Trixie lie on the bed, head down and ears perked toward the conversation filling the room. It was a silly argument about who would get the honor of sharing the small bed with their Master. She knew better than to get involved, being the obedient Dog she was.
The Cat spoke up, her long pink fur bouncing as her eyes took on a mischievous glint. "Well maybe the Owl should perch with me on the armchair. Been a while since I tasted bird." Clearly she had a different intent than the other pets in the room. Unsurprising really.
"I agree, Owl takes up too much space and three of us can fit if she stays out of it." The Mouse squeaked out, her grey fur standing on end. The other occupants of the room stared at her as if they'd forgotten she was even there.
"Well I own the house, so I really should get first dibs." The Owl's eyes flashed with a rare burst of entitlement... at least until the Badger barked out a laugh.
The Badger pierced the Owl with a glare, her orange fur ruffled in annoyance. "Nuh uh, you ain't no princess right now. Yer an Owl, and you get just as little say as the rest of us."
The Owl opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the Bat. "Well I think it should be me that gets the bed. I was, after-all, her true first pet." She threw a disdainful look back at the Dog and Trixie levelled her with a raised eyebrow, as if daring the yellow creature to come closer.
The Cat seemed almost miffed at the idea, despite the playful grin never leaving her face. "Hey! That's not fair, I was your first owner. Shouldn't you love me more?"
"Oh I love all my owners equally." The Bat smirked, "by that I mean not at all."
The Cat actually looked sullen, it was strange for her. The Badger stepped in, floored by the Bat's response. "That wasn't a very kind thing of you to say-"
The smirk only grew on the Bat as she cut her off. "What? I was just being honest. Besides, you've said it yourself, vampire bats are big and ugly and mean as sin, right?"
The combined state of annoyance and shock left the Badger's face trying desperately to settle on something. That something came out looking almost constipated. Trixie stifled a laugh. "Well I mean I uh-" The Badger cleared her throat. "I may have said that in the past but you ain't none of those things sugarcube."
The Bat seemed unsure how to respond to the break in character. A strange combination of a "thank you?" and an "I'm sorry" to no one in particular came out as she blushed in embarrassment.
It was at that moment the object of their argument entered the room. Starlight took one sweeping look over all her pets and quirked an eyebrow. "Well since only one of you seems to be behaving herself," she pointed a smile at Trixie and she could feel all heads turn to her. She held her head up smugly. "Trixie gets to sleep on the bed. I'll leave who else gets to up to the rest of you, since you seem so keen to work it out yourselves." She made her way to the bed, hopping up and lying on her back, propped against the pillows to watch the argument play out. Trixie rested her head in her master's lap and Starlight ran a hoof through her mane.
Focus in the room shifted back to the Cat as she stood from her armchair, stretching lazily and slinking toward the other gathered pets. "Look, I don't need a spot on the bed. I'm perfectly content with my chair as long as I get a snack." She lowered her eyes to the Mouse, her shaking form inviting, and licked her lips.
The other three shared a look, seeming to decide on something in unison. The Owl wrapped a wing around the Mouse, pushing her forward. "Ah yes, perhaps a sacrifice would be the best course of action. Two less pets to argue with."
The Bat smirked and blocked the poor Mouse from the underside of the bed. "I agree, it's a wonder we hadn't thought of it before."
The Badger laughed, closing the final gap and forcing the Mouse to back right into the Cat. "Yeah, reckon we should'a come to that conclusion a mite sooner."
The Cat accepted her offering, dragging the poor Mouse by the collar back to her chair. Trixie looked up at her master in concern and Starlight brushed a hoof through her mane again. "Don't worry, if she wasn't into it, she'd have said the safe word." Her master was right of course, but the Great and Loyal Trixie had a right to occasionally question the roleplaying of her fellow pets.
The Cat and the Mouse out of the way, the other three pets sat in a circle, or would you call it a triangle? The Badger and The Bat had the same idea. "We can both fit if the Owl perches on the Cat's chair." The Bat pointedly looked at the purple thing that towered over both her and the Badger.
"That's not fair! I don't want to perch with the Cat." The Owl glared at the two smaller creatures and ruffled her feathers. "Besides, Master likes being curled up in my wings."
Before the other two could retort, Starlight chimed in. "This is way better than a book."
Trixie watched in amazement, glancing from her Master's knowing smile to the Owl who'd devolved rapidly into a sputtering ball of anger. The purple creature ruffled her wings, blinked twice to calm herself, then stood and strutted to the Cat's chair. "On second thought, I think I will stay with the Cat."
The Badger and the Bat grinned at eachother in triumph and made their way to the bed, laughing at the obvious choice their Master had made. The Bat's light-weight made it easy enough for her to lay on Starlight while the Badger curled up on her other side. Trixie had already removed her face from her Master's lap, and Starlight had laid down at some point. Flicking the light off with her horn, the group of pets and their master slowly drifted off to sleep, easily ignoring the sound of a very hungry Cat eating her Mouse over and over again.
Author's Note
Hope you enjoyed the story! Please let me know if I missed any spelling, grammar or formatting errors.
