Thera woke up this morning feeling refreshed in a way that she has not felt in almost a year. With a small grunt she sat up and stretched while eliciting a sensual moan that would have riled up men and women alike. After wiping the sleep from her eyes she looked around the room noting its vague familiarity yet recognizing that it was neither the guest room in her older sister's Ivory Tower nor was it her personal bedchambers.
Climbing out of bed she made her way to the drawn curtains, parted them and opened the window. With closed eyes and a small smile she basked in the slight breeze that caressed her face. When she opened her eyes she was greeted with the familiar sight of darkened skies and a red moon partially obscured behind clouds of miasma. This was the Royal Makai realm she remembered except…
"Hm?"
Her sensitive ears did pick up the faint sounds of movement and even voices yet she couldn't help but feel like things were a bit quieter overall.
"Hmm" before she could think more about it there was a knock at the door.
"Princess Thera?" A slight muffled voice sounded from beyond the door.
"Enter" Thera answered and the door opened to reveal a group of four maids.
The maids bowed as one with the seeming leader speaking in a demure way "good morning, may we assist you today?"
Thera opened her mouth to speak only to hesitate as she regarded the group with a layer of scrutiny. This resulted in a drawn out silence before the same maid who spoke raised her head a bit to regard the Lilim.
"Your highness?"
Blinking from her thoughts, Thera nodded her head "you may aid me" she replied "and dispense with the royal honorifics."
The maids straightened up with two of them moving forward to make the bed while the one who spoke, their seeming leader asked "Lady Thera then?"
After receiving a nod of affirmation she gestured to the door "then if you follow us we will escort you to the bath."
What followed was thirty minutes of cathartic pampering as the maids attended to her with all the respect, deference and professionalism that should be afforded to someone of her station. It was something she was surely lacking recently and Thera soaked in every bit of their attention as what felt like an entire year of non-stop stress melted from her frame.
Thera eventually realized that she may have taken some liberties with the maids by having them do a full on spa service for her but was it really taking liberties when she neither demanded nor asked for it? The maids did everything through their own initiative, Thera merely allowed them to do as they please.
Yet even as she allowed herself these pleasures, the feeling that something was missing kept nagging at her. She noted the growing discrepancies and catalogued them in silence. Among the most glaring had to be the distinct lack of sounds, scent and even taste related to sex along with the accompanying emotions it carried.
Emotions that she should have felt ten times over by now.
'I feel like I overlooked something' she thought with some disgruntlement 'but what was it?'
As she wracked her brain for an answer another maid entered and whispered in the ear of the head maid who nodded and sent her off.
"What is it?" Thera questioned from her position on the table where she was receiving a massage.
"It appears that we've kept you longer than we thought. Breakfast is currently being served and Lady Ezraphel is inquiring about your whereabouts."
"...I see."
The mention of her sister's name was the final straw that allowed the increasingly thin haze she had subconsciously allowed to cloud her mind to finally disperse fully. Her senses suddenly sharpened and with it came the memories.
'Ah that's right, I found Ezraphel."
She didn't just find Ezraphel however, but an entirely new world untouched by magic, mana, Gods or most of the races that exist on Eos. This was a world that consisted of only humans as the dominant race and they numbered in the billions. A veritable treasure trove for the mamono population and a discovery that would ease the pressure on her mother who had been working painstakingly trying to find a solution to the mamono birthing issue for a millenia.
'And to think that this place was discovered through sheer coincidence because Ezraphel forgot to properly calibrate her spell before casting it in search of the ideal husband.'
"..."
Thera took in a deep breath, counted to five and exhaled before sitting up causing the maid giving her a massage to halt and step aside.
"Tell Ezraphel that I will be with her momentarily."
Within minutes Thera draped in a robe before exiting the bathroom door but somehow ended up back in her quarters. Immediately she made her way to the open window and simply stared.
After a moment she thought to herself 'she actually did it.'
The sight before her, the sounds, the smells, even the feel reminded her so much of home that for a moment Thera actually believed she was in the Royal Makai. But this wasn't the Royal Makai, it was a replica created by Ezraphel to help showcase mamono culture to her husband. Thera would say it was a pale imitation and it certainly was compared to the real thing but that still felt disingenuous. As someone who prided herself on being perceptive, the fact that she was for a moment fooled into believing this replica to be the real said a lot.
Even the people weren't actually people but Golem of the non sentient variety. Thera didn't even know Ezraphel knew Golemancy, at least she didn't think her younger sibling knew enough to create ones of such intricacy without turning them into actual mamono. The fact that she only made that 'mistake' once and only on her first attempt was frankly ridiculous.
'But that seems to be a running theme when it comes to Ezraphel.'
Even now, looking at the maids from their appearance to their attitude and the way they moved, it reminded Thera of the maids she encountered in the various noble houses. If not for the subtle imperfections in their appearance that seem to be a staple for all Golem designs and the feel of their mana Thera would be hard pressed differentiating them from actual mamono.
Again…ridiculous.
'And speaking of ridiculous' thought Thera as the maids finally finished with what they had been doing, which was present Thera with a choice of wardrobes.
"Lady Ezraphel picked these outfits as suitable casual wear for Earth."
Fashion wasn't exactly high on Thera's list of priorities, especially in recent times but that didn't mean she didn't have an eye for it. She preferred her dresses and gowns of course but one can never accuse Thera of not having an open mind. Plus the nature of her duties relied on keeping up to date with human fashion trends which vary according to regions.
Unfortunately wearing normal mamono fashions that primarily consist of much exposure of her body would gain unwanted scrutiny if not outright condemnation. This meant Thera had to be flexible when it came to her fashion choices when traversing places outside of mamono allied territories. It was something she only tolerated as while she may hide it well Thera did not enjoy wearing the conservative clothing of humans, it felt too restrictive for her tastes. That's why she'd rather just wear a cloak over her usual garments with enchantments meant to conceal her body while not drawing attention to herself.
'Hmm, but Ezraphel claims that some of Earth's fashion choices were not too dissimilar from mamono.'
She didn't quite believe it until she saw the collection of clothing laid out before her. Far from the robes, tunics, trousers and even flowing dresses that she was used to seeing, what lay before her were: blouses that revealed her midriff, short skirts that went above the knees, short pants that reached her thighs and dresses with an abundance of cleavage. All of them had a unique style reminiscent of mamono fashion yet did not conform to it. While erotic, the choices were not ostentatiously lewd, making them something of a bridge between human and mamono fashion on Eos.
In Thera's opinion they were actually tasteful in how they would present her figure while leaving just enough for the imagination.
"Is this really acceptable Earth fashion or did Ezraphel curate this to appease my sensibilities?" Thera asked absently as she picked up a peculiar looking article of clothing.
"Lady Ezraphel made these articles based on current popular fashion trends. While they may not be utilized by the majority of the masses they are socially acceptable nonetheless."
Running her fingers over a pair of off white blue pants, Thera asked "what is this fabric?"
"I believe it is called denim Lady Thera. It is a sturdy fabric used to make a style of pants called 'jeans' that you are currently holding, though this style is not limited to just pants."
Thera hummed at that. All the clothing on display were unique with even the ones made from familiar fabrics having a peculiar spin that separated them from what she knew.
"You mentioned that Ezraphel made these?"
"Yes, ma'am."
'That explains why I can sense mana in the fabric-wait.'
"...!"
Thera brought the jeans close and scrutinized it for a moment before her eyes widened.
"This is…"
It wasn't Arachne silk yet she could feel certain properties in the fabric that were reminiscent of it.
'How did she…?'
Thera was aware that Ezraphel had apprenticed under an Arachne fashionista at one point so it shouldn't be a surprise that she may have gained knowledge on their spider silk production
'But to use that knowledge to develop her own derivative…' she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. 'I should stop being fazed by her antics at this point.'
Turning to the maid Golem Thera asked "what would you recommend from this selection?"
The maid smiled and a few minutes later Thera was dressed in a tight black stylish long sleeved mini dress with enough cleavage exposed that it wouldn't be considered indecent by modern Earth standards, a bra and matching high heels. She didn't bother with any accessories or makeup, preferring to keep it simple, if only out of habit.
She admired her look in the mirror for a moment and nodded with satisfaction "not bad. What do you think?"
The quartet of maids all had varying degrees of blushes on their faces which was par for the course. It almost made her forget that they were supposedly not sentient.
"You look stunning, Lady Thera."
She gave a small smirk at that 'good.'
Afterwards she was escorted to the door leading out of the realm.
"Have a wonderful day Lady Thera" the maid said with a smile.
Before Thera left she looked back "what is your name, maid?"
The Golem maid blinked "I do not have one milady."
Thera pursed her lips. It made sense, after all the point was that these Golems were not meant to be truly sapient. For a moment she had the idea to change this but ultimately relented, they were her sister's creations in the end and she would not do her the disservice of undermining her decision.
With that Thera crossed the threshold of an extravagant room in a castle that was deep in a Dark Demon Realm and stepped into the hallway of a modern suburban house without a trace of corruption to be found. The atmospheric whiplash would have stunned many but Thera did nothing more than pause in consideration.
'Not even a trace of corrupted mana to be found' Thera thought to herself before heading to the stairs.
She could already smell breakfast and hear voices, it appeared everyone was already present. She climbed down the stairs and entered the dining area to find everyone already seated. Unlike the night before, the formal setting was nowhere to be seen with the table going from a long rectangular to a more compact circular shape that was just large enough to hold five people. With this change in the shape of the table came the change in seating arrangements. Going from the left it was Ezraphel, Stanley Anastasia and Natalie with an empty space left for her to sit between the latter two.
The conversation paused as she entered and all eyes were on her. Ezraphel was the first to break the brief silence by shouting "Thera! You're late!"
"My apologies" she spoke while taking a seat between the Wight and Golem.
Natalie followed up with "so what took you so long? Catching up on some much needed beauty sleep?"
"Something to that effect. The maids are quite the talented masseuses."
"Yeah they are" Natalie agreed with the faintest of red tinging her cheeks.
Stanley interrupted just then having been drumming his fingers on the table. The elbow of his other hand rested on the table and his cheek propped up on his palm "cool, so now that your sister's here and fashionably late can we please start eating now?"
"Did I keep you waiting long?" Thera asked genuinely, having lost track of time with her musings.
Ezraphel waved away with a smile "oh, it was not that long-"
"Seventeen minutes and forty two seconds" interrupted Stanley not even looking at her as piled his plate with various foodstuffs.
"Stanley…" Ezraphel sighed with a frown.
"Hey I'm not holding it against her if she wants to sleep in or get a massage or whatever Ez, I'm just saying we shouldn't have to wait for her to be here to start eating. There's plenty of food to go around and magical tupperware to keep it fresh."
"Wow" Natalie said blandly "you'd almost think Ezraphel wants to have breakfast with her sister who she hasn't seen in however long."
"Pretty sure she did plenty of catching up last night" he countered "plus she's gonna be here for a while anyway."
"It's her second day on Earth Stan, can you at least try not to act like a bastard?"
"You know I could but I feel that would be a betrayal of my character so…" he paused to pick up his breakfast sandwich before finishing with "she's gonna be getting the authentic Stan Berkowitz experience."
He then bit into the sandwich in a deliberately obnoxious way much to the embarrassment and disappointment of his sister and Ezraphel respectively.
"Sorry about him" Natalie apologized.
Meanwhile Ezraphel offered her a shrug with an expression that was less apologetic and more helpless. As the two siblings met eyes for some reason Thera could almost hear Ezraphel say
"He's out of line but he's not wrong."
'Interesting.'
As for Thera she didn't really take Stanley's annoyance or antics to heart given that she could sense that his anger wasn't exactly because of what he stated.
'He's not angry because I kept him waiting' She thought internally even as she spoke differently aloud.
"Again I am terribly sorry for my tardiness. For what it is worth this is by no means a regular occurrence, I am usually quite punctual."
"Don't apologize to me, Ez is the one who was making up excuses for you."
'Ah…'
He wasn't angry because she kept him waiting, he was angry she made a fool of Ezraphel. Thera was a guest at their home and Ezraphel had sent a summons for her presence to attend breakfast. Not only did she treat such a time sensitive matter flippantly and made everyone wait unnecessarily but she put her sister in a spot where she had to make up excuses for Thera's slight.
Thera couldn't help but feel something twist inside her 'I am still treating Ezraphel like the little girl I had to look out for rather than the woman she was becoming.'
Ezraphel might not see it that way but it was obvious her husband did not share the same thoughts and was willing to call her out on it.
So after taking a short measured breath Thera spoke "I realize that what I did was disrespectful to you and your family Ezraphel and I promise that it will never happen again, you have my word."
Ezraphel opened her mouth but closed it and gave an affirmative nod "I understand and you are forgiven."
After that things settled but internally Thera couldn't help but silently lament the unfortunate turn to what started as an auspicious beginning to her day.
Thera bit into a bagel she covered in cream cheese and paused.
'...this is really good.'
And as if listening to her thoughts Ezraphel gave a triumphant smile.
'Perhaps today won't be so bad.'