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Lisa’s morning had started rather strangely, and it was fair to say that Mondstadt’s day had also started rather strangely. Which seemed weird, being that it was an entire City and a Nation but… there had been a commotion in the city center.
A commotion that Lisa had been caught right up in.
And do you want to know why?
It was because she had awoken, and dressed and had some breakfast and tea, and made her way to work… and had been on time. Lisa was a staunch believer in arriving when she was needed. Sure, the library had hours, but everyone knew those were suggestions and Lisa may or may not be there.
But her morning had started with the sun shining through her curtains, beaming right down across her face and waking her earlier than usual. And thus, her day had started earlier than usual.
So she had been walking down the street, her heels sounding against the stones beneath her, and she had been so close to the Headquarters when things grew hectic.
First, it was the noise, clattering of armor and boots against stone, yelling and shouts and… barking? Next, Lisa saw the Knights, several of them. They had been sprinting along the upper streets and were peering over walls and down below. Lisa was just as the base of the large steps, a real annoyance in her everyday journey to work, and was quite suddenly in their line of sight.
She was right there, and she had looked up at the noise and saw all those Knights glued to the edge of the wall, leaning over with wide eyes. She didn’t know what they could have been searching for, and she almost laughed at the sight of all of them.
But she heard Kaeya then.
“No! Get back here!” Actual agitation lined Kaeya’s voice. And then another bark. Which was when Lisa should have learned that the commotion was absolutely about to involve her, and she should have made her escape, but she didn’t. Curiosity, as they say.
Lisa was at the bottom of the steps, about to place one foot delicately on the first step, when it all made so much sense.
There was a dog. A rather large one, of golden color, fur on the longer side, the look of a big dopey grin on its face as it absolutely booked it away from the Knights and Kaeya, and oh, even Amber. The dog darted around the corner wall and down the steps, tail wagging ferociously, and that was when Lisa understood what was about to happen.
She took two steps back, hands out, and it didn’t matter because that dog dove right for her. From nearly halfway up the steps, it leapt into soaring flight, plummeting right toward Lisa with a bark.
And so, Lisa’s strange morning consisted of being awoken far too early for her liking, and then being tackled to the ground by a dog. Tackled to the ground, landed on heavily, and then… licked. Slobbered on, really. A large and wet tongue slapped against her face and licked her twice, askewing her hat and hair, no doubt ruining her makeup.
Then footsteps were thundering just beyond them, and the dog scrambled, nails scraping into the stone and one catching Lisa’s arm painfully. And with that, the dog was off once more like an arrow.
And about seven Knights went sprinting past Lisa as she lay there on the ground with a slobbered on face and a pain in her backside. Lisa groaned and closed her eyes for a moment, accepting her defeat at the hands… the paws of a fluffy beast.
“Are you okay?”
Lisa cracked her eyes open to see Amber stooped above her, eyes wide and concerned. Lisa wiped her face slowly, a frown firmly on her lips, and stared at Amber in disgust.
“What was that?”
Amber’s eyes widened almost humorously. “A dog.” She said. Shortly. Suspiciously.
Lisa narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips with a slow nod as Amber helped her stand and dust off any dirt on her. “Yes? Is that right?”
Amber nodded back and began pointing after the little retinue of knights that had already run off. “I should go… help.” She trailed off in a slow and pathetic voice and then rather quickly sprinted from Lisa.
So yes, It was an odd start to Lisa’s day, one that had her turning right around and heading home to fix her appearance thus making her late to work. Which was kind of funny.
But it took half of the day to pass by before she was finally enlightened on the ordeals of the morning, of how a cute and fluffy dog ran rampant through the streets of Mondstadt with the Knights of Favonius tailing it like foolish children.
Lisa left the library because she realized she hadn’t seen Jean at all that entire day and what a disaster that was, right? So she stood from her desk and left the library, locking the doors behind her, and she made her way to the Grand Master’s office.
At which point she was… thoroughly enlightened but only because of, again, how strange her own morning had been.
Jean used words like disaster and chaos and complete-and-utter-catastrophe lightly… ignoring that that last one was a string of words. The point was, she didn’t like to be so nihilistic.
However, her morning had been a complete-and-utter-catastrophe mixed with a heavy hand of chaos.
And she said that wholeheartedly, she would say it again and again, she would stomp her foot and demand that it was true. She would… if she didn’t have such cute, perky ears sprouting from her head.
She blamed Albedo. Not because she needed someone to blame, no, it was actually his fault. Albedo and Sucrose and whatever weird experiment they had been working on that somehow caught Jean in their crosshairs.
Because, of course, what had happened was that Albedo had done something and Sucrose thought it was yes, quite right, and they were both quite pleased with themselves and then somehow that something had turned Jean, the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius… Jean Gunnhildr, into a dog.
A large and fluffy golden dog with a long and wagging tail and perky golden ears.
And being a dog did not mean ‘ah, I’m a dog now, oh no!’ Being a dog meant ‘dog, dog, dogging around, bark! Bark, bark, bark! SQUIRREL! Lisa! Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, LISA!’
The last of which was obviously the most humiliating part, for Jean. She had chased squirrels, she chased a person, she snapped at Kaeya, and rolled around on the ground in some dirt and she bared her belly for some scratches… but the Lisa part.
Jean had tackled Lisa to the ground and… licked her. Really, in human terms… it was as if Jean had tried to kiss Lisa. And forcefully, too!
Embarrassment and shame had flooded Jean ever since she was not-a-dog anymore. Even that though, was tenuous at best.
Once the knights had cornered her, had captured her and dragged her back to the headquarters and shoved her within Albedo’s lab, they got another potion into her mouth and then Jean was… Jean again.
For the most part.
Jean had been huddled on the floor of the lab (her clothes gone, which Sucrose had thankfully planned for and had a blanket ready to toss over her), and Jean slowly came back to herself. Slowly. But when she looked up at Albedo, Sucrose, and Kaeya because of course Kaeya was in there too… they were staring at her with wide eyes.
At first Jean thought it was simple shock for the things that she had done. The humiliation that she had brought upon herself. She felt shame flooding her body, her cheeks burned, her neck felt itchy, her tail was tucked-
TAIL?
Jean stood and turned swiftly and realized she still had a fluffy doggy tail!
“Oh, no.” Kaeya muttered, but Jean heard him so clearly, his words like a scream in her ear, she heard the humor in his voice and turned on him.
“Albedo… what have you done to me?” Jean exclaimed, and it sounded strange, her voice sounded off but not wrong… which was when Jean realized that Kaeya’s eyes were not glued to Jean’s tail, but rather… just above her?
She reached up slowly, horror filling her again, and she felt the top of her head… and the pointy ears that were sticking straight up.
“We still have work to do… Please exit the lab.” Albedo spoke swiftly and was already hurrying to his notes as Sucrose approached Jean to poke and prod at her.
Jean left the lab in a rather grumpy state. A grumpy mood, a grumpy little pout on her lips, and her fluffy tail tucked between her legs. Out of grumpiness, of course, but also in a flimsy attempt at hiding this new and annoying feature.
But it was funny because Jean wouldn’t learn exactly how annoying it truly was until later.
She had many thoughts running through her mind, mostly consisting of how hectic her morning had been due to being a dog, the things she still had to do, like all of her paperwork that she had apparently… tried to eat. That was embarrassing. Jean had to sign and return a contract on a renegotiated trade route to the Liyue Qixing… and it had a bite taken out of the corner.
Jean huddled into her office for the rest of the morning. She would have huddled there for as long as she could, until Albedo had a sure plan to return her to normal, but she still had work to do.
Kaeya was sitting before her desk, pretending that he wasn’t staring at her, hands itching to touch her ears as he distractedly read through a report.
A report of damages. That had been done that day… by a mysterious dog.
Bothersome.
“Sara said two chairs are now broken, Grace’s morning prayer by the Anemo Archon statue was ‘egregiously interrupted’ which were her exact words. A windmill was nearly knocked down, though that sounds like a bit of hyperbole. And apparently… you ran rampant through Angel’s Share and snapped at Diluc? That sounds hilarious, I must say.” Kaeya laughed lightly and Jean simply sat in her own sullen silence as she listened to him.
But he paused, and she looked up to see his wide eye focused on her. On her ears, really.
“Just once? They look so soft, Jean.” Kaeya pleaded.
Ugh, Jean was suddenly rather protective of her fluffy ears.
But Kaeya was pleading, one wide eye, pouty bottom lip poking out as he stared at her.
Jean sighed. “Fine, be gentle though. They are me, you know.”
Kaeya leapt from the chair with eager hands and rounded Jean’s desk. He stooped above her, and then so gently ran his hand over one of her ears. They were incredibly soft, Jean had stroked them both for a few moments while she had been alone, and then abruptly stopped because it felt nice, kind of like being pet. She had concerns on what this was going to do to her… long-term wise, but whatever.
“Very soft. You’re such a cute dog, Jean.” Kaeya murmured. Jean swatted at his hands and sighed.
“Leave me alone now.” Jean pouted.
Kaeya laughed and stepped away from her, stretching leisurely as he wandered about her office. “Do you think you’ll have those adorable puppy ears forever? Or we will look back on this day fondly, wistfully, even.”
“What could you possibly be enjoying about today? Other than my misery?” Jean grumbled, standing and flicking her ears back and forth at the various sounds she caught. Kaeya’s heels against her floor, the little bubbles of her coffee (freshly brought, a peace-offering, as Kaeya had said), footsteps from the hallway.
“Well, it’s funny you ask, because-” Kaeya was cut off when a knock sounded against Jean’s door.
They both froze. Jean was… reluctant to take any visitors. Kaeya knew, of course. Amber too, and Albedo and Sucrose… but beyond them? Jean would prefer as few people as possible to be privy to the shenanigans of the day.
“Yes?” Jean asked quietly, suspicion flooding her. She took a step around her desk, standing just next to it, and she listened… her ears twitched and she ducked her head to listen, oh, she heard a little, faint jingling.
The door opened without any response, something only-
“Lisa!”
Lisa stepped into her office with a soft smile. She spotted Kaeya first, she hadn’t seen Jean, she hadn’t yet look-
Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump-
“Jean.” Kaeya whispered, cutting through the noise, “Your tail.”
Jean blanched, she froze, oh no, and then she took a massive step to the side and away from her desk. The thumping of her tail against the desk abated, and instead, she was left with it quite obviously out in the open, wagging whiplash fast, back and forth… at the sight of Lisa.
“Oh, Jean.” Lisa whispered quietly, staring at Jean, mirth so obviously written all over her face. She cleared her throat and continued. “Oh, I see.” She stifled a laugh, tears welling in her eyes due to her efforts, and she excused herself quickly. “I’m so sorry.” She ducked out of Jean’s office just as quickly as she had entered and Jean stood frozen, stiff of posture and upper lip.
Then her ears slumped, her tail tucked away between her legs in defeat.
“Jean Gunnhildr… wears her heart on her tail.” Kaeya murmured in amusement and Jean shook her head minutely.
“Pardon me for a moment.” Jean said stoically. She nodded toward her door and Kaeya held his hands up in deference, leaving Jean to her office alone.
And Jean seethed. But it was unfortunate because she had clenched her teeth and tried to let out a scream of frustration, and the noise that came from her throat was far more akin to a growl than it should have been, and that only made it all the worse. Hands to her face, Jean was absolutely losing it but-
BUT Really! Can you blame her? She was so perfect! She had it all hidden, under control, and then this damn tail! These ears! THEY’D GIVEN HER AWAY!
Jean wanted to roar and break things and she didn’t because she had restraint but oh! Did she seethe to herself. She deserved it. She had tackled Lisa Minci (Why Lisa? Of all of the people in Mondstadt, she ran past Lisa Minci?) and she licked her. She egregiously slobbered her stupid dog tongue all over Lisa’s face.
AND THEN! To have the gall to WAG at the simplest of sights? Lisa, that was all it took and her tail could have given her flight! FUCK.
Jean… was losing it.
Jean, had in fact, lost it. She locked her office door and slumped away on her couch, curled up into a ball (her ears tucked low and her tail curled over herself… to protect her organs or something, dog-brain, you see?)
She decided that she would not move herself from that couch until Albedo was knocking at her door with a solution.
So… she didn’t move for hours. And more hours. It was late, the sun had set, various visitors had come to Jean’s door and left disappointed at her lack of an answer. But Jean did not want any more… disasters.
She couldn’t quite help it though, as her ears perked and her tail wiggled lightly, at the sound of very familiar footsteps, the familiar little jingle of a certain witches hat.
Jean sat up on her couch as her tail thumped against the plush leather. She was still pouting, and her ears had wilted to the sides like sad flowers, but still, it was Lisa. Coming… closer, mhm, right there-
And the knocking rapped through the room.
Jean twisted her lips, she fisted her hands against her knees and tried not to be eager. “Yes?”
“Jean, it’s me, it’s Lisa. I spoke with Albedo, and I think I have something that will help you.” Her voice was gentle, apologetic even. Jean sighed softly and stood from her couch. Her tail was, well, it was flickering back and forth with barely hidden excitement. Which annoyed her. But… she couldn’t do much about it at this point.
So Jean strolled across her office as stoically as possible and pulled her door open with a curt nod for Lisa once she came into view.
“I see. Please come in.” Jean welcomed her stiffly.
Lisa stepped inside and stood a few feet from Jean, allowing her to close her office door before entering further inside.
“I want to apologize for earlier, as well. It was incredibly rude of me, Jean. I’m sorry if I made you feel awful about all of this.” Lisa smiled gently, her soothing voice calmed every nerve in Jean’s body.
Well, almost every nerve. Her ears and tail were still happily wiggling at Lisa’s words.
“Thank you. I was… there is nothing to worry about. Now, you can fix this?” Jean waved it all away, or she tried to. Lisa’s eyes were quite focused on her happy-tail. Oh, maybe not that. We won’t say it like that. Jean frowned to herself, eyes shot to the side in thought before shaking her head.
“Yes, Albedo and Sucrose shared their work and what led to…” Lisa paused, cleared her throat, and then shook her head. “I think if you drink this, it will fix you.” She held out a small vial, it was a weird blue color and instantly made Jean grimace but… she did trust Lisa. Of course she did.
Jean nodded once, curt and determined, and accepted the vial.
“Alright. Well then, if I… turn into anything else once again, please accept my apologies in advance.” Jean felt like that covered her bases, and she opened the stopper of the vial and downed it in one go, wincing at the reprehensible taste that lingered.
Slowly, and in a way that made it rather hard for Jean to notice, the office grew silent. She no longer heard the steps within the hall, she no longer heard the slow intakes of Lisa’s breath, or the faint rustling of her clothes as she fidgeted.
It felt… strange. Nothing like the feeling of returning to her mostly-human form after being a dog. That had been painful and abrupt. But this was… just strange. A tingling, really. All through her body, and then Lisa was smiling at her. A wide smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes so beautifully.
Jean’s eyes widened and she spun to check, but no! Her tail was gone, despite being absolutely smitten at the sight of Lisa’s smile, she could hide it, no longer wielding a tail with a mind of its own.
“Amazing!” Jean exclaimed, a hand slapping against her head to check for the ears, but those were gone too. “Thank you so much, Lisa. I truly owe you.”
Lisa simply nodded, but she still lingered, she stared at Jean with a hesitance and Jean felt herself flush.
Right. She probably owed Lisa a lot more than just a thank you.
Jean cleared her throat and scuffed her boot into the floor just once before correcting herself. “I also need to apologize for earlier today. I was not, myself, so to speak. I was not thinking properly, while in that form.” Jean said stiltedly, refusing to make eye contact with Lisa.
Lisa laughed a delicate little sound that filled the quiet office. “Well, you certainly startled me.”
Jean shook her head. “Did I hurt you? It… I believe I hit you quite hard.”
“I might have a small bruise but truly, Jean, you bewildered me more than anything.” Lisa stepped closer, closer still to Jean who had tried raising her walls within her office, who had tried to become the leader of Mondstadt once again despite her visitor. “You… well-” Lisa cut off and looked to the side, then down at her feet.
Which was wildly strange to Jean because Lisa was hardly ever anything less than fully confident in herself.
“I am sorry, Lisa. I couldn’t quite… control myself I suppose?” Jean explained, worried she had irreparably offended Lisa.
“Well, that’s just it.” Lisa laughed and bit her lip for a moment. “You licked me, Jean. I mean… dog-you, but, that’s something, no? And your tail. You seemed rather happy to see me?” She pointed these things out.
As if Jean just happened to forget that she had done those things. As if they weren’t seared into Jean’s brain, into her mind, filling her with shame and embarrassment. As if Jean could ever forget doing those things to Lisa Minci!
So naturally her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed bright red.
“Yes…” She breathed out. Jean sighed heavily and felt the defeat weigh on her shoulders, slumping slightly. “I did. I was. Can you blame me?” Jean asked softly, looking up at Lisa. “You fill me with a warmth I’ve hardly known. Your smile, your beautiful eyes, your scent, flowers and books, mostly. Of course I… of course, Lisa. I care far more for you than I’d have liked you to know… unfortunately.”
Jean spoke all of these truths that were so very integral to her, that she hid away as best she could because it wasn’t proper, was it? She couldn’t distract herself or burden Lisa. These things weren’t okay to say, but she had already revealed her hand.
She had tipped the scale, and only honesty was appropriate to remedy this.
Lisa softened immensely as she looked at Jean, but Jean did not see the pity she was expecting. Or even the rejection. She saw only kindness, that very same warmth that she had mentioned and admired.
“Jean… why didn’t you ever say anything to me?” Lisa, despite her power and the threatening eyebrow she always raised at anyone who returned a book just barely on time, was remarkably gentle. Even now, hearing these words from Jean, Lisa did not steel herself or wall up before her, Lisa opened herself to tenderness.
“Because it would have been selfish of me.” Jean answered resolutely. She knew that, she had thought these things through before. How improper it was to view Lisa in such a manner when they were friends, co-workers amongst the Knights. She wouldn’t dare sully that boundary.
“Oh? Did you not consider my feelings at all?” Lisa teased her, light and lilting, and Jean immediately frowned and jerked her head back as if she had been struck.
“Your feelings were all I considered, Lisa! How could you accuse me of that? I wouldn’t condemn you to this knowledge, I appreciate you far too much and I couldn’t bear to lose our friendship.” Jean said sternly, as if she were lecturing Lisa. It didn’t help, of course, so forcefully telling Lisa how much you mean to me.
Lisa laughed in the most gentle manner and rolled her eyes briefly.
“But what about my feelings? Why don’t those matter at all, Jean? Why can’t you consider my side of this?” The words she spoke should have cut through Jean, because they were words that spoke of pain. But not the way Lisa said them, full of warmth and love.
So Jean was thoroughly confused at the dichotomy.
“I… do not know what you are implying.” Jean frowned. She hadn’t ever felt so… slow and flustered before.
Lisa stepped closer, she took the little empty vial that Jean still held within her hands away gently, tucking it within her dress and clasping Jean’s hands within her own.
“Jean, if you are telling me these things… with no expectations for anything between us, I would be greatly saddened.” Lisa spoke lovingly, her gentle voice caressing Jean as much as her hands were. “Now that I know, now that you’ve unwillingly shared your feelings, what do you hope to happen?”
Jean swallowed thickly, rather suddenly feeling hot and stuffy in her office. What did she hope for? For Lisa to forget all of this… but that was not what Lisa wanted, was it? To forget any of this happened and move on like the friends they have been, that was safe and comfortable. That was… not what Jean hoped for though, was it?
“In my wildest dreams, you would return those sentiments and I would be… worthy of you.” Jean whispered gently. Her stomach felt empty and her nerves roiled, but she said it.
Lisa’s smile grew like the petals of a flower welcoming the sun first thing in the morning. “That sounds rather similar to my wildest dreams, right down to wishing I was enough for you.”
“Lisa!” Jean exclaimed, finally reacting to Lisa’s hands, gripping her intently and squeezing her fingers. “You’ve lost your mind if you think you’re anything less than Celestial to me.”
Lisa looked up toward the ceiling briefly, Jean could see the shine of tears just beginning to bead in the corners of her eyes. “How could I know when you’ve never told me? Jean, truly, I do feel the same toward you. You are an absolute wonder, my darling. Open your eyes to me, won’t you?”
Huh. Jean’s eyes were quite wide as she took in Lisa’s sincerity, her beauty, because of course Jean could never quite resist appreciating that, her honesty.
“Okay.” Jean whispered slowly, and if she wondered what exactly all of this meant, perhaps Lisa could see that.
“I mean to say, Jean, that I have quite a lot of unseemly feelings toward you, as well. I think that’s worth exploring, don’t you?” Lisa's voice was hushed like Jean’s, the atmosphere of her office, so late into the night, was one that made Jean feel safe, like nothing could shatter them at that moment.
“If you are willing to, if you would put up with me, Lisa. I will do my very best to ensure you always feel my love for you.” Jean resolved for that to be true. How long had she been keeping this a secret? How long had she internalized her feelings for Lisa? She could share them.
She could show Lisa everything that she felt, and perhaps, she didn’t need a wildly flailing tail to do so.
Lisa clutched her hands tighter and pulled them to her chest in a hug.
“I’m willing, Jean.” Lisa beamed up at her and Jean couldn’t imagine a better sight. “I am going to miss those very adorable ears though, pity I didn’t get to scratch them.”
Jean groaned and hung her head. “Yes… they were quite soft.” She admitted, and Lisa laughed like the chiming of bells.
“Thank you.” Lisa whispered, coiling closer to Jean and sinking fingers within her hair. “Thank you for telling me, Jean. I feel so much for you, and I just want you to be happy.”
“I can’t imagine being anything but when I’m with you.” Jean answered, lifting her head to smile at Lisa as all of the tension and nerves and shame that had filled her since that morning left her body. She felt lighter than ever, her stomach fluttering not with anxiety but with elation.
“Well yes, your tail told me that.” Lisa teased her with an alluring smirk. Jean didn’t mind, she supposed it was fair enough to let Lisa poke fun at her about the entire fiasco. She deserved it. It didn’t stop her blush though, which only served to make Lisa laugh harder. And Jean simply enjoyed the sight, adoration filling her in the face of Lisa’s beauty.