Scene suggestion—anup and sourang 7 (Patreon)

This story is becoming a habit, but you guys keep asking for it, so I don't mind!

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 Lunsdie’s ears sprung up when Ckkkrt’s posture stiffened, his words hanging between them. “You had offered him so much more.” His brain sprung into high gear, trying to understand what he’d done wrong. “I’m… I’m sorry,” he gasped.

She raised a paw, holding her palm in front of him. “Stop,” she said.

“I didn’t mean to—”

“Stop.” She inhaled a deep breath, then forcibly blew it out. “That is the sort of thing that Rrrr would say.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Stop,” she said a third time. He closed his muzzle, wilting on the spot. He wanted to explain himself, but she clearly didn’t want to hear it. “He would say these things to manipulate me. To evoke a feeling in me.”

The anup opened his muzzle once more, but a glare made him shut it before he could speak.

“You do not have much experience with females,” she asked. “Do you?”

Lunsdie shook his head in silence. Dating had never gone well for him. Had it not been for his best friend Sbarrie, he’d really never gotten to know a single one.

“I think perhaps…” Her voice trailed off and he waited, his stomach tying itself in knots. “I think perhaps that you are a very candid person. That you say the things you think.”

The anup released a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“I think,” she continued, “that you were not trying to manipulate me, but that you meant it sincerely.”

He nodded, afraid to open his mouth.

“Then … I think you are very sweet,” she said. “And I thank you.”

Lunsdie smiled wide. He grabbed the two bowls. “Shall we have some dinner?”

Ckkkrt looked to his table and then back at his brown eyes. “You have only one chair.”

“Oh, I suppose I do,” he mumbled. He hadn’t anticipated having company. “Well, I can make you one tomorrow. Tonight, we can eat in the living room instead.”

She took one bowl from him, then interlaced the fingers of her free paw with his and led him to the couch where they both took a seat. There was barely room for the two of them and they shared their meals sitting so close that they really only needed a single bowl.

“The meat has a really nice flavor,” she said. “It is much more pleasant cooked than raw.”

“It’s ilosa,” he explained, “an insect eater. The farmers raise a type of bug that eats mulch and the ilosa eat the bugs. It’s a very high protein diet, so they grow really quickly.”

Ckkkrt was already licking her bowl clean, then she ran a pad through his bowl and popped the sauce-covered digit into her mouth. He stared in horror but said nothing.

“I really like your cooking,” she said. “The spices are unfamiliar, but they seem to go together well. Do all anup cook as well as you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really know. My mom was a great cook and I learned from her.”

“If we brought a portable grill with us when you sold your produce, you could give out free samples. That would entice buyers to try items with a better profit margin.”

Lunsdie shook his head. “I can’t just give out food I’ve touched—”

“Your market has booths that cook meals for customers,” she said. “I have seen them.”

“Well, sure,” he said, finishing the last of his food. “But they have licenses that allow them to cook for people—”

“Very well,” she said. “We will work on getting you a license later.” She disappeared into the kitchen and he heard her wash the bowls before returning to sit with him on the couch. “What should we do now?”

“Uh,” he gasped with wide eyes. He’d never had anyone over before and hadn’t exactly planned anything they could do. On a typical evening, he would read a book, but he wasn’t going to offer to read to her. “Well, um, sometimes I play my alaika—”

“Yes! Yes, let’s do that!” She snapped repeatedly with both paws in excitement. “That sounds fun.”

“Okay,” he said hesitantly. He took the instrument from where it hung on the wall and ducked underneath the strap. Ckkkrt sat on the very edge of the couch with eyes wide and elbows resting on her knees.

Without checking whether the strings were still in tune, he launched into the song he knew best, Moon Over the Water. But he was only a dozen bars in before she was up on her knees, watching closely as his bachi danced across the strings.

He had never imagined that anyone could be so fascinated by something so mundane. Even little cubs would scarcely acknowledge him when he played in public. She reached forward with a claw tip to strum at the strings, so he paused.

“Here, put the strap across your shoulder,” he said, but no sooner had he started to duck out from under it, she was up on her paws and circling behind him. She reached around him with one long arm and, peering over his shoulder, she strummed once at the strings with a claw then giggled with delight at the sound.

“Here, hold the bachi like this.” She held out her paw and he experimented, wrapping her fingers around the pick. With two thumbs on each paw and a vastly different range of motion, the grip he settled on for her was totally different than the one he’d use for himself. Then with the fingers on his right paw, he squeezed strings against the frets to make a chord. “Now use the glass corner to strum all five.”

He held her paw with his left and together they played the chord. She chittered excitedly and wrapped her free arm around his chest, squeezing him closer.

Lunsdie moved his fingers to a new chord. “Now bring the bachi back up and hit all five with the bachi’s metal corner.”

She wiggled excitedly at the new chord and squeezed him harder. “More! More!” she giggled.

So together they played. He did the work of course, picking out the chords and helping her strum the proper strings, but she was clearly having a great time, holding him close and swaying in time to the music. With her chin wrapped around his shoulder, her woolen scent was strong in his nose, almost making him swoon.

She stepped to the side. “Now move your right paw so you’re standing next to mine,” she said.

“Huh?” he asked.

“Do it!”

“Um, okay.” He stepped with her, so the outer edge of his paw was snug against her insole.

He played on, but then she nudged his left paw with her left. “Now step forward,” she said.

“Wait, no,” said Lunsdie as he stopped playing. “Anup can’t dance.”

“Of course, you can,” she laughed. “If I can play the alaikra—”

“Alaika—”

“Whatever,” she said. “If I can play the music, then you can dance.”

“No, no,” he said, turning his head toward her, “anup can’t dance. It’s illegal.”

“What?” She sniffed at him, her nose nearly touching his. “Why would anyone try to outlaw dancing?”

Lunsdie rolled his eyes. “Because anup need to stay separated, Ckkkrt. I explained this already.”

“You do not have to dance with someone to dance.”

“The orthodoxy doesn’t want anyone to dance,” he said. “They feel that dancing by yourself will lead to dancing with others. It’s just a bad idea.”

“I thought you didn’t like the clergy.”

That brought Lunsdie to a full stop. It was true, he didn’t like the orthodoxy and how they excluded his caste, but he hadn’t realized that she had seen through his treasonous opinions. “Uh, well,” he muttered, “the clergy don’t allow traders in their temples.”

“Well, if your caste does not get to participate in their rituals,” said Ckkkrt, “then why should you care what they forbid?”

He hung his head and groaned. He really didn’t want to argue about such things.

“Lunsdie,” she whispered in his ear, surprising him. Was this the first time she had called him anything besides “apprentice”? Her breath was warm in his ear, each slow inhale and exhale causing the tiny hairs lining the skin to dance and sway. “Dance with me,” she said. “We are already close, and I will never tell anyone.”

She held him tight for what seemed like an hour, her fingers gently caressing his chest. Eventually, he sighed. “You promise you won’t tell?”

“I will not tell anyone.”

Dancing turned out to be pretty great. And when they could stand no longer, they collapsed into a sweaty heap on the couch.

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R0a5qP7Z0KMhfhIUuEps21M6aGUamPdLeRIyvM_Xvkc/edit?usp=sharing

Of course, it's the next chapter that I'm really excited to write...

Thoughts?