Page 133 of Gratification in Gluttony

“What?” Gem copied him.

“What was the joke?” Rusty asked.

“Your mom,” Gem mumbled.

“My mom’s dead,” Rusty deadpanned, and Gem made a choked noise, covering his mouth with his two upper hands.

“Oh, that’s right. I knew that. I’m so sorry. That was super not cool.” Gem hugged himself with several arms, and Rusty snuffled a tiny laugh.

“It’s fine, Gem. It was a long time ago, and I’ve made my peace with it.”

“Well, I didn’t know,” Willow said tearfully. “Rusty, I’m so sorry.”

Rusty’s tail lowered to curl around his leg as he sat down. “Oh, no, Wil, it’s okay. Like, for real. I was fifteen when it happened.”

Tears flooded the Dryad’s eyes. “You were just a kit!”

“Yeah, but I was okay. Like, I was only homeless for a little while,” Rusty said, as if it was somehow a reassurance. “The other kid who shared my cardboard box house was homeless at twelve. So, like, I had it super easy, you know?”

With a wail, Willow buried her face in her hands and sobbed as Krul fretted over her, petting her ivy hair.

Patting Rusty’s shoulder, Gem sat down beside him. “You should stop trying to make her feel better. It’s not working.”

“That got dark very fast,” Toni said.

“Psh, it’s just now getting interesting,” Tad said as she walked across the tabletop and plopped down right in front of Rusty, crossing her legs beneath her. Her bulbous eyes locked on his, and Rusty leaned back instinctively. “Tell me everything bad that’s ever happened to you.”

“No,” Rusty said, clutching his tail to his chest.

Tad grinned. “I’ll wear you down eventually.”

Chapter thirty

Denys

As it turned out,open mic night was a booming success. The cafe was still bustling, even after all the acts had finished. Tad read one of her short stories, thoughreadwas putting it mildly. It was a very immersive experience, much to everyone’s horror. She acted out every part as she read it, which made the graphic sex scene very uncomfortable to watch.

Even Bob did an interpretive dance—according to Glyma, at least. To Toni, it looked like Bob just skittered around in a circle for a minute and half until he laid down and went to sleep. Glyma was very proud.

After the last customer was ushered from the building at half past nine, only the crew remained. The weekend workers cleaned up as everyone gathered around the connected tables to keep the party going. Toni leaned back in his chair and curled Jude’s hair around his fingers as he chatted animatedly with Oliver.

Using Rusty’s cards—except the purple three of keys because Gem refused to give it back—they dealt out a human gameOliver swore up and down was legitimately called Bullshit. It was reminiscent of a demon game of similar strategy called Liar, Liar, though there was less physical violence involved.

“We need all the cards,” Rusty said, in a final attempt at getting the purple three of keys back.

“I told you, I’m keeping it as a souvenir,” Gem said, shoving it deep into his back pocket.

“A souvenir of what?” Rusty demanded.

“Of the night you touched my ass,” Gem said haughtily, and Rusty threw up his paws in frustration.

“For the last time, Ididn’ttouch your ass!”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Jude muttered under his breath, and Oliver snickered.

“What’s the lady dothing?” Toni asked, but Jude didn’t answer; he simply chuckled and leaned in to peck Toni’s cheek.

“You are bullshitting,” Zef said after Tad took her turn, and she glowered up at the Mantodea as she gathered the small pile of cards into her webbed hands.

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