Chapter 781

Still Lily’s perspective

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Apep continued his, jog, for if anyone asked it was a jog. He was not running, or panicked, he was... swiftly jogging to his room. When he reached the door, he threw it open, wincing a little as it hit the nearby wall before bouncing back. Not that Kat or Lily were paying attention but Apep had a rather extravagant room. Large open windows near the top of the room to help circulate the air. Directly underneath those windows was a bed large enough to fill Lily’s bedroom by itself, with thin curtains that could be drawn over them. Off to the side was a large writing desk

They were made of a fine silk like material... that was completely see-through, so it wasn’t entirely clear what the point of them WAS. Perhaps it was style thing, as surely there were enchantments to deal with bugs. Off to the side near the door was a large writing desk with gold edging. Next to it was a moderately sized bookshelf that seemed to contain books necessary for doing homework.

There was a small planter box against the opposite wall that framed a door to somewhere else. It was currently blocked off by a curtain rather than a door. Perhaps if either of the two girls were paying attention, they could take a look and find out more details but they were both rather occupied at the moment as Apep dropped Lily into one of the beanbags that littered the floor and hopped onto the only proper chair in his room, the one at his desk. Apep grabbed a pen, or rather his equivalent of one, an intricate gold wrapped wooden device that looked somewhat like a fountain pen but with a modern tip.

Back in Lily’s head Kat was returning to the closet once more. *Come on Kat. You’ve had your fun.* “Nope,” said Kat, “I’m making the best use of my time. Still, I’ll compromise. I’ll just pick one more outfit and stick to that for a while ok?”

Lily’s face scrunched up back in the real world... but she knew quite well this was probably as much as Kat was willing to concede. *Fine. Whatever. Just... try not to make it too distracting. I’ll need to fly out of here and that takes some focus.* Kat just smiled and slipped into the closet, shutting the door softly behind her.

.....

Kat already knew what she was choosing for the last outfit. If Kat was being totally fair, it only barely counted as an outfit on technicality. Still, Kat at least thought it was rather on theme. Kat opened the door and started to dance out, making sure to stick to the theme.

What she’d chosen was a rather extravagant belly dancer’s outfit. She had a golden chocker and necklace combo that drew attention to her breasts quite well. Her hair was done up with a similarly styled gold clasp as well because her hair had about doubled in length for this. On her hands were five gold bangles each, three smaller ones and two larger ones that rattled around during the steps. On her feet were strap sandals and a stack of bangles that clinked slightly as she moved, though they were all of the smaller variety.

For the main ‘outfit’ Kat had a tight upper piece in red just like her hair that kept her chest firmly in place for the movements. It showed off her stomach well, stopping just barely beneath her breasts and splitting into three red arrows of cloth that bounced as Kat moved. Her ‘collar’ if it could be called that looked to be made of brown leather and rested across the top of her chest, stretching over her arms though not covering the shoulders at all.

Her bottoms consisted of a skirt in the same style as the collar, leather arrows now with complimentary gold medallions hanging between the gaps. The rest of her ‘pants’ was really just two long strips of cloth. They barely hid her more private areas and did nothing to cover her legs at all, swaying considerable amounts as Kat moved. The back cloth seemed to follow Kat’s tail as it traced patterns around her back, while her wings were had to phase through the cloth.

*Wait... Kat you know how to dance?*

“No, of course not,” said Kat, still very much dancing.

*Then how ARE you dancing?*

Kat froze mid motion, “That Lily... is a good question that I don’t think we should dwell on!” said Kat before returning to the dance.

*Ok no. That’s enough. I’m almost certain you’d have no idea WHAT that dance is from, and even if I was willing to believe you do I am somewhat worried about the fact that you can perform it so cleanly.*

“Fine. Look, it’s not that big of a deal...” said Kat though the overwhelming feeling of disapproval caused her continued, “fine. It’s simple. I’m currently in your mind and sitting... basically inside of the link we share. I am also at least partially integrated in that link, as well as it connected us. It means I can get a much better idea of your mind from here.

“It also means I can sort of... hmm... what’s the best way to describe this...” to Lily’s annoyance Kat continued to dance. It was VERY distracting and she knew Kat well enough to know she wasn’t even trying to be that distracting. Lily of course found an outfit practically designed to show off someone’s hips and legs, alongside their stomach quite the distraction. “I guess I’ll have to use a computer as an example.

“Normally, our minds are like separate computers. We send status updates to each other, but those are just basic things. Just big text documents basically. Now however, we’re a lot more like two programs running on the same computer and I can... well I’m sort of running my program inside of yours. So I can ask the ‘upper’ program, your mind, for details and get an answer back. So... if I go ‘what should I do while wearing this outfit’ your mind tells me what the correct dance for it is. I still don’t know how to dance, I just know how to listen to your mind. This is... a bit more like memory playback then true dance,”

*Is that safe?*

“Probably? I mean the worst thing that could happen is I become either more like you, or more to your liking and I don’t consider either of those a negative. Still, I don’t think it’s likely. Your thoughts, even when I’m acting on them, still feel quite separate so it’s fine,” insisted Kat.

Before Lily could chew them out further Apep strode over with a letter. It had a wax seal on it and was done up in a fancy envelope. “Ok, so this is a letter I’ve written to Jara. It should explain the basics but I mean... it was a bit of a rush job. I don’t mind too much if you answer other questions of hers... I guess just... use your discretion,”

Lily nodded and went to grab the letter only to realise, she of course had paws. Hmm let me just. Lily hopped off the bed and transformed back into her human self. She instantly felt the pressure on her mind redouble. Apparently being in Memphis form helped with that. Lily quickly grabbed the letter and looked over her body before grimacing and tucking it into her shirt. It was already starting to fall when she swapped back to her Memphis form, letter disappearing with her clothes.

Apep opened his mouth to ask something when Lily fixed him with her feline gaze and he froze. She slowly shook her head at him and he nodded. *Good. That was embarrassing and I don’t want to talk about.* Apep slowly schooled his feature and coughed into his hand. “Um right... so... my windows don’t really shut, or well I don’t ever shut them. So if you just memorise where my room is you should be able to get back here without issue. Jara’s place should be easy to find... but I don’t really know how to explain where her room is.

“What you should probably do is just look out for her in the garden. It’ll be pretty obvious considering she’s the only teenager in the compound other than Zuhra. Um... hmm... wait did I never describe Jara either? She’s got the same skin tone as I do, long black hair that she likes to keep in a ponytail, blue eyes that trend closer to grey and she likes to wear blues and purples. Can’t miss her,”

Lily nodded and started to flap her wings, finding the motion easier and more instinctual than last time she’d tried. She easily managed to make it to the windows and after that there was nothing to stop her. She kept climbing until she was high over the city.