New City, New Life

[Demeter]

Mercedes had jumped on Elise, wrapping her arms around the other woman's neck and legs around her waist. With the exception of Romi, Elise was the only person still living who knew the details of the years she was trapped in that medieval castle. She leaned back and grinned at Elise. "I missed you to," she said while untangling herself from her friend. "How was South America? What were you working on this time? Can I see?"

After they unloaded Mercedes SUV and ran into town for a supply run, they settled down and looked at the photos Elise had taken. When both of them were just too exhuasted from work and travel to keep their eyes open, they crawled into bed together and slept. Mercedes woke first the morning, groaning while slapping at her cell phone to turn off her alarm. Grumbling, she crawled from the bed and stumbled to the kitchen to start some coffee.

While the shiney single cup brewer warmed up the water, Mercedes glanced at the kitchen wall clock. Brielle would be showing up soon. She should probably think about dressing and brushing her hair, at the very least. She'd told Brielle that she lived in the big white house, which was probably an understandment. She'd also told her just to walk right on in.

She was distracted from both coffee and getting dressed when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. Grinning, she turned to face Elise. "Either you want my coffee or you are feeling very refreshed," when she was backed up against the island counter, "I guess it's the latter," she murmered before wrapping her arms around Elise. Soon, she was perched on the counter, enjoying Elise's attention and way to distracted to hear the front door open and a tentative voice calling out.

Teacup heard the voice of her friend though and went prancing to the front door. After greeting Brielle by jumping up and giving her a sloppy kiss, and snubbing the cat, Teacup led Brielle back to the kitchen.

[Maira]

Brielle wasn't sure how long she sat and gawked at the big white house but after a few minutes, and more than one impatient nudge from Akasha on her chin, Brielle finally got out of the car. She slung the strap of her bag over one shoulder and gathered up brown and cream feline and made her way up to the front door. Mercedes had told her just to let herself in when she got there, so she did just that. Once inside she called out curiously, hoping Mercedes would hear her and come get her.

The greeting committee did not consist of the witch/vampire however, in no time at all Teacup was prancing up to her, jumping on her, and slobbering her face with kisses. Amazingly Akasha didn't swipe at the giant dog as she smooshed her into Brielle's body. Once the dog got down however, she did hiss and launch herself out of Brielle's arms beyond the dog's reach. Brielle watched with a slight smirk as her familiar quickly scampered up the nearest flight of stairs and was gone, likely exploring and thinking dark thoughts about the giant dog who was getting overly friendly with -her- person.

Once Akasha was out of sight, Brielle turned to Teacup and asked her, "Where's your mama honey, can you take me to her?" As the dog turned, tail wagging happily, and walked away Brielle followed her. When Teacup led her through a swinging door, Brielle noticed they were in the kitchen, but only barely. What she noticed most was that her boss was perched up on the kitchen counter head tilted back in obvious pleasure, as a tall red haired woman kissed and bit along her neck and collarbone. Brielle also saw Mercedes's shirt moving seemingly by itself and she had a feeling she knew where the redhead's hands were and just what they were doing.

She stood there, open mouthed in shock, for only moments before Teacup gave a single loud bark to announce their visitor. When they continued what they were doing and after Mercedes shirt went flying, Teacup walked over and nudged the redhead in the butt with her cold nose. Only then did Brielle notice that the redhead only had panties on her bottom half and less than that on her top half. "Oh Gods," she whispered in shock before turning and walking back out of the kitchen, her face glowing a bright lobster red.

*****

Elise really had missed Mercedes. If she didn't know about the woman's past as a slave and how the she felt about being permanently bonded to anybody she might have broached long ago that they become bondmates. The feelings Elise had for Mercedes were different than those she'd had for any of her other relationships, and even though she slept with other people when she was gone on her trips, the person she really wanted was Mercedes. Now that she was home, and rested, it didn't take her body long to start demanding she role out of bed and go find her lover. Wearing nothing but a pair of red lacy panties, Elise let her senses roam the house until she both heard and smelled Mercedes down in the kitchen and she quickly made her way downstairs.

She found Mercedes making coffee, just like she thought she would, and she silently slipped up behind the other woman sliding her arms around her waist. When Mercedes turned in her embrace to face her and started talking, Elise just smirked as she grabbed Mercedes by the butt and hoisted her onto the counter. It wasn't long before they were both completely oblivious as Elise had her way with Mercedes. She loved the taste of her skin, and the feel of her breasts in her hands. She was just about the lift Mercedes's shirt over her head when Teacup barked loudly at them. They both ignored the Dane and the offending shirt did go flying just as Teacup's cold wet nose nudged Elise in the butt causing her to squeak and squirm to get away. In the moment she pulled her attention from Mercedes to scold the nosey dog, she noticed what appeared to be a dark-haired woman walking out of the kitchen, her face flaming.

Elise had never been shy about her body, hadn't really ever been particularly shy about sex either, but she suddenly felt a bit awkward as she realized that Mercedes probably didn't want her employee to see her in such a state. "Um, I think we just gave your new shop girl an unexpected surprise," she whispered into Mercedes ear before going to find the other woman's shirt.

[Demeter]

It took Mercedes a moment to process what Elise had said. Once she realized exactly what Elise had said, Mercedes groaned and slipped off the counter. She took her shirt from the Brood hybrid and pulled it over her head. "Just how I wanted to start the weekend. I'll go see if I can find her and...explain. Why don't you go find some clothes." Before either one of them left the kitchen in seperate directions, Mercedes kissed Elise and whispered "later" in her ear.

Finger combing her hair while following Teacup through the house, Mercedes hissed at her familar. "Couldn't you have given me a little more warning? Barking once does not count as fair warning. Perhaps sending up an alarm the moment someone pulls into the driveway like you do with everyone else would have been enough. Brielle did not need to see that. Not until I had a chance to tell her."

She eventually found Brielle standing in the front parlor. Standing in the doorway, Mercedes cleared her throat. "Brielle, are you okay? I'm sorry you had to see that. I had wanted to explain Elise in some other way than that but um, now you know, I guess, that I'll sleep with women as well as men."

[Maira]

After her hurried retreat from the kitchen, Brielle found herself pacing in the foyer of the house next to her bag which she had dropped by the door when Teacup led her off to the kitchen. Akasha was perched on the balcony railing above, watching her curiously and Brielle found herself muttering about her "damn nosey cat". At hearing herself being called nosey, Akasha chirp-meowed in annoyance and jumped off the railing to go exploring again. She had sensed her person's unease and had come to check on her like a good familiar should.

Once her audience was gone, Brielle let her mind examine just what feelings had been going through her head at the sight of Mercedes in the embrace of that other woman. She wasn't a stranger to same-sex relationships and they didn't even come close to bothering her, but she had never really seen herself being in one. Yet seeing Mercedes like that had brought up unexpected feelings of jealousy and arousal along with the more expected embarrassment and shock.

Aside from the quick recognition of what she'd been feeling, Brielle didn't have much time to figure things out because Mercedes quickly found her and asked if she was okay and apologized. Turning to her boss, Brielle smiled nervously and answered, "It doesn't bother me that you sleep with women, my younger sister is all about the girls and two of my four dads are in a relationship with each other so... I was just not expecting to walk in on something that intimate is all."

*****

The sudden cease to the morning's activities in the kitchen was likely to leave Elise wound rather tight all day if she didn't do something about it. Mercedes's quick parting kiss and a promise of "later" only served to ramp up her desire even more. Rather than going to find some clothes, she just slipped out the door in the back of the kitchen and ran into the bayou. It was nice and warm and the humidity moistened her skin nicely as she went for a good hard run. She didn't slow down until she was panting and sweating heavily. Once she was able to breathe mostly normally again, Elise slipped her panties off and shifted into her much larger dragon form. The run had been good to get the human and Alati frustration out of Elise, but the dragon side of her took more work and a hard flight out over the Gulf would take care of that.

It was early afternoon before the tired woman slipped back into the house unnoticed and upstairs to get a shower. She was half tempted to take a nap after her exhausting workouts but she wanted to apologize to the girl and she figured the sooner the better. She would test the waters with the girl, and if she seemed terribly uncomfortable -then- Elise would let herself give in to the sleep her body was demanding.

After her shower, Elise did get dressed in a flowing baby blue sun dress. She didn't bother with sandals or other shoes because she preferred to go barefoot whenever possible. She found the two women on the back porch overlooking the bayou drinking the sweet tea she had made the day before. She purposely let the screen door be heard shutting behind her so that both of them would know she was there and then said pleasantly, "Here you two are," before walking around to lean against the porch railing so she could see both of them.

[Demeter]

Mercedes raised an eyebrow at the comment about four dads but let it slide for now. There were just some things she didn't want to know and that just sounded complicated. Mercedes shrugged and waved a hand towards the back of the house. "That was Elise. We don't really have what you could call a defined relationship. She's my roommate here at Bayou House. She's either a really good friend that I have some really awesome benefits with or we just have a really open relationship. I really am sorry that you had to walk in on that but we haven't seen each other for about a month. Elise is a photographer and she's often away working on projects."

They stared at each other in awkward silence for a moment. Brielle probably because she was still trying to process what had happened and Mercedes because she was still keyed up from what she'd been doing with Elise. "Um, why don't I show you your room and you can unpack and get Akasha's stuff set up and then I can give you a tour of the house."

Once she showed Brielle to the room she'd picked out for her. It was pink but she thought it would work for Brielle. After giving her a quick tour of her room, Mercedes escaped to her own room and flopped on the bed. "Oh my Goddess," she muttered before rolling over and grabbing a cold shower.

Later, when the embrassement had faded and she'd shown off her house to Brielle, they'd plopped themselves down on the lower back veranda that looked out at the Bayou. She looked up when Elise showed up and smiled at the woman. "Have a good time?" she knew where the Brood hybrid had been and what she'd been out doing. "Elise, this is Brielle and Brielle, this is Elise."

[Maira]

Eventually the awkwardness between Brielle and Mercedes eased away. Getting settled in her room for the weekend and then getting the grand tour of the house both helped with that a lot. She was able to focus on other things, easier things, less self-identity changing things. They had eventually wound up on the back porch sipping ice cold glasses of sweet tea while the gentle afternoon breeze caressed them and teased Brielle's hair where it hung in a pony tail. Mercedes was in the porch swing, and Brielle was in one of the big wooden rocking chairs, her eyes half closed as she enjoyed the peace of the afternoon.

Just before the sound of the screen door shutting and the appearance of Elise, Brielle mumbled in a voice barely able to be heard, "I could totally get used to this." At the sound of Elise's arrival, Brielle opened her eyes which she hadn't realized were closed, and looked at the other woman where she perched herself against the porch railing.

Elise nodded in answer to Mercedes's question. "I love all the places I get to go for runs thanks to work, but nothing beats running in our bayou," she said with a warm, and knowing, smile. For them the word "running" could apply to an actual run, a flight (for Elise), or other more intimate activities. It had become code for them a long time ago due to both the odd nature of their relationship and most people not knowing that the Brood existed.

After that Elise turned to look at Brielle, who was watching her curiously, and she couldn't help but wonder at the look in the younger girl's eyes. Was she checking her out? Or just trying to figure out what exactly she was? Or had she maybe picked up that there was more meaning to "running" than either Elise or Mercedes were letting on?

Brielle realized that both she and Elise were weighing and judging each other after a moment and she couldn't help but laugh before telling the redhead, "Its nice to meet you Elise, now please go sit by Mercedes instead of forcing yourself to stay away from her for my benefit. I'm not -that- sensitive I promise." Elise laughed too and smiled widely at Brielle before she did as she was told and sat next to Mercedes on the swing, letting her left hand land lightly on Mercedes's right thigh.

[Demeter]

Mercedes leaned her head on Elise's shoulder and set the swing in motion with her foot. She was content just to hang out on the porch for now. Later, she would show Brielle the Grimore that had been passed down through her mother's family and they could talk magic. She glanced up at Elise and grinned. She might even be able to talk the woman into grilling dinner instead of any of then working over a stove. The whole idea of girls weekend away from the shop was just to relax and unwind.

She looked over at Brielle. "Feel free to go for a run whenever you want. The bayou has the normal hazards but its pretty safe. Elise here as scared most of the predators away from the area." She wasn't going to say exactly what Elise was; she felt that was something that the other woman would tell Brielle on her own. Just as she would tell Brielle about her past,should the subject ever needed talking about.

When Brielle decided to go for a run, Mercedes curled into Elise and grinned at her. "She's pretty, isn't she. I wonder if I should extend my help in determining if she actually is a natural born magic user. Or just offer to teach her more."

[Maira]

Elise listened as the other two talked briefly about Brielle going for a run in the bayou. When Mercedes mentioned that she had already scared off all the big predators in the area, Elise couldn't help but smirk at the curious look Brielle shot her. Let her wonder for a while. If she wound up coming around more frequently and ran the risk of stumbling upon Elise in her dragon form, -then- she would tell her about her heritage.

Once Brielle finished her glass of tea, she skipped off the porch and walked down the path toward the trees. Only as she disappeared did it occur to Elise to wonder why the girl was going for a run in a dress. She was just about to ask when Mercedes said something. Elise asked her to repeat it, and then she answered, "Yeah she is pretty, though I'm not sure what role that plays in you deciding just how you want to help her." In fact, Elise found the girl downright attractive if a bit petite for her normal type. As she thought about just how pretty the girl was and how much she'd like to see her out of her dress, Elise not only cursed her damn dragon libido, but remembered her question from earlier and asked, "Did I miss something? Why is Brielle going for a run in a dress?"

*****

Hellcat was having a blast running, climbing and jumping around the bayou. She even managed to go for a couple involuntary swims as she underestimated just how far a few jumps from tree to tree were. By the time she wore herself out and agreed to relinquish their body back to Brielle, the black spotted grey lynx was soaking wet and covered in twigs, leaves, and mud. Knowing there would be no way to save her dress if she tried putting it on as dirty as she was, Hellcat instead picked it up gingerly in her mouth and slowly made her way back to Bayou house.

The smell of something on the grill caused the lynx's mouth to water around the delicate material of Brielle's dress and she picked up the pace, searching out where she might find at least one of the other women at the house handling the grill. She was in luck and on the deck off the kitchen, Hellcat spotted both women talking away excitedly about something. The lynx padded up the steps of the deck, dropped her dress at Mercedes feet, and looked hopefully in the direction of the hose nearby. It was the closest Hellcat would ever come to asking for a bath, her pride was too strong for that, but asking to have the mud and muck from the bayou hosed off her so she could at least go inside to take a proper shower wasn't too demeaning.

*****

At the sight of the mud and twig covered lynx confidently prowling up onto Mercedes's side deck, Elise cocked her head to one side and nearly dropped the piece of chicken she was trying to flip. So that's what Mercedes hadn't told her. Like Elise's dragon heritage, apparently Brielle had something of her own that most people wouldn't understand. Witches and other magic users were grudgingly accepted by the normal human population. Any of the weres or vampires or other more unusual types of Others tended to get a worse reaction.

Once the lynx was properly hosed down and had shaken off enough water for Mercedes to let her into the house to shower, and she'd made her way inside to do just that, Elise asked Mercedes, "Any more fun little tidbits about the new girl you wanna tell me?"

[Demeter]

As Mercedes wound the hose up, she grinned at Elise. She danced up the stairs and kissed the woman's cheek. "Nothing that I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll discover something interesting. She did mention something about having four dads and that makes me curious. I'm just going to go make sure that our guest is fine."

Mercedes sailed through the kitchen and up the back stairs to Mercedes room. She gently knocked on the door and called out that she was coming in. She crossed to the partially closed bathroom door and softly knocked on that door as well. "Brielle, is there anything I can get you? Do you have enough towels?"

***

Later, after the house had quieted down and everyone went off to their own rooms, Mercedes slipped into the room that belonged to Elise. She crawled between the sheets and snuggled up to the hybrid. She kissed Elise's shoulder and, with one hand circling her bare belly, asked if the hybrid wanted to continue that mornings activities.

[Maira]

Elise nearly dropped another piece of chicken when Mercedes mentioned that Brielle had said something about having four dads. How exactly was that possible? Trying to put Brielle out of her mind long enough to focus on not dropping or charring dinner, Elise went back to tending the barbeque while humming a tune she had picked up on her last trip.

*****

Having already been hosed off, Brielle was essentially clean when she climbed into the shower in human form. She just did a quick wash of her hair and body, a full rinse, and then she was out. She was already mostly dry, except for her hair which she was patting dry with the towel. Having never been shy about her body before, it didn't occur to Brielle that maybe opening the bathroom door while completely naked to answer her boss and host's question might not be the best idea. She even somehow managed to miss the slight widening of the other woman's eyes as she padded into the room and to the dresser she'd stashed her clothes in for the weekend.

"Plenty of towels, thanks Mercedes," she finally answered as she finished drying her wavy black hair. She'd forgotten her straightening iron at home so Mercedes would actually see her hair at its unruliest once it dried and the humidity helped the waves turn into curls. She tossed the damp towel onto the bed behind her and turned to look over her shoulder at Mercedes to ask, "I know some families here like to dress up a bit more formal for dinner, mine always was super casual, what would be best to wear for dinner?" As she stood, twisted slightly to look at Mercedes, the tribal tattoo on the left side of her abdomen was mostly visible. It stretched from the point of her hip and disappeared as it wrapped around toward her belly button, and it went up to just under her breast. She had always planned on more but most of them would have been visible and her mother would have flipped so she had stuck with this one so far.

When Mercedes finally answered that casual would be fine, Brielle dug into the drawers hauling out clothes that the vampire witch had never seen her in. Normally Louisiana was too warm for leather during the hours the two spent together but with the evening cooling off and them being so close to water Brielle actually expected it to get a fair amount cooler before they called it a night. She did forgo the black that she normally favored though and pulled out a dark blood red pair of hip-hugging leather pants and a super soft white fitted t-shirt. She quickly slipped into a matching dusky pink set of panties and a bra and then pulled her pants and shirt on as well before asking innocently, "Do you need any help with dinner?"

*****

Mercedes had been a bit distracted after she had come down from checking on Brielle earlier, even through dinner and the evenings activities which included Brielle and Elise bonding while chasing fireflies, and Mercedes showing Brielle her family grimoire. By the time they all headed to bed, she seemed mostly herself again, but Elise was curious just where Mercedes mind had gone. She had given up that train of thought and was slowly starting to drift off to sleep when she felt, rather than heard, Mercedes slip into her room. She smelled her almost instantly and Elise knew the other woman was in a mood to finish what Elise had started that morning in the kitchen. Still, not wanting to ruin Mercedes's attempts to surprise her and jump her, Elise lay still and just waited until she felt the familiar body slip up against her and start playing with the bare skin of her stomach. In a surprise rush, Elise rolled over and pinned Mercedes to the bed making her squeak, grinned at her promisingly, and then picked up right where they'd left off that morning.

[Demeter]

Mercedes squeaked when Elise pinned her down but she quickly returned Elise's grinned and lost herself in the pleasure that was given to her. She enjoyed Elise and it always warmed her heart that the brood had never forced her attentions on Mercedes. Or ever forced the issue about bonded partners. She told Elise early on about her past and the Hybrid had understood about feeling trapped.

Later, when she could curl around Elise and just snuggle, Mercedes thought about Brielle. She supposed that it had been only fair but having Brielle walk out of the bathroom in nothing but her skin had shocked her. And had distracted her for the rest of the night. Which is why she had snuck into Elise's room. And she had no doubt that Brielle had heard them. Neither one was quiet and the walls were really quite thin.

The truth was the Mercedes had decided that she wanted Brielle. Except, she didn't know if Brielle would even be open to that idea. It was obvious that she comfortable with the idea of same sex couples, given her earlier comments, but Mercedes had never picked up on anything from her. They still had two days before they needed to be back at the shop and she would test the waters with Brielle.

Some might wonder about her thoughts when she was in bed with Elise but it wasn't unusual for them to discuss previous or possible partners when in bed together. Mercedes knew all about the flings Elise had when out working on her projects and Elise knew about the men and women that were invited up to her French Quarter apartment. Though she'd rarely ever brought anyone back to Bayou house; especially not when Elise was in residence unless they were in agreement or wanted to share that person. That situation had only happened twice in the years they'd known each other.

Decideding that they needed to have a quick talk about it, Mercedes rolled and straddled Elise. She woke the drowsing hybrid with a kiss and grinned down at her. "If you are interested, I could go again. But first, what would you think if I wanted to pursue Brielle? Would I go it alone or are you interested as well?"

[Maira]

Very few of her past or present bed partners had the ability to sate the dragon side of her Elise. Luckily for her Mercedes was one of them. Sometimes they had to go a couple rounds, but by the time they both collapsed and drifted off to sleep Elise could honestly say the dragon was content. After her two hard workouts earlier in the day, all Elise really needed was the one energetic romp and she was ready to drift off to sleep. When Mercedes straddled her and woke her with a kiss though, Elise didn't really wake up until Mercedes proposed another go, then she was all ears.

Being all ears turned out to be rather interesting though. The last thing the still slightly groggy Elise had expected Mercedes to mention was the desire to pursue Brielle, either jointly or alone. From her prone position under Mercedes, Elise watched the other woman for a moment taking her in with all of her heightened senses. Everything about Mercedes pointed to the truth and genuine curiosity and desire. With a smile Elise pulled Mercedes down to her so that their faces were almost touching before she answered, her voice a little scratchy from sleep, "I was toying with asking you the same thing but I was planning on waiting until the end of the weekend to get a better feel for her. Do you think she'll be receptive to us?"

*****

Brielle wasn't sure how long Elise and Mercedes were at it but a few minutes in she had decided she was very glad she'd brought her headphones and that her phone was loaded with good music. After a while she'd gotten up to use the bathroom and had discovered they'd gone quiet so when she went back to bed she neglected to put her headphones back in and she fell asleep with them out.

Akasha decided after a little while that she wanted to snuggle with Brielle's head and woke her up again and it was immediately clear that she needed her headphones again. Before turning her music back on to drown out Mercedes and Elise, Brielle whispered curiously to Akasha, "Did you know I was bi Akasha? Cuz its a total shock to me." Then she stuffed her headphones in and turned up the volume until she couldn't hear the moans and groans and yells from the room across the hall.

[Demeter]

Mercedes remained where she was, sprawled over Elise's body. "I'm not sure. She's definatly not shy but nothing about her has given me a hint of one way or another. The college girls aren't due till late tomorrow so I guess we could see if we can't feel her out during the day. Little comments here or there, gentle touches or looks. We could always ask her straight out but that has always felt a little bit too much like a caveman to me."

Mercedes chuckled. "I can just see it. I'd go up to her, grunt and point while saying 'me like you. Me wanna jump you. You wanna jump me?' There is just something so...vulgar about people like that." Mercedes chuckled again and nuzzled Elise. "We can see what we can find out tomorrow but for now..." Mercedes trailed off as she squirmed downward. "You took care of me earlier so why don't I take care of you now?"

***

In the morning, Mercedes made breakfast while humming. Dressed in a pair of figure hugging yoga pants and a burnout tee over a lacy black tanktop. She would have worn such an outfit to work out and perhaps she would do that today but she wanted to know what Brielle thought. Elise was sleeping in this morning as they'd agreed during after-glow pillow talk that Mercedes would lead the first foray into determining if Brielle would even be interested.

She was just flipping the first round of chocolate chip pancakes onto a plate when a rumpled looking Brielle stumbled into the kitchen, likely drawn by the scent of breakfast. "Good morning. I hope you like pancakes," she said while sliding a plate in front of the woman. She quickly fixed her own plate and sat down next to Brielle. "Excuse me," she said before reaching across Brielle to grab the syrup pitcher.

She poured maple syrup over her pancakes, using her finger to catch the little dribble down the side. She looked at Brielle and sucked that little bit of syrup off her finger. "I hope you slept well, Brielle. I'm sorry if you were disturbed in any way.

[Maira]

Her dreams had been interesting to say the least. One of them had been a replay of chasing fireflies with Elise, only instead of just the innocent fun and laughter that had actually happened, the activity had ended with a roll on the grass, in the dark, under the stars. Kissing and touching and just exploring what it was like to be with the tall redhead. Brielle had woken in a sweat, a soft moan on her lips as her dreaming self was brought to orgasm by the other woman. She had lain there lost in thought, staring out her balcony door as the sky started taking on the first pink and golden hints of sunrise. As she was drifting off back to sleep, Brielle remembered having other intimate dreams before and she realized that they too had centered around the curvier sex as well. One of the Pard girls she had grown up with was a big player in those dreams and she felt her cheeks going hot at the memories of those old faded dreams.

One minute she had been staring at the pre-dawn sky and remembering old dreams, the next the sun was well up over the horizon and she was smelling food cooking downstairs. Chocolate something if she wasn't mistaken. Hoping that she was right, Brielle bounded out of bed and pulled on the pajamas she had shucked the night before from the heat, and she was downstairs and into the kitchen faster than anybody but her mother would have believed. Chocolate chip pancakes were Brielle's favorite and every time Saiyuri made them she knew to make way more than anticipated because Brielle stuff herself to bursting.

She knew she still looked like a sleep rumpled mess but Brielle didn't care, as soon as she plopped down at the table and saw the stack of pancakes Mercedes placed in front of her all she could think of was slathering them in whipped cream and strawberries and her mouth started to water. She didn't even look at Mercedes as the woman reached across her for the syrup, instead she was staring dumbly at the table and the selection of condiments. Getting up and making her way to the fridge and the freezer, Brielle answered as she rummaged for what she was looking for, "Chocolate chip pancakes are actually my favorite, they are amazing with whipped cream and strawberries." Then, once she finally found what she was looking for she gave a triumphant, "ha!" and made her way back to the table with her prizes. Once she actually took the time to look at Mercedes, Brielle nearly tripped and dropped her pancake toppings. She also felt her cheeks warm slightly, though whether it was in embarrassment at tripping or her own knowledge of just -why- she had tripped, Brielle wasn't sure.

With her mind already on just how well she could see the outline of Mercedes's curves, the other woman's apology for possibly keeping her awake sunk in. Once it did, her face took on a nice rosey pink color and she had to force her voice to be steady as she answered, "I had my headphones and music, I didn't hear much." Why the hell was she suddenly so bothered? She had never batted an eye at teasing a couple the next morning if they had kept her awake. She blamed the strange new awareness of her attraction to women on her sudden shyness.

*****

Elise was supposed to be sleeping in. It was the deal she and Mercedes had worked out. Mercedes would poke around and see if Brielle might even be interested in them and Elise would get the luck of sleeping in. Only, the smell of pancakes had woken her up as well. And when she'd heard Brielle go bolting down the stairs to the kitchen, Elise had fought not to laugh and give herself away. Apparently the girl was either a morning person or really liked chocolate chip pancakes.

After only a few minutes of laying in bed trying to go back to sleep, Elise's stomach gave a loud grumble and she caved and rolled out of bed. She actually took the time to pull on a tank top and a very short pair of cotton sleep shorts before making her way downstairs to join the other two women. As she entered, she noticed that Brielle's skin was pink tinged again and she couldn't help but smirk and wonder just what it was that Mercedes had said to the girl. As she approached the table, she noticed that Mercedes had forgotten drinks and she asked from behind them, "Do you girls want OJ, apple juice, milk or coffee?" She knew that Mercedes would opt for coffee, what Brielle would want she had no idea.

Brielle was pleased with herself that she didn't squeak at the sound of Elise's voice behind her. Luckily Hellcat had warned her of the other woman's approach. In answer to Elise's question, Brielle answered, "I'll take milk, but I can get it." Trying not to seem like she was in a hurry to get away from the awkward situation at the table, Brielle got up and padded back to the fridge.

As she got there, Elise opened it for her and she smiled in thanks. As she pulled the milk from the fridge, Elise shut the door for her as well and handed her a glass. She took both the jug of milk and the glass back to the table, she would probably have 2 or 3 glasses, and started doctoring her pancakes as she tried pointedly not to look at Mercedes's cleavage that was very apparent in the shirt she was wearing.

When it was ready, Elise fixed Mercedes her coffee just the way she liked it, and took it over to her. She leaned between the two women to set the hot mug on the table, then she kissed Mercedes softly on the lips before turning and doing the same to the unsuspecting Brielle who had been staring where the sunlight was shining on Elise's skin. Elise was pleasantly surprised when the girl kissed her back, even if once she realized it herself she -did- give a little squeak and look away before asking breathlessly, "Do you have scales?"

[Demeter]

Well, wasn't that interesting? Mercedes hid her grin behind her coffee mug as Brielle squeaked. This mornings events did seem to prove that Brielle was as interested in them as they were in her. But the question was now if she was interested in a two person relationship or a three person. And then Brielle asked her own question.

Mercedes nearly choked on her hot coffee when Brielle asked Elise if she had scales. Mercedes turned her head and, sure enough, she could see that the sun was bringing out the iridescent red shimmer of the brood's scales. She glanced at Elise and, once the woman blinked away her shock, nodded to Mercedes before leaving the kitchen.

Mercedes slipped from her chair and put her hands on Brielle's shoulders. She gave them a gentle rub before nuding her from the chair. "Come on, we'll go out in the yard and see." She led Brielle out of the house and down the steps. "Just a little ways into the bayou so that no one can see," she said while crossing the lawn in her barefeet.

Once they were beyond sight of the house, they found Elise standing in a plot of solid land. With a nod from Mercedes, Elise shifted.

[Maira]

Elise had been shocked into silence when Brielle asked if she had scales. While she had meant on playing with the girl a bit, like with the kiss, she hadn’t exactly planned on revealing any of her secrets just yet and her half Brood heritage was definitely one of her secrets. Of all the Others, the Brood were the most secretive and not many people actually knew they still existed because so many of them had withdrawn to the Holdings. When she finally got her wits back about her, Elise caught Mercedes looking at her with a question clear in her eyes. It was asking if she was willing to show the girl just who she was. Elise nodded once then, before she could change her mind, she slipped out of the kitchen’s side door and into the bayou to her favorite clearing for sunning herself while in dragon form.

Brielle watched curiously as Elise disappeared outside and when Mercedes nudged at her to get her out of the chair, she did so woodenly and then followed as Mercedes led her outside as well. As they walked across the grassy yard toward the bayou, Brielle couldn’t help but relish the feel of the soft grass on the bottoms of her bare feet. She wasn’t sure why, but suddenly Brielle was nervous about being alone out here with Mercedes and Elise. She trusted her boss, but she barely knew the other woman and despite their surprising kiss of only moments ago, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know her any better. Brielle knew that some Others had scales, but mostly they were in the form of tails while in their sea form. Why did Elise have scales on her neck and shoulders?

As the other two women stepped into the clearing, Elise took a steadying breath and when Mercedes nodded at her she let her form flow outward. She had long ago stopped screaming as the pain surged through her body as her small human bones broke and reformed into the larger dragon bones, as her muscles tore and reattached and grew, as her skin became covered in dark auburn colored scales the same shade as her hair. In what only appeared to the other women as a dark red shimmering haze around her human body, Elise took on her true form.
After they entered the clearing Brielle watched as it seemed that Elise was enveloped in a strange dark red cloud and when it cleared she found herself clinging to Mercedes, the fingers of one of her hands twined with the older womans’. “Dragon?!” she croaked out in a hoarse whisper. Then a little more clearly she asked, “You’re telling me that Elise is an actual dragon?!”

**Only half, Brielle,** Elise sent to the girl to answer her obvious shock and likely fear at the sight of what was supposed to be a mythical creature, even among the Others. As her eyes widened even more, Elise realized that she had been right in guessing that Brielle was able to communicate telepathically with animals other than her familiar. Taking advantage of that, she added. **My other half is Curantis Alati. My father was Curantis and my mother was Brood.**

Elise’s voice in her mind caused Brielle to hold onto Mercedes even tighter and she felt herself starting to shake. Hellcat’s curiosity at the big predator was the only thing keeping Brielle from blacking out and it was also what finally forced her to answer Elise, **Are there more of you?** Elise’s answer wasn’t so much a word as an image and what she saw caused Brielle’s knees to buckle under her and she gasped as she hit the ground with her butt hard. As she stared at the dark red dragon in front of her, Brielle’s vision started to go black around the edges and she realized she was feeling more than a little dizzy. Now out of reach of Mercedes’s hand, Brielle clung to her leg and panted as she tried desperately not to black out.

[Demeter]

Mercedes was getting just a little concerned about Brielle's reaction to what Elise really was. Her own reaction had been similar and she'd blacked out. She woken up to a naked woman kneeling over her. It had taken a few days for her to regain her internal balance over such a revalation and she wondered how this would affect Brielle. She knelt down next to Brielle and wrapped one arm around her waist. She used the other to bend the young woman forward. "Breathe, Brielle, breathe for me."

She couldn't contact Elise telepathicly as she wasn't a shifter. "I think that's enough, Dear. I know it hurts you to shift so much but could you please shift back?"

She waited a few more minutes before helping Brielle to her feet. She glanced over to where Elise stood and held out her hand to the Brood. When Elise came over, Mercedes tugged her in, against her side, and looked at Brielle. "Are you going to be okay?"

[Maira]

It took a little while before Mercedes’s words got through to Brielle but once they did, she did as she was told. Leaning forward and trying to calm her breathing eventually helped fight back the black at the edges of her vision and once she wasn’t feeling dizzy anymore she let Brielle help her to her feet. Once she was up, Brielle did her best not to cling to Mercedes too much but she still held one of her hands to steady herself.

When Mercedes asked her to shift back, Elise cringed at the idea of the pain again so soon but she knew it would be best for Brielle if she did. So, while the girl was still trying to get herself under control, Elise forced the dragon deep inside again and took on her human form once more. She waited where she’d been in the center of the clearing until Brielle was up and Mercedes beckoned her over. Nervous that Brielle would bolt or collapse again, Elise made her way over slowly.

Only when Elise reached Mercedes and Brielle did the younger woman realize that Elise had shifted back into her human form and she blinked in surprise before looking back out into the clearing, as if to make sure the dragon was really gone. When Mercedes pulled Elise in close to her side, Brielle's grip on her hand tightened just a bit. At her question, Brielle nodded and a hint of a smile turned up the corner of one side of her mouth as she answered, "Oh I'll be fine, I just tend to get a bit woozy when one of my childhood fantasies takes shape right in front of me."

Brielle's words and tiny smile lit up Elise's eyes with her own happiness. Judging by the younger woman's reaction Elise had expected her to want nothing to do with her for a while. Apparently she was going to bounce back a lot faster than Mercedes had and that made Elise downright giddy. Almost immediately after she had declared Elise (or at least dragon-Elise) to be her childhood fantasy come true, Brielle let go of Mercedes's hand and had taken the couple steps between herself and Elise before stopping right in front of her.

Brielle opened her mouth to say something then, hesistating, she closed it. She tried a couple more times but was left silent and staring at Elise. Elise had a feeling she knew what Brielle wanted and she answered silently, **Next time I go out for a flight you're welcome to take a second look.** Elise saw the excitement dancing in Brielle's eyes as well as a very obvious, very intimate question and she answered that one too, **If you can hold on, yes I'll take you up.** Suddenly Elise had her arms full Brielle as the girl had flung herself at her much the same way Mercedes had done upon finding her home from her trip. Elise laughed, stumbling only slightly under the small woman's surprise hug, and then smiled like a fool at Mercedes over Brielle's shoulder as she hugged the girl tightly.

[Demeter]

Mercedes surveryed the damage. Obviously they'd been possessed by ghosts or something to create such a mess. After Brielle had recovered from her shock and bombarded poor Elise with a hundred questions, they'd returned to house in order to get ready for Girls Night. It wasn't look before her two college aged part times showed up and the party began. There'd been calorie loaded food, amazing amounts of wine, chocolate. They'd gossiped, tried on all her clothes and pretty much dropped where they fell. She was fairly postive that one of the part times was curled up in her closet, snuggling with her clothing. The other was sprawled over the floor of the front parlor. She'd woken on the couch of that parlor but Elise and Brielle were still absent from the picture.

Groaning as she rolled off the couch, Mercedes stumbled from the room. She'd never had much of a tolerance for wine and she was sure she'd been the second to pass out. Muttering about tiny drummers marching in her brain, Mercedes set off to locate the other two. She found them, snuggled together on Elise's bed. As they were both fully clothed and sharing the space with Teacup and Akasha, she was fairly sure that nothing exciting had happened.

She shoo'ed the cat and dog from the room and crawled onto the bed. It was still early, she thought, so she could shoehorn her way between the two women to get in a few more hours of sleep. Mercedes wiggled between them and grinned. Still slightly buzzed, she first kissed the sleeping Elise before turning on her side to plant on of Brielle. She snuggled against Brielle, murmered something about the shifter being pretty and promptly dropped back into sleep.

Hours later, she woke again still feeling pleasantly fuzzy from wine, to find Brielle looking at her. "Morning," she said aftering yawning, "Sleep good?" she asked. She smiled when she felt Elise spoon up behind her, one arm being wrapped around her waist. Mercedes pouted a bit. "I'm bummed because I didn't get to spend the whole night with the two of you. Then again, I'm happy that both of you are still dressed. I wanna be there when the fun starts," she said, not really thinking about her words.

[Maira]

The entire time they were getting ready for the party Brielle was drilling Elise with questions about the Brood. Elise did her best to answer, but Brielle could tell there were some things that she either didn't know or didn't feel comfortable telling her yet so she didn't push those issues. When the two other girls from the shop showed up, Brielle shoved the questions to the back of her mind and promised herself she'd ask Elise later. The food, wine and chocolate as well as the impromptu fashion show with Mercedes's clothes had been fantastic and filling and exhausting. She wasn't sure what time it was that the first part-timer crashed. Mercedes, likely thanks to the wine, crashed next and was quickly followed by the other part-timer. That left Brielle and Elise the only two left awake.

Even though they were essentially alone since everybody else was asleep, the two of them wandered upstairs to Elise's room and sat on her bed. They started off talking about Brielle this time, Elise said it was only fair since Brielle now knew so much about her. Only, after a little while, Brielle noticed that the moonlight coming in the window was playing on the normally hidden scales along Elise's collar-bone and before she knew what she was doing, Brielle had Elise pinned to the bed and was straddling her. She had just wanted to get a better look at the other woman's scales, they looked almost silver in the moonlight instead of red like in the sunlight, but after a moment Elise's hands had slipped to Brielle's hips and squeezed gently to get her attention. The smile Elise shot up at the smaller woman melted any resolve the tipsy lynx had in her and not even wondering why she was doing it, Brielle leaned down and kissed Elise. The Brood hybrid wrapped her arms around Brielle's waist and held her close as they made out like teenagers. Shy and clumsy and only barely straying beneath the clothes. At one point Elise had to pee and when she came back from the bathroom she found Brielle sprawled on the bed sound asleep.

When Mercedes crawled into bed with them in the morning, Brielle slept right through the intrusion of the other woman between herself and Elise. Elise however, always sensitive to Mercedes's presence, stirred just enough to lift her arm over the new addition before she drifted back to sleep.

Brielle wasn't sure what time it was when she woke up, all she knew was that her mouth was dry and she smelled strangely like Elise. Then, once she opened her eyes she realized that she wasn't alone in her bed like she thought she was. Mercedes was snuggled up against her and Elise was on the far side of the bed. Quickly, Brielle took stock of what they were all wearing and she was relieved to find they were all still fully dressed. She hadn't been awake long when Mercedes stirred and opened her eyes, judging by the slow speech Brielle was pretty sure the other woman was either very hung over or maybe even still slightly drunk. Considering she herself was a big hungover, it took a moment for what Mercedes said to sink in but when it did, Brielle unconsciously scooted back on the bed. Unfortunately for her she was a lot closer to the edge than she had been when she'd fallen asleep and she fell off it with a loud thud onto her back, with her legs still up on the bed.

The loud thud was what finally woke Elise for the day and the soft mumbled, "Ow..." from the other side of the bed caused her to sit up and look around. First she noted that Mercedes was in bed with her, and then she saw poor Brielle mostly on the floor. With a gentle laugh Elise accused Mercedes playfully, "What did you do to her? I had her all snuggly last night, she was even making out with me, and now she's on the floor."