Chapter 2: Dodging Flags…Failed!

When Austin came to, he was floating in a viscous fluid. He saw a reddish-pink wall in front of him, and panicking, he turned his head only to see that wall in every direction, including downwards. The feeling of panic was getting stronger as he realized that he was having trouble breathing, and he started hitting the wall with his fists. Unfortunately, the wall didn't seem to bud, and just when he was starting to give up hope, a crack appeared under his flailing fists. After that, it only took a few more hits before it broke through completely, and although it was only a small hole, it was quickly widened by hands outside the wall. Gasping for air as the fluid drained out of whatever he was in the light assaulted his eye's blinding him. He hadn't realized how dark it was in the "thing" he was in until seeing the outside. Trying to move his arms correctly wasn't working well, and he was completely unable to find his legs and felt a sensation of something wiggling weakly when he concentrated on where they should be. He didn't have a chance to check out his body, though, as he was quickly scooped up by enormous hands and held in an arm cradle position. He then noticed that everything outside of about a foot and a half looked like blurry blobs of colour, and even the person. That which had picked him up was blurred slightly. Coughing heavily, he tried to speak only for his mouth to not work correctly, leading to him only mumbling loudly. That seemed to excite the blobs, though, and he heard something that sounded like a language but wasn't anything he was familiar with being spoken excitedly to the woman holding him as she nodded. Her eyes sparkled with a strange intensity, and she leaned closer, her features becoming clearer against the soft glow surrounding them. It was as if she understood his confusion, her expression a mix of concern and curiosity. “Easy now,” she murmured, though the words felt alien in his ears. The blobs shifted, their forms jiggling with enthusiasm, as if they were celebrating his awareness. He could feel a warmth radiating from her touch, grounding him in the chaos. “Where am I?” he managed to croak, his voice barely a whisper. The blobs paused, their excitement dimming momentarily, and the woman’s smile faltered. It was then he realized he was far from home, ensnared in a world that defied comprehension. Calming down slightly, he focused on the woman holding him, and her features came into view. She was a very attractive woman around her mid to late 20s with silver hair and deep blue eye's but that wasn't her most striking feature. Instead, what drew his eyes were the light blue scales that framed her face, and glancing down at her hand, he saw some scales covering the back of her hand as well. At this point, he would have normally been trying to figure out his current situation, but when he glanced down, a more important question had come up. In his current position, he could see down his body, and something important was missing. Where the fuck did my little buddy go?!?! Where his penis had once been was only a smooth surface and just as alarming was what was below that. His entire lower body was covered in white-silver scales and had no legs. Instead, it seemed to resemble an extremely long snake's tail; in fact, it was almost double his upper body size. He tried wiggling it, and when it moved, he mused in a moment of clarity that was most likely why he couldn't feel his legs earlier. The moment of calmness lasted only a few seconds before he immediately started crying while flailing his arms. The woman, misunderstanding this, brought his struggling head to her breast and lost to his instinct as a baby and started suckling. His mind slowly calming down as instincts took over, he realized that he had somehow become a baby girl, not only that, but he/she was some kind of monster girl,l lamia type thing like the ones that he liked in fantasy anime. With her thoughts calming as she continued suckling, she felt drowsiness overtaking them. The last thing she heard was a male and female voice talking to each other as sleep took her. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been about a week since she had been isekai'ed, and when she'd calmed down and thought about it, that was the only option left, and she still didn't remember quite how she had died. Every time she tried to recall anything in the moments leading up to her breaking out of the eHer, her head started hurting, and she got flashes of darkness as far as she could see, and some lady with a shrouded face smiling while talking to her. [....after.......will forget....everything....signed.....as you agreed...] - Faceless Woman She grabbed her head as her tail wrapped around instinctively at the pain and decided not to think about it any harder. In all those isekai anime and manga that she used to like before, the protagonist would sometimes lose their memory of the afterlife, so it must have been a situation like that. The only question she did have was, why the hell was she a baby girl!?!?! I mea,n in all the generic isekai anime, the protagonist would either start as an overpowered teenager. Even in the few where they started as a boy, she'd never seen one where not only did they switch gender, but they were even a different race. She glanced down at her body again to confirm the horrible situation; she was indeed a baby girl, just with a 2-foot-long silver-scaled snake-like lower body, a lamia, like she thought. Grabbing at her hair with her stubby arms, she saw that it was silver as well, and paired with her pale skin, it made her seem more like a spirit than anything. Wrapping her tail around her body, she started crying again, she seemed to be doing that more nowadays, and immediately, a woman with a maid uniform came into the room where she was staying and swept her up out of the cradle into her arms while rocking her. She also started singing in that same language as be, and despite not understanding it, she found herself drifting off to sleep again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been almost a year since she had been isekai'ed, and she had learned a few things in that time. First of all was the language, despite being absolute shit at learning languages in her previous life it seemed to be fairly easy to pick up on the conversations around her and to her in this life. As a result, she had learned enough of the language to understand most conversations around her. This only made her wonder what had happened to the isekai cheat language skill that they always seemed to have. Second, time seemed to be different in this world. Not only were the days longer, but the year was nearly twice as long. She'd learned that one by listening in on the conversations that she was able to pick up as her maid told her that her birthday celebration of birth was going to be coming up soon. Since she'd been keeping track of days in between soaking up the new language, she'd counted over 715 days so far with no real seasonal changes to be seen outside her window. She wasn't sure if seasons worked differently in this world or if she was in an area that didn't have seasons for one reason or another, but the room she was in never fluctuated in temperature regardless of the weather, so she shelved it as a question for later. Last was her family's name, as well as the maid's and her own. Her mother seemed to be somewhat busy and generally left taking care of me up to my main, but would come in to play with or nurse me at least once a day. It was during one of those visits that I'd finally heard both of their names as well as my own. [Is she giving you too much trouble, Annabelle?] - Mother [Never, Mistress Lily, Rose is a very quiet child most of the time.] - Annabelle [Is that so? Regardless, I'm sorry to push what should be my job on you like this.- Mother Lily [Nonsense, Mistress Lily, with Master Robert in the capital, you had to take over the family business. I would never blame you for that. - Annabelle [I wish Robert were here to watch his daughter grow up; he's missing out on so much.] - Mother Lily [The Queen promised him a vacation around Rose's celebration of birth, if I remember correctly?] - Annabelle [She called me on the image stone personally, but it's still hard to be without my darling Robert. It's so lonely every night after all, two full seasons have passed since he last visited.] - Mother Lily At the time, my mother had been breastfeeding me, but my focus was on their conversation, which was why I picked up on her blushing face as she said this and the mischievous smirk on Annabelle's face. Putting all the information together, it seemed that I was most likely the noble daughter of Lily and Rober,,t with my father currently being employed by the Queen directly. These were only guesses, however, er as it was far too early for me to start speaking. I'd tried a couple of times, some of c, course, but the only thing that came out was unintelligible nonsense, as I still didn't have full control over my mouth. Thababy'sby speech seemed to excite Annabelle, however, as she had made a squee noise and hugged me to her breasts at the time,, and when my mother visited that nig, ht they spent the whole time goading me into making more noises at them. I wasn't sure why it was so entertaining, but I obliged them regardless. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Four months later, I found myself in front of a mirror being treated like a dress-up doll by Annabelle. At first, I had struggled, but being only 24ish months old, I wasn't really in the position to put up much of a fight, so I gave up and just let it happen. Unfortunately, Annabelle was too excited about some important guests and didn't notice my dead, listless eyes as she held up a gothic lolita dress to my body to see how it looked. This being the first time I'd seen my body from a third-person perspective, I took stock of my adorable self. I was about 2 feet tall, 6 feet long? I guess if you counted my long tail that trailed behind me, sparkling with silver scales, and waist-length silver hair. While all of my features were striking, he most noticeable one was my eyes, they were two different colours with one being red and the other blue. I was, in a sentence, the most adorable loli I'd ever seen. We need to get you looking perfect for today's visitors. It's the Matriarch and her husband after all! - Annabelle [Matitark?] - Rose About two months ago, I had finally managed to get out some garbled words when both my mother and Annabelle were present, and since then, I have been practicing in my spare time as well. Of course, I still didn't know some of the language, hence my question about a word I didn't know. [Ahh, you don't know what Matriarch means, right? It means the head of the Anchier family is coming in preparation for your celebration of birth, in other words, your grandpa and grandma, Annabelle. [Gramma and gampa? Coming?] - Rose This being the first time I had heard my family name as well as the existence of grandparents, I was a little shocked but also excited at meeting more family members. There honestly wasn't much to look forward to as a baby, so any break in the boredom was welcome. [Y, yes, they are! Which is why we have to make you look adorable so that they'll fall in love with you like we have! Ahh, this one's perfect!] - Annabelle Still reeling from all the new information, I froze when I saw the most frilly pink and white dress I'd ever seen being presented to me, and I immediately attempted to run/slither? As fast as I could. Seeing Annabelle right behind me, I immediately wrapped my tail around the leg of a nearby table and held on for dear life as she attempted to extricate me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Oh, that looks adorable on her, good job, Annabelle!] - Mother Lily [It was a little difficult to get, on what with her squealing the entire time, but well worth the effort!] - Annabelle My mother, seeing my dress, gave Annabelle a thumbs up and both hugged me between them while making what I'm now calling happy noises, as I don't have a better descriptor for high-pitched squeals that came from them. I looked around while pushing them away and saw about a dozen maids to our right and the same number of butlers to our left in a fanning formation with us in between. Finally getting a good look at the room we were in, I realized that we were in some kind of vast entry hall. With two staircases running along the walls and a massive chandelier overhead, I could almost see the importance my new family must have, which made me more nervous than excited to meet my grandparents now. With such an important family, they would probably be the kind of nonsensical characters you often see in fiction. With delusions running through my head, , suddenly heard one of the butlers telling my mother that the Matriarch had arrived. My mother, still occupied with squeezing the life out of me, waved him off, but Annabelle stepped back into the line of maids, leaving us alone. A few tense moments later, the large archway doors swung open slowly, and a matronly looking lamia with red scales and silver hair slithered forward with her back straight, a look of pride on her face. Following slightly behind her was a human male about the same age and with the same look of pride on his face. My mother had finally stopped squeezing me like a plush toy and was waiting for the lamia I assumed was my grandmother to cross the room. Stopping before us, my grandmother? Glanced down her nose at me with a severe look on her face. I started shivering with fright at her expression, imagining her not accepting me or being the cruel type of noble from fiction. All that was dashed to the side a moment later as a smile broke out on her face and she rushed forward to hug my mother and me together. [She's even more adorable than you said she would be, Lily baby!] - Grandmother? [I know right?!!? Looks nothing like her father, of course, except that left eye- Mother Lily [I noticed that! Odd-coloured eyes like that are rare, especially in our race!] - Grandmother? Richard, you dunce, what are you staring at?!? Come and greet your adorable granddaughter!- Grandmother The human man who had followed my grandmother had been standing off to the side, his mouth open and eyes unfocused while staring at me, but his wife's yelling snapped him out of his reverie, and he immediately rushed forward with a smile on his face as well. [Sorry sorry I was just shocked by how much she looked like you when you were young, Dai.y, She'll be dangerous when she gets older...] - Grandfather Richard [We'll just have to fight off any suitors when it comes to that!] - Grandmother Daisy Looking back and forth between everyone talking excitedly to each other, I finally asked what had been on my mind since I saw those butlers earlier, and even more so now. [Different] - Rose My question caused everyone to freeze and look at me as one before my grandfather answered with a gentle voice. [Yes, honey, I'm what's called a human. Lamia are a female-only race, but I really am your grandpa, and I still love you even if we look different.] - Grandfather Richard [Ye!] - Rose I nodded an affirmative while smiling, which caused everyone involved to start another round of fawning over me while hugging me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several minutes later, I was sitting in my mother's lap on a sofa while she carefully helped me drink lukewarm tea. Everyone else was warmly watching me while chatting with each other with their teacups. My grandmother clapped her hands, calling attention to herself, then spoke to my mother. [So now that we have all settled down, is it fine to use Appraise on Rose before she celebrates her birthday so that we are prepared beforehand?] - Grandmother Daisy [I'm sure it'll be fine, she's focused on the tea, so now's as good a time as any.] - Mother Lily My mother glanced down at me and, seeing that I wasn't getting restless, gave the affirmative. I wasn't sure what Appraisala u,t from what it sounded like, it was probably something to look at someone's status or something similar. Although I was interested, I pretended to be focused on the tea in front of me, not to give anything away. Okay then, just give me a moment. I ask the goddess that birthed the desert and sculpted us from the sand to give me insight into the one that is in my sight! APPRAISE!] - Grandmother Daisy I unconsciously froze when she finished hr, pell? as I felt something cold pass over me, and a small box appeared in front of my eye.s <You have been targeted by Divining first-class magic APAPPRAISE.Do you wish to allow use?> I mentally answered yes, and the box closed as I felt something warm rushing over me. I briefly thought that this must be what magic felt like, but my thoughts were interrupted by a gasp from my grandmother. [T-ThisHer statementsss don't make sense, and her title.....?] - Grandmother Daisy [What's wrong, Mother? Is something wrong with Rose? - Mother Lily My grandmother swiped the air in front of her, nd a screen appeared in front of everyone with my name and several letters and numbers on it. From my positipositionas hard to read, but what was after my name made me freeze in a panic. Rose de la Amchier (Formerly Austin Johnson) Title: *************** 0 Years Old Class: N/A After a few moments to let everyone read the screen, everyone turned towards me while my grandmother asked the question I'd been hoping that no one would, as I wasn't sure how to answer it if someone did ask. [Are you Rose?] - Grandmother Daisy I froze trying to think of a plausible lie, but that was the wrong thing to do, which I would have realized if Iweres thinking clearlyMy grandmother's's eyes narrowed my grandmother stared at me, and my grandfather put his hand on his sword hilt, which I'd only realized that he had in this moment. At the same time, I felt my mother trembling slightly, and wet drops were falling on top of my head. [Answer the question I'm about to ask immediately, or we will put you through a hell so painful you'll wish you'd never even heard of our family. Who. Are. You?] - Grandmother Daisy [I-I is Austn, I was born in egg as Ros.] - Rose I flinched at the intensity of her question, with tears streaming down my face, and answered as best I could in my limited ability to speak. I was terrified that my life, which I now realized that I had grown to love, would be ripped away from me, and I had no idea what to do other than answer truthfully. [Reborn? So you're saying that you have been Rose since birth?] - Grandmother Daisy I nodded silently, tears still streaming down my face as I hiccuped uncontrollably while trembling. My answer must have been the correct one as my Grandmother's face softened immediately and she pulled me into a hug along with my mother. [I'm so sorry for scaring you, I was wrong. I thought you had stolen my granddaughter's body, so I reacted that way. Can you forgive me? - Grandmother Daisy I immediately broke into tears of relief as I realized that my life wasn't about to be torn apart because of this incident, nodding my head at her question, I felt another pair of arms encircle us as a group, nd realized that my grandfather had also joined in. With all of us crying like this, I hoped I wouldn't have to explain more about who I used to be after everyone calmed down, I'd find out soon how wrong that hope was...