[ No no tail wagging is an excellent thing! Peony has come to rely a lot on Maera's tail wagging, and now that Mallory has one too -- however temporarily -- she's ready to take as much advantage of it as she possibly can.
Though when he says that, she half-hunches her shoulders shyly, scuffing at the ground with the toes of one foot. Compliments. Her main weakness, no matter how many times she hears it from him...!
When he stands, though, she finally comes all the way from around the corner and trots over to him. She's hiding something behind her back, too, though she's not trying to be subtle about it. It's the way anyone might hide a "surprise" present. ]
I wanna eat somewhere where we can see outside, but maybe a little cooler. How does that sound?
[It's a good thing that Peony's such an open book, red panda parts or regular old human ones. It means Mallory gets immediate results and that makes it all the more tempting to be merciless with the compliments. He is a force to be reckoned with when he wants to be. Making Peony happy is way more rewarding than wallowing in self-pity anyway.
Speaking of forces to be reckoned with... He should have known from the start that Peony had a little more in mind than her initial invitation. He cranes his neck to see if he can sneak a peek over her shoulder, putting that extra height to its most practical use.]
Sounds like you might have a place in mind already...? [He's in! But also, he wants to know before they get there.]
I was thinking about the gardens! There's some nice tree cover there. It'll be like a picnic!
[ How dare he use his height advantage! But when she notices that, she just ducks away, doing her best to sidestep his view. It's not completely perfect, though: he'll almost certainly catch sight of the fact that she's holding a small cloth-wrapped tower, just like the bento boxes she used to bring to school. ]
OH NO PEONY YOU MAKE IT SO HARD TO PROPERLY START ANY DIET PLANS
Maybe today will be fine. Maybe just a couple of bites. Maybe she's the next person who wants to get a jab in about The Pudge and has actually packed a salad for dessert. Only one way to find out, right? Even though he grins, his ears tilt back a bit in quiet dread.]
Alright, alright...! I won't look. [More than he already has.] Let's get going already. I'm going stir-crazy in this office all day, and the garden smells great when it's humid like this.
[Too bad her hands are occupied, because he wouldn't mind actually holding one... He'll just hold the door open for her instead.]
[ Luckily for him, once they're out of the office, she adjusts her grip on the stack so that it's pressed against her side, tucked under an arm and out of sight. With one arm freed, she hooks that with his and smiles up at him. Her gaze darts up to those ears and then back to his face, and her smile goes even wider. Cute. Of course he's also a dog. She loves dogs. ]
I figured we could walk a little after, too. We can stretch our legs some before you have to go back.
[ Or maybe just they can just play hooky for the rest of his workday and hang out. That's a good possibility. ]
[And would you look at that, he doesn't even shy away from her touch. Not even out in public. Maybe he's properly warming up to the idea at long last... maybe he's a little desperate for a comforting touch. It's a bit of a mix.]
If you're trying to get me to bark and go nuts just by saying the word 'walk' so much, it's not gonna work like that. [THANK GOD.] But I'll still go.
[ Good boy!! She giggles at that, shaking her head. ...Though she does "sneak" a look behind them at his tail, to see how much it is or isn't going at this point. ]
No, no, nothing like that! I just think it sounds nice, and I'm making you keep me company. I hope you're prepared!
[ If she phrases it as a favor to her, maybe he'll be a little more cheered up by it... ]
[At the moment it's pretty relaxed, just kind of trailing behind him and swaying gently with every step. Although it does tend to have a little more movement whenever she's speaking. Don't tell him it's cute or anything like that!!]
Making me, huh. If that's going to be a thing, maybe I should start running a little escort service on the side... You could make me your servant for the whole day if you wanted.
[ Whoa-ho-hooooooooaaaaa there. Peony trips over her feet when he says that, her gaze snapping from his tail back up to his face with a wide, incredulous sort of smile. It's not a bad thought by a long shot, but it's also one of those things where she honestly can't tell if she's reading more into this than she should, or if he's just playing...
Even if he is, that's not actually such a bad thought. ]
M--mmhm! I hope you'll at least be choosy with your, um. Your clientele. Don't agree to just anyone, okay?
[W-whoa, what kind of servant is she thinking of, there. He meant just the regular kind, but for her he can make an exception- but! Not out in public like this!! Jeez, Peony! He clears his throat and looks away in a flustered hurry.]
Well- yeah, of course. You think I'm the kind of guy who'll take orders from just anyone? [Because unless that order is "FIGHT ME"...] You're just lucky I like you so much.
[ Listen, even regular domestic service is a pretty wild thought for a housekeeper. She huffs after an moment, mostly in an effort to recover her composure. ]
No... Well, to be honest, I never thought that you'd take orders from me at all. We were pretty equal!
[ There's only one person she ever believed he'd bow his head to, and that is exactly the topic she wants to avoid until they're sitting somewhere relatively private. ]
Hey, I didn't say I'd do it every day for you. Just that you're one of the elite few I'd make some kind of exception for. We're still equal otherwise!
[Of course, he's bowed to so many of her whims in the past as it is... Even some of the ones he didn't entirely agree with! But whether he liked them or not (and whether it was something she actually asked for or not), you can bet he was a big grumbly baby about it.
At least he's not being such a baby now. We'll see how long that lasts. He squeezes her hand good-naturedly, for now.]
[ She says that gently, squeezing his hand in response. Frankly, a lot of her memory is fuzzier than she'd like to admit -- there are some things that still remain clear even now, but all the little things, the day to day that she'd cherished, have gone faded and hazy. But she does know, with certainty, that he's always gone further for her than she'd ever asked of him, and even when she sometimes hadn't asked at all.
What an embarrassing manbaby. She loves him. ]
I'll just have to work harder at spoiling you, too.
[No!! You'd think he'd be used to being on the receiving end of cute bouts of affection by now, but he still can't take even half as much as he can dish out. That'll never truly go away until he can get rid of the part of him that hates himself, too.
...With Maera around, it's looking less and less like an impossibility. Go figure.
Still, he's pretty clearly flustered as he waves the notion off.]
You're spoiling me plenty already. Free homemade lunches are as good as it gets, so there's not much else you can do anyway.
[ She brightens further when he flusters at that, latching onto his hand a little more tightly. Oho! He's not the only one who gets a kick out of being the one laying on the praise. And for her there's a little extra incentive -- even without all the awkwardness about Luna, after all these years, both he and Maera deserve to actually hear the nice things about themselves, rather than her just assuming they might know.
Because okay, sure, maybe they're both grumpy manbabies sometimes, but that doesn't mean Peony doesn't have a private list of her favorite points about the both of them. ]
You know, I've been putting aside some extra money... I could probably spoil someone pretty easily! Just for a day, but still!
[AAAH. This goes beyond embarrassing and into more uncomfortable territory for him. That money could be used for so many better things! Buying her cute clothes or whatever she likes, or doting on Icarus or Luna, or investing in their future or something...!]
It's not like I don't appreciate the thought, but... there isn't even anything I really want. Not that money can buy, anyway.
[He's got a great all set for when it finally cools down, so that's one thing off an incredibly short list. The only other thing that comes to mind is one of those really nice (expensive) magic prosthetics in the weapons shop to replace his old one, but he's adjusting to life without it. Honestly, he lost interest in most material goods after the whole apocalypse made them even less practical.]
[ She likes being able to dote on her loved ones!! Even if it's small things. Don't underestimate her determination for kindness terrorism. It might not make up for years of the actual thing, but she'll take what small victories she can get.
But they're at the gardens now, so for the moment, instead of pushing with that, she leads him to a nice shady area under a grouping of trees. ]
[How cryptic. How threatening. Is she planning to get revenge for the Raipocalypse he unleashed on her birthday? Now he's going to be kept in suspense. Even the tranquility of the garden cannot soothe his nerves!
But, it's still nice enough to enjoy a lunch in. So he'll do that. Now that they've come to a stop, their walk in the heat is catching up to him, so he loosens his shirt considerably before he takes a seat. He's also panting a little without even realizing it, tail lazily thumping against the ground as he waits patiently for lunch to be unveiled. Dog Time is in full swing.]
[ She watches that as she arranges things -- she didn't bring a blanket, but it's probably okay. The wrapped tower ends up being a rather fancy tiered bento set, decorated with little flowers. (It is possible that, as much as she wants her real name back, Peony has decided to run with a certain theme here.)
But instead of opening the bento right away she cocks her head, looking from his tail back to his face, noting the panting. Huh. ]
Ah, you know, I never asked... how did you get those features?
[Because of course it's spirits. It's always spirits. Of course, Peony probably already assumed as much.]
These stupid little flying cats. Owls with cat faces? Something like that... Looks like they've been making targets out of a number of people. You're lucky you've already got something.
[Who knows, they might go so far as to just turn her into a flower or something. She's practically doing it herself, the way she's embracing the motif. That's kind of a horrific thought... There's nothing out there that could do that to her, right?
EUGH. Not gonna think about it.]
...Or maybe they saw you guys and wanted to spread the trend around.
[ She doesn't know anything about his concern about her becoming a flower (though she'd be a very pretty peony blossom, thank you!), but she hums thoughtfully at his comment. A beat later, she reaches out to run a hand down his waggy tail. It's mostly an impulse, but it's not one that she tries very hard to suppress. ]
It's cute, though. What do you think I would've been, if not for this?
[ Because "red panda" is not something that had occurred to her at all as a possibility until she arrived at Arden Grove. ]
[The tail stops, then begins wagging even harder. The rest of him shudders lightly; it's not like it's unpleasant, but it sure is weird as hell having any feedback at all from a part he isn't even supposed to have!]
Nnh... You're asking me?
[To use his imagination? He's not the SHSL Breeder here... Anything that isn't a flower.]
I dunno, maybe a rabbit? They're cute and pretty energetic, and that sounds like you.
[ Yes success!! Peony breaks into a wide sunny smile at that in spite of herself. Tail-wagging is so cute...! She'd thought that before with Maera, and now Mallory doing the same is just a confirmation of what she'd already thought.
(Though in all honesty, she is a little sympathetic about it being weird to have his tail pet; she'd had the same reaction the first few times that someone had touched hers -- pretty nice, but also kind of weird. She has her guesses about how Icarus and Maera feel about their features, but field evidence implies it's the same for them.) ]
A rabbit, huh... would you protect me from being eaten, or should I be worried about you?
[ It's a joke, and she tugs a little at his tail, gently, hoping he'll take it as such. ]
[Ah! The tug's a little more alarming, even though he's still willing to sit and take it. It's just a little harder to focus when his brain is screaming at him that it's wrong, this is wrong, you shouldn't feel this.
(Ha ha, isn't that a familiar mantra.)]
I got dog, not wolf. But I'd keep protecting you anyway, same as ever. It'd be like those cutesy videos with snakes making friends with the mice they were supposed to eat.
[Speaking of food... He's just going to lean forward here and reach for that fancy bento tower. As nice as it is to look at, it'll be a lot nicer to taste, he's sure.]
[ It might not look exactly like this, but it's similar enough. There's still some rice, of course, but maybe less than would be normally packed into a bento; it's mostly meat and vegetables and fruit, all arranged as nicely as any Actual Artist might. The desserts are on the bottom tier, and even those seem to be mostly fruit and whipped cream than anything too heavy.
She's been doing research, okay!!
She is also still petting his tail, though she's not pulling on it again (yet). He can have a reprieve for now. ]
We'd be super cute. ♥ Bu~ut, depending on the eating, it might not be very family-friendly.
[ Her voice is completely chipper at that, like she's not implying anything at all. ]
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Though when he says that, she half-hunches her shoulders shyly, scuffing at the ground with the toes of one foot. Compliments. Her main weakness, no matter how many times she hears it from him...!
When he stands, though, she finally comes all the way from around the corner and trots over to him. She's hiding something behind her back, too, though she's not trying to be subtle about it. It's the way anyone might hide a "surprise" present. ]
I wanna eat somewhere where we can see outside, but maybe a little cooler. How does that sound?
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Speaking of forces to be reckoned with... He should have known from the start that Peony had a little more in mind than her initial invitation. He cranes his neck to see if he can sneak a peek over her shoulder, putting that extra height to its most practical use.]
Sounds like you might have a place in mind already...? [He's in! But also, he wants to know before they get there.]
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[ How dare he use his height advantage! But when she notices that, she just ducks away, doing her best to sidestep his view. It's not completely perfect, though: he'll almost certainly catch sight of the fact that she's holding a small cloth-wrapped tower, just like the bento boxes she used to bring to school. ]
I even brought dessert, but no peeking, okay?
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OH NO THAT LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF FOOD
OH NO PEONY YOU MAKE IT SO HARD TO PROPERLY START ANY DIET PLANS
Maybe today will be fine. Maybe just a couple of bites. Maybe she's the next person who wants to get a jab in about The Pudge and has actually packed a salad for dessert. Only one way to find out, right? Even though he grins, his ears tilt back a bit in quiet dread.]
Alright, alright...! I won't look. [More than he already has.] Let's get going already. I'm going stir-crazy in this office all day, and the garden smells great when it's humid like this.
[Too bad her hands are occupied, because he wouldn't mind actually holding one... He'll just hold the door open for her instead.]
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I figured we could walk a little after, too. We can stretch our legs some before you have to go back.
[ Or maybe just they can just play hooky for the rest of his workday and hang out. That's a good possibility. ]
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If you're trying to get me to bark and go nuts just by saying the word 'walk' so much, it's not gonna work like that. [THANK GOD.] But I'll still go.
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Good boy!!She giggles at that, shaking her head. ...Though she does "sneak" a look behind them at his tail, to see how much it is or isn't going at this point. ]No, no, nothing like that! I just think it sounds nice, and I'm making you keep me company. I hope you're prepared!
[ If she phrases it as a favor to her, maybe he'll be a little more cheered up by it... ]
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Making me, huh. If that's going to be a thing, maybe I should start running a little escort service on the side... You could make me your servant for the whole day if you wanted.
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[ Whoa-ho-hooooooooaaaaa there. Peony trips over her feet when he says that, her gaze snapping from his tail back up to his face with a wide, incredulous sort of smile. It's not a bad thought by a long shot, but it's also one of those things where she honestly can't tell if she's reading more into this than she should, or if he's just playing...
Even if he is, that's not actually such a bad thought. ]
M--mmhm! I hope you'll at least be choosy with your, um. Your clientele. Don't agree to just anyone, okay?
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Well- yeah, of course. You think I'm the kind of guy who'll take orders from just anyone? [Because unless that order is "FIGHT ME"...] You're just lucky I like you so much.
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No... Well, to be honest, I never thought that you'd take orders from me at all. We were pretty equal!
[ There's only one person she ever believed he'd bow his head to, and that is exactly the topic she wants to avoid until they're sitting somewhere relatively private. ]
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[Of course, he's bowed to so many of her whims in the past as it is... Even some of the ones he didn't entirely agree with! But whether he liked them or not (and whether it was something she actually asked for or not), you can bet he was a big grumbly baby about it.
At least he's not being such a baby now. We'll see how long that lasts. He squeezes her hand good-naturedly, for now.]
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[ She says that gently, squeezing his hand in response. Frankly, a lot of her memory is fuzzier than she'd like to admit -- there are some things that still remain clear even now, but all the little things, the day to day that she'd cherished, have gone faded and hazy. But she does know, with certainty, that he's always gone further for her than she'd ever asked of him, and even when she sometimes hadn't asked at all.
What an embarrassing manbaby. She loves him. ]
I'll just have to work harder at spoiling you, too.
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...With Maera around, it's looking less and less like an impossibility. Go figure.
Still, he's pretty clearly flustered as he waves the notion off.]
You're spoiling me plenty already. Free homemade lunches are as good as it gets, so there's not much else you can do anyway.
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[ She brightens further when he flusters at that, latching onto his hand a little more tightly. Oho! He's not the only one who gets a kick out of being the one laying on the praise. And for her there's a little extra incentive -- even without all the awkwardness about Luna, after all these years, both he and Maera deserve to actually hear the nice things about themselves, rather than her just assuming they might know.
Because okay, sure, maybe they're both grumpy manbabies sometimes, but that doesn't mean Peony doesn't have a private list of her favorite points about the both of them. ]
You know, I've been putting aside some extra money... I could probably spoil someone pretty easily! Just for a day, but still!
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[AAAH. This goes beyond embarrassing and into more uncomfortable territory for him. That money could be used for so many better things! Buying her cute clothes or whatever she likes, or doting on Icarus or Luna, or investing in their future or something...!]
It's not like I don't appreciate the thought, but... there isn't even anything I really want. Not that money can buy, anyway.
[He's got a great all set for when it finally cools down, so that's one thing off an incredibly short list. The only other thing that comes to mind is one of those really nice (expensive) magic prosthetics in the weapons shop to replace his old one, but he's adjusting to life without it. Honestly, he lost interest in most material goods after the whole apocalypse made them even less practical.]
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[ She likes being able to dote on her loved ones!! Even if it's small things. Don't underestimate her determination for kindness terrorism. It might not make up for years of the actual thing, but she'll take what small victories she can get.
But they're at the gardens now, so for the moment, instead of pushing with that, she leads him to a nice shady area under a grouping of trees. ]
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But, it's still nice enough to enjoy a lunch in. So he'll do that. Now that they've come to a stop, their walk in the heat is catching up to him, so he loosens his shirt considerably before he takes a seat. He's also panting a little without even realizing it, tail lazily thumping against the ground as he waits patiently for lunch to be unveiled. Dog Time is in full swing.]
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But instead of opening the bento right away she cocks her head, looking from his tail back to his face, noting the panting. Huh. ]
Ah, you know, I never asked... how did you get those features?
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[Because of course it's spirits. It's always spirits. Of course, Peony probably already assumed as much.]
These stupid little flying cats. Owls with cat faces? Something like that... Looks like they've been making targets out of a number of people. You're lucky you've already got something.
[Who knows, they might go so far as to just turn her into a flower or something. She's practically doing it herself, the way she's embracing the motif. That's kind of a horrific thought... There's nothing out there that could do that to her, right?
EUGH. Not gonna think about it.]
...Or maybe they saw you guys and wanted to spread the trend around.
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[ She doesn't know anything about his concern about her becoming a flower (though she'd be a very pretty peony blossom, thank you!), but she hums thoughtfully at his comment. A beat later, she reaches out to run a hand down his waggy tail. It's mostly an impulse, but it's not one that she tries very hard to suppress. ]
It's cute, though. What do you think I would've been, if not for this?
[ Because "red panda" is not something that had occurred to her at all as a possibility until she arrived at Arden Grove. ]
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Nnh... You're asking me?
[To use his imagination? He's not the SHSL Breeder here... Anything that isn't a flower.]
I dunno, maybe a rabbit? They're cute and pretty energetic, and that sounds like you.
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(Though in all honesty, she is a little sympathetic about it being weird to have his tail pet; she'd had the same reaction the first few times that someone had touched hers -- pretty nice, but also kind of weird. She has her guesses about how Icarus and Maera feel about their features, but field evidence implies it's the same for them.) ]
A rabbit, huh... would you protect me from being eaten, or should I be worried about you?
[ It's a joke, and she tugs a little at his tail, gently, hoping he'll take it as such. ]
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[Ah! The tug's a little more alarming, even though he's still willing to sit and take it. It's just a little harder to focus when his brain is screaming at him that it's wrong, this is wrong, you shouldn't feel this.
(Ha ha, isn't that a familiar mantra.)]
I got dog, not wolf. But I'd keep protecting you anyway, same as ever. It'd be like those cutesy videos with snakes making friends with the mice they were supposed to eat.
[Speaking of food... He's just going to lean forward here and reach for that fancy bento tower. As nice as it is to look at, it'll be a lot nicer to taste, he's sure.]
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She's been doing research, okay!!
She is also still petting his tail, though she's not pulling on it again (yet). He can have a reprieve for now. ]
We'd be super cute. ♥ Bu~ut, depending on the eating, it might not be very family-friendly.
[ Her voice is completely chipper at that, like she's not implying anything at all. ]
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