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The first time she kissed Sallie May, well, Loona didn’t feel like it counted. It was New Years and Sallie May had kissed everyone in the apartment.
Including Blitz. Yuck.
It was a prudish ole’ pop kiss, but still.
Loona had been sitting on the floor, surrounded by a few friends playing Mammonopoly before the ball dropped. She was still sitting criss-cross on the floor when she lifted her drink for the midnight toast.
Sallie May had come up behind her, tilted her head back gently, and leaned over, kissing her upside down. She thought time had stopped for a moment, her face flushed from an abundance of cocktails and now from an impromptu smooch.
Then when time started rolling forward again, and Loona’s heart fell back into her body, she realized that everyone was getting a lil’ pop kiss from the same girl.
She tried not to act disappointed.
The second time she kissed Sallie May, well, Loona didn’t think that one counted either. They had been square dancing at the annual Wrath Spring Planting Festival. Millie had announced her pregnancy and her parents wanted to use the festival as a way to celebrate the occasion.
The members of IMP had loaded up in the van and headed down to Wrath for a long weekend. Loona was optimistic, but didn’t want to get her hopes up too much. She hadn’t dated much and had terrible track record of chasing people who were unavailable or uninterested (** cough Gigi cough Tex cough Bee cough **).
She packed plenty of cute outfits anyways, just in case.
Sallie May wasn’t at the house when they arrived or at breakfast the next morning. She had gone to the neighboring town for supplies for her Pops. When she arrived later the next day, she met up with everyone at the festival.
Linn and Joe had a family tent under a tree in a picnic area that was close to everything. Sallie May arrived wearing a red and black flannel tied in the front like a crop top, ripped jeans and a black bandana covering her hair.
Loona stood to greet her, but then was surprised to realize she hadn’t come alone. Sallie May had brought a friend. A friend who was a tall imp-hybrid with curves. Her name was Dolly and she had charisma and a beautiful smile and well, she and Sallie May looked cute together.
Loona had just about given up the idea when Sallie May asked her if she had ever square danced. She hadn’t, but Sallie May said the first ones were always easy and she’d help her get her feet wet.
She pulled Loona up from the picnic table and dragged her out to the dance area where an old-timey folk band was playing a jaunty little tune.
The first twenty minutes or so were nerve-racking, but once she found the rhythm, she had a lot of fun. Loona and Sallie May danced opposite of each other most of the time and when the music stopped they found themselves holding hands still.
Loona was catching her breath and waiting for a sign or a signal or what to do next when Sallie May leaned up and kissed her cheek. She thanked her for the dance and then turned to take Loona back to the tent.
Lunch was ready. Sallie May made her way back to Dolly. Loona figured the kiss was just her way of saying thanks. It didn’t mean anything.
When she looked across the tent to see Dolly and Sallie May giggling together, Loona decided she’d had enough excitement for that day and excused herself back to the house for a nap.
The third time that Sallie May kissed Loona definitely didn’t count.
Sallie May had come up to stay in Pride with the M&M’s, to help Millie prepare for the baby and to take on some of the work at IMP while Millie was out of commission.
One Friday afternoon, Sallie May asked Loona about the local bars and dives. Loona invited her to come out with her and her friends that night, who had plans to Karaoke at a little Asian pub.
They planned to meet up at the apartment and walk over together. When Sallie May arrived, Loona was still finishing her makeup in the bathroom mirror. She let the other girl in then went back to the mirror to finish up.
Sallie May followed, leaning in the bathroom doorway, watching Loona apply a thick line of eyeliner.
When Loona reached into her makeup bag to grab her black lipstick, Sallie May spotted a dark red lip stain and asked if she could take a look. It was a shade called Vampire’s Blood and was so dark it was almost black. Loona told her then about how much she liked that brand because it didn’t smear or wipe off, even in mosh pits.
She held up the tube and nodded, a silent request to Loona who nodded back. Sallie May twisted the top and pulled out the applicator then leaned in towards the mirror. Her lips parted and her face relaxed. The way she lifted her chin but looked down to her own lips gave her eyes a half-lidded appearance.
Loona watched with rapt attention as she brushed the stain along the outline of her lips. She imagined the softness of that pout, how the warmth of her breath would feel along her neck.
She had seen these same strong hands wielding heavy weapons and throwing axes and once even tearing the arm off a human like paper. Now she was watching them work with delicate precision and gentle strokes and oh my dog it was making Loona’s heart and other places flutter.
When Sallie May popped back up from the mirror, Loona remembered to breathe again, not realizing that she had been holding her breath. But she didn’t relax for too long, because once Sallie May had blotted with a tissue, she grabbed Loona’s cheek and kissed it. Hard.
Loona’s eyes went wide and she wondered for a moment if Sallie May had been able to read her mind a moment ago. But Sallie May just brushed the fur of Loona’s cheek back into place and remarked with a smirk that it was a mighty great lip stain, not even a little bit rubbed off.
But something must have rubbed off, because Loona could feel it for the rest of the night.
If you ever had any doubt about Satan's gender, just know that he created Imps. Ancient myths say that he crafted them from the ashes of dragons, breathed hellfire into them to give them life. He wanted them to be powerful, tough, made as tiny warrior demons in his image.
Really he was only considering the males during his grand design.
Imp pregnancy lasts twelve Satan-damned months. Whole months. The Bastard.
Millie was the unhappiest hellborne in seven rings by month seven of her pregnancy and she was making it everybody’s problem. She had been limited to office work when the baby-bump got too big for her to be an effective assassin, but one too many hormonal outbursts and Blitz had to find other ways for her to contribute, from home specifically.
Blitz could only handle a hormonal Millie or a crying owl, he could not handle both it seemed. After she snapped one morning with a bout of nausea and told Stolas his cheap preening oil smelled like a Greed sewage treatment plant, he decided it was better for everyone for her to take client calls from home.
This is how, one day while taking lunch to Millie, Sallie May kissed Loona for the fourth time.
Millie had requested a hot HellChicken sandwich and hellepenõ poppers from Tweed’s Deli, and since Sallie May knew that was one of Loona’s favorite diners too, she had asked the hellhound if she wanted to make the lunch run with her.
They made the decision to eat lunch after dropping off the food at Millie’s place so they didn’t offend her sensitive nose with any unexpected scents. Sallie May ran the food upstairs while Loona waited with the bag.
They ate their sandwiches across the street at a small park. Between bites of her Butchers Block sandwich, Loona told Sallie May about the time Blitz beat Queen Bee at her own drinking game. While finishing off her fries, Sallie May told Loona about the year that Millie got banned from the Pain Games for killing too many competitors.
When they were done, Loona put all the trash and wrappers in the deli bag, balled it up, and tossed it into a garbage can about fifteen feet away.
That’s when it happened.
When Loona turned back around, ready to ask if Sallie May was ready to go back to the office, she was pulled forward into a kiss.
This one didn’t ’pop’. This one wasn’t shared with everyone else, although there wasn’t anyone else there to prove it. This one wasn’t a test of lip stain strength and durability.
Sallie May’s eyes were closed, her hand clutching the front of Loona’s shirt.
When she pulled back slowly, Loona chased her lips and nervously said, “Um.. does that one count?”
Sallie May giggled, then leaned in again, and whispered, “Oh, Loona, girl… they’ve all counted.” She then kissed the blushing hellhound again.
