Ignore his jinxing passive: being a rabbit is awesome! Never had he felt this beautiful in his life!
"Not even maggots would feast on a rabbit this frail," Raum reminded him, the crow perched on the edge of the circular onyx tub where its host is bathing in.
It's still surreal to him, that just the other day, he was vainly fighting for his bodily autonomy… err… and now he's in another body altogether, untouched, enjoying a life he wasn't sure he should be boldly claiming as his own.
Yet here he is.
He had been running his hands across his skin for a while now, marvelling about its unfamiliar darkness, and how much it felt like it had really become his own. His hair was long and maybe two tones darker, hinting a slight gleam of brown under bright light, and although it was leaning a bit on the coarser side, with enough care and nutrition, he would definitely get that luxurious, bluish shine soon.
And might he add… his smooth pubic hair that looked and felt more like soft fur, even perfectly shaped to a soft V, as if to compensate for his odd-looking rabbit demihuman genitals. He can't imagine he'd even be able to use that noodle thang on anyone anytime soon. Probably not ever.
"You think Aleister won't feed me well?" Furan Shi playfully scoffed, weakly splashing some water to Raum's direction. If he's more familiar with the bird, he'd definitely splash harder. Just saying. And then he'd still say it was an affectionate gesture. "I'm Snow's precious brother. Why would he let me stay frail?"
Hidden among his long hair were his long, lop bunny ears sprouting from the spots where his human ears should have been. As his tongue rolled around over his teeth, he felt their structure was a little different from a regular human's as well. He retained his bunny teeth from his original body, with the rest on the smaller side. They're a little sharper than expected of a herbivore, too, suggesting he can tear through something harder than plants as an evolved rabbit. Maybe meat.
On the other hand, "do you think I'd look cute in a frilly skirt?" was what he prioritized to ask. Raum could only agree because.. why not?
"Just keep in mind the description of your passive [Natural Charm]. Even with the debuff [Supersitions], your passive skill being at level 5 is still potent."
"I'll find myself some skirts and dresses, then~"
If he was alone, he'd probably be all, "who's the cute boy? Huuuhh? Oh, yes, you are! Yes, you areee~!" to himself. But Snow is in the tub with him, snoring, and he didn't want to startle him from his sleep.
"It's just so irresponsible and lazy of the orphanage to name a snow leopard Snow," he inserted with a puff of disappointed sigh. His eyes lingered at the sleeping snow leopard that's been leaning against him for a while now, while his subconscious mind was entertained enough by how their skin colors contrasted. "Might as well call me "Coney", right?"
"Mm, but they'd already named you in a similar method," the system replied.
"Jinx. Right."
Because a black rabbit brings forth jinxes. Old superstition, but somehow his existence in that orphanage had been a compelling proof to the people there. They only experienced misfortune and accidents whenever and wherever Jinx was involved, and in the end, the staff unanimously decided to pick him as the rabbit to sell to the brothel.
"Now don't classify yourself under a rabbit breed, though," Raum told him, another reminder. "You're a different species from rabbits, but you share enough similarities and classifications that we'll be using the term "rabbit demihuman" as the nearest translation."
"Ah, but… but I'm not human either, right?"
One good look in the mirror and he somehow could sense he wasn't human anymore. Err.. the homo sapien kind. He couldn't say it was from his flat nose alone — having this trait was the norm in his region back in his original world, and yes, he, too, had a small, flat nose back then — but maybe it's the weird.. uncanny setup of his pair of cinnamon red eyes… the round-ish feel of his head shape… the weight of his long, drooping furry ears… his slightly widened hips to support a small, actually-not-round-ish tail…
"You're getting the hang of this. Good job." The crow system fluffed its feathers, its little chest puffed out to show its pride for trusting its own intuition to choose a young, high-potential low-experienced host, although it did feel a little reluctant about whether to expound that part of the conversation or just leave it at that.
Y'know, for the audience Furan Shi is yet to be aware of.
The narration continuing implies Raum chose the latter. Let's get a move on; hope the bird won't regret its choice. (Ah, it's so hard to do this live, no beta readers to check Raum's outputs.)
Jinx had woken up early that morning, feeling like a cat (bunny) on a flat surface where the sunbeam strikes just right. The bed was far wider than he could spread his arms, the pillows not too soft with a neutral temperature, the lamp not too bright; a huge upgrade compared to his small, drab bed back in the orphanage. Of course, he'd be in a very good mood. The best part? It's only him and his (Jinx's) favorite person in the world in that bedroom.
Furan Shi somehow felt Jinx's sentiments about everything that's happening so far, as if he's really Jinx. His skin, no matter how much he did to it, he'd feel it firsthand. His eyes see this unfamiliar world with a very familiar feeling. And inside his chest is this boiling feeling of curiosity and excitement spilling every now and then into his minute movements, like he'd topple over himself if he forgets to control it, and it was especially fueled by the fact that it's only him and Snow in this big room. No orphanage caretakers, no other orphans, no more of the stench of controlled beast children in a cage that barely fit them all…
Maybe he's.. err… "integrating" with the body quite well?
No, he won't ask Raum about it. He could be using the wrong word, who knows? Raum does, and Furan Shi would hate to be corrected for something as trivial as an inaccurate word usage.
"But you are Jinx. And integrating is a good word to use… mm..."
"It should be illegal for a system agent to read the mind of its host."
"How..?"
… "Tf you mean 'how'- ughh.."
While he woke up like a useless, guiltless son of an aristocrat in a plush bed who also had a lavish dinner last night paid for by the taxes of his father's citizens, he can't say the same for the poor snow leopard that slept with him. Snow probably didn't even sleep a wink. As the older "brother", it is his responsibility to make sure Jinx is safe and comfortable. That means no sleep for him in this unfamiliar territory. Even when the bunny pleaded with him to close his eyes, too.
Furan Shi almost felt guilty for knowing the story card, where the few sentences easily implied the male lead's real temperament, after seeing Snow close to passing out the next morning. He only had slept well because he knew Aleister meant no harm, not when Snow's trust was on the line. And the white snake in the same house knew better than to touch these newcomers.
That's when Jinx suggested they soak in the tub together, where they are now. Snow had no choice but to agree.
Baths in the orphanage were never for comfort or relaxation, just convenience. Most of the time, they would be timed by a staff there to conserve water and soap — sometimes soap was not available and they'd have to either fight for it in another stall, or just bathe without soap altogether. There were no showers, either, but a tall pail assigned in each stall that comes with a wooden dipper. Sometimes, the pail would be missing, too, and they'd have to hop to the next stall to hopefully find one.
If they hear the clicking ringtone of the staff's phone, that means five minutes is up. Anyone left behind would get punished.
So when they saw the large, tiled bathroom attached to the lavish bedroom assigned as their sleeping quarters, their eyes went saucers-wide. Yes, even Furan Shi who lived all his life in a small bungalow house in a Southeast Asian seaside province. He'd only seen good, tiled bathrooms in some classmates' houses once, and that one time when he had to stay in a hotel room with his teammates and coach when they went to the city for a national math contest, but even those examples would never hold a candle against what he's seeing right in that moment.
No mold to be seen, no emptied paint pails used as water containers, and in the air was the fresh scent of something Furan Shi knew only the rich can afford. The walls are tiled, not concrete, and the drainage system wasn't just a hole at the corner. He presumed the isolated area with the sliding glass door by the wall opposing the bathroom door contained the shower, while at the left side was a raised platform with a large, circular bathtub for soaking.
Soaking. Who does that? Rich people, apparently. Maybe the Japanese, too.
That's when he'd (unwittingly) decided to give Snow a mini heart attack. He had gone straight to the tub, plugged in the drain stopper, and turned the faucet to begin filling it up with water. It wasn't hard figuring out how it could produce the temperature of his liking, but what's hard was that he had to hear Snow's little whine from behind him, which easily died in the snow leopard's throat as soon as the bunny looked back at him.
Snow's face had seemed to say, "go on. Do what you want. Anything for my baby brother."
With tears in his eyes.
Jinx had to give him a tight hug and cry, too, begging for the snow leopard to just enjoy this bath with him. When that didn't work, he reasoned they'd stick out too much in this pristine mansion with all their filth from the orphanage so using the tub would be the more optimistic option.
That's how they ended up soaking in the tub together, and under Raum's instruction, he made the water foam with the bubble bath available there.
Why else would it be there if not for the snow leopard, right?? It would also be typical of Jinx to be this carefree once he feels he's truly safe. He just had to swallow down the guilt that comes with it, because he's not Jinx.
"Actually—" hush, bird.
The water was adequately warm, however, and it took Snow maybe three minutes of fighting against his fatigue to end up dozing off in front of the bunny, head thrown back and his body leaning against the wall of the tub.
Furan Shi just moved Snow to a more comfortable position, letting the snow leopard lean against him. He naturally ignored the slight internal heat induced by that skinship. He also mentally noted not to tell the latter how long they'd spent in the bath tub so Snow wouldn't have to worry more than he'd already been worrying.
After their bubble bath, Snow felt like he'd have another heart attack. Sure, they are given new clothes — FAR more comfortable than the rags they usually have on their backs — but he was pretty certain they weren't allowed to touch anything else in that bedroom. Jinx was pretty certain they were.
"Come on, big brother! Let me dry your hair~!"
Snow had forgotten to ask when did the small bunny learn how to operate a hair dryer, too busy fearing for what's about to come if their new master would learn that they used more water and electricity than they are allowed. But at the same time, he'd never seen the bunny this cheerful before. So, in the end, Snow just had to steel his mind and come up with explanations and ways to shift all the blame onto himself if they're discovered.
Breakfast time came. A canine maid fetched them from their assigned sleeping quarters instead of them hearing the loud bell that should vibrate through walls, one that urged them to move quickly, or, again, there would be consequences. This maid spoke softly, addressed them both as "young masters", and even fixed Jinx's collar with a gentle touch after noticing it was slightly crooked.
The household members of the main house rarely ate together. There were only three of them in there (excluding servants), yet somehow they all had managed to collaborate on an unspoken schedule that they must only meet on Sundays, after knife battles, or during emergencies, which occur once in a blue moon nowadays.
But today, Aleister required the presence of the other two for such a mundane convention.
A "family breakfast."
Camilius feared he'd turn this into a daily arrangement. If so, they'd need to wake up earlier next time to match Camilius' weekday schedule (school).
The other individual, Aleister's younger brother Anton, looked like he was robbed of his bed and then forced to sleep on the floor. He didn't bother fixing himself, and the maids covering the table with breakfast platters doubt he even looked in the mirror prior to coming downstairs to answer his brother's call. It was fortunate enough that he doesn't wear his hair long anymore, or else we'd say he looked like he was robbed of his bed and then forced to sleep not with a mattress, but with a violent, burly man.
…
Sorry.
Soon, the maid assigned to the snow leopard (and his freebie) came into view, gliding into the room with two new faces tailing behind her. The way they couldn't match her grace is blatantly telling of their origin — one unconsciously making sure he looked smaller than his younger "brother", the other poised like a non-political princess with his imaginary back brace (I must digress, that's Furan Shi's old habit from his past life that he somehow had carried over). The poor things.
The gazes of the three natural predators in the room (not Snow) felt more constricting than the winding halls they walked through to get here.
Snow sat down to where Aleister had gestured him to— hey, now that they're here, the positioning of the three household members does look odd, like it was choreographed so no one would be blocking the other, each one occupying a corner of an imaginary triangle around the circular table. The snow leopard was coerced by the big boss' intimidating glare into taking one of the two vacant chairs between him and the young serpentine man. Jinx quietly took the other one that's farther from the big boss, which means he's right beside said serpentine man.
Ah, so now it looked like Anton was left out of the party :(
Aleister may have been born a non-wolf demihuman (or, in our terms, a non-primate human… a wolf demihuman without the wolf..?), but his late mother was still a pure-blooded wolf. Some of her traits still manifest in her son in subtle ways, like in this case, his sense of smell.
He subconsciously leaned closer to Snow, who, in turn, froze up in his seat.
"You used the new bubble bath," he remarked, his fake baritone voice not unkind. But with his status as Snow's new master, his innocent remark was taken the wrong way. Horribly.
It sounded more like, "you dare use the new bubble bath, you ignorant, black-spotted feline plebeian?"
Snow barely calmed himself down when Jinx squeezed his hand under the table. If not for the reminder that his brother is there, depending on him to stay strong, he would've pissed himself rather easily.
He was hardly a predator, perhaps the only twig-sized snow leopard he'd ever known (and he is the only snow leopard he'd ever known his whole life, but that he only knew yesterday).
"I-I'm sorry…" His voice was a ghost of what he wanted to say, coming out of his trembling lips broken, like a whimper only missing a wet sniffle. And like the perfect victim of a religious cult, his head was down, eyes mass producing tears, and ears pinned flat in a picturesque telling of shame. And that's only the head. His whole body was too petrified to permit a little tremble, the brittle type of petrification that only requires a single poke from a bunny rabbit to collapse.
Dammit.
"I-.." Aleister tried to turn to Camilius for help, knowing his brother was as socially unreliable as himself, but the young snake turned the other way to maybe remind Aleister that Fontaines don't easily clean up after Selvans. Or whatever. The big boss simply ignored the way Camilius' shoulders were shaking from holding something in. Maybe a fart. Maybe a laugh.
It's definitely a fart, Aleister concluded. The poor thing.
So, reminding himself that he's still a Selvan by blood, Aleister sucked in a sharp breath and scooted closer to his new companion (pet). He gently hooked a finger under Snow's chin and lifted his face up.
Their eyes met.
Aleister's breath caught in his throat.
"What I meant to say was…" he swallowed dry, his other hand cupping the side of Snow's face. "You should've used more. It's fine."
That, too, was taken the wrong way.
"Snow thinks Aleister didn't like how he smells," Raum interpreted for him, the crow nestled on top of the bunny's head. Furan Shi couldn't help but wince at that.
「 "Misunderstood kindness. Tragic." 」
Should he just ignore it and start eating? That's what Anton is doing at the moment. Or… showcase what Jinx is capable of when his big brother's being "bullied"?
At the side, they heard Snow mumble another tearful apology after processing his insignificant feelings, but one that sounded more hurt and disappointed than scared. At least out of the two brothers, Anton had caught on to the 'disappointed' part, more or less.
Aleister smiled, thinking Snow finally understood how kind and compassionate he actually was.
「 "Alright. Let's settle for a glare because what's he smiling for?!" 」
Jinx glared: hard for his brother's heartbreak, and; long for the boss to notice it and.. who knows — tremble in fear?
It only took one glance for Aleister to react. The bunny suddenly regretted his life choices.
Furan Shi closed his eyes and shrunk into himself when he saw Aleister's hand extending towards him, his earlier anger-fueled courage gone in a flash and in its place an agitated rat trying to claw its way out from the inside. His exterior didn't reflect it — he's just as petrified as Snow had been a minute ago.
Oh my. The fuck you glarin' at? Che cazzo vuoi? Ah? Stupido coniglio. *Imaginary aggressive hand gestures*
The big boss' hand landed. Softly.
Huh?
Jinx's eyes flew open.
Aleister is… petting him?
He noticed Snow was quiet and pale beside him, while Anton from the other side of the table seemed to be watching the interaction with a thoughtful glare.
"What a cute little brother you have here, Snow," Aleister crooned. Jinx leaned in experimentally, and that's when he noticed the snow leopard relaxing just a tad bit.
"Want a flower? Here."
Furan Shi tentatively received the fresh flower into his mouth and chewed, his confused expression unnoticed by everyone else except for the amused serpent beside him.
"Oh- good boy..~" It seems like Aleister didn't anticipate this rabbit to be unafraid of him, much less lean into his touch AND eat a treat from his hand! When he recovered from his shock, his face gave way to a bright, almost uncharacteristic grin. "What a cute baby.."
「 "Remind me how old I am supposed to be again." 」
"Answering host, Jinx is fifteen," Raum replied from above the bunny's head.
「 "And that means..?" 」
"An adult rabbit demihuman in this reality."
Mm. 「 "And no one here knows rabbits mature earlier than their version of 'kids'?" 」
He had to open his mouth when he saw Aleister offering another flower head in fascination. The crow flew down to the spot beside the host's plate to face him with its beady red eyes.
"You see, it's hard for these people to take that concept seriously. Sure, they may be aware Jinx is an adult rabbit, but there are other things that actively contradict that for them — your physical appearance, for one, and… well, an internalized misconception about your race, brought on by centuries of discrimination."
「 "You can just say they think I'm dumb." 」
The bird shook its small head. "It's a little too complex for a simple conclusion. You can check with Anton later, considering his department specializes in matters like this. Given his current mood, though, it's best to avoid him for now."
Whatever. All Furan Shi heard was that he can totally exploit his looks, or that he still has a "not-really-kid kid card" he can use to his advantage. Plus, Aleister seems to start liking him just for shedding off his initial fear rather quickly.
Furan Shi felt the atmosphere become a little more bearable for him to reach out for a slice of ricotta cake (can he process dairy now, though?) and of course he did not forget to lean on Snow's shoulder and nuzzle his head into the crook of his neck to hopefully coax the snow leopard away from his thoughts. And if Aleister was as socially inept as the story card implied, at the very least, that small gesture of the bunny didn't go unnoticed by him.
"You just gave the human an idea," Raum told him. Furan Shi's brows furrowed.
「 "What idea?" 」
Aleister cleared his throat from his seat to get their attention back.
"I gathered you all here today for a short announcement," he started. And then he gestured at the snow leopard… and then at the freebie boy beside him.
"Starting today, Snow and his brother will be joining us as official members of the main house." Ah. "And starting today, it is a must that we enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner together, as much as possible." Oh no.
Camilius didn't like the sound of that.
So, the thing about a story frame is that unlike transmigration stories he'd read in the past, Furan Shi could never know the full "story". There's no such thing as a "parent story", or an original reality from which these other possible instances branch out, as Raum had confirmed. He must also emphasize that he can only get a "story frame", not the "story" itself.
There'd be no sense otherwise for hosts (that explore probabilities) and system agents (ones that support them) existing.
Hence, by extension, as Jinx, Furan Shi would never know that, before Snow, Aleister had a lot of "companions" he tried to tame, all of them bunnies, as he once believed they're the easiest. But when they couldn't shake off their fear around the big boss, Aleister had no choice but to let his brother take them away. Those "companions" were never seen again.
Raum has no reason to relay that past to Furan Shi to truly remain in character. This is not that kind of transmigration. Even as he had confirmed he can go a bit OOC more freely now after being saved from going to the brothel, the real Jinx still doesn't have business knowing about the past unprompted by an in-world event. So for now, let us have Furan Shi believe Aleister is truly harmless, and that the two of them are truly untouchable in this house.
Anton shifted in his seat, his eyes squinting a little before smiling. "Then, let me take them on a little tour around the villa after breakfast, brother."
"But aren't you busy?" Aleister asked back. Anton only laughed it off.
"It's fine. You're busier, and Camilius has a lot of training today."
The big boss thought for a while, taking his brother's latest project into account, before tentatively nodding. "Alright. I'm sure it really wouldn't take long."
"Good."
He knew he could trust his younger brother when it came to picking his new companions. Anton had handled the procurement of those rabbits in the past, and then their departure from the villa, too. He likes this new duo, but he also understands they have to undergo Anton's "health checkup" first before anything for their sake.
"I should warn host that you are not the first 'companions' these brothers had bought," Raum settled for this warning instead, not too explicit, but it could only hope it was ample enough for a warning. "Anton has something to do with why you don't see those past companions around anymore. Stay vigilant."
Furan Shi felt his fur rise at the crow's words, but forced himself to ease his chewed food down his throat. Food should not be wasted, after all.
And thus, the fate of our little host was already sealed just on his second day on the job. Technically, it's still his first day considering it had only been less than twenty-four hours, but.
Ah, well.
...⋆˙⟡˖°✧.
Furan Shi had never really seen the exterior of this house, but from the way they talked about it, he can imagine it was situated among other big houses, if not as big as the one they're residing in at the moment.
"Please understand, little bun, but I had to isolate you for a very… concerning reason."
Anton did say he'd tour them, but that promise slowly unraveled like an insignificant flower, blurted out in passing, and then plucked its petals one by one.
The first thing that got chopped off was the "them" part. Jinx found himself tailing the big boss' brother without a snow leopard beside him. Apparently, Anton couldn't accommodate two of them for now, mostly because he has something important to talk about with the rabbit — being the only "prey" demihuman in the whole compound — outside of the snow leopard's earshot. And of course, he had to add the "health checkup" excuse, but now with an additional "prey health checkups are done differently, and more privately" bullshit.
Not that Furan Shi knew the "bullshit" part.
"You see, the Morano Brothers seem upset about a certain product they bought but didn't receive…"
Every hallway they go through are reddish; red polished ceramic floors where Anton's heels click every step he took, the walls also red and separated by arrays of white columns with the plain, cylindrical shafts. The ornate red details do seem more modern, but there were hints of the building's old baroque architecture here and there, from more obvious spots like the very dramatic capital of a column, the very dramatic arched ceiling overhead, down to the equally dramatic details of the sconces along the walls.
Such details bear no importance to the wolf's mind, it seems. His footsteps were quick, and unlike the tour guide he'd promised to be, he was not talking about the castle-like mansion at all. The second petal to be plucked off his half-assed promise.
Oh, but his tail does look distracting.
"Host, it would do you good to be vigilant and actually listen to what he's saying," Raum warned him as the bird perched itself on his shoulder. That barely did anything to snap Furan Shi out of his thoughts of touching the tail.
Oh — too late.
The wolf man froze on the spot as he felt that hand unabashedly grabbing his tail. Jinx stopped, too, seeing the other do so.
「 "Is it my fault I'm still fascinated by demihuman tails?!" 」
"Ah-"
He didn't get the chance to apologize — Anton had already dragged him into the nearest room, which happened to be his bedroom. He was supposed to bring Jinx to his laboratory outside of the mansion, or to a farther spot within the mansion like the library, but this little critter had to disrespect him this early.
Forget the flower analogy — this long-eared rat is pissing him off!
"What else do I expect of rabbits, hm?" Anton growled, his elegant face marred with a wry smirk. In his growing anger, he pushed the rabbit down onto the nearest flat-ish surface — a chaise lounge by the door he forgot to close — and let his teeth grind together to maybe calm his thoughts.
They did not do shit. The rabbit in front of him looked more frustrating the more he stared. He started muttering about things Furan Shi is hearing for the first time, but the latter was temporarily unable to process anything past the pain of those nails digging into his shoulders.
"An anomalous race that shouldn't have evolved, but did. Why do you even exist if evolution left you this stupid? The leporid… split into either the Anthrolagus simplicis…"
Anton climbed on his lap, his stare a little too intense that it seemed he was instead looking through the rabbit's confused (and very scared) eyes. "Or the Anthrolagus sapien."
「 "Raum.. what's going on??" 」
The bird had flown off his shoulder when Anton had yanked him into this big, messy bedroom earlier. There were only sheets of papers and opened books anywhere his eyes landed on, as if the wolf had spilled out his brain into this corner of the mansion to keep the composed facade he'd been putting on so far. On the couch below the loft, the floor, pinned against the walls and what seemed to be bulletin boards, the back of the door… No, ignore the mess — the wolf is scaring him without even baring his canine teeth.
"I apologize for this miscalculation." He can still hear Raum clearly in his head, and at this point, the system agent's voice became the clearest thing he inevitably clung to. The system's crow avatar had disappeared so it could focus more on communicating with its host. "It is standard protocol for system agents not to disclose story information unknown to the vessel a host inhabits to keep the narrative natural. Still, I should've accounted for this being your first world and warned you properly about Anton."
"You're too reckless to be a sapien," the wolf muttered as he leaned closer, hands weighing down on Jinx's shoulders. "But then again… you weren't too dumb that you could even think of seducing my brother like that back there."
「 "Then, could you do anything now? Maybe pull me out of here??" 」 Wait a minute. 「 "Did he just call me 'stupid'??" 」
"Hhhh… Anton had been-... anyways, as much as I want to temporarily shut [Jinx] down, that could put you in a more precarious situation," the crow reported after regaining its composure. "Please stay vigilant and do as he says-"
「 "Shut down? Vigilant? Vigilant how?! Ah-!" 」
One of Anton's hands cupped Jinx's round face, his thumb swiping under the rabbit's left eye with a chilling slowness. He felt satisfied seeing the growing fear in the rabbit's eyes.
"I had wondered why the snow leopard suddenly had a freebie when you weren't even mentioned in the contract."
His darkened eyes trailed down Jinx's face, almost as if he's caressing him with his heated glare. Jinx gulped as those eyes reached his throat.
"And then… I remembered those bears bought a rabbit around the same time we bought the snow leopard from the same seller."
He hadn't assessed Anton until now, when he's forced to face him after what he thought was a trivial decision to make. It wasn't even a decision, maybe. More of a spur-of-the-moment impulse.. or something? The wolf's tail just had to look so distracting..!
Anton's irises are crystal-like grey, magnetic and haunting just the same, but now they seem to be darkening the more they hold each other's gazes. His messy morning hair only helped create a more villainous picture about him now that he's mad, and worst of all… his big wolf ears are both facing Jinx, standing upright and still. Much scarier than when they're supposed to be folded back to express anger. This one's too calm. Unpredictable.
The passive skill he has that gives a basic description of a character — whichever one it was — flashed a message beside Anton's head.
「 Apex. 」
「 "Isn't this supposed to be a 'slice-of-life' story card?!" 」
Furan Shi felt that he shouldn't move, and so he didn't, or else he could provoke Anton more and hasten his impending end. He couldn't even look elsewhere than stare back into the wolf's eyes in fear that he could anger him that way, too.
「 Passive skill [Fight or FIGHT lvl3] in effect. 」
「 Passive skill [Arrogance lvl3] temporarily increased to [Arrogance lvl8]. 」
「 All debuffs are canceled during mood=high tide. 」
"H-hey…" Furan Shi forced himself to speak despite the annoying, heavy lump forming in his throat. "Calm- c-calm down, daddy…"
…
Who said that? Not him..!
Anton raised a brow. "You can still talk? Impressive, but still hopelessly stupid."
Raum's voice buzzed in his ear as well. "Host, your heart rate is spiking. This pattern matches previous trauma markers."
「 "Already? Damn. Totally didn't notice that. Thanks. You want a star for that?" 」
Anton's knee dug into Jinx's stomach as he leaned in. His eyes squinted. "No rabbit had told me to calm down before."
「 "That explains why you're like this, tbh." 」
Raum couldn't laugh. Not when it can see Jinx's vital signs in real time.
Furan Shi could still feel that thumb caressing under his left eye with that chilling carefulness, and maybe that erratic thrumming he could faintly hear was his own heart, threatening to escape the confines of his rib cage.
All he could do was curl his tail and do his best to look smaller. Jinx's body was too sensitive to Furan Shi's liking. It listened more to his instincts than anything, leaving him stuck in this pit when all he wanted was to turn a new leaf. He couldn't even regret that simple tail-pulling he did, not when all of his senses were deafening him with their pleas to just shut up and survive.
Instead of doing all those, however, he swallowed everything and decided that no, he can't be bested by a small wolf with a bedhead. That would be equivalent to (or maybe worse than) a man with a bowl cut bullying him. He's already panicking as it is — getting beaten up more feels unfair.
"Are you gonna eat me?" He started.
The wolf stilled and actually considered his question, and then snorted. "Eat you? Maybe, but…" He paused again as he recalled another thought. Right. His thoughts from earlier. This long-eared rat keeps distracting him, dammit. "Oh, but I can't bring you to those bears anymore, what am I thinking? Forget that."
Furan Shi wasn't able to say his next (hopefully) witty retort as Anton's shadow grew behind him. It reached the opposite wall where his bed is, and within it, something crawled out of the floor and stood slowly to its full height.
"What the fuck is that..?!"
"Did you really think I can't devour you just because I'm a runt?"
Furan Shi wasn't even aware Anton was a runt wolf..! Calm down!
The shadow grew into a more wolf-like figure, one that's much, much larger than the two of them combined, or maybe even larger than any werewolf he'd seen in fantasy movies. Snow had once said, in Jinx's memories, that wolves were just dogs with sharper teeth in this world, and perhaps a slightly bigger size. He never mentioned anything about their shadow wolf..!
It opened its eyes. Furan Shi's breath hitched in his throat, and he suddenly felt that he was, indeed, just a small, insignificant rabbit in the claws of a powerful wolf. A powerful wolf with a terrible bedhead.
「 Passive skill [Arrogance lvl8] decreased to [Arrogance lvl7]. 」
Ah. So much for saying it's unfair to be bullied. "H-hey, I'm sorry for pulling your tail—"
"Do you see him? That's a powerful extension of mine. I made him, connected him to myself, like how a beast form works, but this I can operate even in my human form."
「 … lvl6]. 」
The wolf's hand snaked from Jinx's face to the back of his head, beneath Jinx's stiffened lop ear, and gripped at his long hair. Anton gently pulled it back, with it the bunny's head, exposing Jinx's neck.
「 … lvl5]. 」
"Host, your heart rate has exceeded safe thresholds. Cortisol spike confirmed. Initiating emergency stabilization." Raum can't ground Furan Shi with the threat right up his face. If it can't have Furan Shi reclaiming Jinx by normal means, then it would have to override.
「 … lvl4]. 」
"I may have been born weak…" As Anton's voice lowered to a whisper, he leaned closer, his fangs hovering just over the side of Jinx's neck, over the vein where he can hear the rabbit's satisfyingly quickened pulse. "But now I can eat unruly rabbits like you if I want to."
The wolf's tone suggested he'd done it before. That he was serious with his threat. He could practically hear the wolf's tongue as Anton licked his bottom lip, maybe feel the ghost of its moisture against his own skin. But all he could focus on was the large shadow wolf crouching behind Anton, its mouth slowly gaping open as if to receive Jinx in it.
「 Passive skill [Arrogance] has been reset to its default level. 」
「 "Raum—" 」
"I advise the host to not resist," he finally heard the crow's deep, familiar voice, but this time its timbre felt off. "I am almost done defending your case." More grainy, if it could make sense.
「 "What do I do, then? Isn't this a 'slice-of-life' story card?!" 」 he yelled back in his mind, his previous courage to be sassy wavering in the face of a beast that exuded something so deadly.
"Rules are not exactly as rigid as you might think, and so are labels…"
Raum's next words after that slipped past his ears, nevermind them being helpful or not. At that moment, Furan Shi realized just what type of system Raum is, that it wasn't the typical system he'd read about in the fantasy books back in his world. Raum can't help him like that, not physically. And this… this is definitely not a story with a cutesy little definite goal to satisfy.
"Buckle up, host."
「 Passive skill [Arrogance lvl3] temporarily increased... 」
Anton leaned over the bunny as he pried the latter's mouth open.
「 Warning: Temporary boost beyond recommended threshold. Stability compromised. 」
It didn't need much prying, he thought. He just had to squeeze Jinx's jaws a bit and the rabbit readily complied. The pained whimper from the poor critter as he did so was a mere bonus.
"This will be painless, don't worry." The wolf parted his own lips. His saliva trickled down to Jinx's mouth, like a god who chose his next sacrificial lamb.
"Do not swallow that." He couldn't hear Raum clearly through the white noise.
The colorless fluid mixed with his own, coated his tongue with a sweetly suffocating taste. It was disgusting. It felt more invasive than he'd liked. However, in the back of his mind, a new thought starts to sprout. With it, an emotion he's all too familiar with, one that he'd always nursed back in his past life. It grew a little faster than Raum had anticipated, consuming every negative thought and every unwanted emotion and converting them all into one, dominating temperament.
His bad memories were still very much present. He can still see the resemblance of what he'd felt under Anton's control, and what he'd felt under his teacher's, but no longer did he feel that much restricted. He's not just scared.
He's furious that he's scared.
Furan Shi closed his eyes and swallowed the saliva being poured into his mouth.
"Host?!" the bird gasped, which sounded too clear in Furan Shi's head, and at the same time not.
Anton watched all this with a triumphant glimmer in his eyes, unaware that Jinx wasn't under the direct influence of fear anymore. Who cares, either way? "No one's immune to my venom," the wolf happily explained as he smiled at the bunny once more. "It's both a sedative and an aphrodisiac of some sorts. You'll only feel good as I digest you. Fun, right? The bunnies I've had before were all happy they got to die pleasured."
「 Warning: Libido spike. 」
「 Neural interference detected. 」
"I'll try my best to re-route your hormonal response," Raum told him, snapping back to its composed bird self. "In the meantime, I strongly advise you to stay still so you don't compromise your emotional integrity any further."
The higher you soar, the harsher you fall. It's a tale as old as time. Furan Shi himself had experienced it time and again. The farther he goes into his high tide, the deeper his low tide responds after. He'd go on a rampage and laugh at the world, but hide in shame after he'd calm down. Raum feared it had miscalculated once again.
To Furan Shi, however, Raum's scrambling was a senseless fight.
Why fight it? A snort slipped past Jinx's lips, followed by a bubbling giggle. Anton's smile slowly shrunk to a confused grimace.
"You're making my head spin with all these technical terms…" His voice slurred as he spoke, not caring that he's talking out loud to a bird Anton can't see. His head had been swimming in all this confusing stuff suddenly being injected into his body, and he wasn't only furious at the wolf at the moment.
He felt annoyed at the wordy crow, too.
"Here's how to 'fix' dirty li'l me, alright?"
With a small, languid laugh, he brought all his energy forward to push the wolf off his lap. Anton, caught by surprise, landed against his shadow beast idling behind him, catching him in its arms just in time. He had no time to recover.
Furan Shi straddled the wolf's lap, the rabbit even licking his bottom lip with a sensual slowness. His eyes were clear — oh so terribly clear — but he had little control of the force behind his every movement. He could barely command his limbs to coordinate with each other. "I'm in high tide, see. So…"
He was momentarily distracted when he felt one boneless organ snake around his waist. He glanced down to see it was a peerless, scaly black tentacle. Another sneakily wrapped around his neck and forced his face back up towards the frowning Anton.
"Oh, hello, love," he greeted between wheezes. "Where was I? Ah."
He wriggled out of the tentacles, but the flexible organs were quick to pursue him again. One around his waist, one around his legs, lifting him up in the air and over the waiting beast's head. What he saw first were his long, adorable bunny feet dangling off, too dangerously close to the shadow beast.
He couldn't help but laugh. "No need to re-route anything, stupid crow."
Raum was already redirecting any possible neurochemical signals it could redirect while it watched its host wiggle his toes.
"I'm in high tide… that… that means… the sedatives should only be affecting peripheral… shitssss…"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Anton cut in with a slight growl, more out of confusion than anger. "What high tide? What crow??"
Something's wrong with this stupid rabbit.
Jinx's eyelids were drooping, vision spinning as fast as the funny storm in his head. It doesn't matter. He needed to get a point across. So he turned his head towards the confused wolf.
"Ffffor the recorddd..? I did NOT seduce your brother. NOTT… my fuggin typeee…"
Aleister was very much his type, but he's currently under a spiked [Arrogance] so…
Anyways, Anton didn't know his usually well-rested forehead could crease any further with his brows, but it did.
Jinx was writhing in the air, grinding against nothing, tail twitching like a furious metronome (honestly, he'd never seen a metronome in his life so whatever). His hips bucked with the instinct of a desperate rabbit, chasing friction that unfortunately didn't exist. When he still couldn't rub one off, he pouted. He felt cheated. He felt humiliated, and he felt it charging his anger more. He was suspended in the air, visibly aroused, but with no payoff in sight. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes.
He started to wail. "Uwaaaaahh! Do you have fucking ED?! You spit in my mouth, you have these tentacles, but you're actually a no-show?! Uwaaadhlkfhsdnklfjadj-"
「 Warning: Emotional integrity being compromised. 」 It's only warning them now?!
"At least buy a comb before dissing meeejjfkajwkhfahkch-"
The thought of playing dead sounded more appealing to Raum at the moment. It couldn't even look at Anton's reaction.
Well, it didn't need to look back.
"Take this, motherfucker!" The bunny yelled out his war cry and wrapped his thighs fiercely around the wolf's head, hoping to suffocate him that way. Anton, taken by surprise, tried to pry the rabbit off by pulling him with the tentacles. "You wanted to eat me, you big bully?!"
Furan Shi felt close to throwing up, although he wasn't aware of it yet. Oh no.
"A real apex predator wouldn't pick a fight with a harmless rabbit!" he continued to yell as he couldn't be separated from the wolf. "You're only bullying me because you're insecure!!"
Oh no.
Anton stilled as he heard the implication of what Jinx said. Him? Insecure? He has a PhD in biogenetics! He had a lot of discoveries credited to him, as well as patents, before the government started targeting his family years ago!
The tentacles subconsciously gripped around Jinx tighter, sharing the escalating wrath of their main body.
"I am proud to be a runt wolf, stupid rat," he spat his words out with a little growl. He is proud. He'd convinced himself he is. Because runt demihumans think clearer than the animalistic normies.
That's right. They're all animals. And animals are tasteless walking egos cosplaying as humans.
He finally ripped Jinx off him and threw the rabbit to the chaise lounge. Furan Shi's head hit the slanted armrest which gave him a moment of clarity, of the world finally slowing down for a few seconds. And in those slow seconds, with his head throbbing, he watched as the shadow beast loomed over him, its mouth opening wide to reveal sets of razor sharp canine teeth. They looked more like shards of a shattered glass, aligned neatly in rows to pretend they're normal teeth.
A shiver ran down his spine and out through the tip of his tail. He'd truly triggered the wolf. But in that deadly moment, all he felt was the unfairness of the situation. He might have heard his already high leveled [Arrogance] leveling up once more, but he was so overwhelmed by the effects of it that he didn't mind how dangerously high it had gotten. His face fashioned an embittered smile.
"With how you're picking on a small animal? It does show."
Anton cracked. "I'm going to dissect you, stupid animal." His voice quivered more than the rabbit's out of barely contained anger.
"I'm sorry, host. This is for your own good." The poor, overworked system activated the emergency protocol it should've triggered long ago. "This is way beyond the recommended survival maneuver."
The host's breathing slowed. Jinx became a regular rabbit once more, presented before a beast's mouth.
"You.. genetically-modified bitch…" Jinx murmured one last time as he felt his eyelids becoming heavier than he could lift them. Raum really wished it had a clickable tongue to express its concern. But disappointment? No. It had seen this coming with that high of an [Arrogance].
Raum recorded a narrative report of what happened and how to not do it again until the host has truly matured.
Furan Shi closed his eyes, his body remaining in that position with the lower ends of his fluffy ears dangling off to the sides. He was forced to shut down, not by Anton's toxins nor the obviously lacking force of the way he was thrown down to the chaise, but by Raum's intervention, exploiting the margin of error in between the potency of the toxins and the tolerance of Jinx's body towards the effects of such foreign substances, especially after his head was "terribly shaken" by an imaginary physical trauma. That's all it could do as a system agent.
And Anton, who was about to truly maul the rabbit to pieces, thought he'd killed Jinx prematurely.