NiNi

"This is... new?" Janette awkwardly rubbed her arm, staring at all of the new faces around them. There wasn't hundreds of individuals but there were certainly a decent sized group. Most of them were Nekomata's of varying color patterns on their fur, all of them sharing a shocked yet intrigued look on their faces. Felix sat up and watched as the closest Nekomata stepped forward, she was perhaps the smallest as she couldn't be much taller than five feet. Her fur kept a nice tint of coffee brown, they match her eyes as he made contact with them.

Creeping on her four paws, she slowly yet deliberately inched closer and closer, sealing the distance between Nekomata and Human with both Janette and Nyitzcha quietly staring. Felix looked around, uncertain of what to do. Alma was of no help, simply crossing her arms rather impatiently by the looks of it, and he could not see Spi'Reto with so many eyes staring back at him. Looking back in front the Nekomata was now within reach, stepping a little too close for Felix as he leaned back and lifted his hands.

Moving forward, the Nekomata squinted at his hands, sniffing them before her ears rose up and her eyes grew wide. The other cat girls glanced at each other in unspoken shock, their thoughts confirmed by the brown Nekomata mewing back at them. What surprised the trio most was that even the fathers somehow understood.

Now the other girls were meowing back, turning heads and lifting their tails as this hidden message was spread among them. Alma simply shook her head, leaving them under further confusion before a mystery hand arrived, offering Felix some assistance before helping him up. Behind him, Nyitzcha grumbled as she brushed the dust off her clothes, her and Janette were also helped to their feet. It was a familiar elf who helped Felix up, but before he could thank him or ask what was happening the crowd of Nekomata's closed in, remaining two feet apart but now bombarding him with many, many questions.

"You're with her!"

"What happened to her?"

"Where chu from?"

"Meww! Mew!"

"NiNi is alive?"

"NiNi?" Janette asked with a questioning look. Felix looked at her with his arms raised, lost of direction and action.

---

Later that night, most of the camp had began to settle in their little huts made of branch and leaves, they were amateurish but functioned for what they were. Felix and Janette sat around a small nest of Glitterbugs, covering a small bed of large yellow flowers in front and behaving as a source of combined light.

"We move every time they come close, resetting our homes and relocating for our safety. It's not a hobby we are fond of, needless to say we've grown accustomed to it. Still, what matters is that we are here and we are alive, that is the end goal."

Janette looked up as she was offered a clay cup by the elf, accepting the drink as he stepped over and passed another cup to Felix. Looking down at the clear liquid, he pressed the edge of the container to his lips as he felt the cool touch of water pass through, refreshing his heated body with a satisfying sigh. Spi'Reto sat back down next to his Mother, now without any stripe marks to his young face.

Alma continued. "I take it the halfling is enjoying herself with some of our equipment?"

"She's happy, relax Mom. We kind of sort of owe it to them."

Alma sighed, keeping silent as Spi'Reto leaned closer to the soft humming of the Glitterbugs. "We haven't left for what's so far been our longest lasting settlement, and admittedly you guys are who we should be thanking."

"Us?" Felix asked.

Spi nodded, "Definitely. One day he just clicked and went after the cat girls, and suddenly that's been his new obsession ever since."

One of the Nekomata girls ducked out of view once Janette spun around, frowning. Felix asked, "New obsession?"

"That's right, beforehand he was obsessed with that tower until he found it." Spi'Reto stopped as Alma poked his leg with the edge of her bow, her eyes looked down.

Janette took note of that. "So, what about the Nekomata's? You weren't clear about them."

"Who's NiNi?" Felix asked, noticing the sudden number of cat eyes turning his direction. "Because that sounds awful close to someone I know named KuliKuli."

Alma shook her head as she resumed carving at her bow. "No clue who that is, we're just a group of travelers ourselves with unwanted neighbors."

Felix nodded, glancing at Janette. "Right."

Alma continued carving at her bow, turning it over before feeling satisfied. With a grunt, she stood up on her feet and sighed. "You may stay the night, by morning you will be leaving without question, understood?"

Janette nodded. "Yea, sure. Thanks, sort of. We're going to go check on our friend, okay?"

With that, she and Felix stood up and started walking away before she pulled Felix in close. "So, first impressions?"

"I think we both know who those girls are talking about, but other than that I don't know. They're sketchy but they gave us a place to rest. More importantly, Nyitzcha looked happy with what they offered to us for reparations."

"She's certainly a tough one to crack, I'm on the same boat as you."

"We're not on a boat, though."

Janette rolled her eyes when they heard footsteps running towards them. Turning around, they were greeted by Spi'Reto's presence as he joined in with them alone. "Hey, sorry you guys had to hear that. Mother isn't too trusting of others, we have a bad history with newcomers. I'm glad you guys seem to enjoy our show of peace, I really hope we can move past rough introductions and start anew."

Janette locked eyes with Felix and nodded before shaking Spi'Reto's hand with a smile. "Of course, it was a bad start but we welcome putting that behind us, don't we?"

"Yea, of course!" Felix agreed. "The past is the uh... past, right?"

Spi'Reto was beaming. "Awesome, that's great news!"

"It is, listen we were still sort of curious if you could tell us a few things, just minor things really." Janette asked, hooking her arm through his.

"Oh, sure thing."

"What's with the Nekomata's and what's with Perdilius?"

Felix looked around as he heard several women gasp and move around, seemingly close by and yet, Felix couldn't see them around. Not that they were concealed under darkness, though he did catch a few bushes trembling.

"I... I think I can just say that the Priest is not a good man, and that is that."

"What about the girls?"

"That's... private."

"Come on, I can keep a secret. Please?" Janette pleaded, giving him her best teary eyed look with a soft pouting face. Spi'Reto however remained reluctant, pulling apart from her with an apologetic look.

"It's not that I don't want to but... well it is that really. I'm sorry, but some stuff Mom prefers to be private."

"Huh, Mommy's boy." Janette huffed, her hand on her waist when a low growl emerged, followed by a heavy set of paw prints coming up towards them. In a moment, Nukka walked into their view with an ecstatic Nyitzcha riding her on top, no not in that way!

Perves.

"Well, I say we may be friends after all, dese lot got plenty-o goodies to share." She grinned before reading the situation. "Ah take it we off to bed?"

"Yes, yes we are." Janette confirmed, turning around as Nyitzcha hopped off and petted Nukka behind the ears.

"Te-he! That tickles!"

Nyitzcha chuckled and gave the bear one final head pat before parting ways. "Alright ye overgrown lass, off wit' ye."

"Baii!" Nukka cheered before sighing happily. "Her parents must be so proud."

Janette smirked, snorting accidently with Nyitzcha looking up at her. "What?"

Felix snickered back, covering his mouth as Nyitzcha turned around to face him. "Ehh?"

Now Janette giggled once more, shaking her head as the young dwarf frowned, keeping pace while standing at half their height in between both humans.