Chapter 52- The Fluff Strikes

[Luna POV]

I teleported from Blake’s shop to my room then made my way into the shrine to find mom and Ana.

‘I guess I should try her office first.’

While on my wat there, I ran into Ana as she was bringing a stack of clean paper from a storage room.

“Hey Ana, bringing mom some more paper?”

“Yes, festival preparations always give her so much paperwork.”

“Then how about the two of you take a break?  You can spare the rest of the day, right?”

“I can, but I don’t know about your mother.  Though if it’s you, she probably will stop what she’s doing.”

“Then I’ll be a little selfish and get the two of you to stop what you’re doing today.”

We arrived in front of mom’s office, and I opened the door for Ana.  She walked in and I followed her in.  When I saw mom, though, I stopped.

“Hmmm.  What’s with you Mom?  Something seems different.”

“Whatever do you mean, Luna?”

“I can feel a faint trace of Tamamo’s mana on you.  Did she descend, no, she would find me first if she did.”

I walked closer to mom to see if I can figure out whatever is different.

“Hmm.”

“Did you need something from me, Luna?”

I could hear a small bit of nervousness in her voice; but decided to answer her question.

“I’m using my right as your daughter to tear you away from your work.  Ana will come to; we’re headed to my room.  By the way, do either of you know where Velvet is?”

“I think she was in the training grounds watching your father and the others.”

“Thank you, Ana.  I’ll go get her, you two wait in my room, I’m going to let you two brush my tails as long as you can.”

“Ana, postpone everything else we had to do today.”

“Right away.”

Ana dashed out of the room to do whatever she needed to while mom neatened up the papers that were on her desk.

“I’m going to let you know now that the two of you might need to be knocked out before you sink too deep.”

“Is that why you asked about Miss Velvet’s whereabouts?”

“Yeah, I’ll need her help in letting me know when the best time in stopping you two will be.  I think that you both have enough willpower to resist until about 10%, but she will be there just in case.”

“How will you tell the exact amount to stop at?”

“The new depth status.”

“The what?”

“Just check your own status and you’ll see.”

She took a second to check her stats and was confused for a second by the changes.

“When did this change?”

“After the massive headache everyone got earlier.”

“I see, if we’re doing this, then I’ll meet you in your room.”

Mom then got up and left and I was all alone in the room.

‘Wait, she never answered me about why I can feel Tamamo’s mana around her.  Guess I’ll ask Tamamo whenever she gets back.’

{Ask me what?}

‘Well, this is convenient.  Why do I feel your mana around mom?’

{That’s something I have to keep to myself until you get five tails.  Oh, Atmos said hi, by the way.}

‘If I have to wait for the answer then wait I shall.  Did she say anything else?’

{A bit of this and that, asked about our date and how it went, said some cryptic things like she does.  By the way, what was the thing you always wanted when you were summoned to this world?}

‘What I always wanted when I was summoned to this world?’

{Atmos said you wanted something but gave up on it when you met me and learned that you will join me one day.}

‘Ooooooohhhhhhhh, that?  I wanted to find myself a floating island.  I always liked stories with those in them, and when we were summoned and I learned that the Celestia Kingdom’s royal castle was built on one, I wanted one for myself.’

{A floating island?  I never would have imagined you would want one of those.}

‘It was just a dream anyway, I doubt I could take it with me to the divine domain, so what’s the point in getting one?’

{Atmos told me you would be able to.}

‘…’

‘Guess that dream is still alive then.’

{Atmos also said that if you wanted one, you need to get over your dungeon trauma and get at least three tails for the best result.}

‘Well, I was going to do all of that eventually anyway, but at least I’m more motivated now.’

At this point in our conversation, I arrived at the training grounds to look for Velvet.  It didn’t take long for me to find her; she was watching my dad while he fought with one of the veteran soldiers.  I decided to walk over to her instead of calling out to her when I got an idea.

I activated my stealth skill and slowly made my way over to her.  She still didn’t notice me when I got right next to her, and I gave her a light poke in the side.  She let out a cute yelp and jumped up, making everyone look over at her.  I deactivated my stealth skill while laughing.

“Hahahahahahahahahahaha!”

“What was that for, Luna!” She said while her face turned red.

“Hehehe.  I thought it would be funny.”

“Well, it’s not.  At all.  What did you want anyway?”

“Sorry, but will you come with me, I’m going to need your assistance.”

“Fine.  But be ready for when I get you back.”

“I’m shaking in my boots.”

We started walking to my room while we bantered back and forth.

“What do you even need my help with?”

“I’m about to let mom and Ana brush my tails and I want you to help keep an eye on them.  Tell me if they start to lose focus too much and we’ll go from there.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“As long as it’s a little at a time over the course of a few years, then it’ll be fine.  Speaking of what is your depth?”

“25%”

“That much!”

“Yep, I was checking over my stats when that headache happened, and I saw them change.  I was confused about what depth meant at first, but figured that the only person that matched with something like that would be you.”

“Speaking of stats, how are yours?  You don’t have to tell me, I’m just curious.”

“My highest is a B in Dex and the rest are about even at C or C+. What about yours?”

“My lowest is a B in Def, a few A’s, three S’s, and one SS.”

“It’s disappointing for my highest stat to be equal to your lowest.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help figure out a way to get your stats to a minimum of at least SS one day, even if I ascend before that, I’ll still try to help.”

“Thanks.”

We finally arrived at my room.  The door was open, and Mom and Ana were waiting for us there.

“Hello Miss Velvet, thank you for agreeing to help Luna keep us sane.”(Amagi)

“It’s no problem, Lady Amagi.”(Velvet)

“By the way Mom, Tamamo said she’ll tell me about your condition when I get five tails, so you’re off the hook for avoiding the topic earlier.”(Luna)

“Thank you, Goddess.”(Amagi)

“How are we going to do this, Miss Luna?”(Ana)

“I’ll turn into fox form and lay my tails on your laps; from there you can start brushing.  Try your best to resist the pull.”(Luna)

“I’ll warn the both of you now, the desire to give in will be strong.  You’ll need to stop yourself right as you start justifying the reason to give in.  If you don’t, we’ll knock you out.”(Velvet)

“Is that what it was like for you, Velvet?”(Luna)

“Yes.”(Velvet)

I transformed, hopped onto my bed, and stored my necklace in my inventory.

“You’re quite beautiful in that form, Luna.”(Amagi)

“I agree, it’s to the point that I’m jealous of it.”(Ana)

“Thanks.”  I said as I puled two brushes out of my inventory straight onto their laps.

“Wait, how many brushes do you have?”(Velvet)

“Several.  I have one for my hair, a main one for my tails, an extra if I somehow lose that one, and one specifically for Tamamo.”(Luna)

“Miss Velvet, in my experience, it’s best not to question what Luna keeps in her inventory.”(Amagi)

“Yes, there was one time she pulled out several wheels of cheese for some reason.  I don’t even know where she got those.”(Ana)

“And I’ll never tell.”(Luna)

“””Why not?”””(Ana, Velvet, Amagi)

“Because none of you except Blake would understand even if I explained it.  Anyway, you two can start at any time.”(Luna)

They both picked up a brush and started on their task.  It didn’t take five minutes before Ana started to struggle.

“This is difficult for me to say, but I’m barely hanging on.  I don’t understand how Soleil was able to put up with not giving in for so long.”(Ana)

{That’s because the charm skill was in some way or another interfering with the effects of the Abyss.}

“Tamamo said it was the charm skill somehow protecting her.”(Luna)

“Fufufu.  Luna, please let me keep doing this forever.  It’s so nice that I can’t stop myself.”(Amagi)

“I’m sorry for this, Lady Amagi.” Velvet said as she knocked Mom out and laid her down on the bed.

“Sorry, but can you do the same for me, I feel like any further and I’ll lose myself.”(Ana)

Velvet acquiesced and knocked Ana out as well.

“They didn’t last as long as I thought they would.”

“I can’t blame them, honestly.  The only reason I lasted as long as I did was because I have a resistance.”

“How did you even get that, anyway?”

{That’s something else you will learn after getting five tails.}

‘Ok.’ I said as I transformed back.

“Now, do you want to leave them here, or bring them somewhere else?”

“I’ll bring Ana to her home with teleportation, then I’ll put mom in her room.  You can go back to doing whatever.”

“She’s married to that hero friend of yours, right?  Will you bring me to meet him?”

“I can, but if you’re going to ask about that request from your mother, I already told him to expect someone to bring a message from her here.”

“Thanks for that, but I just want to meet a former hero.”

“You do realize that I technically am a former hero, just in a different sense than he is, right?”

“I never really thought of it, but I guess you’re right. Still, I want to meet him.”

“Fine, grab onto my shoulder after I pick Ana up.”

She did as I said and we teleported away.

Author's Note:

Here is a new chapter.  As requested in some comments I put who is speaking when a conversation has more than two participants.  The only exception is Tamamo since I think everyone reading can tell when she talks.  If you want me to add who is speaking every time, I will starting next chapter.  Thanks for reading.