A couple's first argument since wife Dana was implanted with her new Chip-Pet, a device that allows another person to change aspects of someone's personality, body chemistry, mood, and other aspects.
Set in the Chippet Universe
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Dana was mad. No, she was furious. She'd been working all day, only to come home to a complete mess. James had tried to be romantic, tried to have a whole meal ready when she got home, but he'd made some terrible mistakes. The result was a steak that was hard as diamond and a pan coated in a thick black layer of soot.
"You're mad, aren't you?" James asks, sitting at the dining room table picking at a baked potato, the only thing he'd cooked that was even mostly edible.
"I'm not mad," Dana responded, he words short and laced with venom, "Why would I be mad? It was *really* sweet." Her words were clearly saturated in sarcasm.
"I just wanted to do something nice," James pulled his phone from his pocket as he spoke, opening a nondescript app with a collection of dials and toggles.
"And yet I'm the one in here scrubbing the pots and wiping up the oil!" Her words sharp. Dana stands in front of the sink, half hunched over it scrubbing the pan angrily. Her long dark hair hung down over the water, swaying gently as she scrubbed. Periodically she reached up using her wrist to keep the black glasses she wore from falling into the water. Her loose t-shirt and sweats concealed the impressive form of her body. They were a comfort she longed for after her long days as a project manager. After a long day in a suit and heels, nothing was sweeter than fluffy sweats and an old Metallica shirt. Dana rubbed her neck mindlessly, the small red bump at the bottom of hairline. Her neck had been sore for a few days now.
"Jesus you just do it better than-"
"Because I try! I feel like you never put any effort into fucking anything!" Dana had found her limit, "You give it two fucking seconds and if it doesn't magically resolve itself, you give up and walk away." She scrubs the pot even harder, the soapy water splashing up her arms and leaving little dark specs on her shirt.
"I would put in more effort if you were ever home!" James pressed his hand against the table, his frustration mounting. With his other hand he taps some boxes on his phone. He sets the new subliminal setting but doesn't hit the commit button. Dana turns away from the sink facing James with her arms crossed over her chest.
"You don't seem to have a problem spending me money I bring home," she's nearly shouting now, she looked James up and down. He was also dressed casually, a grey t-shirt and blue jeans concealing his muscular chest and belly. While he loves to lift weights, James isn't one for cardio, and sports the powerful dad-bod to match. "What the fuck even is Chip-Pet Inc? What could you have possibly spent $13,000 dollars on?" Dana is fuming, her eyes wild with frustration. The anger of weeks of trying not to fight had built up a backlog of issues.
"Chip-Pet," James said with a wry smirk, "I told you, it's a surprise. Besides, you'd know if you weren't sneaking around getting massages instead of coming home on time!" James' thumb tapped the commit button and set his phone down. He pushed his chair away from the table turning it to face Dana.
Dana reached up again, mindlessly rubbing the sore spot at the base of her hairline, just an inch or two from her left ear. She pause for a moment, a look of mild confusion on her face. James' smile widened, this was the first time he'd tried to use it, and it was already everything he'd hoped for. After a moment's hesitation she continued.
"You don't just get to say 'it's a surprise' and get off the hook." Dana began to walk slowly towards James, her footsteps slow and quiet, walking with the kind of muscle memory you use to find the bathroom in the middle of the night. Her bare feet make a quiet pat sound with each step over the hard tile flooring, "You need to communicate with me, talk to me before you go blowing six month's rent on something you can't show me."
Dana stopped a foot or so in front of James, she dropped down to her knees one leg at a time leaning over his lap, then reached her hands up and pulled her long dark hair back, fashioning it into a quick ponytail behind her head. Each motion was seemingly effortless and thoughtless, as if her mind was still running on the argument, and her body was doing something entirely different.
"Well, dear, I think we're finding out where that money went." James says, a giddy smile across his face. Her hands extend down, placing one on either of his thighs and beginning to massage them gently