IC CONTACT

[allgotrabies]

Hey, it's Annie, you know what to do.

Comments

[allgotrabies]

"I can get that." She sighs softly and looks up at the ceiling. "Why do vampires want equal rights when they could just take over? I mean...you guys are harder to kill than wolves. God, I'm tired of being hunted. Humans must feel the same way."

[loveisall]

"I'm not a strategist," he admits softly. "That's partially why I agreed to change Nora. She was brilliant at strategy. I - just know how to survive. Exist. I don't know what their game is."

[allgotrabies]

"Our pack won't need strategy. We'll survive and we'll be wild and we'll be peaceful," she says, feeling the first stirrings of optimism in a very long time. "I'm good at surviving, too. So we'll be okay."

[loveisall]

"I know we will be," he answers. "That was never a worry of mine. Once we're sorted here, we'll be fine." He sits up.

"Now, did you want that tattoo?"

[allgotrabies]

"Yes!" She sits up and strips off her shirt. "Where should I be?"

[loveisall]

He laughs and stands up. "Go to the table. I'll draw it first and let you see it. Where do you want it?"

[allgotrabies]

"On my ribs," she shows him: left side, just under the breast. "So when I'm a wolf it'll be over my heart."

[loveisall]

"Oh, then you'll need to lie down," he says. "Go make yourself comfortable somewhere." He doesn't need to tell her that this will hurt. He just goes to retrieve a needle and ink. At least they don't need to worry about infection.

[allgotrabies]

She obediently grabs a blanket, and sets herself up on the floor. Less chance of movement that way; their couch cushions are soft.

"I'm excited. And nervous. Mostly excited." She's grinning, at least. "Did I tell you I've been sleeping over at Steve's sometimes? I can't wait to show him."

[loveisall]

He laughs softly. "Hopefully you don't heal too quickly. That's my problem with tattoos," he says. "Though I've been reading on it, and I think there's a way I can do it. A very, very old way."

Kneeling down beside her, he sketches out Vegvísir for her and shows her. "And this is what you want?"

[allgotrabies]

"Old way, best way," she assures him. She studies the drawing, thinks about how comforting it will be to have Godric's art with her whatever happens. She raises her eyes to his. "I want that."

[loveisall]

He nods and moves her hand to her breast so she can hold it out of the way. "Be very still," he tells her. "Breathe slowly and tell me a story while I work."

He traces the outline of the drawing on her skin and then dips the needle into her skin slowly, drawing it through.

[allgotrabies]

She has a very high threshold for pain, but even the change is done quickly. This will take some work.

She's glad for it.

"I told Ellie I don't like to read, so she gave me a comic book that I do like. It's about space. And B found out, so he came over with a stack of books that I really like so far. And then? I found one," a breath in, careful, slow. "Called The Stinky Cheeseman. Wanna hear it?"

[loveisall]

"Yes," he answers without looking up. He just dips the needle in the ink again, intent on his work, his hands steady.

[allgotrabies]

"Once upon a time there was an old couple, and one was hungry and one was lonely. So the wife made them a little man made out of stinky cheese. She made his face out of olives and bacon." Deep breath. "And the cheeseman came alive in the oven and he leaped out when she opened the door, but the smell knocked her on her ass.

"The cheeseman dared them to catch him but since the smell knocked them gagging no one chased him. He ran across a cow, and the cow decided none of its three stomachs could handle it. ...Cows have more than one stomach.

"And then he met a fox, because there's always a fox in stories. And he needed to get to the other side of the river so he asked for a ride and the fox said, sure, in a deeply suspicious sounding voice. I'll take you safe across the river."

[loveisall]

Godric keeps working, the smell of the blood mixing with the ink and the sound of her voice. He wipes it away, keeping his focus.

"I don't trust that fox."

[allgotrabies]

"You shouldn't. He learned from that scorpion that stung that frog, you remember that story?" She looks down carefully, smelling her own blood. It's not so bad. And it doesn't smell human; hopefully that helps Godric.

"But they got halfway across and a downdraft made him smell the stink off the cheese, so he gagged and he shook and the cheeseman fell into the water and fell apart."

[loveisall]

"I do," he says. "And then what happened? Was that the end of the story?"

He isn't bothered by the smell of it. It's not new to him and he's under enough control.

[allgotrabies]

"Nope, the cheese was so bad, it poisoned the water. And a whole town had to move. And the land became the Sahara desert." She grins. "The end. Wanna hear another?"

[loveisall]

He grins at that. "Yes. Do you need to take a break first?"

[allgotrabies]

"Keep going. It's not too bad." She licks her lips. "Okay so, there was a school called Wayside. It was, uhm, thirteen stories high. But no one knew what happened to the twelfth. And it swayed a lot. Like the tower in Italy.

"The substitute teacher walks in and the kids just know there's something off about her. But kids, they're kids, so they test her. They don't sit down when told. She tells them, do what I fucking say or you'll regret it.

"And Joe ignores her and she wiggles her nose, and pulls her ear, and poof. He turns into a potato."

[loveisall]

"So she was a witch," he predicts, grinning at the childish story, loving that she's reading, even though he's not sure how much of this is real and how much of it is made up.

[allgotrabies]

She grins. "Okay so she turns all of the class, except Bobby, who is always asleep in the back. And she gets mad he won't turn, so she goes and she yanks the hood of his jacket back. And Bobby? He's actually three rats in a coat."

[loveisall]

"Bobby fooled her," he laughs, halfway through. He's gaining his confidence now, speeding through it at faster than human ways.

[allgotrabies]

"So the rats tear her hat off and you know what she was?"