Dirty Laundry

[Existentially Odd]

He'd seen her do it a couple of times now and he certainly got the gist of what he'd been missing when he'd tried it by himself - detergent and money.  He wasn't stupid, he'd just had no idea about how it all worked, but he had it now.  He'd also spent the whole time looking her over behind her back, wondering why she was refusing him when he knew very well she'd responded positively to his lick.  There had to be another reason he was missing, like the way he hadn't figured out all the clues of the washing machine because he hadn't examined all its parts properly.  He had to look at the bigger picture, beyond her and him and this room...

"But... you are attracted to me," he countered, frowning as he gave this some deeper thought.  Suddenly, his eyes widened and his face looked more expressive than it ever had.  "Oh!  Is it because you mated with my father and he's still here?" he asked, genuine excitement thrumming in his deep voice as he felt he'd guessed correctly.  "I'll fight him for you!"  It wouldn't be the first time two males had clashed over the same female, family ties or not.

[Harlequin]

Morgaine grimaced briefly, her inner feminist frothing at the mouth.

Not to say that the thought of two attractive men getting all rough-n-tumble for her affections wasn't delightful to think about. Not that she would want to watch, say, from a giant, ornate throne, eating bonbons from a golden platter.  None of that sounded fun at all.

"No," she said firmly, looking him in the eye, taken momentarily off guard by the excitement in his expression. "No fighting him. That might work on the catgirls, but it won't work on me. I'm not a carnival prize. I'm not territory."

Plus, she knew Arik would almost certainly beat his father in hand-to-hand. Tau wasn't getting any younger. And if he lost, what then?

"We just make each other happy, is all." she shrugged, leaned one hip against the washer, "I don't want to mess with that."

[Existentially Odd]

Arik looked genuinely disappointed at her outright rejection of his advance and was given to wonder why his father was the one that was making her happy.  "How does he make you happy?" he demanded austerely, genuinely wanting to know because the only other woman he ever saw his father interact with was never made happy by him, nor him by her.  "He and my mother aren't happy, how do you know you are?" he asked, squinting suspiciously at Morgaine.

[Harlequin]

Another moment passed with Morgaine blinking wordlessly at the shifter as her brain caught up with what he'd said. "Um," she said intelligently, "Well, it's complicated, I guess?"

No, it wasn't, she realized with a wry twist of her mouth. Funny that he asked better questions about Human emotion than most Humans she met. His grasp of the situation between his parents also fit her perception than most would.

 "I just like being around him, y'know? I like it when he's there. He's funny, and cute. Plus the sex is GREAT," Her eyes went unfocused and a dreamy smile wandered onto her face until her brain reminded her that – once again – this was Tau's kid she was talking to. She hurried on, "And I dunno, we just suit each other's needs well, I guess. When you're happy you just kind of know it, right?" She shrugged again, helplessly.

[Existentially Odd]

Arik was given to staring yet again, trying to think about emotions and the concept of happiness and unable to identify whether he'd felt it or not.  He was... satisfed with his life, he supposed; he certainly liked it a lot better now he lived on his own and had the freedom that his father never seemed to have wanted him to have.  But was that happy?  He wanted too much for him to believe it was.  He wanted women in his bed, friends to spend time with, excitement in his life.  He had none of it, so he was dissatisfied too.  Therefore he musn't be happy.

"Does he come here to visit you a lot?" he enquired with a mild amount of curiosity evident in his tone.

[Harlequin]

She felt like a bug under that stare; like he was rooting out the reasons behind her earlier attempts at deception – which, come to think of it, why hadn't he asked about that yet? Clearly there was a reason; he couldn't have just forgotten.

Suddenly needing something to do with her hands, Morgaine fussed with her laundry accoutrements. Detergent went back into the basket along with her jangly bag of quarters, and then –oh, he was talking again.

Somewhat distracted, she answered, "I dunno, on a good week–" She stopped herself mid-sentence, focus returning. It was her turn to fix Arik with a suspicious sidelong look "Whyyy do you ask?"

[Existentially Odd]

Arik moved closer to Morgaine, wanting to touch her, attempting to sneak a hand under the hem of her shirt to press his hand flat against her stomach or, if it was more convenient, to move behind her and slide fingers up her spine while his face pressed close to her ear.  She'd likely move away from him but he could move even more agilely than she and he was happy to keep up the game of pouncing on her from place to place if that was the way things went.

He had words to say though, so whenever they came to a stop, he'd share them with her.  "Because he doesn't have any reason to stay at home now, our mama's still away with my brother and other sister and Nebi and I are gone so... he could come to you all the time, even if you say he doesn't come to you at all.  That's not the truth.  He comes to you, he mates with you and he makes you happy.  I want to know how often it is because I want to try to make you happy, when he's not here," he told her bluntly and attempted to kiss her.

[Harlequin]

Moving too quickly for her to follow at first, Morgaine immediately stepped back as she felt his hand at her midsection, the skin of his palm hot against hers. She kept stepping back – protesting the whole way like a young cat might when grabbed by the scruff – until her back hit the wall.

She listened to him, eyes narrow and mouth set in a frown despite the quickened beating of her heart (Ugh, it had to be against a wall, didn't it? All close and perfect for him to pick her up, for her to wrap her legs around his waist...). Her desire soured quickly, though, as he moved in for a kiss. Apparently he needed to learn the hard way.

Her palm met his cheek with a sharp slap, accompanied by an equally sharp "No!"

The blow had been meant to sting and startle, not damage; just give her enough time to remove his hands from her person, if he allowed it. "I said no once," she told him firmly as she did, irritation evident, "I should not have to say it again."

[Existentially Odd]

He took a step back, a confused frown on his face and an expression beneath it that was more sad than angry.  "But... but you like shifters!" he argued opaquely, lifting a hand to prod at his cheek briefly with his fingertips.  She'd hurt his dignity, not his body, but he touched the heated flesh sub-consciously as he looked at Morgaine with a wounded pout.  "Why don't you like me?"

[Harlequin]

"I like your dad," she corrected, crossing her arms again and tossing her hair, "And not because he's a shifter. I don't just want to indiscriminantly fuck all the shifters I meet – hell, I don't even know how to pick one out of a crowd." She huffed.

This was a complicated issue. She was attracted to him, certainly – who wouldn't be? – but it was purely physical. Her body said 'yes' while her Human brain said 'JESUS CHRIST NO' – and he could only read one of the two.

[Existentially Odd]

The look he gave her was heated and wounded, his gaze roving down her body to her breasts as he dropped his hand from his face.  He was thinking, trying to figure out what to do about this awkward situation... and he couldn't help but appreciate her tits while he did it.  He wanted to touch them so badly he could barely think straight, they were right there... but he knew she wouldn't want him to.  Well, so she said, and he knew he couldn't trust that.

"I have no idea what I'm doing.  I want to find a woman as beautiful as you to be with but... I have no idea how.  My father told me nothing."  He looked up at her eyes at last, an idea causing his expression to shift and become more earnest; he stepped in against her again, inadvertently pressing her between his very warm body and the wall.  "When he's gone, will you help me?"  She'd been willing to teach him how to use the clothes cleaning machine, surely she'd be able to tell him what to do to get close to a woman as alluring as she wa?

[Harlequin]

Wow, this wall was getting awful familiar. Why didn't she take that step away like she'd meant to? Her hands immediately came up as a barrier between them, resting stiffly on the shifter's sculpted chest. Her frown returned, thoughtful this time as she considered his request.

It was a very short consideration. "Abso-fucking-lutely!" she enthused, flashing her teeth in a brief grin.

A moment later, it was all business again, "Lesson one: step back. Give a lady some space. This–" She made a circling gesture with her hands, as expansive as their proximity would allow, to indicate their current position "–may seem great to you, but to a woman you just met it's way too threatening."

"Lesson two: my face is up here." She pointed to illustrate, "Yeah, my tits are great, and I'm sure you'd love to touch them, but it is really, really rude to stare. To get to the tits, you have to ignore the tits."

[Existentially Odd]

Arik stepped back immediately when given that very necessary pointer, a look of surprise and concentration on his face; he hadn't expected his lessons to start so soon because he was of the opinion his father was upstairs and that Morgaine would want to return to him.  He wasn't going to stop her talking now that she'd started and was discussing such intriguing things, though.

He frowned at being told he'd have to ignore the twin globes drawing his attention at her chest, staring at them as he spoke even though he mostly understood what she was saying.  "But I like looking at them and I really do want to touch them.  And lick them.  And rub myself against them," he sighed wantonly, frowning as he lifted his gaze.  "They're very hard to ignore when they're so out the front like that and so many women barely even cover them up," he complained, seeming every bit the whining three year old with this protest, despite his young adult appearance.  "But I'll try," he mumbled reluctantly, making a very obvious effort to stare deep into Morgaine's eyes (and possibly hypnotise her, if the wind blew right, considering the stretch he was getting around his eyeballs).

[Harlequin]

This time, she took advantage of the step he took and reclaimed her space, skirting deftly around him so her back was toward the laundry table. "Touching strangers without their permission is a big no-no. Doing that will eventually get you into trouble in the long run. Touching a strange woman's – shit, even a not-strange woman's – tits without her permission will get you into A LOT of trouble in the very very short run. It's incredibly invasive." She paused, mouth twisted at his wheedling tone,

"I know you want to, but I'm telling you you can't. And that thing you're doing right now, with the bitching about me telling you no? That's called 'whining' and it is not cute. When a lady says no, she means no. Accept it and move on." She gave hm a pointed look.

Just then, the first washing machine they'd activated gave a raucous buzzing sound, followed quickly by the other two. "Washing's done!" the singer chirped brightly.