"Good to see you all intact! Did everything work out okay?"
Princess Lime smiled cheerfully while clasping both hands together, staring at the group of three who looked as if they were battered and bruised from the battle that they went through. "Erm, did I say something wrong?" She nervously asked, as no one answered her question.
The now awakened Janus sighed, his hand clutching the spear from how much they went through. "Not as we expected it to be, but we got the job done," he answered, trying his hardest to keep calm about what they had gone through in that place.
Sensing his distress, she expressed a level of concern by the tone of his voice and their demeanor altogether: "I see..." Sympathy was apparent on her face as she gave a slight nod. "If you don't mind me asking, how was my court, Jester?" This triggered an already distressed human.
Saomi angrily spat at the notion of such: "She nearly killed us! Emotionally manipulating me and Janus just for the laugh of it!" Her furious gaze made the slime princess want to shrink back from its intensity as the cat merely shook her head side to side slowly.
Stepping forward, she locked eyes with the princess, clearly unafraid of offending royalty. "After what Schrodinger and Janus told me, luckily I didn't personally bring it to your attention that it would've resulted in something bad if she escaped her confinement. So, what do you say about that?!"
A moment passed between them as neither spoke by this troubling news that was relayed to them; finally, Princess Lime glanced towards the ground, frowning at what she had done. "I didn't realize she would go so far." The cat, not content with that response, scoffed.
"To far?" He said in disbelief, "We did not expect the lunacy she's capable of, and we're lucky we could manage her madness at least temporarily." Schrodinger finished with a sigh before continuing on, "What were you thinking about locking that creature up there in the first place? Surely there must have been the option of killing her rather than incarcerating her forever."
Lime bit her lip by that option. "I can't kill her," she sadly stated. "Jolly was a person who I really care about, but she lost her mind after what I don't know how it happened. She took the lives of many innocent people in her rampage, and...I still haven't got the strength to execute her," the princess admitted, rubbing both arms in discomfort.
Taking a deep breath, Saomi regained composure, feeling a little better for venting. "It's alright, I understand," she assured quietly. "I became mad after learning what me and my friends had to go through," she said, glancing toward her friends before returning back to the princess. "I forgive you for what we all had to go through," sweetly smiling to soothe the princess's worries away.
Lime returned that expression with gratitude. "Thank you so much," she beamed with delight before embracing the young woman through all of her might. "Your nice human, maybe I should lock you up next time for my next butch of experiments," she suggested playfully, letting go of the embrace.
Saomi giggled at the remark. "I'd like you to try, Slime Princess," she dared while placing both hands on hips, "because we already know how that ends." With that, the two became fast friends as they chatted and laughed at each other's jokes while Schrodinger and Janus stood blankly.
Patience is a key that both have to learn. However, the white cat, as always, isn't really a fan of that kind of conversation. There's just too much time-wasting nonsense. Nevertheless, he was desperately about to intervene and take charge.
But something stopped him. He realized how happy they were, especially the human, who was currently having a blast being buddies with the princess. By that expression alone, it would be best to let them be as a way to recover from their mental stress.
Although he won't deny how boring it was watching them go on and on for minutes while having forgotten the reason why they were here in the first place, It was starting to make his own cat ears hurt by this, and he decided enough was enough.
Before he decisively got their full attention, Janus suddenly asked him a question out of nowhere: "After we finish killing The Great Darkness, do you have any goals you wish to achieve, Schrodinger?" Curiously, Schrodinger was caught off guard by the odd inquiry.
Turning around, he gazed up and cocked his head in confusion. "Returning back home, isn't that obvious?" Confidently answered Schrodinger, "That's pretty much the end goal, you know that," he added while scratching one of his ear tufts with a claw.
Humming contemplatively, Janus continued to stare at him with those glassy eyes of his. "Of course, but is there something else you wish to accomplish rather than returning home? Is there anything in particular that may catch your interest to fulfill and reach its culmination to achieve that fulfillment?" The god pondered with a tilt of his head.
Narrowing his eyes in hearing a bizarre question, "What are you getting at?" Schrodinger clearly has no idea what this god is implying, but it must be some kind of philosophical question to ask such a vague response, "Why would I seek to attain something more than what's required to obtain?"
The god blinked slowly and hummed again, "So that's it? You go home, and then what? Your fine with being left alone all over again, spending the rest of your immortal life to stay alive doing nothing until the next time you wake up in your box to do the same old routine over and over again as far as your memory can remember?" Janus was questioned sardonically, seemingly unconvinced by the cat's answer.
"Don't judge me," hissing the white cat defensively. "For your information, that's how all cats live our lives," he huffed and glared, his tail curling in frustration as his fur bristled. "So don't say as if you know what I'm thinking because you don't."
Janus stared for a few moments, blinking at the cat with what seemed like disappointment. "That's rather sad because I could relate to you in more ways than you think. But it appears you can't see that or are willing to listen to what I'm trying to say," he commented apathetically.
Schrodinger stayed silent, unable to process thinking of any reply to shoot back. Not that he needed to, as what the god had said holds some merit to his words, "hmph!" Arrogantly turning his nose away from him, "Just because we're friends doesn't mean we're alike in every way." Besides, what's your point in saying such a thing?"
If he had a mouth, it would be dropping to the floor from what he heard: "Were friends?" Janus immediately widens his eyes in shock. "You also consider me a friend?" This time, it was the white cat's turn to blink at him in surprise. "Are you saying I'm not?"
Embarrassingly, he stammered a little and chuckled nervously. "I..." Schrodinger doesn't really want to state his feelings out of the open; he is proud and rather ashamed to admit them. Instead, he made an excuse: "I wouldn't mind us being friends too. Even though I find your company weird, annoying, confusing, extremely irritating, and...
A soft, friendly laugh cut him off. It was pure blissful to hear as Janus continued laughing at his flustered attempt. "I'm glad you feel the same way, because I treasure both of you two." His affectionate comment made the cat feel warmth within his chest, "although you already knew that." He said this, causing the cat to be taken aback by the remark.
He did?
Oh, wait, he probably had. Because why would it be possible for Schrodinger to occupy him throughout their journey? It wouldn't make sense to just pick a random person, not to mention they had shared experiences and all that stuff.
What did he expect of him to feel this way? To feel appreciation from meeting someone who treated him not as a useful ally or resource but as equal. It was comforting to have a friend, someone to rely on, even someone to confide in. And knowing he thinks that too made Schrodinger feel better about their relationship.
Especially the young woman; he once despised humans, but knowing her, Schrodinger has realized they are not all bad. Because of this information, he was going to treasure them if they were his own family of cats, and a smile was apparent on his face.
Suddenly, his train of thought was interrupted by the approach of none other than the two women who were recently buddies with one another, acting as if they were close friends from school, kindly enough for him to be curious about their newly formed friendship.
Janus happily felt relieved when their conversation was finally over. "Are you two done, or do I have to bring a bed for both lovebirds in this place?" He chortled lightly, to which he earned a chuckle from both the cat and the princess, with the exception of Saomi.
"Oh, shut it!" She groaned embarrassingly, averting her eyes from his own while playfully elbowing at him, which the god was amused by. "You know I'm straight, right?" Her smug expression was all over her face, staring directly at the god while wearing that same smirk.
However, instead of another joke, he became seriously confused by the term, "straight of what?" Oblivious to the sudden question, a snort and snicker came out of the cat after seeing his misunderstanding of the word "what?" Not understanding the strange looks he is getting.
The concerned princess saw this in further disbelief: "You're joking, right?" She asked, to which he shook his head, "Seriously? How about sexual orientation? Do you know what the term means?" I was hoping for him to know, but yet he replied back with the same look of confusion.
"Sexual orientation?"
The two women glanced at one another and asked, "Are you serious?" Both responded in union, unable to comprehend how such beings could be oblivious to the simplest explanation of such terms.
Schrodinger laughed out loud at this: "Wait, your serious!? You don't even know what sexual orientation is?!" The cat can't believe it. He can't believe such a being could be ignorant of this concept, despite his being incredibly knowledgeable and nearly all-seeing.
Frowning at their way of speaking directly at him, she said, "I know the words, but I don't fully understand what they mean or what they involve in the context." She said in a disgruntled and frustrated tone, "Why are you all treating me like I'm some kind of moron?" He stated firmly at this display of mockery, furrowing his brow as he gazed at each of them.
Shaking her head, Lime decided it would be best to just pass from this and moved to where they were previously speaking: "Regardless of your lack of knowledge, it's best we focus on what is most important." With raised eyebrows, she said, "Now the component, where is it?"
Saomi lightly elbowed at her new friend's shoulder, "Over here," gently directing the others' attention to herself as the young woman pulled out the important object the princess was looking for. "So how long do we have to wait for the teleportation machine to finish?"
Lime smiled gleefully as she quickly snatched it before turning around to head towards the machine. "In a minute," going to the back, she began to do some final touches on the machine that was already built beforehand, as they then heard the sounds of screws, metals, and wires clanking against one another until finally.
Turning the knob of the switch from the back, the machine loudly buzzed into life. A sparking of electricity of some sort was visible all around it. "Done!" She happily proclaimed with such glee, earning happy expressions from the other two for seeing her success, "Now which of you have the honors to first step into one of my new inventions?"
