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The roof of the building was flat, qnd slick with rain. Mikayla had stay far from the edge, lest her fear of heights makes her faint.
Nepeta had no such issues. She was confidently pacing around the roof, smile on her face revealing some rather sharp teeth. Mikayla gulped.
"Not gonna lie, Neps, I can't take being up here for long," she told Nepeta.
"Oh, I understand," she said, her voice higher pitched, a little nasally. "I used to be terrifured of heights, too."
"Yeah... but it is fun to go out and stuff. Wanna play twenty questions?" Mikayla asked, ignoring the weak "fur" pun.
"Sure!" Nepeta sat on the edge of the flat roof and swung her legs as she scanned the view. Being Wisconsin, the area was really flat, and she could wee really far. It was normal to Mikayla, but this "troll" alien friend of hers grew up surrounded by forests, hills, and caves.
They've played twenty questions many times in the past get weeks. There wasn't much to do in the area.
"Is there a troll Dumpty's?" Mikayla asked, referring to the small fairy-tale themed fast food chain. They opened their first few restaurants in the United States some years ago (in Washington first, but they opened one here in Wisconsin). She and Tulip used to joke a lot about it after the one disatrous time they went.
"Oh, for sure. But I never went, I just ate the prey I killed in my area." She swung her leg back onto the roof and turned to Mikayla, her other leg still dangling. "When did you meet your fur-end Mewlip?"
"Uh... oh, Tulip?" Mikayla guessed. "We met in kindergarten, and have been going to school efur since."
Nepeta giggled.
"Wait, did I just make a cat pun?"
"You sure did! Heehee."
Aww. It was always so cute to Mikayla that loving cats transcended species. Can she imagine a cat that she couldn't love? No, she could not. Every cat was wonderful and not harmful to people.
Mikayla thought a bit before her next question. "So, you told me before that you didn't have parents like I did. And when I asked what you did have, you said you had a "meowbeast lusus". Are you.... related to the meowbeast lusus?"
Nepeta stared at her. "Nope! She selected me when I was a newly hatched troll, as she was sympawthetic to my blood claw-er, being an olive blooded lusus and all."
Mikayla held her hand up to her chin. "Interesting. A cat mom."
Nepeta got up and strolled closer to her, being up to Mikaela's eyes at fully height.
"So, Meowkayla," she said mischievously, "do you have a cruuuuush?"
Mikayla felt heat rise to her cheeks. She thought of Tulip, of course, who had been missing since shortly before she met Nepeta. Her mood fell and went splat on the ground.
"Yeah...." She said, her voice betraying her emeowtions. I mean emotions.
"Oh... I'm sorry, is this a hard topic?" Nepeta asked softly. Mikayla looked at the roof instead of her eyes.
"I just remembered that Tulip is missing."
She's mentioned this to Nepeta before, so she didn't press for more information. She softly patted her arm. "We can go back down. It's better to be sad when you aren't scared as well."
"Good idea." Mikayla went for the stairs, the easy way down. Nepeta scaled up the side of the building to get there, but now she takes the stairs as well.
When they reach the ground floor and walk into the spring air, Mikayla checked the money in her wallet. "We should go get something to eat. Or something."
Nepeta raised her hands, rolled into fists. "Want me to catch a squirrel?"
"Nah. I want something hot as soon as possible."
Her phone buzzed.
She pulled it out to check the notification.
She nearly drops it into the puddle of melted snow at their feet.
"SHE'S BACK? SHE'S ALIVE?!"
"Who? Tulip?!" Nepeta squeaks.
"YES. Despite EFURYTHING."
She unlocks her phone so fast she might as well have broken the sound barrier and started calling her.
"Tulip?"
The call is accepted. "Hey, Mikayla! I know it's been a while. Some CRAZY stuff happened."
Mikayla grabbed Nepeta's arm and ran in the direction of Tulip's house. "You were abducted by aliens? Were any of them cat-themed?"
Tulip stammered, "Well I don't know if they were aliens, but there was a cat."
"Where are you?!"
"I'm at my house. I'm safe!"
"Eating an onion, I bet?"
"Dining on it."
"I'm coming to your house pronto. Be ready for me."
Mikayla, followed by her newest friend, ran to the house where her oldest friend finally was.
"This is so exciting!" Nepeta cheered. Mikayla wondered how Tulip would feel about the new troll company.
She won't have to wonder for long anymore.