Chapter 236 – Nickname

While the group was traveling towards the former elven village, the wolves told the couple a little about Chloe and Feyanis. The latter was an old friend of the two, who seemed to be slightly scary when angered. As the humans did just that, it looked like the little ongoing squabble Sophia had with them was about to be over as Feyanis headed over to the human capital to live out her anger.

“And here we are~.” Once the group had arrived at the dense forest surrounding the village, Aura guided them through it and announced their arrival once they made it through it.

“Ohh!” Sophia’s eyes started sparkling once she saw the elven village. Looking at the wooding buildings for a while, she eventually focused on a group of houses that were built somewhat elevated and inside the trees. “Maya, we’re so going to get ourselves a treehouse!”

“Are the houses here even for sale…?”

“I just have to ask really nicely!”

“That doesn’t help with everything, you know?”

“I’ll try my best!” She really wanted an elven treehouse.

“Sure…” The cat-girl gave up on it. While she didn’t share the blonde’s enthusiasm, it was not like she was against it, after all.

“Fenfen?” While the group was walking through the village, a certain pink-haired fox-girl had spotted them and addressed the male wolf. “I thought you two left this morning?”

"Ah." Fen turned around to look back at her. "We did, but our idiot here really wanted to visit, so we returned." He gestured at Sophia with his head while saying so.

"Hmm?" Chloe looked past the wolves, where she quickly noticed the couple. “Are those the two you mentioned the other day? Wow, you really know a tiger? It's nice to meet you! My name is Chloe.”

"Fluffy!" Sophia and Maya had the exact same reaction while staring at the girl, first and foremost at her tail.

“Ahaha…” The fox scratched her cheek. “That, I am.”

"A-Ah!" Maya noticed what she had just done. "I am so sorry about this!”

“It’s fine~.” Chloe waved her hand. “Most people who see me for the first time have the same reaction. Those two here included.” She looked at the wolves. “My tail is quite eye-catching, after all.” She moved it around a bit while saying so.

“…” The wolves awkwardly looked away.

“While the tail’s amazing, everything about you is fluffy, though.” Sophia took a better look at her. “Fluffy tail, fluffy hair, fluffy sweater, the pink and purple color scheme… It’s awes- wait, are your eyes different?!”

“Yes.” Chloe nodded. “One’s a light purple, while the other has some violet in it.”

“Wow.” The blonde sounded impressed. "You sure went all out with your character creation, huh?"

“Ahaha…” The fox let out another small laugh. “Well, it’s not like I chose to look like this.” 

“Right, you take what you're born with, after all..." The tiger-girl looked a little awkward while saying so. “You definitely won there, though.”

“Thank you.” Chloe smiled at her. “I like fluffy things, so I’m happy with how I look. That being said, I’m not the only one who got lucky. Being a tiger is amazing, too! I love the stripes! The blonde is adorable, as well!"

“T-Thanks…” Sophia had very mixed feelings about the praise. It's not like she had been lucky with it, after all.

“An all-white cat is super cute, as well!" The fox-girl made sure not to leave her out of the compliments. "I love snow, so that makes it all the better!"

"Thank you~." She liked what she was hearing. "I'm Maya, by the way."

"Ah, right!" The blonde noticed that she had also skipped her introduction. "It's nice to meet you, too. My name is Sophia. I might be a tiger, but please don't interpret too much into that. I didn’t grow up as a royal, so I have little attachment to what me being me includes.”

"Don't worry," Chloe was still smiling. “I’ve heard about the rumors of the mysterious blonde tiger that grew up outside the capital already. Fenfen also told me not to care about it."

“Great!” She was happy to hear that. “Wait… there was it again… Fenfen?”

“It’s adorable, isn’t it? My companion, the one who also raised me, has a similar name. Her full name is Feyanis. Still, because that name was too complicated for me when I was little, I started calling her Feyfey. Well, and that stuck.”

“Oh… Fey and Fen, huh? So, that became Fenfen, then?”

“Yep~.”

“I love it!” Sophia’s voice sounded really cheerful.

“Oh no…” Fenfen’s didn’t, though.

“Then again, I really like my Fenny nickname…”

“That’s cute, too!” Chloe agreed with her.

“Fenny… Fenfen… Fennyfen… Fenfenny? Hmm…” The tiger started to concentrate. “Fenfenfenny? Fennyfenfen… So many options!”

"I need a drink..." The male wolf couldn't deal with it any longer. Luckily, the group had started their chat right in front of the village's bar, which he entered directly. "Alex! Give me the strongest one you have!" These were the last word the others could hear from him.

“Well," Aura looked after her wolf leaving. "Have fun, girls. I'll go with him."

“Sure, you have fun, too!” Sophia waved after her. “Alright, where was I again? Right, a new nickname for Fenfennyfen! Well, that can wait for another time!”

“I’ll help!” Chloe liked her idea.

“Great~.”

“On an unrelated topic,” Maya looked at the fox. “Fen told us that your companion, mom… not sure, went to visit the human capital. Is that true?”

“Yes…” She nodded. “Feyfey got a little, uuh… angry when I was approached by a small group of humans a while ago. I feel sorry for them…”

“For the humans?” Sophia tilted her head.

“Yes. Feyfey’s scary when she’s angry, after all. I’m no fan of the humans, but I can’t bring myself to hate them… I just feel sorry.”

“That’s one way to look at it…” The tiger’s expression turned complicated again. “Whenever I met them, it turned out horrible… I also found out that they’re trying to harm our people, so… I also feel sorry, but I also seriously dislike them… or rather, what they are.”

“You are probably right…” Chloe paused for a moment. “I actually only met very few of them because Feyfey’s doing her best to keep me away from them, but I also have yet to have an enjoyable experience with them…"

“Well, your slight laxer mindset is probably a lot healthier…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “After all, they made me so angry that I ended up fighting an army of them…”

“Isn’t that the duty of a tiger, anyway? You said that you don’t see yourself as a direct royal, but you also said our people just now. Isn’t it just in your blood for you to react this strongly to anyone who’s trying to harm the beastfolk? That’s what I heard about tigers, at least.”

“Hrmnn…” There were many things the tiger could comment on here, but she decided to only answer with grumbling noises.

“Still to go to war against a whole army…” The fox-girl stared at Sophia for a moment. “Fenfen’s auth… power is around Feyfey’s magic, so that was just a little surprising, but I couldn’t believe how much more Aura has… Even so, your magic is even way above hers! I was confident about my magic sensing, but I think something broke with my sense… It feels like you have more magic than both of them together…”

“S-Seems like it's not working properly... My magic's around Fennyfenfenny’s, after all.” She was still trying to find a new nickname for the wolf while she wondered why Chloe felt her magic being so much bigger than it was supposed to be.

“Weird… Well, that’s still super incredible! Maya, your magic’s super high, too! You two sure are something else!”

“Yep!” Sophia nodded. “Playing with magic’s super fun, so it’s great that I’m allowed to use it that much!”

“I agree! It really is a lot of fun!” The fox had the same opinion.

"How do you feel about slightly crazy and totally over-the-top magic?" Maya had a bad feeling about their exchange and wanted to make sure about something.

“I love that!” Chloe gave her a cheerful reply. “Feyfey scolds me a lot when I overdo it, though… That’s why, I normally only do relatively reasonable things when I play around.”

“Hmm…” The cat-girl thought about it for a moment. “Sophia, you’re only allowed to play with magic with her once those two are together again.” She didn’t want to witness the creation of yet another troublemaker duo.

“Ahaha.” The tiger knew what she was trying to say. “I promise nothing, though.”

“Try, at least…”

“Sure~.” She gave her a nod. “Alright!” The blonde focused on Chloe again. “There are still many things I want to know, I feel like I skipped over half, but I want to see the elven village before it gets too dark! Could you give us a brief tour?”

“I don’t mind.” The fox-girl tilted her head. “I don’t know that much about the village either, though. I’m not here that often and only staying for a longer time right now because I’m waiting for Feyfey to return. The two of us usually travel a lot, after all.”

“Ohh!” Sophia liked the sound of that. "That's fine. I just want to take a look at everything. I bet you still know an interesting detail or two.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Before that, do you know if it’s possible for me to get a house here? I reeeeeally want to be able to say that I own an elven treehouse!”

“I get you! I so get you! That was the first thing I wanted when I arrived here, as well!” Chloe's eyes started sparkling. "No one ever agreed with me, though… I'm delighted that I'm not alone, after all!"

“Why?! What could be better than owning a house inside a tree built by elves?!"

“Exactly!” The duo was bonding already.

“Great…” The cat-girl sounded slightly tired. “Yet another weirdo…” 

"Does that mean there's a chance for me to get a treehouse, then?!" Sophia was getting more excited by the second.

"I know that many of them are uninhabited because everyone living here preferred the houses and buildings on the ground, but if you can actually have one… You’ll have to ask Alex for that. He manages the village. He’s good friends with Fenfen, though, so you might be in luck.”

“Great!”

Once this very important topic was put on hold for the time being, the three started walking through the village while Chloe showed them her favorite spots.

Teanam

A big thank you to

- Savannah Jones -

for supporting the story on Patreon to make more art for the story possible. Have fun with the extra illustrations of our girls.