Igraine remembered back to all the different stories she had heard about kitsune over the years. How they could devour souls, how they would make you relive your worst nightmares to relish in your suffering. How they would tempt you to cast away all you hold dear to be with them, only to kill you slowly. She had half a mind to backtrack her life and punch everyone she heard such rumors from.

She was currently sitting on a bench, surrounded by around twenty kitsune, with fifty more waiting for their turn from a distance, all wanting one thing: headpats and scritches. Alright, maybe it’s two things. But still! How could this happen? She wasn’t paying attention and petted Yuuki absentmindedly. Alice didn’t want to be left out, which caused Hanae to get curious, which led to the situation at hand. Igraine’s hands were going numb… or at least they would’ve if Yuuki hadn’t cast a spell on her to basically grant her limitless stamina! Now she had no excuse to stop thanks to the vixen. Traitor. Not that she wasn’t enjoying petting all these fluffy ears and tails. Maybe she was the traitor. Did this count as unfaithfulness for kitsune? Probably not, right?

It was slightly off-putting that the majority of the people she was petting and treating like cute little animals were most likely at least ten times older than her, and at least that many times as powerful too. But then again, after having spent some time with Yuuki, other people had a hard time surprising her.

“You already had a turn.” Hanae was turned away with such words. She pouted in response, but it wasn’t enough to change Igraine’s mind. The pouting kitsune instead made her way to a different bench under a large tree where Yuuki and Alice were talking.

They both became silent as Hanae sat down next to them. “I hope I’m not intruding.” She said with a smile.

“You are, but it’s fine.” Alice answered as she leaned back.

“Oh? And what were you talking about that’s so secretive?”

“Plans for the future.” Yuuki said, with a faint smirk.

“A future in which you’ll spend a lot of time with your family to make up for being isolated, good plan.” Hanae declared with absolution in her voice.

“I did not mean something as narrow as merely this life when I said future. I meant our plans for the ever encroaching eternity.” There was a glint of mischief in her voice, but it did not sound like a joke.

“You’ll continue to keep your memories no matter how many times you’ll die, correct?” Hanae asked, now with concern visible on her face. Not just visible, it could be felt from her aura.

Instead of answering, Yuuki pulled her sister closer to put a hand around her shoulder. She did her best to reassure someone even though she herself was uncertain.

--

Igraine finally managed to catch a break and decided to go yell at Yuuki for abandoning her in a group of crazy people. Not that Yuuki or Igraine herself for that matter weren’t crazy, but that didn’t matter. She had a vendetta. What she noticed however was the vixen hugging her sister on a bench with Alice on the other side. A plan quickly sprung in her mind and she walked over there with tiredness she didn’t have to fake.

Without uttering a word, Igraine sat down in the comfort of Yuuki’s lap. She cuddled up a bit to get cozy and suppressed a sly grin as best she could when she heard Hanae begin to growl slightly. It was adorable. She was pushed aside as the older sister acted very much like the younger one. Hanae and Igraine were now both sitting in the large lap, with Hanae being closer to, and as such leaning against, Yuuki.

Once again, Igraine didn’t really need to fake a pout, because she was pushed to a less comfortable position, so it came out quite natural. “Hey!”

“You had her all to yourself until now, it’s my turn.”

Alice watched with amusement, while Yuuki raised an eyebrow. Igraine changed her seating to where Hanae sat before and wrapped a few fluffy tails around herself. This got the wanted reaction as more people started focusing on the scene. For her vengeance, Igraine used what was used against her: the fact that kitsune have no sense of personal space apparently. Nor did they think much of physical contact. They enjoyed it, so they acted on those feelings. As more and more of them swarmed around the bench, wanting to continue their relaxation from Igraine’s treatment, she thought about sneaking away, but decided against it. It was simply far too soft, warm, and safe.

The bench was discarded after a while as eighty or so kitsune, a wolf-kin and a human were now leaning against each other and laying on the soft grass under the shadow of a large tree. Jack, Abigail and a few others managed to quell the urge to join in, choosing to continue important conversations in the meanwhile. Yuuki also appeared out of nowhere not far from the hug pile, despite still being in the hug pile. They had conversations about the situations in different countries, with Yuuki disclosing a large amount of information they would otherwise have no access to. She said her source was a secret, but while she said it, a large raven landed on her shoulder before flying off quickly after that. She also mentioned how she had plans to hold lectures in the Federation, wanting to gift some knowledge to her homeland.

Eventually, the Sun began setting and the ones who weren’t in the hug pile already joined in, some reluctantly, some eagerly. One of the newer maids stared at the strange phenomenon from a window before being dragged off by one of the older maids.