Na'Vi leaned over the balcony, her two bck tails idly swaying in little arcs behind her. She closed her eyes and breathed in the frosty afternoon air, feeling its icy touch deliver a shivering tingle that traveled down her spine. It felt like bony little fingers tapping her skin as they made their way down her butt and legs. Gone were the days of cloudless sunny days as the skies were now a dull coating of gray.

  "Winter is coming," She muttered out, noting the foggy breath that slipped past her lips like smoke.

  Janette sneezed, cupping her mouth with a tissue. She sat up in bed with two pillows helping her rest against the headstand, wearing a green veil snugly around her head to keep her hair bun in check. Refusing to wear a nightgown, she insisted to y in bed wearing her daily green surcoat with lime green diamond patterns along the waistline and bottom edge of her skirt. The skirt was wide, full, and ruffled at the waist, and the sleeves were snug enough at the wrists but loose around her arms to keep the fit comfortable. She adjusted the tightness of the garment with drawstrings at the front, a feature that helped keep her bosom perky while maintaining a graceful and luscious appearance.

  Syri sat along the edge of the bed to her right. Her clothing fit a combination of comfort and a ck of modesty, as she much preferred walking around in her skin. However, Janette made it clear that they cannot stroll around her or her domicile in the nude, so Syri adapted. Both cat girls wore on surcoats, Na'Vi's was a matching brown design while Syri wore a lighter brown and white dress. Only, the sleeves were torn from the forearms to make room for their paws, and incidentally the dresses were sshed at the bottom due to their cws.

  Janette caught herself admiring the new dress Syri wore, the white gown with the brown corset and ruffled skirt dress looked modest and really complimented her white hair and fur. She looked beautiful, even more so when her little white cat ears did that adorable twitch or when she smiled and made those cute dimples on her cheeks. And those eyes, her green eyes looked like the prettiest emeralds shining in the dark, absolutely mesmerizing. She could lose herself in those eyes...

  "Um, Jay?" Syri softly asked, nudging her arm politely.

  Janette returned to reality, blushing as she was caught staring once again. She made a fake attempt to clear her throat, rubbing her eyes but more likely intending to hide her face as she screamed in her head.

  "Sorry, um, allergies?" She squirmed, hoping that tingling itch between her thighs would go away. Her eyes darted toward the source that made her shiver. "C-close the window, what is this a barn?"

  Syri cocked her head, her ear flickering before she gnced at the open window. "Na'Vi, could you close that please?"

  Na'Vi scoffed but pulled away, pulling the squeaky window back. The gss kept this diamond pattern that fit with the arched window frame, resembling the stained-gss designs seen in churches. "Better?"

  "Much, thanks." Janette sniffed, pulling up the covers up to her waist. "You two don't seem to mind the cold."

  Na'Vi shrugged in response, pnting her bottom atop a wooden stool. "Living outdoors is natural for us. If we get cold, we turn back into our cat forms."

  "You guys don't like staying in that form?" She asked, turning her head from one Nekomata to the next. "Because I don't see you do that ever since we met. Not often at least."

  "We couldn't talk to you if we did, silly." Syri teased.

  "Right." She looked down, regretting asking such a silly question.

  "Honestly, it feels better this way." Her friend acknowledged, stretching her limbs far. "Cats are fun, we can crawl in tiny spaces and hide easily. But having a more human body feels liberating, more movement and more we can do. I don't want to just sit around zily, stuffing my face with milk and coughing up fur."

  "Of course." She gnced down to her stomach, peaking under her garment when a furry white paw spped her hand away. "Ow!"

  "Stop peaking." Syri huffed, raising her tail between them and wagging it left and right. "If you keep staring and poking then it won't heal as fast."

  "Hells, so be it." Janette leaned back, banging her head against the board. "You know I feel like I have a pair of bodyguards keeping me safe."

  Na'Vi and Syri locked eyes, keeping silent.

  "Okay, I guess I do have bodyguards. It'll be fine, the others will be here in due time. Try to rex, you're both making me anxious."

  Na'Vi exhaled loudly, rocking her stool back and forth using her two tails to keep her banced. "Big house."

  "Hm?"

  "You've a big house. I've seen many cabins, cottages, small towns, but never seen or been to a house this big."

  "Oh, thank you. It belonged to my parents."

  "Parents!" Syri chimed in with a loud voice, startling her. "You have parents? Where have they gone? Will they be here soon?"

  "Ah." She croaked, pausing to gather her thoughts. "Let's see... this was their house, but they left it to me. I highly doubt that we'll meet them soon, they're a few days from here."

  "A few days?" Na'Vi remarked with surprise. "Why so far, are you in trouble?"

  Janette snorted at the idea. "Nothing like we are in today, no. It's simple, they live back in my hometown running their own business. I wanted to start fresh, so I settled here. Plenty of farmnd, good soil, and it's close to a few trades."

  Na'Vi blinked. "Oh, I see. So those apple trees in the front, you sell them?"

  "Sure do, that's one of my products." She smiled proudly, locking eyes with her. "I've kept it running for a few years. It's good."

  "Our Aunt had something simir." Syri mentioned, rubbing her chin and staring at the ceiling for thought. "Don't think she liked houses though, she's more of a sleep with trees type."

  Na'Vi shuffled in her stool when she noticed Janette silently staring. "What?"

  "I don't think I noticed your eyes before. They're each a different color." She held her breath when Na'Vi scoffed and looked away, seemingly bothered by her comment. "Did I say something bad?"

  Syri leaned in. "The girls would tease her about her eyes before." She whispered to her ear.

  Janette understood what that meant. "Na'Vi? I think your eyes are really pretty."

  "Stuff it." Na'Vi huffed. "I don't need your fake compliments."

  "I mean it. Do you know cats have that same condition? It's called Heterochromia, it's a condition where a cat has two different colored eyes. Some cats have two colors in one eye, that's called a Sectoral Heterochromia. You have what's called a Complete Heterochromia, meaning one eye is a different color than the other. It's a genetic trait seen in cats, it's not uncommon and nothing to be upset about."

  "It makes me weird, people call me creepy."

  "Some people might call you names or focus on traits that they see as negative. But some will like those same traits, like me." She smiled, noticing Na'Vi's tension begin to soften. "It's nothing to be upset about. Really, it makes you more unique, I bet you stand out from the clutter with those eyes."

  Na'Vi hung her head, using her bangs to hide her expression. "Since you're in a good mood, I guess I should apologize for making a mess of your house before."

  "Oh, apology accepted." Janette cheerfully replied, "You guys helped me repair the walls and windows so it's fine. I still need to install new gss, but we can do that after we handle this messy priest stuff."

  "I was talking about the mess I made in your kitchen when we tried to cook." She muttered.

  "Pfft!" Janette chuckled, her ughter cut short by the slight painful twitch from her stomach. "Water under the bridge! Just don't do that again. Why did you guys even do that?"

  "Well," Na'Vi smirked, her eyes falling on Syri. "Someone wanted to impress-"

  "Can we pleeeeease not talk about that right now?" Syri whined, hiding her face with her paws. "Weren't we talking about parents?"

  "Alright," Janette smiled, turning her attention back toward Na'Vi. "Tell me about your parents."

  "Mum was killed by hunters when I was little, never met my dad. Emyri took me in."

  The silence was heavy after that response.

  "Wow." She scratched her neck, wiping the nervous sweat from her brow. "Sorry I asked."

  Her eyes lit up when an idea came to mind. "Hey Syri. what about your parents? Where's dad?"

  Now it was her turn to squirm and shuffle her legs around. "I... never met him. Mum says he held me when I was born, I don't remember."

  "He's not dead, is he?" She shook her head. "Did he... did he leave?"

  Syri nodded, leaving Janette at a dead end. It seems she won't be getting any information about their dad through her, she was the youngest after all. Maybe Felix was having better luck.

  "And then you being adopted by Emyri, that's how you two met?" She asked, leading into another topic. "And you're okay with KuliKuli, Nityri, being with Felix now?"

  Na'Vi shrugged. "I'll always love her, even if it means she be with someone else. That's her happiness, not for me to take away."

  "That's... noble of you." She remarked, her voice trailing off.

  Syri gave her a nudge. "Something on your mind?"

  "Just, nothing." She smirked. "Just a few weeks ago you were trying to kill me and now here we are."

  Na'Vi frowned. "Now I was not trying to kill you."

  "Oh, you weren't? You said I might live to remember this as a bad dream if I told you were KuliKuli was." She ughed, marveling at the absurdity. "You even smmed your paw against the wall."

  "I needed to scare you so that you wouldn't do anything stupid." She argued back, ignoring Syri's giggling.

  "You sniffed me!"

  "You had her scent!" Na'Vi stammered back.

  "In the future, I would recommend you don't sniff your prey especially if they are like me." She teased, watching Na'Vi turn red. "Not everyone responds the same way."

  "Oh, disgusting." She hissed, marching out the door. Their ughter was muffled as she smmed the door and leaned against it, her tails fluttering below her outside of her control.

  It took a minute for them to compose themselves, finishing off with a nice rexing sigh.

  "That was nice what you did for her." Syri spoke softly, "About her eyes. Those big words you said sounded true."

  "It was true." She corrected her, poking her side. "No reason for her to be ashamed over that. I like them."

  "But you only said something now?"

  "If I recall, our introduction included her threatening my life. Didn't really have the time to compliment her eyes." She pointed out.

  "True."

  "You know you don't have to spend all day with me at my beck and call. I can help myself just fine."

  "Also true." She nodded with a knowing grin.

  Janette slouched with a defeated sigh. "But then you want me to stay in bed and get some rest."

  "Oh, so very true!" She giggled, leaning in and pnting a kiss on her cheek.

  Janette smiled. "More of those, please."

  "Oh, you like my complimentary kisses?" She joked, leaning in close and whispering in a sexy voice. "You get more of those if you behave as a good girl."

  Janette swallowed, staring hard as Syri leaned close. Her eyes darted between her yellow pupils to her pink lips. "Uh-yea o-okay. Where did this side of you come from?"

  "Nya~!" She giggled and pulled away, licking her lips and pying with her silver hair. Her ears stood up as if she heard seomthing. "Sit here and get plenty of rest, I'm going out. I think I heard them coming back. The sooner you heal, the sooner we can set up our next date."

  "I'll keep that in mind." She answered, following the young cat as she skipped out the door, closing it gently behind her. She licked her lips and sighed, feeling flustered. "Fuck. What are you getting yourself into?"