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It was the first time Janice had ever really been to the place. She had never had much of a reason to visit the house of Kess Reever before: all of their dealings were Negaverse business, which made anyone's civilian place of residence the absolute last place where it would be practical to meet up. Along with this, the recruit had given some warning that she was rarely ever at home. There was a good chance now that a knock on the door would prove fruitless and Janice would have to hunt her down elsewhere, which would have been extremely annoying.

So, fearing disappointment, she reached out her free hand and rapped on the door. The other was balancing a somewhat large, rectangular white box. It might have been a good idea to give Kess a call or something before showing up, but she was already fairly pissed with herself about technically being late for this.

Jan barely had any time to remove the look of impatience from her face when Kess opened the door and promptly shooed her inside. The response to her knocking -- and then irritably ramming her finger into the doorbell -- had taken more than a couple of minutes. Even as an unannounced and uninvited guest, that was a hell of a while to keep someone waiting. The box wobbled a bit over her splayed hand from the breeze caused by the door, and she tossed up her other hand to clasp around a corner as she made her way inside.

"I saw you finally got that god damned promotion," she explained, as soon as she was sure she was far enough past the door for her words not to carry outside.

While the words themselves were congratulatory, the tone she applied to them wasn't quite so... instead her voice was almost emotionless. She hadn't been around to see her protege rank up with her own eyes, so she was most likely just bitter about that. "That calls for some recognition. You deserve it."

"It's usually a... pretty formal affair," the General admitted, frown momentarily deepening before she moved to place the box on the table. "But I suppose Zinkenite has different ideas about how it should be handled."

If the previous admission had made her frown a little, mention of the recently-turned General King just about made her sneer outright. Her novel distaste for the man was difficult to hide, and she hoped that at least Kess wouldn't try to spark up any conversations about it.

"I suppose, if you're getting them anyway," Jan nodded, almost on the heels of the offer. Drinks. A nice, neutral topic.

She flipped open the lid to the box, a sweet smell hitting the air around it instantly.

It was a cake.

Janice had gotten Kess a cake.

If it were at all within the constraints of her persona to do so, Janice would be just about hugging Howlite for not putting a bunch of over-flavoring bullshit in her coffee before handing the cup off to her. As it were in reality, unfortunately, she was about as capable of (and interested in) physical contact as a cloud of cigarette smoke. Instead she closed her hands around the cup with an appreciative nod and what could only be described as a rigid scowl of approval, taking an indulgent gulp of it before expressing her thanks:

"Thank God I know at least one more person who doesn't put a bunch of over-flavoring bullshit in their coffee."

She did not reply to the complimenting of her gift-giving abilities -- however, she did flinch a little.

Or maybe that was from the thigh-brushing. Janice tried to scoot an inch or two away to give herself a bit more leg room, but she was already crammed straight up against the armrest. "I can cut the cake," she offered, eyes scanning the coffee table in search of a knife to use. If there wasn't one there -- well, any excuse to get back up.

Knowing how superiors liked their coffee might have been a useful skill in something like an office job or internship, but as far as Janice was concerned it was not essential for a Negaverse recruit. It had little, if anything at all, to do with any of their duties. At any rate, she didn't question Kess's apparent attention to the details of her civilian preferences -- she was distracted by other things.

Like the leg on her leg.

And the hand on her leg.

And the small chunk of cake being held by Kess's fork right in front of her face, as if offering to feed it to her. It would have taken a miracle for the likes of Janice to maintain much of her composure in a situation like this, and no such miracle seemed to be coming her way today. She continued to squirm and shuffle in her seat, desperate to find personal space where there was none to be found, and gracelessly plucked the fork from Kess's hand so she could feed her own damn self.

"I suppose that'll work just as well," she managed, albeit begrudgingly.

Janice almost choked on her next mouthful of coffee and just stared, looking bewildered and mildly disturbed. Her lips were petrified but slightly parted, stuck on the cusp of saying something but it took a moment for any words to form.

"What."

And then it was just that one word. Not a question, but an expression of extreme disbelief.

"What."

The idea of anyone laying hands on her for an extended periods of time was, to say the least, not an ideal way Janice would have liked to spend a day. She hastily took another drink of coffee in some attempt at chasing away her overreaction, however, then dipping her fork into the cake and tearing out a small chunk of it. The sugary morsel stayed uneaten for a little while -- Janice just inspected it intently, as if expecting it to turn into a swarm of ants.

"No, I haven't," she answered. "And I don't need one either."

After a couple more seconds the bite of cake had disappeared, and she was pulling the fork slowly out from between clenched teeth. "I... am... fine," she was saying while performing the act. "I know how to ******** relax."

Her head pressed against the back of the couch for a second, subconsciously emphasizing her point -- look, she was sitting down on comfortable furniture and everything!

Janice blinked down at the ruined remains of the cake, surprised and somewhat baffled about how so much of it had vanished so quickly. How long had they been eating that thing? Although she'd become fed up with the overwhelmingly sweet taste by this point, it felt as though she hadn't really had all that much of it. Maybe Kess had been shoveling down larger bites of it while she wasn't looking.

Being called a potty-mouth didn't make her flinch a nanometer. The offer to check out the fun and games Kess had to offer downstairs, however, caused Janice to pitch her gaze up away from her coffee and follow the pointed thumb towards the door. "I guess if you're offering," she replied, in an attempt to sound noncommittal; her own cup taking a passenger's role in her hands as she got up even though it was almost empty.