for her the biggest indication of her distress at the question was her tail fluffing up but unlike Kat’s it was much smaller and hidden behind her body at the moment, “I thought I spoke on that already,”

Evaline rolled her eyes, “Indeed you did... but even if it isn’t permanent you expect and want it to be and that’s perhaps enough for me to see it as an issue. I’d ask you for the exact details of this bond if I thought for a second you wouldn’t just lie to me about it,”

“I wouldn’t lie about it,” retorted Lily somewhat earnestly.

“Of course not. You’d just tell half-truths, I’m sure. Lily, I did teach you that particular skill when you were eight. You might not have taken to it for the most part but you’re not stupid,” said Evaline. [I feel like that says more about Evaline that she thought the art of half-truths should be taught to an eight year old]

*Sylvie already knows how to tell half-truths.*

[Yeah, maybe but I didn’t teach her that and neither did Gramps] Evaline of course couldn’t hear this internal conversation and continued on, “Still. What I can perhaps say for certain is that I can punish you for not coming over earlier. Even just with Kat to tell us you were stuck for a while. We may not have been happy with the situation but frankly I’m not particularly happy right now. So... we can discuss potential punishment for that,”

“Is that really necessary dear?” asked Harold.

“Our daughter went off to who knows where to help her girlfriend with who knows what without so much as a ‘I’ll be away for a few days Mum’ I think I AM entitled to punishing her a little for that,” said Evaline.

“Ah but it was pointed out that she couldn’t talk at the time so she couldn’t have given you even that,” said Harold as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

Evaline was about to argue when a watch alarm sounded. Harold frowned and turned it off before rising, “Sorry dear, flower, but it seems I’m off to work,” Harold grabbed his plate and cup dumping them into the sink before heading off the door. “I’ll see you both later!”

*Ah shit.*

[What?]

*Mum’s going to work out my punishment without Dad to help mitigate things... and he left right as she announced that fact. This is basically like giving her permission to go nuts.*