Archive of Our Own ^beta

A tasque headbutted its way out of a nearby digital catflap and bounded down the road in their direction, already emitting electronic meows.

“Not again!” Susie exclaimed. She hefted the Devilsknife and stepped forwards. “How many times do we gotta tell you furballs—”

Kris raised an arm to halt her. Let me take care of this.

Susie reluctantly withdrew with a nod. The tasque rounded on Kris as they approached, chirping—or rather, beeping, like a notification alert.

Whatever Susie or Ralsei were expecting Kris to do, neither were expecting them to crouch in front of the tasque and start growling like a dog.

The tasque flinched away, ears flattening against its head. Kris barked several times, convincingly dog-like, and then swiped a hand like a paw, driving the tasque back. The tasque circled around with a questioning meow, tail held up slightly as if in a peace offering. Kris growled again and snapped their jaw, barking loud and angry, until the tasque finally got the hint and scurried off, racing down the field in search of a maus to terrorize instead.

Susie and Ralsei exchanged surprised looks. Kris stood and returned without fanfare, blank-faced, as if what they’d done was nothing out of the ordinary. And maybe, to them, it wasn’t at all.

“Um, good work, Kris!” Ralsei said, smiling. “You found a peaceful solution without resorting to threats of violence!”

Susie rolled her eyes. “Didn’t they just do the dog equivalent of telling the cat to get off their lawn?” she muttered. “How’s that any different to what I’ve been doing?”

Hesitantly, Ralsei reached up on his tiptoes to pat Kris’ head. Kris bowed their head for his convenience, huffing in approval and sticking out their tongue.

Ralsei giggled. “Good dog!”

Susie shouldered the Devilsknife with one hand and palmed her face with the other, sighing. “Guys, you know that literally anyone could walk by and see this right now?”

Kris whined, puppyish. Ralsei politely withdrew his hand, poorly attempting to stifle further giggles with his other.

“Aw, but Susie, isn’t Kris so cute like this?”

Susie’s face scrunched up. “We’ve got other things to worry about right now, remember? Like saving Noelle and sealing the fountain!”

Kris straightened at the mention of Noelle. Ralsei, on the other hand, looked disappointed, even as he nodded agreement.

Susie sighed again. “Look, just save that stuff for when we get back to Castle Town! Then you can feed Kris a million homemade dog treats or whatever.”

Kris smirked, and Ralsei blushed.

“Ugh, forget it!” Susie snapped, stomping forward. “Idiots,” she muttered, under her breath, and she did her best to ignore Ralsei tittering behind her. She didn’t have to look back, either, to know that Kris was grinning their head off at her expense.