Really Strange Stuff

=::= Callie's PoV =::=

"Intro's rolling now," Bailey announced. "We're live in thirty seconds."

My eyes flicked to the new screen we'd installed facing Serenity and I, so the two of us could monitor what was going out on the stream. Today's intro was a silly little bit we'd recorded a couple hours earlier, where I pretended to be confused about our studio's new layout.

Like at first I couldn't find the sofa, then I sat in Serenity's spot, then I looked at the wall instead of the camera. Meanwhile both my girlfriends kept correcting me and trying to point me in the right directions while getting more and more exasperated. The act made me seem like a bit of a ditz, but I didn't mind. It was funny, and I was sure it would get a laugh out of our viewers.

I watched it for a few more seconds before my attention drifted away from the monitor. I found myself purring with excitement as I looked over all the improvements and upgrades we'd made to the studio over the last couple weeks.

It wasn't a total make-over, we still had our same old sofa with the little end tables for our drinks and the stand for Sere's tablet. And the walls were the same old wood panelling that was probably put up back in the seventies. Our sofa was in a slightly different position though, to make room for the two big comfy guest chairs we'd added off to the left. Although as it turned out, we only needed one chair for tonight.

While the different layout and new furniture was all right, the biggest and most expensive upgrades had been all the new AV equipment.

Back when Sere and I started we just had a single camera on a tripod. And either that was fixed on the two of us, or she was behind the camera while I was alone in front of it. Then when Bailey joined us about a year ago, she took over the camera duties, but it was the same old gear. The first real addition to that was only a couple months back, when we added the foxcam so we could get Bailey's reactions while she stayed behind the scenes and ran the show.

Now in just the span of a couple weeks we'd added more cameras, and mics, and lighting, and monitors, and all the related equipment it took to run everything.

We'd upgraded our main camera to something with fully automated electronic controls, including pan tilt and zoom. So Bailey could position and focus it using her computer, rather than having to stand by the tripod and do it manually.

The next addition was a second main camera, which sat on another tripod where it was fixed on the sofa with Serenity and me. Next came camera three, which was identical to the second one except it was fixed on the nearest guest chair. And of course we had the foxcam on Bailey's desk. So now our foxgirl director had four live feeds she could choose from, depending on who was talking or who she wanted to focus on.

Finally the audio updates included a bunch of wireless lapel mics, so we all had perfect audio regardless of what direction we were facing or what we were doing.

I was still purring as the intro ended and the title card came up on the monitor. Then Bailey held up her hand for a second, before pointing at Serenity and I while the image on the monitor switched to camera two and my cohost and I appeared on the stream.

The tall beautiful ravenette catgirl got us started, "So now that Callie's figured out where to sit and which way to look for the cameras, why don't we get on with the show?"

"Good idea Serenity!" I grinned, while my ears flicked and my tail twitched. "Welcome everyone to our March stream, coming at you live from the RSS secret world headquarters! And big thanks as always to our chat mods, Gorgonz-Hola and Fluffkat -"

"Shout out to the Gorgon!" Serenity interrupted. "And shout out Fluffkat!"

The stream cut to the foxcam as Bailey chimed in, "Shout out Fluffkat! Shout out Gorgonz-Hola!"

Then we switched back to the two of us on the sofa again while I continued, "They'll probably be busy tonight, because we've got a heck of a show in store for you folks!"

"We sure do Callie," my cohost agreed. "I know our viewers are super excited, we've been talking this up and teasing folks for two weeks now without giving anything away. You all are probably wondering what's up with the studio as well, since we've changed things up a bit this month."

I nodded, "We've got loads of stuff tonight, some absolutely massive surprises in store for you viewers. So let's dive in!"

"We're going to start by asking y'all to think back about five months ago," I continued. "The date was Friday October twenty-first, twenty-twenty-two. Social media was going wild with some unbelievable footage that came out of a small town in Ontario Canada."

Serenity took over, "We've been tagged and messaged and emailed about that event literally thousands of times. Some viewers even figured out that the footage came from the same small town Callie and I visited last spring. And needless to say, RSS started looking into that incident the moment it happened."

"So how come we never did a show about it?" I chimed in. "How come we've never even mentioned it in all this time?"

My cohost lied, "Because we've been hard at work digging into the facts. And now folks, we're ready to share the truth with all you viewers out there."

"And for anybody who somehow managed to miss it," the tall sexy catgirl added, "Here's the footage we're talking about. Bailey?"

Our foxgirl girlfriend's face appeared on the stream as she responded, "Before I roll this clip I need to give you all a little warning about the content. This footage depicts the aftermath of a car accident, and there are injuries. We've blurred the worst of it, but be warned you will see some blood."

A second or two later the stream faded to black, before fading into a shaky cellphone camera clip. We made sure to get permission to use the footage, and the camera-person's social media handle appeared in the corner of the screen while their video played.

It depicted a four-door family car with the drivers side all caved in, standing up on the passenger side and surrounded by broken glass and bits of plastic and stuff. Sure enough there was some blood seeping out from around the passenger window and onto the asphalt. The audio picked up the sounds of panic, like some people were calling emergency services, others were freaking out about the accident. There were also some impatient noises, cars honking and engines running.

The view panned to show the big tractor-trailer that had hit the sedan, the truck had very little damage apart from some dents and broken headlights. And the driver was visible too, sitting in the cab staring straight ahead like he was in shock or something.

Then the shot panned back to the sedan again, in time to catch a petite-looking teenage girl stride up to the car. The girl had messy shoulder-length brown hair, and she was wearing a big navy blue hoodie over some dark leggings and sneakers. She couldn't have been more than about seventeen, she looked like a typical high-school student. Except this small average girl calmly put her hands on the car, and without any visible effort she ripped the roof clean off the vehicle and tossed it aside.

As she did so one of the occupants tumbled out. This was a tiny young woman, with bright orangey-red hair, two tall fuzzy fox ears, and three long bushy fox tails with white floofy tips. The small kitsune had been in the back seat, and she appeared to be completely unharmed despite how serious the accident looked. Unfortunately the two people in the front seat hadn't been so lucky. The details were blurred, but from the blood that was visible and the condition of the car it wasn't hard to imagine those poor folks were in bad shape.

Except the young brunette moved forward and placed a hand on each of the two injured people. There was a swirl of golden light, and the bodies seemed to disappear from the car. And two perfectly healthy middle-aged adults appeared in their place, standing there next to the wreck. The little kitsune immediately leapt up and hugged both adults as she cried tears of relief. At that point the stream did a cross-fade to camera one, which was currently focused on Serenity and I on the sofa.

"Powerful stuff," I commented in a serious tone.

"Absolutely," Serenity agreed. Then she looked to the camera as she continued, "And that was just one of a dozen videos of that event. There'll be links in the chat to the others, and we'll post links on our social media as well. We're not going to run all those clips here tonight, but together they paint a picture of something pretty amazing. Miraculous even."

I nodded slowly, before my serious look gave way to excitement once again. "One question everyone's been asking, and I'm sure you viewers are wondering right now, is who were those people? Who was that tiny kitsune girl? And more importantly, who was the mystery girl with the amazing powers?"

"Well strap in folks," I couldn't help smiling while my ears and tail all stood up tall and proud, "Because you're going to find out right now."

Serenity had a big grin on her face as well, like neither of us could hold back anymore. She added, "Rather than cut to another clip let's do something a little more special."

"Right on!" I was almost bouncing as I looked past her to the guest chair, "Let's go ahead and welcome Really Strange Stuff's very first live stream special guests, here for their very first on-camera interview!"

That was the cue, and Bailey had the main camera pan across to the left as it zoomed in to focus on the two people sitting together on the nearest guest chair. They'd been waiting patiently and quietly, but the little kitsune looked almost as excited as my girlfriends and I. She had a huge grin on her face, and all three tails were swishing around behind her as she sat sideways across the lap of her girlfriend, the mysterious teen girl.

"Hello Callie, Serenity, and Bailey," the brunette greeted us in a relaxed voice. "And hello to all your viewers tonight as well."

Despite looking younger than anyone else here, the teen was actually the calmest person in the studio. She almost seemed to radiate confidence, and I was positive people would be able to tell it wasn't an act. This girl was genuinely chill.

Serenity asked, "Why don't you two introduce yourselves? And maybe tell us a little about yourselves? I know our viewers are dying to find out who you are, and how you did those amazing things we all saw in the video."

"My name's Kaylee Holt," the tiny kitsune spoke up first. She sounded as happy and excited as she looked too. With her tails still wagging she continued, "I live in Canada with my girlfriend, we share a house with a few other close friends. I'm currently attending university as a first-year student, where I'm majoring in History. And oh yeah, I'm a three-tailed demonic foxgirl."

I jumped in there, "So you're not a kitsune?"

"I've been called a kitsune lots of times," Kaylee replied with a shrug. "I suppose going on looks I might qualify? But for the record, I identify as a demonic foxgirl. I'm actually a real demon, but instead of horns and a spade-tipped tail I've got fuzzy ears and three floofy tails."

"So you're a real demon?" Serenity asked. "Can you elaborate on that at all?"

"Demons have a bad rep, maybe you could comment on that?" I added.

The tiny demon shrugged, "Short version is demons don't come from hell or anything like that? We're supernatural creatures, but we're native to Earth just like humans. And demons aren't all evil either. Basically demons are like people in that way? Some are nice and some aren't, and you can't really tell which is which just by looking at us."

"Interesting," my cohost responded, "And maybe we could revisit this topic later? Honestly I'm sure we could fill an entire show just learning about demons."

Then she focused on our other guest, "You look like a typical high-school student, but something tells me you're much more."

The brunette nodded once and responded in a tone that was as calm as her demeanour, "That's right Serenity. Like my girlfriend, I'm attending college as a first-year student. And like she said, the two of us share a home with a few other friends. My name is Cassandra Underwood, but many of you will already know of me by a different name."

Cassandra turned slightly to look directly into the camera as she stated, "I am Kid Chaos. I'm the person behind those enchanted plushies that you've been talking about for the past year. Although it's been almost two years since I originally began distributing them."

Even though my girlfriends and I already knew all that and more, it was still a powerful moment to have her announce it to the public on our stream. And I didn't have to look at my phone to know that the chat was probably on fire by that point.

"Wow," Sere stated quietly. "If I may, I'd like to thank you Cassandra, for everything you've done for me. That plushie was a literal miracle. And I'm sure every trans person you've helped feels the same way."

She gave my cohost a relaxed smile as she replied, "You're welcome Serenity. And that's why I do it, that's why I've been distributing those plushies through trans spaces. I make them for trans people, although cis folks are welcome to use them as well if they like."

I jumped in on that point, "Can I ask why? I mean, why specifically for trans people? Not that I'm complaining, and I definitely don't have a problem with that. I'm just curious, and I'm sure a lot of our viewers are wondering as well."

"Of course," Cassandra nodded. Then in the same calm relaxed tone she admitted, "I'm trans myself, so I have first-hand knowledge and experience of what that can be like. I know what dysphoria is and how much it hurts. And while I'm fortunate enough to have a loving caring understanding family, I know that's not as common as it should be."

She continued, "So the enchanted plushies are my contribution, my way of helping people with dysphoria and dysmorphia. I offer an instant magical transition to folks who want it."

"Ok I understand why you want to help trans people," I said as I leaned forward in my seat. My ears were angled forward and my tail twitched as I temporarily forgot who and what she really was and focused on my journalistic instincts instead.

And in that tone I asked, "But I don't get the furry bits? I'm not complaining about them, but folks are going to want to know. Why do your magical transitions always include fuzzy ears and a furry tail? And why do they include the transformation into a cute animal first?"

The brunette shrugged slightly, "There's a few reasons I suppose? When I started doing this about two years ago it seemed like a good way to stir things up and catch people's attention. Hearing about a random trans person getting an instant magical transition is only interesting to other trans people, but hearing about someone turning into a catgirl or foxgirl gets everyone talking."

She continued, "I like to think it also helps people lighten up a bit? Especially older people, or folks who've been under a lot of stress in their life. Being able to turn themself into a small cute furry animal lets them relax and have fun in ways they couldn't normally experience."

"What if people don't want the furry bits though?" I pressed.

Cassandra smiled, "Then my enchanted plushies aren't for them. There are other magical options out there, people just have to keep looking."

"For what it's worth," she added, "I've yet to hear a single complaint about the demi-human side-effects from anyone who's used my plushies. So far every plushie user has been pleased with the outcome. And that includes you Callie, does it not?"

I blushed slightly and my tail twitched as I admitted, "Yeah I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. It was a surprise, and it was a bit of an adjustment. But the last few months my girlfriends and I have also had a lot of fun."

Then Serenity changed the subject slightly by asking our guest, "Cassandra maybe you could explain how you create those enchanted plushies? Are you another demon, like Kaylee?"

I found myself fighting to suppress a grin, although from the monitor I could see the stream was focused on our guests rather than my cohost and I. Either way I was excited, because I knew my girlfriend just gave Cassandra the lead-in for her biggest reveal of the evening.

Sure enough the young brunette smiled slightly as she responded, "What I am is a little complicated, but I can sum it up for you and your viewers."

"It's not entirely inaccurate to say that I am at least part demon," she explained, "But my alias 'Kid Chaos' actually contains a clue as to my true nature."

Then she looked directly into the camera again and stated, "I am Cassandra, and I am the Goddess of Chaos."