The Calm.....

Arriving at an area filled with myriad coloured lingerie Ellis couldn't help but be blinded by all shapes and styles that this section housed

'Il just take a random bunch and be done with it'

Not in the mood for shopping she grabbed at whatever bras that were near her and walked back

As she walked she couldn't help but shoot a curious look at the ones she chose

Cupless Bra, seamless bra, peek-a-boo, belly dance bra...

Her footsteps halted in shock, if she really presented him with this set of bras it may be certain he would think her a pervert

With no choice she could only turn back and set these flamboyant pieces aside and pick up a few normal looking strap-on bras

'Right I forgot to check if they are my cup size'

She tried putting them on but they were a tough fit

Taking them off she threw them to the side and put on a bigger pair

'Its fits but... somehow I'm not used to this tight feeling anymore'

The straps on her back felt like they were digging into her skin, plus she could tell that with a single forcefully bend in combat it would directly snap off

'He did say they weren't for fighting but I guess it couldn't hurt to get some battle fit ones too'

Taking this bra off she started to look through the rest of the shelves and walls for the right bra

'How does this cover anything'

The quarter cup bra one was so she wore the sports bra

'Too sticky to the skin'

It wasn't the one either thus it was thrown aside too...

From the couldn't care less mood she was in a few moments ago she went into a full-fledged shopping mode as she tried every single bra that might be useful

After a long struggle that took into account not only comfort but exposure and style she ended up with the halter bra, bandeau bra, and lastly the demi-cup bra

"Mm good"

Taking off the last one she gave it a satisfied look only to notice they were marred with blue and red blood

Recalling her need for a shower she looked around for one, sadly since this was the clothing section she couldn't find any, only a few stray beasts which she disposed of without the smallest effort

"Hmm"

Moving toward the stairs she looked at the scratched map next to it and saw an area marked as a bathing place

'Second floor?'

They were on the fourth floor currently so she looked down from the circular opening toward the second floor then directly jumped off

She didn't perform any showy tricks and gently landed on the floor, then followed directions she recalled toward the bathhouse.....

While Ellis was on a shopping spree YuJu was on having one of his own

Strolling through a hallway filled with official suits and stylish dresses he looked through them seriously

"Too basic, doesn't cover enough skin, cool but doesn't fit with a face mask, hmm good but can't fit an eye fold"

He described each one as he went by them whit Anput nodding by the side, well except the last ones, she somehow felt his needs for them weren't right

"Ah, this one looks nice, don't you think"

He pointed toward a mannequin wearing a long black mix between a cloak and a jacket, under it was a darker shade v-line top that had red buttons coupled with leather pants that took the shade of the cloak, finally, they were complemented by knee-length shiny black boots with red stripes going through them

It looked pretty daring and gothic at the same time, but while she couldn't see that exhibitionist wearing anything really she couldn't help but nod at his great taste, noting his like for the colour black while she was at it

Seeing her agree he stored the mannequin all together and started to look for his own outfit

Soon after he settled on a duster length dark grey coat that had a smilier looking top under it which was lined with light grey frilly buttons, to complete the outfit he chose a normal dark pants and shoes

"Well, we're done here, let's go?"

Turning to Anput he saw her pawing at one of the glass boxes while standing on her hind legs

Peering into the box he saw jewelled bracelets, necklace, rings and many other types of jewellery

"You want jewellery?"

He asked with some confusion, sure he'd seen more things than he had hoped he could in his journey ut this was the first time he ever saw a quadruped asking for jewellery, sure hed seen beast folk do wear them but never normal hounds

"Wu Woo!"

She pawed the box more while looking at him pleadingly, she seemed to really want it

"Which one?"

Well, it was free anyway, might as well get her what she wanted

Wit his affirmation she clawed open the box directly shattering the glass and took four bracelets from it, walking to him she held them in her mouth and rolled on her back, exposing her belly to him while her legs flailed up

Getting what she was hinting at he took them from her and gently put them on her four feet

"Woo! Wuu! Wu!"

She jumped around happily with her new bracers, sometimes walking slowly too as if trying to show off her new style

'Hmm, I like silver more but gold does indeed go well with black'

Since she liked it he wouldn't mind it anymore

Done with their short trip they didn't go to Ellis but started to scour the mall for other simple sets of clothes and some food and necessities, walking at a leisurely pace and just enjoying their time, the only hassle was the few straggling beasts but those were taken out in no time by the happy Anput who didn't want her master's good mood to be ruined

Once all the supplies were stored and the necessities were taken care of YuJu decided it was time to get Ellis

'I wonder if she's done picking clothes yet'

He didn't know if she was a shopaholic but felt that she wasn't really one by her uncaring attitude toward clothes in general

Throwing guesses to the back of his mind he focused on their bond in order to track her

Sure enough, she wasn't in the lingerie section anymore, rather she wasn't on the fourth floor at all for he felt her presence very close to him

They were currently on the second floor where they had gotten some health-related products, the direction he felt her from was toward the bathhouse

'I guess she needed a good scrub'

He and Anput headed into the bathhouse as well since they wanted to bath too

Just as they were about to enter the bathing area they saw Ellis come out with a towel around her neck

"Master? Are we leaving now?"

"Not yet, well take a bath as well and have a meal, then we will leave for the walls"

She nodded in understanding after all the bloody Anput wasn't any worse than the earlier her, so she went back inside and flushed the used water down while replacing it with new water and throwing coal into the fireplace under it to heat it up

"I never thought such a primitive bathhouse would be in a mall"

"It's one of the tourist attractions, it was indeed pretty daring to put it inside the mall though"

He replied while taking off his clothes and sitting on one of the wooden benches, he opened the shower and motioned for Anput to step under the water

Happily obliging she sat comfortably in front of him and entrusted herself to is care

Ellis who was done fanning the flames by the side grabbed a wooden bench as well and with a loofah in hand she sat behind him and started to scrub his back while trying to be gentle with her movements

"Your a lot more relaxed now"

"Mm"

She affirmed his words with a short sound and continued to scrub, he didn't mind the short response and played with the joyful Anput under the water, rubbing under her ears and jaw as he cleared away at the blood that was stuck almost everywhere

"Maybe it was because of that time at the observation room"

Her voice came again with an explanation this time

"Perhaps at that time, when you took over my body, the connection I felt I had to your soul, it was nothing any physical relationship could ever come to compare to, nothing I could probably imagine in my life"

He could feel the confusion mixed with certainty in her words

"I still don't know what that was, why I hadn't realized it before, or if this type of connection can even exist"

Her hands came to a stop while he looked back into her eyes

"But I know, I'll be by your side for the rest of my life, that much I can tell, and I'll do my best to never fail you"

Her words were firm even among the confusion, to that he gave a smirk, but nothing more

Returning to his happy hound he continued playing with her while Ellis scrubbed his back, not much changed after their exchange, they already felt that way and saying it merely put out their feelings upfront without affecting them too much

While he tried hard at taking the blood out Anput's fur Ellis made sure to scrub him everywhere trying not to be shy about it, and he didn't make anything "hard" for her since he had great control over his body, something she was grateful for as it saved her the awkward experience

Once everyone was cleaned thoroughly they rinsed and got into the water, Ellis also jumped in since it couldn't hurt to relax more, as for skin wrinkles, that didn't matter with how hard her skin was after her vitality got raised

Sinking into the water YuJu couldn't help but let out a tired breath, he somehow felt his plans were being overthrown left and right, some were good while some were slightly confusing, but since he was able to turn everything to his favour it wasn't too bad

Letting his worries wash away in the water he started to drift off into sleep, twenty minutes later he was on the edge of sleeping but Ellis's voice woke him up from his silent escape

"Master?"

"Hm?"

"Aren't we going to be late at this rate?"

"Oh...well if I had slept yes, we might have been"

'Almost returned to that place, thankfully she didn't let me sleep'

"But still, didn't we only have five hours to hunt?"

"We already reached the required level, thanks to that beast the others couldn't put up much of a fight after being affected by its blood making them easy targets for the hunt"

"Then shouldn't we hunt more of them?"

"You're already level fifty, the levelling gets harder again and the beasts there are almost all more than twenty levels under you, even if we fish out every strong one in there we would be lucky to get two levels worth, might as well use that time to relax"

Since he explained it so clearly she didn't insist on the point any longer and allowed him to rest instead

But seemingly affected by her sharing mood from earlier he decided to continue talking

"Within these walls, you can walk wherever you want confidently, even the beasts in the sea, if need be, would be slain by me, in here I'm like a tall tree that isn't shaken by storms, even those monsters in human skin can't handle me at this point in time"

He stopped and looked in the direction of the walls

"But out there, where chaos reigns supreme, I'm but a twig hoping to survive the turbulent winds"

His eyes were reminiscent of the past

"When the cyrex blows and the walls crumble, all that is alive shall tremble"

He said those words in a cold and ominous tone that made the two tremble coldly, the warm water didn't do anything to meditate this coldness that came from the bones

"Master.."

She wanted to comfort him but couldn't come up with anything to say, if he whos sheltering them said this what could they do?

"Heh, don't worry, no matter the storm we will reach the top, I promised you so and I always fulfil my promise"

His dark mood thrown aside he turned to her with a smile while rubbing Anput's head by the side

The two didn't feel that he was too alright but chose silence, within though they were even more determined to become stronger, because the stronger they were the stronger he could become and someday, those beasts outside could only stand in his shadow, just as the ones on earth do