MHA #6, Friday Evening

[firstofitskind]

It had taken a ridiculously long time to get from the causeway back to Verity's apartment. Mostly because Liam was... let's just say the combination of 'easily distracted' and 'uncoordinated' was working against him in that respect. And Verity's apartment wasn't even that far from the causeway, all things considered.

But they made it, finally, stumbling in through the doorway. Or Liam stumbled, and Verity just patiently guided him towards the couch.

"We're here already?" he exclaimed, surprised. Apparently, it hadn't seemed like such a 'ridiculously long time' to him.

[ooc: for she what's named in the post! also warning for uh. side-effects of drug use? sort of?]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

"The, um, the..." he blinked, and then glanced down at his own stretched-out arm, with a bandage covering the wound from the sewer lizards. "You know." No, she didn't, that was kind of the point. "There was a cup, remember?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Sarah's blood?" Verity asked, now properly horrified. "Is this some kind of allergic reaction?"

She was just going to wind herself up for a very long second--and then logic cut into the guilty tango her emotions were involved in. "You're not supposed to have cuckoo blood?" she asked. "But you didn't even know about cuckoos until a few weeks ago."

[firstofitskind]

"No, no, no, not allergic," Liam said, and now he was leaning forward in an effort to give her a hug, because he was pretty sure he'd just made her feel bad, and he didn't want her to feel bad, not when he was feeling so good about everything. "Not allergic," he repeated again. "Just-" what was the word he was looking for?

[arboreal_priestess]

This was the world's clumsiest hug. Verity appreciated it, but it was still a clumsy hug. How did someone even give clumsy hugs, that was the real question.

"...Liam, are you high?" Verity asked as most of the pieces fell into place.

[firstofitskind]

"Yes," he whispered. Well, stage whispered.

[arboreal_priestess]

She shouldn't laugh. Shouldn't laugh. Verity, don't laugh.

"How?" she asked, successfully not laughing by only the barest of margins.

[firstofitskind]

"Sarah said her blood's got painkillers," Liam informed her. "They make me feel..." he sighed, and took a deep breath, suddenly distracted by the smell of whatever fancy hotel body wash Verity had used. "You smell nice."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity was suddenly very glad she'd gotten a shower in while Sarah had been finishing up with Liam, back when he'd still been capable of playing it cool.

"Wait," Verity said, leaning away to look him in the eyes to get him to focus again. Hopefully. "You get high on analgesics?!"

Her boyfriend, the sheriff, went tripping on Tylenol. That shit was hilarious.

[firstofitskind]

It wasn't like he sought them out, Verity. Jeez.

"Yup," he said, popping the 'p', which then caused a minor gigglefit. "S'why I'm not allowed." Which wasn't strictly true, either. The first time he'd unthinkingly taken some over-the-counter meds for a headache, one of the Resistance doctors had run him through a whole series of tests when he'd started acting strangely. Dr. Park had eventually determined that there were no long-lasting ill effects, including addiction, but Liam... Liam hadn't liked the loss of control. The idea that he might say the wrong thing to the wrong person. So he stayed away from them, as a general rule.

[arboreal_priestess]

"So no more cuckoo's blood for you, mister," Verity said, taking a moment to finally laugh about this, feeling the worry and concern and guilt drain through her. "I will remember this for the future."

And it had gone directly into his bloodstream, which meant this entire thing had probably hit him like a freight train. Poor guy.

"It's my fault for not taking into account your weird biology when mixing it with Sarah's weird biology," she added, wiping away amused tears from her eyes. "Okay, let's get you cleaned up and into bed, huh? You can sleep this off, Mr. My Hands Can Touch Anything But Themselves."

[firstofitskind]

"But I'm not tired!" Liam protested. "And my hands can touch, see?" he clapped them together in demonstration.

That... wasn't what she'd meant by that comment.

[arboreal_priestess]

...Not that he would have gotten the reference sober, either.

"I'm very proud of your clapping ability," she assured him. "Still, what do you say about a shower, huh? I may smell like peach fuzz and lavender or whatever, but you're still wearing Eau de Sewer. On my couch."

They could argue about whether or not he was tired after that.

[firstofitskind]

"I do not smell great," Liam admitted. "I would like to not not smell great." Which was an extremely clunky way of saying a shower actually sounded like a good idea.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I can help you smell not great," Verity assured him, standing up and offering him a hand up to his feet. "We're going to take a shower now."

Possibly together with Verity in, like, a swimsuit or something, because she didn't trust him not to drown.

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah, okay," Liam said agreeably, taking Verity's hand. And then promptly getting distracted by the sight of the energy moving along the pathways under his skin like little blue lightning bolts. "Ooh."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Yes, you are very pretty," she assured him, giving him a little tug. "But we're going to shower now. Remember? Shower?"

You know what would be the worst possible timing right now? If the mice showed up.

"HAIL!"

Oh god.

[firstofitskind]

Oh! The mice! Liam liked the mice.

"Hail!" he responded cheerfully.

[arboreal_priestess]

"No, no, no, we are not doing this right now," Verity said, trying to push Liam down the hallway.

Verity was very short. This came with multiple disadvantages, especially when dealing with tall people.

"HAIL TO THE ARBOREAL PRIESTESS!" the mice greeted.

"Hail!" Verity huffed back. "It is time for Liam to take a shower."

"HAIL THE SHOWER!"

[firstofitskind]

"Hail the shower! Hail smelling great!" This proclamation was, apparently, hilarious, judging from the fact that it set Liam off giggling again.

[arboreal_priestess]

And, apparently, the mice all agreed, because they were also laughing and repeating that amongst themselves.

Verity was thinking of declaring the entire day a wash and just going to bed.

[firstofitskind]

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Liam asked, giggles tapering off as he noticed she seemed to find this far less amusing than either he or the mice did.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You still need a shower," she reminded. "You're covered in bits of Sleestak."

Fortunately, they'd both taken off their shoes in the hallway, but their clothes were entirely a lost cause at this point.

[firstofitskind]

"Right, right," Liam nodded. "Are you coming with me?" he asked, beaming at her. Even though he vaguely remembered she'd already had a shower of her own.

[arboreal_priestess]

"If we get there sometime tonight, yes," she said, leaning down and kissing a clean part of his face because, dammit, he was so stupidly cute. "But we're going to be good and just shower there," she added.

Booooooo.

[firstofitskind]

"Booooo," Liam announced, echoing Verity's narrative.