fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Monday [2/10]

Best not to try and describe the kinds of looks Saffron had been giving Steph all morning.

"Man, I didn't realize the competition for the world's largest ball of twine was so fierce," remarked Steph as she breezed in heedless of Saffron's baleful glare and stretched up to kiss Vi on the cheek on her way to deposit a container full of barbecue skewers on the counter.

They could've taken her along. Never mind that she would not have been a fan of a weekend in the carrier.

Vi twisted her head to return the kiss, before reaching for some delicious meat on a stick. "Fells like there's a lotta bored string makers out there."

Or spending an entire weekend in such close proximity to Food Human, and -- perhaps even worse -- a Snuggle Human who had other things to pay attention to.

"Everyone's gotta have a hobby?" Steph tried. "At least it's a fairly harmless one."

She snagged a chicken skewer for herself and grinned.

"It was fun. I know that's kind of a given with anything we do together, but worth pointing out anyway."

Such details were irrelevant!

"I suppose there are worse ways to spend your time." Vi grinned back and nudged Steph with her shoulder. "I had fun too."

"Throw in four or five gigs a week and that's basically how the whole trip went that brought me here," Steph said, holding up her skewer to offer Vi a bite. "Except it was a hell of a lot lonelier."

Don't mind Saffron coming over and grumpily loafing right next to your foot, Vi. No touch her. She angy.

Vi leaned over to take a bite off the skewer before replying. "Glad I could make this trip less lonely."

Nothing would placate Saffron, not even some of that meat that was not being shared with her.

Vi slid a bit of meat off her own skewer and offered it to Steph.

"On the downside," Steph said around a mouthful of food after taking the bit of meat from Vi, "you didn't get to witness my sexy lonely brooding. But on the upside..."

She looked up, deliberately trying to catch Vi's gaze.

"I'm feeling a lot less like brooding now."

Not to say that this month would ever not be rough, but she was learning to handle it more gracefully.

Vi swallowed her own mouthful before smiling lopsidedly at Steph. "That's good," she said, voice soft. "Even if I'm missing out on sexy brooding."

"I mean, I can brood sexily for you if you want me to," Steph offered. "Maybe not lonely sexy brooding, but it should be close enough."

"I appreciate the offer, but I think this store already met its brooding quota for the month." Vi said with a significant look down to the grumpy loaf by her foot.

"For the rest of the year, even," Steph agreed with a little smile. "Aw. Poor betrayed Saffron."

"She doesn't know what to do with herself," Vi said, carefully plucking a small morsel of meat off her skewer and bending down to offer it to Saffron.

Who would not be swayed, not even by her beloved Snuggle Human offering her delicious forbidden meat. She would stay right here ~~sulking~~ righteously angry. After she'd finished the treat.

"She had to go like four whole days without Vi cuddles," Steph pointed out graciously, not that Saffron appreciated it at all. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself either."

Excuse you, Food Human, if Saffron wanted you to have that in common with her she would have asked.

How dare you suggest they shared any kind of feelings.

"I'll just have to make sure that never happens," Vi said, scritching those grumpy ears.

Those grumpy ears were not at all perked up and forward in a relaxed, happy-cat way. You were mistaken if you thought so.

"One or two days? Sucks but I think we'd live," Steph replied, smothering a snicker as Saffron hunkered down a little further and made a noise that was not a purr, how dare you say it was. "Three's pushing it. Four? Ouch."

The presumption of Food Human, trying to speak for her.

Clearly Saffron was just preparing to attack, most likely Food Human's ankles for her gall.

"And in those four days I'd be missing Steph and Saffon's cuddles," Vi said, biting her lip to keep from laughing. "Not sure how I'd survive."

She totally would! Just... not yet. She was biding her time to throw Food Human off. That was all.

"You'd survive," Steph said, shaking her head very, very sadly. "But it wouldn't be fun, and it would be cruel of the universe to subject you to that fate."

It was like they knew nothing about properly stalking prey!

"Extremely cruel," Vi said, only half joking. "I don't even want to imagine it."

Like Saffron did, from all the experience she had hunting plushie displacer beasts and bouncy dice.

"Does it help," Steph asked, reaching out to slide her arm around Vi, "that I promise to make up for all lost snuggle time in the event that you ever end up in that predicament?"

All that effort she put in to keep them safe and look at the thanks she got.

"It helps a lot," Vi said, ignoring Saffron's disgruntled noise as she leaned into the hug.

Such a pitiful excuse for gratitude. If she weren't so entitled to have them, specifically, lavish her with food and attention she'd just leave.

"And I'm pretty sure Saffron would just sit on you and refuse to let you ever get up again for like a week," Steph added, like someone who had the absolute gall to think she could speak for Saffron. Again.

The sacrifices she made!

"That sounds about right." How dare Food Human do this to her.

Could you tell how hard those sacrifices were on her? Could you tell, from the purring?

"Hell, if she doesn't, I will," Steph said mischievously.

You usurp Saffron's job? Jail for Food Human!

It was the most begrudging purring since the last time they'd pulled this foolishness.

"Oh what a terrible fate."

Yes, Snuggle Human, it was.

You could tell because the louder it was, the more begrudging it was.

"The worst, all tangled up with me for days," Steph said, much more sly than mischievous now.

Yes, Food Human, it would be.

She sounded like she had a motor inside her because she grumpy.

"Just trapped under you." Snuggle Human you were supposed to sound upset, not dreamy.

The sheer force of her crankiness was manifesting in sound!

"One of my favorite places to be." Stop making it worse, Food Human!

She definitely wasn't pleased about any of this.

Vi grinned at Steph before plastering a thoughtful expression on her face. "You doing anything this evening?"

That tail was thumping in anger, not bliss.

"You, hopefully," Steph replied ever so casually.

Really, her life was the worst.

Vi grinned and leaned in to steal a kiss. "I think that can be arranged."

Salmon and snuggles. How was she supposed to live like this?

Steph laughed and wrapped her arm around Vi's neck. "What would you have done if I'd said something else?"

She was going to waste away from the neglect.

"I'm sure I would've figured something out," Vi said, shamelessly.

The delicious, decadent neglect.

"Well, I trust you not to be weird and creepy about it," Steph decided, leaning in to kiss the tip of her nose. "But I also wouldn't put it past you to have found some way to tease me horribly the entire time if I'd told you I had a game to run tonight."

And they didn't even have the decency to feel guilty about it.

Vi scrunched up her nose good naturedly. "I would never mess with one of your games," she promised.

Jump her immediately after she logged out on the other hand...

They might know better, if they didn't spend so much time looking at each other with embarrassingly sappy expressions, but no.

"What, you'd never do a strip tease on the other side of my computer screen just to see how well I could hold it together?" Not that Steph was trying to give her ideas or anything, nope.

If only she wasn't attached to these two despite herself.

Oh, of course not. "I mean, maybe if I thought you weren't paying enough attention." To who was entirely up for interpretation.

Yes, she knew getting attached to them was a choice she'd made and she had to live with it, but she was going to make that burden everyone's problem.

Steph made a mock scandalized noise. "Are you saying you doubt my ability to multitask? I'm wounded."

What else could she do? Take responsibility for her own choices?

"I'm saying if I'm naked you don't really need to split focus."

The Magpie Emporium, Monday [2/10]

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