"Listen, all I am saying is, there is no reason to assume they don’t know anything. I mean, they are right over the hill from the cemetery."

"Oh, I'm sure." Mier folded her arms and arched an eyebrow, shifting her form to make that eyebrow comically bushy and dramatic. Swish couldn't help but giggle. Mier ignored this. "You a hundred percent wanna talk to the fleece sprites because they might be witnesses to a graverobbing, and not ‘cause the busty one bounced her darn breasts at you yesterday."

"I do not see what that has to do with it." Swish was uncomfortably aware of her three tails wagging behind her. The kitsune covered this with bravado, leaning over the table and staring the shorter woman down. "I also have no idea what ‘darn breasts’ are. Do you mean her ‘damn tits’? Her ‘fucking boobs’?"

This drew some stares from the pub’s other patrons. Swish coughed and ducked her head, ears flicking low.

Mier sniffed. "If you wanna be vulgar about it, as usual."

This just made Suisshu snort. She tossed back her drink and concentrated on its pleasant, mild burn, the musky flavor of smoked pears. Mier never, ever swore. Swish had never thought of herself as being very foulmouthed—back home, she'd been seen by some as downright prudish—but her doppelganger girlfriend always had a way of making her feel like a sheltered princess coming down from her tower.

A feeling which, if she were perfectly honest, she kind of enjoyed. In past lives, she'd been a vicious warrior, a veteran of the endless fey conflicts raging across her homeland. Mier didn't see her that way at all. Mier didn't see her as dangerous, or awful, or worthy of punishment for her sins.

Swish almost couldn't stand it.

"All I'm saying is," Mier said slowly, "that it sure is funny how your burning need for answers from those sheepgirls neatly coincides with us not having… had time 'alone' for some while."

Suisshu felt her cheeks heating up, and hoped it wasn’t obvious. But there it was, that little half-smile hidden just beneath Mier's carefully taut expression. Of course Mier noticed. She always noticed. "Th-That has nothing to do with this," she stammered.

"I understand you're probably feeling pent-up, but really, Swish, sheep sprites?” Mier sniffed. “If you're going to... to look past me for attention..."

This put Swish’s embarrassment quite out of mind. She blinked at Mier, the doppelganger's perfect, immaculate face—currently that of a pretty lady with long dark braids and deep brown eyes—and felt her own face breaking into a smile. "Oh, gods, Mier, are you… wait, are you jealous?"

Mier’s eyes sparked with immediate indignation. "Wh—jealous? How could I be jealous? We're in an open relationship. Ridiculous. Complete nonsense."

"It is okay to be jealous, Mier."

"I'm not freaking jealous! I just think you could do better, is all, if you're going to..."

"To ‘cheat’ on you?" Swish giggled.

Mier actually pouted, an expression that was impossibly, dangerously cute worn by those carefully-sculpted lips.

"Mier, I promise you, I really am just looking for answers here." Swish reached out and took the doppelganger's hand. "And I know you aren’t bringing it up, but I will repeat: I do not mind at all waiting for you to be able to make love again."

"You can say the f-word," Mier mumbled, and a moment later flushed as she registered how that sounded.

Mier had only recently recovered from a deadly poison. This, combined with her recovery from giving birth, had sort of put her out of the mood the past couple of weeks.

"Do you want to talk to the sprites instead?" Swish asked gently.

"That'd be stupid." Mier groaned. "Oh my word, I'm being inane. I'm sorry, Swish. I'm just… not used to not being able to give people what they want, I guess."

You are what I want, Swish wanted to say, but couldn't bring herself to risk Mier giving her that look—that, you are such a sap, I love you, I hope you drop dead look. So she just fixed Mier with a gaze that meant it. "Again, I do not mind at all. And if you want us to be more, um, exclusive..." She felt her cheeks heating up again. Exclusivity didn't come easy to her, or to many fey, but...

Mier laughed. "Swish, go fool around with the sheepgirls." She waved her off.

"I am not going to fool around with them," Swish huffed. "I told you, we need answers. There is no way I am letting them distract me with—"

~ ~ ~ ~

Swish stared at the pen and felt butterflies fluttering through her ribcage. “Um. I am so sorry—could you repeat that?”

The one that had spoken, the one with the extra-fluffy coat, smiled broadly. “I said, what’s your name, cutie?”

“Oh.” Swish laughed shyly and tried not to glance down at the sprite’s chest. “Um, Suisshu.”

The speaker beamed. “What a pretty name! My name’s Lacy.” She gestured behind her toward the sprite with the rose-tinted fleece and the sprite with the pretty necklace of silver bells. They gave little sleepy princess-waves. "That one's Belli, and that one's Fenna." She turned her smile back on Suisshu. "And we're so happy to meet you, Suisshu."

Swish smiled, trying to ignore the excitement bubbling inside her. She knew how it looked—going to chat up three basically naked fleece sprites just as the sun was setting. This plan had made sense back in the pub. She'd thought it would be easy to stay nice and casual, to just ask a couple questions and be on her way. She hadn't been looking into those pretty hazel eyes of Lacy then.

"Yes," she said, feeling her three flicking tails betraying quite a lot more excitement than she’d wanted to show right now. "It's... nice to meet you too. But you must listen, I need to ask you..." She hesitated as Fenna let out a cutely dramatic yawn.

A very satisfying-looking yawn.

Don't yawn back,” Swish told herself firmly. Don't yawn back.

Lacy's head tilted innocently to the side. "Need to ask us what, cutie?"

The sprites behind her giggled.

Swish’s face was getting hot. "I n-need to ask you..."

"Why don't you come closer?" Lacy asked with a voice strung with sweet silver bells of reason. "It feels silly to talk to you all the way over there."

Suisshu swallowed. She couldn’t stand being impolite. It had always been a weakness of hers—if someone was actively being nice to her, she couldn’t bring herself to upset that peace.

She took one step closer, biting her lip. "Is this better?"

"Hm. Closer~" Lacy giggled and gave another big yawn. "What's... the matter?” She batted her eyelashes. “Sweetie, you're not scared of us, are you?"

Swish drew nearer, though she kept Lacy carefully at arm's length. "I know what you're doing," she said slowly, "um, and I don't mean any offense. But only I am a little busy tonight, and I have to get back soon, and I promised my girlfriend I would not..."

"Girlfriend?" Lacy's head tilted to the side. Her plump, dark lips curved upwards slightly as she batted thick lashes up at Swish.

"Um. Yes." Swish resisted the naughty urge to add, And we're in an open relationship. Sprites didn't really understand the idea of a closed relationship, anyways. "You see, we're looking for a necromancer who—"

"You have really pretty hair," Lacy remarked.

Swish stopped short, losing her train of thought again. "What?"

"Your hair." Lacy smiled, gesturing with an elegant sweep of her hand. "It's beautiful."

The other two sprites nodded, smiling dreamily.

Swish shifted from foot to foot, trying to direct her flustered energy away from where it would be noticed—such as in her so-eager-to-wag tails. "Th-Thank you? I... it takes a long time to brush."

Kitsune hair was inherently problematic. It was prone to a spikiness that Swish didn't like, a wildness she couldn't stand. She had a very extensive hair care regimen, though she didn’t like people to know that.

"Oh, but sooo worth it," Lacy cooed. "It looks so, so soft. Maybe even softer than ours!" She giggled, her laugh chiming in tandem with the half-awake tittering of the other two.

Swish forced her tails to be still. "I doubt it," she said modestly, and honestly. Fleece sprite wool was... kind of famous. Infamous.

Even though she'd never gotten to touch it before to be sure.

"Oh, but I'm positive of it!" Lacy yawned and ran her fingers through her own gorgeous shining curls, a dim, blissful smile on her face as if she hadn't fully yet woken up from a very pleasant dream. "It looks so silky, Suisshu. It shimmers like liquid fire."

"It's called lava," Swish said, stupidly, trying to at least say something to hold back a desperately-needed sympathy yawn. "Um, I mean... thank you."

Lacy beamed. "Can I touch?"

Swish almost took a step forward, but hesitated. "I really need... to ask you that question." She bit her lip and shook herself a little. She was getting too flustered, and being flustered was almost as bad as being hypnotized.

Gods, she would never live it down if she ended up getting lured in by social pressure.

But looking at the fleece sprites' disappointed pouts, Swish couldn't help but feel a pang of regret anyways.

"How about a trade?" piped up Belli from the cuddle pile.

Swish swallowed. "What?"

Lacy’s eyes lit up. "Ooh, good idea!" she exclaimed, tapping her fingertips together in a silent, delicate clap. "We can do a trade!"

"I-I'm not touching your fur," Swish squeaked. She flushed at how rude that sounded. "I mean—I only mean, I don't think it would be a good idea. Um. Or. I think I should. I am sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rude, I just—"

The fleece sprites were giggling at her. Swish could melt with embarrassment. She wanted to curl up and roll away, to shift to fox form and run into the bushes and silently scream into her tails. Instead she just stood there, frozen to the spot like an idiot, trying not to squirm as the fleece sprites eyed her up.

"I wasn't gonna say that, silly," breezed Lacy. "I mean, if you touch my fluff, you'll get all sleepy!"

"Yeah, and we don't want that," Belli agreed. "You getting all sleepy, and so far from a bed..."

"We'd be happy to help, of course," Lacy cooed. "Any way we could."

"But you have questions to ask us."

"Oh, yes."

Swish blinked between the pair, her eyes wide. Behind them, Fenna gave a great big yawn as she stretched and rose to her hands and knees.

"But I thought you were..." Swish suppressed yet another yawn. "... Um, did you mean a... a pet for a question?" She couldn’t work out how to phrase it better right now.

"Of course, silly!" Lacy beamed. "I just want to feel how soft that hair is of yours!"

"We like soft things," Fenna purred.

"Ooh, yes, we love soft things.” Lacy winked. “And soft girls~"

Swish squirmed. "I... I suppose..."

She stepped up to the fence, and found she had to lean over to make her hair accessible to the lounging sprites. She had to lean so far down that it really made more sense to kneel to protect her balance, but she didn't dare commit to an action so… well.

She cautiously bent down until her fiery hair cascaded down right before Lacy's eyes.

The fleece sprite smiled, reached up, and tugged gently on the hair, guiding Swish lower still. Swish was so startled, she didn’t even think to resist the pull. Lacy pulled Swish down until Swish’s hair was spilling across Lacy's hands, liquid fire in her palms.

"Good," the fleece sprite purred. “Good girl!”

Suisshu swallowed.

Lacy began to run her long, dainty fingers through Swish's hair.

She wasn't even touching the scalp. None of her wool magic was affecting Swish. But Swish still felt a shiver race through her at the sprite's delicate finger brushing, the way she ran her hands slowly, luxuriously through Swish's locks, as reverent as if Swish's hair was the softest, silkiest thing she'd ever felt.

"Oh," she breathed, and bit her lip in embarrassment at the sound. Lacy didn't seem to notice, though. She just kept petting.

"Beautiful," Lacy murmured. Swish felt her whole body heating up. "Girls, you have got to feel this!"

Belli and Fenna rose from their tangled position together, both yawning, and gave Swish sleepy grins. They crawled over to join her and Lacy by the fence.

"Um, w-wait," Swish squeaked, as they descended on her hair, cooing and fawning. "I... um... question?"

She squirmed. Her back and neck were starting to get sore from bending over like this. It would be so much easier on her knees, but the very thought made her heart flutter dangerously. No. Bad idea. Very bad idea.

But she couldn't pull away, either. Not without losing her balance or yanking very hard, not with Lacy holding onto her hair like this.

"Oh, right!" Lacy giggled innocently up at her. "I'm so sorry, I just got so distracted with how silky and delicate your hair is." She rubbed it against her cheek, lashes batting, giving a soft, gasping moan.

"What's your question?" Fenna asked sweetly, running her fingers methodically through the strands.

Swish tried to steady herself, to remind herself that this was not magic or hypnosis, that she was still entirely free-willed.

She was just… very easily flustered by sprites.

Especially sprite girls.

"We're looking for a necromancer," she said slowly, voice trembling a little as Lacy's fingertips ran a little too close to her ears. "Um... shadows have been spotted near here, over by the—um, not spotted, more not spotted, they’ve been seen missing—well, not seen, but—" She pulled back, freeing herself from their grasp, and hit the brakes on the runaway sentence. "Have you seen anyone else pass through? Anyone not from the village?"

Many necromancers liked to work with shadows, stealing the shade of trees and animals to stitch dead souls back into the land of the living.

"Mm, not from the village..." Lacy twirled one delicate finger around one of Fenna's curly locks, her fingers brushing over Fenna’s scalp, and Swish had to fight down a ridiculous feeling of envy. "Uh-uh, I don't think so, sweetie~"

Suisshu's heart sank.

"Hm..." Lacy put a finger to her beestung dark lips. "No, but I think we maybe saw something else that might be related."

Swish's spirits rose. "Yes? What did you..." She trailed off as she saw Lacy's sleepy little grin.

"Remember our deal?" Belli cooed, and giggled. "Silly foxy.”

Swish's cheeks burned. “Right. Yes.”

She willingly lowered herself back down into their clutches, but her sore spine gave furious protest. She was forced to finally took a knee. Not both, at least. She was able to preserve that much of her dignity. Her back ached with relief.

She would now be now fully in their reach if she just leaned a little closer, so she kept her head carefully upright, even as the sprites cooed and played with the hair within their grasp.

She suppressed a shiver of delight.

She needed to stay focused. She bit her lip. "So, you say you saw—"

"Gosh," Fenna cooed, "you must brush your hair every day to get it this sleek and soft!"

Swish smiled weakly. She knew she was blushing and tried to look away. "Um, thank you, but—"

"Do you brush your tail, too?" Belli chirped.

Swish jumped as she felt the first touch.

Belli had got hold of one of her tails. Her eyes widened, and she turned to tell Belli to back off, but...

But...

Her eyelids fluttered. "Oh," she breathed.

Belli was petting her rightmost tail. Stroking it. Nuzzling it. That felt so nice, and Belli's touches were so, so soft...

Especially with her wool brushing against Swish’s fur like that...

Pinpricks of concern skittered over her skin, but the tingles of bliss were softer, sweeter, smoothing her worries like wrinkles from cloth.

"S-Stop that," she sighed.

"Why?" Belli asked sweetly.

Suisshu blushed and stammered.

Fenna yawned. She was stroking one of Swish's tails, too. Swish kept having to lean in closer and closer to keep from getting uncomfortably tugged, and the knowledge that this was a bad idea was like a soft murmur from far away, inconsequential, unpersuasive. "We're just petting you," she purred, heavy-lidded eyes locking with Suisshu's, countering the kitsune's squirming unease with the sweet, simple certainty of her lovely smile.

"Yes, but... but..." The yawn came unbidden from Swish, a powerful, languid yawn, the kind that leaves you dizzy. She swayed a little.

"Don't you like being petted, sleepy girl?" Belli cooed. "Being pampered?"

"I... I..." Swish's thoughts were in an uneven orbit through her mind. "... no?"

"Oh, but we think you do," cooed Lacy, and Swish stared helplessly as Lacy began to tug more firmly on Swish's hair. "Come on, foxy, you look so sleepy!"

"I-I'm not!” Swish yawned again, and immediately flushed.

"Sooo sleepy," agreed Belli with a sweet little laugh, nuzzling against Swish's soft, silky tail.

"S-Stop..."

"Sooo dreamy," Fenna cooed, tugging on Swish's tail, rubbing her plump, dimpled cheek against Swish's fur.

"Um... but..." Swish felt helpless. They weren't listening to her. What was she supposed to do?

Going along with it would be easy. She squirmed, rubbed her legs together. So very, very easy. She wanted to be that easy—for things to be that easy—

Swish was swaying, losing her balance. With a soft whimper, she slid onto both knees, leaning into Lacy's embrace.

And her face came to rest right between Lacy's breasts. Right between Lacy's delicate fingers.

And if she'd worried that having her tails touched had exposed her to the wool, she'd been wrong.

Because now she knew how exposure actually felt.

Her world misted over with a soft, easy warmth, as if she'd suddenly been immersed in a dense cloud of sweet-smelling steam. Everything in her mind went fuzzy.

Pleasure staticked through kitsune’s body, turning her thoughts into silly idle buzzing. She felt Lacy's delicate hands petting her head, felt the softness of Lacy's wool, the soothing warmth of Lacy's breasts.

Briefly, she just wanted to melt away in Lacy’s arms.

With gargantuan effort, Swish forced herself to pull away. She shook herself clear, and repeated what she wanted to know: Had the sprites seen anything?

The fleece sprites told her. She walked away and went to find Mier, to show Mier that she'd been plenty strong-willed.

She smiled into Lacy's two ample pillows, enjoying the way Mier looked so impressed, so pleased with her.

Then she realized she'd drifted off briefly, and she hadn’t moved, and her whole world dissolved into sugary syrup.

"Such a good little foxy," Fenna cooed, and there was another set of hands petting her. Then another, as she heard Belli giggling. The headpats were overwhelming. "You wanna play with us, don't you, foxy?"

"N-Nnuh..."

The sheepgirls giggled, and Swish whimpered under her breath. She sounded so pathetic. So deeply under.

But the pets felt so nice. The rubbing of her ears, the lazy scritches behind them.

Briefly, she lost consciousness.

A haze of delectable dreams took her—dreams of beautiful women licking between her legs, of her head between the legs of beautiful women, of licking the nectar off the fingers of nymphs and letting giggling dryads rub her belly while she mewled like a kitten.

The next thing she knew, she was on her back, staring up at three beautiful, intoxicating, very satisfied-looking sprites. Her eyes widened briefly, but her eyelids felt so heavy they started fluttering down almost immediately. Belli and Fenna had her sandwiched between them, and Lacy was on top of her. Their softness pressed in all around, immersing her.

Drowning her.

Dimly, Swish realized the sun had set. She rubbed her thighs together and realized she was dripping.

Oh.

Those dim, wonderful dreams floated a little clearer through her mind, dreams of kisses and fingers dipping down, down, of soft tits and warm whispers, of Lacy's silky wool drugging her with sheer luxury...


"Oh," she squeaked.

Lacy beamed and tickled under Swish's chin, and Swish giggled weakly despite herself. Already she felt herself sinking back down into the sleepy pleasure fog.

She told herself she was putting up a fight. She was resisting. She was doing her best.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that she was only forcing her eyes to stay open as long as she could—and it was so hard to even be sure they were open—so that giving in would feel so, so much more delicious.

"I," Swish whimpered, "I n-need to... to go..."

"Stay," Lacy suggested, and batted her eyelashes down at her with a sugar-sweet smile.

Swish pushed weakly upwards. It was a gesture that exhausted her, and she wasn't even really trying anymore.

"Stay," Fenna whispered, kissing her neck.

Swish squirmed and breathed in the fleece sprites’ sweet, soporific perfume. Her world wobbled and began to sink.

"Stay," Belli cooed, nibbling her earlobe.

"B-But… I… n-no…"

"Give in," Lacy purred, her soft, plump lips curving upward in a triumphant smile as she leaned in close.

And as those lips met Suisshu's, Suisshu’s own lips obediently parted.

And her eyes obediently closed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lorelei's Note: Thanks for reading! Feedback is always welcome. This was a very fun patron request to work on!

Oh, and just in case you're worrying, normal fleece sprites aren't exactly Bad End-tier. Swish will be fine with a nice, long night's rest. ;)