Chapter 2351 Lakeside Run

--- Lily ---

Lily worked out that the best way to move against the current was a sort of scuttling thing with a varying number of shadow limbs. She wasn’t certain what exactly was optimal. More than she really needed would be a bunch of wasted mental energy and mana, but there were quite a few good reasons not to go too low as well.

One was silly. There was no reason to hop forward with just the one pushing against the current. Two was nearly as bad. For all that it was technically enough to ’climb’ up the river with, it still meant it could knock her against the current. So three was really the bare minimum. Two shadow hands on the wall, with another moving forward. Except... if three was good, wouldn’t more be better?

Two anchored, two moving, with one further ahead then the other so that when she was pulling herself forward that extra hand could go further ahead and keep things even smoother. The answer was yes, it worked quite well if she set things up in a sort of neat pinwheeling motion in regards to her shadows. No natural limbs could move this way, but that was never a concern for this.

So if things kept getting better as she added more limbs... would five or six be even better? Perhaps. Lily did end up moving to five after a bit of time on four. It allowed her to essentially moving as if she was inside a wheel. With at least two shadows gripping the walls as they rotated forward and the rest sat above her. They didn’t really need to be out or extending much, and it wasn’t really a wheel considering how much the shape deformed and stretched out to keep her moving.

The first issue was that controlling five separate limbs was a touch demanding, though only a touch. The bigger problem was that she didn’t have infinite shadow to stretch on forever. Five limbs was about where the ease ended. Adding a sixth meant she had to actively watch how much shadow each limb was using and to not going too far with any one of them lest a different limb be unable to stretch as far as she might want.

A few minutes after reaching a great pace, Lily noticed a gap in the ceiling, and further, that around the gap were shards of space. Swapping her trajectory, she ’climbed’ up to the opening and hauled herself out of the water. That was all it took to find the portal. Looking through it, the area seemed to be quite flat except there was... a stick? A building? Something in the very middle that looked almost like it was slicing her view in half.

It seemed to thin for a building... but maybe that was perspective talking? The cut sure looked like one, but it didn’t feel like one to her spatial senses. It was very strange, and as Lily was debating if she should head inside or not, Kat chimed in. [I’m just about at the island. I think anyone. I can see the mud and stuff. Can you head back so I can find the portal?]

*Sure thing*

Now, Lily did have options. In theory she could explore the caves more as there were at least two other exits she could immediately make out around the portal... but she had no idea where any of those went and Kat was nearly at the island. No reason to make a mess of things, thus, Lily dove back into the water.

The ride felt both fast, and rather slow. She zoomed through the water but it was a long tunnel. Then there was the trip past Appoline to let her know what was happening, before she flew back over the lake, barely even giving the fish a glance. There was no reason to put together her ridiculous boat contraption when the plan was for Kat to come along to the knew portal.

Soon, she entered the old one and the smell of mud and dirt tried to infiltrate the potion she had on. It had survived the short transformation needed to chat with Appoline, showing it’s superior quality, or perhaps just Appoline’s desire to one up whoever had made the previous one. Perhaps the fact it had broken so easily by her transformation had insulted the elf’s professional pride.

Regardless, that wasn’t as important as the other thing happening right now. Lily transformed and jumped into Kat’s arms. Hands reaching up to cup Kat’s face as Kat’s own hands pulled her close. Lily shifted a bit so that she had full access to Kat’s lips, and then, sparks. It was always an experience kissing Kat. So many feelings. So much time spent pining. They’d been together a while now. Perhaps not long considering even a human lifespan... but certainly enough time for a normal person to get used to this.

Perhaps Lily was being uncharitable. She certainly hadn’t gotten used to this feeling otherwise she’d seek Kat out for kisses at all moments of the day just to feel the same joy as she currently did in this moment. Every time was still oh so special. Even if it wasn’t quite the same for Kat, and she could tell... that didn’t make it any less special. She still felt that love. The way Kat reacted more to her OWN enjoyment of the moment, then the kiss itself. It was... different, but for Lily, that too was part of the appeal.

Lily was of course, blushing madly when they final separated, and finding her wits was taking a few more seconds then she’d hoped. Not helped by the fact that Kat gave her an extra kiss on the cheek a few seconds after letting go, and turning their hug into one that pulled them together by their sides. As if that was meant to help with her burning mind. Still... Lily was never going to complain about it.

The pair simply existed there, together for a few moments. Lily breathed in deeply to enjoy the scent of Kat... and then she was rudely reminded of the rotting snake corpse nearby. Lily grimaced as it overpowered things and shattered the moment. "Let’s get out of here. At least the other side of the portal smells better. We can catch up more there, or while we’re flying..." grumbled Lily.

Pulling her girlfriend through the portal, Lily found Kat laughing as the transitioned to the lake. "Wow, I mean, I know I saw your memories of it but this place is really pretty," sighed Kat.

Lily nodded, "Yeah and the fish keep taunting me. I feel like I want to eat them, even though I’m really not hungry. I don’t even know that they smell that good. They just look super shiny and something in my brain is telling me that makes them good food. Which is weird. It’s not like gold looks tasty to me."

Kat shrugged, "Perhaps it’s that you know it’s fish? Whatever the case, did you want to ride along in my arms as we fly over to Appoline, or fly by yourself,"

Lily threw herself into the air and was easily caught by Kat. "There’s really only one answer to that of course."

Kat chuckled, "Yes indeed..." Lily felt the moment Kat’s thoughts landed on a slightly naughty idea, but it was executed before she found out what it was. Kat let her fingers reach over and pinch shut over her ass.

"Ouch, why?" hissed Lily even as she blushed.

Kat shrugged, "Some people seem to enjoy it."

"I... I don’t think I enjoy the pain of it even if I sort of like the idea in theory," mumbled Lily as she pushed her face into Kat’s shoulder to avoid the embarrassment. Kat of course, the meany, just laughed again as she started to fly over the lake.

"So how was your flight over?" asked Lily.

"Not very exciting. There weren’t NO monsters, or like, other stuff but not as much as you’d think. I suspect that either the targeting system doesn’t work properly in the clouds but it was meant to... or there is no targeting system and we’ve been worried for nothing," explained Kat.

"That feels wrong considering we know it exists outside of the middle," countered Lily.

"Yes, but the middle is a giant mountain with a bunch of floating islands. Then again, I can’t imagine, if the committee did stick its nose in a bunch, that they’d be happy with such a clear favour for me. Though maybe with the cloud thing Thyme knew it wouldn’t work and just... didn’t mention it for anyone else to fix?" pondered Kat.

"I’m not sure how we’d find out other than just asking. Though I AM still putting a veto on you flying up as far as you can manage before getting hit to test if you even will get hit," grumbled Lily.

"Hey, it wasn’t instant, and I can drop right down. You know it would be a good thing to test, especially while we’ve still got some orbs to keep us going," offered Kat.

"No," stated Lily firmly. "You will not."