Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Two - Affection

"At what point has a hug gone on for too long?" Desiree asked.

We were both standing just outside of the back of Booksie's shop. Booksie herself was still wrapped around Rhawrexdee's face, and the dragon was gently rocking his head side to side, his big dragon eyes closed as Booksie hugged him.

"I don't understand?" I muttered.

"What don't you understand?" Desiree asked.

"How can a hug be too long?"

Desiree shook her head, but her tails were wiggling their way in my direction. On a whim, I reached out and touched one of them, and it wrapped itself around my wrist.

The foxgirl noticed and immediately flushed. "Fool tails," she muttered. "You appendages have no respect for your great master. Wandering off into the hands of another. Hmph! Most uncouth!" She tugged her tail back, but then the other one snaked around and pressed against my hand.

"I think your tails like pets," I said.

Desiree pouted. "It's unfair," she said. "A kitsu's tails must submit to the will of their liege!" she glared at them, not that it seemed to do anything. "Hmph! Well. It ... it is said that it becomes significantly more difficult as the number of tails increase."

"Really?" I asked.

"Do you have difficulties with your own tail?"

I shook my head, then glanced at Booksie and Rhawrexdee. They were talking now. Booksie wiping a few tears away even as she giggled at something the dragon had murmured. "Let's go inside? We can keep picking up while Booksie has a chat."

"That seems fair," Desiree said. "And it'll avoid the topic of your no-doubt unruly tail."

"Oh," I said. "My tail's never been a problem." I wiggled my butt a little, the tiny white puffball shaking with the motion. "I mean, it gets in the way while sitting, and if I get pants I need to make sure they're suitable for tails, but otherwise it's not a problem. It does make it harder to sleep on my back, but I don't mind sleeping on my side."

"How lucky," Desiree said.

"Ah, but my ears though, they're very unruly." I sighed as I gestured up. The right was kinked in the middle, as always. "I'm really envious of Booksie, her ears listen... uh, to her. I mean, all of my ears can listen, that's what ears are for." I tugged at the lobe of my human ears, then suddenly found myself leaning back as Desiree came close.

"Are those... fleshy human ears?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"That's horrific. Are they real?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Why do you have four ears? That is too many ears. Unless these will grow long and furry as you gain more classes? Are they perchance nubs whereupon future ears will grow?"

I shook my head. I didn't really mind her inspection. "No, I always had these. They're just... ears. I guess I might have pretty good echolocation, but it's nothing too special. I started off as a human and only became a Bun when I levelled, so these two are my originals."

"Bizarre," she said.

"I guess it is a little weird," I admitted. "But that's just how it is. What about you? You only have the two ears?"

Desiree nodded, then casually moved her hair aside, revealing that the side of her head was entirely smooth where I had my ears. Well, mostly smooth, there was hair there, of course, her hairline moving across the space where an ear would be. "This is how it should be," she said.

"Interesting," I said. I wondered for a moment if our brains were different, to make space for all of the hearing bits... then I wondered if mine had shifted to make room for more ear bits than I had before.

Did my brain get squished at some point?

Nah, I would have noticed, I was sure. "Want to help me pick up?" I asked. "Booksie's had a long day, it would be nice if she didn't have to worry about picking up and cleaning on top of everything else!"

"I am at your disposal! It is the duty of a companion to assist their allies and friends in times of need and distress!"

Grinning, I started picking things up and tossing them in the trash. There was a lot of loose glass and broken furniture.

We piled things off to one side, then I cleared a table and we stacked the fallen books onto it. I split them into two piles. One that just needed reshelving, and another that had books that were damaged. Someone rude had stepped on some fallen books, and there were some ripped pages that belonged to one book or another.

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Once everything was picked up, my Cleaning magic did away with any dust and mud between the floorboards.

As time passed, our minds began to wander a bit. I caught the fox-girl pulling books from the shelves and looking them over before replacing them. She held a feather duster in a tail, so she wasn't being lazy, just... slow about work. But that was okay. I swept around the store, cleaning as I went and trying to make the place as neat as possible so that Booksie would have less work in the morning.

After a while, the back door opened, and a smiling Booksie came in. "Oh!" she said as she looked around. "You finished picking up. You didn't have to; I would have gotten around to it."

"No, it's fine," I said. "I hope we didn't disorganize things too much? I don't know what your book sorting system is, so we just piled them all there. Some are damaged."

She tsked as she picked up one book that had its binding ripped up. "That's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world."

The door behind Booksie swung open fully, and a large snoot stuck itself into the entrance. "They ruined the books?" Rhawrexdee asked, his voice making the entire room rumble.

I noticed Desiree freezing, her tails puffing out like a startled animal. She'd been very quiet earlier as well. Was she afraid of Rhawrexdee? Or maybe dragons in general?

"No Rhawr," Booksie said. "Just a few of them. Looks like they fell. Ah, this one will need to be rebound." She shook her head with a sigh. "Annoying, but I've had clumsy customers bump into shelves and cause more damage."

Rhawrexdee backed up, then it was just his eye in the entrance. The big slitted pupil scanned the room, then paused on Desiree, then me. "Oh, it's the other bun. Broccoli?"

"Hello!" I said with a cheery wave. "It's nice to see you again!"

The dragon nodded. "It is. You saved Booksie. My sister had to restrain me from burning the city with the fury of my electric anger. From the sounds of it, that wouldn't have been enough to find her in any case."

"Uh, well, I'm glad it didn't come to that," I said.

"It didn't come to that because of your efforts," he said.

"Well, I had a lot of help. And a lot of friends pitched in too. The guild, the embassy, it wouldn't be fair of me to take all, or even half the credit," I said.

The dragon hummed, which made the windows tremble in their frames. "Still, I am grateful. And also a dragon. I will give you your weight in gold."

"Uh. I don't think I need that," I said.

I almost instantly felt a tiny shoulder Amaryllis huffing with indignity on my shoulder. That was probably a lot of gold, actually. I decided not to mention turning that down to the real Amaryllis.

"We did it because we care about Booksie too," I said. Some of those who acted did it because they didn't want the city exploded, but that was besides the point. I was sure they'd have helped for Booksie's sake too if they got to know her. "She's my friend, and Broccoli helps her friends."

The dragon's eye softened, and a low rumble echoed, almost like a purr. "A noble sentiment, Broccoli. Very well, I shall respect your wishes. But know this, the gratitude of a dragon is not easily forgotten."

Booksie, beaming, nudged me gently. "Thank you, Broccoli."

"You're very welcome," I replied with a grin. "Are you going to stay here?"

"I think so. I have some sleep to catch up with. Rhawr will be staying in the back. It's inappropriate to sleep in the same room before marriage, but I think the same area is fine."

"No one will steal my Booksie from me while I'm here," Rhawrexdee said. He grumbled, and it sounded somewhere between a threatening growl and a rather petulant mumble.

Desiree chuckled softly, her tails swaying more relaxed now. "One supposes that having a dragon act as a benevolent bodyguard is quite the luxury," she remarked.

Booksie smiled fondly at Rhawrexdee. "He's more than that, but yes, it's quite reassuring."

***