While the trio was chatting in Sophia’s new treehouse, the topic eventually drifted towards magic in general and how Chloe would like to play around with it some more. While she was highly proficient in its usage, her magic teacher was rather strict, so she never really got to go overly wild with it. As the tiger's an expert in that, the two bonded even more and wanted to play with magic. Having a bad feeling, Maya immediately went to get the wolves for backup as she didn't have enough power to deal with both of them simultaneously.

“Is there anything else besides blowing something up you want to do with magic?” Sophia was still in her new treehouse with Chloe when she addressed her again.

“Hmm…” She tilted her head. “There’s the magic I want to invent to keep my tail try and fluffy when it comes to contact with water…”

“I wonder how that could work… Thanks to me being a tiger, my hair and furry bits actually are naturally water-repellent, so I have no idea how to research it myself…”

“Seriously?!” The fox-girl got loud again. “Your hair and fur are waterproof?! So unfair!”

“It’s not unfair at all… It’s a MAJOR pain!” Sophia also got loud. "Normal shampoo doesn't work and only feels disgusting, so I have to get specially made stuff… Other treatments like certain conditioners and moisturizers don't really work, either… Also, as soon as it gets cold, it changes color, explodes in volume, and is almost impossible to tame…" She had a lot to complain about. "I love the stripes, but it's really not user-friendly at all…"

“Yep! The stripes are super cute!” Chloe stared at her hair for a moment. “The rest really doesn’t sound like fun… Okay, changing color sounds a little interesting.”

“Yeah, that was the only fun part. Originally, I had a rather dark blonde, but it became like this once fall started." The tiger lifted a few strands of her hair while saying so. “It also had a gradient coloring like your hair has during the change. That was great, too~.” She smiled for a moment before changing her expression back again. “I could do without the rest, though… The improvements for the heat treatment to tame my hair is coming along nicely, so it's bearable, at least…"

“How did you even know that you can change the appearance of hair with heat?” The fox-girl looked at her. “I’ve never seen anyone using heat to straighten out wavy hair around here.”

“Well, I know about the effects of heat on hair for some reason that I'd rather not talk about…”

“Fire magic?” She took a wild guess.

“Anyway,” The tiger just ignored her question because there’s no way she could tell her the truth right now. “When I was experimenting with the heating ore for our mansion while my hair started to become unruly, I got the idea~.”

“I see…” She nodded a few times. “So, you basically made some plates with this heating ore thingy and pressed some strands of your hair in between to iron it…?”

“More or less, yeah.”

“Does it actually work, though? I’d think that you need a really specific temperature to work on your hair… Too little heat and nothing happens and too much, well…”

“Burnt hair smells surprisingly disgusting.” Sophia finished her sentence.

“Maybe not the exact words I was going to use, but that’s pretty much it.”

“Yes… It is rather finicky, so the beauty and care store girls and I are still playing around with the right temperature… I left it mostly to them, though, because they have more experience with hair than I do."

“I see.”

“It works relatively okay by now.” Sophia lifted a strand of her hair next to her face. “I’m able to straighten my band fairly easy by now, but as you can see on my back, the longer the hair is, the harder to tame it gets.” While saying so, she turned around to show her wavy hair below her shoulders to the fox girl.

“I really like the look, though.” She looked at the tiger’s hair for a little longer. “The wavy curl with a bit of extra volume suits you a lot. It feels a bit wild and unrestricted.”

“Hehe.” The blonde liked her description. “My hair’s always been on the wilder side, but the wavy style is actually growing on me, too.”

“You really should keep it like that! It looks great, after all!”

“Ahaha… Thanks.” The tiger got a little bashful.

“You’re cute when you get embarrassed.”

“Shut up!”

“I’m serious, though?” There was no hint of teasing in her voice. “Anyway, now that we decided to keep your hair like that, how about we experiment with the heat therapy on my hair instead?"

"When did we decide on that?!"

“Two minutes ago.”

“Really…?”

“Yep.” She only smiled at Sophia.

“Fine…” The tiger felt like she couldn't win against that smile. "Aside from not wanting you to get any less fluffy either, the hair iron is still a prototype that needs to be improved…” She paused a moment to look at Chloe. “Your hair isn’t any good to experiment on. Your hair is the final boss for my invention. I’ve never seen anyone as fluffy as you are.”

"Ah, that makes sense…” She hung her head.

“Being as fluffy as you are is amazing, though!” Sophia wanted to cheer her up.

“Why do you want to straighten your hair, then?”

“Because it’s a pain to deal with- Ah.” The blonde stopped for a moment. “Point taken.”

“Yes.” Chloe nodded a few times. “The look’s great, after all. It just needs a lot of work, or else it will look like a bird's nest after a very short time…”

“That’s true… During the warmer months, I just have somewhat wild hair that always slightly looks like bed hair but without being messy… That needs no care at all.” She let out a sight. “Right now, it feels like I need half an hour every day to get ready…”

“How long do you think I need…?” The fox-girl grabbed some of her locks. “I’d kill to be ready in half an hour…”

“Ahaha…”

“Cutting it also isn’t an option because short hair doesn’t really suit me… I tried it… Didn’t like it at all…”

“Is it bad that I’m happy about that…?” The tiger was happy that she stayed this fluffy.

“I wonder if you can change the properties of your hair with magic…” Chloe tilted her head. “I mean, Feyfey can change her size with magic! There’s no way you couldn’t change your body in other ways, right?! Fluffy hair without having to deal with the mess should be possible!”

“Uhhh…” Sophia looked very awkward all of a sudden.

"Feyfey said that changing her size is only a visual thing that doesn't actually change anything about her body, but still!”

“Yeah, Fennyfenny and Aura do the same…”

“Oh, they can change sizes, as well?”

“Yup… Not sure if I should admit that, but after you said that your companion can do it, too…”

“A-Ah…!” Chloe’s eyes grew wide. “Oops… W-Well, your wolves seem to know her anyway, so I guess it’s fine…”

“Sure should be.”

“Still!” The fox-girl raised her voice again. “There’s just no way that you can’t permanently adjust your body with magic, right? Right!? Feyfey said that you can’t do it, but I bet she just didn’t want me to try! I mean, besides my hair being a pain at times, I'm happy with my body, but I bet it would be fun to mess around with that!”

“Uhhh…” The tiger managed to look even more awkward than before. “E-Even if it is possible… I kinda prefer the idea of my inventions… I could easily heat our entire mansion in the capital with magic. All of us that live there could… Still, I liked the idea of heated floors more. Others, that don’t have enough magic, can still enjoy the warmth that way, as well… Everyone who can operate the space heaters also can use the underfloor heating…” She tried to talk her way out of it. “S-Same for the hair iron… Even if I could cheat my way out of having hair that is a pain to deal with, other people that don’t have as ridiculous of magic as I have would still have to suffer…”

“Wow…” Chloe looked impressed. “Is that the tiger thinking about her folk speaking there? Feeling like it or not, you are supposed to be royalty, right?”

“W-Well…” It didn’t seem like Sophia would stop feeling awkward anytime soon. “I-I guess so…” She is a tiger, after all. Including everything that comes with it. “I do like that way of thinking, though…”

“It is lovely!” The fox-girl’s eyes were sparkling again. “Very lovely! Never stop thinking like that!”

“I-I’ll try my best…”

“Still!” She got loud yet again. “I bet it would be soo much fun to change your body at will! See some cute clothes that aren’t available in your size? Change your size! Backpain? Make your breasts smaller! Your Maya wants to play with a massive chest? Make them bigger! Gained some weight? Get rid of it!" Chloe stared right at her with sparkling eyes. "That would be amazing, wouldn't it?!"

“Uhhhhh…" Sophia was unable to maintain eye contact with her. "Y-Yeah, that does sound like fun…"

“Right?!” She was too excited to see the sweat dripping down the blonde’s forehead. “How about we experiment with that a bit?! I bet we could find a way using magic!”

“Uhhhhhhhhh…-“

"I'm back, and I brought the wolves!" At the perfect moment, Maya returned to the treehouse and announced her arrival.

“MAYA!” The tiger was very happy about that.

Afterward, Sophia jumped at her cat, and the topic of using magic to adjust their bodies was put on hold for the time being.