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 Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:49 am
Horace completely missed catching the brush and it fell to the ground with a clatter. With a sheepish grin, he bent down to grab it. He scrubbed at wall half-heartedly, too interested in Melvin's explanation. The stain on the wall seemed less intense than the one on the floor anyway. "In the mood? I see." The accompanying brow waggle was very much heard in Horace's tone. He scrubbed the wall vigorously for a moment. "Just curious, Melvin. Could be because you have like claws instead of hands or don't like dirt or dislike the feel of other people's skin or just really like having soft hands. That much be a perk though - soft hands." He turned completely back to the wall and actually began to seriously scrub, whistling happily as the stain seemed to lighten nicely. He wiggled his fingers inside the gloves. "My hands are getting weird calluses from being here and well, having a hand weapon. Though I might have to admit that I kind of like the contact that's forced by my weapon's type. What've you got again?" Horace entertained the idea of wearing lotioned gloves at night briefly, but knew he'd never keep it up.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:51 am
"What? It's not - It's not like I'm taking them off for - It's not!" He said, though if they were being technical, then yes. He did take them off for that, but he didn't need Horace thinking he was taking his gloves off as some sign that things were getting on.
Scrubbing a bit more intensely now gave him a reason not to look at Horace. "I don't have weird claws. My hands are normal. I keep good care of them. I also don't refrain from contact with people. I like to think I'm a rather warm person despite what people seem to think of me. I also work very hard, like- right now. This is hard work." He said, though if he ever got a callus from working his hands to bleeding, then he would disinfect them, bandage them, and wait for them to heal. That or scrub any callouses off. It was just dead skin after all and that wasn't something he liked.
A bit pinker, he continued to scrub the stain with his full arm, glad he had something to focus on other than the other hunter.
"I have a gun. I've grown out of being a close contact fighter. I only fought that was as a kid. I find it .....doesn't fit me now. I don't get callouses from Saliva since she is a gun. Probably for the best as I don't have the body required to hold the weapons Suns carry around."
He didn't like all this focus on him.
"Did you fight in a similar way before Deus?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:32 pm
Horace laughed. Getting Melvin flustered was very appealing somehow. "I figured you had normal hands, Melvin. And I... don't think you're cold. You're nice. After all, you're here, helping me when you didn't have to." Merlvin was also scrubbing much more industriously tha Horace. Wasd he... blushing? Must be the vigorous arm movements bringing pink to the other hunter's cheeks, Horace decided. "Not all suns carry huge weapons," he said absently. "Before Deus? I didn't fight, ever. I took what was given to me because I... thought... I des-" He trailed off, realizing how odd that phrase likely sounded. Horace cleared his throat. Right, guns and gloves. He cast a critical eye over Melvin - lean muscles, not bulk. He looked like he had the build of a swimmer or something. "Anyway, like I was saying before. You would kind of have to take them off for certain activities - or they'd get horribly, terribly dirty, Melvin. Especially if they're all black." Annnnd Horace was back to being stupidly suggestive for no reason.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:31 pm
Melvin just slowed down scrubbing, the pink rising now to his ears as he continued to stare at the stains.
"You'd..........be right." To which he went right back to scrubbing the stain harder than ever - if that was even possible.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:53 pm
"Yes, well, as a guy, I'm got some experience with that myself." Horace swallowed his laugh, but his shoulders shook for a long time. He felt guilty; he'd made Melvin uncomfortable, but it was damn cute. "Melvin," he said in a slightly strangled voice. He cleared his throat and walked over. Dropping into a crouch in front of Melvin, he tried again. "Melvin, I'm sorry - I am a horrible person." He chuckled. Horace could certainly see the blush from this close. If he wasn't all gloved up, he would've patted the other man on his fluffy head. Melvin was scrubbing as though his life depended on it. This stain was actually nearly gone - the one on the wall, nope, still there. "Must be tough without your girlfriend around. You're doing a great job." He rose up to go back to his own stain. "Mine's still a lot darker than yours." Horace pursed his lips and scrubbed.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:19 pm
Great. Now Horace was telling him about his time behind closed doors. He didn't need that imagery. Not when Rin was not without her rightful body? Not when access to said body was on a limited bases. Not when he didn't have the previous convenience of sending a text to anywhere she was on the island if had some time free in the day. It had been SO EASY before to satisfy himself with a girlfriend, and now here he was. On the ground scrubbing bloodstains and thinking about wet necks fresh from a shower with the same type of deep guilt you had after watching a porno at your parent's house.
The snickering just had him hunching his shoulders and he was about to get up and leave when Horace came over to apologize (even if he was STILL laughing). "I should shoot you." He grumbled back in return before he went to pour some water from a water bottle and use a clean washcloth to wipe up the cleaner to see how the stain was looking now.
"She's been gone for months and here you are laughing about it."
He was wiping a bit more slowly now. "This island is unbearable." Being alone sucked without some stress relief.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:19 pm
Horace made a pained face but continued to scrub at his own stain. "I'm not laughing about your girlfriend being gone, Melvin, I wouldn't. I know you love her and miss her and are trying to get her back." He turned and leaned on a bit of clean wall next to the stain. "I am, however, laughing at the idea of you trying to jerk it with gloves on." Horace made an obscene motion with his hand to illustrate the point. "Unbearable is a word for it, I guess." Horace immediately felt bad for his words and just his general mien of obscenity.Oh well, too late to take it back now, he reasoned. "You can shoot me anytime you please, Melvin. But if you're gonna pop my shield let's do it outside, on the field." He turned back to the wall and began to scrub in earnest. This was his room, so he should pull his own weight and not make Melvin clean everything. [
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:36 pm
"I'm not wearing gloves when I jerk off!" He blurted out, frustrated and red all over at this current topic. "I don't wear them for that and I don't see why you need to know what I'm doing with my hands when that happens!"
He rose up, taking the rubber gloves and throwing them into the bucket. He reached into his jacket pocket to grab the other black gloves, but once they were clutched in his hands, he suddenly felt very aware of them and embarrassed by them.
He shoved them back into his pocket. "It's not funny! It's frustrating enough every day without you making fun of me for what I need to wear."
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:16 pm
Horace frowned, a fissure of panic blooming in his gut. s**t. He didn't mean to upset Melvin. The man was one of his few friends and he'd gone and ******** it up. He stripped off his own gloves and ran an agitated hand through his hair and it somehow irritated him more that it was still damp - just one more thing that he couldn't do properly. "I'm sorry, Melvin - I didn't mean it like that. I was just... curious and... when you didn't answer me straightly, I made a joke. I'm sorry." He had walked over to Melvin while talking and now he put out a hand, intending to clasp it on Melvin's shoulder. But Horace paused - he wasn't sure if touching would make it worse. "I'm sorry," he said again. "-please put your gloves back on."
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:26 pm
He took a step back when Horace approached, not wanting him near him. He didn't want to be comforted when he felt personally stung. He had a hard enough time making friends, but he no longer had the option of hiding his habits when he lived with so few people in one place. Most people had better things to concentrate on, but the island lived off of noticing the worst points in people. It wasn't like Melvin could hide everything, and after a time, people talked about him too. He was sure of it. It wouldn't be anything he hadn't heard before, but it made no difference in hurting him.
"No! You're not curious. Just admit it. You think it's weird. You think I'M weird. And you thought it was funny to think of me fumbling abnormally with even personal issues that normal people have no problems with. Do you I wrap myself in Saran wrap when I go to sleep or something? Do you think I take baths in bleach? It's not like I haven't heard that s**t before."
He looked at the stain and then turned, heading for the door. "It's probably the only reason you even wanted me to clean up here. Cause that's why I'm good for. The weird clean guy who cleans." Horace could clean his own walls.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:21 pm
Horace couldn't stop himself; he reached out and grabbed Melvin by the arm. "You're not weird! And I am ******** curious! I ask weird questions and I want to know everything and I don't goddamn know when to quit! It was invasive and I'm sorry, but I asked because I was curious and I was nervous so I made a damn joke." His fingers tightened on Melvin's arm, as if he could stop something awful from happening just by forcing Melvin to stay and listen. "I invited you over because you're my friend. Cleaning was because I couldn't think of another ******** reason because I don't know you well enough yet!" Horace was yelling, his brows drawn into an angry line. He was determined that Melvin was just going to have to stay and listen until he finished saying his piece. After that - he didn't know. "You're not ******** weird! You're neat and cleanly and ok maybe you like or you need gloves - cool. Fine. Whatever! I just wanted to know because I care about who you are!" Abruptly, he dropped Melvin's arm and sucked in a deep breath. He didn't know what else to stay, so he just stood there and didn't look up at Melvin.
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:27 am
He jerked his arm back, trying to free himself, but stopped when Horace started to talk, looking down and glaring at the man's feet.
The reminder that he was his friend brought up the real importance of walking out right now. He had so few at the moment that each one was too precious to let go, but he also felt pained inside that Horace wasn't the type of person he first thought. What if he laughed at other things about him? What if he asked too much and continued to find it just as odd as the other things? There was a real risk to being friends with anyone.
What if they turned on him in the end like Rep?
He sounds like you?
What?
Asking questions cause he's curious and not knowing he's making people upset.
I don't intend to do that when I ask questions.
And neither did he.
He wondered why Saliva was soothing the subject, but he guessed she was tired of hearing him lying in bed awake at night or spending time alone in the greenhouse.
As it stood, Horace was the few people around who actually cared and that was precious.
He lowered his arm and breathed out. "I want you to be honest with me. I don't want you to just say stuff to make me feel better. I just....don't want to be the butt of someone's joke though."
He held up his hand, turning it over to where he clutched his black gloves. "It's a personal thing. I don't want you to think I'm off my rocker for it, okay? I know it's......not normal."
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:06 pm
The silence was wearing on him, but Melvin hadn't left - so that was a good sign, right? Maybe. Horace deflated a bit. But when Melvin spoke, his eyes snapped up to watch him. "Be honest with you? I've not lied to you, Melvin. The glove thing is different, but it's not weird. As if I'd hate someone for soemthing they couldn't change. The joke was tasteless - I get really crude when I'm nervous. I didn't mean for it to hurt you." Horace looked at the black gloves lying in Melvin's hand. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "Melvin," he sighed. "-there's a lot of ********' people on this island off their rocker, but I don't think you're one of them. You need the gloves, alright, that's fine. I had wanted to know if it was maybe because of germs or feeling odd textures, but if it makes you uncomfortable then I don't need to know." Horace had been going to ask for a skin-to-skin handshake when Melvin left, but that was before he knew this was a hot button for the other man. He wasn't going to force him into doing something. "I'm sorry and I hope... I hope you don't hate me now." Except he probably did. Because Horace was stupid. Even Jannisari wasn't saying anything to him right now.
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:17 pm
He crossed his arms across his midsection now that Horace had released him. "It's not texture. It's not....really germs. I just like...to keep safe."
And that's all he could manage to say, not able to let himself go further into it. Horace had been kind to explain himself and had been kind beforehand.
"No. I don't hate you. I - got upset too quickly. You didn't know." The blame wasn't all on Horace. He forgot that he hadn't known the man long enough for him to know what to avoid, and that was true for Melvin too. He didn't know Horace's line of humor, how he kidded around, or what he really meant.
"I hope you don't stop joking around though. Just...not about this."
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:48 am
Horace smiled tenatively, hoping they'd come to some sort of peaceable end. He really, really, really want to ask what Melvin meant by 'keeping safe', but he bit his tongue. Risk assessment - some things might be more important than the relentless pursuit of information. "I'm glad, really glad you don't hate me, Melvin." He half-extended his hand for a shake before dropping it, the tips of his ears heating. "Yeah, I ever joke about something you don't like, I'm sorry in advance and I'll try not to." He rolled his shoulders and the crack of his neck was audible in the small room. "I understand if you wanna run off, but could you tell me what else I gotta do to clean before you go?"
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