Monica looked at you and, carefully, imitated the gestures. She sipped some water, drank some, sipped some more, gargled, and then spat it.

"Yes!" You claimed in victory, pulling her into a kiss, one she quickly reciprocated eagerly, pulling you into her embrace, moving to pin you down, her hands... "Ok, ok, stop..." You struggled to pull away from her needy claws as she was just about ready to strip you.

Again.

She was getting way better at this. "Purrsian?" She was flushed, her face leaning into your neck, hot breath on our ear, licking it, licking your cheek.

"It's... ah... it's called clean breath." You said, trying to explain, unsure how much she was absorbing. The signs were clear that she was learning, calling her by her name made her turn in your direction, and though she wasn't speaking, there was some obvious progress going on.

She leaned back, eyes flashing with curiosity as she puckered her lips, licking her lips a little.

"That's kissing." You added, doing just that, feeling slightly overwhelmed at all the tongue she kept adding to the formula even for the lightest ones. It was like she wanted to taste all of your mouth all the way down to your tonsils.

You weren't going to complain... so long as she didn't stink of rotten meat, hence this little ritual you were trying to teach her.

"Purr..." She grasped your hand and guided it towards her loins, the heat of her sex feeling like a warm oven, moist against your touch.

"We need to return to the others." You said, kissing her cheek, noting the dimness of the approaching night.

Monica pouted and gave you the sexy variant of kitty-eyes, wide and watery, her hands pawing at your crotch as she was clearly oh so very close from just ripping it off. It was, strangely, your newest weakness, though one you were quickly learning to fight against.

"No, no, we really need to go." You forced yourself back into reality, it was going to get dark very soon, the sun might not have reached the horizon, but the forest darkened fast.

She seemed to realize the intent behind your words and sighed dejectedly.

It was you who had to step away, getting out of the water that had stopped feeling cold well over an hour ago, and despite all the activity that had taken place around this particular area, you felt somewhat refreshed and clean. No sooner were you headed to your clothes that a blur of flesh and determination had gotten there faster, your clothes getting snagged by Monica. "Purr." She declared indignantly, burying her nose on the clothes and purring, suddenly the grin in her face spoke that she wanted to keep the clothes for more than just to prevent you from putting them on.

Though the "prevention" aspect was clearly amusing to her.

You were willing to part with some of your clothes, but one big part of the issue was trying to convince her to "negotiate". Shoe-less, flinching with every step you'd need to take, you knew that approaching her could mean she'd run. It was clear she wasn't going to like the idea that you'd sneakily take everything away the moment she gave you the opportunity to do so. It took a lot of thinking, before just giving up and looking at her with half-hope and expectation of out-doing the crafty feline.

"Please?" You asked, now it was your turn to do the Rick-puppy-eyes (trademark pending).

She huffed really loudly when she saw you looking at her like that, then pouted, then huffed, then yowled at you. The woman got closer, glared at you, clutching at the clothes with her big paws, looking at you, at your eyes, your outstretched hands, and the clothes. She pulled them, rubbed her cheek against them...

And proceeded to let you have a single shoe.

Just the one.

You looked at it dejectedly, then at her. With a deep breath, you frowned, taking a step forward and flinching. "Ow." You said, lifting your foot so she could see the little scrape you'd gotten from the rock. It made her look at your foot with concern, frown, lift her own foot and look at it. Hers were unhurt. She then looked at your foot, leaned down, and poked at it with her claw.

"Ow." You said again, it made her pout more.

Glancing at the pile of clothes she was holding, she begrudgingly dropped a handful of others. Pausing, sighing, and then dropping the rest.  There was something about the way she deflated that felt just so... un-Monica, up until now you'd seen her being full of confidence, only allowing you to get what you wanted when you really put your foot down.

You'd never thought that asking nicely would get wild-rumble-and-tumble Monica to agree to it with such minimal resistance, it seemed there was some edge of concern over the fact that you got hurt from merely walking without shoes. As soon as you'd grabbed the clothes she'd deflated further, seeming utterly defeated and demotivated while you began to put those layers of clothes she'd have to try to get you out off of sooner or later.

There was a definite feeling that you had to reward her for this.

Dressing up quickly, you stopped when you were going to put on your shirt. "Monica." You called out to her, she turned her head upon hearing her name, you approached.

As you touched her arms, she raised a hopeful eyebrow, but it changed to curiosity when you began guiding her hands to put on your shirt. The woman was curious and complied, watching you move around her. There was a definite sense of "Bigger dog letting smaller dog run around because it amused them" kind of feeling coming from her, but you weren't going to complain.

When you finished putting the shirt on her, you'd considered buttoning up the front, but... well, there were two pillowy aspects of Monica's anatomy that made that attempt fruitless in its entirety. A pair of bountiful mounds of fruitlessness. As soon as the shirt was on, she raised both arms as she looked down at her body, carefully she sniffed the shirt on one side, then the other. Her arms moved this way and that, she twisted her body, gyrating her hips and looking over her shoulder to confirm her tail was free and moving without issue.

Monica looked at you, a slight sense of disbelief before her mouth went slightly wide, a slight grin came upon her lips as she quickly turned towards the cave and began to move quickly. You had to jog to keep with her pace, Monica barely would take more than some seconds to wait for you and check that you hadn't gotten lost along the way.

This time she didn't do her running shenanigans, she instead appeared to orbit around you, going this way and that, smelling a tree or a bush or the ground, leaving scratches on certain trees, smelling the shirt, and continuing on her seemingly spastic investigation of the darkening forest.

By the time you'd gotten back, the sky had darkened in its entirety and... there was no fire.

Monica didn't seem to notice or mind, having puffed up as she approached, practically swaggering when she leapt onto the small area in front of the cave she called home, leaving you to carefully climb the cliff. Half-way up, you heard some laughter that only got louder the closer you got.

You were greeted by the sight of Katherine cooing over the shirt and Monica seeming to swell like a balloon the more Kat spoke about how well it looked on her. "Are you trying to distract from the fact that you didn't find firewood?" Your question made Kat freeze on the spot and look the other way.

Monica did not mind, glancing at you, making a purring sound, and then standing proud, shoulders out, swaggering with exaggerated arm movements as she walked back and forth.

"Wait, is she..."

Then Monica grabbed her tail, tugged it between her legs, allowing it to protrude out from between her thighs.

Kat burst into laughter as Monica then swaggered again, her tail playing the part of a faux-dick.

"Big Dick Rick." Katherine howled in laughter, the sound being slightly mimicked more discreetly by the others present. The sound got only louder as Monica placed her hands behind her head and began swaying her hips in a spiral.

"Wood, fire, cold." You said, cheeks burning as Monica approached you, swinging her... tail, humping lewdly, and shooting you very cocky grins.

You weren't sure how, but you were going to get your revenge one day.

"They did find food." Alice offered, showing to you a bag filled with what looked like berries, though you'd be lying if you said you could recognize them.

"Any poisonous ones?" Kat flinched again as she earned your scowl for trying to divert the attention from the failed fire. You were still slightly wet and cold.

"All the ones I recognize are edible at least. And look at this one." Alice brought out a fist-sized grape.

Monica appeared dejected that she wasn't the centre of attention anymore, huffing, she looked around, found the... meal... she'd left behind, and moved in to grab a bite.

Everyone made an extra effort to ignore her.

And yet... your belly decided to remind you it had gone most of the day without a meal and that Monica had been the sole cause for a great deal of the calorie consumption these past 24 hours. The culprit was currently biting on a ripped arm, albeit seeming very careful not to let the blood stain the white shirt... which appeared to be a task in of itself.

"...extreme care then." You muttered, turning towards Mr Gabriel. "How was she?"

"Only woke up to eat and fell asleep again." He declared, you noted the mouse was currently sleeping with her head on his thigh, but the position was such he was between her and everyone else. The old man had a gentle hand on her head, fingers idly touching her hair; there was a look of compassion in his eyes. "She went through a lot." He muttered under his breath, glancing at Monica for a second. "Makes you think what else is the norm in this strange place."

An idea struck you as he said this. "Have any of you spotted any animals in the forest? Any at all?"

The others looked at each other and shook their collective heads. "I haven't seen even so much as a bird." You muttered, feeling a chill up and down your spine and glancing at Monica again for only a moment. "...and she seems pretty used to eating... that."

Alice frowned. "What do you mean?"

"What if..." You made a slight gesture towards the mouse, and then towards Monica. "What if they're what's normal in these parts? That they are all humans with odd animal traits and behaving wildly?"

The group's collective sense of dread increased by a notch. "Are you saying there's nothing else? Just... human-shaped monsters?" Tomas spoke carefully.

"I... I don't know. Maybe the animals have adapted, found ways to... hide. I've seen Monica moving, she could hunt all life within the area if it wasn't... careful." The realization shook you. "That's something for some other time. There's a stream north of here, if we follow it, it could take us to a river, and civilization is always near rivers."

"..." Everyone was looking at you with scepticism, though they nodded. You knew they had to, otherwise, it'd mean they were giving up on finding safety.

"We should sleep." Alice broke the silence. "And tomorrow we should climb the hill before going to the river, check if there's anything we can see from up there."

"Agreed." Came the collective response, you nodded along.

"Just... one thing." Kate spoke, looking nervous. "What if... we run out of... vegetarian options?"

Her movement towards a more sombre tone made everyone freeze, especially as Monica looked at Tomas, and offering the partially eaten arm.

Tomas' face became green, Monica just went back to chewing loudly.

There was a collective shudder. "Let's pray it doesn't come to that." Mr Gabriel stated quietly, a deathly whisper.

Silently, everyone agreed with barely a nod. And without another word, they each turned to their own thing. Kat approached you. "Sorry about the fire." She said. "We've tried, the wood is bad."

You had to sigh and nod. "Don't worry, we'll figure out how to do it better next time."

She nodded, moving to sit next to Tomas. May had never left Alice's side. Mr Gabriel merely laid back against the cave wall and closed his eyes while the mouse slept with her head on his leg. That left you with little companionship to have except the feline that was having a meal. You just crouched to look down at your things and re-check inventory.

The movements were automatic, without thought, but you had to give yourself something to do, you weren't going to get close to Monica at the very least until she'd finished. And it didn't take her long, the chewing grew silent, and you glanced her way as the darkness began to grow.

She looked at you with those deep emerald eyes, a smile appeared on her face and she crawled towards you with ease, circling around you once and then, slowly, pressing you against the floor with a kiss you felt too tired to fight against. "Meownica." She whispered softly, the energy was... it wasn't the hot wild need for sex, you were thankful, you ignored the taste in your mouth and the revulsion, pushing it down, feeling as she cuddled her warm body against yours with a catty smile.

It took some effort, but with how tired you were, it was easier than you'd thought to fall asleep even while under the attentive eyes of the feline woman.

Something hot and warm was what woke you up, pleasant pressure, friction, heat. And then, an orgasm that jolted your body.

You groaned, the intensity of the sensation catching you completely by surprise, you had to blink blearily as you were jolted awake. "Purrsian." Monica spoke with a look of satisfaction, her hips grinding against yours, the shirt draping down her flanks and just barely hiding her nipples from onlookers, but leaving them perfectly framed for you.

"Monica?" You had to ask, gears in your head not quite spinning properly just yet.

"Meownica." She replied, catching your hands to bring them to her breasts and purring loudly right after. Her face flushed deeply, her grin spread wide, the woman raising both arms to put them behind her head and moan so loud it was almost a scream. You grunted again at the sensation of tightness, noting how Monica's eyes were aimed at the insides of the cave, seemingly having noticed something... You moaned at the feeling of her instant orgasm, her inner walls clenching around you and massaging along with the feeling of the purr that just... sent you over the edge a second time.

Starting to come down and catching your breath, something clicks in your head and you bite back a curse when you realize she'd torn your belt and the hem of your pants to get you "out" for her to attack. You'd complain about it after she'd calmed down, right now she'd dismounted and had started to get you hard again using that hot mouth and very very flexible tongue. And nothing short of an absolute moron would have her stop.

With the feline taking the whole attention of your lower head, you lazily glance around in an attempt to check on things now that you had the opportunity. Which was hard because she was trying hard to make you hard and that was a very big distraction that was making your legs jolt with the increased sensibility.

The sky was blue, but there was barely any light in the forest just yet, it was a strange twilight that made you squint. Around the cave there didn't seem to be anything, but you noticed something off about the inside of the cave. A momentary squint before you realized what it was that had caught the cat's attention. Those inside were not "sleeping".

Alice and May were still, in the tense sort of way that betrayed someone trying to pretend to be asleep. Tomas and Kat, however, weren't as still. The angle made it hard to see because the muscle-glasses was with his back towards you, but you could spot the slightest hint of his hips thrusting forwards. With the back of the willful blond's head peeking juuu~ust a bit and bouncing to the rhythm of the thrusting. My oh my.

You felt like smirking, but your eyes had then wandered towards Mr Gabriel and you had to do a double-take.

At a first glance he was where he'd been before you fell asleep, sitting with his back to the cave, and the mouse girl's head on her lap. But there was a difference now, there was a sweater covering her figure and she was looking in your direction. Her eyes were wide but fogged over with lust, and she was squeaking with an intermittent rhythm that made your eyes widen. It was then that you noticed Mr Gabriel's hand was so casually draped underneath the sweater it would've been impossible to even suspect what it was that he was doing to her, the man himself was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, still.

Your eyes widened more and more, only to groan as Monica managed to squeeze a third orgasm from you, the young woman purring as she didn't let a single drop escape. Opting not to say anything, you let Monica have her fill one more round before gently easing her off with some light petting.

It took her much less than previous times for her to agree, but she didn't seem very troubled by this. Just as you'd started to look for a way to either repair the damage or replace the belt, Monica had cleaned herself slightly and with a deep sniff, grinned widely. You saw as her tail gave a first swish and a second before it stilled, her shoulders turning to face towards Tomas and Kat, her eyes dilated.

Instinct told you where exactly she was about to go to. You look towards Monica, and make the decision within a split second, reaching out and grabbing her hand to tug softly. The key word here being "softly", you weren't going to even think that you could force her, and she seemed to recognize your intent as she turned towards you with a look of curiosity. "Purr?" Her single word caused everyone to jolt, you could even see Tomas turning ever so slightly and looking in your direction with a bit of panic in his eyes.

Taking out the water bottle, you take a swing, swirl it around your mouth and spit it. "Kiss?"

Monica blinks slightly, her head swivelling back towards her intended targets to get some extra romping, and then back to you. You reach out and place a hand on her breast, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Kiss?" You offer again with a look that holds a bit more meaning to it. She brightens immediately, leaning forwards and looking slightly upwards while opening her mouth. You pour some water, and she repeats the gesture you'd taught her, swallowing, and taking a step forwards and wrapping her arms around your neck. "Purrsian." She whispered.

You guide her back down. "If anyone's awake, I'll be keeping her busy, better prepare to leave." You stated to no one (everyone) in particular.

She ignored them, her eyes solely on you, her legs locking around your hips and her lips puckering in anticipation.

You can only chuckle at this, using your hands to grasp very gently fondle her chest, drawing her close at the same time she moaned. She was eager to move to the next step, already her hands moving from the hug and trying to go downwards. You're all too aware that your stamina was not at the level Monica would've preferred it to be, so you stop her, returning her hands to your shoulders as you continued to kiss and fondle her large breasts, feeling their weight, the heat that oozed from them. You could feel Monica's heart beating powerfully, and how her body flushed as you kept so gently stroking her.

And at the same time you kept kissing her, the feline's tongue was turning more and more into a thing possessed, her skill was improving by leaps and bounds, she used her greedy long tongue to taste everywhere inside your mouth and then some, she drank everything you had to offer.

She'd started to grind against you but once more you slowed her down, to which Monica yowled in frustration, kissing even more fervently. Pulling her away and breaking the kiss with a gasp, you see the confusion in her eyes, though since you weren't asking her to get off she was complying for now. Slowly, you pulled one of her paws and kissed her wrists, the gesture startling her further as she blinked, your lips pecking slowly up her arm.

It resulted as you'd expected, the young woman slowing down her breath but it, in turn, becoming deeper, her face flushed, her nipples become harder still. Her wetness was dampening the crotch of your pants as she clearly struggled to remain still for you while your lips nibbled up her shoulder and to her neck. "Purrsian." She was breathing hard, seeming to struggle with each breath, your hands then moved towards her rump, holding her firmly, to which she had zero complaints, lips locking back on to you with fervour, paws around your neck once more before you turned to the other arm.

You continued like this, teasing her body. It kept going for what felt like a small eternity, fondling and caressing her all over and causing the heat of her skin to just keep getting higher and higher. Feeling like it was enough of a work-up for the both of you, your right hand moved up her plump rump and pressed against the base of her tail. Her reaction was instantaneous, she very abruptly tensed all around you like a steel frame and screamed.

"RICK!" The name rung from her lips mixed in with a roar, she was clutching you so firmly it became hard to breathe, it was as if she was a steel statue, and yet you knew she was restraining herself because right here and now she would've turned you to paste had she not been holding back.

Your mind was entirely reeling from the fact that she'd said your name.

For several seconds she didn't move, and with a deep long gasp, she became completely relaxed as your fingers kept moving around the base of her tail, stroking it, drawing out happy little purrs from her as she slumped and relaxed. "Rick." She half yowled, weakly hugging you even as her head pressed against your shoulder, she was taking deep breaths, licking the base of your neck as she did, her hips grinding against you as she'd clearly gone through an orgasm.

Your name was repeated over and over with every little breath, barely muttered while her sweat covered body kept struggling to recover from the experience.

Needless to say, everyone present was clearly quite shocked at her declaration, Katherine was the first one to comment. "Did you just fuck a new word into her vocabulary?" She was half-joking half-serious, to which you could only shoot her a glare.

"Riii-hi-hi-iick." Monica's arms were weakly holding your neck and pulling you into her hug, her hips were slowly humping against the returning hardness in your groin, her breasts firmly squished against your chest. It took you a second to realize that despite having been left with jelly legs from the orgasm, she was still trying to milk an orgasm out of you. You could only laugh at that, unsure whether she was just that much of a horn-ball or if it was something else or both.

"Uh, guys? Could I have some privacy?" You asked, looking at the others. There was more than one pair of rolled eyes, and maybe someone gawked at you.

It was Katherine. "You shitting me? Now is when you ask for privacy? After a day and a half of fucking her in front of everyone?"

You have the decency to blush "All the previous times I really wasn't the one initiating." You muttered, frowning. "Though I have noticed some rather curious things this morning; I could talk about those if you'd like."

Three pairs of eyes became panicked, Mr Gabriel even coughed out. "I think it'd be only fair to give it since he's the one who managed to convince Monica to stay with us."

"Meownica..." The woman spoke half dreamily, humping you again and purring. "Rick." She added. "Riiiii~iiiiiick." She drew out the word, licking your cheek.

Waiting for them to step out, you return your attention to a Monica who'd pouted when she realized the others had left. Her complaint ended when you leaned forwards so she'd lay on her back and lifted her legs against your shoulders... or so you would have tried, but as soon as she was in that position her legs just dropped further than you anticipated, she practically placed her feet behind her head without even trying. The sight made you gulp at the realization of just how flexible she was.

No more delays.

Pushing yourself into the completely pliant female, the desires you'd been holding back exploded out. And you began to go at her with everything you had.

Monica was very happy to let you do the work today.

When done, you cleaned yourself (with some Monica tongue to help), and used an impromptu belt to keep your pants up before going to meet the others. Mr Gabriel and Katherine seemed in high spirits, Alice looked tired, May kept her restless expression, and Tomas looked overall abashed... like always. Then you noticed the mouse-girl was being carried in the stretcher that had been originally intended for Mr Gabriel. Tomas was pulling it, with the stretcher having half of its weight on the ground, but the mouse-girl on it was currently clutching Mr Gabriel's hand and looking at you and Monica with about as much fear as such a little creature could muster.

With those wide brown eyes, it was a lot. "So, hill-top?" Alice confirmed, she didn't seem to be in the mood to take shit from anyone at this point.

"Hill-Top." You nodded in agreement, completely certain you'd rather not push your luck. You'd have said the path up the hill had nothing particular about it, but you'd be lying. Because Monica had made it become something to be noted about. The moment you had started to walk up the hill she'd stuck herself to your side like glue.

With her breasts firmly squished against your shoulder, the woman kept licking your neck and earlobe... which made walking slightly awkward. "Riii~iiick." She whispered, causing you to shudder not in displeasure. But almost always making you trip, the one time she did, she just caught you, lifted you up before you even touched the ground, hugged you, and put you back on your feet.

"I think Monica has a crush." Katherine spoke with a false scowl. "It seems my competition is all too capable."

"Are you talking of Monica? You never stood a chance against her." You retorted. "But I'd be willing to give you a chance to try."

You never thought you'd see the blonde girl become speechless like that. It was probably because you'd retorted in a very un-teacher-like manner. What was she going to do? If there were going to be complaints about your behaviour when you got back, throwing sass would be the least of your concerns. That said, Mr Gabriel seemed very quiet about this though, you turned to glance at him and saw him still holding the mouse girl's hand, but seeming very deep in thought about something else entirely.

A little banter continued, but it was mostly muted as all of you had to save your breaths due to the steep incline. Eventually, the trees began to clear out, and you got a good view of everything that laid to the east.

It was a very pretty scene, the forest was beautiful, and the mountain seemed quite picturesque. Not to mention there was a sense of relief seeing the small lakes, for they meant there would be readily available drinking water were you to head in that direction. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have anything resembling civilization. Not even signs of it. "Fuck." You heard Alice muttering under her breath in shock.

You decided to turn around.

And you froze. There were forests and mountains, but... you squinted. There was something there, barely visible, but you were sure you could see something in the sea of trees. "Guys?" You drew everyone's attention and point into the distance. "Doesn't that look like a field and some houses?" There was a collective gasp.

"Yes!" It was Tomas, much to your surprise, who screamed out, pumping his fist into the air.

"How far do you figure?" Kat asked, looking excited.

You had to scratch your head slightly. "If we press on it, we should be able to reach those houses before nightfall... but I'm not sure how fast we can go with..."

You say nothing else, but felt Mr Gabriel stiffening slightly. "I could stay here." He spoke out. "With Tessa, so that you're not slowed down." He added with a stern voice that shocked you. "Once you get aid, you'd only need to come back for us."

Everyone shared a look amongst each other, it was Kat who spoke up first. "No way in hell, I'm not leaving my grandfather alone in a mouldy cave."

But the thought had been planted, everyone else had become tense as the idea was chewed on. Would it be worth it to take longer to get to those structures? Just how safe would Mr Gabriel and the mouse-girl... he had named her Tessa apparently... would be on their own here inside Monica's territory? You shook your head. "We're not going to leave you behind." You stated firmly, keeping to yourself the thought about the mouse since you weren't too sure about her right now.

"I will only slow you down."

"Then we'll walk slower." Alice nodded, showing a slight sense of relief at the agreement from everyone. "Better late than never they say."

The chuckle that escaped you was perhaps a bit more macabre than you'd intended, you just hadn't been able to suppress the question about how many were not going to get to safety at the end of all this. And a little voice in the back of your head kept wondering whether, if it came down to it, would you be willing to leave the others behind or not.

You clamped down on that, not letting the idea through.

"And the others?" Tomas asked.

"We don't know how far they are by now, those houses are definitely closer than they are." You stated without a moment's doubt. "If there are people, there should be people capable of finding them and leading them to safety far better than we could ever hope to do."

There was a nod, but the mood had become slightly darker again. Well, at least not for Monica and... Tessa? Monica was still biting your ear and seemingly passively listening in to whatever was being said. While the mouse was keeping her levels of horrified and grabbing hold on Mr Gabriel's hand all the while; her attention always aimed towards Monica.

"There's a stream over there." You point in a slight north-west-ish direction. "We can follow that westwards, no need to worry about water."

"Sounds like a plan."

Everyone became quiet as you began your descent.

Except for Monica who kept rubbing her breasts against your arm and shoulder. "Riii~iick." She kept muttering as you went, doing the kissy-face every now and then when your attention had turned in her direction. The first break was made when you'd reached the river, by now the sun was starting to blaze through the leaves.

"Man, I'd totally kill to bath right now." Kat muttered, drinking some water and refilling it from the stream. "You were so lucky chem teacher, you got yourself a hot cat-girl girlfriend and got to bath yesterday and everything." For a fraction of a second, she looked at Tomas, too fast for anyone but you who'd been looking at her to notice. "I wonder when we'll find some cute cat-boy for me to play with..."

"I'm worried about May." You don't bite the bait, giving Katherine the level look that warns her you're being serious. "She hasn't said a word, and after what she went through..."

"We all went through the same thing." Kat's response is so fast you flinch slightly, realizing this may be a touchy subject. But the tension she showed quickly vanished. "But yeah, it got her hard."

Glancing at Kat for a moment, you turn to the feline of the group. "Monica?" You call out, and she released your arm immediately.

"Rick!" She declares.

"That's Kat." You state, pointing at the blonde.

Monica tilts her head. "Purrsian?"

"Kat." You said.

"Puuuuurrrrrr." She muttered, making a face. Monica twisted her lips a little, "Ca... Kawt." A pause. "Kat." 

The aforementioned ex-student blinks in surprise and then shoots you a mock glare. "This is the lowest form of bribery you could've done, you're a monster." Despite her words, she's grinning like a mad-woman, approaching Monica. "But I ain't so cheap." Taking a step forwards, she stops right in front of Monica and puckers her lips. "Kiss?"

"You stop that, I'm trying to get her to stop jumping random people." You stated with a deadpan.

"But I'm literally asking!" Kat replied.

Meanwhile, Monica seemed to be looking for something on the floor, fortunately not seeming to have paid much attention to Kat's request just yet.

"C'mon!" Kat presses. "Please?"

"Fine, just... wait." You frown, shifting your attention to Monica. "What are you doing?"

Monica's eyes immediately lock back on to you and she puckers, clearly asking for a kiss. Blinking in slight surprise, you then frown and bring out the bottle. Except it gets snatched from your hand and Monica turns towards Kat and hands her the bottle. "Wha...?" Kat seems uncertain what's going on.

And then you start laughing, realizing that every time you'd prompted Monica to kiss it'd been after making her gargle some water to make sure her mouth didn't taste of rotten meat... or at least less so. "Wait, what's so funny?" Kat insisted, seeming more confused.

"She's saying your breath stinks." You pointed out, holding back the laugh in your tone with ease. Being a teacher certainly had trained you for such an event. "Just gargle some water and it should be fine."

"Gargle some... you think my breath stinks?" She couldn't help herself in gawking. "It's minty fresh! I still have toothpaste dammit! I brushed this very morning!"

"It's her opinion, not mine." Laughing was harder.

Disbelief is clear across her face as she stares at a growingly impatient Monica and then at you, but complies. "This better work." She muttered, drinking a bit and then spitting it out. "If this is just some joke you're making up and she won't-." And then her lips were sealed by Monica's.

And then Kat was pinned to the ground as the feline kept going. There were certainly no complaints even as the young woman undoubtedly noticed that Monica had the intention of removing her clothes next one way or another.

"Kat..." You sighed loudly, shaking your head. "We're not in a good situation right now."

"I know, I-." Whatever her response might have been it was drowned in the next kiss.

"You knew perfectly well this was going to happen." You intoned, approaching the girl as she was now trying to fight Monica off but to no avail.

"I thought you had her under control!" She cries out just before her blouse is ripped and her breasts exposed.

"Monica!" You call out in desperation, to which the feline turns her head at you, pausing just as Kat's nipple was taken hold of in the corner of her mouth.

"Rwick?" She stated, giving the protruding piece of flesh a single long lick that makes Kat shudder.

"Oh Sweet Baby Jesus." The young woman blushed tomato red, trying to push Monica off with even less result than before.

"Monica, stop!" You declared, approaching her and reaching to her, but stopping just shy of actual contact.

The look Monica shot you was not one of anger but rather vexation, she didn't swat you away, but instead snorted derisively and kept at what she was doing.

Which was Kat.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY GRAND-DAUGHTER!?"

Monica leapt and turned around, facing towards Mr Gabriel, growling as all her hairs stood up and her body immediately took an aggressive stance. "Monica!" You stated loudly before she could react, placing yourself in front of her, and more importantly, in front of Mr Gabriel. The feline paused, doubt, hesitation, anger, moving to concern, her eyes flickered towards the red face Mr Gabriel who was breathing very heavily and almost snarling, then at you. "Stop." You stated, ignoring the cold sweat that was going down your back as you saw her claws unsheathing. "Stop."

You grasped her claws, she looked down at you, then at Mr Gabriel, then at you. "Rick."

The tone was a chill down your spine, a warning, she was going to kill Mr Gabriel, and the warning was for you to get out of the way. You clenched harder. "Kat." You turned to the girl. "Get out of here, now."

She didn't need to be told twice, you waited until Mr Gabriel had calmed down, the man shooting you a glare, followed by one at point-blank range at Kat. She became deathly pale.

"Monica, Stop." You said, clenching her paw and staying right between her and the retreating Kat and Mr Gabriel. "Stop." You repeated, ignoring your hammering heart and raising your tone. "Monica, Stop!" You said firmly just as she'd been about to take a step further.

That made her pause. She looked at you, frowning. Her hand pulled out of your grasp. A loud snort left her, she took a step back from you, looking down at you. The look in her eyes appeared to demand an explanation. But you kept looking at her firmly, keeping your breath under control, until she eventually appeared to let go of the idea of carrying out the violence she'd intended, claws retracting, shoulders relaxing.

"Rick." She said, now in a huff. A great inward sigh followed as you realized that, save that moment of contempt, she'd been doing exactly what she was used to doing. She was someone who'd spent her life getting sex when and where she wanted with anyone who struck her fancy, and right now a girl had offered kissing.

And Mr Gabriel had clearly stepped into her fun.

You had no doubt Mr Gabriel would tell you just how much of a fuck up it had been on your part not to expect this just as much as Katherine had, or maybe he'd just let it indefinitely hang over your head like a guillotine waiting to fall... but regardless, right now your responsibility was trying to help Monica in regards to this in some way.

You took a second to glance at Monica's confusion and considered what to do here. You couldn't really hope to even begin explaining to her what "permission" meant by sheer force of the fact that Kat had been the one to ask for it. Sure, she'd changed her mind about what "it" meant, but how could you properly explain the nuances to Monica? She barely knew four words! And that wasn't without adding the grandfather's reaction.

How were you meant to explain to Monica, someone who appeared to have taken faithfully to the doctrine of "Anywhere, anywhen, no limits" to heart... about why someone else might be upset about her fucking someone? How in the world could you show her about things such as jealousy or protectiveness? You figured there might be a way were you to use other examples and then apply them towards sex, but...

The communication wall reared its ugly head once more, without finding a way around it there was little hope to properly explain such complicated ideas.

"Rick?" She asked, drawing you back to reality.

And you realized you had to make a decision about how to tackle this right now, and hopefully prepare or at least plan for coming back to the subjects at hand whenever it was that she could process the information properly.

You couldn't reassure her, not really, she had been in the wrong at the last moment and you had little doubt that congratulating her directly and without reserve would undoubtedly end up being bad on two fronts. The first in that she'd do it again, the second that the others would surely know or find out you'd rewarded her. The amount of worry about the second part was far lesser than the first, especially when you considered what'd happen when you reached civilization. If she stuck around, how well would she react to things? Better start working on her learning now rather than later.

There was also the insidious thought that if she reacted too negatively to civilization then there would be higher odds she'd leave back to the forest... but you put that thought away for now. "Come." You motion her to follow, looking at her with a forced calm smile.

She appeared to catch that there was something off about your expression, but not what; Monica looked uncomfortable as she started walking beside you, glancing between you and the glaring Mr Gabriel. "We will talk... later." His tone was chilly but not aggressive, his eyes didn't even move towards Monica, he just turned back towards the glowing red Katherine and continued sternly talking to her.

Tomas was a couple of steps in front of them, remaining quiet. Alicia shot you a complicated look that spoke of one teacher's disappointment in another, but there was certainly something else in there that felt closer to sympathy.

You had the decency to admonish yourself for your mistake, but it was more important to move ahead. You definitely were going to need to figure out some way to put things down for Monica, explain her... everything, try to get her under better control. And yet... as you looked at May, thinking about her quietness, an idea crossed your mind, you chewed on it as everyone began to settle down and prepare to get back to moving ahead. It would only be once everyone had calmed down that you'd speak up again.

"I think we should help Monica learn English." You finally declared.

ravnicrasol

And now, Monica will get a report card, grading her improvement.