Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Not a finger." he said. "Horace's finger was a complicated choice, one borne of a process. A process of possessing and keeping an object as it is for ever. It culminates in death. I don't want to kill you Melvin." He was however pretty obviously distracted even by the proposition. "I like your ribs where they are." he said. "Protecting your important organs. I wouldn't be able to handle a mission where you died because I simply /had/ to have a fashionable rib momento."

"A cut would suffice, an impression as transient as your body, nothing taken away, simply moved around." he closed his eyes.

"A lingering touch that /I/ put there."

Lawrence wondered if Melvin had any idea what a dangerous line he was walking by veering into this subject, he had to be aware surely he thought, he had to know how dark that part of his mind was. He could feel it, a sensation like falling, scrabbling with slippery claws on a surface he couldn’t get traction on. It didn’t help that Butch filled his mind with a deluge of dark and horrible imagery, all blood and open wounds. He found himself imagining the things he could do to Melvin, the lingering marks he could leave.

“I think.” He said idly, exhaling, his heartbeat quickened under Melvin’s touch, something that was extremely rare in the pale man. “If It could be anywhere, it would be a cheek, your neck, a wrist, somewhere where the blood flows close to the surface, somewhere where it would be evident that I chose not to kill you, but that I could have, had I wished.”

“I wouldn’t want to make you perfect.” He said, feeling that he was losing his sense of groundedness the longer he talked about this. “I’d have to kill you and that wouldn’t be acceptable. I need you and your company, maybe one day but not now.”

There was a flash of blue and suddenly Lawr though clad in nothing else was twined in lethal blue gauntlets up to the shoulders, gently trailing the long blades across Melvin’s skin, runes glowing. “I couldn’t be doing with more scars myself though.”

"I'll look forward to it." he said very softly. "Though I will make clear that scars are not for me. I am distressed enough about this thing." He rolled onto his back, claws still summoned and splayed one on his abdomen across the sweeping scar that almost reached down into very painful places.

"I would rather a momento of you that was more controllable." he laughed. "Like say, a collar."

"Yes I wouldn't want that either." He resented his scars, feeling like they only tarnished his body further. He'd give anything to be whole again, to be reset his physical state to how he'd been as a young adult. As a youngster of twenty he'd thrown himself into lifestyles in stark contrast to his daily life, a wild whirl of sex and all manner of forbidden delights. He'd never considered any of it to have a cost. "I can't be having any more resentment in my life. Especially not towards you or a gift from you."

"Oh I certainly don't mind a little pain." He said. "You of all people should know that, and if it makes you happy as well as putting other people at ease then so much the better." He didn't mention that he barely saw it as a control measure to begin with, with his claws out he was a charging tiger and it would take more than a little zap to keep him from a goal. "Besides, it has its other uses I'm sure that we'll uncover over time."

Butch made pleased sound for being petted. "So I hear that you also had to go find Atlantis. If that's the kind of thing you go and do while I'm away from you, maybe pulling you back is a disservice to the world."

Lawrs smile was a very broad and perfect one as he gently twisted the lethal claw around Melvin's hand and brought it up to kiss.

"But the world can rot. You are mine."

It didn't matter to Lawrence what Butch thought about being touched, the tangle of approval and growls going unnoticed in the tranquil control of his thoughts. He objected most strongly to strangers though, and Melvin received far less hostility than others had.

"True." Lawrence said. "We wouldn't want to pavlovian condition me in embarrassing ways. It isn't exactly convenient to hide."

He furrowed his brows at Melvin for the disapproving tone over the mission. "No one on this island seems to be willing to accept that I can't deal with swimming. It wasn't simply some light decision not to come with you." He wasn't sure who Sophie was or what the pools were, Melvin seemed to be talking about something off on a tangent, he let him, simply pleased to hear that whatever it was could potentially help him get rid of the debt he carried around like a weight.

"A bonus?" his gaze flickered back to Melvin. "Where would you go?"

"I'm not quite sure how I'd get there, I tend to just freeze up when I find myself underwater in the ocean. I would be naught but a liability." He tried not to think too hard about things that could go wrong underwater, instead he couldn't help but turn his attention to Melvin's further comments, something in his expression lighting up a little.

"Well." he said, smiling and sliding a little into that playful accent so typical of Jan. "I wouldn't half mind a bit of horseridin' out there pardner if that tickles yer fancy."

Lawrence looked hesitant at the idea of having to go anywhere near the ocean floor, but didn't say no to Melvin just yet, it clearly was something important to him and something with a great deal of potential wealth involved. "We can try." he said, that was all he could do at the moment, without any certainty he'd be able to.

With a wink he smiled at him."You just get right back on if you fall off, you'll be just fine."

"He's mad and wild but he knows you are family. He likes you, Rodney and the boys." And it was strange, how he still talked about everything as if it was normal, as if nothing had changed, even knowing it had to have changed.

He closed his eyes, the lingering familiar taste of Melvin on his lips. The claws desummoned.

"I've got a lot to get through before I can so much as think of horseback riding."