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"Ow."
Qifrey could hear Coco look up from behind him. The brushbuddy squeaked at the sudden noise as well. Thankfully no-one else was around to witness his blunder; Qifrey wouldn't have been hearing the end of it from Olruggio for a while, and it would have been at least somewhat deserved.
Blood was blossoming on his finger. He glared at the knife like it had personally offended him, like this wasn't entirely his own fault for being careless in the kitchen. Oh well, such was life sometimes.
"A-Are you okay, Master?"
Poor Coco, though, had stopped her spell practice, and Qifrey could practically hear the concerned watery expression in her voice.
Such a sweet girl. They all were. He was blessed.
"I'm fine, Coco, really. Just a minor cut, it happens."
Despite that, she quickly stood up from the table; from the sound of her footsteps, she was a girl on a mission, even if Qifrey wasn't exactly sure what that mission was.
He felt bad for worrying her, and slightly worse for finding her worry somewhat cute, but to be very fair to himself, she was cute.
In the seconds she was gone from the table, though, there was more rustling of movement. Much lighter than Coco, but faster, and from the sounds of it, equally determined. Before Qifrey could even blink, the brushbuddy had leapt to the countertop and closed its mouth around his bleeding finger.
He stared at it for a second, unsure at how to respond.
He felt its tongue move around the cut. It tickled.
He tried moving his arm around to get it to let go, but it refused, even willingly dangling into open air when Qifrey tried (slowly, gently, of course) fully raising his arm.
He couldn't help but laugh. Animals could be so silly sometimes.
"A-Ah! Brushbuddy! No, don't get on the counters like that, we just cleaned those this morning!"
From behind him, he heard Coco's return, as well as the quiet splashes of water.
Ah. The vapor bubble. Good thinking. He felt pride bloom in his chest at every part of magic that became as natural to her as breathing, and this was no exception.
(But it was tempered pride. He didn't want anything else to bloom, after all.)
"But awww, good boy! He's trying to clean your wound."
... Calling it a 'wound' was a bit of an exaggeration, but that didn't stop it being sweet.
"The sentiment is much appreciated, Puffpuff, but I can't imagine that that's particularly sanitary."
Not even the annoyance of the unapproved name could make it let go. It was bizarre. But then again, brushbuddies usually were. He could force it to let go, easily, but he didn't want to hurt or distress the little thing. It would get bored eventually.
Probably.
Coco, less patient (or perhaps simply less weak for cute things), set the vapor bubble down on the counter and went to tickle the brushbuddy's sides.
Success!
"Thank you very much, my dear. Whoever else would save me from the maulings of such rabid beasts?"
She giggled as Qifrey used the vapor bubble to clean the blood off the knife and finger. The brushbuddy thrashed a little in her hands, a little bundle of energy, even more than usual.
"It's the thought that counts, though. He must really like you, Master. He usually only moves that fast for ink!"
... She laughed, but Qifrey felt something in himself twist. The ground and walls abruptly felt much less steady than before. His breath fluttered, and he prayed to the lords that Coco didn't notice.
... 'For ... ink'.
... It ... It wasn't that ... n-no, no, it couldn't be, it was just trying to help like Coco thought.
Right?
He spared himself the quickest glance at Coco's hands, hoping that she was too distracted with the brushbuddy's sudden and now-concerning mania to notice.
His blood was around its mouth, smeared on white fur. It felt ... suddenly much more ominous than anything related to a brushbuddy ever should.
But at least the smear was red. Not black.
He looked down at his cut finger after cleaning the blood away.
He told himself that all he could see was flesh. Red. No black. No ... n-no white, no branches, no, nonono-
"Master?"
Qifrey forced himself back into his smile like the second skin that it was.
"It's alright. It just stings a little more than I expected it to. I'm fine."
She accepted that as an answer, thank goodness, and went back to the table for her spell practice.
The brushbuddy continued to stare at him like it had discovered some great treasure buried deep underground. Qifrey turned back to his cooking like nothing had happened, trying to ignore the trembling in his hands, the wriggling in his bones.
He was fine. He was fine. He was fine.