It was nearly 3 am when Sam returned to the apartment. Jev had left the door unlocked for her when Cyd and he had turned in for the night, and despite the door opening quietly the sound was enough to rouse him. He could tell that Cyd was also roused by the sound, her gentle breathing in the dark quick and regular. There was a stifled giggle in the hall and the sound of bare feet stepping off into the rest of the apartment. A few words were spoken, sotto voce, by a voice that Jev didn't recognise, and he heard Sam reply, indistinctly quietly. Almost immediately, soft snoring rose from the living room.
The bedroom door creaked open quietly, and he heard Sam's footsteps pad around the bed. A powerful smell of spirits drifted in her wake. Sam slipped into the bed behind Jev, wrapping her arms around his midsection, as Cyd growled.
"Gods above and below, did you drink a whole distillery?"
Sam kissed the nape of Jev's neck, cuddling in tighter to him.
"I promise I'm as sober as a priest on Fastday. Body shots are good fun, but they get messy when folks start to get drunk. Did you like the pictures?"
Jev cleared his throat a bit. Reaching back to caress her leg, he was unsurprised to find it totally bare.
"We only got through about 15 of them before we got distracted with our own fun."
Sam hummed contentedly as she found her spot in bed.
"Ah, well. You'll have a nice treat for later. I didn't even know champagne could be used like that. You'll never look at a bottle quite the same way again."
Cyd scoffed but said nothing. Sam continued.
"Oh, and I've brought you home a little treat for tomorrow. She's got a favour she wants to ask of you."
She refused to elaborate further, and Jev was too tired to force the issue. Whatever it was, it would keep until the morning.
Marisela woke, a beam of sunlight streaking through the plush pink curtains and striking her very precisely in the face. She tried adjusting herself, but each new position she found was less comfortable than the last. She grunted with frustration and threw the pillowy white comforter to one side. As per routine, her first stop was to the mirror that she kept on the back of the dresser. She pulled locks of blonde hair to the side, but as always her ears remained steadfastly round. She'd not lost any height, nor gained any. She had no wings, and her feet were steadfastly feet and had not been replaced by a snake tail or a horse body or any other exciting changes.
This was, of course, to be expected. Enchantments were set in the womb. One didn't suddenly gain one overnight, regardless of what Lia Rensmith swore the piece of paper that she'd sold to Marisela in exchange for Mari doing her history homework would do when she slept with it under her pillow. No, Marisela Wellow was a perfectly human 13-year-old girl. It was rare for Enchantments to not be passed down from either parent, but sometimes it happened. Clinically, the term for it was Arcane Atrophy Disorder, or AAD, a failure of the foetus to properly sustain the magical energies which allowed it to be changed. Outside of the hospital, though, most everyone just called them "nulls."
Mari descended the stairs to the kitchen for some breakfast. As she crossed the main floor of their large house, she was forced to pass their living room. Despite the name, more often than not, the room was empty. Today, however, her mother and father sat on the sofa with several sheets of paper scattered between them. Sitting opposite from them on a wingback chair, was an unfamiliar woman. She had violet skin and short, goatlike horns rising from her forehead. Her face was framed in waves of glossy black hair, and she immediately caught sight of Mari walking past, her eyes locking on to her and looking her over, analytically. Following her gaze, her father spotted her also.
"Hey, there, sprout. Why don't you come over and join us. We were just talking about you."
Mari's father was a troll, a massive man with craggy features seemingly carved of stone. She knew some of her friends found him intimidating, especially with his deep, booming voice, but Mari never felt safer than with her dad. Her mother said nothing but watched expectantly for Mari to do as she was told. Mari's mother was an elf. Tall and graceful, she always put on a refined guise in public, but at home, she was an avid majeball fan and liked playing practical jokes. Marisela sat on the couch beside her father, far from the unfamiliar woman.
"Mari, this is Azarael. She's going to be a tutor for you to help you with your magic classes."
The purple woman gave a little wave.
"Hi, Mari. You can call me Ayzee. Your parents have been telling me that you're having some problems with charms and enchantments. That happens to be what I'm especially good at. I'd be happy to teach you."
Mari snorted derisively.
"Lia says I'll never be able to get it because I'm a null and magic doesn't work with us."
The violet-skinned woman smiled kindly.
"It's true you're probably going to have to work harder to make magic work for you. But it's not impossible. I used to work with a boy in Theranport who also had AAD. He's now attending the University of Severna doing his masters in Enchantment Engineering. So I know it's possible. If you're willing to work with me, I promise you'll be able to conjure fire before the year's out."
The strange woman extended her hand.
"Why don't we find a quiet place to do some work and I can see what you already know?"
Facing down the expectant glances of her parents, Mari uncertainly took the guest's hand as she led her into the study.
Jev was the first to wake, as usual. He was cuddled between Cyd's human form on one side, and Sam on the other. All three of them were naked, and he savoured the feeling of warm female flesh on either side of him, though Sam did still smell powerfully of stale alcohol, which was somewhat off-putting. Cyd stirred slightly under his touch, and he considered rousing her to start a little morning fun, which Sam would doubtlessly join in. As he gently slid his hand down her side and towards the crook of her legs, the sound of a cabinet door gently being closed reminded him that Sam had brought home a guest.
Jev did his best to sneak out of the bed, crawling out from the foot of it. He found a discarded pair of boxers and pulled them on, watching as Sam drowsily made up for his sudden absence by shuffling over and spooning against Cyd instead. Figuring that any guest of Sam's was unlikely to be scandalised by a man in underwear, he snuck out of the bedroom and entered the main living space of his apartment.
Jev recognised the woman standing in his kitchen as the red-haired one from the photos from the night before. He needn't have worried about modesty, since while he was half-dressed, she was entirely naked. She had a slim but muscular physique, with smallish breasts that sagged slightly, but with wide, powerful hips and thighs. She was also stumbling around the kitchen with eyes squinted and the obvious signs of a hangover. She started slightly on seeing him, but then simply asked:
"Ibuprofen?"
