This is not a real transmigration.
"Host..?"
This is a scam.
Raum felt a shiver ripple through its feathers with how fiercely Furan Shi was glaring at it, though it knew the blame wasn't unfounded. The crow hopped closer to the small ball of black fluff whose eyes uncharacteristically seemed to chant curses at the approaching bird. Even the twitching of his nose was slower, as if he really wanted to intimidate the bird.
Furan Shi didn't know how exactly it happened, but he felt instinctively that he could morph into a small rabbit. And he did. Anyways, that wasn't what's important at the moment. He couldn't be bothered to be impressed by this unnatural, illogical function he'd encountered after all of the logically plausible things he'd experienced so far.
「 "You messed with my [Arrogance] passive." 」 Even as he spoke through his mind, his voice was still squeaky as a rabbit somehow, but now he's at least more comfortable to hear his own, original maybe-one-octave-deeper voice again.
"Yes," Raum replied.
「 "I can't face Anton anymore. Not when he thinks I'm just a horny rabbit now." 」
"I'm sorry about that."
「 "And we still don't know how my passive works yet." 」
"Well…"
Raum found it harder to talk somehow with a rabbit, a speechless critter who's supposed to look cute and defenseless, looking at the system agent like it'd make for a good halloween ornament. Taxidermized and all that. Still, it began to explain what it could about the [Arrogance] passive skill.
However, it was only able to say that this passive is a multi-functional skill, and that it stabilizes him—
「 "Being arrogant is stabilizing?" 」
—because Furan Shi is the type of host that's—
「 "Make it shorter..!" 」
—stable when his mind is in—
「 "Oi!" 」 Furan Shi thumped his hind legs in annoyance, and his nose started twitching faster again.
—chaos and—
「 "Ah, right. If I find out you're lying, you're cooked, game bird!" 」
Raum sighed, deciding to focus first on quelling the rabbit's short temper. While the host's tantrum is understandable, it is harder to deal with when it's amplified by a smaller body. "We cannot lie. Sure, I might occasionally exploit a few loopholes—"
「 "You what??" 」
"—but we most certainly cannot assert falsehoods as truth, especially not to our host. For example, I cannot claim red is green when it is, demonstrably, red."
Now that took Furan Shi's mind off the earlier issue for a hot second. But as soon as he realized this, he began scratching at the bed sheet with rapid front legs and hopping around, not knowing how else to let out his pent up frustrations than through these little tantrums. He wanted to break something! He's already going crazy!
「 "You keep distracting me!!" 」 He'd even forgotten his decision to remain polite to the system agent until they've grown closer someday somehow.
Raum averted its gaze and let out another bird sigh. "Err… my apologies."
「 "You turned me into an arrogant monkey..!" 」
"Rabbit."
「 "You're doing it again..!" 」
"I didn't turn you arrogant this time..?"
「 "I-I wasn't talking about th- AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!1!!!1!1!" 」
「 Raum Cues: No Sons of Mine - Go To War 」
「 Condition: Loop until the host calms down. 」
Furan Shi spent a solid five minutes throwing his little furry body around on the bed, while Raum subtly hopped away every few seconds to save itself from the storm. He scratched at the sheets, spun mid-air, bit on pillows and threw them off the bed, all while growling and screaming in his little rabbit voice. Rabbits only scream when they are in distress or in pain, but Furan Shi wasn't obviously raised as one. And despite acquiring Jinx's memories, he still felt compelled to strain his vocal chords to expel the twisting feeling in his guts.
Only when he began to tire did Raum feel safe enough to hop closer again.
The rabbit was glaring at it, but Furan Shi was too exhausted to even try to lunge at the bird. 「 "I didn't need to be that high! You basically made me into a different person! Don't you know that's how you make D.I.D.???" 」
This is the part where Raum could have said, "no, you are still far from having your identity fractured," and maybe explained that it was just Furan Shi's restless, shameless version, but after his earlier tantrum, Raum had learned not to correct him while he was angry. There's only so much a song could do, and he would almost certainly take it as a challenge.
The system agent instead gently nudged at him. "I can assure you that you have your own way of processing things. Fragmentation isn't a concern." This was also its way of testing the waters.
If Furan Shi would still lunge at it, then he's offended.
If Furan Shi would accept, then he's at least sensible enough to understand a basic explanation.
The rabbit still glared, his moistened nose rapidly twitching, but it was more out of exhaustion than anger. "I wanted to explain what I really meant, but since you can read me, then I'll just trust you."
Plus the song helped.
At this point, he had forgotten about Raum still having to explain what the passive skill [Arrogance] does specifically, distracted by the feeling of calmness after a heavy tantrum. He let the thought drift away, just as the door to his room creaked open, revealing not Snow, but their new caretaker in the house.
The canine maid walked in with Camilius in tow, the young serpentine's eyes already on the small fluff on the big bed that seemed to have endured a little storm. As he approached Jinx, the maid casually picked up the pillows off the carpeted floor with a fond chuckle.
"It seems the little bunbun had a little tantrum this morning," she mused aloud. Camilius only grunted, his gaze unreadable as he crouched before the bed, right before the rabbit that's already glaring at him.
The idea of having a little tantrum would definitely never help when the time comes for Jinx to remind them that he's a fully grown rabbit. An adult. But as the image of the white serpent became more intimidating in his small rabbit mind, Furan Shi felt a little thick-faced and exploited his "adorableness" to keep himself safe. He made sure his nose was twitching in a cute way, although he wasn't sure how.
Camilius blinked. It was his second time seeing a rabbit person in their beast form, the first time still being the same rabbit just the other day when he'd pulled Jinx out of Snow's sweater, but his heart still got caught in his throat. His fingers twitched at the sight he didn't know how to describe.
It's a rabbit. It's a little thin, but somehow, that didn't matter. He still wanted to do something to it. Something he couldn't explain or know about just yet.
"I'll take him to uncle now," he told the maid, clearing his mind for the task at hand. And with her approving hum, he scooped up the tiny thing into his arms and traced back his way to Aleister's office in the house.
Furan Shi soon found himself set down on top of a desk in an office that smelled of coffee and papers. He looked really small there, surrounded by documents and other things. Aleister cooed at the sight, while Camilius was begrudgingly on standby at the side in case his pretend uncle would request something else.
「 "As compensation for the incident back in [Anton's] bedroom yesterday, I will try my best to supply you with more hints along the way," 」 Raum told him through his mind, the bird's avatar already gone from the world so it could focus again on assisting the host.
「 "You better!" 」 Furan Shi cried in his mind. 「 "And I'll remind you that this is my first story card, too!" 」
Raum felt more guilty about that. 「 "Yes, and I apologize for overestimating." 」
As Raum finished, Aleister held out his hand in front of the rabbit, his palm facing upwards. He didn't say anything, and it looked like he didn't plan on explaining anything. He just stared down at the rabbit, as if he was expecting something from him.
「 "What does he want now..?" 」 Furan Shi grumbled in his mind. 「 "Obviously, I don't have anything on me. Not even clothes (ba-dum tss-?)" 」
「 "[Aleister] had been brooding before you came and now wants you to act cutely for his entertainment," 」 Raum translated. The host couldn't help but cringe.
He had to remind himself that the mafia stories he'd read about in the past had been just as cringe, if not more. The male leads had always been a brooding, "heartless" mafia boss who were ruthless towards enemies, but awfully softened up in front of their "little kitten" or… "little rabbit."
An uncomfortable shiver ran down his spine, exiting through the tip of his tail, and Furan Shi felt like he liked Aleister a little less after that realization.
Still, he figured playing along was safer than resisting. So, after a moment of awkward silence, he placed his head onto that palm and twitched his nose up at the human. The human, in turn, stiffened up.
Ah, that seemed to do the trick.
「 "Why is he like this? Does he think everyone around him is a mind reader or something? How was I supposed to know he wanted something like this without your help?!" 」
"At least… you know now.. Right?" Raum didn't really know what else to say. Its host had said everything there was to complain about.
Aleister scratched under his chin, to which he (devastatingly) leaned into, his eyes almost closing from the relief and pleasurable tingles that brought. Ah, maybe he can excuse the stupid mafia setting for a bit. Maybe he can let this human boss him around like this. Just one scratch.
Oh, maybe more.
Aleister lingered there for a moment, his fingers still under Furan Shi's chin. Then, almost reluctantly, he leaned closer. Furan Shi didn't even notice the human leaning down until the latter was almost right up against his face.
His fingers stopped, instead gently lifting the rabbit's chin at a slight angle to make the critter meet his gaze. "Can you morph back? I need to talk to you." He surprisingly knew how to act gently..!
So the big boss wanted to talk to him, huh? After what happened in Anton's room, he wasn't sure if his guess about Aleister being a big, harmless creature was still accurate. Not that this human had done anything to show he's dangerous yet. Not that Furan Shi remembered anything like that. Still, he only had the loose story frame to rely on, and the story card's vague description: "But despite his intimidating exterior, Aleister seems to have a (very) soft spot solely for his new snow kitty."
"Snow kitty" now meant "snow kitty and his freebie." He clung to the observable facts, trying to make sense of his place in this house, and how secure it was so far. Anton never ate him despite provoking the runt wolf more than once yesterday. That means Anton knew Jinx is still important in this house, right? He must..!
「 "Answering host, yes. You're still important in this house, as long as Snow calls you his 'little Jiji'." 」
Furan Shi let the silence chip away at Aleister's confidence as he focused on his own little dilemma. That should teach this big boss not to boss around whoever he fancies..!
「 "Bet." 」 he replied to the crow. 「 "So he'll not harm me after whatever he's gonna say, right?" 」
「 "100% affirmative." 」
「 "And you can't state falsehoods?" 」 Aleister bit on his bottom lip, still waiting for the rabbit to morph back. He wasn't aware that the critter's focus was elsewhere entirely.
「 "I can't claim them as the truth, yes." 」
But the system agent can exploit loopholes. As Aleister's hand began to numb beneath the rabbit's chin, Furan Shi still took his sweet time weighing his options, looking for loopholes Raum might use.
The system wasn't out of the woods yet, after all.
He had an inkling that Raum, as a system, is possibly still more loyal to the data they're collecting. Hurried by Aleister's expectant gaze, he pieced what thoughts he could come up with at the moment together.
Raum did warn him about Anton, but never specified the deadly beast form. The system had said something about having a "standard protocol for system agents not to disclose story information unknown to the vessel a host inhabits to keep the narrative natural." Did he remember that correctly? Anyways, what's important was the message.
He became a host without any conditions. What was that again? He calls this "experience," they call this "data?" Raum was also not capable of helping him physically. That's another glaring disadvantage.
They all only point to one thing at the moment. Raum seems to want to record organic data. No artificial interference as much as possible. As soon as his shamelessness got out of hand, the system shut his body down. He could vaguely recall hearing something about him getting compromised while he was in a daze. As for what it was, he couldn't remember. He must've not heard it through the other noises of his anger and fear in his head at the time.
This also means the realization from back when he was scared was not unfounded.
This is not the type of transmigration he had been reading in the past. The system isn't that omnipotent in a reality its host transmigrates into. At most, it only acts as a mediator between the reality and the host, although it can manipulate some elements from the host's side. Maybe… that is to keep its host fit for work?
He flagged the thought for later. He still didn't have enough experience to prove that. Now, where was he again? Morphing back-?
「 "You got that right." 」 Ah, of course. He'd almost forgotten Raum can read his mind. 「 "If your character makeup is being compromised through means not permitted by the criteria, I will have to do drastic maneuvers to keep you.. well, in your terms, you." 」
「 "But you didn't warn me about Anton having a modified beast form. I could've been scarred for life..!" 」
In the background of their conversation, Aleister's pretty face was slowly conquered by his nervousness. He tried looking at Camilius, who only had his bored face to offer. He sighed inwardly. He didn't really want to give this rabbit to his brother to be sent back to the orphanage like his past rabbit companions, not when this one seemed already warming up to him until this stalemate.
Raum replied, also ignoring Aleister's inner plight in favor of clearing things to its host. And if Furan Shi would pay attention, he'd realize just how high he is in Raum's priority list. 「 "But you have the [Arrogance] passive which made it psychologically survivable." 」
Furan Shi's imaginary rabbit brow twitched. 「 "D-do you hear yourself? You're basically saying I can just rely on a trauma response!" 」
「 "As long as you're still you. That's the only metric." 」
「 "Systems allow their hosts to be traumatized?!" 」
「 "Ah, that was a blunder on my part." 」 Furan Shi didn't know how to feel about that. Relief? Not really. Raum wasn't being consistent… until its next words:
「 "That was only for the more advanced hosts, but I had neglected the fact that you're only a beginner. If you weren't, the [Arrogance] passive would have likely remained at level 37, so I had to crank it up a bit more." 」
So they do allow their hosts to get traumatized. And get triggered. Despite the chill that rushed down to his tail again, Furan Shi continued. 「 "But… Jinx doesn't have a similar trauma to mine." 」
Jinx was an outcast for reasons beyond his control. He's also a bit thick-faced, like Furan Shi, but that was to survive literally. Furan Shi only had to be thick-faced to survive socially. The rabbit was avoided, not coveted, for having a black fur. And the host…
His point was, Jinx had never been attacked by a predator.
「 "Exactly," 」 Raum explained, like he was the one losing his logic track. 「 "That was Jinx's first time encountering a real predator that wants to devour him. Your triggered reaction was perfectly aligned with his. My only misstep was allowing your character makeup to be compromised. You could've been scarred long-term — possibly beyond repair — so I had to immediately amplify your [Arrogance] passive than what you allowed yourself to." 」
「 "You could've just shut me down." 」 He didn't know what else to say anymore.
「 "Not possible, until you drank the wolf's saliva." 」
Getting mad now seems… pointless. The system wasn't mocking him. It was only being… impartial. Objective. Still, the indignation simmered. So far, Raum did not indeed gatekeep anything and had only been speaking of the truth. He felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of being treated as data. But that's what he signed up for. Raum had made that clear since day one.
"You call it experience, we call it data. And no data is bad data."
No data is bad data.
It could've explained more clearly…
No. He should've thought about it more before agreeing to be a host. He stomped his hind legs in frustration, surprising the still-waiting human.
Now, Raum had promised to give him more hints about things Jinx wasn't supposed to know artificially. Only, that's because the system agent wanted to compensate for its misstep. He may be dumb, but not that dumb. After that safety net, after this first world, what would happen to him in the next without its help?
Maybe this is what Raum meant when he said this is a "reality," not a "story." In real life, you don't get to have a cheat sheet, nor a deus ex machina that helps you. He'll never be that host who had a system to help him synthesize fake voice recordings of deceased people as evidence to help his credibility. He'll never be that host who had a system that acted like a surveillance camera for them to spy on his petty enemies in the next room.
Raum might've felt proud now that Furan Shi came to understand what his job actually entailed, if not for the strange sense of emptiness that followed.
After a while, it heard Furan Shi's small voice, which carried a quiet resignation. 「 "But you promised you'd do your best to accommodate me. And that you'll give me a sugar daddy…" 」
Ah.
Furan Shi sighed when he didn't hear any response. Of course, Raum meant to accommodate not as a spoiled brat, but as a host. A collector of data. An employee. Raum was only guilty for compromising his "character makeup," never for letting Anton almost prey on him.
He lifted his small head up, giving Aleister a little hope after a few minutes of him looking like an idiot asking a rabbit to morph back. But before anything, he finally heard Raum respond.
「 "Take your pick." 」
Huh..?
「 "You want a sugar daddy. I'm saying the two other males in this room are viable options." 」
Is Raum.. really helping him?
On the other end, Aleister suddenly took off his shirt. The rabbit on the desk stood on his toes like an alerted cat.
「 Passive skill [Fight or FIGHT lvl3] in effect. 」
「 Passive skill [Arrogance lvl10] temporarily increased to [Arrogance lvl15]. 」
「 "I-I didn't mean I want to pick now! Why is he taking his shirt off all of a sudden?!" 」 Furan Shi cried upon seeing the big boss' half-naked body. 「 "And why level 10?? That wasn't the baseline!!" 」
Raum didn't know which explanation to put out first, so it settled with, 「 "Aleister realized you must be feeling uncomfortable without any clothes to cover yourself after morphing, so he wanted to do something about it." 」
True to the corvid's words, Aleister gently placed the shirt beside the rabbit on the table. Furan Shi was caught off guard, he had forgotten what they were talking about. He also had completely forgotten Aleister had asked him to morph back to his humanoid form.
「 "He wants me to wear it?" 」 His rabbit form even made gestures with his head towards the shirt, and then stared back up at Aleister with his big, round eyes. The human chuckled at the adorable sight, patting Jinx's head with a surprisingly light hand.
"Sorry about that," he said with his eyes smiling. "Yes, please wear it."
Camilius almost spat out blood at the side from what he's witnessing. That was his mother's chair! Now this stupid wolf dares to undress on it?! For his boy toy?!! Shameless dog!!
But of course, as we've established, cursing in his heart was all Camilius could do. He could only watch in agony as the small rabbit slipped into that shirt and morphed into his human form. Jinx's smooth legs soon dangled off the edge of the desk as he grew into the shirt, but it was three sizes too big on him that his fingers barely reached past the cuffs of its long sleeves, his chest half exposed through the collar no matter how much he buttoned up. He had to grab onto it and pull each side together to keep it from slipping off a shoulder.
At least dismiss me first, shameless dog!!
「 All debuffs are canceled during mood=high tide. 」
As Jinx gently pulled the lower ends of his long rabbit ears out of the collar of the long-sleeved shirt with hands he never realized were trembling, he let his eyes rake over the human's mouthwatering torso. Aleister's abdomen was carved like a washboard, and Jinx's eyes dragged across it like soaked linen, his glance scrubbing raw against every ridge.
He could be ruined so easily if Aleister desires it, in every sense of the word, although he wasn't sure if he's up for it right now.
「 "Do you think Snow is open to sharing?" 」
Raum futilely waited for an emotional integrity warning.「 "That, I truthfully cannot tell." 」
Aleister would definitely make it on his Santa list.
「 "What's a Santa list-?" 」 hush, bird.
Oh, well. His gaze flicked toward Camilius at the side to see what he's up to, and at the same time, his grip on his shirt loosened, letting one side slip off his unblemished shoulder. The serpent followed the motion with his unreadable gaze. Jinx should be the one intimidated as the only natural prey in the room, surrounded by obligate carnivores. But why was Camilius the one that felt a shiver run down his spine instead?
Camilius grunted slightly as he saw the rabbit licking his bottom lip while his gaze slid down the serpent's body. He felt as though the rabbit was undressing him with his eyes alone.
With a huff and a flushed face, Camilius sharply turned his head away. F-fucking.. animals.
「 "Add him to my Santa list. Second place." 」 Raum tentatively made a list with a header labeled "Santa(?) List". Sadly, the system wasn't freaky enough. It'd broken Furan Shi's trust through and through with that abysmally lacking label.
Now, back to the main course. Furan Shi turned to the big boss seated before him. Aleister didn't show any signs of lust or being flustered, but he did pat Furan Shi's head like he did when Jinx was still in his beast form. In his mind, he saw Jinx as a cute little bunny boy, completely disregarding the "toy" part.
He only snapped out of his innocent fascination when he heard Camilius clear his throat.
"Right," he said, clearing his throat as well. "Thank you for trusting me, little bunny." He reached for the slipped part of his shirt on Jinx's body and gently pulled it back into place, his hands then gliding toward the messy buttons, undoing them with care.
「 Passive skill [Arrogance lvl15] temporarily increased t… 」
When they came off, he just pulled each side towards the other to close the shirt more tightly around the stiff bunnyboy. He spoke as his hands got busy making sure the folds stayed in place. "As you may know, I had only intended to purchase Snow."
That officially removed Aleister's name off the Santa list.
「 "Just tell me if you really don't want in on that list goddammit!" 」
Raum can't get a hold of its host. It wasn't sure if it should still save their conversation from earlier or let the host forget it as he'd already moved on.
Anyways.
"But somehow, only you don't seem to be scared of me. Why is that?" Aleister leaned back with half his mind on Jinx's temporary shirt, observing if it would stay in place now that he'd withdrawn his hands.
Furan Shi also looked down at his newly secured body. Not bad.
「 "Is it because he's a wolfless human that he doesn't seem to feel a strong need to shove his dick in a defenseless rabbit?" 」
Raum shed a tear. 「 "He's just not that interested in sex at the moment. His top priority right now is to know why Snow is still afraid of him." 」
「 "What about after that?" 」
「 "Negative." 」
「 "What's the color of my fur?" 」
「 "#0D0908 " 」
「 "What's yours?" 」
「 "#151922" 」
「 "What's the color of an apple?" 」
「 "It's generally red in this world." 」
「 "Do you only tell the truth?" 」
「 "Yes." 」
「 "Dammit. You're good." 」
Furan Shi rolled his eyes inwardly, but outside he flashed his innocent smile. Well, as innocent as he could muster.
「 Passive skill [Natural Charm lvl7] in effect. 」
「 Debuff [Superstitions] does not apply to NPC [Aleister Selvan] 」
「 Fixed condition applied: canceled all debuffs of host Jinx(Furan Shi) during mood=high tide. 」
Woah. Furan Shi had a guess why the [Superstitions] debuff wasn't affecting the human. But for now, he had a more important bit to focus on.
"Don't be mistaken, big brother!" he cheered, only quietly cringing as he heard Jinx's tiny voice become cuter like he wanted to survive this bad. It was one thing to dream about acting cutesy in front of a sugar daddy, but doing it in real life is another. It didn't help that he knew he's a fully fledged adult creature, but from a dumb species.
Aleister felt his brotherly heart do a somersault at the term. "Why?" he forced himself to ask back in a clear voice.
Jinx grinned, his giggles bubbling out of him. "Big brother Snow isn't really that scared of handsome big brother! Big brother Snow just wants to protect Jiji…" he said through his pout, Jinx's voice annoyingly more syrupy than he liked.
「 Using Skill [Pouting lvl 6] 」
"Is that so?" Aleister hummed, a hand subconsciously reaching out to touch the rabbit's ear. "He wants to protect you?"
He can see why Snow wanted to protect this small rabbit. He's cute, fragile, and even if Aleister is human, he was afraid he could crush Jinx in his arms if he held him a little tighter. He pointedly ignored his pretend nephew's coughing at the side.
And Jinx, ever the playful rabbit currently cosplaying innocence, leaned closer as he made sure his eyes were big and sparkly. He'd even roped Raum into it, coercing the system to make his eyes glossier and cuter to the beholder.
"See, handsome big brother… I was bullied a lot in the orphanage."
Time to buy more house privilege with Jinx's cuteness.
Aleister listened all the while, not noticing his own lips mimicking a small pucker of a pout as he got carried away with Jinx's sob story. Apparently, the rabbit was discriminated against because he symbolizes bad luck. He was ostracized, made the scapegoat of every accident, and that also meant less food was given to him as punishment. Sometimes, it wasn't even punishment. They just felt like the rabbit did not deserve to eat occasionally. He nodded sympathetically with every point, and he felt his heart being squeezed tighter the worse the rabbit pouted at him.
His hands, which had subconsciously grabbed each of Jinx's arms, tightened in his pity.
"Only big brother Snow was there to save me," Furan Shi continued on, faking a sniffle. And to sell his point, he added, "but even big brother Snow was not allowed to soak during bath time..!"
Soaking was a luxury, anyways. Nothing to whine about if you were a commoner. But Aleister had never been one, so he would likely see that as cruelty, especially when it involved someone as fragile as Snow.
Now, after all that, what could Aleister do to earn Snow's trust?
Furan Shi smirked. He reckoned this is the part where he could suavely cash in his chips, seeing how deeply Aleister had bought into their sob story, so he reached for Aleister's hands, which gave way easily, and clasped them between his cold, smaller ones.
That also sold the idea of Jinx's helplessness, seeing the large size difference between their fingers. How could anyone look at these tiny fingers and still find it in their heart to be cruel?
"First and foremost, you have to be very very kind to me!" he explained softly, letting just enough vulnerability slip through to sell the idea that he wanted to trust this handsome big brother. "Big brother Snow is a selfless boy, so he would hate you if you made me cry..!"
Aleister nodded religiously, while Camilius subtly clicked his tongue at the side. This shameless rabbit.
Jinx's unwavering, cutesy grin suggested he didn't care about the snake's awareness of his confidence trick. "And—" he batted his lashes up at the man— "if you mean well, I can help you get big brother's guard down."
Soon, Aleister found himself awkwardly hunched behind the rabbit boy as the latter surfed his personal computer in the office. Jinx had advised him that there were a lot of books online to help him earn Snow's trust.
Sure, he could start treating Jinx better, as the rabbit himself had advised, especially whenever Snow can see them, but what better way to get Snow to get his guard down than to interact with him directly? As a socially inept individual, unfortunately, Aleister had to do a little reading.
Furan Shi introduced to him a peculiar online site where, apparently, only schoolgirls go to read. But with his poor social skills, those digital dramas were exactly what he needed.
He was welcomed by an ornately orange website and was prompted to make an account. After that, as Furan Shi hid his snickering well, he added romance books to Aleister's library. The human might've heard the other say something about a "bodice ripper," maybe even an "alpha mafia boss x omega," though he'd pushed it all to the back of his mind along with many of Jinx's recommendations.
But he got the gist. Maybe.
Jinx turned around, one arm draped over the chair's backrest, and looked at both the expectant Aleister and the gawking Camilius. The young serpent had been leaning down with the human since earlier, wanting to know what the rabbit was up to.
「 "Are you.. sure this is the most optimal way?" 」 Raum asked, its voice tinged with a reluctant cringe. Furan Shi huffed proudly in his mind. How could this game bird not have thought about this? And here he thought Raum was very smart!
「 "Aleister seems to have the social skills of a rock. I learned how to interact with people through trial and error, and I guarantee this is the best way for him. " 」
Well, organic progression, right? Raum couldn't really complain.
As he let Aleister take control of the mouse, the human leaning down by his side, he peered back at Camilius, wondering what the serpent's reaction was.
The young serpent was glaring at him, but it was clear as day that he was just trying his best not to burst out laughing. At least Camilius wasn't as naive, and it was even better that he didn't like the Selvans.
If one was to translate their silent eye conversation, perhaps it'd go like:
"I know what you're doing, you freebie brat."
Furan Shi glared back. "You better not tell on me, pale noodle."
Camilius was thankful Aleister didn't proceed with what he thought the human was up to. He'd just given his shirt to the critter and then… that's it. He had a weak idea at the side that the human just didn't proceed because Camilius was in the room with them, but for now, he gave a nod of approval to the bunny.
"Keep feeding him those garbage books. He'd be too incompetent to continue being the patriarch of this union very soon."
(very sad™ disclaimer: Aleister had wanted to keep the original title of "Matriarch" when Alodia appointed him into power, but so far none of his subordinates from both clans ever used that title when referencing him. As for who's being the more illogical one between him and his union, who knows?)
Aleister added some books himself, focusing on ones with a snow leopard. Jinx had to coach him about the character casting, too, and explained that "top" meant people who approach, and "bottom" meant the people being approached.
The human was smart enough to conclude he was the top, so he refined his search by specifying the snow leopard should be the bottom. Furan Shi was kind enough to warn him about the dangerous tags he should avoid. Given his social ineptitude, wholesome genres were the safest starting point.
"Don't go into the 'lemon' section yet..!" he warned, rounding his already big eyes to appear more intimidating or ominous, like an attempt to stave off a kid from eating the forbidden lemon.
"Why?" the human asked back, his head tilting at an angle. The threat didn't seem to work. "What's in there..?"
Jinx's gaze momentarily flitted to the snake at the side, only to be met with a shrug that probably meant, 'not my problem.' So he turned back to Aleister to give him a shy smile. "The adults in my old home said not to go there."
The human… bought it.
Furan Shi secretly sighed in relief, not caring anymore if the other had thoughts of exploring this forbidden fruit later once Jinx and his pretend nephew would be out of his office. He also didn't forget to brainwash remind Aleister of what else he should do outside of these books while the poor man's digital library slowly filled up with mafia-related romance books.
"You must never hit me!"
"Okay."
"You also have to always protect me!"
"Sure."
"And I should always be comfortable!"
"Noted."
"If something bad happens to me, you can say goodbye to big brother Snow!"
"I wouldn't dream of it." Wait, no. That didn't sound enough. Aleister thoughtfully tapped at the body of his wireless mouse.
And then he looked at Camilius. Camilius knew that look.
"I can give you Alodia's son if you want constant surveillance." Fuck. "He's under my wing. He'll protect you with his life."
Jinx, too, looked up at the cornered snake. In his mind, his uncharted skill was already giving him a summarized report about the tall boy.
「 Male, white python demihuman. Pampered all his life by his mother until he wasn't. Fatherless. 17 years old. Maybe. But surely slightly younger than Snow. All in all immature. His good physique makes up for it. Wait, hold on- where's his tail-? 」
「 "Yeah, Raum. Where's his tail?" 」
「 "Answering host, snake demihumans of this world don't have a tail in their humanoid form." 」
Camilius frowned when the rabbit gave him a look of… disappointment? What's he looking at him like that for?! If not for the human- ljlajjdaskdoasdjakjfk-
His mother told him to follow this wolf(-less human) no matter what. She assured him that he'd learn a lot. But clearly, she's just more inclined to promote a cold person parading his blind philanthropy. She likes characters like these. Maybe that's what she saw in Aleister. Why else would she leave when she's still capable of holding her position?
He clenched his fists. "I go to school. I can't babysit your toy."
"Hush now, he's not a toy." Camilius rolled his eyes as Aleister scolded him. Oh, but his nephew did raise a good point. He can't guard Jinx during the weekdays, but at the same time, he can't just neglect school or drop out.
Camilius shuddered as he saw that fucking look on his face again.
"Then we'll just send Jinx to your school. We'd all benefit, yeah?" FUCKK.
He didn't have time to complain. Aleister was already heading out of his office, ordering the two of them to follow for dinner. He moved, but then stopped.
He cast a sideways glance when he heard the rabbit exhaling. Suddenly, he didn't know what to feel.
On the other hand, Furan Shi's eyes watered as he shed away his [Arrogance] passive, his small shoulders giving out in relief. However, the weight of a certain serpent's stare made him return the look with a glare.
「 "You called me a toy. I'll give you hell, Cornylius." 」
Seriously, why is this rabbit always glaring at him??