A little girlchat with KOKOL's "First Ladies of the fur."

We learned a lot about Catrina's past in her opening piece of the mission, which was co written with Dash. This one focuses on her co writer Feena, and gets us into some of Feena's history. It's always interesting to see how players pace revealing their past, and I liked this piece.

There's some action, too. It could be argued the best pieces blend both characterization, and action. At least, for a game like AIL. And this does that nicely. Plus, you'll see her powers and her understanding of her magic grow from what it is now in her later appearances.

The subtitle is "Girl talk and Goblin Bashing." Come on down and get to know Feena better!

After a strange start to adventuring, Feena and Catrina had settled down for a good night's sleep.

Catrina woke with a start, screaming as the nightmare passed.

Feena sat up with a start, her blanket falling from her chest, revealing her topless form. The priestess had been sleeping, though Catrina's startled cry had awoken her. "Who goes?"

Catrina sat there panting, her heart pounding so hard it was visible through her fur. "Nothing..sorry...I'm sorry ..."

Feena nodded, looking at the panicked feline "You sure, Catrina? You look like you need someone to talk to."

A smirk fell across the feline's lips, "The last person who asked me to talk left after I did."

The bunny nodded again. She then pulled her blanket back up around her chest and looked towards her feline companion. "If you don't wanna talk about it, I'll let it be. I was rather having a dream about someone I used to know too." The priestess then started to lay down, but stopped and sat back up. "I really miss him... He died two years ago, even though I still dream about him."

Catrina lay out on her belly, facing Feena, her tail swishing in the air- totally in the fur. She smiles at the bunny. "The Goddess says that 'Those who remain in our hearts and in our dreams will never truly leave our world.' You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine?"

"Alright..." The priestess smiled softly, beginning to recount a forgotten childhood friend. "Shayne, that was his name... He and I were friends from childhood; best of friends, in fact. Probably one of the only people who didn't think I was crazy. We spent so much time together... We'd fooled around a bit, nothing serious though. He passed away two years ago, as I said... I just wish I could have had more time with him..." The priestess looked at Catrina with tears in her eyes. "Why did he have to die so young? I loved him with all my heart, and he died not from anything anyone could see, but something that no-one knew a thing about!"

Catrina listened, and as Feena began to cry she moved quickly to hug her, heedless as to her lack of dress or anything other than the fact that her friend needed a shoulder. "Shh...It's okay, hon."

The lapine female wept quietly on Catrina's shoulder, her arms pulled around the feline tightly. "Th... thank you, Catrina. I just miss him so much..."

Catrina nuzzled Feena's neck, her own tears flowing from the story. "I know, hon."

It would take Feena a few minutes to calm down, but she eventually did, pulling away gently from Catrina. "Thank you so much, Catrina. I needed to really get that out of my system..."

Catrina nodded, still holding the priestess as she contemplated which story to tell her. "My story...well, my friend Dash- we haven't known each other for years but.... Well... Let's just say.. We met at a good time for me, seeing as he saved me from drowning."

The bunny nodded, looking at the warrior feline beside her "Go on."

Catrina nodded and continued, telling Feena everything about her journey north to find Dash, about their adventure on the Mysterious Island of Mystery- everything except for the fight. "I...I thought we had something, that he felt something. So I decided to tell him everything...about my slavery...about the Pit."

The bunny nods "Oooh, that sounds pretty bad. How'd he take it?"

"He...he didn't... Something the Dragon showed him. He had seen the person I had fought...another Feline... we fought as is the nature of our kind..." She got very quiet as she spoke the next words. "I...I took his throat."

Feena winced, looking rather nauseous. "Gross... I'm glad I wasn't there to see it."

Catrina shrugged. "It is the way of battle among my kind- battles that go that far, at least. I will have to answer to the Goddess for my actions, but to have done otherwise... well, let's just say someone's throat was going that day."

The bunny nodded, still rather nervous about Catrina's actions. "Well, at least it wasn't yours."

Catrina could sense Feena's nervousness, and smiled as she tried to hide it "True...and I don't make a habit of doing that either."

Feena nodded, starting to yawn. "Just make sure you don't try to do that while I'm sleeping."

Catrina giggled, "Don't worry...at least not about that." She gave the priestess a grin, who looked back at Catrina with a confused look, then laid down to sleep. "Whatever that means...."

Catrina lay down beside the bunny with the blanket between them, smiling as she slowly dropped back to sleep.

They made good time the next day, better time than Catrina remembered making the first time she cam to see the Oriole. Catrina hunted for her meals, but made sure that she ate out of the view of her new friend- not wanting to make her feel uneasy at her diet- or her hunting methods.

Feena almost smirked at the speed of the trip. She hadn't been to Mt. Noob in a long while, back during her own training. It hasn't changed much at all, and she almost seems reminiscent. She stands, more lost in thought than anything else, gazing upon the summit where she had actually met the sage-like Oriole.

Catrina stopped, her hand going to Feena's shoulder as she took the scent of the air, then growled. "Goblins...and they're coming this way..." She hurried them off the path, just in time for the mob of goblins- for there was no way of calling anything that disorganized anything other than a mob- to swing into view. They were going on excitedly in their own tongue, and it made Catrina's heart sink to realize that they were moving away from Mt Noob. She signaled Feena to wait until they passed, and then the two attacked!

Feena leapt from their hiding point, pulling a wand loose and firing off a ray of magic. The spell quickly turned into Ray of Golf Balls, pummeling a single goblin's backside. The assault knocked it to the ground and out cold, much to the Priestess' delight. She quickly readied the spell again, catching several goblins attention. "Aw nuts..."

For a moment, Catrina used Feena's attack to cover her own movements through the brush as she circled around the group, then pounced on their rear with both her katana swinging, taking down another gob quickly. "That's it hon! Give 'em a good balling!"

"Thanks, Catrina!" She fired off another pair of rays, using Catrina's assault to get a quick advantage. Both rays streamed forth, oddly becoming streams of Hot Lentil Soup. The streams scorched two goblins, causing them to cry out in pain and run away in terror. "Now you will know the divine touch of His Oneness!"

Catrina dodged two blows from a gob, blocked a third and then dispatched her opponent- keeping an eye on her friend to make sure she didn't get overwhelmed.

The pastamancer fired off a few more rays, scorching, freezing and nauseating the goblins. The mob now began to look a little smaller, raising the priestess' confidence. She quickly tried to fire off another ray, shocked that her spell fizzled. "C.... CATRINA! I'm dry on magic!"

Catrina plowed through the line of goblins, now sufficiently thinned for her to reach Feena quickly, although she was hit a couple times, but none seriously. She stood between Feena and the goblins, protecting her as she taunted them away from her. "Rest up, hon! I'll finish playing with these jerks- Hey you- yeah you! You want to play with pussy?"

The bunny panted a bit, and then pulled out what looked like a wok. Feena selflessly leapt from behind her feline friend, smashing a pair of goblins with several wild swings. She clearly was not trained to use the weapon, but the goblins still dropped in either case. "No sense in waiting, Catrina, let's kick some gobby butt!"

By now the gobs had had enough of a beating- they turned to run, but Catrina managed to pounce one, holding it down as she smiled widely for it- letting it see every sharp fang she had. "Hey there, cutie...feel like talking? Like telling us what you're so happy about?" The Goblin just looked up in terror at the predator who held him firm.

The bunny panted still, rather tired. "Catrina... get what you can outta his butt... I'm gonna sit down." She then sat down, looking at the feline atop the goblin, waiting for the interrogation.

Catrina nodded at the bunny, then grinned at her captive 'prey'. "mmm...I wonder if goblin butt tastes good?" She laughed as he frantically shook his head. "You'll notice my friend didn't say HOW I was to get what I can out of you...now, some people say you can tell alot by reading entrails..." With that her claws raked lightly over his belly. "But I'm sure you'll want to tell us alot before we have to resort to that, hmm?" She caressed his cheek, almost lovingly, her voice taking on a seductress' edge " I'm sure that, if you tell us what we want, we would be willing to give you something I know you want." She grinned as her words had their desired result, as the gob looked left and right then directly at her. His words were rough and haughty, but Catrina knew she had him where she wanted him- she was sitting on the proof. "You're too late, bitch! We already took care of the mission- or at least getting the guy who was to make the snatch here- he's taking care of things right now, I'd bet!"

Feena looked at Catrina in surprise. "Oh man, we must be too late!" She looked around nervously, as if keeping an eye open for the supposed person mentioned

Catrina rose, and began to head toward the top of the mountain at full speed, only to turn back as the goblin yelled at her. "Hey! What about me? You said if I gave you what you wanted you'd give me what I wanted!" She got right up in his face, growling and baring her fangs. "I'm letting you live! You want that, right?" The gob nodded and beat a hasty retreat. Catrina now resumed her path- up the mountain at almost full speed, hoping to get there before whoever it was could succeed in their plot. Feena followed along as quickly as she could, which surprized Catrina to be rather quick.