The coffee table has been cleared off to make room for Mavis' laptop, which is open and streaming that one nature documentary narrated by Will Smith. Hey! It's good. And educational. At the end of the coffee table is a tall, paper bag filled with small, white boxes with red printing on them. The entire house smells like Chinese food. It smells like Chinese food before even hitting the front porch.
As for Mavis? She's curled up against an arm of the couch, laptop stationed in front of her. A blanket is draped over her lap, legs folded up on the couch half under her as she just sits there and watches her documentary. A composition notebook is open on her lap, pen in hand. Now and then, Mavis absently chews on the end of her pen when the documentary gets particularly "good" then she goes back to scribbling again.
Amity emerges from the mudroom with a tired groan. Another day, another dollar. But she has a home to come back to and a lovely person to share that home with! She pauses, briefly, to look at Mavis on the couch. Then she walks over and plops down next to her with a tired groan. Her head lolls back against the back of the couch. "Hello," she murmurs, stifling a yawn. "Smells good."
She hears Amity on the porch then hears the woman sighing through the mudroom, shucking off her shoes and coat. Mavis drops her pen on her notebook, closes it in there, and tucks the notebook between the arm of the couch and cushion. Now that Amity was home, she didn't plan on doing anymore writing.
"Hey you," she drawls over in greeting as Amity trudges into the room from the mudroom. The mortal's smile breaks into a grin, showing her teeth and the little gap between her incisors. "Too bad, I ate it all," she tells Amity, mischievously. She sweeps an arm laden with bracelets out toward the bag on the table, indicating it. "Just kidding, I ordered us Chinese. Haven't dug in yet. Got here about 10 minutes ago?" And in those ten minutes, EVERYTHING smelled like Chinese food.
Amity looks momentarily stricken when Mavis confesses that she has eaten all of the Chinese food--and then lets out a low, exasperated sigh when it is revbealed that there is, in fact, plenty of Chinese food to be had. "You have good timing on the delivery, at least," she mumbles and reaches over to fish out a carton and a pair of wooden chopsticks. She doesn't know what's in here, but she knows she's hungry.
"How was work?"
Mavis is still grinning at Amity, watching the blonde with that smile on her face, as she plucks out one of the boxes of Chinese food. She didn't know what Amity liked so the mortal ordered a variety, confident that the food would get eaten one way or the other. Ahem-hem. Widget.
"Work was," she hums, thoughtfully, peering up at Amity like the Changeling knew damn well how work was for Mavis. "Interesting, that's for sure." She slides her legs over the edge of the couch and scoots closer, turning to lean against Amity while mindful of the carton of hot, Chinese food she's handling. "You?"
Amity tugs her chopsticks apart, opens her carton, and starts digging into the chow mein within. Somehow, even stinky and mussed from work and eating takeaway out of a carton, Amity manages to convey a sense of propriety and stiff dignity. Nom nom slurp. She glances over at Mavis, cocking an eyebrow. Something almost like a smirk crosses her face.
"Was I that distracting? I'll be sure not to do that in the future," she says with an absolutely straight face, then fills her mouth with noodles again. Carbs, sweet, sweet carbs. "It was fine. Slow. The trickle of people we were getting for the leaves is slowing down to pretty much nothing, so there's not much to do at the moment. Thankfully you kept my day interesting."
She hadn't bothered to pause the documentary when Amity walked in. It continues in the background, Will Smith narrating something about the ozone.. or the ocean.. or both.. Mavis had really stopped paying attention.
Mavis tilts her head to peer up at Amity, slouching against the woman's side as she primly eats noodles neater than noodles ought to be eaten. The mortal just blinks at her, quietly astonished, but that was so utterly /like/ Amity that she has to giggle about it. "Wow, I thought you were hungry," she notes to Amity, lifting her chin higher to peck her girlfriend's jaw while she mechanically chews. "You're cute when you eat.. and thanks, glad I could break up some of the monotony over at the hotel." She bites down on a grin, about to say something playful. Uhoh. "Also, uhm. The mortal pushes some of her weight against Amity's side. "Nice cherries. Those're cute too."
Amity continues eating her noodles, though the compliment about her eating brings a touch of embarrassed pink to her cheeks. It's subtle, but it's thee all the same. She finishes chewing her mouthful of chow mein and swallows it. "I /am/ hungry," she replies with a mock-sulk. She considers taking a big messy bite of noodles, but her brain stops her. Sigh. "You are cute all the time," Amity retorts, one of her little smiles on her face. "...Oh, um... Thanks." She just liked the cute pattern, that's all. "I... I just liked the pattern," she says after a moment, speaking the thought out loud. "I'm glad you like them, too."
She is pleased by that touch of color brought to Amity's cheeks, Mavis certainly does not miss this. She drinks in it then turns her head to watch the laptop screen, resting a temple against Amity's shoulders. "Oh, please," scoffs the mortal, laughing and lifting her honey-brown gaze to Amity's face then rolling her eyes. Did you see that? She rolled them! She warns Amity, "You just haven't seen all of "this" yet, that's all. Trust me, it'll wear off."
Her words are half-teasing, half-practical, and it doesn't sound like Mavis is referring to her physique. She'd given Amity a head's up about her art taking precedence in her life at times, but the mortal wasn't sure if Amity had taken her seriously on that or overlooked those words. She could get awfully reclusive during those times. And cagey and snarly. Mavis just sighs and nuzzles her head against Amity, not worrying about it right now.
"Mhm," she hums, sounding sleepy or just relaxed. "I like what's in 'em more." Mavis glances over at Amity, lifting her chin. "Hey, don't waffle all of the chow mein. Gimme some."
"I'm very fond of all of that. I don't think that'll stop being the case anytime soon," Amity says with a little shake of her head. She bends her head a little and smooches the other woman at the top of her head. Fond, affectionate. Mavis /does/ make her so happy. She almost rolls her eyes in return, but catches herself. Instead, she dutifully offers over the carton of chow mein without protest, her last noodles disappearing into her mouth.
"Help yourself." She glances away, pondering the other cartons of food. "...I like it when you get to taste what's in them, too," she adds after a moment. God, did she really say something that forward?
Mavis feeds those words to her insecurities and they begin to gnaw through them. It was easy for Amity to say that when she'd only known Mavis for a few months, but hadn't she chased off the others before her? No, not /chased/ but /pushed/ is what the afflicted parties often claimed. It had to be true if they all accused Mavis of being disinterested and distant. She knew it was true, because it was true and she had been those things. For a time, anyway. During those fugues, Mavis functioned. She would work, shower, dress, and even sleep but she was occupied every waking breath with whatever ongoing creation was in the making, going through whatever motions necessary to get back to the task. Her muse was relentless and punishing, her cycles akin to a drug addict relapsing again and again.
She plucks the carton of chow mein from Amity, grinning at her and turning back to the laptop, trying not to think about how she could feel that familiar prickle to start up a new project. It was like a whisper at the back of her ear that she could almost hear if only she'd turn her head.. just a little.. but Mavis watches the documentary, chewing down on the noodles Amity surrendered to her. She's so wrapped up in the nature documentary, that it takes Mavis a moment to register Amity's words.
She sputters, almost choking, then sticks her chopsticks in the noodles to gawk at Amity. "I thought," she says hoarsely, "for a second there.. you were talking about the carton of.." The carton of noodles is lifted. "Noodles." The mortal giggles at herself for how Amity's boldness took her. "I do, too.." She bites her bottom lip, tempted, then draws in a breath about to say something then stops. Then, Mavis just says it, "Do.. you want to sleep in my bed tonight? It's bigger, for one thing."
Amity smiles a little, almost like a cat, when she manages to get such a reaction from Mavis. She hadn't thought it possible! Yet here she is. She reaches for the broccoli beef and starts to shovel that into her face, though only in the most delicate sense of the shovel. "I'm glad you appreciate that," she says with probably more pride than is strictly necessary, but hey. Let her have her small victories.
"That sounds good," Amity says, glancing towards the stairs with a pensive furrow of brow. Then back to Mavis. "...As long as I get curl up in your arms, I'm happy."
Mavis is NOT the prim, tidy eater that Amity is. She slurps down those noodles, grinning around them while the chopsticks hold the bulk of the noddles. The mortal cuddles against the Changeling's side while she chews. This was nice. Wholesome. The house felt a little less like a stranger's house and more like a home that smelled like Chinese takeout, which was always the same no matter what she'd found herself in.
"What if I," she says, chewing, and pointing at herself with the chopsticks then menacing them at Amity, "wanted to be little spoon, hm?" Gulp. "It was your turn allllllll night last night." She blinks, remembering something. "Oh. I'm getting a shower before bed.. if, uh.. Well, if you wanted to go first~~"
"Well, then you can be the little spoon. I'm happy to cuddle you however you like," Amity says with a genuine little smile. She reaches over, strokes her fingers through Mavis' hair just to feel her. To know that she's there. This whole thing still seems a little unreal, a little fantastical. But no. She's moved in with a beautiful artist and she's /happy/. How did that happen? Really? "Hm? Why would I care if I go first or not?" That one sailed right by her head, sorry Mavis.
"To hog all of the hot water," drawls Mavis, sarcastically, and softly shaking her head while looking back down into her carton of chow mein. A little less than half was left after Mavis demolished it, but that wouldn't actually happen til Widget found the leftovers in the fridge. She closes up the lid and nuzzles back against Amity's fingers in her hair, then sets leans forward to set the box on the coffee table. The bag of Chinese food is rummaged through til Mavis finds the egg rolls. And. Two fortune cookies, which she offers out to Mavis on the flat of one hand. She says, grinning, "Pick one.. And what I should have said earlier was," pause, "do you want to get a shower with me?"
Amity blinks, her brain catching up for a moment as she slows down in her dinner and slowly begins to join Mavis in packing up leftovers. She could take some for lunch tomorrow. Provided Widget didn't appear to devour them at some point. She sets the carton back on the table, then reaches out to take a fortune cookie. Mavis's offer doesn't exactly catch her off guard. More that she's just not used to this kind of thing yet. As she breaks open her cookie, she ducks her head in embarrassment. "Ah, um. Sure. I'd love to take a shower with you. Always need help scrubbing my back."
Mavis' fingers curl around the cookie she's left with and the mortal grins. Keeping the fortune cookie palmed in her hand, she fishes out an eggroll to offer to Amity then fishes out another for herself. She'd usually put some soy sauce or duck sauce on this, but Mavis is too comfortable next to Amity to go rummaging through the big bag of Chinese again. She eats her eggroll while Amity cracks open her cookie, chewing with her mouth closed and still grinning. Her food is swallowed and she waits a moment, clearing her mouth, before wondering in a casual way, "Ever let someone wash your hair before? It's.. really relaxing." She clears her throat and takes a small nibble off the eggroll, chewing it carefully. This was one of those times where she felt like the gap in their "experience" was incriminating, on her part. Ohwell. Big deal. Mavis has washed a few scalps and let a few hands wash hers. She gulps down that bite of eggroll, adding, "Should try it sometime."
"I haven't," Amity admits as she takes her fortune cookie. The egg roll is set aside for later--she's feeling pretty full after she wolfed down all that chow mein. She turns the fortune cookie over in her hand for a moment, then cracks it open with a precise motion that manages to avoid getting crumbs everywhere. She pops the cookie into he rmouth and chews, peering at the fortune. She turns it around to show Mavis. "You are contemplating some action which will bring credit upon you," she reads aloud for good measure. "Heh. I guess that means good things?" She smiles. "Especially because I'm thinking of letting you wash my hair."
Mavis finishes her eggroll, popping the last bite into her mouth and chewing with it full. She wasn't really a dainty eater, not very self-conscious about it at all. The words scripted on the slip of fortune paper are squinted at as Amity reads them aloud, then she laughs at the blonde's interpretation. "You might be right," she tells her, although that fortune had been phrased.. almost transactional. It was just a silly fortune, though.
The plastic bag containing her own cookie is opened, the cookie cracked, and slip of paper removed. Mavis holds it up to read and her brows furrow at the words. She didn't like them as much as Amity did her own fortune.
Mavis repeats them aloud, "Truth is an unpopular subject. Because it is unquestionably correct." She shrugs, crumples up the paper and plastic together. Geez. What a shitty fortune. "Well. TRUTH is, I want to get this stuff packed away and you upstairs, in my shower, naked and sudsy within the next.. oh... eight minutes?"
Amity's smile stays right where it is as she leans forward to start clearing up the dinner things. Each carton is neatly closed and tucked away in the bag they came in so that it can be shoved into the fridge without too much trouble. She stands, picking the bag up along with discarded chopsticks and napkins. "Well, why don't you head upstairs and get the water going while I put this away in the fridge. I'll be up in five minutes. Promise."
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