LIGHTNOVELONLINE 117. Meeting Kid Chaos (Tess)
Thursday and Friday at work passed without any notable incidents. I saw a few more clients, but the most interesting thing apart from my Wednesday afternoon session with Cass was having lunch the following day with Emma. And as usual I couldn't resist consulting with her about my plural client.
I was especially curious about the way the teen's past felt unreal to her, up until the point where she had her first brush with magic and received her magical transition. Except I swore not to reveal anything about my client's supernatural connections to anyone, so when I mentioned it to Emma I phrased it that the trigger was realizing she was trans and coming out to herself.
Emma told me the sort of symptoms I was describing might be indicative of depersonalization and derealization, which were classified as dissociative disorders. She also explained that those sorts of experiences weren't uncommon for people with dissociative identity disorder, which was certainly a possibility considering the client was plural.
We also talked a little about how the teen had limited memories of her past, which Emma said could be a symptom of dissociative amnesia, which was also common in cases of DID. Finally she made the point that it was all still speculation, then reminded me that three sessions was still way too early to be certain of anything. And she pointed out that all the symptoms I'd described could also have other causes.
It was another interesting conversation and left me a lot to think about, as well as some more topics for me to read up on. For now I put those thoughts aside, as I had something entirely different to focus on. It was Saturday evening, and Amy and I were both getting ready for our double-date with Kid Chaos and her girlfriend.
On the other hand there was one work-related thing I had on my mind, that I wanted to ask my girlfriend about. I'd been thinking about it off and on since Wednesday, and I'd finally come up with a way to ask Amy about it without betraying my client's confidence.
"So thanks to you and Raven I know that both gods and angels can teleport," I commented as I put the finishing touches on my make-up. "Do you know what other kinds of supernaturals can do that too?"
Amy smiled as she brushed her hair, "Are you having second thoughts about walking to the pub? We can always get a ride share. Or I can teleport us if you want."
"Or are you hinting that you want to be able to teleport as well?" she added a moment later.
I rolled my eyes, "None of the above. I'm legitimately curious Amy, what sorts of supernaturals can teleport?"
She shook her head, "I don't actually know who can or can't teleport? Raven would probably know the answer though. I know it takes more power than a lot of other magic or spells though, so I doubt any humans could do it."
"All right," I nodded slowly. Unfortunately that didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about Cass. "Thanks anyways cutie."
Once we were both ready the two of us headed for the door. I looked over at the cat lazing on the sofa and said, "We're heading out now. Have a good evening Siggy!"
"Have fun," they responded.
It was about a kilometre or so from our apartment building to the older part of town where the pub was located, so it wasn't that far to walk. It might have been annoying in heels, but both Amy and I were in comfortable walking shoes. In fact neither of us dressed up too fancy for the occasion. My girlfriend was in another of her simple black summer dresses, while I wore black slacks and a cute green blouse.
As we set out along the sidewalk I asked, "So what's this Kid Chaos like? Is she actually chaotic or rowdy? And do you know anything about her girlfriend?"
"She's not rowdy," Amy replied with a grin. "She looks young, like a high-school student? But she's an immortal goddess so who knows how old she really is? She's about my height, messy shoulder-length brown hair, hazel eyes. She wasn't loud or boisterous or anything like that. She seemed very self-assured, but in a reserved kind of way?"
She added, "I don't know much about her girlfriend, apart from her being another supernatural. I don't think she's a goddess though, so probably a mortal."
I asked, "So she didn't act chaotic? We're not liable to get kicked out of the restaurant because of her antics?"
"Not likely," Amy laughed. "I don't really know her that well love, that's why I wanted to get together again tonight. She was only there less than an hour last week? She didn't even finish her dinner before something came up and she teleported away. But I got the feeling she's not that kind of chaos goddess. If I had to guess, she'd be the type to set stuff up so it happened after she was gone, or at least a safe distance away. So she could watch it happen without being in the middle of it."
"That's not entirely reassuring," I grimaced.
My girlfriend slipped an arm around my waist as we walked, "I'm sure she's not going to do anything wild or crazy at dinner tonight. But on the off chance that she did, you still don't have anything to worry about. She wouldn't dare try anything against either you or me. I wouldn't let her."
"I know cutie," I smiled as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "But thank you for reminding me."
The old part of town was a little busy as we walked along the main street. Most of the shops were closed up at this time of day but there were plenty of cafes and bars and restaurants still open. And being Saturday night of a three-day weekend meant plenty of people were out enjoying themselves and the final weekend of summer.
We got to the pub about ten minutes early, but that wasn't a problem. Amy had a reservation so they took us to one of the booths off to the side. We sat down next to each other, then after a quick look at the wine list my girlfriend ordered a bottle for the two of us to share while we waited for the other couple.
It was something local from Niagara, and after the waiter went to get it I teased her "That sounded almost pretentious cutie. Have you been leveling-up your wine skills while I'm at work?"
Amy smiled, "Hardly. May Hawthorne keeps ordering fancy wine when I see her, and I kind of liked the last one she picked? I saw something similar here and decided to give it a try."
"We can always try something else if it turns out to be too fancy for us," she added with a grin.
I rolled my eyes, "If you liked it then I'm sure it'll be fine."
While we waited I had a look at the menu. The dinner menu had more variety than they had available when I met Amy and her dad there for lunch, but it was all still the same sort of theme. There was a mix of traditional English pub fare and typical North American pub food, but from the sound of it everything was taken up a notch to fit the up-market style they were aiming for.
It wasn't long before the waiter was back with our drinks. He set down the two empty glasses then opened the bottle at the table, before pouring the wine for us. Then he asked if Amy and I wanted to order an appetizer while we waited for the other couple.
We declined, the two of us agreed that it would be best to wait for the others before ordering any food.
"This is nice actually," I commented after a sip of my wine. Then I teased, "If you get me onto fancy wine we're going to have to give up on our boxes and start filling the fridge with bottles. Unless we can get the good stuff in a cask or something?"
Amy grinned, "I wonder if we could arrange weekly deliveries, direct from the winery?"
I suppressed a laugh, although to be honest it was a tempting idea. I had another sip of my wine then reminded her, "You know I only drank the cheap box-wine because I was a starving college student, right? Maybe now that I'm gainfully employed I should start looking to expand my horizons and refine my palate and all that stuff?"
"Of course it doesn't hurt that I'm engaged to and living with a goddess," I added quietly.
She just smirked as she had some of her drink. Then she commented, "This isn't bad, but it's not the same as the stuff May picked out. I have a feeling weekly deliveries from France would definitely be too pretentious though, even for a goddess and a gainfully employed health care professional."
It was harder to suppress the laugh that time, but I managed it. And I was already more than halfway through my glass, but we still had the rest of the bottle on the table in front of us so I wasn't too worried.
On the other hand there was another concern that did pop up, and I commented "You said this other goddess looks like a high school student? You don't suppose she's going to have any trouble getting in here, will she? I don't think they'd let under-aged folks into a bar or pub."
"She might look young but she's still a goddess," Amy responded with a shrug. "For all I know she's a few thousand years old. I'm sure she's either got ID or she could conjure some up on the spot if she needs it. She could also change her appearance, or... Well there's probably other tricks she can do with magic so the staff ignore her apparent youth."
"Ah right," I nodded.
We were both quiet for the next few moments, just enjoying our drinks while we waited. It wasn't long before I finished my wine, so I emptied out the bottle refilling my glass and topping up Amy's.
She smiled, "We'll have to order another bottle of that so we have something to drink with dinner."
"Good idea," I agreed.
It looked like she was about to say something else when she suddenly seemed distracted for a second or two. Then she leaned closer and let me know, "The other goddess just arrived, she should be here in a couple seconds."
Right after that the ambient noise in the pub suddenly changed, as a lot of the talking was replaced with quiet murmuring. That left me wondering just what this chaos goddess looked like, or what kind of an entrance she was making.
Unfortunately I couldn't see much of the dining area from where I was seated, on the inner side of the large private booth. Amy was on the outer side so she had a better view of what was going on in the restaurant, and could obviously see the other couple approaching.
A moment later I found myself staring at a tiny young woman who'd just walked up and stopped next to our table. She couldn't have been more than four and a half feet tall, but what really caught my attention were the two tall fuzzy fox ears ontop of her head. And even more surprising were the three large floofy fox tails swishing around forth behind her.
The small kitsune had short orange-red hair surrounding a cute face with fair skin and some freckles on her cheeks, while her eyes were amber and had vertical pupils. She was wearing a cute orange blouse with a deep scoop neck, a short black skirt, and she had sandals on her feet.
I was still staring at the foxgirl when a second figure came to stand beside the tiny demi-human. I looked at her and when our eyes met my heart skipped a beat. It was none other than my client Cass Underwood, and I caught the look of panic that flashed in her eyes. She obviously wasn't expecting to find me here any more than I expected to see her.
Meanwhile my girlfriend hadn't caught on yet that Cass and I recognized each other. Amy smiled and began the greetings and introductions, "Hello again Cassandra, it's nice to see you. This must be your girlfriend? I'm Amethyst, but you can call me Amy. And this is my girlfriend Theresa."
I found myself temporarily frozen as my brain struggled to process the realization that my shy quiet plural client was actually the goddess Amy and I knew as Kid Chaos.
The brunette teen recovered first, except as soon as she started talking I could tell it was Cassandra who'd found her voice before I could. Her demeanour smoothly shifted as she gave my girlfriend and I a relaxed smile, "Hello again Amethyst. And Tess, it's a pleasant surprise to see you again so soon."
"Allow me to introduce my girlfriend Kaylee," she added as she gestured for the small kitsune to take a seat in the booth across from me.
"Hello Amethyst, Theresa. It's nice to meet you both," the small demi-human said as her three tails splayed around her before she slipped into the booth.
One tail wrapped around her right hip, another curled around her left hip, and the third one stuck up along her back with the white floofy tip resting over her left shoulder.
After Kaylee got settled across from me Cassandra sat down beside her girlfriend and across the table from mine. The teenage goddess asked, "I hope Kaylee and I didn't keep you two waiting long?"
I still hadn't managed to say anything yet, while Amy was looking back and forth between Cassandra and myself with a confused expression.
"Hold on," my girlfriend stated with a frown. "How do you two know each other?"
