Fox Life

Once the night set in, Kyro rose from the sofa and returned to the bedroom. The ears of the two pets twitched, and they raised their heads in unison. They even welcomed him at the same time with a meow and a scream.

He sat down on the bed to scratch Lucy's ear while stroking the fennec's side. "Are you two friends now? Did you have a good sleep?"

They begun to purr in answer. It seemed like they were quite satisfied with the current situation. "But what are you two going to do now, having slept the whole evening away?"

The fennec stilled for a moment, while the cat didn't seem bothered. Lucy yawned wide enough to swallow the fox, then stretched, his claws pushing into the blanket.

"You little devil, I told you not to do that," Kyro berated him and threw him off the bed. Lucy's nails were on the sharp side, and he could easily tear any cloth apart. However, he didn't scratch at anything, so Kyro had never bothered to trim his nails. The proud cat might go on strike if any part of its majestic image was damaged.

Lucy didn't care much for being thrown off. Being used to it, he just gave Kyro a look and strode away, probably into the kitchen to get a snack.

The fennec jumped off the bed by itself and went to get a drink, then moved away toward the bathroom. And so, Kyro was left alone. He looked around, slightly dejected that both his pets didn't seem interested in staying by his side, and got ready to sleep.

After lying down on the bed, he checked his phone, but there were no new messages. That was good, it meant that nothing important had happened. Whatever the head of HR had found out, it didn't shake the bedrock of their company and Kyro could be briefed about it tomorrow.

'Thanks for small miracles.'

Iris realized that sleeping in the evening was a terrible idea. Now that it was past ten and time to really go to sleep, she didn't want to rest whatsoever. Her mind was awake and her body full of restless energy. There was no way she could lie down and expect to fall asleep like this.

Yet she couldn't do much, either. Unlike her, Kyro had been awake the whole time and had work tomorrow. If she made a racket, he would certainly be furious, which might result in her being locked up in the bedroom once again.

That was too horrible to consider, so she stayed in the living room, away from him. Her only other companion was Lucifer, but the cat seemed disinterested in her. He scaled the back of the sofa and lay down on the back rest, front right paw and tail hanging off.

In Iris' eyes, this wasn't a comfortable position, but who knew. Since she didn't have much else to do, she tried to follow the cat.

On her next try, she used her small nails to get purchase, but that was even worse. They had extended to the full, but they couldn't fully hold her, and now her paws ached. It felt like somebody had tried to pull her nails out.

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Lucifer meowed with dissatisfaction. He jumped down from the backrest and came over to Iris. She looked at him teary-eyed, and the cat licked her head. The unexpected action rooted her to the spot. Licked her head? What? What did it mean?

The large cat then scaled the backrest again. However, he did not lay down this time. Sitting on it like a king, he looked at Iris. There wasn't much light in the room due to the night-time, but the curtains hadn't been drawn, and moonlight reflected in Lucifer's amber stare. He seemed almost magical, like a spirit from another realm.

But the spell was soon broken by the spirit itself. Lucifer growled lightly, and Iris had an overwhelming sensation that he was getting impatient.

What did he want, though? Wait, was he telling her to get up there? That action of jumping down and going back up again, could it have been him showing her how it's done?

Her eyes lit up at that thought. Lucifer was actually a good guy!

With renewed vigor, she tried again by imitating what Lucifer's action. However, it was another fail. Her movements just weren't coordinated enough. By the midway point, she got lost between her own four legs and crashed to the ground.

Yet her enthusiasm didn't dwindle. Lucifer himself had shown her how to do it, and she wasn't going to disappoint him! In this new life of hers, she had no mother fox to teach her the way. All she could rely on was her own self, so now that Lucifer had decided to help her out once, she couldn't waste this chance.

Again and again, she climbed and fell. From time to time, Lucifer would jump down, tell her its okay by a show of affection, and rush up. His actions were as slow as possible in the matter, so she could better grasp the technique.

It was all in the control of speed and the initial burst of power. The first jump determined your next movements. They had to be quick, but not faster than your brain could compute so it wouldn't issue conflicting commands to the four limbs, which happened way too often for Iris. Normal movement was fine, but the moment she was put on the spot, it was a do-or-die situation, her mind turned off and she lost any semblance of control over her limbs, and confusion reigned supreme.

Iris didn't know how many times she had failed by then. When she readied herself for another fruitless attempt, Lucifer stopped her. He came to stand before her, eyes glowing in the darkness.

She looked up, uncertain what he wanted. She was just going to try again, what was wrong with that? Annoyed that the cat was getting in her way, she walked to the side and readied herself again. Maybe if she slowed down a little bit near the to—

'Wth!' She was flying!

Iris' eyes went wide, her exhaustion receding for a moment with a rush of adrenaline. Instantly, she noticed that she wasn't really flying but was being carried by the scruff of her neck. It didn't hurt much, but her pride was seriously injured.

'This evil cat!' Furious, she flailed about, but her actions didn't have any effect. The giant black monster held her tight in its grip, carrying her only god knew were.

When they entered the bedroom, Lucifer first stood up on its hind legs against the bed to place Iris down, then jumped on himself. He shooed her near Kyro's back, caging her in with his own body once he lay down.

This situation wasn't part of Iris' plan. She wanted to get on that backrest! With a muted cry, she expressed her dissatisfaction and tried to stand up, but Lucifer nipped her ear. He then put a paw on her side and flexed his claws.

Scared witless, Iris instantly agreed to everything he was saying. Maybe it was the perfect time to take a break. Yeah, he was absolutely right!