Mathew's body had formed a perfect human shaped outline on the bottom of Ellie's sock as she looked at it for a moment, taking in the sensation of his breath on her scales and [REDACTED]. She found it a little bit odd that this human in particular didn't put up any sort of fight against her, instead happily going along with everything. He had even started licking and gently kneading, which made her shake her head. He was the first Human she had seen alive, and not stuck to the bottom of her jogging shoe like gum.
"Well, let's see if you can keep that motivation up throughout the day," Ellie jested, her ankle still on her left knee as she sat getting ready to head out, "We got a lot of walking to do."
With that, she took her running shoe and slid it over her foot. She tugged it on tight, pulling on the laces and tying them into a tight bow. She could feel Mathew squirming a little, but it didn't feel like he was fighting her even yet.
"Nice knowin' ya," She jested as she stood up, grabbing a cloth wrapped painting she had leaning against the wall next to her.
As her weight settled on Mathew, she could feel his tiny body almost spread out. A small wheeze of air, but no crunch yet. Her insoles were soft, but she had a feeling that wouldn't save him for long. With a scoff, she opened the front door to the house and stepped through. She felt Mathew take in a deep, frantic breath whenever her foot lifted, only for it to be puffed back out of him violently as she walked along. Locking the door behind her, she strode by Caitlin's junker of a car and Astrid's little motorcycle, before breaking into a slow jog. Off to the post office to ship out one of Sammi's paintings to a customer, then meet up with Faith at the coffee shop…
Later that day
The bell rang to the front door of "Sweet Beans", a quaint little local-owned coffee shop and eatery run by a pair of sweet wolves. Ellie stepped through, seeing Faith in the back corner of the room sitting alone. She was reading a book, and hadn't noticed Ellie step in. Headphones on, listening to music, in her own little world with coffee and a good novel. She felt absolutely energized though, like she had the smoothest, longest lasting pre-workout in existence. Throughout her day she got a few jolts of that, even after Mathew's body all but disappeared beneath her. Replaced only with the damp slickness of sweaty scales, she couldn't feel him in the least…
But his effect. That was oh so sweet…
"Welcome back, Ellie~" The barista behind the counter said, she was a pink wolfess with a cute little barista's apron. "Raspberry Tea?"
With her was one of her employees, a white tigress who was leaning against the wall in the corner on her phone. There were plenty of pastries already cooked up all on racks around the pair.
"You know me too well, thanks Alyce," Ellie replied, walking towards the counter. The Tigress walked over to the register, slipping her phone into her pocket as Alyce started working on her tea. "That'll be all. No food for today."
Aside from Fayth, there weren't many people in the coffee shop today. One fox in a business suit near the entrance to the shop, on a computer. They looked as though they were quite engrossed in what they were doing. Everything seemed so quaint and cozy on a fairly brisk fall day. As Alyce worked on the tea, Ellie approached the register with a smiling tigress ready to help her. Just as she did, a muscular blue wolf stepped through from the back. He had a plate with a multi-layered BLT sandwich held together by a toothpick, with homemade potato chips and dip.
"Dollar twenty-five," The tigress said. As Ellie waited to slide her card, she slipped a five dollar bill into the tip jar.
"One of our favorite customers~" He said brightly, walking around the counter to bring the plate to the business Fox.
Ellie felt an additional pop beneath her foot, one she wasn't expecting. She thought Mat was pretty well pasted by now, so the extra snap was surprising. Then, a chill of soothing energy ran through her body – up her leg, before spreading throughout her like a wave of soothing energy. Without making a fuss about the burst of positivity, she slid her debit card, put in her pin, and the receipt began to print.
"Planning on sticking around for a bit?" The tigress asked, finishing up the transaction before fetching her phone again from her pocket. There was a nametag on her apron, which read 'Enzi'
"Yep, I'm here with Fayth."
"Already three cups of coffee in her," The blue wolf said as he approached from behind with a chuckle. Fayth had looked up from her book to see everyone, though she didn't take her headphones out of her ears.
"Evan and I were planning on going out to the movies in a few weeks, after all the Thanksgiving running around has died down," Alyce said as she set a nice clear cup on the counter in front of Ellie. Inside was a deep red liquid, with ice floating towards the top and some actual raspberries added in, "You and your roomies feel like coming along? Fae included."
"I'll see what the others say, but I'm down~" Ellie said, before the gecko-girl took a sip of the tea. "Whatcha planning on seeing?"
The trio continued their small talk for a few minutes, before she went to sit down with Fayth and continue her day.
Later That Afternoon
Emora stood on the edge of a small table, looking towards the entryway to the large home. She'd been there for a little while, having searched for a while to see if she could find Mathew somewhere laying around. He was elusive, difficult to track down among the giants and Fae that shared this space. Nobody knew where he was, and the only one she had left to ask was Ellie. The tiny woman's heart jumped a little when she saw the door open, and the leopard gecko gal step through. She took off her tail-coat, then her actual coat, and hung both aside before stepping out of her shoes.
"Hey!" Emora shouted, waving towards the lizard-woman, "I was wondering if-"
Em saw her bright turquoise eyes lock onto her, stopping her mid-sentence as the gecko woman walked by. The giant reached out a hand, and snatched Em up in a tight fist forcing a squeaky-yelp of air from her lungs. The pressure was intense, nearly breaking her ribs as Em felt blood rush up to her head. It felt like her eyes bulged out of her skull from the tight squeeze in passing, and she couldn't breathe. Ellie wasn't being vicious, she just was being careless.
"Perfect, just what I need," Ellie said, walking along with Em in her fist. She sat down in the living room on a large, comfortable stool, discarding Em on the floor before leaning back and letting her tail flop behind herself. There wasn't an order, just an expectation as she pulled her phone from her pocket and started to fiddle with it.
Em had stumbled to her feet, the air humidity had changed, and she was now looking to the underside of two sock-clad soles. Well used socks, and the smell was a mixture of sweat and lotion. It wasn't awful to say the least, just a musk hidden behind the smell of bright lavender. Her heart raced, before she saw the faint, shadowy outline of a person beneath her foot. It felt like the air was ripped from her lungs for a moment as she watched Ellie lean forward, peeling off the socks she wore and setting them aside to reveal Mathew's crushed corpse mangled into her scales.
As Ellie relaxed with her phone, Em got to work, kneading the soft scales of Ellie's sole while glancing at Mathew's crushed, stained little corpse…