It had been a quiet day at the burrow-office of Dr. Casdan Baituo, a passionate rabbit dentist. That day they had to work morning and afternoon, but most of the cases were simple. The last patient cancelled the appointment, so they were also able to leave earlier, and to see the second-to-last patient one more calmly and with more time than usual.
Casdan worked with Cotton, a novice dental assistant. Both Casdan and Cotton were intelligent rabbits, like humans, who walked on two legs and manipulated objects with their hands. But beyond that, their appearance and anatomy were similar to those of a typical wild rabbit. They did not wear clothes. Both were white. Casdan was completely albino, with large, reddish eyes, a cute pink nose, and the inside of his ears also pink. Cotton, although white-furred, was not albino, and he perfectly resisted the most merciless sun. Both were short, under a meter tall. Casdan was slightly taller than Cotton. Cotton's teeth, on the other hand, were much bigger, although they were not visible when he had his mouth closed. But the most notable difference was his eyes, as Cotton's changed color depending on his mood.
Cotton had no previous dental training: Casdan himself was teaching him. Everything was going great. Cotton was very interested, especially when it came to caring for the younger patients. Cotton had a special sensitivity towards them. And in fact, the patient they ended the day with was a child. Cotton was very happy when Casdan told him:
"Yaaay! We hadn't seen any little one today, yet", said Cotton.
"Well, if he needs it, we'll have a long consultation with him", Casdan explain, "because since the following patient cancelled, so, we will make the most of the time".
"Awesome", Cotton said, full of enthusiasm. "What animal is he?".
"A mouse. He is semi-anthro, just like us. His name is Auver, he is six years old, and his fur is... dark?", said Casdan, reading the medical history form, as his mother had filled it. "He's a new patient".
"Pura vida", Cotton agreed, exposing his huge teeth in a grin.
The difference between the accents of the two rabbits was remarkable. Some said that Casdan's way of speaking resembled the narrator of some kind of medieval or fairy tale, while Cotton's way of speaking made one think of a sunset on a tropical beach, sipping from a coconut on a deck chair.
The patients Dr. Casdan Baituo treated were not humans, but other animals with varying degrees of anthropomorphization: from purely wild (feral) looking creatures with human intelligence, to others that looked almost completely human. Most were semi-anthro creatures, with a few human traits, but predominantly animal, like Casdan and Cotton themselves.
This was also the case with Auver, who after a while showed up promptly at the burrow. He was brought by his mouse mom, who was pregnant. He was also accompanied by three of his little sisters, already born. They all had dark blueish grey fur. They were one big family. Casdan smiled: when seeing for children, for various reasons, it was common for a good part of the family to show up, even if only one of them had an appointment. As soon as a couple of children from different families had an appointment, the waiting room could gather a large crowd. Fortunately, the three little mouse girls were very good and quiet.
Casdan made everybody enter the office, as he needed to talk to the mother before seeing a patient as young as Auver. Cotton greeted everyone as well, and Casdan asked the typical tedious questions about general health. Auver was as healthy as he could be, with only one small defect: his vision. He was severely colorblind. He could not distinguish any color.
"It happens to all of us in the family", the mother explained. "Dad, me, our six children, soon to be seven", she patted her tummy, "and the ones to come, we all see in black and white".
"Of course, it's genetic and linked to the X chromosome", said Casdan, with a certain pedantry he was unable to resist. "By force, all the children you and your husband have will be colorblind."
“Exactly”, the mouse mom said. "That's why on the form I only noted that Auver is... dark", she explained, feeling some self-consciousness.
“We'll save ourselves the explanation about Cotton's eyes”, Casdan thought, smiling. Meanwhile, Auver listened with great attention, as he nodded. He said:
“I can only get black and white right. I always get all the other colors wrong”.
Auver was a smart boy, self-conscious and unafraid to talk and exchange ideas with adults. In fact, he was very smart: he was by far the most studious of all the siblings, and the only one who already wore glasses. “Qué monada”, Casdan thought. “Qué lindo”, Cotton thought. To make him even more adorable, Auver had come to the office with a small plastic toy: a brown caterpillar. Every time he moved it, some kind of loose piece inside sounded, as if it were a rattle.
Auver's teeth had overgrown and needed to be filed down. This included his molars, which also grew continuously, and not only his incisors (unlike in feral mice). He was not in pain or injured at the moment, but his mother had noticed the problem and had brought him to the dentist early. Casdan activated the dental chair to recline Auver. He quickly examined his teeth, corroborating the dental growth, and said:
“Little rodent! You have, like us lagomorphs, teeth that grow continuously. Don't you gnaw stuff to wear them down?”.
Auver just smiled and looked away.
“OK, it's very clear to me”, said Casdan, and looking at his mother, he added: “What am I going to tell you that you don't know? Us rodents and lagomorphs, just like we need to brush our teeth and gums, we need to gnaw, gnaw and gnaw”.
The mother also nodded, lowering her gaze, perhaps a little embarrassed. Casdan didn't touch the subject any further: patients already suffered enough fear and discomfort just by going to the dentist. There was no reason to insist on mistakes and make them feel worse.
“Luckily, it's easy to solve. We're going to file down all the teeth, from the molars to the incisors. Also, in doing so, I'll look tooth by tooth, and I will make sure there are no other problems”, he explained, and seeing the four mouse females standing at the entrance of the cabinet, he also said: “Vosotras four can wait outside, in the waiting room... if that's okay for you”. he looked at the mother, “and if it's okay for you too”, he looked at Auver. “We often prefer it that way. It's usually more comfortable for everyone if parents and siblings wait outside while we work”.
Auver's mother smiled, and said to her son:
“Well, are you going to be brave? See you later”.
He nodded his head. The four female mice then left. Casdan gave Cotton a thumbs up, and said:
“See? That's a cooperative mother that lets us work in peace”.
Cotton laughed softly too, remembering some recent case of... less cooperative parents. They then turned their attention to Auver. They had already planned that every time they took care of a little one, Cotton would take it upon himself to talk to him a bit, before starting any serious procedures, to make sure the kid was comfortable and at ease:
“How are you?”, Cotton asked Auver. “Are you afraid to be here?”.
Auver shook his head, although he didn't seem to be completely at ease. Cotton's eyes, which changed color depending on his mood, were currently a deep orange: a sign that he was comfortable and happy. Casdan smiled, pleased, always happy himself to see his assistant comfortable. Pointing to Casdan, Cotton said:
“We are going to help you, as the doctor always says. Because your teeth got too big. We are just going to reduce them a little bit, OK?”.
Auver nodded. He opened his mouth, pointed to his lower left first molar with his bare little mousey hand, and as best he could, he said:
“This one, I feel it's bigger than before”.
“But of course you do, how smart you are!”, Casdan then said to him “It's great that you pay attention to your teeth. That way you'll quickly find out if you ever have a problem. Well, now, let's... wear down, reduce, a little bit, your teeth. You know, like a pencil with a pencil sharpener, which makes it a little bit shorter. Look, I'm going to do it with this, which is called a turbine... “.
Casdan briefly explained to Auver about the different rotary instruments that were available, as well as the dental drills. Generally, it's the unknown that's scary, so explaining things and being transparent was key to calming patients (of any age). When it came time to get down to business with dental cusp reduction, Cotton offered Auver:
“Would you like to take my manito?”.
And he agreed, and he took Cotton's hand.
And so, with his turbine equipped with a fine-grained diamond bur, Casdan began filing the cusps of Auver's molars, with abundant irrigation. Cotton used the suction system to suck up the water with one hand, while with the other he squeezed Auver's hand. And Auver, with his free hand, occasionally shook his caterpillar.
Auver turned out to be an exemplary patient, well-behaved and cooperative. Casdan didn't need to ask him to open his mouth wider even once, and he was able to move his tongue in a way that greatly facilitated the work of both the operator and the assistant.
Cotton was quite sweaty, and his armpits had a strong smell, somewhere between vinegar, onion and cumin, like that of humans. Casdan, being the great armpit enthusiast that he was, had a very well trained nose for perceiving sweat, similarly to a wine taster. So, the dentist rabbit had noticed it as soon as he had started working with Cotton. He was able to feel his underarm scent quite often, but he had never said anything to him. In fact, it didn't bother him in the least, nor did he consider it a problem for working with patients. “We're all animals, after all”, Casdan thought.
Interestingly, Auver was also a great armpit lover, despite his short age. Therefore, his attentive nose was able to clearly smell Cotton's intense sweat. Especially, when Cotton extended his hands a bit, to take Auver's hand, and to lift the dental suction: his arms were a bit lifted, and Cotton's delicious axillary aroma flooded Auver's sensitive mouse nostrils. Having such a precocious interest, Auver resembled Casdan, as Casdan had developed his interest in armpits while being even younger than Auver.
As Casdan worked on his mouth and Cotton suctioned the water, Auver breathed in deeply several times, reveling in the smell, which was more oniony than anything else at the moment. Casdan, who also noticed it, wondered if Auver would smell it, hoping it wouldn't bother him.
A few minutes passed. Casdan finished filing Auver's twelve molars. Worth remembering: murids, rats and mice, have neither premolars nor canines. Casdan took special delight in his small third molars, because third molars, “wisdom teeth”, were Casdan's softest spot, even more so than armpits. Worth remembering too: rodents and lagomorphs develop their full set of adult teeth a few weeks after birth.
“Are you alright?”, Casdan then asked him. “We're almost done, I just need to file your incisors: your buck teeth”, he touched them with his finger.
Auver smiled and nodded, calmer now, after a while feeling that the cusp reduction was not painful. In fact, with unexpected spontaneity, he pointed at Cotton and announced:
“I really like the way he smells”.
Casdan smiled. He chuckled, in fact. “So you are one of mine, you little rodent! Uno di noi” he thought, amused.
But Cotton got nervous. The poor guy, shy by nature, was aware of his body odor, and immediately felt very embarrassed. He folded his arms, lowered his gaze, and his eyes turned green, indicating nervousness. Casdan felt sorry for him, and immediately tried to turn the situation around. He asked Auver:
“Do you like armpits?” he said, raising his arms, and exposing his own armpits, which had a more discreet aroma than Cotton’s, resembling chives right then.
“Yes!”, Auver nodded vigorously, almost getting up from the dental chair to look closely at Casdan's armpits. "I really like to see them, touch them, smell them. Even... ", he raised his arm, rubbed his own armpit with his finger and licked it "... tasting them", he said, amused.
“Hahaha, how guay!”, Casdan laughed and stroke the fur on Auver's little head.
Poor Cotton remained silent, still feeling very self-conscious and with green eyes. So, Casdan decided encourage him. He gestured to tell Cotton to follow him, and he said to Auver:
“Wait a second, we're going to talk”.
They entered a small room next to the office, which functioned as the prosthesis lab. Once alone, Cotton said:
“This causes me so much pena... this is awful”.
“Cotton, listen to me”, Casdan told him, making him look at him straight into his eyes. “You like pleasing children always, right? To make kids have a good time with you, doing things they like... “.
Cotton nodded.
“In that case, take advantage of what nature gave you!”, Casdan, said. “Auver has already said that he likes armpits, and that he likes the way yours smell. My goodness, even I like the way they smell!”, he exclaimed, friendly tapping his shoulders to encourage him. “You may not believe it, but there are plenty of us armpit lovers. So, don't hesitate: let him look at your armpits, to touch them and to smell them. Why not? I assure you he's going to love it, because when I was his age, I already had this interest, hehehe.
Cotton was still not fully convinced. So, Casdan insisted:
“Look, you know very well that it is not easy for children to be here, at the dentist. Even you have a tough time as a patient. I know that for a fact”.
“Yes, sometimes I need to imagine that I am a powerful fox or something like that to overcome stress”, Cotton explained.
“The truth is that coming to the dentist is always intimidating”, Casdan continued. “It is tough even for Auver, even if he is cooperative. Don't you see how he comes with his toy, and how he holds your hand all the time? Even if he's nice and cooperative, I assure that deep inside, he's nervous and worried.
Cotton nodded once again. He said:
“Yes, I noticed. I feel like doing something so that he calms down and is comfortable”.
Casdan smiled, and tapping again Cotton's shoulder, he said:
“Well, my boy, you can do something else apart from holding his manita. Let him see, sniff and touch your armpits. Even lick them, if he feels like it. Didn't you hear how he said he likes the way you smell, so enthusiastically and spontaneously? And didn’t you see how he almost jumped from the chair to look at my own armpits, when I lifted my arms? Hahaha”.
Cotton smiled, a bit calmer than before, but still feeling some shame. His eyes were still green.
“Venga”, Casdan encouraged him. “You just let him do it. And that way, his stressful dentist visit will become a funny... axillary game, hahaha”.
Cotton ended up accepting, finally persuaded by the idea of making Auver happy. When Casdan and Cotton returned with him, Casdan explained to him:
“Look, let's do something. I will finish filing your front chompers, and since you have been such a good mouse, Cotton will let you “play” with his armpits. How about that?”.
Auver's excited face was indescribable. Any hint of nervousness for being at the dentist vanished. He opened his eyes wide in excitement, almost beyond belief. He raised his four-fingered fists, exposing his own armpits as he did so, and exclaimed:
“GREEEAT!”.
Casdan looked at Cotton. His eyes were still green, but his expression showed that he was already more at ease with the situation. Casdan, knowing him, correctly guessed that they would soon turn orange again. He gave him a thumbs-up, as if to say “all is good”.
A minute later, Casdan had finished filing Auver's incisors. He asked him if he felt fine, and he said yes. He said that he felt much better with his teeth reduced, as he touched them with his tongue. Casdan announced that they were finished, and he pressed the button to sit Auver up. Cotton took some paper and dried his little face and glasses, which had become wet from the turbine aerosols.
And sitting up, with his round ears perked up, his long tail flopping to one side, wearing his cute round glasses, and with his fleshy mouse feet exposed, Auver was absolutely adorable. He pointed his finger at Cotton and claimed what was his:
"Let me sniff you now".
Casdan gave Cotton a thumps up again. He finally overcame shame and let Auver smell him.
Cotton raised both arms, exposing his armpits, covered by fur, but less dense than in the rest of his body. It also appeared a bit matted, for being wet from the sweat. Under the fur, his pinkish skin was clearly visible, although Auver could not perceive it was pinkish. What he did perceive were the multiple folds that covered Cotton's armpits, giving them a more or less human appearance. Auver's peepers lit up. He kneeled on the dental chair and darted towards Auver, that was still by the side, next to the suction system.
Auver alternated each armpit. He didn't lick them, but he did pet them, enjoying their texture, and then he licked his own fingers, to feel their better taste. The taste of sweat was not exactly pleasant, but Auver was still interested. And needless to say, he also stuck his mouse nose under each one, sniffing in deeply, multiple times.
“I love it, I love it”, he said, once intoxicated on the oniony and sour armpit aroma. “Thank you so much, Cotton! You're the best”.
And Casdan, who was not made of stone, couldn't resist going over to Cotton to sniff him too. Basically, he coordinated with Auver, sticking his little pink nose to the armpit that the enthusiastic little mouse left free, and then they swapped. Cotton, arms raised, and already orange-eyed, had to laugh. His “boss”, that he was supposed to respect and obey, was sniffing his armpits... which he thought stank so much! It was comical. To make it better, Casdan said:
“They just smell great, of course they do, and here we are, my friend Auver and me, enjoying it like nobody! Is that right, Auver?”, the little mouse nodded his head vigorously. “Of course! Give me five, tío!”.
And Auver and Casdan high-fived each other, as partners in “interests”. Cotton laughed again, and they kept sniffing him. And so it went on for at least another minute, until at last they stopped. Auver told him again:
“You're the best, Cotton! Nobody had ever let me do something like this”.
And he rushed over to him, not to sniff him this time, but to hug him. Casdan's heart filled with tenderness, knowing that Cotton was very sensitive to kids' affection, and that he would melt internally. He returned Auver's hug gladly, finally not feeling at all embarrassed.
“Today's been a wonderful day”, Auver said next, with a huge smile on his face, and perhaps literally repeating a phrase from cartoons. “Although I had a little problem earlier”.
“What happened to you?”, Cotton asked, already thinking of helping him. “Was it because of something here?”.
“No, it wasn't here”, Auver replied. “It was before I came, with my dice”.
And he waved the brown toy caterpillar he had brought with him.
“I had this really cool die, with twenty faces”, Auver explained, “and it accidentally got into this toy”, he shook the caterpillar again, the die rattling inside. “And now I can't get it out”.
“Oh, so it's not a rattle”, commented Casdan.
“Let me see if I can take it apart and get it out for you”, said Cotton. “I have experience in assembling stuff”.
Auver gave it to him, trusting him utterly.
“I don't care about the caterpillar, I just want the twenty face die back!”, Auver proclaimed.
Cotton examined it briefly. Its mouth was a hole, through which the red icosahedron-shaped die had slid. The tico rabbit realized that it was impossible to disassemble:
“It has no screws, and the pieces cannot be taken apart” he explained, shaking it and rattling the die inside. “I think that, to get the die out, we will have to cut it, or break it”.
“Can you guys do that? I already said I don't care about the caterpillar”. Said Auver. “I don't like it all that much”.
Cotton was then going to suggest Casdan he used the turbine to cut the figure. But the insatiable Casdan, a lover of bites (among many other things), had a light bulb moment:
“Cotton, use your teeth to destroy it!”, he told him.
Auver kneeled again on the dental chair, full of interest. He asked Cotton:
“Could you do that?”.
“Well, it looks very hard and tough, but I can try”, he replied, willing to please him, and happy to see Auver interested in him. Cotton thought: “Casdan has strange ideas, but they sure work great!”.
“He can easily break it”, Casdan added. “Cotton has some great chompers. Stronger than mine”.
“I already tried biting it to break it, look”, Auver said, pointing at a part on the caterpillar's tail with bite marks. “But it is too hard!”.
“It won't be a problem for him”, Casdan insisted, and with absolute spontaneity, he pulled Cotton's split lip apart to expose his incisors. “Believe me, I'm a dentist and I can tell. Look at his teeth. His chewing muscles are strong and toned, and his molars are most robust. Cotton, open your mouth”.
And so, with no reason to be ashamed at this point, Cotton opened his mouth. He discovered a complete and perfect set of 28 adult rabbit teeth, including his tiny third molars. All his teeth were optimally worn, yet razor sharp. Countless ridges covered his palate, his tongue was large and chunky, and a cartoonish human uvula decorated his wide healthy throat; his large maw isthmus at the back of his mouth.
“Wow... ”, said Auver, with sparkling eyes. Maybe, seeing that vision, and hearing that explanations, a new “interest” was forming in his young brain.
“Go on, Cotton”, Casdan said. “Destroy the little toy with your teeth, and give Auver his die”.
Cotton nodded, smiled and put his bunny teeth to work. Under the watchful eyes of Casdan and Auver, he placed the caterpillar's head between his large incisors (twice as long as Casdan's), and took a sharp bite. The plastic was very tough, but it still crunched. It crunched, but it didn't break: Cotton's incisors were sharp enough to slide over the plastic, ripping off brown bits, without sinking any deeper. Cotton spat them out.
The tough plastic had crunched, which delighted Casdan in particular, who analyzed the situation ‘scientifically’: crushing plastic between the molars is one thing, but doing it between the incisors is a whole different story. And Cotton was comfortably able to do so: he could have broken the caterpillar to pieces using only his incisors. But he soon switched to more powerful teeth, to finish the job quickly: he put the entire toy in his mouth, which fit perfectly, and placed it between his premolars and first molars. He clenched his teeth: his masseters and temporaries tightened, and.... crunch!
Half of the figure shattered, breaking into several pieces between Cotton's powerful back teeth. Cotton spat the pieces of shattered plastic into the cabinet's bio-waste bin. He pulled the icosahedron die out of what was left of the caterpillar, and handed it to Auver, who exclaimed with joy:
“Yaaaaaay! Yay, yay, yay! My die! Thanks, Cotton, you're my hero!”
And he got up from the chair, and ran around it, to go with Cotton. Standing up, he gave him a great big hug. Cotton, with teardrops in his eyes, leaned forward to hug Auver too, and he held him, very appropriately, by grabbing him under his arms. Casdan smiled, pleased, as he considered one last idea to put the icing on the cake, that special evening:
“What color is the dice?”, asked Auver, after the hug, showing it.
“It is red, and the numbers are white”, Cotton told him, also happy to help him with his isssue of severe colorblindness.
“Ah, very nice”, Auver said, trying to memorize that piece of information.
“Auver, are you happy with Cotton?”, Casdan asked him.
“Yes!”, the mouse agreed.
“Well, if you like you can do something to make him happy too, and say thank you for everything he has done for you today”.
“Oh, what?”, Auver asked, and Cotton also looked at him with great interest, wondering again, what idea would old Casdan come up with.
“Have you ever gotten a foot massage?”, Casdan asked Auver, and Cotton's face lit up.
“Ooh... ”, Cotton whispered.
“Ah... no, never”, Auver answered, lifting a foot from the floor and wiggling his little five toes.
“Why you'll see! It's very relaxing and pleasant”, Casdan said, smiling. “Since you have been such a good mousy, you deserve it. Sit on the chair again. I'm going to get some cream. Cotton will be very happy if you let him massage your feetsies”.
Auver looked at Cotton, smiled and nodded:
“Sure thing. Cotton, my feet... are all yours!”, he said, maybe repeating again some phrase from cartoons.
Auver sat on the dental chair, stretched out his legs or hind legs, and wiggled his toes. Casdan activated the dental chair to recline him again, and went for the massage cream. Cotton was overwhelmed with joy. When everything was ready, he smeared his hands with cream, and began to rub Auver's feet. The soles were a little dirty, but he didn't care.
The little mouse rested his head on his hands, exposing his armpits in doing so. They also had folds, and some pinkish skin was visible beneath the fur. They were not too smelly right then, but a sniffer at close range might have caught a scent of corn snacks. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment. He was very relaxed. Cotton, caring and loving, squeezed hard enough to intensely stimulate all the joints, muscles and ligaments in his feet, but without hurting him. He also made sure to mobilize each toe, and to rub and massage the spaces between them, making Auver shudder with pleasure.
Meanwhile, Casdan called Auver's mother, to tell her that they had finished and to explain how everything had gone. She could see her son receiving Cotton's massage: there was nothing to hide. In fact, she was quite amused.
“Oh, my, they are sure spoiling you!”, she commented. “I wish I had gotten foot rubs when I was taken to the dentist as a little girl”.
“The thing is that this is... a multidisciplinary health center”, Casdan smiled. “We do a bit of everything here, we even give massages! We are a bit like physical therapists here... or podiatrists”, he stuck out his tongue.
“Hey, I want one too!”, one of the little sisters said, and Cotton's face lit up again.
“Hahaha, well, you will get one some other day, when you come for your check-up”, Casdan had to tell her, to his regret, since he would have been happy to let Cotton give massages to the whole family.
And Cotton had to finish his massage too. Auver, polite and grateful like no other little boy, thanked and hugged him once again. His mom paid for the consultation, the family warmly bade farewell, and they left.
Once again alone, Casdan asked Cotton:
“So, what? Did you enjoy?”.
“Yesss! A lot”, he replied, opening wide his orange eyes.
“Me too. Like a piggy rolling around in a puddle”, he winked his eye. “And you were ashamed at first, eh?”.
“Yes... actually, yes”, he agreed.
“Why you shouldn't feel ashamed for your body! You have plenty of beautiful things to offer the world”, he patted his shoulder. “You have already seen that I'm not the only what that appreciates them, hahaha. You have made Auver very happy with your armpits! And with your teeth too. Just like he has made you happy with his feet... isn't that precious?
Cotton smiled and giggled.
“Come here”, Casdan told him, extending his arms. “You are an amazing dental assistant, and an amazing rabbit in general”.
And he gave him a long hug. In doing so, the insatiable Casdan couldn't but deeply breath in, to enjoy his underarm aroma again.
“It's a pleasure to work with you, Cotton”, he said after the hug. “And soon we well see more kids than usual, you know?
“Ooh!”, Cotton exclaimed.
“You will see, we are going to have so much fun!”, Casdan said, giving him a thumps up and winking his eye, as full of enthusiasm as him.
