So, because Runa chose to believe in Tabitha’s words about being able to talk about anything to her, she didn’t waste any time opening up about her feelings. “Then… something else that’s been on my mind is that I can just focus on gathering for you. Is that really alright?”

And because Tabitha genuinely meant what she said, she was more than happy to listen to what her partner had to say. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Because. When it comes to adventuring all over the world, people always get combat paths and practice fighting and all those things. I… I’ve never liked fighting. I have a lot of fun gathering, and I really love to explore and be out in nature, but I don’t like fighting. I don’t mind when others do it, like when you fought that giant spider, but I get afraid. If I could just focus on gathering paths… that would actually make me really, really, happy. But it feels like it’s too good to be true to be allowed to do that and go on an adventure, and I wouldn’t be any help to you while you’re fighting.”

“Well, I’ll be honest. It’d probably be a good idea for you to do some trainin’, but that’s just because I’d worry about ya. Really, you can do whatever ya want with me and I’ll still bring ya along. Maybe it’s because ya remind me of myself.”

“I do?”

“Ya sure do! If I was still back on Earth and somebody came along offerin’ me a life of adventure with them where they’d make sure everythin’ is taken care of and all I’ve gotta do is continue doin’ what I like, craftin’ things up that didn’t even work, then I probably wouldn’t believe them. And even if I did believe them, I’d probably feel bad about taking advantage of that offer. I’d want to make myself useful to them however I could even if they don’t expect me to. That’s why, to make things fair, I’m gonna be takin’ advantage of you as much as you get to take advantage of me. You’re gonna be my personal gatherin’ helper. You’ll gather everything I want, as much of it as I want, whenever I want it. In exchange, I’ll take care of ya, handle the fightin’, make all sorts of stuff for both of us, and worry about everythin’ else. Though, I wouldn’t mind if ya make me a stew over a fire every now and then.”

“I can do that! As long as you make sure to use me, I won’t feel like a freeloader depending on you!”

“Heh. Be careful of sayin’ things like that.”

Runa tilted her head to the side. “Why? What’s wrong with what I said?”

“The bit about makin’ sure to use ya. Normally, when somebody says somethin’ like that, their mind ain’t gonna be in the cleanest of places.”

Runa tilted her head to the opposite side. “I don’t get it.”

Tabitha sighed and reached forward to ruffle up Runa’s hair, effectively petting her. “You’re too pure for this world, Runa. I’m gonna have to—” Tabitha cut herself off when she noticed Runa’s reaction. At that point, Runa wasn’t even paying any attention to what Tabitha was saying. All she was doing was pressing the top of her head up against Tabitha’s hand while her tail swished behind her, her head slightly tilted back.

Now, Tabitha was doing her absolute best not to treat Runa like a dog. Even the petting was just meant to be like a friend messing with their other friend’s hair. But when she saw Runa behave so much like a dog, react like a dog, and lean into petting like a dog, it made it increasingly difficult to not treat her like a dog. Especially when Tabitha saw Runa’s chin tilting up which made her want to scratch underneath it.

This is dangerous, Tabitha thought to herself while switching from pseudo-petting to proper petting, gently stroking her fingers through Runa’s hair. This is real dangerous.

“That feels nice,” Runa sighed. “I—I don’t want you to stop.”

Tabitha chuckled and asked, “That so?”

“Yeah. You told me to be honest with you… so I don’t want you to stop. I could let you do this all night and I wouldn’t get tired of it.”

Listen, Runa. If I keep seein’ you bein’ all cute like this, I’m gonna be the one who needs to stop before I get too excited. “Well, it’d be best if I don’t let ya get burnt out on it. If I don’t stop then you’ll get tired of it and it won’t be enjoyable anymore.”

With that, Tabitha began to lift her hand away… only for Runa to grab onto the wrist of it to keep the hand planted against her head. “I still want more. Please don’t stop yet…”

Yeah. This ain’t good. This really, really ain’t good. I’m never gonna get anythin’ done if you just want me to pet you like this all the time because I might not have it in me to turn ya down. As worried as Tabitha was about not being able to stop petting Runa, she was able to force herself to stop as soon as she remembered the whole point of bringing Runa out there in the first place. “Ah! Right! Hold on!” Runa let go of her hand, thankfully. That allowed Tabitha to pull away without feeling too bad about it and reach into her pocket. “Here, close your eyes.”

Runa looked a bit sad that she was no longer getting petted, but she still nodded and obeyed by closing her eyes.

Tabitha then grabbed Runa’s own hands, brought them together in front of her, and placed her half of the present into her hands.

“Alright, open up,” Tabitha said.

Runa opened her eyes and looked down at the metallic object she felt in her hands. When she looked there, she saw exactly what it was that Tabitha was working on in secret.