V rose before his new guest feeling unsettled. He had an uneasy feeling in his stomach, and found himself changing into three different material shirts before he found one that was comfortable on his skin. Adjusting his mask and wig, he walked out of his bedroom, on the way he spotted Carly still asleep through the door in the same curled kitten-like position that he had left her in.
At least she slept soundly.
Before proceeding into the kitchen, he walked in and pulled the blanket higher on her shoulders to cover her more, not registering that he hadn't put the gloves he had meant to dawn and left them in his back pocket. Satisfied with knowing she wouldn't catch a chill he moved into the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast. Today would be eggs in a basket, and before long he had set up the kitchen table with new plates and put on a new pot of coffee. He was able to finish cooking and eat quickly before Carly woke up and padded out into the kitchen with a spare throw blanket.
"Ah bonjour mademoiselle." V mused and got up to cook hers so it would be fresh.
"Good morning" Carly yawned. V couldn't help but notice her eyebrow furrow as she looked at his hands. He looked down to see his bare hands uncovered and silently cursed at himself, "Oh, my.. " He murmured and turned to slide on his soft leather gloves before returning back to cooking "Sorry about that... How did you sleep?" V asked, wanting to change subjects and not leave time for her to wonder what other parts of his body were burned.
"Are you illustrating an image of me?" He asked, doing his best and failing to hide his amusement. He paused and looked when she held the pad up to show him, "Quite the resemblance. You have a fine eye and steady hand. And apparently I have a mark on my face that needs tending to." He wet a towel quickly and wiped the general area where she had drawn the mark, "One must keep up appearances, right?"
"I suppose so." Carly chuckled and set the pen and pad down as V served her breakfast.
"In the event that you one day feel particularly inspired I would be happy to procure you materials to create a work of art. I'd honored to hang one of your pieces of artwork up in the Shadow Gallery." V extended his hand to display the many other that he had collected.
"Mine?" She asked incredulously, looking between him and one the Monet his hand had stopped at.
"Don't doubt yourself, kitten." V realized that his thought of her sleeping position had sunk deeper into his mind than he had thought and corrected himself, "Carly. Anyone can be an artist."
Carly found herself stunned, both at the nickname that V had let slip out of his mouth and by how little she objected to it. It suddenly hit her that V had an assortment of rather rare and stunning art pieces and artifacts, as well as rare books that were used to decorate his home.
"How did you that Monet anyway?" She asked in utter confusion.
"The vault of the ministry of objectionable materials."
"Has everything here been stolen from there?"
"Oh heavens no, stealing implies ownership. You can't steal from the sensor, I merely reclaimed them."
Carly didn't have the bandwidth to object or ask any more questions and conceded, "I can make you one, but I request it doesn't go next to the Monet...perhaps next to a Rembrandt that you have hanging somewhere that I haven't seen yet." V couldn't help but chuckle at the feigned dismissive nature of her comment.
"There is one in the library but I hardly think that's a fitting place for your work, I'd likely be the only one to see it." V scoffed before standing, "If you are up for it later, I think it may be advantageous for us to go on another adventure, though this one will be far less physically taxing." Carly could hear the smile in his voice and couldn't help but wonder what his smile looked like underneath his mask.
"And what adventure is that?" She cocked an eyebrow.
"I believe some shopping may be in order. I wasn't expecting any house guests and while I am happy to continue lending you my clothes, I feel like you may be more comfortable in ones that actually fit." V gestured to the woolen sweater that she had borrowed from the wardrobe in her bedroom.
"I am the one who is craving some training today and will be in the room we were in yesterday. Should you need to come in please knock and announce your presence, but if not I will be back later." V's palms itched for contact with something, anything as he made his way to the training room.
What was happening to him? He was letting his thoughts and words slip, he could sense the most silent of enemies coming up from behind him to end his life but Carly had managed to sneak up on him and get a knife to his throat, her presence and words made him feel emotions that he had been happy to be rid of long ago. Setting up the dummies, he hung his cape carefully on a rack and began to make quick work of exercising out some of the energy that was building in his body.
After about two hours V panted and lifted his mask to take a breather, his muscles ached from the exertion but he enjoyed the sensation. For a moment he let out a sigh of relief when he felt a sense of ease, but sucked his teeth in disappointment when they returned as a small sharp pang in the chest. Once his pulse returned to normal he put on his mask and returned to his room, showered, redressed with his disguise and returned back to Carly.
When he stepped out of his bedroom, dawning a latex face and make up that covered any parts of his skin that we burned, and short brown haired wig. Carly jumped slightly at the sight, thinking he was another person who had somehow gotten into the Shadow Gallery.
"Don't be startled Kitten, it's just me. I am merely wearing another face that no one will notice." V winced as he slipped again and shut the door quietly behind him. He was dressed in a simple button down shirt with a tweed vest and matching pants. "I'm afraid you may have to use your last remaining items in the closet."
"That's fine." Carly stated and walked toward him. Reaching her hand up, she touched the latex and V recoiled slightly out of habit, forgetting that he wasn't wearing his usual mask. Carly quickly realized the extent of his disguise and immediately retracted her hand with a frown when she noticed his reaction, "Sorry."
"No...no. It's alright, I just wasn't prepared." V clarified gently and reached down to hold her hand and bring it back to his face to inspect it again. Her fingers moved against the latex and even through the barrier V felt her touch his face for the first time and did his best to remain calm. It was at that moment that she realized she was looking at his actual eyes. They were a surprising light blue and green, but after realizing she had lingered on them for a little too long Carly lowered her hand, and gave him a small and reassuring smile in thanks before going into her room to change into a different set of clothes. As the door shut V took a deep and shuddered breath and sat down unsteadily in one of the dining room chairs. His heart hammered in his chest and he reached up to run his hand on his face, but stopped to prevent himself from messing up the latex. Once he had regained his composure he grabbed a scarf from his wardrobe and brought it to Carly when she exited her room.
"This will also help." He gently wrapped the fluffy scarf around her neck so it covered the bottom half of her face, "While we are out, please don't wander off. In the event that you are recognized, I cannot protect you if I don't know where you are. Shall we?" He asked and put on his black pea coat, which was no doubt lined with weapons. V led the way through a few hallways and eventually through a door that opened up to an exposed stair way. It felt odd to be out in public again after being in the Shadow Gallery for the past few days. The streets were loud and scattered with people going about their day and walking their dogs, though luckily the cold was keeping most people inside. Eventually they stopped at a department store with clothes.
"Gather whatever you need." Vs smiled and nodded his head toward the entirety of the store. He had smiled at her plenty of times before, but it felt oddly vulnerable that she could see his true expressions even if they were hidden under the latex. He made sure to grab a basket for her as he followed her through the store. Had it not been for the basket he was holding for her, his hands would have been behind his back as he surveyed their surroundings for potential threats. Half way through the store, they came across the area for intimates and V wordlessly handed her the basket, backed away and pretended to look at other items while she picked out whatever underwear she needed. Once he noticed her move passed the undergarments section V moved closer and returned to his basket holding duty and did his damndest to avoid looking at its contents.
Beside V came a snicker, from what he noticed was a lanky teenage boy who should have been in school. For a moment V thought he may have been snickering at the contents of the basket before he realized that he was the target of the boy's mockery.
"Dude you're whipped." The teenager chortled.
"Perhaps if you learn some manners and how to treat a lady, you will find yourself to be in the same position of holding lingerie, instead of gawking at them on mannequins." V kept his sights forward. He was all but prepared to ignore the boy until he attempted to reach into the basket but V seized his wrist before they could even hover above it.
"Excuse us." V quietly murmured and handed the basket off to Carly and scanned the store for the dressing room. Keeping her still in his eyeline, he dragged the boy over to one of the open dressing rooms. With a glare V lifted him up by his shirt to hang the collar on one of the high hooks placed on the wall and shut the door behind him, leaving him suspended a foot off the ground.
"You can't just-" The boy's sentence was cut off into a muffled protest as V unceremoniously shut the door and turned around to join Carly, who was doing her best not to fall into a fit of laughter. By now Carly had gathered most of what she needed, and they reached the shoe section. She threw in a pair of sneakers, house slippers and paused before also throwing in a pair of black boots.
"To match yours." The smirk she wore on her face sat all too comfortably, eliciting a deep chuckle and surge of joy from V. Not long after they made their way to the checkout line and despite being in the middle of paying for the clothes one side of V's lip curled into a smile as he heard security guards escort the protesting teenager out of the building. Carly's eyes widened upon seeing how much they were spending and lifted her hand to protest but he intercepted her protest and simply held her hand with another smile. The goal was to be inconspicuous, and her causing a fuss was the opposite of that. The clerk handed the two of them a few bags and they made their way back to the street.
"Seeing as I can't make my own money, we have to come up with some type of bartering system for the cost of these clothes." Carly said into her scarf and looked up at him as they proceeded through the streets again.
"You repay me with your company..." V turned his head to look at her and realized that he was still holding her hand. As he was about to let go he noticed a surveillance truck slowly moving down the street and gently pulled Carly into the closest alley to avoid them, knowing that the people inside the truck were indeed listening and watching. While the emptiness of the street lessened the potential of them being recognized in person, it gave surveillance more time to focus on fewer people.
"Pardon me." V said in a hushed tone and pressed her gently against the wall and leaned in. As far as he knew they had heat scanners and video cameras equipped on all sides of the truck and it would be better if he could obscure their faces and silhouettes.
"What are you-" Carly began to ask but quieted when V pressed his forearm against the wall so the upper part of his arm was shielding their faces and her height before leaning his head down close to hers as if they were kissing. Their faces were close enough that the latex was the only thing that was preventing him from moving his head away from the ticklish loose fibers touching his face. "Only a moment until they leave." V whispered, listening to the lower and stronger hum of the van approaching and slowly passing them. Carly used this time to get a good look at his eyes, his irises seemed to change color in the light turning them from a light blue and green to a gray.
"I apologize, but you did very well. Like I said, I will protect you as long as you don't wander off." V whispered again once he was confident that they were far enough away and took a step back and offered his arm for her to take to escort her home.
