If I could attack with a more sensible approach, obviously that's what I'd be doing...

[shealone_stands]

In the training room at the Main Gauche, there's a Slayer with her Christmas present, going through a few sword exercises she remembers from before. It's been a while since she's had a sword in her hands, but now that she does... It's easier to fall back into than she would have thought. Muscle memory comes easily to Slayers

Comments

[lionofmanc]

There is a lion prowling the halls of the Kashtta. A very large, very hungry lion, which finds its way into the kitchen and sits on the floor next to Sam, giving Michael a considering look. Not someone he's met, but better the lion than a bloody chipmunk, if there are cats about.

After a moment, Gene puts his front paws up on the counter, sniffs delicately at whatever Sam's making, then turns to give Sam a very pointed look.

Sam's ~boyfriend is hungry. SAM, FIX IT. FIX IT SAM.

[definitivestep]

Sam eyes the lion, possibly debating the merits of smacking him on the nose and whether that will make him get down or just swat at him. Given that he doesn't end up doing that... apparently he decides the chances of Gene at least taking a swing at him are higher than the chances that it would be actually effective.

Finally, he says, "If you're going to ask me to feed you, could you at least be human at the time?" Lions are more difficult to feed than peoples.

The cat on the counter is staring at Gene a little suspiciously, tail twitching lazily. Michael is not intimidated, but you never know how much control any give person has over their shapeshifter forms - assuming this isn't a random lion just wandering around. That seems like a safe assumption.

[lionofmanc]

Gene gives Sam an exasperated look, and takes his paws off the counter. Fine, then. Human, it is.

He considers giving Sam an affectionate headbutt, but there's a cat there, which is more than likely another bloody shapeshifter, given his reaction. Also, Sam is cooking, and Gene does, in fact, know better than to disturb a cooking Sam.

So, with a dismissive flick of his tail, he pads off to his own room, and returns a moment later, in a state approaching 'dressed'. Not terribly neatly, mind, but he's got clothes on, at any rate.

[definitivestep]

Sam looks over his shoulder at Gene, and smiles a little. "Thank you." Because Gene doing exactly what he asks always requires some sort of acknowledgment and thanks, just because it's Gene. "I'd have fed the lion, but we don't have that much meat lying around." Also, lion feeding is just unpleasant and messy and Sam made enough human foods for two anyway, running on the assumption that someone would show up sooner or later and want food.

[lionofmanc]

Gene just nods acknowledgement, and goes to lean against the counter. "Doesn't taste the same when it's not fresh anyway." Please, Sam, don't ask how he knows that.

[definitivestep]

Sam doesn't look at him, though his expression does twist into something vaguely bemused and vaguely disgusted. "I'm going to try not to examine the many things disturbing about that statement..." He's not asking. Just pointing things out. Like that Gene should think before he speaks.

...Because that's going to happen.

[lionofmanc]

"Best you don't," Gene says, nodding slightly. "Some things you're happiest not knowing, Sammy-boy."

He may or may not be having Sam on, a bit. But either way...

[definitivestep]

Sam eyes Gene suspiciously out of the corner of his eye, trying to work out whether he means it or...

"You're not serious, are you? There aren't children in the neighborhood missing their cats?"

Michael makes a soft half-growling meow that, were he in human shape, might have been a sardonic remark.

[lionofmanc]

"That'd be too much like cannibalism," Gene says, his expression growing slightly sulky. "And besides, I don't eat pets. Still human under the fur, aren't I?"

No, Sam, he doesn't eat pets. Because that's reassuring.

[definitivestep]

Sam is unswayed by the sulky expression. "Sometimes," he says, waving Gene in the general direction of a table and a chair, "it's very difficult to tell with you. You would think a human would have an aversion to biting people as well, but you don't seem to mind that..."

Sam does not have scars from being bitten by chipmunks, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he's sure it's only a matter of time.