marceline, that's too distasteful! (ydidueatmyfries) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-09-18 20:56:00 |
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It wouldn't be false to say that Baelfire wasn't conscious of most of his movements and reactions since the midpoint of the ball. His attention had been centered on Ronan Lynch from the moment he'd arrived. He'd spent a great deal of time trying to find his friend, just like the others had been doing, and eventually he'd come to find Ronan's portrait. There'd been half a mind to try to slam his dagger into the portrait, to drag it down, and slice the image out of the canvas as though this would magically free his friend. However, Baelfire had been around tricksters all of his life. It wouldn't be that simple and there were those who were meant to conduct trials to free the people involved. He would likely make it worse by trying to free Ronan in such a violent manner. It'd been in front of Ronan's portrait, with Baelfire unaware that this was one of several, when he'd been approached by Emma and Neal. He'd known Neal was the individual behind the mask without much effort. They were dressed the same and this caught Baelfire's eye early. He was always hyper aware of Neal Cassidy's mannerisms, out of a deep seeded fear of how similar they were, and the notion of preferences. He knew better than to believe that such a thing existed but there was always that seed inside of him that could grown into prickly vines and rise up to overtake him; until rationale would arrive and he'd cut it back to just the seeds once again. At present, the feeling was bubbling to the surface and had been growing in the wake of the fairy crisis. Baelfire couldn't quite remember the exact words Emma had said. The world had tilted on it's axis and there was an awareness of facts. These facts had pushed Baelfire backwards, away from Emma and Neal, and he'd stumbled away. Then it'd become a frantic race against the clock, determined to find Marceline before dawn, and before they took her away forever. When the sun had rose, and Baelfire was slammed down on his twin bed of Emma's home, hot tears had been welled up in his eyes. He didn't stay. He'd rushed from the house with a slamming of the door. With the sun in the sky, it was no longer a rush to beat the clock but to confirm her absence. He'd gone by the Ugly Pink House. The door was still barred shut just as it had been since she'd left. He'd pressed fingertips to his bracelet, not thinking twice about doing so, and run across the vast of Dino Island until he came to her treehouse. She was nowhere to be found and this felt like affirmation that the trade had took. And that's when it became a desperate thought process of what solutions they could enact. He was turning to magic. He was ignoring everything he ever knew because he couldn't let them keep her. He couldn't let Marceline be abandoned to another reality like he'd once been, even though he'd done just as she'd just done. He'd sacrificed himself for the Darling children. She had sacrificed herself for a Tumbleweed resident. And while that was all good, and noble and he couldn't even fault her, that didn't mean he was going to let her be cast off alone. She'd been alone for far too long in her life already. And the wave that rolled over him when he saw her words upon the network had made all plans stop. Frantic plans that he'd normally know were foolish, dangerous even, were abandoned with a thrust of his phone into his jean pockets. He didn't register how long it took him to get to the Ugly Pink House. He'd barely managed to stop long enough to get a crowbar as requested. The idea of stalling, of any further delay, in seeing her felt absurd. And yet, he'd done so, and he approached the house with the crowbar in hand. He didn't bother with trying to free all of the boards. He pried off just enough of the nails to pull loose a board and allow him enough space to get inside, and then he did just that. The crowbar got shoved through the opening and he crawled inside. Once he could stand, eyes searched frantically until he saw her. And then he was rushing forward, hands coming up to catch either side of her face, and he leaned in. His lips pressed to hers, trembling as he did so, and the kiss barely lasted because a second later he'd broken it, as a broken sound escaped from inside of him. Maybe Marcy should have read the rest of the comments. She’d looked at the network, saw Bae’s post and was half tempted to roll back to sleep. It was still in the middle of the day and she’d been up all night like she had the night before. There were tiny bags under her eyes. The eagerness to break into her house, the kiss, all of it had taken her by surprise. Marcy tried to blink the sleep away quickly, frowning with concern. “Oh, Bae.” Marcy’s arms wrapped around him and supported him tightly. Too much had just happened but the important one, the thing that stood out most, was how upset he was. His hands slipped down from her face and in a mimic motion, his arms were around her, holding her tight. His eyes shut as he just focused on the feel of her in his arms. There was a weight to the feeling and it brought comfort. She was solid, she was present, and she was there. Pulling in a breath, he pulled back just enough to look at her now, and took note of the tired expression she wore. He knew it was her usual bedtime. There was a part of him that thought perhaps he should suggest she go back to sleep, that he'd work at getting the boards off the windows and the doors if she wanted; but he wasn't calm enough for that. He couldn't pull himself away from her just yet for that. "I thought..." he began to say but he didn't even know where to go from there. “Hey,” Marcy said with a frown. Her fingers carefully brushed his long hair back away from his face. “Even if they wanted to capture me, it wouldn’t have worked. I would have punched my way out of there.” Typical Marcy reassurance with a kernal of Marcy stubbornness. She could be affected by magic, more than she cared to admit. “Or annoyed them until they kicked me out. Heh. Probably that one.” "They made it sound like they did capture you," he responded back, with his voice quieter than typical, and with a determination to keep it level. He didn't care if he looked upset. He just didn't want it to spiral. There was a soft whimper as she brushed his hair back. "You might have, but they've disappeared. You wouldn't have been able to come back." She would have been stuck just as he had been in Neverland all those years ago. And even though he was upset, there was a slight huff of a laugh. "Probably that one," he agreed, because what did it matter countering her points and arguing what he'd thought to be the case when in actuality she was here now? She liked that she was able to get him to laugh, and her lips curled into a hopeful, slightly self aware little grin. “I’m gunna find a way back. Like every time. Doesn’t matter.” It might not have been a hundred percent honest. She really had meant to go in place of Maya. The offer had been real. Marcy just hadn’t thought too hard about what was going to happen afterward. She halfway knew she’d lucked out, but it seemed more important to make her friend feel better. Her friend who had kissed her. And was holding onto very tightly. The confidence act wavered a little. “You gunna be okay? We could go watch movies if you want.” The part of him that had been running on plenty of negative emotions that day wanted to counter that perhaps she would, but when? How long would it take her to find her way back to Tumbleweed? If she found her way back at all? What if instead she was held back, it taking decades, and she eventually found her way back to Ooo? Or a different universe all together? Bae supposed if she went back to Ooo, that was one thing, and he could be happy for her in that notion. Only he'd have no way of knowing that ever came to pass. He'd never know. He'd always be left wondering. He swallowed again and nodded his head, keeping that thought to himself. "I'd rather you didn't need to find you way back," he said, completely truthful in that. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Are you?" The second question gave him pause. He was in no mood for a movie. He wasn't in a mood for much of anything. "I...no. I don't want to watch a movie." He hesitated before loosening his grip some so he could step backwards and look at her better. "Can I stay here?" “Yeah.” Marcy said. Without meaning to, she yawned, pulling one hand away to cover her mouth and trying to blink away the sleep from her eyes. “We can do whatever you want.” Maybe she had imagined the kiss. Marcy ruffled her hair slightly with her free hand as though that would help wake her. There was a nod and he let go of her completely. His hand reached down, taking hold of her free one, and he kept his eyes focused on the floor. "I haven't slept since yesterday," he admitted to her. He hadn't felt tired. He'd felt pushed to determination. But he knew the exhaustion was going to hit him soon. "Can we just go...sleep? Can we do that?" He hesitated for a second, because all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and curl close in the bed, but that was something he'd given up being allowed to do. And the kiss wasn't exactly something he should have done now that his mind was catching up with him. Only...he'd missed it. He'd missed her and he missed them. "I can stay down here," he offered, but it gave away what he really wanted. His head tilted so he could gaze half up at her now. “I don’t want you to stay down here,” she said. It was just sleeping. They were both tired so, it didn’t have to be a big deal, did it? Marcy nibbled nervously on her lower lip. “Let’s just get some sleep,” she offered. "Yeah, okay." He gave a subtle nod in response, his hand still holding hers. He glanced in the direction of the ladder but didn't make any move towards it. He'd let her lead on this. Marcy pulled him along gently by his hand, leading him up the stairs and to her bed. Of course, by the time they were at her bed, kissing him seemed like a really good idea again. Which, maybe it was a really bad idea, if that wasn’t what he wanted. “You can-- I mean-- There’s the couch if you don’t want to…” she offered, looking down at the mattress. He didn't let go of her hand, scaling up the ladder carefully until they reached the second floor. Once they were there, his eyes fell to the bed, and his chest felt tight. He'd slept here so many nights after the cruise had ended but he'd never felt this type of uncertainty then, like this could potentially be a bad idea. He pulled his gaze from the bed to look to her when she spoke. "What are you more comfortable with?" Marcy stared at him for a moment. Her hand never dropped his. Deciding it was going to be better if she didn’t think about it too much, she pulled him onto the bed next to her. But instead of laying down she was hover on her knees. And instead of letting go so they could settle, her other hand went to take his. Her eyes were locked on his to make sure this was okay. Either that, or she was giving him one more opportunity to really, actually kiss her on purpose. Just to make sure. He probably only actually wanted to be friends. The whole situation just gunked him up a little, and that was understandable. He let himself be pulled down onto the bed and shifted so he could look up at her as she hovered. His breathing had slowed and he was suddenly very aware of everything going on in this space. He shifted once again so that his elbows were digging back into the mattress and he was raising his upper body up off of the bed. He allowed for one more moment of just watching her, grateful that he could, before he slid himself up further. He brought a hand up to rest on her cheek as he kissed her for the second time that afternoon. This time Marcy wasn’t frozen by surprise or disorientation. This time, she kissed him right back. It was a little more needy and desperate than she meant it to be, but she missed him. She missed this. And it was her turn to whimper just slightly as her arms wrapped around him and wanted to keep him held close. He didn't mind the need or the desperate feeling, for he'd felt those same emotions when he'd first slipped through the door and pressed his lips to hers. Those feelings had been overwhelmed by the other emotions he'd been feeling all morning, the fear and the panic, but those emotions were not present now. He just felt a sense of longing to be right here, with her, and to never feel like he'd lost her again. The whimper gave him enough pause to pull from the kiss, his forehead leaning against hers, while he dropped his hand so he could wrap an arm around her. "You okay?" He whispered. “I just really missed you,” Marcy admitted. “Really, really, really missed you.” "I missed you, too." He knew they still had things that weren't resolved and some of them couldn't be. But none of it felt terribly important anymore. Not in the wake of feeling like she was gone forever. "I want to stay." “I’m not going to kick you out,” Marcy said with a smile, pulling him a little close. Maybe she missed what he meant. Maybe this was just temporary relief at her not being gone. But she would take what she could get. Slowly she lead him down to lay on the mattress with her. It didn’t matter if they were just going to talk or sleep or kiss some more, but she wasn’t tired anymore. He gave a little bit of a laugh, his smile wide as she pulled him close. "That wasn't exactly what I meant," he replied. And any need he may have felt to explain himself was pushed aside as he was pulled to lay down beside her. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her close, "Marcy?" The vampire nestled in next to him. She’d missed his scent, having it kept close next to her. Instantly she felt a little more relaxed. “Yeah, Bae?” "Can I be bae again?" “You are my bae,” Marcy said. There was the smallest of smiles in immediate response to that. Everything was starting to feel back to normal, in a way that it hadn't these past few months. Maybe he shouldn't have let believing she was gone be what helped push him to making it clear he wanted them back, but at least it was clear now. And still displaying that smile, he shifted, wrapping both his arms around her and rolling them until he was in a position where it was easier to catch her lips with his. Once they’d exorcised all innocent affections from their system, the two of them fell asleep. Marcy didn’t hover like she sometimes did, anchored against Bae, missing the days on the cruise when they could keep similar sleep schedules without school or jobs to get in the way. She could try harder. Jan was making her clothes that would be more secure against the sun. Marcy had a day job anyway. After today, once she got her things moved back, she’d switch things up. She just wanted to sleep through one more day, and let the natural setting of the sun wake her. By the time they had fallen asleep, Bae's complete exhaustion had overtaken him. He wasn't one to sleep during the day often. Decades in Neverland made him rise and fall with the sun. But between the ball, the panic filled morning, and the afternoon reunion? He was ready to pass out once his second wind had gone away. And so, he wasn't rested up enough to notice the change in his form that seemed to come along with the setting of the sun. He had been stretched out on his back, an arm around Marceline and his head turned in her direction. In fact the only shift that came from him was to pull his arm away, because it was registering as uncomfortable. And that, perhaps, was because it didn't bend the way a human arm would. His now transformed front leg moved to rest thrown over top of her as he shifted more to lay on his side. Marceline’s hand went to the limb placed on her at first to hold it in her hand. But the weight was thinner, sharper, and covered in fur. The vampire froze. Very slowly and very carefully her eyes opened. ...Did Bae go out and get her a puppy while she’d been sleeping? The wolf was dark and sleeping or Marcy might have pounced it instantly. Instead she sat up slowly, trying to see where Bae had gone. Idly, her fingers stroked through the wolf’s fur. “Bae?” she called out. There was a whine from the wolf when she called out. It turned so as to face the other direction, as if trying to ignore the call. "We just got to sleep," Bae's voice said, like he was right there and facing away. Which...he was. Marceline stared at the wolf, frowning. “Did you just eat my boyfriend?” she accused. "What?" Baelfire asked, getting the impression he wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep. He turned his head and opened his eyes and… ....why was he staring down a long black nose? He leaped up, coming to sit up fully, looking alarmed in Marceline's direction. He stared for a moment before standing on all fours and moving around in circles, like he was chasing his tail, but actually trying to see what had happened to his body. Marceline watched the wolf turn in circles, now she was hovering while her arms were crossed over her chest. “Dude, if you’re not Baelfire, you have about two seconds to run before I rip you in half and look for him.” "Marcy!" He replied, eyes snapping away from the attention of his tail to look back up at her. He flopped back down into a sitting position and lowered his head, whining some again. "How'd this happen?" “Nuh uh, dude. This could be like some fairy game. You could have just like, stolen his voice or something.” Marcy was still frowning at the wolf. “You have to tell me something only he’d know. Or something else smart I haven’t thought of yet.” Crap. Marcy wasn’t good at this stuff. “I’m texting Neal,” she muttered, reaching for her phone. "Wait, seriously?" His head lowered more and he flopped down to lay on more on the bed, his head resting on his paws. "I don't know. I gave you the red candy when we had Easter baskets? Even the jelly beans." Then his head shot up. "No!" Texting Neal meant Emma would find out. And he already needed to apologize to her. He didn't want to make it more awkward by being a giant canine. The detail about the Easter candy sort of convinced her. It wasn’t until Bae protested her telling Neal and the way he did it, that she froze and set down the phone. “Yeah, okay. It’s probably you.” Marceline laid on the bed next to Bae and watched him. “At least you can talk,” she said. It was a small consolation. He lifted his head enough to look at her and then reached out, paw tapping the top of her phone. "See if it is just me. Emma said Regina was under a sleeping curse. Things could be up." He probably should have asked that question earlier but he had been too focused on trying to reach her to be thinking straight. Marceline rose from the bed like a specter and floated downstairs to get her tablet and check the network. Her phone had some advantages, being a strange, bug-like device from Ooo, but the tablet was better for everything that wasn’t a phone call or text. Once she brought it upstairs, Marceline sat on the bed next to Bae and turned on the tablet, scrolling through posts. “Some people were turned into birds and horses today. No mention of wolves yet. I’ll check it later.” Marcy shrugged and tossed the tablet to the side of her on the bed. "I think if anyone is turning into animals, we can say it is probably the same reason." He didn't like it though. It made him uncomfortable, thinking back to when his father would turn people into animals for upsetting him. Or worse. He shifted and moved to rest his head against her leg. Without thinking, Marcy ran her fingers through the fur at the top of Bae’s new head. “You look pretty cool,” she said. “At least you don’t have a giant blobby cartoon head.” "I don't know. The cartoon look wasn't too bad. It was different." He didn't think twice about seeking out the pets against his fur. "I like it better when we look like ourselves though." Marceline shifted, her body silently changing shape and sprouting thick black fur, until Baelfire was staring at a wolf about his size with similar coloring and blood red eyes. “Eh,” said Marcy. “Let’s enjoy being wolves. Wanna go on a run?” He lifted his head just enough to watch her shift. "Might as well," he agreed before leaping off the bed, only hesitating long enough for her to come to his side, before moving for the ladder. |