Callisto nodded "I cannot say that I disagree. It does seem to be a particularly important feature and I am aware you have used it to great effect in the past, and I guess even now in the present as well"
Kat let her tail wind its way around her body before coming to caress her face. "Yeah. For some reason my tail is a… well a bit more a part of me perhaps? I was worried at the beginning when I still had to hide it under my clothes but since I got my wings and stopped worrying, I've grown very attached to my tail
"Sure, I have wings, and I can fly, and that's really cool, I'd never say otherwise. But I think if I had to go back to being human, I'd miss my tail most of all. It's done very well by me and I wouldn't trade it for the world" said Kat with enthusiasm
Callisto nodded as she made a few additional notes in her book "Interesting. I'm not sure that I would have considered your tail as the leading candidate from your changes. I know quite a few individuals that would prefer your other abilities
"Certainly Vivian at least would probably go for the easier to care for hair or perhaps the fact that even after all the work you've done you haven't started sweating"
Kat examined herself and found that Callisto was correct "Huh, well I didn't really think about the whole no sweat thing. I'm not sure if that's because I'm not hot enough right now or if it is instead because I just don't sweat anymore"
Callisto pursed her lips and scratched some notes out before rewriting "That is something I had not properly considered. The question of if you even sweat at all is one that I would be interested in testing, but of course I lack the ability to bring you to the sufficient temperature"
Kat shrugged "Vivian might remember from that one time I had that fever before I ranked up… but then I seem to have improved in most ways after I did, so maybe it doesn't matter anymore"
*Oh… oh shit.* "Callisto I've just had a thought" said Kat "Shouldn't we have waited until I reached rank 2 before doing all this testing? Not that I don't enjoy it… but won't the numbers be useless in just a day or two"
Callisto shook her head "Why would you ever reach such a conclusion Kat? We are collecting data on your rank 1 strength. I'm more than happy to test you again upon reaching rank 2, but already your physique is more than sufficiently interesting
"It gives me some things to consider certainly. I imagine ranking up will make you even less human in anatomy, if not in appearance. Of course, based on what I know from Lily and my own research it is likely you will remain human in appearance
"But appearance is not my main concern. It is everything under your skin that fascinates me… well, that isn't strictly true, your skin is a fascinating material in and off itself and I do wonder if it would maintain its properties if you were skinned
"Of course, I would never ask" said Callisto before Kat could even fully consider what was said "Vivian would probably skin me if I so much as suggested it. But based on what you have revealed about your adventures perhaps losing a chunk of skin is not out of the question
"If you would be so kind as to provide an example of such a thing in the future I would thank you greatly" Callisto managed to run through her entire thought without breathing. Upon finishing though she seemed no worse for wear, while Kat was still trying to go over the implications.
"Um…" said Kat. *Can I even do that? Should I… do my skin even last once it leaves my body? I wasn't exactly paying attention… and I'm not even sure that my blood sticks around. I mean, do I even want to be running around with random bits of skin? That's weird right? Even if it's your own skin*
"I guess I can keep an eye out… though I'm not sure I'll be in the right state of remind to think about it" said Kat being a little careful with the wording. *Wouldn't want to say I wouldn't be able to remember, because that would be a lie. Not sure if it's vague enough to trip it or not.*
"Certainly understandable. I doubt I'd be in the right mind if someone was trying to flay me. Then again, I also doubt I'd survive so perhaps I cannot truly relate to the experience. None the less, let's move on to less grisly topics. Are there any tests we can perform relating to your tail? I find myself caught unawares. I had not devised any with it in mind" said Callisto
Kat pretended to rest her head on her tail laying it flat against her chin and leaning left slightly "Well… I can't say that anything comes to mind really. It's basically a third arm in a number of ways. It's just as strong, or perhaps stronger. I can use it to pick things up, drop them, turn keys under doors
"Honestly the only thing that distinguishes it is the colour and the fact it's only like half the width of an arm. Which of course, does beg the question of how it's so strong, but I don't find myself caring"
Callisto nodded "That does make at least some degree on sense. Aw well then. I can just run you through a few more basic routines I have devised"
Kat nodded and got to work. Callisto had a few other things to test. She got Kat to lift various things of increasing weight around the area… that was until she lifted the car and proved that nothing was really out of her strength range.
Off the back of that discovery, Callisto forgo any further lifting exercises and moved onto speed and endurance. This fell apart almost immediately as Kat was able to keep a very consistent speed as she performed lap after lap of the clearing, even informing Callisto that she was below max speed because of the size of her track.
Callisto of course took all this with amazing calm and grace, as if she had intended for this outcome all along… which perhaps she did. One of the few tests they completely ignored was the log breaking. Callisto had been planning to get Kat to chop through larger and large logs.
This was vetoed by Kat once she pointed out the sound of a few tens of logs would cause Lily and Sylvie to wake up and neither of them wanted that outcome. With that test dismissed, the only thing really to test was speed and Kat had already pointed out in the endurance and consistency test that she couldn't reach her max.
This however just gave Callisto a great idea. Carefully packing up the area with assistance from Kat they loaded the boxes into the back as well as Lily and Sylvie into the car. Kat herself was now running next to said car as it drove out of the forest.
*You know. This isn't even that hard. It's not like the car can get up to full speed* Kat wanted to mention as much to Callisto but the speed of the wind as well as the car door in between them stopped any attempts
Kat amused herself by instead jumping and pulling of various poses while hanging out next to the window. The real challenge was making sure that she jumped forward fast enough instead of straight up in place.
Finally, just as they exited the forest and Kat was thinking she was going to have to start trying Callisto pulled to an abrupt stop and Kat followed. Stopping completely faster than Callisto despite starting a few moments later.
Callisto stepped out of the car "I suppose it is time for you to join us in this lowly vehicle of mine. Seems you can easily outpace it. I hope it does not inconvenience you to travel at such a slow speed"
Kat's mouth twitched. *More jokes from Callisto? I swear if the world doesn't end today it might just next week.* "You were going not a blip over 40 kilometres an hour the whole time I bet" said Kat checking her memory of the speedometer from the trip in. "How is that truly comparable"
Callisto spoke calmly "Kat. You should not be competing with a car at all. Though truthfully, I am more interested in the fact that you can stop in place at your top speed now. The blatant flaunting of several laws of physics is of much greater importance than the flaunting of an upgraded biology"
"Really? It's only that, that truly breaks physics? What about the fact I can fly at all?" said Kat
Callisto just shrugged.
