Don't Touch (Invite)

[Roderic]

Doc is going through my stuff, but it doesn't phase me. I trust him to go through most my stuff. Scratch that. I trust him to go through all my stuff. Even the stuff that would make most people want to admit me to some ward, lock me in it and toss the key. Maybe some other night. Not tonight.

He offers the vambrance to me and I raise my arm and grab for it. I'm not sure how I'm going to put the ******* thing on, given I'm half wrapped like some marshmallow state puff man, but I'll get it. Some how. With it in my hand, I drop my arm on the bed and start thinking, but it's short lived because there is a knock on the door. “Space!” I call out, because Doc obviously needed the reminder that my apartment didn't have an open door policy.

I hear the door open and I smell dampness. Like wet grass, leaves, dirt and maple. It's her. I ******* smell her and it enrages me. If I had healed my back already, I'd be up and out of the bed and lunging for the door and kicking them both out on their ***. “Don't.” I shout out in a warning tone, but it's too late. I hear not one set of feet, but two. One is heavier and the other is lighter, due to weight differences. One is Doc's and the other...the other is hers. I snarl as my hand tightens around the vambrance and I'm trying to put the ******* thing on, but I'm rolling. Sort of. I'm not rolling far, but I am moving from side to side as I attempt to latch it on my other wrist.

And as I'm rolling, I realize that I'm still half naked. It doesn't bother me, but this woman...BB is going to see more of me in a single night than my doctor did in an entire year when I was alive. I try and lift my leg, or more so, my foot to snag a cover and try to not make a situation that might be awkward, really ******* awkward, but I groan and moan in pain. So I stop moving and I just lay there. What the **** else am I going to do? My eyes are steel and fixed right on the door as Doc walks in and then BB walks in and Doc explains something I've missed.

His Dominique. A form of Possession. What did that mean, his? He goes on and I don't stop staring, even if Doc's weaved the web of connection closed. We're 'related.' But that doesn't mean a lot to me. I am 'related' to a lot of people, but most I choose to ignore and forget about. “Aren't I your only brother-in-law?” I look at Doc pointedly, ignoring his Dominique. “I don't need anything. Got everything I need right here.” I shakily hold up the vambrance, using it as an attempt to distract from my package hanging out. Again.

[Dominique]

Dominique watched the door open abruptly and once again she was greeted with the reminder that a sofa still had not had it’s bath. She stepped in to the sound of Doc clearing his throat and glanced up at him while her steps slowed to a final hault. He was all business in his expression and that didn’t bode well for her at all. Not given the reason she was called back to the one apartment she had all but added to her list of last places on earth to return to. The list had been slowly growing. The open air modifications did give some relief to the aroma of the sofa that needed steam cleaning. The whole place needed something. It was the least of her concerns though. Namely because it was far from her problem. It wasn’t her place and it wasn’t something she would fix. Following Doc as he all but told her to do so gave a mild amusement. He was rarely seen in such a setting. He like things clean, orderly and above all minimal and neat.

Just when she was about to speak up and state her case the package in her hands was gone. Her brows shot up and naturally she was in his footsteps following a path she had not taken before. It still irked her that the guy was back there the whole time while she sat on his sofa waiting for him to show. Part of her knew it wasn’t exactly his fault starting out. It wasn’t his package after all. Foster surfaced in her mind and if he wasn’t already sporting a set back in a thigh high cast she was half tempted to ask him to go street luging as soon as she was finished with the pow-wow at hand.

She was a lot of things to Doc. ‘His’ was only the start of it. His pain in the ***. His thorn in his side. His less than compliant kid or whatever term she fit into. And even his kitten in a roundabout way. There was no shame in it. Radar knew a great thing when it was scratched her behind the seriously unproportioned set of ears that nearly weighed her down in the shifter form. Yes. She was his childe in the bite and blood sense. And she was certain that the nude dude in the bed she was staring at would not be seeing the sand kitten. A full fledged roaring lioness perhaps if he so much as put his paw on her again in any attempt to send her flying.

So that was it. As soon as she heard the introduction of nude dude having a name that rhymed with his most redeeming feature she shook her head. Doc needed to be filled on some points that likely never came to light. She narrowed her eyes at Ric and ignored his dick.

“Uncle Dick. What a small world it is.” She felt her lips tighten in brief silence then looked up to Doc.

It wasn’t like she could fight the effects of whatever had her trying for god knows why to stay in his good graces. There were still the moments she could stand her ground and tell him exactly what she thought and this seemed likely to be one of them.

“Why should I apologize for what condition he is in when I was going to the door and was prepared to show myself back out as he first asked me to do. Then like a scene straight out of the Exorcist he was doing a round about that had him holding the door closed and demanding information he had no right to know. It was an honest mistake. I don’t need to tell him who I work for or who processed the order for the package.” She looked back to the uncle she just acquired and shook her head a little more. “You are missing the point here.” She rolled her eyes from the Michelin man back to Doc. “I was about to open the door and take my leave and he grabbed my shoulder and I warned him.” Looks back to Ric. “Didn’t I Sunshine? I gave you a few seconds to process it before you made a silly move and had to go there. Now look at you. That will teach you to never try punching a chick in the gut again.” Dom nodded once firmly in agreement with her statement as it was delivered. How would he like those apples?

[Doc]

Doc listened as Minx once more ‘stood her ground’. She was stubborn and tenacious like that. It was all he could do to keep the crooked smirk at bay. And that mouth of hers, like Sire, like Spawn. When she said ‘Uncle Dick’, Doc’s eyes couldn’t help but stray to the namesake. He had to cover his mouth and cough again. He had his reaction firmly under control, as Minx started her self-righteous and indignant reply. Doc remained silent as she recounted the situation, point by point. And as she finished, with the a jaunty little tilt of her chin, stating that she had warned him.

As Minx said ‘I gave you a few seconds to process it before you made a silly move and had to go there.’ Doc immediately flashed back to his binding to Cytherea. He had clearly asked Cyth, if she was really ready to ride this train; and well they all knew how that turned out. There similarities between the two situations, two people too stubborn to admit fault, ready to ride it all the way. If he allowed that situation to go unchecked, he could see the fractures that would happen. His relationship with both of them would be irrevocably broken. It would never be the way it was last evening, before this had happened.

There was enough blame to go around. Ric’s point of view, his sanctuary had been breached by an intruder. He was defending his property. Minx had made an innocent mistake, that turned violent when she tried to leave. The one time a female could have resorted to puddling and it be acceptable.. Does she do it? No. She kicks the home owner’s ***. Doc had to defuse this situation and quickly.

Silence reigned as Doc looked between the two of them. Both having a defendable point of view, but neither willing to see the other’s side. Absently, his fingers drummed on the package he held. It wasn’t that heavy. He looked at the package. It all came down to this package. Without a second thought, Doc ripped open the box. When he saw what was inside it, he looked from it to Minx. He pulled a baggie of weed out, and held it out to her. “Roll ‘em.”

[Roderic]

A small dick joke comes from her first. I half expect she thinks that will get a rise from me, but it won't. I don't care how big or small my dick is and really, neither should she. But, that's what people do. The sort that know their in the wrong and try to take the attention off them and place it on something else. I catch her and Doc glancing at it and I just raise both my arms at my side; as if saying 'take a ******* picture.' But I don't say more than one word. I don't even make a quip at her in any aspect. Engaging women-women that talked a lot, would only make them talk more and the one thing I hate more than anything is talking. Hearing talking and doing talking. “Ric.”

I glare at her as she talks. I hate when women talk with the exception of a couple. It all sounds like that woman that is related to charlie brown, or was it his teacher? Nothing but a bunch of 'wah, wa, wah, wa, waaah.” So I choose to tone it out because she didn't start at the very beginning. The part where BB was sitting her *** on my stuff, like she owned the place. Acting as if it were her right to be there. Even if it was the wrong house, I don't think anyone would like to come home to a stranger in their space.

I wait for Doc to say or ask me something, but he doesn't. Instead he engages his Dominique and takes the package and I grin just a little. I hope that package goes right to hell for the hell she's given me tonight. He instead opens it and then tells her to roll it. I didn't see what it was because I was glaring at her, but I look and see a bag of crap. I know what it is. Just because I've never done drugs, doesn't mean I don't know what most look like. I sold a lot for Momma bear and sold some here and there for this other guy when I first came to the city.

I learned a lot of things in these final seconds. The first being, Doc did drugs. Who knew? I sure the **** didn't know. I knew he drank, which was a new thing, but drugs? Never suspected it in all my life. And then I learned why BB was so fit to die for what was in the package. I get it. I understood it because I would have done the same a few years ago. No one would get to know what was in the package, for obvious reasons. Like the illegal sort. I could be anyone. A cop. Another dealer. She doesn't know. So I get why she wasn't letting me have the package or letting me know where...what was his name? Freddy? Frankie? Foster. That was it. Where Foster was at.

I slowly look between the two of them and count to eight before I part my lips and speak very quietly, but sternly. “As I said. I don't want or need an apology. What I want is for everyone to get the **** out.” I'm not mad. I don't look mad. My face is quite expressionless, as I turn it towards the door. I want to take care of business, which is getting healed, cleaning up my apartment, and progressing with my night now that this whole crazy encounter was coming to an end.

[Dominique]

As soon as the former nude dude and now newest Uncle raises his voice in verbal protest HOPE and LESS slow down their attempt at rolling. What else was there to do? A man's hole in the wall was said to be his castle and in the part of Canada they were standing in she was well aware that they practiced what was castle law all the time. Inside and outside of the castle in fact. Maybe the guy was in a bad way but with the way he made it clear that visiting hours were over she was not entirely enthused at overstaying her welcome...again. She said her peace and he said his and oddly enough in the middle Doc was there sort of making things seem like they were. An awkward situation where one man was down and she...well she was left holding the bag.

Dark wide eyes fixed on the bag in her hand. It really shouldn’t go to waste. There was plenty where it came from. She wasn’t about to get any closer to the guy who couldn’t itch his nose with his own hand if he tried. Instead she tucked the fragrant baggie in Doc’s front pocket and patted it.

“I guess this concludes the entertainment for this evening. I do thank you both for a lovely time.” She smiled up at Doc. “I will leave you two to your night ahead.”

Without another word said she makes her way back out of the hallway and gives the dog that appears a quick pat on the head. When it disappears she makes use of the door handle and proves she is not beyond using them routinely. Once the door is shut she looks around and shrugs. It was not the worst night ever. It could have been worse and yet it could have been a hell of a lot better. The craving for something ice cold kicked in and she decided on meeting that craving by stopping at the Voodoo to see what Mortll was up to. Hopefully her last few hours were less eventful.

[Doc]

Dominique tucked the baggie in his pocket and sauntered her little *** out, like she had just won the Miss America Pageant, through silent intimidation without having to answer those awkward ‘world peace’ questions. Doc sighed. Taking the baggie out of his pocket, he put it back in the box. He finally turned back to Ric, and lifted the box up, with an eyebrow in silent query. “I never took you for that sort.. “ His words faded off. But his plan, before Ric changed his mind suddenly, had been to get them both high, and once they were mellowed out.. He would hopefully get them to an agreeable dropping of the issue.

Setting the box on Ric’s dresser, the one that had held the vambrace, Doc moved toward the apartment door. He wanted to thank him, for dropping it. But Ric said he didn’t want any thanks. That meant Ric had a plan. Of course he did. Doc wasn’t stupid. Ric went from a ballistic missile about to explode, to calmly assuring him, he was fine. He was far from fine. He had a plan. Not that Doc blamed him. He would do the same.

As Doc let himself out of the apartment, he told himself. Minx was an adult. She could handle herself. He was the one that needed to just stay the **** out of it. After all, Pi didn’t rush in and try to bail him out, when he fucked up. Something that he actually did appreciate about her. She was hands off. He needed to learn to be more like that as well.

So Doc was going to take Ric at his word. He had no reason not to trust his word. It was Doc’s own pessimistic attitude that was his worst enemy. Worst case scenario, Ric sends Minx to the Shadow Realm. He sent her there himself, for less. So why did it bother him so much? He frowned in disgust, as it dawned on him, “I am a ******* micro manager.”