Sliv’s slumber was disrupted by the sound of Curly rummaging through the closet
for something. They rolled over in their hammock to get a better look into it and
saw Curly comparing several different outfits in a mirror. Without even looking at
Sliv, she asked, "Which do you think looks better for my date tonight?"
Sliv, rapidly escaping the early wake up haze, nearly fell out of their hammock in
excitement for getting to finally choose an outfit. "THE BLUE ONE!"
Curly nodded. "So that one goes into the closet again, then."
"Huh?" Sliv was confused now.
"Sliv, buddy, your taste in venues for work are top-tier, but there's a very good
reason I never listen to your fashion advice." Curly said in a flat, matter-of-fact tone.
"I can dress myself! Watch this!" They said before flying over to a box labeled
‘Sliv’s comfy clothes’ and jumping in. A few moments later,
they reemerged from the box with the confidence that their outfit was the best ever.
Curly stood there and stared at the kaleidoscope of an outfit that Sliv wore with
concern and confusion. "You... you do realize that you're wearing a skirt as a top and
one of your mittens is a sock right...?"
"Uhhh..." Sliv stood there awkwardly for a moment.
"Wait... that's one of my socks as well, I've been looking for that for weeks!" Curly
picked up Sliv to look over the outfit that would be better suited as an art gallery
piece than wearable attire.
"I... I plead innocent on all acts of sock nabbing," they said, looking away from Curly in
an attempt to hide their guilt.
"Well, I guess if I put it back I can say it's been found again. Say, are there more of
my socks in there?"
"Uhhh... I'm not sure..." Sliv said, trying to look innocent and failing.
Curly got a waft of something foul as they discussed the legality of sock sovereignty
and pulled Sliv closer for a quick sniff. "Oh, yuck. Sliv, when was the last time
you took a bath?"
Sliv’s expression quickly became nervous. "Uhh... g-good question?"
Curly stared at Sliv, blankly contemplating how long it must have taken to smell this
rank in the first place. "You know what would be good for you?"
"N-no–" Sliv felt a layer of fear overwhelm them at the thought of what they knew
was about to leave her mouth.
"You're due for a bath~" Curly said with a bit of enthusiasm. All Sliv could utter was
a little "eep" before they started flailing around to try and escape Curly’s grasp. Much
to their own dismay, they could not escape, and after a moment or two they just
flopped on her hands, going as limp as possible.
"I can't believe we have to do this every time Sliv, it would be a lot easier if you
washed yourself regularly you know." Sliv just let out a "mreh" as Curly carried them
to the bathroom.
Curly closed the door and locked the slide lock towards the top to help prevent Sliv
from escaping during the cleaning process. "So are you going to clean yourself,
or is it going to be a fight like usual?"
Sliv laid on the floor as Curly was prepping everything for the bath. While she was
unsure of how it worked, Curly always enjoyed the frog-shaped bubbles from the
soap that she used. After the tub was full of warm, frog-bubbly water, she looked
at where Sliv was previously on the floor.
Although the spirit was gone, she knew that they had currently forgotten they can
poof around, so she just had one or two places she had to look in. The first spot
under the sink was the correct one as Sliv just stared at her for a brief moment
before trying, and failing, to hold their arms up and expand their body out to look
more threatening.
"You know that doesn't work on me right? Neither does that..." Curly said as Sliv
tried to dilate their eyes. "This is only making it more awkward for you the longer you
delay it, I promise it's not that bad to be clean."
Sliv, trying to avoid the bath as long as possible, slank further under the sink before
Curly gave up the diplomatic approach and just dragged them out, much like one would
with a reluctant cat.
"Do you want to strip before or after the bath this time?" Curly asked as Sliv flailed
around some more. "OK, into the tub you go then."
"What wh–" Sliv tried to finish the question as they found themselves dropped into
the tub and sopping wet in no time.
(illustration of Sliv blowing bubbles from the bath)
"I'll be back in a little bit so wash up, I'll get our outfits for today ready while you do."
As Curly closed the bathroom door behind herself, she could hear the sounds of
splashing from the bath. Probably Sliv trying to attack the bubbles or something...
Curly’s task of picking out the outfits wasn't that hard to do. She had already planned
out her outfit earlier that week, and was making adjustments as she would think about
something that would look cuter. She knew her look on the dating scene was not the
best, but she was sure this time would be different, she was sure of it! The harder part
every time was making a good outfit that Sliv would enjoy wearing, since it always
came down to how they were feeling that day.
She went back to the bathroom and peeked in for a moment to see that Sliv’s box
outfit was in a neat, if soaked, pile besides the tub and they were splashing around in
a city made of bubbles. "Hey Sliv? What's the gender of the day for you?"
Sliv stopped terrorizing the bubble denizens long enough to say, "I'm feeling girly
today," before continuing her rampage of bubble town like one of those Earth monster
kaiju movies.
"Pop off on that town, queen," Curly said, before leaving Sliv to her own devices.
Knowing the gender of the day for Sliv made it a lot easier to get some basic, yet
stylish and cute, outfits ready for her to look through.
The first she thought of was an outfit to match what Curly was going to wear,
a cute shirt and overalls. The next one was a purple dress and light purple belt,
simple yet stylish. The last was a bit trickier to piece together, but she eventually
landed on a tartan skirt with a frilled blouse and matching suit coat. It would be a lie
to say she hoped that Sliv would wear this one, but she had to leave it to the whim of
the spirit now.
Curly eventually heard Sliv cleaning up the bathroom from what she could only assume
was the colossal mess that Sliv made of the place. "You good in there?"
(1/2) Today, let's begin @lumiamoth.bsky.social's lovely fanfic featuring Sliv and Curly on a day off! Spot illustrations were added by me. #YokokasQuest