A Somewhat Weird Kind of Ordinary Days

The first one to wake up was Ara. Her eyes opened slowly, over the course of a whole minute, maybe even two. She yawned as she tried to stretch her arms, but the cuffs were still binding them. The light clinking of the chains cleared her mind a bit as she looked around. It was night, but the moon was almost full, its light coming in through the window and illuminating the room, just barely enough for her to be able to make out her surroundings.

She was still lying on her bed, her clothes a disheveled mess, with all of her important parts exposed. That and, technically speaking, she wasn't actually lying on the bed but rather on Oberon, who by the look of it was still sleeping, his eyes closed, his arms still around her. His clothes were a bit ripped here and there, but all of his fox-like traits had disappeared, which is probably why she also couldn't feel him breathing and his skin was cold. His body had gone back to being fully mechanical. Had she not known better, she'd have thought he was a corpse. It was somewhat eerie, in a way. There was no longer any scent coming from him, but the sheets beneath them were still drenched, and the sight made her quickly go through the memories, her cheeks turning red. She wondered for a few moments about what to do and decided to wait rather than waking him up, partially because all things considered he made for a surprisingly comfortable resting spot.

Around half an hour went by before his eyes opened. When his consciousness returned he felt her warm body pressed against his before even seeing her. He briefly glanced at the window, the curtains pulled open revealing both the other buildings and the night sky on the other side of the glass. He then looked down at her. Her head was turned in a way that prevented him from seeing her face, so he coulnd't tell if she was still asleep or not. Her body had gone completely back to normal though, at least from what he could see. He felt that the same was true for his own, too. He remained still for a short while, feeling her chest moving with her every breath.

"Are you awake?" he eventually asked as he gently gathered her hair behind her.

"Yes. ... should we... get up now?"

He was about to tell her that he wouldn't have minded staying like that for a while longer, but on second thought he felt like he had already taken enough of her time. Or something along those lines.

"Sure" he replied as he let go of her and helped her up.

They both got on their knees, still on the bed, as he moved behind her to unfasten the leather cuffs.

"I should have taken these off as soon as we were done, sorry"

"That's my fault too" she said back as she moved her arms around.

The restraints weren't tight enough to obstruct the flow of blood, but having kept them on for that long had left her limbs rather sore, and in general going to sleep wasn't exactly advisable. Not to mention the marks that were left on her skin where the leather straps were. Marks which he found rather enticing.

"... how was it?" he asked as he adjusted his clothes, without moving from his spot.

"W-well..."

Ara blushed, but she was still giving her back to him so he couldn't see that. She fixed her clothes, though she really needed a shower. Or maybe a bath?

"We don't have to use them again if you didn't like them" he added, the cuffs still in his hands.

Oh, he meant that...

"A-actually... I wouldn't mind trying out some... other... things from that book... n-next time... if you... feel... like... it..." she replied, her voice turning more and more into a whisper with every word.

His reply came more slowly than he'd have expected.

"I wouldn't mind, no. ... quite the opposite, actually" he added, as he found his initial answer not to his liking.

A brief silence followed.

"... I've been thinking about what Eun said" he then spoke as Ara turned around "And I was wondering if I should start calling you 'mistress'"

"... eh?"

"The way she spoke about the current situation made me think that..."

"N-no, no, no, wait a moment there" she interrupted him as she turned around "I can see where you're coming from -I... think, at least... ? - anyway, that'd be really... awkward for me, so I'd really rather... well, not. Seriously, please don't" she said, also because she was sure Eve wouldn't have any of that.

"Alright. Sorry about asking. And... I didn't use a condom at the end, I apologize for that"

"T-that was my fault too, really. I was the one who... t-took it o-off..." she replied, every word causing the image of how exactly she had done that to flash in her eyes like an overly vivid memory.

Another brief silence followed, during which Oberon kept his fingers from fidgeting.

"I think we should take a bath now. Or would you rather have a shower?" she asked.

He stared at her. Her cheeks were red, but she was still looking straight at him.

"... together?"

"... i-if you want..."

The idea is alluring, but I'm not sure I already want to test how much of my self-control has come back.

"That'd be rushing things a bit, wouldn't it?" he said, then he briefly glanced at the cuffs still in his hands "... though I guess we're past that already, aren't we?"

Ara laughed awkwardly in an attempt to deal with her own embarrassment.

"... you can go first then" she said as she got off the bed and put her coat back on.

"Ara" he stopped her as she was standing on the entrace, headed to the kitchen he guessed "About your previous work. I'd like to ask you to not do that alone"

Well, all things considered, she found that to be a reasonable request. Awkward as it was to hear it.

"I-I see, right... I might end up causing some trouble" she replied.

"I'm just a bit worried, some of the guests can be rather capricious at times. And... I like watching you doing that, too"

Her face suddenly turned bright red as she walked -almost hurried- away, Oberon staring at her back for the few steps it took her to leave his field of view. Then he turned his gaze to the box of toys lying next to the bed. Those had actually all been made there in the menagerie, which is why they were especially... let's say high-quality. Eve had once tried to add those sort of products to the lineup they offered, but they turned out less than popular. Mostly due to the fact that there were already a few established shops of that kind at the Fair, and most of those interested in those toys wouldn't go to the menagerie for that. Combined with the fact that their usual customers were more interested in their regular items than in those, most of them went unsold and ended up half-forgotten in the storage room.

I should tell the mistress that those products have been used he thought, though he believed she didn't really care about that box anymore, anyway.

And even if she did, she'd see it herself quickly enough regardless, as the cameras should have caught Ara carrying it to her room. Granted, said cameras had been removed from her room, but Eve really wouldn't have needed video proof to know why Ara had brought that box to her bedroom. Taking his minds to different shores, he put the cuffs back inside the box -he left the anal beads out with the intent of washing them later- before heading to the bathroom and closing the door behind himself. Then he walked in front of a mirror and took a look at his clothes, sligthly torn here and there.

I wonder how exactly I end up looking past a certain point he thought as he ran his fingers through some of the tearings on his shirt.

Then he turned around. His clothes had to be washed and sewed up a bit, that was for sure, but as for himself, he a simple shower would have been enough. Though, for once, he kind of felt like taking a bath instead. That would have taken much longer though, so maybe going with the shower was still the better idea. While he was thinking about that, Oberon froze for the better half of a minute. Then he went to the bathtub and turned on the faucet before walking downstairs, finding Ara in the kitchen.

"Done already?" she asked from her chair as she finished eating a couple of small snacks, an empty glass resting on the table next to her.

She then took a more proper look at him and noticed that no, he hadn't taken a shower yet.

"Is your offer still valid?"

Had she had fox ears rather than human ones, they'd have surely twitched. But since she didn't currently have them, all her body could do in response was blush a bit.

"Y-yes"

"Then, on second thought, I'd like to take you up on that"

She had a vague feeling that he wasn't as perfectly calm as he seemed to be, but thinking that maybe that was just her imagining things, she didn't put much trust in that feeling. A bit of hope maybe, but that's it. They cleaned up quickly in the kitchen then headed back upstairs, the bathroom feeling unusually far. Eventually, however, they reached it, closing the door behind them, the lights turned on to make the night outside the windows even darker. Though Ara decided to pull the curtains as soon as they walked in.

After a few seconds, which might or might not have turned into a good minute or two or silence, Oberon began to undress, starting from his gloves and shoes. Ara stared briefly then turned around, flustered, before starting to do the same. The sound of his clothes hitting the floor as he removed them seemed oddly loud to her, but that was most likely due to her overfocusing on that. As she stipped herself, however, she noticed that her pantyhose were torn between her legs, which distracted her from what was happening right behind her back. How exactly she had failed to realize what state that part of her outfit was in up until that point, one could only guess.

Maybe I should have taken everything off before getting started...

Thinking about it, they had both kept pretty much everything on. She didn't really mind that -kind of-, but she also couldn't help but wonder about how Oberon felt about it. She was about to drive those thougths away, but then stopped herself from doing that. Maybe to try and get herself more comfortable with such things. With her mind still lingering on that, she eventually ended up naked and folded her clothes in a not too orderly manner before leaving them on top of a stool. Then she finally turned around, and saw Oberon standing a couple of feet away from her, his gaze on her the same way hers was on him.

Eve sure knows how to make a man's body... she thought as she ran her eyes -somewhat sheepishly, but still- over his chest, shoulder, arms, the general upper half of his body.

His usual clothes, while not overly large, weren't quite form-fitting either and hid his physique quite well, but he was more muscular than she had thought, though not overly so either. Their eyes then crossed.

"Do you have any preferences?" he asked as he turned to the shelf over which were lined a few different products, mostly soaps and shampoos with two or three oils as well.

"Ah, that one" she replied, quickly pointing to the one that made the most foam, at least as far as she knew. She wasn't especially fond of bubbles though.

She remained still for a short while, during which Oberon finished preparing the bath, then he simply entered the tub and sat down, turning his head towards her.

"Aren't you coming in?" he eventually asked.

"Eh-ah, r-right"

Realizing that she was feeling quite cold standing there naked -and that she was standing naked in front of someone else-, she hopped into the tub, sitting in front of him. The water was pleasantly warm, maybe a bit too close to the hot end of the temperature spectrum if any, and above it floated an amount of foam large enough to hide everything lying beneath it. The bath was rather large, but not to the point their legs wouldn't touch when sitting inside it together, and their ankles crossed, though neither of them moved them aside. Ara sank a bit further down, the bubbly water reaching right beneath her chin. Oberon, on his part, leaned back against the edge of the tub, resting his head against the wall and apparently staring at the ceiling.

"... how are your clothes?" she asked to break the silence.

"Mostly fine, fixing them won't take much. I'm more concerned with yours, since they seem to always end up torn"

That's somehow painful to hear

"Right... w-well, we can just... y-you know... take e-everything off b... before getting started... next t-time..." she said, her cheeks turning redder as the words left her mouth. Though that might have been simply due to the hot water. That was a rather big "might" though.

Oberon turned his gaze towards her, their eyes meeting. Then, after a while, he went back to staring at the ceiling.

"If you want"

... hold on.

"... you don't want to?" she inquired, somewhat confused both by her question and by how long it had taken him to answer.

"Not necessarily. It depends on how we do it, I think"

"What... do you mean?"

"People look better clothed than they do naked, don't they? Especially with certain attires. Undressing completely before having sex is convenient, I'm not denying that, but I believe that keeping at least something on is really important when it comes to visually please the partner and oneself, which improves the whole experience"

That's... quite something there...

Ara sank just a bit more into the water before speaking.

"... that doesn't really answer the part about how one should get undressed"

"Right. Clothed people look better, yes, but I believe undressing can be part of the experience too if done properly, or if there is some other meaning behind being naked"

"... w-wait, you're not talking about a striptease, are you?!"

Oberon fell silent for a few seconds before answering.

"... I guess that might work. Should I perform one next time?"

Ara's face completely changed color.

"You shoul wha- h-hold on a minute, you know how to do that?!" she bursted out, almost literally jumping to her feet, hot water splashing all around as she did so.

"No, actually, but your reaction makes me think I might have to read up on it" he replied as he moved his gaze on her. His eyes seemed to get particuarly captivated by a drop of water running down from her neck only to disappear between her breasts.

"Wait, that's not what I meant!"

"You'd rather I remain dressed again then?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean..."

She left herself sink into the water -also because it felt kinda cold outside- all the way to the forehead, and even that quickly disappeared beneath the foamy surface. She resurfaced a few seconds later and took a couple of deep breaths.

"You mentioned a meaning behind behind naked during... the act, but isn't that to... how do I say it... keeping the clothes on makes it feel a bit impersonal, doesn't it? I... think so, at least"

... should I have undressed her completely then? And removed my clothes as well? ... the more I think about it, the more I feel like I have messed things up.

"How should I interpret your staying clothed then?"

"I-I just thought we'd take everything off during the... you know..."

"... with your arms cuffed?"

"I... might not have thought that through..."

"... impersonal, you say. I hadn't thought about it that way. Sorry"

"I don't want to sound contradictory but please don't apologize for not having stripped me. That feels... awkward"

"Right"

... this sort of relationship is a lot more complex than I had expected he thought.

"Is that why you never got undressed before your work sessions? To keep it professional?"

"Keeping it professional" isn't exactly how I'd have said it.

"Actually... how do I say this... yes, there was that too, but it was also because... to be honest, skin contact with the guests down below doesn't always feel that... great... kind of... i-it's just different, really. It takes a while to get used to. And being naked is still embarassing. so... th-that was j-just work anway, I wasn't... m-making love... that's a... different thing..."

"I see. Yes, that makes sense"

What am I even saying? she mentally groaned as she sank deeper into the water.

"... what do you plan to do now?" he then asked.

"I think I'll go back to my house for a few days to make sure everything's still fine. Maybe I'll even bring back something I had left there. We can finish the match when I get back, if that's fine with you" she replied as she thanked the heavens for the change of subject.

Right, we still have a game of chess going.

"I have no problems with that. Actually, do you want me to come help you with the cleanings?"

"Thanks but I think I'll pass this time"

They didn't really say much else after that, simply sinking in the water instead. Eventually, she got up and walked out the tub, thankful that her hair was long enough to offer something at least vaguely resembling some cover for her body as she reached for a couple of towels. She wrapped the larger one around herself and started wiping her head with the other. She then heard Oberon getting out as well, taking a few towels too and sitting on a stool next to her, at around an arm's length of distance. Having considerably less hair than her to dry, he finished quite a bit before her.

"Shall I get you a change of clothes?" he asked as he stood up and grabbed all of their garments, which were in need of a wash too.

"No, thanks" she replied.

There was a chance of him finding Obe if he searched her room for her spare clothes, and that wasn't exactly a thrilling perspective. So he left the bathroom, and a while later she did the same, turning the lights off as she closed the door behind herself. She found her bedsheets missing, but everything else was still where it had been left so she guessed he had just taken those to wash them. She got dressed then stared at the box, which was still lying open next to the bed. She closed the door of her room before moving the box on top of the table and taking a better look at what was inside.

W-well, these things are so... wait, how do you even use this? And this other one should... no, hold on, why does it have a button?

The ropes were as straightforward as they could get, and the same went for most of the other restraints inside there -albeith there were a couple ones she wasn't sure how were meant to be put on- but the toys were a lot more varied and, while most looked simple enough to use, there were more than a few she didn't really know how were supposed to be put to work, or of which she simply didn't get the possible appeal. Though that might have simply been due to her having never been inside a certain kind of store, otherwise she would have probably recognized mostly everything. Then she found something else. A certain piece of metallic underwear meant to coerce into chastity.

She put it back down into the box. Then she pulled it out again. Only to drop it back inside. And pick it up once more. She kept doing that for a good couple of minutes before eventually closing the box for good, with the chastity belt inside.

Y-yeah, I'm not even sure if the key is there...

Ara started to walk around in circles, having an internal debate about the benefits and drawbacks of steel undergarments compared to the more traditional fabric ones, until she got too distracted and ended up hitting her head against the wall, letting out a surprised yelp when the concrete greeted her forehead.

Let's leave that for later she thought as she rubbed her head where she had accidentally bonked it.

She then looked around a bit before taking out her luggages. She stared at the longer one for a while, then put it back away, as she didn't really feel the need to take her spear with her. She was just going back home for a few days after all. She then turned to the other, more conventionally sized suitcase and started packing a few things inside. Not many though, both because she didn't mean to take much with her and because most of the place in the suitcase was taken up by Obe, which she had told to curl up inside of it.

This feels somewhat immoral she thought as she closed the luggage with him within.

She then looked around for the pills she had bought, gulped one then, to distract herself a bit maybe, she walked downstairs and tried cooking something. Not much time went by before the sun started to rise, and soon after Oberon walked in. Maybe lured by the indescribable smell coming from the cookers.

"I tried making something" she said as she placed a couple of plates on the table.

He stared at what was either a sandwich or grilled meat, amazed at how the thing in front of him could somehow be similar to two so different dishes. That said, the scent wasn't bad. Just... most peculiar.

"Let's eat then"

Ara's eyebrow twitched as she bit down on the food, the overly potent taste threatening to permanently mark her tastebuds. It's not like she had never eaten her own dishes, quite the contrary actually, but she had gotten used to Oberon's meals which, while definitively not something a restaurant would be envious of, were still more... coherent that what she had just bitten, and over the past weeks she had gotten used to the more normal taste of his cuisine. It was somewhat weird how such a fact seemed to have a faintly negative influence on her own cooking, at least when she wasn't actively trying to make something more... proper, so to say.

"I... might still need a few lessons"

"I'm not sure a few would be enough" he replied.

Ara's shoulders dropped. As aware of the truth as she was, hearing it spelled out like that still hurt. A bit, at least.

"But we have a lot of time for that now"

"... we do, yes"

"How long do you plan to stay away?"

"It depends on what state the house is in, but... three, four days at most? I think"

"Very well" he replied as he stood up and started cleaning, and Ara noticed that his plate was empty. That was...nice.

She got up as well, headed to her room to take her luggage and then walked back downstairs, stopping in front of the kitchen elevator for a few moments before entering the kitchen.

"I'm leaving then"

He turned around before replying.

"Have a safe trip"

The city wasn't exactly a dangerous place, in all honesty. Far from it. Well, the Fair arguably was, but that was neither here nor there. And she wasn't exactly the helpless sort of girl either. He just didn't know what else to say, so he went with that. Ara stepped outside, and after a few steps she turned around to take a look at the menagerie before heading away. It took her a good couple of hours, maybe even three, to get to her house, partially because she took her sweet time. She saw a few people here and there on the streets along the way, but not many as it was still quite early. She looked around in her pockets for the keys, panicked for a moment as she didn't seem to have them on her, then finally found them and unlocked the door. At long last, she stepped inside her home, for the first time in a few months. As she had expected, there was... let's say a bit of dust on everything. A bit much. She turned the lights on, closed the door behind herself, put down the suitcase and opened it.

"You can do some cleaning, right? There's a locker with what I use for that in the other room"

In response, Obe got up, headed in the direction she had pointed to and, after having gotten the proper equipment -so to say- he started working.

"You sure are handy" she commented, though the mechanical doll with an unconventionally dangerous appearance didn't reply, not being programmed to.

Ara spent the rest of the day making sure everything was as she had left it and cleaning up a bit, with a brief trip to the grocery store to buy a few days worth of food. When, that night, she went to sleep she realized how used she had gotten to the canopy bed at the menagerie, as her normal one felt surprisingly weird in comparison. It made her feel somewhat exposed. Nowhere near enough to keep her awake though. The next day she checked if there was anything left to clean, but Obe had apparently kept working the whole night at a rather impressive speed. And he didn't just dust everything off either, he also cleaned the windows, washed the floors, removed all the spider webs, and other things like that. So she took the chance to have a walk around the area, paying a visit to a few shops she occasionally went to back before the egg incident with Eve. She bought a couple of things here and there before going back home, where she spent the rest of the day lazing around, simply enjoying being there. On the third day she went through her stuff, both those she had left there and those she had purchased the previous day, picking a few things to bring back with her. She had to look for a second suitcase though.

That didn't take long, and after lunch she pulled close all the curtains before calling out to Obe, who apparently had gone sitting in a wardrobe after having finished cleaning everything. After two and a half days of being alone with it in a private place, her self control ran out and she ended up spending the whole afternoon having some... fun with the younger looking Oberon, though doing that brought more than one embarassing memory back to the surface. She tried to make it speak a couple of times to see if she could get it to call her "big sister" during the act, but simply ended up confirming that it either couldn't or refused to speak. Later that day, while having dinner, she couldn't help but wonder if the reason she tried to have it say that was because she herself kept calling Aren "big brother" -well, he was, but she usually just called him "brother"- that time they had s-

Immediatly and brutally dragging her thoughts away from those memories, which were as pleasant as they were awkward and embarassing, she took a shower before going to sleep. On the forth day she woke up as late as usual, and after having a middle-ground between breakfast and lunch she gathered her luggages, locked everything, remained a brief while in front of her door and then eventually started walking, headed back to the menagerie, Obe in one suitcase, some of her other belongings in the other one. She decided to take a different route to see a bit more of the city, but ended up getting lost, spending a good three hours walking around aimlessly before eventually deciding to ask someone for directions. Around ninety minutes later, she finally reached the deserted neighborhood where the menagerie was located. She walked to the building she might as well have started calling her second house, and stopped in front of it.

Several thoughts crossed her mind. Someway, for one reason or another, she had come to term with how everything had started and what Eve had put her through. Despite the less than great start she had been off to, looking back at everything made it seem... not all that bad, let's stay. Though that itself still gave her mixed feelings. What was really on her mind at the moment was the situation with Oberon. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like there were things Eun had failed to mention. Or maybe she was just obsessing over small details.

She took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob. As she did so, she realized that a part of her was actually looking forward to the next Fair. Well, maybe not to the public exhibition part, but the Tea House was a really nice place, and she was a bit curious about what else she might have found there during those days. Her mind lingering on several, mostly unrelated thoughts, she finally stepped inside. The first thing she saw was complete, utter darkness, accompanied by the sound of wings flapping and the feeling of something soft crashing against her face. Dropping her luggages, she grabbed the pillow that someone had clearly just thrown at her, only to realize that it wasn't a pillow, feathery as it was.

It was a small owl, a bit bigger than her head.

"... hold on"

She looked up and saw Oberon standing further down the hallway, sporting fox ears and tail.

"... what's this?" she asked as she turned the little creature around to show it to him.

"That's the egg carrier"

"The... you mean that sort of... belt? ... what?"

"After lying the egg, it usually turns into a surrogate owl to help the mother during the pregnancy. The chick eats the surrogate a month or so after the hatching if it's still alive by then, but in this situation I don't know how long it might live"

Ara turned the owl back around and stared at it, the little animal -?- returning her gaze.

"Well, it's... cute, I guess... it's not going to grow to that size, is it?"

"It shouldn't. That said, it also shouldn't have had enough time to extract from you the nutrients in needed to undergo the transformation either, so... this is somewhat of uncharted territory"

She stared at the little bird's eyes for a while, and for a brief moment they seemed to turn into those of a fox.

... I hope I'm just seeing things

Releasing the owl, which flied up only to land on her shoulder, she turned her gaze back at Oberon.

"Welcome back" he then said.

"... I'm home" she replied, not really sure if she had picked the right words.

She stared at his tail for a few moments before stepping further in, enough to close the door behind herself, then headed to her room. She stopped in front of the elevator to give another look at the owl standing on her shoulder, and the bird returned the stare with an hoot.

"What am I supposed to do with you?" she asked noone as she cast a quick glance at the sliding doors of the elevator before walking up, eventually getting to her bedroom.

The sheets had been replaced, but aside from that nothing had been moved. Well, she hadn't been away for long anyway. She opened one of her suitcases and let Obe out, making him go back inside the wardrobe. That was... starting to feel normal, actually.

She then unpacked her stuff -the owl moved to a chair when she started moving around too much- and then pulled the manual from the drawer she had left it in, together with the magnifying glass. She spent the next few hours reading it, starting from the part about that owl, and not because of a coincidence. Eventually Oberon knocked at her door, around when the sun was setting.

"Dinner's ready?" she asked as she opened the door.

"Almost, but I'm here for a different reason. There's a package for you" he replied, a box a bit larger than his chest in his hands.

"For me?"

She took the box from him and placed it on the table, then saw a letter attached to its side. She unwrapped it and recognized Eun's handwriting on the inside.

"This is weird, her response shouldn't have arrived so soon"

Then again, that was Eun they were talking about. A package from her arriving much earlier than expected was one of the least surprising things Ara could think of in relation to the fox.

"What does it say?" he asked, his gaze briefly moving to the sleeping owl before resting on her.

She unfolded the letter and started to read, giving him a brief summary of what was written there.

"Inside here should be some potted plants" she said as she pointed to the box "Oh, wait, I know these, they're from the area around my village... I... didn't know they were used to make contraceptives though... " she added as she kept reading "She says they should be more... effective than the normal ones due to our current conditions. Oh, she also detailed how to make it"

She then folded the letter, since she didn't want him to see the part where Eun reassured Ara that she could wait for as long as she wanted for grandchildren. She could almost see her smirk on the other side of the words written on the letter.

"I see. That's a relief"

"It really is"

They proceeded to spend the next three minutes or so looking at each other, occasionally glancing at some random spot within their field of vision before going back to gazing at the other.

"The meal should be ready by now"

"Oh, right"

As soon as Ara stepped outside the room, the owl woke up and flew to her shoulder, resting on it. Feeling its claws through her coat was a bit unnerving at first, but she got used to that rather quickly. Dinner went by normally, Ara eating rather silently while Oberon kept reading a book, which one she couldn't tell since they still all had a blank cover. The bird stole a piece of meat from her dish before they could give it something to eat, but aside from that nothing really happened.

"So... what now?" she asked once they were done cleaning the kitchen.

"We haven't finished that chess match yet"

"Right. That's a start"

Needless to say, he ended up losing.

The next day went by rather normally, and the same applied to the following one. Ara spent most of it reading in her room, and even finding out -albeith accidentally- that the owl somehow knew not only what a snack was, but also how to fetch her one from the kitchen. One evening she went down to the lower floors, but ended up merely walking in circles, a bit unsure about what to do. The distance between her and Oberon when they sat at the table kept growing, by a chair every twenty-four hours more or less, and during breakfast of the third day she decided to have a little chat with him. After having dragged her gaze from his tails to his face, that is.

"How are you doing?"

The one to ask, however, was him.

"Eh? Fine, I'd say. Why?"

"I noticed that you've been stopping in front of the elevator somewhat often"

"Well, about that..." she replied as she ran her gaze around the room, her fingers starting to play with her cowlick, a gesture that inadvertently caught his attention "I was just thinking that I should really get to work, so..."

"Which one of the two kinds?"

Her head dropped down, her hair covering her eyes from his stare as her face grew flushed.

"B... b-both... but what about you?" she asked back to change the subject a bit "How are you doing with... that?" she inquired as she pointed to his fox ears with her gaze.

"I believe I can handle it well enough for another... couple of days, I think. Definitively less if I oversee your work"

Her face turned red. Redder than before, that is. And for some reason the owl, which had moved from her shoulder to one of the empty chairs when she had started eating, hoothed.

"Have you decided on a name for it?"

"No, I haven't even started thinking about it actually. I... really have no idea what to come up with" she replied as she raised her head.

So. She had Obe, which she had had rather... child-unfriendly interactions with on more than one occasion. She had an owl, with which she had had a... most peculiar first contact. And, in a certain sense, she had Oberon, with whom she was... she wasn't sure how to summarize that part. As she realized that, Eun's words about an harem came back to haunt her, for better or for worse. He noticed one of her eyes twitching, though he had no idea what might have caused that.

"Should I wait for you at the elevator, then?" he asked.

"I'd like to take a shower first, if you don't mind" she replied as she got up.

Now? Not after?

"I have to ask, do you have any particular guest in mind? I might have to prepare something beforehand depending on your answer"

Ara had already gotten to the door when he spoke, but she stopped and turned around.

"W-well, I was... thin... king... a-about... I'm not s-sure... m-maybe... " she stuttered, her face turning redder and redder as his question forced her mind onto a rather embarassing train of thoughts "... j... y-you can pick one for me!" she then nearly shouted as she ran away, a part of her not quite believing what she had just asked to do. A very small one though.

Oberon took a bottle of something faintly resembling juice from a drawer and drank a couple of glasses, then cleaned up everything inside the kitchen and headed to the warehouse. He had been picking the guests for Ara from the start, so doing that again wasn't really a problem, though his yardstick for the choice had changed a bit. He decided on one fairly quickly and started to search for a collar similar to the one Ara had had to wear while still being indebted to Eve. If possible, he'd have liked for her to keep it on while doing that work since it would still warn him immediatly if something bad but not clearly visible happened to her, such as internal injury or disease. Granted, she likely had more chances at winning the lottery twice than getting hurt doing that, but still. And they had the key already, so they could also take it off as soon as she was done. As he headed to the lower levels of the warehouse, where he was fairly sure those collars had been left, he passed in front of the surveillance cameras he had removed from Ara's room.

He stopped in front of them for a moment, his mind once more going through everything that had happened. Quite a few unexpected events had taken place in the menagerie since Ara's arrival, and both their lives ended up taking quite the odd direction -hers moreso than his he believed- but things seemed to have... stabilized, albeith in a quite weird way. And, looking at how his new routine was shaping up to be, he couldn't say that he disliked it. And, all things considered, the same was true for Ara.

Maybe they still needed some time to really adjust to the additions to their routine but, overall, their new ordinary looked promising.

Right before walking away, he noticed that one of the cameras was still turned on and recording. He picked it up and realized that the power button was a bit damaged. After a few tries, however, the camera gave in and deactivated.

Surveillance camera J H - 06 could not be found.
Storage of audio-video recording has been interrupted.

Reconnection attempts failed.
Checking system logs.

Surveillance camera J H - 06 has been turned off.

Remove camera J H - 06 from the active network?

-Yes -No -Other

Somewhere far away from the menagerie, Eve groaned silently. She liked to replay the registrations of Ara's performances in one of her eyes during the most tedious parts of her work to keep herself entertained, but lately she had started to wonder if that hadn't been a bit too harsh on her privacy. No longer using her constant supply of new videos was quite bothersome, but maybe she did owe that to Ara. They were still friends, after all. She just had to find something else to broadcast in her eye.

_Yes_

And it's over. It took quite the long time, and there were some really long pauses in the publication, something I'm not really proud of, so thanks for sticking with this story all the way to the end.

You have my sincere thanks for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it.