Preying on Predators
"Absolutely not." Lioness said, glowering over the top of her sketchbook. The sun's rays shown through the blinds onto the living room table. Bunny had peeked through the door and upon seeing Lioness, entered with a mischievous grin. "Whatever it is you have planned. No."
Bunny looked a little put out but crossed the remaining few feet to stand next to Lioness. "Ah come on, I haven't even told you anything yet!" Lioness fixed her friend with a look and said. "That grin on your face tells me all I need to know."
"I'm not that much of a troublemaker, am I?" Bunny asked, peering at Lioness' sketchbook, which was swiftly hidden from her view as soon as Lioness noticed.
"You aren't going to leave until you tell me your idea, huh?" She sighed and sat up. "Fiiiine, let's hear it."
"Don't be like that." Bunny said imploringly, settling down on the edge of the sofa next to the tall woman. "Look, you've been doing nothing but studying, drawing, and stressing over what's been happening in town." The younger woman rested her non-metallic hand on Lioness' shoulder with a worried expression. "For real, don't think we can't see those bags under your eyes. You need to relax or else you're going to collapse."
"I know…." Slowly exhaling the breath she'd drawn in, Lioness' stern mask crumbled and she massaged the bridge of her nose, not attempting to shake off Bunny's hand. "It's just...I can't help it! My mind just fixates on stuff like this because I know that I shouldn't ignore it. But it also can't figure out how to take breaks without feeling like crap over it." She set her sketchbook on the table and stared out the window, not wanting to meet Bunny's eyes.
With a wink, the other woman stood and tugged on Lioness' arm. "That's why you've got friends like me." There was a soft voop as Sparrow blinked into existence on Lioness' other side. "And me!" The speedster leaned over and gently pressed her lips onto Lioness' forehead, resulting in a bashful smile from the latter. Patting her girlfriend on the head, Sparrow's attention snapped to Bunny who was still processing the sudden third party's arrival.
"So what's up? A test run of a new gadget or something again? Will this one do the dishes for us?" Sparrow balefully looked through the doorway to the kitchen where a mass of dishes were haphazardly piled in the sink. No one liked doing dishes. Well. Duck didn't mind doing them, but she was refusing to do them for the fifth time in a row now.
"Shockingly no." Bunny waved her prosthetic arm dismissively and shook her head, black locks swaying around. "I might be the resident tech-head around here, but even I have other interests too you know? And before you start, no, I have not suddenly found inspiration in Beruto." She sighed lightly as Sparrow puffed out her cheeks and pouted. "Nothing against it, just...not my thing, alright?"
"What did you have in mind then?" Lioness inquired, poking Sparrow's cheek with a finger until the smaller woman stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at Lioness. "Okay so, don't like, just reject this immediately but how about…." Bunny pressed her hands together and her grin from earlier returned. "A fashion shoot with Hyena."
The other two stared at her with a slack-jawed look of incredulity on their faces. "What?" Sparrow slowly asked, cocking her head to the side. "Is this something they asked you to put us up to, or is this just your idea of a joke?"
"I'm dead ass serious, and ze didn't put me up to anything. Aside from maybe a wall or two." Bunny smirked as the other two blushed faintly before all three looked over to where Hyena's 'room' was. For the past week, they had been free of whatever lurked inside their head, but they still slept in the cage, every night. Zir suggestion or not, Bunny's heart still hurt seeing Hyena locked up, both in their own head and in the cage. Sure they were hot headed and lacked restraint in a lot of cases, but that didn't mean that ze was as scary as a lot of the rest of the gang felt ze was.
Without those aspects, Hyena wouldn't be zirself. And Bunny loved Hyena for who zir were. Birds of a feather or something perhaps? Bunny wasn't the type to worry about that kind of thing. The world was complicated enough without trying to figure out the reason for things like feelings.
"I don't think it's as big a deal as you are making it out to be Sparrow." Bunny continued, lounging in an old armchair and propping her legs up on the table. "Hyena is well known there and could probably get us a few hours no problem. And it's not like we'd be going in for an actual ad or anything, just dressing up and having fun being glamorous, you know?" She yawned and stretched out in the chair. The breeze blowing through the window and the comfort of the chair was a force not to be underestimated. Perhaps on par with Hyena's gift.
This peace was shattered by the clamor of the entrance banging open and a group of gang members filing in. At their head was a raven haired girl confidently leading the way, hands in her pockets with a slight smile on her head. Behind her trailed a small pale almost childlike person who clung to the first's hand. And bringing up the rear was a redhead who offered the three in the living room a brief wave before they moved off to another part of the building.
"Maybe I should go invite those three instead." Bunny mused out loud, half joking. "I bet Fox'd clean up good if we could get her to tag along."
Sparrow harrumphed and pulled Lioness to her feet from where she'd sunk back down into the couch, showing surprising strength for her size. "Lioness cleans up better than anyone else here, I guarantee it."
"I...I don't know about that." The tall woman said, her expression bashful as she looked around to see if anyone had overheard Sparrow's exclamation. "I'm not graceful or anything like Bluejay. I..."
Sparrow raised her hand to cover Lioness' mouth. "Hush dear, you're beautiful." Lioness pried the hand away and shrugged. "Fine, if you really want me to come along for this, I will. Someone needs to keep an eye on all anyways."
"Ayyy, there's the Lioness we know and love." Bunny cheered lazily from the chair. "Now if you'll excuse me, the dream land is calling me."
"Would it kill you to have normal sleeping hours Bunny?" Lioness asked, patting her friend on the head as she and Sparrow moved to go about their business.
"Definitely. I'll talk to Hyena about setting things up and let..." Bunny yawned again. "...you two know about the details."
Lioness nodded and started to exit the room. "Oh, and ask Shark if she wants to come." Bunny requested as an after thought.
"Kayyy~" Sparrow chirped, shutting the door behind them.
Bunny's eye opened again, and she rubbed at the connection between her upper arm and the prosthetic. "There are worse things out there than Hyena." She said softly, and closed her eye once more, letting sleep dull the pain of memories.