[Luna POV]
When we were back inside, there were more people milling around and doing whatever. Some people were still going over and copying the maps from yesterday while others just sat and talked with each other over food.
‘Now that I think of it, why are there so many adventurers here when we should be the only ones exploring the dungeon?’
{I don’t know. I only ever pay attention to what you are doing so I haven’t really put much effort into learning what these other people are doing.}
‘Fufufu.’
While looking for an empty place to sit, I noticed Velvet and Ophidia at a table and me and Soleil went over to them.
“Morning you two.” (Luna)
“Hey Luna, what were you doing?” (Velvet)
“Archery practice and teaching Soleil how to use a bow since she was a little interested.” (Luna)
“How’d it go?” Velvet asked Soleil.
“Good. I didn’t get the archery skill, but it wasn’t bad.” (Soleil)
“That’s good.” (Velvet)
“Mio still asleep?” (Luna)
“Yep.” (Ophidia)
“I don’t know if I should be surprised or not.” (Luna)
“Probably not.” (Velvet)
“You’re right.” (Luna)
We sat down and continued to talk for a while when I heard Soleil’s stomach growl. It seemed like I wasn’t the only one since we all looked at her as she blushed. I pulled out a small bit of food for us to snack on while we chatted. We did this for a while before I started to get a little bored.
“Hey Velvet, want to play some chess?” (Luna)
“Sure, we haven’t done that in a while.” (Velvet)
“Are you any good at it Velvet? Big sis is terrible.” (Soleil)
“Hey. I know I’m bad at it, but you didn’t have to point it out.” (Luna)
“Unfortunately, I’m just as bad as Luna is.” (Velvet)
“Gah.” (Luna)
“It’s ok master, you can’t be good at everything.” (Ophidia)
“Ugh.” (Luna)
I laid my head on the table, defeated by words.
‘Who was the one that said words don’t hurt? They hurt even worse than sticks or stones.’
{What are you talking about Luna?}
‘Don’t worry about it.’
It was then that I heard a familiar voice speak up.
“I sleep in a little bit and when I wake up, I find all of you bullying Lunya. What’s up with that nya?” (Mio)
“We’re not bullying her, we’re just stating facts.” (Soleil)
“What facts nya?” (Mio)
“How she is terrible at chess.” (Velvet)
“Ooooh. I love that game, I’m really good at it nya.” (Mio)
“Really!? Then let’s me and you see who is better. Big sis, bring out the board.” (Soleil)
“*Sniff* Fine, take it.” (Luna)
I put the chess board and pieces on the table. Soleil started setting it up as Mio sat across from her. All of us and a few others started to watch as Soleil and Mio started a viscous war of chess.
“I-I can’t believe it; someone is actually matching Soleil in chess.” (Luna)
“Shut it big sis, you’re distracting me.” (Soleil)
‘…How mean.’
{It’s alright Luna, I’ll listen to you.}
‘*Sniff* Thank you for always being on my side Tamamo.’
{Ufufufu.}
After another hour of intense chess, Mio came out victorious.
“Very good Mio, let’s do this again another time.” (Soleil)
“Nyahaha. Of course, I’ll beat you the next time as well nya.” (Mio)
“Don’t be so sure about that.” (Soleil)
“Then who’s next nya? Lunya, want to give…What’s up with her nya?” (Mio)
Everyone at the table looked over to me who was ignored by everyone but Tamamo.
“Heh. It’s not like I wanted to talk to the others anyway. I’m totally fine being ignored. The only one that matters is Tamamo who is always with me.” (Luna)
“Does Lunya really like attention or something nya?” (Mio)
“No, I think she’s just being dramatic and bored.” (Soleil)
“Isn’t that a bad thing? The last time she was bored, she started messing with us.” (Velvet)
“Now that I think of it, I don’t think I ever tried to see what effect my tails have on people with no resistance, maybe I should see what happens.” (Luna)
“Luna, calm down, don’t so something you’ll regret later.” (Velvet)
“Shh. You’ll be fine Velvet, you’re the only other one here that will be safe.” (Luna)
{Luna, are you really going to do that?}
‘Of course not, I’m just messing with them a little.’
I started to move my only visible tail into Mio’s sight.
“Come on Mio. You know you want to touch it.” (Luna)
I moved the very tip of my tail like a cat toy and Mio’s eyes followed its every move.
“I really want to nya. I…I need to catch it nya.” (Mio)
She quickly moved to catch my tail when it completely disappeared.
“Nya?” (Mio)
“What just happened?” (Velvet)
“Fufufufufu. Wouldn’t you like to know?” I said from across the room.
“When did you get over there, master?” (Ophidia)
“What do you mean Ophidia? I’ve been here the whole time.” I said from right behind my party.
“Eh!?” (Ophidia)
“Have you figured it out yet?” Said one of the other adventurers with my voice.
“Are we in an illusion?” (Soleil)
“Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Now tell me, how long have you been in an illusion? From the beginning? From the end? Has this whole day just been an illusion, or just the chess game?” (Luna)
“Luna, why are you doing this?” (Velvet)
“Because it’s fun and I’m bored.” (Luna)
“This is going too far Luna.” (Velvet)
“Am I though? I mean, barely any time has passed since you’ve been in this illusion. Just treat it like a dream that all of you are sharing. Honestly, I haven’t even done anything.” (Luna)
“Hmmm. Soleil, got any ideas on how to get out of this nya?” (Mio)
“While I’m not at this level of illusion magic, mom did tell me that if this happens, we need to find the detail that is different from the one in reality or give ourselves a big enough shock to get out. Though with big sis’s proficiency in illusion magic, either one will be difficult to manage.” (Soleil)
“Not really, I made it easy enough for all of you to easily get out. I may be messing with you, but I’m not going to go that far. If I did, I’d ruin my friendship with all of you and I want to avoid that at all costs.” (Luna)
“Then why don’t you just release us from this?” (Velvet)
“Because it’s good training. What will you do if you ever run into someone that has high proficiency in illusory or illusion magic and I’m not there to help? Not that I would let that happen in the first place if I could help it.” (Luna)
“I see. I didn’t think you were thinking this out as much as you were, master.” (Ophidia)
“Fufufufu.” (Luna)
“Don’t get tricked, Ophidia. That’s probably only a small part of why she did this.” (Soleil)
“Tch. Soleil, don’t ruin my image. I’ve already taken enough verbal damage for the day.” (Luna)
“*Sigh* We need a shock to get out, right?” (Velvet)
“Yep.” (Luna)
“Fine.” (Velvet)
Velvet stood up and went over to Soleil and kissed her.
“Mmph!” (Soleil)
She suddenly jolted and looked around. When she saw me sitting next to her and smiling, her face went a little red.
“I don’t know if I should be mad at you or thank you, big sis.” (Soleil)
“Eh, I would accept either, though I didn’t think Velvet would be so assertive.” (Luna)
“Hehehe. It was a nice surprise, wasn’t it.” (Soleil)
“Yep, now you should get to waking up the others.” (Luna)
“Oh right.” (Soleil)
She got up and started shaking the others out of the illusion as I disappeared from table. The last thing I heard was Velvet asking where I went. I appeared on top of the outside building.
“That was fun.” (Luna)
{While it was amusing, what was the point?}
“Do I need a reason to mess with people close to me?”
{So, you really did let your kitsune nature take over for a bit there.}
“Yeah, it’s annoying to keep it a bay sometimes. I want to let it loose every so often.”
{Just don’t go too far or you’ll become a second Atmos.}
“Don’t worry, I won’t go that far unless I’m doing something to Atmos.”
{That’s fine then.}
“Fufufu. You know, I haven’t been back at the island in a while, maybe I’ll go and check on the tree since we still have a while before the day is over.”
{That’s true, it should be fully grown or very close to it by now.}
I teleported to where the tree was on my island and was surprised by what I saw.
“Woah.”
The tree was very tall, just like Tamamo’s. It easily reached the height of the pyramid by the mansion and its branches spread out pretty far as well. From the ground, the leaves that looked like starry skies made it look like I was staring at a galaxy.
{This is beautiful.}
“Yeah.”
I stood there and stared at the tree for a while before moving up to it and sitting down by the trunk. I leaned my back on it and closed my eyes.
“I can’t wait for everyone else to see this.”
{Their reactions are going to be amazing.}
“Mm-hmm. Maybe I’ll try to take a nap. This is a nice spot after all.”
Just before I tried to fall asleep, I got an idea.
“Actually, before I do that.”
I transformed into my fox form for the first time in a while and found a nice sunny spot by the trunk of the tree and laid down.
‘Better.’
{If only Soleil were here to paint a picture.}
‘Fufufu. Maybe some other time. Will you wake me up before it gets dark so I can go back?’
{Leave it to me.}
With that, I slowly started to fall asleep.
Chaos Realm:
Grey: You wanted to see me?
Why have you never told Atmos about anime? You've been here for centuries, I would think it would come up at least once.
Grey: Do you really think that's a good idea? You know how she is just like I do.
Yeah, but it would also distract her for at least a little while, wouldn't it?
Grey: Yeah, and give her even more ideas.
...
Grey: You really didn't think it through that much, did you?
No.
[Luna POV]
When we were back inside, there were more people milling around and doing whatever. Some people were still going over and copying the maps from yesterday while others just sat and talked with each other over food.
‘Now that I think of it, why are there so many adventurers here when we should be the only ones exploring the dungeon?’
{I don’t know. I only ever pay attention to what you are doing so I haven’t really put much effort into learning what these other people are doing.}
‘Fufufu.’
While looking for an empty place to sit, I noticed Velvet and Ophidia at a table and me and Soleil went over to them.
“Morning you two.” (Luna)
“Hey Luna, what were you doing?” (Velvet)
“Archery practice and teaching Soleil how to use a bow since she was a little interested.” (Luna)
“How’d it go?” Velvet asked Soleil.
“Good. I didn’t get the archery skill, but it wasn’t bad.” (Soleil)
“That’s good.” (Velvet)
“Mio still asleep?” (Luna)
“Yep.” (Ophidia)
“I don’t know if I should be surprised or not.” (Luna)
“Probably not.” (Velvet)
“You’re right.” (Luna)
We sat down and continued to talk for a while when I heard Soleil’s stomach growl. It seemed like I wasn’t the only one since we all looked at her as she blushed. I pulled out a small bit of food for us to snack on while we chatted. We did this for a while before I started to get a little bored.
“Hey Velvet, want to play some chess?” (Luna)
“Sure, we haven’t done that in a while.” (Velvet)
“Are you any good at it Velvet? Big sis is terrible.” (Soleil)
“Hey. I know I’m bad at it, but you didn’t have to point it out.” (Luna)
“Unfortunately, I’m just as bad as Luna is.” (Velvet)
“Gah.” (Luna)
“It’s ok master, you can’t be good at everything.” (Ophidia)
“Ugh.” (Luna)
I laid my head on the table, defeated by words.
‘Who was the one that said words don’t hurt? They hurt even worse than sticks or stones.’
{What are you talking about Luna?}
‘Don’t worry about it.’
It was then that I heard a familiar voice speak up.
“I sleep in a little bit and when I wake up, I find all of you bullying Lunya. What’s up with that nya?” (Mio)
“We’re not bullying her, we’re just stating facts.” (Soleil)
“What facts nya?” (Mio)
“How she is terrible at chess.” (Velvet)
“Ooooh. I love that game, I’m really good at it nya.” (Mio)
“Really!? Then let’s me and you see who is better. Big sis, bring out the board.” (Soleil)
“*Sniff* Fine, take it.” (Luna)
I put the chess board and pieces on the table. Soleil started setting it up as Mio sat across from her. All of us and a few others started to watch as Soleil and Mio started a viscous war of chess.
“I-I can’t believe it; someone is actually matching Soleil in chess.” (Luna)
“Shut it big sis, you’re distracting me.” (Soleil)
‘…How mean.’
{It’s alright Luna, I’ll listen to you.}
‘*Sniff* Thank you for always being on my side Tamamo.’
{Ufufufu.}
After another hour of intense chess, Mio came out victorious.
“Very good Mio, let’s do this again another time.” (Soleil)
“Nyahaha. Of course, I’ll beat you the next time as well nya.” (Mio)
“Don’t be so sure about that.” (Soleil)
“Then who’s next nya? Lunya, want to give…What’s up with her nya?” (Mio)
Everyone at the table looked over to me who was ignored by everyone but Tamamo.
“Heh. It’s not like I wanted to talk to the others anyway. I’m totally fine being ignored. The only one that matters is Tamamo who is always with me.” (Luna)
“Does Lunya really like attention or something nya?” (Mio)
“No, I think she’s just being dramatic and bored.” (Soleil)
“Isn’t that a bad thing? The last time she was bored, she started messing with us.” (Velvet)
“Now that I think of it, I don’t think I ever tried to see what effect my tails have on people with no resistance, maybe I should see what happens.” (Luna)
“Luna, calm down, don’t so something you’ll regret later.” (Velvet)
“Shh. You’ll be fine Velvet, you’re the only other one here that will be safe.” (Luna)
{Luna, are you really going to do that?}
‘Of course not, I’m just messing with them a little.’
I started to move my only visible tail into Mio’s sight.
“Come on Mio. You know you want to touch it.” (Luna)
I moved the very tip of my tail like a cat toy and Mio’s eyes followed its every move.
“I really want to nya. I…I need to catch it nya.” (Mio)
She quickly moved to catch my tail when it completely disappeared.
“Nya?” (Mio)
“What just happened?” (Velvet)
“Fufufufufu. Wouldn’t you like to know?” I said from across the room.
“When did you get over there, master?” (Ophidia)
“What do you mean Ophidia? I’ve been here the whole time.” I said from right behind my party.
“Eh!?” (Ophidia)
“Have you figured it out yet?” Said one of the other adventurers with my voice.
“Are we in an illusion?” (Soleil)
“Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Now tell me, how long have you been in an illusion? From the beginning? From the end? Has this whole day just been an illusion, or just the chess game?” (Luna)
“Luna, why are you doing this?” (Velvet)
“Because it’s fun and I’m bored.” (Luna)
“This is going too far Luna.” (Velvet)
“Am I though? I mean, barely any time has passed since you’ve been in this illusion. Just treat it like a dream that all of you are sharing. Honestly, I haven’t even done anything.” (Luna)
“Hmmm. Soleil, got any ideas on how to get out of this nya?” (Mio)
“While I’m not at this level of illusion magic, mom did tell me that if this happens, we need to find the detail that is different from the one in reality or give ourselves a big enough shock to get out. Though with big sis’s proficiency in illusion magic, either one will be difficult to manage.” (Soleil)
“Not really, I made it easy enough for all of you to easily get out. I may be messing with you, but I’m not going to go that far. If I did, I’d ruin my friendship with all of you and I want to avoid that at all costs.” (Luna)
“Then why don’t you just release us from this?” (Velvet)
“Because it’s good training. What will you do if you ever run into someone that has high proficiency in illusory or illusion magic and I’m not there to help? Not that I would let that happen in the first place if I could help it.” (Luna)
“I see. I didn’t think you were thinking this out as much as you were, master.” (Ophidia)
“Fufufufu.” (Luna)
“Don’t get tricked, Ophidia. That’s probably only a small part of why she did this.” (Soleil)
“Tch. Soleil, don’t ruin my image. I’ve already taken enough verbal damage for the day.” (Luna)
“*Sigh* We need a shock to get out, right?” (Velvet)
“Yep.” (Luna)
“Fine.” (Velvet)
Velvet stood up and went over to Soleil and kissed her.
“Mmph!” (Soleil)
She suddenly jolted and looked around. When she saw me sitting next to her and smiling, her face went a little red.
“I don’t know if I should be mad at you or thank you, big sis.” (Soleil)
“Eh, I would accept either, though I didn’t think Velvet would be so assertive.” (Luna)
“Hehehe. It was a nice surprise, wasn’t it.” (Soleil)
“Yep, now you should get to waking up the others.” (Luna)
“Oh right.” (Soleil)
She got up and started shaking the others out of the illusion as I disappeared from table. The last thing I heard was Velvet asking where I went. I appeared on top of the outside building.
“That was fun.” (Luna)
{While it was amusing, what was the point?}
“Do I need a reason to mess with people close to me?”
{So, you really did let your kitsune nature take over for a bit there.}
“Yeah, it’s annoying to keep it a bay sometimes. I want to let it loose every so often.”
{Just don’t go too far or you’ll become a second Atmos.}
“Don’t worry, I won’t go that far unless I’m doing something to Atmos.”
{That’s fine then.}
“Fufufu. You know, I haven’t been back at the island in a while, maybe I’ll go and check on the tree since we still have a while before the day is over.”
{That’s true, it should be fully grown or very close to it by now.}
I teleported to where the tree was on my island and was surprised by what I saw.
“Woah.”
The tree was very tall, just like Tamamo’s. It easily reached the height of the pyramid by the mansion and its branches spread out pretty far as well. From the ground, the leaves that looked like starry skies made it look like I was staring at a galaxy.
{This is beautiful.}
“Yeah.”
I stood there and stared at the tree for a while before moving up to it and sitting down by the trunk. I leaned my back on it and closed my eyes.
“I can’t wait for everyone else to see this.”
{Their reactions are going to be amazing.}
“Mm-hmm. Maybe I’ll try to take a nap. This is a nice spot after all.”
Just before I tried to fall asleep, I got an idea.
“Actually, before I do that.”
I transformed into my fox form for the first time in a while and found a nice sunny spot by the trunk of the tree and laid down.
‘Better.’
{If only Soleil were here to paint a picture.}
‘Fufufu. Maybe some other time. Will you wake me up before it gets dark so I can go back?’
{Leave it to me.}
With that, I slowly started to fall asleep.
Chaos Realm:
Grey: You wanted to see me?
Why have you never told Atmos about anime? You've been here for centuries, I would think it would come up at least once.
Grey: Do you really think that's a good idea? You know how she is just like I do.
Yeah, but it would also distract her for at least a little while, wouldn't it?
Grey: Yeah, and give her even more ideas.
...
Grey: You really didn't think it through that much, did you?
No.
