“She must be [i]punished,[/i]” Vanimasé howls, digging her nails into Rosepetal’s biceps as she scrambles back onto the deck. “That was deliberate! Meibelle acted with malice [i]aforethought![/i] I have witnesses! You saw it! If not for my quick wit and indefatigable spirit, that brazen [i]assassination attempt[/i] would have succeeded! Oh! Oh!! Jail! Jail for Meibelle! Jail for Meibelle for one [i]thousand[/i] years!”

“Mmmhm,” Rosepetal replies, wrapping the thick emergency towel around Vanimasé, ostensibly to help dry off her fluffy tails and avoid the risk of serious illness from Wet Tail Shock Syndrome. Pinning her grabby nails to her sides is certainly just a side effect. There, cinch it all just above her fluffy tails with a thick knot.

Then she notices Chen giving her a Look, and all of Vanimasé’s complaints turn into white noise and static from a dead Burrower channel.

It gets her every time. She’s not used to being looked at like that when she’s not [i]trying.[/i] Don’t get her wrong: she’s a knockout. Chen’s not a helpless, blushing innocent, effortlessly disarmed, but her Rosepetal still knows how to make her want to melt. But she’s just over here, handling a fussy fox, and Chen’s making a face like her Rosepetal’s over on the sidelines shaking pompoms and more than pompoms. Like she’s about to point, and someone’s going to swing a spotlight, and then she’ll go: [i]and I’m dedicating all of this to my girlfriend![/i]

Blossoms snap open all up and down Rosepetal’s hair, soft and delicate pink against her thick curls, and then one [i]lets out a burst of pollen.[/i]

“Now let’s get you back over to somewhere comfortable where you can sit and get all eaten off—— [i]dried out[/i],” Rose says, squishing Vanimasé to her chest, cutting her off mid-war declaration, while simultaneously trying to pat down her treacherous hair and wave away the pollen, succeeding at neither. “How’s the poolside sound that’s great glad you like it too!!”