Inari’s Gift

The next morning, Cera awoke incredibly confused.  The aches and pains she was expecting were all missing, it was somewhat difficult to breathe, and something fluffy was going up her nose.  It took a few moments to register everything that had happened recently, at which point she pulled her new tail out of her face, frowning as she looked at where she’d drooled on it while asleep.

She stood and stretched, finding it much more pleasant than in her prior life, then dressed again in the simple pants, tunic, and boots she had arrived in.  Having dressed again, she then left her room, finding that Falron was still closed away in his room.

Deciding that he probably wouldn’t mind, Cera began poking around, starting in her room.  Eventually, she uncovered a plain but well-made comb, leading to an immediate end to her searching and a quick hop back up onto the edge of the bed to begin brushing her tail.

Unfortunately, it appeared that she didn’t have a magical self-grooming tail as some kitsune in stories did, as the tip was all matted from her lying and drooling on it overnight.  Fortunately, she did have a comb, so she could at least take care of it a little bit.

Several hours later, Falron grabbed her hand, and she jolted in surprise, having completely gotten lost in brushing her tail over and over again.  With a sheepish grin, she put the comb down and shook her head.

“Oops!” she exclaimed with a laugh before continuing, “I may have gotten a little distracted, I suppose…”

Falron sighed and shook his head before asking, “Were you planning on staying there until you starved, Cera?  It’s been hours since I woke up, and you ignored me calling you to eat.  I even ate my own food and called again, and you still didn’t move!”

“I may or may not have a slight addiction to fluffy tails, which seems a bit dangerous when you suddenly gain one,” Cera admitted with a chuckle.

After taking a moment to sigh, she continued, “I suppose I really ought to work on that; I don’t want to cripple myself every time I try to groom my tail.”

She then stood and followed an exasperated Falron out to where her meal was already sitting beside the fire.

“Thank you for making food for me, and for all the rest of your help, too, Falron.  It means a lot to me that I don’t have to try to make my own way without any assistance,” she exclaimed with a short bow toward the man before she sat down and began to eat.

As she ate, Cera’s mind kept going back to her tail.  It was probably the biggest danger to her at the moment, as silly as that sounded.  She was still new to having it, and hadn’t developed any resistance to the desire to keep petting and brushing it.  If she’d grown up with one, it would have been fine, but the obsession from her prior life might actually kill her, which Falron likely thought he was exaggerating about.

Thoughts zipped around her mind as she tried to find a solution to her rather unique problem.  In the end, she settled on an old, tried-but-true method.  If she couldn’t be trusted to pull her own attention away, something external was needed.

Cera glanced up at Falron before asking, “Do you happen to have a dull knife, or some sort of blunted spine or needle?  I can use that to help train myself to not get so distracted.”

Falron looked at her in clear confusion before shaking his head and remarking, “I’ve got an old knife I was still needing to sharpen again.  What do you want it for?  How could it possibly help?”

At this question, Cera laughed before beginning to explain, “Well, if it is dull enough to not cut but still be painful to put weight on, then I can rest it on the ground below my leg and hold my foot in the air while I brush my tail.  Then, when I get too distracted, I’ll stop holding my foot up and drop it onto the dull blade, and the discomfort will jolt me out of my obsession for a moment.  It isn’t exactly nice or pleasant, but it, or something similar, has been useful many times in my past.”

While explaining, Cera finished her food and went to grab Falron’s dishes as well before realizing that she was way too late to help him clean his own today since she’d been so… occupied… at the time.  With a slight shrug and shake of her head, she headed into the kitchen to clean what she had on hand, quickly putting her utensils away as the bowl was left to dry.

By the time she returned to the living room, Falron was muttering to himself under his breath, though with her sensitive new ears, Cera could hear him quite clearly.  In the end, he agreed to loan her the knife, though he insisted on testing the edge first, and being present the first time she tried her distraction trick.

A short while later, Falron returned from another room with a knife and smacked it into some of the firewood repeatedly before gently pressing the tip of a finger to the blade and wiggling it slightly.  Once satisfied with that result, he put more and more pressure on the blade as he laid more of his finger across it.

Moments later, he nodded before bringing it to the top of his arm, rocking the blade across it, and then nodding.  Satisfied that it was well and truly dull, he handed it to Cera, who informed him that she’d try it immediately.  She set the blade on the little table she’d been using to eat, then returned to her room to grab the comb.

A quick request to Falron got her two small pieces of firewood, and she carefully played around with extending her leg and letting it drop before wedging the knife in place with the wood.

“And this is the basic setup, so now I just get to work and try to keep my focus,” Cera explained as she held her leg outstretched well above the blade and pulled her tail into her lap to begin brushing.

The next thing she knew, she was shouting, “Ow, fuck!” as her foot slammed into the dull blade of the knife, jerking her out of her obsessed brushing, though she did manage to keep hold of the comb.

After letting out a deep breath and rubbing the sole of her foot, Cera spoke up, “And that’s about how it goes.  Most certainly not pleasant, but it is effective.”

While Falron frowned and nodded, Cera sighed before extending her leg again and wincing as she brought the comb back to her tail.

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