Daisy smiled at the sight of their home city, Raela, ahead of them. She felt others coming up alongside her. To her left, Cedric and Selena were both beaming down at their destination. To the right, Rast had his hands on his hips.

"Our campaign is complete." Rast leaned in closer to Daisy. "I know we've had some differences, but you did work out well."

Daisy grinned at him, though she didn't mean it. "You too, big guy. I can admit, I was impressed by your skills." She offered a hand. "Whatever our differences, let's be friends when it counts."

He laughed softly. "My wife is right, you do look at things simply, mouse." Rast reached down, taking her hand in both of his and shaking it. "I will admit, this has not been boring."

Daisy was left with a mildly stunned expression. "You have a wife?!" she squeaked out a bit louder than she expected, coloring. "Sorry, didn't expect that."

"And why not?" He chuckled, advancing towards Raela. "You have several, and some others beside that. I have one, and enjoy some fun. She knows about it, in case that's what's surprising you."

Daisy looked down to Selena, who just shrugged. "I guess he's not the only odd one here." She hugged Daisy's arm gently, then moved to get the children in order and approaching the city. "You're not in a good position to preach the benefits of monogamy, my dear mouse."

"That's fair," Daisy admitted, following along with a lash of her tail.

A voice drifted up from behind. "You know, I don't mind keeping them." It was Kailana, holding a few smaller ones to keep them together. "If we can find a place to be in this town."

Daisy frowned with thought. "My family's too dang big to fit in any dorm, even a suite." She nudged Cedric. "Any rules against students living off campus but close by?"

Cedric shook his head. "None. There's nothing requiring you to stay in the dorms."

She nodded and gave a wave to Bellin and Kailana. "Then we need an actual house, big enough to—" She clicked her tongue. "Forget a house, an orphanage. I signed myself up for this. I get it if any of you aren't interested."

Cedric grinned, hugging against her arm while Selena looked at them both. "What's an orphanage?" the catgirl asked.

"It's a place where kids without parents go, so someone can raise them until they're old enough to be on their own." Daisy waved her finger. "Stuff happens on this world, it has to, sometimes, you end up with a kid without parents to help them, right?"

Selena laughed awkwardly. "Look, um, my parents were kinda well off. I didn't learn how poor kids lived."

Kailana stepped in. "I'll keep an eye out for some place that's big enough. You've got enough money that you could get a house easy. Leave it to us. I'll find something that works, even if it's a lot of rooms next to each other or—"

Daisy shook her head. "Hold on. You're new to town. I love that energy, really do, but wouldn't it be easier for a local to handle finding and buying a place, and a lot less questions."

Cedric nodded quickly. "That's true. I can look around, but I don't have the money to buy it for you, just as a down payment."

Daisy swatted his shoulder. "I don't expect you to buy it alone. My money's in this." She tapped the side of her head. "I can put that towards it. I'm not going to let you buy a house without some help."

With their decisions made, the family filed into the city. The guard at the front nodded to each as they went past, only pausing at the newcomers. The assurances of the family was enough to get them inside, and off towards the university.

Daisy didn't make it far onto campus before being grabbed, hugged tightly by a familiar furry form of a sheep bear. Saresan smiled up at Daisy. "There you are. You have Elina losing her sleep wondering where you wandered off to without telling her. Come on, let's go." Saresan took her wrist in her grip, starting to drag her off.

"Hey!" Cedric called out. "Where do you think you're taking Daisy? She needs to be—"

Saresan rounded on him. "Do you know where she should be? In Doctor Elina's lab. She is being paid to be there, and she's going to be there."

Daisy sighed gently, giving Cedric a smile. "I'll catch up with you guys as soon as I can."

Cedric nodded slowly. "Alright, but don't be too long."

It was just a few moments, Saresan taking Daisy right into the lab and parking her in a seat.

Elina slapped the desk she was seated behind. "You actually found her?! I did not expect that to work. Thank you, Saresan." She turned her attention back to Daisy, coming around to examine her. "Where have you been?"

Daisy frowned, but the expression eased quickly. "Sorry, should have told you. You heard about that war, right?"

Elina drew back slowly. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Saresan's ears perked. "Wait, is she serious? She didn't just tell me she went off to fight in a battle, did she?"

Daisy laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, um. We won though, so no harm?" She offered a smile that grew as the stunned looks remained from both of them. "Alright, fine. It was a risk. But hey, we won."

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Saresan rubbed his eyes, muttering softly. "You picked the best and worst test subject ever, Elina. If I had a prize, I'd be giving it."

"Shush." Elina looked Daisy over critically. "You don't seem to be harmed. Well, since you went, tell me literally everything. How does a brood mouse perform on the march, in a battle, everything. This is going to need to be included in the thesis."

Daisy sighed gently. It seemed she had some talking to do.

After explaining every detail, including the children, Elina seemed pleased with what she was learning. "Mmm, fascinating. Even separated from a dungeon, it seems the brood mouse instinct to gather a family is still powerful." She considered a moment, then gave Daisy a serious look. "I want to test your new milk, as well."

"What?" Daisy flattened her ears back a little. "Why would that affect them?" She grasped her own mounds, colored. "What would be different?"

"I don't know. Maybe nothing." Elina smiled. "That's the point of experimenting, dear. I'll get you the machine."

It was only a few minutes later that Elina returned and set up the pump. Daisy relaxed, closing her eyes and trying her best to think of nothing at all, to let it all happen with the sounds of the machine working and the slowly filling jar. "Oh, how are you two doing? No time to ask in the rush to get here."

Elina nodded quickly, jotting down some notes. "Fine, everything is fine."

Daisy smirked. "I have a feeling it's better than fine." She gave the sheep bear a glance. "You are looking especially comfortable in your new form. I have to ask, how did your date go?"

Saresan coughed awkwardly. "Oh, well." She grinned. "It was great!" She laughed and scratched at her head. "I never would have thought that this would be me, you know? I was a human, a professor, and now I'm..." She trailed off.

"Happy," Elina finished for her.

Daisy smiled at the two of them. "I think I have to agree with her there. I'm glad." She waved Saresan closer. "If you weren't, I'd offer to turn you back into a human lady without a bit of hesitation. I want you two to be happy, okay?"

Saresan nodded. "We're happy. Just, you don't have to worry about it, okay?"

Elina leaned back, looking towards the machine. "Jar's about full." She got up and hustled over to wrestle the next jar into place. "I wonder when brood mice calm down after giving birth. Oh! You had asked about that mutagen, the one that's making you all leaky when you don't want it. Now's a great time to cancel it, seeing as you're generating on your own."

Daisy flattened her ears back. "Oh, yeah, forgot about that." She pulled up her interface, looking at that mutagen again. It was definitely still there, keeping her production up. "I could, but don't you need my milk, the more the better?"

Elina sighed softly. "My dear Daisy, you've seen how much I collect at once, right? I think even if we get one less bottle from you, it'll be fine. Besides, I'm almost done here, so turn it off."

Saresan flicked the switch with a bat of her pawhand. "Let's get this off." She worked off the cups and put them aside. "And you're free. Something about you feels off. Can't put a word on it."

Elina tapped her fingers together. "One thing at a time." She waved. "Bring me the slot there, yes." She grabbed the glass slide from Saresan and put it under some strange apparatus with a large eye piece she squinted through. "As I thought. You're pumping out more mutagens. All the same, at a glance, but more of them. A good drink would be enough to turn a human into something completely different, I imagine. What has you worked up?"

Daisy flattened her ears back. "Not that, first. Is it dangerous? Could I hurt someone?" The thought chilled her. What if the kids had drunk more than she realized and she was making them sick?

Elina shook her head. "As I feel you already discovered with your daughter, a mutagen alters metabolic paths, it doesn't create them. Which is to say, if they just can't do it, they don't. Only agressive, likely lethal, mutations try to force the matter. Very illegal, may I add. Thankfully not the sort you make."

"You said this was new?" Saresan's large paws rested on Daisy's shoulder. "When did you start pumping out new stuff?"

Daisy rubbed the back of her head. "First I'm hearing about it. I fought, won, and came home with some new kids."

Elina squinted at Daisy. "You have new kids?! And you didn't think that was important?"

Daisy held up her hands. "They're fine! They're all fine, nothing unusual there. They just followed me home. Not biological kids, but mine all the same."

Elina's fingers drummed on her desk a moment, her expression softening. "Fine, fine." She leaned in close. "I don't like being surprised by these things, but we can get through this. If they're not biological, then it has to be your family. Your family is bigger, and your ability to shape them grew along with it."

Daisy blinked a few times, then gave a nervous giggle. "Wow. I'm the lord of a dungeon, without a dungeon." She patted the sides of her dangerous mounds. "I don't want to be."

Elina plucked up a pen to point at Daisy. "No? Tell me what you have planned, without me saying anything."

"Planned? Well." Daisy considered with a thoughtful hum. "I'd go home, kiss and smother Michelle, hug and apologize to Theodoren, then join the search for a building to." She cut herself off there, blinking. "Damn it."

Elina looked far too satisfied. "A building to, do go on."

"A building to house my new kids. I was thinking an orphanage," she muttered.

Daisy looked between them. "What?" she demanded. "Yes, I'm making a big family, but that's what I was doing anyway."

Saresan laughed as she squeezed one of Daisy's shoulders. "You're making a dungeon for yourself. Sounds a lot nicer than most, but it'll be yours, and you'll be in charge and make it extra great for everyone that visits it." Saresan's ears splayed out. "Wait, does this mean I have to start paying rent?"

Elina rolled her eyes. "I don't see why. It's not like the school is going to stop owning this land." She took a slow breath. "For what it's worth, you can live off campus and still be my test subject, but I request, now, that I have permission to visit you whenever I want."

"Alright." Daisy nodded slowly. "I'll agree to those terms." She put her hands up. "This isn't over, but I need to get home and explain to everyone what I've been doing all day." She rose to her feet, a little unsteady. "Making my own dungeon. Damn."