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“HKS, what trouble have you got yourself into this time?”
To everyone’s surprise, Phainon had gained a white fox’s ears and a bushy white fox tail instead of what everyone associated him to. A dog.
His new tail wags at the sight of Mydei. Are foxes just smaller versions of dogs?
“Mydei!” His tail now moves in a less hurried rhythm. “Partner sure has an interesting way to keep ourselves entertained.” Curling his tail to reach his own hands and starts petting it, “Woah, this thing is fluffier than I imagined.”
“How long is this going to last?” Ignoring how he has the urge to touch those round pointy ears that twitched every time someone speaks.
“About a month.” The outlander smirks, “Don’t worry, I have Phainon’s consent.”
The next few hours were torture. No, not days or weeks, hours because Mydei kept getting distracted by those new animal features when they were literally sparring right now.
Mydei managed to block the heavy swing of his Dawnmaker and saw how those large ears folded backwards. He thought Phainon was about to swing again but this time, it took longer than usual.
“Getting slow? De-”
His usual jabs were cut short when the swing came, brutally stronger than the last ones. What came with it wasn’t the Deliverer’s usual hand, gripping to the hilt of his large sword. Instead, he got a glimpse of a fluffy tail.
What in Nikador’s name. Are tails normally capable of doing that?!
“It worked!” Phainon grinning, his tail stabbing the edge of the sword towards the ground, “Something to sweep off your feet, my dear Mydeimos.”
Mydei swiped off the blood of his nose, it was endearing of Phainon to now hurriedly walk towards him when he was the one who sent the now ex-prince flying.
“I didn’t hit you too hard right?” Pulling Mydei from the wall, “Can't have you having a concussion after being defeated by a tail.”
He laughs, “You cheated.”
Phainon faked gasped, “I absolutely did not! The rule didn't explicitly say to not use tails.”
“Is your tail made out of pure muscles?”
“Should we try arm wrestling but I use my tail?”
“You're on, the loser gets to do whatever the winner says.”
“Deal.”
“If you wanted to play with my fox features, you could’ve said so, Mydei.”
“I’ll pull your ears if you comment more, Deliverer.” He said while squeezing gently before stroking the tips of his ears with a concentrated look.
While Mydei does his thing, Phainon resorts to looking at chimera videos on the internet. The faint raindrops clashing towards their rooftop made the air colder, a perfect moment to snuggle in beneath blankets.
Phainon unconsciously curled his tail towards himself while he laughs at a particular chimera video where it backflips. Acting like it was a blanket to warm himself up, wrapping his lower torso. And it happens that Mydei was still brushing it before it unexpectedly moved away, making him sneeze as its tip tickled his nose.
“Cold?” Phainon asked, half realizing it midway through as he passed a blanket to Mydei.
“Not really.” But still accepted the blanket, “Your tail tickled me.”
“Oops.” He doesn’t look sorry at all.
Phainon had to concentrate to make his tail listen, finally uncurling itself but made a new problem when it decided it was time to latch onto Mydei’s torso now.
“Ah, sorry.” The fox chuckled nervously, “Let me.”
Phainon tried to pull it away by hand after it didn't respond to his brain. It seemed to have an opposite effect as his tail, the one that Mydei questioned if it was all made out of muscle, pulled Mydei closer towards himself instead in a fast motion.
Phainon had to catch the other by hugging. His mind suddenly lagged as if he returned to a bunch of codes again and it crashed when Mydei returned the accidental gesture by squeezing Phainon closer. And Phainon visibly relaxes, his ears returning to an upright position again. Melting further, he tightened his hold. Mydei smiled at this.
It was like an off button, one that Phainon hasn’t gotten used to. Sharing warmth under the rain was something of a distant memory once with his family.
Mydei then subtly inched closer towards the up positioned pillows, careful not to squish Phainon’s face towards it.
Without a single thought, Mydei began to caress Phainon’s hair. Brushing up and down while being careful to pet his ears, at least the back of it. He felt Phainon’s head move towards where his hands were.
“Phai.” Mydei suddenly called, not entirely breaking the comfortable atmosphere. “Are you purring?”
“Hm? Do foxes even purr?” Phainon answered while his head still rested on Mydei’s shoulders.
His ears twitched, trying to pick up the sound. It wasn’t the rumbling people usually hear when a cat purrs. It was more like when a bird chirps in the morning but its rhythm follows how a cat purr.
“I can’t control it.” He realized, slightly embarrassed by the volume, “Just think of it as white noise, Dei.”
Mydei chuckled, “I didn’t say it was bothersome. It's rather comforting.”
“I heard a cat’s purr can heal bones.” Phainon added.
“But you’re a fox.”
“Patato tamato.”
“... That’s not how the phrase goes.”
It seemed that Phainon’s playfulness has heightened ever since he became half fox. Sneaking off to try chimera’s snacks again. Mydei was just glad Aglaea caught on.
One thing they all learned after a couple of days is whenever Phainon was about to do something bizarre, he would have this blank stare while his already enormous ears would fold backwards.
Some are harmless like springing in towards a pile of leaves with the children while others are simply heart attack inducing, like tasting one of Anaxa’s turquoise liquids that should be considered something that could result in cancer.
Mydei also noticed that Phainon really likes tickling him by purposely sliding his tail towards his lower jaw whenever Phainon passes by. Cipher, who was in the area, gave Phainon a small thumbs up and proudly declared him as a ‘disciple’
And Mydei had to keep an extra extra eye on him since that fox now could carry more items by hand and tail, making a compulsive decision to buy the entire relic stall.
Was it simply because of the new additional fox feature? Or was it something already hidden beneath all of those layers of millions of years carrying the weight of the world?
“Mydei!” Phainon called in the garden full of chimeras, snapping out his thoughts. They were sitting in Phainon’s tail like a cushion.
“Cute right?” He said more quietly when Mydei walked closer, “These little ones were so curious and some even fell asleep on my tail.” He laughs at one pink chimera who is drooling in its sleep.
Out of curiosity and maybe a hint of jealousy, Mydei sat down with them and began to also make Phainon’s tail as a pillow. The latter doesn’t seem to mind but looks amused by it.
The blonde wasn’t satisfied, he sat back up again and earned a twitch from Phainon’s ear. Then slept on his open thighs instead, the other froze.
“Um, Mydei?” Phainon looked down, confused and flustered. Both of his ears now kept twitching repeatedly to shake off his nerves.
“Nothing really beats this.” Mydei said with satisfaction, promptly squeezing Phainon’s upper thigh that he knew it would tickle the man.
And Phainon almost smacked his head right there without mercy.
It wasn’t just chimeras, other creatures than humans had suddenly taken extra interest towards Phainon. Some dromas even offered their red soil which Phainon politely declined. This got the professor's attention as dromases are rarely this friendly towards another kind. Sharing their source of nourishment means that Phainon was welcomed with open arms as a family.
Nymphs would also chirp, telling jokes or simply to say good morning when they see Phainon simply idling around their area.
“A ***ney princess!” Caelus pointed while some of the fairies were floating with a flower crown towards Phainon’s head, being mindful of the ears.
“A what?”
“Damn, Hoyo censored it.” He said, not minding the weird stare from Mydei. “I didn’t expect Phainon to get extra attention from my gift.”
“A couple of chimeras were already interested in him, I do think your gift just widened that interest.”
“He really is a ***ney princess.”