ATH Not-So-Temporary Thread

[Lady Mimicry]

Justus chuckled and draped his arm around his legs. "Babe, you could have twelve ears and I'd still like you. Looks never bothered me. Why?"

"If that solution doesn't work," Zero said, "let me know. I reversed what Gareth did to Tokka's nerves, but that's about it. I could grow them, although your way keeps the family off the radar."

"Thank you, Clover. For helping our son." Ruffling her hair, Zero went to Trigger, leading her to the sofa and pulling her into his lap.

"We've gotta wait, at least two hours."  

[Felixitous]

Dietrich sighed and looked around. "Well...it's best I show you now." He sighed again and removed his hat, set it aside, and pulled off his mask.

Beneath it, there was no skin, only stringy muscle and flesh. He had no eye on that side, and the mouth was lopsided, deformed. He had no hair, either, only that sad, lumpy semblance of a face.

"She was never sure what happened," he said softly. He seemed ashamed of his disfigurement. "She's had trouble fixing it in the past. Eventually, I think she just forgot about it. But it's okay." He smiled sadly. "I love her anyway. She kept me alive, and I got to meet you."



Clover sighed and sat with Tokka, head in her hands. What was she supposed to do? He was asleep. She couldn't very well confess love to him while he was asleep, and she wasn't about to try any Snow White, Sleeping Beauty s**t, either. So, she sat there, pulled her hair down and ran her hands through it, the natural waves and curls coming back just a little with each run through. Even washed, she still looked like hell. She hadn't eaten properly for a week, she still had cuts and bruises all over, and he planned on telling her she was beautiful.

She got up and looked in a mirror. Must be love, she thought. That's the only explanation for someone thinking this face is beautiful, even under normal circumstances. I'd say it was a face only a mother would love, but she apparently didn't either. I must be screwed.  

[Lady Mimicry]

Unlike most, who would've been horrified at the grotesque revealing, Justus was simply surprised, startled. By his own definition, Justus was a pervert, lecherous, but most of all a charming slut. He wasn't, however, shallow. It was flattering, that Dietrich would willinging show him something he seemed so ashamed of. Leaning forward, Justus kissed the fleshy and disfigured half of his face, then kissed the softer, perfect side.

"Damn," he said, "I'll have to apologize, I guess. Last I saw her, I called her a b***h. Ah, talk about a bruised ego." He wanted to lay down again, his sides were starting to throb, but he lingered, waiting for Dietrich's reaction. It made him nervous, suspiciously.

Tokka, although asleep, whimpered. His nails extended to claws, shredding the sheets, his tail, having a mind of its own, snaked around Clover's waist where his struggles eased and his breathing evened out.

His subconscious had no intentions of letting her leave.  

[Felixitous]

Dietrich nodded and replaced his mask, blushing. "She's nice to me. More than most people are. Well, at least how people used to be." He picked up his hat and placed it back on his head, the bells on the ends jingling just slightly. "I used to be a performer. I wasn't much more than a simple machine, juggling, entertaining. People liked me for a while. And then they...didn't." He sighed. "They started doing what people do. They wrote on me, they threw things at me, they pulled on my parts and tried to break me. Eventually, they decided to scrap me. Trigger came by though, and I think it was one of her whims, and she bought me and took me home to fix me. I'm not really sure how I remember any of this, actually." He chuckled and fiddled with his own hands. "I didn't have any sort of memory until Trigger got a hold of me."

He got up and got a cold washcloth, then sat back down and placed it on Justus' head. As though he hadn't just revealed everything about himself, he smiled and asked, "Is there anything you need?"



Clover blinked, then walked closer and untangled his hands from the sheets. She placed her hand on his forehead, her usual manner setting in. He seemed okay. She sighed and looked at his hand. She stared at it for a few minutes, then shyly took it, playing with his fingers. She liked the body, all its ins and outs, its joints, its turns and twists. She liked the way it moved and stayed together inside the skin, all the weird little things that went along with it. She'd never had the opportunity to just sit there and touch someone like this though, to examine their hand, the one that was unique to them, like all the callouses on the pads of Tokka's hand taht were his and no one else's.

She sighed and drew up a chair, not really minding his tail around her. She laid her head on the bed, still holding his hand, and quickly fell asleep. She'd never admit it, but she wouldn't have left even if she'd really had the choice.  

[Lady Mimicry]

"No," Justus mumbled, nuzzling closer, "everything's perfect." He didn't realize when he'd fallen asleep, just that he was very, very relaxed. His dreadlocks were drapped across his face, the feathers he'd beaded through his hair fluttered whenever they caught his breath.

When Clover awoke, she'd realize she wasn't at Tokka's bedside anymore. Instead, she was cuddled in Tokka's lap, tucked underneath his chin. His fingers combed through her hair and his tail swayed happily, still wrapped securely around her waist. He hadn't removed the bandages yet, although he could feel the healing process was complete. He didn't want to see her, not yet, he wanted to feel her. Memorize every feature, ever curl.

Beautiful.  

[Felixitous]

Dietrich continued to stroke his head, eventually leaning down to kiss him.



She blushed. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to move. Hell, holding his hand was already stressful for her. She wasn't quite ready for that sort of thing.

Tokka's fingers felt the small cuts and swells of bruises on her skin, though, and could feel how thin she'd gotten.  

[Lady Mimicry]

"I'll have to make you dinner," he mused aloud, "so thin." He hadn't realized she'd awoken yet, until he touched her face.

"Feverish," he mumbled, "A hint of a blush, I presume?" Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead, lips lingering before he stretched out again.

"Good morning, Clover."  

[Felixitous]

"...hi." She was blushing like a mofo. She couldn't really breathe. Half of her wanted to get up, resume her cold persona, go on with her daily routine and pretend he didn't exist. The louder half, though, the louder half wanted to just curl up and sleep on him. He was comfortable. He made her feel safe. He was at once the most infuriating person she'd ever met and someone she didn't want to leave her ever again.

She settled for closing her eyes and and curling against him anyway. "How are you feeling?"  

[Lady Mimicry]

"Sore," he mumbled, "but it's bearable." His fingers traced along several of the cuts she'd acquired within her abscence. "Yourself?"

Downstairs, Zero had fallen asleep, his head draped over Trigger's shoulder. It was different. This sleep. The room he invisioned was similar to the time mage's realm, already a bad sign. A throne of ice and--and Phoebe. s**t, she'd come around again?

He jumped awake, startled. He wasn't sure which of his children it would be, but he could see, in that instant, that he would die for one of them.

"Bad dream," he said shakily, "Do you wanna check on Tokka?"  

[Felixitous]

She shrugged. "Essentially, everything comes down to being our own fault, so technically, yes. But no, I did not intentionally harm myself. Just made some stupid decisions." What else was she supposed to say? 'I'm terrified of sitting here alone with you so please take off those bandages to give us something to talk about'?

She remained quiet.



Trigger looked him over. She could tell something was wrong, but obviously, he didn't want to tell her what. Though she'd grown up rather quickly in the past years, she wasn't about to let this go.

"Clover's with him for now," she said. "Right now, I want to know what's wrong with you." She was dead set on spending the rest of her life with him. She wasn't about to let some secret he was keeping jeopardize everything they had.  

[Lady Mimicry]

I should tell her, he thought, I should tell her everything. Leaning back, Zero buried his face in his hands and groaned. Peering between the cracks of his fingers, he said slowly, "I'll tell you."

"Trigger, there's another time mage like myself, her name is Phoebe. She's absolutely crazy and positively loathes me. I-I had a vision that she'll be visiting us. Don't know when, but love, it'll be bad."

"Very, very bad."  

[Felixitous]

Trigger nodded. "This s**t always happens, doesn't it?" She reached under the couch and brought out a few nicely sized machine guns, checked the ammo clips, and called for Lucy. She stood up as he came out, handed him a few, and he nonchalantly took them. He wasn't really a proponent of violence (surprisingly), but it was understood between he and his mother that, when it came to family, he was ready to kill.

Trigger looked at Zero. "She can visit all she wants. She'll be received with bullets to the face."

Lucy smiled cheesily and leaned in to her. "Just the family hospitality, right?"

She smiled back, revealing her lovely long fangs. "Oh, yes, honey. Go get your brother. He's quiet, but he's got the streak in him, too. And get Ban. You just don't go ********' with our family."

She leaned down and kissed Zero's forehead. "Come on, cheer up. We'll be all right."  

[Lady Mimicry]

Zero smiled, but his families confidence just couldn't lighten his spirits. Standing up, he said, "Don't worry, I'll get Ban and Logan."

Upong entering Logan's room, Zero stepped on something that squeaked. Leaning down, he picked up an old straw voodoo doll. He'd seen it several times, always around Logan's room.

"Hey, Logan," he said, tossing him the doll, "your mother wants you."

Elsewhere, Ban's room was empty. Instead, she was within Dorian's room, wearing nothing but a towel. She had migrated into his room after his return, just making sure he didn't try to leave again. Her lack of modesty would probably be the death of Dorian. His restraint anyways.

Giggling, she crawled onto the still sleeping Dorian, straddling his waist.
"Wakey, wakey, Dorian," she purred.  

[Felixitous]

Logan caught the doll and looked at it. He'd seen it too, but could never quite figure out whose it was. No one ever came into his room, no one ever came to see him. He was always alone, and yet, this weird little doll always managed to end up on his floor.

He set it aside and followed Zero out quietly. Didn't matter that his brain was always on, always running, always something cooking inside his head, he said only what was absolutely necessary. He joined Lucy, said a few quiet words with him, and joined the brigade.



Dorian sat up and his face immediately reddened. "Uh...h-hi. Um, what are you doing?" His voice was higher than normal. He sat up and tried his best to pull away, but quickly found his back literally against the wall. Of course he'd thought of this before. Of course he'd thought of it. A lot. Especially at night. While alone. Without her there.

However, now that the opportunity was staring him in the face, all the confidence he'd built up while he'd been gone washed away, leaving him paralyzed with fear. He sighed and tried to sit up some. Maybe if he wasn't looking up at her? Looking up at her was bad. Looking up at her made him feel small again, timid. He put his arms around her and tried to put on that confident look, kissing her. "Ahem. Hi."  

[Lady Mimicry]

Unraveling her towel, Ban wrapped it around them both, pressing her very nude body against Dorian's very bare chest. "I'm keeping you warm," she giggled, "you looked so cold. Laying here without a blanket."

Nuzzling her face against his neck, she said, "You certainly feel warmer."

One thing Ban couldn't comprehend was Dorian's want of dominance. She could care less whether he was a muscular warrior or a crybaby. She loved Dorian because he was, well, Dorian. She smiled, twirling a lock of his hair around her finger.

"You're so cute when you blush." She sighed.