<h4>Chapter 259: A Tail is Always Handy</h4>


    Kat was just finishing thest of her cleaning when she heard Vivian''s car pull up. *I guess I should go and help. Go abuse my super strength to carry in the groceries.* Kat put away the cleaning supplies quickly abusing her speed just a little before heading out to help the others.


    As soon as she opened the door, she felt a hug against her side. Looking down Kat found that Sylvie was waiting by the door for her and had taken the chance to get the first hug in. Sylvie had on a nice but in silvery dress that matched her hair. Picking Sylvie up Kat pulled the little girl in close.


    "Wee back Kat" said Sylvie before nuzzling into Kat''s shoulder.


    As Kat raised her gaze to the others, she found Lily practicallyunching herself at her. As Lily jumped, her dark red shirt fluttered in her self-generated breeze, and her baggy grey pants clung to her ankles.?Kat let out a little chuckle as she opened her other arm bringing Lily into the hug as well. "I was so w- I mean wee back, yes" said Lily nervously.


    Kat used her tail to stroke Lily''s hair slowly. "Hey it''s fine. I''m back now, I wasn''t in any danger" said Kat


    "I- I know but… it was supposed to be an emergency and I was so worried" said Lily before catching herself when she noticed Sylvie grinning at her.


    "I m-mean that it-''s about time y-you got back" shuddered Lily. Kat just smiled and hugged Lily tighter.


    Vivian clicked her tongue and pretended to be annoyed with her hands on her hips, a slight frown on her face but with a spark of joy in her eyes. "What am I, chopped liver? You both run straight into Kat''s waiting arms. Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong raising you lot" said Vivian


    Sylvie poked her tongue out at Vivian, a rare sign of her true age, and said "But Lily''s parents live over the fence. You didn''t raise her at the very least, and we''ve only known you a month" said Sylvie.


    *Damn, it really hasn''t been long that I''ve known them. Though be a bit fairer Sylvie it''s closer to two months now.* Vivian straightened her posture slightly then leaned forward. "Oh? Did I teach you to backchat me like that?"


    "Nope, I learnt it from Callisto" replied Sylvie, but Kat doubted the truth of that statement. Callisto was nothing if not polite to Vivian, so it was more likely she''d been having fun with Callisto and had learnt a few new tricks.


    "Ah, the devil herself has betrayed me and gone back on our bargain. How could she turn my own daughter against me like this" gasped Vivian, pretending to be shocked.


    Kat decided she''d had enough of the verbal sparring and decided to take matters into her own hands. Pulling Lily and Sylvie in as tightly as was safe, Kat picked them both up carefully, and noticed her energy spread around them.


    Once she was sure their weight would be supported Kat carried them over to Vivian and wrapped her tail around the woman in question pulling her into the group hug. The group stayed like that for a few minutes before Vivian insisted, she at least be allowed to get the ingredients that needed to be kept cold in the fridge.


    Kat was tempted to just use her fire, but stopping some things from being affected, and controlling the temperature of her mes were two very separate issues that she didn''t want to test the limits of just yet.


    "Just slide everything onto my tail then. I''ll take it all inside and then we can sit down together" said Kat


    "Oh, you don''t need to go to that much trouble" said Vivian "A couple of bags won''t be hard on us"


    Kat smirked and walked over to the car. She started to lift it slowly and watched as she felt the energy cover the car she was lifting. Holding every shopping bag and the car up at once seemed to surprise the other three sufficiently well.


    "Wait… but how? You are holding the entire thing up by the bumper and I am well enough aware that it shouldn''t be strong enough to hold the entire weight of the car" said Vivian


    Kat smiled "Slight upgrade at rank 2. I might not be much stronger but now when I lift something, I can lift it with my entire body rather than just the part of it doing the lifting. It really helps spread out the weight"


    "Sure…" said Vivian "Can you put the car down now though? You''ve made your point"


    Kat nodded, returning the car to the ground and stretching her tail out before winding it through as many bags as she could. Kat managed around half of the shopping at once, and found that rather than weight, the length of her tail was the issue.


    Mainly that the bags would push up against each other and she needed to prevent them from slipping by curling up the end of her tail enough that they stayed put even when walking. Kat quickly walked to the kitchen careful not to go quite so fast in case she damaged the supplies. Dropping them off on the kitchen table Kat went back and grabbed the rest.


    Vivian managed to grab two bags of her own before Kat made it back. Sylvie had picked up a smaller bag with snacks in it and Lily grabbed one consisting mostly of lettuce and a few other vegetables with Kat grabbing thest three.


    When they were all spread out on the table Callisto appeared at the bottom of the stairs and instantly got to work as if she''d known they were ready for her before they did. While Callisto got to work Lily and Sylvie worked together to pull Kat over to the couch.


    Vivian attempted to help Callisto in the kitchen a bit but was picked up by Callisto surprisingly easily and deposited on the couch next to Sylvie. "Well Kat, tell us about why we couldn''t contact you for over a week" requested Sylvie


    "Well, I can, but before that I should be clear that I have to head out again in twenty-four hours" said Kat


    "What!" shouted Lily indistinctively grabbing onto Kat. Even once she realised what she''d done she decided to hold Kat''s arm tighter instead to emphasize the point.


    "Well… if you remember there was a debt I''m supposed to be paying off. Apparently I''m already overdue, but because of what happened which" Kat held up a hand when Vivian opened her mouth "I will exin, I really am not just dodging it, so anyway, my debt was overdue and so I was given 24 hours back in the other dimension, to finish things up, then the same here to… well I''m not sure really? Rest?"


    Kat saw Sylvie looking upset and Lily annoyed. Vivian was a bit more passive, but Lily and Vivian were both about to startying into her, she could almost feel it. So to pre-empt them Kat continued speaking "But! But, this time I''ll be able to message you guys. I won''t be out of contact again. That was very a very extreme situation and it was because I didn''t have the system for a bit there, but I promise to message you all every night before I go to bed ok? We can chat if you want but I''ll keep you updated I swear"


    Kat saw that Lily was still unhappy with this, and Sylvie was doing her best to appear like she wasn''t unhappy with this, while Vivian seemed content with the knowledge that Kat would be checking in. Callisto… was chopping carrots with extreme speed and precision.


    When Lily was the first to speak up, Kat had hoped it would be a pleasant question. Instead it was something that really showed she was too smart for her own good. "So, if you didn''t have the system, does that mean you were at risk of actually dying?"


    "It wasn''t like that I swear" said Kat, making sure to not outright deny it as she had, had simr doubts.


    Lily however, certainly noticed "Really? Well, that just means that the system went away for a reason. So? How safe were you?" asked Lily


    "Fairly safe" said Kat


    "Specifics please" said Lily


    Kat sighed. *I guess now is a good a time as any to go over everything. How much should I leave out though? I was literally inside of Major''s head and I''m not sure how ok I feel with just airing out her various memories. Hmm, guess I can gloss over those sections for the most part and focus on the tunnel and the stuff after that.*


    "Well, I guess I should start at the beginning then, do you remember Minor? The kitsune I met a while back? Well, it''s like this…