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Watching Koseki Bijou play video games was truly something else.
She could play for hours... hours that she should definitely be spending doing her turn at chores or homework or prepping for a stream (which, to be fair, was usually just playing even more of said game). The way she would tilt her whole body, even when she wasn't playing a racing game, her eyes (which, thankfully for her, did not suffer the strain that human eyes did) glued to the screen. To the point that, even if the twins accidentally set the house on fire, she'd probably keep playing until the console itself melted into a plastic mass on the carpet.
It was endearing, in a way. Endearing enough that Nerissa couldn't get rid of the smile that wormed it's way onto her lips as she leaned against the door frame, watching on.
Her gemstone just had that way of doing that to her.
...but, well, it was still HER turn to do the dishes. So, adorable or not, her little sparkly rock's gaming time was up.
"Biboo, isn't there something you forgot to do today?"
...no answer.
"Bijouuu~"
"I'm busyyyyy!" The purple-haired girl whined back. "Plus, it's a multiplayer game! You can't pause it!"
"Yeah, that won't work on me." The raven-haired girl snarked in return. "I might not be a Dark Souls player, but I'm not THAT dumb."
The shorter girl muttered something under her breath.
"What was that?"
"N-Nothing!"
Pale purple eyes rolled. Her heels stopped clicking as she came up right beside her little jewel, quite literally towering over her.
"Okay, okay, just give me, like, three minutes, I'm kinda locked in here!" Biboo puffed out her cheeks, mashing at the buttons as she dodged around... well, Nerissa wasn't really well-versed in Souls lore, but it looked like some Lovecraftian horror, and that was probably all she needed to know about it.
It didn't really matter that much, anyway. She was too busy getting into a sitting position to care.
The gem girl let out a squeak as the taller girl's thighs circled under her legs, pulling her back into her lap and bringing her flush with her own body. An act that truly highlighted their height discrepancy.
And, well, a few OTHER discrepancies between them.
"Y-you're doing that on purpose!"
"Doing what?" The raven girl let out a chuckle, one that made the blush on her companion's cheeks grow even larger. "Am I not allowed to covet my adorable Bijou?"
"But... rrrr..."
"Is my dear gamer not locked in enough, or is she going to have to stop neglecting to do the dishes?"
"Mmmm...!"
The battle raged on, the screen flickering with all the effects. Nerissa let herself go a bit more limp, leaning forward enough to rest her chin atop her shorter sweetheart's head.
Which was certainly doing wonders for said girl's complexion.
After a few more minutes, the boss's health bar finally ran out, and Biboo let out a sigh as she leaned back in the demoness's embrace. "You almost made me lose again..." She grumbled, little bite and plenty of embarrassment behind her words.
"Oh no, you would've lost five whole minutes of gaming~" The taller girl teased back.
"Took me like five hours to get that far in the fight without resetting, though..."
"Wow~ my Biboo's such a champ, huh?"
At the very least, she was grateful that their positions meant that Nerissa had exactly zero chance of seeing her face right now.
"...I still have to do the dishes, don't I?"
"Obviously."
"DANGIT!"
Unlike the living room, Shiori's study wasn't something others could just wander into willy-nilly to distract her. At the very least, they had to be rude enough to knock HARD on the door, enough to get the archiver's head out of the pages for a few seconds, at least.
So, the fact that the door was unlocked meant that she was perfectly okay with being interrupted today.
A fact that a certain gemstone was determined to make her regret.
"Wow... you should really dust in here or something."
"I'll get Nerissa to put on a maid outfit and do it for me later."
"She'd probably enjoy that, wouldn't she?"
"Yeah, probably."
Biboo let a lazy smile overtake her lips as she settled down, her cheek rubbing against her own arm. There was just... something about watching Shiori lay back and do what she does best: stare up at the book in her hands like there was nothing else in the entire world.
It was cute.
She was cute.
And today, the little gremlin wanted to let that fact be known to said non-existent world.
In her typical fashion, of course.
"You're cute."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"Yeah, yeah..."
"You are!" The purple-haired girl exclaimed as though she'd been harshly dismissed. "HEY, WORLD! SHIORI NOVELLA IS A TRUE BONAFIDE CUTIE!"
That earned a snort. "Beebs, get the fuck out of here if you're just gonna be a pain."
"How dare~ I'll have you know that I'm a straight-up healing crystal."
"Yeah, okay."
"No, for real! Check it!"
And that was all the warning that the archiver got before a large gemstone was deposited on her stomach. The wind was knocked out of her lungs since, small as she might be, Biboo was still a ROCK.
A rock that was now latched to her midsection.
"You know, if my ribs were still attached to the rest of my skeleton, that would've probably broken a few."
From her tone alone, it was pretty obvious that Shiori was really putting all of her willpower into keeping her aloof front up...
"Oh shush, you've already used that excuse the other day."
...an act that, although habit at this point, was futile against the girl invading her personal space at the moment.
Seeing everyone's emotions tended to do that, after all.
Sparkling purple eyes blinked up at their golden counterparts. Her companion, unfortunately, did not have a way to make a turn-away and the hand in front of her own face look natural. Well, natural enough that covering her own blush wasn't the only possible excuse.
"You're gonna take up the rest of my reading time, aren't you?"
"I wasn't, but that's actually a pretty good idea~"
"Great..."
The gemstone snuggled closer, pulling the ends of the archiver's jacket around herself.
Needless to say, escape was now deemed impossible by the monochrome-haired girl.
"Dammit..."
"What's wrong?"
"Wha- Shiori!" The demoness pulled the skirt she'd been holding in front of herself against her chest, looking completely scandalized. "I told you to knock when I'm working in here! Geez, forget FuwaMoco, I think YOU need a bell at this point."
"Your kinks are showing again, Rissa~"
Nerissa threw her head back in exasperation, long strands of hair slipping over the back of her chair as she blew out a breath. Clearly not in the mood for trouble-making. Unfortunately for her, the way Shiori strode into the workshop, her eyes gleaming, was the trademark Novella sign that the archiver was ready to cause problems.
Her gaze landed on the tattered cloth in her companion's hands. "Whatcha got there?"
"What does it look like?" The raven-haired girl muttered in self-deprecation. "I tore another skirt."
"Dang, girl, your ass grew again?"
"Shioriii!" The name was drawn out longer, somehow even more frustrated and embarrassed than before.
"What?" The other girl rolled her eyes. "You've got a nice butt, what can I say?"
"So you admit you're staring?"
"You admit you like it?"
The taller girl's face was practically all pink at this point. "Geez, what is up with you today?"
"I dunno, feeling a bit generous, I guess." Shiori shrugged. "But wow, didn't know you knew how to sew."
"Vaguely." Nerissa looked down, her heartbeat clearly grateful to get the subject off her curves. "Mom taught me millennia ago, but I swear I didn't usually turn myself into a pincushion as much as I do nowadays..."
The archiver's expression softened. "You know, you can just buy a new skirt if you're having that much trouble."
"But you said before that we need to conserve resources."
"Uh, yeah, before we managed to find a place to bunker down."
"But..."
"What, did your mom give you that skirt or something?"
"Shiori, you literally stole this thing off a rack for me like two months ago."
"Oh, so it's got sentimental value now, huh?"
Nerissa didn't have a chance to respond, her brain too preoccupied with the fact that Shiori was now straddling her lap to formulate words, thighs splitting apart to slide against other thighs.
Other thighs that were trying their darnedest not to quiver too much.
"Come on, Rissa~ stop poking holes in yourself and feed that thing to GEOW or something." Golden eyes bored into her as hands came up to cradle her face. "We can go shopping for a new skirt on the weekend or something."
"Is- is- is-" Like a failing chainsaw, the raven girl's voice refused to start up properly the first few times. "Is that- is that a... a d-date, then?"
The other girl's smirk, practically consuming her vision like an endless lake of ink, only deepened at that.
"...if you wanna call it that~"
The twins were out late, so the house was quieter than usual.
The cuddle pile was too, having formed a bit earlier than normal hours.
Everyone was beat. Marathon streams were no joke, and the fact that the puppers were busy with even more work meant that they'd have to prepare extra special headpats for their fluffy and fuzzy girls when they got home tomorrow afternoon.
But, for now, the remaining three had just gone to bed together, wrapped up in their little love nest of a pillow fort that provided zero defenses and maximum comfort.
Biboo was in the middle. Of course she was. It was just natural.
Well, rather, she took other positions, sometimes, but this one was just the easiest for everyone. Plus, it meant the two taller girls could hold her between them AND still hug each other. Their gem, hidden deepest inside, held by two pairs of arms like the precious thing she was considered to be but that she was so much more than too.
It was... greatly appreciated, to say the least.
Other than the soft snoozing, the ruffling of feathers was the only other audible sound. Encompassing them, like the sheets and blankets.
Those slick, feathery wings doing their wonders of circling everyone protectively.
They didn't need that protection. Well, that is, those wings probably wouldn't do much to protect them from what was actually hunting them down.
But that didn't matter... the sentiment was sweet enough.
A slow heartbeat, slower than the other two. It always was, in fact, probably too slow to actually pump blood. But it wasn't like there was much blood for it to pump. Much blood that wasn't itself mixed heavily with ink, to the point where there wasn't much of a difference anymore.
It was an overwhelming scent. More powerful than any 'bird smell' or 'rock-salt dandruff' could hope to be. So over the top, as thought nail polish was coating their tongues, the rest of their senses unable to cope with it.
Yet, without it, sleep would be impossible. They'd become so used to it, so unwilling to part with it.
Because that would mean that she wouldn't be sleeping with them, no matter how much she might try to sneak out of it every single time... because it was impossible for them to not drag her back in eventually.
They all tried to take their turns, but it was a defacto chart. Counters that couldn't be parried without same-frame timing, or whatever Biboo called it.
They could feel their bonds, after all. Even when going against the usual grain, the mix was always there, always present.
Always beloved.