It was a cool afternoon, and Kairus the snow leopard was taking a jog through the park. Along the way, they met their friend Achaius, a dragon snow leopard hybrid. The taur was sitting next to a bench along the sidewalk. "Oh hi, Kairus!" He said and waved at them.
"Hey Achaius." They responded.
"How are you doing today?" The dracopard asked.
"I've been good. Although my neck is a little stiff today. I think I slept weird last night." they responded, rubbing the back of their neck. It was a little painful to turn their head very far to the left or right.
Achaius paused then said, "Well if it aches, try just taking your head off!" He held both hands to the undersides of his jaw and pushed up. With a soft popping sound, his head came off in his hands leaving a smooth surface on the top of his neck where it used to be attached. The dracopard head grinned at them.
Kairus' friend made a decent point. Why suffer a pain in the neck if you didn’t need to use it at all? The snow leopard reached up and pulled their head off as well. The relief was amazing. Without any weight to hold up, their neck muscles started to relax. They lowered their head to their chest and almost instinctively used their free hand to feel the empty neck stump. It was a little more rounded than Achaius', but it was buried under so much fluff that it was hard to notice.
"Hehe, you're so fluffy between the shoulders that it looks like you never even had a head." Achaius said as he put himself back together.
Kairus was idly scratching themself behind the ears without much thought. "Oh really? Let me see." They held their head out to their friend.
Achaius casually took their head and turned it around so they could see their headless body. It was true. The fur between their shoulders completely obscured their neckstump, making their body look like it never had a head in the first place. "Oh, your headless body looks great." Achaius said, scratching Kairus' cheek. They smiled, and their headless body made a cute pose. "Are you trying to show off now?" their friend said, tilting their head up slightly so they could see him grinning down at them.
The snow leopard head replied, "Wait that wasn't me. It just did that on its own!" They looked back at their headless body. It waved at both of them and swished its fluffy tail around trying to look cute. They could feel it moving around, but they weren't giving it any commands. Achaius looked surprised, "Oh that's weird. Your body has a mind of its own?" The headless body put its hands on its hips proudly in response. Kairus could feel the taur holding them perk up.
Kairus was amazed by this. They could still make their body move if they wanted, but they could feel their control being shared with whatever mind their body had of its own. "Oh that's cool. Hey Body, can you hear me?" the head asked.
The body replied with a thumbs up.
Kairus never knew about this. They felt a little bad that they never let their body do what it wanted. "Sorry I haven't shared control with you. There's no hard feelin-?"
Their headless body seemed to be sensing what they were thinking, because it walked over and scratched the head affectionately before it could finish the question.
"Daw" Achaius said seeing this little moment of affection between Kairus' head and their body.
Kairus smiled and looked up at their body. Then they had an idea. "Hey, how about I let you be yourself for a few days, Body? I'll let Achaius take care of my head, and you can do whatever you want."
The headless body clapped at this idea and gave two thumbs up. Achaius gasped and looked down at the snow leopard head. "You would really let me take you home and look after you?"
Kairus realized they were asking a lot of their friend with this. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to. I can let my body ta-". They started before the dracopard interrupted excitedly,
"No I would love it. You'll receive the best treatment ever. I'll look after your head as long as you guys want me too." Achaius wagged his tail. Their headless body's tail was curved like a question mark, showing that it too was excited about this.
"It's agreed then. Body, you get full control and can do whatever you want for a few days." Kairus relaxed, and like flipping a switch in their mind, they let go of all feeling and control of their body. They were now just a helpless snow leopard head.
Their headless body picked them up out of Achaius' arms to give them a hug before handing them back over. Achaius hugged the body too, squishing Kairus in between them for a moment. "We'll call you when we want you to come get your head back." he said. The headless body gave them a thumbs up, agreeing to the idea. Kairus watched as their body walked away on the park sidewalk. It gave them one last wave goodbye before disappearing from view.
Achaius carried Kairus' head back to his house. He had to hold them under one arm to fish his keys out of his saddlebag to unlock his door. He stepped inside and starting putting his stuff away. He didn't want to just place their head down on the foyer table like a pile of mail. But Achaius had to take his walking hooves off and replace them with his indoor paws. "I don't have enough hands for all of this. Hold on, let me fix that." he said. The dracopard looked around his living room, checking for the most comfortable place to put down Kairus' head. He set the snow leopard head down on the couch. "I'll be back in just a couple of minutes." Achaius seemed nervous and a little upset to leave their head sitting by itself just after he got home with them.
"Oh, I don't want to be a burden. I can just relax here while you do stuff." Kairus said, looking up at Achaius from the couch.
The dracopard nodded then rushed off.
Kairus could hear the dracopard moving after he left their field of vision. The taur's four big hooves all thumped against the stairs as he rushed up to another room. A door swung open and the sound of those hooves muffled somewhat as he stepped inside. It wasn't clear what he was doing. But that probably wasn't important. This was an exciting change to their life. That was much more fun to think about. Kairus hadn't been separated from their body in years. And this time they couldn't even feel their body anymore. They were just a head on a comfortable couch. They could just let-
A hurried thumping of freshly swapped paws down the stairs interrupted their thoughts. He was panting for breath a little as he entered their field of view. "I'm back!" Achaius exclaimed, lifting his four arms in the air triumphantly. Wait, four? Achaius had an extra pair of arms now, connected underneath his original set. It was a pair of tiger arms. The fur color definitely clashed with Achaius' snow leopard fur, but the dracopard didn't seem to mind.
"You got extra arms?" The snow leopard asked, looking up at him from the couch.
"These are your chariots~" He excitedly scooped the head up with those new hands of his.
They let out a little squeak in surprise as they were suddenly lifted up. Without a body, the motion felt like they were in an elevator. Those tiger hands did feel comfortable. They looked big and strong too of course. Kairus blushed a little as they were tilted upwards at Achaius' face in these new hands.
"With an extra pair of arms, I'll always have a pair dedicated to carrying you. How do you like them? Are they comfortable?" Achaius seemed really excited as he asked.
It didn't seem like the dracopard planned on setting them down anytime soon. "They are comfortable. But are you really going to carry me around all day?" they asked.
Achaius moved their head into the crook of one of those tiger elbows and used the other tiger hand to scratch them behind the ears. "I'll carry you as much as you want me too. If you want me to let you rest somewhere, I'll set you down wherever you want. I know you don't have a body, but think of me, and these arms as an extension of yourself. I'll do anything you ask." his voice was relaxed and completely sincere. He also hadn't stopped scratching them behind the ears while he spoke.
This was all so nice and comfortable. They didn't want to be an inconvenience, but they could tell Achaius was enjoying this as much as they were, maybe even a little bit more. "I would love to relax with you. Could we watch a movie together?" they smiled up at their holder.
"Yeah let's do that!" Achaius responded enthusiastically. He carried them to the kitchen and started making popcorn with his upper arms. He reached up to get a bowl, then skipped over to another cabinet to grab popcorn oil.
Kairus watched from his arms as the excited dracopard rushed around his kitchen to prepare their snacks. From their perspective, he was turning, bouncing, and shuffling around. They felt like a sports camera attached to his chest. They zoned out for a while watching everything whiz around. Before they knew it, Achaius had a bowl of fresh popcorn made for both of them.
At Kairus' request, Achaius started up "Spirited Away 2" on the TV before Achaius sat down next to the couch on his taur rump. He set the bowl of popcorn down on the couch, then set the snow leopard head down next to it. He curled a little throw blanket around Kairus so they wouldn't roll around. Their head purred, looking cozy in their spot on the couch.
Achaius started eating popcorn when the movie started. Kairus looked up at him, "Hey I want some! Throw it here!" The head opened their mouth wide.
Achaius hesitated for a moment, then tossed a yellow kernel at the open mouth. It was a lucky shot, and landed perfectly in the snow leopard's open mouth. The head chomped down on it happily and swallowed. Somewhere their headless body was getting fed from this. Kairus opened their mouth eager for more. The second time, the kernel missed their mouth and bounced off of their forehead.
"Sorry!" Achaius was quick to apologize for the mistake.
Kairus' head just giggled from their cozy spot. "Just keep trying!" They opened their mouth again waiting for more popcorn. For the next several minutes, Achaius tossed popcorn into Kairus' mouth. He missed half the time, and didn't seem to be improving. There was a big mess on the couch by the time both of them realized they were missing what was happening in the movie. Achaius decided to just sit closer to Kairus and simply feed them out of his hand. When the movie was finished, there were crumbs all over the snow leopard's face.
Achaius glanced over at them, "I think it's time to give you a bath."
They looked a little embarrassed. "I can't argue with that."
Achaius picked up their head with his lower set of arms and carried it down the hall. He opened the door to a rather spacious bathroom. The floor had a drain and the bathtub itself was the size of a hot tub. Perhaps this tub is just what taurs needed. The dracopard wasted no time starting the water so the tub would fill up. "I need to get some stuff ready. I'm going to keep you by the tub for now." he said. Hanging off the side of the tub was a little metal rack for holding soap. In catalogs, this was called a bathtub caddy. It was just big enough to hold Kairus' head. They were pointed away from the tub so they could see the taur leave to go to another room. They listened to the rushing water for a few moments. Bathing is really the only thing they needed in this room now that they were just a head. That wasn't so bad.
Achaius rushed back, carrying a small pool ring. Kairus looked a little confused, "What's that for?" they asked.
"It's for you, silly." He responded cheerfully. He scooped them up in his lower arms. He used the free hand he had left to shut off the water. The tub was full now. Kairus looked down and watched Achaius step into the tub. The water level rose as he laid down on all fours. Large ripples moved outwards and inwards from the disturbance. He placed the tiny inflatable ring down on the water's surface, then set their head in the middle of it. Gravity tilted them back a little and their neckstump dipped partway into the water. The inflated rubber surface supported their cheeks, leaving them pointed slightly upwards. The movement of the water made the ring slosh around slightly, and they were starting to turn slightly as well.
"How does that feel?" The taur asked.
This was such a new and weird situation for Kairus, they weren't sure how to respond at first. Their pool ring wobbled along the top of the sloshing water. They glanced down. "This is comfortable.. I'm not going to fall in, am I?" The water was more than deep enough to submerge their head, and they obviously couldn't swim like this.
"I won't take my eyes off of you. Your nose won't even have time to hit the water if you do. You're completely safe." Achaius smiled. His tail was swishing a little bit behind him in the tub.
Kairus did feel a lot better hearing this. They smiled and relaxed, enjoying the motion of the water in the tub rocking them around slightly. "This is really nice." They couldn't help but purr as they drifted around the tub on their little pool toy.
Achaius let the snow leopard stay dry for a little bit, he focused on washing himself instead. When they happened to be facing the dracopard, they could watch him use the handheld shower head to rinse the fur on his taur body. The head just hummed as the water started to get a little bubbly from Achaius' shampoo. The next time the pool toy turned to face Achaius, he was completely soaked. "It's your turn now!"
The snow leopard's ears pinned back and here eyes grew wide as they stared up helplessly at the shower faucet in Achaius' hand like they were looking down the barrel of a gun. "KwaPISH" went the shower head as it started spraying them down. Kairus let out an instinctive hiss and bared their teeth in response. This simmered down to a soft rumbling growl as their head got soaked. At least the water was warm.
Achaius couldn't help but giggle as he rinsed down the grumpy head. "Sorry about that, but we have to get you clean." he said, turning off the water. He poured a bit of shampoo into his hands and started rubbing it through their hair. Kairus closed their eyes as Achaius rubbed the shampoo into the fur on their face. They could feel three hands at once lathering the shampoo around on every part of their head.
Achaius was keeping the shampoo out of their eyes, and after a short while, Kairus heard him say "Keep your eyes closed. I'm going to rinse it out." Kairus appreciated the warning. The blast of warm water felt much nicer this time. They could feel the suds washing down their face for several seconds before the spraying stopped. "Okay, you can open your eyes now" He said. The snow leopard opened their purple eyes and looked up at Achaius. They made a mewing sound, trying to look cute as they drifted around.
"Aw, you're so precious. Let me take care of your hair." He beamed down at them and picked up a comb. He spun them around with one of his lower hands. Kairus mewed in surprise as the tub spun around so quickly. A hand gathered their hair into a straight bundle before another started running a comb through it. Achaius gently pulled the comb through their long hair, stopping and carefully untangling it whenever he hit any resistance. It was nice having someone take care of their hair for them like this. They hummed and just enjoyed themself. Achaius repeated this whole process with conditioner next. Kairus lost track of time as he worked. After their third rinsing, he seemed to be finished.
"I think we're done in here" Achaius said as he let the water in the tub start draining. Kairus' floating ring started drifting towards the end of the tub with the drain. They mewed in alarm for a moment before Achaius plucked them from their pool toy. "I'll need a moment to dry off. So I'll let you rest here while I do that." He set their head down on the tub caddy, the little metal shelf hanging on the edge of the tub. Kairus could just stare at the wall. They could hear Achaius standing up and the water sluicing out of his fur. There was some splashing sounds, then water sprayed everywhere. Kairus blinked as the wet taur stepped out of the tub over them. Achaius stepped out of the tub. The water fell into the drain in the bathroom floor. He casually picked up their head from the metal rack.
"Alright. There's still a little bit of you left to clean." He carried their head over to the sink and pulled out a new toothbrush. "Can you open your mouth wide for me?"
Kairus politely obliged him and opened their mouth wide. They enjoyed the chance to show off their sharp feline teeth. Achaius admired them for a moment as he applied the toothpaste to the brush. Kairus felt like a basketball as Achaius suddenly tilted them straight up and turned them around, using a free hand to hold the brush. He held their head in place as he moved the brush around. They relaxed and opened their mouth extra wide again to make it easier for him.
"Brushing was the easy part, next you need some flossing. Sorry the sink is a little cold." The bathroom spun around again as they were suddenly moved and laid down on the bathroom sink. They opened their mouth wide before he even asked them.
"That's perfect. Sorry my hands will be in your mouth a little for this." Achaius pulled off a long piece of floss and pulled it tight. He went right in, carefully popping the floss between each of their teeth and wiping the gaps clean. Achaius didn't hesitate to go in deep. His knuckles bumped against their top row of teeth as he worked. They could feel some shards from the popcorn from their movie time come out. That felt a lot better now. He sat up straight and threw the floss away. "Almost done. It's mouthwash time." Kairus had just closed their mouth a little to relax. But they opened it a little, expecting Achaius to just pour it in. But he nicely poured the mouthwash into its little cup. Achaius tilted their head up a bit where it sat on the sink and brought the cup to their lips. They relaxed and sipped it up as Achaius gently tipped it all into their mouth. He let their neckstump rest flat against the sink again and turned them to face it. "I'll let you do this on your own while I dry off a little."
They appreciated the chance to do something by themself. They swished the mouthwash around in their maw for about a minute. From their perspective on the sink, they could see Achaius' horns in the mirror while he dried off. When he approached again, they spit the foamy mouthwash into the sink.
"I actually haven't used mouthwash in a while. I feel cleaner than ever now." They smiled wide for him when he turned their head around.
"Your teeth do look great. But you're still a wet kitty head. Let's get you dried off now."
Kairus giggled as they were scooped up again. Achaius used a towel to wipe off the little bit of mouthwash on their chin. He brushed the towel around their head, gently turning it around as he worked. Being handled like an object like this was oddly pleasant, especially with how careful Achaius was treating them. After rubbing the towel around their ears, he folded it up, and laid it on the sink to rest their head down one more time. Their wet hair felt a little heavy as it draped down behind them. It almost tipped them back on their neck stump. Achaius pressed a hand down between their ears to hold them in place as he ran a comb through that wet hair a few times. Achaius stopped holding them in place and pulled out a hair drying.
With a quick turn of a knob, the hair drier roared to life. The helpless head was blasted with air as it was pointed right at them. Kairus squeaked and shut their eyes. Their wet fur felt chilly all over as the air rushed through it. The hair drier moved around, chilling more of their fur and recklessly blowing their hair around. They pinned their ears back in protest of this irritation. But after a few more moments, the air started feeling toasty. The snow leopard head relaxed and smiled as the hot air rushed past their whiskers and warmed their face. Then it all stopped. Kairus opened their eyes to see Achaius putting the hair drier away.
They looked a little embarrassed, but they asked, "Can you do that for another minute? It feels really nice."
Achaius smiled and pulled the device back out. "Of course you can have another minute." He turned the hair drier on again and resumed blowing their hair around. He even laid the snow leopard head down sideways so he could dry off the wet fur on the bottom of their head. They closed their eyes and purred. Everything about this was wonderful. After roughly a minute and a half of this, Achaius put the hair drier away and set Kairus' head back upright. "Now lets get your hair fixed up". He thumped his tail on the floor happily as he said that.
The dracopard used a fresh comb to straighten their hair. "I think you would look cute with a ponytail." He said. Kairus smiled at that idea, and soon their hair was being tied up with elastic bands. "What do you think?" He asked and held their head up so they could look at themself in the mirror. The pony tail looked nice and tidy trailing behind them.
"It looks nice. I guess this is my new tail now that I'm just a head." They purred as they said that, still excited about the idea. They felt Achaius' fingers scratching behind their ears. They flicked them playfully and looked at his reflection in the mirror. "And I think you're enjoying this more than I am." Kairus added, grinning back at him.
"Who knows? Maybe I am." He scratched their ears a little more enjoying this moment. Kairus' fur was still a little warm from the hair drier.
"Thanks for the bath. That was really nice." Kairus, said. Then they let out a yawn.
"Feeling sleepy now?" Achaius asked, tilting their head up to look at him.
"I.. guess I am. But I'm just a head now. I don't understand how I can feel so worn out." Achaius' hands felt more cozy, and their eyelids felt a bit heavy.
"Even though you're just a head, you still had a big day. And you did just get finished with a relaxing bath."
There was a moment of silence while Kairus wiggled their neck stump in Achaius' hands. "Oh I must be tired. Sorry, I was trying to nod in agreement. That's a little less clear in this form." They looked a little embarrassed explaining themself.
"I do the same thing when my head isn't attached. But I think it's time we both go to bed." He lifted their head to his chest and carried them into his bedroom.
The bedroom had only one dresser and one closet, Achaius didn't wear much clothing. A large wooden trunk had a spare tail sticking out of it. His bed was very large, and lots of blankets were spilling off of it onto the floor. The rest of the furniture in his room were shelves filled with little decorations and plushies.
"I have a nice spot ready for you." ^;=;^ He lifted them up so they could see his plushy shelf at eye level. Situated among the colorful toys was a tiny pillow with a blanket curled up in the shape of a bird's nest. The little bed approached Kairus' face and all the toys pivoted around them before they realized what was happening. Achaius had simply set them down and turned them around in this designated spot.
They could feel their weigh settling down into the soft nest that their friend had made. The nest felt secure as it was wedged between a fat crocodile and rat plushy. "Oh this is really cozy~" They said. They wiggled their neckstump around in the blanket a little bit until their position felt perfect. Kairus started purring as they relaxed.
Achaius beamed with pride as he watched Kairus enjoying the little bed he had made. He started purring as well. He leaned in and gently bumped his nose against the side of Kairus' snout.
"Goodnight, cutie head~" he said.
Kairus smiled and watched the dracopard turn off the light and curl up in his own bed. They could definitely get used to living like this. After wiggling their neck stump a few more times, Kairus closed their eyes and fell soundly asleep.
