Sarah was starting dinner while the twins bathed, Cody walked over to one of the large windows and pulled out a small thick mat and laid it out under the window. Cody sat down crossed legged and put his hand in his lap closing his eyes, after a few moments Cody had entered a shallow meditative state, inside his mind he brought forth two copies of his body and studied them.
His dragon form stood beside his human form, as Cody focused he pushed them together lightly finding a way to balance the strength and durability of the dragon with the appearance of his human form. After a few careful choices and modifications he had increased his muscle mass with no noticeable outward change, he also increased his bones density and organ durability to ensure his form was solid and safe.
Cody opened his eyes and noticed Carly was sitting down by herself while Sarah was on the couch reading a book, "Where's Eveline?" Cody asked them as he stood and slowly stretched, maintaining a focus on his body feeling it waiting to either become human or dragon.
"She left for a drive, She's going to try and figure some things out by herself, I did make her promise me not to visit mom," Carly answered him watching him with a curious stare.
Sarah took notice of Cody as well and asked him, "You seem different, what did you do?"
"I made a balance in my body, but it takes some focus to keep it. I'm hoping that by doing it more I can have it become an automatic thing that doesn't require too much focus, also I hope she finds what she needs," Cody answered as he walked towards Sarah.
"Me too, and why did you do that?" Carly asked as Cody reached Sarah.
"Sarah, can you put a coil up? I want to test my strength," Cody asked her as he looked at Carly and answered, "Because there are so many 'what ifs' that I'd rather be safe than sorry."
"Fair enough," Carly said watching Sarah put up a large coil.
Cody held the coil with both elbows against his body and his hands going underneath, "Ready?"
Sarah nodded as she resisted Cody pulling on her coil, Sarah looked surprised as she had to start using her immense strength right away, Sarah braced the couch doing her best to pull Cody back, after a few tense seconds the couch moved forward towards Cody squeaking loudly surprising them both Cody stopped pulling at stepped back, "Looks like I'm a lot stronger like this."
"That's an understatement, you know that right? I can crush a motorcycle and you just kept me from pulling my coil in," Sarah said looking flabbergasted.
"I do now, I'm more surprised that I dragged you and the couch forward," Cody answered as Sarah used her coils to shift the couch back.
"Why would that be surprising?" Carly asked.
"Well as you know snakes are all muscle Sarah being over twenty foot but extremely thick lower half probably puts just that part alone close to four hundred maybe five hundred pounds, her upper body I don't know nor will I guess. That couch is about three hundred, so in total I just moved either a ton or just under a ton," Cody explained as he felt Sarah coil around his legs.
"Well I'll tell you straight, I weigh just under eight hundred pounds, my human half weighs one hundred, my lower body is between six ninety, so you just moved OVER a ton," Sarah corrected him as she rested her chin on his shoulder flicking her long tongue over his ear.
"I see and what are you doing?" Cody asked, sounding sure but looking nervous.
"Breaking your focus cause I'm annoyed you beat me in a contest of strength," Sarah answered as she viciously tickled Cody, quickly finding his sensitive areas and causing him to laugh.
Carly was laughing at him then stopped as his human appearance shifted towards dragon, Sarah let go and backed up, Cody quickly focused and returned to his human appearance, "That was uncalled for," Cody said looking at Sarah who smiled innocently at him.
"Oh well, maybe you shouldn't talk about a woman's weight?" Sarah responded as she turned towards the kitchen.
"Touche," Cody said as he sat down on the vacated couch.
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Eveline pulled into a small driveway in front of a two story house with blue walls and a large covered porch, She stepped out of the Car and walked up towards the door and knocked, after a half a minute an older man opened the door and smiled widely, "Eveline my little dragon how are you?" He said stepping forward and pulling her into a hug.
Eveline laughed at the irony of her childhood nickname, "Not so good dad, Can I come in?"
"Of course, what's wrong?" Howard asked as Eveline walked in.
"Has mom ever been back here?" Eveline asked him.
"No, you know that, why?" Howard asked as he closed the door and guided her toward the kitchen where he was cooking.
"I found out she placed listening bugs at Carly's house after I moved in, along with a few cameras, I also noticed how she talked to Carly and Carly told me what happened when we were twelve," Eveline explained with tears forming again.
Howard looked stunned and pulled Eveline into a hug, "Oh my sweet girl, I'm sorry you found out everything," Howard said quietly in Eveline's ear and she cried into her dads shoulder.
Once Eveline's tears slowed, Howard pulled back to look at her, "Sit down and let's talk, you clearly have some questions for me."
"Ya, I do," Eveline said walking towards the kitchen of her childhood home, she stopped and stared at the wall that was covered in faded drawings from her and Carly coloring on it.
"Shall we start? Don't mind me I was just making some early dinner, I can share if you'd like?" Howard said, walking towards the pan with some meat in it.
"I'm not hungry right now, Did you ever plan to tell me?" Eveline asked Howard as he opened the fridge, finding the water jug and pouring herself a cup.
"Nope, Me and Carly saw that you were still happy with Alaba, so we made a promise to not tell you how she really was until you either noticed or something big happened, I'm guessing it's the later?" Howard answered as he flipped the meat.
"Dad? You're good at keeping secrets right?" Eveline asked him.
"I'll keep any and all secrets you two tell me," Howard answered without hesitation.
Eveline stood up and changed forms, letting the scales form along her back and her tail grow which now sprouted a noticeable spine that stopped at her nape, her face elongated into a short muzzle. Howard looked back and dropped his tongs in shock, he walked over to her shakily and gently cupped her face, "You've changed so much, where's your jewel?" He asked, noticing it was missing.
"What do you think mom would do if she knew that me and sis met a dragon and Carly was now no longer human?" Eveline asked, looking unsure of herself.
After a few moments to calm himself Howard turned around and poked the meat before turning off the stove and putting it on a plate beside some eggs as he answered, "She would do her best to insert herself into the most favorable position, then tell everyone she met."
"Carly said the same, I want to tell her but after watching her treat Carly like she wasn't there I'm afraid to now," Eveline said as she sipped her water while Howard started to eat, he put his fork out with a cut of meat on it, Eveline eyed it before pulling it off the fork.
"Do you want my opioning little dragon?" Howard asked Eveline.
"Yes, even if it hurts," Eveline answered.
Howard sighed heavily handing another piece of food to Eveline, "Don't tell her, don't talk to her and leave her side, She is only using you to further her own goals, I genuinely think she stopped loving both you girls that day, and only see you both as a means to better herself."
Eveline looked shocked and asked, "What do you mean she stopped loving us?"
"After that day little things that annoyed me surged forward, her racism, narcissistic tendencies, lack of empathy and her entitlement all showed themselves, she used to control and manage them well. After Carly confronted her something in her broke and she stopped showing love, I can't tell if she really did or didn't love you girls, I did my best to shield you and Carly from her but you never saw it, it was like she wanted only you to see the good parts of her. Carly on the other hand got the opposite, so did I after the birthday she stopped sleeping in the same bed as me, it's like she didn't feel the need to hide anything," Howard explained while nibbling at his food looking mournful.
"I'll be honest Eveline, I still love your mother, but I mourn the women she was, I hate the woman she is now, I know you saw all her good sides but I can't tell you if that was genuinely her or a mask she showed you to control you better," Howard explained as he handed Eveline a small towel.
Eveline wiped her eyes and said, "I never saw anything bad, I feel so stupid for not seeing anything of what you both saw."
"I don't want you to because she did that on purpose so you wouldn't leave her to I think, or so she had something to use or control us," Howard said.
"Was I her tool?" Eveline asked quietly.
"Yes, but we don't care about that, we still love you and we both always will, neither me or Carly blame you for how your mother acts," Howard answered.
"Dad, why do you trust me so much?" Eveline asked.
Howard smiled a sad but happy smile and answered quietly, "Because you're not your mother, you love others more than yourself."
"What do you mean?" Eveline asked, confused.
"Dear tell me why you're so upset by this?" Howard asked her.
"Because she used me against you and Carly?" Eveline answered.
Howard smiled while pointing at her, "'Because she used me against you', You're upset that we were hurt by her through you, had you been selfish you'd have been upset at being used, not used against others. That's how I know you love others more than yourself," Howard explained.
