soft touch & sturdy comb

The princess huffed and puffed just as much as he did, perhaps more. That in itself took skill, since passive aggression was his bread and butter. When she flopped heavily onto the furs that made up her bed, he could hear the soft grumbling of an empty stomach emanating from the fluffy pile. However, when asked the princess shook her head despondently. "I'm okay. You can...you can go and take a break if you want." she muttered quietly, not moving from her puddle of pelts. Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, the dark male frowned lightly at the far wall. It could hardly be called a frown, really- he wasn't allowed to display any real displeasure on the job, lest he be beaten senseless. Anyone with an eye for micro-expressions would know it was there. "You've had a long day, thank you for your help, Satoru." Ophelia added, to which his expression shifted a rather earnest pinch of his brows and a soft sniff of distaste. What was she going on about? He was doing his job, whether it was hard on him or not was of no consequence.

Rather than dive into the strange sensation that bloomed in his chest at the notion that his master cared for his wellbeing, he set to work instead. He dipped to the back of the den where he'd stashed the remains of his last catch and a limp, skinny rabbit. The little bastards were fast, and he wasn't quite up to snuff to take down the fat, healthy ones yet. He dropped the scaled trout and whole rabbit beside the girl's bed, to do with as she pleased. "Please excuse me, Ophelia-chan, I'm afraid I'm a bit of a mess at the moment." he crooned demurely, dipping his head respectfully before he ducked out of the den. He wanted to scour the worst of the calluses from his pawpads, and perhaps dunk himself in a stream if one happened to be nearby. After the flooding brought on by the rainstorms, there had been no shortage of runoff streams, but most were choked with debris and mud. If he happened upon a clean one he might stop to clean up properly, but for now he'd settle for having soft paws to tend to his master with.