"Nice to see a bunch of hybrids getting along. Course if any normal person saw this, they would probably have a stroke and die of shock." – Radis while chatting with Kevin in the buffet line

If you asked Kurt, Jay had really outdone himself. The veritable banquet that was brought in surpassed anything he could have imagined in terms of variety. He saw several different dishes that ranged in national origin from good ole Americana to the finest French cuisine. There was even a good amount of Asian food to sample with several exotic dishes that he planed to stay away from.

Still, he seemed to be the man of the hour after Sif asked where Jeffery had found booze, and the dwarf pointed to him. Kurt had completely forgotten about his promise to bring drinks so immediately went to fix the problem. He quickly walked up to the mostly empty last table and began pulling bottles and cans out of his storage ring.

The other teams gaped in amazement as he produced dozens of bottles of spirits, a few cases of beer in coolers and an assorted collection of wine. Just as they thought he had run out, he began placing down the cups, mixers, ice and other goods while Val put a few recipe guides on stands. They had decided to brainstorm a few mixed drinks to let the others make their own if they chose.

"Where does it all come from?" Tig asked with his face mere inches from Kurt's hands as he set the table. "Is it a spell or an ability?"

"Yeah, I want to know both where you got this bottle and where you were hiding it." Jeffery said. He was about halfway through his bottle of the whiskey that Val had selected for the event. "And the beer. That stuff even looks half decent!"

Kristi decided to share a little with the short and surly man. "Apparently there is a city in our state that is called 'beer city' and has become quite famous for its craft brews. That would be this brand." She pointed to the logo proudly displayed on the front of several cans and bottles.

Jeffery looked from her to the coolers of beer before wheeling on Penny. "Please! I beg ya, let's just switch. Just for a little bit. Can we?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "You can visit through the hub if Kurt lets you, but I will not switch teams with you." She then glanced over to where his team was arguing about something near the table with the plates and cutlery. "Besides, I think your team would miss you."

They both looked at the team in question who were now fully engaged in a three-way game of rock paper scissors. Sif and Sam were going at it while Piper frowned on the sidelines. "I am not so sure." Jeffery said and took a long pull on his bottle. He looked around and saw that Rudolph was engaged in a chat with Val as they began working their way through the line of food.

*****

"That's a lot of onion rings." Val commented as Rupert piled them high. "I figured a Frenchman's palate would be more refined." She said with a smirk.

"Ever eaten escargot? It's gross. So that alone should prove not all French cooking is good." He said while glaring up at her. "Besides, there is an art to frying food." He held up the onion ring. "You can't just plop it in batter then in oil, there is a process, a balance. Every batter a different taste and every temperature a different crunch."

"I never thought of it like that, but you must be right with how passionate you are about it." She said while raising an eyebrow at the fervor with which the halfling kobold spoke.

"Oh yes! My Rupert is very passionate in many ways." Said Tig as he began sorting through the food and putting some on his plate. Kurt had stepped up in line right after him and was only partly listening in.

"Tig!" Rupert said, seemingly offended.

The possessed looked down with a look of confusion. "Yes dear?"

"Uhgh. Not in public." He hissed after groaning into his hand. "Sorry Val, I didn't wa…"

She waved him off. "It's fine, Kurt, Kristi and I are a couple too. Or a thruple I guess you would call it? Triad makes it sound too much like a gang. Either way, we are together."

"Oh." Rupert said, seemingly surprised. "I didn't think we could be so open about it in this job."

Val shrugged. "None of us care and I frankly think the Order expects it to some degree. It's actually how my parents met." She was interrupted by a cheer coming from the Tacoma team. She looked over to see Sam with his arms crossed while Sif did a little victory dance of some sort.

Rupert seemed to not like the look of the situation so tried to make small talk and keep moving as the trio approached the buffet. "S-so um… you parents were agents? What was that like?"

They moved off to a table, leaving Kurt to fill his plate as Sif slid up to him. "So, you are an enchanter? I bet that keeps you busy." She was trying to play it cool and not be obvious that she was trying to seduce him.

"Eh, it keeps me entertained. It's more of a hobby." He replied with a shrug, clueless to her advances. "I have been working on some pretty neat things though. And honestly the rifts are a nice break, so I don't fixate on only enchanting."

"Quite the hobby to have while working as a field agent." She said while trying to ignore her teammates pestering her. She took a half step closer, getting within his personal bubble. "What would you say is your most impressive item?

"Biggest hit is the storage ring that you saw earlier. Oh, here." He passed her the tongs while stepping away from her.

Sif huffed slightly, the feathers on her head ruffling, annoyed that she had to repeat the step. "That is rather impressive and truly amazing that I personally know the man who made the first practical storage ring. Still, managing rifts, raids and your client list must be challenging."

Kurt thought for a moment. "I mean I have some people I make things for, but they aren't too demanding. I guess they can't be with how much I charge them." He said, thinking about how the only thing he ever actually sold in person was the one ring to Jay.

"Hmm." Sif said and fluffed her head feathers. "What is it that you charge for your services?

"It's mostly trade for services or gifts of friendship." Kurt answered and debated on if he should put salad on his plate but decided that space was better used for the kimchi he saw. In his opinion, that was just as good as it was also a vegetable.

Ignoring a clearly muffled insult from behind her, Sif pressed on. "Oh, is there some 'service' I could offer to perhaps get on your 'repeat' client list?" She leaned forward, letting the front of her top dangle open and reveal her womanly charms.

Kurt stopped and looked at her, as the pieces fell into place. Her trying to stay close to him, the flirting tone, the eyes and nibbling at her lip while flashing him. All those things crashed upon him like a ton of bricks, and he acted on reflex.

"AHAaahaaahahahh. Oh, god. Ahaaha. Ahem, ah no." Kurt had to laugh at how oblivious he had been. He noticed Sam pulling Pipers hand away from his mouth. Behind a now very embarrassed looking Sif.

"Ha! I told you skanks that he didn't want none. Even if he did, I was the best choice." Sam crowed and pumped a fist into the air before realizing that everyone in the gathering was now looking at him. "Ah, umm. Sorry?" He said while looking at a frowning Kurt.

Val popped up a moment later like she materialized from Kurt's shadow. "What's going on here?" She asked. Her tone was equal parts cautions and curious.

Sif looked at Kurt with her big anime eyes and a pleading expression. He decided to be nice and let her mostly off the hook. "Oh, just a misunderstanding. They thought they had to seduce me to get enchanted items. Well, that was after I said I mostly trade for my stuff."

If it hadn't been for the necklace telling her of Kurt's emotional state, Val might have been angry but she knew he was actually a little embarrassed himself. "I mean, what do you have to offer?" She asked, trying to get at least some benefit from them.

"Go ahead, Sam." Piper said while putting a large amount of stewed beef tips over some rice. "Show him your 'hobby'." She said with a bit too much inflection in her tone.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Sam set his drink down and walked over to where he had set the bag he had brought in. When he returned, he opened it to reveal several rows of glass bottles. Though the sizes of the bottles varied, they were each stored in individual elastic loops with a little padding separating them. Small white labels with clearly printed names were on each bottle.

"I am an alchemist." Sam said, giving voice to the obvious. "I was planning on giving some gifts of my own but I kinda got shown up when mister big shot started handing out enchanted stuff."

"And what kind of alchemy do you do?" Kristi said while walking over to see inside the bag. She had been eating at the food on her plate while standing back and watching the group. The mention of another crafter intrigued her enough to wander over. She had gotten over her initial mistrust of Sam rather quickly but was still being cautious around the vampire.

Sam looked up and shot her a wink. "An apt question fair lady." He said and got an eye roll from the dragoness. "I dabble in a bit of everything. I have potions for the body like mana regeneration and stamina enhancement that you might be familiar with. But I also have some item treatments and standalone solutions."

"Stand alone solutions?" Tig asked.

Plucking out a small, four-ounce bottle filled with a swirling silver solution, Piper held it up. "This is one of his 'freezing fog' vapor bombs. When it breaks open, it rapidly expands into a cloud of vapor that then instantly cools. The result is a thick layer of ice and an air temperature somewhere around negative one hundred degrees."

"Yup, helped us on a rift filled with some sort of giant salamanders." Sam said, mentioning a situation where they were useful. "They were nearly immune to fire, so we froze them and then cracked them with a hammer."

He then took the bottle from Piper and put it back in its slot before pulling out the whole section of potions on a sort of organizer. He then handed it to Kurt. "This is for you. A little gift to celebrate our new friendship."

Kurt took the tray with over twenty vials. "Wow, this is amazing, thank you." He said and meant it. He knew very well how effective some magical potions and weapon oils could be after using a few on his family's estate in the past.

"No problem, they are all labeled and there is a slip of paper in there with the description of the effects." He then zipped the bag back up and handed it to Rupert with a big smile. "These ones are for you. Kurt has a storage item so I figured you might want the bag."

Rupert took the bag and looked at it with a frown. Tig came up to him then. "What's wrong?"

The short, scaled man shook his head with a sigh. "Well, our gift feels cheep now." He stepped over to the side of the buffet table and grabbed a large duffle bag. "I didn't know what everyone liked but I figured that I couldn't go wrong with gourmet chocolates." He then pulled out several trays that held various sizes and shapes of the candy with hues ranging from caramel to nearly black.

Sif took a box and clutched it to her chest. "Oh, I think this will be more than enough, thank you." She said with a big smile. She then had to play keep away from Piper as she tried to grab for the box before Tig handed her a separate one.

Val took the boxes for her team and stowed them in her ring. "Thanks, and don't worry, fancy chocolate is always a good way to go."

The kind words and genuine excitement seemed to cheer up the short man and he nearly skipped back to the head of the buffet to start loading up his second plate. Kurt and the girls wandered away to find a place to sit and eat. Things were going pretty good in their opinion, but only time would tell how they liked their counterparts as the night wore on and booze got involved.

*****

"How dare you!" Radis scoffed. "To even say such a thing is an affront to the entire community."

Kurt sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. Everything had been going so well until this. Dinner was great and everyone mingled nicely with each other. Then he played bar tender for a little bit and made drinks for the guests. Everyone was fed, and spirits were high as music began to play from… it didn't matter where.

The different teams had all split up with even the handlers hopping into the groups as they chatted. The topics had varied from group to group, which is how they split up into the four different conversations. Which was now just one argument with nearly a dozen observers.

Penny, Sam and Sif were talking about books. Jay, Kurt and Jeffery were chatting about food and drinks. Rupert and Val were listening to Tig talk about all the interesting scandals he heard while incorporeal. But it was the last group that got heated.

"And I stand by it!" Kristi affirmed her voice just below a shout. "Halo CE revolutionized the FPS genera on consoles with practical controls and vehicles. Golden Eye was only good because it barely had any competition until Perfect Dark."

Piper and Kevin looked at each other and took a step back as the conversation grew more heated. They had joined for talk of video games but quickly decided that their preferred flavor of RPG's was perhaps not the most controversial.

Radis started to turn red around his collar. "It was better because that one game is still talked about decades after being released. All I hear about Halo is how the latest game sucks, but the next one will fix everything and how the devs either care or don't care depending on the day."

Kristi snorted and crossed her arms, looking down at the shorter elf. "Which one still has an active franchise? I think even Splinter Cell lasted longer as a video game series. All the Bond franchise has now is some original books and rehashes of its movies with new actors."

Radis gasped and clutched at his chest. "How da…"

"Yeah-yeah, how dare I." Kristi waved her hand. She was being rather bold compared to her normally reserved self. Kurt wondered if it was something she drank or if perhaps she was more comfortable in the group of other hybrids. "Listen, I will concede that Golden Eye was good for its time and even had some novel concepts that were later built upon. But you can't say in good faith that it did more for the FPS community than Halo."

"But the history and lore." Radis said, deflating a little at the reasonable concession.

Holding out her hand, Kristi summoned her tablet and quickly pulled up an app and searched. "Here look at this." She handed the tabled to the elf. "The Halo franchise has several movies and shows plus dozens of books and manga."

Radis continued to scroll down the screen while she continued. "Look, I'm not saying you have to play Halo or even like the setting, all I'm saying is that it did better for several generations of gamer than James Bond did."

"Fine, let's just agree that we each have our favorites for our own reasons." Radis conceded a moment later while handing back her tablet.

She took the tablet back and held out her hand, offering a shake. "Works for me." They shook hands and the rest of the gathering let out their collectively held breaths.

Sensing it was safe, Piper decided to chip in with a little side comment. "Good thing we didn't debate which Fallout was best." She said with a little half laugh to Kevin who nodded.

Both Kristi and Radis turned and began to speak but they stopped a moment later. The other two looked on in anticipation as they held another faceoff. Eventually Kristi broke and spoke first.

"Maybe we should just stick to indy games we like?" She offered.

"Yeah, I think that might be for the best." Radis hurriedly agreed and they once more huddled up with Piper and Kevin. They managed to keep to safe topics and eventually broached the subject of tabletop games, finding common ground in a shared interest of narrative games.

Penny focused back on her conversation, seeing that the argument wasn't about to come to blows. "I'm sorry, Sam. What were you saying?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah romance books." He said. "I like some of the modern ones coming out and even track a few series on some websites."

"Which ones do you like again?" Sif asked while popping the top on another can of long drink.

"Oh, there are a few. Mostly harem and reverse harem." He said while his eyes darted away.

Penny seized on that detail. "Reverse harem? I didn't think a guy would like that."

Sam smirked at her. "Hold my beer." He said. "No, literally, hold it please." He added when Penny quirked an eyebrow. A moment after handing off his beverage, his features melted and deformed.

The formerly short blond hair lengthened to hang between his shoulder blades. His shoulders narrowed slightly while his hips seemed to widen. Most surprisingly was when the front of his shirt expanded outward with the addition of breasts. Then the formerly clean shaven and handsome male face became distinctly female. Every part of him changed in a matter of seconds, leaving no trace of the former identity other than a passing similarity.

After a whole five seconds, a woman now stood where a man had once been. "Ta-da." Sam said in a much more feminine tone of voice.

"Huh." Penny said, staring at the rather striking beauty before her.

"That's it? 'huh' is all you got for me?" The former 'he' and now 'she' pouted.

"Oh, I mean I kinda expected it given you are part changeling, but I assumed it would be more drastic of a change." She said.

"More drastic how?" Sam said waving down at herself. "I'm absolutely banging, a fem fatal, ten outa ten on the scale."

Penny smirked and was glad she had worn a skirt. "Hold 'my' beer." She said and handed off her glass of wine while stepping out of her shoes. Where Sam had morphed slowly over a course of several seconds, Penny held her hand up and waved her fingers.

Instantly she grew another half foot in height and her legs fused together, lengthening to a nearly twenty-foot-long tail. Her tan scales flared and rippled across her skin with a few darker brown colors being mixed in along her back. Her fingernails lengthened a little but also thickened to sharp claws. She then gave the gawking pair an open jaw smile, revealing the set of needle like fangs that flicked out briefly before tucking away into her mouth again.

"What do you think about this?" She said with a very slight hiss accenting her words.

"By Odin's wrinkled taint." Sif said and peeked around behind Penny to see her long tail coiling up under her.

"That is so-so… so fucking cool" Sam squealed. "How did you do it so fast? Can you shift faster? Does the mass stay when you shift or how does that work?" She began rattling off questions while trying to look at the naga from every angle.

"Hmhmhmh." Penny gave a deep throaty chuckle. "One at a time."

"Can I touch them?" Sif asked, gesturing to the gleaming bronze scales that ran down her spine.

"Sure, just only run your hand with the scales, you might get cut going the other way."

The two changelings spent the rest of the night comparing notes while Sif sat and leaned against Penny's long snake body. It was a scene played out time and time again as they all got to know each other and inevitably showed off.

Kurt just sat back and watched as the agents shared and demonstrated their abilities to each other. He was about to go looking for a snack when Jeffery and Jay walked over.

"Well, are you gonna show us what you got?" Jeffery asked.

Jay sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's up to you, Kurt. Just know that either you show him, or he will keep pestering both of us about it." He paused and looked at the dwarf. "Digging for information is what landed him in this role in the first place so he is a repeat offender in some cases."

Looking around, Kurt saw that Val and Kristi had overheard the question and gave him looks of support and encouragement. Well, Kristi looked supportive while Val gave him two thumbs up and a massive grin.

"Well, if everyone else if showing off, I might as well too." Kurt said and began storing clothes into his ring as he stepped away from the benches he was at. He would need some room after all.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.