The Unplanned Late Night Separation

by I He She

Certain things start suddenly. With no warning signs of any sort, no way to prepare. That had been the case for Suzuran's relationship with Lappland. Much in the same way, certain things end abruptly. And the chance to properly say goodbye might not even present itself. Or, at times, it might be willfully denied. Suzuran, Lapplan, non-con, oneshot. Unplanned Events Final Episode.

The Unplanned Late Night Separation

Suzuran turned around in her bed, for what probably was the thirteenth time that night. And then once more, trying to find a comfortable position underneath her sheet, though one could argue there weren't a whole lot of positions she could realistically sleep in given how many tails she had. Such considerations aside, it was a fact that the little vulpo had been trying to fall sleep for quite a while, with very little to show for it in the way of results. It was a rather loud night, that one, at least for the rooms on the outer layer of the landship, those more exposed to the sounds of the storm raging outside. Suzuran's was one of those, but the weather wasn't actually the reason why she couldn't sleep. Not at all.

To put it simply, she was just restless.

The ball was planned for the next day, in the evening, and Suzuran couldn't help but be nervous. She and Ifrit had hanged out together more than once in the past, yes, but that would be their first time going anywhere together as a couple, which effectively made it their first date, and she couldn't stop herself from worrying. She had thought about it a lot after having invited her and, in hindsight, having asked Ifrit to go to the ball might not have been that great of an idea.

For starter, Ifrit just didn't seem terribly suited for such an event. She probably didn't actually know how to dance either. And she might just get bored of the whole thing too which, in the worst case, might mean she could try to set something on fire. Suzuran herself would be right there to try and stop her, sure, and Silence was tagging along too, but...

No, she just wouldn't get any sleep by constantly mulling those thoughts over in her mind. She turned around once more, looking for her alarm clock, and sighed upon seeing just how late it was. And then she got up, wondering what to do. Perhaps she could try to read something for a while? That might work, yes. Or maybe she could clean her room a bit. It didn't really need cleaning in the first place, but that didn't quite matter at the moment. Or, perhaps, she could go to the greenhouse and ask for something to help her sleep. She'd have to make sure to not stumble upon anyone though, else she might get reprimanded for being up and about so late.

Then it hit her, a memory she had rather mixed feelings about.

The night she first met Lappland.

She couldn't sleep back then either, albeith for different reasons, and, just like that night, she had decided to go to the greenhouse.

Lappland.

Suzuran hadn't managed to meet her again after their last talk at the medical ward, which meant she hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her at all. To ask her just what had happened, because they way the lupo had dismissed her back then made her think she had done something to offend her.

Her room. Suzuran had dropped by at her room more than once after that time, never finding her there. But maybe... maybe she'd have better luck that night. It's not like she had anything else to do anyway, right? And so the vulpo got dressed, left her room -the door to which she still kept locked- and headed out, making sure to not be seen, mistaking the slight hesitation in her steps for a bit of fatigue.

As luck -or the lack thereof- wanted, she managed to make her way to Lappland's room without running into anyone. And, just like that one night, something reached her nose long before her feet could reach the door. A pleasant scent, one that seemed to belong to... to food? Now that was odd. But then again, Lappland always kept a cake in her nightstand, so... still weird, but in a relatively normal way. She kept walking, closing the short distance left, and stopped in front of the door. Had she had her eyes closed, she might've thought she had somehow wandered to the kitchens. Or, at least, not to the front of someone's dormitory room. There were a few noises that confused her too, though the door dampened those enough to prevent her from getting any sort of idea about what their source might've been.

She was about to knock, but her hand stopped right short of the door.

Maybe that wasn't really a good idea.

Thinking about it, Lappland herself had told her she'd be the one reaching out to her. When taking that into consideration, weren't Suzuran's attempts at getting in touch with her the same as saying she didn't believe her?

... did she?

She couldn't help but worry. For her condition too. Suzuran hadn't really looked at Lappland's files -how much of those she could actually read with her level of clearance anyway, that she hadn't actually even considered- but she could tell. She'd noticed some signs. And she'd... well... seen her blood, that one night Specter wandered into her room.

Breath in.

Breath out.

At last, the little vulpo brought her hand up and knocked. And then she waited, for quite a while too. But nothing happened. She tried knocking again but, just like the first time, nobody came to answer the door. When the third attempt yelded no results, she began wondering if maybe Lappland just wasn't inside. It seemed a bit weird considering that she could smell food from within but, then again, weird was a word she could associate to the lupo with relative ease.

Something she immediatly apologized for, if only mentally.

She pondered the option of going back to her room, but that option got discarded surprisingly quickly as another idea popped up in her mind. She had found Lappland's door unlocked once before, so maybe it was that time too. And if it really was, she could at least leave her a note. Granted, walking in without permission seemed as unpolite as it could get, but Suzuran really wanted to understand why the lupo had sent her off that way on their last meeting. That and, well, Lappland didn't seem upset at all that other time she came back to the vulpo waiting in her room. And so she reached for the knob.

As it turned out, the door wasn't locked. She pushed it slowly, pleasant aromas reaching her nostrils with more intensity as the metal swung open. The lights were on, too, which seemed odd. The sight awaiting her, however, was even more puzzling. Or perhaps surprising would've made for a better description.

Every movable piece of furniture -which is to say, all of them- had been pushed to a corner of the room and stacked into a pile to take up as little space as possible, with the one exception being the bed which, while moved against a wall, was still placed directly on the floor, horizontally to boot. And it seemed to not have been used at all either. The only window present was partially open, which left most of the noises from the storm raging outside into the room. And a fair bit of rain too, a patch of the floor utterly drenched by the downpour.

As for Lappland, well, she was there, yes. With her back to the door and facing what was, by all accounts, a rather small but fairly respectable portable kitchen: three gas burners, a sink, a rather large countertop to work on, a few drawers, most likely a bin too hidden somewhere.

Lappland was cooking. Or rather, she was getting ready to cook. In the middle of the night, with her window open in the middle of a storm. And she was wearing headphones too, which did explain why she hadn't heard Suzuran's knocks. Deeply confused by the sight, the vulpo walked in, slowly, almost hesitantly, closing the door behind herself and approaching Lappland, one short step at a time, until her hand could reach her coat and softly tug at it.

The woman' head turned around so quickly Suzuran would've almost worried her neck might have snapped, had she not seen her eyes. She had dark circles around them, deep and rather concerning circles, but that wasn't what caused the little vulpo to freeze.

Her gaze.

There were a thousand different emotions swirling inside her gaze, and for some reason Suzuran couldn't help but feel like not a single one of them was positive. They stared at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity, and with every passing second the little girl felt herself shrinking, getting smaller and smaller. The two silvery eyes staring her down were cold, cold and distant, enough to send a shiver down from her spine all the way to the tip of her tails. They were looking at her, at her and deep within her, searching for something. And then they moved past, piercing right through Suzuran to look for something else. At some point she realized she was trembling and tried to stop herself, but she just couldn't. That look in the lupo's eyes was...

... it was scary.

Lappland moved an arm up, an arm that, as it turned out, was holding a knife. A perfectly hordinary kitchen knife. She changed her hold on the tool and then brought it down, the tip of the blade sinking slightly into a wooden chopping board with a dull sound. And then again. And again, for perhaps a dozen times, each stab more vigorous than the previous one, until she eventually left it stuck there, rolled her eyes and reached for the headphones still resting on her head. She took them off and tossed them aside, without any apparent care as to where they might land or how.

"... hey" she eventually said.

"G... g-good evening, miss Lappland"

"Fancy seeing you 'round here at this hour" she pointed out, loudly enough to make her words clear through the winds and thunders raging outside.

Cheerfulness was completely absent from her voice, and her lips were lying flat, not even an hint of a smile on her face. Her ears were low, and her tail stood perfectly still.

"I... I thought I might find you here since... that time... I-I'm sorry for having walked in without your permission... "

"Say" she interrupted "What name did you come with?"

"Pardon me?"

The lupo tapped her foot on the ground. Twice.

"Who are you here as?"

Suzuran fell silent. That question was... odd. Odd and, somehow, deeply unsettling. Another chill ran along her spine, nearly making her skin crawl. And yet she could feel herself beginning to sweat.

"I... " she began to say, but the words got stuck somewhere between her lungs and her lips.

Lappland pressed her for an answer. Not verbally, no, but her gaze felt heavy, heavy and cold and, for some reason, hostile. She leaned forward. Slightly, ever so slightly, just enough to make Suzuran feel helplessly small.

"Who are you. Here as"

"... I'm morsel, miss Lappland"

The lupo tilted her head to the side, then to the other before turning around and walking away, briefly shaking Morsel's hand off her coat as she headed to the patch of floor flooded by the storm. And there she stood, in the perfect spot to get drenched by what little of the downpour came in through the window, her back firmly turned towards the little vulpo as she scratched her head, her hand glistening.

It was only then that Morsel noticed it. Lappland had gotten herself a prosthetic hand. It looked a bit... crude, compared to Vermeil's one, but also somewhat more refined -or rather, aesthetically pleasant- than Vulcan's.

The lupo clapped her hands together without any warning, flesh and steel producing a sound not usually associated to the gesture and shaking Morsel's attention off the prosthetic. Her gaze fell back on Lappland's face as she turned around.

"Morsel!" she greeted with open arms.

She was smiling, her usual wide and unhinged smile. And she sounded cheerful too, happy even. As if the Lappland Morsel had seen not even two minutes before had been an hallucination, though something about her silvery eyes still made her feel uncomfortable. She noticed a slight twitch of her eyebrow. And her lips seemed a little too curved up, as if...

"I-it's nice to see you, miss Lappland" she replied with her usual bow, or perhaps with one deeper than usual.

"How nice of you to come see me!" she shouted as she got down on one knee and beckoned her forward "C'mere a bit, c'mere!"

In a certain sense, that wasn't the first time Lappland's attitude went through a sudden, stark change after having seen Morsel. She could clearly remember something similar happening on their second meeting. But something about what was going on that night made her want to turn around and leave, even moreso than on said other occasion. Granted, she reprimanded herself right away for even having such thoughts after having finally managed to get in touch with Lappland, but...

... a single drop of sweat trickled down her forehead as she stepped forward, walking up to the lupo with steady, perhaps short steps. And, as soon as she got within reach, Lappland closed her arms around her and pulled her in, hugging her tightly, too tightly maybe, the abruptness of the gesture getting a surprised yelp out of the little girl.

"Aaahhh, you smell as great as always, morsel!" she confirmed as she pushed her nose against her with as little subtleness as possible, ruffling her hair at the same time.

"M-miss Lappland, we're getting soaked here! Actually, you already are!"

"That's fine, that's fine! Oh, wouldn't want you to get sick though, right" she sort of agreed as she let go of her and guided her a couple of steps back towards the portable kitchen, just enough to get out of the patch of rain.

"Say, morsel, about that ball thing of ours, well... things kinda got out of control so it's more of a full-blown event now"

"Miss Specter had told me about it, yes. Oh, I don't mind that it turned out that way at all!" she hurriedly added.

"Oh, everything's fine then. Say, wanna make something? I was just 'bout to get started"

Morsel took a quick look around, but apparently Lappland had yet to pull anything out of the drawers, since there was nothing in sight that could hint at what she wanted to prepare. Well, aside from the knife and chopping board, but for some reason she wasn't even sure if those were had been pulled out for cooking in the first place. She tried to smell the air briefly, but all she could catch was Lappland's scent still in her nose. Which, to be honest, had more to do with her being much too focused on the vulpo than with her scent's actual intensity.

"Are you... baking a millefleur cake?" she tried, a not entirely uneducated guess of sort.

"I forgot that recipe" she replied bluntly.

And, for a second, that short sentence made Morsel froze. But she quickly shook herself out of that. She knew what Lappland's conditions were. She just... didn't want to think about it, though the casualness with which the lupo had said that made her think -fear- she was the only one worried about it. For some reason she couldn't even fathom.

"You do know how to make carbonara, right?"

"Carbonara? Oh, yes! I do"

"Perfect!" Lappland pretty much shouted as she walked past the vulpo to pull out ingredients and utensils with surprising haste "Let's get to it then!"

Morsel still couldn't quite shake off the feeling that something was off. That she really, truly shouldn't have been there, or rather, with her. But at the same time, Lappland seemed to have gone back to her usual self, a fact that was admittedly making her relax a bit. Some could argue that her relaxing around Lappland was in itself a problem, yes, but... well, there was nobody around to point that out. And the vulpo did agree to make something with her once, so... yeah. Why not, after all?

"I'd love to. But we really should get dried up first, miss Lappland... "

"Sure, if you insist" the lupo conceded.

She pulled out a pot, poured four bottles of water inside it and then put it to heat up on a burner before casually strolling to the bed and tossing one whole blanket to Morsel. Who ended up completely covered, the unexpected throw pushing her to the ground.

"Ehm... isn't this a bit excessive? Or rather, what about towels?" she asked once she managed to get her head out of the sheet and herself back on her feet.

"Those are all unusable right now"

"Is that so... may I ask one last thing?" she added as she somewhat begrudgingly used the blanket to dry herself up while Lappland did the same with a different sheet.

Why exactly the towels couldn't be used, Morsel dared not to ask.

"Talkative, ain't we?" the lupo nearly shouted back, plenty amused by the sound of it "Sure, go ahead!"

"Why is the window open with this weather?".

Lappland blinked. Morsel did too. Lappland's tail fluttered. All of Morsel's did the same. The lupo's ears twitched, and so did the vulpo's. She took a step to the right, then to the left, and then jumped slightly to the right again before clapping her hands. The little girl mirrored everything, not really knowing why she was doing that in the first place. But then Lappland started laughing, and Morsel figured that, every now and then, a reason probably wasn't really needed to do something. She laughed along because, thinking about it in hindsight, that little mirror game of sort seemed a bit fun after all.

"Alright, that's enough, morsel! We've got stuff to cook. You can reach the counter, right?" Lappland eventually said, leaving the previous question unanswered.

"I think I do, yes. Yes" Morsel confirmed, having checked right after having quickly folded the blanket and placed it back on the bed.

"Great! Now prepare this" the lupo instructed as she slid the chopping board -with the knife still stuck on it- her way and placed a relatively large piece of meat on it.

"Oh, guanciale" the vulpo commented as she grabbed the knife, held herself back from smelling it and started cutting it into stripes instead "I didn't know they had it on the landship"

"You won't believe how hard it was to get some, morsel" she replied -in siracusan- as she poured a spoonful and a half of salt to the water before placing a lid on the pot "All they have on here is bacon"

Lappland then pulled out a slice of a cheese wheel and grated half of it it in a soup plate and the other half in a second plate.

"Is that parmesan?" Morsel asked as she cut the guanciale from stripes into smaller, rectangular pieces, her nose having caught whiff of the aroma.

"You bet it is" Lappland chuckled back as she grabbed five eggs.

She cracked the content in a bowl, to which she added half of the cheese, a rather generous amount of pepper powder and a very tiny bit of salt, after which she started whisking it all together with a fork, occasionally taking a glance at the water pot and briefly stopping to throw a decidedly generous amount of spaghetti into it once it had started boiling, starting a timer at the same time and occasionally stirring the pasta to keep it from sticking to the pot. Morsel, in the meanwhile, had managed to find a pan and started heating the guanciale, occasionally stirring it with a wooden spoon to make sure it would get crispy around the edges rather than completely charred on a single side.

"How's it going? Oohh, that smells nice" the lupo commented as she turned around to take a generous sniff at the pot.

"I think it's ready" Morsel replied as she moved the guanciale into a cup and poured some of the fat that had melted off it from the pot into another bowl, leaving the rest in the pot.

That was one of those moments the little girl was truly glad of being a vulpo. With such a sensitive nose she could fully appreciate all those appetizing aromas without even having to try. Or rather, without making it obvious. Lappland, on the other hand, seemed to have no qualms leaning nearly into the pans and pots to take very generous sniffs at the ingredients. Morsel couldn't really blame her for that though.

The lupo checked the timer. The pasta was a bit shy of being fully cooked by then, so she took nearly half a cup of water out of the pot and moved it to the pan, where it mixed with the melted fat, before draining the pasta in a colander and then putting it back into the pot. Then she gestured towards Morsel to take over, and the vulpo poured the content of the pan inside the pot and started mixing while Lappland added the nearly-scrambled eggs, the sliced guanciale and the other half of the grated cheese. She turned the burner off rather quickly and then they both leaned in to take a better look at the content of the pot.

"Can you smell it, morsel? This is half of what Siracusa is all about" Lappland commented as she nearly drooled over into the pot, something Morsel went out of her way to not comment about.

"It sure is inviting" the vulpo agreed, on the verge of drooling herself admittedly "But... isn't this way too much for just the two of us?"

And at this hour too? she thought, though she decided to keep that question to herself.

"Don't sweat the details" the lupo replied as she filled two dishes, handed one to the vulpo and then sat on the floor with the other -only to briefly get back up to grab a couple of forks, hand one to Morsel and then sit down again- "Come on, let's eat!"

"Ehm, sure!"

She took her plate and sat down too. The floor wasn't exactly comfortable, but it also was nothing she couldn't bear with, at least for a while. Morsel... didn't really know what she might have been expecting when she had knocked on Lappland's door that night, but eating carbonara together in the middle of the night hadn't even crossed her mind, not by a long shot. Not that she really minded that turn of events. Granted, that would definitively mess up her breakfast but, well...

... the carbonara was worth it.

"So, did you clear things up with her?" the lupo asked as she ate through her dish almost ravenously, swallowing one rather excessive mouthful after the other.

"With her? Oh, yes! Actually, Ifrit and I are... w-we're dating now" Morsel replied as she worked through her dish with much more modesty, a soft twitch of the ears signaling a bit of embarassment "Your advice truly helped, I am grateful for it"

Before replying, Lappland took a moment to savor the creamy texture of the almost-but-not-quite scrambled eggs and cheese, as well as the thick and rich aroma of the guanciale, almost earthy in its flavor. A long moment. Really long. Truth be told, she took her sweet time enjoying those flavors, spending ample time smelling her meal too, and at some point something vaguely resembling a moan left her mouth, right after an especially large mouthful. Morsel found that somewhat... excessive, perhaps, though she couldn't in good faith say that she didn't understand where the lupo's reactions were coming from.

She's faking it.

The thought entered Morsel's mind quickly, equally swift and unwanted. She had... reasons to believe that Lappland's sense of taste had gone haywire, and thus she just couldn't keep herself from going back to that fear, that the lupo was simply pretending to savor the taste.

"You're welcome, morsel" the woman finally replied as she stood up to fill her dish again, seemingly unaware of the child's suddenly soured mood.

She really couldn't remember what kind of advice she'd given her, but she didn't really care. Morsel had a good memory and didn't seem prone to lying, not at all, so she could easily trust her.

For better or for worse.

"I take it you're going to the ball with her?"

She couldn't quite recall just who they were talking about either, so that question was somewhat of a shot in the dark, but she had nothing to lose from it either way. She knew Morsel was aware of her condition, even though they had never really talked about it.

"I am! Actually, I... I think I should apologize, miss Lappland. You went out of your way to organize it for us and I... "

"Ah, shush it" the lupo interrupted her with a chuckle as she sat back down, spending a couple of seconds looking at the vulpo chewing and swallowing another small mouthful of carbonara before continuing "I kind of started the whole thing but trust me, the organization was completely out of my hands. Besides, I couldn't have gone with you either way"

"Is that so? Are you... "

Morsel's words trailed off, fading into what would've been a rather uncomfortable silence had it not been for the storm. And Lappland eating rather loudly.

"... are you perhaps getting hospitalized?"

"Nah, I just won't be on the landship"

Morsel's tails fluttered.

"Miss Lappland, if I might dare to say, I truly don't believe you should go out on any kind of deployment or mission in your... current condition"

The lupo laughed in response. She laughed, but not quite as loudly as Morsel was used to hear her being. The fact itself that she was laughing, however, concerned her. Though perhaps not as much as how wildly her tail was wagging.

"That's just like you, morsel!" she chuckled "Worrying about all the wrong things! Aaww, ain't you the sweetest!"

Oddly enough, however, she didn't lean forward to pet Morsel's head. Something the little vulpo found almost concerning, in a way.

"Your health isn't a wrong thing to worry about!" she shouted back, not quite angry but decidedly upset.

"Some months ago, maybe. Don't really see the point of bothering with it now though" she replied with something strongly resembling boredom in her words, something similar but fundamentally different.

"Maybe we can... "

"Morsel" she cut her off "You're studying these things. Don't fool yourself. And don't try to fool me either. You're not even cut out of it anyway"

"... "

Lappland's gaze shifted from Morsel's downcast eyes to her even more downcast ears, and from there to her tails, all lying low on the floor. One sore sight if she'd ever seen one, that was. And yet it was also...

... pleasant.

Tsk.

"How about meatgrinder? You two getting along?" she asked as she finished her pasta, only partially interested in the topic.

"We... we are doing fine, I believe? She offered to teach me how to sing but I'm... not sure about it... "

"But of course you aren't!" the lupo chuckled with a sudden outburst of joviality, reaching forward with one hand -the biological one- to aggressively ruffle Morsel's hair.

A simple gesture that was somehow reassuring.

"M-miss Lappland, wait, I'm still -ah, the pasta, you're making me spill the pasta!"

"Wooops, now that'd be a waste!" she agreed as she pulled back, taking a long eyeful of the vulpo's flustered body language: the twitch of her ears and their slightly downcast position, the soft but constant fluttering of her tails, her fidgeting fingers, even the way her scent had changed ever so slightly, everything.

This ain't working.

"I... still don't think you should leave the landship" Morsel repeated as she still worked through her first serving.

The window had to have gotten fully blown open by the wind, because she could feel a chilly current entering the room. She brought her tails against herself in response, instinctively forming a sort of barrier to block off the wind.

Lappland, on her part, had started tapping her prosthetic fingers on the floor, producing a cold and vaguely unpleasant sound.

"Oh, that's a pretty boring topic. But I'm not going on any mission"

"Then... are you going on vacation, perhaps?"

"That's one way to put it! Permanent vacation, yes"

"Ehm... permanent? How so? It couldn't be that... miss Lappland, are you... are already at retirement age perhaps?"

The lupo nearly chocked on a mouthful of carbonara, which caused Morsel to get up in a panic and help her, or at least attempt to as Lappland kept her at bay with one hand while beating herself on the chest with the other.

"Watch your words, morsel!" she laughed as she got past the crysis "You'll off someone one of these days!"

"I-I'm terribly sorry!" the vulpo apologized with a bow.

This... just ain't working.

Footsteps reached Morsel's ears, and when she looked up she saw Lappland walking back to that same spot drenched by the storm, right next the open window. Though, unlike earlier, she stopped just short of the drenched patch of floor, only a few drops of water actually reaching her.

"Miss Lappland, that's... "

The lupo interrupted her again. Not with words, no, she did so with a laugh. But it wasn't quite the laughter Morsel had come to associate to her voice. That... sounded almost like a scream.

"Aaahhh, come on" she eventually said.

Her voice was rather low, at least relatively speaking, which made it hard for Morsel to hear her well.

"It's not going well. I'd say it's going pretty badly, if anything. And I was so close, oh so damn close. Just a few hours left. But then!" she suddenly shouted, chuckled even, turning around to look at Morsel "But here you are! Morsel, little sweet Morsel!"

"D-did I do... something wrong... ?"

"Not quite, and that's a problem!" she laughed "Because that's not how we do things at Siracusa. This isn't not how I do things!"

"Miss Lappland, I truly don't understand what... "

"I'm trying, you know. I'm tryin' real hard. And I'm not even sure why! Ain't that funny?! No, it isn't" she interrupted her once again as she walked up to her and bent forward, enough to end up face to face with the little vulpo "Repeat one thing for me, would you. Who are you?"

Morsel swallowed her saliva as a cold shiver ran through her. Lappland's gaze remined her of Specter, in a way, but there was something fundamentally different about it, something that made the lupo even more scary. And she knew exactly what that something was.

The lupo was clearly staring at her.

It was simple as that. Her eyes weren't wandering over some distant sight only she could see. They weren't looking for something that wasn't there. Nor were they lost on some old, hazy memory. No, they were firmly locked on Morsel, and the cold glint within them was clearly meant for her. Despite the cold air blowing in through the window, the little vulpo nearly started sweating again.

"Who are you?" she asked again.

Her ears were leaning forward, making the missing tip on one of them stand out even more. Her tail was stiff and raised.

And worst of all, she wasn't smiling.

"I'm... " the little girl eventually managed to reply "I'm Morsel"

"I didn't hear that"

"I'm Morsel" she repeated, more loudly.

"I didn't catch that either!"

"Mor-sel!"

"What!?"

"I said I'm Morsel, miss Lappland!" she shouted back at the top of her lungs, nearly in her face.

"That's right" the lupo replied, her words barely a whisper, nearly entirely covered by the storm's noises "That's right. Morsel. That's all you are. That's your... only name, yes?"

Morsel opened her mouth to answer, only to realize that she didn't know what she was supposed to reply to that. Or perhaps she did, but she didn't entirely like what the answer in her mind might have entailed. The silence that followed felt heavy, almost oppressively so. But it didn't last long, for better or for worse.

"... you know, I'm craving a certain thing right now" Lappland said, cheerfulness having suddenly returned to both her voice and her expression as she crouched in front of Morsel "Mind helping me with that?"

That sudden change of attitude had left the vulpo rather confused but, at the same time, seeing the lupo back to her usual self did help her relax somewhat.

"Oh, no, I woulnd't mind at all"

"How sweet" she chuckled back.

And then, without any warning whatsoever, Lappland grabbed Morsel by the armpits to pull her forward and up a bit, burying her nose in her hair and taking a long, deep sniff of her. Startled, the vulpo tried to push herself back -if only out of instinct- but to no avail.

"Say, Morsel" she said as she kept audibly taking in her scent, running her nose from one hear to the other "Does your mom smell like this too?"

"Eh? I-I don't... I don't know?"

"Aaww, and here I thought you vulpos could tell each other apart just by your scent"

"Miss Lappland, that's kinda ... "

"How about your dad?" she cut her off "Is he hot? I mean, he has to be, knowing your... forget the last part" she sort of added as she trailed her nose down, along Morsel's cheeks and against her neck, sending a warm shiver down her spine.

"Dad? No, dad's never been intolerant to the heat. Why do you ask?"

"Ah!" the lupo chuckled back as she pushed her nose even further against Morsel, inebriating herself on that alluring, nonsensical aroma "Sweet and naive! That's just like you, ain't it?"

"Did I say something funny?" she inquired as she tried to not get too agitated over... whatever it was that Lappland was doing.

"Everything about us is funny, Morsel! Everything! It's so pathetic I could just die of laughters!"

"Miss Lappland, I am afraid you've lost me there... "

"Hey"

The lupo's fingers slid down, slipping underneath Morsel's clothes. Her prosthetic hand was cold, and yet it was the other one that gave her goosebumps. Her tails fluttered as all kind of memories played back inside her mind, her ears falling lower as she found herself no longer able to pretend to not know where things were headed.

"One last time, Morsel. I'm really craving your scent right now, you know?" she said, her voice low, to the point it was hard to hear her through the storm outside despite her being as up close as possible "Really, really craving it. And it gets oh so much sweeter when I touch you" she whispered, her hands slowly pulling down Morsel's dress "Seriously, you have no idea"

"M-miss Lappland"

The little vulpo pushed her back, or rather, the lupo let herself get pushed back a bit, just enough to look at each other in the eyes.

"I... I can't. This is wrong. I can't do this to Ifrit"

Lappland smiled. It was a wide, silent, cold smile. And behind it were many things, many thoughts, many feelings, some aimed at Morsel, some at Lappland herself, and not a single one of them had positive connotations.

"You do look quite like her, you know. How did I not realize it sooner?"

"Eh?"

"Morsel. Suzuran. ... Lisa. Lisa ********"

Her smile broke as that last word -Morsel's surname- left her lips. Her whole expression cracked, it cracked and then came crashing down, only to build itself right back up within mere moments. Unconsciously, the vulpo took a step back.

"... Suzuran. Let's stop at Suzuran for now, yeah. I told you I'm trying really hard here. And bloody hell, I can't remember why. I can't!" she suddenly shouted, or perhaps chuckled "It's funny, you know?!" she continued as she grabbed Suzuran by the shoulders, her grip nearly tight enough to hurt her "I don't remember the fact itself! I know what it is, I can piece it together by what I haven't forgotten yet! But I don't remember it! Ain't that laughable?! Come on, laugh! It's funny! Oh, but the feelings?! Those are still clear, you see. All of them"

"M-miss Lappland, you're... you're scaring me"

Suzuran tried to take another step back, but the lupo wouldn't let her move.

"This is our last meeting, so be a good girl and let me have something to remember you by, alright?"

"Why would this be our last meeting? Are you... "

"Come on now!" she laughed, almost hysterically "You really want to keep hanging around with me?! Forget the nun, you're the one messed up in the head! Ah, but that's just so lovely! Don't change, don't you ever change! Besides... "

She let go of her with one hand and brought her wrist to her mouth.

And then she bit herself. Hard. Her fangs tore through her skin and sank into her flesh, her jaw closing as she then ripped a small piece off her own arm and spat it on the ground. Suzuran was about to speak up when Lappland placed her bleeding wound right in front of her.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

There were tiny, black grains mixed with her blood. Small, but in high enough numbers to change its overall color into a worringly dark shade of red. Judging by how little blood was dripping on the floor, they also obstructed its flow to a concerning degree, to the point Morsel wondered just how exactly Lappland could still... function.

"You're... "

"Terminal. But you knew that already, didn't you? You're naive, but not stupid. Oh, don't worry, you won't have to dispose of me. I told you I'm leaving, right? Handed in my resignation and all that. I'll be pretty far by the time I blow up"

"Why are you so... why do you sound so... indifferent?"

"Why wouldn't I? I mean, life's pretty fun, but I've had my ride already. Not much left for me to hang on to either. Oh, I tried to get her back, I really did, but she's so stubborn. I guess that's the one thing about her that didn't change though. But we're disgressing!" she said as she suddenly jumped to her feet, lifting Suzuran off the floor as she did so.

"M-miss Lapp- "

"It's just Lappland" she interrupted her for the umpteenth time that night "Say. You really don't want to? Oh, right. You said you got together with that other girl"

"With Ifrit, yes"

"You like it when I touch you, right? I'm pretty sure I asked you once and you said you do"

"T-that was a... i... it's true, yes, but... " she stammered for an answer, her cheeks quickly turning red.

"Then let's play a game!"

"... a game?" she asked back, blindsided by that sudden proposal.

"A game, yes. I get, let's see... three minutes! No, let's make that five, you like it gentle. Five minutes to get you off. If you can hold on then that's that, otherwise I get another five minutes"

"To get me off... off what?" Suzuran asked, deeply confused.

"... oh, come on, you're making me look stupid here"

"A-am I? I'm sorry, I had no intention to"

"What I meant with that is giving you an orgasm"

The vulpo's face turned even redder, a sudden and almost violent jolt coursing through her tails.

"W-wa... wawawa... L-Lappland, I said we can't"

"It's just a game" she chuckled back.

And as she spoke those words something in the lupo's expression changed again. A cold glint, behind which lurked something warm, warm and unsettling, perhaps even hostile. But, somehow, Suzuran couldn't help but feel like that animosity wasn't quite aimed at her.

"You don't even have to do anything so, really, it doesn't even count as cheating if that's what concerns you"

"It... doesn't?" she asked back, ever so slightly relieved but mostly doubtful.

"Of course it doesn't, Suzuran!" Lappland laughed as she put her back down before strolling towards the portable kitchen "I mean, kinda. Eh, guess it's just practice at worst"

"That... still sounds somewhat bad"

"You worry way too much for someone your age, you know" the lupo replied, seemingly amused, as she walked back to her with a kitchen timer in hand.

For a brief moment, the vulpo wondered why she hadn't used that while cooking the pasta.

"I've been told that more than once, actually" she commented, slightly bothered by that fact.

"I had no doubts, you know. But anyway!" she shouted as she suddenly grabbed Suzuran and literally dragged her off to the bed, throwing her on it with a certain degree of gentleness "Five minutes it is!" she declared with a soft laugh as she started the timer, got on her knees and pulled the vulpo right on the edge of the mattress.

The following second stretched quite a bit, at least inside Suzuran's mind, and for three simple reasons. One was the cold feeling of Lappland's prosthetic fingers on her skin. Another was the missing tip of one of her ears. And the last one were the still visible furrows in her flesh. Deep down, the vulpo still considered all those wounds as being her fault, since the only reason Lappland had confronted Specter back then was to save Suzuran. She couldn't help but feel indebted, and so... maybe her requests weren't something she had any actual right to turn down? After all, compared to what Lappland had gone through to help her that night, what she was demanding at the present moment could be described as ultimately inconsequential. Or so Suzuran reasoned, at least.

Warm fingertips sliding along her legs brought her focus back from her thoughts to her body. Her gaze met Lappland's and the lupo blinked, twice, as if something had just ended up in her eye. Then she apparently got a change of heart about how to approach the situation, since she moved on top of the bed -and Suzuran-, pushing her down, one hand sliding beneath the vulpo's back while the other moved over her leg, pushing against her pantyhose as it got closer and closer to her privates.

Something's kinda off... oh, come on, she's still hung on that?

Lappland pushed her nose against Suzuran's chest, pulling her dress down with her teeth and beginning to lick her bare skin, from her still flat breasts to the shoulder, and from there following the collarbone to her neck, against which she snuzzled her nose. The vulpo felt a bit cold, probably due to the still open window, and yet there were a few droplets of sweat forming on her skin, a soft yelp leaving her lips whenever Lappland kissed her, sucked her, or even playfully rested her fangs on her, her prosthetic hand firmly holding the child's back and pulling her up against the lupo.

Then, having just remembered that she was on a timer, the lupo put her other hand to work too, her probing fingers moving underneath Suzuran's large skirt, reaching past her hips to slide inside her pantyhose, two digits beginning to massage her entrance over her panties, occasionally pushing softly against her clit. Had she not pushed both hands against her mouth, Suzuran would've probably let out quite a few lovely noises.

The storm outside kept growing fiercer, thunders weakly echoing inside the room, the puddle on the floor growing larger and larger. And amidst all that noise, Lappland caught herself wondering if she wouldn't have liked it better had Suzuran...

In check. In check, in check. Don't lose it she repeated two, perhaps even three times in her mind, burying her nose even further against the vulpo's skin to relish in her nonsensically alluring scent, the sweet aroma both familiar and foreign filling her nostrils.

"How are you feeling, Suzuran?" she asked, her words louder than usual to get past the commotion coming in from the window.

And, just as the little vulpo opened her mouth to speak, Lappland slid her panties aside and pushed a single finger inside her not entirely dry entrance, earning an yelp equally loud and surprised from Suzuran.

"N-not so suddenly, Lappland!"

"Not so suddenly what?" she chuckled back as she probed her insides with her index, very much enjoying the way that caused the vulpo to squirm around underneath her, her little hands holding on to Lappland without pushing her away nor pulling her in.

"P... p-putt-aaahhh... "

Truth be told, the lupo couldn't quite recall where Suzuran was most sensitive. But she did remember her reactions which, combined with how easy to read she was, made her able to relocate her sweet spots pretty much right away, a sudden jolt of the little girl's hips telling her that she had indeed pushed the right button. Suzuran brought both hands to her mouth again, conflicted on how to approach the situation. Should she just go along with it and... enjoy Lappland's touch? That would've been unfair to Ifrit, now that they were properly dating. But, at the same time, not doing so wouldn't have been right towards Lappland, to whom Suzuran felt profoundly indebted.

The lupo's thumb firmly pushing down on her clit snapped her back out of her thoughts. A sound halfway between a moan and a yelp managed to make its way past her palms, met by an heartfelt chuckle as another jolt shook her body, the lupo's audible sniffs against her skin echoing in her ears, somehow louder than the storm outside, each giving her warm goosebumps.

Pushing a second finger inside, Lappland tapped Suzuran's inner walls rhythmically, each touch making her hips quiver, her limbs tremble, her tails flutter around them. And she trailed her nose up as she relished in her reactions, lapping up her sweat as she pushed her nostrils against her neck, over her hands, her cheek, her forehead and then up to her hair, ending up snuzzling on the fur of her large, twitching ears.

"You're rather calm this time around, Suzuran. Got enough practice in, I take it?" she asked, equally curious and amused.

Though there was something in her voice that put the vulpo off. Something faint and vague, unpleasant, and which she somehow felt was aimed at... them both. Or perhaps she was merely mistaking her own uneasiness for something else entirely, uneasiness that, surprisingly enough, came from nothing more than being called simply Suzuran at a time like that. That's not how Lappland usually addressed her during those moments

"Quieter too, uh" Lappland mused as she casted a quick glance at the kitchen timer to see how long she had left.

Not much, but definitively enough. So she slowed down her fingers, softly running her mechanical index over her spine as she did so, sending a soft shiver all the way to the tip of Suzuran's tails, which kept waving around almost wildly, as if to make up for her lack of speech.

Though, as far as vocalizations went, she really wasn't being all that silent. It was a bit hard to tell through the storm though.

"Ah!" she yelped as she suddenly felt the lupo's fang pinching one of her ears, holding it still as the other one twitched with twice as much vigor.

Lappland probably said something but, since she did so while softly nibbling the little girl's ear, Suzuran failed to catch any of that. Rather than asking her to repeat whatever it was that she had said, however, she clenched her fingers around Lappland with more strength as the pleasure kept building up, quicker than she was used to from the lupo but still relatively tenderly, her hips arching up and down in tandem with her evershifting emotions and thoughts, a soft haze falling over her mind only to dissipate when the heat surged from her privates to the rest of her body. She pushed her palms against her mouth, her teeth pushing against her own skin and nearly tearing it in an attempt to silence herself, an arguably pointless endeavor all things considered. Unless one were to consider almost injuring herself an achievement, that is.

Lappland's finger didn't stop immediatly, but their motions slowed down at pretty much the same pace as Suzuran's orgasm abated, gently guiding her down her climax while prolonging it at the same time, her face pretty much buried in the vulpo's hair and ear.

"Breath" she managed to say through the fur of Suzuran's ear "In and out. Steady, like that. You made such progress while I wasn't around, uh? Now ain't that something" she chuckled as she pulled herself back, just enough for their eyes to meet.

"L-Lappland, I... "

"I'm pretty sure you lost, you know?" she finished her sentence for her.

And right before Suzuran could ask her what that meant, the kitchen timer began ringing, reminding her of the game the lupo had basically dragged her into. Her gaze darted to the still ringing timer, buzzing on the sheets not too far from them, before moving back to Lappland, who had a wide smile on her face.

Though perhaps one not quite as wide as Suzuran would've expected.

"That" she chuckled as she reached for the timer "Means I get another five minutes, Suzuran. Hold this for me, would'yah?" she asked, tossing the makeshift clock to her.

"W-wait, Lappland! I just... n-not right away!" she tried to reason as she managed to catch the timer mid-flight.

"Don't worry, don't worry, little Suzuran. I've done this before, haven't I?" she half-shouted, half-laughed as she got on her knees on the floor, pulling the vulpo towards the edge of the bed at the same time, enough for her legs to dangle off it "Rather, we've done this before!"

And then she cut off the vulpo's reply before it could even leave her lips by pushing her head underneath her skirt and her mouth over her privates, giving the wet patch of fabric a vigorous lick which caused Suzuran to vocalize in a way entirely different from the one she had intended to.

"Did you set the timer?" she asked before running her tongue over her again, slowly enough to fully savor her scent, perhaps even drown in it.

"I-I haven't yet! So could you wait a little bit? Please?" she answered, or perhaps pleaded.

She tried to look at Lappland as she said that, but all she could see were the bulges of her head and ears poking out from under her own skirt, which did very little in the way of calming her down. Quite the opposite, if anything.

"Oh, overtime. That's plenty generous of you"

"That's not what I me-!"

Suzuran pretty much slapped her own mouth shut to keep her voice in as the lupo ran her tongue over her again, pushing with enough strength to make her feel it despite the two layers of fabric, a jolt running up her spine and down her tails as Lappland closed her mouth right over her clit and started sucking. That, however, didn't last long as the lupo suddenly resurfaced from underneath the skirt.

"How's it going, Suzuran? Excessive sweating? Risk of hyperventilation? Heartrate? Butterflies in the stomach? Oh, the lubrications's pretty great, that one I can vouch for"

Somehow, those last words managed to make Suzuran blush even more, especially because there were some of her... fluids on Lappland's mouth, fluids the lupo lapped up with a finger and brought to her nose.

"I, uhm... l-let me see... sweating is within expectations... breathing is... a-a bit too heavy probably... heartrate is lower than I had feared... uhh... but why would I have butterflies in my stomach?" she asked, partially because she truly didn't know what that expression meant and partially to get a break, short as it surely would've been, from that.

From... her.

"That's what you say when you really like something. I think?" the lupo sort of explained "For example, I get a whole swarm of them whenever I do this with you" the said as she leaned forward and pushed her face against Suzuran's neck again, taking a long and deep sniff at her.

Suzuran caught a glimpe of the lupo's tail waving wildly as she did so, which caused highly conflicting emotions to surge within her.

"L-Lappland, that's embarassing" she nearly protested, weakly pushing the lupo back.

"Sure then!" she agreed as she swiftly -too swiftly- pulled away.

And, just as the vulpo had guessed -if only subconsciously-, Lappland went right back on her knees and grabbed Suzuran's ankles to pull her a bit further towards herself.

"Alright, Suzuran, round two! Make sure to start the timer!" she chuckled as she dove back underneath the skirt for a second time.

She yelped in response to the lupo's mouth reaching her wet privates once more, her fingers fiddling around with the timer, and by that point the fact that she truly set it to five minutes could probably be described as concerning. Now that she no longer had to hold on to it, however, she simply let it fall on the sheets -much like she did with her own body- and used both hands to cover her mouth.

Or so she tried, at least, since Lappland's arms suddenly reached for her wrists and brought them down around her waist, further pulling her towards herself and preventing her from forcibly keeping quiet at the same time.

"Be as loud as you want, Suzuran!" she laughed as she pretty much buried her face in the vulpo's soaked underwear "The place's kinda soundproof. And there's a storm too, nobody's gonna hear you!"

"But I don't w-aaahhh-nt to be loud!" she complained as she meaninglessly tried to pull her hands back up.

"Well, that's unfortunate"

Despite that last remark, however, Lappland didn't let go of her. Rather, Suzuran felt something sharp against her skin, followed by the sound of something tearing and, right after, an hint of cold breeze against her privates.

"L-Lappland?!"

"Sorry 'bout your clothes" the lupo said as she spat out the bits of panties and pantyhose she had literally bitten off to bare the vulpo's dripping entrance.

And then she dove right in, Suzuran's hips jolting as Lappland pushed her tongue inside her and began moving it around. Having reconfirmed earlier just where the vulpo was more sensitive, she made sure to stay right on the edges of those spots to avoid overwhelming her right away, especially due to her sensitivity still being heightened by her recent orgasm.

As for Suzuran, she found herself conflicted on wether to bite her lips or not, though getting a good grip on why exactly both options seemed right became increasingly difficult as Lappland kept forcing her focus between her own legs. And so she ended up forgetting about it, her voice leaking out in response to every stroke, to every push, to every suck, pleasure building up at just the perfect pace, slowly enough to gently bring her higher and higher without overloading her brain, or perhaps her heart.

It took her a few moments to notice that Lappland had brought her wrists together, shifting her grip so that she could hold them both with just one hand. She pulled her tongue out to replace it with two fingers -her actual fingers- so that she could use her mouth to focus entirely on Suzuran's clit, gently poking it with her tongue while her index and middle softly scratched her from within, heat beginning to spread from her nether regions as her climax grew closer and closer.

And Lappland kept sniffing her the whole time, laughing at her own faint hope that maybe that nonsensically alluring aroma of hers could make her forget the one thing she didn't quite want to remember.

Her ears twitched when Suzuran's moans grew in intensity, and she felt the vulpo's soft muscles tensing up as her legs closed around Lappland's head, perhaps to hold her close, perhaps in some sort of attempt at pushing her way. Whichever the case might've been, the lupo briefly stopped stimulating her as she reached her climax, pleasure spreading to the tip of each finger and tail and ear, her body freezing for a single, long moment. Then, just as her muscles began to loosen up again and her breathing resumed, Lappland started touching her again, softly, to gently guide her down her high while lapping up her sweat and burying her nose against her skin. By that point Suzuran's scent had gotten deeply engraved in her nostrils, and yet she still craved more of it.

But, at least for the time being, she decided to poke her head out again.

"Did you like that, mo-Suzuran?" she asked, as amused as she could sound and, maybe, also be.

The little vulpo didn't reply immediatly, busy as she was simply catching her breath, and so Lappland simply grabbed one of her tails and pulled it against her face, smelling it and enjoying the soft, cool feeling of her fur while gazing at her small chest moving up and down with every breath, at her sweat-covered skin glistening under the light, at the occasional twitch of her ears.

Lappland wondered if she herself was smiling or not. She truly couldn't tell. She should probably try to crack one out, that might help Suzuran relax a bit.

... did she really want her to, though?

Aahh, hell, forget that. Forget all of that. She was getting good at forgetting, after all. Uh, that one was terrible, so much so she just had to let a dry laugh out to mock herself for it.

"You ok?" she asked as she silenced the kitchen timer.

"I-I... I am a bit... tired... " she managed to reply, still lying flat on the bed, both legs hanging off it.

"That so"

Lappland then stepped out of Suzuran's field of view for a minute or so, her steps briefly growing more distant only to come right back, and soon after the lupo offered her a bottle of water.

"Drink up, gotta stay hydrated at times like these"

Suzuran looked up at her and, much to her surprise, found a rather neutral expression on her face. That fact was... not quite unsettling, no, but it sort of made her feel uneasy.

"Thank you" she accepted, more hesitantly than she herself realized, as she pulled herself up in a sitting position and grabbed the bottle.

"Anytime, Suzuran" Lappland replied as she sat right next to her, two glasses in her hands.

After a few moments, the vulpo realized what that meant and poured them both something to drink. She realized how thirsty she was after the first gulp, which caused the bottle to run dry rather quickly. Lappland, on her part, hadn't drunk much at all.

"So" she asked as she leaned sideways over Suzuran, their ears meeting and twitching "A bit better?"

"I think I am, yes. ... miss Lappland, may I ask you something?"

"Go ahead" she replied as she closed her arm around Suzuran's side to pull her closer, her nose buried in the vulpo's hair.

Something the little child had gotten somewhat used to, by then.

"If you check in in the intensive care wards, maybe... "

"Alright!" Lappland shouted as she jumped to her feet, so suddenly she nearly made Suzuran jump too "That's enough for a break! I won again, that means another five minutes!" she chuckled as she tossed the bottle and both glasses off the bed and the timer to the vulpo.

Truth be told, that laugh of hers didn't sound amused, not in the slightest. But there and then Suzuran had something else to worry about.

"W-wait, Lappland!" she called out, without even realizing that she hadn't called her "miss".

"No can do, Suzuran!" the lupo laughed as she took off Suzuran's skirt with a rather surprising display of manual dexterity.

"But I-waaahh!"

Lappland turned the little vulpo upside down with relatively little effort and around as much tact before leaning down right above her, resting enough of her weight on the vulpo to keep her pinned down but not enough to actually hurt her or give her any trouble breathing.

"You know the rules, Suzuran" she chuckled, her face pretty much buried against one of her large, twitching ears "Five minutes!"

"Wai -!"

More instinctively than consciously, Suzuran bit the sheets to keep herself from vocalizing too loudly as Lappland's fingers resumed probing her drenched privates. Her touch was soft and gentle, tender even, but the vulpo was still sensitive from her two previous orgasms and every stroke sent shivers and jolts through her body. The lupo took a long, deep sniff at her before pushing two of her mechanical fingers inside her mouth, parting her lips and reaching for her tongue.

Kinda a shame she thought, the prosthetic -one of that quality, at least- being unable to fully imitate the tactile feeling her real fingers would give her.

On the brighter side, her index and middle forced Suzuran to vocalize more loudly as she could no longer close her mouth, her hands firmly grasping the sheets beneath them as she quivered against Lappland's, each jolt of her hips building up heat deep within her, sending pleasure through her body and deeply conflicting emotions through her mind.

"Remember the timer, Suzuran" the lupo chuckled pretty much directly into her ear, which twitched in response.

The vulpo tried to reply but, between the fingers gently and yet relentlessly working between her legs and those pushed inside her mouth and softly playing with her tongue, she failed to properly let out any comprehensible word. Her tails started waving with more and more intensity around Lappland, who pushed a third finger inside her in response, her middle reaching slightly deeper and pushing with decision against an especially sensitive spot. The moan that escaped Suzuran would've made her blush profusely, had her cheeks not been as red as they could possibly get already.

"How about your rate?" the woman inquired, moving her hand from her jaw down to her chest, underneath her clothes "Mmhh, mighty fine I'd say, at least considering your previous performances"

"P-please, st -aaahhh- stop, Lappland! It's t-too -ah!"

A soft bite on her ear cut off her words, sending a different kind of jolt along her, giving her goosebumps and mixing with the gentle shocks coming from her nether regions, somehow making them grow stronger in intensity. Feeling her insides beginning to contract with more strength against her fingers, Lappland sped up her motions ever so slightly and pulled Suzuran up against herself, the feeling of the lupo's breasts against her back making the vulpo grow even more flustered. A familiar feeling creeped in, closer and closer, and Suzuran once again bit the sheets with all the strength she could muster to keep herself from moaning, her body tensing up as her tails instinctively curled up around Lappland. Having suddenly found herself surrounded by that oh so addicting scent, the lupo accidentally put a little too much force in her jaw, enough for her fangs to puncture Suzuran's ears. That could hardly be called a wound but, given how easily the ears of a vulpo -or a lupo or feline too, for that matter- bled, more than a few drops of blood trailed down her ear and ended up on either her hair or the sheets.

The jolt of pain that came with the bite held back Suzuran's orgasm to a degree but, rather than preventing it, it merely delayed it by a few seconds as Lappland continued to hold and caress her, gently guiding her over the edge and then tenderly leading her down her high, the lupo's ears standing tall to fully catch each and every of the vulpo's heavy, ragged breaths. A surprised yelp -or perhaps a moan- left her lips when Lappland suddenly pulled her fingers out of her.

"How much time was left?" she asked as she licked Suzuran's fluids off her hand.

"I... I didn't... start... it... " she managed to reply while trying to catch her breath, her eyes drifting to the timer lying on the bed, well within her reach.

"That's not really thoughtful of you, ya' know" she chuckled back "Make sure to do it this time"

"What do you -n-no, wait, Lappla- !"

Suzuran nearly instinctively pushed her face back down against the sheets when she felt the lupo's fingers enter her again, the penetration made swift and smooth by just how wet she'd gotten by that point, every soft bump of the lupo's thumb against her clit or of her index and middle against her sensitive insides causing her whole body to jolt and tremble and sweat, her reactions growing even more intense when Lappland's other hand started to play with her nipples. Her touch was arguably softer than before but, given just how sensitive Suzuran was by that point, the stimulations felt even stronger, to the point it was becoming a bit uncomfortable. Thinking straigth was getting harder and harder, but the little vulpo somehow managed to reach for the kitchen timer and, after fumbling around with it almost blindly, set it.

To five minutes, yes. Had Lappland not been busy nibbling on her ear and smelling her as much as she could, she would've definitively bursted out laughing at that.

Suzuran reached her fourth orgasm quickly, but it took longer for her muscles to relax as the pleasure reverberated with more intensity within her, rebounding from the tip of her tails all the way to her fingertips and then back again, every hair on her body standing at attention, her lungs having seemingly ceased all functions for what seemed like an eternity. She didn't even have time to catch her breath before Lappland suddenly let go of her ear and got off her, just for the brief moment she needed to turn Suzuran back around and reposition herself so that they were lying face to face.

She saw her own blood dripping down the lupo's chin, her lips curled into a smile that, for some reason, made her seem as conflicted about that whole situation as Suzuran herself was. The sight unsettled her, her frail arms reaching forward in a feeble attempt at pushing her away, with the only result of spurring her to lie even closer to her, their bodies sinking together in the sheets. The lupo's scent filled her nostrils, forming in her mind a storm of thoughts and emotions so deeply intertwined Suzuran herself couldn't even begin to make sense of any of them. And mixed with that was the ferrous aroma of blood, of her own blood, a slight but acute and lasting pain coming from her pierced ear, a few drops still falling from it.

Suzuran opened her mouth to say something, but she simply didn't have enough air in her lungs to do so, still panting heavily. Nor did she have the time, as Lappland suddenly dived in, her lips crashing against the vulpo's, her tongue reaching forward as her probing fingers forced another stifled gasp from Suzuran, her overloaded nerves beginning to mistake what should've been pleasure as something else, something much less desiderable.

Knowing that she didn't want to kiss Lappland but not quite recalling why exactly, her mind clouded by the excessive stimulation, Suzuran tried to push the lupo away with what little strength she could muster, to no avail, and Lappland simply continued to savour her, to feel her skin and flesh, to lick her lips and tongue, to lap up her sweat and saliva, and most of all to take in her scent, that wretched aroma that she would oh so love to take to the grave with her.

But then Suzuran noticed something. A new feeling inside her mouth, warm and flowing. And even before that another scent reached her nose, one extremely similar to that of blood but different, ever so slightly different. And then it hit her, right before seeing it with her own eyes. Which, as chance wanted, happened right after.

Lappland pulled her face back, interrupting their one-sided kiss while still stirring up the vulpo's privates, each touch sending pleasure and a slight bit of pain through Suzuran's body as they stared at each other.

"L-Laaaahh! Lappland, you're... "

"What? Tell me, tell me!" she chuckled in response, just barely holding herself back from pushing her face against the vulpo again.

There was concern on Suzuran's face. She was so bad at hiding her feelings, Lappland would have noticed that even if she didn't want to. But that sight put her at ease, in a way. Maybe a bit of common sense was finally blooming in her lovely little head. The lupo, however, had regrettably misunderstood the real reason behind such an expression.

As for the little girl, she failed to respond immediatly, her breathing too ragged and irregular, her concentration too shattered, but she still managed to collect herself enough to speak before the lupo could decide to simply crash their lips together once more and hear her out later.

"You're bleeding!" she shouted, tears streaming down her eyes.

"... ah?"

For a few seconds, everything came to an halt. Everything stopped. Had it not been for the storm outside, it would've seemed as if time had frozen still.

Lappland blinked. Once. And then twice. She brought her real hand up to her face, running it over her mouth and beneath one of her eyes before pulling it back and staring at it. And, just as Suzuran had said, there was blood on it, dark red blood dotted black.

"... ah" she chuckled.

That was new. She had always felt such stuff coming but, apparently, now she could just start bleeding without even noticing. It was funny, really. And kinda pathetic, if she had to say so.

Her eyes went wide as something ran up her windpipe. Her hands darted to her mouth just in time to catch most of the blood she coughed up, only a little of it falling on Suzuran's face as she looked on, frozen. Lappland then backed away, almost literally throwing herself off the bed and onto the floor, one hand still on her mouth as she supported herself with the other arm.

Suzuran got up and looked on, but she didn't really know what to do. She jumped off the bed and hurried to her side, to which Lappland reacted by holding her hand up to stop her. But that attempt was cut short by a violent cough, saliva and bile and blood and black grains and what she hadn't yet digested of the carbonara splattering on the floor beneath her. A second cough followed, then a third, and after that several more, each more violent than the previous one, to the point it looked like the lupo was about to throw up her very organs. Suzuran tried to figure out where the problem was, she focused on where Lappland held herself to guess which organs were being compressed by internal growth of originum -assuming the problem was that and not something even more dangerous such as a rupture, which by the look of things could've very easily been the case-, but without any real information -and without any medicine nor equipment on hand- there was nothing she could do for her.

No, maybe there was something. But Lappland pushed her away just as she approached her, and why exactly, Suzuran couldn't tell.

Her coughs abated, eventually, replaced by a faint, weak laugh. Truthfully, it was so fleeble Suzuran couldn't even hear it over the storm, but the way her lips moved as she backed away from the pool left on the floor and sat down suggested she was laughing. There was still a little stream of blood flowing out of one of her eyes, but she didn't seem to mind. Or even notice, maybe.

"Aaawww, I made a mess, didn't I?" she chuckled, whiping her chin clean with her sleeve as she stared at everything she had thrown up "Such a waste, that was some fine pasta there"

"Miss Lappland, I... you... I-I'll contact the medical... "

"Don't you dare" Lappland interrupted her, swiftly grabbing her wrist and pulling her back down on the floor "You have no idea how many papers I had to go through to hand in my resignation and terminate the treatment, I ain't gonna crawl back there after all that"

"But your health... "

"My health's dead, Suzuran, and I'd say it's better off without me too. Oh, don't worry, I'll reach it soon enough so it won't get lonely either way" she joked, though by the look of it whatever humor her words might have contained was completely lost on the vulpo.

"... please... don't say that"

"I'm infected. I knew I'd end up like this. You knew too. Aahh, the aftertaste sucks. I think I coughed out a couple of teeth, do you see them anywhere? Anyway, I was saying? Ah, right. This is normal. You're studying this stuff, ain't you?"

"I... "

Her gaze dropped to the ground, at a loss for words. She was trembling. And so Lappland took off her coat and threw it around her. She had taken her skirt off after all, and the air coming in from the window definitively wasn't warm. She knew that wasn't actually why she was trembling, but she choose to not care. Suzuran looked back up at her. It was clear that she wanted to hand the coat back, most likely because she feared Lappland herself might get cold without it, but she said nothing.

"... ********"

That startled Suzuran. She wasn't used to hearing her surname on Rhodes Island. Actually, there were probably less than ten people in total who even knew her surname on the landship. Lappland had called her like that once before, yes, and thinking back about it maybe Suzuran shouldn't have told it to the woman -if nothing else, because she'd been... recommended to keep it to herself- but the situation was entirely different.

"Lisa ********" she said again.

"That's... me, miss Lappland" she replied, uncertainty filling her every word.

In response, the lupo sighed and bent her neck to the side. Though it looked more like she no longer had the strength to hold her head up. She stared at the little vulpo intently, coldly, and then at something far beyond her before rolling both her eyes and head back, her face displaying something that Suzuran could only see as sheer disappointment.

"... Lisa. *****'s daughter, uh?"

She nodded, silently. And Lappland sighed.

"I was close. I was so close to just... I don't know. I don't know anymore, Lisa, and I can't even remember if I care or not"

Her grip on Lisa's wrist grew tighter, perhaps in response to the twitch that had run through it. The way Lappland had adressed her that night had been off. Completely wrong even. And hearing her call her with her actual name, in such a cold voice, was...

... it was unsettling.

She didn't know why, but that single fact was scaring her.

"Let's play another game, shall we?" she said, not the slightest traice of amusement in her words.

That offer, however, made Lisa tremble. And it also made her remember in what state the lower half of her outfit was. Lappland's coat, large as it was, hadn't been closed, which left her exposed on the front. Her free hand and her tails moved almost instinctively to pull her dress back up and cover her exposed privates, a sight that got a chuckle out of the lupo.

Wether that was a good thing or not, Lisa couldn't tell.

"Close your eyes, Lisa"

"... miss Lappland, I... I believe this is enough. You just had a crisis, we need to call... "

Her face contorted as the lupo's grasp on her wrist grew even tighter, enough to hurt her.

"Close your eyes, Lisa. Suzuran. Morsel. Lisa. And don't move. No matter what, don't move. And don't say a thing. ... please?"

Another jolt ran through her. But what made her tremble wasn't quite fear, not entirely. No, there was something else, a feeling Lappland had never inspired in her before, one that seemed comically out of place given everything that had happened between them.

If she had to name it, Lisa would've named it pity. But she refrained from saying that. She refrained from speaking. From moving. And, hesitantly, she closed her eyes.

Her ears twitched in response to a noise. The grip on her wrist loosened, then faded completely.

Nothing happened, at least for what felt like a pretty long while. At some point, however, she clearly heard Lappland stand up and walk away. Then the storm suddenly grew much quieter, and the breeze stopped. Then more footsteps, followed by something slightly different. She realized the lupo had gotten on her knees right in front of her when she felt her nose push against her neck, smelling her.

"You're kinda cold, Lisa"

She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped herself from actually speaking.

"That's it. Good girl"

She couldn't interpret her tone. It was hardly like any she'd ever heard from her before. She wasn't angry. She wasn't bored. She wasn't amused. She wasn't tired. She wasn't excited.

Just what was she feeling?

A second touch shook Lisa out of her thoughts. A cold hand on her shoulders, prosthetic fingers sliding down along her chest, to her waist then her hip, sneaking inside the coat and moving behind her. The vulpo barely managed to hold back her voice when Lappland touched her tails at the very base. It wasn't unpleasant, from a purely physical point of view, but that kind of contact made her uncomfortable.

Still, she remained quiet and motionless.

An unnatural-sounding chuckle escaped Lappland as she felt Lisa twitch. She pulled her down, so gently that it unsettled her, and the vulpo found herself following that tender order, getting on her knees too. The floor was cold, but Lappland's long coat had gotten caught between her legs and the floor, shielding her somewhat from the chill.

The lupo took another loud sniff at her, after which the vulpo felt her pull her face back.

"Lisa *****. Now that I look at you like this, you do kinda resemble your mom" she said, lying in a certain sense.

Under normal circumstances, Lisa would've have taken that as a praise. Her mom was truly beautiful, after all -though wether a child her age could objectively judge a parent's appearance was questionable at best- and being compared to her was a nice feeling, if perhaps somewhat embarassing too.

"... how did you get this?" the lupo asked, her fingers moving to the cristals growing on Lisa's arm.

She instinctively backed away, ever so slightly.

"... I can't say"

"Hush, Lisa. Be quiet. Don't mind me"

That confused her. She had told her to not speak, yes, but then... why ask her something if she didn't want her question answered in the first place?

The grip on her wrist disappeared, and a jolt ran through her when a fingertip came to rest on her neck, followed by a second one. Then a third. Until Lappland's whole hand wrapped around it. Her tails fluttered.

"I'd heard some things about you, you know. Oh, not much, I'd have recognized you right away otherwise" she said, not lying but not quite telling the truth either "Your mom and I go way back. Known each other for years. I didn't really meet her all that often though. Oh, quite the contrary. And... "

... silence.

Closed as her eyes might've been, Lisa still looked up, staring at the image of Lappland she had pieced together in her mind.

The lupo wrapped her other arm around Lisa and pulled her into something rather close to an hug. Pushed against her chest like that, Lisa felt some slight protusions pushing against her, protusions definitively not made of flesh. She turned her head around and bent it down a bit, enough to rest at least the base of her ear on Lappland's chest. She couldn't hear it all that well but her heartbeat seemed... slow. Too slow. Enough to make her forget about the hand around her neck.

At least until the lupo's grip tightened, if only a tiny little bit.

Lappland sighed. She sniffed her ear and then sighed again.

She had pictured it several times over in her mind. Granted, getting to the mother would've been better, but settling for the daughter -if only for a while- wasn't exactly outside of a siracusan's modus operandi, at least as far as her late family was concerned. Besides, Lisa's mother was in a rather odd position. Up enough in the ladder to be able to move a part of her own family around, but also low enough to not drag too much attention to herself by merely existing. Coupled with her cautiousness and cunnings, getting ahold of her was a rather difficult task to achieve. So much so that Lappland had never managed to do it, as a matter of fact.

As for her husband, some members of her late family would've gone after him too, but Lappland herself didn't much care about him. He wasn't really an outsider, not anymore, but he didn't seem involved enough to stirr her interest either. Then again, that might've simply been due to a good work of concealing informations. Pretty likely, now that she gave it a bit more thought.

She had even kind of given up on ever finding the daughter, who had entered Siracusa's never-ending game of trickery and violence by simple virtue of being a child of one of the families. Truly, the fact that Lappland had stumbled into her by pure chance amused her to no ends.

Or, at the very least, it should've. That's what she thought as her grip on Lisa's neck grew a bit tighter still. The little vulpo squirmed around a bit, but not much. Probably because she could still breathe just fine.

... should she take care of that?

Probably. That's how such things worked, after all. It'd been like that since before her times, and it'll continue to be like that long after her last breath. Wouldn't be her first time killing a child either, though she admittedly couldn't say to be thrilled about it either way.

What'd be the point?

Well, her mom wouldn't like that. Lappland had no ill feelings towards Lisa herself, but the same couldn't really be said about her mother. A mutual thing too, for whatever that might've been worth. It wasn't even personal, in a certain sense. It just... was. She could just picture it in her mind, the face she would make upon finding out that her little girl was dead. It was so funny.

That's when she realized she couldn't actually recall how her face looked like.

Her grip grew a little tighter still. Little Lisa opened her mouth to speak but settled for merely vocalizing a bit of discomfort instead, or at least that's how Lappland interpreted it. She pulled the vulpo further in, closer. Her scent seemed particularly intense that night, and the lupo wanted to take in as much of it as she could.

Where was she again? Ah, right.

Offing her right there and then just seemed... natural. Granted, that'd probably get Lappland herself killed, but she'd lose like, what? A month? Two? A couple of weeks? Not much. And the off-chance of that red-coated lupo being the one to send her off made for a rather exciting, if somewhat disturbing, prospective. Not like she had any real reason to believe that would happen. Besides, killing Lisa seemed like a good final act for her no-longer-existing family.

... her family, right.

She had never cared all that much about her boss, her colleagues, the underlyings, any of them. Not that she hated being around them either, granted. Some were actually plenty of fun to hang out with. Getting some sort of revenge wouldn't have been personal. It would've been... simply normal. Kinda like finishing your meal before leaving the table. Not really mandatory, but not doing so is just bad manners. In that sense, that last kill would've been more akin to a tradition. Who knows, maybe the others would even cheer for it in their graves.

... Texas wouldn't though.

Texas. She and Lappland were, technically speaking, the only survivors. But by that point Lappland had pretty much given up on her. Had it not been for her oripathy, she'd have kept chasing her for a lot longer, but... she had never managed to bring her old self back. Lappland was comfortable enough sticking to the past. Texas, on the other hand, was determined to leave it behind, despite Lappland's best efforts.

And effort she had put into it, oh, for sure. But at that point, Lappland had simply given up, if only because doing otherwise might make her remember only the present Texas and forget about the old one instead. That would suck.

Boy, would that suck.

Something tickled her tongue, something cold and not really unpleasant.

Oh.

She had bitten Lisa's ear, apparently. And not too softly either. Well, there were much worse ways to use her mouth, so that was fine. Besides, munching on it helped her relax.

"M-miss... La-Lappland... "

Oh. Again.

Her grip, too, had tightened more than she had expected. The first thing that crossed her mind was glee, for the hand wrapped around Lisa's neck was her real one, which allowed her to truly feel things. Feel her blood flowing, and feel her pulse through it. Feel her sweat. Feel her trembling.

... Lisa was a caster, right? Probably not a certified one yet, but she could at least use arts, of that much she was sure. What kind of arts though? They were, they were... right, that. Lappland had done a bit of digging around about it, mostly out of boredom and partially out of curiosity as well. Nothing too in-depth, granted, but enough to be sure that maybe, just maybe, she could get the little girl to finish what her mom had started.

That... probably wouldn't have been nice on Lisa. But it seemed somewhat more fair than the alternative. And the idea was so, oh so alluring...

"L-Lappland, your hand... it's a bit too tight... "

"Aaahhh, that won't do, little Lisa"

She made an effort to chuckle as naturally as possible, effort which failed rather spectacularly if she had to say so herself. Which, in turn, caused her to let out a genuine laugh, because that was just so pathetic of her she couldn't help but laugh.

I'm not making much sense, am I?

"You had to stay quiet. That was the game. Now I've gotta punish you, don't I?"

A shiver ran through the vulpo.

"Lap -!"

The fingers encircling her neck tightened, suddenly forcing Lisa's throat shut. She didn't quite realize what was happening at first, for a second or so, but then something akin to fear began to form inside her mind. She tried to push Lappland away, but the lupo wouldn't move. She wouldn't budge. Lisa then tried to look up, but between the lupo still holding her in a sort of hug and her ear still firmly in her mouth, she just couldn't manage to get a look at her face. She tried to call out to her, but her windpipe was under too much pressure, she just couldn't get enough air in her lungs. Or maybe she was just too stunned to say anything, for she wasn't quite suffocating yet, her windpipe nearly but not entirely closed. Her tails started waving wildly, and she started to trash around with all the force she could muster. Which, at least relatively to Lappland's, really wasn't much. Definitively not enough.

Come on, little Lisa. Come on, lovely Lisa. Come on, wretched Lisa, come on come on come on.

Then Lappland's grasp grew even tighter, enough to compress the vulpo's carotid.

That was when survival instinct, or something really similar, kicked in. Sheer instinct taking over, she reached for the fingers preventing her from breathing, azure flames beginning to form on her hands and quickly enveloping the lupo's own. Using arts without a catalyst or art device was both the first and the most repeated notion she'd been taught in regard to casting, but in that precise moment she had forgotten all about it, the sheer need of air filling her mind completely. The unpleasant aroma of charred skin began to fill her nose as the sound of burning flesh reached her ears, together with something that strongly resembled but couldn't possibly have been a laugh.

That's it, you're almost there. Almost there. Aaaahhhh, thought this would hurt way more than this. Almost there, Lisa.

She kept pulling on Lappland's fingers, her visions beginning to fade as flickering flames filled her vision, her own body heating up without getting harmed. Not entirely realizing it herself, she brought an hand up, her palm crawling along Lappland's arm, the flame not affecting her clothes but charring the skin underneath them.

You're nearly out of time, Lisa. Hurry up.

Things started to fade out. Distant. It was all getting distant, and quiet. So quiet. But that noise was still there, that chuckle that sounded so utterly wrong. But then, when her digits reached the lupo's face, something in her mind sparked. A small, little thought, glistening along among the darkness of the encroaching unconsciousness.

Her hand were still grasping at Lappland's fingers, her other one was resting on the lupo's cheek, but the flames around them died down. And with them, so did the lupo's laugh.

Because Lisa was still conscious.

Why, then?

She let go of her neck and kneeled down, just in time to catch her as the vulpo fell forward, coughing violently and holding her throat, her breaths quick and heavy, and each one uncomfortable. Arguably more so for Lappland than for Lisa herself.

"Ohy. The hell was that for?" the lupo asked, holding her up by a shoulder "The hell were you thinking? Why did you stop?"

There was anger in her voice. Anger, confusion and, mostly, frustration. Lisa didn't reply immediatly, too busy catching her breath, and it took the lupo all she had to not violently shake the answer out of her.

Well, as far as shaking went, she was doing so herself without any help from outside. Taking a better look at her, she was also covered in sweat.

And tears.

And her scent... that was probably the strongest it'd ever been. So much so Lappland herself wondered just how in the world she could manage to not push her nose against her and smell her.

Or, hell, take a bite out of her even.

"Because... " Lisa eventually managed to speak between one cough and the other, somehow looking at the lupo right in the eyes "Because that would've been... wrong"

"... ah? What do you even -wrong how?" she asked back, a small part of her wondering just how exactly she was managing to not scream at that little pile of fluff and disappointment in front of her "You do realize I was choking you?"

"That was one of your jokes, wasn't it, miss Lappland?" she replied, and the lupo truly couldn't tell which one between the answer itself or the cracked smile on Lisa's face was more forced "I... never quite truly understood your sense of humor though, I... apologize for that"

She stared at her neck. That was going to leave a mark, at least for a while. But Lisa wore chockers most of the time anyway, putting a slightly larger one on should -no. No, no, that wasn't the point, that wasn't the wretched point.

"Just like -cough- just like... that time you threw your sword at me, right?"

... what? When did that happen? Lisa wouldn't make up such an event, of that Lappland was sure, but she couldn't remember having ever thrown one of her swords at her. Good lord, just how much had she forgotten? She wanted to scream, to get up and scream and leave, but she couldn't. Her hands were still grasping Lisa's shoulders, with so much force her nails had sunk into the flesh, but the one pinned down was somehow Lappland.

"... this and that are different. Completely different" she replied, because she could only assume whatever happened on that other occasion really had been under an entirely different circumstance "A joke, you say... I guess that's what I reduced myself to, uh... "

... does this count as survival instinct? 'cause that'd be some pretty good instinct there... she wondered, asking herself wether Lisa had guessed that stopping her flames would've stopped Lappland as well or not.

"Miss... Lappland, you... truly need medical assistance. I-I'm sorry, my flames... "

"You're sick, Lisa. Sick in the head. To the point it's kinda funny"

"... I've... been told that somewhat often, ever since I met you" she replied with a chuckle as soft as it was genuine, which in turn managed to get Lappland to crack out a weak laugh as well "It... it just happened, so" the vulpo added speak, her hands weakly closing over Lappland's "So I think I can... f-fix it... "

Lappland's ears perked up. Flames sprouted -odd as that sounded- from Lisa's fingers, a blue fire that somehow resembled glass and flickered intermittently, in a way that reminded her of a video that lacked too many frames. The flame began to envelop the lupo's hand, a cool and vaguely pleasant feeling washing over her charred skin.

She pulled away immediatly, causing the fire to flicker out and fade. But that didn't startle Lisa. She hadn't quite expected that reaction but, at the same time, she feared that might happen.

"Lappland, please! Your skin is -"

"Don't you dare, Lisa. Don't you dare. I haven't sunk that low" she replied.

But her eyes fell on her hand as she said that, and there she saw something she didn't like.

"... rather" she added as she offered her hand again "... here. Just here" she instructed, or asked perhaps, as she pointed to a specific part of her hand.

Lisa wanted to protest. There was no risk of infection given what kind of injuries those were. And, despite the circumstances, Lisa had had no intention to actually hurt her when she had conjured her flames, and that reflected on the damage left by them, which she could tell -feel- was only superficial. But still, Lappland's skin was charred. Completely from her fingertips to her elbow, mostly from there to the shoulder, and there were a few burned patches on her neck and cheek.

She wanted to protest, but she ultimately didn't. She knew that'd be useless.

And so she took Lappland's hand and focused only on the spot she had indicated. Lisa's control over her arts still had... room for improvement, so to say, but she could heal a wound like that when it was still fresh. Especially because she'd caused it herself. Willfully ignoring the fact that she had neither a catalyst nor ar arts device on her, she conjured her almost glass-like fire again, the cold flame flickering in and out as she tried to keep it concentrated on a very small patch of skin. And the skin began to heal, as if the burn marks were retreating.

Lisa couldn't heal old wounds. She couldn't make old scars disappear. Not yet, at the very least. And Lappland had sort of bet on that.

"... this... "

"Yeah. I'll keep that one" the lupo commented as she pulled her hand back.

A small part of the burn marks were gone, enough to reveal the scar left by Suzuran's little fangs, the scar from that one time she had bitten her hand.

A reminder of their first meeting.

Sentimental much, ain't I?

Silence filled the room, and Lisa fell on the floor, exhausted. Lappland decided to do the same and dropped herself down.

There was no point in that, in any of that. Lisa might've been her daughter but... she wasn't part of that woman's family. Not when using the siracusan's meaning of family. There's no way she could be. And involving someone unrelated would've been meaningless.

"... tired, morsel?"

It was only when she saw the expression on the little vulpo's face that she realized she hadn't called her Lisa.

"Very much, yes"

"Figures"

Lappland got up and dragged herself to the bed, sat down and patted the sheets next to herself.

"C'mere" she invited, and Suzuran got on her feet and walked up to her, on unsteady legs but with far less hesitation that one could reasonably expect from her given... pretty much everything.

She sat next to the lupo, who then grabbed her and pulled her in for an hug before falling backward on the mattress, dragging Suzuran down with her. She smelled her again but, unlike all the other times, she made a point to do so as subtly as possible.

"You got a date tomorrow. Can you still make it?"

"Y-yes" Suzuran replied, the blush on her cheeks accompanied by a twitch of her ears "I should have enough time to... "

"Recover" Lappland finished her sentence for her with a chuckle.

Aaahhh, she really was adorable. She ruffled her hair, getting a soft reaction out of her tails.

"That's good. Wouldn't want to mess up your first... that's your first date, right?"

"It... is, yes... " she replied, burying her face against Lappland's chest to hide her embarassment.

Though doing so only made her even more embarassed.

As for Lappland herself, she found Suzuran's ability to still get flustered over something like that really amusing. And a bit concerning too, to tell the truth. But she was remarkably skilled in not caring about certain things.

"... are you... really leaving?"

"Yeah. There's plenty of people coming and going everyday on here, I'll hitch a ride to the nearest town tomorrow and go from there"

"To Siracusa?"

"Where else?" she laughed back "Oh, and morsel. Don't tell your mom about me"

"Why?"

Truth be told, Suzuran could think of at least four good reasons to follow that request. But she wanted to hear what Lappland's answer would be.

"Let's say we parted ways on a sour note. Don't wanna bring up bad memories for nothing"

"What kind of memories?"

"You're a tad too young to know, morsel"

Ain't that rich of me to say.

"... can I see you off tomorrow?"

"Sure thing"

"And... "

"Morsel" she interrupted her with a laugh "I haven't had a good sleep in ages, and you look kinda beaten up yourself. Let's leave the rest for tomorrow, alright?"

"... yes. Alright"

Lappland was right. One look at the bags under her eyes was all it took to get an idea of how badly she needed sleep. And Suzuran herself was incredibly tired. Not to mention just how late it was. Actually, she didn't even know what time it was, and she kind of didn't even want to find out at that point.

She hugged Lappland back. She didn't really want to sleep. She had a bad feeling about it.

"... good night, miss Lappland"

"'night, morsel"

Much to Suzuran's surprise, Lappland fell asleep first, and she did so quickly. Assuming she wasn't just faking it, at least. Her chest moved up and down with every breath, but that motion didn't lull the vulpo to sleep. She could tell that something about that breathing was off. There was probably an internal growth of originium pushing against a lung. Considering what she'd seen of her condition, however, Suzuran couldn't bring herself to believe that to be the worst of Lappland's problems. She tried to, but she couldn't.

Oh, right, she had to make sure nobody found out what happened there that night. Well, not the whole thing, but at least some parts had to stay hidden. Her panties and pantyhose were torn, but nobody would notice so long as she had her skirt on, and she could just... dispose of them somehow. She could cover the bruise on her neck with a choker until it faded away. As for Lappland's blood... as far as that was concerned, telling the truth was probably the right thing to do.

A part of her believed that Lappland leaving the landship -going far away- was for the best. Things between them were a bit... she truly had no idea how to describe it, but she was sure their relationship wasn't quite right. It wasn't normal, at the very least. But she didn't really want her to leave either. At the end of the way, she saw her as a friend, if an extremely odd one whom she had an hard time dealing with.

That, and... Lappland wouldn't come back. She couldn't. She had too little time left. And even if that weren't the case, Suzuran couldn't shake off the feeling that the lupo wouldn't have planned to return to Rhodes Island either way.

And so she wanted to see her off, at least. That night had been a mess. A big, huge mess, and not entirely of the pleasant kind. She wanted their last meeting to be a bit less... rocky than that.

No, that was an understatement.

Her throat still hurt a bit.

Truth be told, she didn't really believe it when she said Lappland was joking. But, had she really wanted to, the lupo could've simply snapped her neck much too quickly for Suzuran to react, especially when she had started casting Arts. Of that she was sure. What she didn't know was just why she nearly chocked her. But, if she had to take a guess, she'd say that Lappland was... depressed. Something fairly normal for someone at such an advanced stage of infection, especially considering that one of her side symptoms was memory loss.

Depending on how one wanted to see Lappland's state of mind, Suzuran's guess could be either fairly accurate or remarkably off the mark.

She shifted herself a bit to the side, to make sure she wouldn't weight down on Lappland's chest. Maybe she was being paranoid but, if the lupo truly had an internal growth of originium near a lung, she feared her weight might push the crystal through the organ and pierce it. So she positioned herself to her side instead of above her. Lappland squirmed around a bit in response, but she didn't wake up. Her sleep seemed sound. Deep. Calm.

... was she in pain? It didn't seem to be case but, given what she'd seen, the internal structure of her body had to be in horrible shape. Maybe she was on painkillers? That... didn't really fit with her character, didn't it?

She yawned.

She was tired, exceptionally so. But she wanted to stay up until Lappland woke up, if at all possible. Thinking about it, however, Suzuran had some commitments to take care of the following day, which meant she wouldn't have time to rest before the evening, which in turn would lead to her being, by all means, much too tired to go to the ball with Ifrit. And that... wouldn't do.

Right, Ifrit. For all the... questionable stuff Lappland had done -as Suzuran saw it- she had also ultimately been the reason why Suzuran and Ifrit ended up moving past simple friendship. Granted, they had had their highs and lows since that incident in the locker room, but things seemed set to be going smoothly from there on. There was the matter of the voice talking inside Ifrit's head but, to be frank, Suzuran had no idea what could possibly be done about it. That, and Ifrit insisted that it wasn't a problem, and Suzuran at least wanted to believe her.

And then there was Specter too. Suzuran still couldn't stay calm when around her and, by all means, that wouldn't change much in the foreseeable future. But she had at least started to make some progress in that sense too.

She yawned again.

It really was late.

She really was tired.

The ball was that evening. She had to get at least some rest. And Lappland said she could see her off, so... maybe she was worrying over nothing. She tilted her head up a bit. One of her ears brushed against the lupo's face and for a moment she feared she would sneeze and wake up but, fortunately, that didn't happen. Suzuran stared at her sleeping face for a short while and closed her eyes, only meaning to rest them a little bit.

Sleep immediatly overtook her.

By the time she woke up, Lappland had already left Rhodes Island.

Suzuran never saw her again.

---

And that's it, I guess.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it.