NOVPUB=And thus, our Lord’s family begins their foray into mastering [Chaos]...how strange.=
<Strange? Really? I was going to say delightful.>
=Well, of course I’m going to say it’s strange this time around, because I think this is the first time a Kaijin Lord of ours has ever decided to share this portion of the Library with their kin. Every other lord just went with the aether related items and that’s it.=
<To be fair, we have been dealing with a lot of "firsts" as of late. First time we’ve seen an abomination made from a human, first time we’ve seen a grafted...first time we’ve found out that there a rogue kaijin that’s been around for a long, long time.>
=Hmmm. I suppose you’re right in that regard...=
<Besides, due to our sample size consisting of only our current one and a previous lord of ours, I think it’s safe to assume that whenever our lord is an Otherlander, something strange even by our standards will occur.>
=That...sounds correct, but feels off at the same time and I don’t know why...=
<It does, doesn’t it? That said, I do have one question we should thoroughly explore later.>
=Oh?=
<Do you think our current lord knows about our previous Otherlander lord? Like... historically speaking?>
=That’s...a very good question...hmmm...=
<But for the time being, what is our lord up to? By your calculations, you said he’d be back before shit hit the fan back home?>
=He should, but aether beasts have always been a bit...hinky. Let’s see here...ah. He appears to be in the middle of flirting.=
<Really?>
...Really...
"Jinju Ren?"
"Yes, darling?"
"Was there any particular reason why you decided to join us on the longish journey back to Blessed Willow Island? Because, you know, you came here via the Library."
"Well, other than the fact that it’s been a long time since I could enjoy your presence, darling, I was feeling a bit homesick and wanted to breathe in the air of Roaring Tide for a bit."
"That...makes sense..."
"Also, since Jin Fang is going to be busy training in her ancestral home, that gives me plenty of time and space to shamelessly cuddle, tease and whatever else my heart desires without any interference."
"There it is."
"Oh, barf, can you two not act so cutesy while we’re sailing together?," Zhen Long interjected. "Or at the very least, save it for the cabin."
"Sounds to me you’re just jealous you can’t do that with Gianna," Zhen Feng teased.
"Says the guy who has an Imperial Alchemist wanting to marry their grandkids..."
"Oy, can both of you just focus on the fishing?," Hurricroak interjected. "I wanna chow down a steamed fish of some kind while we’re still in Roaring Tide. I swear, they have a better texture here than the literal sand fish back home."
"Yeah, yeah..."
’I still find this jarring.’
At this moment in time, the Zhen Clan were on their way home to Willow Scale City so that the branch clan could take the teleportation array back to Stampeding Bison.
The aforementioned branch clan were sailing on the [Storm Queen’s Galleon].
After...everything...that had happened in Undertow, Zhen Liu had to explain a LOT of things to his cousins, Zhen Hai and Zhen Feng.
He explained about the library, about the kaijin and about the fact that he had been subtly helping them get through some of the more dire situations they’ve been dealing with for the past few months.
Surprisingly, they were cool with the revelation, but whether that was due to them being actually cool with it or intimidated by the kaijin’s was unclear.
Although, they did bring up two good points during these revelations.
…Such as…
"Wait a minute, you told Jin Fang, Alicia, Bellona, Rianna and Jinju Ren before the rest of us?"
"Yes."
"Why though? We’re family."
"Are there things you told Gianna that you never told any of us?"
"...fair enough."
"That’s what I thought."
…And…
"Wait, we’re not going to turn into Kaijin because we can use [Chaos] now, right?"
"As far as I can tell, no. Unless…most of your body gets replaced by [Chaos] infused materials. Or you have dragon blood in your veins."
"Huh…do you find it weird that one of your fiancees is literally your natural enemy?"
"I mean…enemies to lovers has been a thing since the dawn of civilization, we’re just skipping some stuff."
"I mean…I could threaten your life for about a week…"
"Nah. I remember when we exchanged blows at the tournament. Still pretty sure you’d be able to kick my ass."
"So I can top you?"
"Enough shameless flirting, please."
…
Either way, once...mostly... everything was laid out on the table, Zhen Hai and Zhen Feng ended up getting to know the kaijin on a more personal level.
Well, as personal as one can get after having the latter ride around inside their heads.
The kaijin knew a lot about the scions, but the scions knew very little about the kaijin.
So, they decided to resolve this issue by fishing while they talk.
Evidently, it made for an interesting sight to see a pair of mortals shooting the shit while surrounded by literal monsters, but bonding experiences were bonding experiences.
"Ya know...if I had a nickel every time I had unusually in-depth talks while fishing, I’d have two nickles," Springerdermain commented. "Which isn’t a lot but..."
"What the fuck is a nickel?," Zhen Feng asked, as the joke swooshed over his head.
"Never mind."
"Wait, so the order of y’all’s...birth?"
"Creation."
"Yeah, that. Goes Nepherage, Frosttusk, Hurricroak, Razorstella, Screamira, Blazejudicator and Springerdermain, but technically Springer and Razorstella were given sentience before Screamira and Blazejudicator, and y’all are at most a couple months old."
"Yeah."
"Pretty much."
"Then why does Frosttusk sound like he is older than all of you? Like...he sounds like he’s y’all’s father."
"Father Frosty," Razorstella joked.
"Daddy Frost," Hurricroak added.
"Stop..."
"Don’t...think...about...it...too much," Frosttusk answered. "Trying to...apply a...family...tree...to...us...is... mental poison..."
"Agreed," Screamira added while recasting her line. "It’s easier to just think that Producer made us and that’s it. He is our Creator, neither Father or Mother."
"Amen," Razorstella agreed.
"Huh..."
Zhen Hai went silent as he shifted his focus between all of the kaijin, mentally preparing himself to ask a question that would probably end terribly.
"So...does that mean you guys consider yourselves siblings or..."
"Imma stop you right there, because I think I know where you’re going with this," Nepherage interrupted. "While none of us are family in the traditional sense as you mortals with children and parents, we still consider ourselves as such. Also, I have no idea if we have such internal structures."
"Huh...that’s an incredibly diplomatic answer."
"Thanks."
"Well...," Hurricroak interjected. "If this last adventure of ours is anything to go off of, technically speaking, our predecessors were definitely open to the idea of romance and romantic encounters. Otherwise, how else would Terra or the Strangebloods exist?"
"The who?"*2
"A tribe of people who live in the swamplands, and are all descendants of the Storm Knights," Razorstella answered. "Like, the results of humans and kaijin having children and those children having children kind of deal."
"Huh...wait, how have they not been exposed or found by some huge faction?," Zhen Feng asked.
"Apparently they get confused for Bloodliners because of their ancestral kaijin traits," Screamira tacked on.
"That...that tracks."
"Wait...," Zhen Hai chimed in, "the implications of your words and actions is that every Kaijin Lord prior to Zhen Liu definitely had a wide range of personalities in terms of their roster of Kaijin and that those kaijin may or may not have had romantic relations across...I wanna say species?"
"Essentially, yeah."
"Then...does that mean, there could be more people out there like Terra or like the Strangebloods?"
"That...huh."
The Kaijin went silent as they mulled over the implications of Zhen Hai’s query.
Well, not really silent.
"Are...are they doing their mind talk thing or-"
"I don’t know, but I guess we can just keep fishing while they’re like this...wait, what’s even considered edible in these waters?"
...
[So...the maestro’s cousins got me thinking about something.]
[The possibility that there’s probably a Strangeblood tribe in every continent?]
[Partially.]
[There’s a non-zero chance that two of our predecessors actually managed to defy our ingrained logic and produce kaijin offspring?]
[Again, partially.]
[Alright, I’ll bite, what is the big thing you’re thinking about?]
[Okay, you know how that creepy Buzza motherfucker grafted on Kaijin body parts on to people to turn them into psuedo-kaijin?]
[Yeah...]
[It just occured me that when most kaijin perish, our bodies usually get rendered to nothingness when defeated save for like...a tiny memento.]
[Yeah and..wait...]
[You see where I’m going with this?]
[Those body parts...may not actually be from dead kaijin...are they?]
[There is a very real possibility of weird amputations, yes.]
[Great...]
