You can't resist.

What starts as a firm, determined 'No' quickly turns into a sheepish, heart-broken light mumble as the catgirl's extremely sad eyes pierce your soul. You sigh, letting the fork down and pushing your plate towards Maggie. "Fine, just... don't look at me like that..." You mutter, crossing your arms and leaning back into the chair's backrest.

The sorceress gives you a brief "Thank chu~." before resuming to ravage the poor toasts.

"So..." Mathilda starts talking. "How did you two meet? I don't think I've ever seen you around town, Maggie!" She says with a gentle smile on her face; you are about to reply for her, but the catgirl starts speaking while chewing.

"Nah, I don't live in town- *munch* *munch* - I live on a cabin, in the forest, I-i don't come out too much, I don't really enjoy being around people..." She says with her mouth full, taking a little pause and swallowing before resuming to speak. "Well... around most people." Maggie softly says, wiping the syrup off her mouth with her forearm and stealing a quick, shy glance at you.

"A-anyways, Theo just appeared in my door and offered to help me gather some... ingredients for my potions." She simply finishes, grabbing her empty plate and licking it clean.

"Huh..." Mathilda mutters, reflectively scratching her chin. "Cabin in the woods... Potions... That hat... You are a witch, right?!"

"Sorceress." You and Magnolia correct her at the same time, Lola giggles and Mattie covers her mouth in embarrassment.

"S-sorry! I didn't want to be mean!" The gentle young lady stammers. "I've never heard of an independent... uh... sorceress before. I thought only students of the Wizarding School were allowed to handle magical stuff." Huh... Wizarding School... You heard bits and pieces about that place, located in the Capital. Most of what you heard was that every one of its members were complete assholes.

"No!" Magnolia spurts out, slamming her little, bony fist on the table, making the other three of you jump on your seats.

"That's what they want you to believe! Fuck those guys, there is no law against doing magic stuff on your own!" Maggie loudly rants with an angry frown on her face, but with her squeaky voice, petite frame, and syrup-filled mouth is kinda hard to really take her seriously. "I swear, I'm going to burn that fucking, shitty school to the ground someday!" Your sister looks mortified, innocently covering her ears with her hands; Lola just gazes at the raging 100 lbs kitty with a cocked eyebrow and a little, amused grin.

"Alright, alright, enough..." You soothe her, gently caressing one of the two blue-haired ears peeking under her hat.

"Wizarding School? More like... like..." She gradually decreases the volume and intensity of her voice, her eyes slightly rolling back in pleasure, the hating speech now turning into throaty purrs at your intense petting.

"There we go, that's better." You say, slowly letting go of her fluffy ear, the now relaxed kitty looking at you with half-lidded eyes and biting her lower lip.

"Theo..." She breathly whispers before instinctively starting to move her face towards you, going for a kiss. You manage to stop her, but it was too late already...

"...Theo?" You hear your sister's voice softly mutter with a gloomy expression... fuck...

"...O-ok, let's go clean your face, alright Maggie?" Lola quickly says, grabbing the kitty's hand and guiding her towards the bathroom. You and Mathilda, now alone, look at each-other eyes silently. You think you can see the same expression she had when you first brought Lola home.

"I should go to work..." You say after a few more seconds of awkward silence, standing up from the table.

"...W-when you come back... can we talk...?" She says, with an almost pleading tone. "...please?"

"Of course, sis."

You arrive at the Adventurer's Guild, the place is depressingly empty... so it was true that the Guild wasn't having a really good time recently... the only person present on the dimly lit, tavern-looking room is Agis, sitting on a stool, leaning against the wooden counter. "Oh... hi there..." The blonde elf says as she spots you, her miserable expression slightly transforming into a little smile. "Coming for some work?" She simply asks, not bothering to mention your interrupted almost-kiss from yesterday.

You nod your head with an empathetic expression. She just takes a deep breath, standing from the stool and adjusting her short skirt. "...I've been... thinking about you..." She murmurs after a few seconds of silence.