I Have Need of Your Fine Implement
The moment I took the sketch I'd been drawing to scratch my ball-buddy's filthy itch and twisted it into a furry piece, the bastard's face went slack with the bliss of a man who could die happy right then and there.
"...No wonder they call it a Judy Case declaration dress. Even covered up, it's still ridiculously sexy."
"Of course it is. When you're standing there boldly announcing I am your dedicated cock-house, who the hell wouldn't get hard? If that doesn't do it for you, you're just gay."
I meant every word of that.
Anyone who claims a wedding dress isn't hot is operating on the same level as those clueless idiots who insist fox beastfolk aren't hot.
Pure white—the pure heart that swears to love only you, and the iron vow that the pussy will accept only your cock.
A wedding dress is as close to the fruit of love as a baby in the womb. How the hell is that supposed to not be hot?
"Unless it's some extreme hate-art, a wedding dress is supposed to get you going. Fuck, you're the weird one for not being able to feel arousal at all unless there's an animal snout stuck on it!"
"That's a little unfair. There's a reason I don't get off on ordinary women."
"Bullshit. The same guy who saw the Zootopia bunny in middle school and immediately cranked out five consecutive faps right there on the spot has a lot of nerve talking."
"That wasn't my fault! The bunny was too seductive—that's the problem! Do you have any idea how hot that fluffy, soft-looking tail was, or those long ears you could wrap in one hand? The filmmakers who drew a rabbit that sexy are the ones who screwed up!"
"Please, for the love of god, do not put the people who protect children's innocence on the same level as a plain furry like you. You're insulting them."
"Those bastards are definitely furries just like me! Otherwise there's no way they could draw a furry that hot!"
He went through the bunny's hot points from Zootopia one by one in a deadly serious voice. Feeling zero need to argue, I just shook my head and turned back to the commission work.
No point answering every bit of nonsense.
Talk to a dog long enough and you become a dog yourself.
...Foxes are canids, so am I already a dog?
Anyway, once I stopped giving Hyeok-jin's bullshit even a scrap of a reply, the house went quiet fast. In that silence I tore through the work at high speed.
Seven hours like that.
I finished the polish, sent the illustration off to the client, and was stretching out my stiff body when my sleeping friend's face caught my eye.
Brows furrowed like he was trapped in a nightmare, not even breathing loud enough to hear, sprawled out asleep on top of my lush tail.
I carefully wrapped him in my tail, set him on the bed, and started watching him in silence.
A scalp polished smooth by early baldness, every last hair gone.
A face that wasn't quite handsome enough for "pretty boy," but solidly good-looking enough to call handsome.
Dense muscle that could easily clear the Three Lifts at 800 kilos, a body in perfect balance.
And last of all, that ticklish, intoxicating scent rolling off him.
The longer I stared at him up close, the more this strange, murky feeling kept welling up, so I finally backed away, grabbed my own lush tail, and buried my face in it.
Sniff—haah.
The fox-tail scent hit, and that murky, weird feeling started draining away fast.
What even is this feeling?
What kind of emotion keeps flashing me warning signs over and over?
I thought about it for a second, then landed on an answer right away.
"What else would it be? Just female hormones kicking in, plain and simple."
Yeah. Just animal instinct flaring up for a moment.
Me, fallen into a female body, falling in love with a bald sex-maniac who only likes furries? Does that even make sense?
"Crazy talk. The reason he somehow seems cool is just because he's been helping me a lot lately."
I scrubbed the stupid thoughts out and climbed free of the daydream—only for Hyeok-jin to scowl and sit up, clearly annoyed that the tail softer than any mattress had vanished.
"What the hell? I was definitely buried in your tail sleeping. Why am I on the bed?"
"You looked uncomfortable, so I moved you. Got a problem?"
"Obviously I do. You moved me from somewhere comfortable to somewhere that isn't. Yaaawn... whole body's stiff. What time is it?"
"Seven in the evening. About time for dinner."
"No wonder I'm hungry. Commission's already done, huh? Damn, your work speed is filthy fast."
"Did you contribute anything to that work speed of mine?"
I snapped it at him, and he looked awkward enough that he immediately pulled out his phone and opened a delivery app.
"Let's just get rice bowls. I'm doing spicy pork. You?"
"You buying? Then tuna mayo."
"Tuna mayo... that is peak rape-optimized dialogue."
"Shut the fuck up and just order. You still half-asleep?"
"You think I'm awake? I've been up three minutes and I haven't even washed my face."
My ball-buddy grumbled the whole way through placing the order, then sat staring blankly for a second before something seemed to click and he spoke up.
"Oh right—I might have to go out tomorrow."
"You said you'd stick around, and now you're bailing every single day. What's the excuse this time?"
"Dunno. Some VIP from overseas is coming in. They need me on the reception detail in case something goes sideways."
"Do you absolutely have to go? There's got to be at least one other person who can cover."
"Just the usual grunt work. I'll leave the talismans and ritual tools like today, so if things look dangerous, use them. Okay?"
"Not okay, you fucking bastard."
I dropped a double-barreled curse on the guy who couldn't keep even a simple promise, then sighed and asked the question.
"Haa... so. This person you're going to meet—man or woman?"
"What?"
At his echo, I finally realized what kind of garbage had just come out of my mouth.
...That wasn't the question I meant to ask. I was just going to ask who the VIP actually was.
Why the hell did the words come out wrong? This is mortifying.
Fuck.
Tails white as an untrodden snowfield.
Overwhelming sensuality that left ordinary foxes in the dust—enough to drive a person mad just looking at it.
Power lost, and yet still radiating a dangerous aura, the white fox sat before a burly dokkaebi who sidelong-glanced at his own massive club and put the question carefully.
"So this humble one is needed... just what kind of existence are you facing that you'd come asking help from a guy like me?"
A cautious manner, as if addressing a superior.
Apparently pleased with the respect, the white fox sipped her tea and smiled faintly.
"A rather dangerous existence, one might say. In my true body I could have subdued it easily, but as I am now, enduring is about the best I can manage."
"...Even Elder Sister cannot handle it, and yet you mean to face it by borrowing the power of lesser spirits and extraordinary beings weaker than yourself?"
"That is the plan. Is there a problem?"
When the white fox answered his sharp reaction at once, the dokkaebi steadied himself again and began trying to persuade her, slowly.
"Piling more cotton on a cotton club still leaves you with a cotton club. Borrowing the strength of weak creatures like us will never be enough to face that thing."
"Cotton is cotton, yes—but does the result not change depending on which cotton you use?"
"It does not change. Cotton is only cotton. Quality, quantity, even some peculiar trait—none of it matters. Cotton remains cotton."
Pessimistic, relentlessly negative.
At that attitude the white fox shook her head and mocked the dokkaebi in front of her.
"Where did the cunning, vicious lust-spirit go, leaving only a coward behind? That black-scorched skin and golden hair shining like a lump of gold are wasted on you. A true pity."
"...What did you just say?"
The dokkaebi bristled and raised his massive club in threat. The white fox snorted and answered.
"I said it is laughable that a being of extraordinary power, fated to be a lust-spirit, would resist his own destiny. Did you truly believe you could step off fate's track after piling up so much lust-karma already?"
Still cackling, the white fox rose from her seat and pointed at his massive club.
"Look—is the club not this thick? A man who claims to resist the fate of a lust-spirit, standing there soaked in carnal desire. I cannot hold back my laughter."
"That is entirely Elder Sister's fault, and just holding myself back like this is already a miracle. Any ordinary yokai or human would have jumped you already."
Geum-taeyang Dokkaebi downed the liquor from his gourd in rapid gulps, trying to shake off the lust. Watching him, the white fox wiped the smile away and stepped closer.
"So then—you cannot give this lady your aid?"
"I want to, but I cannot. If it's raw force you need, wouldn't it be better to seek the King rather than me? It isn't as if Elder Sister has no acquaintance with him."
"You are still a fool. Do you think this lady never even considered something so obvious?"
"You've always had blind spots in unexpected places, haven't you? Who knows—maybe you simply didn't think of Big Brother and came straight to me."
Geum-taeyang Dokkaebi set the club down and snickered. The white fox made a sour face and spoke.
"Had I needed mere force, I would have sought that scholar-like fellow. Would I have come looking for a lust-spirit like you?"
"...You could have just said that from the start."
Geum-taeyang Dokkaebi took another long pull of liquor, then asked the white fox in a calmer voice than before.
"So what is it you want from me, Elder Sister?"
At the dokkaebi's question, the white fox curled the corner of her mouth and pointed at his massive club.
"This lady has need of your fine implement."