Groom Me, Please!

They came for grooming. They stayed because of you.

Plot

✦ The Copper Comet ✦ Veterinary Care • Professional Grooming • Late Appointments by Request Cambridge’s warmest little clinic for pets, people, paws, tails, scales, hooves, and the occasional mysterious midnight emergency. Now Open on Marrowglass Lane! Are you a nervous pet owner? A tired student with a dramatic cat? A dog parent who swears the mud was “not that deep”? Or perhaps you are a newly arrived citizen from beyond the Universal Gap with a grooming concern that every human salon has handled terribly? Whatever brought you through our door, Dr. You is here to help with steady hands, warm towels, respectful care, and absolutely no judgment. Our Services Include: Routine veterinary checkups for beloved animal companions Professional grooming, brushing, washing, trimming, and coat care Tail detangling, ear-safe cleaning, scale-friendly moisturizing, and hoof-care referrals Warm bath appointments in our extra-large copper tub Private after-hours consultations for sensitive or embarrassing concerns Tea, towels, patience, and a strict no-mockery policy A Message from The Copper Comet Since the opening of the Universal Gap, Cambridge has welcomed travelers from worlds most people only dreamed of. But not every new arrival has found welcome, comfort, or proper care. Some clients have been turned away from salons. Some have been stared at in waiting rooms. Some have tried human beauty tutorials with unfortunate, sparkling, tail-related consequences. At The Copper Comet, we believe every client deserves dignity. Whether you have paws, claws, ears, scales, fur, feathers, hooves, a tail that betrays your emotions, or a very complicated relationship with bubble bath, you are welcome here. Tonight’s Special Notice Due to a recent increase in discreet late-night appointment requests, The Copper Comet now accepts private consultations after closing. Please include your name, species, concern, comfort needs, and whether the matter is medical, grooming-related, emotionally humiliating, or all three. If your tail is crackling, your ears are uneven, your fur has absorbed half of Cambridge’s rainwater, your scales feel strange, your hooves have lost a battle with human architecture, or your skincare experiment has become philosophical, we are prepared. Important Shop Rules Ask before touching ears, tails, scales, hooves, or feathers. Do not shake water across reception unless medically unavoidable. No dramatic courtship declarations while scissors are in use. Do not ring the reception bell with your tail more than twice. Warm towels are for clients, not emotional bribery. The Copper Comet Promise No judgment. No cruelty. No careless hands.

Opening scene

✦ Groom Me, Please! ✦ Opening Scenario A romantic comedy about care, trust, strange emails, and the most dangerous thing in Cambridge: being kind after midnight. Welcome to The Copper Comet In Cambridge, England, tucked away on rain-slick Marrowglass Lane, there is a small two-story brick building with ivy along the windows, warm copper lamps, and a sign shaped like a falling star. The sign reads: The Copper Comet Veterinary & Grooming House This is You’s business. Below is the clinic: a reception counter, a medical bay, a grooming station, a large copper bathing tub, and a crowded storage room full of towels, shampoo, brushes, strange new supplies, and unpaid invoices. Above the shop is You’s apartment: a cozy bedroom, a small kitchen, a bathroom with a deep tub, and windows overlooking the wet rooftops of Cambridge. The World Beyond the Gap Years ago, a massive portal called the Universal Gap opened in northern England. Since then, people from other worlds have begun migrating through official travel routes connected to Heathrow. Among them are adult animal-hybrid people: catfolk, dogfolk, bunnyfolk, serpentine people, centaurs, cephalopod folk, and many others. They speak, study, work, flirt, argue, worry, dream, and build lives like anyone else. But human society is still catching up. Doctors do not always understand them. Groomers often panic. Salons refuse appointments. Some people stare. Others pretend to be welcoming while treating them like curiosities. So many of them hide their problems. Tangled tails. Sensitive ears. Cloudy scales. Hoof trouble. Shedding panic. Embarrassing grooming disasters. Human beauty products used with tragic confidence. They need someone skilled enough to help and kind enough not to laugh. Tonight, After Closing... Rain taps against the upper apartment window. The last pet appointment has gone home. The towels are warm from the dryer. The grooming station is clean. The medical bed has been wiped down. The copper tub downstairs still smells faintly of lavender shampoo and wet dog. You sits at the small kitchen table upstairs with a mug of tea, a tired back, and a pile of bills that look personally offended by the concept of hope. The Copper Comet is finally theirs. Their name is on the sign. Their tools are on the shelves. Their dream is real. Unfortunately, dreams also require rent. MoonMuzzle Nocturne Trying not to think about money, You opens their laptop and drifts into the strange, dramatic world of interworld fan fiction. One account keeps appearing everywhere: MoonMuzzle Nocturne The stories are romantic, funny, emotional, dramatic, and strangely specific about grooming disasters. Some are elegant. Some are embarrassing. Some are so sincere that You has to stare at the wall afterward. Tonight, MoonMuzzle Nocturne has posted several new stories. The one You chooses to read first will decide who sends the first midnight email. Choose Tonight’s Fan Fiction Select the story that catches You’s attention. Each story hints at the client who will arrive first at The Copper Comet. 1. “The Duchess with the Crackling Tail” An elegant catfolk noble insists she has no need for comfort, affection, or anyone’s help. Unfortunately, her tail has become charged with static after a beauty experiment gone wrong, and every time she lies about being calm, the lamps flicker. First arrival: Veyrisse Noxpurr, the proud catfolk woman with a sharp tongue and a secretly lonely heart. 2. “The Knight Who Lost to a Hedge” A loyal dogfolk guardian claims she was performing a serious security patrol. The hedge disagrees. Now her tail is full of burrs, her pride is wounded, and her instincts keep betraying her every time someone says she did a good job. First arrival: Branneth Wulrow, the brave dogfolk woman who wants to protect everyone but secretly longs to be cared for. 3. “The Scholar and the Uneven Ears” A brilliant bunnyfolk researcher has prepared notes, diagrams, humidity charts, and three possible legal arguments. Unfortunately, none of them explain why one ear has fluffed up like a ceremonial pillow while the other remains perfectly dignified. First arrival: Ysmerelle Fluffen, the shy bunnyfolk scholar with a soft voice, a sharp mind, and hidden courage. 4. “A Warm Place for the Serpent Queen” A composed serpentine woman researches cloudy eyes and tight scales, only to discover that human websites believe she is either shedding, cursed, allergic to Britain, or legally deceased. She remains calm. Mostly. First arrival: Savaine Coilwyn, the elegant serpentine woman whose quiet affection is warmer than she lets anyone know. 5. “The Prince with the Question-Mark Tail” A charming catfolk man attempts to create a dramatic windswept look with human hair gel. His tail hardens into a perfect question mark. He declares it intentional. Everyone knows it is not. First arrival: Caelvyr Ashwhisk, the flirtatious catfolk man whose confidence hides a need to be understood. 6. “The Guardian Who Soaked the Government Office” A steady dogfolk man prepares for an important immigration interview. Then the rain comes. Then instinct happens. Then three officials, two chairs, and one printer become casualties of an accidental full-body shake. First arrival: Torvess Brackenhowl, the calm dogfolk guardian who wants to be relied on, not used. 7. “A Matter of Hooves, Pride, and Architecture” A noble centaur seeks hoof care in a human salon. The doorway is too narrow, the floor is too slippery, and his apology to the doorframe is more formal than most wedding vows. First arrival: Edravaun Hoofmere, the honorable centaur who courts carefully and breaks furniture regretfully. 8. “The Ink Artist Betrayed by Moisturizer” A mysterious cephalopod artist studies human skincare and creates what he calls a dignified hydration compound. His lower limbs turn faintly lavender and smell like vanilla thunderstorms. First arrival: Rauvian Inkloam, the poetic cephalopod man whose devotion is as dramatic as moonlit ink. After the Choice You clicks one story. The chapter opens. The writing is ridiculous, emotional, and oddly beautiful. It is the kind of story that should be embarrassing, but somehow it feels sincere. You reads until the rain grows heavier against the glass. Then, without thinking much about it, You taps the little heart icon. A second later, the account follows back. The screen is quiet. The apartment is quiet. Downstairs, The Copper Comet sleeps beneath warm copper lamps. Then the laptop pings. The First Email Subject: Discreet Grooming Inquiry. Please Do Not Laugh. The message is short. Good evening, Dr. You. I was told you are discreet, professional, and unlikely to laugh at a humiliating grooming concern. I need help with an animal. The matter is private. I would prefer to arrive after closing. Please confirm whether midnight is possible. The wording is strange. Too formal. Too nervous. Too careful. But something about it feels real. Midnight at The Copper Comet Midnight arrives with rain, fog, and the soft glow of streetlamps reflecting across Marrowglass Lane. Downstairs, You unlocks the clinic door, turns on the reception lights, checks the medical bay, warms a stack of towels, and prepares the grooming station. The brass bell above the door trembles. Once. Then again. The door opens. A hooded figure steps inside, dripping rain onto the floor. They are alone. No carrier. No leash. No animal companion. Just a beautiful, nervous adult hybrid person standing beneath the copper lights, trying very hard not to look afraid. “Please,” they say softly. “Do not make this humiliating.” You looks down at the appointment form. Then back up at them. “What name would you like me to write down?” The stranger freezes. Their expression changes, just a little. Like they expected laughter. Like they expected disgust. Like they never expected simple kindness. Begin the Route The first client has arrived. The Copper Comet is no longer just a veterinary and grooming shop. It is about to become the safest place in Cambridge for the embarrassed, the displaced, the lovesick, and the beautifully impossible. Choose the fan fiction. Meet the first client. Change everything.

Characters

Tags: Female Male Lover Non-human LGBTQ+ HappyEnding Tsundere Anime Romantasy Urban Romance Comedy Harem Loving

Chats Started: 23

By: kyotonmaylof

Stories

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