After the overseer of magic had gifted the blonde tiger a sizeable chunk of jungle biome for her domain, Sophia and Mira reunited with the others, and she couldn't wait to show everyone the new addition to the place.
"I don't like that expression." The two entered the cottage, and Maya immediately got a bad feeling when she looked at her girlfriend.
“Same.” Ari had a similar opinion on the matter.
“So terribly rude!” Sophia started pouting. “I just had fun with Mira!”
“No, there’s more!” The cat-girl didn’t believe her.
“Yes.” The jaguar nodded. “You only have this kind of expression when you did something ridiculous!”
"I am not entirely sure if I should be happy that my friends know me so well or upset because I'm so easy to read…"
“Yes.” The group had no intention of resolving her confusion.
“All of you really are the best at being the worst!” The blonde let out a short sigh before she started smiling. “I’m so proud!”
“So, again, what kind of ridiculous stunt did you pull?” Ari had no intention of letting her off the hook so easily.
“Nothing!” She raised her voice. “Tell her, Mira!”
“Yes.” The teal fox nodded. “Everything we did and talked about was perfectly normal overseer stuff.”
“Oh no, it’s even worse than I had anticipated!” It had the opposite effect on the black-haired girl.
“Ah.” Sophia noticed her mistake.
“Well, it was regular overseer business, no matter if one party isn’t an actual overseer.”
“Still not helping! Anyway, Mira taught me a lot about my domain! Things will become AMAZING in here really soon!”
“And there’s the ridiculous part.” The jaguar almost sounded relieved. “So, what’s today’s headache going to be?”
“Maya, please make sure this sassy jaguar goes to bed without dinner tonight!”
“Noted.” The cat-girl nodded. “I’ll prepare an extra big helping for her later.”
“Thank you very much.” Ari smiled at her.
“What made you think I’m on your side?” Maya then looked at the blonde tiger again.
“...”
"Tell us what you've learned already!" Fortunately, Steph, Chloe, and Anna were much more excited about it. “We want to see something fun!”
“I knew I could count on my favorite members in the group!” Sophia was delighted that those three were on her side.
“Hey!” Maya and Ari didn’t like that.
“No complaints allowed!” She lightly glared at the two before pointing at the door leading out of the living room they were in right now. “We need some more space for that~.”
----------------
“Oh, welcome back.” Outside the cottage, the group ran into Fey and the wolves, and Aura lazily greeted the blonde tiger.
“Hey~.” She waved at her. “What were you three up to?”
“We were looking for a nice place to nap in the range of trees behind the cottage.”
“Weren’t you already napping in the living room when Mira and I left?”
“So?” The female wolf tilted her head. “Napping is important.”
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“I can’t argue with that.” Sophia, too, was quite fond of it, after all. “And? Any good spots?”
“Not really.” She shook her head. “The trees are still too small to comfortably lie under, and it's also way too bright outside... Can't you do anything about the eye-searing all-white nothingness?"
“You’re in luck! I was just about to present my newest learnings around my domain!”
“Ohh!” Aura also started to sound excited.
“Mira, how much space do I need for your gift?” The tiger then focused on the overseer.
“It’s about five by five kilometers.” She smiled at her. “I added a little extra~.”
“Thank you! Let’s see... My storage stuff is in a different area, and everything else is here, so... Yeah, let’s place it right in front of the cottage!” Immediately after, their entire surroundings started to sparkle in the same pink and purple colors as her portals. That was all the group could see for a little while, as nothing else other than the magic was in their field of vision. The area had changed considerably once the particles finally started to subside again.
“WOW!” Everyone besides Mira and Fey had the same reaction while staring at the massive forest that was slowly changing into a full jungle in the back that had appeared out of nowhere.
“Good work, my dear.” The teal fox gave her a thumbs up.
“Thanks~.” Sophia smiled at her. “Though, something feels odd about that forest… Is it being filled to the brim with raw magic on purpose?” She pointed at the forest while looking at Mira. Though not nearly as dense as her portal magic, every empty space between the trees in the forest and jungle was sparkling in a similar purple color.
“…” She did not reply. Judging by her impression, it was not on purpose, though.
“Ahh~!” The blonde’s expression turned even happier. At the same time, a swirl of magic came out of the woods and circled around Sophia a couple of times before returning to where it came from. "Ehehe~." She liked that.
“What’s this about?” Steph and Chloe immediately got curious about the event.
“I tried to see if I could control the magic that came with the flora from Mira's domain." She went with the first excuse she came up with. “It’s looking good~.”
“Nice!” The two bought it.
“Nice one!” Aura sounded rather impressed and was already walking closer towards the forest. “I’m sure there will be many great places to nap in there!”
"This really is quite something!" Fen was next to the female wolf while he also took everything in.
“Aren’t you spoiling her a little too much?” Fey didn’t sound quite as impressed and looked at the teal fox instead.
"A-Ahaha…” Mira had nothing to say in her defense. It was 50% spoiling and 50% bribe, after all.
“I AM SOOO FREAKING JEALOUS!” Steph was staring at their new surroundings with wide-open eyes. "So unfair! I want to be able to do that, too!"
“YES!” Anna and Chloe felt the exact same.
“Ehehe~.”
“…” Maya and Ari weren’t quite sure how to react or what to say. They, too, did look quite impressed, though.
“Overdid it again a little?” Sophia looked at them with a wry smile.
“Well, obviously!” Maya nodded a few times. “But,” She then glanced at the forest and jungle in front of her again.
“It is quite cool.” The jaguar finished her sentence. “Very cool, actually.”
“Huh?!” Sophia raised her voice. “Approved by Maya and Ari?!”
“Don’t act that surprised!” The two didn’t like her reaction.
“It’s the most amazing thing that has happened in months!” It definitely was a big deal for the blonde.
“I didn’t know that was even possible!” Steph had a similar opinion as her sister on the matter.
“I think that’s even the first time this ever happened!” Anna, too, seemed surprised about it.
“…” The duo exchanged some worried glances, seemingly upset over their alleged standing inside the group. “Alright, what do we have to do to stop being the party poopers here?" They really took it personally this time.
“Come on, it’s not like that!” Sophia smiled at the duo. “Also, what would happen if you two joined our side, as well? Poor Fey here would have to do overtime to keep all of us in check.”
“Don’t care!” The cat and the jaguar were properly grumpy.
“Don’t worry,” The full fox joined the conversation. "I wouldn't care. Even if those two let completely loose, it would make things only a little worse when put in relation to you, Steph, and Chloe." She glanced at the three troublemakers in question.
“Ah.”
“So, what can we do to shut you up?”
“Ehh…?” The blonde was a little confused over why they were so upset. “Well, it sounds like it could be fun? Also, yay for chaos?” After all, she didn’t mind it. “Mira told me how to grow my domain and make it more like hers. How about you two let loose first and be the kickstart this place needs to become ridiculous?"
“What do we need to do?” The duo seemed interested.
“Do you remember the magical forest we created in the fox village last year? By feeding tree saplings a lot of raw magic and letting it grow beyond reasonable size.”
“Yeah.” Maya nodded. “What about it?”
“I have to increase the density of magic inside my domain for it to become truly great in here. I’m already starting to feel a difference caused by Mira’s jungle, but it needs to be more. Much more! Flora, grown with the help of magic, apparently gains the ability to distribute and even generate additional magic. The more boosted trees and stuff around, the faster and better my domain can grow!”
“Soo…” Ari looked at her. “Basically, you want us to create massive magical trees to make your playground here even more ridiculous?”
“Pretty much!” She smiled at her.
“So selfish!”
“You should know me by now!”
“...”
“By the way,” Mira faced Sophia and the upset duo. “The part of the jungle here is still rather young and is filled with saplings that can't wait to grow tall and healthy.”
After hearing this, Maya and Ari immediately started walking toward the jungle. While Sophia was still a little confused, she quickly followed after them while the rest of the group did the same.