Baba's room

Up in the tower of the Guild House within the room belonging to one of the older members of Blake's guild was the sight of Blake, the Smith-Knight. Our grand hero who has fought both alongside and against likes of Demons, Dragons, beasts of the wild, and even a Slime.

"Uhm? Baba? Is this okay?" Was currently kneeling while giving one of Baba's six-toed feet a good old foot rub! Complete with some bottles of massage oil next to him. "Huh?" One of which was suspiciously marked with 'Silver Grand.' "What else does she have around here?" He took a quick once over of Baba's room, hoping not to find something else from a place he'd been to.

The Ala's room was set up like a smaller version of her old home back at Fowl Foot Tree. There was a wooden floor made to look like the rings of an old tree, lime green walls with white swirling patterns, and a couple of windows circling the room. As for what Baba kept in her room, she lacked furniture of any kind. Instead, there was her collection of random stuff.

They ranged from rocks, sticks, clothing, leaves, coins, and more, with all of them neatly stacked where she liked. Each one was handpicked by Baba whenever she had time to herself or when on quests; instead of taking the usual reward of money, she'd point at a random thing a quest giver owned and merely asked for that.

"~Shh~" Partly laying/sitting in a nest of large and puffy pillows of different styles and colors was Baba still dripping wet and wrapped up in her green towel. "Don't talk...just sit there and be handsome." She cooed with her free foot being waved in Blake's face. "I hope I'm not a bother, am I, Hubby?" The Ala winked at him while taking a bit of her towel to dry herself.

"No...not at all." Blake lied through his teeth. The foot rub he was giving Baba felt more like a wrestling match between fingers and toes. "She's doing this on purpose!?" And the smith was on the losing end as Baba was from Blake's own pleasurable experience a master when it came to her feet. "Hmm!" Not to mention the oddity of her extra pinky toe made the fight even more one-sided since Blake wasn't sure what to do to it. "Hey, how long do I have to si-" Blake tried questioning the older woman when he gave up on fighting her feet.

"~Bad boy~ I told you to be handsome." Baba was in the middle of tying her green hair back into those 4 braids she always had while the top half of her towel had drooped down slightly, exposing some of her small breasts to Blake's eyes. "Care to touch?" She offered, leaning forward while tugging at her towel when Blake kept staring at her.

"Sorry, I would, but I don't think you like oily skin after a bath." Blake declined, trying to take his eyes off Baba's chest, and got back to her feet. "Wha?" Which had suddenly gotten bigger. "That's not fair..." He was pretty sure about what the Ala did to herself but wasn't about to look up to find out. "Ugh!" However, when the foot in his hands slipped out of his hold and went to his chin, he got worried.

"Now, now, don't be like. When a woman wants to show herself to her man, it's his duty to stare in awe." Baba lectured while slowly bringing Blake's head up to gaze at not her face but those large feather-covered mounds of soft flesh she had for a chest. In order to further tease Blake, Baba had taken on her middle-aged form, gracing Blake's eyes with those thick thighs, wide hips, and a bountiful chest that put such a strain on her towel that it looked ready to burst. "Well? Would you like to see some more?" She asked when the feathers on her breasts started to disappear, showing more of her lustrous skin.

"Ah...?" Blake's mouth was left agape, allowing Baba to bring his head up until their eyes met or at least they might've if Blake's gaze wasn't fixed on Baba's plump lips curled into a welcoming smile. "...Any reason for the change?" The smith finally asked when her equally as delicate fingers replaced those soft toes.

"Mama just thought she needed to remind you of 'all' your options..." Baba cooed, laying down on her nest of pillows with Blake following along by the tips of her fingers. "...now, why don't we get back to where we were at that hotel before the Dragon burnt the room down?"

With Blake on top of her, the older woman guided his hands to touch and grope her body; from her round shoulders, pillowy chest, wide hips, and plump thighs. And while Blake was getting handfuls of her, Baba herself was making sure to keep him right there by wrapping her legs around his and held his head in place, so the only thing he saw was her face.

"Mama's ready whenever you are ~Hubby~" The Ala drew Blake closer, with the peaks of her beasts meeting Blake's chest. "There we go ~nice, and snug~" Followed by the rest of their bodies being pressed against eachother with barely an inch between them.

"Ever heard of being too forceful?" Blake asked, feeling not only Baba's slow rhythmic breaths on his lips but the Ala's heartbeat in time with his own.

"When it comes to pleasure?" Baba whispered as she pulled Blake's head in to get at his ear. "~No~" The softest of bleeze escaped her lips and seemed to flow down from Blake's head and down his back. "Hmm?" However, all of her foreplay was put to a stop when Blake rolled to his side, taking her with him.

"Well, I just got done 'handling' a Dragon. So maybe I can have it slow right now?" Blake asked while sliding a hand up and down Baba's side, going from a nice pair of breasts one moment and down to a firm behind the next. "Is it working?" All in an attempt to keep Baba's happy. He eyed her for a while but wasn't sure what she was thinking.

"Hmph...nevermind then..." Baba pouted before giving Blake some space, at least enough that they weren't constantly pressed to eachother but still let either one grab at the other. "...but I at least want this ~much~" She held Blake's hands and intertwined their fingers with her extra pinkies wiggling freely.

"Huh, you know? With the way you act sometimes, I was expecting you to have stripped me down by now." Blake wondered out loud as Baba kept playing with his hands like a young maiden who finally got the chance to hold their crush's hand. "Those actions and her face don't match up." Both a confusing and adorable sight for Blake.

"~Oh, Hubby~ we already went over this on our date. I can wait until 'both' of us are good and ready to have a go at eachother, hehe..." Baba giggled in answer as she brought Blake's hands to her chest and sunk his fingers in them. "...but I don't get it, Hubby?"

"Ah...ah...huh? What could you not get, oh seasoned mistress?" Blake joked, to keep things light-hearted after his back out.

"That despite my advances and knowing full well the kind of woman that I am...you still haven't come around... too well? 'Coming' just yet..." Baba answered before taking Blake's hands away from her chest and wrapped them around her neck. "...and I know you're not saving yourself for anyone, are you?"

"What could I have worth saving with my experience?" Blake shot back and almost put a surprised look on Baba's face. "Hey, come on, that had to get something out of you?" He whined a little since Baba's face held on to its simple smile.

"Hmm? Well, I do know the kind of man you are, don't I? You told me yourself; that you've had your ways with the girls back in your hometown, right?" Baba sweetly teased, poking at Blake's face to push him back. "~Oh, Hubby~ you like me this close?" But the smith didn't let go of her, so she was being pulled along.

"Maybe I do? Maybe I don't?" Blake shrugged, looking up at the ceiling while Baba's eyes were on him with only want in them. "Hey, Baba, is okay it if I ask why you're like this?" He brought his head back down to find Baba, still giving him that sweet smile.

"Hmm? Maybe after we actually do something?" Baba countered, finding a spot under Blake's chin for her head, and nuzzled her nose against his neck. "Come now, there's no need to worry about anyone troubling us up here, and if they do unless it's your sister or Hot-head, they wouldn't be that mad or surprised." Her hands started to trance-cut lines on Blake's muscular frame as they worked their way down.

"If it's those two, then you'll have enough time to lay and dash, right?" With those words, Blake stopped Baba's hands just short of his pants. "Well?" He pulled his hands away from the Ala's neck and lifted her head to stare at a face void of emotion. "Goddess, if she kills me right now, I'm blaming it on you!"

"Hmm? Well now, you've experienced much, eh? Or did your father warn you about women like me?" Baba's expressionless face put a facade of joy as it crept into Blake's personal space. "With you, I might make a few more happy memories than the rest of my collection, hehe! But that's me, what about you? You know what 'might' happen, but what are you going to do if it does?"

"Huh?" Blake suddenly sat up to stare at a wall, much to the slowly growing bewilderment of Baba. "I'd...cuss you with every word I know?"

"~Oooo~ Maybe I'll get a few new words from your generation? Go on. I'm sure you have more." Baba's face cracked a devious smile. While Blake made a very good guess as to what happens after she has her way with someone, that didn't mean she wasn't going to enjoy hearing all the things this little smith would do once he got cast away like a used handkerchief. "If he lets me that is?" She wondered to herself as she lay there with a hand holding her head up as if asking to be drawn by someone.

"Hmm?" But Blake wasn't paying her much of the attention she wanted. "I'd round up all the others and force them to chase you down to the ends of the earth...or clouds?" The sudden issue of Baba being a wind spirit came to his mind. Gram and Nathan would track her by smell and mana respectfully, but actually following a living mass of air wasn't something he ever thought of doing. "...that might be hard now that I think about it?"

"Very true, but let's say you get lucky and catch me. What next? Cuss me some more? Beat me? Kill me off to make a permanent shield? Or have your way with me until I break?" Baba pulled at Blake's arms to get him to look at her. "Oh?" But instead of the piercing gaze of a man who had been wronged by a woman.

"Yikes! Did you kill their friends and spit in their faces?" Blake's face was one of near-childish confusion, leaving Baba's mind all but blank. "Cuss you? Yeah. Beat you? Saffire and Mari might want to do that? Kill you? You're better off paying me back for what you did. And the last one? Well, uh..." He scratched at his face and looked away from Baba's ever-curious face. "...uhm I'd break you but not...like that, haha..." With an awkward laugh at the end, Blake wrapped up his answer.

"Hmph, and here I thought I had you worked out..." Baba muttered before moving around a little to let her head rest in Blake's lap. "...although I didn't peg you as the type who'd go so far just for some old bag of air like me. You must be one of those boys who like getting hurt for the excitement, right?" She winked at Blake with her breasts pushed up against the young smith's abs.

"If getting hurt means I can trust you, then sure, I can do it for the excitement..." Blake partly agreed with what Baba was saying as a hand went to her head to light rub while the other was used to support himself as he leaned back to face the ceiling. "...I want to trust that you'll have my back in a fight. That you'll keep poking fun at me to make me all flustered. That you'll stick by my side through the thick of it. That I can wake up and not worry about you disappearing on me...ain't that what all this love stuff's about?" He leaned back to see what was Baba's reaction to all of that. "Whoa."

And for the second time since he met this 'old bag of air' as she just called herself, was the bright shard of red that came to her cheeks when all she could do was smile after hearing Blake speak. "Heh," Baba let out a small but truly real giggle unlike her playful ones then held a finger to Blake's face. "You get one."

"One? One what?" Blake was puzzled by the offer from the rosy-faced woman in his lap.

"Anything you want...that I can do...and believe me, I can do a 'lot' of things to you..." Baba explained what her offer meant, then got up and sat in Blake's lap. "...and I promise I'm not going to leave you once we're done." Her face and voice showed not a hint of a lie and waited for Blake's answer or desire.

"Tell me 'his' name." Which came all too fast and with a straight face as Blake gave Baba a hopeful smile.

"Name...whose name?" Baba had a good idea of who Blake was asking about, but her mind couldn't or didn't want to think that Blake would bring 'him' into this moment between them.

"Your son's," Blake answered as quickly as last time still with a straight face and held Baba's shoulder. It wouldn't stop her from turning into air and flying away, but it was the only thing he could think of to comfort her. "I said; I wouldn't ask you about your past cause it's yours...but if the thing we have turns into something more then your past ends up being mine...and it's good to know about it." He explained, slowly bringing Baba in for a simple but warm hug. "If that's not what you want, th- Hmm?"

Before Blake could finish, Baba pushed away and shook her head. "No, I think I'll keep this promise for once..." She spoke more to herself than Blake. "It's...Poryv." She whispered a name she had not said out loud or thought of, for many years.

"Poryv...huh? I kind of thought you'd go for something like 'Caca' to match up with your name?" However, Blake made light of it, not knowing what kind of relationship the mother and son had.

"Heh, funny, that's what I wanted to name him, but his father insisted on Poryv..." Baba giggled to herself, mouthing her son's name a few times as if casting a spell that would summon him here and now. "Hmm?" Taking her out of it was a hand squeezing her shoulder. "I am fine..." She held the hand on her shoulder and then put on her usual smirking face. "...so anything else you'd like to know?"

"Nah, you gave me one, so I'll only take one..." Blake shook his head, bringing a bit of unseen relief to Baba's mind as she let out a sigh. "...that is unless you've got some other plans for me?"

"Oh no, I think I've had my fill of you today...even if it was exactly 'filling' to say the least." Baba winked, and in the next moment, she turned back to her teenage self. "~Oh my~" And in the middle of doing so her towel was left hanging in the air, long enough for Blake to see...well everything. Her small breasts were topped with bright pink nipples and areola, her smooth partly toned belly was begging to be touched, and a small ever inviting patch of green hair was right above her love box.

"Well, that was...unexpected, wouldn't you say, Hubby?" Baba teased when Blake snapped his head to one side the moment she looked at him. "Don't be like that. You've seen the Dragon in all her glory, haven't you?"

"Gram?" However, Blake's attention was drawn to Gram. Who was in the window...of a tower...a full 7 stories high...staring at him with somewhat of a smile on his scarred muzzle.

"Yo, Alpha...you done mating?" Gram asked with his paws holding onto the window frame. If anyone was coming to or leaving the Guild House, they would be wondering why a house-sized wolf was doing that.

"Uh? N-n-no?" Blake turned back to Baba. Thankfully she got her towel in order. "Sorry about this, Baba, but it looks like I have some other things to handle."

"Oh no, no, I think we're at our limits today..." Baba slowly floated herself off Blake, allowing him to get up. "...Oh, wait? I have something for you." She pulled the smith's back when he was making his way over to Gram.

"Huh?" Blake turned back to her. "Hey! What was that about limit today!" He yelled when Baba went straight for his crotch and tugged at his pants. "Sto-hah! Hey! Haha! That tickles! Ahaha!" His yelling didn't last as something soft was being stuffed in his pants.

"~There~" Baba cooed as she pulled away from Blake and left him with a green feather sticking out of his pants.

"Uhmm? What?" Blake looked at the feather and then at Baba. "Explain?" He asked while motioning to his new accessory and the woman who gave it to him.

"What? Don't you like it? After all, I'm just doing what the other two did for you?" Baba cooed, as the bottle of Risabeel's horn dust and Saffire's heart scale floated to her side. "Mama's just playing catch up..." She flicked a finger, and the two 'gifts' as she viewed them went over to Blake.

"Uhm? Thanks?" Blake had no idea what she meant by that. He was pretty sure Risabeel and Saffire didn't give him these things for a reason. "Or did they?" He thought, looking at the bottle of horn dust, the heart scale, and the feather. At first, they all looked like random junk you'd pawn off for a bit of coin but thinking about it more they weren't exactly worth their weight in gold...okay maybe Saffire's scale was...but the conversations he had with the women that gave them to him were stuck in his mind, down to the littlest of things. "...I'll keep this one with the one you gave me before."

"Hmm? Do you mean that feather you caught back in Gardel?" Baba was wholely surprised that Blake kept that feather all this time. Usually, most people would pray never to see another of her feathers after she 'lightly' picked them off the ground and shot them back to the earth.

"Well, yeah? Why wouldn't I? I keep it in my monster bestiary..." Balke shrugged, not thinking as much about it as Baba. "...hmm? But maybe I should get a new book just for them? You know, as my very own special collection?" The smith tried to tease Baba a little.

"Oh? Well, now that sounds like something worth rewarding..." Baba being the more experienced teaser among the two, fought back by giving Blake her back and then opened her towel. "...you looked away pretty fast the first time. Care for a nice, long, gaze?"

"Turning around!" Blake wheeled around on the spot with the sound of Baba's childish giggling and her towel hitting the floor, both haunting and tempting him to turn back. "Sup, Gram, what can I do for you today?" He walked up to the window wolf and ran a hand between his ears. "Oh?" When he pulled it back, all he saw was a mass of white hair. "Shedding?"

"Yep, that time of the year..." Gram answered by shaking his head and sent a snowstorm of white hair at Blake. "...and Mari can't stand it. I told her it'd go away in a week, but she's been avoiding me cause of it...so I came looking for you." His ears droop down near the end at the thought of not being around Mari that much.

Despite not liking the idea of being called a pet by any means, Gram's one weakness was Mari. From all the walkies, baths, those godly belly rubs, and ear scratches, it was pretty clear that next to Blake Mari was probably the person Gram was closest to.

"Heh! I'm sure Os likes that, doesn't it?" Blake chuckled, getting a glare out of Gram's eye.

While Gram cared about Mari, he could not stand that little slimeball she always kept around. Sticking to his fur with all of its syrupy goo. That took way too many licks, and paw rubs to get rid of. Not to mention the smell of Os stuck on Gram just as hard as itself did. So it was safe to say that Gram had a bittersweet relationship with Mari at times.

"Yeah...which is why I need your thumbs." Gram grumbled while Blake smiled at him.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Oh? So the doggie needs some help looking like a cute puppy?" Baba appeared right behind Blake with a large brush in hand. "You two can have this if I can get some of his fur." She whispered in Blake's ear as some of Gram's fallen fur started to float up.

"Another pile?" Blake asked, after taking the brush but didn't look at Baba since he wasn't sure if she was dressed or not and wasn't going to check. "Alright, Gram wanna take me down? Cause I don't think you can fit through the window." He looked at the window that Gram with just enough room for his upper body to peek in.

"Right, well, this might be easier..." Gram nodded after looking at Baba's room then started to glow. "...catch." He added when he turned into an axe.

"Hell yeah!" The moment Blake caught Gram and gained his red tail, he leaped out of the window and did a few spins until he made it to the roof in a recovery roll. "Hah!" Then shot over to the edge in a burst of speed to flip over and landed feet first at the entrance of the Guild House in a hunched-over pose. "Now that gets the blood pumping!" He threw his arms upward to yell at the sky, and he might have thrown out a howl if it wasn't for Baba fully dressed coming down on him. "Hey, Baba, weren't we done?"

"Yes, we are, but you forgot these..." Floating next to Baba was Risabeel's horn dust and Saffire's heart scale. "...hmm?" She raised an eyebrow when Blake's face went blue, and his raised arms fell to his sides. "You can have your fun but be as caring as we think you are." She warned after checking if her feather was still in Blake's pants. "Now, have a good time with the doggie." The Ala waved herself up and away after setting the bottle and scale next to Blake's feet.

"I'm not a dog!" Gram growled, transforming back to normal, and pawed around for a bit to find a spot for him and Blake to get started. "You know how to use that thing?" He asked Blake while the smith was tying the horn dust bottle and heart scale to his belt as best he could.

"Please! Who do you think takes care of Nash's coat?" Blake boasted a little. After all, he's been looking after Nash since the black destrier was a colt. "Heh! If it weren't for me, that guy would just be some normal house eating dirt!" He kept at it even as the long face of Nash slowly came next to his. "Hey, bud!" But the look of pride never left Blake's face as Nash gave him a blank stare.

Then the horse stared at the brush in Blake's hand and started getting question marks around his head. His new coat wasn't due for another few weeks? Blake already did Nash's daily brushing? And he hadn't gone off on some wild quest for the day? Nash hated those. So Nash turned to Gram for answers.

"Yo," The wolf nodded over to the horse, then used his back leg to scratch his ears, and down came the white fur.

Nash whipped his head back to Blake, still all smiles, and then he dropped his head to the ground in sadness as an aura of gloom came over him.

"Come on! Don't be like that! You're still my number 1 fur bud, bud!" Blake reached a hand out of Nash. "Ow! That hurts!" But it got tail whipped away.

Then Nash turned his head up at Blake before making his way to collect today's laundry.

"You'll be ba-stop that!" Blake tried throwing some words at Nash but got a red mark across his face for it. "Sometimes I don't get that guy!" He grumbled and got to work on Gram.

"Heh! I get how he feels!" Gram chuckled, looking at Nash, giving him and Blake the stink eye from the clothing line. "It's with your mates, too, by the way." He added when Blake looked at him for answers.

"Mates? Uh, sorry to say, but I haven't exactly gotten that far with any of the girls...yet..." Blake corrected the wolf. "Hmm?" But the image of him and Baba came to his mind. "...that thing with Baba was different...and how much did you see?"

"Just the ending..." Gram answered, holding his head up to let Blake get at his neck and chest. "...and if not now, then it'll happen later."

"Can you tell and with who?" Blake asked, pulling out handfuls of white fur from the brush. "Huh?" And right there next to him was a basket that wasn't there before. "Thanks, bud!" He called out to Nash while dropping Gram's hair in the basket to take up to Baba later.

Nash was currently going inside with 3 baskets of clothing hanging to his sides. One of which was slightly overloaded compared to the others. Nash snorted Blake's way and went inside when the smith waited for him to do something.

"Alright, wolf, back to you and knowing about my...mating season?" Blake got back to Gram after waving at Nash's swinging tail.

"Hah! Just let me check right now!" Gram wheeled his head around to Blake, currently doing the wolf's back, and twitched his nose." All of those females get hot and bothered when you're around, and I can smell it. It sticks on you after you use 'em too." Gram explained with a smirk then took a good whiff of Blake. "And it's getting worse if all of you were like me then there be one wild kind of smell around here! Haha!"

"Heh! You don't say? I bet you had your wild times too?" Blake laughed along with Gram, getting under his stomach now. "Oh?" And noticed that scar he put on Gram when they first fought.

"Ha! That I did! Back in my old pack! Haha!" The Greater Wolf wasn't even bothered by the hand slowly going over the scar put in him by the very person who made it.

"Your old pack? Weren't you like three times their size?" Blake appeared on the other side of Gram with the image of this wolf trying to do anything to a normal wolf that wouldn't kill it coming to mind, and mating wasn't in the stars.

However, it got cleared up when Gram gave Blake a look that told the smith he was wrong about something. "Nah! That butch you found me with was a side thing my real pack was..." He looked at the sky with his good eye having a solemn look to it. "...Yo, Alpha, how high I'm in this little pack of ours?"

"Huh? How high? You mean like that ranking thing you wolves have?" Blake didn't get Gram's question or the look he was giving to the sky. "Hmm?" And after a nod from the wolf, he got to thinking. "...never really thought about rankings and junk like that? I mean I'm the leader, and all but everyone has a say in things...except that thief and maybe Bread sometimes...I guess you're 2nd? Or a Beta? Or whatever you wolves call it?" When went with the best answer he could think of.

"Beta, huh? Nah, that isn't me. That's Mari's job..." Gram shook his head at the answer. "...huh?" Then he found Blake looking at him for more info. "...whenever you're gone, she calls the shots even that Dragon Omega and bag of air fall in line when she starts barking."

"Huh?" Sadly all Blake ever saw Mari as was his cute little sister and nothing more. "Heh!" So the thought of her ordering a Dragon around just made him smile. "Well, if you're not my Beta, then what are you?" Blake asked, holding Gram's tail in place nearly done with the wolf's shedding fur. "Wha?" In the middle of doing that, Gram transformed, and now Blake was standing with a red tail swinging behind him while looking at the Greater Wolf Axe in his left hand.

"Something better...I am one of your fangs!" Gram answered with a glow in the left eye on his axe head.

"I'd rather you call yourself my friend but suit yourself..." Blake let the wolf have his way while doing a few swings with him. "Wolf Impact!" Then finished it up with a shockwave to the air that rattled some of the windows of the Guild House and caused a flock of birds in the trees to take flight. "Hmm? You've been getting stronger without me?" Blake muttered before tossing Gram into the air.

"Got a problem with that, Alpha?" Gram asked after transforming back and landed in front of Blake with his fangs bared at the smith.

"Nah, you could fight Saffire the first time we met so you getting better is alright by me..." Blake shrugged it off as nothing then leaned in on Gram with his arms crossed. "...unless someone wants the top spot?"

"Ha! And get another one of these out of it? I don't think so!" Gram laughed at the challenge with a paw going over the scar across his face. "The last time this unruly Omega went against the Alpha, he lost a pack..."

"You got kicked out of your pack? Why?" Blake found Gram looking skyward again.

"Why? I was the shit of the litter..." Gram brought his scarred face back into Blake's partly worried and questioning look. "...heh, you're too slow, too weak, you overeat, you've got no backbone...that's the type of Alpha I had before you...but I ain't mad at 'em..." He shook his head when he remembered his old pack leader. "...After I got beaten down by everyone in the pack and left for dead, I understood what he meant with all those insults...the strength of the wolf is the pack, and strength of the pack is the wolf..."

"A weak wolf means a weak pack..." Blake chimed in, getting what Gram was saying.

Gram nodded, then continued. "And then the worthless wolf became a lone wolf that went around trying to get stronger and stronger just to show up his old Alpha...I got myself a pack, but like that bastard, the moment I saw weakness, it got cut out..." He swiped at the ground at mentioning that. "...I would have stayed like that if someone didn't put me in my place, huh?" A toothy grin was sent Blake's way at the end.

"Well, you made me work for it, didn't you?" Blake shared a smile with the wolf while patting him on the head. "Hmm? That looks good!" And there wasn't a hand-sized ball of fur this time.

"Thanks, gonna have to pay ya back for this and everything else." Gram offered after giving himself a good shake to get rid of the last bits of fur on him.

"I've been getting a lot of those lately, so take your time." Blake waved it off and pointed at the gifts the girls gave him just today alone. "Can't even think of what I get from you?" He thought, with the only gift that Gram could give him was some dead animal to chew on coming to mind.

"Eh? Last I checked, I ain't a female." Gram grumbled when Blake compared him to the girls. "See?" Then he lifted one of his back legs to shoot out a jet pee. "Huh? But your pups might need someone like me once both of us are gone, right?" His tail started to wag behind him curiously.

"What are you on about, do- uhmm wolf?" Blake didn't get what Gram was going with that.

"You know; I watch the Guild House and Mari when you're gone and don't take me with you. So the best thing I can do is to make sure there's someone to look after your future, right?" Gram explained himself to Blake, but it wasn't really getting through by the look on the smith's face. "...what I mean is that my pups are gonna look out for yours when that time comes."

"Whoa! Slow down! I'm not even sure if I want kids!" The instant reaction Blake had was waving his hands at Gram. Sure; his parents filled his head with all kinds of stuff about planning a family and passing his skills to a (un)willing son or daughter. But Blake was still young, dumb, and needed to have a few mistakes under his belt first as his father put it one time.

"Now, you're the one getting hot and bothered, hah!" Gram chuckled at Blake's outburst, taking a few whiffs of Blake as he backed away from the wolf and into one of the ground-floor windows of the Guild House. "So, are you gonna have a littler with all of them or one a piece? Cause I don't think I got that much in me."

"Eh? Do you mean with the girls? Uhm? Uh? Hey! Just cause your nose says they're all after me doesn't mean they're all okay with sharing me!" Blake yelled at Gram for keeping this talk going for way too long. "Hmm?" However, it did get his mind working in a bad way. "Well, Baba would go for it without a word, Risabeel might need some work with her pure side, and Saffire...ugh..."

"Guess the fish's a no-brainer, right?" Gram nodded along with everything Blake said. "Hmm?" Then he found Blake's face set in a stone-cold gaze.

"Why did you add Moco?" Blake leered at Gram like the wolf just pissed on his boots after chewing on them while he was wearing them as well.

Gram just twitched his nose and did the best shrug a wolf could make. "It's salty, but she gives off the same scent as the others..." After answering, he tilted his head to one side to look at something behind Blake. "...and she's behind you."

"Wha?" Blake turned around on the spot since he could tell that Gram wasn't lying. In fact, the wolf always told Blake everything, even if it meant looking bad in his Alpha's eyes, so him adding Moco to Blake's list of potential partners might have some weight to it. "The fuck?"

The idea got thrown on the window or pressed against it just like Moco was doing at this very moment. Her webbed hands, arms, chest, and open maw of a triple row of teeth were slapped to the glass. "HHGGRR!" And her constant biting and thrashing around made it look like she was trying to take a bite out of Blake.

"How long has she be-" Blake ignored that for the most part, then turned to Gram. "Hey!" But the wolf was hightailing it out of there and into the woods. Leaving Blake to turn back to Moco, still trying to get at him. "Walk away or not?" He asked himself, but the hand pointing to the indoor latch for the window already showed that he was in for another weird smith-to-item talk today.

"NNNGGGRRH-Eh?" All of Moco's useless gnawing and pushing stopped when her pitch-black eyes followed Blake's finger and found the latch. She made an 'oh' face, then flipped the latch and gave the window a light push to open it with the greatest of ease. "Hi, Chummy!" The Merchild gave Blake a wave of her arms.

"Hey, Moco..." Blake waved back at her while trying to figure out why she added a bit more to the nickname she gave him. "Can't any of you just call me Blake?" He wanted to ask, but Moco was the wrong one to ask that. "Did you...need me for something?" So he asked an even dumber one but unavoidable since he bothered to stay.

"Yeah! Uhmm? What was it again?" Moco answered upbeat at first then went quiet as she tried to remember something. "Oh!" Then she threw her arms at Blake in a welcoming hug. "Carry me!"

"Can't you fly? Like right now?" The smith pointed out with the Merchild floating in the air thanks to a water ring around herself, which was the way she got around when not in water.

"Oh?" Moco looked at her water ring for a second. "Ah!" Then she fell out of the air when it splashed to the floor. "OW!" And banged the bottom of her jaw on the window frame with a painful crunch that left Blake looking away. "Ugh...now carry me!" But Moco recovered with her arms thrown at Blake again.

"You know you could have just said you're tired..." Blake muttered as he went to pick Moco up by holding her under her armpits. "...what?" But the Merchild being lifted by him lost her cheery expression for one of disappointment.

"PRINCESS CARRY!" Moco whined like a brat and snapped her jaws at Blake. "NOOOO! I'M SORRY!" But she changed her tune when Blake held her away from him and was about to let go. "Princess Carry, please?" She asked more politely while poking some of her fingers together and gave her pools of black an even more watery look than normal.

"Why did I start talking to her?" Blake was starting to kick himself on the inside for going ahead with this. "Heh!" But that wasn't going to stop him from having some fun messing around with Moco first. "Okay! Up you go!" He cheered as he brought Merchild up and down on his right shoulder. "There, happy?"

"Huh?" Moco looked around, confused for a moment. "This isn't right!" Then started beating her hands on Blake's back while her tail slapped against his front. "Do it right!" She threw herself up, but Blake kept her in place with little effort.

"Hey, this is how they carry princesses where I'm from, okay?" Blake lied, with what would be Moco's butt rubbing against the side of his face. "But this might be more painful?" With those shark scales of hers scratching against his cheek. "Ugh!" With Moco's constant thrashing making it worse.

"Oh? Okay!" That all stopped when Blake's words worked their way into Moco's head. "Aww! This is nice!" She cheered with her webbed hands clapped together while her tail swung behind like a dog's.

"Like a fish on a worm." Blake held back the urge to laugh at this silly little fish girl on his shoulder who would go along with anything someone she thought was a friend would tell her. "Wait? That's a bad thing..." He suddenly got the feeling that Moco's weird request was because of someone else, and thankfully the best way to find out who was to ask Moco. "Hey, Moco did an-"

"Now, to my ocean!" Moco declared out of nowhere with her arms pointed the wrong way. "Uh? Could you turn around so I could do it right?" She tried turning to face Blake, but with the way he was holding her right now, that was hard.

"Sure, but before could yo-Gough!" In the middle of talking, Blake got a salty elbow jammed into his mouth.

"No more talking! Listen to me!" Moco wasn't having any of Blake's questions as she wiggled around until she was facing the right way but was on his left shoulder now. "Or else!" Then pulled at Blake's left arm and held it with her jaws open as wide as possible. "AHHH!" All 3 rows of her teeth shined once they got hit by the light of the sun.

"To the pool!" Blake quickly hopped into the window without a second word. The last thing he wanted was to feel those teeth sinking into him...who was he kidding! She was gonna bite him at some point in all of this, he bet.

"It's an ocean! And it's mine! Just like you!" Moco ordered still holding Blake's left arm hostage and forced him to the edge of the pool. "Ocean!"

"You said that already!" Blake yelled at her when she screamed to the air as if someone said pool out in the open. "Now what?"

"Jump in!" Moco let go of Blake's arm and then mimicked her diving with her hands.

"N-" Blake was about to reject that command but found his left arm back in this shark's hands. "Fine...but let me get my clothes off first..." He groaned, bringing up one of his feet to take off his boot.

"NO! I am not ready for that yet!" Moco started thrashing around wildly as if Blake was a random kidnapper who was about to sell her off to someone.

"HEY! Stop that! Or we'll fa-AHHHH!" And down the 2 went, connecting with the water in a big splash, followed by a few bubbles. Blake balanced himself out after a few moments of frantic flailing that didn't help much until he calmed down and floating above him was Moco with her arms outstretched as if trying to tell him to meet her. "Not happening with everything you just pulled." Sadly for the Merchild, Blake crossed his arms and let himself sink. He couldn't stay down there forever unless he used Moco, but right now, he was pretty much done with dealing with his items for one day. "Why am I going up?" So when the realization that he was being drawn to Moco hit him, it made him panic.

"Hehe! Come here, Chummy!" Moco sang in her head and wiggled her fingers around a little. "Hehe!" But that was all she needed to get the water around Blake to force her prize into her arms. "But we can't talk like this?" She came to that fact when Blake kept his mouth shut and pointed upward. "Right!" Moco nodded, and the water took them to the surface. "YAY! Chummy is all mine now!"

"Since when?" Blake wondered to himself since Moco was having some big celebration on top of him while he was left to keep her from slipping off. "Alright, if you're all happy now, can you tell me who put you up to this?" He asked when Moco came out of her cheers and just kept staring at him with a wide smile. "Cute, creepy, or both?"

"Granny Baba! That's who!" Moco answered with a bad water copy of Baba showing up next to them. "Chummy? What's wrong?"

After getting that detail, Blake's face went blank, and thought back to when he first met Baba today, and she was soaking wet, meaning she must have been in either the bathhouse or the pool. "But what did that old lady tell this poor innocent child!?" The last person who should be in charge of telling a kid right from wrong was Baba or maybe Mordecai, but at least that guy wouldn't make her do something like this. "So, what did Granny Baba tell you, Moco?" He asked a nicer version of the question he had in his head.

"Hmm?" Moco put her hands on her head to think. "We talked a lot about you, and how much we love you!" She poked at Blake's face with her going red.

"Oh?" As did Blake's since next to his family, which includes Nash, of course, and Gwyn on some rare occasions he had with her. No one really said that they loved him before with so much openness. "Oh..." But the fact that Baba was part of this magical moment somehow got him worried. "Anything else?" And made the smith brace himself for something ridiculous.

"She said that if I was ever alone with you, that we should get extra wet! And I should call you Chummy then!" Moco cheered with her hands on her hips and gave her upper body a wiggle. "Hehe! And we super are wet right now!" She looked down at Blake soaking in water at the moment.

"Yeah, we are...wet?" Blake was trying his hardest not to explain things to this kid for fear of either confusing her more or worse; she could make sense out of it! "Uhm? Moco? I don't think you should be listening to Granny Baba anymore, okay?" He tried telling her, but a too-toothy of a grin greeted him. "Oh, no."

"Hehe! She said you'd tell me that, and I should do this when you do..." Moco began leaning down on Blake with her face coming dangerously close to his while her lips were puckered with one of her fangs sticking out.

"Wait! Moco! I don't think you understood he-! What the hell!?" Blake tried to swim away but found his arms and legs wrapped up in some watery tentacles. "Ugh!" So the best he could do was inch his head away uselessly as Moco's face got closer. "I can't believe I'm about to steal a fish girl's first kiss like this!" The most he could do now was just let it happen and hope to the Goddess that Mari or Saffire weren't watching. "Eh?" But the wet sensation he was dreading was all wrong. It didn't feel like a pair of lips but flat scales, and it wasn't on his mouth but his forehead. "Moco, what are you doing?" He asked the mirrors of black right there in his eyes.

"I'm kissing you!" She answered as if what she was doing was completely normal. "Silly Chummy! Doesn't know what kissing is!" A hand got waved in Blake's face when she pulled back while the other went to her forehead as her face was getting redder and redder. "Was I good?"

"Who's worse? You or Risabeel!?" Blake was caught in a mixture of thankfulness and disappointment. "Why?" The second one was a bit worrying, but that wasn't going to stop him from clearing things up before she got it in her head that every time Nash or Gram rubbed their heads on something meant that they were in love. "Moco...that's not a kiss?"

"It's not?" The Merchild's head went to one side along with Blake still pinned by water.

"Yeah? Uhm? If you let me go, and I can show you a real one?" Blake offered out of the sheer unlikelihood that Moco would listen to him, and he'd get a chance to make a ru- swim for it before she tried something else and got it wrong. "Or right?!"

"Hmm?" But a webbed hand rubbing Moco's chin as she thought about it did not bring much confidence to Blake's mind. "Okay!" That is until she flashed him her teeth in all their glory and the water holding Blake down let go of him. "But if you trying to run away, Granny Baba said to do a quickie with you!"

"I'm having another talk with Baba later..." Blake made an extreme note of that followed by one on not letting these 2 anywhere near eachother when alone, however, that was going to have to wait since there was a Merchild waiting to learn something. "This is a kiss." Without much thought, Blake held Moco's face with one hand and brought her in close. "There!" And pecked her on the forehead. "And there's the fishy taste." He opened and closed his mouth a few times to get rid of it, but it wasn't that bad after a while. "Moco?"

"Ah...ah..." The same couldn't be said about Moco since all she was doing with a beet-red face was pass a hand over the spot Blake kissed. "I want this many!" Then held up all 10 of her fingers to Blake's face. "Ah!" And with one last gasp of joy, she went off the deep end or into it as she blinked one time with her main set of eyelids then twice with the second pair before falling into the water.

Leaving Blake to carry her over to the edge and sit down with her in his lap. "These girls are gonna be the death of me, aren't they?" He asked the world at large, but thankfully there wasn't anyone around to answer or see him slowly rub a hand down Moco's scales. "Huh? If you do it one way, it doesn't hurt?" A smile came to his face from the look of pure happiness that was on Moco's.

"Hmm? Thank you for...finding me...Chum..." Moco mumbled in her sleep as the joy turned to sorrow. "It was...lonely...and empty...like me..." Then it got flipped again. "But you're the best! hehe!" She wrapped her tail around him as if never wanting to be away from him. "Take me...everywhere...with you."

"Options on top of options." Blake let out a frustrated sigh. It looked like he couldn't get a normal talk today with any of his items. "Partners for life...all of you..." He corrected himself when his hand went up to Moco's face. "Huh? Is that normal?" He found one of her teeth sticking out oddly and poked at a little. "Oh?" And just like that, it fell out and landed in his palm. "Uh?" He looked around with a tooth in his hand. "Huh?" Then when he came back to Moco, her tooth was replaced like it was never gone. "...thanks?" He just shrugged and pocked the tooth as hopefully the last of the gifts he was going to get today.

Chapter End