"--and then Junrao was like, 'Vlad, are you involved with the Cynn?' and I was like 'no!! Ew!!' and Luu was like 'No, Vlad's busy with that fool pooka--'"

Teige laughed at that, exhaling a stream of smoke between his teeth. In the warm, low light, he and Vlad sat on a floor couch in their underwear, passing a cigarette back and forth between them. The smoke drifted up and out through the open window above their heads, and little glowing gold lights hovered in the air, some of them gathered in an open glass globe in the ceiling. Something small crawled across the ceiling near the globe.

"--But then everyone just started talking about whether it's okay to have a side fling if you have the chance to influence the Cynn's policies by sleeping with him--" Vlad slumped against the squashy cushions, draping a hand over his face dramatically, while Teige chuckled. "Ugh!"

Teige passed the cigarette back to Vlad, a green flame catching in his hair. "But 'ew'?" he asked, "What's 'ew' about the Cynn, then?"

"Huh?" Vlad took the cigarette, unperturbed by the green fire. "Oh, he's just so not my type."

"No?? The Cynn, though??" There was a larger flash of green that lit the side of Vlad's face, as he rolled his eyes.

"Uh, no," he said. "The Cynn is small and very serious. I like 'em big and funny."

Teige leaned over, having switched out of his human shape and back into his usual goat-headed form. "Suppose I could be your Cynn, then?" he suggested into Vlad's ear.

Vlad pushed his grinning muzzle away with a smile of his own. "Oh my god," he said dryly, "honey, that's not sexy."