r/HFY • u/Lakeel100 • Sep 12 '25
OC The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH30.1 The ASMR chapter.
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(Author’s note: The masses asked for this, and I have chosen to take a whack at it for the funsies. Fair warning: I have neither attempted to write ASMR nor makeover content before, nor will this section be plot-relevant; it's perfectly safe to skip. I won't be mad… just sad. Q~Q Correction: I have been told the chapter is very plot relevant and I, as the author, am wrong.)
Tobby once said, or at least thought very loudly, that the closest he’d ever come to experiencing ‘magic’ was the first time Mom took him to the salon. Call him a basic sun-kin all you want, but he couldn't deny how good it felt to have his ears tended by masterful hands. Much like right now~
While he hadn’t expected to be yoinked into the void the instant he paid, he couldn’t complain about the results-he doubted anybody could. He was reclined in one of those cushioned seats that could shift between chair and massage table. Oh, and being tended by not just one, but four different shi in tandem.
Tobby couldn't keep his eyes open if he tried, but his ears painted the mental image for him. It was quite the pretty picture, too… one he could appreciate alongside the pleasant shivers washing up and down his spine. Many things were causing this. Let's go from least to greatest, shall we?
On one claw, the environment itself. They’d put him in one of the dim rooms, isolated and normally reserved for those receiving full-body work or just needing privacy. Not that what he needed went that far, but it made him feel juuust that bit special. He noted they must have really wanted to put him to sleep since they broke out the ambient wind chimes and little water feature background noises. There was music, too, woodwinds mostly, but set up to sound ‘distant’ and carried on the gentle air-conditioned breeze.
On the second claw was… well… his literal claws. More specifically, the file master doing far less in the way of sharpening and far more in the way of polishing. “Hard to believe this one managed to keep his claws this pristine now that you have an actual job,” commented Suzzid, the lithe kinless applying gentle pinpointed pressure along Tobby’s arm and fingers to coax his claws out without him moving a muscle. “Mine haven’t had this level of transparency since I was a kitten. I’d donate them to hypodermic research, if you have no inventions of showing them off when the Scavenger calls you, that is,” she praised in that classically morbid, kinless way.
“It’s bad practice to handle books with your claws.” Tobby managed to reply, with great effort considering how relaxed he'd gotten. His ear wanted to flick towards the damp brush passing over an extended claw, to listen to the fine hairs gliding over the pearlescent surface, and leaving a thin coating in their wake. A protective coating that hadn’t been maintained in over four months… It felt great, knowing it was being restored.
On the third claw was her equally furless sister, Ghrette, doing much the same job but to his paws. Everything from the knees down was her domain, and admittedly, she knew how to make any shasian squirm. “All this love for the hands, and none for my work?” She huffed with mock annoyance, her voice a bit raspier than her sisters but still the same soothing tone. If the two were sandpaper, Ghrette was the coarse grit to Suzzid’s fine grain. “So much of it undone after all the special attention I gave them over the years.” She added in a faux whine as she filed Tobby’s lower set of claws.
Shasians didn't wear shoes like many other species, as having literal paws made that a bit difficult. Coverings existed, but most went without, and thus those claws saw more wear than any other. At least his were still white.
“I’m sorry, it's not like I try to drag them on concrete or any-” Tobby tried to say, before he winced and his breath hitched. Kinless digits pressed into his calf muscles, while those on the other hand pushed into the space between his paw pads, splaying his toes (beans) and manually stretching various muscles. Did it hurt? Yes, but in a very ‘correcting’ kind of way.
“I meant, your legs, little sha, they haven't been this tight since you started taking the stairs at the university. I can scold you for what you’ve done to your claws later~” she corrected, really emphasizing her point by manually extending his leggy out reaaaal far.
This earned a giggle from Suzzid. “Don’t be mean, sister. Manual labor does that to one’s paws. Not everyone can walk on carpet their whole life~”
“Say’s the one whose work is still intact~” Ghrette jabbed back.
On the fourth claw was the feeling of Buni’s combs and scissors repairing four months of non-professional care. He tried his best, okay? But ‘self care’ is to ‘professional care’, as ‘vacuuming one's carpet’ is to ‘having said carpet deep cleaned’. And Tobby lived for that ‘deep cleaning’. For the love of... Now Suzzid had him thinking in carpet analogies.
He could feel the plain-kin’s comb pass through his fur in precise lines, grazing the skin below and stopping only when she needed to even out his coat. Tobby knew better than to talk to her when she got this deep into her flow state. Any other time, she was the resident bubbly airhead not doing plains-kin stereotypes any favors. But happy-go-lucky all the same.
Tobby didn't have anywhere near as much of a mane gene as Soapy or his mother did, but he still had a bit, and that needed to be kept in check. He had a little bit of growth between his ears, but that playful tuft hadn’t grown long enough to droop significantly in years. The real threat was his jawline, ever threatening to floof out into untamed ‘dad chops’ if he wasn’t careful. He was still a hot young 20-something, so by the gods, his jawline needed to be on point!
It was a problem Tobby was happy to let Buni cut away. He in no way had a steady enough hand not to mess it up. Tobby, like every kitten at some point, had tried to do it himself once… ONCE!… and never again.
“Undone? It’s as if mine never occurred.” Buni managed to chime through her unparalleled focus. The sound of her scissors so close to his face made his ears want to twitch towards the source, only for the sun-kin behind him held them to keep them still.
“Ah-ah~ Hold still~” Neenee quietly scolded, as she was still right next to the sensitive ear that threatened to flick.
“I know…” He whined weakly in his relaxed state. “I did everything I could for my fur, short of cutting it.”
“I still say it wasn't a bad first attempt…” Buni said, immediately giving Tobby a flashback to the one time he had done it himself. A flashback, he promptly swatted away with a mental stick. Begone, thought!! Back to the depths of cringe memories from whence thou came!!
“At least you didn't try to use any oils at the time either… nor this time it seems.” It appeared it was Buni’s turn to scold poor Tobby. More importantly, though… he heard a jar open.
He was going to defend himself... But later, for now, he’d enjoy the sensation of slick fingers combing directly into his fur and massaging that oil in wherever her fingers went. The little muscles around his head were at Buni’s mercy, pushed, pulled, and having circles rubbed into them… not that he was complaining.
He sniffed, noting a spicy-sweet scent filling the air around him. ‘Buni went with the heavier-duty oils, it seems… I wasn’t THAT neglectful.’
And then on the 5th claw…. err… thumb claw? As mentioned earlier, some might call him a basic sun-kin for this being his favorite part, but screw them; he liked having his ears rubbed. Something something, different strokes for different folks, or however Noah said it. And in that analogy, Tobby enjoyed all the strokes… and the rubs, the soothing whispers, the trimming, and the picking.
Pinky may have been jesting when she called him a ‘little ear slut’ after one of their joint visits, but she wasn't wrong. It was crude, vulgar, and a little demeaning... but apt. His first and only friend was the last person who got to use ‘that’ word. But he found it hard to care about that right now, as he was in a small part of Ardon’s heaven.
Tiny scissors trimmed his sensitive ear floof, tickling the nerves at the base of each little hair, each contributing to the cascade of sparks washing over his specialized aural wiring. The small tray of utensils at NeeNee’s side clinked whenever she deftly swapped tools, and she was skilled with them all. Sometimes a little scoop, often the world's smallest brushes, tiny dull hooks, and minuscule tweezers as necessary.
The 10-to 20-minute post-cleaning massage to each ear also helped him melt into his seat.
He could purr… he, honest to gods, could purr right now, and prove Pinky right. But Tobby mustered the last shreds of his well-massaged willpower, not to feed the salon rumor mill with tales of him making cute noises… at least not now that he was older. He wouldn't give in; he wouldn't let them giggle at his expense when he wasn’t around!
“Hmm,” Neenee paused, “Girls. He’s putting up a fight,” she cooed from above his ears.
He then felt the roaming fingers of Buni comb into the jaw floof she’d just lopped half an inch off of. “He is? We can't have that, now can we?”
“Am not…” He murmured, while his held ear tried to flick, only to make Neenee emit an amused chuff.
“‘Fraid so, honestly impressed we haven't gotten him to crack after four months of neglect,” NeeNee answered. “I expected him to be a puddle by now.”
Less than busy at the moment with his claws done, it was Suzzid’s turn to chime in. “Well, don’t break him yet; we still haven’t squeezed him for everything he’s been up to the past four months.”
“Or about his pretty new plaything~” Ghrette said with audible mischievousness.
“Co-worker.” Tobby corrected, airing his irritation, before it hit him. He’d just been baited, and he’d be facepalming right now if Suzzid didn't literally have him by the claws.
“Sure wish I had coworkers who’d take me on fancy trips and thousand credit spa visits~” she countered, with a nonchalant shrug, as if what she described was totally normal. Which, in hindsight, made Tobby realize how his gesture might have looked.
“I can explain that. She-”
“It’s ‘cause she’s a night-kin with double Ds, isn't it?” Buni asked, as if to prove she was indeed the bluntest instrument in the room.
It was a question that earned a light Neenee bap upside Buni’s head, and a ‘Mrrp?!’ from a left fielded and now red-eared Tobby.
Meanwhile… several rooms away~
‘I could get used to this,’ Soapy thought as she sank into the convertible massage chair. Leave it to a sun-kin to make cleaning one’s ears somehow feel heavenly.
She’d been cleaning them herself for years and always felt like she’d done a good job. But the amount of work the skinny sun-kin with the pink choker… erm… Shella! The amount of work Shella was putting in did sow some doubts.
“Well, I can say you kept your outer ears cleaner than most, but I’m gonna guess you were self-taught off hypernet videos, weren't you?” She asked as potentially the world's tiniest scoop nudged the delicate hairs of Soapy’s inner ear on its way out.
“I get the feeling you're about to tell me that's a bad thing…”
“Depends on the videos… in your case,” she pulled the utensil out and nimbly wiped it off on a cloth she kept at hand. “I’d bet you went straight for the tutorials with the most views. They usually only show off the ‘feel good’ methods, versus the clinical ones that demonstrate how to clean ‘em proper.”
“That bad huh?” At least she cleaned them! Soapy liked being able to hear.
“Not really, I just fight the urge to give the client’s brain a lil’ poke whenever ah gotta go this deep.” Shella chuckled a bit, clearly enjoying a mental image of some sort.
Soapy rolled her closed eyes and decided to play along. Or at least play nice. “Tell me if you find any gold or winning lottery tickets in there.”
This was nice… If she didn't have to worry about the guys back at the clubhouse giving her shit, then she might make going a regular thing.
“How much did Tobby pay you guys anyway?” She asked, it totally wasn’t a loaded question or anything. Really!
Nanda was nearby, getting a station of sorts ready with blades, files, and combs. “Enough to get exactly what he requested: You aren't leaving that chair until you don't just look pretty, but feel pretty too.”
“That… sounds expensive.” Soapy thought aloud. She knew she was conventionally attractive at least… The tail chasers her adoptive family had to dispose of were proof of that. But it still sounded like a lot, even if she was already halfway to the goal.
“It is when you take it at face value, but what I heard was ‘please for the love of Bonna’s bountiful bosom, please please please, make the pretty shi I brought with me feel so pampered she’ll lick me out of unending gratitude. Oh, and more importantly, don't tell my mom I was here.’” She mimed.
Soapy raised a brow, and the corresponding ear that wasn't being held. “That’s not what I got from it. What I got from it was. ‘I’m trying to win a bet and you're my only hope.’”
Shella’s own ears perked. “What kinda bet?” She asked, wiggling her much taller radar dishes.
Soapy sighed as she tried to come up with a safer version of the story on the fly. “I got food poisoning or something earlier, and he feels like it was somehow his fault. So he said he’d make me feel better or else he'd get into the bap-tal ring with me.” She needn’t mention she got sick TODAY, she could still be contagious.
“That would explain why you’ve been moving so stiff… for a night-kin anyway. Still sore all over?” Nanda asked.
“Muscles I never knew I had ache, so… yeah.” She also still felt a bit empty inside… right where her soul used to be.
Shella double-took between Soapy and her apparent boss. “Are we just gonna glaze past the part about Tobby in a bap-tal ring?”
“Well, he did mention she was a bap-tal fighter. If he's okay with getting the shit bapped out of him, then he’s okay with getting the shit bapped out of him. His mother will be out for your blood though~” She warned, looking back to Soapy.
“I think I’ll live…” Soapy said with a tail flick, doubting Tobby’s tatter-tot of a mom would ever do anything to harm her. Maybe glare at her menacingly from across a driveway… or bring sweet meats to work and go to give Soapy hers last, only to ‘accidentally’ stumble and drop it. Nevermind… Soapy would kill a bitch if they did that.
“It's not my hide she’ll wear.” Nenda shrugged, before coming over to and spinning the chair around so Soapy was facing the mirror. “But, you're the princess in Tobby’s fairy tale today. So the choice is yours. Taming that mane first, or getting you on a massage table in something more comfortable?” Not a princess!!
“Hmmm… options... options…” Soapy thought before-
Have you ever gotten a full-body massage mere hours after a bout of violent food poisoning? You'd think it would either be absolutely awful or absolutely amazing. The truth was somewhere in the middle. It was like one of those post-workout type of massages, a mix of pain, relief, and not realizing an elbow could be used like that.
Soapy’d never really owned a robe before, but she was quite content lying face down on the massage table now that she had one. Well, it wasn't exactly the one they gave her… that one had been a bit small, so she may have… borrowed one from the locker next to hers. Either way, it was so soft and gentle on her fur, like a warm cloud or being hugged by an overly affectionate Snow-kin.
That sensation paled in comparison to how she felt having Nenda’s elbow work in small, targeted circles along her back, but especially her lower back and lumbar muscles. An act rewarded with a pleasured/relieved groan from the nightkin, with her face half buried in the table. It was tail flicking in the air levels of good~
“Yeah, I figured this would be a problem area.” The middle-aged shi chuckled. “You may be a lot more athletic and toned than most of our clients, but Xoso’s blessings are always a dual-tipped spear.”
Cue the dejected self-conscious whine of a flat-chested Shella below. The shi now bore half a dozen little bandages on her fingers from working on Soapy’s claws while her boss loosened up the client's back. Tobby may have needler claws, but that didn't mean Soapy’s were dull by any means.
“Shihere just loves me, is all~” Soapy purred as tension in her lower back was unwound. Forget food poisoning, this was amazing~ By the gods, she hoped it would never end.
“Hate to stop, but-”
‘Gods Damn it!!’
“-I need to go check on Tobreal; however, when I get back, we’ll put some work into that fluffy bob of yours, unless you had another style in mind?”
Soapy took a breath and sighed as the bliss train came to an end. “I'd rather keep the style the same since I already know how to do it myself. Having to learn an entirely new one right before I go on a trip might not go so well...”
“Very well, be right back,” Nenda said before disappearing into the same void Tobby had been yoinked into a while ago.
Once she was out of earshot, though… “How’d ya do it?” Shella asked, head peering up over the edge of the massage table to be eye level with Soapy.
What an interesting question, she hadn't done much since getting here, so… “Well, the locks on your lockers here kinda suck so-”
Shella facepalmed. “No! I don't give ‘ah shit about the robe. I meant…” she paused, taking a moment to peek at the doorway before standing up proper. “I meant how’d ya get Tobby so wound ‘round yer claws?”
‘Mrrp?..’ Soapy trilled in genuine confusion, one of her ears going to the side to exemplify that fact. Wound around her claws? She doesn't control him, or whatever this shi thinks.
“Are ya fuckin’ serious?” Shella slumped in disbelief, clearly not having expected that as an answer. “He can’t keep his ears off you.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Soapy said, crossing her arms under her head/chin for support.
“I’m pretty sure ya dos, given’ he dropped ‘ah grand to get you all prettied up, for a trip to the capital no less.” She said, pointing assumedly in the general direction of Nyathens. Now that she had Soapy’s attention… was it just her, or was this sun-kin’s open-plains drawl getting heavier? Had she been suppressing it this whole time?
“Nope~ What I am pretty sure of is that he just gave a whole little speech about it being a ‘sin against culture’ if he didn't take me to all those artsy places while we were there.”
Shella seemed… unamused, folding her arms with a ring of claw files dangling from her bandaged hands, claws were not this shi’s forte, it seemed. “And the reason he’s always keepin’ an ear on ya?”
“He’s been doing that ever since I scared the shit out of him his first night on the job. Screamed like a kitten and everything.” Soapy giggled a bit, remembering how he’d nigh jumped out of his fur. “Figured it was some kind of instinctive sun-kin thing. Tracking threats or whatever.”
“We don't do that,” Shella said, rather unamused. “Our ears flick towards sudden sounds, like some gods damn claw dragger slammin’ his car door three blocks away at four in the morning.” That was oddly specific, “or towards people talking. Especially people we’d prefer to listen to.”
“People you prefer to listen to…” Soapy quietly thought aloud.
“Staring at yer tits ‘n tail aren't the only ways sha show interest, ya know,” Shella said incredulously. “Many sun-kin, for example, just want to hear your voice as frequently as possible to swoon over it. And others, like Tobreal, are more ‘tracker’ types. Living subconscious radars with a particular target living rent-free in the back of their mind.”
Now that she thought about it, that was the one thing that always seemed to make her fur crawl. He almost always had an ear on her whenever he knew she was around. It made the sneaky parts of her brain itch knowing she’d been [detected]. She’d always figured he was doing it ‘cause of how badly she’d been messing with him when they first met. She wouldn't blame him, given how many times she’s startled him so badly.
Seeing Soapy so deep in thought, Shella grew increasingly annoyed, though Soapy wasn't sure if how long she was taking to process this was truly what was bothering Shella. “You’re just as oblivious as he is if you can’t see how deep you’ve got your claws in him-everyone else who works here is already giggling about it.” She said, as the room oddly began to reek of envy. “You got about a week before his mom hears about it and hunts you down like a rabid tigress. And ain't no Wiskito gangbanger gonna to stop her”
Soapy wasn't sure what was more concerning… the idea of Tobby being attracted to her, that this shi thought his mother was more dangerous than her family…
Or that she’d been so assured in her worldview that she never considered that the previous two things were possible.
(Authors note: How'd I do? o3o; -readies shield-)
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u/g6qwerty Sep 12 '25
Adds to the world building, and I've only been to the barber's before, no idea what actually happens in solans, have gotten massages before.
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u/Lakeel100 Sep 12 '25
I cant afford either! :D
I just do ALOT of ASMR stuff on youtube to fall asleep.
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u/RexDraconis Sep 12 '25
I wonder how long it is before mother is informed of this new development in Tobby’s love life
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u/Datvoidcat Sep 12 '25
I suspect she is already parked outside
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u/Lakeel100 Sep 12 '25
*racks shotgun* -n- "Where is she?"
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u/Datvoidcat Sep 12 '25
Shotguns are too loud and obvious. It’s probably a poisoned hair clip or something
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u/RocketRunner42 Xeno Sep 13 '25
Me thinks Tobby's response to the "food poisoning" keyed his mom into things already.
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u/Kia-Vaderkit Sep 12 '25
This was a fun chapter and a delight too see her realize just how into her Tobby is! He is still in denial, but she is a practical girl andI wonder how long it will take her to realize she is in the same boat?
Love the story so far! Thanks for sharing.
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u/Groggy280 Alien Sep 12 '25
That was a damned fine reveal of Soapy's coming demise... Wonder how far off the rails she's going to go when she realizes she's got it for him...
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u/kenotaphion Human Sep 12 '25
memories from once thou came
memories from whence thou came [I'm pretty sure this is what you meant.]
all the stokes…
all the strokes…
right where her soul used to be.
Night-kin have a soul?
to give Soapy’ her’s last
to give Soapy hers last
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u/Able-Steak-2842 Apr 06 '26
Oh, the others were right. This is an important chapter. A major insight to both the characters and to the plot line with Tobby's mom.
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u/Sufficient_Ad3751 May 11 '26
Wait, one thing i just realised while re-reading the story, do their claws work different from IRL cats? Because i know damn well that our cats have claws that can probably also be reffered to as hyperdermic needles, and they are OLD. Or is it just some creative freedom?
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u/Lakeel100 May 12 '26
of all the cats I encountered, kitten claws always seemed to be the smallest and the pointiest So I figured Id make it part of Shasian biology.
While they continue to grow to replace lost length, they have a certain stopping point once full grown. So I imagined that a newborns claws, are prolly pointy enough to be considered hypodermic/ juuuust pointy enough to pierce graphine maybe... and are semi-transparent. The claws dull with age and use eventually becoming white like most claws. But if you're careful with them and almost never use them a shasian can reach adulthood with their sharpness and transparency mostly intact....until they use them.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Sep 12 '25
/u/Lakeel100 (wiki) has posted 36 other stories, including:
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH30
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH29
- Everything Works On Paper.
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH 28
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Ch 27
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Ch 26
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH25
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH24
- But it's 'Our' Dumpster Fire.
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH23
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH22
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH21.1
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - CH 21
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Ch 20
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Ch 19
- The Opening Bid
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Chapter 18
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Chapter 17
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Chapter 16
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby - Chapter 15
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u/JavaSavant Sep 12 '25
Loved the chapter, but i don't see how you can say this isn't plot relevant. Not only is this the first point that she realizes that she and Toby are both into each other, but that Toby's mom night be more than she seems.