"If you lot are going to stay as guests, then you're going to clean up the mess you made." Janette crossed her arms, keeping her head raised with a stern look on her face.
Dimyri groaned and flapped her paws on her sides. "But it wasn't even us, Na'Vi and Nityri were the one's who made the mess."
One crossed look from Janette was enough for Dimyri to relent, lowering her head as she initiated by picking up a piece of wooden shrapnel between her paws.
Na'Vi rolled her eyes and scooped up a small pile of dust and wood between her tails. "Where would you have us place this?"
"Outside, for now. I'll grab a wheelbarrow to help ship it to the back. Maybe I can find something useful out of this and burn up the rest." She paused and kept an eye on Syri, the youngest of the group, as she quietly swept up some dust and bits into a small bucket. She hesitated and lifted it between her two white paws, passing by Janette, who followed her movements with a raised brow. When the Nekomata turned around, Janette was quick to avert her gaze and look elsewhere.
"I've nothing better to do, so I may as well help." Reta offered, running her hand over the polished surface of the dining table. After the scuffle from the other night, the table was left split in two with both legs on one end disconnected.
"That one needs to be chopped up, unless you mind tossing it out what's left of the window." Janette suggested.
Reta nodded and inhaled through her nose, closing her eyes as her palm began to radiate a soft yellow glow. Both of the Nekomata girls gasped as they watched this woman slice the table in one swift chop with ease, her hand completely unharmed with not a bruise in sight.
"You know magic too?" Dimyri cried out, catching their attention.
"I thought you guys didn't know any magic?" Asked Janette.
"We don't, but I know some who do. But none of them are Nekomata like us." Dimyri confirmed, approaching Reta slowly. "How did you do that? I've never seen someone make light out of their hand like that."
Reta glanced over to Janette, who smiled and waved her hand as if to humor them.
"In short, it's learning to concentrate energy into where you need it before releasing it like so. But if you're going to ask me to teach you, it's not something I show to just anyone."
"What, why not?" Dimyri whined.
Na'Vi scoffed and looked away. "Likely because it's something only they can do, to defend themselves and keep monsters in line. Monsters like us."
"It is an ancient teaching from my culture, passed through my people. It is forbidden to be taught to outsiders, but I made an exception for those I am closest with. You pair are but strangers to me, one's who made an attempt on our lives. A poor one, at that."
"Right, it's that level of underestimating which gives us the edge." Na'Vi argued, placing a table leg into the garbage bin. "But I respect that you use your hands for this, without relying on spears and swords."
"Only a fool trusts their live to a weapon. Better to arm yourself with what you are born with. Hand to hand combat is the basis for all means of attack and defense. "
"I see we agree to that. I have my own weapon here." Na'Vi smirked, flexing her paw to reveal her sharpened claws.
"Eehh let's put that away for now." Janette nervously lowered the woman's paw before passing her an empty bucket. "You two can do your little measuring contest after. If you both aim to compete, I would suggest you try and see who can clean up the fastest instead. Rebuilding and purchasing all of this is expensive."
She kicked around a shattered portrait when her foot made a distinct crunch sound. Lifting her foot, she squeamishly tried to pick the shards of glass off of the soot of her shoe. "We have toppled cabinets, broken glass, two of my paintings and the chandelier. That glass wall is like an open invitation for all the bugs and critters to come in at night now that you broke it. And don't even get me started with patching up the claw marks you left all around the walls and countertops."
Syri had just returned with an emptied bucket, tapping Janette's arm with her tail. "We're sorry about the mess, I went am emptied this bucket outside like you said."
Janette rested her hand on her hip, eyeing the girl as if she was trying to read her. "Actually, I've got a few questions for you myself. Starting with, why were you following me? You didn't just find me in my shop did you? So that leaves me to guess that you followed me from my home, why? I took you in, fed you, bathed you, even slept with you snuggled in my arms. Now I find out you were a Nekomata in disguise, and I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"Oh." Syri dropped the bucket, hanging her head and rubbing her arm. Her tails wrapped around her waist as if they were a pair of arms trying to comfort her. "I uh..."
"Hey knock it off! Mom asked her to follow you, so leave her alone." Dimyri hissed, standing up for her sister.
But Janette wasn't satisfied with her response, turning to face Dimyri instead. "Oh really? Well then may I ask why? If the whole point was to check and see if we were hostile and mistreating your sister, I would expect that you found nothing to suggest the sort. So what gave you the right to attack us even after you followed me?"
"Well, we uh..." Dimyri stuttered, squeezing her paws together. "We followed you here, but when we found our sister she was in the other house, the smaller one on the hill top."
"The cabin?" Reta asked.
"Yea, that one. We didn't see much then..." She struggled to come up with any words, flustering and looking to Syri and Nav'i for help.
Na'Vi was the one who answered her call. "We don't have a good history of experience with people we've encountered before. When you're used to seeing only the worst from humans, you come to expect the worst from all of them."
"So, what does that make us then?" Janette asked.
"Well, outliers." She shrugged, as if uncertain with her own response.
"But you were shocked when you found out about Felix. I've read up on how Nekomata pick their mate. They're very picky, but when they do it's left in speculation as to why. Some suggest their enhanced sense of smell picking up on the hormones of their partner, while others theorize that it could be something simpler."
"And that is?" Dimyri asked, her curiosity piqued.
Janette giggled and spun around, clasping her hands together and raising them to her chest. "My personal favorite, love!"
Dimyri snickered before laughing hysterically, her knees wobbling until they gave out with her cackling on the floor. Syri blushed and kept to herself, with Reta raising her head and questioning the response. Janette's face turned into a bright shade of red, stomping her foot down and balling her hands into fists.
"It may seem silly to you, but I'm serious! How do you present such a phenomenon such as when two individuals get together?" She huffed.
Reta shrugged. "Procreation, reproduction, passing down your essence and teachings toward your future children perhaps?"
"Not everyone get's together to have babies!"
"You mean it they're barren?" Na'Vi asked.
"Really? I would have thought you of all people would have figured it out." Janette groaned, shaking her head in disappointment. "Nevermind, forget I said anything. Gosh, what's taking them so long? Are they nearly finished?"
Dimyri shrugged. "I don't know, they've a lot to talk about."
"You can eavesdrop, can you not?" Reta asked them.
"We can but we don't out of respect. Just because we hear better than you does not mean we can hear even the tiny creepy legs of insects roaming around. It just means that we adapt to a more selective hearing." Dimyri explained, reaching for the toppled cabinet. Syri and Na'Vi huddled around the fallen furniture, the three of them nodding in unison before lifting the wood work back up against the wall with a groan.
Janette stepped in to inspect it, her eyes darting from one corner to the other. "Well, some scratches but nothing that can't be fixed. That's a relief, this one was priceless."
"What's that mean?" Syri leaned in with a soft voice.
"It's my mother's. I couldn't replace it even if I tried. She brought this from the country she's from."
"Oh?" The Nekomata reframed from asking further, scratching her head with a look of uncertainty.
But Janette turned around and noticed her expression. "Do... do you guys not know what countries are?"
All three of them gave back a blank look, leaving Janette chuckling to herself.
"Maybe this might not be so bad, if you stay that is. Sometimes I forget that it may be a small world to me, but it's even bigger to someone else."
"Assuming we do stay." Dimyri corrected her, sitting down to ease her sore legs. "We need to keep on the run."
"You've yet to explain to us why." Reta mentioned, looming over her with an intimidating glare in her eyes. "How is it that you have a Monster Hunter searching for you?"
Janette spotted a torn up piece of cloth revealed under the cabinet they had just lifted. She went and snatched it off the floor, turning it around to reveal a part of the poster she retrieved from the Farmer's Den.
Dimyri looked nervous. "Ah-haha, right! Well there's no real reason needed, look at us. We're Monster Girls."
Janette didn't seem convinced, rolling up the poster in her hand. "Can't be that simple. I know some who despise Monsters and Monster Girls, but it takes a lot of coin to hire a Hunter in pursuit of one, let alone several."
"Okay, well... we may have gotten hungry and stolen a few goods for food. And now the villagers got upset and took that personally, how's that?" She asked with her paws out.
"Well, how many hunters are after you?" Janette asked.
"Just one." Na'Vi answered for her, keeping her eyes fixated on Janette.
Janette raised her eyebrow and glanced at Reta, who nodded back in return. Something wasn't adding up, not since those men came to see her in her shop. Reta seemed to acknowledge that, having also picked up on their words. Perhaps they didn't know about those soldiers that arrived that day, but she knew one of them had. Her eyes looked to Syri on the left side of the room, she was keeping quiet to herself. Not only that, but the Nekomata hung her head as if she were ashamed of something.
"Hmm, well that's that I suppose." Janette scooted her chair back, tucking the poster into the kitchen drawer. She figured it may be smarter to play along for now until they got to know them better. Reta was right in referring to them as strangers, they couldn't be certain if they were being honest. At worst, they could be playing on KuliKuli's memory loss to their advantage, but she suspected that if anyone were to give any input, the cute one would be her best bet. But a small part of her heart ached under the thought of these girls being dishonest with them, as under normal circumstances she might have been thrilled and ecstatic to find KuliKuli's family. But now there was this looming threat of a Hunter coming for them, assuming that they're being honest with her.
She knew it would be important if she managed to speak to Syri alone, perhaps their shared moments together might benefit her in letting Syri share more to her or maybe slip up. No, she winced at the idea of using manipulation tactics like that. She didn't know what to do exactly, but she hoped they really meant no harm towards them.
The door upstairs creaked open, and soon they heard footsteps descending from the stairs. Felix, KuliKuli, and Emyri entered the room with a concerned look in Emyri's face.
"So, we talked about a lot. And, well..." Emyri hesitated.
KuliKuli stepped in with a look of confidence in her. "I've decided to stay and fight!"
"If you lot are going to stay as guests, then you're going to clean up the mess you made." Janette crossed her arms, keeping her head raised with a stern look on her face.
Dimyri groaned and flapped her paws on her sides. "But it wasn't even us, Na'Vi and Nityri were the one's who made the mess."
One crossed look from Janette was enough for Dimyri to relent, lowering her head as she initiated by picking up a piece of wooden shrapnel between her paws.
Na'Vi rolled her eyes and scooped up a small pile of dust and wood between her tails. "Where would you have us place this?"
"Outside, for now. I'll grab a wheelbarrow to help ship it to the back. Maybe I can find something useful out of this and burn up the rest." She paused and kept an eye on Syri, the youngest of the group, as she quietly swept up some dust and bits into a small bucket. She hesitated and lifted it between her two white paws, passing by Janette, who followed her movements with a raised brow. When the Nekomata turned around, Janette was quick to avert her gaze and look elsewhere.
"I've nothing better to do, so I may as well help." Reta offered, running her hand over the polished surface of the dining table. After the scuffle from the other night, the table was left split in two with both legs on one end disconnected.
"That one needs to be chopped up, unless you mind tossing it out what's left of the window." Janette suggested.
Reta nodded and inhaled through her nose, closing her eyes as her palm began to radiate a soft yellow glow. Both of the Nekomata girls gasped as they watched this woman slice the table in one swift chop with ease, her hand completely unharmed with not a bruise in sight.
"You know magic too?" Dimyri cried out, catching their attention.
"I thought you guys didn't know any magic?" Asked Janette.
"We don't, but I know some who do. But none of them are Nekomata like us." Dimyri confirmed, approaching Reta slowly. "How did you do that? I've never seen someone make light out of their hand like that."
Reta glanced over to Janette, who smiled and waved her hand as if to humor them.
"In short, it's learning to concentrate energy into where you need it before releasing it like so. But if you're going to ask me to teach you, it's not something I show to just anyone."
"What, why not?" Dimyri whined.
Na'Vi scoffed and looked away. "Likely because it's something only they can do, to defend themselves and keep monsters in line. Monsters like us."
"It is an ancient teaching from my culture, passed through my people. It is forbidden to be taught to outsiders, but I made an exception for those I am closest with. You pair are but strangers to me, one's who made an attempt on our lives. A poor one, at that."
"Right, it's that level of underestimating which gives us the edge." Na'Vi argued, placing a table leg into the garbage bin. "But I respect that you use your hands for this, without relying on spears and swords."
"Only a fool trusts their live to a weapon. Better to arm yourself with what you are born with. Hand to hand combat is the basis for all means of attack and defense. "
"I see we agree to that. I have my own weapon here." Na'Vi smirked, flexing her paw to reveal her sharpened claws.
"Eehh let's put that away for now." Janette nervously lowered the woman's paw before passing her an empty bucket. "You two can do your little measuring contest after. If you both aim to compete, I would suggest you try and see who can clean up the fastest instead. Rebuilding and purchasing all of this is expensive."
She kicked around a shattered portrait when her foot made a distinct crunch sound. Lifting her foot, she squeamishly tried to pick the shards of glass off of the soot of her shoe. "We have toppled cabinets, broken glass, two of my paintings and the chandelier. That glass wall is like an open invitation for all the bugs and critters to come in at night now that you broke it. And don't even get me started with patching up the claw marks you left all around the walls and countertops."
Syri had just returned with an emptied bucket, tapping Janette's arm with her tail. "We're sorry about the mess, I went am emptied this bucket outside like you said."
Janette rested her hand on her hip, eyeing the girl as if she was trying to read her. "Actually, I've got a few questions for you myself. Starting with, why were you following me? You didn't just find me in my shop did you? So that leaves me to guess that you followed me from my home, why? I took you in, fed you, bathed you, even slept with you snuggled in my arms. Now I find out you were a Nekomata in disguise, and I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"Oh." Syri dropped the bucket, hanging her head and rubbing her arm. Her tails wrapped around her waist as if they were a pair of arms trying to comfort her. "I uh..."
"Hey knock it off! Mom asked her to follow you, so leave her alone." Dimyri hissed, standing up for her sister.
But Janette wasn't satisfied with her response, turning to face Dimyri instead. "Oh really? Well then may I ask why? If the whole point was to check and see if we were hostile and mistreating your sister, I would expect that you found nothing to suggest the sort. So what gave you the right to attack us even after you followed me?"
"Well, we uh..." Dimyri stuttered, squeezing her paws together. "We followed you here, but when we found our sister she was in the other house, the smaller one on the hill top."
"The cabin?" Reta asked.
"Yea, that one. We didn't see much then..." She struggled to come up with any words, flustering and looking to Syri and Nav'i for help.
Na'Vi was the one who answered her call. "We don't have a good history of experience with people we've encountered before. When you're used to seeing only the worst from humans, you come to expect the worst from all of them."
"So, what does that make us then?" Janette asked.
"Well, outliers." She shrugged, as if uncertain with her own response.
"But you were shocked when you found out about Felix. I've read up on how Nekomata pick their mate. They're very picky, but when they do it's left in speculation as to why. Some suggest their enhanced sense of smell picking up on the hormones of their partner, while others theorize that it could be something simpler."
"And that is?" Dimyri asked, her curiosity piqued.
Janette giggled and spun around, clasping her hands together and raising them to her chest. "My personal favorite, love!"
Dimyri snickered before laughing hysterically, her knees wobbling until they gave out with her cackling on the floor. Syri blushed and kept to herself, with Reta raising her head and questioning the response. Janette's face turned into a bright shade of red, stomping her foot down and balling her hands into fists.
"It may seem silly to you, but I'm serious! How do you present such a phenomenon such as when two individuals get together?" She huffed.
Reta shrugged. "Procreation, reproduction, passing down your essence and teachings toward your future children perhaps?"
"Not everyone get's together to have babies!"
"You mean it they're barren?" Na'Vi asked.
"Really? I would have thought you of all people would have figured it out." Janette groaned, shaking her head in disappointment. "Nevermind, forget I said anything. Gosh, what's taking them so long? Are they nearly finished?"
Dimyri shrugged. "I don't know, they've a lot to talk about."
"You can eavesdrop, can you not?" Reta asked them.
"We can but we don't out of respect. Just because we hear better than you does not mean we can hear even the tiny creepy legs of insects roaming around. It just means that we adapt to a more selective hearing." Dimyri explained, reaching for the toppled cabinet. Syri and Na'Vi huddled around the fallen furniture, the three of them nodding in unison before lifting the wood work back up against the wall with a groan.
Janette stepped in to inspect it, her eyes darting from one corner to the other. "Well, some scratches but nothing that can't be fixed. That's a relief, this one was priceless."
"What's that mean?" Syri leaned in with a soft voice.
"It's my mother's. I couldn't replace it even if I tried. She brought this from the country she's from."
"Oh?" The Nekomata reframed from asking further, scratching her head with a look of uncertainty.
But Janette turned around and noticed her expression. "Do... do you guys not know what countries are?"
All three of them gave back a blank look, leaving Janette chuckling to herself.
"Maybe this might not be so bad, if you stay that is. Sometimes I forget that it may be a small world to me, but it's even bigger to someone else."
"Assuming we do stay." Dimyri corrected her, sitting down to ease her sore legs. "We need to keep on the run."
"You've yet to explain to us why." Reta mentioned, looming over her with an intimidating glare in her eyes. "How is it that you have a Monster Hunter searching for you?"
Janette spotted a torn up piece of cloth revealed under the cabinet they had just lifted. She went and snatched it off the floor, turning it around to reveal a part of the poster she retrieved from the Farmer's Den.
Dimyri looked nervous. "Ah-haha, right! Well there's no real reason needed, look at us. We're Monster Girls."
Janette didn't seem convinced, rolling up the poster in her hand. "Can't be that simple. I know some who despise Monsters and Monster Girls, but it takes a lot of coin to hire a Hunter in pursuit of one, let alone several."
"Okay, well... we may have gotten hungry and stolen a few goods for food. And now the villagers got upset and took that personally, how's that?" She asked with her paws out.
"Well, how many hunters are after you?" Janette asked.
"Just one." Na'Vi answered for her, keeping her eyes fixated on Janette.
Janette raised her eyebrow and glanced at Reta, who nodded back in return. Something wasn't adding up, not since those men came to see her in her shop. Reta seemed to acknowledge that, having also picked up on their words. Perhaps they didn't know about those soldiers that arrived that day, but she knew one of them had. Her eyes looked to Syri on the left side of the room, she was keeping quiet to herself. Not only that, but the Nekomata hung her head as if she were ashamed of something.
"Hmm, well that's that I suppose." Janette scooted her chair back, tucking the poster into the kitchen drawer. She figured it may be smarter to play along for now until they got to know them better. Reta was right in referring to them as strangers, they couldn't be certain if they were being honest. At worst, they could be playing on KuliKuli's memory loss to their advantage, but she suspected that if anyone were to give any input, the cute one would be her best bet. But a small part of her heart ached under the thought of these girls being dishonest with them, as under normal circumstances she might have been thrilled and ecstatic to find KuliKuli's family. But now there was this looming threat of a Hunter coming for them, assuming that they're being honest with her.
She knew it would be important if she managed to speak to Syri alone, perhaps their shared moments together might benefit her in letting Syri share more to her or maybe slip up. No, she winced at the idea of using manipulation tactics like that. She didn't know what to do exactly, but she hoped they really meant no harm towards them.
The door upstairs creaked open, and soon they heard footsteps descending from the stairs. Felix, KuliKuli, and Emyri entered the room with a concerned look in Emyri's face.
"So, we talked about a lot. And, well..." Emyri hesitated.
KuliKuli stepped in with a look of confidence in her. "I've decided to stay and fight!"
