Movie NightNSFW

After an hour of buildup, the monster's dramatic appearance was... profoundly underwhelming.

"THAT'S the beast everyone has been running from?!" Louann shouted from her horizontal position, her head nestled against Cassie's stomach. "I bump into scarier monsters on the damn train to work!" She lifted her hand up, groping around in the air.

Cassie giggled, tipping the popcorn bowl down toward Louann's probing hands. "Well, it is really big..."

"So are you, and I'm not scared of you," Alena said from the center of the popcorn bowl. "I told you this movie was crap... Oy! How many times do I have to tell you to keep your giant mitts off me, you oversized housecat? I'm trying to watch the movie!"

"Don't oversized housecat me!" Louann stuck her tongue out... but she gently lowered Alena back into the popcorn bowl. "You're still a regular-sized mouse. Even a regular-sized housecat would eat you, especially covered in oil and salt like you are right now..."

"This wouldn't be a problem if you'd just make me my own popcorn bowl. Like I asked."

Cassie lifted the bowl up into the air and out of Louann's reach. "Girls. No fighting in my apartment, or I'll eat both of you."

"God. Don't even joke about that." Louann groaned, letting her arms drop back to her sides. "I'm already almost out of reformations for the month, and we're only a week in. And I'm paying more than two hundred thousand a month for this shit! Can't you do something about that, Cass?"

"Do something... To your account? Are you trying to get me fired? Do you know what will happen to me if I get fired from the company that keeps me from getting permanently digested?" Cassie stretched her legs out, wrapping them around Louann's stomach. The lion girl's shirt rode up from the movement, exposing her belly to the cool recycled air in Cassie's apartment.

Alena chirped up from the popcorn bowl as Cassie brought it back down into Louann's reach. "What's your plan like, Louann?"

Louann lifted her head. "Me? Uh. I'd have to look it up. Like, ten reformations each month... And a bunch extra for the year as a bonus for signing a year-long contract. But it's probably like two extra a month if you do the math."

"Huh." Alena picked up a popped kernel, biting into it like a fruit. "I had heard that bigs got a raw deal, but..."

"But what?" Louann felt strangely defensive. She reached up and into the bowl, poking around for Alena.

"Well, it's just a lot worse than my plan." Alena had made short work of the first kernel, and moved on to another. She smacked Louann's probing finger out of the way. "That's all. Just curious."

"Yeah? And what's yours like?" Louann sank lower down, burying her face into Cassie's thighs to hide her pout.

Alena made a face and tossed the hard, half-popped kernel aside. "Ummm... I get one a day, and if I still need more, I get thirty or so extra for the month. So I'm pretty much covered. It's like... Thirty thousand a month, maybe?"

"What the fuck."

Cassie laughed, making her lap bounce under Louann's head. "That's not uncommon. Tinies need it more, you know. And they're a little easier to reconstruct. It's only fair."

"Bull shit! That's gouging is what it is!" Louann sat up quickly, bumping the popcorn bowl with her head and sending Alena sliding out of it. She held on, but barely, with her buttery hands.

Cassie gently nudged Alena back into the bowl, righting it. "Shouldn't an apex predator like you be unconcerned with her reformation budget? After all, I'm sure you hardly use it, right?"

"Oh, and Alena needs hers more than I do?" Louann stuck out her tongue at Cassie. An expertly thrown unpopped kernel struck her in the cheek like a pellet from a BB gun. "Ow, what the hell?!"

"You had me for breakfast four times this week," Alena snapped, tossing another kernel in her hand. "No, not even for breakfast. With breakfast."

"Yeah, you go well with jam on toast. So?"

This time the kernel struck her right between the eyes, making her clutch her hands to her stinging forehead.

"God damn it! Stop doing that!"

"So you're half the reason I come so close to running out every month!" Alena bent to pick up another kernel. "Not to mention the reformation station by my house is frequented by some real bottom-feeders, and sometimes I need two or three tries to even get out of it."

"What is your point exactly?" Louann was sitting now, her arms folded.

"So she wants you to take responsibility and stop bitching, I believe," Cassie said with her usual cheerful calm. "Can you both quiet down so we get back to the movie, now?"

"Yeah... sorry," Louann said, sinking down. She had no desire to anger the bear girl.

... But her hand still wandered toward the center of the popcorn bowl, toward Alena...