Anything But Numb

[Existentially Odd]

Tau nodded, finding that this information sat well with him; he was comfortable with it. Telling him she\'d been fine hadn\'t been quite correct - or hadn\'t been the whole story, at least, for he\'d picked it up in her body language - but now that she\'d elaborated, what she was saying and showing were once more aligned and he was pleased. For her, as much as with her.
 
"That makes a lot of sense," he told her thoughtfully, the line something more than throwaway. Again, he had the urge to reach across the table and touch her, but only for the sake of contact... so he did. He brushed the backs of his knuckles against the closest bit of arm to him (where it had landed after she\'d used it to pour tea) and smiled. "I think you have led a painful but very interesting life, Morgaine, and I\'m glad you shared it with me. I\'m interested in why you decided to tattoo your face like that, though, when most women seem to like to cover up blemishes?"
 
He watched her earnestly, too curious to chance the thought that she might not want to talk of such things - even though the greatest tension had appeared in her body at the time of her telling about the scars.

[Harlequin]

A smile spread over her face at his touch, and broadened over his last question, and she laughed in a  single exhalation of breath, "Well, that\'s what they\'re supposed to  do," she said. For a moment, she was actually panicked -- before remembering that Tau didn\'t see things the same way other people did. Other people could be fooled by their preconceptions -- of which Tau had almost none.

He was right about the desire to cover things up, however. Morgaine\'s tattoos were designed to make the scarring less noticeable -  blending the raised marks into the loops and spires of the design to make them  seem flat. More than that, however, they were meant to distract attention away  from what they couldn\'t cover, and she told him as much, though her tone made it clear that the subject was a difficult one for her to talk about, though she persevered, "I mean, the tattoos are meant to make the...scars, less noticeable. So when somebody looks at me, they think \'Wow, she got tattoos on her face? That\'s hardcore, man,\'...or, you know, something less flattering. Though I can\'t imagine why," She coughed into her fist, eyebrows lifted over her little joke, and continued, "rather than \'Wow, that chick got fucked up by somebody. That\'s terrible.\'" She wrinkled her nose, "I don\'t like people feeling sorry for me."

She didn\'t mention the scars that weren\'t covered; the ones on the left side of her neck, and those on her chest -- the first he could see, since she\'d put her hair up earlier, and her t-shirt covered the others, which were by far the worst.

[Existentially Odd]

"Ohhh," the Shifter Oligarch exclaimed, in much the same way that someone who\'d just been told the answer to a puzzle would; Ohhhh! That piece fits there, I see it now!  Ohhhh, you\'re twenty-one so it is legal, I understand!  Ohhh, Miss Scarlet in the ballroom with the rope, not the candlestick!

He was clearly enlightened by what Morgaine had to say - well, to a degree, anyway.  The frown that signified he\'d thought of something else that confused him was soon back, furrowing his prominent brow, but he\'d definitey understood that the tattoos were designed to cover up the scars.  In fact, they did.  Very well.  He felt somewhat foolish for not recognising that sooner but was glad to have eventually been led to the fact.

What he didn\'t get, however, was why it was so bad for people to feel sorry for someone else and he said as much.  "But... why is it wrong that people should feel sorry for you?  What happened was horrible and makes me sad... is that bad?" he asked seriously, realising that the emotions he\'d allowed himself to feel on her behalf might well be wrong and offend her.  This worried him greatly and the tension of it stiffened his shoulders and raised his head slightly, causing him to look like a very alert animal indeed (should anyone in the restaurant be attuned to such a pose, anyway).

[Harlequin]

Morgaine was concentrating too hard on his words to immediately register the change in his body language (mostly because her eyes were aimed determinedly at the tabletop) "Well," she began, "It\'s not bad, no. It\'s just –" she wrinkled her nose,"I don\'t want to explain to every Tom, Dick and Harry how I got them, and I don\'t want people to be sad when they look at me. I want them to think I\'m the baddest, craziest, sexiest bitch they ever laid eyes on," she said frankly, grinning as she did so, and raised her eyes.

The grin died as she registered the drastic change in the tone of his posture, however. It confused her greatly – since his body read as though he\'d sensed something to put him on the alert, but his eyes were still glued to her. Even so, she darted a look over her shoulder, as if the answer might lie behind her. seeing nothing but their fellow patrons (few though they were) talking quietly over their own meals, her eyes returned to his face, and a frown pulled at the corners of her lips, "What\'s up?"

[Existentially Odd]

"Up?" he repeated in a bewildered manner, following her gaze to around the room and back.  He noticed she was looking at his shoulders then, and it dawned on him that she\'d realised he was worried.  Quietly, he was completely impressed, being very unused to mortals so in tune with their instinctual sides that they could pick up on the subtleties of body language like that.

"Oh," he said and smiled, forcing himself to relax and look intently into her eyes.  "Nothing.  I was just... worried that I had offended you by feeling sad for you and I really don\'t want to do that.  Upset you, I mean.  I like you and I want you to like me as well.  And I\'m sorry I\'m not intimidated by your tattoos," he confessed apologetically.  "Probably if I wasn\'t used to bright colours and strong markings being a sign that something either bites hard, smells bad or tastes worse and should just be avoided, I might be?"

He said it hopefully, uncertain that she would see his cat viewpoint on this matter and belatedly worried that she\'d be mad that he\'d just likened her to a brightly-coloured stink bug or a skunk.  On second thought, he thought he probably better keep his mouth shut from now on and just let her sing to him; it was likely to be safest.

[Harlequin]

In Morgaine\'s world – where so much was hidden and so little was said, outside one\'s close friends (and she was lucky in that regard, because she actually had some of those) – one learned quickly to pick up on subtle cues, especially those that might signal danger from an otherwise unseen source. A sudden attentiveness was one of those signals, and she\'d responded accordingly – but was pleased to find there was nothing to be afraid of.

But then he caught her eyes again, and she forgot all about body language. The verbal kind had her caught up, now, and the sincerity reflected in his clear, blue eyes. He was actually apologizing for not being intimidated. It took her a moment to come up with a response, but she was smiling when she did, "Hey," she said with mock sternness, reaching for his hand – even if she had to get up and reach across their now-cold dishes to get it – "We\'re buddies, remember? Buddies don\'t get mad at each other over stupid stuff like \'feeling the wrong thing\'." She grinned deviously, "And I do bite pretty hard," she confessed, though she seemed far from sorry about it, "For a Human, anyway." She relinquished his hand with a gentle squeeze, and returned to her original position.

The tattoos had only been meant to affect other Humans in the first place – since she\'d been ignorant of anything else when she\'d gotten them. Se was finding that – like Tau – most supernaturals saw the markings in a very different light (if they saw them at all, that is).

[Existentially Odd]

His laughter - relieved, warm and genuinely happy - filled the space between them and around them as he responded to her cheeky comment.  The thought of her biting hard was hilarious to him and he didn\'t have the social conditioning to worry that he was laughing too loud in a polite setting like a restaurant, he simply laughed because he was amused and it was as natural to him as breathing.

"Is that your way of telling me you are interested in another wrestling match when we get back to my place - fangs and claws included?" he teased back, merriment dancing in his bright blue eyes.

[Harlequin]

Being part of an organization of people who made noise for a living, Morgaine didn\'t have much use for social morays concerning volume, and laughed right along with him – much to their fellow diners\' consternation.

As much as she liked talking about herself (Not this aspect of herself, obviously – though she realized, belatedly, that she had enjoyed this conversation, despite the fact that it had been a difficult one for her to have – she also realized that it had been easier to tell her story to Tau than almost anybody she\'d told it to – who were more or less limited to the Hunt, and a few others, here and there) Morgaine was glad to be laughing again. As he spoke, however, she was reminded of the growing ache in her thighs, ad grimaced, but laughed again, "No way!" she chuckled, "But I\'ll go again, mano e mano. I\'ll even tie one hand behind my back; make it a fair fight." She grinned, teasing – but also, as ever, challenging.

[Existentially Odd]

Tau - recognising that she was joking - was slightly puzzled by her interjection of another language, but laughed along with her anyway.  The thought of her tying a hand behind her back just to make it a fair fight was hilarious!

"Mano e... what?" he chuckled, tilting his head as he popped some more of the food they\'d ordered into his mouth.  The oils that it was cooked in were very powerful to his tastebuds and made him a little queasy, but he did enjoy the overall taste beneath that.  He was just eating very slowly, so that it didn\'t get the better of him, and was more or less cold now.

[Harlequin]

She smiled as if she, too, thought the idea was hilarious, but sighed inwardly. She\'d been so serious. Ah, well, she\'d bring it up again when they were back at his palce. If she remembered.

 Morgaine had more or less abandoned her food (what was left of it anyway -- the girl sure knew how to demolish a plate of General Tso\'s) "Mano e mano," she repeated, reaching unthinkingly for her now-cold cup of tea, "Man to man, in the Spanish." She wwaggled her brows at hijm, and tok a swig, making a face immediately after, "Y\'know, figuratively speaking -- Man, that\'s gross." the latter was directed at her teacup as she set it down, "Anyway, you wanna blow this popstand?"

[Existentially Odd]

"Blow... what up?  Is that Spanish too?" he asked, still keeping with his quizzical act but standing up because he had understood what she\'d said - mostly because of her body language and tone of voice, though, not because he specifically understood the meaning of what she said.

"You know, you really should be kinder to me," he told with mock pompousness, taking the time to tuck his chair in and wait for her to get round the table and be back near him once more; he was beginning to look forward to the walk through the darkness with her close by his side, hopefully holding hands.  "I barely speak English well enough to get by, let alone another human language!  Now, tell me, how do I go about paying for this food?"

Ignorant to common speech he might be, but commerce and he were well acquainted.  He understood that anything you got, you had to pay for and he\'d brought his wallet for that reason.  He had a bank account with plenty of money in it and though there had been some very confusing lessons initially (numbers and the concept of infinity were not something his feline brain could grasp onto very well), he was now well versed in how to spend that money and he wanted to pay for dinner.  He just didn\'t know how.

[Harlequin]

There were lots of different uses for the word \'blow\', and one of them caused a grin to spread over the singer\'s face, but she kept her trap shut, "It\'s a figure of speech," she said, and tilted her head thoughtfully, "You know, I\'ve never really thought about where it came from, though. I heard it from Chance."

She watched him get up, and quirked a brow, "I think what you mean is \'how does this fine, bright, young woman across the table from me go about paying for this food\'," she pointed a finger at him, and raised both brows, daring him to disagree, "And the answer is, she gets the check from Hovers McQueen over there – yes, I see you over there, eyeballin\' us, we\'ll be out of your hair in a second," this last was addressed to their waiter, currently hanging out  by the entrance to the kitchen a few feet behind Tau, and not-so-subtly keeping his eye on the pair of them, though he blushed appropriately when Morgaine called him out on it, "–Gives him her money, and leaves with her charming, rakish, and ever-so-suave companion," she stood as she said this, and accepted the check – just as she\'d said – from their now entirely motile waiter, "It\'s what I meant when I said I\'d take you, out, see? I picked the place, so I foot the bill." It wasn\'t often you caught Morgaine offering to pay for something – even with the newfound (relative) wealth she\'d told him about.

 "But we can flip a coin for it, if you wanna be difficult." And now she was willing to fight or the privilege. Something really had gone wrong with the world.

[Existentially Odd]

Tau raised his eyebrows at her aggressive manner (even though he understood it to be in jest) and took a deliberate step back.  "No, fine, bright young woman, I do not wish to be difficult and fight you to pay for the food," he told her robotically, eyes wide to add to the effect that he was too scared of her to fight her.  It dropped after a few seconds and he exhaled a cheeky laugh as he made a gesture for her to go do what she had to do.

It turned out to not be too complicated.  He realised that the thing with restaurants - as opposed to other shops - was that you still paid but they waited until the end until they made you do it.  It was rather a strange concept, considering every other store he\'d encountered made you pay before you got what you\'d gone there for (even if they let you pretend to own it by letting you go round and collect bits and pieces into a little trolley, you still didn\'t own it until you\'d paid and left the store - he learned that lesson the hard way), but not something irreconcilably weird.

After Tau had finished following after Morgaine (and peering curiously over her shoulder to see what happened and what this \'check\' thing was) to satisfy his curiosity, he wandered towards the door.  She caught up with him a few moments later and he gave her a fond look as she approached him, not realising how he was looking at her, but feeling every bit of the excitement and pleasure that her walking back to him put on his face.  He loved her vibe, the energy she put out and he was so very glad she was still hanging out with him.

Once back on the street, he moved close to her, shortening his stride so that their arms would brush as they walked but not taking her hand this time; something in him wanted to know if she was interested and had decided to let her make the choice.  "One good thing about being dominated by my cat side is that I see very well in the dark," he told her casually as they strolled along.  To show that he understood her basically challenging nature by now (and that he was interested in provoking her whenever he could) he added: "Better than you, that is certain."

[Harlequin]

His fond look was met watt for watt with a bright smile from the singer. She was getting used to the fact that he wasn\'t going to get sick of her (no matter how many times she tried to give him a concussion). She liked teaching him.

But even more than that,it seemed, she liked touching him. The way her hand found his when the opportunity was orchestrated–  with all the skill of a middle-school mastermind – to present itself as they walked out onto the street was almost automatic, and she lifted her hand (their hands, actually) slightly, and looked at it with aa \'well-it\'s-never-done-that-before\'  expression, of the sort–that one might aim at a pet or a computer that was acting oddly – but in a way that was simply interesting, and not disturbing. Morgaine wasn\'t a hand holding person, in general; she liked to go at her own pace, all the time, no matter what – but somehow, she felt that she\'d never have to worry about Tau holding her back. Which is why it felt okay. Yeah.

The look she aimed up at him was dubious, however, as he spoke of his night vision, "Yeah," she said, "but you can\'t see color, can you? Even during the day?" She shook her head, "I would\'t give that up for anything." Well, he\'d hit that nail on the head.

[Existentially Odd]

Given that he didn\'t know any different, Tau was slightly affronted to be accused of being colourblind.  "I see colours just fine," he told her indignantly, then, after a moment\'s pause, he frowned and admitted the rest.

"Well, I see most colours just fine, but not reds.  I figured that out when I was a human child, in hospital a few years ago.  They had me trying to catch up on all the school I had missed and it came up when I coloured something strangely.  The doctors then did tests and found out I have a total lack of red perception - I can only distinguish shades."

He gave her an interested look and grinned.  "If ever you wear anything you want me to appreciate the colour of, just make sure it\'s not red.  I\'m happy I can see better in the dark, anyway; colour\'s just not that important," he told her with mock haughtiness, wanting to reassert his original proposition that night vision was better than fully-functional colour vision.