Troubled Training

The evening outside was dim, purple sky and crystalline light casting faint patched glow onto the floor of the imporium. Distant scratching of restless imps and quiet chattering echoing from open windows announced life in the night, Burrowgatory still awake and giving way for the usual nighttime hubbub. If Valentine had work today, she was sure that buns from all around would be drifting into the Rabbit Hole and the casino that housed it; their stomachs deeming the evening ambience the perfect backdrop for a drink and chat. As it was now, however, Valentine found herself in the presence of only one person. The rest of the crowd around her was made by imps, flitting and frolicking about as she latched a collar onto her newly obtained impup.

Somewhere beside her, the noise of Hutch rustling through their bag of imp treats roused her from her evening-inspired haze, her eyes glancing lazily to watch them fish for just the right treasure. The softening of their eyebrows and satisfied grin implied their victory before it was revealed, their hand unfurling from where it had been hidden to procure a bone-shaped delight. The adorned impup’s tail began to feverishly wag as it had done so often, a bark sounding from somewhere in its body as it spun excitedly. Valentine’s hand drifted to the top of its head, her eyes finding it as it was rewarded for its successful trick once more. Training it hadn’t been a challenge earlier, of course, but it was still proving itself to be incredibly easy. The lack of effort needed was unlike her initial experience with her sweetinea back at home - Julie was always eager to weave through the kitchen in search of hidden cheap treats. 

The reminder inspired a yawn and a stretch, though Valentine couldn’t exactly place her finger on why she was tired at such an early hour. Perhaps it was in poor-taste that she’d woken up so early the morning after a graveyard shift, but Valentine found herself unwilling to face such a thing. There was plenty to do in the morning - it was those hours that she was least likely to be called in for an unscheduled shift, after all. She had the time to be uneventful and sleep if she so wished, but the idea of spending time with the early-birds of Burrowgatory was too kind to pass up. Akio did adore making her breakfast in bed, and the face-consuming smile her appreciation brought was too cute to even consider telling him it was too early for her. Her off days had begun to drag in a sleepy haze at the time her work days would have her thriving - after all, she had reason to sleep in when her work was so late.

“Val? Are you alright?” Valentine blinked away sleep in response to the hazy words, blurred around their edges and uncertainly foggy. She was vaguely aware of the warmth of a presence, her head pressed against the soft and rhythmic pressure of a chest. She cleared her throat, peeling herself away from Hutch by her knuckles and pressing a hand against her head. Her thoughts were unusually creased, the photographs of memories suddenly needing a refreshing shake. Her eyelids were weights, pulled by an unseen force beckoning them dangerously low. She swallowed, waving her hand and forcing her eyes to connect with her impup. It was looking to her expectantly, its head tilted and tail still wagging in perpetual excitement. She scratched it behind the ears, her other hand propping herself up to keep from leaning on Hutch again. The idea was embarrassing, a feat Valentine often didn’t suffer from when it came to them. It was usually so easy to fluster them, if anything… But that was when she wasn’t falling asleep on them.

“‘M fine… I could probably just use a coffee or something… We were talking about training it, right..?” she looked again towards the impup, gesturing unconvincingly before struck with a quiet thought. “I should probably name it… Feels a little mean just calling it an impup… What do you think about Jules..? Goes well with Julie, like they could be twins… Well, that would be silly, wouldn’t it..?” Her hazy words weren’t equipped with explanation, figuring in her woozy state that Hutch could guess why the impup couldn’t possibly be related to her imp at home. She was sure he’d met the flying critter before - seen it searching drawers for chalky candy and zipping around the air with an odd fervor that could only be attributed to the lack of said candy. 

“Jules is a great name, Val. But, you know, if you’re too tired to train it now, you could always come back later-”

“No, no… Right now’s fine… ‘S my off day ‘n all… Go on, I wanna know… Any tips to keep it out of the cupboards…?”

Hutch cleared his own throat, glancing with her to newly named Jules who seemed to have no interest in doing anything other than wagging its tail and occasionally spinning. He opened his mouth to say as much, their hand reaching forward to stroke the imp’s ears as they did.

“Well, you probably won’t have that problem with an impup, like you would with your… Um, sweetinea-” there was an uncertainty in their voice that reminded Valentine of Julie’s non-imporium roots as a pedigree imp, though she didn’t interrupt them to inform them she knew of such, “-but, well… If there was a need, I’d try to set up a system where, if Julie does try to get in your cupboards while Jules is watching, you could reward Jules if it doesn’t join her. That way you establish that Julie gets no reward for doing such, but Jules if rewarded for not doing the same. With Julie, well - she is a pedigree imp, so Quince has already trained her… There’s a chance she’ll realize Jules is getting rewarded rather than her, but the problem is-”

“She only eats the cheap candy… The holiday kind that I can’t feed Jules… She probably won’t even bat an eye…”

“...Yeah, um… Not too sure how to address that, since imps shouldn’t be fed succubun food anyways… It just encourages behaviors like that, where they feel entitled to your cupboard stash…”

Valentine nodded, though she could feel her eyelids hanging like liquid gold over her tired eyes. She rubbed at them delicately, sitting up and patting her thigh to signal Jules over. It trotted into her lap obediently, allowing itself to be scooped up as she wobbled to a stand. She leaned forward to help Hutch up, nearly toppling over herself in a display of uncharacteristic clumsiness. Perhaps she had underestimated the sleep clouding her thoughts and pulling at her eyes, but she chose not to dwell on it. She could scold herself when she was home and introducing Jules to Julie and Tempy. For now, she turned to Hutch, pressing a friendly kiss on a cheek that looked a bit too empty.

“I hope it works… I wouldn’t want it getting sick… If it can even get sick… But I can think about that when I get home, maybe… Do you have an extra leash you’re looking to sell? I wouldn’t want to take yours… You look cute with it. But I do have to get this little guy home… Without tripping over myself again…” Hutch looked briefly sheepish before he realized her mind was elsewhere, a soft layer of pink still dusting their cheeks as they turned to dig through a drawer. 

“Right! Well, I, um, do have some right here - did you maybe want me to call Luka to come pick you up, though? You seem really tired, Val-” 

“No, it’s okay, Hutch… He’s probably out right now, and I wouldn’t want to bother ‘Kio… I can just walk, I’ll be fine. I have my little protector right here!” she grinned, stroking the impup’s ears as she presented it to the other succubun. For a moment, he looked utterly unconvinced. He bordered on nervous wreck, actually, his own anxious nail-biting and self-soothing tug at his own ears reminding Val so fondly of Akio. However, the weight she’d seemed to place on them lifted so easily - the spark in their eyes returning with a fervor as they knocked their fist into an open palm with sudden excitement.

“Oh, I know! Impup’s have good noses for things - do you have anything of Akio’s on you right now?” Their sudden epiphany was confusing at first, though the sleep-fueled drowsiness gave way to brief clarity as Val’s tail flicked forward into arm’s reach. She struggled to pull a teal scrunchie from it, holding it out for Hutch to see as they hooked a leash onto Jules’ collar. They grabbed it gratefully, helping her place Jules on the ground before taking the scrunchie and presenting it. After mere seconds of vigorous sniffing, it pressed forward on a mission to the exit of the imporium. Val grabbed the leash from the floor, trotting after it and turning to face Hutch before she could make it out of the door. They were decidedly giddy, waving her off and bidding her goodbye with a last reminder.

“Just follow behind it, it’ll know what to do! I’m sure it won’t mind doubling as your guide, too.”