MHA #6 Sunday Evening

[arboreal_priestess]

The high of taking down the ghouls who'd been murdering those girls had worn off sometime yesterday afternoon, leaving behind only the remaining guilt that she hadn't figured it out sooner and that she'd managed to have a great time with Liam and Sarah on Friday night, even with four dead girls hanging on her conscience. She'd gone to dance practice in a funk and James had ended up calling it half an hour early because her brain was clearly not in the music.

Which was even more depressing, because if there was one thing Verity had always been good at losing herself in, it was the dance.

Cries of exultation greeted Verity's key turning in the lock. She opened the front door to find the entire Aeslin congregation gathered on and around the tiny table where she kept the mail. Several of them were waving tiny banners made of tissue paper that had been meticulously painted with drops of blue, black, and red ink.

"Hail!" shouted the head priest, waving his banner with extra enthusiasm.

"HAIL!" agreed the congregation.

"Hail," Verity said tiredly, and shut the door, taking off Valerie Pryor's wig and tossing it onto her desk, since the mail table was in use. “What's the occasion?”

"Today is the Holy Feast of I Swear, Daddy, I'll Kiss the Next Man That Walks Through That Door," said the priest, sparking a second, more solemn declaration of "Hail" from the rest of the mice.

"Cool." Verity started for the living room. The mice scampered after her, still waving their banners wildly in all directions. Aeslin religious rituals were nothing if not enthusiastic. "Do I need to do anything?"

One of the novice priests looked at her like he wasn't sure whether or not she was joking. "Priestess…"

"Right, right. I have to kiss the next man who walks through the door, right?" Cheers from the mice, interspersed with more cries of "Hail." "Got it. At least I'm not expecting company." She had some quality brooding to get in.

Her stomach rumbled and she cursed herself for not stopping to grab food on the way. Time to order takeout--and specify that the driver needed to be a girl or non-binary. Thanks mice.

[For one, text taken and heavily adapted from Chapter 14 of Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon. Out of chronology but I just love this holiday so much. Up early because time zones are dumb (and also SP)]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

"Yes, well, my girlfriend thinks I'm funny, so take it up with her," he retorted.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Your girlfriend might still be sex-stupid from last night," Verity said. "Hardly a credible witness."

[firstofitskind]

"I dunno, I've learned to trust her judgement most of the time," Liam replied. "I'd have to do further research on this whole 'sex impairs judgement' theory."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oooh, research, huh?" she asked, stretching out against him. Which happened to press her body up against his.

Accidentally, of course,

"How do you plan to do that?"

[firstofitskind]

Of course.

"Well," Liam said, hands sliding down from her shoulders to her hips. "Maybe we should start off with that Joining. For comparison purposes." he waggled his eyebrows at her.

SCIENCE.

[arboreal_priestess]

VERY IMPORTANT SCIENCE!

"Careful," she warned, leaning in to kiss him--his throat, specifically. "I could get used to waking up like this. You might just get stuck waking me up this way every time you sleep over."

[firstofitskind]

Liam made an appreciative humming noise at the feeling of Verity's lips on his skin. "Oh no," he said. "Truly. How terrible a fate."

And then he was tilting his head down to kiss her. But this one didn't hold the urgency of the kisses from last night; this was slow, sensual, exactly the type of kiss you'd expect on a lazy morning.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity threaded her fingers through his hair and wrapped a leg around him, but was in no hurry to deepen the kiss. Lazy and sensual was exactly what the morning called for. She slid her foot up and down his calf, sighing a little in her throat.

[firstofitskind]

One of Liam's hands stayed where it was, fingers splayed out on her hip, while the other moved upwards, tracing the curve of her spine.

And then- there were no hands at all, just a swirling cloud of energy surrounding Verity.

[arboreal_priestess]

And Liam was left with absolutely no doubts about how much Verity enjoyed their Joining. Even if he didn't read her emotions, there were plenty of noises.