Chapter 795

In her meditative state Kat started to feel Lily stirring. She gave it a few more minutes to confirm it wasn’t just a brief period of semi-wakefulness like the last two were before bringing herself out of her meditation completely. Kat felt particularly refreshed for some reason. *Hmm. I wonder if that’s simply because I’m getting better at meditation or if it’s because I have a water based meditation technique and I’m so close to a very powerful water artifact.*

Lily heard the thoughts Kat was pondering but wasn’t quite awake enough just yet to make any sense of them. She groaned and stretched, unconsciously loosening her control and swapping to her other form. Now human she continued arching her back much further than could be reasonably expected from a human and then continued even further before springing back into Kat and rubbing her fact over a large portion of Kat’s body before catching herself and blushing a bright red.

“Good morning,” said Kat with a big smile on her face.

Apparently this was somehow more embarrassing for Lily who glanced away and gained yet more red in her face. “Um... yes... um... good morning. Um... off to the orphanage?”

Kat shook her head and glanced at the sky. The sun was barely peaking over the horizon. In fact, from where Kat was sitting you couldn’t even see it yet, all you could see was the glow it produced peaking into view. “Lily. Even if we’re lucky enough to find someone awake they’ll be much to busy either hiding from the people doing work, or doing work to get all the kids up and about. I should know. I was the one running about most mornings,”

“Oh... right...” mumbled Lily, ears drooping at the obvious information she’d overlooked. Kat found this adorable and gave her a light peck on the lips. It did not help with the blushing situation but Lily’s ears perked right back up, her tail joining in on the fun as well. Gently swishing from side to side with barely contained happiness.

“So what do you want to do to past the time?” asked Kat.

.....

“Maybe just... goonadate?” mumbled Lily.

Kat let out a puff of air and pulled Lily in closer for a hug. “Sadly... I don’t think that’s the best idea...”

“Why?” asked a pouting Lily. “Don’t think you can distract me with hugs. I feel like I deserve to know. And hugs. I deserve extra hugs for that answer,”

Kat smiled and tighten her grip on Lily slightly. “Well. First off I have no money that would be accepted here. So for the same reason we didn’t sleep in a hotel, we would also have issues going on a date. Now, I’m sure you’d say that we don’t have to spend money to have a good time on a date. Well the second issue is I have no idea where anything is. I wasn’t paying that much attention while I was flying around, there was plenty of cloud cover and things were far away.

“So chances are... any ‘date’ we might go on would be a lot of walking around the city trying to work out what is what and where interesting things are. Honestly... the best date idea I can come up with would be spending some time flying around together. The problem with that, is it’s quiet tiring for you and we need to go flying towards the orphanage eventually as well. So it’s not even really a date at that point,”

“We could pretend though?” offered Lily.

“Lily. We can hear each other’s thoughts. You’d have figured it out,” said Kat.

“Yes but I could pretend I didn’t” retorted Lily.

“Lily... I feel like indulging in shared delusions where we both know the other is completely aware of it is probably not the best idea. I mean, sure, setting things up beforehand and pretending is fine... but I feel like it’d only cause issues if we both looked the other way for those sorts of things all the time. Feels like a rabbit hole we could get lost in a bit too easily,” explained Kat.

Lily pouted but didn’t dismiss Kat’s ideas. Kat waited a few moments for Lily’s response as she did that... but after a minute of nothing Kat asked, “Would you like to fly around together to pass the time?”

Lily couldn’t help but deflate a bit at the question and answered with, “Honestly... not really? I mean... I’m sure it would be fun... but I can’t help but remember how tiring it is... that really points a dampener on the idea. Honestly it was just the first thing that popped into my head,”

“Hey it’s ok. We should do something date-like together when we get back to Earth. Even if we are a bit limited because of what we look like, we could go for a walk in the woods, or maybe a fly if that’s not too hard on you back on Earth,”

Lily nodded. “Thanks. I mean... it’s not really that big of a deal... we spend a lot of time together anyway... I just... I kinda want at least one proper date so that I can say I’ve gone on one you know? I understand that it’s dumb, and I don’t even want it to become a regular thing. I think hanging out with you as a I read is a wonderful way to pass the time. I just... I dunno. Relationship goals or something?”

“Lily that’s fine. I may not understand it, or feel like I need you to take me out on a date, but I am perfectly happy to take you on one if that’s what would make you happy. Remember, I really don’t know what I’m doing. I’m perfectly happy to do the things we used to do, with some added cuddling on top. I do not really need or want for more because I find things quite lovely as they are. Maybe I’ll want to do stranger things with you once we’ve been together for a long time, but for now at least I’d be perfectly happy to just hug you all day and meditate. Maybe practice some martial arts stances... actually hmm...”

Kat suddenly hid her thoughts from Lily, who pouted but that was fine. *Hmm... would Lily enjoy seeing me perform a bunch of stretches and a few katas? My body likes to keep itself in peak physical condition so it isn’t that necessary for me... but I’m sure it couldn’t hurt. It’s not like I got to use any of my better stuff during the tournament because of that limiter. Hmmm...*

“Kat what are you thinking?” asked Lily after she decided Kat had more than enough time to plan whatever it was, believing falsely that Kat had sped up her thinking for that particular planning session as the reason for the cut-off.

“Lily. I think I know what we’re going to do to pass the time. Quick, change back into Memphis form I need to find a good spot...” said Kat with a grin. Lily wasn’t quite sure that was sufficient explanation, but she trusted Kat. Even if she WANTED more it didn’t mean she needed it.

A short moment later and Kat was soaring through the sky. She was heading towards the wooded areas near the summit of the mountain. It was a bit too steep, or perhaps too sacred, to build past a certain line. Kat did see a few trails that people walked around on though, and a few guards around the aqueduct openings. She didn’t need to bother with them though, so it only took around fifteen minutes of flying to find the perfect spot.

Kat glided down quickly to the small clearing. “Ok, we’re here. So Lily, you can either stay or transform, just find a nice place to sit,” said Kat.

Lily’s tail flicked sharply in annoyance but she nodded. She wasn’t sure what Kat had planned but it was starting to bug her that she wasn’t being told. Looking around she found a large root sticking out of the ground. It didn’t look all that comfortable for a human, but for a small cat, it was a rather large seat. It took her a moment to find a good spot without any large nots to disrupt her before she turned her eyes to Kat.

Kat smiled and removed her outer layer. Lily’s eyes instantly went wide as she tried to work out what Kat was doing. Kat of course, was providing a show. She summoned her fans immediately after and started to do a basic set of katas. She started off slowly, trying to make it so her muscles really felt the movements. If they did or not was unknown because they were more than strong enough to support Kat’s weight, regeneration aside. It did make her movements supernaturally smooth though, drawing Lily’s eyes completely as Kat started to increase her pace. From slow, to quick, to superhuman. Kat’s form started to blur a bit in Lily’s eyes as Kat reached higher and higher speeds. Snapping into focus at the end of each pose. Of course, that did cause a good deal of movement in other areas when stopped.

[What a show]