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“Come on, come on, come on!”
“How is that fair?! Are you kidding me?!”
“I JUMPED OVER HIM!! WHAT WAS THAT?!”
The former Diamond Cutter, Whisper the wolf, was uncharacteristically loud today. She had been interested in those video games Sonic and Tails played, so Sonic let her borrow one of his handheld systems, and a platforming game that caught her eye. Immediately when she got home, she got flopped onto her bed and gave it a go.
Unfortunately, Whisper wasn’t ready for the sheer amount of frustration the game would give her. Neither were her wisps, who were watching her and trying their hardest not to laugh.
After seeing the game over screen for what felt like the millionth time, she put the system on the counter next to the bed, put on her mask, laid back and groaned.
“I’ve really stooped this low, huh,” she mumbled to herself. “Losing my mind over a video game…”
As she stared at the ceiling, her wisps got into her line of sight, with amused looks on their faces. “How uncharacteristic of you,” one of them said.
“Oh, cut it out,” she grumbled. “You have to admit I shouldn’t have died there.”
“Suuure,” the cyan wisp joked. “…maybe Tangle could help you through it?”
The wolf shook her head. “No. If I just have her complete the game for me, I won’t learn to avoid what it’s throwing at me.”
*CRRREAK*
All of them turned to the sound of the bedroom door being opened.
“Speak of the devil,” the orange wisp mumbled.
Behind the door was none other than Tangle, who had went out to run errands with Jewel today. There was something off about her, though… instead of the cheery, energetic lemur the wolf was used to, she got a slouched over, tired lemur.
“Tangle,” Whisper greeted her, taking her mask off. “Welcome home.”
“Yo, Whisp. Hey guys,” she smiled at the wisps. “Couldja scoot over, please?”
They all scooted to the right side of the bed to make room. Immediately after, Tangle crawled onto the bed and flopped face first onto the nearest pillow.
“Something on your mind?” Whisper asked, placing her mask near the system.
Tangle lifted her face up slightly so she could speak clearly. “Nothin’, just… long day,” she muttered. “Jewel and I got a lot done today, but… there were some hurdles to cross.”
Concern began to fill Whisper’s face. She motioned for her wisps to leave the room so they could be alone. They all nodded and headed out the door. “Want to talk about it?”
“Yeah,” Tangle sighed. “Some lady cut us in line when we were trying to sell some stuff at the checkout, and got unreasonably angry when I tried to reason with her. Later, I accidentally bumped into someone, who was clearly looking at phone while walking, and when trying to apologize, they acted like I kicked their chao.
“And don’t even get me STARTED on helping Jewel clean up the museum. I accidentally tipped over a display case and caused it to shatter. Jewel did hit me with the usual ‘It’s all good! Accidents happen!’ whenever I screw something up, but her face… chaos, she was trying so hard not to snap. I tried to apologize again after I was done but she said to just go home.”
After her venting, Tangle put her hands over her face. “I’m just… really glad today’s over.”
Oh, this won’t do at all.
Usually, there’s so much good going on in Tangle’s ordinary day, and Whisper would be the first to hear it. But hearing nothing but bad about her day, with no life or joy in her eyes, broke Whisper’s heart.
So she decided to bring some life back into them.
“…c’mere.”
Suddenly, Tangle felt herself being pulled onto Whisper, as the latter lay down on her back and started scratching behind her ear.
Tangle was caught off guard by her act, but quickly became welcoming to it. She closed her eyes and smiled at the comforting sensation.
How did she manage to find someone so quiet, yet so endearing? No matter what, Whisper always found a way to make her happy. She was just so-
“*Pprrrrrrr.*”
A sound emitted from Tangle’s throat, causing both girls’ eyes to open wide.
Realizing what she just did, Tangle put her hand over her mouth, as red as a tomato.
“WHOA, haha! Where’d that come from?” she laughed nervously.
It was a few seconds until Whisper could process what Tangle just did.
Tangle can purr. Oh my chaos TANGLECANPURRTHAT’SSOCUTE-
“Well, now,” the wolf said, trying to keep her composure. “I didn’t know you could purr.”
No answer from Tangle. Her eyes just tilted to the side in embarrassment.
“Aww, don’t be like that,” Whisper teased, playing with the tuft of fur on her head. “I think it’s cute.”
“Mmmh.” Tangle just hummed, followed by another purr. Her eyes widened again. “Q-quit making me do that, would ya?!”
Whisper giggled. “Don’t be so cute then.”
For the next few minutes, Whisper would occasionally tease Tangle, whether it was a compliment or caressing her cheek. The response each time would be a bashful purr.
The lemur tried to hide her joy at first, but she eventually gave in, continuously purring and nuzzling Whisper’s cheek.
A few more minutes passed, and suddenly Whisper heard a mixture of purrs and snores coming from her girlfriend.
She smiled at the sight of Tangle, who was clinging onto her with a big grin on her face, while fast asleep.
Well, she’s out cold. Maybe I could try to pry her off of me without waking her up and finally beat that level, the wolf thought. I think I finally know what I’m doing wr-
Interrupting Whisper’s thoughts, in her sleep, Tangle held onto her tighter and buried her head in her neck.
Whisper sighed and placed her chin on top of Tangle’s head. …nah. What am I thinking?
Suddenly, her wisps made their way into the room, careful not to wake up Tangle, and joined in with the two.
As she managed to get into a more comfortable position for everyone, the smile on Whisper’s lips widened.
This is much better.
-
“Stupid, stupid, STUPID! Tangle tries her hardest to keep things positive and you treat her like THAT?!”
Meanwhile, Jewel was making her way towards Whisper and Tangle’s house, grumbling to herself. She hadn’t been able to get the incident at the museum out of her mind. All of the mishaps that transpired today had eaten her up inside, and that led to her getting angry over that small slip-up the lemur made.
The beetle probably wouldn’t be able to have a good night’s sleep if she didn’t give Tangle a proper apology.
Jewel then found herself at the couple’s front door. She gulped, and knocked on the door.
“Tangle?? It’s Jewel. I wanna talk about how I acted today…”
She waited a couple of seconds. No answer.
Maybe she isn’t home?? Jewel though to herself. …no, I can see that the lights are on through the living room window.
She figured that she’d be in the bedroom, and flew up to the bedroom window, where she usually goes when knocking on the door doesn’t get her attention. “Ta-?”
She stopped herself from knocking on the window when she saw her resting on the bed, along with Whisper and her wisps.
They were all snuggled up together at the center of the bed. Three of the wisps were hugging Tangle’s tail, one wisp was on Tangle’s head, and the last one was on Whisper’s. Whisper had her eyes shut , rubbing the back of the lemur’s head. Tangle seemed to be fast asleep, happy as can be, and… wait, was she purring?
Jewel couldn’t help but smile at the sight. She took one last look and flew off back to Spiral Hill.
She’d try again later tonight.