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Mornings off are difficult. And after everything that's been going on lately, Charlie has been very clear about one thing: they are not optional.
Vaggie isn't allowed to work today. She isn't allowed to go down to the lower floors before noon. Charlie would rather she not get up at all for at least a couple more hours, but she isn't going to keep Vaggie in bed.
No matter how much she likes to cling in her sleep.
Groaning, Vaggie peels herself out from under Charlie's arm. Charlie grumbles a little more than usual, but rolls over and curls in on herself anyway.
Vaggie's pretty sure she stayed up late last night again. After seeing Vaggie down, she went off to restructure the floor with Lucifer, and Vaggie doesn't remember waking up to her coming to bed after that.
Her joints pop as she stretches. She opens a drawer to grab some clothes, but stops herself.
If she gets dressed, will she be able to stop herself from heading downstairs before Charlie gets up?
She freshens up in the bathroom, changing her patch and nothing else, and lets her hair down.
As she heads out, she turns back around to look at Charlie, who has already wrapped herself around Vaggie's pillow and gone back to sleep. And she's alone in bed, which is weird. Keekee is often doing her own thing in the mornings, but it's not like Razzle and Dazzle to get up before Vaggie does. Huh.
She should probably spend the morning checking out their new private living spaces. She'll find them while she does that.
Charlie's office has moved. Which tracks, since she sees Sinners there. And maybe having more rooms between them and the hallway will keep Pentious out of their bedroom.
It's a little bittersweet, though, because it also means there will be more than just be a wall between them when Charlie's working during the night.
They have a living room now, which makes sense. Charlie has family staying here, and she says they'll probably be staying for a while. And they deserve to have private space to exist during the day. The seating looks nice. Comfortable. And there's a television.
Vaggie doesn't know how she feels about that. There's a reason they haven't had one in their private space since they moved into the Hotel. She looks at the little remote on the coffee table a little too long before she turns away. She'll have to ask Charlie for the rules about it later.
There's half a wall between the living room and wlike a new kitchen. Vaggie and Charlie are both pretty helpless in that department, so they haven't really had one of those since the apartment either.
She doubts those birds of Charlie's are any better off in the kitchen than they are, but she's open to be proven wrong.
“Vaggie.”
Speaking of birds. Stolas turns his head around to look at her, with four too-red eyes, as she comes in. He's standing over the counter with a mug of Charlie's.
“Good morning.”
She blanks for a little too long before she returns the greeting. “I wasn't expecting to see you this early.”
He chirps. “Is it that early?” And turns his body to match up with his head.
His floral bedrobe reaches his knees, even hanging off his shoulders as it is. It's open, untied, and Vaggie sees quickly that he's not wearing anything underneath.
“It's not that early for me. I just want to get back into my rhythms. I'm so tired of being… I'm tired of feeling like such a layabout.”
Vaggie can relate to that sentiment. She nods, forcing herself to look up at him. He's not bandaged anymore, but still visibly healing in patches of feathers. She cringes. Her eye drops back down. He's naked.
She glances back up at Charlie's mug in his hand. It's some fancy tea that comes in clumps, that Lucifer wanted to spoil him with. The steeping green looks disturbing and smells even more so.
“Are you alright?” he asks her, like he doesn't know what's wrong. Maybe he doesn't. Maybe nothing is.
She should just go back to bed.
“Can I offer you some?” he asks her. She shakes her head. The idea of that drink nearly turns her stomach.
“No, it's not really for me. Thanks.” She looks around, remembering what she came out for. “Have you seen the goats?”
“Razzle and Dazzle?” Stolas blinks, looking around the kitchen himself. “Well, they were here with me until just a minute ago.” Hmmm.
Well, it's clear that Stolas isn't going anywhere. And this is Vaggie's kitchen, isn't it? She looks around until she finds a glass for water.
The renovations are a lot. There are multiple doors that she doesn't know where they lead. It's going to take her some time to get used to the new space.
Maybe that's why she's supposed to take today off.
Stolas takes a seat on the couch. Half dressed and so tall and broken and so frail-looking. Vaggie doesn't look down again, instead looking at one half-cracked door.
“Did you need them for something?” Stolas asks her.
“No. It's just-” Great. She doesn't know how explain it without sounding weirdly clingy. “They're usually attached to me in the mornings, that's all.”
Stolas hums. “They bothered me since I woke up.” They didn't want him to be alone. Well.
Vaggie sits down. She can spend the morning with him. For just a few hours, until Charlie wakes up. So he's not alone.