Teanam
patreon
Chapter 123
🕑 Added 2021-09-30 04:40:36 +0000 UTCThe group ended up meeting up in their new mansion and started customizing it to their liking. Aura went out to shop for a fluffy carpet to put in front of the fireplace. Fen planned to excavate a secret basement for future use, and the couple took over the interior design like installing curtains or rearranging some of the furniture.
"Hmm, where do you want the entrance, Sophia?" Fen walked around on the ground floor to find a suitable spot to dig.
"Let's see..." She looked around while both were in the entrance hall. "Oh, can you do it behind the stairs leading up? There's a bit of a blind spot, and no one would go there without reason."
"Not a problem. Any requests other than a hidden enhance?"
"I don't really need much besides a room to put a portal. Well, try to make it look nice, if possible."
"So, no secret underground dungeon to guard it?" The wolf wanted to go all out.
"Oh?" Sophia raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Just any old room will do!" Maya stuck out her head from the kitchen where she was in and stopped the duo from doing anything stupid.
"Aww..." Both sounded disappointed.
"Hey." The tiger-girl got closer to him and started whispering. "Second secret entrance inside the room for you know, okay?"
"Got it." He whispered back.
"I heard that!"
"Why are your ears so good?!"
----------------
After exchanging a couple of suspicious glances, Fen got to work behind the stairs. At the same time, Sophia went to her cat-girl in the kitchen.
"No dungeon, alright?" Maya repeated herself.
"It's up to Fenny now~. I have no say in this anymore."
"Dork." She gave up. "Anyway, have you seen any firewood outside?"
"Firewood? It's way too warm to test out the fireplace."
"No, the oven and stove use it, as well."
"Ohh."
"Well, we have both types in the kitchen, the other one works with magic, but I like the wood version more. I think it tastes better."
"I see. Firewood, huh? Maybe somewhere in that previously mentioned barn?"
"That could be. I'll take a look later. Well, I already finished sorting most of the stuff we bought earlier. How about we get started on the curtains for the living room?"
Doing as told, the two got to work. It didn't take much time at all, though. There were already some curtain rods installed, so they only had to hang them. The couple had gone for white semi-transparent curtains. Nothing too fancy, but they also didn't feel out of place in the mansion.
"That doesn't look half bad." Sophia seemed satisfied when she looked at the widows. "There's still a ton of sunlight getting in, but the curtains give a sense of privacy."
"Yeah, I don't think anyone could look inside in the first place because the property's so big, but I don't think I could calm down with bare windows." Maya also liked their addition to the mansion.
"Sofas next?" She glanced at the three white ones next to the fireplace placed around a wooden coffee table.
"What do you plan to do with them?"
"Let's just get them a little further away from the fire. Enough for whatever carpet Aura's buying and have our wolves relax comfortably there."
"Got it."
----------------
As both, especially the tiger-girl, were on the stronger side, rearranging a couple of sofas was no work. After they were done with that, the changes for the living room were done for the time being.
"Hmm..." While back in the hallway to go to their bedroom on the upper floor, Sophia got curious about how Fen was doing. "Wow, I guess he took the secret entrance part very seriously." She looked behind the stairs and noticed that there were no signs of a hole ever being dug.
"Are you sure he actually even started digging?" Maya thought it was too clean. "He might as well gave up and took a nap in the garden."
"That's... I guess we'll find out eventually." She couldn't deny this possibility.
"I just hope it won't turn into a dungeon."
Afterward, the couple finally went upstairs to get their bedroom ready. They got the same white curtains as in the living room, and they, too, were installed in no time because of the already existing rods above the windows.
"Haa~" Once they were done with that, Sophia let herself fall on their new bed with a satisfied expression. "Why is this thing so comfy?"
"Well, it's made with nobles or royalty in mind and is super high-quality." She touched one of the canopy posts before gliding with her hand over the soft and comfortable-feeling bedspread. "Lucky us." Afterward, she lay down right next to the tiger-girl.
"I'll become useless with this thing~. Well, even more useless."
"..." Maya didn't reply.
"Hey... I'm still far from an expert on this subject, but shouldn't you at least fake to raise an objection here, miss girlfriend?"
"Hmm? Did you say something? I was busy with not dozing off on the spot..."
"Nevermind, I'm in good company." Sophia noticed they were both useless.
----------------
The couple relaxed like that for around half an hour. They also cuddled a little, but mainly because everyone was still in the middle of getting the mansion ready, that was all the two did. Somehow escaping the clutches of the way too comfortable bed, both eventually went downstairs again. It was right in time because Aura came back just a couple of moments later.
"I'm back~." The female wolf entered through the front door while carrying something white, big, and fluffy looking on her back. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a rolled-up skin or fur of some sort of animal. The trio went to the living room, where she placed it on the ground in front of the fireplace.
"Err..." It turned out to be a snow-white sheepskin rug, but a certain detail caught Sophia's attention. "I didn't know that there are... sheebs in this world." She tried her luck with the name. "Or rather, why is his guy about as big as you and Fen in your original form?!" The rug Aura brought was gigantic.
"That's just how sheebs are, though?" The wolf tilted her head. "Well, they are kind of rare in this area, so I was lucky that I found it."
"Ehh? Also... seriously?!" She was mainly surprised that the name she decided on a whim wasn't corrected. "Am I finally understanding it?"
"Just a quick question..." Maya's eyes wandered between the rug and Aura. "Did you buy or hunt it?"
"Silly you, I bought it. You can't use the fur of a freshly slain animal as a rug. You have to process it to make it more durable and to preserve it."
"Yeah, have some common sense, Maya." Sophia took the opportunity to tease her. "Wait, you can't? I had no idea." Noticing how the cat-girl was looking at her, she quickly changed position and got Aura between the two before changing the topic. "A-Anyway, I like it. It looks really good. You can never have enough of white in your life!" It was a desperate attempt.
"..." She ignored her and kneeled down to touch the rug. "It's sooo fluffy and feels super nice. You got a good one."
"I know~." Aura was proud of her buy.
"Let the expert have a look." The tiger-girl wasted no time and directly jumped on the white and fluffy goodness. "T-That's bad..." Her expression changed.
"What's wrong?" Maya didn't understand her reaction.
"I don't think I'm ever getting up again." She rubbed her face all over the fur. "I'm going to live here from now on~." Sophia liked it very much.
"Stop marking it." The cat-girl quickly noticed what she was doing.
"A-Ah..." She hadn't even realized it herself. "W-Well, it's an instinct, right? Nothing I can do there, can I~?" She showed no sign of stopping and only buried her face deeper into the fluffy rug.
"Urgh... Using my own words against me..." Maya uses a similar excuse whenever she doesn't want to stop marking Sophia's thighs during their regular lap pillows, for example.
"Ehehe~." Sophia continued for a while. Eventually, she readjusted her position and curled up in an almost perfect circle. Even her tiger tail tightly wrapped around her legs, which she was lightly hugging. "Well then, good night, everyone~." A different instinct had taken over her.
"Oi!" The cat-girl tried to stop her but falling asleep instantly was one of the tiger's biggest talents. "Aaand she's gone..."
"Okay, be honest with me already. That girl never was a human." Aura gestured at the textbook example of a cat sleeping on their new sheebskin rug.
"..." The actual cat had nothing to reply here. At some point, she had started doubting it ever happened herself.
----------------
"By the way..." The two continued to watch Sophia for a while before Aura glanced around. "My detection magic's better at picking up far away reactions, so I'm a little confused. It seems like Fen is here somewhere, but I can't see him."
"Last time I saw him, he started building the basement."
"Oh, that's why it feels like his signal's coming from below. Wait, are you sure he isn't building something like a dungeon? The area I can sense him running around is way too big for a basement."
"E-Eh?!" That was the one thing she didn't want to hear after the male wolf, and her tiger got a little excited about that earlier. "This idiot..."
"You don't want him to?
"Obviously!"
"Why not? Sounds like fun if you ask me."
"Wait," Maya stopped. "Am I the odd one here?" She noticed that she was the only one who disliked the idea.
"Seems like it. Where's the problem?" Aura didn't see the issue. "It's not like there'll be any monsters or the like. At best, your tiger most likely will turn it into a maze, thinking it would be cool."
"You're starting to understand how her brain works, huh?"
"It's not that hard. In that aspect, she's quite similar to Fen. He also tends to get excited easily. I think it's cute."
"Well, yeah... But still, a dungeon under our home is a little..."
"Don't worry. With those two, that dungeon or maze will span below the entire capital, not just our place."
"Feeen!" For some reason, it didn't calm down Maya in the slightest. Instead, she cried out the wolf's name, hoping he would appear.
"Yes?" As if on cue, he actually entered the living room from the hallway. "How can I be of help?"
"Wow, what timing." She was impressed for a moment. "Say, dear Fen, what might've you been doing below the mansion?"
"W-What do you mean? Sophia asked me to make a basement, right?"
"Sure, and I said no dungeon, right?"
"Yes...? That's why I simply made a single room."
"Really? Then, why did Aura detected your presence darting all over the place below the mansion?"
"T-That's... detection magic doesn't work that well underground. Your target often jitters around thanks to the soil interfering with the signal."
"Ah, is that how it is~?" Maya didn't believe one word.
"Fen!" Noticing his presence nearby, Sophia finally woke up again, and the cat-girl had to pause her questioning. She got up from the rug, stretched herself, and then faced the wolf. "Is it done?"
"The basement? Yes, all done."
"Great! I want to see it."
"Of course." He guided the group out of the living room and stopped next to the stairs leading up in the hallway. There, he concentrated for a moment, and a part of the ground behind the staircase disappeared.
"Oh, very cool!" Sophia liked it. "It's like a hidden trap door!"
"Yes. Just focus your magic on that spot, and I will open or close."
"Awesome! Let's have a look." Leading the group, the tiger-girl went down the stairs that appeared inside the hole Fen opened. Eventually, they arrived in a dimly lit room. It was around 7 by 7 meters big, and its walls, floor, and ceiling seemed to be made out of polished black marble. "Oh, very stylish. Where's the illumination coming from?"
"It's just the remains of light magic I used to work. It's pitch black in here without it, after all. Well, all of us can create artificial light, so I thought it's fine without natural light."
"Hrmm..." Maya had a complicated expression as she looked around in the room. It seemed like she was searching for something.
"What's wrong?" Sophia noticed her behavior.
"I'm looking for the entrance to the dungeon Fen made."
"Eh, you made one?!" She looked at the wolf with sparkling eyes.
"I-I did not. The cat asked us not to do it, so I let it be."
"Aww..."
"Hmm..." Maya was still dubious. It also didn't help that she could've sworn that the two exchanged a suspicious glance for a second afterward.
"Anyway," Sophia quickly changed the topic. "This basement is more than perfect for placing one of my portals to the extra dimension. From now on, we can travel as much as we want and always come back here a moment later!"
After a while, once the cat-girl stopped being suspicious of Fen and her tiger planning something else in the basement, the group got back to the living room to relax and to plan what to do next. Fen refused to admit it, but he, too, took a liking to the sheebskin rug in front of the fireplace. This time, Sophia managed to withstand the urge to curl up and fall asleep on the fluffy white fur for around five minutes. Still, she ultimately lost to the allure once more. Maya watched her girlfriend comfortably sleeping there for a while, and the desire to follow suit was rising to a point where she couldn't hold back anymore. The cat-girl rolled up into a ball right next to Sophia and judging by her expression, she seemed to be in heaven. Thanks to her snow-white hair that had basically the same color as the rug, together with her also primarily white clothes, she almost disappeared in the fluff once she was fully curled up.
Comments
Teanam
Well, I wouldn't complain if someone goes and looks for an artist to commission a scene they liked in my story to put in a chapter (as long as it's nothing ecchi/NSFW), but supporting the story here's already beyond amazing.
Kill.Me = Killian Merphy
We kind of figured it's not money issue... but I know I wouldn't mind paying the commission just to show my support...
Teanam
Wow, you really don't have to. It's not really a money issue, either. I decided on other scenes because I forgot about this one and I want the illustrations to be ready when the chapter goes online on RR/SH. Having them ready when I post them here would be even better, but we're too far ahead for that...
Black Unicorn
If I get the new job I'm hoping to get I'll pay for it if it's not much more then $100 to get it made. Though I won't know about the job till about December.
Teanam
Yeah, I'm actually a bit bummed out that I forgot about that scene when looking for things to have illustrated. I'm currently testing a new artist for a soonish chapter, the one I used a few times already is doing another version of Ari, and the one who did Ari already is pretty booked out and I managed to squeeze in two illustrations for late October/early November with her, and this chapter will already be long out on RR/SH by then...
Kill.Me = Killian Merphy
Darn... I understand the issue of a time crunch... but that scene just seems so perfect 🥰
Teanam
I did think about that, too. I was thinking about something like a yin and yang position for them. There are some other illustrations already planned and/or commissioned, though. I don't think I would get this one here done in time.
Kill.Me = Killian Merphy
That's a picture we need to see... all of them curled up on the sheeb skin rug in front of the fireplace...
