"The note says "Thanks for the confidence booster". There's a little heart. It's super cute. I didn't see Snow at the store but the clerk on duty had no trouble finding our preorder in the system."

"Thank the goddesses for good old bribery. Did you really need to buy that hardcopy, X?"

She nods firmly. "I was genuinely meaning to anyway, she just reminded me of it. I love having something I can turn over in my hands, you know?"

"Personally I don't see what's wrong with piracy, but you do you."

"That's adorable; I'm glad I helped."

Violet laughs and shakes her head at the argument, giving X her coffee and a kiss to the cheek, and then starting on Liv's. "You know I love piracy, Liv, especially when something's unavailable or overpriced, but paying artists communicates our love of their work, and we can afford it. Plus, there's something very aesthetically satisfying about hardcover books, isn't there?"

She finishes Liv's coffee, hands it over, and pulls the girl into her arms, leaning into her and meeting her eyes and smiling. "You and I both know I'd keep buying parts and building gear with you even if you couldn't pitch in on it at all, but don't the sales numbers for downloads on your tracks feel pretty damned great?"

"Yeah, fine, you got me." Liv snuggles in close against Vi. "And I mean, it got you laid, so.~" She chuckles. "Anyway, books! We have a little time before X has to leave for her shift, let's make the most of it."

She gives Liv a kiss. "Go get everyone snuggled up, I'll make myself a cocoa and meet you there."

"Alright!"

Liv immediately goes and hugs X, then pulls in Foxy, and the three of them head over to the cuddlepit and start getting comfortable.

And Vi's right behind them with a cocoa in her favorite thermos, snuggling into the middle and savoring the company of her loves. "Love you girls," she says with a happy sigh.

She pulls the first book onto her lap. "Okay. Let's see how far we can get before X has to leave for the il'ka."

And she starts reading aloud.

She has to interject when Stone discovers before and after, though. "Oh that restlessness is vividly relatable."

"For me, too. And one assumes Stone hadn't invented EDM yet. Sometimes you just gotta move, you know?"

Foxy giggles and settles her head onto Liv's lap. "I wonder if they'd even invented sex."

"Well, new Stones must get born somehow, right?"

"Could be magic!"

Liv nips Foxy's big furry ear.

She gasps, then blushes. "Whoa. Still not used to the feedback on these things."

Liv just grins.

Vi laughs, ruffles Foxy's hair, kisses the other ear, and then continues reading.

Foxy is the next to interrupt, when Fire is insulted and chooses to curse Stone to run forever. "That's different from the version Snowblossom read. I guess she was compressing. Kind of relatable to annoy someone and have it turn out sideways for you..."

Violet nods, kissing her Kept atop her head, and everyone squeezes Foxy tightly.

"Yeah," she adds, shaking her head, "I've had interactions go wrong like that, but never so harsh as that kind of curse."

A few minutes later, as Wind is running through the world meeting new things, Black Cross kisses Vi on the head and gets up. "Gotta go to work. Tell me how it went later, alright?"

She smiles fondly back up and nods. "Will do, X. Have a good shift, let us know if anything interesting happens."

Violet interrupts next, when she gets to the world running faster to keep up with Wind.

"Goddesses that's just a beautiful image. It reminds me of how much brighter and faster my world is with you girls and X in it."

She sighs warmly, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes, and squeezes Liv and Foxy tightly to herself.

"Awwwwwww. Yours." Foxy grins and settles in firm against Violet.

Liv smiles softly. "Yeah."