While Maya was busy getting the wolves for backup because she couldn't deal with the chaotic duo consisting of Sophia and Chloe, said girls were busy chatting. They mutually complained about fluffy hair being a pain to take care of. The fox-girl especially had lots of troubles because she’s the incarnation of fluff. She even came up with the idea of changing her hair with magic. That also made her interested in adjusting her body as a whole which is supposed to be impossible as far as she knows. The tiger-girl looked really awkward while the other was gushing over how much fun it would be being able to change your body however and whenever you like.

"Idiot…" While they were leaving the treehouse and Sophia told Maya what the duo had chatted about, she only reacted with a single word.

“Why?!” The blonde didn’t like this accusation. “It’s not me who brought it up! I did my best to stay serious, as well!”

“Well, I guess you have a point there.” The cat-girl reacted with a nod.

“I DO!”

“Still, Chloe sure is something else. I didn’t think there would be another one to come up with something as stupid as changing your body at will…”

“There are many people who would have such ideas!”

“Tell me one besides the two of you!” Maya didn’t let her have any of that.

“Uhhh… Ah! The demon guy Fennyfenny mentioned when I screwed up and became a tiger! You know, the guy that wanted to have wings and accidentally became a demon-beastfolk hybrid!"

“…” She hadn’t expected her to actually come up with someone. “T-Tell me two!”

“Shut up!”

“Fine…” Maya let it be. “Still, it sure is interesting how alike the two of you think. Kinda weird, too, actually...”

“Whose idea was it to play with the size of my chest?” Sophia just stared at her.

“…” She paused for a moment. “T-That’s not what I meant!”

“Hehe.” The tiger looked smug over her victory. “You are right, though. It's super interesting how we get excited over similar stuff! We will have so much fun together when it comes to exploring or magic!”

“The future looks grim…”

"I beg to differ!" Sophia was a lot cheerier about it.

“Haa…” Maya had a feeling that she wasn’t able to stop her. The happy smile the blonde showed her also killed all motivation to do so. “Are you going to tell her about your ability to adjust your body however you want? Chloe doesn’t seem like the type to give up on an idea once she had it. I have some experience with that type of girls, after all.”

“Ahaha…” The blonde let out a short laugh. “Not for now… I don’t want anyone to find out that I wasn’t always a tiger, and that magic could cause some suspicions about that…"

“You actually thought that through, huh?”

“I have my moments~.”

Once they finished their little chat, the couple regrouped with the wolves and Chloe, who were waiting for them outside the treehouse already.

“So, why are we here again?” Fen looked at the couple once he spotted them. “The bar was much warmer, and I’d like to go back there.” He looked a little grumpy.

“I need help with this chaos duo here!” Maya glanced at her tiger and the fox-girl before staring at him.

“Chaos duo?” Aura changed her attention to the two in question.

“Listen to this!” Sophia raised her voice. "Because this Feyfey wanted Chloe to learn decent common sense, she wasn't allowed to play around with magic like every other fun-loving idiot! This girl never blew anything up with magic in her life!”

“Oh my!” Aura’s eyes grew wide.

“That’s horrible!” Fen also got loud.

“Oh no…” Maya noticed her mistake. “W-Why did I think that those two would be on my side…? It was me who's the biggest idiot here all along, huh?”

"We have to change that immediately, don't we?!" The blonde faced the wolf with sparkling eyes that were filled with determination.

“Absolutely!” The wolves were just as motivated.

“Can I go home…?” The cat-girl’s feelings were slightly less enthusiastic. She does love blowing up things on occasion as well, but keeping four of them in check was way above her pay grade.

“Can we really?” Chloe started smiling after having heard the opinion of the wolves on the matter.

“Of course!”

“Yay!” She sounded really happy about it.

“Fine…” Seeing her smile, Maya also gave up on protesting. “Let’s try and find a clearing somewhere in the forest, though…”

“Good idea!” Sophia looked at her. “We don’t want to bother our new neighbors, right?!”

“Sure… That was my goal here…”

“Let’s go!” Ignoring the sarcasm in the cat-girl’s voice, the blonde energetically raised her hand.

“Yes!” So did Chloe.

Afterward, as everyone was highly motivated to teach the fox-girl some fun magic, the group left the village to search for a place to play. Maya followed after them, as well.

----------------

"Alright, do you know how to use fire-related magic?" It didn't take them long to find a suitable place inside the forest, and Fen faced the fox-girl. “It’s the easiest way to blow something up, after all.”

“Of course!” Chloe showed him a happy smile before lifting her hand. A moment later, a whitish-yellow flame appeared on top of the palm of her opened hand. "Easily!”

“I really don't get why you can use chantless magic…" The blonde looked at the fox. “I want to know why!”

“I still don’t know, either…” Chloe shook her head. “We can ask Feyfey for an explanation once she’s back. I’m sure she has some answers…"

“We will!" After all, it really was bugging Sophia.

“Anyway,” Fen tried to stay on the topic. “While I’m also curious about that, let’s focus on blowing something up for the time being.”

“Yes!” The two nodded in agreement.

"By the way, how big of an explosion are we talking about?" Aura also focused her attention on the fox. “How much of the forest should be left afterward?”

“All of it!” Maya decided to answer for the pink-haired girl.

“Y-Yes!” Chloe nodded a couple of times in response. "A small crater and a nice ball of fire is all I want!”

“For now~.” Sophia got closer and whispered those words to him.

"She's done for once she gets a taste of it." He whispered back.

“Don’t try to corrupt her even more!” The cat-girl glared at them.

“Seriously, why are your ears so good?!” The two were shocked that she had heard them.

“I have an extra sense to pick up on these kinds of conversations~.”

“Get rid of that sense!” Fen and the tiger didn’t like it.

“Nope.” She just grinned at them. “Even if I could, there’s no way I would~.”

“Too bad…” The duo looked visibly disappointed.

“Alright,” While Aura didn't necessarily disagree with the two, she instead addressed the fox-girl again. “What’s more important? A flashy fireball or something that you can feel in your guts?”

“Yes!” Chloe just showed her a big smile.

“Are you two related?” Fen glanced at the group’s tiger.

“Highly unlikely.” She shook her head. “I do see your point, though.” Sophia couldn't deny that the two were somewhat similar in some areas. “It’s fun~.”

“Flashy and powerful, huh?” Aura then faced the blonde, as well. “That's your specialty, isn’t it?”

“You and Fen are also pretty good at that, though?” She didn't want to take all the laurels when it came to this topic.

“There’s just no way that we can compare to your creativity!” The wolves replied the same.

“Is that so…?”

“Yes!”

“Hmm…” Sophia glanced at the two for a moment. “You just want me to come up with something so that Maya gets upset with me only because it was my idea, right?”

“Yes!” The two just kept nodding.

“Cowards.” She shook her head. “You do know that I’ll take you down with me, right?”

“We prefer you over Maya!”

“You seem to have quite the reputation.” Chloe leaned over to Maya while she was listening to their bicker. "Reminds me a bit of Feyfey.”

“Someone has to keep them from destroying the world, you know?” The cat-girl sounded absolutely serious while making her claim. That's exactly what almost happened when Sophia and Fen were left unsupervised the last time, after all. “Also, just like me, everyone in our group likes to tease each other whenever they get the chance. I could be a little more easygoing at times, but they also just love to make those comments.”

“Yup!” Fen, Aura, and Sophia all agreed. “We love to mess with each other.”

“Is that so?” Chloe looked at all of them. "I love the dynamic you have going on in your group!"

“Ehehe~.” The tiger loved all of them a lot, so she was happy to hear that it seemed like they had something special. “Our group’s always open to newcomers~.” She more and wanted Chloe to stay with them. “Be prepared to be teased, though.”

“And you have to bear with some flirty idiots that don’t know the definition of holding back.” Fen also needed to warn her.

“That is true!” Maya agreed with him. “Sophia and I also can get quite annoying when it comes to that. It’s not just the wolves.”

“Yup.” The tiger nodded a couple of times. “We’re not nearly as obnoxious as them, but we are not easy to deal with, either.”

“…” The male wolf wasn’t sure what to say here.

“There’s lots of teasing to be had here.” Aura summarized the conversion. “Flirting, too, for that matter, yes.” She glanced at Fen towards the end.

“…” He tried not to react to it.

“It does sound lovely and like a lot of fun, and I’m happy that you like me so much that you’re considering letting me join the group, but… I think that it would be better to decide once you meet Feyfey. It's either both or neither of us, after all. I'm not going to leave her." Chloe was really happy about the indirect invite, but she had no plans to join them on her own.

“Fen and I actually traveled with Fey for many years in the past already. I really enjoyed that time.” The female wolf already liked the plan.

"Safe for the times when she got upset with me when I got too lax about how I experimented with magic and caused a catastrophe or cataclysmic event, or 17… Yes, she’s nice to have around.” Both had seemingly enjoyed her company.

"The more, the merrier!" There was no way Sophia would have anything against it, after all.

“Someone who can scold Fen and keep him in check? Count me in!” Maya, too, was looking forward to her already.

“Really?” The fox-girl’s smile got bigger. "I'll tell her about it once she's back, and then we'll talk about it again!"

“Sounds like a plan!” The blonde smiled back at her. “Alrighty! Let’s go back to exploding things! Or rather, let’s finally get started with it!”

“Yes!”

Afterward, once the topic had gotten back on track, Sophia tried to think of a way to show Chloe how to explode something in a flashy and powerful way.