MHA #6, Thursday Evening

[firstofitskind]

For Liam, the last two weeks had mostly involved trying to regain his sense of equilibrium. Things were... better, now. Not quite the same as they had been before his mother had visited, but getting there.

And tonight he and Verity were headed off to Baltimore. Not for a date night, no- tonight was a patrol night. (Though, okay, realistically, there was usually a stolen kiss or three, especially on slow nights where the cryptid population didn't seem to be up to much.)

Or rather, tonight was supposed to be a regular patrol night. Fandom, apparently, had other plans, as Liam found himself rather unceremoniously several feet shorter, four-legged, and furry.

Sorry, Verity, looks like your companion for this evening's rounds wasn't going to be capable of much in the way of conversation.

[ooc: establishy, but also open if the apartment residents want to react!]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity came in, tucking a flask of holy water into the specialized holster on her back. "Hey babe, have you seen my--" She stopped and looked at Liam, sighing. "Is this your way of protesting patrols?"

[firstofitskind]

"Mrrr!" While a cat might be lacking when it came to the sheer range of expressions that a human (or human-passing) face was capable of, there was one expression in particular that the feline face was rather good at: looking extremely affronted.

Which was the expression Liam was giving Verity right now. Because really. Would he do such a thing?

[arboreal_priestess]

Yes, but had Liam ever stopped to consider how cute his extremely affronted face was? Because the answer was pretty fucking cute. As a man and a cat, which was why he had to put up with so much shit from Verity, honestly.

"C'mere," she said, throwing herself on the couch and patting her lap. "Okay, so it's not related to patrols. Hmmm, your crippling catnip addiction?"

[firstofitskind]

He was... not unaware of the fact that he was considered reasonably attractive by many people's standards? Although he'd never actually given much thought to how he looked as a cat in particular.

"Mrrr," that was still clearly a negative, Verity, in case you were wondering.

... About the catnip part. The invitation to her lap, he was gladly going to take. Shut up. He hopped up on the couch and took a moment to find the perfect position to curl up in.

[arboreal_priestess]

Which involved somehow putting all of his little kitty weight onto each individual leg as he stepped on her lap. Cats were magic that way.

That wasn't stopping her from scritching his ears as soon as he settled. "Ohhh, you're still trying to impress the mice," she said, nodding. "Because you know they eat this stuff up. God of Distant Stars wasn't enough for you? Gotta co-opt Bast's gig, too?"

[firstofitskind]

And Liam was trying to express exasperation at the continued teasing, really he was, and yet somehow despite his best efforts all that he managed was a contented purr. Because those ear scritches? Just the thing.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity was the literal worst for just this reason. Constant harassment he couldn't even be properly annoyed by. "Just no bringing fleas into the house," she said, moving to scratch under his very regal chin. "Or it's Fancy Feast for you."

[firstofitskind]

It's true. She was absolutely terrible.

"Rrrrr," have an annoyed tail twitching all up in your face, Verity. Because that was what he thought about that.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Keep it up," Verity threatened, gently batting his tail away, "and I will go and bell you. Ugliest, gaudiest, scratchiest collar I can find with a big, old bell on it."

[firstofitskind]

Did you want sad kitty eyes, Verity? Because that was how you got sad kitty eyes.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity, heartless creature she was, just laughed, hugging him to her chest. "You're such a handsome, expressive fellow," she told him, utterly delighted. "Even furry."

[firstofitskind]

"Mrrr," Liam informed her. Roughly translated, it was a comment about how adorable she was when she laughed. Even when it was at his expense.

[arboreal_priestess]

She leaned forward, booping his nose with hers. "So are we still going patrolling tonight?" she asked. "Or are we calling it on account of transformation and settling in to watch horror movies?"

[firstofitskind]

Liam's answer was a thoughtful chirp. He was fine with sticking (more or less) to their original plan. On the other hand, curling up on the couch here did sound awfully nice...

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity pulled up her phone and checked the weather. "Well, that answers that question," she said, showing him the app. "It's supposed to rain tonight and I don't think I'm ready for the fun adventures of transporting a wet cat around Baltimore."

[firstofitskind]

As far as arguments went, that one was pretty sound. Another chirp, this one in clear agreement, and Liam curled himself back up in Verity's lap.

Okay, so being a cat wasn't ideal, but there were certainly worse ways to spend an evening, that was for sure.

[arboreal_priestess]

"If you get scared and claw me, you're sleeping on the couch," Verity told him, starting to divest herself of the biggest and least comfortable weapons.

[firstofitskind]

And that statement was met with yet another affronted look. What was with all this character assassination, just because he couldn’t talk back?

[arboreal_priestess]

Punishment for the incipient lack of kisses and cuddles, dammit.

"Don't give me that face," she told him. "We're gonna watch that show about the haunted house and I hear it's scary as hell. Even for kitties."

[firstofitskind]

Hey now! There would still be those things... just in a vastly different form than usual, is all.

And scary or no, there would be no scratching. None. Thank you very much.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity liked the normal kind, especially after scary media!

"Comfortable?" she asked, with more of those nice ear scritches.

[firstofitskind]

Well... they’d just have to stretch out consumption of said scary media until such time as there could be proper cuddles. In the meantime, the answer to her question was a low rumbling purr.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Sounds good, babe," Verity said, relaxing back onto the couch and grabbing the remote. "Sounds good."