Slime at the Camera!

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She used to be just like her? Past tense?

"We're more alike than you might think." Yanaike moved her hand to Celes' shoulder and gently petted her white hospital-like gown. "Me too was subjected to a scientific experiment, and that's how I gained my tail." Yanaike gracefully circled her tail to the front of her body and fondled it with her other hand. "...except in my case I was also the one who performed the experiment."

"Unlike you, I didn't have someone to talk with. Well... not initially. And then I had, and then he turned bad... Nevermind! What you need to realise... it's good talking about this!" The one moment Yanaike's attitude could be considered as that of a small child, the next moment she almost looked like an old lady with the amount of wisdom she put into her words.

"Don't be so unsure about yourself! You'll figure out what to do next." Yanaike said trying to calm the girl down. She knew what Celes was going through. The first moments after the experiment, Yanaike had felt miserable too. It had took a lot of time to get used to her own tail.

"Now, please show me the trick with the shoelace and the stick" Yanaike wagged her tail cheerfully as she enjoyed the rhyme in her last spoken sentence.
 
Celes hiccuped at Yanaike's touch, raising her head with wide wet eyes. The gentle motion seemed to soothe her a bit as she swallowed. Her eyes narrowed on the tail that drifted between them. It moved so carefully, it... was kind of beautiful, in an odd, Yanaike sort of way.

Celes wondered about this man Yanaike mentioned in passing, a slight frown flashing across her face as he was mentioned. Maybe she'll ask about that later. Yanaike was such an odd girl, and Celes knew so little about her.

Yanaike was right, in any case. Celes had to soldier to get that off her chest, but... Yanaike wasn't judging her. She was supporting her. Her cheeks seemed to darken a bit with the realization. Her back straightened a little more with each passing second, letting her legs relax into a more relaxed, cross-legged sitting position.

"Y, you're right, I... I panicked. I-it'll be okay... thank you, Yanaike. I... feel better, I think."

Celes raised her arm to wipe her eyes against her wrist, coaxing away those sad tears. Yanaike's exuberance was infectious. Celes was done crying. Her cheeks were wider than ever. Maybe she was forcing the grin a little wide. They say if you smile your best smile, you'll feel better. And Yanaike's excitement certainly helped.

"H-hey, that rhymes!" Celes clued in, chuckling. It was a sunny, joyful laugh. "Okay! I-it's meant for two people, so you can help me okay? Just need to grab... uh... huh..."

Celes reached to her sides. She had a nice stick ready, but... her hand hovered over air. Her eyebrows furrows, drawing the hand back. She shifted her position again, back on her behind as if to examine her feet, but...

They seemed to be lost to the slime pool. She stared, glancing up to Yanaike.

"...I... I'm not wearing shoes. Heh..." She laughed weakly. Apparently she didn't have a shoelace on her, and she had absentmindedly assumed she did. She rubbed the back of her head.

...She noticed Yanaike's boots, her eyes widening with realization.

"Hey, can I borrow one of your shoelaces? I-I'll give it right back when we're done! It'll be quick, I promise!" She seemed more invested in this demonstration now... she didn't want to disappoint her new friend.
 
It made Yanaike happy to see how Celes calmed down. She appeared to be such a sweet and emotional girl. In that way they seemed pretty much different though. Yanaike always stayed strong emotionally. She never cried. Emotions were a weakness: a weakness that anyone could easily exploit.

At least, that was what Yanaike made herself believe. She was far more emotionally than she liked to admit. And he knew how to exploit it. He knew how to manipulate her.

"B-But I don't have shoelaces" Yanaike answered in confusion. She looked down to her casual whi... Oh right! She had shoelaces. She wasn't wearing her casual boots, but her new hiking boots.

"Nevermind" Yanaike quickly added. "I do have shoelaces." She giggled and then she bend over to take the shoelace out of her left shoe. "Here you go" Yanaike said as she handed over the shoelace as if it was a little creepy green snake.

Slowly sunlight started to dim and Yanaike knew that in about half an hour it would be dark. Even though Yanaike initially didn't really see the purpose of starting the fire again, she had now changed her mind. She didn't really use fires on her own, but now that there were the two of them a bit of light would be a good way to extend the day and to socialize a bit longer before they would go to sleep.
 
"Thanks! Let's see here..."

She set the shoelace aside for a bit, using the stick to cut a divot in a piece of bark. She then took the shoelace and wrapped it a few times around a straight, narrow stick. She held both ends of the shoelace in on hand, propping the stick up on the bark with the other.

"So one person holds the stick down against a piece of bark like this, and the other pulls the shoelace strings back and forth, really quick. A-and the friction'll make sparks happen! That's how it's supposed to go... i-it's a little easier with two people instead of one." She explained gingerly.

She extended the ends of the shoelaces to Yanaike. "You wanna give it a shot? I can hold the stick down for you."
 
Yanaike paid close attention to the actions Celes was doing and she carefully listened what she'd to say. No matter useful or not, Yanaike loved learning new tricks for survival.

She nodded when Celes asked her to give it a shot. She took the one end of the shoelace in her left hand and the other end of the shoelace in her right hand. And then she started moving the shoelace up and forth as quickly as possible, just like Celes explained. Sparks appeared, together with a bit of smoke.

"A-and now?" Yanaike asked enthusiastically as she continued moving the shoelace up and forth.
 
Embers! Yes!

"Good stuff!" Celes cheer, leaning over to quickly toss the bark into the fire. Dry leaves and twigs brushed over the embers, allowing the fire to spread and build slowly. She leaned forward to gently blow air across the embers, fanning the young flames. She drifted backwards, clapping her hands together.

"Good stuff! ...O-oh, you can have the shoelace back now." She chuckled, getting herself comfy.

She paused, unsure of what to ask of Yanaike first. Celes was wrapped up in getting a fire built at this point, it was so cold out. She raised her head to look over at Yanaike.

"I-I didn't think to ask, but... what are you doing so far out in the woods?"
 
In almost no time the two managed to build a campfire. Yanaike took back the shoelace. She grabbed the camera from the tree trunk where she'd left it before and seated down to reattach her shoelace to the climbing boot.

Soon after that, Celes started questioning her, asking what Yanaike was doing in the woods.

"I was running away from police" Yanaike responded. "They clearly didn't want me to take this camera-thingy" She handed over the camera to Celes. "Do you know how it works? They told me it could be used to capture memories, but I can't really see how it could be connected to someone's brain?"

Yanaike bended her head down as she grieved a bit. "Besides that, since I gained my tail, the woods kind a became my home."
 
Celes blinked as Yanaike explained. Police? Her eyes lit up briefly Maybe she could lead Celes back to civilization!

...Wait, she did what? The realization dawned on her that Yanaike stole something. She should really take that back! Celes didn't have time to admonish Yanaike properly as the camera was thrust into her hands a few moments later.

Celes had a look of astonishment as Yanaike put the camera in her hands. It was brand new! Fancy looking!

She sighed to herself. "I guess I'm an accomplice in crime now..."She muttered to herself, shaking her head with a wry grin. Nothing to be done tonight, at least.

She briefly looked it over, before looking up as Yanaike inquired about it. Celes paused. That definitely wasn't what was meant.

Celes frowned briefly, picking up on Yanaike's sad-sounding aside. She straightened up a bit. The least she could do was try to figure out the camera for her friend.

"I-it's okay, we'll figure this out!" She declared with some pep, hoping to get Yanaike similarly pumped. "I haven't used these much either, but... y-you don't need to connect it to your head, no. That would be..." She rose a hand to her lobe to feel, before wincing shaking off the thought, returning to her investigation. There were a few features. Celes raised the camera up to her face, squinting a bit as if to take a picture.

"You just, ah, look through this little eyesight here, aim, and this button here should-"

FLASH!

That was bright! Even Celes looked surprised. She ended up taking a picture in Yanaike's direction and of whatever she was doing at that particular moment. She lowered the camera as it began to whir, printing out a photograph. It was still developing.
 
Celes looked slightly suprised after Yanaike had pushed the camera in her hands. Yanaike got excited as Celes sounded confident that she would get the camera to work.

In all honesty, Yanaike felt a little bit guilty. She made it seem like she didn’t understand how the camera worked, whereas in fact she hadn’t even tried. She hadn’t had any time to try yet. After she’d taken the camera, the police was quickly informed and up till now she’d been running from them. This was the first moment since afternoon in which Yanaike had time to take a break. The plan was that, as soon as she’d escaped the policemen, she would figure out how the camera worked herself. But since she’d found Celes, she decided to share the pleasure of figuring out the technical object. She only hoped Celes wouldn’t take the gadget to seriously. It wasn’t important. If she couldn’t get it to work, that was fine as w…

Suddenly a flash illuminated Yanaike’s view for a few seconds. Yanaike turned her head aside and saw how a little piece of paper whirred itself out of the camera. Yanaike grabbed it and saw how in a couple of seconds a picture of herself appeared. It wasn’t really an attractive one. Yanaike was sunk in thoughts and you could clearly see that on the picture.

“Well, that’s boring” Yanaike mumbled as she took back the camera from Celes and handed the picture of herself in return. “I’d hoped it would be more challenging to figure out this thing. Besides, they lied! It doesn’t capture memories. It shows merely a projection of a memory, and it still has to be operated manually.” Yanaike’s voice raised as she spoke, but she calmed down again before she continued. “I think I will bring this back tomorrow morning.”

“But first let me take a picture!” she raised the camera and aimed it at Celes. “S-Sm… no… Slime at the Camera!”
 
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Still a little dazed, Celes blinked as Yanaike took the camera and photo from her, before shaking her head and leaning forward, trying to get a look at the photo, with wide, curious eyes. She was a little more focused on the camera than where it was aiming, so she was quite curious.

She took it, examining it while Yanaike ranted, laughing as she did. "Not in the literal sense, I suppose... it makes for a nice keepsake though!" It wasn't exactly a flattering shot she took.

Celes rose her head, smiling sweetly as Yanaike mentioned taking it back. "That might be for the best." She nodded.

...Then it was aimed rapidly at her, her eyes widening like a deer in headlights. "What!?" She gasped, which was all she could get out before she was blinded by a sharp flash of light. Her eyes slammed shut, mouth flatting, before she picked up on the familiar whirring of the camera developing a photo. Letting Yanaike's photo settle in her lap, she reached forward.

"Ah, lemme see, lemme see!" She grabbed for the photo, though her slick fingers caused her to fumble a few times, nearly dropping it into the fire! After a few desperate juggles, she pulled it close, flipping it with curious eyes to survey it.

It captured her moment of surprise, including the way she was furiously blushing at that moment. Her skin was reflecting warm orange light from the fire. She clearly wasn't ready for it.

A sound caught in her throat. This was the first time she got a good look at, well... how she looked to others, since the experiments. Her mouth closed, staring mystified. She looked... cute??

She glanced down to the Yanaike photo, raising it to compare side by side. She grinned goofily.

"...Pfft... heh heh... ha ha ha ha!~" She burst out into fluttery, sunny laughter. The camera didn't agree with either of them at all!
 
A nice keepsake? Did Celes really mean she was supposed to carry it around in her backpack. Hahaha... No way! What could possibly the point of carrying around an extra image of yourself when the full physical appearance would be right there? She imagined a situation with a random stranger opposed to her. Telling him something like: 'Hello, my name is Yanaike, and this is what I look like'. Completely useless! And the fact that the image wasn't even a best shot of her made it even worse. Why would she want someone else to see a failed picture of her? Why would she want to see a failed picture of herself? No, if Celes considered it as a nice keepsake, she could keep the picture... both of them.

When Celes suddenly started laughing, Yanaike joined her, laughing faintly as well, even though she didn't really understand what was so funny.

As soon as Yanaike was done laughing she fiddled a bit with the camera. Was this really all that the camera had to offer, or was there still some kind of hidden feature left to discover? There were a few more buttons, but Yanaike quickly came to the conclusion that the camera really didn't come with the much hoped for brain-extender. She put the camera away and yawned.

It was starting to get late and the sun was about to set.

"You're going to love this" Yanaike said, a bit mysteriously. With triumph, she grabbed the witch hat from her head and turned it upside down. Out of one of the pockets of her leather jacket she fetched a dice which she threw into the witch hat. Witch a swift sway she placed the hat on the ground and she mumbled some inaudible Latin words. The next moment thick blue clouds appeared from underneath the witch hat, but they quickly disappeared as Yanaike lifted the hat.

Below the hat a plate had appeared. The dice, lying on the edge of the plate had apparently landed on a four. More thick blue clouds faded away as they uncovered a full one-person meal consisting of an unidentifiable piece of slightly scorched meat, mushed potatoes and several pieces of broccoli. The result wasn't the five or the six Yanaike had hoped for, but at least the meal got some variety.

"Hungry?" Yanaike asked. The meal wouldn't probably be enough to fill both of them, but Yanaike was willing to share.
 
Celes wiped away a tear, her laughter dying out. "Th-the camera really doesn't agree with us, hahaa... oh?"

What was Yanaike doing? The witch's hat? Dice? OH, this must be a magic trick! Beaming, she leaned forward, eyes transfixed on Yanaike's every movement. Her mouth opened a little as Yanaike murmured the archaic words. Highly curious routine.

Her senses were quickly filled with the smell of hot and ready food! She blinked, leaning forward, absolutely puzzled. How did she do that?

"...Wha? How'd you..." She squinted at the hat. Did it have an oven inside? But how did she not smell anything? She seemed keen to puzzle out the gimmick, but... she was really drawing blanks! She blinked.

"That's amazing... What kind of magic trick is that?" Celes wondered, mystified. She hadn't heard of real magic before. The curiosity demanded her attention more than her hunger at this moment. Maybe she wasn't paying enough attention...
 
The way Celes responded, made Yanaike feel a bit proud. Her eyes were beaming. It reminded her of the first time she herself encountered magic. She was just like Celes. She would probably have wondered too how it would have worked, but no, magic wasn't like that. No logic, no common sense, just magic!

"It's called Cornucopia" Yanaike explained. "...or I suppose it is based on Cornucopia. It was an ancient artefact that could summon infinitive amounts of food. This spell is what's left of it. It can only be used once a day though, not indefinitely any more, and it now has a random component added to it, determining the quality of the food." Yanaike had read a lot of books about ancient history and she was quite fascinated by it.

Yanaike grabbed the fork that came with the plate and stung a few pieces of broccoli to it, before she shoved the fork in her mouth. "Awwh youw suwhr youw..." Yanaike emptied her mouth. Long ago she had been taught manners. Vaguely she remembered how it was rude to speak with a full mouth.

"Excuse me..." she apologized for her behaviour. She cut off a small piece of meat with the knife. "Are you sure you don't want to eat? You can just help yourself!" She put the piece of meat in her mouth and continued her dinner.
 
Celes raised her eyes as Yanaike began to explain, eyes filled with wonder. The way she explained it, it was... real magic? Celes looked down at the plate once more. It really was something that could come out of thin air?

"That's... amazing!" Celes whispered in awe, surveying the plate. She heard Yanaike's muffled words, looking up again with curiosity. Yanaike's cheeks were stuffed like a chipmunk's! She giggled in amusement, a smile on her face.

"Ah... well..." Yanaike did offer, and she hadn't had a meal in... goodness knows how long. She nodded, reaching forward for a piece of broccoli.

"Thank you." Celes said, her voice brimming with gratitude, before taking a bite. It was edible! Not that her biology seemed to complain.

She trailed off, her mind still fixated on magic. "Real magic, huh... w-where I'm from, no one really knows how to... do anything like that." Her eyes lifted. "H-how'd you learn to do stuff like this?? It's really cool!"

Her eyes seemed to sparkle with curiosity.
 
As soon as Celes started eating, Yanaike began to wonder. Did she have teeth? And if she had, where her teeth slimey too? She tried looking aside, but couldn't really see her teeth without making it too obvious what she was looking for. She ceased her attempt as she figured it would be rude to stare into her open mouth.

"Well I uhh... I learned... uhh..." Yanaike didn't really have an answer to that question. As far as she knew she'd always been with magic. She tried going back in history, remembering details of her life. Back in the old days, before things happened. Did she have magic back then? No, of course not! She never had magic until that moment.
"I supposed it..., magic, came together with my tail" she finally answered, sparkling from enthusiasm as she found the answer to Celes' question. She immediately stuffed her mouth full with mushed potatoes in an attempt not to think or talk about her past.

"Mwaahbye youw hawf mwaahgic twhoo nhow?" she muffled, again with full mouth.
 
Celes' eyes widened, though she managed to swallow her bite before proceeding. "Ah? When you were... huh." Didn't she say she performed the experiment herself? She really didn't know much about Yanaike's past. Only a few snippets, but... if Yanaike was experimented on like Celes was, it really wasn't something one should drag out bad memories for.

"I dunno, I... don't feel any more, ah... magical?" She was about to say 'different', but this entire form was alien and new to her. She flashed an awkward smile, her hand drifting to squeeze her own shoulder a bit. It had more give to it than she was used to. She grimaced. "I dunno how I'd be able to tell in the first place, eheh... I dunno any Latin or stuff like that."

"...Heh..." She glanced over, seeing Yanaike packing her cheeks with food. "If you eat too quickly, you'll get something caught in your throat." She smiled sweetly as she remarked in a doting voice.
 
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