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“What is this, Pale Child?” Shakra asked, looking up from her reading one of the relics from Hornet’s collection.
She put down her scroll and looked up at Lace, who was hanging down from her hammock at the top of the bellhome. That bell turned home that Hornet had built in Bellhart quickly became her main place of residence when she decided to settle down in Pharloom for a while. Not only did she take Shakra as a mate – or the opposite, none of them agreed on who wooed the other first – but when Lace joined them as an unexpected adopted daughter, the home became from small to overly cramped. But they liked staying together, cozy and warm inside.
The white little bug slid down a thin line of silk and pushed a carefully wrapped package into Shakra’s arms. “Open it!” she said with smiling eyes.
Shakra sighed. She did promise Hornet to be tolerant of her childish nature, and surely this could not be yet another prank?
She considered the package. Quite light for its size, wrapped in silk. Like made of air, or moss, or something similar. Even shaking it barely produced any sound. Seeing Lace’s persistent stare, she finally cut it open carefully with her claw.
“...So, what is this, Pale Child?” she repeated the question, still unsure what she had in her claws.
“A garment made with the fluffiest pelt I could find!” Lace answered, glee apparent in her voice, “You know how Hornet loves anything fuzzy to the touch, yes? Wear this and you are guaranteed a good time with her.”
The wink Lace added to her explanation made Shakra wince, but she did make a very important point. Hornet wasn’t exactly cuddly, to say the least. She preferred claw holding, kissing and sweet, private love talk to close shell contact even when they shared a bed. Hornet hid under her cape a very thin and flexible shell, dark and beautiful covering all her limbs and body. Shakra however had a rough, hard, grating armored shell on various parts of her body. Which was extremely useful to divert and protect against her foes’ attacks, but similarly made any close contact with a mate harder.
Upon closer inspection, the garment looked lovely, refined even. Obviously tailored for her size and body type, with a pretty earthy color. If she were to wear something like that, surely…
But she could not dispel a nasty feeling from Lace’s weird stare all throughout.
“...Pale Child,” she started, “Where pray tell did you find a felt so fair?”
“Aha!” Lace straightened up, suddenly excited, “I found a whole swarm of fleas near a big lake to the far side of Pharloom!”
“Oh,” Shakra looked at her in disbelief, “Oh.”
It was as though she had stepped into the cold winds of Mount Fay. Those fleas… surely those couldn’t be the ones that Hornet so painstakingly gathered from all over Pharloom, then helped move and migrate to finally settle down to a safe location near the Pale Lake?
Lace rejoiced, taking her freezing for a stunned joy, “They were actually so easy to hunt, barely a challenge, haha! It was like picking mossberry, really.”
Shakra looked back at her in disbelief. “Lace,” she started, using her actual name to hammer the seriousness of what she was going to ask, “You do know those are Hornet’s friends, right?”
“Hm?” All Lace did was tilt her head, as though the very idea was foreign to her.
Shakra looked again at the garment in her claws. Fluffy and pretty, sure, yet knowing where it came from filled her with disgust now.
When she was debating how to scold her adopted daughter, she flinched when she heard noise at the step of the bellhome.
Hornet was coming home, at the worst time possible.
Opening the door violently, a very roughed up looking and furious Hornet stomped through, jumped up and immersed herself in her little spa, just above the door and below Lace’s hammock.
“Welcome home!” Lace said joyfully.
Hornet did not answer, brooding already.
“Hornet?” Shakra asked prudently, tiptoeing just enough to go level with the spa. Her lover looked angry… and she had an inkling what it could be, sadly. She glanced up at the childlike bug on the ceiling, sighed, and chose her words carefully.
“Hornet Wielding Needle,” she started again, using the full name she gave her in respect, “What bring you home so ragged?”
“… I went to fleatopia for a jolly time with my flea friends.”
“… And?”
“And I don’t think I can ever go back. It was horrible.”
Lace giggled, and Shakra shushed her with a furious look.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Hornet finally lifted her head. Her mask looked worn down so up close – although the dim lightning in the bellhome might have made it look worse than it really was.
“I hate it. I don’t want to do those again.”
Shakra cocked her head. She wasn’t sure what Hornet was talking about.
Hornet splashed the water angrily, “It’s all those… games. Those circus challenges! All unfair and unfun, but I had to play them all! The poggoing, I could stomach. But the juggling! How can those fluffy furballs fall down so quickly to the ground??”
Lace’s giggling was now a full on laughter up on her ceiling. Shakra looked up in disbelief. Half relieved, half confused, half unable to comfort Hornet. And so she let her vent for a while.
“… The worst of course was the endurance part. By all means, bump into me all you want with your fuzzy coats! But why must you wear such hard hats? The number of times I had to retry and retry and try to beat those stupidly high scores.”
Huffing and puffing, Hornet looked finally at the end of her rant.
“So,” Shakra asked, “The fleas were fine? No… unexpected loss?”
“No? Everyone was fine. Finely groomed even. Thanks to a certain someone, I have been told, who helped them comb their fur and get rid of their winter coat.”
Lace waved her claw and giggled once again.
So that’s where the little brat got her wool, Shakra finally realized. Relieved, but unable to move on. Hornet looked exhausted, and her cute little rant had been endearing. When they first met she appeared pretty polite and stoic, but living together showed Shakra what hid behind the mask, so to speak.
All of a sudden Lace dropped from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor.
She pat Shakra on the back, “Happy now?” She giggled mischievously, “I have an errand to run, I heard some bugs are causing trouble near Songclave. A good opportunity to try out my newly oiled pin. The bellhome is all yours, take your time unwinding, ahaha!”
The noisy child finally away, the bellhome felt suddenly much more quiet and private. With Hornet done with her bath, Shakra could finally take a breath and enjoy her lover’s presence. The spa had done wonder for Hornet, and the way the remaining water dripped on her pretty shell made Shakra look very appreciatively.
“What is that furry thing you are holding?” Hornet suddenly asked after putting her towel done and sitting on her bed.
Shakra shuddered. She almost forgot the gift she had received. A pretty, fluffy garment… which wasn’t anymore disgusting.
She took her most seductive voice and crouched down to whisper, “Hornet, I have a new outfit to show you… Why don’t I lock the door and see how you like it?”