Chapter 384 – Officially joining
Chloe had learned much more about her early years in the new world and wasn't necessarily happy about everything. She found out that Mira had actually played a way bigger role as her other mother in her life, especially in the earlier years of which she, thanks to having been a baby, had no memories of. In some way, she was happy that the teal fox loved her this much and tried to spend as much time as she could with her while growing up. Still, she was mainly angry that her mothers decided not to tell her about being the daughter of the overseer to protect her, which, in the end, only meant robbing her of one of her mothers. Once she was able to retain her memories, Mira hadn't shown herself to the girl anymore so that she didn't face any unnecessary public attention.
The two mother foxes now had a lot of work to do to regain her favor. To help with that even the slightest bit, Chloe made her mothers change their form. Unfortunately, Fey needed some training first, but Mira decided to show them her full form, and everyone enjoyed that very much because the teal fox managed to become even fluffier.
"I really love how much the fluff in our group has increased lately~." After everyone finished admiring the full form of Mira, the overseer shrunk in size to match Fey and the wolves, and the group went inside the treehouse again. There, Sophia seemed to be in an excellent mood while looking at all the members of the group.
“I agree!” Her sister had a similar opinion. “Chloe’s still the fluffiest, though!”
“Sure, sure…” The tiger rolled her eyes. “By the way,” She then looked at the pink fox in question. “What’s the plan now?”
“Hmm?” She looked confused. “Plan?”
"About my invitation to our group. You said you'd love to stay and travel with us, but only if your mother, err… Fey, that is, will come along, as well. Okay, you and Steph are now a thing, so… Uh, again, what's the plan?”
“Ahh!” Chloe nodded a few times. “Steph definitely wants to stay with you, too, so…” She glanced at the fox with the red accents. “It would be a shame if my mom decided against my wish to be with you and everyone else. She wouldn't make me part with my loved ones, right?"
“…” Fey went silent.
"That's some serious high-level guilt-tripping." Maya sounded impressed. "I'm not sure if even I would go that far!"
"I would never do that!" The pink fox started pouting while looking at the cat-girl. “I just mean what I said, and I would be really happy if my mom, who has been lying to me about very serious topics for a very long time, would try and use this chance to gain a little bit of favor again.”
“I love you!” Steph was just as touched by her as the cat-girl was.
“…” Fey paused for another moment. “I don’t remember raising you like that.”
“Like what?”
“Haa… Okay, what is this about?” She gave up.
“Sophia invited me to join her, Maya, Fenfen, Aura, and two more girls once they return to traveling and exploring. I really want to stay with them! Steph now, too, of course!"
“I see. Are there any specific plans or details?”
“Nope!” Sophia shook her head while smiling at Fey. “I just want to explore and see interesting places!”
“I feel like I’ve heard that before…” She glanced at her daughter. “You really found some friends to get along with nicely, huh?”
“Yes!” Chloe reacted with a big and happy nod. “So?”
“Well, it’s the same premise we’ve been following since you could walk on your own, just with more people now.”
“Then!”
“Yes, I do not mind. You already are the easygoing personification of chaos. How much worse can it be?"
“Aha… Ahaha… Ahahaha…” Maya looked a little broken as she started laughing. “Yes.”
“Mhmm…” The fox took a look at the very awkward-looking tiger next to the cat with the broken expression before facing her daughter again. “It’s fine.”
“Yay!” Chloe liked that. “Thank you! That will give you two extra points to make things up with me!"
"We're on a points system now?”
"Sure, why not?" The pink fox smiled at her and then faced the teal one. "What about you?"
“What about me?” Mira tilted her head.
“Will you also stay with me… us, to gain points?”
“If you’ll have me, I’ll gladly stay and make up for my errors as long as I have to.”
“Okay!” Chloe’s mood improved even more.
“Uhh…” Maya faced Mira. “So, that means you’re just going to walk around with us out in the open…?”
“That’s the plan, yes.”
“And here I thought our little group couldn’t catch even more attention. Having the overseer of magic might be able to make us stand out even more, though.”
"A-Ah.” Sophia only just realized that part. "No, wait, that's a good thing! That means all the attention will be focused on her instead of the blonde tiger!”
"Why is that a good thing?" Mira couldn't follow her. "I mean, I don't care, but from what Canir told me so far and what I've personally seen when I watched you, it's more than clear that you absolutely love getting as much attention as possible. Why would you be happy about getting less?”
“I do NOT like getting attention!”
“Eh?” She looked honestly confused. “Why do you do all the things you, well… do all the time?”
“Because I’m an easily excitable idiot!”
“At least she’s pretty self-aware.” The cat-girl looked on the bright side.
“It seems like you genuinely enjoy the attention, though?” Mira still couldn’t follow her.
“She definitely hated it in the old world.” Steph nodded a few times. “This seems to have drastically changed here, though. Love it, by the way.”
“Ahh, I see! It’s the remnants of her old timid self that hates it. That makes sense!”
“I think so, too!” The dog and teal fox seemed to be on the same page.
“…” Sophia decided to stay silent on the matter.
“The king’s head will most definitely explode when he finds out that the overseer of magic became part of the group, though.” Maya scratched her cheek. “Sophia alone already is good enough to give him an explosive headache. This should push him over, I think.”
“There, I really am happy about not being the cause for a change!”
“I think it should be fine.” The teal fox didn’t sound concerned. “Unlike Canir, for example, I’m known for wandering around. I’ve actually visited the royal beastfolk family many times in the past.”
“Really?” Maya sounded surprised. “How long has it been since the last time?”
“Visiting the royals? Mhmm…” She paused for a moment. “60… Maybe 70 years? 100 at most!”
“Well, that will be helpful for Menzor.” Sophia rolled her eyes. “He isn’t even that old yet. Uhh… I think.”
“Oh, right. I think it was his predecessor I met before. I’d say it’s about time I meet the current rulers. Don't you think so, too?"
“S-Sure…”
“I’m looking forward to be walking down here again~.” Mira seemed to be in a good mood. “Well, it hasn’t been that long since the last time, but still!”
“By the way,” Sophia looked at her again. “You said that you won’t give us any groundbreaking tips related to magic unless we come up with the idea behind it ourselves first.”
“That is indeed my rule. Admittedly, I do make some exceptions every now and then, sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident because I was having a good time and added more details to a conversation than I should have.” She glanced at both foxes before continuing. “You might pick up a hint every now and then, but I try to stay true to my word for most of the time and don't influence the world too much.”
“That sounds a lot like we just have to get on her good side, huh?” The tiger looked at Chloe, who reacted with a big nod.
“I can’t wait to play with even more amazing magic!” She came to the same conclusion.
“…” The overseer stayed silent on the matter.
“That’s not what I meant, though!” Sophia faced the teal fox again. “As an overseer, you know this world fairly well, right?”
“I know just about everything about it.”
“Is this also under a loose nondisclosure rule?” She tilted her head. “I want to know about every single interesting and fun place on this planet!”
“Same!” Chloe and Steph were just as excited.
“Ahh, I see! No, that’s not a problem at all. I can guide you to the best places in the world once we’re on the go.”
“Yay!” The pink fox and the sisters liked the sound of that very much.
“Well, that should at least act as a distraction for them.” Maya was a fan of that for her very own reason. “It also sounds very interesting, though. I’m looking forward to it, too.”
“I can’t wait for it!” Sophia was having a great time.
“Funny you’re saying that.” Chloe stared at her. “Who’s the cat that needs to wait till spring when it gets warm to resume her travels?”
"A-Ahaha…” She only reacted by awkwardly scratching her cheek.
“Well, in her defense, while I don’t care about the temperature, with the exception of snow, winter isn’t the nicest to look at season.”
“Thank you very much!” The tiger looks a little smug.
“You should still stop being such a cat, though.” Mira had to do it.
“I am a cat, though! Because of that, I’m allowed to act like one!”
“You are a tiger, my dear.”
“Tigers are just big cats!” The blonde started pouting. “And guess what! I’m pretty short, and compared to at least half of my friends, I’m on the smaller side, too! What is a small and short tiger? Right, a cat! A striped one, but a cat nonetheless.”
“…” Mira needed a moment. “Are you happy with that reasoning of yours?”
“Not at all! But also, yes!”
“I understand.”
“You do?!” Maya got loud while she stared at the teal fox.
“Not at all.”
“Ahh…”