[there's a knock at coyote's door. cam, in her usual cargo shorts, is waiting with a foil-covered plate. she's a few minutes early.]
@coyotesthoughtbox
[the door opens a moment later, revealing coyote, also in his usual attire.]
hey! good to see you, it’s been a while. i think iris is still fixing her hair, she should be—
[just as he mentions her, iris’ voice calls from somewhere within the house.] was that the door? who’s— cam!
[she quickly walks down the hallway, revealing herself at the door. there’s something… off about her; not anything particularly obvious or concerning, just… off. she almost seems to be more disheveled than usual.]
[before cam can fully look at her, though, iris throws her arms around her, embracing her tightly.] i missed you.
@cams-ramblings
[she sets the plate somewhat precariously on the nearest horizontal surface and wraps her arms around iris in return.] missed you too! feels like it's been forever since we've hung out. even though it was, like, a few days.
[she glances at coyote over iris's shoulder.] i haven't... done the whole poly thing before. should i not kiss you in front of your boyfriend? is that, like, bad form?
@cordycep-apologist
[coyote shakes his head.] for what it’s worth, i’m fine with it. i’ll go back in and give you guys a moment. iris knows where to find me.
[iris watches him go, and then turns her attention back to cam, smiling softly.] you look nice. what’s on the plate? or— kiss me before you tell me.
@cams-ramblings
[she laughs.] i look nice? i'm in a minecraft t-shirt. look at you.
[hands resting on iris's waist, she pulls her closer, smiling into the kiss. she lingers for a moment before pulling away.] i still can't believe i can do that now.
oh, right, the-- [she takes half a step away to retrieve the plate.] um, i made chocolate chip cookies. hopefully at least one of you two can eat chocolate, and gluten and dairy and all that--i kinda forgot to ask. about dietary restrictions.
[her face reddens slightly as she continues.] but, i don't know, i just... i haven't been over here before and i wanted to be a good guest, so i figured i should try to... bring something. that's what people do when they visit each other right? i mean, it feels kinda stupid now, but at the time--i'm talking a lot. sorry. it's cookies. [she exhales.]
@cordycep-apologist
[she smiles back.] don't be sorry. i missed your voice. neither of us have any dietary restrictions, and i personally love chocolate. coyote does too, but i consider it one of my favorite foods more than he does. or-- has he said anything about it? i can't imagine he wouldn't like it. we've had... right? or was-- no, that... ah.
[she shakes herself.] now i'm the one talking a lot. never mind. what was i just...? yes. thank you for bringing them, that's very sweet. i'm sure i'll love them, and i'm positive he will too. i can't imagine him not liking a food, honestly.
anyway, we should go in before his cat runs out. you don't mind cats, do you? not allergic or anything? harley is so sweet. coyote thinks otherwise, but i suppose it's like living with a sibling and bickering with them because you've known them your whole life, you're bound to get on each other's nerves at some point, right? ..another tangent. sorry. shall we?
[she holds out a hand for cam to take.]
@cams-ramblings
[she raises an eyebrow at iris's slightly disorganized speech, but doesn't comment on it.] nope, not allergic. and i love cats. i'm looking forward to meeting her. him?
[she takes iris's hand and follows her inside, tracking an almost imperceptible amount of dirt into the house.]
@cordycep-apologist
[iris leads her through the living room, going slowly enough so that cam can look around at her surroundings. considering how… eccentric coyote was, the house itself didn’t seem to be very interesting.
however, the closer she looks, the more things start to jump out— mainly, the strangely large amount of empty picture frames, scattered across coffee tables and bookshelves. they’re organized in such a way that it feels like there should be a photo inside the frame, but they’re all empty. really, the whole house feels… semi-deserted. obviously not fully— the slight clutter of dvd cases, paintbrushes, and notebooks makes it clear that coyote is very much living here, but it still feels like there’s something— or maybe someone— missing.
after a short walk, iris opens a door in the hallway, where coyote is sitting on his bed, a mackerel tabby cat in his lap. his bedroom absolutely makes up for the lack of personalization in the main area of the house; this is undoubtedly coyote’s room. the walls are a dark olive green, with blackout curtains covering the windows, the lighting coming from a collection of warm-toned lamps and lava lamps. posters for a variety of movies, each more gory than the last, are scattered across the walls, and there’s a small tv across from his bed, almost completely covered by a pile of dvds. there’s also a relatively large paint canvas, turned to face the wall so the painting isn’t visible. the room smells like it’s been freshly vacuumed, and also very faintly of weed, but that’s a conversation for another time.]
[coyote waves.] feel free to sit anywhere— the floor’s surprisingly comfortable, honestly, or the bed… wherever. don’t get a lot of guests, so this is new, but there’s a first time for everything, i guess. [he gestures at the cat.] this is harley. she’s a piece of shit, and i love her anyways. she’ll be chill with you, though, she loves pretending she’s nice when strangers are here. and there’s otis over there, but you’ve already met. that’s all the pets, i swear. anyway, hi, welcome— oh, yeah! cam, what’d you bring? i saw the plate earlier, but i forgot to ask.
@cams-ramblings
nice place! [she immediately lowers herself onto the end of the bed, slowly stretching out a hand for harley to sniff. as she talks, she continues trying to beckon the cat closer to pet her.]
i, um, i made cookies? chocolate chip. as, like, a thanks for having me over. hopefully you guys will like them, i'm not really a baker or anything. just wanted to try.
...oh, hey, you're not a girl anymore. [she pauses.] i mean, maybe you are. i wouldn't know. but you don't look like a girl--not that a girl couldn't--um--i should shut up about gender, probably. anyway, hope that whole thing didn't suck too bad.
@coyotesthoughtbox
oh, sick, thanks! that’s really nice of you. i’m sure they’re great.
[he freezes at the question, and then runs a hand through his hair, stumbling over his words.]
oh— yeah, i… yeah. it was, like, a twenty four hour thing, so… it didn’t totally suck. i mean, i didn’t, like, enjoy it or anything, it’s just— something that happened, y’know? avatars being avatars. what fear would that fall under, do you think? anyway. it was fine. better when iris came over. got me all dolled up. it was fun, honestly. definitely could’ve been worse.
[iris, who has since sat down next to cam and has been staring at the wall across from them, blinks at the mention of her name.]
huh? oh, yes, that whole thing. it was fun. you looked— look, but you know what i mean— very pretty.
[he blinks, cheeks flushing, and then clears his throat.]
so, cam! how’s the buried stuff going? see any cool caves lately?
@cams-ramblings
[she glances at iris with concern before turning her attention back to coyote.] right, that. i haven't got much to report, honestly. still feel normal. unless there's new stuff happening to me and i haven't noticed, which is definitely possible.
and no caves yet, but i've still got a trip planned next week. i was gonna go with strawberry but i haven't really heard from her lately, so it might be just me? [she shrugs.] hope she's okay.
oh! i keep thinking one of these days i'll just wake up and be able to control my... powers? the sinking feeling or whatever? but so far... i dunno, lemme try.
[she squints intensely at coyote for a couple seconds. nothing happens.]
...anything?
@coyotesthoughtbox
[as coyote talks, his cat exits his lap in favor of receiving the pets cam is offering.]
uh… no. but i haven’t been doing that great recently, so maybe i was already feeling it? anyway, i’m sure you’ll get it soon, and it’ll be sick.
i don’t think i know strawberry, but that’s a cool name. hope she gets back to you. i’d totally go with you, but i’m assuming iris still doesn’t want me to. [he glances over at iris, who has gone back to staring at the wall, and lightly pokes her shoulder.] you still with us over there?
[she jumps ever so slightly at the touch, and looks over at cam with concerningly vacant eyes.]
…yes. what? oh. sorry, i haven’t… been sleeping well. i’m sorry, cam, it’s just that if you’re not in full control of your powers and you’re in an environment that your patron is particularly fond of… i just don’t know what will happen. and i don’t want anybody to get hurt. not that i don’t trust you, i do, it’s just hard sometimes to…
[she trails off and sighs, resting her head on cam’s shoulder.] never mind. i hope that doesn’t offend you. once you get a better handle on your abilities as an avatar, i would love to join you as well.
…do you know if amira is running late, or..?
@cams-ramblings
[she frowns for a second, but covers it up without comment. as she talks, she absent-mindedly pets iris's hair.] maybe i could put the caving off for a bit, i dunno. it won't be as much fun by myself anyway. [she pauses to consider.] although it'd still be really fun. i--i'll think about it.
hmm, she's--oh! [she brightens and pulls out her phone.] i can check! we started sharing locations--her idea, for safety and stuff--i can share it with you too if you want. [she zooms in, tilting her head at the screen for a moment.] i think she just got off the bus. so she should be here in a minute or two. see--[she shows them both the map, where a dot representing amira is only a block away from cam's own location.]
...oh, oops. [she lifts her other hand from iris's head, trying to shake the spiders off her arm.] spiders. right. don't know how i forgot about the spiders.
@cordycep-apologist
oh, right, i can… [she holds out her hand against cam’s arm, and the spiders eventually crawl up her arm and back into her hair.] they’ve been harder to control recently. i’m sorry if that scared you.
[glancing back at cam’s phone, she nods.] alright. i’m glad she’s almost here. i’ve missed her. i’ve missed both of you. how have you been, cam? have i asked that yet? i feel like i should’ve led with that. i mean, you talked about the buried, but other than that… what have you been up to?
@cams-ramblings
[cam shrugs.] school? basically mostly school. reading a lot of old-timey french poetry and such. [she frowns slightly.] don't think i want to pursue it as a career. which kind of makes my degree pointless, but... [a sigh.] i try not to think about it.
other than school, ah... i've watched a couple markiplier videos... made some mid fanart for a game that came out in 2016... god, i need more interesting hobbies.
oh, and i've missed you guys too. both of you. [after a slight pause] and you, too, coyote, obviously. but not in... the way i've missed them. still, uh. still gay. but like. you're cool.
[a knock at the door interrupts her and she visibly sighs in relief.]
@coyotesthoughtbox
[he nods along, relieved at the subject change.] shit, that sucks. what do you want to do with your career, then? if you have it figured out, i mean. i don’t, and i’m graduating soon, which is… i’ll figure it out later. kinda busy with the whole bones melting stuff right now.
and i’ve missed you too! in— yeah. in the way you’re talking about. i mean, i like girls, but— [he gestures at iris.] i like that girl. you know what i mean. you’re cool and i like talking to you. is what i was getting at.
[at the sound of the door knocking, he looks in that general direction.] oh, is that—
[iris, on her part, is not nearly as calm.]
amira!
[she practically leaps up from her place on his bed, stumbling over her feet on the way out of his room.]
[she opens the door, beaming widely at amira. almost too widely, especially for someone who usually only shows a small smile from time to time.] there you are, i was worried you wouldn’t come… you look so beautiful. i missed you. come in, everyone else is— actually, can i kiss you? can you kiss me? something like that. you’re beautiful. did i say that already?
@ladybird-lady
[she smiles back and rests both hands on iris's shoulders, almost as if to steady her. her thumb gently traces the outline of the mushrooms.] i missed you too. sorry we're a bit late, you know how traffic gets... glad to be here now. you're beautiful yourself.
[she leans in and gently kisses her, the ladybugs fluttering their wings as she does so. after a few moments, she pulls away and speaks quietly.] how have you been? any better? the last time we saw you...
[she’s still smiling as they break apart, and she gently takes a ladybug on her finger, admiring it as she speaks, almost distantly.] i, ah… yes. yes, i’m… well. it’s hard to tell. things feel so disconnected. and maybe that’s a good thing. i’m always so… hyper-aware of everything, and not so much anymore. things could be getting better.
[the last sentence is murmured without any real hope behind it. she sighs, letting the ladybug crawl back to amira so she can make eye contact again.] but in any case! i’m sure i’m perfectly fine. everyone’s in coyote’s room, i’ll show you. cam made cookies, did she tell you? it’s very nice of her.
[she takes amira’s hand and turns around to start leading her inside. as she turns, the sunlight shines on her hair, making it look strangely iridescent.]
She didn't tell me, no. Perhaps she wanted to surprise everyone.
As long as you feel all right, I'm sure you are. It's best not to overthink things.
[Upon reaching Coyote's room, she addresses Cam first.] How are you? Any new developments?
[she speaks pointedly, but playfully.] hi, hello. good to see you, and other greetings. no, nothing's happened since you last asked me--[she checks the time on her phone]--six hours ago. still feel fine. still can't control it. iris and coyote haven't noticed anything either. you want a cookie?
[Amira turns slightly pink.] I suppose that's good, then. Hello, Coyote, it's nice to see you again. I hope you all haven't been waiting long.
[She considers for a moment, then nods.] We would accept a cookie. [She allows Cam to retrieve the plate and selects one carefully.] Thank you. And who is this? [She nods at Harley.]
@coyotesthoughtbox
