Felin had her nose in a book, which was nothing new. Often she was reading something, which meant as far as the others were concerned that she was an open target. Yet, they could not know what was in that book was going to affect them all before too long. Even Xei, who was usually aware of Felin’s moods and musings, was totally unprepared for what would happen. As it was, only Jaynin ever realized that she was up to something at all.
“Condrite?” he repeated after Felin had asked her question, clearly taken aback by the odd nature of Felin’s request. “What on earth would you need magical ore for?”
“I don’t know exactly why,” she replied. “But, that’s the fuel which the instructions call for. Can you please find some? I would greatly appreciate it…”
“Some,” Jaynin allowed. “Condrite is very rare, so you won’t get much. How much will you need for an operation?”
“Four hundred grams,” was the answer. Jaynin nodded and replied:
“Then you’ll only be able to use whatever it is once.”
“Once is enough,” Felin said after a moment’s consideration.
That being done, while Felin waited a few days for the condrite to be procured, she spoke with Xei. Xei, after all, was going to be central in Felin’s plans from now on. “Xei, I have a question for you.”
“What do you wish to know?” Xei replied, smiling as she cheerfully tucked her feather duster into her apron.
“Well… Xei, I’ve found plans for a machine that can duplicate anything. I’ll only be able to use it once, though, and the only thing important enough to me that I’d want another is you, Xei. What do you think? Will you help me?” Felin smiled.
Xei mulled this over, aware as usual that her deep analysis was making her emit a gentle whirring sound, but she knew Felin did not mind, so she allowed her processors free reign to examine the issue as deeply as she liked. “Will this be… perhaps, a younger sister of mine?”
Felin giggled. “If you want to think of it that way, yes. She will be your younger sister, and from what I can tell not exactly like you, but very similar.”
Xei nodded and proceeded to examine the question from this angle. Another android would be great company, first of all. Xei knew that Felin and everyone else were great friends to her and she cared for them in return as close friends. Yet, they were not androids and could not quite see the same outlook on the world as she could. Another android would be able to do that… Then, another point in favor of the proposed operation, would be the human notions of sibling precedence that Xei had picked up over time. As an elder sister, she would be automatically granted a certain deal of authority over the younger sister. That could be very useful… Xei wanted a bit more data that was specific, so she asked: “Felin, what is the relationship between an older sister and younger sister in relation to tickling?”
Felin smiled and let her mind wander as she responded. “Well, Xei, there’s no specific relationship defined as you might think of it. However, it’s very widely accepted that an elder sister can razz her sibling through a variety of means, including tickling if she wants.”
“Hmm.” Xei’s eyes lit up just a little at hearing that. Borrowing a ‘family’ structure and laying its levels of authority over onto the proposed situation, Felin would be the parent, Xei the older sister and the new android the younger. It seemed like a very satisfactory arrangement and Xei did not see any problems with it. “Very well then, Felin, I accept.”
Felin gave Xei a hug as she said that and giggled. “I’ll call you then when the machine is ready for operation. The benefit of this is that I won’t have to take you apart at all, Xei. I can have another duplicate made as if by magic.”
“Magic?” Xei asked. “Felin, I did not think you would grant credibility to such an unscientific notion.”
“We’ll see,” was Felin’s response.
“Xei? Xei, please come quickly! Everything is ready!” Felin nearly hopped with giddy anticipation as she carefully loaded the lump of processed condrite ore into the machine’s power core. The device did indeed look rather strange, with some parts of the machine etched with what Felin imagined must be magical runes, or some such. Felin had never bothered herself to learn about such things, dismissing magic as unscientific and unpredictable. Aside from that Felin’s talent with magic was next to nil, so she understandably devoted her time to something she was adept at.
Xei came scurrying down the stairs into the lab, soft bare feet making gentle pitter-patter sounds with each step. “I’m here, Felin. Is everything ready?” She noticed that there were two large hollow cylinders connected by a multitude of tubing to a boxy center. The implications seemed simple enough; something went into the one side, and a duplicate was created in the other. Vaguely, Xei wondered how the machine would be able to create an almost-copy of her. Her knowledge of magic was even less than Felin’s, something which logic circuits reluctantly accepted as an acting force on the environment but subjected to scrutiny at every turn.
“Inside, Xei.” Felin smiled. “You’ll need to disrobe, but there is a privacy screen for that.” Felin was carrying a set of clothes to the other privacy screen, where presumably the duplicate android would use them to dress after being created. “Now, whatever happens, please don’t panic, and stay still as best you can, otherwise there might be a couple minor errors in the copy.”
“I understand, Felin.” Xei spoke from behind the screen, her outfit hung up on the hook within. “It will be an easy task. I’ll simply deny all movement capabilities to my servomotors. Rest assured that I will not err.” Xei stepped into the hollow cylinder and faced outward while the door slowly slid closed.
Felin raced to her desk and, with a few inputted commands on her terminal, initialized the machine. The power core made an odd, low-octave humming sound as it powered up, rather unlike the faster high-pitched noises of more modern machines. Nevertheless it powered on without incident, and here Felin abandoned her terminal to use the manual controls on the machine. Not that they were overly complex, but Felin was unsure of how well this machine would interface with a computer. Felin took a deep breath before her finger punched the “Copy” button.
Inside the cylinder, lines of light began to form on the walls and floor, making a rather interesting if outwardly useless pattern. Xei was slightly startled as the lines somehow… peeled… themselves from the walls and lay over her body, adapting to her form with ease. They felt… rather warm and comfortable, Xei admitted, realizing that however this machine did it, it was performing a scan of her physical and internal structure.
Yet at that moment Xei realized that the patterns of light on her body tingled, just a tiny little bit. The current level was bearable, but… soon, they began to tingle harder, and a gentle tingling feeling on Xei’s body was unmistakably translated into a tickling feeling. Xei wondered if Felin had known, or if it was just an oversight that came from lack of available test data… Nevertheless, it presented an immediate problem to Xei. Her feet twitched first of all, taking a tiny step, and while the light moved to accommodate the new position, Xei realized that it lagged a slight bit. She started to feel very uncertain, wondering if she had caused a glitch…
It was all Xei could do to restrain her twitching to just gentle shakes and jolts. Each movement was compensated for, but Xei grew increasingly worried. When would this machine… stop? It would be maddening if it got any more intense… and with startling suddenness, the light went dark, almost… crumbling off of Xei’s body, leaving no marks whatsoever and only the memory of their feeling. Still Xei dared not move, although it seemed that the other part of the machine had started to hum, presumably building the replica…
Only when the door of the cylinder slid open did Xei move again, hurriedly dressing herself and racing around the privacy screen to see Felin. “Felin, did I…”
“There weren’t any anomalies,” Felin quickly said with a smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that was going to happen, Xei. But all readings remained in what should be the proper range, so everything will be fine. Trust me.” Felin didn’t say that the readings had remained constant; there were several points where it had twitched and wiggled a bit, approaching the high or low end of a rather small range, but… best not to tell her that. “Your sister should be coming out soon, Xei.”
Sure enough, a minute after the door was opened the sound of bare feet against the ground was audible, and the alternate style of maid’s costume was pulled down from where it hung… Xei trembled in a bit of excitement, watching as each accessory was affixed, growing anxious to see how her sister looked. The outfit Felin had chosen was slightly different from Xei’s; whereas hers had a bow just below the collar that came up to her neck, matching the red bow in her hair; the other outfit’s collar was a bit lower, showing the white undershirt and top of the collarbone. Xei’s apron fit over her hips and had thin straps that tied in the back, whereas the other had broader straps, with ruffled shoulders, and only covered the midsection, leaving the sides and hips… open.
Not that either one of the maids’ outfits were all that protective anyway. Apron and blouse alike were made of a material that enhanced the feeling of Felin’s claws by fifteen percent. Normal fingers and fingernails also realized a five to seven percent increase in effectiveness. Xei’s sister, like herself, did not wear leggings or shoes. The last thing to go was the bow, which apparently was to be tied behind the head as a hair ornament… and finally, she stepped out from behind the screen.
“I’ve been designated Kiri,” she said in language much less formal than Xei’s. “I guess from this setup that my job is to be a maid, right?” Xei didn’t answer, just yet. Kiri was… maybe an inch or two taller than she, placing her at about five feet in height. The differences physically were fairly minor… Kiri’s hair was only down to the small of her back, a light brown color, the elegant sculpting of her features the same, only featuring blue eyes and slight variation in facial construction. “Oh, and you’ll have to get me a larger bra size. This one is too small.”
Xei didn’t know why she should feel jealous over that remark, the visible difference was nearly nil, but… Xei realized she was feeling an irrational desire to be superior to the new android in every way, not a conducive mindset to hold if she were to be friendly with her younger sister. Instead she bowed, smiling softly as she spoke. “Welcome, Kiri. My name is Xei, and I am designated as your older sibling.” She indicated Felin and continued; “This is Felin. She helped me when I was in need and enabled your construction.” Seeing Kiri brought back memories of Xei’s escape from her assembly place; she was truly happy that Kiri would enter the world without such trauma.
Kiri whirred slightly, thinking on something. “Oh… I suppose these are your visual recordings then? Hmm.” A slight grin formed on Kiri’s face, and Xei realized then that Kiri had been given all of her memories, such as they were… and probably watching them right now… Her eyes came back into focus. “Going by that… it seems like you’re not really a ‘maid’ after all. Hehe heh. Well, since I’ve just been created, how about we find someplace comfortable and talk?” Kiri’s grin reminded Xei of Felin for some odd reason…
“Let’s go into my room first,” Felin suggested. “We can introduce you to everyone else later, but we should explain first.” She traded a look with Xei that was returned, and they both grinned. “Follow us, Kiri.”
“Sure!” And the three of them navigated from the deeper recesses of the lab back towards the periphery and Felin’s room… Xei couldn’t wait, her processors gleefully contemplating Kiri’s reactions when Felin and Xei sprang the inevitable on her. So lost in thought was Xei that she was taken completely by surprise when Kiri put an arm around her waist and winked. Xei’s gasp of surprise caused Felin to turn around.
“Oh, isn’t that cute,” she said with a wink. “You two will be great sisters!” Xei was still a little trapped in thought, thinking that by creation of a younger sister she was entitled to an advantage in height… The problem was nagging at Xei so insistently that she forgot herself and asked: “Felin, aren’t younger siblings shorter than their elders?”
“That depends,” Felin replied with a little smile, ushering the two into her comfortable room. “Initially, the answer is most often yes. However, that’s due to the stages of development in which the elder is more advanced due to age. Once both siblings have reached maturity, as you two are designed to be, it’s just genetics. For organisms, at least. For example, Jaynin’s brother is six inches taller than he is, but six years younger, too.”
“Oh.” Xei felt a bit foolish at that.
“C’mon, it’s not that much,” Kiri said. “We’re almost the same height, it’s no big deal!” She put her head against Xei’s and smiled before finally letting go and curling up in a comfortable chair. Xei nodded, realizing that she was going to have to study sibling relations a bit closer and more impartially, this time analyzing both advantages and disadvantages, or things that had no inherent bearing upon seniority.
“Kiri,” Felin began, “where you are right now is the castle of a man named Jaynin. He’s the boss of the place, so he’s someone that has to be listened to. But he’s not very strict at all,” Felin added with a wink. “You’ll be able to do mostly as you please during your day.”
“Am I gonna have to clean stuff?” Kiri asked. “I mean, I am in a maid’s outfit…”
“If you want,” Felin said. “There’s no real need for you to do so, although Xei does it at times because her work ethic makes her do it.” Felin giggled and winked at Xei. “You can sit in the common room and watch television all day if you like… but you’ll have to be careful of what everyone else is planning!”
“Planning?” Kiri asked with an odd look on her face, a look that got odder as Xei beckoned her over to the bed where she and Felin sat. She jumped onto the bed as indicated by Xei’s patting of the space next to her, whereupon Xei pushed her shoulders down to the mattress and grinned.
“You’re like me, Kiri. Your skin is very sensitive and soft, and you have a built-in subroutine of reaction when you’re stroked in just the right way. In other words,” Xei went on, pressing a finger to Kiri’s lips to forestall comment, “you’re extremely ticklish…”
Felin decided the time was as ripe as any. With both Kiri and Xei’s bare feet facing her, she wrapped her tail around the tangle of legs and let her claws rake gently upon the four soles before her. “I don’t think just explaining it is good enough,” Felin teased. “You have to learn by doing – and lead by example!”
Xei burst out into giggling, her body flopping down atop Kiri’s in a fit of helpless wriggling. She could hear the other android’s laughter, a slightly fuller tone than hers, and feel her struggles, trying to push Xei off of her while rolling away from the raking nails, and discovering that the ticklish subroutine denied her 100 percent control over her own actions. Instead, her limbs gave way randomly with fits of laughter, wriggled and squirmed of their own accord, ignoring her input. “Whee heeehe heee hehaa ahaa haahah ahah whahah what is this?” she demanded, giggling through the whole sentence.
Xei winked, her only real goal was trying to pin Kiri down so she’d feel Felin’s claws as well… Xei felt that interesting combination of not wanting to move and wanting desperately to escape, and her feet flexed and toes pointed in her dilemma. This of course drew Felin’s claws to them, giving Kiri a brief respite, and giving her time to mull over the situation…
“Oho, I see, from these memories I can tell that both of you like doing this,” she said with a grin, feeling at the same time a rather pleasant state of mind from watching her older sister wriggle helplessly against her and explode with giggles. Felin’s claws seemed to be exclusively concentrating on Xei’s feet now; her tail was unwinding itself from Kiri’s ankles, letting her slide out from under… with a giggle of triumph she popped free. “Now, where else can I…” Kiri searched through some of the data she’d gotten from Xei and found her answer, her fingers slipping beneath the apron to tease and scratch at Xei’s sides.
Xei’s laughter was uncontrollable now. Her ability to manage her own reactions decreased in proportion to the intensity of the tickling feeling she received, and right now she was feeling rather strong sensations on her feet and lesser ones on her sides… Two places at once generally served to strip Xei of her higher levels of processing ability. Yet her lower levels were still able to flood her with a strange glee as she found herself at the mercy of her sister…
“Don’t you find it fun, Kiri? We sure do,” Felin said, continuing where she’d left off. “And everyone in this castle will do the same to you; if they find you and are in the mood, they’ll tickle you witless. The only defense is to tickle them back… everyone here is very ticklish.” Felin winked, leaving Kiri a slight bit confused.
“My data indicates…” It was a phrase likely lifted directly from Xei’s data, as Felin was realizing that Kiri didn’t say such things. “It seems like boys aren’t ticklish, yet you mentioned a male was head of this household? Is he exempt?”
“No he isn’t,” Felin said, directing that comment and a fresh burst of scritching at Xei. “Xei still has the misconception that only girls can be very ticklish, but she’s wrong and I’ve had a hard time convincing her otherwise, mainly because she never sees it the other way around.” Felin winked. “Feel free to go on and try getting at him if you like, everyone’s fair game. Oh, and we frequently get visitors too. Same rules apply,” Felin concluded. “Have as much fun as you like…”
“Felin plee heehe heeehe heee please!” Xei begged, her face coloring a slight bit as Felin continued to rake her soles, absorbed in her lecture to Kiri. It was enough to win her reprieve from Felin, who unwound her tail from Xei’s ankles, but Kiri kept tickling her midsection… “Kiriihihihiiihihihiiiii!!!” Xei squealed, rolling onto her back. It was not a very good move, as it exposed her torso fully, but the rolling motion dislodged Kiri’s hands and allowed Xei to regain control of herself by escaping the tickling.
“Aww… and it was just getting fun, too…” Kiri said, an evaluating glint in her eye as she crawled over to Xei, who scooted backwards… Kiri seemed a bit more aggressive than Xei, in fact a lot more… but her advance was stifled as soon as she felt Felin’s claws settle over her and give a single scritch at her ribs. Even that was enough to send Kiri squealing and rolling backwards in retreat, rubbing at herself to try and erase the sensation.
“An important thing to remember is when to give a break, Kiri,” Felin explained, winking. “Since you’ll end up on the receiving end more times than you’ll be able to count, you don’t want to incite other people to be merciless by not giving them proper treatment… otherwise you could get in trouble.”
“Trouble?” Kiri asked blankly.
“Trouble, as in being tickled so much your processors have to operate from only the most basic level, so that you’re reduced to little more than an android giggle toy.” Xei smirked. “Any more than that and your systems will likely terminate the ticklishness program so that you don’t suffer any permanent damage, but believe me, it takes quite a while to get there.” Xei colored faintly, remembering her own experience in that regard…
Kiri nodded and smiled, giving her elder sister a gentle peck on the cheek and sitting in her lap. “I’m sorry, sister, I won’t do it again,” she giggled. Xei smiled and whispered her thanks, letting her fingers stroke Kiri’s sides ever so softly as Felin continued…
“You won’t be bound by humans’ biological clocks, you may come and go as you please during the night hours, and there’ll probably be one or two of them awake even at odd hours. But you mustn’t wake up those who are asleep or you’ll also get in trouble.” Felin winked again at Xei; it was the reason she had landed herself in trouble the first time. “As for those who live here…”
“I already mentioned Jaynin, he’s a tallish blonde-haired man with glasses. Under him, there’s myself, Jelex and Syia. Jelex is a long-eared, blonde elf who wears rather revealing clothing.” Felin’s fingers flexed slowly as she said this, almost as if telling the two a story. “Her sides are her very worst ticklish spot, and she always wears a tank top that shows off her abdomen and underarms… She seems like an easy mark but she’s very athletic and can do things you’d never think of.”
“Jelex is very flexible,” Xei murmured into Kiri’s ear as she tickled her sister’s sides gently. Kiri giggled and nodded.
“Syia has long blue hair and glasses. She dresses in a lot of different ways, but usually she somehow accentuates her chest, which is fairly large, and her legs… A lot of the time she wears nylons too, which make her worst ticklish spot even more ticklish. That’s her feet,” Felin explained, giving each Xei’s and Kiri’s soles a gentle stroke with her claw, causing both to giggle and squirm around a bit. “But Syia has psychic power, so she can string you up before you even see it coming, so beware… the only defense against her psychic power is tickling.
“Then there’s Usagi, a silly-looking girl with blonde pigtails and odangos in her hair. She resists being tickled the least out of everyone, and usually trips if you chase her… She’s very ticklish all over, but worst on her feet, nearly as bad as Syia and not nearly so good at getting revenge.” Felin smirked. “Rei is someone to watch out for… she’s easy to spot because she has long black hair, like Xei’s but not so long. Her sides are deathly ticklish, but she’s hard to get… She retaliates very well and is hard to keep pinned down. She’ll carry a grudge, too.
“Then Ami, who also happens to be our nurse up in the Infirmary. She’s shy, but very smart… She has short blue hair and usually is dressed in her nurse’s uniform. Her uniform has leggings, so you can use that to tell her apart from the other nurse… Anyway, her weak point is her feet again, but you really should take her stockings off first. But Ami’s also pretty ticklish under her arms, which are much easier to get at…
“Makoto is the one who cooks for all of us, plus Jaynin likes her, so you really can’t be too hard on her.” Felin giggled. “Which is a shame, she’s very bad under her arms and can’t hold in her giggles for anything. She’s also the tallest and strongest, and she has her brown hair in a ponytail most of the time. Also she’s not afraid to whap you with the frying pan if you go after her.”
“Really?” Kiri asked, going a little wide-eyed. The gentle stroking of her sister’s fingers had made her almost feel a little sleepy, the giggling having a soporific effect.
“Not hard enough to hurt,” Felin assured her quickly. “Just enough to get your attention and make you back off. She’s really very kind otherwise, just don’t bother her when she’s cooking or everyone else will get you too.”
“She is a good cook, they all say,” Xei piped up. “I hope to one day be able to properly analyze food and drink so that I will be able to confirm that for myself.”
“Mmmm.” Kiri nodded, settling back against her older sister again. “Anything else?”
“The last one is Minako, she’s the other nurse and a lot of the time she works where Jaynin and Syia do. Her hair is long and blonde with a pretty red bow like Xei’s, and she’s very ticklish all over. That’s the report,” Felin finished. “Just remember to be moderate even when you’re getting someone who doesn’t fight back very well, Kiri. Okay?”
“Okay!” Kiri agreed, contemplating the two Felin had omitted from her report; herself, and Xei. Kiri decided that she could do her own observations and calculate a weakness report on her own, after hearing that. Besides, it should be a simple matter to… “Xei,” Kiri whispered, “let’s get Felin…”
“Hehehe… okay,” Xei agreed. “In three seconds, let’s jump for her!” Neither Xei nor Kiri counted down as a human might, their internal clocks letting them time three seconds exactly. At that moment both androids lunged for Felin.
“Wha – hehe hehee hey!” Felin giggled in protest, not being entirely surprised at this turn of events… it was only a matter of time, she had figured, before they teamed up… Kiri was holding her arms above her head, and Xei had her fingers hooked like the teeth of a comb. That position drove Felin wild as it stroked through her fur. “WHHAHAHAaAHAH aHAHAHAAH ahahHAAHAHA haahHAhahAHAHAh ohehhe ehehheeh Xei plehehehehheeze noha hahaa haha not thahahaat!!!”
Kiri noted the strength of Felin’s struggles – easily enough for her to restrain – and the positioning of Xei’s fingers. The fact that Felin’s skin was covered in fur meant that there would likely be some differences to be exploited, which her sister was doing admirably… That same general configuration, using her fingers as a brush almost, wreaked havoc on Felin. The catgirl struggled and laughed much as they had done when she had tickled them…
Kiri examined Felin’s claws and filed them away in her mind as very potent tickling weapons. Her own nails, and Xei’s, were short, but Felin’s claws were much longer and produced a maddening scritch effect… Xei dug her fingers into Felin’s sides and Kiri nearly lost her grip from inattention, remembering to hold firmly just in time. Kiri also began to analyze Felin’s body responses, wondering if there was a cue or hint that she could use to signal herself when would be the appropriate stopping time…
Sure enough, after a few minutes more Felin’s cheeks went red and her breathing pattern changed a bit. Not enough to inhibit respiration, Kiri figured, but probably a telltale sign that continued tickling would do so. And Xei did indeed stop, sitting astride Felin’s waist and giggling girlishly. Kiri smirked. She had everything she needed now, Xei would be a much more interesting case to study while by herself and alone… Giggling madly, Kiri hopped off of the bed and dashed for the door, associating physical descriptions with visual records and appending the data on ticklishness for each one, then running them through a randomization program and choosing… hehehee. Her.
Xei giggled
at Felin, wondering where Kiri wanted to go so eagerly but not willing
to leave
Felin until she had responded in kind. And sure enough, when Xei’s eyes
were
elsewhere she felt the beginnings of claws on her sides…
Having a
new sister was going to be so much fun.
On to Castle Saga: Chakra and Magic