He accepted the fries though he didn't look at them. He just slapped them against his head and stared into space. This was. Incredibly alarming. Henry had been of the mind that due to his experiences in the Otehrworld, certain parts of his brain had simply ceased functioning. His social skills were never stellar and though he'd had a sweetheart or two in college it had mostly been the College Experience and weird hipster vague love and making out in the darkroom in the photography lab.
But now he was grown and living in a house full of other adults in a strange world populated by colorful animals with god-like powers and just now at this exact moment that part of his brain decided to flip back on like a switch. He had no idea how to deal with it so his body went into Safe Mode. Which meant that Henry continued sitting stock still on the kitchen floor with a slowly thawing bag of french fries on his head.
Lust left him with the fries and finished unpacking her groceries, casting glances at him as she did. Henry was always odd, but he seemed a bit more detached from his surroundings than normal. How badly had he hit his head?
She returned to stand over him, arms folded and expression curious and mildly concerned.
"Do you want me to take a look at that? Or have you just been indulging already?"
"...Henry, are you sure you're alright? It's just that people normally walk...."
No, Henry was definitely acting stranger than normal. And apparently without the aid of drugs.
"Do you want to get more drugs?" Maybe that was the problem. He wasn't on anything. Was this just how Sober Henry was? No wonder he took things so often. "I'll help you get some."
He looked as though he needed help. A great deal of it. And she liked Henry. He was odd, but he was a good man and there was a great deal of depth beneath his vague and mumbling surface.
"No I just need to go to the bathroom." Crawl crawl crawl.
MEANWHILE, to add to the shitstorm that's brewing on the horizon, Prince came bounding into the room wearing a beautiful new collar that he'd begged for. He watched his trainer scrambling around the door frame and tilted his head. Then he looked up at Lust. His blue eyes grew wide and sparkly and the ribbons on his neck curled together to form a heart.
"Viiooooon~" How romantic! She must have hit him! Just like on the television, it was the first display of affection!
While Lust had certainly come to understand a pressing need for a restroom, she couldn't imagine any need so pressing that the precious moments taken standing would be a problem...
Oh. Unless he was nauseated from hitting his head. That was a common side effect. She followed him, leaning down and only giving a hasty wave of her hand to the interloping Pokemon. Why was it going on like that when its trainer was about to upchuck on the floor?
"Oh for god's sake Henry, I'll get you a bucket if you have to be sick, you're likely to destroy the carpet trying to make it to the washroom. Just sit down and lean your head back against the wall. I am intimately familiar with human biology, you know, you don't have to be embarrassed."
This was the absolute worst. He didn't even make it to the bathroom because he tripped on a bump in the rug and face-planted, ass in the air. If only he could die right there.
That would be great.
Prince bounded after lust and threw on the breaks when he happened upon the display. Oh, wow, they were moving right along weren't they? He covered his eyes with his ribbons but couldn't resist peeking.
"I just need to wash my face." Henry finally began his slow climb to his feet, making sure to keep his eyes AWAY from Lust. What had set off those bells? Sure she was extremely pretty but he didn't know her that well and on top of that she was his best friend's sister. Wasn't there some kind of code that said you didn't date your bro's sis? But she was concerned about him and that was so nice...
Stop it, Townshend! You've just had too much candy, the sugar is doing something to your brain!
And then he was toppled over, hind over head. Lust sighed heavily and crouched slightly, resting her arms on her knees as he began to pick himself up.
"Henry, I don't know what's wrong, but let me help you. I'm...starting to worry." Was it the holiday? As far as she knew, he didn't have a romantic life. But she didn't get the impression he had any interest in one, not after living with him so long. She wasn't deeply familiar with his private life or inner workings, but after enough observation and interaction, he just gave the impression of a man more concerned with mental and creative pursuits than fleshy or romantic ones.
It was a ridiculous assumption, that everyone wanted that in their life. But good god, she couldn't begin to fathom what had him even more out of sorts than normal. He was almost acting as though she were her Jigglypuff, and he couldn't escape fast enough.
..Chanteuse wasn't lurking, was she? No. Just Prince, watching them cautiously.
Once he was standing good and sturdy, he shook himself. Hand still on his head he forced himself to look at her. If he acted weird, that would just make it worse.
"I guess you're right, I hit my head harder than I thought. Walls, you know. Jump right out at you." WELL IN SILENT HILL THEY FUCKING DID. Henry was a little proud of himself for not launching into an Escalator Trauma flashback. "I'm alright though. Promise. What were you saying earlier?"
YES LET'S CHANGE THE SUBJECT. BACK TO DRUGS AND FOOD.
"It's counter corners that are the bane of my existence. I think my left hip is permanently bruised from knocking against the one in the kitchen in the morning." Lust eyed Henry critically, but nodded, accepting his explanation. He'd just rattled his brains a bit. But she thought she ought to keep an eye on him, just in case. Concussions could be nasty and sneaky things.
And now she was struggling to remember what they'd been talking about originally. Oh, that was right. Getting trollied for Valentine's Day.
"And I was just asking you if you wanted to take large amounts of intoxicants with me this evening. I'm not doing anything else and I thought it likely you weren't, either." She shrugged. "May as well be alone together and doing something enjoyable."
"That just leads to fighting the rest of the mob. I'll take the smaller discount and only having to deal with idiots who forgot to buy gifts before now." How hard was it to remember to get something before the damned holiday? Even she could manage that sort of thing, when necessary.
"Come on. We can put on music and send our minds on journeys seeking higher realms. Or at least more interesting ones." And as it was just the two of them, they didn't have to share with anyone else.
Yeah...yeah that was a good idea. That would calm him down. He'd feel silly about all this later. He finally dropped his hand to his side revealing the funny-shaped bruise the door frame left behind. He was Henry Townshend, the boy who lived by sheer dumb luck.
"I'll grate some zest for us. It won't take long." And then he could have a few minutes to himself to get his head back together. He inched around her in the hallway and went into his room.
Prince sat down and looked after him, somewhat disappointed.
"Syyyylv?" He looked up at Lust questioningly. Didn't she like him?
Lust turned to go back to the kitchen, but glanced down at Prince.
"What? I don't think Pokemon are supposed to have wine. Your trainer will be right back, don't look so sad. I think I have some treats in the kitchen." If Guttle hadn't eaten them all. She assumed Prince would follow her, and didn't bother to give him any further encouragement as she went and fetched two sizable wine glasses and a bag of Poketreats from a cabinet.
Despite the rather glum fog that had settled over the day, she was looking forward to relaxing with Henry. She didn't indulge in berry induced highs very often, and he was the only person she did so with. It was just nice, sometimes, to let everything drop away for a while and just feel good. It seemed as though Henry needed it as much as she did.
Henry worked away in the kitchen with the grater he'd made sure to warn EVERYONE ELSE away from using unless they wanted the cheese for their omelette to give them hallucinations. Maybe for April fools he'd leave it out. But soon the grating was done and he would have to go back into the--
No, he couldn't think about it like that. Not HAVE to. GET to. He was GETTING to spend some time zoning out with his friend. Frined. F r i e n d.
He then noticed a little pink and blue shadow behind him. Prince was waiting with his tail around his paws.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but you'd better stop thinking it." He stepped over the Pokemon and joined Lust in the living room. "This will be a lot stronger than you're used to since it's fresh. Are you okay with that?"
Lust had already made herself comfortable when Henry joined her, two glasses set and out and a bag of newly bought candies and snacks on the coffee table with the opened bottle of wine.
"Oh, what's that saying? Go big or go home? Though we're already home, so I suppose it doesn't really apply. Yes, that's fine. I could use something strong, thank you."
She'd had enough experience with the milder dried stuff, she wasn't going into this blind. She patted the couch next to her, inviting him to sit.
He offered her a pile of the stuff on a little saucer and took up the glass that was nearest him.
"It hurts if I touch it, so I'll have to not do that." Henry cringed a little. Since when did he try to inject humor into anything? He was the straightman, the deadpan snarker. He quickly shoved the little wad of zest into his mouth and started chewing. He had to stop THINKING. Thinking was just awful.
Lust chuckled mildly, but then she shrugged and looked away with a faint flush.
"It's just what people do." She still wasn't very good at receiving honest gratitude or affection. It made her strangely uncomfortable. Sometimes it felt as though she were still just pretending to be a good person, that that wasn't the truth at all. Even genuine thanks rang false through her own personal filters.
She took her pinch of zest and concentrated on it to occupy herself.
Henry made a face. He was so used to the dried zest that he wasn't used to how bitter the fresh stuff tasted. He took a gulp of his wine and flopped back against the sofa.
"What do you think everyone else is doing? Turns out, Prince signed me up for some online dating thing. I had to apologize to the person who replied to my profile."
"Well, Envy and France are celebrating, I'm sure. Greed's probably drinking or getting up to trouble with someone or someones." Lust sucked pensively at her zest, not bothered much by the flavor.
"I have no idea where Heather is, I assumed she'd be with you. And I think I'd kick my Pokemon out of the house for an hour if they did something like that to me." She shook her head. At least she'd been spared that indignity. "Who even needs a service for that sort of thing? If you want to meet someone, it isn't difficult."
There were people everywhere. And dozens of places existed solely for them all to mingle and meet.
"I mean, either one of us could be out on dates, if we wanted to be." Henry was good looking, in that shaggy poet sort of way. And there were more than enough different sorts of people that were bound to be those who weren't immediately put off by his strange ways. Some people even liked a bit of the strange.
It was Henry's turn to laugh. Well it was sort of a laugh. It was mostly quick puffs of air escaping through his teeth.
"I don't think so, I think you have to go outside before you go on dates."
Henry was a homebody if there ever was one. He could feel the numbness taking hold in the back of his throat and therefore the numbness settling in the back of his brain. His worries started to evaporate. They really were silly worries. So he thought his housemate was hot. She was. She was very pretty and there was nothing wrong with appreciating that.
"Well that's what I mean. You're not a cripple, and you're not so agoraphobic that you can't go outside. If you wanted to go out and meet people for a date, you could. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to." Lust always tended to be more talkative when she was coming under the influence.
"Anyway, from what I've seen of dates, they seem overrated. I'd rather do this."
It was nice to go out to do things, of course, but not to make some special spectacle of it. Especially on this day, of all days, when everyone who was a pair was trying to show off to one another. It was just a madhouse.
Henry blinked at her and part of him wanted to tell her that he had worked fucking hard to get to this point and that dating somebody would be a huge step. But then he promptly forgot about what he was thinking about and held up his hand.
"They do that, sometimes." Lust looked at her own hands. Her fingerprints were still there, but her skin was taking on a sort of shimmering hue.
"I wonder if I had fingerprints before. I never thought about it." And were they the same as they'd been the first time she'd lived as a human? Probably. But then again, her body had been remade. Was everything a perfect replica, or were there slight variations?
Henry only knew so much about Envy and his siblings and now that knowledge was dripping out of his ear like so many caterpillars. Now that he wasn't worried about seeming weird, he decided to enjoy himself looking at her. She'd make such pretty photos. But not in a creepy way. Like maybe a shot of her from far away where you only see part of her arm and the windowsill and maybe a dead bug.
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theattic2014-11-09 07:55 pm
no subject
But now he was grown and living in a house full of other adults in a strange world populated by colorful animals with god-like powers and just now at this exact moment that part of his brain decided to flip back on like a switch. He had no idea how to deal with it so his body went into Safe Mode. Which meant that Henry continued sitting stock still on the kitchen floor with a slowly thawing bag of french fries on his head.
IF HE COULDN'T SEE HER, SHE COULDN'T SEE HIM.
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She returned to stand over him, arms folded and expression curious and mildly concerned.
"Do you want me to take a look at that? Or have you just been indulging already?"
Another very plausible explanation.
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"No! I mean...I'm fine. I'm out of zest, actually. I was going to--"
Ask to sit next to you in understanding silence and stare into the deep reaches of eternity.
"--the bathroom."
Henry rocked forward onto his hands and knees and began to crawl the fuck away. He did not want to deal with this right now.
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No, Henry was definitely acting stranger than normal. And apparently without the aid of drugs.
"Do you want to get more drugs?" Maybe that was the problem. He wasn't on anything. Was this just how Sober Henry was? No wonder he took things so often. "I'll help you get some."
He looked as though he needed help. A great deal of it. And she liked Henry. He was odd, but he was a good man and there was a great deal of depth beneath his vague and mumbling surface.
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MEANWHILE, to add to the shitstorm that's brewing on the horizon, Prince came bounding into the room wearing a beautiful new collar that he'd begged for. He watched his trainer scrambling around the door frame and tilted his head. Then he looked up at Lust. His blue eyes grew wide and sparkly and the ribbons on his neck curled together to form a heart.
"Viiooooon~" How romantic! She must have hit him! Just like on the television, it was the first display of affection!
no subject
Oh. Unless he was nauseated from hitting his head. That was a common side effect. She followed him, leaning down and only giving a hasty wave of her hand to the interloping Pokemon. Why was it going on like that when its trainer was about to upchuck on the floor?
"Oh for god's sake Henry, I'll get you a bucket if you have to be sick, you're likely to destroy the carpet trying to make it to the washroom. Just sit down and lean your head back against the wall. I am intimately familiar with human biology, you know, you don't have to be embarrassed."
no subject
This was the absolute worst. He didn't even make it to the bathroom because he tripped on a bump in the rug and face-planted, ass in the air. If only he could die right there.
That would be great.
Prince bounded after lust and threw on the breaks when he happened upon the display. Oh, wow, they were moving right along weren't they? He covered his eyes with his ribbons but couldn't resist peeking.
"I just need to wash my face." Henry finally began his slow climb to his feet, making sure to keep his eyes AWAY from Lust. What had set off those bells? Sure she was extremely pretty but he didn't know her that well and on top of that she was his best friend's sister. Wasn't there some kind of code that said you didn't date your bro's sis? But she was concerned about him and that was so nice...
Stop it, Townshend! You've just had too much candy, the sugar is doing something to your brain!
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"Henry, I don't know what's wrong, but let me help you. I'm...starting to worry." Was it the holiday? As far as she knew, he didn't have a romantic life. But she didn't get the impression he had any interest in one, not after living with him so long. She wasn't deeply familiar with his private life or inner workings, but after enough observation and interaction, he just gave the impression of a man more concerned with mental and creative pursuits than fleshy or romantic ones.
It was a ridiculous assumption, that everyone wanted that in their life. But good god, she couldn't begin to fathom what had him even more out of sorts than normal. He was almost acting as though she were her Jigglypuff, and he couldn't escape fast enough.
..Chanteuse wasn't lurking, was she? No. Just Prince, watching them cautiously.
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"I guess you're right, I hit my head harder than I thought. Walls, you know. Jump right out at you." WELL IN SILENT HILL THEY FUCKING DID. Henry was a little proud of himself for not launching into an Escalator Trauma flashback. "I'm alright though. Promise. What were you saying earlier?"
YES LET'S CHANGE THE SUBJECT. BACK TO DRUGS AND FOOD.
no subject
And now she was struggling to remember what they'd been talking about originally. Oh, that was right. Getting trollied for Valentine's Day.
"And I was just asking you if you wanted to take large amounts of intoxicants with me this evening. I'm not doing anything else and I thought it likely you weren't, either." She shrugged. "May as well be alone together and doing something enjoyable."
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"That sounds perfect, I was just going to wait until the clearance signs appeared in the store windows anyway."
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"Come on. We can put on music and send our minds on journeys seeking higher realms. Or at least more interesting ones." And as it was just the two of them, they didn't have to share with anyone else.
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"I'll grate some zest for us. It won't take long." And then he could have a few minutes to himself to get his head back together. He inched around her in the hallway and went into his room.
Prince sat down and looked after him, somewhat disappointed.
"Syyyylv?" He looked up at Lust questioningly. Didn't she like him?
no subject
Lust turned to go back to the kitchen, but glanced down at Prince.
"What? I don't think Pokemon are supposed to have wine. Your trainer will be right back, don't look so sad. I think I have some treats in the kitchen." If Guttle hadn't eaten them all. She assumed Prince would follow her, and didn't bother to give him any further encouragement as she went and fetched two sizable wine glasses and a bag of Poketreats from a cabinet.
Despite the rather glum fog that had settled over the day, she was looking forward to relaxing with Henry. She didn't indulge in berry induced highs very often, and he was the only person she did so with. It was just nice, sometimes, to let everything drop away for a while and just feel good. It seemed as though Henry needed it as much as she did.
no subject
Henry worked away in the kitchen with the grater he'd made sure to warn EVERYONE ELSE away from using unless they wanted the cheese for their omelette to give them hallucinations. Maybe for April fools he'd leave it out. But soon the grating was done and he would have to go back into the--
No, he couldn't think about it like that. Not HAVE to. GET to. He was GETTING to spend some time zoning out with his friend. Frined. F r i e n d.
He then noticed a little pink and blue shadow behind him. Prince was waiting with his tail around his paws.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but you'd better stop thinking it." He stepped over the Pokemon and joined Lust in the living room. "This will be a lot stronger than you're used to since it's fresh. Are you okay with that?"
no subject
"Oh, what's that saying? Go big or go home? Though we're already home, so I suppose it doesn't really apply. Yes, that's fine. I could use something strong, thank you."
She'd had enough experience with the milder dried stuff, she wasn't going into this blind. She patted the couch next to her, inviting him to sit.
"How's your head feeling?"
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"It hurts if I touch it, so I'll have to not do that." Henry cringed a little. Since when did he try to inject humor into anything? He was the straightman, the deadpan snarker. He quickly shoved the little wad of zest into his mouth and started chewing. He had to stop THINKING. Thinking was just awful.
This place was getting to him.
"Thanks for looking out for me."
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"It's just what people do." She still wasn't very good at receiving honest gratitude or affection. It made her strangely uncomfortable. Sometimes it felt as though she were still just pretending to be a good person, that that wasn't the truth at all. Even genuine thanks rang false through her own personal filters.
She took her pinch of zest and concentrated on it to occupy herself.
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"What do you think everyone else is doing? Turns out, Prince signed me up for some online dating thing. I had to apologize to the person who replied to my profile."
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"I have no idea where Heather is, I assumed she'd be with you. And I think I'd kick my Pokemon out of the house for an hour if they did something like that to me." She shook her head. At least she'd been spared that indignity. "Who even needs a service for that sort of thing? If you want to meet someone, it isn't difficult."
There were people everywhere. And dozens of places existed solely for them all to mingle and meet.
"I mean, either one of us could be out on dates, if we wanted to be." Henry was good looking, in that shaggy poet sort of way. And there were more than enough different sorts of people that were bound to be those who weren't immediately put off by his strange ways. Some people even liked a bit of the strange.
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"I don't think so, I think you have to go outside before you go on dates."
Henry was a homebody if there ever was one. He could feel the numbness taking hold in the back of his throat and therefore the numbness settling in the back of his brain. His worries started to evaporate. They really were silly worries. So he thought his housemate was hot. She was. She was very pretty and there was nothing wrong with appreciating that.
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"Anyway, from what I've seen of dates, they seem overrated. I'd rather do this."
It was nice to go out to do things, of course, but not to make some special spectacle of it. Especially on this day, of all days, when everyone who was a pair was trying to show off to one another. It was just a madhouse.
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"I think my fingerprints just disappeared."
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"I wonder if I had fingerprints before. I never thought about it." And were they the same as they'd been the first time she'd lived as a human? Probably. But then again, her body had been remade. Was everything a perfect replica, or were there slight variations?
no subject
Henry only knew so much about Envy and his siblings and now that knowledge was dripping out of his ear like so many caterpillars. Now that he wasn't worried about seeming weird, he decided to enjoy himself looking at her. She'd make such pretty photos. But not in a creepy way. Like maybe a shot of her from far away where you only see part of her arm and the windowsill and maybe a dead bug.
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