Chapter 137: Spicy Justice
The next morning, Pip sits on a chair in the middle of Sha’Rona’s house, looking as guilty and repentant as only he possibly could.
Pip glances around him where every member of the team stands in an accusatory circle.
He quickly lowers his head back down, radiating shame.
Sha’Rona lounges off to the side nursing her hangover, wincing between chuckles as she watches Pip get thoroughly, furiously scolded by a half-drunk, very-hungover, redhead.
"You cannot just keep wandering off on your own Pip!" Vuvi says, poking him in the chest plate with every word. "Do you understand how reckless that is? Do you understand how worried we get? How dangerous it is?"
Pip points frantically at Zora, beeping accusations.
Veena and Sera hold the lich down in the chair beside Pip while he wiggles half-heartedly against their grip, clearly more for the drama of it than any real attempt at escape. "I am innocent!" Zora protests. "I was merely... a facilitator."
Vuvi snarls at him, then rounds back on Pip. "Don’t worry about him, he’ll get his justice soon enough."
Zora makes an undignified squawk of resistance from his chair, "What kind of justice, exactly?" he asks warily.
"We haven’t decided yet." Veena smirks, "That’s usually the fun part."
Pip turns to Zora, chirping a stream of sympathetic noises before Vuvi grabs Pip’s faceplate and pulls it toward her. "Focus. There’s a demon Baroness out there hunting your divine glow stick. You need to think about your safety, the future. If anything happened to you..."
Penelo bursts free from Lula and Raikya’s restraining grip and launches herself over Pip’s shoulders, hugging him tight, chest pressed firmly against his faceplate. He muffles a series of appreciative and thankful beeps into her fur.
"You’re all being too hard on him!" Penelo wails at the room. "It’s not his fault! He can’t help helping people, it’s his divine purpose!"
"Sorry!"
"She’s slippery."
Lula and Raikya apologize as they struggle to peel the bunny-kin off Pip’s face plate.
Pip lets out a sad little beep as Penelo gets dragged off into a corner, sobbing that she’ll never be angry at him.
Veena scowls. "That’s exactly the problem. You fall for any woman who shows you a hint of sadness. You’re too soft. It’s going to have you ending up in the wrong hands."
"Or bed." Vuvi muses solemnly.
His face falls further and he gives a deep, guilt-soaked beep-booooop.
"You’re torturing him!" Penelo wails again from across the room. "Leave. Pip. Alone!"
Lula quickly slaps a hand over her mouth. "S-Sorry!"
"This is... ridiculous..." Sera says, clearly biting back a snicker.
Vuvi shoots a death glare at her, and Sera suddenly finds something fascinating on the far wall to look at, biting her lip, chest tightening as she quickly loses the battle entirely and fleeing outside cackling.
"SERA!"
"I’M FINE," Sera calls back from somewhere outside, voice cracking. "TOTALLY FINE. NOT LAUGHING AT ALL."
Zora snickers too. Veena slaps his skull.
"What," he protests, rubbing the spot, "I didn’t even say anything."
"This is ridiculous," Vuvi mutters to herself. "Nobody in this group takes anything seriously."
Then sighs and sinks into Pip’s lap, cradling his jaw gently, and looks up at him with the biggest, greenest, softest eyes he’s ever seen on her. "I care about you, Pip. A lot. Please," she says, quietly. "Just... be more careful. Okay... for me."
Pip’s eyes glow a deep, heartfelt pink, a warmth growing rapidly from his crystal as Vuvi’s gaze reaches into his soul.
Up until Veena makes a strangled squealing sound and dissolves into cackles. "Are you..." she struggles, "seriously doing the puppy dog eyes... at Pip, right now?"
Vuvi bolts upright and attacks her with a flurry of slaps to her arm. "And I was doing great until you ruined it!"
Pip stands, pulls Vuvi into a tight hug, and presses his forehead to hers. She gasps as a thought-wave floods straight into her mind. A deep, aching apology, and a quiet promise to do better.
For her.
She shudders, melting into him, and they both tumble off the chair in a heap with her sprawled across him on the floor, kissing his faceplate fondly. "I can’t stay mad at you when you do that," she mumbles into his chest. "It’s completely unfair."
A knock sounds at the door, right as Vuvi is still sprawled across Pip’s lap, showering his faceplate with grateful little kisses, murmuring that he’s forgiven.
"Come in!" Sha’Rona calls, not bothering to move from her chair.
The door opens and three beast-kin faces peer inside, cautiously. They spot Vuvi draped across Pip, all flush red across their faces and immediately start backing out. "Oh! So sorry! We didn’t realize the Prince was working. We’ll come back later."
Vuvi glances down, registers exactly what this looks like, and shoots upright so fast she nearly headbutts Pip’s chin. "He is absolutely not working." Vuvi exclaims far too quickly.
"We really weren’t," Veena confirms, straight-faced. "Though I understand the confusion. It’s is rather odd position for scolding someone."
"Shut up!" Vuvi mutters.
"Is it, though."
"Don’t start, Veena."
Sha’Rona, chuckling under her breath, asks what they want.
It turns out they’ve come to invite the Prince to breakfast, a thank-you, from the village, for everything he’s done. And everyone.
The whole team’s faces light up in unison. Vuvi steps forward, solemn as a diplomat. "He doesn’t eat, unfortunately. But we’d be more than happy to make sure the food doesn’t go to waste."
"There’s plenty for everyone," the beast-kin assure her, already beaming.
Down below, a small banquet had been laid out in the very house that hosted Pip’s impromptu village gathering the night before, the floor swept clean and a central table piled high with platters of forest-foraged food.
The team settles around it, tearing into breakfast with the enthusiasm of people who very much earned it.
Pip sits beside Vuvi, hands folded neatly in his lap, watching everyone eat with the quiet, satisfied pride of a man who feels, in his own small way, entirely responsible for their happiness.
"Does he need to sit there like a sad little statue every meal?" Raikya says, mouth half full. "Feels weird eating without him. Especially since he, technically, paid for all this food with his little orgy last night."
"He likes watching us," Penelo says, patting his knee fondly. "Don’t you, Pip?"
Pip nods, beeping once, contentedly.
"See? Perfectly happy. Some people just enjoy company over food."
"Some people don’t eat food at all," Raikya points out. "But it’s kind of sweet, I guess."
By the time they finish, everyone’s slumped back in their chairs, stomachs full, thoroughly content. Sera picks at her teeth with a stray bone, glances toward the window — and spots two women peering directly through it at Pip.
"I don’t think this breakfast was entirely a thank-you," she says dryly.
Vuvi pats her own stomach, deeply satisfied. "After a spread like that, I really don’t mind helping them at all." She reaches over and claps Pip’s shoulder. "Ready for another round?"
Pip shoots her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
"Careful," Veena warns, smirking, "she’s using her business voice."
"Because it’s business time!" Vuvi announces, rising.
Zora snaps open a shimmering portal, and a cascade of banners, cushions, oil bottles, and assorted equipment comes tumbling out onto the floor in a heap, scattering across the room.
"Where do you even store all this," Raikya asks, staring at the growing pile.
"Pocket dimension," Zora says proudly. "Very organized. Everything alphabetized."
"Is that a flame slime?" Raikya gasps as red, bubbling blob of scuttles across out of the pile.
"They make a really nice lube." Lula says, "Spicy!"
Penelo claps her hands together, grinning ear to ear, already scooping up an armful of cushions to arrange. "The Blackthorn Pleasure Palace," she announces, "is officially open for business!"