Rowboat woke up from the best sleep she’d had in years. The bed was way too small for her, but sleeping inside an actual house and not a rickety shack made her feel completely rejuvenated. Her employer was a strange man, but he was extremely benevolent in her eyes. Not only did he treat hybrids like regular people, but he also took care of an orphan and hired a useless worker like her. He even gave her the first spending money she had in ages as a down payment. Rowboat had decided to ask for some time to use that money to buy herself essentials and maybe a new bow if she had some money left over.
After making sure she looked presentable enough, Rowboat made her way over to the room next to hers. She gently knocked on the door and was quickly greeted by Pail, her employer’s ward. Rowboat was about to greet him when she laid her eyes on the kind of scene that solidified how strange her employer was. Norman kowtowed on the floor in front of a little girl wearing the poofiest dress she had ever seen.
“Please take off the collar,” Norman begged the little girl, bowing so deeply that his forehead hit the floor. He had spent the entire morning trying to convince Pretty that while it may have been okay for her to wear her new collar yesterday, she absolutely, under no circumstances, could wear it outside now.
Pretty adamantly shook her head in response, keeping her chubby little hands firmly on the oversized collar. It was so big that it sat on her shoulders instead of around her neck, and it looked really uncomfortable to wear. She let out a sound of refusal and frustration at the thought of having to take the thing that proved that she was family off. Didn’t Papa want her anymore? She wanted to ask why, but as she’d lived as a fox all her life, she hadn’t learned to talk yet despite being three.
“Please take it off. I’ll buy you anything you want. If you wear that outside, I don’t think I would ever recover my public image.” Norman didn’t sound like it, but he was really desperate. The last thing he wanted was to look like some sort of slave trader with deviant tastes.
“Ahem. May I ask what’s happening here?” Rowboat finally piped up after recovering from her momentary speechlessness. She had a few guesses based on the girl’s ears and the notable lack of a spirit fox in the room, but this was the kind of situation where clarification was needed, no matter how many theories one had.
Norman was too busy groveling, so Pail was the one who responded in his stead. “Pretty stopped being a fox in her sleep! Ain’t that cool? She won’t take off the collar ‘round her neck even though we keep telling her that it’s for foxes only! She’s bein’ real stubborn!” He explained. He didn’t seem concerned about her transformation in the slightest. In his mind, it made sense that she got bored with being a fox and decided to be human like the others.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Rowboat nodded in understanding as her theory was confirmed. There had been cases of spirit foxes transforming into humans, so she wasn’t too shocked. She did have one concern, though, other than the collar. She gently tapped Norman on the shoulder and pulled him aside for a talk that children shouldn’t hear.
“She can’t keep the name Pretty if she looks like that,” Rowboat whispered, making sure the children couldn’t overhear her. “It has certain implications on this side of the world.” She was still under the impression that Norman was from some distant island kingdom, so she explained things as patiently as she could.
“She can’t? Why? Is it the name of some evil queen or notorious book character?” Norman whispered back. He couldn’t fathom any other reason as to why the name Pretty was an offensive name for a little girl to have. Was Rowboat just calling her ugly?
“She looks like a hybrid. You know how hybrid slaves are named, right? Pretty is one of those names given to adult pleasure slaves. Pretty, Soft, Petite… those kinds of names are given to women by brothel masters.” She paused, hesitating to explain further. “Nobody bats an eye if those names refer to a pet, but if you’re concerned about looking like a social deviant, I would do something about her name.”
Norman internally cringed at the implications of keeping her name as it was. It might upset the children, but he would have to come up with a new name for her. He knew nothing about women or what names a little girl would like, so he started mentally going through every feminine name he could think of. He felt himself getting lost in a daze when Rowboat nudged him again.
“I can do something about the collar if you’d like. I was gonna ask if I could go on a shopping trip to pick up some stuff. I could take her with me to distract her from it if you’d be alright with that.” Rowboat suggested. It seemed like a great idea in her mind. She would both get her shopping done and earn some favor points from her troubled boss.
Norman nodded absentmindedly as he placed a couple of coins in Rowboat’s palm, mumbling something about spending money for ‘Not Pretty’. He was too in his thoughts to respond properly, but Rowboat got the feeling that he agreed with her methods. Rowboat approached ‘Not Pretty’ and leaned down to be somewhat at her eye level; it was hard to actually reach her eyes with their size difference.
“You like the collar, huh? What if we put the collar in the bag for now so we don’t lose it?” Rowboat spoke as gently as possible. Growing up in a maid dorm full of girls really helped her when it came to talking to children. “Mister over there gave you three coins, see? Want to come shopping with me? You can use those coins to buy something that reminds you of the collar.”
‘Not Pretty’ narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but what the big lady said made sense. What if she wore her precious collar and ended up losing it? Papa would surely leave her if she didn’t have the collar to prove that she was his daughter. Maybe it was best to keep it in the bag, after all. If it stays in Papa’s bag, then he can look at it whenever he wants to remind himself that he’s Pretty’s Papa. ‘Not Pretty’ pitter pattered her way over to Norman’s backpack and shoved the collar into it as deeply as possible.
She then looked up at Rowboat expectantly, her eyes sparkling as she waited for praise. She didn’t know what coins were or how they worked, but if Papa gave her three of them, then they must be important! ‘Not Pretty’ was ready for their girls only shopping trip!
Pick Pretty's new human name!
