I hold my breath and try to stay as still as possible as some people walk nearby. I think to myself, Be still, like the grass and rocks! My current task: being unseen.

I fail spectacularly at the task due to my new cat tail moving like crazy. There are a couple people in my vicinity, they are familiar, but I can’t quite place it…

The answer is on the tip of my tongue… I think, which then prompts me to think back to the incident with the “jelly”, and then I remember.

These two people are the adventurers, my memories of being a cat entity thing are useful. I can’t quite place one of them, the older elf? named Malfer is not here, just a human girl named Ellie, and a younger elf. I assume he’s an elf and the girl a human.

The weird influx of information comes, similar to how it came earlier, now I know that some are elves, and some humans. Helpful, but I don’t know the elf’s name.

While getting that information, they moved closer to me, I realize that a younger elf is talking to me while they are in the middle of a sentence, “-you? Do you know anything about a mind controlling demon cat?”

I look up at them confused and say “What? Sorry I wasn’t listening to what you were saying, would you mind repeating yourself?”

This young elf is wearing a brown and green tunic, some brown and green pants, and some… you know what? Everything he is wearing is green and brown, and his appearance is some standard fantasy outfit that you’d see depicted. He has a bow on his back, some type of archer maybe?, but he has no arrows that I can see.

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Then he speaks again, a little bit agitated, “My name is Alver, and my friend here is Ellie, we are from the nearby village of safewater. Yesterday there was a strange occurrence of, we think, a demon cat. The cat hypnotized our group when we were hunting for slimes, we are here looking for information on the mysterious occurrence. Do you have any information on the demon cat?”

I think for a moment. The cat they are talking about was likely the cat that I have memories from, where they went with that group of adventurers to defeat a slime. It is weird that they went with the cat. Is that the hypnotism that they are talking about, or something else…

I answer them with a lie, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any information regarding anything of the sort. I am in a bit of a pickle myself actually, as I’m unsure of how I got here.”

They both look at me with a mix of emotions, it’s as if I dashed their hope, but then as I got to the part of me not knowing how I got here, their eyes reignite. The girl, Ellie responds, “That is an odd thing to have happened, is there any particular reason why you do not know?” She then turns her head to address the elf kid with a whisper.

“Alver, this might be related to the cat from yesterday, a person wearing cat ears appears, and they don’t know how they got here? This has got to be related?”

Then Alver responds while looking at me, “It probably does, but how will we convince Malfer and everybody else? It seems that the spell that was placed on them hasn’t been broken, they still believe that the cat talking was normal!”

They both continue to ignore me as they continue talking with each other, apparently the demon cat hypnotized them into all thinking it was normal. The cat made it so they perceived the cat talking as normal, as well as the cat eating a slime much larger than itself. The effects of the spell wore off quickly, allowing them to perceive a cat eating that slime as strange, but with only these two thinking a talking cat is weird.

They seem to have completely forgotten about me until my new tail reminds them of my presence by brushing the grass noisily. Alver is the one to address me “Why are you wearing a cat costume? I know you know something about the cat, it’s no coincidence that you just happen to show up the day after. Even if you know nothing, you obviously are related to it.”

I start with my lie again, but then it turns into just my thoughts as I respond, “I really don’t know anything, also this is not a costume, and I am so confused, and I don’t know what’s happening!”

Ellie is the one to respond with a “What?” as they both look at me, confusion painted across their faces.