She Did What??

Time: Sometime Tuesday morning
Place: Angel's desk

"What do you mean she's gone?" Shax clawed frantically at the interface and stuck his head out through the interwebs. "She's just not at her desk. Went for coffee. Or out into the garden."

"I told you she was going, Captain Adorable When He's Frantic," Ivana crooned, halfway between fond and exasperated.

"Did you?" Shax poked about on the desk. No coffee mug. No iPad. No Notebook Of All The Notes.  "She can't just abandon us!"

"She'll be back, dumbass," Verin growled from the safety of the Brimstone.  "Not the first time she's been away. Give the author a fucking break."

"You're the one who's always angry with her," Shax muttered, poking around in the calendar. "And for a whole week? This is unacceptable."

"Captain, please come back inside. Your cute little tushy isn't supposed to be out there." Worry laced Ivana's disembodied voice. "There are things--"

Shax ignored her. Maybe there was something he could take. Would serve the author right. A breeze ghosted over his cheek. No, not a breeze, a breath. He turned his head slowly...and screamed.

"Yaaaaagh! Giant cat! Giant cat!" Shax scrambled back so fast he fell on his butt in the pilot's pod. "Hell's gates! What was that monster!"

Verin fell over laughing. Ivana tsked.

"That's a regular sized cat, Captain. Well, all right. It is a big fluffy-wuffy cat, but not that big. You're just small when you poke through the interface."

"I think I'll just watch and wait from in here." Shax rubbed at his chest, recovering the pieces of his tattered dignity.

In the study, Sweetpea, the admittedly large half Maine Coon, pats at the computer screen, hoping Mom comes back soon. Her desk does weird things without her.