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"You're such a good looking young lady! How about I introduce you to my son? He's been looking for a wife and he's such a hard worker!"
Castti only smiles patiently up at the older woman as she finishes wrapping the bandages on her arm. "It's good to hear that a beautiful woman like yourself has such a wonderful son."
"Ooh, you!" The old lady laughs with a quick wave of her hand, clearing preening with the compliment.
"No way, she has to meet my son! He'll be coming back from his job from Roque Island in a few days. Would you like to join us for dinner, miss? I'm sure you'll love him once you meet him!" another lady says, trying to get Castti's attention.
"I don't know if I will still be around but I'm sure your son will want to spend time with his family instead," Castti answers back, smile still polite.
"Nonsense, you're fine company yourself, Miss Apothecary! Even in your... uh... Beastling costume!"
Throné watches the entire thing with her arms crossed, furry ears twitching frantically atop her head. A dark feeling is rising inside of her and she's never felt a stronger urge than to march right over and stick her claws in their faces, bare her fangs and growl at them and tell them that Castti isn't interested in any of their offers because Castti is—
"Néné?" Ochette jumps in front of her, waving her hand. "What's wrong? I can smell your bad mood from all the way over there!" She turns around and points toward the general store, further where Castti is. Her ears are pressed flat again her head. "It was a little scary."
"... what?" Throné smooths over her expression. She hadn't even realized she'd been making a face. Doesn't feel like she's doing... anything different... other than this strange terrible knot forming inside of her. And smelling different? Is she? Throné lifts her arm to her face and inhales quickly but she doesn't exactly smell anything. "Sorry, I don't really know what's wrong with me."
"Huh..." Ochette follows her gaze, looking over at where Castti is. Her ears perk up suddenly, her tail swishing now as she nods. "Oh... I got it now," she says as she turns back. Throné's nose twitches; she'd caught the subtle shift of Ochette's scent but it isn't as if she knows exactly what it means.
With her Beastling senses, she's learned to pick apart the stronger scents: anger, sadness, happiness, and the like. When it comes to something as subtle as this though, something... softer, almost as if something underlying, it makes her nose twitch and she can't quite figure out what it means from Ochette. It's not exactly unpleasant though but something like... she's got a secret. Is that it? But is this how they smell to Ochette?
"You getting jealous about all the attention Ma's getting?" Ochette asks.
"What? No." Throné frowns, not liking that grin on Ochette's face. "She's helping people, why would I get mad about that?"
"Well..." Ochette only grins knowingly again.
Why would Throné get mad about that? This awful feeling inside of her—must be because of some strange Beastling thing she's just not used to, her body still adjusting to this transformation. That has to be. Can't be jealousy. What does she even have to be jealous about—
"Ooh, my son's here at the entrance! Come, come, Miss Apothecary, you have to say hi to him!"
Throné bares her fangs now, her eyes narrowing as she sees one of the woman around Castti grab her arm. Just as she's about to stalk right over to them, Castti quickly shakes off the woman's hand, the polite smile still on her face though the furry ears atop her head are twitching rapidly. Throné doesn't hear exactly what she says because she's trying to stop herself from seeing red.
"Uh, Néné, you're looking kinda scary again," Ochette says, her ears flat against her head again. Throné lets out a breath though it sounds more like a hiss. She's more than agitated, her tail swishing angrily back and forth. She looks over at Ochette, her feet tapping impatiently against the ground.
"... you've got any spare jerky?"
Armed with pieces of jerky now, Throné sets off the the outskirts of town. The strays tend to be around that area and she guesses right, a black furred dog wandering over to her. It's looking at her warily though, its pricked ears pressed flat against its head as its tail wags slowly between its legs. Throné glances off to the side, making sure she isn't looking directly at the dog, and slowly holds out the jerky in her hands. She can both see and smell the minute change in the dog, the way it perks up immediately, its ears alert and tail wagging up in the air, sniffing the air toward her hand. Throné crouches down, moving the jerky to the tips of her fingers.
The dog finally takes the treat, its tail wagging fast as it swallows down the bit of jerky. Throné holds out the rest of it and the dog takes it so fast from her hand that it looks as if it's just inhaled the treat. Tail wagging so fast that its hind legs look to be shaking, it steps closer to Throné, pawing at her leg now.
"Hey now," Throné murmurs, unaware that her own tail is swishing back and forth like the dog's. She pats its head before reaching down to scratch its neck, moving back up to scratch behind its ears now. The dog crinkles its eyes, its ears perked up now as it enjoys the scratches from Throné.
Animals are honest. Throné doesn't need to guess or figure out what they're trying to say. They can't speak but their bodies are honest, a smile coming to her lips when the dog's tail wags harder as she scratches behind its ears. Good. She knows this. She doesn't have to second guess herself, doesn't have to think about anything annoying like feelings. Just... some good old petting.
Animals can't betray, not willingly at least. She's already feeling better, that terrible knot that had been inside of her starting to uncoil. What had she even been upset about in the first place? Doesn't seem to mean much, in the face of this dog staring up at her like she's its entire world.
Caught up in petting the dog that she doesn't realize someone's walking over to her until her ears perk up, registering the thud of boots next to her. She looks up to find Castti standing over her. Something about her seems... off, though, despite the smile on her face.
"There you are, Throné. I was wondering where you went. I should have expected to find you with a little friend." Castti leans down, holding out her hand toward the dog but the dog seems to retreat back, as if trying to hide behind Throné's leg. "Oh? Do you not like me?"
"Hold on, I've got some extra jerky." Throné holds out a piece for her and Castti takes it, doing the same thing for the dog that Throné had done earlier. The dog still eyes her warily but takes the jerky, giving a quick lick to Castti's hand before nudging Throné's hand again. "Ah, you still want pets? Heh, what a greedy dog you are." She ruffles its head, the smile twitching at her lips.
"It certainly likes you, doesn't it?" Castti says, crouching down next to Throné. She reaches out as well, running her hand over the dog's body. "Your fur is so soft!" she say, a smile on her face now.
Except an unpleasant scent waffs over to Throné, her nose wrinkling in response. What is that stench? It's so strong that it smells like... is it coming from Castti?
She glances over and Castti doesn't look any different but she certainly smells different now than before. It's an underlying scent but it still makes her nose twitch all the same; Throné would have never noticed it if she hadn't caught its scent the first time.
Throné turns toward the dog again, ruffling its head but she chances sneaking a glance over at Castti out of the corner of her eyes. Castti is staring hard at the dog, her own ears flat against her head and there's an almost dark look on her face now, the tips of her fangs peeking out slightly as if she'll bare them.
With a piece of jerky, Throné leads the dog over to Castti. The dog follows her hand, taking her jerky and Throné looks over at Castti, gesturing to the dog. "If you want to pet it, it's here."
Castti startles. "Oh, the... dog." She nods and leans further down, her head bowed slightly, ears twitching. Throné frowns. The smell hasn't disappeared at all yet though it doesn't smell as bad as it once did. Had she guessed wrong? That seems to be the case, if the scent hasn't completely disappeared.
"Castti... you feeling all right?" Throné asks. Castti's tail, swishing earlier, completely stops now.
"Hm? Why are you asking?"
How does Throné explain this? "You, uh, just suddenly don't... smell very good all of a sudden."
"... do I?" She sounds just as surprised as Throné had been earlier, now glancing down at her arm and taking a quick sniff. It's like when Throné had been with Ochette—
Wait.
Is it... is this scent jealousy? Is she... jealous? But of what? There's only Throné and this dog here. Is she jealous of Throné, then? But Castti's petting the dog now, isn't she?
Then... the dog? Is she jealous of the dog? But why? Throné can't figure that out.
A flurry of movement out of the corner of her eyes takes Throné out of her thoughts, and she realizes it's Castti's own Beastling ears, flickering rapidly atop her head. She doesn't know what that means but Throné feels her hands twitching in response. With the way Castti is leaning down with her head bowed in front of her, they're so close, just right there in front of her... and Throné does feel rather curious about them...
She's reaching out before she's even aware that she's doing it, and what she's doing hits her the exact moment her fingertips touch the tip of Castti's ears and flick against her.
Soft. Almost as soft as that dog's fur—no, it's even softer, somehow.
Throné shoots her hand back just as Castti jerks her head up, blinking at her. "I, ah, sorry, didn't mean to... do that," she mutters, looking away while wishing there could be a way for her to run away without looking like she's got her tail between her legs.
Castti's expression is unreadable but she only bows her head again. "It's... fine, I didn't mind. You can do it again if you'd like," she murmurs.
Throné blinks, taking a moment to realize what Castti's spoken before she finally registers those words. Her face feels warm all of a sudden and she's more than glad that Castti isn't looking at her... but when she looks at Castti... even she catches the slight color on her face even if she's trying to hide it.
Throné reaches out, hesitant, her hand hanging in the for a moment right before it touches Castti's ears. Somehow, the feeling's entirely different from when she reaches out to pet Ochette's ears.
Swallowing, Throné allows her hand to move the rest of the way, fingertips brushing against furry ears.
"Mm," comes out of Castti along with a slight shudder and it takes all of Throné's willpower to not shoot her hand away. "A little... ticklish, sorry. You can keep going though," Castti says.
... how is Throné to continue after something like that? But she sees Castti's tail wagging slightly, and her ears are also flicked toward Throné's direction. If she's waiting then... Throné can't disappoint her. She moves her hand further down, and the way Castti's ears flicker against her hand is slightly ticklish. This feeling is also different from when a dog does it too. It's strange. She scratches the base of the ears, and she watches as Castti's tail wags faster.
The smell almost disappears right away. In fact, the aroma is pleasant now, something that also relaxes Throné, makes her start to feel a lot better. Castti's still petting the dog but Throné can see her shifting closer toward her, leaning her head toward Throné. This feels as nice as scratching the dog's ears—no, it feels... a little nicer, but in a different way. Throné doesn't mind this, and she knows Castti doesn't mind this because she can see her eyes are closed now, a slight smile on her face.
"Your hands are magic," Castti murmurs, and Throné makes a choked sound.
Ochette sniffs the air, searching for Throné and Castti. It's getting late and although the others are at the taverns or back at their rooms in the inn, she hasn't found these two. She hopes it's nothing bad, given the way Throné was smelling eariler.
After sniffing the air some more, she catches their scents, and follows it. A smile comes ot her face when she realizes the both of them are together and that Throné's doesn't reek of jealousy anymore. She spots them at the edge of town with their backs to her, both crouched to the ground with a little dog that she can smell. Ochette dashes over to them, her arms waving.
"Hey, Ma? Néné? Are you guys—" and she pauses, her ears alert now and pleasant surprised once she realizes exactly what's happening. Luckily, they don't seem to have heard her, which lets her sneak away, the grin on her face spreading across ear to ear now.
Because how's Ochette supposed to interrupt them when Throné's scratching Castti's ears while they've got their tails wrapped around each other and smelling like happiness?