Tea and New Friends

    “Wait, you really wanna drop by for tea?” Yukio gives the small cherubun a smile and nod. He’d been meaning to ask his friend if he could visit their home and chat, since they’ve been to his, granted still messy, apartment at least once, it only felt right to him. 

    “Yeah, been wanting to, just been busy with still fixing up my place that I’ve not had the time to. Besides, you wanted to introduce me to Jackal, right?” Dove’s eyes immediately light up with complete and utter joy. 

    “Absolutely! I’d love to have you over! We can chat, have some tea and I can make some pastries for you to try as well!” The wintery succubun lets out a soft chuckle as his friend’s enthusiasm. 

    “That sounds lovely, Dove. I can stop by tomorrow? Maybe some time in the afternoon?” 

    “That would be perfect! I should have some of the pastries done by then!” They’ll quickly take out a piece of paper to write their address down on then hand it to Yukio. “Here! This would be helpful for you to have.” His eyes will widen as the realization of not knowing where his friend lived dawned on him, proceeding to give a sheepish smile as he takes the piece of paper. 

    “Yeah, that it would… See you tomorrow?” Dove will nod excitedly.

    “Yes! I’ll be sure to have everything set up before you arrive! Until then!” The cherubun will wave goodbye to their taller friend and run off back to their abode, as Yukio returns the wave and smiles at his friend’s enthusiasm. 

    “...I know a certain lady that would enjoy their company just as much. But, an idea for a later time.” He’ll turn around and start heading back to his own apartment. “Maybe I can bring something over as a gift…?”
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    “You know, when I thought about bringing something over, I wanted it to be a gift of some sort, not you in particular.” The pride horned bun glared up at his Phloof that was very happily curled up on their owner’s head. “...I’m gonna put one of those cards next to you, take a picture and submit it wherever I have to…” The Phloof just makes a happy noise in response, making his owner let out an exasperated sigh. “...What am I going to do with you…?” He returns his gaze to looking for the specific building that Dove lived in. “Where is…? Ah!” His eyes widen when he finally spots it and jogs over to it, worried that he might be a smidge late because of his Phloof’s shenanigans. Once he reaches the door, he takes a deep breath and lightly knocks on the door, hoping it’ll be Dove that answers, not Jackal as he doesn’t want to potentially start with a bad meeting. However, his fears become true when the door opens and he sees a woman wearing quite a bit of leather, heavily ripped jeans and what looks like just a bra underneath the leather jacket. Her eyes narrow a bit upon seeing him, very clearly on guard. 

    “...Who are you?” Yukio gulps as he is slightly terrified of both the woman standing in front of him and of his pride wanting to rear its ugly head into the conversation already. 

    “I, um… I’m Y-Yukio, a f-friend of Dove’s…” The Phloof on top of his head made a noise, earning the attention of both of the succubuns. “O-Oh and this i-is--” 

    “FLUFFY!” Another voice echoed from inside the apartment and the Phloof made a happy noise, recognizing the voice that shouted its name. The owner of said voice rushed to the front door and Yukio was more than relieved to see Dove now standing there, excited as can be. “I didn’t know you were bringing them! If I did, I would’ve prepared some treats for them, too!” He gives his friend a small, exasperated smile. 

    “It wasn’t originally my plan to bring them along… It was more like they forced my hand…” His gaze will go up to the little fluff ball as it seems to be leaning over to be able to look at its owner’s face, very pleased with themselves. “...Caused nothing but a ruckus and tantrum the entire morning to make sure they could come along…” Its tail begins to wag in pure happiness at its success. “That’s not something you should be happy about doing, you…” The wintery bun’s eye twitches at his little companion’s reaction to everything he’s said. A light-hearted giggle makes him return his gaze to Dove, who has been smiling the entire time. 

    “Well, it doesn't matter, Fluffy is just as welcomed here as you are.” 

    “...Please don’t encourage them, Dove.” That just made Dove giggle again and it even got a small chuckle out of Jackal, who’d been leaning against the door while the other two have been chatting. 

    “Alright, if you’re a friend of Dove’s then I’ve got no beef. As long as you ain’t treating him poorly--” 

    “Ma’am, I’ve only recently moved into this area of Burrowgatory and they’ve been dragging me around to different places they like to go to, I’ve not done a single thing to them… If anything, I’m not sure I’ve done much to show my gratitude, let alone treat them poorly.” Jackal will blink, staring at Yukio, seeming a bit caught off-guard, while Dove giggles again then grabs a hold of Yukio’s hand to pull him into the apartment. Though he does stumble a bit in the process, he’ll glance over his shoulder at the envy bun, whose expression has shifted to slight amusement as she watches this unfold. “This just proves my point!” She chuckles once more as she closes the door to the apartment. Dove proceeds to pull Yukio towards a small table that’s been set up with a few plates and tea cups. 

    “Feel free to have a seat! I’ll be back with the tea and some pastries soon!” They give a smile then proceed to head back towards what seemed to be the kitchen from Yukio’s standpoint. As Yukio goes to take a seat in one of the chairs, he manages to hear, coming from the kitchen. “Jackal, I’ve told you before to have a bit of patience! They need time to cool before eating!” Soon followed up by said woman’s laughter. The wintery bun smiles at the silliness likely happening in the other room, though his attention is soon removed from there and brought to the table he’s seated at as Fluffy decided they also wanted to sit at the table. Yukio lets out a heavy sigh as he sees his Phloof has now placed itself into one of the tea cups and, once again, looking at its owner very happily and proud of itself. 

    "...Someone needs to drink out of that, my fluff ball. You can’t use that as a place to sit.” Fluffy proceeds to do an equivalent to a pout and buries itself deeper into the cup. “Fluffy, you can’t stay in the cup.” It makes a noise that sounds angry and defiant. “...I swear, you’re more like a child than a pet some days. Gonna make me take another trip to the Imporium to ask Hutch for more advice…” 

    “Might not be a bad idea.” He’ll look up from his small companion to see Jackal carrying some plates with some sweet and flaky pastries on them. “Dove will be out soon, they’re just heating the tea up right now.” Yukio will nod in understanding, keeping mostly quiet as she places the plates down on the table then takes out an imp treat to hold above the tea cup his Phloof had claimed. Almost immediately as the treat enters their view, they jump up to grab it and fall back into the cup with the treat in grasp. “There, now they won’t eat Dove’s hard work either.” 

    “Thank you, ma’am…” 

    “Just call me Jackal, it feels strange being called ma’am.” He’ll nod his head again as Jackal takes a different seat at the table. Luckily for Yukio, before he had to attempt to make any conversation with her on his own, Dove walks in with the tea pot and another tea cup. 

    “I had a feeling Fluffy might do this, so I grabbed another one for you.” He’ll smile at the cherubun as they place the new cup in front of him and also pour some tea into it. “I remember them doing that to some of the cups when I visited your place. I’m glad I did, now I don’t have to make a return trip.” They’ll smile as they pour some tea for themselves, looking to Jackal if she wants some though she’ll shake her head. 

    “Ain’t gonna be staying for long, so I’m fine without any.” Dove will nod their head and proceed to place the teapot at the center of the table. 

    “So, how has settling in been going? I know we didn’t really get to talk yesterday as, well… I got really excited about you dropping by and didn’t think to ask much else about going ons.” They’ll sheepishly smile as they take a small sip from their tea cup. 

    “Ah, things are… going as well as they can. Place is still a bit of a mess, but I’m managing as well as I can. My little fluff ball isn’t helping matters any…” Said imp makes a happy noise as it continues nibbling away at the treat it was given, making the other two buns at the table with Yukio laugh. “...And I may have made it a bit worse for myself as I accidentally crossed paths with a Harpup during its migration period and they uh… Got attached to me and followed me for a while before I caved in and adopted them. So, things are even more hectic at my apartment…” 

    “Well, do they distract Fluffy for you a bit at least?” Yukio will think for a moment hearing Dove’s question, taking a small sip from his own cup. 

    “...They do in a way. They also don’t like causing any problems, so they’re much different in personality as well. Grateful that I don’t have two chaotic gremlins at least.” Jackal speaks up from her spot following that comment. 

    “So, who’s taking care of your Harpup while you’re here?” Yukio’s eyes will actually light up at that question as he places his cup down and smiles brightly. 

    “Oh, that’s the other update that I wanted to mention yesterday.” Dove will lean in, not used to seeing their wintery friend being so bright and happy about something. “I found out one of my littermates also lives in this area. I accidentally crossed paths with her at the grocery store and we immediately recognized one another… Though, she did practically tackle me to the ground following that, knocking both of our groceries out of our arms, but that didn’t bother me too much.” Jackal will actually snicker a bit at that and Dove just smiles as Yukio continues. “She’s kind of a strange combination of chaos and calm… But I adore her for it. She’s… actually the only real friend I had during my time with my caretaker… So, I’m incredibly happy to be back in contact with her and that she’s not that far of a visit away. She’s currently at my apartment and watching over my Harpup for me.” 

    “Huh… Guess some of the other buns didn’t have it all as sunshine and rainbows while being cared for…” Yukio’s smile will turn to have a bit of a pained expression at Jackal’s words before it vanishes just as quickly as it appeared. 

    “I’m happy to hear you found your old friend again though! It’s nice to see you smiling and being much more comfortable and happy.” His face will flush a bit in embarrassment, causing some of the snow around his head to melt a smidge. “If this is what it takes to get you to be open more often, I’d be happy to have you over for more tea parties!” Yukio will shift a bit at Dove’s exclamation and quietly grab one of the smaller pastries to nibble on, not wanting to stutter if he tries to speak. He really will have to try and get a gift of some kind for Dove when he can… He’s far too grateful to the cherubun sitting at the table.