"Forgive me father"

Chapter 8: Quintessential

(Yo, it's Jay. The author again... if you want to learn more about the charecters mentioned, look at the picture at the top of the chapter.)

"Hey... are you- doing anything after school?"

Trolliver says with his hand on the back of his neck and his head down. A blush sprawled across his cheeks.

Syris looked up at him as he stepped closer.

"Nope, I'm all yours~" He smiled and adjusted his bag so his new pins were more in view.

He noticed them then looked at him. He smiled and replied;

"Cool, wanna hang out at Breathany's place? She has a dorm too" He asked looking more toward him, centering their eyes so their eyes could examine eachother, their pupils getting bigger as the small silence grew.

"Sure!" He bounced on his heels and closed his locker.

They caught up with Gauge and Breathany walking about rolling up joints. Syris didn't engage in the topic so he kept quiet and nobody was surprised so they kept talking until they showed up to the 3rd building, 2nd floor. 3-2-8 the silver fancy letters on her door frame said.

The door had no personalization but the window next to it had been covered by very much her curtain. It was bright pink.

She opened the door.

B: "I never actually keep the door locked, so if you ever need a place to hang out or get away, even if I'm not here, what's mine is yours~" She walked in and tossed her bag on to her bed. Her room was set up the same as Syris' but hers was decorated very 50's style, the bed had a custom look to it, it was soft pink, the walls had the triangle monster high pride banners and what looked like hundreds of posters layered over eachother.

It was interesting and very visually pleasing, but it was "odd" He hadn't really hung around teenage girls. The last time he was in public school was 4th grade. He was 9. That was the last time he had a friend who was a girl. Aside from that the only "girls" He talked to were girls from church, Sister Lillia, and his mother. So his frame of reference for typical teenage hood was short- to say the least.

She offered a seat on her bed, the boys took it. Gauge sat at the head of her bed on the left while Syris and Trollovier took the foot. They left Breathany her spot, it was an unspoken rule.

G: "So like. Most monsters make puns or funny substitutes for words based on their species- Why don't you?"

S: "Well I mean... You guys have to promise not to tell anyone this-" He hesitated

B: From across the room, with an arm full of water glasses filled to the brim and topped off with ice that clicked on the glass as she walked toward them "We promise" She said

T: "You can trust us" He nodded

Syris let out a sigh before explaining.

S: "Well... I was raised to be a normie-" He was going to continue but was swiftly interupted by Gauge yelling.

G: "You WHAT-? SERIOUSLY?? Are you a halfbreed?" He looked genuinely perplexed, he had never met a "normie" monster.

S: "Well- No? I don't-- think so? Neither of my parents are monsters, none of my siblings are... and uhh. Yeah, my family has this curse thing where the 9th kid born is born monstrous. We call it the 9th generation curse, which makes no sense becuse it isn't technically--" He rambled for a moment

T: "So- I can see that you got ears... but what else did that curse do? Not to be mean" He asked

S: "I have a tail, Paw pads, my nails retract a little, if I press on my hand they get longer, some of my hair is actually whiskers and they behave like such... I get uhh- weird- every like 3-4 ish months for a week or so and I think that's a cat thing? I can purr. I don't snore, I purr... uhh- other than that I don't think so." He tries to recall.

B: "Weird-? And also, have some water"

He takes it and keeps talking

S: I'm not sure I just get... Reclusive. Thats the word. My brother says my "pheromones" get stronger and I attract cats, but I'm not sure, I've asked but nobody seems to understand, back home." He takes a sip

T: "So you go into heat?" He asks bluntly

S: "I've heard that term used but I'm not actually sure what it means... do you mind explaining?"

As he says this Breathanys eyes light up and she starts flapping her hands a little. She sits down.

B: "Can I explain it?! Sorry, my special interest is house pets. May I? Please." She plead to the others

They looked at eachother and Trollovier said

T: "Go wild"

She took in a deep breath then said

B: "So, a cats heat usually lasts... not that long. But it happens more frequently, so yours is a little diffrent and not everything will apply but you can put a finger down to everything that you experience" She looked at him and he put up both of his hands after setting the drink down on an end table.

B: "So, feeling warm-"
A finger goes down
"Feeling emotionally sensitive"
A finger down
"Being more sensitive to pain-?"
A finger goes down and his mouth flattens, turning almost into a cartoony flat line.
"Raise in libido"
He looks at her blankly
"Do you know what I mean-?"
She asked so a very honest head shake no.
"Being horny-"
Syris retracts a little away
S: "No- no, no. I don't do that- thats-- its a sin. I can't do that. Well--" He stopped himself and remembered the one time he let himself explore that, before immediately asking for forgiveness. "There was that one time-" He let himself think about it a little longer before putting a finger down

B: "Hm. So it works basically the same. Cool beans. So, that "being weird" is called heat" She smiled, being proud of her knowledge of cats and finally having someone who knew next to nothing about it, and was one.

S: "hm. Fun." He replied, adding that to his minds vocabulary.

T: "So, we all kinda wondering... you a boy or a girl?"

S: "My pronouns are He/They. I am cisgender, why?"

"I was thinking were handsome. I was wondering if was gay or not~"

•••

[To be continued in Chapter 9: Camaraderie]