Taking all but a single step into the entrance way and not even managing to pass the genkan-like section of it, Inkaro was pulled off his feet by an all too familial force of nature, one that he'd commonly found himself at the mercy of from the day he was born to the present moment. He was trapped. Trapped in an encounter he had no hope of escaping, the guy allowed himself to be physically greeted by his mother. As she tightly bearhugged her son, sparing no effort in displaying how much love she had to express, she hugged Inkaro, acting like it was the last time she would ever get the chance to do so.

  [Lephelia is a very tall, very fair-skinned, forty-year-old human woman with a very youthful appearance for her age; she has super curly and wild neck-low hair, pure silver hair that is tied at the ends into nine rose-shaped hair buns. Silver eyes. An extremely large bosom. And, wide hips]

  [Lephelia is wearing a hip-low, woolly, pale cyan hoodie. Her hoodie is also triple the density of normal winter coats. A platinum ring, on her left ring finger, encrested with a rose-cut amethyst. Thick and fluffy white leggings. And, silver winter boots with pale cyan soles]

  "My. Baby. Boy! It's so wonderful to see you; it has been forever. Forever-ever! We've missed you so much; although, it's a shame your father is out on a work trip, had we known you were going to visit, he could have pushed back his trip by a day," Lephaelia proclaimed with overbearing flare, before she simmered down into harmless ramblings, not to disimilar to Inkaro when he's planning out magic projects. As she brought her son into an even more overpoweringly endeared bear hug, the likes of which the grimoire crafter teen had no hopes of breaking free from of his own volition, Lephelia simply couldn't keep her bubbled up ecstasy in check any longer. So with a second explosion of emotion, the woman had practically transformed herself into the living embodiment of a bouncy ball with how much she was moving and refusing to remain in place.

  Watching as Inkaro was whipped around helplessly, like a kid's favourite toy during playtime, by his mother, a certain dragolyte wasn't sure if coming unannounced was such a good idea anymore. Whilst his mother hugged Inkaro with all her affectionate might, Lizu almost jumped, almost forgetting how deceptively and unreservedly imposing the woman's physical strength was.

  "It's only been three weeks, mother, without in-person communications," Inkaro said flatly, which didn't come across as rude to his mother, but instead she categorised that flatness as her son's usual forward thinking approch to all that he hears. Seeing her son hadn't changed at all, it only made the mother that much more enthusiastic and delighted to see Inkaro once again.

  Getting her to side eye him at that comment of his, Lizu lightly coughed, in the sort of way someone commonly does when they realise they've said/thought similar things and only just realised how bad it sounds when hearing it from someone else's mouth. So with that hint of insight, Lizu went about verbally redeeming herself: "The fact you think that's a normal amount of time not seeing someone when you aren't in the middle of something that needs your full attention is certainly something, Aro."

  However, in her attempt to alter the course of the conversation from getting any more hectic, knowing Inkaro got his, rare as it was to appear, eccentricness from his mother, Lizu inadvertently made herself another target of Inkaro's mother. The mother of the grimoire reaper cooed emphatically at noticing Inkaro wasn't the only one gracing her with their presence. Lephaelia was absolutely delighted to see Lizu in person at any chance she could get, behind her own son or daughter, of course. She wanted to pinch the young girl in the cheek; it was the only logical course of action when greeting the girl with cheeks that had been thoroughly plumped up to an adorably squishy state that made her rival a squirrel when she pouted.

  "Lizuranti dear, what do I owe the pleasure~?"

  "H-hello, Mrs Lephaelia," Lizu stuttered anxiously, frantically averting her gaze, which proved to be a bad move as it gave the woman the perfect opportunity to bring the dragolyte into the family hug. So, like how the dragolyte would with Inkaro in her sleep, Lephaelia broke her ironclad grip on Inkaro for the briefest moment, before immediately following it up by swinging her arms around the two teens in front of her.

  Lizu felt she should have been more shocked by the sudden shift from observer to participant. But given who Inkaro's mother was, and how no-holds-barred she was when showing her affection for others, Lizu figured such a course of action was totally logical. That, and she didn't want to risk offending the woman by being unreceptive to her hospitality.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Now forced into the same predicament as Inkaro, if not worse, by the fact that she had to share the cramped space between the motherly women's arms with Inkaro, not that she really minded. But that calmness didn't last long when the girl found her ability to breathe in a sudden lack of abundance. Lizu thought she was about to pass out, utterly flabbergasted that a kid Inkaro could survive such overwhelming love every day of his life. She wondered if this was normal in other families. However, the abrupt and passionate double hug wasn't enough to dampen her senses from picking up on the world around her. Lizu weakly giggled when something occurred to her: Lephaelia was as physically cold as ever.

  "Maaaaamaaaaa! Stop hogging them all to yourself, they'll end up leaving before I even get to say hi to them!" a young girly voice voiced from down the hallway and around the corner.

  Letting out an affectionate, warm chuckle, Lephaelia released the duo and turned her attention to her daughter with a smile on her face. "Then why might you be hiding from them then, sweetie?"

  "Geh!" the young girl blurted out from her hiding place. The sound of her pitter-pattering feet was in full force, yet going nowhere, as the girl pondered over the risks and rewards of showing her face to Inkaro when she and him were within view of their mother, which absolutely would lead to her getting wrapped up in a deadly mother hug herself.

  Her thought process was as follows: getting to see Inkaro? Good. Getting the life squeezed out of her. Bad. Getting to play house with Lizu. Very good. Getting to see Lizu? Good. So she decided, the risk was worth it, even should death follow. So the pitter and pattering footsteps remained in full force, only now, the weak steps of their maker were slowly drawing near. And before long, the only other individual in the house made her appearance. It was Inkaro's little sister: Inoni.

  [Inoni is a very short, fair-skinned, five-year-old human girl; she has pale beige hair with silver ends that vaguely resemble calm ocean waves. And, pale violet to silver gradient eyes(it starts as pale violet on the edge of the iris but gets more silver as it gets closer to her pupil)]

  [Inoni is wearing: a white jacket with a pale golden inside and very deep pockets. A black dress with a deep pink pattern on it that makes the dress look like it is made of dragon scales. Deep pink tights with the same pattern as her dress, but with white thread. And, pale golden sandals with a white foot strap]

  "Hi..., bro...," Inoni whispered that barely broke past a squeaking sound. Her voice had done a complete one-eighty. Gone was her shouting, forcibly replaced by the timid one she now sported as she was observed directly. That was about all she could muster before turning tail and booking it back to her hiding spot, and with it, her verbal onslaught began: "Why didn't you tell me you were going to visit? What is the academy like? Will I be an auntie soon? Does Lizuri want to play with me? Can you help me with my homework? Lizuri isn't too busy to play, is she? Did you finish that thing you mentioned over the phone?"

  "Aww, can't you tell she missed you?" Lephaelia said playfully as she lightly clapped her hands, feeling plenty satisfied that her daughter was able to voice her opinions so freely and in her own way. Inkaro peered to his mother before towards the spot where he'd heard Inoni's voice originate from. Not once did his expression deviate from inquisitive deduction, knowing logically that his mother was hinting at something, but couldn't grasp the what behind her actions. Seeing her initial push for the boy to interact with his sister didn't have the intended effect, Lephaelia decided a more direct method was in order. So, with a light shine to her smile, a plan popped into the mother's mind. "Inkaro dear, why don't you see about entertaining Inoni while me and Lizuranti have a little girl talk?"

  Lizu flinched, full body over, as her tail went stiffer than stone. She wasn't entirely sure where the sudden sense of forboding dread popped into her mind from, but her logical brain was convinced it wasn't from Lephaelia. After all, she was Inkaro's loving mother, but her gut feeling was screaming at her to book it, if she cared for her sanity to remain intact, of course.

  Nodding his head, Inkaro obliged, knowing the sanctity of 'girl talk' wasn't something he should intrude in on. For his own sake, anyway. So with Lizu nervously waving him off, Inkaro marched off down the hall, with the sound of Inoni skipping away as the tempo behind her movements indicating abrihensive. Left alone with the guy's mother, Lizu's slow waving petered off into rigid finger twitches. Eventually, from her nerves getting the better of her, Lizu shakely raised her to meet the motherly woman's opressively heart-felt gaze, before the dragolyte spoke in unmistakably stilted speech: "So... what did you need to talk about? Mrs... Lephaelia... ma'am?"