Read from chapter 1 here!
Find every chapter for "A Lesson in Transience" in this gallery!
Chris felt confused and numb on the way back to her apartment. After entering and sitting on her couch, she looked up at Elenor with a weak smile. “Th-- thanks for the outing. Sorry things got weird,” she said quietly.
Elenor was a little shaken, but managed to offer Chris a sympathetic look while sitting next to her. “A lot of strange things are happening in the world,” she said quietly, wincing as she remembered the cries of panic. She shifted a little while pulling her tail into her lap. “If you hadn’t sensed something was wrong, we could have gotten hurt. Thank you,” she said warmly.
Chris smiled weakly. “I-- well, yeah… I’m not sure how I knew something was wrong, but I’m not going to let you get hurt if I have any control over the situation.” Still, though, what the hell was going on? Little green men? Goblins? That humming and ringing in her ears, the feeling of dread, that explosion she managed to stop, and those visions of strange, shadow beings she often caught out of the corner of her eye. What did it all mean? She couldn’t help but feel that something terrible was right around the corner.
Elenor took a slow, careful breath. “I know I’m your doctor, but I’m glad we can also be friends… I’ll be honest; I don’t get out much,” she conceded with a weak laugh. “I’m usually working or home by myself. When you asked for help, I was just excited to get the chance to spend time with another person outside of an office environment.”
“Really?” Chris raised an eyebrow. “You’re cute and fun; it’s hard to imagine you not being the social type.” Maybe it was good to get her mind off of today’s trauma.
“You think I’m cute?” Elenor replied innocently, her ears twitching. She then laughed. “I’m actually pretty awkward… I’m good at rambling and I think people tend to see me as kinda self-centered because of it.”
Chris shook her head. “You showed interest when I had things to say,” she pointed out. “Besides. I’m going through a lot, so it’s nice to interact with someone who can keep a conversation going with little prompting. It would be embarrassing and weird if you stopped every five seconds for my input.” The last thing she needed right now was to be in charge of carrying a conversation; not when there were a million things on her mind.
Elenor faintly blushed, shifting her eyes toward the floor. “I guess I was just a little self conscious that I might be ranting too much. I’m glad you don’t feel that way,” she said softly. “I’d hate to scare off someone so cute.”
It was Chris’s turn to blush as she shifted her eyes toward the white-furred cat woman. “I know you commented on how I look nice earlier, but it’s still strange thinking of myself as cute,” she admitted.
“Oh-- I can stop saying things like that if you want,” Elenor promised. “The last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable.”
Chris fidgeted. Perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing for her concerns over the day’s events to be replaced with embarrassment over her new friend’s compliments. “I wouldn’t say I dislike those compliments-- or that they make me uncomfortable.” She paused, trying to find the right words. “Honestly, I think I kinda like it, which is also still weird for me… This whole thing where I enjoy having my feminine traits complimented is new to me.” It was definitely a lot to get used to.
“Hmmm… So you really don’t mind?” Elenor insisted.
“I suppose not,” she shook her head. “In small doses at least.” Despite her best effort to distract herself, she couldn’t fully get her mind away from the strange course her day had taken. Was everything really going to be okay?
“I don’t mind staying for a little while, unless you’d rather have some alone time to decompress,” Dr. Rowena suggested, offering a hopeful look.
Chris briefly paused, considering the offer. Maybe some company wouldn’t be too bad. “I can’t promise I’ll be the best company, but distractions aren’t a bad thing,” she relented with a shrug. She honestly wasn’t fully sure what she was doing right now and was very much in need of something to get her mind off of the building stressors.he
“Do you have anything to drink? I can pay you back,” Elenor suggested. “Maybe a little booze would help.” She couldn’t help but feel she was being a little unprofessional as Chris’s doctor, but she was enjoying herself.
“Yeah-- ciders in the fridge, some old bourbon and vodka in the freezer… Soda, juice, and whatnot,” Chris nodded. “Maybe a little wouldn’t hurt. I don’t think my alcohol tolerance is quite what it used to be, but it’s not like I’d been able to do much drinking these last couple of years anyway.” With the way her health had declined, consuming alcohol had been a more difficult task than it once had.
Before long, the pair had drinks in hand and were enjoying one another’s company. Chris was more than happy to let Dr. Rowena share more stories and anecdotes while each sip of coke and bourbon allowed her thoughts to drift farther away from that day’s startling events. “Mmmm…” She smiled and nodded, urging the doctor to continue. ‘A little distraction never hurt anyone, right?’
She couldn’t help but notice how damned cute Elenor was. She had obviously been aware of her beauty for a long time now, but the alcohol made it harder for her to keep such feelings properly in check. It wasn't like she’d actually do something stupid, but it was absolutely much easier to notice the snow-white cat woman’s stunning features with a light fog of inebriation impacting her judgment.
“You know… Your fur looks so damn glossy. I bet it’s really soft,” Chris mused out loud, interrupting the story at play. Offering a compliment like that wasn’t too much, right? She was sure it would be fine to say that much at least.
Elenor shift in her seat, blushing faintly as she averted her eyes to the ground. “You think so?... I do take really good care of my fur,” she admitted.
“Considering everything you taught me today, I’m not surprised to hear that. You seem to be quite the expert,” Chris laughed weakly. Was it wrong of her to have feelings of attraction toward her own doctor? The alcohol probably wasn’t helping. What about Gretchen, though? A small part of her felt like she was somehow betraying her by having such feelings. Then again, why should she feel that way? While she adored Gretchen, she had made it clear that she was polyamorous and wasn’t interested in being locked down to a monogamous relationship with her. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, obviously, but that also meant Chris wasn’t under any obligation to only be attracted to Gretchen and no one else.
“I try,” The cat girl smiled, taking another sip of her drink. She paused for a moment before coyly eyeing Chris. “Do you want to feel it?... My tail,” she said gently, her ears twitching cutely as she spoke.
Chris blinked and offered an incredulous look in response. Was this a trap? “This isn’t one of those things where a cat is acting cute but ends up biting you when you try to touch it, right?”
“I’d say you only run a thirty percent chance or so of getting bitten,” Elenor teased. “The odds are in your favor, I assure you.”
Chris was a sucker for cute girls who could quip. It still felt strange to have such thoughts relating to her doctor, but it wasn’t like she wasn’t encouraging it. “I don’t know,” Chris said innocently. “Maybe I’ll repress my urge instead. I wouldn’t want to risk making you uncomfortable enough to bite, after all.”
Elenor huffed. “Fiiiine… No biting, I promise,” she assured.
“I’d hate to upset you by touching your tail,” Chris replied nonchalantly.
“You won’t beeeee,” the doctor insisted, the tip of her tail swishing and thumping against the couch.
“What you’re saying is, you want me to touch your tail.”
The cat woman averted her eyes and sighed. “Cats like attention; it can’t be helped…”
Chris’s ears perked. She was really going to do this, huh? Not how she expected her evening to go, but why not? “I am a bit of a people pleaser,” she replied before scooching closer to her guest. She eyed the fluffy white tail, admiring how pure and pristine the fluff appeared. “Remember. You said this was okay,” she said innocently before reaching over and brushing her fingers through the silky, cashmere-like fur. A shiver ran down her spine upon feeling just how unbelievably soft her tail truly was.
“Ahhh…” Eleneor squirmed and bit her lip, clasping a hand over her wrist. “I didn’t realize how weird it would be to have someone touch it like that,” she murmured.
Chris withdrew and eyed her carefully. Was that too much? “Sorry-- maybe I should stop, then,” she suggested, not wanting to scare her away.
“O-- oh, it’s not a bad weird!” Elenor insisted with a shake of her head. “I like it. I don’t get a whole lot of interaction like this, and you have really soft hands,” she giggled, taking another sip of her drink before setting it down again.
“I see. In that case…” Chris pushed her fingers through the fur and gently scratched it, sliding upward and closer to her tail’s base. Maybe it was the alcohol speaking, but she was enjoying herself quite a lot right now.
Elenor’s ears twitched as she repressed the urge to gasp. She hadn't expected Chris to touch her so eagerly. ‘I’m being bad, aren’t I?’ She mused, trying not to let her inebriated state cloud over her ability to be rational.
Chris couldn’t help herself. She analyzed the cat girl’s body language carefully while brushing her fingers closer to her tail's base and scratching gently. From what she understood of animal demis-- and of her own tail, this was quite the erogenous spot.
Elenor wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Chris’s assumption was correct. She felt her body head up as a small gasp escaped her lips. “Th-- that is very sensitive,’ she squeaked, pushing her legs together as heat formed between her legs.
Chris blushed deeply beneath the fur and withdrew her hand. If she didn’t control herself, she might end up losing herself and going way too far. “I-- I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing things like this when I’ve been drinking,” she admitted, feeling similarly aroused. Despite the time she’d spent in this body, female horniness was still a strange sensation. It would take a while to get used to still.
Elenor briefly froze, trying to process her emotions. Eventually, she nodded in agreement. “R-- Right,” she replied. “I’ll be honest. I’m kinda fond of fur. Not just on myself, but, well… I don’t know; maybe it’s a kinship thing, but it’s nice spending time with someone like myself. And your fur is really soft and nice-- and… Err… You look really cute,” she conceded, grabbing her cup as she downed the last of her drink.
“If it means anything, I think I’m starting to see why you feel that way,” Chris agreed. “Then again, I’ve had a thing for fur and tails for a while now.” She sighed and scratched her head, trying to think of how to word things. The booze made it easier to speak her mind, but she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “I didn’t expect to have to deal with such features on myself, but it can’t be helped. I’m extremely fond of those features on you, though.”
Elenor’s lips curled into a sly smile. “What I’m hearing is we both find the other cute. I’m not sure if you were aware, but I’m quite fond of cute girls,” she said innocently, scooching closer to the adorable fox.
“I guess you could say that,” Chris agreed, feeling her heart rate pick up as the adorable cat girl closed in on her. ‘Where the hell is this night going? What am I doing?...’ her booze-ridden mind was urging her to leap upon her doctor with reckless abandon. By now, the strange happenings of today had slipped out of her conscious stream of thought.
For a brief moment, Elenor considered pushing back against the alcohol. She could muster up her willpower and put a stop to her plans before acting upon them. Such a thing would be possible, right? Did it matter, though? Would it be so wrong to let her night go in an unexpected direction?
Chris was about to put some distance between them and suggest they put on a movie and drink some water when She suddenly felt Elenor’s lips upon hers. Her heart raced as the lusty feline grabbed her shoulders and pinned her down. Whether or not she realized it, the course of her night had already been decided.
CHAPTER END
Read up to chapter 43 two months early on Patreon! Tiers only go up to $5/mo