Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

Chapter 307 - 252 - February 23rd

Love, that's what Pacifica felt when she awoke. Granted, she felt this every morning, but today in particular was almost overwhelming. She returned to the waking world as the center of attention. Rebecca allowed herself to be held by the otter, like a safety blanket, while Shouri wrapped himself around both of them with Taika at his back.

It had been almost a year with Shouri now, and Pacifica couldn't imagine ever going back to a life without. Granted, she never expected to fall for a pair of lovely vixens either, but life was funny like that. Her parents' relationship was viewed as a weird one, and she didn't fall far from the tree. That being said, they hadn't exactly made their relationship super public--they weren't going into the middle of a busy MA Office and making out on the sofas or something.

But she knew that one day the nature of their relationship would become highly publicized, especially if the question of à deux came up.

That was a worry for a future Pacifica. The Pacifica of the present wanted to enjoy the fruits of their love. Her hands traced the warmth of the fox in her grasp. There was a small pang of jealousy the otter had towards her foxy counterparts' tails. They were so soft and fluffy, she loved how they felt. She liked her own tail, sure, but nothing beat the feeling of soft, thick fur between her fingers.

Rebecca trembled in the otter's grasp, as her tail was stroked. Pacifica felt the hot breath under her neck.

"You like that?" whispered Pacifica.

"Y-yeah," Rebecca meekly admitted.

With that implicit permission, Pacifica continued to take in all the warmth her girlfriend had to offer. The water element bypassed the fire's shirt to scoop up the small of her back. She wrapped her legs up with her stronger tail, and she pushed Rebecca's head back so she could taste her lips. A quiet smack gave Rebecca the reprieve to pull her head back, though Pacifica rested her forehead on Rebecca's, the tips of their noses touching.

"Y-you're excited this morning," Rebecca breathed, her face flushed entirely red.

"Can you blame me? You're perfect for a chilly winter morning," tittered Pacifica.

Rebecca squirmed in the otter's tight grasp. Seeing how she wasn't escaping anytime soon, she resigned to her fate. "Carry on then."

Carry on she did. It was strange, the deeper she allowed herself to fall into Rebecca's rhythm, the more connected she felt. Sure, it was a natural consequence of etude, but there was something else about it she couldn't quite place.

She struck down her wandering thoughts, all she wanted in that moment was more of Rebecca's warm lips.

Pacifica let out a satisfied breath as she took her morning shower. She was grateful the guild's water heater was so robust. Especially in the winter, she felt like she used up most of the available warm water supply.

After her first shower of the day, Pacifica dried off, and got into her winter clothes. She found herself alone in their room, however. She frowned as she looked around. Usually, Taika was making breakfast with Shouri and Rebecca sitting around, reading stuff on the tuners. This morning saw the otter all alone. Her brows perked up with worry.

"I wonder where they went," she mumbled. The smell of breakfast hit the otter's nose and she went to investigate. Sure enough, a full plate of breakfast awaited her in the kitchen, as always.

She grabbed her food and sat on the edge of the bed. Her meal earned her a frown. It was too quiet, her mind buzzed with aimless thoughts, white noise, really. Far too quiet for her taste. Her tuner seemed to be missing as well. Same with the company laptop. All that was remained was the TV. She turned it on, and found it had been left on the movie channel--Rebecca's handiwork, no doubt.

With a soft exhale, Pacifica flipped through the programming on offer until she ended up on the travel documentary channel. It was something she had taken up to watching in recent months. Seeing how they were visiting more and more exotic locales, she thought it best to try to have some passing familiarity with the world as a whole, rather than just the places she had been.

"Celebrated in Jenteri, Festival di Cappello is a yearly celebration for the Paglia Pirates who are folk heroes of the region. It is said that they're the ones who inspired the name 'Lybertera'," the TV droned on.

Pacifica was only half paying attention, being more concerned with where her loves had wandered off to. They usually say something like "we'll be in the office," or "we're going to the store."

Today it was just silence.

She didn't want to go outside, but also she didn't feel like being alone. It was just one of those days where she was feeling particularly affectionate. For this, she left the safety and warmth of the room.

Yet still, there was no one around. What she would have gave to have Taika and Rebecca's super hearing. With no one around, she wandered into the office.

That too, was empty.

The otter furrowed her brows and pursed her lips. She stood alone in the office for a moment, expecting someone to jump out and scare her. Nothing of the sort happened. Her tail flicked behind her and she put her hands on her hips.

"Where is everybody?!" she shouted.

Her impassioned cry earned no response, only continued silence. She threw herself into one of the chairs and pouted for a moment, as she tried to figure out what to do.

"Wait, duh!"

Pacifica rushed back out into the biting cold and found the guild van was missing. "Aha. So they did leave," she spoke her confirmed suspicion. Her lips tugged down and her brow furrowed. She folded her arms across her chest while she tried to puzzle what it all meant.

"Maybe it's a puzzle!" Pacifica pounded her fist on her open palm in realization. "Surely, Sho is just trying to figure out how to keep us sharp when we're all alone! That has to be it!"

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The girl spun around taking in all that surrounded her. "Except… I don't have a clue of where to start…" she mumbled.

"Hmmm…" She stroked her chin in thought as she considered the possibilities. He made sure no one was around, so she couldn't lean on her stave.

She grinned, nodding at her realization. "Very crafty Sho, very crafty."

The otter took a walk around the perimeter of the building, making sure to keep her senses sharp for any oddities. After about three laps around their humble little guildhall, all she got was colder.

"Okay, it's more well hidden than I thought," was the consensus of one she reached.

Feeling the sting of a moderately chilly day, she returned to the safety of the warm room. "Okay Pacifica, think."

She paced back and forth, allowing her gaze to wander aimlessly as she did. What could it be? What was the challenge? Was it a physical challenge? She remembered playing a game that had wacky physical challenges recently. What was it? Dela Tuner, that was it. Fun game. Very fun game. It had been awhile since she played it. She never even finished it.

"I should play Dela Tuner," decided the otter.

Just as she was pulling out the game cartridge to play the classic bullet hell game, she realized what she was doing.

"No! No! Bad!" she scolded herself, throwing down the game box. "Focus! Sho is probably watching and grading me!" shouted the otter to herself.

She stared at the game cover that lay on the ground. "I could play a little bit… I was on chapter four and the creator did say to take a break between chapters three and four. A year is a long enough break, right?"

The otter knelt and scooped up the discarded game box. "I'll play chapter four as a treat when I solve Sho's puzzle."

With her precious game sitting on the dresser now, Pacifica returned to the hunt.

"They left while I was in the shower. Maybe there's a clue somewhere I can use to suss it out."

Pacifica looked around, her eyes rested on the the Dela Tuner box. "In Dela Tuner, you're rewarded from talking to everything," she mused. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to play. The characters were so charming and funny, she had instantly fallen in love with the cult classic when she started playing it.

"I'll check everything!"

A bold proclamation, indeed. The water element wandered around the room, tearing everything apart. She looked through the dresser drawers, the cabinets, under the bed, over the bed, in the bed. The bed was comfy.

"Ahhh…" cooed the otter as she rolled around among the unkempt sheets. They never made the bed, given how often one of them was nestled up under the covers. That was just the nature of four people sharing one bed. She sat up and crossed her legs. "I miss Rebby, I wanna cuddle her," the otter whined.

"I'm hungry," Pacifica decided. Despite breakfast being as filling and delicious as usual, all this running around worked up an appetite.

She hopped out of bed and skipped into the kitchen. Throwing open the fridge, she perused the offerings available to her. "Cheese…" An entire wheel of cheese was plucked from the ice box and with a flick of her hips, the door was closed as to not wear out the motor.

The otter plopped herself into bed with her prize and took a hearty bite into the wheel--

--right as Shouri walked in.

Pacifica paled, the entire wheel of cheese in her mouth. Her eyes widened as sweat began to gather on her face. Shouri stared at her.

"Uh… whatcha doin'?" asked the Maestro.

"Uh… eatin' cheese…" said Pacifica with a mouth full of cheese.

"I see."

The two stared at one another for a lot longer than Pacifica would have liked. She swallowed hard.

"Meet me in the office," he said, turned, and left the room.

Pacifica's brows raised with worry as he departed. "Uh oh…" she squeaked. Given the suddenness of the situation, she didn't read him--she was more focused on being embarrassed about being caught with a huge cheese wheel in her mouth.

"I totally failed his test…" she whimpered. It wasn't that she was afraid of being yelled at. She didn't want to disappoint him. He spent so much time making this test for her and she utterly failed! It was time sensitive and everything! Why wouldn't it be time sensitive?!

She returned the cheese wheel to the fridge and trudged out of the room into the cold. The sting of winter felt all the harsher with her heart so heavy.

Standing in front of the office, Pacifica took in a breath, trying to push down her anxiety. Maybe Taika and Rebby will stop Shouri from being too harsh. With a heavy exhale, she took hold of the door knob. Another sigh escaped her lips before she twisted the knob and pushed her way into the room.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PACIFICA!"

"Bwuh?!"

A million things rushed through her head, but the thing that spoke the loudest in her mind was: I forgot my birthday?

All the members of PTRS were gathered in the office. In the center of the room was a big cake. It was gorgeous and warmed her heart. The cake itself was a work of art--it was a small beach, the sand being made of graham crackers, browned to the perfect sandy color. A couple of trees crafted out of colored chocolate, shaped into tiny palm trees. Next to the chocolate trees were folding chairs made of paper. Finally, the ocean. Perfectly molded blue jelly depicted the ocean blue Pacifica so dearly loved.

"F-for me?" her voice cracked.

"Of course," Shouri smiled.

"The baker taught me how to make this, so we can make it for you next year," Taika added.

"Happy birthday. It was hard as fuck sneaking around you, you damn mind reader," Rebecca chimed in with a smile.

Everyone else in the room simply smiled.

"Thank you, I love you all!"

This was better than a secret test, no contest.