"C’mon, don’t be like that..."

Hugging me from behind and kissing my neck, Jahi continued to try and placate me before sighing as she added "Kat, I didn’t mean to stay later than that, but the merchants came around and Mom wanted to go over the numbers. What was I supposed to say to her?"

That made me look up towards the other Demoness in the kitchen, my eyes locked to hers as I said "Next time tell her that the numbers can wait. Fifteen hours is already far too many, Jahi. Who the-", though she stopped me from getting too worked up by turning my head and kissing me.

"Hey, look, I told her I was fine with looking at them tomorrow, but she insisted on showing them to me today, so... blame her. Uh, can I get my steak a little more rare this time, Kat? Ooh, and that pasta, do we have any-"

Mom trailed off and gave me a wry smile when I glared at her, so she just raised her hands and retreated away before she could make things any worse; unlike Mom, who was surprisingly smart, Jahi continued to make me want to stab her as she murmured "It was only thirty minutes, Kat."

"Thirty minutes too many. Jahi, I said fifteen, not fifteen and a half. Just fifteen. So no, you aren’t getting me in lingerie tonight. In fact, you aren’t-"

"Uh uh, I AM getting you. Don’t even try and wiggle out of this, Kat. Mine."

She said that last part as she grabbed at my stomach, hugging me close and breathing that on my neck before she resumed kissing me, trying to placate me some more before chuckling when I pushed her away.

I didn’t say anything else, just glared at her and resumed cooking, so she took a moment to admire me from afar before departing from the kitchen, leaving me alone again and giving me the space I was silently asking for.

After so many hours of being surrounded by adorable and hyperactive fluffballs, I was yearning for these moments of peace and solitude, though like many things in life I rarely got exactly what I wanted...

Mother was the one who came into the kitchen though, so I wasn’t as disappointed as I could have been, and when she took a look at the assortment of ingredients on the counter she already knew what I needed her to do.

"Y’know, I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point with Chordeva... I really don’t know how you do it."

Softly murmuring that to me and shaking her head, Mother gave me a teasing smile before asking "How’re you feeling, Katherine?", causing me to sigh as I stared at the counter for a second, wondering what I should say.

"I’m... tired. Happy, but tired. Why do they have to have so much energy? And why do they gave claws? Or fangs? And what in the name of the Goddess above possesses them want to gnaw on one another?"

My Mother just chuckled softly and continued chopping vegetables for me, sliding them into their respective pots or pans before replying "Because they’re fighters. You and Anput both are fighters, so of course they’re going to be fighters. But also... that’s just how pups are. Little bundles of energy, fluff and sharpness all in a single adorable package."

"Samara tried to bite Camilla’s tail off." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Only her tail?"

"Nicoletta’s cut Camilla twice now. Camilla then smacked her four times before I could separate them."

That just got a soft hum from Mother as she continued what she was doing, and after a moment she glanced at me and asked "Only twice? That’s shocking.", causing me to roll my eyes before I asked "Did I do any of that?"

"You gnawed on bedposts."

I actually froze at that, and then Mother gently laid her knife down and stared at the ceiling as she added "And you used to pounce on my tail whenever I was laying down, bury your face into it, and promptly sneeze thirty times since I usually was laying down for a brief moment after cleaning a room."

"Really?"

"Oh yes, you loved hugging my tail to yourself all the time. I would dust a room and you would come out of nowhere to hug it, only to sneeze yourself into a bout of crying that lasted anywhere from ten seconds to an hour."

"And I gnawed... on bedposts?"

She hummed and got back to chopping, before flashing me a grin as she added "You tore this stuffed animal that Ria gave you to shreds with your fangs. Shook it like a cat shakes a mouse, then cried because you actually liked it so~ so much~! I stitched it back up and you smacked it away like you hated it. Then you tore it up a second time, so I tossed it. Didn’t cry that time... just seemed happy."

"Seriously?"

"Pups are... literally like taking a puppy and a baby and mixing together all of their best and worst attributes, but only getting a few of each. You don’t know which few, but they’re there. Adorable little hellions."

I stared at her for a few seconds as I tried to wrap my head around ’me’ gnawing on a bedpost or tearing a stuffed animal apart with my teeth, only to shake my head as I thanked my luck stars that my pups would only be this small for so long.

"You did get better, but you were definitely a one in a million child. Far too quite, tame and mature compared to what you were supposed to be. That always makes me curious, but I also thank the Gods for that since it made things easier."

"What?"

"You were so tame and cute when you were helping me, back when Jahi came back. I think that was because you were an only child and in a place without other Dogkin. Yeah, your five pups are going to be far more ’authentic’~!"

"What?"

Mother just gave me a smile before humming to herself, not answering any of my questions as she just focused on the cooking, which was most certainly not what I wanted after what she had just said to me.

And yet she was stubborn, so there were no answers coming anytime soon... she was just determined to let me figure it out on my own instead of preparing me for what was to come...

No amount of pestering helped, so eventually I just had to give up before determination swelled when I decided to ask Lady Kio, though if I knew she was going to be just as irritating as Mother I would have saved myself the trouble...