Ch 2.33:  Recovery


    <span style="font-weight:400">Everything was gone at the same time, the hostage, ina’s bag, even the ropes. Not just from sight either, but from [Restraint] too. ina always had a mental map of anything she considered a restraint around her, a way to tap in and feel the item, but even the most basic thing like rope was invisible to the sixth sense her aspect provided. Temmie was gone, no way to track her down, and in her ce was another typus cub, one obviously very angry that its prey had disappeared, and only a few feet away from Tira’s unconscious body. It turned towards the girl, screaming into the sky as it waddled towards her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hey, over here!” Flora shouted. ina turned to see the girl sprinting from the one typus she’d just rescued, sundress slowly slipping down her figure. “Like what you see you big duck-beaver?” Both straps had been snapped, and the dress had a number of gashes besides, causing the entire thing to fall, first to her waist and then her feet before she kicked out of the garment entirely.


    <span style="font-weight:400">And as the dress slipped off, as she was finally naked, the monster looming over Tira looked away, letting out a chirp-like growl before turning away from the obvious prey and going after Flora. Did typuses care about naked women? <i><span style="font-weight:400">No, Flora’s skill attracts enemies the more skin she’s showing off. </i><span style="font-weight:400">And that was enough for now, three of the monsters restrained, two upied with Flora who could hold her own at least for a little while. ina had bigger problems to worry about.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Carline, where is she? Where’d she go?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline was scanning the area, eyes filled with despair. “I— I don’t know, she’s just gone again! I can’t even feel her with [Health].”


    <span style="font-weight:400">That settled it for sure then, someone was using an aspect to mess with them, to make the girl invisible. Had they followed them the entire time, just waiting for an opportunity to try and let the girl escape?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“ina, what is happening?”


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">Temmie? </i><span style="font-weight:400">The voice hade from the direction of the tree line, was moving towards the forest as it shouted. ina couldn’t see anything there, couldn’t feel anything with [Restraint], but that had been her voice.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Temmie, where are you!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Here!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina had to act, not with strength, but with precision. Focused this time, intent on pinpointing the location, she was ready. She knew where Temmie was, knew Temmie was in her bag, knew her bag had a metal clip that kept it shut. That clip, the straps, they were all restraints, all things she could get a grip on.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She reached out with her aspect, grabbing at the space she’d heard Temmie call out from. At first it was like trying to grasp air, but then she felt herself grab hold of something, a mass of restraints that she still couldn’t feel directly, only the resistance as something else tugged against her, trying to pull them away. It was more than just the bag, probably the rope that she’d tied the hostage up with too, but that didn’t matter. ina was going to take Temmie back, and everything else with her as well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina felt the tension break all at once with a single snap, and then only a secondter felt herself flying backwards. She’d pulled them away, the invisible items she’d grabbed out of thin air, and right into her own chest. Clutching the wad of stuff that she still couldn’t see, ina tumbled to the ground, rolling over without letting go, either with her arms or [Restraint].


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Temmie, are you there!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, I am here,” the voice said,ing straight from the center of ina’s arms.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Thanks the gods…” ina said, half panting out the words. She still wasn’t done though. Making sure not to let go of the invisible bundle in her arms, she stood up, taking measure of the situation. A naked Flora was still engaged with the two unchained monsters, holding off one with her fist shoved into it’s bill, the other with a chokehold from her other arm.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Carline, I have Temmie, can you put them to sleep?” ina asked. “Like with Tira?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uhm, maybe…” The girl looked hesitant for a moment, but then she nodded her head. “Yeah, with time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Get on with it then!” Flora said, kicking at the one biting her hand. “I can’t keep my skin from breaking forever, and once I can’t that venom’s going to take me out too.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Got it!” Carline ran over, dropping Tira sword and tip toeing up behind the one Flora had pinned.


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina kept gripping her invisible bag while Carline gingerly reached out to the beaver-like tail. Another chirping growl behind her startled ina, but the three creatures she’d chained up were all still restrained. Therger ones in particr were lunging forward, doing everything they could to escape. ina actually felt bad for a second as the one she’d caught with the bear trap whined, a pained sound, but she shook her head and pushed the thought away; it was the only thing she could have done.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Temmie, are you still there?” ina whispered.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, I am.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Good… I thought you were gone.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I would not have been ‘gone.’ My main core is still at the academy regardless. Still… I was fearful myself. I am still confused as to what happened, as I cannot see out of the bag at present.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll exinter,” ina said, walking towards Carline and Flora.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Okay, that one’s down,” Carline said, letting out a heavy breath. “Can you choke the other one now? It helps me calm them down.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, sure,” Flora said, grabbing the typus by the scruff of its neck before swinging around and cing her elbow around its throat as well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You look ridiculous,” ina said. Carlineughed, but ina hadn’t meant it as a joke; it was just a fact that sort of slipped out. Still, it was true, the nude girl wrangling a giant mythical creature cub wasn’t exactly something you would see everyday.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sure I do, but you’re not one to talk,” Flora said with a smile as the typus’s eyes began to droop, “not with what you’re carrying around.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina was confused for a moment, then looked down. Her bag had reappeared, at least visually, in her arms again. She was also holding onto the rope she’d tied the hostage with, still keeping it all together, bundled up with [Restraint]. But those weren’t the only two things she had. Stuck together to the rope and bag were a number of buttons, a drawstring, and what appeared to the remnants of a ck,cy bra. ina thought back to the struggle she’d had over the restraints with the invisible thief, how hard it had been to wrench it out of the woman’s mundane grip despite ina’s immense strength with her aspect, how she had felt a very distinct <i><span style="font-weight:400">snap</i><span style="font-weight:400"> that was eerily simr to that of a bra strap breaking.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh.”