Episode 25: Temple of the West

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A cosy warmth cradled Lute all over, leading to one of the most relaxed sleeps he'd ever had

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A cosy warmth cradled Lute all over, leading to one of the most relaxed sleeps he'd ever had. Not that he had slept at all in a while. It was the perfect level of heat and softness that urged him to keep his eyes shut, body relaxed and dreams vivid. He frolicked in a world of cake next to a river of ice cream, and stopped when he spotted a giant strawberry.

Just the sight of the fruit made his mouth water, but it was atop a towering swirl of whipped cream, to which he licked his lips. The cream was just about stable enough for him to climb up it. He hugged the strawberry, licked it, and then took a hearty chomp before happily nibbling away at it.

That was until he realised how gross it tasted. It was soft but not chewy, and tasted pungent and rough like dirty fur.

His eyes shot open. He had one of Sophitia's forepaws in his mouth, and the way it was covered in saliva, it looked like he'd nibbled at it for a while. He didn't move and slowly directed his gaze upward. This had to be a dream, and the cake world was reality. He wanted things to be that way around.

It wasn't. It was worse. The shiny Sylveon was curled around him and quietly snored away, but the way she slept, they were cuddled up to each other like lovers, right down to his own paws laying on her chest. All that soft warmth he felt relaxed in was hers, right down to the pudge of her belly where he rested his hind legs.

He almost flew off the sewn mattress they shared with a hard, hiss of a shriek. She shot awake at that, darting her gaze all over in expectance of an emergency. He was frozen, unable to look away from her face at all, or stop the heat from filling his own.

"Oh, Lute. Sorry about that, something scared me. Good morning," she breathed a sigh of relief. She took notice of her wet paw and wiped it clean, unbothered. He uttered a reply, and must've looked so dumb that even she was confused about it. "Er, are you okay? Your face is all red. You don't have a fever, do you?"

"Y-y-you! What is wrong with me? No, what's wrong with you?" he gasped. She tilted her head. "Y-you slept. In the same bed. Again. And the hugging and the- yeah, why?"

"We hugged? Wait I'm so confused. There's only one bed in this room, so why wouldn't we—"

"Because that's what couples do! And we're not—" he cried, but then came to a stop. Now that he was awake and aware, all sorts of necessities were made themselves apparent. Right now, he was so hungry that his innards felt like they were turning inside-out. "F-f-food. A-a-anything. Oh gods, anything, just food, please."

"Lute!" Sophitia cried, unable to stop him from running off into the other room.

He couldn't stop himself, either. There was a bowl of apples and oran berries on the table in the middle, and the sight was all it took for him to dive for it. He didn't think twice, he just stuffed the apple into his mouth and demolished it right down to the core and seeds. He grabbed the next one and a berry with both paws and stuffed them into his mouth with even more eagerness.

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