Isle of Ikea, Sunday Evening

[arboreal_priestess]

"So we're not leaving without getting a bed and some meatballs. Everything else is optional, but definitely those two things."

Verity had been threatening to drag Liam to Ikea ever since the giant snowstorm and she'd seen the empty expanse he called a bedroom. Honestly, Liam? A chair? If their physical relationship ever moved past the whole 'glowing cloud of purple light' thing, Verity figured they'd sometimes want a place to retreat to where they didn't have to negotiate with mice for a bit of privacy.

Which they couldn't do with just a chair.

"Also, considering the size of the store, maybe we should have brought along a couple of guide ropes and maybe a GPS," she added as the doors opened and she took in the sheer size of the store. Though maybe having the entire island being named for it should have given her a clue. "Uhhh...excelsior?"

[For the guy!]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

"Liam, it's important to me that you know that if we end up lost somewhere inside, like, lamps or bathroom rugs or whatever..." Verity paused to look up at him, her hand over her heart, "I nominate eating you first."

And then she was laughing because she was a jerk.

[firstofitskind]

Verity, you were not helping reassure Liam this was at all a good idea.

"Considering this place supposedly has a restaurant, let's hope it doesn't come to that," he managed, after gaping at her for a second or two.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Relax, Liam, I'm not actually going to eat you," Verity said, giving him a quick hug. "...There are plenty of workers around here to go for first."

Not helping, Verity!

"Besides, my parents insisted that we learn how to navigate by cardinal directions before we were allowed to start first grade," she added. "And after that, we used to get locked in the trunk of a car and taken for long, rambling rides, where we'd be dumped on the side of the road and expected to find our way home again. We'll be fine."

...She wasn't going to mention that she'd nearly had to repeat kindergarten and had only made it back home about half the time.

[firstofitskind]

Liam just shook his head at her even as he leaned in to that hug. "My father just trapped me in an underground tunnel system with a non-functional weapon and a supposedly hostile creature," he muttered. You know. Normal stuff that families did!

"So... any idea where we're supposed to go from here, oh expert navigator?" he asked. Because as far as he could see, it was all bookshelves and couches.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I promise you any weapon I pass along will be fully-functional," Verity said, giving him a kiss. "And--let's see. We can either take the long way around through the living room stuff or we can take the short cut. But, I warn you, the short cut goes through the kids' section."

And neither section would exactly be 'small.' Not in a warehouse this size.

[firstofitskind]

"Well, the house is probably set for living room stuff, but even so, probably a more useful section to go through." Just in case they found like... an absolutely amazing floor lamp or something.

[arboreal_priestess]

And most of Verity's was secondhand, so maybe she'd find a great deal on a sectional and could give up the beatup old couch. Stranger things had happened.

Either way, it beat going through the kids' section, where an overzealous employee might see them and draw entirely the wrong conclusions.

"We'll also pass through the storage area that way, I'm pretty sure," she said, nodding. "Which could be useful. I think the mice need a few more bins for their stuff."

Her mice honestly had more worldly possessions than she did.

[firstofitskind]

"I'm interested to see what new ritual or celebration you bringing home storage bins will prompt," Liam said with a grin.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I love that you think the Celebration of Additional Storage is new," Verity said with a sigh. "Although it's usually good for a few days of quiet as the priests determine a new storage system."

[firstofitskind]

“It’s new to me,” Liam pointed out. “The closest I’ve ever come to witnessing something like that is Augur after he managed to get his hands on a new piece of art. He’d spend days puttering about the lair, trying to figure out the best place to show it off.” Which was hilarious when you considered the fact that only a handful of people ever actually got to see it.

[arboreal_priestess]

"...The lair?" Verity checked with a grin. "That sounds creepy and ominous. Which explains why you do so well dating me."

Because creepy and ominous was pretty much how she rolled.

[I'm so sorry, I swapped from Uma to Verity without refreshing so this never posted!]

[firstofitskind]

“The Liberation’s original base of operations, underneath St. Michael’s in DC,” Liam said, as they started to meander through the living room furniture. “Does the fact that I was born there make that better or worse?” he added, poking at an odd-looking lamp

[arboreal_priestess]

"So, let me get this straight," Verity said, grinning. "You were born in an underground lair, the base of operations for the Liberation. You're not a sheriff, you're the hero of a YA scifi novel."

[firstofitskind]

“What?” Someone wasn’t terribly familiar with genre conventions, no.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Okay, you know how we're breaking all this new furniture in?" Verity asked with a wicked smile. "Movie night."

[firstofitskind]

"... Should I be concerned?" Liam asked, eyebrow raised.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Nooooo," Verity said, unconvincingly, already planning on checking with Sarah and Artie for the most over the top movies they could think of.

Krull, definitely. Flash Gordon, also definitely. Really, anything made in the 80s with a budget.

[firstofitskind]

"Hmm," Liam hummed, bumping her gently with his hip. "Somehow I don't believe you."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity did her best to look innocent, but ended up laughing too hard for it to be believable anyway. "Uh-oh, this is where all that feminine mystique Cosmo told me about would come in handy. You're onto me."

She flung herself down onto a chaise and bounced a little, then popped back up. "Nah."

Didn't pass the Verity stress-test.

[firstofitskind]

"I already have a chair, anyway," Liam pointed out. "Unless you were thinking for your apartment."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Maybe you wanted two?" Verity suggested brightly. "So when you're entertaining upstairs, you can offer someone else a place to sit."

Said the woman who didn't even have chairs in her bedroom.

[firstofitskind]

"If I'm 'entertaining upstairs'," Liam said, complete with airquotes, "First of all, I don't think there would be a lot of sitting, and second, if there was, hopefully that person wouldn't mind just sitting with me on the bed that we're here to get."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity laughed again and pulled him in for a kiss. "I dunno," she teased, "maybe your guest is a little adventurous and likes doing not a whole lot of sitting on non-bed surfaces."

[firstofitskind]

Not that they'd managed to actually progress to things that were not sitting, but, you know. It was on the agenda.

Liam was all too happy to lean in to that kiss, though. Although something caught his eye as he did so.

When he finally broke the kiss, he turned slightly, so that Verity would see... whatever that was.

"How adventurous are we talking, here?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Not that adventurous!" Verity declared, laughing again. That was one of the reasons she liked being with Liam so much. She laughed a lot more when he was around. "I'm pretty sure that cushion is secretly absorbing the rest of the chair."