The pink-haired deer realised he'd been slumping to the side, and immediately shot back upright.
``Huh? Yeah, uh... sorry...''
He was miles away. Where was he again?
He glanced around. The little restaurant didn't have a ton of floor space; in fact, it felt a bit like a sitting room, with rugs on the floors, portraits and paintings on the walls, and lots of bric-a-brac. Even the wooden chairs they were sitting in felt like something out of a granny's flat. It was pretty cosy... the sort of place where you could get away with nodding off in.
Yes, that's right. Leem recommended this place to Robin and his boyfriend, Q.
Q, a fluffy-tan furred lynx with a shock of messy orange hair, had his deep blue stare aimed lazily towards Robin. Meanwhile, Leem, a red panda with chestnut hair tied back in a tight bun, was quickly checking something on their phone, the glint of the screen shining off their round glasses and obscuring their own blue irises.
Robin looked down at the laminated menu in front of him for the first time.
``Uhm... I'll have, uh...'' he scanned through it until he saw something familiar, that he knew he'd probably like. ``A portobello burger! Yeah!''
He sheepishly handed his menu to the smiling waiter, slightly worried that he'd come off as a dickhead or that he was wasting their time. The chipmunk didn't seem to care - they just nodded and headed off towards the kitchen.
Robin had been spaced out for at least the last ten minutes since arriving, and couldn't quite remember why. Q and Leem didn't seem to have noticed.
``So, yeah,'' Q said. ``I was thinking of taking Robin there...''
``Mm. Mm.'' Leem, nodded along. ``It's... fine? I wouldn't have paid full price for it, but it was a good time. Maybe I'll see if my friend can give yis a discount too.''
``I mean, I think it'd be up our alley, right?''
Q looked at Robin, who nodded quickly.
``Uh-huh, yeah, totally...''
Robin was too embarrassed to ask what the conversation was about, and tried to listen intently and get up to speed.
But then Leem took hold of their glass of water and brought it to their lips, and Robin's eyes alighted on...
Those claws.
Each one of the red panda's claws was tipped with a coat of bright varnish, each one alternating between shimmering gold and glittery purple. They caught the sunlight through the window, bounced off the droplets of condensation on the ice-chilled cup, and the voices of the other two fell into obscurity again.
The nails...
They accentuated every little movement and hand gesture Leem made as they shot the shit with Q - and, presumably, Robin too. Robin couldn't focus on Leem's words. All of his attention was on each individual claw on each individual digit. Sometimes Robin looked down at the table, where Leem's right hand was unconsciously eviscerating a red paper napkin. Then Leem would wave their left hand in a little circle while trying to figure out how to word something.
The dance was... entrancing was the only word for it.
The varnish...
Did Leem know what they were doing? Were they trying to trance him on the down low?
Robin wouldn't put it past Leem; he knew the kind of hypnotist they were. But the panda seemed perfectly absorbed in chats with the lynx, giving a little glance to Robin now and then, but only to include Robin in the conversation.
Not that there was any chance of that happening. His thoughts were slowly getting wound around Leem's fingers - whether the panda was aware of it or not.
(This was inspired by an excellent piece drawn by Robin - you can see a bit of it in the thumbnail, but you can see the full image here!)
This is just a preview; the full story will go live next month, but if that's simply too long to wait, head over to my Subscribestar to read it, and other stories like it, before everyone else~!
