Sophia was trying to find out if she could use her storage dimension as a way to travel fast between two places. The plan was to use two gates and skip the distance in between. With the help of Maya, they found out that it was, in theory, possible. All that's left was to see if living beings could even use it without being harmed. The tiger-girl wanted to use a teer as a test subject, but her feline hunting instincts had taken over, and it became more like playtime for her.

"I wonder if she's even able to catch it alive..." Around 20 minutes after the tiger-girl disappeared into the forest, Maya started to second guess her plan of catching the teer.

"Ehehe, look what I got~." 15 more minutes passed before Sophia showed up again. A teer was nowhere to be seen, though. Instead, she was holding some sort of rabbit with big antlers. It violently thrashed around, but the girl had grabbed it by its neck, making any resistance futile. The tiger also looked strangely proud when she was happily presenting her catch to Maya.

"Good girl~." She praised her before addressing the elephant in the room. Or rabbit. "That teer looks suspiciously close to a yackalope if you ask me." Maya was alternatingly looking at the two.

"..." The blonde didn't even comment on the name and her expression turned slightly awkward. "I, uhh, might've gotten carried away and let it escape..."

"Really?" She didn't believe her.

"Y-Yes! I totally didn't jump at it and snapped its neck on instinct or anything like that..." Her eyes nervously swam around for some reason.

"So?" The cat-girl decided to ignore the teer murdering that definitely had not happened in the forest and pointed at the rabbit hybrid instead.

"That critter's aggressive as heck! It launched itself at me with like supersonic speed! I could barely dodge before it collided with the tree behind me..."

"Yeah, yackalopes are quite something. If you don't pay attention, they can seriously hurt you with those antlers, especially at high speed."

"No kidding! Scared the heck out of me! Well, now he's my new test subject and will find out for me whether it's safe to cross my storage dimension." Saying so, Sophia walked towards one of her gates and threw the rabbit inside without a second thought. "Have fun, idiot~." Her slightly scary smile made clear that those two won't ever become friends.

"They're quite the delicacy, though."

"Ohh?" Maybe Sophia will like him in the future, after all.

----------------

"Soo..." Around five minutes with nothing happening passed before the cat-girl spoke up again. "It's not coming out, is it?"

"Doesn't seem like it. I also don't want to look inside because it might jump at me the moment it sees my head..."

"That's possible... Those freaky yackalopes jump at anything that moves."

"Hmm..." She tilted her head while thinking about a solution. "Maya, on a totally unrelated note, want to see how it looks inside the storage dimension?" She pointed at one of the portals.

"Sure." The cat-girl didn't move an inch, though.

"Fine, I'll do it myself…" With a sigh, she cautiously peeked into one of the portals again, only to immediately pull her head out again. "..."

"What's wrong?"

"That idiot's all curled up and fast asleep in a corner inside!"

"Pfft!" Maya couldn't stifle her laugh. "W-Why does it always end up in something stupid like that with you...?"

"If only I would know! Stupid rabbit..."

"Well, at least we now know that living beings can fully go inside without getting hurt, I guess?"

"Sure..." The tiger-girl had mixed feelings about it. Then, she grabbed another stone and lightly flicked it inside the portal.

"Oh." There was an immediate reaction. The yackalope came out of the second portal and noticed Maya. It instantly charged at her and tried to take her out with a super-strong jump. The cat-girl didn't look fazed at all, though. She lightly dodged to the side and turned around. She then raised her leg high and gave the still mid-air rabbit a kick to the neck with the back of her heel. The yackalope died on the spot and lifelessly fell on the ground. "And that's how you deal with them."

"T-That was sooo cool!"

"Ehehe. Well, it's easier to kill them with magic from afar, but-"

"Nonono, it was amazing!" Sophia's eyes were still sparkling. "Although," She looked at Maya's bottom half. "Doing a dropkick with that skirt... Well, thank you very much."

"A-Ah..." She noticed her wardrobe malfunction. "Well, there's only you around." She didn't mind Sophia seeing it.

"Anyway, it seems the portals are working, huh? That idiot was definitely still alive when it came out."

"It also was still very energetic." Maya agreed.

"Was, yes." The tiger-girl glanced at the dead rabbit again.

"What now?"

"Well..." She looked at the portals and let them disappear. "From the looks of it, it's working. Now, I need Fen or maybe Aura to test it out because I think they could figure something out even if anything goes wrong. I promised that I wouldn't do anything dangerous, so I'll be the last to test it. N-No matter how hard I'm having to hold myself back right now..." She was actually slightly shaking in anticipation.

"Thank you very much for your noble sacrifice. I really appreciate it." Maya then sat down on the grass near the river and stretched out her legs while patting her thighs. "Want a reward for keeping your promise?"

"Well, I don't need a reward for making you happy, but I definitely won't say no to your offer." Accepting her invitation, Sophia sat down next to her and placed her head on the cat-girl's lap.

"If it's not a reward, let's swap later, okay?" Maya placed a hand on the tiger-girl's head and gently caressed her blonde and black hair.

"Mhmm~." She gave a deep, purr-like confirmation.

"Petting you feels really good, too."

"Thanks, being on the receiving side's much better, though~." Feeling happy about the compliment, she wiggled her head around, and her tiger ears brushed against Maga's thighs.

"T-That tickles..."

"Sorry..."

"I wasn't complaining. It feels nice." She petted her some more in return.

"Mhmm~." Another low and deep hum escaped Sophia's lips while she continued to rub her head against the cat-girl's hand.

"You really got in tune with your inner cat, huh?"

"..." She paused for a moment. "I'm pretty sure that even as a human, I would've enjoyed your lap just as much..."

"Purring or whatever your deeper version is and marking included?" Maya didn't believe her.

"..." Another pause. "Let me be." She turned her head to face away from Maya with a slight pout but never denied anything.

"Gladly! Tiger Sophia's also at least 70% cuter than human Sophia, and she already was 200% cute." While saying so, Maya gently reached for the blonde and black striped and very fluffy-looking tiger ears and played with them for a bit.

"Mhrmn~... I-Idiot~" It didn't sound much like complaining, though. The emotions in her voice sounded like something else entirely.

"Ehehe." Maya continued to spoil her for another half an hour before the two eventually switched places. With the biggest smile she had today, the cat-girl dived into the other's lap and immediately found a good spot.

"Comfy?"

"Very!" Just like Sophia before, she was happily wiggling her head around. "It's the best place in existence!"

"G-Good..." Because her thighs are incredibly ticklish, the tiger-girl also placed her hand on the other's head, firm enough to stop her from moving around too much, but also so gentle that it wouldn't hurt her.

"It's getting late, huh?" Maya looked at the sky and noticed how low the sun was already.

"Want to head back?"

"Not yet. I want to enjoy the lap pillow a little longer~."

"Of course~." Seeing her expectant gaze, Sophia began to gently stroke her snow-white hair, as well, while occasionally also caressing her cat ears.

"Mhmm~." Maya had a great time.

"It's been one and a half days now... They'll probably arrive back in the capital right around now, huh?" Sophia didn't want to mention the king by name, but it was clear what she was talking about.

"No, it'll take a while. He told me that they're going to stop in a couple of territories on the way back. To inform them what happened and the future plans."

"Oh, I guess that means we can take it easy for a little longer, huh?"

"Yep."

"Good." With a smile on her lips, Sophia continued to pet the cat-girl.

----------------

The couple continued to play around, cuddle and flirt for almost another hour before they finally headed back to their inn. On the way back, Sophia was relatively silent, though, seemingly thinking about something while often glancing at her hand that was connected with Maya's and their intertwined fingers. After the two were back in their room, they took their usual bath together. Done with that, Maya left the bathroom first and wanted to get ready for bed, but she stopped in her tracks once she noticed something new in their room.

They had already unpacked the normal underwear they got, and only Maya's other bag was supposed to be left. Still, there were now two bags of the lingerie boutique again. The cat-girl knew or at least was pretty sure that Sophia went back there to get, just like her, something more appropriate for a special night in the future. What surprised her the most, though, was the fact that the tiger-girl had put the bag on display out in the open. Right next to hers, even.

Not entirely sure how to interpret this, she turned around to confront Sophia in the bathroom, but the tiger-girl was standing right behind her already. The two looked at each other for at least a solid minute in silence. Sophia's face became more and more flushed before she eventually gave a slight but clear nod while never breaking eye contact with Maya. Actually inviting her with words was too much of a hurdle for the blonde, no matter how much she wanted to. However, words aren't the only way, and she still managed to get her intent across regardless.