When Tuff asks for the mysterious chest, Nightshade looks a bit perplexed and a bit abashed. “Was not expecting you little kittens to take the chest.” She pats the wooden surface once. “Unfortunately, my last sibling has the key and has been running a little late.”
Tuff grumbles. “Then why’d you offer it?”
Nightshade shrugs nonchalantly. “I never said you’d be able to open it here. Besides, if it was a mimic and ate you, I wouldn’t want to clean it up.”
Fluff’s folded ears go straight back. “Excuse me?”
“Ignore her,” Moss finally interjects. “I promise in the name of Whiskers & Wares that the contents won’t harm you.”
“Will it help us?” Tuff asks.
“Yet to be determined!” Nightshade claps gleefully as Tuff resignedly digs out the amount of coins that Nightshade requests. Moss writes down their order for the Invisibility Potion, noting it will be a few days before it gets to them, almost looking a smidge apologetic. Nightshade then dumps the chest into Fluff’s arms with a wicked smile. “Do send a bird on how it goes.”
Tuff and Fluff glance at each other then, and scramble as fast as they can out of the alley before they inadvertently lose any more of their money to bad purchases. They’ve only gone a block before they hear someone calling their names. They both perk up as they recognize Ash…. or as he asked to be called, Stabby.
The green-and-blue-eyed cat saunters up with a grin. “Hello fabulous friends! Why did you ever let Gray have all of that catnip? You know how bad he is with that stuff.”
Fluff winces regretfully. “Thanks for looking after him. Has he calmed down?”
“Only after telling your sister he’d catch all the mice in Hississippi for her.” Fluff mutters something that sounds distinctly like ‘Oh dear.’ “Heh, he also talked a tall tail about how some crazy meow in the store apparently bought all of the fancy catnip and needed a carriage to pull it away. Can’t quite tell if he was serious or hallucinating the whole thing.”
Fluff shakes her head. “Speaking of my twin, where is she, Stabby? You know her bad spending habits when–”
Tuff lets out a weird guffaw before pointing at a small cat running toward them. “Too late, here comes Floof!”
This new cat comes bounding in holding a red ball of yarn in her hands, motioning excitedly. Her tail is swishing with her enthusiasm, and as she waves energetically, magic begins to flow out of her in rainbow ribbons, the colors clearly showing her happy mood. She gestures at Fluff, offering up the red yarn.
Fluff frowns as she takes it, then passes it to Tuff. “Floof, who did you buy this from?” Her eyes narrow and Floof’s eyes lower. “You spent your money at a booth like that?” Stabby and Tuff glance at each other, then back to the yarn. They had long since gotten used to the one-sided conversations. “It cost how much?!”
Tuff sighs, turning over the red string and tugging at the end. “How many meals did this yarn bundle cost?”
“Like a month–” Tuff drops the yarn in surprise, “–and a half,” Fluff fumes.
Stabby pats Floof on the head. “Sorry gal, we need to get some new equipment. We should try to return it – or try to sell it to someone looking for a gift.”
Tuff picks up the yarn again and dusts it off. “Maybe Nightshade would be interested in it… maybe she could place a curse on it or something.”
Vote above!
It's honestly a little amusing to watch this story go haywire. Two logical options? No, chaos. Why not chaos?
I promise that (almost) all choices do, in fact, impact the story in fairly large ways -- it won't always be an immediate impact on the story, much like a real DnD/RPG campaign, and you'll see where they lead eventually. Things are about to get incredibly dramatic real soon. Clearly I wanted to be a bard class with this storytelling. :P
This marks 14 main cats unlocked, and two filler pins! More filler pins soon, promise! :D
