Spooky Scary Relatives

Eventually Chloe had to go looking for her. She had other people to help with the food preparation - the 'family dinner' they had going on was catered. The food was all ready. Chloe's plan was for all of them to hang out and chat while they waited for everyone to show up, so Ossa's decision to run and hide was... tolerated, if a little upsetting for Chloe.

Now the time for their meal was drawing near, and Ossa was still hiding. Chloe decided that she should be the one to retrieve her. She knew the layout of the house better, and she could sense other demons, so it would be trivial to find her.

She felt Ossa's presence near the home theater room. She opened the door and poked her head in, finding the lights off.

"...Ossa?" Chloe said. "Why are you hiding from us? We all just want to visit with you."

Chloe smirked when she saw Ossa hiding under a blanket. Did she come in with that blanket? She tried to hold back her giggles.

"Why are you under a blanket? You're such a cutie!" She remembered that Ossa was part-reaper. "Are you cosplaying as a ghost and haunting my house now?"

Chloe was scary, now? It made sense in principle.

"I... suppose that's fair. But everyone here is pretty scary in their own way. Your mom is terrifying to most people. You're a demon spider and the daughter of a death being too, you know. That's pretty spooky."

At least she got Ossa to talk to her.

Chloe wondered if this behavior had something to do with Ossa's life as a recent hatchling, the eat-or-be-eaten frenzy. Was she even sentient, at that point? Living through something like that and remembering it would probably come with scars.

She walked a few steps in, struggling to think of a way to reach out to Ossa.

"I... promise that nobody here will try to hurt you. In fact, I spend a lot of my time trying to convince everyone not to be mean to demons like you and me."