A Night of Too-Good Sleep

by I He She

Spending time with Lappland has since long become an habit for Suzuran, one way or another. The lupo, however, had never formally invited her over to her room, at dinner hour no less. That inevibatly got Suzuran a bit flustered, as she couldn't see it as anything other than a dinner date of sort. And, well... someone would get eaten out, yes. Suzuran/Lappland, Sussurro/Specter.

A Night of Too-Good Sleep

There always comes a time in a person's life when one's morality is put to the test. A moment when one is faced with a dilemma. One choice offers clear benefits, but those benefits lie behind what most would consider the morally wrong course of action. It is on such occasions that a person has to look into themselves and ask uncomfortable questions, running the risk of ending up with unpleasant answers in their hands. Most of the time, righteousness and justice lie on the thorny road, the one where comfort, tranquility and even one's personal desires are to be delayed if not outright abandoned.

For Suzuran, that choice had suddenly presented itself in the form of a simple log-in screen.

There was nothing out of the ordinary with that screen. Rhodes Island, just like any other mobile facility of a large enough size, had its own network, which could connect with those of other landships or even that of a nomadic city if in close enough proximity. To make sure the network wouldn't get overloaded by excessive influxes or external data whenever Rhodes docked at a city, however, browsing its web required to log in with an user account. All personnel had one, and there were portable terminals with limited access as well which were usually given to long-staying patients and, more generally speaking, people who would spend long periods of time on the landship without being employees of the company. As for sensitive informations, those were actually stored on an entirely separate network. So, Suzuran's terminal asking her to input her account information before letting her browse the web would not be something worth writing home about under normal circumstances.

But Suzuran had Lappland's library card with her.

The lupo had requested one specifically to give it to Suzuran, in order to let the vulpo sneak into the adult-only section of the library per her own request -sort of-, a little infiltration operation which, thanks in good part to Shamare, went rather well all things considered. Suzuran, who on her part was still feeling kind of guilty about the whole ordeal, had meant to return the card after that. It would take her a while to read the books she had borrowed under Lappland's name, after all, and she had had no intention to hold on to it for long either way, but the lupo told her to just keep it, and so the card ended up remaining in her possession.

Nothing had really come of it for a while, in truth, until the moment Suzuran realized the informations written on the library card could be used to access the network too. And just like with the library, Lappland's account wouldn't have the limitations automatically placed on those of the kids.

She could sneak into the adult-only sections of Rhodes Island's web, just like she had done with its library.

... should she, though?

In the privacy of her room, Suzuran found herself staring at the log-in screen in silence, pondering what to do. On one hand, that wouldn't really be her first violation of Rhodes Island's rules. Even without taking into account her unlawful entry into the library's restricted section, she used to have a certain someone get her a few books from that very same area every now and then. With that in mind, simply using Lappland's account for a little while didn't seem like such a terrible addition to her list of crimes, as Suzuran herself called it in her mind. The existance of such a list weighted on her mind quite a lot, but that was an entirely different matter. Besides, she hadn't even asked Lappland if she could do that. Using her card to get past the locked doors in the library might've been bad, but the lupo at least knew what her card was being used for.

Suzuran moved her gaze from the screen to the drawer of her desk, the tempting card lying hidden within there, under a couple of unsuspicious notebooks. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that Lappland had definitively taken into account the possibility of something like that happening when she had told her to keep her library card. She was smart, after all, and she also seemed to be able to understand Suzuran's thought process really well. Now, Lappland hadn't actually thought that far ahead, but sometimes what one believed to be true was more important than what was actually true. So Suzuran figured it would probably be fine to use her account for just a little while, right? She would just... browse the store for a short while, yes. Sate her innocent curiosity a bit. And then she'd do the thing she had originally turned her terminal on for in the first place: play some relaxing music or maybe one of those asmr videos some people had started uploading recently and take care of her potted plants, which she had just recently moved from the greenhouse to her room because someone kept watering them too much, to the point a few of them had started to rot.

So she pulled the card out, typed the serial number into the username bar, the security code into the password bar and pushed enter. Now, most people actually changed both of those into something more personal than an half-randomized string of numbers and letters soon after receiving their personal account, but Lappland didn't really use hers often enough to care about it and Suzuran was simply unaware that such a thing could be done in the first place. Anyway, the little vulpo's terminal accepted her inputs and allowed her into the network as Lappland. She decided to head only to the store section of the web, her eyes noticing somewhat quickly a few buttons and voices which weren't there when she used her own account. Some of the things she saw seemed a bit... odd, as in she couldn't really see why something like dresses made of plastic, or weird, elongated triangles made of wood or little plastic eggs with a remote had an adult-only label on them. But others she could understand right away, if only because their shape left very, very little to the imagination. Then there were the clothes that were far too skimpy to possibly be worn in public, not to mention the undergarments which lacked the most important patches of fabric for some reason. Her curiosity managed to make her open the page of a few items here and there, but she ended up growing too embarrassed to keep looking rather quickly, closing the entire store page after just a few minutes, her cheeks bright red, her ears tall and her tails waving around.

So she decided to look for something to calm down instead, browsing the video section for a while and eventually finding a video nearly three and a half hours long of Goldenglow taking care of Skadi's hair, a couple of microphones taped slightly beneath the feline's wrists to better capture the sounds. A bit odd, Suzuran thought, but after listening to it for a few minutes she did find it really relaxing and so she left that to play as background noise while she took care of her plants.

---

There had been times, during her life, when Sussurro questioned the choices which had led her to her current situation. Back when she was a young teen, she had wondered if not following her parents' expectations had been fair of her. Back in university, she had wondered if being a medic was truly what she wanted. After having contracted oripathy, she had wondered how she would deal with her new status as an Infected, and what she could do with a life which would more likely than not end sooner than it was originally meant to. Sussurro had questioned herself and her path more than once, and she had always come to the conclusion that she would probably do the same choices all over again if she had to. There were things she wished could've gone better, yes, but she didn't regret her decisions.

Well, there was maybe one very particular set of choices for which that didn't apply. In fact, the vulpo was once again questioning herself right as she knocked on a certain door again.

"Mnh? Oh, if it ain't pipsqueak" Lappland chuckled as she opened said door from the inside, her lips curled up into a soft, cold smile which showed off her canines.

"It's Sussurro, Lappland. Sussurro, not pipsqueak. Is your oripathy flaring up again? It looks like your insomnia has returned" she added, unable to keep herself from noticing the large bags under the lupo's eyes.

"Look who's talking. Pulled another thirtysix shift?" she shot back, clearly amused by Sussurro's own bags "I'd say you need to let loose a bit, but you're here already so eh, nice call"

"Don't tease our guest so, steak" another voice spoke from deeper within the room, sending a cold shiver up Sussurro's spine "Her punctuality is not the most exciting of virtues, but it does keep me from growing bored on these occasions"

"Sure, whatever. Thanks for that, by the way" Lappland said back, having since long gotten used to that nickname "Come on in, pipsqueak"

"It's. Sussurro" the medic repeated for what might well have been the thousandth time since that entire ordeal had started.

A few steps later, and Sussurro found herself once more within the somewhat small confines of Lappland's dorm room. And she had to admit that, ever since the lupo had turned it into her personal kitchen, the everpresent aroma of food made the place a delight to smell, at least for someone who had both a vulpo's fine nose and a -true, as Lappland would specify- siracusan's appreciation for good cuisine.

"You do look more tired than usual, little doctor" Specter observed from her seat on Lappland's bed, legs crossed and hands on the sheets "We can always postpone this if you're not up to it"

"Need some coffee?"

"No thanks" Sussurro replied to both, although the only reason she refused the coffee was because the amount of caffeine in her body was already teetering the line between "too much" and "actually harmful".

"Very well then" Specter said as she got up, a certain kind of natural grace to her motions "Shall we get started?"

"Sure. How hungry are you?" Lappland asked the vulpo as she took a look into her fridge and pantry to check which ingredients she had aviable and in what amounts.

"... very" Sussurro begrudgingly admitted.

"Great! I fell like doing something really nice today! Oh, by the way. I've got a few things tucked under the bed, if you want to try them out" she added, briefly turning towards Specter before beginning to pull utensils and ingredients out.

"Do you now? How unusual" the huntress mused, crouching down just enough to reach a cardboard box and pull it out "Oh my, look at these"

"... really?" Sussurro wondered out loud as she took a look at the content herself.

This might be my chance.

"These are quite rude designs" the huntress commented as she pulled a couple of tools out "And here I hoped your toilets would be the most disappointing thing I would stumble upon"

For entirely different reasons, neither Lappland nor Sussurro said anything about that remark.

"Let's get started already" the vulpo said, walking up to Specter and feeling like the huntress had much more than twenty centimeters of height advantage over her.

"Eager, aren't we?" she said before grabbing Sussurro and placing her down on the bed with... enough gentleness, shall we say, straddling her right after "Well, I quite am too" she declared before sliding a finger into the medic's jacket and dragging it down, effortlessly tearing it and the shirt underneath in two.

"Wh- hey!"

"Don't worry, I'll pay them back" Specter shut her up immediatly, fastening a leather cuff around Sussurro's wrist and the other end of it to the bedframe, swiftly doing the same to her other hand in a way that kept her arms spread out.

"This does feel quite new" the huntress commented with a smile which would've almost looked kind, if not for her sharp teeth poking out from behind her lips "Comfortable, little snack?"

The word triggered all kind of alarm signals within Sussurro's brain, but she managed to shut them off somehow.

"Enough"

"That's the spirit"

Specter then took off the vulpo's shoes -without breaking them- and used another set of cuffs to secure her legs to the bed in much the same way she had done with her arms, taking care to position her so that she would remain exactly in the middle of the bed and even placing the pillow underneath her head. The doctor, on her part, found it both funny and unsettling that being literally chained to a bed couldn't make her feel nearly as helpless as being held directly by Specter's hands.

"Now let's unwrap you, shall we?"

"Do you really have to do it this way?" Sussurro said, seemingly annoyed by the way Specter simply tore her clothes off and threw them to the side, quickly leaving her naked except for her pantyhose and panties "I didn't bring a change with me" she pointed out, cheeks a bit red as she fought back the impulse to try and cover herself up somehow.

"Oh, trust me, snack" Specter replied, the soft line traced by her nails over the bare belly sending goosebumps across Sussurro's skin "I wouldn't treat your garments like this if you didn't enjoy it as well"

She opened her mouth to say something back but, upon jolting when the huntress' index pressed softly on her still covered but noticeably moist privates, Sussurro figured there was no point in arguing about that.

"Oh, hold on for a moment" Lappland interrupted them.

Most of the room was taken up by the kitchen, and with the way the bed was tucked into a corner Sussurro couldn't see much at all of what the lupo was up to, the headboard was in the way. But she could still hear her walk. Lappland then appeared into Sussurro's field of view, although it had taken her a little too long to cross the rather short distance.

"Alright, I'm ready"

"I'll win this time"

"My, my, confident, aren't we? I do like that" Specter said from the edge of the bed as she took another look at the box's contents.

"I think you won the moment you walked in, to be honest" Lappland said "Though we're talking about different kinds of victory I guess. But sure, I'm looking forward to that"

Now, it might be really hard to believe given the situation she was in, but Sussurro was actually in the middle of trying to convince someone to take proper care of their own health.

It all started the day Sussurro got forcibly kicked out of the medical ward by her colleagues due to her exhaustion having become too glaring to ignore. That was an especially busy period, admittedly, so much so they coudln't even spare enough time to look for someone to accompany her back to her own room for some much, much needed sleep, but there was a limit to how far a doctor could be allowed to overexert herself, and Sussurro had clearly crossed that line. Sussurro, as a matter of fact, ended up falling asleep before reaching her dorm. As it turned out, however, that was also the day Lappland, whose room wasn't all that far from Sussurro's, had decided to leave her door ajar while cooking, and the alluring scent of pizza lured the sleepwalking Sussurro right into the lupo's den. Lappland found that amusing enough to let the doctor crash on her bed and get some sleep. She was one of the few people on the landship who knew what true siracusan cuisine was supposed to taste like, after all, that was in itself enough to deserve a bare minimum of respect.

That wasn't actually why Sussurro had voiced her concerns about stuff like the chocolate pasta, in truth, but that's somewhat of a different matter.

Unfortunately for the doctor, when she woke up she found Specter staring at her, since apparently the huntress had decided to pay Lappland a little visit for breakfast that day. Not quite surprisingly, Sussurro went right back into work mode and started to tell the lupo about how she couldn't just keep skipping all her routine check-ups and that she had to start taking her own health seriously. After having thanked her for not having kicked her out the night before.

Lappland couldn't really bring herself to care, in truth, but she was feeling rather generous that day. The pizza she had for dinner the previous day had turned out great, after all, and Specter's presence just so happened to give her an idea. So she offered Sussurro a deal: she would start actually going to her check-ups and even follow the doctors' advices from there on, but only if Sussurro could manage to have sex with Specter for as long as it would take Lappland to cook something without tapping -or passing- out. They could eat it together afterwards, and Sussurro could even get as many retries as she wanted, whenever she wanted so far as both the lupo and the huntress were aviable. Specter herself found the proposal plenty amusing. Sussurro... not so much. That was a serious matter she was discussing, not a game.

However.

However, three things combined to make her agree to that. For starter, Lappland was a woman of her word, as far as she knew. If she promised she would start listening to Sussurro's advices like a good patient, then she would. Then there was the fact that, while the title of best chef of the landship wasn't really held by anyone -and only partially because it didn't actually exist to begin with- it would be pretty much impossible to find someone better than Lappland when it came to siracusan cuisine. Much to the chagrin of the kitchen's staff, considering the kind of vitriol the lupo would throw at them every chance she got. And Sussurro really, really liked her homeland's cuisine.

And lastly... Sussurro was pent up. Really, really pent up. She wasn't in a relationship with anyone, and looking for a casual hookup was hard for someone as focused on her work as her, not to mention how little time she took off from said work. It could probably be argued that her particular physique wasn't much help in that regard either.

So yes, she had agreed to that. Lappland hadn't expected that, in truth, but she and Specter had a sort of unspoken agreement between them, so she wasn't worried about having to actually follow up on her word.

And as a matter of fact, Sussurro had failed to resist Specter's affections for a grand total of nineteen times so far, no matter how long Lappland's chosen recipe for the occasion required to be made. The huntress had even managed to make her give up in three minutes and a half, once, an experience Sussurro had horribly mixed feelings about. Still, if anyone were to ask her she'd say she kept coming back to the two women because, as a doctor, she couldn't pass up a chance to get someone ill to willingly undergo proper treatment. However, had she not liked the way Specter could reduce her to a wet, quivering, at times even sobbing mess, she'd have probably given up already.

So, yeah. Sussurro was feeling pretty confident about her twentieth attempt. That was her first experience with bondage and the like, sure, but such man-made toys surely couldn't compare to Specter, and if the huntress truly wanted to try them out then Sussurro had a really good chance of making it to the end for once.

"What are you preparing this time?" she asked Lappland, the sound of a vibrating wand buzzing to life diverting a good half of her attention.

"Lasagne"

Oh, great. Sussurro loved thos- wait. Wait, wait wait wait.

"You're not making them from scratch, right?"

"Oh, you silly little thing" Lappland replied, bending down ninety degrees and then some, her nose pretty much touching Sussurro's "Of course I am"

"You can't be seriuaaahhh!?"

Her own moan mixing together with the lupo's laughter, Sussurro looked down to see Specter lying on her belly next to her, her legs up and kicking the air as she pressed the vibrating wand against the doctor's privates with the most innocent of smiles on her face, the vulpo's entire body shaking as intense vibrations reverberated across her hips.

"Ooohhh, that's nice, that's nice" the huntress said, tapping her fingers on Sussurro's belly, her nails digging into her skin softly but not overly so, her other hand firmly holding the toy in place "Do you like it, snack? I'd say you do?"

"This is just... a physiological reaction" she answered, her eyes looking for a clock and failing to find any.

"Eheheheh"

She could take that. The wand could still go up a bit in intensity, probably, but Specter's direct touch was much, much more stimulating than those vibrations. But... a pan of lasagne would take at least two hours to make, possibly even three. The oven hadn't even been turned on yet when she had walked in earlier.

... it's alright. I can do this.

"Oh, I love that look on your face" Specter commented, her face dangerously close to the vulpo's, teeth in full display "Let me see it break down again"

...

...

...

"Gotta say I'm impressed" Lappland commented, walking up to her bed while drying her hands with a towel "Still going strong I see"

"She's sturdy for someone of her size" Specter commented "You have quite the eye for spotting fun people, don't you, steak?"

As for Sussurro, she wasn't exactly in conditions to join the conversation. Her skin was covered in sweat, and other fluids too between her legs. Her arms and legs had grown tired by pulling against the chains securing her to the bed, the only reward for her efforts being sheer exhaustion. Her lungs were in a nearly perpetual state of half-emptiness, her breaths heavy, ragged and irregular. That was, incidentally, the main reason why she wasn't making too much noise: she had neither the strength nor the air needed to loudly vocalize anymore. Her privates had turned red from the decidedly too long, uninterrupted contact with the vibrating wand, still mercilessly pressed against her, the loud buzzing and constant stimulation bringing arguably more discomfort than pleasure to her decidedly overstimulated nerves by then. She still occasionally tried to move her hips away, but Specter would simply follow her around with a soft, amused laugh, never allowing her a moment of rest and loving every second of it. At some point a vibrating egg had been tucked into her rear too, and in that regard one could say Sussurro was lucky that Specter was only mildly interested in the content of Lappland's little box, otherwise she might've pulled something else out of it. Not like it was overflowing with options either.

Still, that wasn't all. It never was, with Specter. Sussuro had, in truth, started to accumulate a fair number of scars ever since that arrangement of theirs had started, the overwhelming majority of which had been left by the huntress' teeth. Pointier and sharper than any normal person had any need for, Specter's teeth could easily pierce through Sussurro's skin and touch her flesh directly, not to mention what they could do to the flesh itself. It wouldn't have been difficult at all for her to simply bite off entire chunks of the medic's body either, for the matter, but she always made sure to greatly restrain herself in that regard. That was in itself a fun game too, after all.

To make things even more exciting -though Sussurro wouldn't admit to that even under torture- was the fact that Specter healed quickly, even when compared to the other abyssal hunters. So quickly that she had no problems simply pulling out one of her teeth and using it as a sort of needle, poking Sussurro's skin here and there, dragging it along her body and drawing thin, shallow, red lines over her, using the blunter side of said tooth to tease her stiff nipples, sending yet more pleasure coursing into her system. And she would occasionally stick the tooth into her, just deep enough to leave it standing on its own before pulling another one from her mouth and toying with her some more.

As sternly -and futilely- as Sussurro would scorn Specter later for that, in the heat of the act itself all she could do was love every moment of it, much to her own shock and disbelief admittedly.

There were currently six or seven teeth softly stuck into her, and Sussurro's convulsions when another orgasm shook her body managed to make one fall off.

"I've got good news, pipsqueak" Lappland said, bending forward so that the vulpo could see her face by simply looking up "The pan's in the oven. It's been for quite a while already, even"

... oh, right. The food. That did explain what that pleasant aroma she had been smelling was. It also reminded Sussurro of how hungry she was, too.

Specter got on all fours on top of her, taking the wand away from her throbbing, drenched, quivering entrance for the first time in far too long and casually tossing it on the sheets, both hands now free to cup her flushed cheeks, made sticky by all her sweat.

"So, tell me, little snack. Are you at your limit?"

Sussurro's gaze somehow managed to focus, her attention falling completely on the bright red eyes in front of her and ending up lost in them. She took the chance to catch her breath, at least enough to be able to say something.

"I... I can... take this"

Aaahhh, there it was. That sweet, wide, soft smile, the surprisingly addicting smirk of a predator whose prey just promised to keep them entertained for a bit longer. A cold chill ran from the tip of Sussurro's tail all the way to her nape, shaking her to the core, fear and expectations and something else still mixing together to make her forget just how tired she had been before even getting started with all of that.

"I'll hold you to it, brave little doctor" Specter whispered in her ear, and the moment she heard those words Sussurro realized she would be losing once more.

Once again, her arms pulled against the cuffs tying her to the bed out of sheer reflex, the sharp feeling of Specter's teeth resting on her shoulder triggering all sorts of alarm signals in her brain, tiny drops of vivid red beginning to decorate her skin, the huntress' breath feeling almost cold on her tired, overheated body. Specter pushed the tip of her index down on Sussurro's throat, pushing her into the sheets with no effort and sliding her finger down, her nail threatening to cleanly part her skin open as it lovingly moved down between her nonexistent breasts, over her belly, past her navel to reach her painfully stiff clit, a mere flick of Specter's finger causing the oversensitive nub of nerves to explode into another overload of uncomfortable pleasure and odd pain, the two mixing together in a way that Sussurro's body had gotten used to by then, for better or for worse.

Specter moved her mouth to the side, teasing her neck directly with each and every one of her teeth, Sussurro's fur somehow standing up even further as fear and primal excitement took over her.

"Y-you... are not going to bite, right... ?" she managed to ask, partially to get some reassurance about her own safety and partially to at least try and trick herself into believing that she wasn't feeling hopelessly turned on by the kind of danger she had yet again thrusted herself into.

"I'd love to" Specter whispered next to her, relishing in the way her words made the short medic tremble with fear and excitement.

An exchange they had already had more than a few times, that one, and still Sussurro couldn't help but feel her heartrate rise whenever they traded those same lines.

Specter adjusted her position over her a little, placing her legs underneat Sussurro's to better feel her struggle against the restraints whenever her body decided to try and pull against them again despite her mind's better judgement. She slid her hand further down, feeling the vulpo's hot, sticky folds make way for her fingers, her digits reaching exactly for the one spot where Sussurro was most sensitive, the mere act of getting into position forcing something in equal parts a moan and a groan out of the doctor's lips.

Then she trailed her other hand up, drawing a line over Sussurro's hip, tapping each rib on her way up and stopping for a few moments between her clavicles before closing the little distance left to her mouth. In what the medic could only see as a surprisingly exciting act of mockery, Specter placed her index and thumb against the vulpo's canines, not quite as prominent as those of a lupo but nonetheless more developed than those of most other races. And she pushed against them, puncturing herself on their tips as she forced her mouth open, a few drops of blood falling right onto her tongue, roughly half of her being trying to find a way to point out everything that was wrong with that, her current inability to speak stopping her attempts before they could even truly start.

"Have you filled your lungs, dear?" Specter whispered once more, her teeth grazing Sussurro's skin with every letter she pronounced "You better have"

Then her fingers sprang to action.

Sussurro didn't exactly know everything there was to know about Specter, physically speaking. The huntress' medical records were not something just anyone could access and, at the end of the day, the vulpo held no role of particular relevancy in the medical ward, she was just another doctor. The one with the worst work-life balance after Kal'Tsit herself, probably, but that in itself didn't really give her any kind of higher clearance. With all of that said, she still knew that Specter's raw physical strength far exceeded what her appearance would suggest. The discrepancy was greater than even that one could find in a forte. And she had perfect control over it.

Specter pushed her middle and anular fingers against Sussurro's weakest spot and dragged them over it with extreme precision and merciless intensity. And much like a sculptor working on an especially sturdy stone, Specter hit her again and again, feeling piling up over feeling as the vulpo's whole body trembled. To make things worse -or better- the huntress made sure to make use of her other fingers as well, her thumb poking, teasing and rubbing Sussurro's clit, showering it with the same kind of care as her insides, her index and little finger simply pushing down on her, the entire hand occasionally jolting, vibrating almost, simply to stimulate her even further.

The chains clang and rattled for a brief moment as Sussurro instinctively tried to get away, but Specter's mouth was still open around her neck. The huntress herself wasn't moving, she was perfectly still in fact, but that only meant Sussurro couldn't afford to tremble or quiver lest she stabbed herself on those senselessly sharp teeth.

"Is this a new record?" Lappland asked, having just returned from her brief trip to the oven to make sure nothing was burning, her hands busy drying one of the pots she had used and cleaned earlier.

"It is" Specter replied, amusement all over her face and in her every word as she got up on her knees, straddling Sussurro "But I fear this is as far as she can go"

"Figures" Lappland chuckled back as she stared at the medic, who had just passed out with a peculiar expression on her face, one which seemed more pleased than anything else "Alright, now clean up, would you? I've got a guest coming over this evening, can't have this mess lying around"

Specter took a sniff at the air. Her sense of smell was arguably the most ordinary thing about her, but the aroma of lasagne permeating the room by then was strong enough anyone with a functioning nose could catch it.

"I suppose I can do that for you... "

""I suppose" she says"

"... after I've given our little guest here a thorough cleaning in your bathtub, wouldn't you say?"

"Fine, have it your way, meatgrinder"

"Eheh"

And so Specter released Sussurro from the restraints and strolled away into the bathroom with the doctor in her arms. Lappland, on her part, grabbed a pair of headphones, walked to the pillow of her bed, took a small recorder out of it and plugged the headset into it. She wasn't all that interested in that particular recording, but its quality confirmed that the thing was serviceable. She put both that and the headphones away and took another look at her bed. The little gizmos had done their job it would seem, catching Specter's attention and keeping her from damaging the frame or the mattress. Changing the sheets was one thing, changing the entire bed was another, and Lappland couldn't afford the time to do the latter, not on that particular day. Not like Lappland had bought those toys for that particular reason though.

...

...

...

Sussurro woke up wrapped in a comfortably heavy blanket, dried up and with smooth, almost glistening hair, fur and skin. Even a little braid on one side of her head.

"Here" she heard Lappland say, the lupo giving Specter two insulated lunch boxes "Reheat it the way I told you if it gets cold by the time you start eating it. Oh, pipsqueak's back up"

"Good afternoon, little doctor" Specter greeted.

Sussurro blinked a few times, and only then realized that she was being carried on the huntress' back. She wasn't sure if that made her feel safe or endangered and, had she not been so horribly exhausted, she'd have found that uncertainty exciting. She'd also have demanded to be put down.

Still, that did explain what the brief, sharp pain in her leg had been. Specter had pinched her hard enough to wake her up. Figures.

"... I'll get you to undergo proper treatment next time" she told Lappland, using sheer force of will -or mere stubborness- to lift her arm and point her finger at the lupo.

"I'm sure you will, pipsqueak" she said back, not even trying to hide the burning sarcasm permeating her words "Now go away, you two. I'm a busy woman"

Sussurro wanted to say something, but Specter's back was too warm and cozy, sapping what liffle strenght she might've still had away from her, the alluring aroma of delicious lasagna still lingering in the air being the only thing just barely keeping her awake. Somewhat annoying, being so tired that she couldn't even eat them right now, but... that was probably on her. She barely managed to register the two women speaking to each other before Specter spun around on one leg, almost as if dancing, and walked away, her stride an odd, purposefully relaxing gait which quickly lulled the much too tired doctor back to sleep.

Sussurro would wake up again around nine and a half hours later in her room, stark naked, starved and dehydrated but also surprisingly refreshed. It was a bit hard to admit it for her, but that whole ordeal she had going with those two was... well, she needed that. But she didn't want to think too much about it at the moment, so she got right up instead, found the lunchbox in her minifridge, reheated it in the microwave -kind of a shame, but that's all she had in her room unfortunately-, ate, drank, drank some more, then drank a lot more water still, took a shower for good measure, picked a new set of clothes from her wardrobe -one which would hide the little marks on her neck- and headed to work early, all ready for another shift.

Possibly a double one.

---

Suzuran was a little bit worried, admittedly, but she tried her best to not show it as she walked through the hallways of Rhodes Island. She was used to spending time with Lappland, she liked it even, but that usually happened by way of the lupo simply barging into her room whenever she wanted. It was much rarer for her to go to Lappland's dormitory. And that was her first time being formally invited to do so, which is what truly had set off a few butterflies in her stomach. She had never received an handwritten invitation from Lappland before, an invitation which even specified at what hour to arrive. As she thought about it some more, her feets quickly taking her to her destination, Suzuran came to the conclusion that she was more excited than anxious.

That was also the first time Lappland had insisted for her to skip dinner, so much so it was written three times in her message.

So they would be eating together, Suzuran figured.

There was a certain word that sounded like an exceptionally good fit for describing what such an event was, but Suzuran couldn't even manage to think about it without turning bright red and so did her best to avoid doing so. She had, however, picked something elegant for the occasion: a long, black dress, layered so at to allow her tails to poke out from above the skirt segment to not keep said skirt lifted up all the time -by all means an ordinary quality of all clothes meant for people endowed with one or more tails-, with matching shoes, a couple of hairpins and even two wrist cuffs. She had originally meant for that to be much more similar to the dress she had once seen Shamare wear, admittedly, but she ended up getting more than a few details wrong when she asked Bibeak if she could sew something like that for her. Partially because she didn't want it to be too obvious, admittedly, but partially simply because she remembered some bits and pieces wrong. Then she ended up never even using it, a good occasion seemed to just not show itself. Until that evening, that is.

And so there she was, all dressed up and excited -and also rather hungry, to be totally honest- as she stood in front of Lappland's door, knocking a couple of times and keeping herself from walking in place. The door opened after a minute at most, but not enough to let Suzuran in. In fact, it was just barely open enough for Lappland to take a look outside with a single eye.

The first thing Suzuran noticed was the soft redness of the eye peeking at her, and then the clearly pronounced bag under it. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, however, the door flung open and a pair of hands grabbed her to pull her inside, her feet touching the floor at about the same time the sound of the door closing hit her ears. The whole thing happened so quickly Suzuran was left a little dizzy from it, but after her brief moment of confusion passed she found herself face to face with a crouched Lappland.

"Morsel! Look at you, all dressed nice and sharp! Aww, ain't you lovely!" she said, shouted almost, as she ruffled her hair and scratched her right behind the ears.

Suzuran found herself torn between the courteous obligation of telling Lappland that messing up her hair so aggressively not even a minute after her arrival was kind of rude and the innocent desire of simply appreciating the way she was massaging the back of her head, her tails waving softly in response to the lupo's expert touch. So she decided to do neither and move to a different subject altogether.

"Miss Lappland, you look tired" she said, staring at those dark rings under her eyes "Has your insomnia returned?"

She hadn't seen Lappland at all the past few days due to personal commitments and the lupo's own antics, and by the looks of it she hadn't slept much during that time. Not a new occurrence, admittedly, and also far from the worst kind of side symptoms which could come from Oripathy, but none of that kept Suzuran from worrying.

"Eh, sorta has, sorta hasn't, don't worry about that" she brushed the subject away, sliding a finger over the vulpo's cheek and into her mouth to get a good feel of her teeth and holding herself back from stabbing her own index on those little canines of hers "Is that all you have to say about me though?" she then asked, taking half a step back and standing up straight, arms wide as if to show off something.

And that's when Suzuran noticed something which had somehow eluded her up until then.

Lappland had nothing but her underwear on. And not even the usual, plain, sporty one but a nightgown instead. A long, silvery one with a weird amount of frills, a far too generous cleavage and an even more outrageous cut on the front half which left her belly exposed. The straps running over her shoulders to hold it in place were somewhat thin, woven together into a vague but still pretty nice pattern, and an outer layer enveloped her from the chest down, reaching almost all the way to her bare feet. She had even put on a pair of highleg panties. And to make things even worse for Suzuran's poor heart, the entire thing was basically transparent. The most important bits were covered by thicker fabric which did its job, but aside from those small areas there really wasn't much difference between the bare skin and the clothed one.

"So, what do you think?" Lappland asked, laughed almost, as she spun around to better show off the garment.

Now, to be completely honest, Lappland wasn't one for lingerie of any kind. Not on herself, at the very least. And nothing about that particular model had caught her interest. If anything, she thought it was a poor fit for her. But she did have a couple of reasons for having put it on anyway, one of which being right in front of her.

Suzuran, in the meanwhile, had almost slapped herself with how hard she had slammed both hands on her own face, fingers parted on the right side so that she could still take an embarrassed look at the lupo, even if with just one eye. Her cheeks having already turned a bright shade of red, Suzuran found her gaze running all over the lupo's body, her shyness preventing her from focusing on a single spot for more than half a second, which in turn made her grow even more embarassed as she saw more and more of what Lappland had purposefully bared.

Lappland, on her part, didn't want to laugh too loudly. But she figured a simple chuckle would be fine, and so she allowed herself an hearthy one as she kneeled back in front of Suzuran.

"Come on morsel, don't leave me hangin' here"

"I-a-wel-th-a-awawa... "

This time Lappland laughed more intensely.

"Sure, I get it, I get it!" she said, petting her head with even more vigor than before.

"M-miss Lappland, how do you... n-no, I mean" she corrected herself, not really wanting to bring up a little important detail about that negligee "A-aren't you cold?"

"I'll be plenty warm in a short while anyway, morsel"

"Oh, that's good then. But be careful not to catch a cold"

"I swear you'll make my fangs fall off one of these days"

"Eh? H-how?"

"Nevermind that" she abruptly changed the subject as she got back up and walked away.

Suzuran followed her along, not sure if it was more impolite to stare at her tail or at her perfectly outlined rear and settling on focusing on her feet instead. She did look back up when the lupo stopped moving however, her gaze falling on what she felt like was a rather large service trolley covered by a blanket. An heavy one, long enough to drag on the floor a little and even scented.

"So, morsel" Lappland said as she grabbed it with a little bit of theatricality "I sure hope you're hungry"

She quite literally threw the blanket at the wall, paying only enough attention to make it not land on the kitchen. The sight hit Suzuran hard, but nowhere near as hard as the sudden onslaught of alluring scents coming from the trolley, her empty stomach compelling her to droll a little bit.

There were sweets on that trolley. Sweets, desserts, cookies and pastries, dozens upon dozens of them, each portion bite-sized, each one different in at least some elements from the others. She realized there was a bit of saliva trailing down along her chin only when a not too soft rumble from her stomach brought her back to reality, her face turning even redder. Between that and Lappland's choice of outfit, Suzuran wasnt's sure she coul recall having ever gotten so embarassed so quickly before in her life. And the lupo truly couldn't get enough of the nervous twitch of those massive ears, of that flustered expression, of the slightly nervous waving of those tails.

Lappland would've wondered just how exactly nobody had eaten her up yet, had she not done so herself already.

"... miss Lappland, you're so mean!"

"... ah?"

Now that she hadn't seen coming.

"Now hold it there, morsel. What?"

She'd have used much, much harsher words to describe herself if asked, to tell the truth, but being accused of meanness right after having bared that feast felt like a supremely undeserved accusation.

"I told you I'm trying to watch my weight!" Suzuran pouted, although the way she kept eyeing each and every single thing on the trolley made it pretty clear where her heart stood.

Lappland nearly found herself rolling on the floor, just barely managing to curl up on herself a little instead, holding her belly as she laughed.

"Still?! How long have you been on a diet for now?"

"I'm not on a diet, I am just being mindful of what I eat. And... "

"Besides" she added before Suzuran could have time to finish, grabbing her and pushing her down into a sort of casqué, one hand behind her back and the other stealing a long, generous feel of her tails "These have filled up quite nicely, haven't they? Oh, some went here too!" she chuckled as she briefly ran her palm over the vulpo's rear too.

"Miss Lappland!"

"Ah! Short as ever but a little rounder!"

"Wh- that's rude!"

Twirling Suzuran back onto her feet -and leaving her a little disoriented for a couple of seconds- Lappland half guided and half dragged her onto the bed, which was at roughly one step of distance from the trolley actually.

"Alright, I know you're hungry and I'd love to get to dinner myself but" she explained as she pressed a finger on Suzuran's little nose "There's one matter we have to settle first" she declared, suddenly sounding a lot less... cheerful.

Suzuran swallowed. What exactly, she couldn't tell, but she swallowed. Her tails brushed against something behind her, and she turned around to see a small cardboard box lying on the table within her arm's reach.

"Go ahead, take a look" Lappland urged her.

And so, suddenly feeling an entirely different kind of anxiety, Suzuran grabbed the box and dragged it closer. It wasn't all that heavy, and by moving it around she could hear a few things scrambling within. Hoping from the bottom of her heart that Lappland's choice of lingerie was truly nothing more than a coincidende, she took a deep breath and opened the box.

Her heart sank a little bit. Her ears and tail, a little more.

"Mo. R. Se. L" Lappland whispered right next to her, the odd pauses in her voice sending a shiver down Suzuran's spine, the firm grasp of her fingers on the vulpo's shoulder making her feel like a freshly caught fowlbeast, the pressure of the woman's nearly naked chest on her ensuring that her heart rate wouldn't drop to normal levels "How do you call a person who helps you doing something?"

A single bead of sweat ran down her forehead. Her ears twitched.

"... an... a collaborator?"

"That works, yes" the lupo said, pulling Suzuran closer and closer, running her hands over her tiny shoulders, sliding a palm over her chest to feel her every pulse "And how do you call someone who entrusted one of their belongings to you, only to have said belonging used without their knowledge to break the law?"

"... m-miss Lappland, I really didn't d- "

"If you ask me, that's a fool. Congratulations, morsel, you made a fool out of me. That's no easy feat, you know?"

The content of that box and the lupo's current outfit had already told her as much, since they were all things Suzuran had clicked on while browsing the web store with her account, but Lappland's words made it all the more clear: she knew.

As for how, well, that's actually pretty simple. Lappland had received a message telling her that her account was being used on a new device, a pretty stardard warning. Add to that the fact that Suzuran neither used an incognito mode nor deleted the navigation history of the account and, well... yeah.

"I j-just looked at the web store a bit!" she said, turning around as swiftly as she could manage to while sitting on her knees on top of a mattress "That's all, really! I promise!"

"Boop" was Lappland's reply, a finger resting on Suzuran's nose for a couple of seconds before flicking against her forehead "Morsel! It's nothing that major, really!" she laughed, having the time of her life just by looking at the rising mix of emotions showing up on Suzuran's face, a concoction of relief, confusion, surprise, worry and even a tiny little bit of amusement.

"... t-that was so mean of you!" she sort of complained, sort of not, bashing her fists against the lupo in a way that could only be described as playful "I really thought you were angry at me!"

"Morsel dear, if that were enuogh to make me angry the mansion's garden would've been a lot greener!"

"... I don't think I understood that one, miss Lappland"

"Why do you have to always make things awkward? Oh, well, anyway" she continued, leaning forward on Suzuran enough to push her down on the sheets "I'm not angry, but that doesn't mean I can let you off the hook for having used something mine without asking for permission, now can I? I'm the adult here, I have to impart discipline"

Suzuran swallowed.

"Miss Lappland" she managed to say "You... you just want to play, don't you?"

For a few seconds, silence filled the room. Suzuran herself would say her heart was beating way too loudly in truth, every moment which went by without an answer nurturing the fear of having said something bad. But the smile which appeared on Lappland's face was one she was familiar with, one which kind of soothed her nerves, kind of not.

"You know, listening to our local meatgrinder having fun with little pipsqueak all morning really got me in the mood. So yeah, I want to play. But you still did something bad, morsel. As an adult, I can't just let your misbehaviour go unpunished, now can I?" she said, sort of wondering how exactly she had managed to spit out that last part while keeping a straight face.

"W-well" Suzuran stammered, redness returning to her cheeks "It's n-not that I don't want to play with you, Miss Lappland, but... I haven't had dinner yet, so... "

Meatgrinder was... probably Specter, the little vulpo mused as she spoke. She was almost sure that's how Lappland called her. As for pipsqueak... she felt like she had heard the lupo use that nickname with someone before, but she couldn't quite recall who exactly.

"As I said" Lappland replied, getting back up a bit and dragging the box closer "I've gotta punish you a little, you know? Oh, don't worry!" she added with a chuckle "There's gonna be a real nice price for you at the end!"

Once again, Suzuran swallowed something. And wondered if she could maybe talk her way out of it somehow, since nothing bad had really happened. Then again, she did use Lappland's account without her permission, and that was in itself a bad thing.

"I... sure. I understand" she agreed, telling herself that yes, she could manage to wait a little bit more before eating.

"Alright, tell me a number" Lappland said as she got off the bed, carrying the box with her.

"Eh? Ah, I don't know... four? No, five?"

"And five it is then!" she said, Suzuran's tails wavering every time the lupo sank her hand into the box to grab something and throw it onto the sheets, five times in total "Now let's play, morsel, let's play! We haven't tasted each other in a while after all!"

Turning bright red at the sight of the tools lying next to her, Suzuran found herself wondering if she could call herself lucky or not with that particular selection. Though there was one item which kind of stood out among them. She turned her eyes towards Lappland, the way the lupo was looking at her making her feel small and helpless and safe all at once, a rather odd mix she hadn't quite entirely gotten used to yet.

"Alright, here comes" Lappland spoke as she grabbed Suzuran and threw her up in the air, chuckling at her half-panicked, surprised shriek before grabbing her again and making her land gently enough on the sheets, face down "Tell me if it's too tight, morsel. Don't wanna choke you here"

Suzuran, on her part, had just barely had the time to understand she had gotten back on the bed before a set of leather cuffs lined with soft linen closed around her neck and wrists, each one linked to each other by a chain which was around half as long as Suzuran's ears.

"T-these are... ?" she tried to ask, not really sure what it was which she wanted to ask in the first place.

"So?"

"Well, they are... a-ahem... comfortable?" she improvised, immediatly wondering if that hadn't been a poor way of saying that they weren't too tight.

"That so?"

Suzuran felt her hips get pulled up a bit, a surprised yelp leaving her mouth as another leather cuff -more like a belt, given its size- was placed slightly beneath her waist, underneath her dress. She yelped again when both her feet got pulled up as well, her ankles swiftly getting bound to said belt in much the same way her wrists had to the collar. She could still manage to walk around on her knees like that, maybe, but stretching her legs out was impossible, much less standing up properly.

"Nice shoes, these ones" Lappland commented as she took them off her, taking a quick sniff at them before tossing them aside, leaving only a pair of short socks to cover her little feet "You've got tastes, morsel"

"A-awawa... t-thanks, miss Lappl-ah?!"

"No worries, it's all fine!" she reassured her as she ran a black cloth over her eyes, taking her vision away.

Then she lifted Suzuran again, sitting on the edge on the bed with the little vulpo positioned between her own legs, her tails on each of the lupo's sides, the food trolley placed more or less within the lupo's reach.

"Alright morsel, here's the rules" she whispered, keeping one of Suzuran's large ears still with her teeth while rubbing her belly and thighs over her dress, Suzuran's entire body shivering in response "We will play together for a bit. Only thing I won't do is feed you. You can ask me any one thing and I'll obey your request no matter what, and then we'll be done playing for today. You can also call it quits whenever. But! That means playtime's over. Oh, and you only get to eat a single dish from the stuff I made for every minute we play"

At the mention of food, Suzuran sniffed the air instinctively, all the alluring scents coming from right next to her nearly making her drool again. A small pout formed on her face, but she managed to make it disappear.

"But I can't see the clock like this" she pointed out, with a little bit of a pout on her face.

"The clock sure can see you though, that's good enough" she laughed softly, her fangs threatening to sink into Suzuran's ear, a cold but oddly enjoyable shiver running down her spine.

"I... I don't think that's true"

"Oh, just to make sure" Lappland added "Is this dress important?"

Suzuran's free ear twitched.

"I'd rather not have it ruined"

She wouldn't even know where to begin explaining to Bibeak that she needed another one. Now, Bibeak wouldn't have minded making her a new dress regardless of the reason why Suzuran might want or need a second one, but that was a different matter.

"It sure won't then!"

Before the vulpo could say anything else, assuming she had any intention to, Lappland slid an hand underneath said dress, her fingers slipping right past Suzuran's panties and plunging right into her little privates, a surprised shriek shaking her entire body.

"Woah, morsel, pent up much?" Lappland joked at the feeling of tangible wetness which had welcomed her digits inside "Or did you just miss me?"

"Th-that's... it's a... a... awawawa... "

Despite being blindfolded, Suzuran brought both hands to her face to hide it -arguably the only thing she could do with her wrists bound like that- as Lappland stirred her insides the way only she could do, two fingers probing her hot, throbbing privates while her thumb played with her stiff clit through the damp fabric of her panties, each touch forcing an equally pleased and embarassed moan out of Suzuran as a warm, tingling feeling sparked to life and grew in intensity within her.

"Tell me, morsel, tell me" Lappland said, though her voice came out a little weird as she was still nibbling Suzuran's ear "How is it?"

She could tell just by looking that Suzuran was instinctively trying to open her legs a bit, probably a subconscious attempt at getting some footing if anyone were to ask Lappland, and she found that sight quite cute. Funny, even. And she could also tell that Suzuran was feeling it more than usual by the way her scent was changing. The little vulpo had always had an exceptional scent, if one were to ask Lappland. Right there and then, however, it had a strong tint of carnality, typical of someone excited, held back by the characteristic tinge of hesitancy that always seeped from her whenever they got down and dirty. Beneath those was the more personal, stable scent of Suzuran herself, a sweet and alluring fragrance which lured Lappland in like a forbidden promise of something the lupo didn't actually want to name. She leaned further against her, taking a deeper sniff of her, digging further into her aroma, briefly filtering out her alluring moans to better focus on her scent. It had faint traces of unrelished violence to it, tainted by the lingering aroma of a Siracusa the lupo felt oddly unfamiliar with, a fragrance which brought to her mind the rain seen from a closed window. Deeper still were weak hints of a distant land, a faintly sour note that touched the entire fragrance of the vulpo's being. Lappland bit the ear trapped between her teeth a little harder, red nearly spilling forth as the tiny body bound in her grasp squirmed around, and dug even deeper, letting go of the ear to sink her nose into Suzuran's hair and fur, filling her nostrils with that soothing, intoxicating aroma.

But she couldn't quite get lost there, now could she. Not yet, at the very least.

"So?" she asked again, running her fingers on the very edge of the spots where she knew from experience Suzuran was most sensitive, her thumb now drawing circles around her clit, her other hand alternating between fondling her chest and caressing her cheeks.

"I-it's... w-well... a... awaw-aaahhh... " Suzuran tried to answer, failing more out of shame than anything else.

Being unable to move was... not entirely new, in a certain sense. Lappland could just pin her down with one hand and effectively prevent her from moving away even without the need of actual, physical restraints after all. She'd done so before already, on a few occasions. In that regard, being tied felt more like an intriguing game she wasn't sure she should be partaking in, though the cuffs were surprisingly comfy around her. The collar was loose enough to move around when she pulled on it with her wrists, and that one was somewhat annoying, but it also was nothing she couldn't bear with.

The blindfold, on the other hand.

She couldn't see a thing with that cloth tied over her eyes, and that forced her attention on her other senses. She could've sworn Lappland's hands were warmer than usual that evening, the lukewarm air around her giving her goosebumps the moment the lupo's palms left her to trail over another part of her body. The fangs holding her ear in place seemed sharper too, though Suzuran wasn't really so far gone yet as to not think that maybe Lappland was just biting down a little bit harder.

Then there was her voice. She was making a point to speak in a low, hushed tone, downright whispering at times, but her words seemed to lull Suzuran into a peculiar kind of comfort, an odd sort of restless peace which made her unsure what to do. And her scent. The alluring aromas coming from the nearby trolley did distract her a bit from Lappland's scent, admittedly, but not quite enough to keep her from being unaffected. Especially because her nose was sensitive enough that she didn't even have to try to catch all those different smells at once, and Lappland's one was a most peculiar fragrance. It was cold, reaching deep into Suzuran like a blade and chilling her from within, while at the same time enveloping her with something warm and broken, loving but somehow not entirely functional, the opposite feelings fueling each other.

Lappland then pulled her fingers out, sending a sudden jolt through Suzuran and then many weaker ones still as she tapped on her thighs, not really gently but not roughly either, her other hand sliding underneath her dress to play with her stiff nipples directly, pleasure building up enough to make the vulpo consider the idea of biting her own lips.

"You're bucking them, you know?" Lappland chuckled as she caressed her hips, getting a very embarassed yelp out of Suzuran "Aawww, my fingers are all sticky now"

"... m-miss Lappland, please don't say that... "

"Oh? You won't eat much if you already ask me something, morsel"

"Ah! N-no, I didn't mean it like that!" she frantically corrected herself, getting another laugh out of the lupo.

"Thought so!"

Suzuran suddenly felt herself fall backwards, another yelp escaping her as her back hit the soft sheets and, by what she could tell, Lappland moved around, almost to straddle her, leaning down to run her warm, perhaps even hot tongue on the vulpo's neck, tingles making their way up and down along her skin, her breaths becoming a little heavier still.

Then something similar to a moan made its way out of her lips as a cold, oval object entered her panties, softly buzzing to ensure she would notice its presence as Lappland placed it right on her wet entrance, tapping it through the fabric a couple of times just to make Suzuran jolt.

That had probably been a bit awkward to do given their position, the little vulpo managed to think, but Lappland was flexible. Or maybe her mental image of their current position had gotten a bit messed up due to the circumstances.

"Hey morsel" she whispered in her face, a sweet aroma suddenly reaching her nostrils "Open up"

Suzuran did open her mouth, though wether to say something or simply because she'd been asked to, she couldn't quite tell. Either way, Lappland grabbed her cheeks and crashed her lips on hers, Suzuran's chained hands flaying around wildly for a few seconds before grabbing the lupo and holding on tightly.

She had no idea when, but Lappland had put a good helping of custard on her tongue before kissing her, and she was now spreading it all over Suzuran's teeth, cheeks and tongue, the sweet taste filling her and reminding her that she was still, in fact, hungry. She couldn't quite savor it like she normally would, however, Lappland's kiss taking up roughly half of her focus, with the soft buzzing against her privates having the other half to itself, her legs trying to move around a bit despite the restraints as the pleasure barely increased from the toy's work, the tingly need within her growing more intense with every passing second.

Then she felt something else within her mouth. Suddenly, a decidedly new texture, taste and smell assaulted her all at once, her body shivering from the tip of her ears to that of every single tail as the realization hit her.

Lappland had probably just bitten her own lip, and a few drops of her blood were now pouring right into Suzuran's mouth.

Her heart rate rising suddenly, the vulpo felt something primal and intense spark to life within her, her ears twitching as Lappland's lips briefly parted from hers to let out a soft laugh.

"Morsel, morsel, morsel" she cooed, puncturing her own finger on her canines and applying a makeshift lipstick to Suzuran, relishing in the way that made the little girl beneath her wriggle and squirm "Need something?"

Suzuran, whose mouth was already open, a bit of saliva trailing off from it, barely kept herself from speaking, constantly reminding herself that her dinner -and what a dinner- was on the line there. But she just couldn't refrain from running her tongue on her red-stained lips, Lappland's taste filling her mind, sweat beginning to run down her skin as sheer need grew more and more intense, the cuffs beginning to play an actual role -however small- together with her shyness in keeping her from touching herself.

"Now look at that, morsel. Your mouth's all dirty" Lappland chuckled as Suzuran felt her shift around in place, probably to reach something "You're a prim and proper lady, you gotta keep yourself clean"

"... miss Lappland, is your lip alright?"

"Ah?!"

The sudden, equally aggressive and loving ruffling of her hair almost made Suzuran forget everything else about her situation, Lappland's heartly laugh and passionate touch soothing her mind somehow.

"It is, morsel, it sure is! Aww, that's just so you, worrying about the completely wrong things, at the completely wrong times!"

"No, I truly don't think this is -m-miss Lappland?" she changed subject as soon as another kind of electrical buzz hit her ears, one she was extremely familiar with. She and everyone else on the landship, she liked to think.

"Open wide, morsel!"

And without giving her the time to answer Lappland placed the soft bristles of an electric toothbrush against Suzuran's teeth.

Now, Suzuran brushed her teeth thrice every day, before breakfast, after lunch and before going to bed, and nothing about that ever made her feel anything special.

But when Lappland was the one wielding the brush, the soft brushes quickly massaging her gums as they rotated sent a weak but constant stream of electric shocks through her head, steaming her thoughts, or frying them when the lupo focused directly on her little teeth instead.

Well, there was a chance Lappland wasn't the only one who would get those reactions out of her, admittedly, but Suzuran had never really tried finding that one out, for a series of reasons.

"You got custard in every nook and cranny, morsel" Lappland chuckled, elated by the way Suzuran was trying to wiggle underneath her, the chains clinging as she tried to move her limbs somehow "This won't do, not at all!"

The unusual stimulation making Suzuran even more aware of the sensitive state of her nethers, teased moreso than stimulated by the buzzing toy stuck against them, the vulpo tried to move her head this way or that to get away from the toothbrush, the mixture of excessively weak stimulation on one end and excessively intense one on the other casting a thick mist over her thoughts. There wasn't any kind of paste on the toothbrush, the bristles didn't even feel wet, and so Lappland was effectively just smearing the mixed flavors of the custard and of her own blood in every corner the bristles could reach, reminding Suzuran of both the oh so alluring feast lying not even a couple of meters away from her and of the even more tasty one currently pinning her down, although she still wasn't so far gone as to consciously rank them that way.

"Woops, can't forget this one" Lappland said as she pinched the vulpo's tongue, something strongly resembling a moan escaping her as the soft bristles rotated against it, making the tinges in her lower half grow to an almost unbearable intensity.

The lupo took her sweet time working the brushes on Suzuran's tongue, making sure to reach as far up along it as she could and only stopping when it looked like the little vulpo's gag reflex was about to trigger, then went back to brushing her teeth, her gums and her palate. By then all the custard and blood had been swallowed, only their lingering scent and taste remaining, but that made things only marginally easier for Suzuran as she kept squirming, more and more desperate for release.

Eventually, Lappland turned the electric toothbrush off and leaned down to lick a couple of small tears off Suzuran's face, patting her head at the same time.

"There, there, all nice and clean" she whispered into her ear, taking a playful bite at it for good measure before getting off her "So, doing fine morsel?" she asked, sitting on crossed legs right next to her.

Suzuran, on her part, needed more than a few seconds to regulate her heavy breaths, sweat having made her dress stick to her skin, her little chest outlined by the cloth as it moved up and down almost but not quite rhythmically.

"Miss Lappland, it... " she eventually began to say, her face as red as it could physically get "It's... c-can I ask how much time has passed?" she managed to inquire instead of voicing the other thoughts swirling around inside her mind.

"I suppose I could tell you" the lupo replied, running the tip of her finger in circles around Suzuran's navel and making her squirm a little "But that'd be the end of it. How hungry did you say you are, exactly?"

"You're... kind of mean today... "

"Says the one who used my account without permission" she chuckled back, feasting her eyes on the little vulpo's conflicted expression "How about here?" she added, sliding her hand down between her legs and tapping ever so slightly on the barely buzzing rotor, the lowest setting still being more than Suzuran could manage to ignore.

It also wasn't enough to get her over the edge, however. Lappland had kind of taken a bet on that, admittedly, that was their first time using toys after all -toothbrushes aside- and she had feared even at its weakest the vibrator would be strong enough to make Suzuran have an orgasm. Good thing it wasn't, because the way she was trying to not squirm nor vocalize too much was just adorable. Lappland sniffed the air again, audibly enough for the vulpo's ears to twitch in response, savoring her scent. As for Suzuran, her attempts to come up with an answer to the lupo's last question -one which wouldn't embarrass her to death- all fell flat, leaving her mumbling a meaningless string of letters and half-words.

"'lright then, let me take a look"

"Awa?!"

Suzuran's legs closed almost on their own when Lappland grabbed her hips and pulled her towards the edge of the bed, her little rear ending up in the air as the lupo rolled up her dress and pulled down her panties, a few strings of sticky fluid connecting the drenched undergarment to her throbbing privates, the rotor falling to the floor with a weak thud.

"You look all red and swollen, morsel" Lappland laughed, pulling her labia open and enjoying the way Suzuran was still trying to close her legs to no avail "Say, did you wet yourself by chance?"

"Wh- I didn't!" Suzuran replied, feeling a little offended by that "I don't do that anymore!"

"Yeah, grown ups don't, right? But let me have a taste, just to be sure"

"Ah?!"

Suzuran nearly told her to stop, admittedly, but the searing tingle deep within her was still tormenting her. It wasn't all that weird for Lappland to get her all riled up and bring her to a climax in a matter of a few minutes, nor was it unusual for the lupo to take things slowly. But getting Suzuran so painfully close and then leaving her there? That was new, and the little vulpo just wasn't mentally prepared for that.

Lappland's long tongue traced a line over her wet entrance, a slow and intense motion which sent a figurative spark of electricity running through the vulpo, her hips shaking as she just barely managed to not push herself against the lupo in search of that little bit more she needed. The feel of her hands roaming on her sides, rear and around the base of her tails, groping her, quickened Suzuran's heart rate even more, the mixture of need, embarassment, desire and -somehow- sense of modesty creating a powerful confusion in her mind, each of her heavy, ragged breaths making Lappland's ears twitch with delight.

She lapped up the vulpo's juices again, savoring them almost as much as she did her intense, intoxicating fragrance, careful to not touch her clit but running around it instead, pushing her tongue within those hot, welcoming folds and reaching for the spots where she knew Suzuran was sensitive but not overly so, walking her right to the edge and firmly holding her there, the frantic movements of her tails saying everything her throat was too shy to convey.

But Lappland was feeling a bit wicked that evening. Well, more than usual, some would argue. Either way, she decided to rest her lips on Suzuran's sweaty, juicy thigh and press her canines down, getting a decidedly flustered whimper out of the vulpo. Lappland didn't really trust her self control enough to actually bite down, she had a feeling she would well and truly end up ruining Suzuran for good were she to sink her fangs into her. In that sense, it could be said that Lappland was teasing herself more than she was teasing the vulpo by running her teeth over her soft skin, sending goosebumps all over her, holding her legs in place just enough to prevent any accidental puncturing of the skin. A part of Lappland started thinking of the future, of the day her little morsel would be tall and sturdy enough to allow her to taste her for real without ending her on the spot. Another part of her chuckled at the idea of making it that far, given... everything about herself. A much smaller part still mused about the fact that Suzuran hadn't actually grown taller at all since they first met. Ultimately, Lappland threw all those parts of herself into a lake, with the intention of fishing them back out once she was done enjoying the present.

And that she did, licking and sucking and biting, getting drunk on Suzuran's hopelessly honest reactions, on the way she could no longer keep herself from pushing her own hips against the lupo's mouth in an attempt to get her sweet release, the pleasure perfectly balanced to keep her on the verge of ecstasy. And as she toyed with her, Lappland came to the realization that she was feeling a little bit wicker still.

"You have no idea how parched my throat was, morsel. Thanks for the drink!"

Suzuran had probably stamped the outline of her hands on her own face by then, with how hard she was pressing them against herself in a vain attempt to hide her embarassment. And so the lupo pushed her back fully onto the bed and lifted her up with a chuckle, Suzuran nearly falling over before managing to settle herself in a sort of sitting position, her palms at last parting from her cheeks, sweat and something else on her face as she tried to see something, anything. But the blindfold was still firmly in place.

"Hold these" she told her, moments before handing her something.

By the feel and weight, Suzuran got a feeling those were serving saucers. Her nose told her there was something tasty on each one, though what exactly, she wasn't sure. Concentrating was hard at the moment.

"Now open wide, morsel"

Suzuran did open her mouth, but she admittedly did so to ask something. However, the moment her lips parted she felt a pair of spoons place something on her tongue. She recognized the texture, and even moreso the aroma.

It was a small serving of panna cotta, so tiny it could stay entirely on the little vulpo's tongue, and she could even swallow it whole probably. Being one of her favorite desserts, that alone would've been more than enough to make her stomach grumble again, but the unmistakable aroma of strawberry sauce reaching her nostrils made her start salivating intensely, so much so that she couldn't help but feel ashamed about it. To make it all better -or worse- she even felt a crumble topping hit her palate when she closed her mouth a little bit.

"Morsel!" Lappland called her, nearly making her jump "Remember the rules, I'm not allowed to feed you" she told her and, blindfolded as she was, Suzuran still felt like she could perfectly picture the smile on the lupo's face "That means you can't eat that, ok? ... nod if you got it"

With intense and conflicting feelings, Suzuran nodded, slowly as to not move the panna cotta around, realizing only then why Lappland had given her the saucers. Had her hands been free, there would've been a chance she might've somehow managed to at least take the panna cotta out of her mouth without making it fall down and wasting it. And dropping the saucers wasn't really an option either, not with her eyes covered and her wrists unable to move all that far away from her neck.

"Very well, morsel" Lappland chuckled, the briez buzz of the electric toothbrush causing Suzuran to start sweating even more profusely "Let's keep playing a while longer then!"

She almost tried to say that she really didn't think playing with food like that was right, but stopped herself from trying out of fear of what might happen. Then she nearly jolted as she felt the motionless brushes slide underneath her dress and against her belly, moving in circles around her navel. The toothbrush itself had been turned back off, but the scrubbing alone was enough to nearly make her jiggle, especially when Lappland brough the tool right to her navel. Clenching her toes and tails as much as she could, if only because her hands and mouth were busy already, Suzuran tried to remain still enough to not cause any damage, the soft bristles threatening to drag a loud giggle out of her lungs. Lappland chuckled for her, a soft and heartly but also somewhat cold chuckle which echoed within the vulpo's peculiarly large ears. With her free hand, the lupo slowly rubbed her thigh, sometimes through the fabric of her dress, sometimes sliding her palm underneath to make direct contact with her skin, her fingers nearly coming in contact with her dripping, aching privates several times.

Something strongly resembling relief washed over Suzuran when the toothbrush left her belly, and she took the chance to take a long, deep breath. A rather difficult thing to do in her current condition, admittedly, but she still managed.

Then she yelped as the bristles came back, this time against one of her stiff nipples. Her tongue acted out a little, pushing the treat in her mouth against her palate a bit. Not enough to damage it -probably- but enough to give her a better feel of the textures lying in wait within her mouth, as well as another taste of the strawberry sauce, however brief and faint. Her stomach growled again.

"Whenever you want, morsel, whenever you want" Lappland whispered in her ear before nibbling it near the base, forcing a sound out of her lips.

The toothbrush then sprang back to life, and Suzuran was sure she would've recoiled too strongly had the lupo not had her fangs gently rested on her ear to make her entire body instinctively refrain from moving too suddenly. Still, that didn't make dealing with the stimulation on her chest any easier. The bristles were soft, not to mention drenched by that point, but their rotational speed and the intensity Lappland was pushing them against her with made for a rather intense sensation nonetheless, more and more droplets of sweat appearing on her skin as she tried to ignore the evergrowing heat deep within herself, Lappland's expert handling of her breasts masterfully stoking the fire of her arousal while keeping it contained at the same time, in a way which made it exceptionally hard for Suzuran to maintain her self control.

She trembled, again, and then once more as Lappland felt up her tails, then her lower back around their base, from there to her rear and at last to her entrance, moving her mouth down and taking a long, deep sniff of the vulpo's hair and fur before beginning to nibble on her other ear, every touch of her fangs making Suzuran wonder if there were little drops of blood running down onto her head or not. Probably not, assumig her nose was still working properly.

"You look troubled, morsel"

She couldn't really see her face given their current position, but she really had no need to. She considered reminding her that she could call it quits whenever, but... nah.

What she did instead was softly massage her privates, greatly enjoying the way Suzuran's ear tried to twitch between her teeth with every touch, before sliding her pinkie inside her. That made her tremble more than Lappland had anticipated, her canines puncturing her ear a bit as a consequence.

She pulled back immediatly, both to make sure the damage was minimal -couldn't spoil her little morsel, now could she- and to avoid tasting her directly. With Suzuran in that situation, Lappland truly didn't think her self control would hold were she to have such a visceral taste of her.

Kinda a shame, she thought. But oh well, she had time.

... not a whole lot of it, admittedly.

She didn't really want to think about that though, not at the moment. So, having confirmed that Suzuran's ear was pretty much fine -the blood had already stopped dripping, barely a couple of drops having come out- she leaned back, grabbing her chin and lifting her head a bit to take a proper look at the small dessert in her mouth.

It'd gotten a little roughed up, but it was doing fine for the most part.

"Now that's my sweet little morsel" she told her, lovingly caressing her head before sliding down, getting back on her knees in front of her "You're doing great"

Grabbing hold of her sides again, Lappland snuck underneath the skirt of her dress once more, taking long, deep sniffs of Suzuran's raw aroma, her ears twitching against the fabric with every little sound the vulpo let out. She pushed her nose against her soft, sweaty thigh, pushing her tongue against her skin and slowly running it up, the combination of taste, scent and the shivers she could feel coursing through Suzuran intoxicating her, until she softly bumped her nose against the vulpo's clit, making sure to even say "boop" upon contact.

Suzuran would've probably laughed a little, under different circumstances.

With things being as they were, however, she coughed instead.

Lappland pulled her head back, staring at Suzuran for a while and making sure she was doing fine. Which was... debatable, in a certain sense, but at the very least she wasn't choking on the panna cotta. Still, for as much as Lappland had corrected the recipe a bit for the occasion, that bite-sized dessert would probably start melting soon, what with being inside someone's mouth and all that. So she dove right back under the cloth and, having fished the rotor from the ground, slid it inside Suzuran at the lowest setting, placing her free hand between her navel and chest to let her lean forward without falling over. Suzuran thanked her for that, if only in her mind.

Lappland still had no intention of making her climax, however. Probing her from within with the same fingers holding the rotor, the lupo moved the toy around here and there, pushing against this spot or that, stopping both the vibrations and her fingers whenever she felt the familiar signs of an incoming orgasm, maybe pinching her a little to let a bit of excitement ouf of her system before going back to teasing her, what little noises came out of her mouth sounding really desperate at that point.

Lappland would've bet half her breakfast that Suzuran was still more concerned with the food though. Ah, what a good morsel she was.

Eventually, the lupo figured it was about time to allow her to speak, or close her mouth at least, and pulled back, taking a few seconds to savor the strings connecting her lips to Suzuran's labias and the way they slowly snapped. She tucked the rotor back under her panties at the lowest setting, making sure to place it in a way that didn't stimulate her clit, and got back up on her feet, both hands cupping Suzuran's oh so soft, warm, sticky from her sweat, alluring cheeks.

"'lright morsel, open up. A bit more I mean. That's it, good girl"

Lappland bit her lip again, hard enough to draw a bit of blood, then used her tongue to smear it all over her lips before kissing Suzuran.

The vulpo twitched. Her nose had given her a good idea of what was about to happen, but the few moments that went by before it actually took place were not enough for her to truly prepare. The alluring, ferrous taste of Lappland reached her tongue. The lupo, however, didn't spread it around like she had done earlier, but rather inched the panna cotta closer to herself, a combination of sucking, tugging at it with her tongue and inclining Suzuran's head to make the dessert fall into her mouth, a slow process which took a few minutes, the aftertaste left on the vulpo's taste buds being as sweet as it was tantalizing, if not downright tormenting.

"How is it, morsel?" Lappland asked, taking care to lapp up whatever might've been left on Suzuran's lips and cheeks "Got anything to request of me?"

Suzuran's mouth was wide open, her breaths heavy and ragged, but she wasn't speaking. Lappland could almost picture the fried mess that her thoughts surely were at the moment, a jumbled amalgamation of conflicting thoughts and ideas, and she truly couldn't see herself ever getting tired of that. Quite the opposite, she still wanted more, and so she slid her thumb into her mouth, playing with her tongue a little, making sure to be gentle enough to not keep her from speaking, her other hand playing with her chest now tenderly, now a bit more roughly as she rotor kept her on the edge of release.

Truthfully, Lappland was genuinely surprised that still hadn't gotten Suzuran off. Pleasantly surprised, admittedly, but surprised nonetheless.

"... L... La-Lappland" she eventually spoke, only to stop, almost bite her lip, stop again, take a long, deep breath and then resume, face flushed red, ears at half height and tails waving softly "... miss Lappland. Can... can I have an handkerchief, please? O-or a towel, I am really sweaty... "

Lappland blinked, roughly six times within two and a half seconds, give or take. A single, soft chuckle escaped her, then another, and then a loud, uncontrollable laugh took over her, with enough violence to throw her off her feet and send her rolling on the floor. Had she not been blindfolded, Suzuran would've looked on with a fair bit of concern on her face. Worry did show up on her expression anyway, though, and truth be told she could even pinpoint Lappland's position rather well given how loud she was being.

"Miss Lappland? Are you alright? D-do you need help? Oh, but I'm still... "

"Help?!" the lupo laughed back, her voice reverberating within the walls of her room as she got back up and grabbed Suzuran's head "You're the one who needs help, morsel!"

"W-well... I... I could really use something to eat, yes... " she admitted, wondering for how much longer she could keep her stomach from growling again.

Though, for as much as the hunger helped her not think too much about the terrible tingling between her legs and the even more unbearable ache residing further up within herself, what had truly kept her from asking Lappland to make her climax was, to put it simply, how excruciatingly embarassing it would've been.

Lappland herself was smiling, a smile so wide and large and exhilarated Suzuran could somehow feel it through the blindfold, her hands on her cheeks, her fingers running all over her face in a way which was equally uncomfortable and soothing.

"Sure, morsel, sure! Aaahhh, just what's wrong with this tiny thing you call head?! Oh, don't you ever fix it though!"

"Ahem... I-I'll try not to... ?" Suzuran sort of asked, sort of answered.

A moment later, the vulpo felt both the saucers and the lupo's hands leave her. Steps reached her ears, and soon after Lappland was wiping up her sweat with a towel in a manner which could be overly lovely or slightly rough depending on how one wanted to see the lupo's approach. Suzuran, on her part, leaned decidedly towards the former.

"Miss Lappland, the... t-the... the restraints... " she managed to say, the simple act of referring to them making redness return to her face.

"You just asked for a wiping though"

"That's mean!"

"Aaawww!"

They did both laugh after that though, and Lappland freed Suzuran from the blindfold, the cuffs, the collar, the ankle cuffs and then pulled the vibrator out from her utterly drenched panties, in that exact order to get the most expressive reaction out of her.

"Alright, a promise's a promise" Lappland said as got Suzuran something to drink, a glass, some cutlery and a placemat -really excessive, she believed, but her morsel had been too good to not spoil her a little bit more- before pushing the trolley full of all kinds of desserts towards her "Playtime's over. Eat away, morsel!"

Suzuran, however, stared at her blankly for a few seconds, after which she realized Lappland had no clue why she was doing that and explained herself.

"Aren't you eating?"

"... oh"

Right, she hadn't had dinner yet. Not, like, actual, body-sustaining, made-of-food dinner, because as far as eating went she had eaten plenty already.

"Sure am" the replied as she indulged Suzuran a bit more by grabbing a few table tools for herself as well and sat down next to the little vulpo, mentally wondering if she was disappointed or pleased that, despite her evident arousal, Suzuran was refraining from getting herself off right in front of her "Help yourself though"

As for Suzuran herself, the terrible ache between her legs was still there, but between the sheer embarassment, the hunger and the mouth-drooling feast in front of her, Suzuran managed to lift up her fork, her spoon and not think too much about it somehow.

"Thanks a lot!"

---

Suzuran woke up a few hours later, due to a series of reasons. One was that her alarm usually rang at around that hour so, while said alarm was currently lying in an entirely different room, her body had sort of gotten used to waking up at that time. So long as she wasn't too tired, at least. Another reason was that her stomach was aching a bit, a reminder that she had ended up eating way, way too much the previous evening. She almost didn't even want to feel up her own tails for fear of finding them even thicker than before, despite the fact that she was probably the only one actually worried about such a possibility. Then there was the fact that, all things considered, her sleeping position wasn't exactly terribly comfortable. Rhodes Island's single beds were all kind of small for her either way, since they weren't meant for people with as many tails as her, and while Suzuran did have a double bed instead in her room, she was currently sleeping on a mattress which felt a bit smaller than even that of a single bed instead, not to mention that she was sharing it with someone else.

Lying on her side, Suzuran looked up a bit, just enough to stare at Lappland's face. She could probably count the times she had seen the lupo sleep on the fingers of her hands, and half of those it looked like the lupo wasn't having a good time with her slumber. But right there, right then, under the covers of a thick blanket and with her arms closed around the little vulpo, Lappland seemed relaxed.

Almost uncharacteristically so, Suzuran bitterly thought. The lupo was all smiles and laughs when she was awake, at least as far as Suzuran was aware, but... she feared at least some of it was a facade.

As for the bags under her eyes, those were still there, but they seemed a little less pronounced at least.

Suzuran moved a little closer to the lupo, the warmth and cozyness of her body and of the sheets making her not care all that much about the woman's lingerie. She could feel her chest rise and fall with every breath, and she almost tried to match her own breathing with hers to not disturb her, all the while being mindful to not move her tails to avoid accidentally pulling the sheets away. Lappland was holding her softly, only stirring a bit when Suzuran had inched closer, the tranquility of her face feeling somewhat contagious.

On its own, Suzuran's mind went back in time by several months. Almost two years, actually.

She used to have a stuffed doll, once, or rather a plushie. Not one she played much with, but something she nonetheless used to hold dear. It was the one she hugged at night when neither of her parents could sleep with her, after all, an... unfortunately common occurrence. For a few moments, Suzuran couldn't help but wonder if at that time, at that moment, she wasn't fulfilling a similar role for Lappland. The lupo had never really asked her anything about her family, what little she probably knew of it were things Suzuran had ended up mentioning on her own, and in turn Suzuran had never asked her about her own family either. Not a single time.

The Originium sprouting on her arm arched for but half a second.

Lappland looked at ease. Perhaps because of that, Suzuran found herself slowly, carefully lifting an hand up, resting it as gently as she could on the lupo's head and just... petting her a bit.

Lappland suddenly pulled her in closer, hugging her tighter, and the thought of having woken her up filled Suzuran with guilt. But only until she heard her speak, something barely louder than a whisper leaving her mouth.

"... mother... "

"... sleep well, miss Lappland" Suzuran barely whispered in response.

Suzuran found herself continuing to gently caress the lupo's head, a weird feeling welling up within her.

---

"Ain't this kinda late though?" Lappland asked as she whipped together a small breakfast for two "Chainsaw child and the little curse maker aren't waiting for you today?"

She had woken up to a sleeping Suzuran, decided to rouse her in what most people would describe as an overly enthusiastic, ever so slightly violent and decidedly inappropriate manner and only then changed out of her lingerie for some more comfortable underwear. She had even put her coat on to keep Suzuran from blushing too much, though she had also left the front open to still get to see her flustered ears and tails.

"Miss Lappland, I'm starting to think you use too many nicknames... but no, I had warned Popukar and Shamare I'd be having breakfast with someone else today. I don't have morning classes today, but I promised miss Lena I would help out at the Garden" she replied as she finished drying her fur up, having asked and received permission to borrow Lappland's shower.

"You speak like an old granny, morsel"

"Do I? ... really?" Suzuran asked back, confused and also slightly worried.

"That's nice though! Kinda" Lappland chuckled as she threw Suzuran's serving into a little bag.

The vulpo still had enough time to go back to her room and get into clothes more appropriate for gardening works, but going to the cafeteria to grab something to eat would've most likely ended up making her late. Not like Lena nor anyone else was actually checking the clock to make sure she'd be on time, though. As for Lappland herself, she said she had something to do as well, which is why Suzuran had decided to eat in her own room to not disturb her.

"Thanks a lot, miss Lappland. Oh, but... " she added "... may I ask you to lean down a bit?"

"What for?"

"It's a secret" she said back, all happy and content for some reason.

Lappland raised an eyebrow, but sure. Why not. She did just as her little morsel had asked.

Then her ears fell down as Suzuran patted her head a couple of times.

"Getting assertive, morsel?" she chuckled "Maybe we can switch the roles around next time we play together"

Suzuran's face immediatly turned bright red.

"Th-that's a bit, no, I mean, if you want, but, I, we, a, awawawa... "

Lappland laughed, energetically ruffling the vulpo's hair in turn and stealing a long, ample feel of the fur of her ears.

"On your way then, morsel! You got stuff to do, and so do I"

"Mnh. Have a good day, miss Lappland"

"I'll try"

Lappland watched Suzuran bow down, turn around and leave. Then she turned around herself and, having just remembered about it, she pulled the recorder out from its hiding place. She had honestly forgotten about it, and seeing its battery still alive and kicking, albeith on its last legs, surprised her. She had initially planned to record Suzuran's voice during their little game and use it later to tease her but, since she had apparently left it running the whole night, she decided to let it play in the background as she took care of her kitchen, her swords could probably use a little sharpening too. Who knows, maybe she would hear Suzuran speak in her sleep.

By the end of the day, however, Lappland had made a little pyre in her room and burned the recorder to a crisp. The wretched thing wasn't fireproof, after all.

Dealing with the mess which was being questioned about such a blatant violation of fire safety measures and regulations turned out to be a massive pain, but all Lappland could really think about through all of that was whether sleeping with Suzuran again was something she would still have the courage to do.

She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had felt so pathetic, so terribly so that she couldn't even bring herself to laugh about it.

---

Thank you for reading.