Read Novel Full Chapter 2323 A Rabbit in the Hand is Worth a Mouse in the Bush
Chapter 2323 A Rabbit in the Hand is Worth a Mouse in the Bush
--- Kat ---
A few more bits and pieces of info were past along such as what sort of biomes they’d both passed through on the way here, but they did eventually run out of topics to cover, or at least, topics relevant to the tournament. So, Kat had to ask, "What now? Did you want to work together or go our separate ways?"
Souris let out a low whistle, "Well... I’m honestly not too sure about either of those options. I do somewhat want to team up but there’s just too much risk on my end for you taking me out in my sleep you know? At the same time, there’s the worry that if I said I’d prefer to leave you’d just snap my neck right now or something and really that could be somewhat inconvenient for me. Even if I’d heal up from it, that would be painful you know?"
"I promise to respect your choice in this," said Kat. "I can’t lie about it, as I’d hope you know."
"Right... but it’s very easy for you to say that, and mean it, all the while having a plan for your familiar or companion to take me out. That’s simply how games like this are played, and they only get more complicated once both sides know about the other’s issue with lying. It’s why the fae nobility don’t really bother with it anymore. Lots of legends about them being unable to lie, which wasn’t true, but something they liked to promote... in the past anyway.
"It just ended up with everyone telling all of this truths that were just barely true you know? And it made talking to everyone such a pain, or so I’ve been told. I suppose I wouldn’t really know being a beastkin after all, but-" smoke exploded around them and Kat looked for the attacker.
At the same time as this happened, Lily felt something shatter her shadows holding onto Souris, and Kat whipped her fans through the air in response, showing Souris vanishing towards the ground. Lily couldn’t stop it because her shadows were still being wrangled after they’d just been broken and Kat wasn’t sure she was fast enough...
Appoline was though. A potion bottle was already in the air, and looked about to smack into Souris... when a... rabbit? Kat could barely process the fact that a rabbit had launched itself towards the potion bottle and kicked it back at Appoline. Appoline had to carefully catch the bottle, spinning with it and moving carefully to keep it from shattering in her hands.
All the while, Kat still charged forward trying to catch Souris before she vanished under the ground. In the end, her tail just barely missed grabbing onto Souris’ ears, or more accurately, Kat was able to touch them, but not hold them in any meaningful way with just her tail, and her hand didn’t get there in time. Meanwhile, Lily had dashed off after the rabbit and was making far better time.
After it had knocked the potion away, it had taken off at full speed, and was exceptionally fast... but with Lily not being locked to Rank 2, she was faster. For Lily, the harder part was not giving into her instincts to bite into the rabbits neck, and clearly, it recognised that as well because it was ’sprinting’ as hard as it could manage. The only reason it was making distance was Lily not wanting to finish it off.
It was one thing to rip and tear into monsters, it was another thing to do so when they were somewhat cute... but an entirely different ballpark when that monster was almost certainly a familiar. They were much smarter and... well... traumatising something like that just seemed a bit much. Luckily, Lily wasn’t just her instincts, and she had her shadows and paper at her clawtips.
A sigil appeared and walls of paper went up around the rabbit, causing it to jump high to get over them all... trapping it in the air. Shadows rose up from behind the paper and the rabbit tried to jump off the air to get more distance, but it simply wasn’t fast enough. Or rather, he wasn’t fast enough.
As their minds caught up to the action Kat and Lily realised this had to be Wiggles, the twin’s familiar, now trapped in a fresh new shadow trap. Kat started to move over to where Lily was, just in case, while Appoline moved back towards the patch of glass that she’d made earlier. The three of them were looking out for Souris, careful not to let their guards down this time.
*What do you think this was all about? I really was going to let her go if that’s what she asked for, or teamed up. It would’ve been nice to have a third companion I think. She’s quite strong after all.*
[If I had to guess? It was that whistle at the start that summoned the rabbit, er, Wiggles. I think he was waiting for the signal in case she needed help, and that whistle called him in. I’m not sure if she didn’t believe you when you promised not to turn on her, or if it was too late because the whistle was a signal and she had no way of calling Wiggles off. The rest of her speech was clearly just a factual bit of rambling to keep us distracted until Wiggles arrived.]
*So... what now? I can’t hear her moving around and I’m not sure if she’s going to run or not?*
[Familiars are very precious. I refuse to believe she wouldn’t try to free him.]
*Counterpoint, we’ve already proven to be... honestly rather soft about this sort of thing. We also, clearly, haven’t ’killed’ him yet. What if she thinks we simply won’t hurt him?*
[Are you willing to do it? Because I’m not totally sure I am. Fighting people is one thing, but fighting intelligent familiars like Wiggles feels different. Also, he didn’t really fight as so much as just try to free Souris.
*That is... an annoying point. I think if push came to shove I could do it. Maybe I should? I think I’d rather wait for Souris to attack and take her out, no second or third chances, just a blast of demonic fire and trusting Thyme to be able to heal her, because honestly? Feels a bit like a spit in the face. Plus, even if it doesn’t take her out of the game instantly, then it might take her out of the game due to not being able to find more orbs. Thoughts?*
[Yeah I think I’m onboard with the idea. Wiggles... yeah it feels weird to say he did anything wrong? Souris called him to help, and he did. The fact that she called for help is her problem, not his. Though I do wonder how smart the rabbit is? Anyway, not important, the real question is going to be how long should we wait for her to make a move?]
[Like, I doubt she’d leave Wiggles for real, but it’s possible upon seeing us capture him instead of just taking him out she’ll wait until we go to sleep or something, and I for one have no plans to sit in place for the next ten or more hours.]
*Hmmm... thirty minutes. I think I’m willing to give it thirty minutes. At that point, she’s either going to attack the moment we ’let our guards down’, has fled, or will be waiting until we go to sleep or something. The real question will be if we leave the area. I think the answer probably should be yes... though... hmm... do you think Wiggles can relay messages of the link he has with Souris? Or does he even have one?*
[Probably not full conversations like we have... and didn’t Wiggles have a bond with one of, or both, of the twins? I don’t think he’s Souris’ familiar at all... though that does make me wonder why the heck he’s with her. Does that mean the twins are around?]
*I... maybe? Where is the Timmy then? If the twins are around there should be two of them and I feel like Souris would be willing enough to throw a Timmy into combat. The fact that there isn’t any that we’ve seen should imply Wiggles is with her for some reason... unless Timmy got taken out somehow and the twins just now came to help? Or one of them anyway?*
[We can keep an eye out... but... yeah no real way to know for sure. Though... hmm... I guess the question would be, why haven’t the twins shown up to fight?]
*My response to that would be ’they’re regrouping to plan’ but I’m not sure if they’re around either. Still, do you think we could take them as a group of three?*
[Certainly. If you’ve committed to getting serious with it, some demonic flames should ensure that they get taken out before too long. Even Souris running away likely wouldn’t stop it.]