Otherworldly Friends (Patreon)

"A whole bunch of them came tumbling through that portal thing of yours! Right into your room, of all places! So I brought them out to town, showed them the sights, you know?"

"Aunt, I don't-"

"Man they could drink too! Auntie hasn't let loose in quite a while, so even I, who used to be quite the party girl when I was younger, had a hard time keeping pace."

"I really don't-"

"The rest of the night's a bit of a blur, to be fair. I remember I had a very good time, though! You should invite them agai-"

"Aunt! I don't have any kind of portal machine in my room."

A moment of silence fell over the two of them, Cass having stopped stirring the sugar into her coffee to, for the first time since she began her rant, meet Hiro's gaze.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have anything that opens up interdimensional portals or whatever in my room. For starters, that would be insanely hazardous-"

"So who were these creature-men?"

Hiro paused, throwing a glance over his shoulder and, realizing there was a couple having an afternoon date over in the corner of the café, leaned in with a hushed voice.

"Probably some kind of infiltrators... invaders, even."

"Oh..."

She stared at him, blankly, for a moment.

"... They seemed nice."

"Look, I gotta get this info to the others, we'll have to mobilize and-"

Her hand flashed over to grab his arm, coffee almost spilling from the frantic motion, and he looked up at her slightly flushed face in surprise.

"Hiro, if... uh, if you end up fighting these men, then don't... uhm... don't listen to what they say about your auntie, alright? They're just trying to provoke you, alright?"

He stared at her and then, after some time, nodded slowly, upon which she let him go with no small amount of reluctance - the young man darting out the doors of the café within seconds. Cass simply let her gaze rest where he'd been sitting moments earlier, absentmindedly blowing a stubborn bang out of her face.

"... I should probably go buy some Plan B."

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Angle 1:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/mediumorchidsuperficialasianlion

Angle 2:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/tougheasygroundhog

Angle 3:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/agilefirsthandanhinga

Angle 4:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/responsiblepleasantmarmoset

Angle 5:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/sickbrightlion

Angle 6:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/earlyextrovertedxoni

Angle 7:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/inexperiencedharmfulzander

Angle 8:
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/completeinexperiencedstagbeetle

Downloads:
EDIT (sound, small file size, sony vegas edited)
RAW (no sound, large file size, raw render)

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Cass finally gets her time in the spotlight owing to the Alley Crew vote! Some minor clipping aside, I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out, so I hope you enjoy it too :)

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and for all of your kind words! Take steps to shelter from the heat and keep hydrated at all times - the summer isn't nearly over yet, and we're all going to have to find a way to weather the storm. Speaking of, man we could do with some rain up here.

Take care of yourselves, and each other!
/DH