Cal walked into a packed situation room. Animals and people filled nearly every square inch of the room. He watched as Ralth squeezed his way past him and took and sat down in one of the few clear spots on the floor.
“Well, hello, everyone. I think we probably need to start expanding this room, as I want to start having at least two meetings a loop with everyone gathered. So I’m sure you’re all curious why I wanted to talk to everyone, and we will cover that, but first, I’d like a round table of introductions because I don’t think anyone here knows everyone.” Cal said, scanning the room and seeing several unfamiliar animal faces.
“I know everyone! You really need to keep up Cal. You’ve gotten rude in your old age.” Bug announced to the whole room, causing Cal to smile.
“Fine, Bug, how about you introduce everyone then.” Cal smiled at her. He meant it as a joke but knew she was going to do it anyway.
“Okay, okay, I can do that,” Bug replied. She lifted a paw and pointed at Cal first. “So first up are the humans. This is Cal Marshall. He’s my big brother and the one who got us all stuck in time loops to start with.”
She walked around the room and stopped in front of one of the larger men in the room. “This my dad Stan Marshall. He gives the best ear scratches of anyone I have ever met.” She pointed next to him. “And this is Jen Marshall, my extra mom. She sneaks me treats. I like her a lot.”
She started walking again, this time stopping in front of a man larger than Stan and the tallest human in the room. “This is my little brother Ralth, formally Christopher. He had a lot of strange adventures and met a very cool group of capybaras before he rejoined the family.”
She moved back around the room, stopping in front of two people. One looked like an older version of the other. She started by pointing at the younger, “This is Andy. He’s one of my best friends, an all-around great guy. He’s been trying to help for as long as I can remember. The big one next to him is Andrew. They used to be the same person until Cal broke reality again. I think that might be his specialty.”
“Hey, I didn’t break reality, other than maybe this most recent time. Andrew did it the first time! And the second time was just an effect of the first.” Cal’s complaints were half-hearted. He knew Bug didn’t mean any actual offense by them.
“I didn’t break anything. The Gryalth interrupted my experiments!” Unlike Cal, Andrew actually did sound annoyed.
“As I was saying, Andrew is the stuffy one, Andy is the fun one.” Bug finished and started her walk again. This time, she stopped in front of an elderly woman who was sitting on the ground, leaning against a giant plant creature. “This is another one of my best friends. Her name is Ethel. She is great with animals and plants and super nice to them, but she doesn’t tolerate stupid people very well. But she explained to me that she’s old and has earned that right.”
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“Damn straight,” Ethel added.
Bug walked over to the two newest humans in the room. “This is Harold and Melissa. Melissa accidentally got pulled into the loops when Ethel and I made the scientists stay in the room and not die to the Gryalth outside. Harold is her grandfather. Oh, and well, I’m here. The cat in his lap is Roger. He’s nice but doesn’t know how to talk yet.”
Continuing her introductions, she moved on to the animals. Having already started with Roger, she walked over to a group of capybaras sitting around a table. “These are the boys.” she pointed to each capybara in turn listing off their names until she got to Bill and Albert. They got longer introductions. Cal wondered if she had been exaggerating just how well she knew everyone.
“Over here behind them are Many Legs the centipede and Many Eyes the spider. They are nice. Many Legs used to have a dog, but the mean bear creatures that work for the Gryalth killed him. They enjoy classic rock and mutton.”
“He was a very good dog.” Many Legs’ voice cracked as she spoke.
Bug pointed to the two dogs curled up near Many Leg’s feet. “These two are Alfred and Gretel. They are friends of Ethel, that she found lost in the woods. That’s how Cal and Stan found me, so I know how scary that is. Recently, though, they agreed to join me and form the Canine Council because we need to keep all the humans safe from their dumb decisions.”
Bug walked to the other side of the table and pointed at two cats sitting side by side in one of the chairs. “The bigger cat is Mother Scrump, one of Ethel’s friends as well. I like her, she’s helping to raise one of my other best friends, Trashcat. She’s the smaller cat. I found her in an alley, and Ethel and I nursed her back to health.”
She walked to a small pillow near Ethel. “This small rabbit is Cindy Hopper. Ethel rescued her. Next to her is Hugo, the opossum. I don’t actually know how he met Ethel, but he’s a nice fellow.”
“The prof found me eating her trash. I had, uh, eaten a little much and a little wrong. But she healed me up good. Thanks, Prof.” Hugo filled in the gaps.
Bug looked up at the largest thing in the room. “This plant creature is Frank. He calls himself the Tree Titan, and he told me he’s an expert wrestler.”
“Frank knows no one better!” Frank backed up Bug’s statement.
“And the odd-looking bird is Gus. He helps Ethel run her realm and the root network. He’s a nice bird.”
“That ain’t no bird. You got yourself an abyssal beast there somehow. I’ve never seen a tame one before, though. That’s new. Hell, all of this is new.” Twonger said, sharing his opinion on the gathering.
“Wait, what did you weirdo call me?” Gus squawked back.
“It’s okay, Gus, just ignore them for now. Nothing to worry about.” Ethel said, calming her friend down.
“Yes, and these two newcomers are Onelder and Twonger. They are aliens that wanted to hurt Cal but now claim they don’t. I don’t like them.” Bug stated matter-of-factly.
“Finally, we have two mana spirits with us. Mr. Oakbert is from Ethel’s realm, and Fulginanis is the evolved form of Bolt and Barron from two of Cal’s realms.”
“Thank you, Bug, I believe that covers everyone. Now, let’s get down to business.” Cal said.