BXBX NOVEL Chapter 819 818: Downtime (3)
Chapter 819 818: Downtime (3)
Seeing that, I smiled gently and asked "How can I help you, little miss~?", which made those amber eyes widen just a tad more before her pale cheeks reddened, though instead of becoming so shy that she ran away or remained quiet, the little girl instead pointed towards my head, her curiosity too strong.
"W-Why do you have doggy ears on your head? Don\'t you have normal ears, like these?"
My smile grew slightly bigger as I heard her question, the innocence in it and the way she saw no issue asking something that would otherwise be offensive was the unique privilege of a child, which was made even more apparent as she tapped her own ears, all whilst still staring at mine.
"Haha, no, no I don\'t. Just these ones; see?"
Brushing my hair back, I revealed the flat side of my head that would have ears, but didn\'t thanks to me being a Dogkin; instead, I only had the two large, fluffy triangles atop my head, which I twitched to show that they were real.
Her eyes widened again as she leaned forwards to see them, before her face brightened as I said "Go ahead, you can touch them. Just don\'t tug.", her lips curling into a smile of her own as she reached forwards and did just that.
Tilting my head, I let the child stroke my ears, her eager hands rubbing and scratching at them a tad bit rough, but nothing I wasn\'t able to handle as she began to smile even more, finding the fluffy, furry ears to be rather enjoyable to caress.
"Woah... they\'re so soft! So..! Kya~!"
Letting out an adorable squeak, the girl continued to rub my head, making me chuckle as I closed my eyes, my more \'animalistic\' side finding this to be even more enjoyable as the various \'pleasure\' nerves were stimulated, making me feel good.
"C-Can I get ears like this?! Oh, they\'re so fluffy~!"
I chuckled again, before leaning away from her hand to look her in the eye, which made the girls smile fade slightly as she pouted at me, clearly wanting to pet me some more.
"Sadly no, little miss. You won\'t be able to grow \'doggy ears\' as a human."
Her pout deepened as she asked "Why not?", causing me to pause for a few moments as I tried to figure out a way to word it without being \'mean\', which was proving to be harder than I thought.
"Because... sadly, little miss, you were born a pure human girl. Whereas I was born as a Dogkin, a member of the Beastkin race? So even though we look similar, we\'re actually rather different."
She frowned at that, her amber eyes filled with confusion as she mulled over my words, before nodding as I explained "Think of it this way; you know how there are different kind of dogs in the world? Small, fluffy, floppy eared ones and large, short haired, defined eared ones? And all the types in between?"
"Yeah..? Miss Jenny had a big doggy that she took hunting, while Mister Paul had a tiny doggy that he carried around with him. Like that?"
"Like that, yeah. You know how they are both dogs, yet are still so different? That\'s... sort of like us; we\'re both mortals, but you\'re a human and I\'m a Beastkin. Currently, you\'re that tiny doggy while I\'m the big doggy. Does that make sense?"
"I... am the tiny doggy? Can I become the bigger doggy?"
Tilting her head, the young girl stared at me anxiously, her tone and expression making it clear that she was not too thrilled with that sort of analogy, which made me smile wryly as I waved my hands at her, saying "It\'s just a way to help you understand~! You\'re still growing, after all; I was just saying that right now, that\'s what its like, alright? As long as you keep eating well, exercising, and sleeping good, you\'ll eventually grow up to be big and strong."
"Really? Billy and Annie always make fun of me for being so small though... Can I really become bigger? Stronger? Like you? Like Miss Mary?"
"Certainly! You just need to never give up and focus on yourself, alright? Keep exercising, keep being healthy, and eventually you\'ll be able to become big and strong, just like Miss Mary."
Her anxiety faded, replaced with wonder and anticipation as she nodded, smiling again as she muttered "I can do that..! Yeah!", before looking up at me and grinning, those amber eyes filled with such joy as she threw herself into my arms, making me smile in amusement as I hugged the girl back.
"Thanks Miss~! Hehe~! Big and strong..!"
When she pulled free, my smile lingered as I watched her scamper away, the young girl making her way through the hall all the way towards a thin, pale man, who was sitting on a bed and holding a necklace to his head, muttering something to himself as he prayed, only to look up as the girl approached him, grinning.
Watching their interaction, I saw the man look towards me with worry before blinking a few times as I nodded to him, making him blink before he nodded back, a relieved expression clearly written on his face as he turned back towards the girl.
My eyes found themselves on the girl once more, and I tapped my fingers against the notebook as I realized that I had \'forgotten\' a fourth major lust of mine, something that Jahi had reignited and fueled the night before.
My lust to eventually have children of my own to shower in love and teach the ways of the world, to coddle them healthily whilst watching them grow up to be big and strong, all while having the ability to determine what they wanted that strength to go towards, be it physical, arcane, social, mental...
That was what I wanted, and that it was something that I deeply, deeply desired for myself in the future...