BXBX NOVEL Chapter 835
*First off. I’m nearly old enough to be considered an adult. Second off. This is a trap. Third... I have no way to avoid it.* Lily could feel Kat’s mental wince at the third point, but neither girls’ face betrayed them. *Kat do you think it’s better to mention the time spent hanging out with Kamiko and Sue? That isn’t an adventure but... it could count in my Mum’s mind.*
[Well... Kamiko is Nira’s daughter. You can say you were there for a check up and then we spent time with Kamiko after. It’s even true. Kamiko organised the meeting specifically around your check-up. I think you should make it clearly separate, but that’s just me.]
Lily resisted the urge to nod... barely... but it wasn’t quite enough to supress all her reactions. Her ears flicked forward slightly and her tail swished... but Evaline wasn’t used to these new non-verbal tics so they didn’t raise any red flags. “Well... the first Contract I didn’t really do anything. I think it’s because my body and soul were still stabilising but I basically just slept through the whole thing. Not sure if it really counts as an adventure because of that...
“The second trip was to this city with essentially infinite water and we needed to help this heir deal with his love life. It was a little weird but Kat and I got to explore the city and it was quite nice to see. We ended our time there by flying around as a bit of a date. It was nice...
“And well... I’m not sure if this last one counts... but in between that Kat and I needed to go to the Hub again to get a routine check-up for me. It all came up good and then we spent time with Nira’s, my consulting physician I guess, daughter. Her name is Kamiko and she’s pretty cool. I didn’t really get to interact with her properly because I was still a cat at the time, but it was nice enough,” explained Lily.
“I see... and Kat... what were you doing during this?” asked Evaline.
.....
Sensing approval from Lily, Kat answered, “Well I was nearby when we spent time with Kamiko and Sue, just as I was for the romance thing. As for the first Contract I was participating in the Tournament I was summoned for,”
“I see... how dangerous is this tournament?” asked Evaline again, leaning forward slightly and pressing her elbows into the table.
[Hmm... how accurate should I be? It’s not very deadly to me for a number of reasons and Thyme would never let anyone die... but in general it is a bit deadly.]
*I’m not really sure. One implies competence while the other helps mitigate the apparent danger. Frankly I don’t know what would be more reassuring to Mum. That you can deal with dangerous things... or that it wasn’t actually dangerous.*
[I think I’ll try and go for a bit of a mix. Just easier to avoid getting caught up in lies that way.] “It depends on your perspective of danger. For me it wasn’t anything to be concerned with at all. The first round was a fire-fighting exercise but none of the flames were even hot enough to burn my clothes. Then it was a real life version of Ultimate Werewolf, or Mafia where we had to pick out traitors.
“We also had this weird funhouse with butler and maid ninjas we had to sneak through. My partner for that got injured but she was patched up quickly as well, before the round even ended actually. Then we had a fight... and then something that could vaguely be called a fight but was honestly kind of sad...”
“So you’re trying to tell me you were at no risk of getting maimed or injured?” asked Evaline.
Kat gave a ‘so-so’ gesture, “It’s hard to say properly. Maiming isn’t really a common thing in those sorts of worlds. With healing magic a lot of issues we still haven’t figured out how to fix are minor problems. Even without that my regeneration is good enough to fix basically everything as far as I know. I’ve been stabbed in the heart and then gone on to complete my mission afterwards,”
Evaline flinched back, “That doesn’t seem particularly safe...”
Kat shrugged, “Well it was my ally that did it so I wasn’t exactly ready for the betrayal.”
“You’re not selling this well Kat...” said Evaline slowly.
Kat shrugged again, “But it wasn’t a problem. That’s what I’m trying to get at. Even something so seemingly serious wasn’t actually a death sentence or even a source of permanent issues. You may think that sounds deadly but I don’t even have a scar from the incident,”
“Well what about Lily? She is not so sturdy as you seem to be and I doubt she could survive such a thing,” said Evaline with a harsh tone.
Kat nodded, “Indeed but D.E.M.O.N.S is able to pull us out of Contracts before they become deadly. Even if I wasn’t willing to put myself between Lily and anything that might hurt her, we’d be kicked from the dimension first. The fact that I was allowed to take those wounds is a further sign that I can handle that sort of thing,”
Lily flinched, something Evaline caught on, “Something to add Lily?”
“No Mum...” said Lily softly. Evaline just raised her eyebrow in a ‘really’ gesture, continuing to stare until Lily sighed and continued, “I... I just trust that Kat would do that... and I don’t really enjoy the mental image,”
“She’d be fine though,” pointed out Evaline.
“It still hurts though!” retorted Lily.
“Is that true,” asked Evaline and Kat nodded. “Interesting... but you think you’d still save Lily from anything?”
Kat rolled her eyes, “Evaline... I saved someone who wasn’t yet a friend from a fall. It resulted in me having to feel what its like to have gravel rash so bad the gravel digs into your skin. Then it healed and I got to feel it going back out again while spitting up a few lumps of blood and rocks. I’d do it again to. Pain is... well it just doesn’t bother me that much anymore. Maybe it never did,”
“Is that the worst pain you’ve experienced?” asked Evaline.
Kat tapped a finger to her chin a few times, “I mean maybe? I don’t really keep track of that sort of thing. It was probably up there. The heart stabbing was also pretty bad but that was more... a strange incoherent numbness? The fact I was stabbed there more than once probably didn’t help at the time. Hmm... what else...”
Evaline paled slightly as Kat casually brought up more and more of her injuries and Evaline started to realise just how crazy her daughter’s girlfriend was. Kat was continuing and Evaline gave a pleading ‘is she serious?!’ look towards Lily who just gave a sad nod in response. In Evaline’s mind she was starting to wonder if this wasn’t a harsher punishment then any she could give out already. She didn’t exactly intend this but every injury listed was like a hammer blow to Lily, her smile twitching lower and lower every time.
Part of Evaline wanted to call it good with that... but it also felt like she’d be undermining herself if she did that. So instead, Evaline decided to play an interesting card, “That’s enough Kat...” Kat stopped and nodded. “with... that out of the way. Lily. I’ll ask you this. What do you think is a fair punishment? I’ll accept your suggestion if it’s good,”
Lily winced, “Is none an option,” Evaline shook her head, “Of course not. Um... I don’t really know... I mean... you could ground me but I’d just read or mess around on the computer... you could take the computer away but... I don’t know that I’d care I’d just read or visit Kat. I mean... outside of extreme boredom I’m not sure what you can do now?
“Smacking me is an option I suppose... but I haven’t actually gotten hurt in this new body and I’m not sure it’d work... it’s also a bit awkward... hmm... I feel like something suitably embarrassing would probably work best. I’d remember it at least... but I don’t know what would fit that range. Like... walking around naked would be too much obviously... but putting my in something garishly pink and sending me off in public... I don’t know if that’d really be so bad,”
“Hmm...” Evaline mulled over her daughters words. “I think I know just the thing. See... I believe we can brush up on your sex education...”
“No”
“... we can even have Kat sit in on it with us...”
“Mum stop you’ve already gone over this with me!”
“... I’ll need to prepare some materials... have to be extra thorough this time...”
“Can’t I just opt for going naked? Or locked in my room? Bribery?”
“... where did I put that old whip?”
Lily turned creakily to Kat as Evaline ignored them both. “Help,”