Private - Two Kittens | Page 2

It was a big space... but Milah wasn’t a stranger to finding lost things—especially lost things by her sister Lycia. She felt the hand grab at her, giving her sister a reassuring squeeze, before giving in to her please. They would not split up then, but they still had some marbles to find.

”The sun is still up high, which is good, we can put our Felis eyes to the test with this,” She was grasping, trying to find something to motivate her sister and not lose heart herself against the daunting chore in front of them. ”They should sparkle brightly under this sun, I’m sure out eyes can catch sight of them in this field if we put the effort in!”

Another squeeze was given, before she begun making her way into the field to search. ”Besides we gave out words as princesses; and princesses don’t lie, right Lycia?”

 

Princesses don’t lie, Lycia immediately agreed, though with a small pout accompanying her words. She looked out over the vast field once more and her shoulders dropped a little bit. There was a lot of space to cover, more than she had ever covered before in her life. But, there weren’t any trees in the way so if something jumped on her sister, she would be able to see them do so and could rush to her side if she needed to.

Okay, okay, she muttered, forcing herself to drop her sibling’s hand. She was being a baby, she could see that now. I’ll start at the other end and work towards you and you do the same, okay? That’s the best way, I think. And if something happens – if anything happens! – you yell out and I’ll rush over. She blinked and suddenly raised her hand to her face, obviously going through her inventory and skills. Her lilac eyes flicked back and forth through the various menus before she found what she was looking for.

Ah ha! See! Rush. It’s an acrobat skill. Lets me move twice my movement in any direction as long as there isn’t anything in the way. The smile that had saturated her mouth suddenly fell and she squinted. Provokes attacks of opportunity. What’s that mean?

Shaking her head, she forgot about it and instead closed out of everything. Turning toward her sister, she gave a thumb up and a wink before swinging her hair over her shoulder, the straight blond waterfall swaying a little after the movement.

Okay, we got this! Remember, scream if anything happens, okay. I’ll just be over there. After pointing in the direction where she was intending to start, she quickly hugged her sister, kissed her cheek, and scampered off to the other side of the field. It wasn’t that she was necessarily afraid of anything happening to her sister, she knew that it might considering the nature of the game they were playing, but she also knew that her dear sister could not enjoy her experience and quit at any time.

Then who would Lycia play with! No one, that’s who!

Glancing over her shoulder once she went far enough away, she looked back, gave a thumb up, and began to scan the ground, her tiny form squatting to swat away large clumps of weeds and flowers that might impede her vision. ​

 

”Provokes attack opportunity... I guess that means it lets you attack first since you’re rushing at it?”

She shrugged slightly, still not entirely used to the game but trying to think it over logically. It made sense if you were rushing in to be able to make an attack... unless it meant that since you’re rushing it left you open to attacks? Milah shrugged, deciding to worry about that if and when it became necessary. Some things were easier to learn by actually experiencing them versus pondering over the wording after all.

”I got it, I got it. I’ll scream reeeallyyy loud if something tries to attack.”

She stuck her tongue out in a playful expressions, returning Lycia’s hug before moving to her own side of the field to begin. One look back was given when ready, answering her sister’s thumbs up gesture with one of her own, before those honey eyes turned to the ground and started surveying little by little.

Hopefully the sunlight would flint if the marbles and make this quick... and maybe just maybe they’d be lucky enough to find them all within close proximity to one another.

 

Marbles were not toys that were allowed in their household. She only knew what they looked like from seeing the image on television and movies. She didn’t know why, exactly, neither she nor her sister could have marbles and neither of them thought to ask but now, squatting and swatting away large clumps of weeds and grass, she did wonder. Maybe she would ask her mom when they finished playing for the night.

Lycia shrugged and crab walked over to another patch of grass. Nothing there. She huffed in frustration, her cream-colored ears tilting back against her head. This was supposed to be easy! Why didn’t the marbles just…appear where she was looking? That’s how it worked in other games. Or why wasn’t there some sparkly…thing that allowed her to see better?

The little felis grumbled to herself, crab walking to another patch…and another…and another.

I’m not finding anything! she suddenly called out, her voice shrill and tinged with frustration. A few birds scattered into the air, startled from her sudden outburst. Do you think she was lying to us Milah? Why would she lie about her toys though? Wouldn’t she want them back?

Lycia stood up, sighed, and crossed her arms over her soft silken shirt.​

 

Marbles were supposed to come in different sizes... but even the largest ones would probably still be pretty small. The brunette hugged slightly after scouring her side slowly, tail twitching behind the felis in irritation. Patience wasn’t Milah’s strongest suit, even less still in boring situations, but she really did want to help the children find their lost treasures.

An annoyed hiss left her lips as she stretched, trying to relax her muscles which complained after being for prolonged periods in uncomfortable positions. She heard her sister’s loud groan before she looked, a faint smirk tugging at her lips unconsciously.

”I don’t think so... I mean why would they—“ Ans then something caught her eye, a faint flint as a breeze passed by and ruffled a patch of grass not too far away.”There, Lycia did you see that shimmer?!”

She pointed towards the spot, closer to her sister by a foot or two, before starting to make her way in that direction. Maybe they would Ferber lucky and find all the marbles together... one could hope.

 

What? Where?!

The young kitten immediately whipped around, her eyes quickly scanning across the ground, looking for the bit of shimmer that her sister had obviously seen. But Lycia didn’t see it. She hopped forward, kicked a clump of grass, and hopped back. Nothing. A frustrated growl vibrated past her thin lips and she turned her lilac eyes toward her fraternal twin.

How are you seeing stuff that I’m not! Lycia whined, stomping a sandaled foot. Is it a mastery or something you took that lets you see stuff? I don’t see—oh! Hey hey hey! There it is!

Quick as lightning, Lycia dashed over to where her sister was standing, bent down, and scooped up the tiny marble. She held it between her index and thumb, a wide smile stretching her cheeks, her tiny canines visible.

Nice job Milah! she congratulated before holding her hand up and out for a high-five. I think we should totally work—whoa.

Over Milah’s shoulder, Lycia spied a bubbling mass that suddenly manifested behind them. Within its gelatinous body, there were two other shimmering marbles.

Hidden: The Slime Cometh

​

 

She’s was used to her sister starting off into rants and cute tirades now and again, a smirk lining her lips as Lycia’s eyes finally caught sight of the marble in the grass. ”No mastery silly, just observing.” Her tongue stuck out playfully, showing that she didn’t meant any I’ll to her sibling—just some playful bantering.

”One down and a ton more to go—“

She paused mid-sentence as she saw the face of her sister change, tilting her head sideways in confusion before looking back to see what had caught her attention. There stood a large slime, a similar shimmer in its body, and Milah clicked her tongue in annoyance before preparing her bow.

”I’m guessing these are the monsters you talked about, Lycia?”

 

Uh huh. I know this is a slime because they’re always in other games, but I dunno how dangerous it is.

Lycia stayed exactly where she was, her eyes wide as she took in the sheer mass of the creature in front of them. It was tall like them, but round like a basketball. Inside of the green…goop that made up its body were the marbles that they had been sent to collect as well as other things. Lycia could recognize a shoe, a sword, and…was that a backpack? How in the world did it swallow up a backpack.

Okay. We gotta fight it. Her voice was determined even though she was scared. Sure, this was just a game and death was part of the game, but she didn’t think Milah would take well to dying on their first quest.

I’m going to buff us first and then I’m gonna attack!

Sure enough, with her zills equip, Lycia went scrolling through her skill book to find the single buff spell that she had. Song of Battle was the name of the skill. She selected it, allowed the music to chime from the zills, did a little shimmy to accompany said music and then darted off toward the slime, her free hand surging forward in a punch!

…and then she got stuck.

AH! HELP!​

 

Slimes... she’d sort of heard about those in the past from her sister’s ramblings about games. They were supposed to be relatively easy and basic monsters in most games if Milah’s memory served her well. She nodded at her sister, taking a few moments to fumble through the menu before the starter shortbow materialized along with a quiver of arrows.

Milah had just figured out the strapping of the quiver across her shoulder, humming absently at her sister’s tune in harmony, before the sudden yelp andcrybfor help snapped her out of her own little daydream.

There was Lycia, her right arm elbow deep into the toxic lime green looking slime, and the brunette couldn’t help but snort in laughter at the sight before composing herself. ”C-coming, I swear! Gimme just a moment to figure this thing out!” Another chuckle escaped her as the Felis composed herself, notching and arrow before drawing back on the string.

Milah closed her eyes, took one deep breath to compose herself, and allowed her ears to hone in on the environment. They pinpointed the slime (and her sister), her mind focusing before her eyes fluttered open once more and series on the creature. Another inhale, and on the exhale the Felis allowed the arrow to fly unrestricted—attempting an attack on the slime as she tried to figure out the weak point of the monster.

Thankfully her aim was true enough, and although it didn’t seem to critically wound the slime the arrow managed to not hit her sister or Lycia’s arm Inside of the slime as it pierced their oppponent.

 

Lycia yanked and pulled and thrashed about in an attempt to get her arm free of the slime. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the arm and her lavender eyes kept darting to the side to see her health and status bar and nothing had changed. There was no debuff and she wasn’t loosing health. Maybe she was panicking for no reason? But then she felt it, the tingling that started in her finger tips and was slowing working through her hand and into her arm.

Paralysis! It was going to paralyze her and then eat her and she was going to leave her sister all alone because she accidentally died fighting a stupid slime. So, with that in mind, she began to pull and yank and thrash harder, her breaths coming forth in tiny puffs of air. She was getting lightheaded.

Help Milah, help! It’s gonna paralyze me and then I’m gonna die!

As if on cue, one of Milah’s arrows whizzed past her and sunk into the gelatinous body of the slime. Slowly, the arrow was sucked into the body of the slime and consumed, tiny shards of wood floating around inside of the body.

Lycia began to scream.

It ate the arrow! It ate the arrow! Help! Help me!!​

 

The arrow did... nothing?

She wasn’t entirely sure of what was going on, but her sister was still stuck to the slime who seemed to not have reacted much—if anything—from being hit with an attack. The Felis snorted in frustration, placing her bow away before rushing towards her sister.

”Well that didn’t do shit, how do we kill it Lycia?!”

Arms wrapped around her twin’s waist, the brunette pulling with all her might to try and help her sister finally dislodge her arm from inside the slime. This whole game thing was still pretty new to Milah after all, so she hoped that maybe Lycia would have other ideas as to how to deal and defeat the marble eating slime...

... after they avoided Lycia from being eaten too, of course.

 

Shouts drew her attention at first, female, young sounding screams of fright and terror, like maybe some npc was being attacked or was offering a quest or something along those lines. And well, as a character in this world now, it was only the right thing to do if she went and investigated, right? Yeah, it'd make her later than she already was to meet up with her friends, but at the same time if she was already late, then there wasn't much she could do to change that either way. Chances are they'd already left the place they'd said they'd meet her at or something.

She didn't exactly move with much haste or worry though, taking a slow jog through the area towards the sounds of panic and struggling. She could also hear some swearing too? Maybe? Her Yladian ears didn't exactly give her an advantage as far as hearing things went, so tracking a sound was no easier than it was in the real world. And in a forest or in the middle of nowhere, it was only harder than before.

Then, she saw...um. "Is that....Francine with cat ears?" She looked a little closer as another girl wrapped her arms around catgirl Francine's waist and started to pull her. "Is that Amelia with cat ears!?" Just what the heck was going on? Why was Francine caught with her hand in a slime and why were they panicking? She kind've felt like she'd stumbled upon quite the ridiculous scene.

Still, those were her friends. She stumbled into view, quickly flicking through her menu to check her skills. Uh, she could do this, right? They needed to get Francine free first. She outstretched a palm and a soft white mist appeared from it as she stepped closer, before letting that mist seep into the slime, around Francine's arm. She was trying to freeze it, like Jello or something. Hopefully it made pulling her arm out easier.

 

For a single moment, Lycia forgot the ‘monster is gonna eat me!’ plight and instead turned her shocked features to her sister. They were face to face by now, especially with Milah trying to pull her free, so the twinkle of mischievous excitement was clear within the depths of her lilac eyes.

Milah, you said a naughty word, she whispered, her fright turning to a giggle. Oh man, momma would whoop us good if she heard you say that! Does that mean I can say those words here too? She paused, the idea rotating slowing through her head, her ears flicking back and forth in thought. And then, as if she had finally decided, she exhaled a quick whispered breath. Fuck! Shit!

And then, suddenly, she was free! Wide mouth shock covered her face as she turned toward the now frozen slime, one good pull allowing her to free her arm and fall into her sister which, consequentially, made her fall on the ground. Was swearing the way to defeat enemies in this game? She hadn’t noticed an ESRB rating when she booted up the MMORPG, but perhaps it was hidden because that was the way to victory!

…Man, their parents were gonna kill them…

But, wait, no. It must’ve been her! Lycia’s attention slowly roved over to the new female face that was standing nearby, hand outstretched.

Oh! Oh! You saved us! Thank you, thank you kind stranger! Princesses Milah and Lycia owe you our lives! And, uhm, maybe a little gold? Maybe when we get some more. We’re on a quest to return some lost marbles to this little girl and her sister.

As if the words had sparked her memory, Lycia turned toward the frozen slime. The marbles still twinkled within its frozen gelatinous body.​

 

The pure look of dumbfoundedness that crossed her face was hard to mask or hide away, deadpan es eyes staring at the sister that Milah was desperately trying to free from the slime. ”Really Lycia, really?!” Here the blonde was about to be swallowed up by a monster—and whatever else that would happen inside the game as a result—and yet she still had time to be surprised because her sister said the word ‘shit’.

”Papa and momma aren’t here, so what they don’t know won’t hurt the—woah!!! Damn...”

It happened so fast—after all hadn’t Milah just been struggling to pull Lycia away from the monster with all her strength?—that the Felis couldn’t help but let loose another curse word as they toppled back and into the grass. A few seconds passed as Milah regained the breath that had been knocked out by her sister’s weight, before shoving her sister off just as Lycia begun to stand and move towards the now frozen slime.

Grumbling the Felis stood, patting off the grass and dirt from her clothes as she did so, before turning to the newcomer.

”What she said... thanks for the help and stuff.”

She eyed the other person for a moment, head tilting slightly to the side. Something seemed familiar... but Milah couldn’t quite put her hand on it.

 

Autumn pushed a small smile away as she watched the sisters pull each other free, or rather, she saw Amelia pull Francine free. Or was that Milah and Lycia now, respectively? The one with her hand stuck, Francine, had mentioned those names. And being princesses as well, but that probably wasn't quite as true. Still, which one was Lycia and which was Milah? She nodded absently, quickly flicking on investigation mode just to get a good look at their character names, distinguishing which was which with a small smile. Those were her friends. Fantastic!

"No need for thanks or gold. We're not done yet, after all." She pointed towards the partially frozen slime as it crunched and started to break, reforming around the frozen parts and slowly repairing itself. Slimes were an issue because they were hard to actually destroy permanently. Inwardly, she was wondering if this was supposed to be some sort of horrific boss battle or something? After all, how were people expected to just destroy something that would try to reform itself each time?

Well, maybe her frost was part of the answer? "I can keep freezing it for you two to break it. Do you think you can manage it, Francine? Amelia?" Maybe dropping their real names like that wasn't the smartest idea, but they knew she had this game now, right?