13 Deadly Deals

Departure 7: Mortal

       The fox wasn't quite dead just yet.

       Though it was debatable how long that was going to last. Moving anything felt like dragging an anchor underwater. And it didn't help that just opening his eyes alone was on par with pushing a boulder uphill. Feeling returned to his nerves with the grace and speed of cold syrup, his consciousness haphazardly stitching itself back to reality around him. And the only thing his brain could process clearly in that moment was that someone somewhere in the cosmos was still royally fucking with him.

       "So heavy..."

       Mafuyu tried to sit up. Only for his body to disobediently slump forward down on his face. His motions lagged behind his brain's commands, and when sitting proved too difficult, Mafuyu resolved himself to a lazy half-turn on his side like a beached fish. He needed to let his thoughts process. And they chugged in a drunken stupor, recalling sweet-smelling tea, upturned furniture, a dangerous granny and her sentient coat...

       The fox tried to jerk up again in a defensive crouch. Though it ended up more like a belly flop on something soft, perfumed with a familiar honey and hazelnut aroma.

       Mafuyu hadn't face-planted into the shaggy carpet of some old lady's shop. He was in a bed, a large one draped in orchid sheets and an avalanche of pillows. They were just as lumpy as the parade of plushies that took up residence in all corners of the bedroom. They winked from the tops of bookshelves lined head to toe with cookbooks. They lay bunched up in corners besides suspicious piles of laundry. And they even occupied the desk like set pieces amongst the paper wrapper litter atop it. The scent and the mess of his new location was easy enough to puzzle things out on his own.

       "Piggle, your bedroom is a sweet-smelling nightmare in need of a janitor," He said, blinking when he swore an overturned basket shifted on its own, "And maybe a priest..."

        "But it's better to get all comfy-like in a bed instead of the floor, right?"

       Mafuyu had to awkwardly pretzel his body to face the opening bedroom door. The boar stepped in with the grace of a dancer considering how she expertly navigated around a trail of comics strewn all over the floor. She was wearing a dough-caked apron and carrying a tray of something sweet-scented. That seemed to be enough to shake the paralysis as the fox shot straight up to see what mortal goodies she'd brought him this time.

       The mug was filled to the brim with piping hot chocolate, greedily drowning thick, fluffy marshmallows in its depths. The wafer-like straw jutted out from the cup just as dusted with powdered sugar as the checkered cookies overflowing off the saucer next to it. Things he recognized. And a sugar coma waiting to happen. But his body was all for it when he damn near chipmunked every cookie into his mouth.

       "Calm down—ya'll ain't gonna hurt nothin' by eating a little slower." Chiyo said, handing Mafuyu the hot chocolate just for him to nearly down in one gulp. The sugar was an explosion on his tastebuds. It woke everything in him up in an instant, mercilessly tickling a craving he never even knew he had. But a more pressing thought gnawed at the back of his brain enough to sober the fox back up.

       "What happened? How did I get back?" Mafuyu asked.

       "I carried you back. You're welcome." Chiyo went to flip a light switch. The dozens of walnut-shaped bulbs veining the ceiling hummed to life. Nowhere near enough to light the room with its blackout curtains, but enough to set a calm, nighttime ambiance at least. "By the time I came back, you were passed out on the readin' room floor. Didn't reckon it was right to just leave you there."