Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nothing made Vic feel much more contented than bringing mercy to a worthy being. This time, it was a little girl in the burn ward of Our Lady of Mercy hospital. She was going to be able to keep her fingers now. Granted, he had a nasty nosebleed, but he helped a little girl stay mobile.

He wandered through the park now, puffing lightly on a cigarette with a dopey smile spread over his face.

A man sat on one of the benches, eyes closed, head back. A stick rested beside him on the bench. He seemed to be making a pointed effort to ignore everyone.

A small girl was chattering at him, frolicking about bare footed. "It's really pretty out today, Mally." She called, looking behind herself as she skipped. As such, she didn't notice the man when she ran into him. "Oooh, I'm so sorry!" She gasped, looking up at Vic.

Vic just chuckled. Hey, he was in a good mood, and the girl was cute.

"It's no problem," he said, stamping out his cigarette politely.

She was indeed cute. Cissy beamed up at him and pulled her shirt into a curtsey. "I'm really really sorry." She said, never the less glad she hadn't poked him.

"Cissy." The man on the bench said, slowly sitting up. "Watch where the ******** you're going." Ouch. Not very happy.

"I will~" It didn't seem to phase the girl, though.

"Hey, man, be nice. She didn't hurt me at all," Vic said. His voice was in all good humor. He looked to this grumpy man and suddenly noted the apparent cane and the blindness. Oh. Well. That explained a bit. He sat down beside the man, making himself comfortable.

"Hey. The name's Vic."

Mal turned his head, ears flicking back slightly. "...Malcolm." He said grudgingly. Oh, Vic. Not a friendly man!

Vic didn't particularly care.

"Nice t'meet you. And who's the little sprite?"

"Cissy." Just as grudgingly. Cissy hummed and looked up, working on braiding a flower wreath.

"I'm not a sprite." She said cheerily. "I'mma baby-Chinese-unicorn thing!"

"She's complicated." Mal snorted. He was too, granted.

Vic gave a little laugh.

"How old're you, Cissy?" He didn't want to pass comment and offend her somehow, after all.

"Old enough to know better~" Cissy said, launching herself into a handstand. Underwear!

"Cissy, are you wearing shorts?"

"Yes."

"Don't do handstands." Mal sighed. Cissy pouted and went back to her flower chains. "She's a handful. I get to play babysitter."

Vic laughed yet again!

"She's cute, but I bet she's a handful..." he murmured to Malcolm. Poor guy.

"She's hyperactive without sugar, constantly drags me outside, and refuses to leave." Mal finally opened his eyes and rolling them. Ah, sad eyes, so light and useless.

Vic nodded, suddenly remembered that Malcolm couldn't see it, and felt a bit bad. Hm.

"Yeah. Like I said. A handful. She sounds like my puppy."

Oh...

Well, there we go. Something in China's ruins screwed this guy up right good.

"I'll keep that in mind. I'd really like to see other worlds, though. Gaia's so...small."

"Heh." Mal grinned, enough to show off his pointed teeth. "Small, but very diverse. I can't believe what my ears tell me half the time."

"Oh, yeah. There's...cat people and horse people and people with wings and...man, it's insane," Vic said with a little sigh, "and I'll be damned if it isn't more crowded than China."

Damned. Aheh.

"It is~" Cissy piped up. Mal frowned, sitting up. If she went too far, he didn't trust her to not get into trouble. Indeed, the girl was climbing a tree after a squirrel... Thing. Mal reached for his stick and started hobbling over to the tree. His one leg didn't seem to bend quite right.

"Be right back." He told Vic. "Getting stupid girl out of tree."

"Let me," Vic said, patting Malcolm's shoulder. He walked over to the tree and stared at Cissy's feet.

"C'mere, Ciss'," he said, holding his arms out for her, "We don't wantcha fallin' and gettin' hurt."

"But it's cute and fuzzy-!" Cissy said, reaching for it. Mal frowned, ears twitching.

"It doesn't like you. Out of the tree, now, Cissy." He said, growling slightly. Not a vocal tone, an actual growl. Cissy's feet swayed slightly.

"But Mally,it's very very cute and fuzzy-"

"I'm pretty fuzzy. Would you chase me into a tree?"

"...No." And slowly, the little girl started backing down the tree.

Vic plucked the girl from the tree and put her on the ground.

"You can't do that, hon. Squirrels are mean little beasties, they are, and you coulda gotten hurt." He returned to his seat beside Malcolm.

Cissy hummed and followed him over, going to play with Mally's hair. Yaaaay, hairs~

Mal twitched, but didn't say anything. It kept her out of the tree...

"But Mister, the squirrel was very very fuzzy."

"Like this?" Vic asked, suddenly pulling his hair out of the ponytail. Oh my! That certainly was huge hair you had there!

Cissy squealed, making Mal wince, and moved onto the much fluffier, softer hairs.

Mal's ears just twitched. Hmm... Something was different.

Vic laughed, giving his head a little shake. He hated his hair himself, but everyone else seemed to love it. Love it, or just be pressed to laugh at it. He eyed Malcolm, seeing the vague twitch out of the corner of his eye, but his attention was soon drawn back to Cissy.

Cissy hummed and played with his hair, singing to herself and braiding and floofing and petting.

However, another hand gently touched. Mal frowned, giving his hair a pat, then returned his hand to his thigh. There. That was the different.

Vic rubbed the back of Malcolm's hand with a knuckle. Yes, Mal, that was new.

Mal's ears flicked back, hitting his horns. Touchies...?

Cissy hummed, working on making Vic's hair very pretty indeed. Flowers!

Touchies? Was this bad? Vic took Malcolm's hand in his. Was okay, Mally?

And he groaned slightly. Flowers? Really? Whatever, it was keeping her occupied.

When they reached Vic's house, Napalm bounded up to meet them. He was, in fact, a tiny, stocky, wall-eyed little thing. He wagged his tail, but didn't bark.

"Good boy," Vic said, patting him on the head.

"Now, Cissy, you can go play in the back yard, but do not leave the yard. If you want something, come get me first, okay?"

"Kay~" Cissy said, twirling. "Can I take the puppy?" Because puppy was cute, even if his eyes were silly!

"Yeah," Vic nodded, "Go ahead." He nudged Malcolm's shoulder and brought him to the couch.

"Here. Nice and quiet."

Cissy stole the puppy and went outside, and Mal flopped back onto the couch, one hand rubbing his sore knee. Ehn...

"Thanks." He said, head resting on the back of the couch. "I mean it. She's a handful, and I can't seem to tell her no without snapping."

Vic shrugged. It was hard for bitter, angry ******** to be nice, he knew that much.

"Can I get ya anything?"

"Some water?" Mal sighed. "That'd be great."

"Nothing to eat?" Vic asked as he went for the kitchen. Water, he could do.

"No, thank you." Mal didn't think that Vic would carry his type of food in the house, and even if he did, he wouldn't want to watch him eat. Arar, bloods.

Little known act; the Angel of Death only drank blood, and Vic had dated him for a good 8 months.

"Alright," he said and returned with a cup of ice water, "Here."

Mal took it and sipped lightly, rubbing his eyelids. Aaagh...

"Still not used to the heightened hearing." He muttered. "And good lord, her voice hits like nails on a chalkboard."

"Yeah, she's definitely got a set of lungs on her," Vic said with a nod, and peeked out the window to make sure she and Napalm were still in the yard.

"So. Tell me about yourself."

Mal shrugged.

"Not much to tell. Foster kid, inner city, managed to not be a total screwup and went to collage. Studied archeology, went around the world looking fer stuff, got cursed in China."

"Huh," Vic nodded, "A lot more interesting than me, at least." As if that was any comfort.

"Hm?" He asked, 'looking' in Vic's direction.

"Ma found me, raised me all normal, came out as a teenager, dated the same guy for almost a year, had to break up with him, became a chef, punched my boss, and now here I am," Vic explained.

"I'm only three, yenno."

Vic frowned and continued, trying to release some of the tension. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he could ask if Malcolm's pain was enough for mercy, so long as nothing else came up.

"Jeez. Your knee's ******** good, man..."

Mal nibbled his lower lip, eyes closed. "Mmhm." He said, voice sounding slightly pained. "Can't bend it or my ankle anymore."

"Ouch," Vic said, focusing his power to his hands. His nose, only barely healed, started to hemorrhage. His hands cooled, trying to soothe. It was the most basic form of mercy, mercy from pain. He'd had it since he was a child.

"How's that feel?"

Mal gave a sigh, then frowned. His hand reached out, touching the blood. Good senses when it came to blood, at least.

"What'd you do?"

"Nothin'. Does it feel better?" he stood, grabbing a tissue and plugging the bleeding body part.

"Yes," Mal said, still frowning. "Why're you bleeding?"

Mmm, the scent of blood~

"It's a little side-effect to my power. Not nearly so bad as--," a pause for a moment of enlightenment.

"You drink blood, don't you."

"So, you take away pain, but hurt yourself?" Mal asked, fingers twitching.

"Occasionally. I just normally eat very bloody foods." If he followed his inner instincts, he would've eaten the neighbor children. They were young and soft, a delicious treat-

Okay. Ignore the instincts.

"Yeah. Not always pain-pain. Angel'a mercy n' whatnot." He stood then and smiled.

"I actually have some raw steak if you're hungry."

"Huh. Angel." Mal gave a little half smile. "And thanks, but I'm pretty gross to watch eat."

"I'm intrigued," Vic said, and his voice was fading. Into the kitchen he went, and back he came with some raw cubed beef, along with the blood from an entire pound he'd squeezed.

"Here." He touched it to Malcolm's hand.

Mal's hand clenched into a fist, smearing the blood. <********, Mal, you were still human, at least on the inside! You could fight that screaming voice, ignore how amazing that blood smelled-

"I'm fine."

"Please," Vic said, "I can see you want it. Nobody's here. What's the harm?"

"I'm just...." Mal sighed. His hand flinched. Almost against his will his hand unclenched, grabbing the meat. He didn't eat so much as he snarfed it, teeth tearing apart the meat into swallowing bits. Once it was gone, he drank the blood, licking off the plate, and then his fingers.

He really hated what he'd became. He would scream at himself, saying that he wasn't an animal, but the animal would just roar back.

Vic watched, totally enraptured, and smiled.

"Wow. That's pretty intense.Not even in a bad way...just intense!"

Vic made a face and stuck the first few feathers outside of his body like so many long fingers.

"Little to the left."

Mal moved, smelled, then reached up to graze over it with the back of his hand.

"Yes, that's it." Feathers... Tended to smell good. And these were no different.

"Aaah, sorry, then," Vic said, sucking them back into his back, "So, yeah. I'll find a place not too full of flowers."

"It's fine." Mal said, sounding preoccupied. "Yeah, flowers are horrible, and so are shops." Goddamn candle shop.

Vic nodded.

"Definitely. Can do." And he sighed, putting an arm around Mally. Ehn. Touchies?

Mal gave a small snort, moving his hand up Vic's back, gently touching his wings through his shirt.

Vic shuddered slightly. Sensitive wings were sensitive!

Mal slowly smiled. Heh.

"Sensitive?"

"Yeah," Vic replied, "They barely ever touch air, let alone another person."

Mal stroked the feathers, his head tilted slightly, eyes staring at nothing. Feathers... So similar and different to what he'd touched before.

"They're warm."

"They're...inside me. All the time," Vic explained, "I have little...pockets for them."

"Hmmm..." Mal grinned slightly, moving his hand down farther, petting. His tail flicked. Whee~

"Here," Vic said, and there was a strange shifting and bulging as he allowed his wings to unfurl. They were nearly as tall as the ceiling and he stretched them, tips bending against the walls. Ehn! Not far enough! Aaah~

He relaxed, smiling.

"There."

Mal's ears flicked back and forth, listening to the feathers. He smiled, touching more. Feathers~

"They're... Familiar. But different."

Vic smiled.

"What do you mean? Because they're on a person, or something else?"


"They just feel different. The structure is different." His hand moved down, touching his back where the wings jointed. "Because of how they have to be to carry you, I guess."

Mal was slightly hot to the touch, compared to Vic.

Vic smiled and shrugged.

"My bones aren't hollow. So, yeah. They're different."

Mal now had both hands, feeling the wings. "The muscles are different than a bird." He said, stroking. "You're warm."

Vic smiled and flexed his wings.

"God, it feels so good. I haven't let these babies out in...Hell. Months."

"You don't fly often?" Mal asked, caressing them. Heh, an Angel...

"No," Vic sighed, "Where is there to go? And where the Hell would I land? I'd fill a city street. OH, SORRY. WE CAN'T SEE THE VICTIM THROUGH YOUR ENORMOUS GIRTH. No use, no use."

"What about the beach?" Mal asked. "Is is hard to fly over the ocean?"

"No, but I get tired quite easily," Vic said, "It wouldn't be smart to head off without knowing where I can land. That, and all of the people. I'm not...I'm not keen on people. Staring. Pointing. Pictures? Uh-uh."

"Ah." Mal nodded. "That must be sad for you, not being able to fly." He finally removed his hands, resting them in his lap. His ears kept flicking about, listening to the feathers move.

And back into the pockets they went.

"Yeah. It's pretty uncool. But whatever."

The door opened and slammed, and the puppy and Cissy returned. The girl was giggling terribly. "This is the nicest puppy~"

Mal sighed and leaned against the couch. Back to more serious and reserved.

Napalm wagged his nub, panting. This was a fun monkey!

Vic smiled at Cissy, but frowned at Mal. What was that all about?!

"Yeah I tried to bring him up right," he replied, smiling once more.

So, the grand night was there. Mal frowned as Cissy fussed with his shirt.

"I'm sure I look fine."

"I have working eyes, and I'm making sure you do." Cissy stood on a stool, making sure his shirt fell just so. Annoying little hyper beast she was, at least she had good fashion sense.

Vic had the good graces to not bring his terrible, roaring, vibrating, bug-whipping motorcycle to Mal's place. Instead, he'd rented a car for the night. A smooth beast, it was tall and stocky. A flatbed.

...hey, there wasn't much he could fit in, alright?

It didn't roar, it didn't vibrate. One of the luxury deals (or at least he hoped so, from the price).

He locked the car, shifted the box under his arm, and knocked on the front door.

The door opened, and Cissy peeked out. She beamed at Vic and waved. "Hiiii~" She said.

"For the love of god, just let me out and embarrass myself." Mal growled. Cissy giggled.

"Bring him home sometime," She said, trying her damndest to sound stern, but giggling all the while. "And treat him very bad, because that's how he likes it~"

"CISSY."

Cissy just laughed an ran off. Mal's grumbling got closer, and finally he opened the door. He looked quite well, his hair done and dressed in a red silk shirt (Of course, left with a few extra buttons undone. Showing off, but still being coy! You could thank Cissy) and tight black pants with dark shoes. The pants showed him off quite well (Also, thanks to Cissy).

"Hey."

Both hands slowly moved up to his face, moving over his features carefully. Mal stared at him, like staring might somehow let him see what he looked like. But, from what his fingers told him, he had a very good man under them. Strong jaw, good cheekbones and nose.

Mally had never wanted the moon to come quite as bad as he did that moment.

Vic closed his eyes and gave a happy little sigh. He almost liked this whole "blind" thing.

"So. Should we start off?"

"Sure." Mal said, returning his hands to his lap. Would be very distracting to drive otherwise!

Vic drove off, bringing Mally to an unusually empty park. Sure, there was probably a couple or two canoodling somewhere, but what the Hell did that matter? He helped Mally out of his ridiculously high rental truck, and just stood there a moment. Get a feel of your surroundings, Mally.

His ears flicked here and there, and Mal reached up for his arm. There.

"Lead the way."

Vic nodded, starting down the path. It was nice and quiet. Cool. Devoid of snoopers or muggers.

"So. Has anything happened since I saw you last?"

"Not much." Mal said, gimping along beside him. "Like I said, I'm somewhat of a shutin."

Vic nodded.

"I wish you ate...normal food. I'd love to cook for you." Somewhere a distance off a tree frog began to chirp.

Mal just sighed.

"I wish I did too."

Raw meat, after all, got tiring after a while.

"Some day, whatever's cursing you will be gone. I can feel it," Vic said. And he could. He just wasn't sure when, so it may easily be brought on by death.

Mal sighed.

"It's getting worse. Didn't used to have all this headgear." Both the horns and the curly hair. Mally missed his shaven dome.

"Don't worry," Vic said, feeling a sudden rush of his mostly-inert involuntary power that he wasn't even sure he had any more.

"Anyway. Enough of that sad s**t. How're ya feelin'?"

"Well." Mal smiled, head tipped towards the sky.

"Hey... You got plans..." He counted in his head. "Two saturday nights from now?"

"Naw," Vic said, "Kinda random. Why d'you ask? Busy until then?"

"No." Mal shook his head. "About once a month, falling in phase with the new moon, the curse gives up power, and... Well, I'm me. For a night."

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