She chuckles. "That's not a fantasy we can relate to at all, no ma'am," she snarks.

She giggles.

This is weird, but... 

Who is she to stop Sable/Hailey from living her... their? Best life? If she can be a girl then Sable can be two, sure. It's not like she's never had alts before. 

She smiles. "Any questions for us? Including ones about plurality?"

"I mean, I guess... How does it work day to day for you?"

"We basically time-share a life. We have different but overlapping hobbies and interests, similar tastes in partners, and all five of us love each other. So we cooperate. We talk about when we want to switch in, we banter internally about shit that happens, we support each other when shit sucks, and we try not to interfere with each other's romances — although usually Sable winds up taking the lead on those, and the rest of us gradually get to know them if we think it might work out."

She shrugs. "Outside of banter, any given day sees one or two of us, typically. For stuff we'll have to share, like our CORA build, we try to find a compromise. Maya would've wanted a bombardment tank if we could have separate builds, Ruby would've picked something speedy with pinpoint DPS, I probably would've picked a lightning-biased ranger/archer, etc."

"I see..."

... she should already know this, but it's been a long time since she read, and it's different to have someone she actually knows tell her about it. 

"... sounds complicated."

She shrugs. "It is. But we all ended up together because we love each other, so we wouldn't trade it. Not all systems are as lucky as we are."

"That sounds like quite the story."

She nods. "We dabble in writing as well. Fanfic, mainly. Sable always had the potential for plurality, but she was suppressing it for various reasons. But gradually, one after another, the girls she shipped herself with from various self-insert fics she outlined and started writing wound up living in her head rent-free. Gradually the outlines of the stories shifted to versions that had all five of us together. And here we are now."

"Aw. That's kind of cute."

"We like to think so," she replies with a smile. "As far as practical things you need to know: we'll all definitely try to get to know you and probably date you, we won't interrupt explicitly blocked out or otherwise private time like dates or sex unless something is meaningfully wrong, and we actually appreciate requests for time with individual system members. Any other questions?"

"Ummmmm... nothing else immediately comes to mind..."

"Standing offer, then. For now, on to the goats."

Was that an indefinably demonic-sounding bleat over the next ridge?

Hyacinth goes down to all fours, holding her staff close on to her body. 

"Okay," she says softly. "Demonic goats, soon to be encountered."

She shimmies up to the ridge's edge and looks over. 

Hailey scoots along the ridge next to her, just far enough to easily avoid touching.

Down below them are a herd of about fifteen goats. Their eyes are red, their horns are black, and black veins are visible along any exposed skin.

"Goats," Hyacinth mutters. "Why did they have to be goats."

She looks over at Hailey. "Normally I'd start casting and hope to force them around the ridge, but they'll almost definitely just come right up it. Getting caught in the middle of that herd sounds like a bad time."

She taps her fingers together. "If we use the ridge I can throw them back down it with Repel, but not if you're right next to me. It's an omnidirectional burst, it'll toss you just as much as them. If I set up Glue and fire on the approach we might be okay, but overall this is tricky. Have any ideas?"

"Bothered by goats?", she asks with a raised eyebrow. "As for the plan, if we time it right I can take advantage of your repel for an extra boost to launch me past them. I'll pull demon-mode out and jump off just before you cast, then pin them against the ridge."

"Just bothered by the climbing skills they've got as goats. This'd be easy if they couldn't come up the ridge."

She concentrates. "I want to lay Glue down first. Ready in case they spot it?"

She summons and flares her wings, horns arcing over her head, tail twisting out behind her, complexion washing out, then braces to be ready to leap.

"Ready."

She casts, laying down the slowing field on the approach to the ridge. She makes sure to exempt Hailey from it as well.

Glue is not a very flashy or loud spell, but it's not invisible. A couple goats wander toward the field to check it out, bleating cautiously.

She focuses, aims for the main mass of goats, and throws a Flare right into the most densely packed area.

Much angry and panicked bleating ensues! They flee away from the fire, and charge toward the adventurers as the obvious source of the attack! Most of them get stalled in the glue field, but a few started far enough out that their path toward the ridge takes them just outside the edges of it. Those few start up the ridge toward Hyacinth and Hailey.