ATH Not-So-Temporary Thread

[Felixitous]

He tried to stay confident. He didn't so much want to be dominant as he wanted to at least, well, be a man. He always felt like such a child, especially around her. But as he felt her against him, he melted and kissed her passionately, any and all pretenses melting away. Even vulnerable as he was, he was still strong, knew what he wanted, and asked for it with his hands in the most gentlemanly way possible.

Best non-perverted description of sex ever.  

[Lady Mimicry]

SO THEY GET IT ON!!!

Elsewhere, after the family had successfully barricaded the house, Trigger returned to her room where Alister waited. It was, odd, to say the least. She'd been spending majority of her time at Abadon's, after Carlyle's return.

Sauntering over, Alister wrapped her arms around Trigger's shoulders and smiled. "I've been thinking about you," she purred, "I miss us." She nibbled her neck, nibbled at her ear.

"Let's have fun, like old times."

Leaning down, Alister pressed her lips against Trigger's, nibbling until she drew blood. She was never, ever, rough when it came to romantics. Rough equalled blood, which at the very smell, she'd on most cases, fall into convulsions. Instead, she licked the blood from her lips and resumed the kiss.

ELSEWHERE elsewhere...

In Logan's room, there was a gift awaiting him. Within this present was a book, the latest volume of a series he'd been avidly reading lately. Nearby, curiously, was the doll. Which wasn't where he'd left it.  

[Felixitous]

Trigger shoved this 'Alister' away, pointing a gun at her head. "You're not Alister. Anyone who'd ever spent five seconds around her would know that's not how she is." Alister would never try and ruin what she had with Zero in the first place, and the biting and the blood? That was just overkill, as far as she was concerned.

She wiped it away and grabbed the fake Alister by the hair, dragging her out. "You best start talking before I straight blow off your head." She dragged her along the floor and into the living room, where the children took turns glaring at her.

"Hey Mom, that her?" Lucy asked.

"That's what I'm guessing."

He nodded and crouched down next to her, narrowing his eyes. "Yeah, about my family? Ya don't ******** with it."



Logan picked up the book, a rare smile lighting his face as he flipped through some of the pages. He liked book smells, old books, new books, books of all kinds and types. One wouldn't have been wrong to call him a bibliophile. He sat down with the book and picked up the doll, sighing as he looked it over.

"I've figured you out, you know. That you're alive, at least. Not sure why you bug me, though."  

[Lady Mimicry]

Alister's long, blue hair shortened, fading until it was strawberry blonde. The bronze skin became pale, threaded with blue veins and the eyes became a bright, emerald color. Phoebe, as Zero had called her became shorter too. Trigger short.

"Hair pulling," she said, "was absolutely unnecessary." Ignoring Lucy, Phoebe positively glowed with delight when she saw Zero. Much to his disdain.

"So, Trigger, that your new wife? Cause you know, it isn't legal if you're already married. Oops, did I say too much?"

His face reddened with anger, both embarrassed and infuriated. Glaring at her wouldn't help anything though. Turning to Trigger, he said, "I was gonna tell you."

"When?" Phoebe interjected. "You know, Trigger, you can never really trust time mages. My father, hell, Zero's daddy too. Complete jerks. They'd cheat on their wives over and over again. Then, they'd just erase it. Like it had never happened."

"How do you know, huh? If he keeps something like being married from you, how do you know he isn't having affairs on the sides? Huh?"

Clenching his fist, Zero slapped her, hard across the face. "I-I-I'd never! How dare you compare me to ********?" Grabbing her by her hair, he slammed her face against the floor. "I should kill you, Phoebe."
***
At first, the doll didn't move, then with a sigh, it folded its arms across its chest, pouting. "Logan, you're just too smart." Smiling, she offered her tiny, fingerless hand and said, "Name's Taboo."

"I have other books for you too. Hiding," she added.  

[Felixitous]

((You remember Trigger and Zero aren't married, right? He hasn't even brought it up? XD And Trigger's kind of a commitment-phobe, so she's not thinking about it. JUST THOUGHT I WOULD REMIND YOU biggrin ))

For some reason, Trigger felt good. For the first time in her life, she was completely sure about something, absolutely firm in her resolve, and it felt good.

"I don't care," she said. "Nothing you say can possibly matter. If you knew half the s**t he put up with from me just to get me to like him, let alone fall for him, you'd know he wouldn't." She put her hand on Zero's shoulder. It was strange to feel this calm all of a sudden, this peaceful in the middle of everything that was going on, but all she could think of was Zero. She didn't like seeing him this angry. She gave his shoulder a light squeeze, just to let him know she was on his side.

Then she kicked Phoebe, hard, right in the face.

"You're pretty bad at this. You didn't do much research. First the whole Alister deal, and now trying to play head games on someone whose head has been played with so much that not a damn thing could get in there again." She kicked her again in the gut, the peace fading away and slight paranoia filling the void. She never had been good about ex-girlfriends, let alone ex-wives that weren't quite exes yet.

With every word, she kicked her again. "You stupid ignorant retarded goddamn <******** slut stay the <********> away from my family--"

"Mom." Lucy pulled her away, first appearing to be trying to calm her down, but then he smiled and pulled out his bat.

"Kicking hurts, but doesn't get us anywhere, does it?"

Trigger laughed through tears and kissed his cheek. "I swear, kid, I love you."



Logan nodded and set her down to shake her hand. "Um, thanks. Like I said though, I don't really know why you're bothering me." He heard the commotion outside and felt bad. He wanted to help, but didn't think he'd be much use. Besides, his intellect was currently more concerned with how a straw doll could be alive, even if he had at least figured out it was alive.  

[Lady Mimicry]

Unfortunately, with the first swing of Lucy's bat, the bloodied Phoebe shattered. The colors faded, revealing her to be nothing more than an icy sculpture. <******** knew it," Zero said. Letting out a shaky breath, he flopped down against floor and buried his face into his hands. He clenched his hands into fist until the shaking subsided. s**t, what if Trigger had believed her? Everything he accomplished, everything they had built together could've crumbled.

The thought scared the s**t out of him.

"I'm sorry," he said, over and over again, "I should've told you, Trigger."

Despite being a simple straw doll, Taboo blushed, making small circle with her foot against Logan's bed sheet. "I like you," she said, "that's why I'm bothering you. Unfortunately, I'm too small and well, I'm a doll."

"I don't know, Trigger gave Dietrich a big body. Maybe I could have one too."  

[Felixitous]

Without another thought, Trigger sat in front of Zero and pulled his face against her shoulder, kissing the side of his head. "Hey, calm down. It'll be okay. We've made it this far, we can make it through this too." She stroked his hair gently, wrapped her arms around him. It wouldn't have mattered if she believed Phoebe or not. Yes, of course, she wished he had told her, and on some level, she was scared that he would leave her, but that was nothing new. They'd just work through it. She stood up and pulled him to his feet, then over to the couch, then sat down with him again.

Lucy, however, was not so understanding. He glared at Zero and walked into his room, slamming the door.



Logan looked up at the sound, but then turned back to Taboo. "Oh. Well. Um. I...I don't know, really."  

[Lady Mimicry]

"Great," Zero said, tossing his arms into the air, "Lucy hates me."

"My marriage with Phoebe was arranged because my-father-owed Phoebe's father money. Basically, he pawned me off to save his own a**. Hell, Phoebe and I have always hated each other. I've tried to get a divorce, over and over, believe me, but she'd rather not suffer alone." He grimaced, thinking back on all their 'fond' memories.

"She got really sick, fell into a coma. I didn't think she'd ever wake up, but, ******** me, here she is...still making my life s**t. I would've told you, you know that. I just don't like talking about it. Anything that involves my father, really."

"s**t, I need to talk to Lucy. Before he starts sounding like me."

In Lucy's room, Gabriel was lounging beside the window. It was cracked open, allowing the smoke from his cigarette to escape and mingle with the breeze. Upon seeing Lucy, he snuffed out his cigarette against his wrist and stood.

"What's up, babe?"

With Logan, Taboo eventually stood and patted his knee. "I'll be seeing you." Clutching the blanket, she scaled down the side of the bed until she hit bottom. Then scurrying across the room, Taboo slipped behind the bookcase and into a secret tunnel, one of many, she and Kitty had built throughout the house.

"Hey, Kitty. Do you think Trigger could make me a big body? You know, like Dietrich's, but with a whole face? I mean, I'd like to keep my little body. It's fun spying and crawling through our tunnels, but," she blushed when Logan came to mind, "Ah, forget it, it's stupid."  

[Felixitous]

Trigger kissed his cheek. "It's all right. I don't blame you." She rested his head against her chest, playing with the ends of his hair. "And you now how Lucy is. Let him blow off some steam before you talk to him or he really will end up hating you." She reached down and took his hand. "Listen to me. I love you more than anything. You're the first person that I've never really doubted, and even if I did, I'd try and make it work because you mean so goddamn much to me. Okay?" She wiped a few tears off her cheek and kissed the top of his head. "So just let me hold you a while."



Lucy came in and slammed the window closed. "Keep that s**t out of my room, all right?" He sat down and ran his hands through his hair a few times, grumbling. "********. Did you know my dad was married before he met my mom? Heh, not even just before. He still ******** is." He got up and got a small first aid kit, sitting down again and tending to the burn on Gabe's wrist out of habit, still talking. "Worse than that, Mom doesn't even seem to care. It's just so retarded." He slabbed a bit of salve on the burn and wrapped some gauze around it, clipping the end and tying it off. "And quit smoking. I'd rather keep you around a while instead of you getting ******** cancer or some s**t. ******** chuckled and pulled a tiny magazine out of the fourth-dimensional stitch in her chest. "Nah, it's not stupid. I know you're sweet on Trigger's kid. Just ask her about it once this Phoebe business is over. I'm sure she won't mind. It'll give her something to do instead of being all paranoid about Zero cheating and whatnot."  

[Lady Mimicry]

"********, Trigger," Zero mumbled, "I love you. Hell, I'd love you even if you were a-a decapitated head. It's that deep, love." He smiled, hoping his...twisted humor might lighten both their spirits. His fingers danced along her forearms, drawing stick figures and hearts, one stick figure sharing a milkshake with a decapitated stick figure. The usual stuff.
***
"Babe, take a ******** chill pill, alright?" Gabe said, "you're such a ******** drama queen." Pulling Lucy against his chest, he wrapped his arms around his shoulders and sighed.

"Seriously, my dad used to be a ******** whore. Frooty don't care. Not anymore. I don't care. Adair and Justus don't give a s**t. Think about it this way, babe, Zero's a ******** better than those other assholes your momma used to date."

"He ******** up, you ******** up, I really ******** up. Now, shut the ******** up and sleep. Might make you feel better."  

[Felixitous]

Trigger smiled and lifted his face so she could kiss him. "I'd even love you if you were a rotting corpse. Now shut up and cuddle me. Today's been a little weird for me."

Marriage. Now that things had settled down, the little cogs and gears inside her head were grinding away. Marriage. She'd never thought about it before. She'd never been with someone long enough for it to even come up. And as much as she loved Zero, did she ever really want to marry him?

She looked at him, thought of their kids. Of course she wanted to. There was no question. And it freaked her the hell out. Despite that, she continued to cuddle with him, leaning her cheek against his head and staring off at the wall. Maybe once she killed that Phoebe chick she'd talk to him about it.



Lucy shoved Gabe off and slapped him. "Don't tell me to calm down, you ********," he spat. "Aramis stopped being a whore for Froot Loop. That's considered romantic. He gave up a lifestyle to be with someone." Hm. Sounded vaguely like what he wanted Gabe to do, but he let it pass. "My dad hid a wife from my mother. That's not like being a whore. They're nothing alike. Your'e a goddamn idiot if you think they're even remotely similar."

He stood up and grabbed a shirt and jacket. "I'm going out. Don't wait up."