Mana and Viktor looked at the plump, little cat as it hopped back onto the bed and curled itself into a ball.
"You can talk!?" Viktor ran his fingers through his hair with one hand while placing the other upon his hip. He felt like he was going insane, so he turned to Mana to be sure she was experiencing the same thing.
"Nope," she said without having to be asked as their eyes met. "I have obviously messed something up and I am going to sleep, because this," she motioned towards the fluffy puffball, "is not normal."
"With all due respect, Hero, but neither are melting arms," the orange cat snapped back, raising its head and glaring at her. Then he turned to Viktor, "and since you both don't want to let me rest after having to save this pink-haired fool's life, why did you choose Fluffynutts?"
"Erm.." Viktor hesitated, turning red as he briefly peered at Mana, hoping she wasn't listening. "You were fluffy, and you have nuts. I added another t for effect," he shamefully answered.
"Indeed, so can I call you no nuts?" He stood up on all fours, stretching his back by raising his butt into the air and giving his little tail a quick flick before placing himself into a sitting position. "I wasn't even lost when that damn store picked me up, and then you? My previous owner was quite amazing compared to you."
"Why didn't you just tell the store or Viktor about the unfortunate misunderstanding?" Mana questioned the furry feline, accepting the reality that she was indeed talking to a cat.
"Because I didn't want to team up with them," Fluffynutts began to lick his paw between speaking, as if he were better than either of them. "They annoyed me."
Viktor sat down in a huff, crossing his arms across his chest as he slumped in his chair.
"Then why did you team up with me?" Mana continued questioning him, smirking at Viktor's demise.
She had only known Viktor for less than a day, but he made her feel welcomed in a world that was beginning to make her feel like she didn't belong.
The way of the world took her sister, nearly killed her twice, and put her in the hospital just as many times. Now, instead of planning a trip to drop off cupcakes at the next kid's birthday party for work, she's trying to find a way to travel to another country and meet some random person whose initials were just H.T.
"Well, unlike this shmuck over there," he pointed towards Viktor with his tail, "you actually risk it all to help others."
"I was there too..." Viktor butted in.
"You ran like a... what do you guys call it... bitch?"
"I hate this cat, he's going back to the store," he pouted again.
"I'm an aura cat," he informed Mana, turning his attention back to her. "I don't do magik per se, but, depending on my last chant, is whether my aura heals, or buffs my team's attack. My meoh heals, and the bark increases attack."
Mana's eyebrows raised, a cat that barks? "How do you put others into a group with you?"
"If I rub against someone, then that's me forcing them into my team. If I bite them near the same spot I rubbed, it's me leaving the team. I will no longer be able to affect them with my aura and can no longer talk to them if I leave."
Mana held her arms up, "was this you?" she asked. The cat rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Of course, and that's why you're an idiot," and then he turned to Viktor, "same to you. She's barely level 11, but you sir, level 75 and you didn't try to convince her a bit better? Had it not been for me she would have lost her arm!"
Viktor smirked, turning to Mana, "told you." He felt a certain type of victory telling her that, and she simply stuck her tongue out at him.
Mana suddenly got quiet, lowering her head, her hair dropping over her shoulders and hanging in front of her. "I need to get to Midflora as soon as possible."
"You have been sent to the hospital not once, but twice today alone," Viktor informed her, "and you still want to leave?"
"Yes," she simply replied, refusing to raise her head. "With everything that has been going on, it's about time something is done about this disease. And if someone at the Head Capital has information that can help me do something about it, then I need to leave sooner than later." She then raised her head to look at Viktor, her hair falling back and out of her face. "When I killed Neya, who finished her?"
"I did," Viktor informed her, changing his demeanor back to his professional self that she had met earlier in the day. He reached into his satchel, pulling out a small vial containing a maroon liquid, "this dropped, so I figured you'd get the reward considering you did most of the work." He tossed it over to her, with Mana catching it between both of her hands.
The vial was a permanent level up potion; 10 levels. Neya was a high-level rotted creature that was mutated at least 3 times, and the loot obviously corresponded to that. The vial was the 10 levels a creature gets when it turns rotted, only extracted for its killer to use. A mystic tiered drop.
Why am I so lucky, and unlucky at the same time? She wondered. "Thank you," she said, popping the cork off the vial and instantly consuming it. A jolt of energy coursed through her veins as she felt her overall strength increase as her HP and SP went up. She exhaled loudly in delight.
Level 21.
"Where's my weapons?" Mana finally asked him, coming to terms with her new life. A cashier turned pseudo-hero.
Viktor gave her a half smile, picking up on her reluctance to become a fighter. He pulled a hanging, brown sack from his waistband before gently setting it down upon her lap. She quickly opened it; a sense of anxiety had overcome her from being separated from it. It felt like an extension of herself.
Inside the brown, cloth bag was her 2 mytho weapons, each wrapped in their own piece of fabric to keep them from clanking together. "I would've wrapped them better, but I forgot to pick up my shipment of fancy fabric today," he remarked.
She gave him a weak smile. She took out her weapons 1 by 1, unwrapping each and placing them back onto her hands. She gave her fingers a few flexes as she examined the shiny knuckles on her hands, "can I go to Midflora?"
Viktor sighed, placing a hand over his face and shook his head. "Fine, and I will guide you myself. But please do as I say until you know how to survive a bit better." Mana's lips switched to a smile immediately, overcome with immense happiness. She hopped out of her bed, wrapping her arms around Viktor's neck in a giant hug as he supported her by wrapping his arms around her waist awkwardly. "Um..."
Mana's face turned beet red as she instantly switched from hugging to smacking his back, demanding he let her go. Without realizing it, she was damaging him 50 points per smack, forgetting that she had her knuckles on. Viktor let go without hesitation, instantly dropping her with a loud thud as she hit the floor.
"Mana, dear," Fluffy whispered over to her. Mana looked up at him, her face still red from embarrassment. "Your butts out."
Mana let out a blood-curdling scream, her hospital windows vibrating with her screaming prowess.