"You both look fine," Lilly said to Ty and Iphis/Ianthe as the three hermaphrodite Anacondas made their way through the internal hallway in a building in Los Angeles.
Ty, Iphis, and Ianthe all gave semi nervous shrugs at this as they pushed along the specialized strollers that they had for the massed collection young that the three of them had carried and gave birth to. For the moment the were quiet and weren't being fussy, which made things better while being in this apartment complex and away from Lyre/Animalia, as they didn't want to disturb anyone. But the fact that they'd gotten an invitation to meet Lilly's parents, who had missed the three eloping and the birth of their grandchildren, there was some unease of being in trouble with Lilly's parents. Even if they were open to things the way Lilly was, that didn't exactly mean they would be pleased with being kept out of the loop.
Lilly had insisted that they did know of her conversion to become an Animalian the three way "marriage" between them, and the birth of all their children together, but that didn't make things any easier for Ty, Iphis, or Ianthe. Both Iphis and Ianthe had learned that parents often wanted to know what their children were up to, even after they grew up. They may not want a detailed report on their sex lives, but knowing of romantic interests and meeting that partner before the wedding did seem to be preferred. Ty had generally expected this as well and shared some of the same nervousness. The rough carpeting of the hallway didn't help matters. It wasn't such that it hurt their belly scales, but they had enough tactile sensation that they could identify that it was of a rougher carpet design than what they were used to in their apartment in Animalia.
Eventually they came up to one door at the end of the hallway, which was the same apartment that Lilly had remembered growing up in. In this, things hadn't changed much with the building. With a deep breath she reached out and knocked on the door and then waited. After a few moments the door opened to reveal an older couple standing the doorway. The man wore blue tee-shirt with the word "Dodgers" written in white across its front with a pair of gray sweatpants. The woman wore a pale yellow blouse with a blue knee length skirt. For a moment the two traded looks between Ty and Lilly, possibly with some confusion which lasted until Lilly spoke to them.
"Hey, mom, dad," Lilly spoke, "it's me."
"Lilly," hir mother gave a smile and came forward and gave Lilly a hug while hir father also gave a small smile. "And who are these two?"
"Technically three," Lilly gave a small smile and then moved to introduce her mates, "These are Ty, Ianthe, and Iphis."
Lilly's parents both blinked at when Lilly mentioned the last to names, she referred to each head as though they were separate individuals, even though they were on the same body. However, Lilly continued her introductions which then prevented them from offering any more questions.
"And these are OUR children," Lilly continued as she gestured to the specialized strollers that Ty and Iphis/Ianthe had in front of them. Lilly then pointed to the ones shi'd given birth to, which she could practically identify by instinct. "These ones are the ones I gave birth to." Shi then pointed to a few others, "and while the testing was a bit complex... Horizon did manage to figure it out, these ones are the ones that I sired."
"Sired?" Lilly's father wondered, noting that some of the infant Anaconda Animalians weren't pointed to by their daughter.
"The "three" of us are hermaphrodites," Ianthe spoke up a bit nervously, "each with equal and functional male and female parts."
"Which some of our children did inherit and some didn't," Lilly added, "but we love them all the same."
"They look darling, dear," Lilly's mother spoke, "why don't you come in."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The interactions were much smoother than what Ty, Iphis, and Ianthe initially feared and that both of Lilly's parents did accept their union, even if it was different from what they understood. They also seemed quite interested and perhaps even happy in their grandchildren, who began to wake up in cycles after coming in. It had meant going through the cycle of feeding and diaper changes, which Lilly, Ty, Iphis, and Ianthe were all getting used to. The fact that all of the Anacondas were hermaphrodites and that each of them had sired children with each of their partners was something that Lilly's parents were a bit perplexed at, but there were no scary in-laws moments in the interactions. The only thing that appeared to be an issue was that Lilly had only told them by phone and by email about her relationship with Iphis, Ianthe, and Ty.
"You really could have told us more... dear... let us come to the wedding," Lilly's mother commented as sat in an easy chair next to Lilly, who had two of hir babies suckling from hir breasts.
"There really wasn't that much of a wedding..." Lilly admitted, "partially as our union is more than two and that all of us are herms. Lyre and Animalia have had no "official" problem with it... but I don't know on the State of Nevada... And regardless, we are happy. Besides, I'm not sure you would have wanted to be there to watch us have sex."
"It's not that, dear," Lilly's father spoke as he leaned forward in the easy chair that was on the other side of the couch, putting him closest to Ty at the moment, "but we are family... We would have wanted to be there to say congratulations, regardless of the ceremony."
Lilly didn't say anything for a moment and then nodded. Hir parents had always done well by hir, and it made some sense that they would have wanted to have that sort of meeting. Thankfully the lack of that sort of meeting hadn't hurt their relations, particularly as they also took some attention in their grandchildren, including those that Ty had sired with Iphis/Ianthe and those that Iphis/Ianthe had sired with Ty. The infants all seemed to be fairly calm with some of the extra attention that they got, and Lilly got the sense that hir parents were still a bit surprised by the number of children the three herm Anacondas had.
"And the little ones are darling," Lilly's mother commented, "How do you take care of them all?"
"Can you afford it?" Lilly's father wondered, as some of their decisions and lifestyle had made raising Lilly difficult in the past, "afford them?"
"Ianthe and I have good employment serving as a corporate mascot which makes very good money," Iphis spoke up, "and Lilly has worked with another Animalian with a sort of shop that sells..."
"Herbal remedies and alternative medicines for smaller issues," Lilly finished, "candles, herbs, and other things designed to help one stay calm. It's not as much as Ianthe and Iphis's job... but it is fulfilling."
"And we effectively take turns with all of them," Ty added, as the two that were suckling from hir had their fill, "and they are precious."
"Good," Lilly's father smiled, "at least you're being responsible, and hopefully you'll all be one happy family. In the meantime, Lilly, your mother and I have something that could give you some extra help..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The idea proved to be a storage shed in one section of LA, which Lilly's parents lead them to it. It wasn't huge, about the size of a small garage, but the fact that they were lead to it left Lilly a bit puzzled. The infants seemed to pick up on this confusion from their stroller and there was a chorus of "eehh?" noises coming from them in the background as Lilly's father opening the unit. The door slid up easily, but it revealed a lot of old things that Lilly remembered.
"What is this...?" Ty asked.
"Most of this is Lilly's old things that she," Lilly's father began.
"Shi," Lilly corrected.
"You were still a she then," Lilly's father answered, "anyway... things she left behind when she moved out. There are some things in here that we own too... but have no use for."
"Some of it might be things that we've inherited," Lilly's mother answered and looked to Lilly, "but as your father says... WE have no use for it."
"So... your reward for producing so many grandchildren... is to clean out an old storage locker?" Lilly asked slowly tilting hir head slightly toward her parents.
"We don't have the room for all this," Ty said in a low voice.
"You don't have to keep it, just sell it," Lilly's father spoke, "we can host you for a few days to sell everything as sort of a garage sale. And since most of it was Lilly's you can keep the money from everything sold."
"That will then give us more time to get to know each other and so on," Lilly's mother answered.
Ty, Lilly, Iphis, and Ianthe all groaned at this, as this would mean a lot of work in and of itself, and would mean they'd likely miss out on Lyre/Animalia's Mardi Gras celebrations and potentially Saint Patricks Day, depending on how quickly things sold. However, because Lilly's parents proved so friendly, they did find it fairly tolerable and since they also proved quite eager to shower the herm Anaconda's infants with loving attention, they agreed to go along with it. The sales didn't amount to much, as not many people wanted to buy used furniture at prices that would really amount to much, but making the sale was deemed more important. It was only when they got to the back of the storage shed that they found an old grey filing cabinet. According Lilly's father it belonged to his uncle.
Out of curiosity, Lilly opened it to find that it was filled with comic books. Some were relatively new, or at least were new in the 1980s and were kept in manila envelopes with written labels as to the comic and the company. Many of these were actually of fairly rare and obscure companies, and from what Ty found out were from smaller companies that Marvel or DC bought out. Some were from smaller publishers that were never bought out, but in the comic in question with the words "last issue" written in big letters across the bottom, the story seemed to resolve all the major plot points that were there. Of course, since Lilly had never read comics, she really couldn't say for sure. The biggest surprise is that there were also a few that were quite old, and many of these were in large plastic bags that were folded around the comic in question.
"That... that kinda looks like Superman," Ty commented as Lilly lifted out one of these.
"I think it is," Lilly answered, "though the design for it is pretty old."
"I think that goes back the forties... maybe thirties," Lilly's father commented as he bounced one of the infant Anaconda's in his arms. The baby gave a sort of hissing "gah" and tried to bury its head in his armpit. He jumped at surprise in that.
"It's okay," Lilly assured hir father, "I think he might be feeling a little cold and you're keeping him warm."
"But aren't Reptile Animalians sorta warm blooded?" Lilly's father wondered.
"We aren't as completely cold blooded as a mundane snake would be," Ianthe answered, "though that doesn't mean that we're entirely comfortable in cold weather either... This place here is warmer than Lyre/Animalia is right now... but it's still a bit on the "cool" side."
"First time I've ever heard Los Angeles described as cool," Lilly's father chuckled.
"You're doing good, dad," Lilly assured him, "Just hold him close."
"Anyway... I'd think if we're to sell these... we'd need an appraiser," Iphis commented, "if this goes back to the thirties or forties, humans may value them more."