Big Luna, And The Steps Of Sigfire Castle

“Good natured… newly arrived…” Emmanuel’s voice bore the tiniest ember of excitement as he listed those two factoids off.

“How about two gold?” Sato bargained,

“Two thirty.” Emmanuel countered,

“Two twenty? Final offer.” Sato said staunchly,

“Nah…” Emmanuel looked back towards the lobby. “Look, you can’t just say final offer. My final offer is two gold thirty.” Emmanuel yawned, covering his mouth.

“I’ll accept. Prix, you’ll spot me, right?” Sato pivoted to Prix as Emmanuel was already leaving

“I’ll pay.” Prix grumbled, “Couldn’t you have negotiated better?”

“What do you mean I knocked the price down?” Sato said, baffled as the three of them started walking back with Emmanuel.

Prix paid two gold and thirty silver before Emmanuel transferred ownership of twenty-three over to him. “Did you need anything else?” Emmanuel side-eyed Sato as they walked over to her cage,

“I already thought of a name for her,” Sato said, rubbing his hands together with a devious grin on his face.

“Well, she’s all yours.” Emmanuel opened the door and gently pulled her out. She may have physically stood before Sato, but she clearly was somewhere else as Sato embraced her.

“I’m going to call you… Big Luna.” Sato said,

“Did you call her Boona?” Prix asked, angling her eyes,

“No…” Sato laughed as he took his catfolk paw and started to leave. “Her name is Big Luna,” Sato said very clearly,

“Do you have a death wish?” Prix gasped, running to confirm Sato,

“I don’t,” Sato said, weaving out of the lobby and then towards the inn,

“Luna will kill you for this!” Prix worried,

“Attempt.” Idalec corrected Prix,

“Yeah, cuz I can beat Luna with just my left hand now!” Sato laughed, not listening to a single word from the persistently worried Prix.

“Hello.” Aka welcomed Sato, Prix, and Idalec, narrowing her eyes at Big Luna. “Who’s that?”

“Big Luna,” Sato said proudly as he walked into the inn,

Luna, Carrot, and Garia were all sitting around a table, teacups in front of them and a few slices of bread right on the wooden table. “-benvolence indeed.” Garia finished talking with a huff as she brushed her face,

“I’m surprised that you're all up already, Chat.” Sato said, putting his hands on Big Luna’s shoulders and marching her to face the group, “Meet the latest member of our party, Big Luna!”

“...”

Luna’s eyes flickered from Sato to Big Luna’s face, and then the rest of her body. “Is this one of your unfunny jokes?” Luna asked with a blank expression,

“No, it’s just you, Luna, but bi-” Sato didn’t get to finish his sentence before Luna raised a claw at Big Luna’s head and launched a fireball right at her head, aiming to decapitate both Big Luna and Sato in one go, but Idalec put up a barrier,

“Ekk!” Big Luna crouched down to the floor, causing Sato to fall on top of her,

“Idalec.” Luna snarled, narrowing her eyes as she slid off her chair. “Was this Prix’s idea? Sato’s?” Luna tapped on the barrier that Idalec was still keeping up. “Idalec?” Luna closed her paw and, with absolutely all her magically enhanced might, hit the magical wall,

“Luna, you must understand that you're not an unstoppable force.” Idalec stepped forward as Luna had shattered her arm, recoiling in pain. “You could have asked Sato to rename her.”

“Hmm,” Luna snorted as her arm healed itself back up. “Sato~” Luna started looking at Sato as he rose up. “Could you just die?” Idalec looked at Luna with a frown,

“But Big Luna has a bigger-” Sato loudly whispered to Idalec, moving his hands around Big Luna, like he was intentionally taunting Luna. “Then Luna. Also, they’re both black cats.”

“May you confront fate.” Idalec lowered his hand; it didn’t do anything per se, but Idalec mentally dropped the barrier.

“Xexexe.” Luna laughed under her breath,

“Wait, wait!” Sato said, falling on his back as he raised both hands to Luna, who started walking closer past where the barrier was, “I-I’ll change her name! W-” Sato pleaded as she jumped, pile-driving into Sato’s chest, squeezing the air right out of him, “AOHHHH.”

“No claws, Luna,” Idalec ordered, as Luna’s claws had ripped holes into Sato’s shirt,

“Fine.”

“No biting or magic either.”

“HHH.” Luna hissed, looking up at Idalec with dismay as she hit Sato in the chin,

“He-” Sato tried to get Luna off him, but it proved impossible. Sato tried to push her off with his arms, but Luna punched Sato in the bicep, forcing Sato’s arm painfully down. “Ahh!” Before Sato could do anything, Luna palmed Sato’s face and, maintaining eye contact with Idalec, hit it into the floor, once, twice,

“Isn’t that enough?” Idalec asked, causing Luna to let go before she slammed his head down a third time,

“No,” Luna said. Sato’s eyes swirled around his pupils, dilated as he looked up.

“Idalec, you have to stop this beating.” Prix finally said, stepping forward. Luna looked at Idalec, then Prix, then back to Idalec for a moment. “Luna, get off Sato,” Prix demanded as Luna bent down and started licking his hair, lifting his head with her paws to make it easier,

“Hehe.” Sato laughed dumbly, getting his hair wet before Luna got off him and gave him a good kick in the side.

“That’s enough,” Idalec said, walking over to Sato as Luna moved away, giving Big Luna a death stare as she walked back to her seat.

“It wasn’t right to let Luna beat Sato to this state!” Prix said hotly as Idalec approached, “Will Sato even be able to reco-”

Sato’s eyes snapped back to a normal size as he got off the ground, leaving behind a small pool of blood where his head had been bashed twice into the floor. “Ahh. It still hurts.” Sato rubbed the back of his head,

“But perhaps it was right?” Idalec said, looking over at Luna, who looked displeased, making an appearance of drinking her tea by raising up the cup. Yet she didn’t drink a single sip as she watched on.

“How could it possibly have been right? Yes, you healed him? But Luna still beat him!” Prix said, pointing down at Sato, who was in a slumped sitting position,

‘Some people just need some good sense beaten into them.’ Idalec went on one knee to get to roughly Sato’s eye level. “What did you learn?”

“I want Luna to lick me again,” Sato said, his mouth a little ajar as he looked in Idalec’s eyes with honesty.