The sun was starting to set.
Mark was walking in front, with the Moonlit Feline seated on his right shoulder.
'Not as many Monsters and Beasts now. The Border, it's...' The white-scaled monster thought as its right eyebrow twitched continually.
The eyebrow didn't stop twitching, no matter how many times Mark tried to keep it from doing so.
The reason for the twitching was... Something else that couldn't be stopped.
"BFAHAHAHA!!" Elisa uncontrollably laughed out loud, a couple of steps behind him. "PFFFF!! LOOK AT YOU! LOOK AT YOU!" She shouted while pointing at Mark with one hand and holding her stomach with the other. "AHH, IT HURTS!! BUT THAT'S TOO FUNNY!!"
The white-scaled Monster sighed before turning around.
"What now?"
"CAN'T YOU SEE IT?? YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS!! YOUR... YOUR BODY! IT'S COVERED WITH FEATHERS! WHITE FEATHERS! YOU LOOK LIKE A... Like a... You look horrible."
"Those are the mushrooms."
"No. Pfff! They're feathers."
Mark sighed again. He turned his gaze slightly to the side.
The Moonlit Feline was shaking its head sideways repeatedly while staring at Elisa.
"Could you?"
Krista turned towards him, raised her gaze above for a bit, then jumped off.
"Kristaaa! I've missed you!!" Elisa shouted as the Moonlit Feline walked towards her. "Huh? Why do you have feathers too? No way... You can change like him? You should've told me that!!"
"Okay, that's it. Krista, come." The Moonlit Feline waved its tail at Elisa as it turned around and walked back to its Master. "We're leaving her behind."
"What? You don't get to leave me behind!"
"Bye Elisa, hope we'll find you... Whenever it wears out." Mark said as he started walking once Krista had climbed up his body.
Elisa crossed her arms and watched them walk away.
"Those two really are... Two peas in a pod... I just can't...They really are..." She grumbled in a low voice.
Mark walked for a bit.
"Think she will follow us?" He whispered as he turned slightly towards the Moonlit Feline on his shoulder.
Krista's eyes narrowed.
And so did the white-scaled Monster's eyes.
The Moonlit Feline's seemed to tense up as it showed its upper teeth.
Mark did the same.
She growled, and he growled back.
Krista rolled her eyes, and Mark stuck his tongue.
"You can't talk but you called me stupid, didn't you? I would know. There was a time I couldn't talk." The Moonlit Feline kept looking away. "I know she's going to follow us. It's just... Ugh... What is it?" Krista turned back towards him and stared with confused eyes. "It's complicated." The Moonlit Feline let its head hang to the side. "You wouldn't get it." Krista feigned losing balance and falling as if her head had gotten too heavy, which didn't fail to make the white-scaled Monster chuckle.
Mark took a couple of additional steps before,
"You're not..." Elisa's whispering was so low that he couldn't hear the whole sentence.
"Mm?" The white-scaled Monster started turning around when,
"YOU'RE NOT GETTING RID OF ME THAT EASILY!" Elisa shouted as she leaped onto his back. The startled Moonlit Feline immediately jumped away while Mark stumbled. "I'm not letting you go yet."
The white-scaled Monster regained its balance, but didn't move.
"Get off me."
"Don't wanna." With her chest to his back, her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist, "Don't wanna walk either. I'll stay stuck like this instead. Bfahahaha!"
"Just... Get off, alright?"
"No! I don't wanna!"
Mark's distressed eyes moved to look for backup.
All they found was a Moonlit Feline rolling on the ground as it snickered.
"Why... Don't you want to?" The white-scaled Monster's face winced.n0velusb.c0m
Trying to reason with her? When she's in this state?
"Cause."
"Because... What?"
"Because..." Elisa's were quickly unwrapped from around Mark's neck and were laid on his shoulders. The additional weight on his shoulders made him bend his body forward slightly to keep his balance. As soon as Mark's upper body started bending forward, Elisa unwrapped her legs from around his waist and lay one foot on the back end of his lower back and the other on the base of his tail. "Just because." Elisa said as she stuck her head up, truly using his body like some kind of ladder.
'That was so fast...! She pushed my shoulders lightly and... Wait this isn't the time to think about that!'
The white-scaled Monster shook its body energetically, but that didn't seem to disturb her at all.
'She's moving the same way I am...? How the hell is she remaining that stable? Her balance is just...'
"You resemble Krista a lot right now." Mark noted as Elisa, unbothered by the shaking in the least, kept looking from right to left.
"Huh? I'll take it as a compliment."
"Good. Now, get off me."
"I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?"
"Everything is moving... In weird ways."
"Uhu. No, that's me moving-"
"Like that branch." Elisa pointed. "I mean, it was a branch a second ago. But now, it looks like it's about to spit poison in my face."
"Like a snake?"
"Exactly! And the ground, it's... It's... Ugh!" Elisa couldn't stare down for more than a couple of seconds. "I don't know how you do it, but I am not walking on that."
"Fine." Mark answered absent-mindedly as he was busy wondering.
I am not walking on that-
Wondering what could be so horrible and disgusting that she wouldn't walk on it.
They had walked on and around some pretty gross things thus far after all.
"So I'll stay here. And I'm not taking no for an answer."
"Mm." Mark nodded.
His lips curled up slightly.
"Say..." He slowly raised his head. "What do I look like now?"
Elisa's face twisted with disgust.
"There's a flower growing out of your right eye. A green flower, which is weird. The petals are green. That's very weird."
"Pf...! PFHAHAHAHA!"
"Don't laugh I'm being serious!"
"Okay, okay. And that doesn't scare you? A flower growing out of my eye?"
"Well, no." Elisa replaced a strand of hair behind her ear. "I expect weird things from you, so it's different."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Still, get off me."
"Make me."
And a not-so-epic duel took place.
