NOVEL WEB Ch.17: The World Spins at a Different Pace
I followed Jaque to a different room where I found my mother staring bullets into Mr. Minnow, I could feel heat pushing off her body. Mr. Minnow was sitting down with a serious face, still as a statue looking above her head but I could see his hand was shaking.
“Janis, I can’t believe you’d suggest that! Do you even know what they’d do to m-“ My mother shouted at him, her hands were gripping the chair arm as it made cracking sounds. She didn’t get to continue as Jaque cleared his throat. My mother’s burning eyes turned to face him but Jaque stood there accepting her glare before bowing.
“I am terribly sorry, ma’am! I was sure that my training would be good enough for him! I will aim to fix this weakness in my method!” Jaque said bowing his head to my mother. His voice carried the shame of a thousand failures. This made my mother’s burning anger pause as she watched him, the outside world went quiet for what felt like hours as she looked at his exposed neck. Her eyes narrowing, I wasn’t sure if she was debating about something or if she was going to kill him. This made me nervous as my wings slowly covered my shoulders like a cloak. My mother adjusted her posture before facing Mr. Minnow as everything went back to normal as if nothing happened.
“Oliver sit over here, please.” My mother said coolly as she pointed at a seat next to her. My body just moved without my input, I was still shocked how oppressive her anger was. I wasn’t sure who the dragon in the room was anymore. “Mr. Minnow, I believe the White Slash is a little over kill in training my son with his new mana.” She said coldly. Almost as if she was warning him.
“Miss Roberts, we are currently understaffed as” He looked at me before continuing. “they handle other school needs. Ja- The White Slash was available to train powerful converged students, everyone else wouldn’t be able to handle if they have outbursts.” He said trying to sound professional under her gaze.
“I see.” She said looking back at Jaque who was still bowing. “You believe He has a teacher’s mindset to lead my Oly into an easier life?” she asked looking back at him.
“Yes. He has helped many students already and gave them the tools to live appropriately. I will vouch for that.” Mr. Minnow said looking her in the eyes.
“Fine, he is fine but please forget your other suggestion and don’t bring it up again.” She said in her, ‘I’ll fuck you up’ voice as she smiled. She meant business, I must’ve really worried her if she’s this upset.
“Understood.” Mr. Minnow said looking back at the floor. He let out a breath to recollect himself.
She got up and I followed her but she stopped next to Jaque and whispered something to him, I couldn’t understand it, it sounded like a bunch of gibberish and letters. Trying to listen gave me a headache so I tried to ignore them. After she was done, we left the room with me following close behind like a duckling.
The drive home was awful as we sat in silence, not a single word was said. Not even music played and the hum of the car only made the drive feel long, every bump made me feel nervous. Was my mother super upset with me too? I must’ve worried her sick to be so firm with everyone there. I mentally gave an apology to Mr. Minnow and Jaque for having to face my mad mother. But I what did Mr. Minnow suggest before we came in? Did he say something she didn’t like?
After getting home we walked into the living room where my mother sat down, giving me a look at me to sit as well. I guess today’s carrying some heavy importance. As I began to sit down she pulled me into a hug, pulling me close as she cried. That… this is- no it’s not important right now. I hugged her back, she is all that matters right now.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to scare you but I had to stand my ground.” She cried out, pressing her head into my shoulder. “The last time I didn’t…” she paused and I knew why.
“I understand.” I said keeping my voice low. There was no reason to bring the past up, we had enough storms in our lives. I rested my chin on top of her head as she pulled herself close with tears pouring everywhere. “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to worry you. I’ll keep trying to do better.” I said as I looked at picture of the three of us. We had a good day getting ice cream together and I suggested we take a group photo together. Cole and I both hugged her right before the picture was shot, she was so surprised but she loved that moment.
“Oly…” she looked up at me with wide puffy eyes. “Thank you.” She said as she wiped her eyes.
Today was a weird one, if I can figure out how to keep myself in check then I could focus on my own life. Like figuring out this whole gender thing out or should I be more concerned with how much different this world is first? Who’s to say the same kinds of jobs exist here? A minotaur alone could take the place of some heavy machinery and is it considered work for a succubus to…. Do their thing? How different are this world’s morals too? What’s the taboos, how far is….. I looked at my dresser where those tight pants were, making me shudder. Women’s clothes were far more than a guy would’ve bargained for, the thought of wearing something that showed off my b-but-backside! Is t-too much! What if I end up getting into this only to find out lingerie type bikinis are a thing! Oh my god why are women’s clothes so e-exposing!
The thought of being caught in something more showy made my wings tremble and my cheeks heat up, people seeing my b-body and them….. No! If I’ve learned anything, I can’t risk f-feeling goo- um, losing control. That’s what I meant and no one will argue with me on that! Turning to my computer I eyed it, trying to keep my mind off certain other things.
Sighing I got up to look up some things deciding to start with the History I learned, nothing like some good wholesome info to look up. The first thing that popped up was a movie on the topic, apparently it’s a romance film? How? Looking further in, I found that this story tells of the Hero’s struggles being a demon of battle and accepting his new gender… um, he finds that he’s attracted to another noble monster…
Looking at the reviews the first one to pop up was, “The sex was great! I wish I could’ve been the hero when Sabastian rammed his HUGE ROD into her.” Nope, just no way! Looking at the rating, it was only rated PG! Not even 13, R or something else! How comfortable was this world with sex that a movie with sex is only PG!
I stopped to cool my head. "Maybe it was a troll review." I said trying to rationalize this. But curiosity got the better of me as I looked up the description of PG. What popped up was was, 'Parental guidance advised. This film depicts acts of sex, nudity, violence and possible language. And should be investigated by parents. but these acts do not depict any unconsenting peoples.' Great... PG is different here!
In my old world that would’ve made it at least an R rating or an X, wait that means there’s a chance that a movie I’d want to see would or could have…. A uh, relationship go past what is normal on film?!
Taking a deep breath to focus myself I changed my search to something more relaxing, typing in fishing and finding a few videos pop up. Clicking on one, it showed a human guy sitting by a lake side with a bulky r-rod…. Um, a-any way he was talking about a big mouth gulper. He said it’s one the larger fish you could find at Giants’ Eye, which was deep enough to drown the cyclops Mimir who stood just over 5 meters. He explained that this fish is a great hunt but shouldn’t be handled as a beginner hunter as it could swallow you whole…. Wait! Wha- then the man managed to pull up a huge giant mutant fish with a mouth so wide it could eat two of me! It was a muddy brown with moss growing on its back, its bug eyes grew big after noticing the man who pulled out a sword with serrated teeth. He launched into the air diving at the beast before I paused it.
Fishing!? That’s not fishing! That was more like some battle for survival and this man was actively seeking this out! Wait how is that even a fish! That’s too big to be a fish, it was more like a…. I looked at my hand, my palm was a sunny yellow and my claws were an obsidian black. It was exactly what I originally thought a monster was, huge, ugly and destructive. But I wasn’t as disturbing to look at, I was cute- I mean I looked n-nice. But then this world really is a whole lot more different than just morals being um, looser?
I guess that means I’ll have to consider my activities carefully if I ever want to do something else. This was too much to chew on though and I really needed to run, my head is starting to burn! Getting up I wondered what I should wear because these pants weren’t made for running and the last thing I needed was a rip to open up! Finding where my athletic clothes were I found two things and I wondered how one of them got in here. It was a pair of yoga pants? It looked like the sky with white marks, clouds maybe? But that wasn’t even the worst part about it, because it was had a line going down between where the bu-rear c-cheeks and a weird shape under them too! Quickly looking at the tag I discovered what it was. It was meant to lift the rear up! Oh my god! I didn’t choose this at the store but here it was, did my mother sneak it in!
Dropping into my dresser and hiding it in the corner, I grabbed a pair of shorts instead. I still have some dignity as a man- well, as someone that was once biologically male. Lucky that new treadmill was just the thing to burn off this weirdness this world was. The machine asked only a few questions before I could start, one of them was who was using it with a list of everyone in my family popping up. Clicking on my name, an alert popped up, “Now setting to Regeneration mode”, the treadmill glowed faintly. Right! Realizing I Looked down at my clawed feet, I’d rip through concrete with these things. Looks like that problem is somewhat solved, I guess.
After diner I had to ask my mother something for class, I wasn’t too sure if I’d get a chance in the future.
“Hey, I wanted to ask about something class related.” I asked, trying to be gentle with my approach. My mother seemed to be calm about my question as she looked at me, so I continued. “You see we have a project and it’s about family traditions. I’m guessing it has to do with more their monster side of the family? But luckily humans are included in it.” I said trying to be cheery. My mother chuckled at my cheery voice.
“Yeah, I know a thing or two on what we celebrate.” She said with a smirk before sitting up to look at me better. “It’s tradition that we pass each other a hug!” she said as she leaped at me, hugging me with a big smile. “Then the most important thing and you can’t forget it!” she said before planting a kiss on my cheek. “And that is how our family greets each other. You could also call it worshiping the Goddess of prosperous love Yu. I mean it’s not super hard for close family the practice her kindness anyway.” She said happily.
“Though you could consider us followers of her’s if you consider the holydays we celebrate.” She said looking up at the ceiling. She wasn’t elaborating on what holydays, I guess she assumes I’d know. Hmm, how to get her to say more….
“Then which one would you say is your favorite holyday?” I asked, tilting my head to be a little cute. Hopefully Belle’s techniques worked. And if it did, I'd have some more research material to look up later.
“Ooooooh? I’d say the meal of the seven seasons is the best but then there’s the final embrace too! Damn! And I thought I had a top one too.” She said snapping her fingers in mock irritation.
“hmmm… what about things you like do daily, the world wants to know your perspective.” I said holding a spoon like a microphone, pretending to be a reporter before turning it to her.
“Well mister reporter sir, I enjoy sewing together clothes! The more fancy or interesting the better. Maybe I can make one of my sons something!” She said with a big smile and giving two peace signs with her hands. “I also like cooking so much that I even take a few classes to improve my craft. You see mister reporter, my sons love my cooking and it’s one of the ways I get to spoil them with.” She said with a thoughtful look.
“Wow ma’am, you sure love your kids!” I said trying to hide a smile. She wasn’t talking about dressing me up again was she? Why was I exci- nervous about it! “What about your work miss, does it have the glamor you hoped for?” I asked.
She smiled like she was going to explode. “It’s great! Being a floor manager for the dungeon Sol's Mare is perfect for me! I get to save lives, plan loot drops and even get a great work out too!” she said before scooting closer to whisper to me. “A job like that lets me keep my figure from my twenties! I might be able to fit in some of my clothes from my teens even.” She said, acting like it was her big secret to weight loss.
“My you are right, you don’t look a day over nineteen!” I said in my best surprised host voice. My mom giggled at my complement, hiding her smile behind her hand. It wasn’t much of a hollow statement either, my mom really did look young.
“Oh stop it you! I was just lucky to get to age gracefully, though moisturizer does help with my skin.” She said with a huge smile.
We kept talking like that for awhile before going to bed, it was always fun to talk with her and hopefully we’ll do more during our DeluxeMan marathon this weekend. She can be so adorable when she get into the fight scenes.
After taking my seat in class, I watched as one of my classmates nervously walked over to me on shaky legs. He was that guy who Shouted ‘Whoo’ when I first came to class as a… dragon girl dude. He stepped closer before stopping a short distance away from my desk, though he wasn’t too far, I could easily poke him with my tail.
“H-hey O-Oliver! I-I saw y-you sitting all on your lonesome- I thought you could use a f-friend!” he said trying to seem friendly but all I saw was a scared little rabbit.
“Is there something you wanted Alex?” I said. I know that was harsh but if he was crass enough to talk about lamia being cuddly and cheer at my convergence then I had a feeling he wanted something.
He froze as a dumb smile went across his face. “Y-You remember my name!” he said, looking like a goddess just appeared in front of him. I just flatly stared at him. “O-oh um… maybe w-we could g-go get lunch t-t-t-too-gether?” he said as his eyes dropped for a second to look at my chest before popping up to look at my horns. He was checking me out…. Eww.. was this how girls felt with weirdos? I didn’t wear anything that showed my weights but this shirt did hug my chest more that I remember, was it bigger!
“Sorry but maybe if you look at me as a person then maybe I would consider. Just maybe.” I said trying to stay calm. I’m not a set of tits! I’m not a set of tits!
He was about to say something before I glared at him and lightly slapped the floor with my tail, just barely missing his feet. He jumped back like a scared cat before rushing out of the class. Seeing his retreat made me feel a little smug as I raised my chin and smiled to myself.
“I’ll talk to him later, he just got a work out session with Jaque but while it’s good you stood your own ground. Please don’t actually harm anyone.” Mr. Minnow said smiling at me.
“Yes sir.” I said with a big smile.
