Mittens Has Class Ch. 22

Mittens Has Class

Chapter 22 - Cats Think Better When They're Eating

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Though Mittens never fully stopped worrying about Valli, she was able to get herself mostly distracted from her concerns by helping Master set up scenes with Chloe and Krystal. She didn't think she could clear her mind enough to be the subject of a scene herself, so it was just easier to play 'Dominant's assistant'. It helped that she quite liked playing that role, to be honest, trotting around presenting various toys and tools to her Master at his request.

She also enjoyed watching her sister submissives enjoy themselves as the subjects of the play. Chloe had a dreamy quality when she got lost in the throes of things, like she was reaching some zen place of perfect harmony and wisdom. Krystal became a quivering mess of moans, beautiful tears, and excited squeals of pleasure. It made her love both of them, each in their own ways.

Of course, Master still found ways to give Mittens the feeling of being partially played with. He had her go full cat mode at one point, where she was not allowed to say anything other than 'cat-speak' and could only act like a cat. At another point, he put her in an arm binder and made her fetch his toys with her teeth (or wherever else she could manage to use).

Currently, her wrists were strapped into a spreader bar that was secured to her collar at the middle, meaning that she had to keep her arms up in a 'W' formation. He had her knelt down in from of a spanking bench, making out with Krystal and helping her relax while prepared her to receive an anal plug. It wasn't the first time she'd had one put in, but the first time having one inserted in public, so she was a bit nervous and tense.

"You having fun?" Mittens asked her between kisses.

"Actually, I'm having a blast." Krystal said with a shaky laugh. "Still feeling a little exposed, but I think that's making it all more exciting. I'm kind of liking being pushed so far out of my comfort zone. At least, with you guys around. You make it feel safe, no matter how embarrassed I feel."

"Kinda whats Master does bestest." Mittens confirmed with a nod. "He all kinds o' comforting."

"Are you ready for it to go in?" Came Master's voice from behind Krystal's bent over form.

Krystal winced. "Not at all, but proceed anyway." She replied with a giggle.

"Not until you're relaxed enough." Master said, softly caressing the side of her bare rear. "You know well enough that this isn't something you want to have to fight in there."

Krystal chewed a lip, swallowed, and then gave Mittens an impish look. "Maybe if you... inserted something else in my ass first, to get it ready." She replied back.

"Krystal!" Mittens said in a playfully admonishing tone. "Is yous suggestin' Master butt-fuck you, wiff everybody watchin'?"

Krystal chewed even more of her lip a moment, before clarifying for Master. "Master, please 'butt-fuck' me with everyone watching." She said in a begging voice. "Please, sir?"

Master gave her a curious look. "That's quite the request. Are you sure that's what you want?" He bent over and lay himself across her back to whisper into her ear just loud enough for Mittens to hear him as well. "Or would you prefer I had Mittens don a strap on and do it? Then I can watch."

Krystal's breath became heady. "Can... can you watch with your cock in my mouth?" She asked, her face growing hot and red with arousal.

He looked to Mittens. "Would you like a little help getting strapped up?" He asked in a devious voice.

Mittens giggled greedily. "Yes please. Chloe can help me keep balanced, if you don't mind, that way you can leave the spreader bar on."

Master nodded. "Sounds like we have a plan."

They were half-way into preparations when Mittens spied August in the doorway of the room, looking hesitantly at them, as if deciding whether or not to interrupt them. While they might be currently in an informal place and not actively in scene at the moment, it was still considered bad protocol to interrupt a session. However, the look on her face made Mittens realize that it was likely something with Valli.

She got Master's attention and lead it to August. He gestured for her to come in and over to them. "Is everything okay?" He asked. "Did something happen with Valli?" He made a gesture to Chloe to release the carabineers that were holding Krystal in place on the spanking bench.

"I... I'm not sure." August reported hesitantly. "Could be nothing, but I thought you might want to know. That guy they are here with, Doyle, has just been playing with Sally and leaving Valli to only watch. He's apparently not been all that interested in Valli, which I think has annoyed her and she's obviously been getting bored. She's started wandering around talking to different people, awkwardly flirting with anyone who seems interested."

Mittens frowned deeply, feeling a bit of a jolt not from the news that Valli was now wandering around on her own, but from the fact that she'd yet to come find her and Krystal in all this time. She'd told herself that she must be caught up in whatever scene Sally's current Dom had cooked up, but this suggested that she'd actively decided not to even try to find them when that had flopped.

Of course, the fact that she was also now bouncing around the play party looking for someone to pop her cherry wasn't exactly good news either. She felt something knot up in her stomach. When she looked to Master, he had already finished unfastening Krystal from the bench and was in the process of producing the key to remove the spreader bar so she could go find her friend. She smiled gratefully at him and his constant understanding.

"Do you want all of us to help you look or just you and Krystal?" He asked, glancing towards a very supportive-looking Chloe. "She might feel smothered if it looks like we're all searching for her, while you and Krystal might just seem like you were casually checking in with your friend."

"How about me, you, and August just go hang out in the social room, we can take a seat and act like we're just catching up." Chloe offered. "Then, if we see her go by, we can signal to Mittens and Krystal."

Master nodded agreement with the idea, but looked to the now free Mittens for her comments on it. "That sounds like a good idea." She said with a nod. "We'll swing through there every so often, if we can't find her." She looked to Krystal, who was looking just as concerned as she felt. "I'm so sorry that I'm ruining things with your big debut."

Krystal waved dismissively. "It's okay. Really. Making sure Valli doesn't get herself in over her head is a lot more important." She looked to Master. "Should we try and convince her to come join us or just make sure she's okay?"

"Do what you feel is the best choice." He said without hesitation. "We'll be in the social room."

With that, Mittens and Krystal set out into the Playhouse, looking for Valli. Where Mittens had always loved how large the place was previously, all of a sudden, the vast many places where her friend could be felt overwhelming and annoying. She found herself wishing the place were a lot smaller, with only a few possible rooms that needed checked. With some luck, they would find her quickly in one of the first-floor dungeon rooms, but she was worried about the possibility of her having gone to the second floor, into one of the private spaces.

The doorless public rooms on the first floor and basement were easy enough to check in, as they could freely pop a head in and look. However, the second-floor rooms were meant to be more private and might have things going on in them that it would be rude to even just look in on, especially if the door was closed. If she was in one of those rooms, Mittens might not be able to find her until she came out of whatever room she was in. Worse yet, if she was in one of those rooms, that meant she was likely with someone who had recognized her as an easy target to take advantage of.

When they didn't spot her anywhere on the first floor, the others also having not seen her pass through their area, Mittens felt like a mass of worms were wriggling around in her stomach from the growing worry. They had spotted Sally though, currently lost in an elaborate scene in one of the rooms. The man topping her was no one Mittens knew, but she found herself automatically not liking him anyway. He was the reason Valli was now wandering around somewhere.

When the large spaces in the basement level equally turned up no sign of her, Mittens felt an edge of panic creeping into her. She felt stupid and irresponsible, angry with herself for not having been a better friend. She kept trying to remind herself that Mistress Victoria's Playhouse wasn't an especially unsafe place. That most of the people here were vetted and considered generally trustworthy in a scene. However, she knew that even people who were considered 'trustworthy' could still be opportunistic and just because someone followed community rules didn't mean that they would also always be doing what was best for the person they chose to play with.

She also knew that just because someone had been vetted, that did not always mean they were, in fact, trustworthy in any way. There had been plenty of stories of people that turned out to be much more dangerous and irresponsible than the people who vouched for them ever realized. There were always new people at every play party and that meant there was always unknowns.

As they made their way back to the social area, hoping that Master, Chloe, and August had spotted Valli, Mittens couldn't keep visions of every worst-case scenario out of her head. She kept picturing Valli stuck in a second-floor room with Clay and Alvin, the two of them doing terrible things to her, even if just to get some kind of revenge on her and Krystal. She had to keep telling herself that her friend was going to be just fine.

To her utter relief, when they entered the social area this time, she found Valli was now sitting with Master talking animatedly and laughing. Chloe and August had apparently headed off together elsewhere, probably at Master's signal. It was obvious that Valli was flirting with him, even from across the crowded room, and he was playfully flirting back, keeping her interested in staying put.

Mittens felt herself deflate and nearly break into tears to see Valli okay. "Leave it to Master Brooksend to save the day." Krystal said with a laugh, her expression showing that she mirrored Mittens' emotions exactly. "We so need to give him a really good blowjob when we get home."

That made Mittens laugh out loud, taking away the last of that squirmy feeling from her stomach. "I's in." She agreed. "Time ta chain Valli ta somefin' an' calls it foreplay." She added, this time making Krystal laugh.

"Oh! Hey guys!" Valli chirped as they came up to them. She looked a little flushed, as if having blushed so much at all the naughty things she'd been seeing that evening, her face was now stuck that way. "This place is insane!!" She leaned in close as Mittens sat down beside her. "I also lost my panties somewhere." She whispered with a laugh, unconsciously smoothing down her skirt as she said it.

"Glad you're having fun." Mittens replied with a sigh, glad that not only was Valli okay, she didn't seem to be acting at all upset. "We was actually jus'--" She started, but Valli cut her off with a quick gesture.

"Mister Brooksend already told me that you guys heard I got pretty much ditched by Sally and Doyle and that you were trying to find me." Valli said, reaching over to put a hand on Master's arm. There was a kind of awkwardness to the gesture, seeming almost a little forced on Valli's part. "I was actually in the little kitchenette over there for a while talking to some people and eating some of the chicken wings they had back there."

Mittens felt like face-palming herself. She hadn't even thought to look in the little kitchen area off to one side of the social room. It was where people brought potluck and other goodies for people to partake of and usually had a handful of people in there getting a little bite to eat. She suddenly realized that it should have been one the first places she looked. At least, she'd been somewhere pretty safe and not getting enticed to go somewhere that something bad could have happened.

"I have to say, this place is wild though." Valli gushed. "Like, crazier than I thought it would be. I mean, I guess it's also a lot more normal-seeming than I expected too. For instance, everybody's just sitting around out here talking about normal stuff wearing wildly revealing outfits." She gave a little chortle as she pointedly looked over to where a submissive named Alice was clad in nothing but body paint and a pair of shoes, but was casually talking to someone in a leather dog mask and skin-tight bodysuit.

Mittens grinned more at Valli herself, given that her own 'revealing outfit' for the play party consisted of a knee-length paisley skirt, sleeveless cut-off blouse with short sweater-vest, blue tights, and a pair of ballet flats. With her long hair tightly bound up into a pair of braided tails and her big glasses, she looked more like she had showed up for a book club than a BDSM party. The tights were even so opaque that she doubted anyone would ever be able to tell she didn't have anything on... under... them...

"How did you lose your underwear with tights on?" She asked suddenly.

Valli giggled. "Well, for one, they're actually crotchless and I was wearing the panties over them. I thought it might be more... I don't know, sexy. And I got asked to take them off by this one guy that Sally introduced me to. He was pouring on the whole 'dommy' act and was kind of cute, so I thought I'd play along, in case it got me somewhere. I made this whole show of pulling them off from beneath my skirt. I think he was expecting them to be under the tights too and that it would be harder for me to remove them." She gave a shrug and a smile.

"I didn't immediately put them back on after he walked off, just had them in my hand for a bit." She went on, shaking her head at herself. "At some point, I guess I sat them down somewhere and walked away. No telling where they are now."

"Well, you're still better covered than me." Krystal said with a chuckle. "We can help you look for them, if you want."

Valli waved dismissively. "I'm not worried about finding them. Like I said, it's kind of exciting that I'm not wearing any."

"Sorry Sally kinda fergots ya." Mittens said after a moment, her own guilt at having forgotten Valli herself flaring. "Sadly, that's kinda classic Sally."

Valli shrugged again. "It's okay. I honestly didn't think she would stick with me for long anyways. I was alright though. I've been just meeting people and hanging out on my own." She paused, her face bunching up a little in a look of concern. "Though, there has been this really intense person who I keep catching staring at me. They've kind of made me nervous."

Mittens felt her sense of alarm and protectiveness flare up. "Who? What does he look like?"

"Not a guy, a red-headed woman." Valli reported glancing around to see if she could spot her. "She's got this... I don't know, 'aura of menace' around her. Sally introduced me to her as we were walking in, but I was distracted at the time and don't remember who she said she was."

"Is she dressed like a porn lawyer?" Master asked with a mirthful look.

"You know, yeah." Valli said, as if having been trying to pin that description down for a while herself. "That's kind of exactly what she made me think of!"

All of them laughed. "That's Mistress Victoria." Krystal said, grinning broadly at her. "As in, the lady whose Playhouse this is."

Valli blinked in surprise. "Oh! Then why was she staring at me? Was I doing something wrong?"

"No." Mittens giggled. "She were jus' helpin' us keeps an eye on ya."

"Oh." Valli said softly, nodding slowly. "Was she... the only one?"

"August, obviously, since she were who tolds us about Sally an' doofus ignoring you." Krystal pointed out. "Papabear an' Butterfly said they'd help watch over ya too." She gave her a well-meaning smile, hoping this helped her friend see how much they all just wanted her to be safe.

"Wow." Valli replied a bit flatly. Mittens could see a look of disappointment and hurt coming into her features. "That's a lot of people, just to babysit me."

"Not 'babysit'." Mittens said quickly. "Just trying to help make sure you stayed safe."

"Safe." Valli echoed back hollowly, her eyes lowering and all her excited energy gone now.

"Like, just making sure some weirdo didn't take advantage of you." Krystal leaned forward, putting a hand on Valli's knee. "Convince you to do something you shouldn't."

"Something I... shouldn't?" Valli asked dubiously. "Like...? What? Get to act like an actual adult? Maybe, finally, get to do all this stuff that you guys have been doing without me?"

"Valli, it... it really isn't like that." Mittens could feel her heart rising into her throat. "Everyone just cares about you."

Valli stared at her. "None of those people hardly even know who I am. They're all people I've only met once." She made an angry-sounding sigh. "If you were so worried about me being here, why did you even invite me in the first place?"

Mittens floundered for her response, trying to make sure that whatever came out of her mouth next didn't make things worse. However, before she could reply, Krystal responded with something that she instantly knew was not the wisest response to Valli's question. Sadly, though, it was the truth.

"Mittens just didn't want you to feel like we were brushing you off. I think she spoke without--"

"You didn't actually want me here." Valli interrupted, looking at Mittens. "You just didn't want to tell me." The look of hurt in her eyes was so deep that it made Mittens want to cry.

"I... it's really not..." Mittens stammered, struggling to find the best way to defuse the growing problem.

"You know what?" Valli said breathily. "Don't worry about it. I'm just going to go watch Sally and her... whatever he is to her get their jollies and then go home. Then you don't have to worry about the little kid being around all the dirty stuff anymore." She stood up.

"Valli!" Krystal said, standing with her. "It really isn't like that. We swear!"

Valli just held her palm out towards her and walked away from them, folding into the milling people of the social room. Krystal fidgeted from one foot to the other, seeming to be trying to decide whether to go after her or not. However, Master reached out and put a hand on her arm.

"Let her go." He said to both of them. "She's only hearing what she wants to hear. Give her a little space to calm down. I think she was actually already a bit frustrated before you two even got here. Apparently, Sally's friend wasn't initially ignoring her, but she kept refusing to participate in any scenes or play he suggested. Eventually, he probably just stopped trying and Sally gave up trying to pull her in. After she left them, she was offered a few other chances to play with people, but not in the way she was wanting. I think she's not having as good of a time as she made it sound."

Krystal frowned. "Oh. Crap."

"I've really messed up this whole thing, haven't I?" Mittens asked no one in particular, feeling tears starting to well into her eyes. She'd hurt her friend, yet again. She mentally kicked herself for over-reacting so much over her worry about Valli getting into trouble or over her head. In doing so, she'd not only made her friend feel untrusted, she'd marred the evenings of everyone else too with all the drama.

"Don't punish yourself too much, my pet." Master said to her soothingly. "Valli is doing a lot of this to herself. She's so focused on her own goals that she's refusing to cooperate with anyone else to get it. Her heart is on her sleeve right now. If nothing else, it kind of shows that she's not as apt to compromise herself as you think."

Mittens wasn't really comforted by that. While it might suggest she was in less danger, it also meant that her friend was in pain. Pain that she could have helped avoid if she'd been there for her already and not let her fall by the wayside. The truth was, Mittens did unconsciously think of Valli as a 'kid sister', not as an adult. Likely, that was a large part of why she kept going wrong.

"What happened to Chloe and August?" Krystal asked, the question seeming less fueled by real curiosity than a need to change to some kind of other subject.

Master looked around, almost as if he had only just noticed they were no longer there, before looking back to Krystal with a smile. "They went to have a word with Sally and Doyle while I spoke with Valli. Make sure they even realized the girl they were supposed to be responsible for had just wandered off. After that, I think they were going to find somewhere they could sit and have a talk. Catch up a little together."

Mittens raised an eyebrow. "Sounds... dubious." She said in a faux-suspicious tone. Though she was trying to make light of it, a part of her did feel slightly anxious about that. She reminded herself again that August had been very helpful all night and that she'd once been someone that Mittens had trusted and liked.

Master returned her look, still smiling. "I think Chloe will be fine. She's proven that she knows how to deal with August. Probably better than we do. I actually gave my blessing for them to do a scene together, if they chose, but I left that up to Chloe. In the meantime, this also gives me a chance to focus more on just the two of you."

Mittens looked to Krystal a moment, before looking back to Master. "If it's okay, I think I'm going to go get a snack and some water. Let you just focus on Krystal for a little bit. I'm...." She tried to find the right words, but Master seemed to already know them.

"I understand. Take what time you need." He looked to Krystal. "Same for you, if you don't think you're in the mood."

Krystal looked to Mittens. "Do you want some time alone or would you like the company?"

Mittens stepped over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You should go with Master. Get to actually enjoy your 'play party debut', even if it's just him introducing you to more people. I kinda wants ta do some thinkin'."

Krystal returned the kiss, placing hers on Mittens' lips. "I love you, kitty cat."

"I know." Mittens replied back with a wink. "Go has tha funs!" She looked to Master. "I'll catch up when I gots ma marbles back ta-gether."

He stepped over and put his arms around her, hugging her close for a moment. "She'll be okay." He whispered into her ear. For a moment, Mittens wasn't sure which 'she' he meant: Valli, Chloe, or Krystal. She decided that she would take it to mean that all three would be fine, Master saying so making it truth.

As he and Krystal slipped into the milling party-goers, Mittens padded to the small kitchenette she'd failed to even consider looking for her friend in. Within it was a whole spread of different goodies and treats, though she didn't really feel much like actually sampling any of them. Well, maybe a brownie. And one of the adorable doughnuts decorated to look like puffy collars. There was also a dish of taco casserole that looked pretty delicious...

Three minutes later, she was sitting at the little table with a plate full of food, absently nibbling at everything while her mind whirled in circles. She kept examining every move she'd made with Valli over the last weeks, trying to really determine just how guilty she should really feel. Was Chloe right and it made sense that she'd not placed Valli's 'want' a priority over Krystal's 'need'? Or had she let her attraction to Krystal get in the way of being a good friend?

While she might not have done much so far to help Valli explore, that didn't mean she hadn't been intending to once she felt people with more pressing problems had been squared away. Her efforts to help Tiffany seemed like evidence that she hadn't stopped trying to help others besides Krystal that she thought actually needed her. In contrast, she also had spent plenty of time just hanging out with Holly, someone who she didn't think needed any sort of help from her at all. And that took her mind in a very different and troubling direction.

In the last couple weeks, they had hardly been hermits. Not only had they hung out with Holly after classes, they'd sat with Tiffany to talk, had fun with Marsha and Opal during their visits, even returned to visit Butterfly and Papabear at one point. While she could argue that all of those had been driven by circumstances and other context, it still showed that she'd really not made any actual efforts to keep Valli involved, despite having been pretty social.

She felt something knot up in her belly, deciding that Valli definitely did have a right to be mad. Even Mittens had to question whether she'd been unconsciously avoiding her friend. She didn't want to think that was the case. She liked Valli, thought she was sweet and funny. She couldn't really think of any reason why she would want to avoid her, consciously or unconsciously.

They had regularly seen Valli for lunch and at other points on campus, so it wasn't like she'd been ducking her. She could also argue that adding Valli into many of those other activities would have been more awkward than anything. And not because of Valli herself, but just due to their nature. She wouldn't have even involved Krystal with Tiffany if she hadn't been worried about leaving her by herself and adding more guests to the house for when Marsha and Opal had been coming through hadn't seemed right either. However, she'd not even considered inviting her over for much of anything else.

"That is not a face I'm used to seeing on you, pretty kitty." Came a voice that yanked her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the kind, weathered, face of Grandfather Clock looking down at her. His eyes twinkled a little as he gave her a smile. "You okay, darling?"

Mittens returned his smile and have a half-hearted nod. "Just lost in some... Actually, I think just 'just lost' is more appropriate."

Clock pulled out the chair next to her and drifted into it. Dark eyes took her in deeply, reading her the way one might read a book. Outside of the lifestyle, where he was viewed as one of the most respected and honored Dominants of the community, Doctor Martin Clock was a psychologist. And he was very good at his job, able to understand more about a person just by looking than most people could learn from hours of talking.

"What's troubling you, pussy-cat?" He said after a moment. "Maybe I can help."

Mittens reached over and took one of his large, strong, hands in her paw. "I made some new friends an' I think I may've forsaken one 'cause I wanteded ta bone tha other." She said flatly, grimacing. The bluntness of it made Clock chuckle.

"I see." He said simply. "Well, have you tried apologizing? You'd be surprised just how effective that can be. Sometimes, that's all somebody wants."

"I have." Mittens said, though she found herself rolling back her own mental recording to be sure she had at some point actually just said 'I'm sorry'. "However, part of the problem is that an apology isn't the only thing she wants. She also wants to get laid and wanted me to help her."

"So, she's jealous of the other friend getting to have a sexual relationship with you?" Clock asked, his face showing no judgements, only support.

"No." Mittens corrected, but paused a moment before adding. "Well, not in a direct sense, I guess. She didn't want to get laid with me, just wanted me to help her lose tha ol' 'v-card' with someone of the 'has a penis' variety. I gots distracteded tho..."

"With the other friend." Clock replied, making sure he was understanding.

"Yeah. That one was open ta a little 'pussy-petting'." She gave a mischievous grin. "An' ya knows how I loves ta gets petted."

Clock chuckled. "I am quite aware, yes." He turned his eyes to look at here his hand was wrapped around her paw. "Though, are you sure that's the only reason you didn't do more to help her with what she was wanting?" He asked gently, the words not sounding accusing.

"I think that's part of what has me all twisty." She answered, turning her own eyes to his big, brown hand, absently absorbing all the little details of it as her mind whirred. She noted a little scar on his ring finger that she'd never noticed before, as well as a funny little blemish in the webbing of his thumb joint. It was the hand of a man who wasn't afraid to put that hand to use. She knew he did some amateur woodworking, gardened, and did other little hobbies that had made his hands strong and nimble.

"I want to believe that she simply got lost in the shuffle, due to a lot of different things all going on at once. That she's just being impatient." She ran her fuzzy 'dew-claw' over the back of his hand. "But, while I know it wasn't anything I did or decided consciously, I made all this time for a lot of other people, had all the little kinds of sexual misadventures she wants to be a part of. She just wants to feel like she's not a kid anymore, I can understand that. Thing is, for some reason, I feel like I'm unconsciously leaving her out on purpose."

"You probably are."

Mittens' head snapped up with a look of surprise. "I... you think?"

"Oh, I'm willing say I'm certain of it." Doctor Clock said with a knowing look. "Simply because I know you and I know you are a very wise little kitty."

Mittens stared at him in utter confusion. "I think you've lost me, Sir."

"I'd say a part of you realizes that wanting to rush into sex, just because you think it will make you not feel like a child, isn't the right reasons for it." He reasoned. "I doubt you'd be so conflicted about it all if it was as easy as just setting her up with someone. Obviously, you put that distance because a part of you knows she needs work on her own motives before she really gets into all this. Sex, be it vanilla or kinky or something in-between, is never something so simple. You and yours are all very mindful about your relationships and, despite how it may appear to others, don't treat sex lightly."

He leaned a little closer, giving her paw a squeeze. "You all make it look easy to someone like her. Like sex is just something that happens without any thought or effort. I know better, because I know James and you girls. You all take great care with what you do and who you do it with, but that ain't so easy to see from the outside by someone. Sounds to me like you've been doing a lot more to protect your friend than you think."

"By hurting her feelings?" Mittens asked.

"By being careful with what you're exposing her to." He returned. "She's hurting her own feelings, darling. You obviously care a lot about her, just from the fact that all this is putting a frown on that face of yours. Maybe she don't want to hear that, but I know you well enough to know you'd be quick to help her explore anything sexual if you really believed it was safe for her to do so."

Mittens digested that a moment, really considering the words. While it did feel a little too simple, like it was just letting her off a hook that she didn't deserve to be free of, it also felt true. Wasn't that the whole point of why this night had been so stressful for her? Because she was afraid that Valli was going to get exactly what she was wanting? Because she was worried that Valli would be making a mistake if she did?

"You are the bestest, Grandfather Clock." She said to him with a growing smile. "Thank you. I think I know what I need to do."

"Then go, girl. Go!" He laughed, releasing her paw. "I'll take care of your plate for you."

She gave him a kiss on the forehead. "You're going to love that taco casserole." She said before making her exit.

With a renewed sense of purpose, she set out to find Valli again, hoping she was where she said she would be, with Sally. However, when she found Sally, not only was Valli not with her, neither was this mystery guy, Doyle. She was lingering in one of the rooms watching some other people doing a scene. Getting her attention, she made a gesture to request that they talk in the hall a moment.

Once they were where they wouldn't disturb the scene, Mittens asked where the other two had gone. She didn't much like the answer she got.

"I don't know." Sally replied nonchalantly, making an exaggerated shrug. "Valli disappeared a while ago and Doyle just left. He has work tomorrow." She looked around absently for a second, as if looking for something. "He might have found Valli and given her a ride home, I guess."

"He 'might have'?!?" Mittens asked exasperatedly. "Sally! She was your responsibility! Didn't Chloe and August talk to you two about that?"

Sally gave another shrug and laughed. "Well, yeah, kind of. I mean, they gave me this whole speech about how Valli had been wandering around, but I mean, she's kind of an adult, isn't she? If she wants to go find someone to play with, I don't see any reason I should stop her."

Mittens closed her eyes, wincing hard at her frustration and putting a paw over her face for a moment to make sure she didn't say anything out of anger. She knew it was fruitless to try and explain the whole point to Sally, as she doubted that Sally could really understand why this was such an issue. In the end, it was obvious that this very view was why Valli had chosen to officially come with her instead of them. However, it felt almost a little too much that Sally didn't even seem to care that Valli had just disappeared.

Finally, she breathed out a calming breath and opened her eyes. However, she found that Sally had already gone back into the room. Letting her go, she turned to see Chloe coming towards her up the hall, something about her manner bringing a little bit of comfort back to Mittens. "Have you seen Valli?" She asked once her sister submissive was to her.

Chloe nodded, a soothing smile on her face. "August just left with her. She said she wasn't having fun and asked if she could get a ride back home."

Mittens frowned, despite that this did still make her feel a bit better. "I was wanting to try to talk to her again." She sighed. "Try to smooth things over. Did she still seem pretty mad?"

"A little, but I think she was mostly just irritated over the whole night." Chloe replied putting a hand on Mittens' shoulder. "Just focus on the fact that Valli is okay. Master says she was already kind of annoyed, so she was over-reacting to things, so it's probably better this way. You can talk to her next week and help her understand that you were just trying to be there for her. Once she's calmed down, I'm sure she'll be more open to listening."

Mittens really hoped so. If anything, Valli had now jumped to the top of her list of people she felt she needed to help. She just needed to figure out exactly what 'help' it was that she needed Mittens to give.