The parents of Maya and the sisters were still getting to know each other better, while the couple from Earth tried to learn as much as possible about the world to see if it would be a viable place to stay. The two also discovered that Theo and Eve were eagerly anticipating the arrival of grandchildren from Sophia and Maya as soon as possible, which didn't exactly make the situation any less overwhelming.

"She sure is adorable~." While the girls were exploring the pine forest, Ari got closer to Sophia, and the baby strapped to her chest, playfully squished Sari's cheek with her pointer finger.

"Na~!" The girl in question didn't seem to like that very much and energetically shook her head while puffing up her poked cheek.

"Unfortunately, that only makes you even cuter." Smiling at her, the jaguar gave Sari's cheek a few more pokes.

"Ga!" The little girl grabbed Ari's pointer finger with her hand to try and stop her.

"Such adorable little fingers!" Ari got only more enamored by her. "Babies are so cute!"

"I know, right?!" Sophia was glad she felt the same.

"Don't you dare to tell my mother about this." Anna leaned over to Maya while watching them. "I'm not ready for that yet, but she gets way too excited about it."

"Tell me about it…" The cat-girl rolled her eyes while remembering the many times Kira had teased her about the very same thing.

"By the way, the new forest is coming along nicely." The blonde changed the topic and looked around. "The elevation and small hills here and there really add so much!" She liked how it wasn't all a flat area anymore.

"I know, right?!" Aura's eyes were sparkling. "I'm so happy that Ari burned my old forest down so we could redo it!"

"When Ari helped to burn down your forest!" The jaguar in question glared at the wolf while referring to herself in the third person.

"Don't sweat the small details~." Aura let out a small chuckle.

"Grr!"

"I adore the scent and fresh air around here!" Maya sniffed around a couple of times while looking at the massive pine trees all around them.

"Absolutely!" Anna reacted with a big nod. "Such a lovely scent!"

"What do you think about the forest?" Sophia looked down at her little sister strapped against her chest.

"De~!" Sari let go of Ari's finger she had been holding to stop the jaguar from poking her cheek before pointing at the brownish-red ground that was covered in a thick layer of fallen needles from the trees. To be more precise, the little girl was pointing at a rather big pinecone not too far away from them.

"Hmm?" As it was right next to the jaguar, she kneeled down to pick it up and held the pinecone right in front of Sari. "Is this what you want?"

"Naa~!" Seemingly fascinated by it, the baby excitedly tried to grab it with her short arms while she let out a happy giggle.

"Is it okay?" Ari looked at Sophia for confirmation before handing it over.

"I mean, it's a pinecone, so I don't see why she shouldn't play with it." The blonde shrugged. "Unless she wants to eat it, as well…" She remembered the cherry twig from earlier.

"Ku!" The little girl actually started nodding while trying even harder to reach the pinecone in Ari's hand.

"Well, here you go." Not wanting to keep the toy away from her, the jaguar finally handed over the pinecone to Sari. "No chomping on it, though."

"Ni!" Smiling broadly, the little girl energetically waved the cone around before immediately bringing it closer to her mouth.

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"Sari~." Sophia put her hand between her little sister's mouth and the pinecone. "Stop putting everything you get your hands on into your mouth."

"Brr!" The baby first growled at her striped sister before swiftly moving her arm around her hand and putting the tip of the pinecone into her mouth before she started sucking on it like a pacifier.

"…" Being bested by her own baby sister, the blonde tiger had to accept defeat. "Well, kids put everything they find into their mouths also because it helps build their immune system… There shouldn't be anything in the domain to make her actually sick, so it's fine… I guess?"

"I told you she'd make a good squirrel." Maya smiled at the little girl, who was happily sucking on her new pinecone pacifier.

"Well, I'd definitely like a little sister with a super bushy and fluffy tail." Steph gave the cat-girl a thumbs-up. "I am quite biased towards that topic, though." She then smiled at Chloe.

"Hehe." The pink fox let out a small chuckle.

"Well, again, I wouldn't be against it, but have fun explaining that to her parents." Sophia just stared at her cat-girl.

"That could indeed prove quite the challenge." She nodded. "It might not be fair for someone else to decide who she becomes, either. Then again, it's not like I chose to be a cat, I guess? Complicated topic, as is always the case when it comes to those sisters."

"Also, it would make quite a complicated family tree." Steph scratched her cheek. "The oldest sister is a tiger, the middle one a dog, and the youngest is a squirrel. Personally, I don't care, but it could be challenging to explain?"

"That's actually not much of an issue. In fact, it's rather common, especially in bigger families." Ari shook her head. "Some types of the beastfolk are more dominant, like tigers, for example, so it's more likely that everyone's the same in that case, but it often happens that children are born who take more after their grandparents who were of a different type. Like, if the direct parents were both dogs, but one of their parents was a cat, for example, the child could become a cat, as well."

"Problem solved!" The dog-girl happily clapped her hands.

"Only 300 more to solve left!" The oldest sister didn't think they were in the green just yet.

"One step at a time~."

"Fair enough."

"I wonder if I could talk dad into some dog ears or a fluffy tail~." Steph's excitement rose even more. "He'd look so adorable!"

"How about we focus on getting them to the new world in the first place before thinking about the details?" Sophia rolled her eyes.

"How boring!" The dog-girl started pouting.

"Remember, the more problems we give them before deciding whether or not they want to join us, the less likely it becomes!"

"I know…"

"After all, they would be able to get around it by claiming to be hidden, so it's not a prerequisite for them to be fluffy to be in this world." The blonde tiger didn't want to overwhelm her parents.

"I think it's a prerequisite for existing." Steph was still disagreeing with her. "Wait, actually, that's going too far." She reconsidered her statement. "In the capital, I met many cool people with scales, so that's totally viable, too. So are other types, I guess. I just vastly prefer fluffy!"

"Same." They all shared her preference.

"Is it tasty, Sari?" Ari, who was still in front of Sophia and her baby sister, smiled at the little girl still chomping on the pinecone.

"Ga~!" She gave her a powerful reply.

"I can't exactly tell what that means, but she seems happy, so I guess that's a yes?" The jaguar tilted her head.

"Definitely a yes." The blonde tiger nodded.

"How does a pinecone even taste in the first place?" Slightly curious, Steph picked another one up from the ground and intently stared at it.

"Don't try it!" Sophia glared at her. "Don't give them that satisfaction!"

"Who's them?" Her sister got confused.

"All the others here, of course!" Sophia gestured at the girls around them. "Sari's easily excusable because she's a baby, but if you also want to try it, they'll think that we sisters as a whole are weird, and that it's not a baby thing!"

"I'd say it's too late for that." Ari stared at the oldest of the weird sisters.

"Way too late." The others nodded along.

"See what you did?!" The blonde tiger raised her voice.

"She only continued an already well-established trend." The jaguar wasn't cutting her any slack.

"…"

"By the way, can we also meet your parents, or should we wait until they decide on their moving situation?" Anna wanted to change the topic.

"I mean, today was reserved for our parents to meet Maya's, but I guess a bit of a break wouldn't be so bad? After all, there's only so much you can talk about with someone you just met, huh?" Sophia wasn't against the idea.

"Also, I'm sure that mom and dad would love to meet our friends of this world, too." Steph also liked the plan.

"I guess so." The blonde nodded. "Everyone has to be on their best behavior, though!"

"Of course!" The girl nodded.

"Let's go!" The dog-girl energetically raised her arm high in the air.

"Ah, wait!" Sophia suddenly stopped them. "I definitely have to get Fenny first! I love you all and stuff, but after Maya, he's very special to me! Not only was he the first individual I met in this world, but he also taught me the ropes of pretty much everything and supported me at my very lowest just after arriving here! I want him to meet my parents, too!"

Having decided on that, the group made a quick return to the wintery holiday retreat to collect the wolf before heading to the cottage to introduce everyone else to the sisters' parents.

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