The chase between Sophia and Fey came to an end, and the fox-girl had inevitably won in an explosive final where she tackled the blonde mid-air, which caused both of them to crash down into a lake over 500 meters below them. On the plus side, the tiger had beaten Steph’s record of evading the fox for over two hours.
“Okay, now that we’re done, not wet anymore, and clothed again, let’s talk about what happened." The duo was still next to the lake they had crash-dived into when Fey wanted to start a conversation.
“WORDING!” The blonde didn't like the way she phrased her sentence.
“No.” The fox-girl slowly shook her head as she looked right at her.
“Come on, I wouldn’t be me if I hadn’t used that chance. You basically handed it to me on a plate.” Sophia didn’t think she should or could be blamed for that.
“I can and will blame you for that.” Fey was taking none of it.
“Fine.” She gave up. “So, what do you want to talk about after our passionate last two hours of nothing but action and you wanting me?”
“Haa.” The red fox reacted with a sigh.
“Okay, what’s up?” The tiger actually gave up.
“I want to know about the tactics you used that made you able to evade me for so long.”
“Ehh, but that would put me at a disadvantage for our next chase!” Sophia didn’t like the plan.
“How about there won’t be a next time if you don’t tell me?” Fey’s expression turned smug.
“So unfair!” The tiger started pouting in return. “Okay, but in return, I want to hear which mistakes I made and how you found me in the end!”
“That seems fair.” The fox-girl was okay with the deal.
“Though, I feel like you already know what I did, anyway?” Sophia didn’t think she even needed an explanation.
“I have my suspicions, but I’d like to hear it from you.”
“I guess that makes sense.” She nodded along. “Well, in the beginning, I just ran as fast as I could to get some distance between us. After a couple of minutes, I started noticing that I was way too loud, to a level where even a deaf person could hear me, and slowed down so that I didn't break everything in my path to keep down the noise. I knew that you’d easily close the gap between us that way, though.” The tiger made a slight pause. “Being that loud gave me an idea, though.”
“Being loud on purpose, huh?” Fey finished her sentence.
“Exactly.” She nodded. “Just not me being loud, that is.” Sophia lightly corrected her. “At first, I threw some bigger stones I found a couple hundred meters away from me, but I didn't feel like it was working overly well."
"I heard some light thuds every now and then, but it wasn't enough to pay attention to them." The fox shook her head. "I put them under regular forest noises.”
“Yeah, I thought so, too.” Sophia scratched her cheek. “Then, I remembered how most of the noise I created came from the speed I used to get away from you.”
“It sounded like a whirlwind literally tearing through a forest.”
“That!” She agreed. “That’s why I started using air magic to create some weak miniature tornados before running in a different direction."
“So it wasn’t you being incompetent to be stealthy, but you having set up a red herring for me, huh?” Fey didn’t like how she had actually been fooled for a while at the beginning of their chase.
“Ehehe~.” The blonde liked her miffed expression.
“But how did you manage to create multiple different sources of noise? At some point, I heard whirlwinds tearing through the forest from at least three different directions.”
"Well, one of them was me because I thought it wouldn't matter anymore if I was loud when there are multiple sources. I enchanted some stones with air magic and threw them as far as I could to create some confusion.”
“You certainly succeeded with that.”
“You love to hear it!” The blonde seemed a little smug about that.
“What made you change your strategy, though? Halfway through, I noticed that there were no more extra sounds anymore.”
“Because I know that you are cleverer than I am.” Sophia smiled at her. “I had the feeling that you’d eventually realize my little trick and ignore the sounds.”
“The multiple sources of sound actually were your mistake.” Fey nodded along. “That made me notice that something was up. If you had continued to concentrate on one direction away from your actual path, I probably would’ve been fooled for longer.”
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“Ahh.” She looked a little awkward again. “I thought I was being clever there.”
“I was quite a bit confused in the beginning and had to rethink my strategy, so it wasn't a bad plan, but I was the wrong opponent there. I have to say, going to the floating island was really clever!”
“Thanks!” Sophia cheered up again. “How did you even find out that I went up to one?!"
“I followed your smell.”
“Huh?!” Sophia looked a little panicked, lifted her right arm, and smelled her own armpit to make sure. “Don’t scare me like that, there’s nothing!” She looked relieved again.
“Firstly, I didn’t say you smell bad.” Fey rolled her eyes. “Secondly, I still have the sense of smell of my full fox form, which has been massively enhanced by magic, so even without an excessive smell on your end, I can still make it out over a very long distance.”
“I hadn’t thought about that!”
“You sure didn’t.” The fox-girl smiled at her. “Once I noticed that the noises were a false trail by you, I began sniffing you out and followed your scent instead. That finally got me to a path you made that led me to the waterfall you used to swim up to the island.”
“Urgh! I even jumped to the lake from that path to hide my tracks!”
“That was another mistake of yours.” Fey shook her head.
“How so?” She couldn’t follow her. “In fact, that even should’ve masked my scent!”
“It didn't mask the tiger-sized hole in the crown of the tree at the end of the path, though.”
“Ah.” She embarrassedly turned her head away. “My concentration started slipping there, huh?”
“It seems like it.” The fox-girl thought so, too. “As the lake with the waterfall was the only notable thing in the area after I jumped through the same hole, I went to check it out, and sure enough, I picked up your scent again, and the waterfall was the only option from there on out."
“I should’ve paid more attention there.”
“Once I arrived on the island, things got rather easy.” Fey’s voice turned confident. “Not only did I find some tracks of you again, like some wet footprints, but you also only had limited places to go from there on out.”
“Yeah, my concentration was definitely gone at that point.”
“It took me a while because I had to jump back and forth between islands to find your scent and track, but you saw the result~.”
“You tackling me mid-air and us falling down over 500 meters and headfirst into a lake? Yeah, I noticed that.”
“Hehe.”
“Ah!” Sophia suddenly raised her voice. “I should’ve gone back down into the forest after jumping from island to island a couple of times.”
“Oh, that would’ve been a cheeky move!” The fox-girl nodded a couple of times. “I probably would’ve noticed after a while, but it would’ve bought you a lot of time! Maybe even enough to get out of my scent range.”
“Too bad!" The tiger looked highly disappointed in herself. "For the next time, I'll definitely try to trick your sniffing skills!”
"I'm looking forward to it." Fey took the challenge. "I'll ignore our first hunt, but I’m quite impressed about this one and how crafty you were.”
“Thank you very much!” She was happy about the praise. “Now, I have a question for you, though!”
“Ask away.”
“Seriously, did you change your personality during your transformation, as well?!” The blonde stared at her. “You joked about matching it to your looks, but it’s way too different! Where’s the serious, strict, wise, and no-common-sense-breaking-fun-allowed fox?”
“You sure are a rude one.” The red fox shook her head in return.
“Don't dodge the question!”
“It’s highly situational how I act.” Fey looked back at her. “We wouldn’t have done the hunt in the regular world because way too many unforeseeable things could happen. I respect your wishes, but I don't really care about your domain on that level. That’s why I have no qualms about letting loose here. It's similar to Mira's domain, where I usually go to train with Steph. I know it will be repaired instantly, and no one else can get caught up in our nonsense there."
“That’s fair, but is that really all there is?” Sophia furrowed her brows in response.
“Well, you can ask Fen and Aura about it. My strict personality is my prominent one because my sense of duty is very high, but they will confirm that I also play around when the circumstances are right. Me knowing a lot more about magic than is known in the regular world, thanks to Mira, also adds to that. I have the self-given duty to not interfere in that area, so I’m strict about ridiculous magics, as well as my instincts to protect Chloe at all costs because I know how dangerous magic can be.”
“So the domains are like a holiday home to you?”
“Pretty much.” Fey liked the analogy. “Especially yours.”
“Because you care more about Mira than you do about me, fair enough.” She couldn’t blame the fox for that.
"I mean…" She scratched her cheek. "Not exactly false, but I was speaking about the extra rules you mentioned that apply to your domain. Not being able to get hurt, and even more so, not being able to hurt others, is SUCH a nice thing that actually made me start to like this place and not just simply treat it as a plaything of overseers and whatever you are supposed to be.”
“I’m really proud of my rules!”
“You should be.”
“I guess it makes sense that you seem a bit more relaxed and outgoing, then. I haven’t really spent that much time with you, either, so it was even more of a shock to me. I bet Steph already knows more of that side of yours.”
“She’s partly responsible for it, too.”
“Oh?” The blonde tilted her head.
"I mean, you were kind of right about the times when you said I picked up some habits from your sister."
“I knew it!”
“Mira encouraged me to do so.” The fox scratched her cheek. “Steph’s the partner of our daughter, so you should try to understand her better and see why Chloe loves her, is what she said.”
“Let’s go, Mira!” Sophia was proud of the overseer.
"That doesn't mean I fully approve of Steph yet and am happy about how hyper she is. I will continue to be strict with her, especially in the regular world, and hell will break loose if she ever dares to hurt my baby.”
“Fair enough.” Sophia had no intention of stopping her there. “Well, I’m happy you’re trying to give my sister a chance and found something to your liking in my domain.”
“I have mixed feelings about the first part, but I’m positively surprised by your views on things, especially regarding friends and family.”
“Ehehe~.”
“I will show no mercy if you do anything stupid, though. Especially when you do something ridiculous in the regular world.” Her strict side returned. “I will continue to try and teach you some manners, too. As well as ensuring that you pay more attention to your surroundings, magic, and your general situational awareness on top of your non-existent broken common sense even for someone that understands magic as well as I do."
“Good luck!” Sophia smirked at her.
Afterward, the two continued to chat for a good while longer to try and understand each other better.