Chapter 170 – Getting drunk

The blonde tiger found out that her transformation had even deeper consequences than she initially thought. Not only was she able to use race and world-specific things like the Blessing magic now, Canir apparently had lost some influence on her, too. The overseer confessed that he couldn't permanently negatively impact the native residents of this world, of which Sophia was a part of how. He was able to send her back to her old world now, but the blonde had no interest in that. Canir was still able to give out positive boosts, though, and Sophia decided to regain the ability to get drunk.

"A-Alright..." Sophia nursed the sore spot on her forehead while looking at Canir. "Am I really able to get drunk now?"

"Only one way to find out." He answered her question with a smirk.

"Oh, I like the sound of- Wait!" The tiger suddenly stopped. "By how much did you boost my enjoyment for alcohol? I'm not going to be smashed from the first sip, aren't I?!"

"Only one way to find out~." His smirk increased.

"Hey!" The blonde didn't like the sound of that.

"Hehe." Everyone had a good laugh. Except for Sophia, that is.

"I wonder if I can hold back my strength when I punch someone while being dead-drunk~."

"A-Ah." Canir's face turned pale. "I-I did it in moderation, okay?"

"Well, only one way to find out~." The blonde managed to pull a complete reversal on him. "Okay, let's give it a try! Nothing to lose if I get smashed, after all!"

"I'm not responsible if you overdo it on your own, okay?!" The overseer had a bad feeling about this.

"Let's see..." Sophia tilted her head while she let her arm disappear into the portal to the group's storage. "Fenny had me buy a ton of alcohol the other day because it's easier for me to carry stuff. As usual, though, I threw it in here and forgot about it. Ah, there it is!" She pulled out a basket will many different shaped and colored bottles out of the portal. "Sorry, Fenny, we're going to empty that today~."

"Fine by me." The wolf didn't mind.

"Did you like alcohol that much before you became immune to it?" Maya was wondering why the tiger was so motivated.

"Not really, no." She shook her head. "My sister mixed some cocktails for us every now and then, and they were quite tasty, too, but other than that..."

"Why are you this hyper, then ?" Sophia's answer only confused her more.

"You wanted to know more about me, my past and my... family, right? As I said earlier, I'm not emotionally ready to do that yet. Sober, at least. I might be able to cry my heart out if I'm drunk."

"I-I see..." Maya was touched by her motivation. "Thank you."

"I promise nothing, though."

"I'm more than happy that you're willing to try!"

"Alright..." Sophia grabbed a pretty small bottle from the basket filled with alcohol. She opened the lid, brought it close to her lips, and downed it in one go. "Disgusting!" The blonde's expression changed to a grimace in an instant. "A-And it burns! It's way too strong... Why would anyone drink this...? Hey, Canir!" She faced the overseer. "I thought you boosted my enjoyment for alcohol or whatever?!"

"I did!" He got defensive.

"Err..." Fen glanced at the small bottle the tiger was holding. "That's an extremely highly concentrated mixture that's used to spice-up cocktails. You're not supposed to drink it right from the bottle. Even I wouldn't be able to deal with it. It's almost pure alcohol, after all."

"A-Ah..." Sophia looked a little awkward. "Well, I guess you actually did boost it, Canir. Sorry about that. Without it, I probably would've spat it out, huh?"

"How are you feeling...?" Maya seemed a little concerned.

"My throat and stomach feel all tingly and warm." She gently rubbed the latter one while saying it. "Other than that, I'm fine~."

"Good. Is it working, then?"

"No idea yet. It'll take a while to get drunk, right?" Sophia eyed the basket again. "What's your recommendation, Fenny?"

"Let's see," He took a better look at the assortment. Once he decided on something, the tiger also got some glasses for everyone and plates for the wolves out of her storage. Afterward, they got comfortable around the campfire to have a drink or two. Or 17.

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"Say," The blonde was on her third glass of whatever Fen was recommending her when she looked at Maya. "Is there anything specific you want to know about my past?"

"Everything!" Her answer was instantaneous.

"Shtarting off easy, huh?" Some first effects of the alcohol started to show. "Canir, to get me in the mood... Have you, uhh... found my family...?"

"I'm sorry," He shook his head. "I haven't yet. I'm looking around, but it's kind of hard to get a hold of specific people."

"I shee..." Her mood immediately went down.

"Don't worry. I can't give you a timeframe, but I'll definitely find them." He didn't want to disappoint her.

"Thanksh... It's alright. I'm happy that you're tr-trying already."

"Drunk Sophia becomes friendly and honest, huh?" Canir wasn't sure how he felt about this.

"I'm druunk?" She tilted her head.

"You sure sound like it."

"Nothing'sh spinning yet, though. Might need shome more~." Saying so, the blonde emptied out yet another glass, and one more, followed by the leftovers inside of the bottle she was holding.

"Don't overdo it, Sophia..." The cat-girl got concerned again.

"It'sh fine~." Her speech was quite attached by the alcohol now. "I'm feelingsh like I'm getting talka... talkatatata... talkative! I think I can teell you a thing or two about my old woorld now~."

"Really...?" Maya wondered if she really could. Or if she can understand anything, at least.

"Yesh!" The tiger gave her a clumsy nod. "I guess I shoould start wit puberty? My childhood before wash really uneventfully."

"Please." Maya took another sip from her drink while leaning forward in anticipation. Naturally, she was looking forward to learning more about her girlfriend.

"I thiink I already gave a short explanation, right?" Sophia remembered the time where she first confessed her past to Maya. "I guess shome details would be nice?"

"As much as you're willing to share with me."

"Wow, puttiing it that way shure makes me sound like an-"

"N-No!" She interrupted her. "That's not what I wanted to imply! I get that you had a hard past, so I'm really happy that you want to share it with me. No, all of us."

"Thanksh~." Sophia was glad that she was so understanding. "Alright, let'sh get over with it!" She took a deep breath, and another drink, before continuing. "I told you already that not, or not exclusively, liking the opposite sex wash quite rare in my old world, yesh?"

"You did," Maya answered her. The wolves decided to let the couple be and only listened in the background while Canir already knew everything about her, anyway. "You also told us about how it's looked down upon by some idi- individuals."

"Nah, idiot's the right description." The overseer didn't think she had to watch her tone here.

"Yeah." Sophia nodded. "Well, bu… puberty hit me like a truck..."

"Bus." Canir corrected her, remembering how the two met.

"S-Shut up."

"Truck...? Bus...?" Naturally, the cat-girl didn't know either of those words because these didn't exist in this world.

"Err... It'sh a way of saying that shomething hit you really hard." She didn't want to bother explaining the actual meaning.

"Oh, I see."

"Anyway, puberty on its own is far from eashy already, but when you realilize that you're different from bashically everyyone you know, that'sh not good for you. At the very leasht if you don't know how to deal with it."

"I can only imagine. Here, liking the same sex is perfectly normal, after all. Still, yes, puberty's hard on its own already. Any, uhh... extra hurdles seem like hell."

"Ec-Exactily!" Sophia gave her another clumsy nod. The effects of the alcohol were more than noticeable by now. "I didn't want to bee different, but it's not like you can influluence it. Inshtead, I distanced myself from everyone beaushe I didn't want them to find out that I'm not like them."

"I see..." There wasn't much she could say here.

"In the beginning, my friendsh tried to approach me and find out what wash going on, but there was no way I could tell them. Even worshe, while I actually didn't feel anything for mosht, my besht friend back then suddenly started to become slightily attractitive. She also was the one who approached me the most after I changed... It was a bad combinination..."

"The thing you wanted to get away from, tried to get closer than ever before...?"

"Yesh..." The tiger nodded again. "I was happy that she cared about me, but it made the shituation much worse... The closer she got, the more I dishtanced myseelf... I wasn't actually interested interested in her, either, but... She was attractive to me... I couldn't deal with that back then..." She let out a sigh.

"…"

"I've became shcared... terrirified... My idiot self from back then couldn't deal with it, and I had no one for help, eitsher... My best friend made things only worshe... I was a teen... so telling my mom wash out of the question, and my sister was too young to get what wash going on... I'm sure it's hard to understand heere, because it's nothing out of the ordinariry in thish place, but it was impo- impossis- imposhible hard for me!"

"Indeed, I don't fully understand it, but... You told me how some people in your old world thought about it. Again, puberty on its own isn't easy. So, if you're feeling different from everyone else during that time, with no help, it has to be a huge burden."

"Shuper big burdeden!" The blonde, sort of, repeated her assessment while taking another big sip from the drink she was currently having. "Naturally, it kept getting worshe rather than better. My friendsh keptsh trying for a while but gave up in the endsh. My besht friend, too, losht patience with me eventuallily... Every onshe in a while, girls approached me, but I was already tooo afraid of being near them. In the endsh, I had no friendsh or anyone else to talk to anymore... That, too, made things worshe, too, because I completely lost the abilility to interact with others. Ec- Excepts my family, that ish..."

"I'm sorry..." Maya wasn't sure what else to say. "Still, your family, huh? You managed to open up to them eventually, didn't you?" She remembered that Sophia said she was really close with her sister.

"That'sh..." The blonde's expression changed as she stared down at her empty glass. Filling it up once more, the tiger immediately emptied it again. It seemed that the first had to gain some more confidence to talk about that topic.