Lycaon
The red stains in the fur of Lycaon's hands were effective self-motivation for finishing his cleaning job. A mop was hardly the ideal tool for a biohazard cleanup of this scale, and the small spigot for water in the parking lot even less so- but where there was vigor and attention to detail, there could be perfect cleanliness regardless the tools available- with the help of certain expensive chemicals, of course. True to his promise to Belle, Lycaon was spraying the spotless floor with high-powered sanitizer within the hour. With one final wipe of a clean cloth, he left the floor to dry.
A look at his pocket watch revealed it to now be 8:10 am.
He was ahead of schedule and had Lady Belle's promise that she would remain in the video store- which was to remain closed to business today due to the imminent commission. That gave Lycaon over three hours of time for self-care, which he allowed himself to begin once he queried the sensor hub for a rundown of all the silhouette scanners and found nothing of concern. He also deactivated the outermost sensors on the front of the building because they were firing off alarm after alarm from pedestrians going about their day.
"Lady Belle, Lord Wise," said Lycaon formally at the door of the staff room. "The stairwell is now available for use. Please be cautious of the wet surface. I shall briefly retire to cleanse myself, but do not hesitate to alert me of your needs."
He received thankful acknowledgement from both siblings and headed upstairs to his cot and gear. He gathered up a change of clothing and one of his most essential self-care appliances: a large hair dryer. Lycaon then headed for the bathroom of Random Play.
He frowned. It was quite small, perhaps sized to Belle, but he would need to scrunch up under the shower nozzle that only reached his shoulder height. There was also a soaking tub, which was a surprise, but there was no way he would be able to stretch his legs out in it. Well, he didn't have time for a soak, anyway. He would use the washing station and then dry himself off and equip himself for escorting Belle into a Hollow.
There was a little plastic stool to sit on while he washed himself, so Lycaon sat himself down on the little thing and considered his cybernetic legs. He could detach them if he desired, but they were entirely waterproof and since they connected his mind wirelessly to his sensor net around Random Play, he could not afford to remove them for a moment. He would just need to make sure to carefully soap and shampoo around their point of connection.
He went through his cleaning routine, and as Lycaon was putting his tail fur through the final rinse, the final step of the entire ritual… the lights went out and he was inside a pitch-black little room. Fearing an attempt on Belle's life, Lycaon shot to his feet and queried the silhouette scanners, but found nothing of alarm. His sensor hub contained a robust power source and did not need to rely on the local infrastructure for power, and every link to every sensor he had planted the night before reported back as operational and lacking any cause of alarm.
He opened the bathroom door, intending to go check on Belle, but his ears picked up the voices of the siblings from downstairs. They were talking about a brown out and Lord Wise was going to leave Random Play to visit someone named Nicole- who was one of the Cunning Hares mercenaries, if Lycaon's memory was accurate. Regardless, there seemed to be no danger. It was simply a power outage in this part of the city.
Lycaon went to the bathroom counter where his hair dryer waited. He switched it on. Nothing happened.
Blast.
Belle
Belle's computer and everything else in the staff room turned off suddenly. She immediately wondered about assassins, and she reached for her bracelet that Lycaon gave her- but then Wise sighed from nearby.
"A brown-out! Why today!?"
Oh. That's right. Power went down for totally normal reasons. Just because Belle had a bodyguard didn't mean her entire life was an action movie now. Or at least, she hoped it wasn't.
Belle checked her cell phone. It was getting close to ten in the morning, so there was still time for the power to come back on before their commission with Belobog. She was ancy to get moving, but there was a certain security in going with others- especially considering Belobog's formidable machinery. She'd never get the information she wanted if she and Lycaon went alone and were overwhelmed by new ethereals.
"Man, I'm gonna' go see what Nicole is doing," said Wise. "I don't think they had a mission today."
"What about the commission?!" said Belle, wondering what on earth Wise was going to do with Nicole during a brown-out. Then again, maybe she didn't want to wonder about that at all.
"I'll be back for it," said Wise as prepared to leave. "Wanna come with?"
Belle looked at her brother dubiously. She had the feeling he really wanted her to say 'no' and he was simply asking her in order to throw her off some sort of suspicion that he suspected her to have. Well, she wasn't interested in getting in his way around Nicole, anyway.
"No," said Belle. "I promised Lycaon I wouldn't leave the video store without him."
"Ok, see ya!" said Wise very quickly- confirming Belle's suspicions immediately.
The front door opened and closed. Belle went over and made sure Lycaon's fancy new lock was in place. It was. And thinking of Lycaon- Belle realized he could have been in the middle of his bathing. She decided to check on him and see if he was okay.
"Lycaon?" said Belle as she climbed the newly cleaned stairs. She found the landing empty of the wolf thiren, but the bathroom door was just slightly ajar, a deep darkness within. "Lycaon?"
"Lady Belle," came Lycaon's voice from the darkness of the bathroom. "I fear the power went out before I could dry myself."
"Yeah, it's a brown-out," said Belle. "Why don't you come out and we can figure out how to dry you off?"
"Lady Belle," said Lycaon tensely, hidden in the darkness of the bathroom. "I cannot put on clothing with my fur in this state. I have only a towel to cover myself. It is hardly proper for you to witness me in this fashion."
Belle rolled her eyes. "I'm not some blushing virgin, Lycaon. You think I've never been to a public pool or something? I've seen thirens of all types in nothing but speedos. A wrapped towel is plenty modest."
The bathroom darkness was quiet for a moment. "I do not mean to imply you are mentally-"
Belle cut him off with exasperation. "Lycaon! Just get out of there. You can't hide in a damp room the size of a closet and expect to get dry."
Silence.
Lycaon emerged from the bathroom with his usual dignified posture, but he was clearly in mild emotional distress. Belle could see it in the angle of his ears and the pronounced droop of his drenched tail, absent of its usual floof. And he was naked save a large towel around his waist. His body had a distinctly waterlogged look, save his cybernetic legs which appeared mostly dry.
And his eyepatch was missing! A scar ran a ragged path over Lycaon's right eye, but an apparently normal and operational second crimson eye looked down at Belle with trepidation. Belle decided to leave the matter of his uninjured eye to the side for now. Perhaps his eyepatch was actually some form of computer display that linked with all his sensors and devices? That would make the most sense.
Belle returned her attention to Lycaon's fur: when his fur was dry, there was an obvious slight poofiness to his form- everything was soft and smoothed out; but when damp like he was now, Lycaon fur clung to his skin and revealed Lycaon's physique in a way that made Belle forget to breathe for a moment.
He had high traps near his neck, running into thickly rounded shoulders, leading down to slightly bulging pectorals. Then downward further to rippling abdominals and clear thigh gutters running inwardly till they vanished behind the wrapped towel hanging low on Lycaon's waist. Add on thickly corded arms and legs, and you had the musculature of some ancient drawing of a perfect masculine form- or of some sort of demi-god.
Belle swallowed, realizing by the heat in her cheeks that she was deeply blushing, and she tried to get her head back on straight. It was also the first time Belle had seen Lycaon legitimately distraught. He stood stiffly in the dim light of the landing, trying to maintain his own dignity, but the deep frowns at the corner of his mouth seemed to reveal the truth: he was currently miserable. He did not like his current predicament.
Brown-outs were not exactly common, but they did happen from time to time. Much of New Eridu was powered by energies siphoned off from the established Hollows, especially Hollow Zero. Hollows fluctuated and changed, which could disrupt the power grid until the corporations running the facilities adapted their systems. It was a real danger if she or Wise were doing proxy work at the time, but that risk was shared by all proxies, so clients knew how to wait out a temporarily disconnected guide. Meanwhile, a private generator did little to help that particular danger because a brown-out invariably shut down the Inter-Knott in the area, as well.
However, there were the more mundane inconveniences that a private generator could help with: like entertainment. And hair dryers.
"Lycaon, we have an electro-boo. It can run your hair dryer," said Belle, already heading to Wise's room. "I'll bring it out."
She left a dejectedly damp and dripping Lycaon standing on the landing near his cot while she went into Wise's room where the electro-boo hung on its charge hook in its dormant state. She took it down and woke it up, its circular eyes blinking open cutely. She took it out to Lycaon and set it on his cot.
"The outlets are behind this little door here," said Belle, showing the hookups on the bangboo's body.
Lycaon resecured the towel around his waist and then plugged his large hair dryer into the electro-boo's socket. The device revved with power and the electro-boo's eyes smiled in satisfaction. Lycaon turned the hair dryer towards his own face and his hair flowed away from him like he was driving in a convertible car.
Belle stared, momentarily mesmerized by the flowing locks of white fur, and then realized she could participate in this waking dream- er… she realized she could help Lycaon in his time of need.
"I have a hair dryer, too, Lycaon. I'll get it."
"There is no need to trouble yourself, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, shutting off his hair dryer momentarily. "I am able to dry myself without assistance."
Belle stopped and looked back at Lycaon. She wasn't sure what his facial expression was: a little mix of embarrassment and something else? Whatever it was, it didn't look exactly adamant… and without Belle knowing it of herself, she bit her lower lip slightly and said:
"I'd love to help if you'd let me."
Lycaon blinked at her and she saw his adam's apple bounce in his throat as he swallowed. "W- well.. If it would please you, Lady Belle, I suppose a second dryer would make faster work of it."
With barely contained excitement, Belle went into her bedroom and grabbed her own hair dryer. Her heart had increased its pace. She wasn't exactly sure why she was so excited, but she'd never had the opportunity to see into the personal care of a thiren before, and she'd always been curious, even since she was little. Keeping her own short hair under control and well-maintained was hard enough, but having an entire body of it?! It seemed impossible! Yet the few times she'd felt Lycaon's fur coat, it had been just- perfect!
She wanted to know how he did it. For science.
Belle held her hair dryer to her chest and took a deep breath. Yes. Just entirely reasonable curiosity. Mixed with being helpful. Yes, that's all this was. Certainly not a chance to see vast swathes of Lycaon's body at close range while he was just wearing a towel. Nope.
She exited her room to find Lycaon still blow drying the hair of his head. It still seemed damp, but it was coming along. She plugged her hair dryer into the bangboo, turned towards Lycaon's chiseled midriff and wondered where she should start.
"What should I work on?" said Belle, looking up at Lycaon.
Lycaon's cute nose obviously inhaled deeply as he looked down at her with obvious nervousness. "I suppose, Lady Belle, wherever you are comfortable. I must advise that this is usually an individual task. Clients do not usually show such… enthusiasm regarding the more… inhuman aspects of my body."
Belle felt a little chill with those words. Was she overstepping with Lycaon? There seemed to be a good chance of it, here. Was she abusing her power as his client? Because of their relationship, did he feel like he could not refuse her from doing this? Did he actually want her to just.. not?
That was a worrisome idea that halted Belle in her tracks.
"Lycaon, if you don't want me involved, I'll just leave the extra dryer for you," said Belle, anxiously. "You don't think you have to let me help dry you right now because I'm your client, do you? Like, you're not forced to say yes? You know?"
Belle, her neck arched back to look up at the burly wolf thiren who towered over her, watched Lycaon shut off his hair dryer again and look down at her seriously. "Lady Belle, rest assured, I will inform you directly when I do not want you to do something. I am… simply worried about the ambiguity of our relationship."
Belle blinked and her heart thudded in her chest. "Relationship? What? We just met yesterday!"
"Yes, precisely, Lady Bell," said Lycaon, not seeming to notice her intense reaction to the word. "And you became the focus of my protective services- but you are not, technically, my client. And while there are a great many Victoria Housekeeping tenets about what I may not allow a client to do…"
Belle realized Lycaon was an incredibly earnest person, even inside his own head. He was wavering over the guidelines of his employer. She tried to follow the chain of his logic he was showing her.
"But since I'm not a client, these tenets don't directly apply?"
"Yes, exactly, and my fur is not something just anyone touches," said Lycaon, as water dripped off the wet fur on his elbow and splashed audibly on the floor. "Just as you do not have just anyone touch you."
Belle pursed her lips, the verb 'touching' dancing excitedly in her consciousness for some reason. She found herself eager to defeat Lycaon's argument. Surely what she wanted to do wasn't against some rule? And if so, well, it was a stupid rule, right?
"You've already touched me a great deal, Lycaon, when you carried me around while rescuing me," said Belle, seizing on an impromptu strategy. "Doesn't that make us uneven? And I suppose we can write our own 'tenets' between us, right? Since none exist for our situation?"
Lycaon cocked his head slightly, crimson eyes regarding her curiously. "I- I suppose so, Lady Belle. But there are certain connotations of this act that you should-"
Belle was not interested in entertaining any old-fashioned conceptions of human-thiren interactions. That stuff was just old prejudice! And besides! She and Lycaon were not even in a relationship! He was just her bodyguard and she was just the woman he protected and she was just helping him dry the wet fur of his naked body.
That's all it was!
"Forget connotations, Lycaon," said Belle, taking up her own hair dryer again. "If I want to help dry you: is it allowed or not allowed? Between us?"
Lycaon took a silent, deep breath. Belle saw his chest grow outward with the inhale, causing his muscles to seem even more detailed under the matted wet fur of his chest.
"A- allowed, Lady Belle."
Belle immediately switched on the blow dryer and watched the hot air billow about the wet fur on Lycaon's abs. She smiled up at Lycaon, and his mouth opened slightly, revealing his tongue as his ears twitched forward. It was only a brief expression, but Belle had the distinct impression that she'd just witnessed the genuine blush of a wolf thiren.
And why was he blushing, anyway? It didn't seem reasonable that he was. She was just a young, single woman helping him blow dry his bare torso while he stood in her house, naked under a towel, and they both were totally alone!
….
Maybe she should be blushing about this, too… now that she thought about it like that..
But that was all just internal social normalization talking, right? Belle wouldn't allow such things like that kind of false shame to rule her! She was just innocently tracing Lycaon's six-pack with the hair dryer, watching the rapidly drying fur play over the texture of the muscle groups- that's all!
And she wasn't blushing!
((Narrator: She actually was blushing, and she had a tiny little smirk, too- and she was unaware of it. But Lycaon was aware of it, and he found it to be both mildly disconcerting but also moderately interesting. In light of their new agreement, he decided to ignore Belle's facial expression and allow this situation to play itself out. He did actually need her help if he was going to be dry on time. And there was something about Belle's interest in his fur and his body that he.. didn't… dislike….))
The noise of two hair dryers at max strength in close proximity made further conversation impossible. Belle eventually rotated behind Lycaon and hit his lower back where he could not reach very well and Lycaon attended to the rest of his upper body. After a surprisingly fast and seemingly intense fifteen minutes, Belle was seated next to Lycaon on his cot while he finished up his forearms with his dryer and she was kneeling next to his idle tail and blow-drying it back to its regular, poofy-fluffy state.
Without thinking, she ran her hand through the fur of Lycaon's newly dried tail fluff, and she was surprised when Lycaon almost shot out of his skin, practically leaping to his feet in surprise. He looked at her with wide eyes and a mouth half-open in shock.
Belle realized she'd just gone way over some line that they'd been dancing along for the last twenty minutes.
"S- sorry, Lycaon! I wasn't thinking! I'm sorry if that hurt!"
"It did not hurt, Lady Belle!" said Lycaon, still obviously unsettled. "It was simply unexpected!"
"Sorry! I'm sorry," said Belle as Lycaon settled back down and both of them got their breathing back under control. "I just wasn't thinking."
"You need not apologize, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, breathing slightly heavily. "I'm just unused to being touched like that by another person."
That made Belle curious. "Not even other thirens? Like in the public baths? I always see thirens together doing that sort of thing."
Lycaon took a deep breath and stared at her for a moment. "Lady Belle, those thirens are certainly either parent and child- or they are mated to one another."
Belle felt a cold iron ball fall into her gut. "M- mated?"
"Yes," said Lycaon.
"Then the drying I helped you do…?"
"Yes," said Lycaon.
"Why- why didn't you warn me?"
Lycaon took a deep breath. "Lady Belle, I was in the process of doing so when you firmly said you didn't care about connotations."
Belle closed her eyes. He'd been trying to warn her that helping him dry off was what a mate did. That wasn't exactly what she'd assumed. No wonder Lycaon had looked so uneasy and confused. She'd been sending him all sorts of strange signals.
"Oh," said Belle.