MHA #6, Tuesday Morning

[firstofitskind]

At some point during the night, Liam had gone from small and furry and curled up on one corner of the bed (and yet still somehow taking up half of the space), to human-sized and no longer furry and curled around Verity.

Being a cat had been... interesting. But it was nice to be back in his own skin.

He figured since breakfast had been so rudely interrupted last time, he ought to give it another try. So once again there were pastries, and coffee being made, and Liam was sitting at the kitchen table as his own cup of tea steeped.

[ooc: for the giiiiirlfriend.]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

"That I'm keeping a family tradition alive," Verity said with a laugh. "I'm sure you've heard about all of my various great-grandmothers by now."

[firstofitskind]

Liam nodded. "It's not like there was much else to do during the days except listen."

Which was a weak excuse, since he also spent plenty of time listening to what the mice wanted to share while not a cat.

[arboreal_priestess]

"And the weeks before you were a cat?" Verity asked because she knew you, Liam.

[firstofitskind]

"Uh," Liam scrubbed one hand through his hair. "Well," he said after a moment. "It... might sound kind of weird?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Liam, you're in a house with talking mice, where you trip over five different weapons just leaving the bed, and there's a kill-on-sight order for Tooth Fairies," Verity drawled. "I think I can handle a little weird."

[firstofitskind]

"I suppose," he admitted, with a sheepish smile. "It's just- I've said before, I find what they have to say is interesting. And it's because you have this actual, living connection to your history, your family." The sort of connection he'd never had, genetic memories or no.

[arboreal_priestess]

"My family is part of everything I do," Verity said softly, understanding. "It's part of me. And the mice make sure it never fades or dies."

[firstofitskind]

"I like it," Liam said, leaning forward and placing a light kiss on her collarbone. "I like that you have that."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity smiled at him. "Me too," she said. "For us...the family is all we have. It's all that we can trust."

In a world that was literally trying to kill them, family was what enabled them to not just survive, but keep going.

[firstofitskind]

Liam considered that. "Do you trust me?" he couldn't help but wonder.

[arboreal_priestess]

"If I didn't, I would have tried to kill you by now," Verity pointed out. Romantically. "You've met my mice, you know my secrets, you've learned about my family. I'm trusting you not only with my safety but with the safety of everyone I love. If that isn't trust..." She shrugged.

[firstofitskind]

"True," Liam admitted. "I've been betrayed like that before. It's not something I'd ever do to you." Yes, she'd just said she trusted him, but it felt like the kind of thing he ought to say out loud.

[arboreal_priestess]

Didn't mean she didn't like hearing it, even if she already knew it was true. "See, and trust is knowing that you'd say that even if you hadn't seen all the weapons I sleep with," she teased, and kissed him.

[firstofitskind]

Liam laughed as his lips met hers in that kiss. "I may not have an army of adorable if somewhat bloodthirsty mice, but if there's ever anything you want to know about me," he said, reaching up and tucking a stray lock of hair behind Verity's ear. "Just ask. I'm an open book." For her, anyway.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Why aren't you more open about your background to other people on the island here?" Verity asked. "Why keep it a secret?"

It wasn't like she didn't understand the value of keep secrets, but Liam had no other Kimera he needed to protect and she couldn't imagine the folks of the island trying to tar and feather him just for being an alien.

[firstofitskind]

Probably not, but some habits were hard to break.

"Some habits are just... hard to break," he tried to explain. "I spent the first half of my life wanting nothing more than to be fully human, while trying to convince those few people who knew I wasn't that I could be trusted."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Do you still wish you were fully human now?" Verity asked, fingers trailing over the soft skin of his chest.

[firstofitskind]

"Less than I used to, but sometimes," he admitted. "I wonder what it'd be like to have a family. To have had an actual childhood, not just a couple of strange weekends thanks to Fandom."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Is that the same as being fully human, though?" Verity asked, resting her head on his shoulder. This seemed to be a conversation where extra cuddles couldn't hurt. "Ghouls and harpies and chupacabra all have family units and childhoods."

As far as she could tell, the problem wasn't that Liam was half-Kimera, but that his whole existence had been predicated around being a tool for others to use.

[firstofitskind]

Liam would never turn down extra cuddles, it was true.

"That's true," he admitted. "But none of those species are present in my DNA." A pause, and then he amended, "Probably." As far as he was aware, none of them existed on his version of Earth, but he supposed it was possible.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh no, I just meant...if things had been different, you could have had a family and a childhood," Verity said slowly. Granted, if things had been that different, he probably wouldn't have been born at all. "Circumstances dictated you were sped-up, not your genetics. Maybe there's an alternate dimension out there where Liam Kincaid has three parents and is just joining the local Little League team or something, rather than being a soldier and Companion in a war he didn't start."

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, the circumstances surrounding his birth were... kind of unique.

"Well," Liam said. "You know. In that reality, he wouldn't be Liam Kincaid at all."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh?" Verity asked. "You know, I don't think I ever thought about that. Where did the Kincaid come from?"

[firstofitskind]

"During the SI War, my predecessor as Da'an's Protector, William Boone, was a commander in the Army," Liam explained. "His lieutenant was a man named Liam Kincaid. Kincaid went missing during the invasion of Taiwan, but was never officially declared dead. When I appeared a few years later," he shrugged. "My mother gave me my first name, but I'd need more than that if I were to do what I was created to do. So Kincaid's files were edited, all his pictures were replaced with ones of me, and here I am."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Huh."

Every story Liam told her about his conception through his service continued to be low-key horrifying.

"Okay, so this sorta sounds like the kind of question Dr. Lecter would ask, but how do you feel about that?"