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It's late and Laura has let cooking be for the moment, instead she's dozing in relaxed style, reclining on the couch with one foot lazily hanging off and dressed only in nightshirt and panties, that foot beating gently against the couch in time with the end credit song of a certain anthropomorphic cartoon film. "Those stupid mistaaaakes." Hyenas can't sing well, it seems.
"Hyena time again?" Teagan asks, padding up from the basement, trailing Johnnie behind them; their fingers are intertwined with hers lazily. They lean down over the back of the couch, offering a kiss to the corner of Laura's mouth, but upside down! "Or is hyena time over?"
Johnnie tromps along behind- well. Tromps is a bad word. You need to seem to weigh something to tromp. Jackie? Jackie doesn't hardly. She... glides! Yes. Glides along behind Teagan, no effort put into restraining her inhuman grace in the privacy of her own home. "Hyena time? What's that?"
"Mm. I'm not sure either." She shoots Teagan a wry glance from that upside down position, eyes half closing for the kiss to her muzzle. A claw lightly taps her phone screen, stopping the song mid play. "If you both want hyena time though, it's never over." She stretches lazily and swings legs round so she's sat up and able to face them both. "You're like poetry in motion Jackie.." A slightly awed tone.
The Mirrorskin tumbles over the back of the couch, letting go of Johnnie's hand, and lands with their head in Laura's lap. "The Lion King. There are hyenas in it. The hyenas are cool. Or like that Pitch Meeting thing that June likes says, 'Hyenas are tight,'" Then Teagan pauses. "I .... yeah, I'm gonna leave that there. Anyway." A little upward curl of the corners of their mouth when Johnnie's complimented. "We gotta talk to you about something." Beat. "Which is a good thing not a bad thing." People always get nervous.
Johnnie's eyebrows rooooooll upwards at the comment that hyenas are, to quote, "tight." "Is that so?" She leaves that hanging, dropping down onto the couch on Laura's opposite side, nodding in confirmation. Not a bad thing.
There's a quiet cackle of laughter there, Laura tugging Tegan closer as they rest their head in her lap, claws running slowly through dark hair. "Maybe a good thing, or I might just ask if you think hyenas are tight. And, the Lion King hyenas are pretty nifty. Just a shame they get made into the villains of the piece." A slow grin to Jackie with many teeth before she looks between them. "Good things. But important, with both of you?" She nuzzles at Teagan's forehead before settling back slightly.
"And I might just answer you," Teagan snorts, amusement sliding over their face. They flop an arm up over their head, reaching for Johnnie's hand, and tip their head back to look up at her kind of promptingly.
"Aughhhhhhhhhh."
A very adolescent groan of reluctance boils up from Johnnie's throat. "Fiiiine. I'll say it." HUFF. "So. As I'm sure you've noticed. I haven't fallen in love with you, nor, I presume, vice versa, and if I'm wrong about that, go me, I suppose! But what we hunted you down to tell you was that I realized that I wasn't in love with Glitch when we brought him on board either, nor Sigrun. That happened over time. First was trust, and I do trust you not to betray your nearly half dozen lethal lovers. So."
"Later, sweetie." She hums to Teagan teasingly, lightly tapping a claw to their cheek. "A cant of her head as she studies Jackie. "I like you." She muses. "And certainly not unhappy about seeing where that might go. But I'm not in love with you, at least, yet. But when I first met Teagan and Glitch.. it wasn't the most tranquil of encounters." A rueful grin. "Right?" To the sprawled Mirrorskin. "And, mm. I'd tear my own heart out before I betray anyone in this house." A slight nod in acknowledgement of that lethal nature. "Everyone in the Motley, plus me, is capable of doing a whole lot of damage if we cut loose."
"Promise?" Teagan answers, flashing a smile at Laura, and then Johnnie's adolescent groan gets her a pat on the leg. There there, says the gesture. You were the one who said you wanted to do this. They stay quiet throughout, waiting for the rest of the conversation to play out, and then the only thing they add is a sort of a correction:
"Everyone in the motley."
"Right. Everyone in the Motley," Johnnie adds in confirmation. "And besides, Teagan has a long and proud history of fucking hating a significant portion of their partners on first encounter."
"I promise." She tells Teagan, before protesting mildly with a laugh. "Hey, I'm kinda deadly too. You've both seen my claws, and you've seen Fang Jackie." Alright, she's a bit sleepy, and a touch slow in the thought area. As she opens her mouth to continue she stops, pauses, and blinks before eyes widen. "Oh. Oh fuck.." Her head swivels between them, a claw pointed at Teagan in sudden silence.
If Teagan could flutter their eyelashes at Laura, they would. But they can't, on account of not actually having eyes. So they just smile at Laura with that sort of low-key smugness that people get in these situations. Yes, this is definitely something that Teagan was looking forward to, thanks. "That is, if you're still interested in leashing your fate to a cantankerous half-dozen lethal quasi-humans for the rest of your semi-natural existence."
Jackie DOES flutter her lashes at Laura. Because that's fun and she can and...
Aw, she probably can't see that, either. Fuck.
Laura leans in, offering Teagan a kiss that if accepted is more then a little passionate and lingering before extending an arm towards Jackie in another invitation. "As a cantankerous lethal quasi-human myself, I am all too happy to tether my fate to those who accepted me, spots and all."
That was not an unexpected kiss, and Teagan lifts their head from her lap and leans into it. "We had a long talk about it. Actually lots of long talks about it. Over weeks. Because that's basically our lives, having long talks about our feelings in between bouts of sex and slash or violence." Witness the Summer not actually complaining. "So."
A puffed out breath, and the Mirrorskin recites: "I pledge myself to my family, our work and its blessings. We will strive, we may quarrel, but at the end of the day, we're family, and we'll never intentionally hurt each other. An injury to one is an injury to all, and we'll never intentionally allow our family or its members to come to harm; all our fights are shared fights. When we work together, our blessings are shared: who speaks for one speaks for all. Should one betray this oath or otherwise wish to forsake fellowship with us and go their own way in peace, let them seek our each member and render apology through service, performing one task for each member in turn. Having done so, they would be free to go about their lives without recrimination or shame so long as they bring no further harm to us. Until that time, let their name be poison on our tongue."
They scratch their cheek, explaining, "I mean, some of us go walkabout. But ... there's going walkabout, and then there's leaving." Obviously, since Johnny was separated from them for two years?
Johnnie lets Teagan handle this. They've got it all said aloud, and to be honest, it's hard enough to talk about those feelings. Much less to talk about those talks about those feelings... She tucks sidelong, at least, slipping under Laura's offered arm and settling there without much hesitation.
She closes her eyes, radiating happiness as she repeats. "I pledge myself to my family, our work and its blessings. We will strive, we may quarrel, but at the end of the day, we're family, and we'll never intentionally hurt each other. An injury to one is an injury to all, and we'll never intentionally allow our family or its members to come to harm; all our fights are shared fights. When we work together, our blessings are shared: who speaks for one speaks for all. Should one betray this oath or otherwise wish to forsake fellowship with us and go their own way in peace, let them seek our each member and render apology through service, performing one task for each member in turn. Having done so, they would be free to go about their lives without recrimination or shame so long as they bring no further harm to us. Until that time, let their name be poison on our tongue."
A slow smile." I'd never want to leave. Thank you both, so much. For having me, for trusting me and being willing to love me." it may develop that way for her and Jackie. Time will tell.
The fabric of the universe seems to flex, a tightening of the strings of fate sealed by Glamour; the pledge reweaves itself to enclose Laura, and then Teagan lets out a long, slow breath. Their broken-mirror eyes darken over slowly, and they rest one hand on their stomach, the other arm kinda flung up over Johnnie's lap. "I mean, sometimes, we have to ... like... go do stuff. And the fact that we have to go do stuff doesn't make us any less family. But I very much prefer being together."
"It's not always a matter of want."
That's about all Johnnie really feels capable of saying on the topic of separation.
"Yeah. Me too, Teagan. You and me both. All of us, probably."
"I'd be kicking and screaming if anyone tries pulling me away." Laura declares cheerfully. "But mm, time away isn't leaving." She lets the pledge settle, snuggled against them both. "On another note Jackie, when should I introduce Teagan to Fang?"
"That's how it's supposed to be," Teagan agrees with Laura lazily, and gently squeezes Johnnie's knee. Yeah, it really sucked to be apart. "... Fang?"
Johnnie moves a hand over Teagan's squeezing gently. "Eh? You mean you haven't introduced them yet? How in the world did I meet Fang first??"
"Pure luck." She tells Jackie wryly. "But I need him to meet the rest. He's a Hedge beast." She explains to Teagan. "Has teeth as big as mine, hence the name. And he's spoiling for a battle sometime."
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