She nods. "Okay then. Have you ever heard of plurality? Or it might have been called multiplicity?"

"Nothing is really coming to mind, at the moment, honestly? But, uh- those names together do have- uh. They're suggestive."

Is Sable secretly multiple vampires in a proverbial trenchcoat? Somehow?

She giggles faintly and nods. "They are, aren't they? You might be familiar with the psychiatric condition called Dissociative Identity Disorder, which is one of the diagnoses given when plurality occurs in a disordered — and often trauma-sourced — way. The fundamental condition, whether disordered or not, is one of there being multiple self-aware entities crammed into one brain. Simplest way to think about it is multiple people sharing a body between them, and ideally they can communicate to some degree about who 'drives' the body at any given time — called fronting."

So. She's- heard about this. About it being a thing. Not about there being non trauma-sourced ways for it to happen, although apparently that's an option. Watched a few honestly kind of silly television shows, when she was younger. Even read some fiction touching on it.

It being more real than she'd thought of it being is- honestly incredibly interesting but right now her first question is, "So- you're plural, then? Did all of you mate on me?"

"And the gorgeous blonde wins the prize! Yep, we're plural, and the mate bond hit all five of us. And this, in turn, is the complication with the shapeshifting we demonstrated earlier. You see, it's not exactly shapeshifting. It's a power for making someone's body match what their soul needs it to be. It can't take into account instrumental needs or short term desires. The only ways to get a different shape out of it are for a different headmate to be fronting when the power is active, or for you to be genderfluid or have some other form of shifting written deep into your identity such that your 'true form' changes."

"Wait. Souls are an actual literal tangible thing that your magic system interacts with? Or- wait, no, you plausibly meant that metaphorically."

"I meant that metaphorically. No one has verified the existence of souls yet, as far as we're aware."

She nods.

"So. Should we be- doing introductions to everyone, or something?"

She really doesn't know how to- expect all this to work. Do they share memories? How different are they? What if she doesn't get along with the rest of them?

"Yep. We're co-conscious a lot of the time — that's when others are close to front alongside whoever's fronting — and we share memories, so it's mostly you meeting all of them. We think part of the reason the bond hit all of us at once is all of us saw you at the same time. Maybe everyone individually gets a date with you, so you can get to know us all more individually? It's up to you."

"The idea of all of you getting a  date is- I like it. I really, really like it. But, also, I feel slightly odd interacting with one person when there are four others watching who I haven't even properly met, you know? So- dates later, small introduction sooner?"

Perhaps even now? Wait, no, she should say that out loud, she's suddenly very impatient.

"Or, um- ideally now, actually?"

She smiles and nods. "Well, then allow me to cordially introduce Maya."

She bows sweepingly, already starting to shift mid-bow as Maya slips into front.

And a dark-skinned woman with brilliantly copper eyes straightens in her place. She's an absolute bombshell, busty and tall, nearly as tall as Sable, with wide hips, thick thighs, and a tight waist.

"Hello there, dear."

Her voice, now that you hear it, is smoother, a little bit like ASMR, or a lot like a late night radio host, rich and smooth and steady, with somewhat formal pronunciation.

"It's lovely to meet you properly. The shaping power is mine, I call it 'soulshape'. I help out with transitions for people in the know, whenever anyone associated with the Golden Empire cracks their eggshell, or brings a trans person into the community. Not all of us have our own witchcraft, only Sable, Neo, and myself. Sable's is a rich and magically-supported mental realm for us all to occupy when we're not fronting, and I'll let Neo show you hers herself."

She twirls in place, slowly. Her movements seem a bit more... sultry, than Sable's were. The dress is rather more stretched on her body, especially around the chest.

"Do you have any questions for me, before the introductory whirlwind continues?"

Oh no, she's hot.

She is going to stop staring at particular parts of Maya's anatomy right this instant and answer her question, actually.

That was definitely long enough for Maya to notice but she still doesn't want to embarrass herself.

"It's nice to meet you, Maya."

It is also nice to meet your boobs.

She is not saying that.

"I don't immediately have any questions, I think?"

She definitely noticed. She's also quite flattered. "We don't mind when you check us out. We rather like it, in fact. Although one of us in particular would blush rather a lot if vampiric bodies were capable of such."

Oh nooooo. She knew Maya would notice but she didn't realize she'd say things about it!

"I, ah- good. That is good. I suppose that does make sense, given the whole- mate bond thing, and the compatibility filtering going on."

By which she means that she in fact has a rather noticeable libido and thus probably wouldn't get mated to by someone who would dislike that fact about her.

"Just so. And now I'll take my leave, and introduce the lovely Neopolitan. I will caveat that she's mute. She works around it quite well with her witchcraft, however."

And then she stretches her arms high overhead, beginning to shrink and shift as Neo steps into front.

Before a five-foot-nothing girl with pink and brown hair and a white stream grins at Alethia, heterochromic eyes blinking at her. She waves playfully. The dress hangs lower on her shoulders, having been cut far more for Sable's frame, though not quite low enough to be indecent.

This isn't quite as bad as Maya was for keeping her eyes behaving themselves but it isn't helping either.

She could apparently not bother with keeping her eyes well-behaved but she doesn't want to end up precipitously Distracted during her first meeting with a group of people who are probably going to be the most important people in her life from here forward.

She waves back. "It's nice to meet you, Neo!"

She grins, points at Alethia, and then holds up two fingers — clearly "you too". 

Then she conjures a hand sign in her right hand.

I really like sparring, so if you do decide to turn I'm really looking forward to maybe teaching you to fight, if you're interested, and then having other kinds of fun after~

She waggles her eyebrows just as Alethia finishes reading the sign.

Her attempt to keep her mind out of the gutter has been ruthlessly sabotaged. Clearly Neo is Evil.

"I will. Um- probably take you up on that."

In both senses. 

She grins eagerly, and just a bit lewdly, and turns the sign around. The backside reads:

Oh good~

Any questions before the next headmate?

Honestly, the impish lewdness is kind of- comforting, somehow? She feels safe.

"How does that work? The- making things, changing things. How far does that extend?"

She turns the sign around again. The front has been changed.

I make physically tangible illusions. They're basically hardlight, and somewhat fragile. A good hit breaks them. I can control them remotely, and fine-tune the texture if I'm careful. As for how far...

She points behind Alethia. When she turns around, there's a picket sign standing on a little stand, a hundred meters in front of Neo.

This far!

(100m)