After having noticed that their mother had tried to contact them, Sophia and Steph briefly returned to their old world to meet up with her to tell her everything that was going on. Once the older sister was done with her slightly emotional reunion with her mother, which included lots of hugging and crying, the two, mostly the older sister, pretty much told her everything that had happened during the past year.

“Just what are you talking about…?” After the oldest daughter finished her recap, her mother obviously did not believe a single word. For various reasons. “I understand that you might’ve gone through something, but I am your mother, you know? You can talk about it with me. I was really worried, as well. Is there really a need to tell me such an elaborate yet utterly stupid lie?”

“I am not lying!” Sophia stared right back at her. "Obviously, I get where you're coming from, though. It is slightly hard to believe.”

“You can’t expect me to believe any of this, do you?” Her mother kept shaking her head. "A different world? Talking animals? A princess? Stopped being human? A dog? Tiger?!”

“It’s absolutely true!” Steph sided with her sister. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes after she told me all about it! I also learned magic! I became fluffy, too!”

“…” Their mother changed her attention to the little sister. “You, too? Really? You must realize just how ridiculous all of this sounds, no?”

“Reality is often stranger than fiction~.” Steph just smiled at her.

“In this case, it’s clearly fiction, though!” It was not something one could easily or readily believe, after all. “I’m not forcing you to tell me what happened to you, but could you please not lie to me, at least? Especially not in a way like this?”

“What should I do to prove it?” Sophia tilted her head. “How can I show you that this is actually what happened the past year?”

“Show me. Use your magic and grow an animal tail or whatever you just claimed. Afterward, once you two are done with this, we can get serious again, and I’d love to hear why my daughter has disappeared… You can’t do all this to me in this situation…”

“Oh, I was planning to do that, anyway.”

“Perfect, I want my fluffy tail back and couldn’t hold it out much longer, anyway!” Even though it had just stopped being itchy, Steph already couldn’t be without it anymore.

“You two are really trying your best to- H-HUH?!” Their mother briefly rolled her eyes before she immediately froze with a flabbergasted expression.

“Ta-dah~.” While she was talking, the sisters were suddenly wrapped in thick smoke and turned into their usual selves before long. Tiger Sophia and dog Steph, that is.

“E-Eh…?” Mom needed a moment. “W-Wait… what?”

"See?!" Sophia smiled at her. "Everything I said was the truth!" She moved her tail around to show it was alive to further prove her point.

“I missed you so much!” The dog-girl immediately started to lovingly pet her tail.

“…” She simply stared at her daughters for a while. “Huh?” She couldn’t process it.

“Also, I kinda forget to mention it, but I also became younger when I ended up in that world if you're wondering about my looks. Most of the the other changes came from becoming part tiger. And Steph… Well, she went all out with her visuals. You know how she is… She’s always been like an overly excited dog that doesn't know how to hold back."

“Hey!” The girl in question got loud. "Well, true, though.”

“What the heck is going on here?!” Their mother finally lost it. “Y-You two look completely different! Especially you, Steph! A-Are those actual animal parts?! W-Wait, Sophia! Your eyes also look like those of a cat!”

“It’s cute, isn’t it?” The tiger was quite proud of her eyes.

“…” She froze up yet again. "A-Also, that smoke just now… where did that come from…?”

“Magic~!” Sophia’s mood was great. “We used magic to change our looks.”

“Yup.” The dog-girl nodded.

“B-But magic… that’s not supposed to exist!”

“In this world, yes. It doesn’t exist here, but in our new world, it does.”

“Y-You’re actually trying to tell me that there are d-different worlds…?”

“As much as magic and human-animal hybrids are a thing.”

"As you can see on exhibits one and two." Steph pointed at herself and her sister.

“N-No way…” It was still impossible to believe, even when looking at it with her own eyes.

“Do you want to see it?” Sophia tilted her head. "I can show the world to you if you want to. Don't worry. I can bring you back again afterward. It's a great world! Oh, and you could also meet my girlfriend while you're at it.”

“YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!”

“Why is that the loudest reaction yet?!” The tiger glared at her mother.

"That's really the most surprising part out of all of this, right?" The little sister could understand it.

“I hate you all…”

“B-But you were so bad with people before… You couldn’t even talk with the parents in the kindergarten when they came to pick up their children.”

“…” She had nothing to say in her defense.

“It is true, though.” Steph tried to defend her sister’s honor. Not that she wasn't on the other side mere moments ago. “She’s really cute, too! Not as cute as mine, but still very cute! Sassy, too! She’s a good one!”

“Hey!” Sophia didn’t like it. “I’ll admit that Chloe’s fluffier, but there’s no way Maya isn’t the cutest!”

"You have a girlfriend, too?!" Their mother looked surprised yet again. In fact, she had yet to stop. "Okay, that's a lot more believable, and it was more than clear that neither of you were straight, even without formally coming out, but… how fast did that happen?!” She focused on Steph. “I mean, things weren’t that well between us, but haven’t we seen each other just a month ago?!”

"Well, it happened after Sophia took me with her to the new world. I met someone there, and I just knew she was the one, so things went pretty fast!”

“I’ve never been this confused in my life before…” Things kept being overwhelming for her.

“I know that feeling.”

“Yeah.” After all, the sisters had gone through a lot of confusing stuff.

“Are… Are those really animal parts on you two…? Is this really happening…?”

“It sure is~.”

“D-Do they work like the real thing, too…? Or is it just fancy decoration?”

“They work exactly like the original thing.” Sophia answered her. “It really messed with my balance when I first got my tail… Being part animal also means gaining some of their instincts and stuff… That was quite wild in the beginning… Literally, too… Those instincts are also fairly expensive because Steph goes through like eight balls a week since having become a dog.”

"H-Hey!" The girl in question got loud. "It's three at best!"

“Not really helping your case~.” The tiger briefly rolled her eyes before facing her mother again. “Well, that’s pretty much it.”

“Uhh… How does it work? How did you two even get those additions?”

“In our case, it was magic. I messed up a little and turned into a tiger. I regret nothing, though, and Steph, well…"

“I wanted to be fluffy!”

“That.”

“I see. I understand.” Even though she said, their mother looked more than just confused. “Wait, magic is one thing! Wow, what a thing to say…” She needed a moment to let that sink in. “You know more people with animal traits, right…?”

“Yes!” Sophia nodded a few times. “Actually, pretty much everyone we know has some level of animal resemblance.”

“It’s amazing!” Steph liked that fact a lot. “It’s fluff heaven!”

“Did they all use magic to be like that, or…?”

“No, they’re all born like that from the very beginning.” The tiger shook her head.

“How…?” Her expression turned slightly complicated. “Was one of their parent a human and the other, uhh…”

“N-No! Their parents usually are hybrids already, as well. I don’t know where the very first animal hybrids came from, and I’m not sure if I want to know, but it’s just a normal race like humans are here. It's probably just a different type of evolution? Yeah." That's what she wanted to believe, too.

“Ohh, so that’s how it is!” She looked visibly relieved. “I was a little worried there for a moment...”

“It’s a lovely world, you know?” Sophia wasn’t sure how to feel about her reaction. Not that she hadn’t had a very similar thought on the matter before or anything. “Admittedly, sure, there is some weird stuff going on there, too, but I’d really say that it’s a MUCH better place than this one over here.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“It’s paradise!” As usual, Steph was loving that world very much. "A much better place to live in than this one, indeed!"

“The way you two keep talking about this place... and your new, uhh... wild looks... Neither of you has any plans to live here again, right...?”

“None.” The sisters shook their heads.

“I see...” Naturally, she didn’t seem to be too happy about that. “Children have to leave the nest eventually, not that you two hadn’t already done that, but a different world is a bit much to handle...”

“You are more than free to come with us and live over there, too~.” Sophia was smiling again. “You, and dad, and... Sari, right? The new baby sister I really want to meet!”

“Y-You can’t just ask me to move to a different world... I have a lot of responsibilities here. I don’t know the place you’re talking about. We wouldn’t have a place to live... No money, either... I have a daughter who is only a couple of months old! Does that world, or the country you live in there, even have something like a healthcare system? What if Sari gets sick?!”

“Let’s see...” The tiger tilted her head. “Responsibilities need to be dealt with first, sure...” She got a little awkward because she definitely didn’t do that. "For everything else, I'd happily buy you a house over there. I’m actually making a lot of money so that much wouldn’t be an issue in the slightest. Neither would be taking care of everything else in that regard. I'd love for you to be there. I’m sure Sari would love to grow up in an environment where the term climate crisis simply does not exist because neither does excessive pollution and environmental destruction or anything else of that category."

"Unless you're the cause." Steph had to join in again. "Well, unless here, most of the time, you fixed it, and even improved nature, so... Yeah, ignore me~."

"For healthcare, let’s just say that if you have access to healing magic, it is unnecessary because diseases do not matter. I’m pretty sure I could cure someone of cancer in a matter of moments if I wanted to. Neither you, Sari, nor anyone else would ever suffer from anything worse than maybe a common cold or a good old headache because that builds character. I would personally make sure that no one would suffer from a serious disease ever again. Same for any type of injuries on a similar level.”

“Y-You can’t be serious right now?!”

“I always am!” Sophia didn’t like her mother’s accusation.

“Since when…?” She knew her daughter at least a little, after all.

“Don’t sweat the small details! Anyway, you'd need to abide by a couple of rules in the other world, but the payoff would never be having to worry about health and money-related issues ever again. It’s a much nicer environment, too. Though, there is no electricity and obviously no electric devices. Magic makes up for a lot, but not all. There are ways around that, but it’s not standard in that world.”

“…” Unsurprisingly, she looked quite overwhelmed again. “Honestly, it sounds too good to be true. I don’t understand anything at all, either… I need to think about the idea of considering it first. I need to talk about it with my husband, too. It’s not a decision I can make on my own. Though, I have no idea how I could possibly begin to explain it to him.”

“Sure thing.” Sophia wasn’t expecting to get an answer right here and now. “Understandable, too. If anything, I’m still baffled that Steph just decided to come with me… In a way, this reaction is actually quite refreshing.”

“I REGRET NOTHING!” The violet dog got loud.

“Well…” Their mother wasn’t sure what to reply here. “Anyway,” She decided to not further address it. “How would this even work in the first place? If it’s really a different world, which I’m still unable to process, why are you two here? How are you here?”

“Magic~.”

“Is that your new answer to everything now?” She briefly rolled her eyes while glancing at her striped daughter.

“Pretty much~.” Despite everything, Sophia was a self-aware girl, after all. “The first time I returned around a month ago, where Steph found me, was pretty much nothing more than a mistake. The guy who saved me before, Canir, made a slight error and sent me back to the place I came from, which ended up being here… Magic can be a little finicky if you don’t watch your wording or be a little distracted… Trust me. Ever since, I can basically go back and forth between those worlds whenever I want to.”

"We've been here a couple of times to get some stuff from our apartment and things like that." Steph added some details. "That's also how I got your message on the phone. There’s no signal in the other world, after all.”

“S-Seriously…?”

“Yup~.” The tiger gave her a light reply. “Interestingly enough, me being in another world now actually shortened the distance between us. It takes around half an hour to get from the apartment here to your house, right? Well, thanks to my magic and stuff, it would take around 15 seconds to get from my place in the other world to visit you there after I’ve made some preparations once before.”

“No way…”

“Amazing, isn’t it?” She sounded rather proud. “That’s also why you could visit the other world at any time to get your own impression of it.”

“Wow.” Their mother struggled to find a better word.

“Speaking of this apartment and making preparations...” Sophia started looking around while scratching her cheek. “It doesn’t have to be soon, but could you eventually take care of the formalities to, well... un-rent this apartment for me? For various and obvious reasons, I don’t need it anymore. Neither does Steph. We could afford to keep it, but it would be a waste, in my opinion. Not to mention having to constantly exchange the currency of that world to usable money for it here would be a pain... and suspicious.”

“Yeah, I can understand that. Sure, I can do that once I have a free moment and have gotten rid of that massive headache that started forming around an hour ago. Wait, what...?” She then also tilted her head. “You can exchange the currency? How? That shouldn’t be possible, right?”

“The currency in that world is copper, silver, and various types of gold coins. Actual gold. I own a literal ton of gold over there... Last time we went shopping here, I exchanged some gold coins in a cash-for-gold store, and spending all the money we got in one day was quite hard."

“T-That can’t be true...”

“Sure is~.” Saying so, the tiger got up from the sofa she was sitting on next to Steph and walked over to her mother. “Here.” She took out a gold coin from her pocket and handed it over. “I have an obscene amount of those.”

"Whoa, this really looks like some sort of fancy pirate treasure like coin you see in movies!”

“What a fun comparison! Kinda true, too.” Sophia could see the similarity. “Also, I can see that you’re stealing glances at it, so...” She brought the tip of her tail closer to her mother’s face. “It really is real, okay?”

“...” She stared at it for a moment before eventually lightly touching it with one of her fingers. “It actually does feel like the fur of a cat! Maybe a little less soft, though.”

“Well, I am no cat, after all! I’m a majestic tiger!”

“Ah, I see...”

“I hate you so much...” Steph suddenly sounded extremely tired.

“What is this about?” Their mom looked confused while she glanced at the younger one.

“I-Ignore her!” The majestic tiger, who’s 85% textbook cat, didn’t want her to find out about that. “Anyway, if we vacate the apartment, we need another place to go to and from the other world because we obviously can’t do that out in the open. Do you have a free room in the house we could use for that? An empty supply room in the basement would already be plenty.”

“Yeah, there’s lots of space in the basement.” Their mother nodded a few times. “I don’t really get what you need, but you could also use Steph’s old room. She hasn’t used it in forever because she was basically living here already before you disappeared.”

“Mmhm… I think the basement would be a better place for this.” Saying so, Sophia opened one of her purple portals in the living room.

“W-W-What is that?!” Naturally, she immediately started panicking.

“It’s a thing we call portal.” The striped daughter smiled at her. “If you go through it, you’ll be in our new world.”

“Y-You can go through that?!”

“Sure thing~.” She then faced her sister. “Steph, would you mind?”

"Everything for my majestic tiger." Still slightly salty about that, she rolled her eyes before standing up and going through the portal.

“S-She’s gone!”

“As I said, it’s a portal.”

“And I’m back~.” A moment later, Steph returned to this side, as well.

“W-Wow…” Once again, she had trouble putting her feeling into words. “Is there really a different w-world on the other side of this…? Magic really is something else… Things I never thought I’d say, either…”

“Almost,” Sophia answered her. “It leads to another place where I put a ton of portals leading to all kinds of places in that new world. Kinda like a hub, I guess.”

“What has my daughter been up to the past year…?” She started holding her head. As usual, one of Sophia’s biggest skills, causing a massive headache for others, was going strong.

“Lots of fun stuff~.” Her mood was excellent, though. “It’s a lot to take in, huh?”

“That’s the understatement of the century! It certainly doesn't help with the migraine attacks I get every now and then lately… One of the secondary reasons to go offline for a while, as well. Less overstimulation and sensory overload…”

“Wow, you really would love the other world, then. No sensory overload of that kind exists there. Also, migraines, huh?” She had some experience with them. Mainly in causing them, though. “Are they bad?”

“They are certainly not fun. I can tell you that much.”

“Ahaha…” The tiger scratched her cheek before getting closer to her mother. Afterward, Sophia put a hand on her forehead, which then started shining in a pale blue light. "How is it now?" After the light was gone, she removed her hand again.

“H-Huh…?” Her mother looked even more confused while she touched her forehead. “What just happened now…? Wait a moment… my headache, it’s gone?!”

“Healing magic is amazing, right?” Sophia smiled at her. “I said before that a common cold or a headache is good for character building, but not if it gets too excessive. Because of that, I healed you~.”

“And to flex.” Steph just looked at her.

"T-This, and that are unrelated!"

“Is it?”

“Y-Yes!”

“You healed me…?” Their mother was still trying to understand that part.

“That I did~.” Her smile got bigger. “I was serious when I said that magic takes care of pretty much any disease or injury. With me around in my new home, no one, be it friends or family, will ever have to suffer from anything serious.”

“…” She was speechless again.

“Hehe~. So, do you want to see that world?” Sophia then pointed at the portal again.

“I, uhh… what?” Their mom was still hung up on the healing magic. “N-No, I don’t think I’m ready for it. I want to talk about it with Pete first. If your dad even considers the possibility, we might do, but I don’t want to go alone. Especially because I’m starting to feel like I’d like that place. I want to talk with him while having an unbiased opinion.”

“Sure thing. Whatever you think is the best course of action for you.” The tiger had no plans to push her into doing anything. At least consciously. Unconsciously, she had been advertising it for quite a while already.

----------------

The trio kept chatting for quite a while because there were still many things the sisters wanted to tell their mother. Many hours had passed in the blink of an eye, and more visitors had also shown up.

Their father, together with Sari, had cut the trip to the grandparents short in order to see the sisters, who obviously had a much higher priority in this situation. It had just taken a while to return from there.

He was quite shocked about their looks, but once he had gotten a rough explanation, more hugging and feels happened for a while afterward because he had missed them, too. Once this was taken care of, he also got told the whole story of the sisters, and he was just overwhelmed. This time, Steph had done all the talking, though. Sophia had more important things to take care of after his arrival. Sari, that is. She loves kids, after all.

Once she had laid her eyes on the little baby, it instantly became her number one priority for the time being. She was immediately taken by her and did her very best to entertain her newest little sister, as she was still too small for actual games. It was too early for Sari to walk and talk, too. She did seem to love the tail of her oldest and striped sister and refused to let go of it for a long time until she eventually fell asleep. Even then, it took quite a while until Sophia got her tail to herself again.

Naturally, their father was rather confused about everything, as well, and had a hard time believing the different world story. Still, seeing how the sisters looked and witnessing some magic, there was little room for denial.

He also wasn’t sure how to feel about the idea of going there, even though he, too, thought it sounded very enticing, especially learning about healing magic and how that world seemed to be in a much better state regarding the climate and general pollution. Just like their mother, as a rational-thinking person, who had to take their baby into account, as well, he couldn't simply make a decision on the spot, either.

The family kept chatting for quite a while longer, but they eventually decided to take a break for the time being. Their headaches being healed aside, it was still a lot of very tiring news to wrap their heads around.

They decided to meet again in a while to further talk about the idea of visiting the new world and maybe even staying there if it became a better option for raising their child. Some other details, like getting a room for the portal in their house’s basement, would be a topic at that time, too.

It took another little while before Sophia was able to part with the sleeping Sari because she had already gotten attached to her to a very high degree, but the sisters were able to return to their new home before long after a long day.