FSE

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Layne shuffled beneath the heavy cotton covers of her bed with her eyes still shut. She groped for the warmth of her friend she had gone to sleep with, but he was no longer there. Her ears pricked up and her eyes slowly cracked open as she sat up to wake with the morning. A draft blew through her fur and she saw that her door had been left open just a tiny bit. Curious, she had expected Jun to be lying in bed all day today. For the most part, he had seemed so tuckered out and ready to sleep that she couldn't imagine him being out and about today. Slowly and with some effort, she slipped from the bed and stretched, yawning as she waved off the morning grogginess that brought her to a stumble as she walked. She slipped out of her nightclothes and slipped into a dress of black with long sleeves with a collar tied together by a pretty bow. She then started for the door after planting her steepled hat atop of her fuzzy head. As soon as she was out of her room, her nose caught the scent of something sweet, something that brought a rumble to her stomach. Her eyes were half-lidded and a throaty purr sounded off as she followed the sweet scent until she found herself in her own kitchen. There standing by the pots and the pans stood her rabbit friend all dressed in the clothes she had given him the other day. He hummed happily to himself and when he heard her entrance, his ears perked and he turned to address her with a chipper tone.

"Ah! Miss Luness. Thank you for your hospitality, to make up for that the clothes and my better health and moods, I've decided to cook just a bit for you."

Hotcakes and berries. Something sweet, something delicious. She rarely had the time to make breakfast for herself like this, but she loved sweet things and found herself nearly drooling at the sight of the plate he offered her. She took it in paw and looked up at him, "When...Just when did you wake up to do all of this?"

Jun wasn't done either. He set down a few plump gray sausages on her plate before serving himself a plate of hotcakes himself, minus the sausages. When he had his plate and walked with her to the dining room, he finally answered, "I woke up a few hours ago while you were sleeping to start. It wasn't too hard, I just made use of what was in the kitchen, though, I'll need to replace a few things and well, if you have the coin I can go out and replace what I've used. I figure I might as well start earning my place here."

"What? You don't have to earn your place here. Jun, you're here on my good favor. You were so weak yesterday too, I would have never expected you to start working today."

Jun waved her off as he sat down at the table with her, "Nonsense! Yesterday I was weak, but today I am perfectly fine. Trust me, miss Luness. I will not overdo it. See, I'm even eating!"

Layne looked him up and down a bit suspiciously. It was true, he seemed in better spirits today. She would have forced him to sit down and eat if she were the one making breakfast, but here he was making it for her and himself. Just in case, she'd need to keep an eye on her long eared friend to make sure he wasn't overdoing it. For now, she could hardly complain. Especially not with hotcakes and sausage stuffing her mouth. Maybe she'd find a reason to keep him in bed later.

She never did. For most of the morning and the day, Jun had proven just how healthy he was feeling. The black-furred rabbit had taken to sweeping her floors and dusting her shelves. He had gone to the front of her store to take new stock from boxes and place them on the shelves at her instruction. He had also even offered to help her make new batches of potions when she had gone to work. She didn't need much help with that, but it was nice having someone there to hand her ingredients when she needed them. At that point, she remembered that she had something baking in the lab that she had left because she thought a thief had been taking her things. That would be a nightmare if any sort of magical interference got into the potion before she could extract it. When she had told Jun she needed to retreat to her lab for a bit, he had been working on stocking her shelves. It shouldn't take too long so she fully expected him to still be tinkering with glass flasks and vials when she got back. Of course, she didn't know if the exposed potion down in her lab had decided to do something strange.

Layne stepped to the back of her potion store where a small circle appeared full of energy when she willed it. She grimaced as she looked upon the etchings on the floor. Symbols, runes, enchantments, all things she needed to work on and all things she needed to make this teleportation circle. With a sigh, she stepped into the middle and closed her eyes as she felt her world turn upside down. When she opened her eyes she stepped out of the circle and into her lab while trying to keep her eyes from seeing multiples of everything. It was extremely useful in keeping her lab hidden, but by the elements, she really needed to remake the thing so it wouldn't feel like it was rearranging her insides with every single use. With a sigh, she smoothed out her dress and stepped into her lab.

It wasn't too big. The lab was about as big as her storefront but it was full of things she would need for more dangerous or intensive experiments. A fat cauldron sat in the middle of the room where she had finished that potion experiment. When she checked, she could see that the blue concoction wasn't bubbling or reacting in any strange ways and so she shrugged. Carefully, she began extracting the contents one flask at a time, humming while doing so. She'd test the potion later, but at the very least she could contain the finished product until that time came. If it turned out to be a failure then at the very least she could just dump them out somewhere or, depending on the failure's effect, sell them. Now finished, she needed to return to her store to make sure that her rabbit friend wasn't overworking himself or worse.

When she stepped out of the circle and back into her store, she wasn't sure what she expected to see. She had left Jun while he had been stocking shelves dutifully, and now, now he was standing at of the front counter of her store with a big smile on his face as he attended a customer. She had just stepped into the storefront when she saw coin being exchanged and the customer walking out happily with a potion in paw. She wondered if he had sold one of her more mundane potions. She had fully expected to see him flustered and shaking if he had handed off one of her more erotic ones. After all, she catered to all sorts, and most sorts enjoyed her potions for a particular type of quality that made the bedroom just a bit more fun. Of course, there were labels on her potions out in the storefront.

Layne stepped next to her friend while looking at the customer leave, "Do you know what you sold that guy?"

Jun's smile turned meek, "I just looked at the labels."

Layne chuckled, "That's fine, that's fine. I just didn't expect you to also be a salesman of all things. I didn't open the store either, did you do that yourself? Maybe you're even trying to take over my store."

Jun coughed, "What no! Of course, I wouldn't dare think of that. Am...Am I imposing now? Is this me imposing on your ownership rights?"

Layne waved him off and planted a paw on his nose, "Oh shush. You're doing a fine job of things, in fact, at this point I should be paying you as an employee instead of just letting you work for free, or at the very least get you a gift."

"Oh! No, please miss Luness don't--"

Layne stopped him by moving her paw to his mouth, "Dear, call me Layne. I'm not your owner and I don't even have you hired. You're a friend. Now, tell me, would you like to get a replacement for that dagger of yours? You said you wanted to protect me and this place at one point, but I figure you'd like a proper weapon for that."

Once Layne let her paw off of his mouth, Jun responded, "I don't think that is necessary, really, I can acquire something myself later. There isn't a need to trouble yourself."

Layne contained a bit of laughter as she answered, "Oh hush. I want to reward you. Besides, I know just the two to make you a sword. Enchant it even if you'd like and probably at a cheap price since I know them."

Jun blinked, "I...I suppose if it really isn't too much trouble then it wouldn't a problem."

Gingerly, she planted a kiss on his nose and took his cheeks in both paws and smiled big, "Good! Then we'll go tomorrow and get you that sword and maybe even a bit of extra equipment. For now, we'll have a long day of selling I imagine and if you want to work here I should be telling you about these potions instead of just letting you handle them, if you want to help that is."

Jun flustered for a moment at her touch but brightened and regained his composure as she mentioned he could help, "Of...Of course! Miss Luness, I mean...Layne, I'd be happy to help you and learn, though, I'm fairly bad at anything having to do with most magics."

With that settled. Layne gave his cheeks a pat. She'd enjoy showing off her new little friend to the twins. Maybe, just maybe she'd be able to get him to open up a bit more about himself as well if he stayed her longer. So far he had been quite the useful rabbit, but he hadn't said anything about his past or why he was here. Layne didn't mind him showering her with affection and his help, but at the same time she felt like he was still hiding some hurt from whatever had happened. She could understand trying to forget as fast as possible and the fact that he might not want to share why he was hurting, but at the same time she couldn't help but be curious. At this point, she wasn't even sure where he was from. She'd ask him another time. He seemed happy enough to be working diligently at her shop cooking, cleaning and getting potions to customers. Maybe she'd ask him tomorrow morning, or maybe she'd wait until he opened up by himself. Either way, it was nice to have him around and she wouldn't spurn his help or his affection. She only hoped that Kusa and Sura would provide that sword free of charge or just as cheaply as she had made it out to seem. She didn't want to spend that much gold on her new friend.