"Because she's polite like that?"  Well, that or she wasn't paying attention.  But sometimes Joe likes to pretend he has tact.

The group is invited to stay the night and enjoy a goblin party! Jengis provides fireworks! Flert insists on sticking with Joe and Mittens wherever they wind up sleeping so she can tell them spooky stories and goblin lore!

FAST FORWARD!

So the group sets out to follow the river upstream. Flert warns Joe and Mittens that it will be a lengthy trek. "I know it's called Falls River, but its namesake is because of the falls upstream about 10 miles from here. So just be aware of that!"

"No worries, it won't be boring," Mittens asserts.

Dark Mittens transforms into a goblin with a striking resemblance to Flert.  "Especially with TWO Flerts on the journey!"

  Somewhere, a Sorcerer feels a kinship of others being the ranged guy hiding behind multiple short but cute people and a Mittens.

  "Eh, still a shorter trip than the one to get to this area in the first place."  The walk between campaigns is always fairly brutal.

Flert blushes. "Gee..." then gets an "oh yeah" expression and asks, "I have been meaning to ask... are you an illusion? A twin who happens to have shapeshifting powers? What exactly are you?"

Mittens points at herself.  "I am a flesh and blood person with the power to project a conjuration of myself... or whatever else."

Flert 2 points at herself.  "I am a conjuration controlled by Mittens' entirely sane mind, and totally not a projection of bits of her conscious."

Mits shrugs. "So in other words, I'm not entirely sure."

  "Mittens is a Mittens.  She has her own Keyword and everything."

  File photo of Mittens shooting bees, lasers, and deadly telekinesis.

Flert gives a helpless expression. "I'm just some girl. Nothing all that special about me. I just have a gift for hanging out with cool people."

Mits grins proudly from Joe's description.

"And for awesomeness!" Mittens adds to Flert's self-description, "And thanks for the compliment."

Flert 2 nods.  "Liked what you did in combat too.  And I like your look enough to copy it.  And the list goes on..."

  "I know almost exactly how that can feel, Flert."  Though he's perfectly fine with not knowing exactly how Flert feels.  But just to be safe he won't be putting on any unidentified belts.

In response to the comment about combat, Flert says, "Oh that? I can't take any credit for those powers whatsoever. That is simply because I'm best buddies with Gikmoth, so when I said I wanted to be useful to Gikmoth, her uncle Jengis imbued me with powers. I'm just one step above maybe being Jengis' familiar? Though thinking of myself as his familiar is kinda cool..."

She looks back at Flert 2 and gives her a hug and a cheek-rub! "Thanks for the nice words!"

She looks up at Joe. "You know how I feel? How so, exactly, if I may ask?"

"Mittens would probably be ok with being the familiar of someone if they were awesome," Mittens surmises.

Both she and Flert 2 blush from the glomp.  "I uh... You're welcome."

They're both curious about Joe's clarification as well.

  "Feeling like nobody special hanging out with cool people. Regardless of how often they say otherwise." The almost part is because Joe isn't a Girl, as far as he knows.

Flert nods. "Honestly? It's a blessing. It means that cool people keep throwing compliments at you and making you feel loved. And I guess in the end, it doesn't matter if you are special in general... only that you are special to someone you care about."

"Pff.  Nothing special," Mittens scoffs.

Hand puppet time!  One that fires arrows in slow motion Matrix style.

Flert 2 blushes some more.  "And I get to be complimented in return.  It's a vicious cycle!  Only not viscous.  A happy cycle?"

  "Well, I suppose that's one reason I haven't had much issue with the mindset."

  Supplements are good for your health!  Not just the vitamin kind. "No Mittens, the arrows slows OTHER things down." Save Ends.

Conversation continues as the group travels. Flert continues being a sweet girl in the things she says, her general mentality, and cute antics. But 10 miles is a long way to travel and after about 5 hours, the group finally arrives at the first falls! The roar of the rushing waters crashing down is heard about 10 minutes prior to arriving at the falls.

Also heard is the pretty singing voice of a woman. But by the time the group arrives, the song is stopped and there is no sign of any singer.

Mits is super disappointed that the singer's gone.

"Heeey!  Person with the beautiful voice!  I wunna hear more!"

By now the shaman pet is a dryad.  "I can do a lot of neat things, but singing that good isn't one of them.  Flying tree go!"

She flies around trying to find the shy singer.

  It's prooobably safe, because mysterious singing that's dangerous doesn't stop when you get in earshot.  "My Charisma score isn't that low. Clearly several pigtails in my proximity would make up for it."

"Flying tree?!" Flert says before bursting in laughter!

At first, Mittens' searching bears no result. But then she notices unusual stirring on the top of the falls that looks much like if the Predador was a sexy female and had cloak technology activated.

Mits laughs from Joe's pigtail math, and is oh so happy to have put a smile on Flert's face.  She points up at where her other self found a clue.  "I think there's an invis person up there."

"Dryad Mittens thinks about how to approach the cloaked person.  What's more nonthreatening looking than a flying tree?  Catpersons Mittens would argue that adorable redhead goblins named Flert would be a perfect answer, but sadly, due to predjudices, one cannot assume that the cloaked person would agree.  Perhaps a fluffy critter?"

She transforms into a fluffy critter and approaches the cloaked figure.  (( https://blazingardor.files.wor...ute-fluffy-puppy.jpg )) Though, not as small.

"Hiya!  Are you the one with the pretty voice?"

  Well, flying dogs are pretty hardcore (Feywild! 'Man, Mortal realm hunting dogs are so boring. Ours can fly! But we're totally more one with nature anyways')

  But then those are not nearly as far down the fuzzy scale on the fur to mass ratios either.  "Well, that's probably a better response than I could give."  While well meaning, promising not to shoot someone is still not a comforting sounding sentence.

A head peaks up. Looks like a female elf with water for hair. In a watery voice, she says, "Hello... thank you for the nice words on my singing... but why so insistant on finding me?"

Flert and Joe can't hear this over the roar of the waterfall. So Flert looks at Joe and says, "I hope Mittens is successful. I liked the singing too. I like to sing myself."

Mittens handpuppet pops up.  "A head peaks up. Looks like a female elf with water for hair. In a watery voice, she says, 'Hello... thank you for the nice words on my singing... but why so insistant on finding me?'"

A second handpuppet arises to represent the puppy as she relays her own response.

"Ohmygosh!" the fluffy Mits exclaims, flailing all four legs midair, "Justlookatyou!  You're beautiful!  And water for hair!  So cool!  How could I not want to meet you?  Ohright.  You're welcome.  Say.  I'm betting it's no big deal for you to come down the waterfall to where my friends are.  I'd like to introduce you.  One's the cute goblin I mentioned."

  "Well, I bet you're pretty good at it too Flert." ... He really hopes she is.

  At Muppet exposition, Joe comments "See, more people surprised at being considered cool."