fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Monday [15/8]

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The Magpie Emporium, Monday [15/8]

The mood in the store was radically different to Vi's last few shifts, Little Bot tootling across a remarkably pine cone free floor behind her as she tidied and moved stock around, whistling tunelessly all the while, broad grin on her face.

Saffron however, did not seem to be feeling this new, improved vibe, seeing how she was dramatically throwing herself in Vi's path with a pathetic meow every few minutes so she could be picked up and paid attention to. Couldn't Vi see how she was suffering?

[Open!]

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When Steph came in after her workshop with the usual iced coffees and a small hoard of fancy brunch finger foods -- pastries and cheese and fruit and such -- she arrived just in time for one of Saffron's... performances.

"I keep telling you, Saff, the Academy doesn't have a Best Cat category. Sorry."

She paused. "Category. Heh."

Vi's grin grew larger when she saw Steph. "She's a little clingy," she said as she scooped up Saffron yet again.

Saffron, distraught that she only had most of Vi's attention, pawed at her chin.

"Just a little," Steph said wryly, grinning right back at her as she went over to set the food down on the counter. "Saffron, does it help if I tell you that paying attention to you is part of Vi's job?"

Probably not, even if that were technically true.

"I'm note sure anything's going to help," Vi said with her own dramatic sigh was she carefully draped Saffron around her shoulders and came over to check what Steph had brought. And to lean against Steph.

"Not that I can blame her for being a little clingy."

"It's the logical reaction to being deprived of cuddles from you, so obviously," Steph said, wrapping an arm around her easily and getting thwapped in the face by Saffron's tail for her trouble. "My final involved a fancy brunch. Not everything was super portable, but I grabbed as much as I could."

So they probably could have cleared up all their confusion a lot sooner if Steph had taken a page out of Saffron's book there.

"Have I mentioned lately you're awesome?" Which was directed as much to the pastry Vi had just picked up and taken a bite out of as to Steph.

Saffron would have found a way to 'charge' Steph for her services, if that had been the case.

"They are pretty damn good," Steph agreed with a laugh. "If pretty flaky. Sorry about the crumbs, Little Bot."

Truly there was no end to Saffron's trials.

Vi licked icing off her thumb. "It gives him something to do." Since the pinecones were all contained now.

Being that beleaguered all the time was a hard job and clearly no one was more qualified for it than Saffron was.

Was Steph watching closely when Vi licked the icing off her thumb? Well, yeah.

"With the pine cone problem under control, we wouldn't want him to lose his sense of purpose or anything," she agreed. "Still not sure what that was all about."

Her life was very hard.

Did Vi take longer cleaning the icing off her other fingers when she noticed Steph watching her? Also yes.

"No idea," she said, because it was hard to switch completely out of that deep denial. "It was getting pretty dire there though."

But as a cat she handled it so much more gracefully than humans would!

Did Steph bite her lip and inhale sharply, watching Vi clean off her fingers? Definitely.

"Who knows how many dice were lost under there by the end?" Steph wondered. No, the timing of the whole thing hadn't yet clicked for her. She had other things on her mind, what? "Anyway, that's one less thing to worry about."

Which was probably good since they were both kind of... preoccupied lately.

She was an example of all with her dignity and restraint.

There was no need to even ask if Vi was watching Steph's face just as intently, because she totally was.

"I think Little Bot put any he found aside when he was tidying," she replied. "But it's...good that they're not an issue any more."

Extremely preoccupied, really.

A shame no one would be looking to her for an example. Just one more burden to add onto poor Saffron's shoulders.

Steph's face -- flushed cheeks and slightly parted lips and a dazed look in her eyes -- ought to be a clear indication to Vi that her little maneuver had definitely had the desired effect, especially since she was still focused completely on Vi's face.

"Sitting on one just once was bad enough," she said after a brief hesitation as if she'd had to remember how to talk, like her brain had temporarily shorted out. "I'm just glad they were never really a huge issue in the game lounge."

Picking up another pastry, she lifted it up to Vi's mouth like an offering.

Really everyone's lives would be better if they just listened to Saffron

Pretty much the only thing keeping a smirk off Vi's face was the fact she still couldn't quite believe Steph was reacting to her.

"Yeah, kinda weird that." So strange that they've been clustered where they spent the most time.

Eyes locked on Steph's, she leaned forward to take a bite of the pastry.

And yet they wouldn't, because she was a cat. Which was terrible of all of them.

"So weird," agreed Steph, snuggling up a little closer to her, and if Vi wasn't smirking she definitely was. "Not going to miss that pain in my ass."

Her smirk turned devious, and she let go of the pastry just to take a bite out of the other end of it herself.

Especially when they were going to betray her with their shenanigans like this.

Vi swallowed her bite of pastry, somehow, before replying "Especially because it's such a nice ass." And if Vi's free hand was drifting down that way, well, Steph brought it up.

Why she still put up with them despite how frequently they'd been betraying her lately was a mystery. Then again, she seemed to prefer it to them avoiding each other. Marginally.

"Nice of you to notice," Steph teased her once she'd finished off her bite of pastry, bringing her hand up to cup Vi's cheek. "Since I was mostly paying attention to yours."

All she wanted was Food Human to feed her the right food at the right time and Snuggle Human's undivided attention, was that too much to ask? Clearly it was.

"And is it up to your standards?" Vi asked with a grin before gesturing at Steph's face. "Hang on you've got a little something here..."

Was Vi using that 'something' as an excuse to kiss her? Of course she was.

Honestly, she was lucky to get fed on schedule half the time now, because Food Human kept stealing Snuggle Human's attention. No one should have to put up with this kind of substandard treatment.

Oh no, an excuse for kisses. Look at Steph not objecting at all.

"Thanks for looking out for me," she said once they broke off the kiss, not really pulling away. "And believe me, you've blown my standards out of the water."

Which she had to emphasize with another kiss, naturally.

She'd go on strike if she wasn't languishing away.

It was very important to underline these things. "You don't need to flatter me," Vi said, going red around the ears as she rested her hands on Steph's hips. "It's nice when you do though."

It wasn't like she could trust her humans to get the message correctly even if she did go on strike, anyway.

"Well, you're adorable when you blush so yeah, I need to," Steph said with an unrepentant grin. "And it's not really flattery if it's true, is it?"

They'd probably just ignore her while she withered away to nothing.

"Shut up," Vi mumbled, totally convincingly as she nipped at Steph's lip.

Like she was about to, clearly, because they were starting up with this nonsense again.

Steph laughed and wrapped both arms around her. "Make me."

They weren't even paying attention to her dramatic flop!

"Maybe I will," Vi said as she leaned in to kiss her.

Because they were too busy looking at each other with utterly besotted expressions, probably.

Steph made a wordless noise of contentment and pressed a little closer against Vi.

"How long until your break?"

Unacceptable!

Vi didn't even have to think about it. "I can take it now."

Her humans were the absolute worst. Poor Saffron.

Steph leaned in to kiss her again and asked, in a sly and challenging tone, "You remember you only have twenty minutes, right?"

Woe was her.

Vi answered with a smirk. "I think I can find something to do in that time."

"Can't wait to see how creative you can get," Steph said, cruelly ignoring Saffron's meow of protest in favor of running her nails along the back of Vi's neck.

Vi shivered and started pulling Steph towards the office, also ignoring Saffron's pain and suffering. "I may have put some thought into this."

Steph put up absolutely no resistance whatsoever and was in fact more than willing to accompany Vi to the office. Poor Saffron, subject to such cold and indifferent treatment from them.

"That is literally one of the most attractive things you could have said just now."

"I'll remember that," Vi said, shutting the door behind them.

As to what they got up to in the office, well, it didn't matter because Saffron was locked outside of it! How dare!

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The Magpie Emporium, Monday [15/8]

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