Chapter 2 - Mochi vs Book

Dawn came and filled the room with sunbeams, and Milly licked her new face drowsily.

“Did I just lick my own eyeball?...”

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around her disheveled room. Everything looked the same as it did last night, including her semi-translucent body. Fighting an impulse to lick her new paws, Milly remembered Mochi and peeked over the edge of the bed, but she was gone.

Just then the blankets rustled softly behind her, and she noticed the large bulge at the end of the bed.

“Mochi?”

The bulge lifted up, and then settled down. It lifted again, and shook to the side. The blankets started to violently move around and the bulge ended up twisted in them, falling to the floor with a thud. The blanket fell away revealing Mochi, still nude, and still in the princess’s body.

“Oh Milky, it’s you. Food?”

Milly knew this was her chance now that Mochi wanted food again.

“I-it’s Milly… I can take you to food, but first you have to help me.”

“No. I don’t want to.”

Tugging at her long pointed ears, Milly withheld a shriek of vexation. She wouldn’t let this dog get the better of her, she just had to outsmart her. It shouldn’t be hard to outsmart a dog, right?

“W-well… That’s too bad, because I know a place with lots and lots of food… Food like bread… and cheese… and… meat?”

Milly peeked at Mochi and her hope grew seeing the dumb grin and floppy tongue she saw yesterday at the mention of the word “treat”. It seems like “meat” was another trigger word for Mochi, so Milly made a mental note.

“I want meat!”

“Sure thing, just help me with my book and we’ll go right away.”

“Tch.”

Mochi’s face flattened in disappointment.

Milly flew over to where her book had been the night before. It was closed, and she thought that was strange considering she definitely left it open to the spell page before she jumped into the circle. The book even specified to leave it open during the spell. She flew above the book and gestured down at it with her little speckled paw.

“Open this and I’ll show you where the meat is.”

She slapped her paws over her eyes and squealed in realization of what she’d just said, never in her life thinking she would string such words together.

Mochi paid no mind to it and crawled out from the pile of blankets and over to the book. She pawed at it a few times with a closed fist.

“Try using your fingers, like yesterday!”

Milly once again slapped her paws to her small face and shrieked quietly. She’d never even kissed anyone, and here she is saying such suggestive things. How scandalous!

Uncurling her fist, Mochi hooked the cover of the book with a finger and pulled it open.

Once again the two undertook the task of trying to get Mochi to use her hands in a more human way, and eventually the book was opened to the page with the spell from the night before.

Unfortunately, when the final page was flipped, Milly had come to find that the spell page she needed was illegible. The words were smeared and looked like they had been burned, though the paper itself was mostly intact, just blackened with something resembling soot.

Tears welled up in Milly’s big brown eyes, and she began to whine again, like a dog caught in the rain.

“Don’t cry baby, we will look for the meat somewhere else.”

Milly felt her body being phased through, and looked to see Mochi trying to lick her.

“It’s too bad I can’t clean you, I’m real good at this. Mama said I could go to the ‘lickalympics’.”

“T-the what?”

“I don’t know! Don’t question Mama! I’m good at licking!”

With Milly’s tears dried in confusion, Mochi’s anger returned.

“The meat wasn’t in the book! You lied! I want food!”

“I-I didn’t say the meat was in the book, it’s downstairs in the kitchen.”

“Oh. Well I’m going there then!”

Crawling briskly across the room, Mochi almost made it to the door before our ghostly pup flew in front with paws spread out, frantically waving.

“Stop! Stop! Stop! You can’t go out there naked!”

“What’s naked! I’m going!”

With that Mochi pushed through Milly, and promptly headbutted the door. She bonked her head again against the large wooden entry, and quickly turned her fury back on her involuntary companion.

“Open this!”

Another opportunity for bribery.

“I’ll tell you how to open it if you put on some clothes.”

“No! I don’t want to! I hate clothes! I’ll kill you!”

Milly dodged the incoming lunge even though she didn’t need to, being a ghost and all. While arguing with the pooch princess, she had been racking her brain about the ruined book.

There was a chance a similar book would be in the castle’s library, but it was so far from her own room the two of them would never make it there without being seen by staff, and there was no way Milly was letting goodness-knows-who see her body in the buff. Everyone already thought she was weird enough as it is.

For most of her life, Milly avoided interacting with anyone other than her father, with a few exceptions among castle staff. Because she kept to herself and was famous around the castle for reading disturbing books, collecting creepy items, and dressing in black and white, she'd earned herself a reputation of being “the dreary princess”. Her demeanor of doom and gloom didn't help with this, and neither did putting black streaks in her beautiful white hair. At least her new look matched her old preferences, she thought.

Having Mochi pretend to be the princess was the easiest way to get through the castle undetected as no one would likely stop her to talk, but a new problem arose with the new plan.

The new plan; get Mochi dressed, walk casually to the library, find another spellbook.

The new problem; walking.

Getting her dressed was one thing, but teaching her to walk might be impossible. As Milly thought about the next struggle she faced, she mumbled to herself as she often did.

“How… stand up…”

“H-he…hehehe…”

Milly looked up to see Mochi with a smug grin on two wobbly legs, bracing herself against the door.

“Ha! I already know how to ‘up’! I’m good at this!”

Mochi: 2
Milly: 0