… And the plot thickens. I'm not too happy with this chapter. I almost felt awkward writing it. Oh well.
Owning nothing, as usual…OWTF.
Sammich
Playing Fair
Alex broke away from Torn when she heard Loor wolf whistling, looking up at her friend and turning red. Neither of the couple said anything, and Loor came down with a smirk on her face, taking Lynn, grabbing the diaper bag that was near the table, and motioning for both Torn and Alex to follow her.
"Where are we going?" Alex finally questioned once they were outside.
"Your apartment, Alex. The account went through, so we might as well set you up."
"And why am I following you guys?" Torn asked.
"Because, my tall friend, you might as well know where the hell your girlfriend is living."
"He's not tall." Alex gave. "He's vertically blessed."
Loor glanced back at the couple, and the height difference between them. "Whatever you say Alex." She answered with a roll of her eyes, bobbing Lynn as she walked since the baby had woken up. It was a fairly short walk through the slums that Loor kept silent for. Torn, on the other hand, had just remembered something.
"Oh, yeah... this is yours." He said, pulling out Alex's comm. and handing it to her.
"Thank you!" She giggled, taking it back and putting it away in her pouch for it. "I had forgotten it I was in such a rush."
"You didn't mention where you had to get off to so early in the morning." He pointed out, looking down at her.
"Oh... right..." She felt herself going red. Thankfully, Loor was listing to save the day just as they crossed into Old Haven from the slums.
"I had called her since I needed her signature of a few of her registration papers and some of her personal information that I couldn't remember. Ya'know, like her birthday is on May sixteenth... or the correct spelling of her last name."
"You could have waited to call her." Torn sounded slightly miffed.
"Yeah, and she could have called me to tell me that she was spending the night." Loor shot back.
"I said I was sorry!" Alex yelped.
Torn chuckled. "You sound like you're playing mother to her, Loor."
"It kinda feels like it too, 'cept she ain't needy or nothing." The raven-haired girl laughed lightly, turning right into the residential quarter of Old Haven. "I guess it comes with parenthood."
"Yeah, of three kids." Torn grumbled.
"Three?" Loor questioned. "Last I checked I only had one."
"Yeah, and you've been trying to keep both Fury and Artimus on a leash as well."
"That's because they're both young teens. I'm not gonna let them just run around like a couple of stray dogs." Loor said this while glaring back at the tattooed wonder. "As long as those two are in school, they ain't doing anything."
"Haven't they had sex before, though?" Alex asked, slightly confused.
"Doesn't mean I'm happy about it, and she's my little sister. Till those two are properly married, my foot ain't coming back up." Loor snorted this, stopping at a building and letting Alex get her bearings. It was in the middle of the west quarter of Old Haven, and Loor handed her friend a card key that had the number of the apartment on it, not that Alex could read it.
"Second floor, third door on the left." Loor explained, giggling and Alex squinted at the numbers, as if they would suddenly change into something she could understand. "206, and it has a nameplate and everything. There's basic furniture in there too which belongs to you now, stuff I bought, and a few other things so you can switch around the place."
"Loor, why the hell are you setting up your friend in cheap housing?" Torn questioned, looking up.
"Because, I'm not gonna go and hand her an apartment that she can't pay for. Once she has a job, she's gonna be living on her own, and I didn't wanna go and get her a penthouse." She rolled her eyes, watching as Alex was biting her key card, looking around with the square item hanging out of her mouth. "Well... enjoy." Loor managed after a few moments of giving Alex the blank 'WTS?' look. "I'll be back in about an hour."
"Where ya going?" Alex questioned, taking the key card out of her mouth.
"Finishing up those papers. The sooner that paperwork is through, the better, and then me and you got to hit another one of the local shops."
"Why?"
Loor gave a funny look to Torn. "I'm surprised buddy boy hasn't invited you yet. Every Sunday the group goes over to the rec. center here because Torn has to keep up to military standard, as does Jak, and I just enjoy the exercise."
"Why do we have to go shopping for that?"
"Because there's a pool there." Loor answered, turning once more and walking back. "See ya!"
"Pool?" Alex asked absently, looking over at Torn, who shrugged. She grimaced, looking after Loor again. "I dun wanna show off my icky legs!!"
Torn gave her a look. "They didn't look that bad last night..." He noted, since she had been wearing a skirt.
"Nu-uh! I have thunder thighs..." She trailed off. "Last I checked..."
He shrugged off her insecure moment, ruffling her hair, which made her yelp and duck away. He then glanced up at the building once more. "Well, are you going up or what?"
"I donno." She looked up at him. "Are you coming with?"
He thought about it, and shook his head. "No, I should be getting home. I didn't feed my muse this morning..." He chuckled lightly. "I wouldn't put it past her to try and maim me for it."
"She might have gone out to hunt."
"True, but I'm better off safe than sorry, right?" He went to give her a quick hug.
"Right." She agreed, returning the hug, his head resting on hers again.
He left a kiss on her cheek before leaving, making her smile, blushing as she waved.
"Hey, Ashelin, you got a sec?"
The redhead addressed lifted her head, glancing back. Behind her, Loor was running up, clutching a file folder. Of course Loor was a common face around FL HQ, and Ashelin cracked a quick smile at the raven-haired girl. "Yeah, what's with the big folder? I thought the only thing you carried around these days was your kid."
"Well, you remember that I have a friend who is settling down here? This is her registration stuff. She had some other stuff to do and asked me to turn it in for her." Loor laughed lightly. "I don't want anyone trying to bust her for lack of ID, so I thought you'd do me a favor as old friends and get it into the system a bit faster than me turning it in at the lower office."
Ashelin took the folder, nodding. "Yeah, I think it's crazy all the stuff they have in this registration packets... I mean, I can understand past residence and all that, but I think we went a little far when we ask what their ear shape is... Hey, what was your friend's name again?"
"Alex." Loor answered, smiling. "She's a real live wire."
Ashelin's face changed for a moment, from a friendly smile to a slight frown, before she regained herself. "I see... I've heard that she's been hanging quite a bit with Torn."
"Yeah." Loor agreed. "It's a good relationship, but you probably already know that since you got people stalking him for you."
"Hey, that's a security measure." Ashelin gave, giving Loor a look.
"Yeah, I know, I'm just poking fun... though I'm a little worried. They're pretty official, and he hasn't told her about his... issues yet. He's probably scared of frightening her."
"He hasn't told her about it?" Ashelin got a slight smirk. "I see. C'mon Loor, I'll take these to my office so you can get the signed copies back before I send it all down to the guys who handle all of this citizenship crap."
"Yay, carbon copies..." Loor muttered in sarcasm. "Just in case, right?"
"I don't trust computers." Ashelin sighed, leading the way. "Are you gonna be keeping the copies, or is Alex?"
"I don't put it past Alex not to loose 'em. At least at my place I have a file cabinet."
"True." Ashelin shrugged, opening a door to what was her office, which was pretty big with a lot more paperwork, only her stuff wasn't a mess like Torn's was. Everything was filed away neatly. Ashelin went through the important certification forms, putting her signature where it was needed and peeling away the yellow carbons for Loor to take back home. Once that pile was in order, Loor turned to be on her merry way.
"Ashelin..." Loor said, in the doorway, looking back.
"Hm...?"
"Just... play fair, alright?"
Ashelin gave Loor a look. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, I think you do." Loor muttered, putting her head back down. "I most certainly think you do."
Loor also had a thought cross her mind that Ashelin wasn't planning on fair play.
"Alex...? You still alive in there?"
"...do I have to come out?"
"Yes, you have to come out. C'mon, you picked that one out yourself, how bad can it be?"
"My stomach looks fat, and my thighs are huge!"
Loor rolled her eyes, leaning against the side of the stall. It had been rather complicated that Sunday morning, getting Torn to leave his apartment without Alex being with Loor, and then getting Jules out of the apartment and over to the center before Torn got suspicious about anything. The good news was that the couple had spent the night before without going on another date, so Loor didn't have to go explaining anything for any strange behavior that Alex might have exhibited.
The day before, Loor had gone shopping with Alex as promised. Alex seemed to like the swimsuit she picked out then, but was suddenly not wanting to leave the confines of the changing room.
"Alex, I'm sure it looks fine."
"It's not the swimsuit, it's me."
"You still can't get her out of there?" Fury asked, walking up, wearing a simple pink two-piece, holding Lynn.
"Yeah..." Loor sighed. "On the other hand, I wasn't expecting it to be easy. Are the boys already in the water?"
"Yep." Fury nodded. "'cept Artimus is just sitting on the edge."
Loor snickered. Fury didn't know this, but Artimus couldn't swim. Turning back to Alex's stall, Loor took off her towel and threw it over. "Wear that if you're gonna be self-conscious."
"Thank you..." Alex squeaked from the other side. A few seconds later, the brown haired youth finally came out, clutching the green colored towel around her hips. According to Loor, she looked fine. She had tied her hair back into a low pony and wearing a one-piece suit that was navy blue. On the other hand, Loor thought just about anyone could wear a swimsuit unless they were horridly Krew-style obese. She herself was wearing a black two-piece that showed her post pregnancy stomach, or, in her mother's words, her deflated beach ball.
"Since when did you get a tattoo?" Alex asked, giving Loor a look. It was true, Loor had a red dragon on her chest, the head coming up to her collarbone, the wings hidden under her swim top, and the tail curling around her torso. A section of the tail looked funny and stretched, pointing out that the tattoo had been gotten before Loor started blowing up like the Goodyear blimp.
"Last year." Loor answered, snickering and taking Lynn from Fury. The child was just in a diaper, and it was already wet since Fury had visited the kiddy pool with her. "In Kras city. I was bored."
"...Kras city?" Alex asked, following as Loor led the way from the bathroom that they had chosen to change in over to the large room that housed the pool. The rec. center was a pretty simple set up. There was the lobby where you paid for your session by how long you were gonna hang around, a pool with an extra kiddy pool in the far corner as the center-piece with a door to a courtyard that was open for sunbathing during the summer, and on the far side of the building was a gym that Torn usually opted for, but Loor had forced him into swimming this time.
"Racing capital of the world. It's a long story for a different time." Loor giggled as they got to the room. The pool was pretty big, going from three feet at one end to twelve at the other. Torn was floating in the deep end on his back, looking at ease, his hair loose for once and fanning out. Jakkie boy was under the water, and Artimus was still on the edge at the shallow end. "Yo, Arti, ya gonna get in any time soon?" She questioned the black haired boy with a knowing smirk.
"Not on your life." Artimus answered back.
Fury took this moment to push her boy in, diving in after him and swimming out to the deeps. Loor rolled her eyes, seeing as the kid couldn't swim, and she was sure Artimus wouldn't say anything. Thank goodness the shallow end was only three feet. She stopped near the stairs at their end and looked over at Alex. "Well?"
"What?" Alex asked innocently over the sound of Artimus ripping Fury a new one for shoving him in.
"Are you gonna get in or am I gonna have to drag you?"
"Aren't you gonna get in?"
Loor rolled her eyes. "Do you see the baby? I'm hanging in the kiddy pool. There's not as much chlorine, it's better for her."
Alex mirrored Loor's eye-roll and finally dropped the towel, quickly getting into the water before anyone could notice her legs, which made Loor laugh at her. "They're not big." Loor assured, turning to walk over to the corner.
Alex glared after her friend. "Yes they are!" She shouted back before diving under the water and swimming into the deeper water. It was strange that she hated water so much in the muse form, yet normally she loved water, and swimming.
She just hated her legs. She had taken the time the day before to shave, but it didn't make her feel any more confident. It actually got her thinking about a lot of things that had changed since she came to this place, things that happened because of Bojo; like her age, but mainly her eyes. When Alex had been on her way to Haven she had been wearing her glasses because she wasn't expecting to find a lot of solution for her contacts. She didn't remember having her glasses when she landed, and she hadn't needed them since for some reason. She knew that cats had good eyesight, so fusing with Bojo probably fixed her eyes.
Weird.
It also made her wonder though. That cat was somewhere inside of her, yes? But where? Where were his thoughts on all that had been happening? Was it just the Jules form, or was there something else...?
She came up for air, breaking the surface and pushing water off of her face so she could open her eyes, treading water and looking about. She was in the deep end, but Torn wasn't floating there anymore. Turning around she found Artimus getting out of the water again and Fury looking sheepish, probably going into one of her 'sorry' binges, while Jak was laughing at them both.
She yelped as the tattooed wonder suddenly came up right in front of her.
She never thought to look down.