InsaneJournal

You're not my friend
Who: Toni, Torque, A Nicor demon (NPC) and Patience (NPC)
When: From just before eleven AM and on
Where: Near a lake, on the run, Torque's apartment
Warning: Extremely brief nudity due to shifting slightly NSFW

Toni had ended up with the night shift the previous night and by the time she got off that morning and laid down for a nap, she realized she was way too wired to sleep for very long. And so she got up, grabbed a pair of shorts and a sports bra, pulled them on and headed out towards the lake for a run. It would loosen her up and maybe tire her out and that was just what she needed. She left her house before any reports of demons had went out and so she was completely oblivious as she ran along the lake, the silence surrounding her and only the sounds of her feet as they hit the grass breaking it in little rhythmic beats. Making her way along the curve of the shoreline, she didn't even notice the figure as it emerged from the murky water.



The water flowed, too fast to be the natural, lazy, tempo of the water's current, towards one specific area. Dark and clouded, the water slowly formed into the vague outline of fingers, then a hand, an arm, a body, and finally an entire shape of a man. Or, something like a man. Something monstrous and eternally angry, that peered up through the water with turbid eyes, catching sight of potential prey. It dripped and left a trail of water as it raised itself from the lake's surface entirely, diving with fluid, no pun intended, speed to grip the prey's ankles and attempted to drag the human back under the water with it.

Startled by the wetness of the fingers - or non-fingers as it were - wrapping around her ankles, the normally well-balanced feline tumbled over, losing her balance and landing with a soft thud against the grass. A swivel of her body and Toni caught sight of the creature that seemed to desperately be trying to pull her towards the water. She couldn't say she knew what the being was, or if it was even a being at all. What she did know was that whatever it was wasn't something she'd ever been face to non-face with in her entire life. She opened her mouth to make some sort of an effort of a scream, something to signal her distress, but not a peep emerged from her mouth. She couldn't help but wonder why she'd not brought her gun along on her run. The one time she was without the weapon, something like this happened. She tried to kick at the thing as it dragged her along the bank and into the water, but it seemed futile. It wasn't until she was drenched that she realized what this creature planned to do.

It wanted to drown her.

Toni struggled desperately against the thing, trying her best to claw and kick and punch at it's body. It had to let her go! But how she could get it to, she didn't know.

It did not so much as walk, as crawl and sluice, a mass of water moving across the grass, linked to the full body of water itself. Any thoughts it might have were as occluded as the water it was made up of, but flickers and shimmers of it whirled around an unnatural anger. A demand to fill the human's lungs with waters and hold her beneath the surface until it stopped its futile struggling. Sinking back into the water entirely, it pulled its victim in with it.

Okay, it was moving her further and further into the water and she was less able to fight the further out they got. When she felt her lungs beg for air after being pulled deep enough to cover her head and body entirely, Toni did all she could do. She shifted and she clawed the beast and jerked away, managing to get free of it's grip somehow in the midst of flying fur and growls and clawing paws. She had to get away before it nabbed her again. She didn't know what it was, but she certainly didn't want to be around it for another second longer. As she got to the bank, she shook her furry body briefly and glanced once around to figure out her quickest mode of moving to safety.

Somehow that moving to safety led her straight to Torque's door. By the time she got there, she was still soaked to the skin and still in her feline form. Thankfully no one was around to notice her as she shifted back just in front of his door and knocked, waiting there, naked as the day she was born and breathing heavily.

Patience hadn't seemed to be feeling well that day, nothing prophetic or even out of the norm for a little girl around other children and people, but slightly feverish (even for a Were) and sniffly. Not exactly sure what to do, Torque had decided on calling into Mr. Weiss and telling him what was up, receiving only understanding from the man when Torque had suggested he stay home for the day with the kid. That was, he thought, what he was supposed to do. Besides going out earlier, Patience on his hip and clinging to her stuffed elephant, for some kid's cold medicine, they had been home all day. With the little girl dressed in a little pink butterfly dress that he had chosen simply because it was the easiest thing to get the grumpy and clingy little girl into, in order to get out.

They were sitting on the couch, watching Lion King (for the third time, he really needed to get more kid movies at this rate), when someone knocked on the door, and he had to extricate himself from the blanket wrapped toddler in order to answer it. Whatever he had been expecting when he opened the door, he never would have guessed a soaked and completely naked Toni to be waiting on his doorstep. It was like something out of a dream that he'd wake up with a sheen of sweat and an ache between his legs, but the cheerful sounds of Hakuna Matata being sung behind him told him it was definitely reality, "Toni?"

"I'm sorry." she said first. "Your place was the closet place around and I... I just... there was a monster." she told him, her voice telling him that what she was talking about was real and she was startled. "Something attacked me. It tried to drown me and I... I had to shift and I came here and... and... I'm scared." she managed, the words all running together as she let him stare at her. "Please let me come in."

The blonde, who he knew as this confident, sexy, hip swinging female who had no qualms about telling him what exactly she wanted, was obviously frightened and threatened. Immediate protective instincts, not the kind that permanently wrapped about much of anything at all, but generally overlapped women and those weaker or smaller than himself, rose, and he nodded. "Hey, it's okay," he stepped back from the doorway, blocking her from sight from Patience, although nudity was rarely an issue around Weres, in order to let her in. "Come on," the idea that there were monsters, he had his money on demons, knowing that Toni would have likely said a Were if she meant one, back in town, it wasn't a pleasant one. He had already done the demon thing once, even signed up for the civilian group where nothing had happened, and had no desire to see those ugly things around again. "We'll get you a towel," his eyes flicked down for a second, taking her her naked form again, "And some clothes."

Toni stepped into the apartment as soon as Torque gave her permission. It was about that time she caught sight of the tiny little girl watching the television. She didn't want to be nude in front of some unknown child, but there wasn't much of a choice. "Okay." she said, nodding at Torque when he offered up clothes. She followed him to the bathroom first, trying to get her fast beating heart to calm down. "I didn't know what was going on." she told him. "It came out of nowhere. I was by the lake and it just... attacked me."

To get to the bathroom, Torque took the route through his bedroom, since it'd be easier to get to some clothes from there. Patience only took a momentary notice of the strange Were, the strange woman, peeking over the couch with her mussed hair and stuffed elephant in one hand, before she returned to watching the Lion King with a sniffle. While he hadn't touched her from letting her in, shutting the door once she was inside and making sure to lock both locks, or in leading her through his bedroom to the bathroom, Torque did pause to set a hand on her upper arm when they were alone. "Big shadowy motherfucker? Loves to rip Skynyrd tees and toss people into rocks?" He kept his tone low, low and light. Torque didn't particularly want Patience overhearing him sounding too serious or angry about demons, not when he had her convinced that no matter what, she was safe as long as he was around. He handed her a towel off the rack nearby, the relatively small bathroom keeping him in close proximity to her.

"A watery looking thing." she told him. "It was almost like it was entirely made out of water. I've never seen anything like it. I think it was a demon." she whispered, her voice cautious as well. The last thing she wanted to do was upset the tiny child that sat in the other room completely oblivious. Toni took the towel that was offered and after drying out her hair just a bit, she wrapped it around her body. "I didn't know if you'd be here or that you'd have a little girl here." she admitted. "Sorry for showing up sans clothes I just wasn't sure where else to go."

Torque's first thought was a very descriptive string of expletives. A creature made of water? It sounded nothing like the demon he had faced before, because that son of a bitch had been solid. His ribs, his jaw, his back, they had all held testament to that fact. When he bore the evidence in quickly healing bruises on his body. He wasn't entirely successful at ignoring the way she looked and her body moved while she dried her hair, but his attention was still occupied, the majority of it, on her words. Any appreciation then was the knee jerk biological instinct, not so much of a conscious decision.

"I wasn't supposed to be," it wasn't particularly important, really, "But the Munchkin's got a cold." Torque pulled a half grin from somewhere, "Hey, I'm totally cool with you showing up at my door naked," even with the joke on his lips, he moved past her back towards the bedroom to pull open his dresser and pull out a shirt and a pair of shorts for her to wear.

It was a joke, but it still made her feel better once it had been uttered. At least he didn't mind that she'd shown up. He wasn't kicking her out yet anyways and that was certainly a good thing. She followed him out into his bedroom and watched him as he found a pair of shorts and a shirt and though she knew they'd be a little too big on her, she didn't seem to mind when she took them from him. "Guess you really know how to take care of her." she smiled. "It's nice to know not all guys are completely and utterly incapable of caring for a child." It was also a softer side that she hadn't really expected to see in Torque. "Thanks for these." she said as she slipped the shorts on and let the towel fall to the floor so she could pull the shirt on too. "A little big, but hey, they work."

Considering their size difference, even if she wasn't the tiniest thing (which he was glad of) and he was all muscle and no fat (another thing to be glad of), he had already been sure that both the shorts and shirt would be too big for her. Thankfully, however, it was a pair of shorts with drawstrings, so maybe that would help, somewhat. And a tee half falling off her wouldn't hurt anyone, with a part of him he didn't bother to squelch nothing that he did not mind that she would still be lacking a bra. Not mind in the least. He liked the lack of consciousness about her own nudity, whether it was because they had already slept together (not that anyone had slept or even been sleepy), or simply because she was, like him, a born Were. Still, he had to half snort at the thought that he was actually being chalked up to someone with knowledge of how to really care for the three year old, "Yeah, you'd be the first to say that. I mostly just do my best not to fuck it up." It was an easier sidestep to take a step back from Toni to admire her in his clothes, "No problem, they look good on you."

Toni smiled a little at that. "So you really don't know much then?" she asked him as she pulled the drawstring and tied it tight around her middle. The shirt was baggy, but she quickly fixed that issue by tying it up like a girl from the eighties or something in the front and center of her chest. "There. That's better." she murmured. "I probably look a mess, but hey, whatever." Not that it mattered a damn bit. "So, are you going to kick me out now that I'm dressed?" she teased.

"I think I'm surprised as anyone that I make it through another day," his tone was light, although his words were self-deprecating, they were tossed off as if they meant far less than they really did. "Munchkin's only been with me for..." Torque took a second to actually think about it, likely the first in awhile to take the time to track how long she had been in his custody, "Damn. A month." Suddenly two months as a civilian and one month with legal custody of his niece held a lot more weight in his mind than when he hadn't considered the topic at all. Not consciously, at least. But he wasn't built to be serious, not completely, not to appear such, at least, and he immediately lightened his thoughts with flirtation and humor, "Actually, it's kind of kinky, when I think about it, you in my clothes." Her teasing comment had him actually thinking, with the immediate proviso of a mental comment that yes, he was capable of actual thought, about safety and his lack of knowledge about what was going on out there. "Nah, why don't you hang around for a bit. At least until we know more. I know I'm not complain about you in reach for at least a couple hours."

His niece was still top priority, of course, watching after her and being sure she was protected. The suggestion of some funtimes if Patience happened to go down for her usual nap sometime soon, aided with her general sleepiness from her cold and cold medicine, that was just something else.

"I don't think that you're as bad as you think you are." Toni told him. "She looks healthy and you've had her for a month? That's really something, Deacon." she assured the man. It said a lot that he'd let himself be somewhat uprooted when the child had been thrust upon him in the way that she had. "Don't sell yourself short. You've done a good job with her I think." And that much was true, even in the short amount of time she got to glance at the child.

She was glad that Torque didn't want to kick her out just yet and she smiled at his statement on the subject. "Well I won't mind having you in reach either." she admitted, taking the couple of steps that separated them and leaning up to press a little kiss to his lips. "I've missed you since the last time I saw you."

They hadn't talked about any of it, about him even having Patience in the first place, so Torque had no idea what she was really thinking on the subject of why he had only had a three year old for the past month. Although, really, he didn't exactly feel like going far into that topic, so continuing to not talk about it was just fine with him. It wasn't, after all, as if he had any plans to tread in 'relationship' territory for awhile, or even had thoughts that way after the thing with Lia not long before. Instead, he shrugged, although his mind didn't entirely shrug off her words, "Guess I left out her Ninja lessons and her world domination plans, but those are just hobbies of hers."

As aware as he was of the conscious toddler on the other side of the apartment, Torque wasn't about to give up at least touching and kissing her, just then. With his hands lighting on her hips for a second, before one smoothed across her back and the other cupped her waist, Torque followed her mouth as she pulled away from that soft, almost non-kiss, for another. She wasn't quite dry, and she tasted faintly of lakewater when he covered her mouth with his.

She smiled a little when he pressed his lips against hers again, even with the child in the other room. Even with the demons outside, he could take another kiss from her and she certainly approved. "Mmm..." she murmured, eyes slowly opening again after that second kiss. "You better stop that before I start petitioning for earlier naptimes." she whispered, a tiny little smirk on her face as she lifted her hand to brush across his cheek. "We should probably get back out there with the little one, huh?"

It was a small indulgence, a moment spent to her full lips against his and her curvy body against his, only covered by the thin layer of borrowed clothing. He bore a grin on his lips as they separated, at her words, at the touch, and nodded once, immediately. His first priority was, and should be, Patience in the other room, not stripping the newly lent clothes off of Toni and dragging her into bed. Not now, at least. There was a reluctance in his movements as he let her go, "Can't leave her too long right now, or she'll come looking for me." Not something he wanted her walking in on, thank you very much. He stole one last kiss before he turned and let himself out of the room, heading for the happy sounds of a classic Disney flick on the TV.

As much as Toni would have liked him to strip her borrowed clothes off and throw her to the bed that was so close to them, she knew the child in the other room was far more important. Heading out after Torque, she moved to the couch and settled herself down next to the little girl. "Hello, little one." she said softly, almost motherly. She was a woman after all, be it a strong one. Children had a soft place in her heart and this little one would be no different. "Not feeling good are you, sweetness?"

In response, Patience sniffled with a clearly unhappy expression on her little face, shaking her head once before she reached for her uncle. She had a blanket mostly wrapped around her, and was holding Babar's stuffed elephant princess tightly in one hand, and her straight chestnut hair looked in need of a second brushing that day. "Don' fee good," the last of her words was lost to the second language she knew, the French Cajun she had learned from listening to 'Ree' and Torque talk in the tattoo shop.

Torque obediently scooped up the little girl, letting her wrap her arms around his neck, before he sat down to take her place on the couch. He had already given her the dose of children's medicine she should need, and followed what basics of advice the woman at the pharmacy had given him, for once ignoring the flirtation of a pretty woman, in order to absorb what she said. Besides more fluids and some sleep, there wasn't much else he could do for his niece.

"Aww." Toni murmured, giving her the tiniest little smile. The poor thing didn't look happy at all and she certainly didn't look like she felt even the tiniest bit like normal. Toni watched as Torque lifted the little girl and settled down on the couch with her. For as much as he said he didn't know about children, he certainly seemed to have that little one wrapped around his finger, or perhaps it was the tot that had him wrapped around her finger. "Is she yours?" Toni questioned Torque, one eyebrow arching just slightly. Sure they hadn't had conversations about whether he had a child or not when they last came together, but now that they had a moment or two to actually converse, the question did rise in her mind.

Five weeks before, Torque would have looked at anyone who suggested he would have a toddler to care for in the near future, like they were completely out of their gourd. Just over four weeks before, he had gotten the news about his sister's death, two weeks after the car accident had happened in the first place. Just then? He had definitely grown heavily attached to his niece, to her shy and quiet ways, and no longer protested how easily and completely she seemed to view him as this giant who would always keep her safe. He had told her, after the first day the demons had arrived, that he would keep everything bad away from her, and he planned to do everything in his power to fulfill that. "Yes and no," being mistaken for her father was a near daily occurence, but he had mostly given up on pointing out the truth unless directly asked. "She's my niece," Patience wedged herself just right against his side to watch the movie with half open eyes, "But I'm her permanent guardian." That statement alone should scare the christ out of him way more than it did, at that point.

Which meant that something must have happened to his brother or sister to put him in that position. Her permanent guardian. It was specific and definitely meant more than just today and tomorrow. "I see." she said with a little nod as she watched the tiny thing wedge herself just so that she could let her eyes flick to the television and the movie as it still played. "You don't have to talk about what happened." she told him. It was enough to know that the little girl was his niece. He didn't need to rehash the past. Eyes to the little girl, she smiled at her again. "Do you like this movie?" she asked her. "It's very good."

When it came up, what relation he was exactly to Patience, the first assumption he had found people make was that he was babysitting, or something similar. If it came to asking how long he had her for, or questions along those lines, and he came out with the blunt answer that his sister was dead, they assumed they were close. That Torque mourned the loss of his sister with a heavy heart, but that wasn't the truth at all. He was sorry she was dead, sure, but it wasn't for his own sake. Kelly and he had fought like cats and dogs from birth, and there was enough bad blood between them that no one who knew him would think he was bothered much by her death. For Patience's sake, though, there he felt some regret that his older sister had died so suddenly, but only for Patience, or only for his parents, "Thanks." Because he didn't want to go into it all, as it was a subject lousy with too much explanation, and a lot of it tied to bad memories.

Against him, Patience nodded her head, "Like kitties," the little Were was fascinated by the cartoon lions, as much as she had been by the cars that talked in that movie. Talking cats weren't just fiction to her, they were things like Lee's Alwy, or herself when she shifted. Even if she didn't talk while a kitty.

Toni smiled at the child again. She could smell both Torque and the little one so it was quite clear that the tiny one was just as much were as she herself was or as Deacon was. "I like kitties too." she murmured. "Very much." she went on, eyes flicking to Torque and all those in between the lines things being sent to him through that one look.

Not for the first time, Torque wondered on the turn of a thought of what Kelly had thought when she had discovered her daughter was a Were. She had been the one hundred percent human daughter and sister of Weres, so it wasn't as if she could truly be surprised, but it must have brought some unusualness into the situation. Torque had spent the last full moon in his own feline form with a short session of play with Patience as a cub, it wasn't a world his sister could truly touch. The world of the moon and the energy it brought. He said nothing of the sort, only buried a snort at Toni's comment, easily recalling that she had enjoyed calling him 'Kitty' mid fucking him.

Patience's mind was, unsurprisingly, on something nearly completely different, twisting to look at the woman peeringly for a moment, "You kitty," it was a statement, obviously, not a question, the toddler's senses were just as heightened as either adult. She didn't know many female Weres, and no feline ones.

Toni nodded at the little girl. "Yes." she said. "I'm a kitty." She was very smart, obviously. Even in her toddler speak, she wasn't one of those children that didn't seem to have a brain yet developed in their skull. This one at least seemed to have some form of intelligence and Toni approved of her. Besides, she was completely and utterly adorable and that certainly helped how Toni felt about the little one. "You're a kitty too, huh?"

One of the toddler's hands was clinging tightly to Torque's shirt, although he seemed to take little notice of the fabric bunched up in her fist, it familiar enough by that point to not even draw his attention to it. Patience's eyes went back to the screen for a few moments, to the talking meercat and pig plotting in entertainingly high energy tones, with a small sniffle. The cold was making her drowsy, and uncomfortable, and Patience didn't like it one bit. "Yes," those big blue eyes looked over at the woman again, before the toddler set her face against her uncle's shoulder, closing her eyes. "Kitty. Like Unca De'con."

"Poor thing is just tuckered out." she murmured quietly to Torque, her eyes flicking to the man and then back to the tiny child. "Has she gotten much sleep with those sniffles?" she questioned him. Toni didn't doubt it'd been hard for the girl to sleep a wink with the way she looked as tired as she did. "And have you given her a lot of fluids? Juice and things like that. It'll help. Wouldn't want her to get dehydrated."

He shook his head, rubbing one large hand against the girl's small back, there still an edge of uncertainty to the movement that came with the feeling of handling something so small and breakable. She wasn't to be treated with the extreme delicacy of an active explosive, nor the dexterity needed for fine motor parts, but some other way entirely. Just tiny, young and vulnerable, and her strong grip on his shirt belied how much larger and stronger he was than her. "No. She got up a lot earlier than normal, I couldn't get her back to sleep," which included her knocking quietly at his door at three in the morning, a sound he had become attuned to waking the moment he heard it. "Pineapple juice, but not for awhile," one of the necessities he had picked up along with the recommended cold medicine. He felt her forehead for a second, "She doesn't seem any warmer, at least."

"Well that's a good sign." Toni said, nodding a little as she watched the man with the child. Again, he surprised her with his gentleness, no matter how slightly uncertain it might have seemed. "I can get her some juice." she offered. It would keep him from having to jostle the child and she was certain that Patience didn't want to be shifted any more than required. "Does she have a sippy cup or do you just give her a regular one?" she questioned.

A temperature on a Were toddler was enough to have a doc, who wasn't in the loop on what she was, freaking. What seemed dangerous to a normal child was simply a mild fever for a Werejaguar cub/toddler. "Really? Thanks." He had already been figuring out the best way to get back up without moving Patience more than she wanted to be moved. It wasn't her weight that was the problem, at just about thirty four pounds, she was hardly a heavyweight, and certainly not for a fully grown Were to pick up. Just that she seemed quite content to cling as she was, even had dropped her elephant to put her other arm more securely around his neck. "She's got a couple. The cabinet on the right," he pointed with one hand, knowing where he kept the handful of colorful cups.

Getting up from the couch, still careful not to jar either Torque or Patience, Toni went to the cupboard pointed out and retrieved one of the colorful little cups. Taking a brief moment to rinse it in the sink, she poured the little girl some juice from the fridge and returned to the couch, screwing on the lid as she settled herself down and offered it out to either Torque or the little girl, whoever wanted to take it first. "Here you go." she murmured. "Yummy juice to make you feel better."

Now the movie wasn't even holding Patience's attention much, with her forehead against his shoulder and making sad little noises that told him how tired she was. Not only was she sick and uncomfortable, but it was nearing midday, and all good little jaguars were crepuscular. They were not meant to be active purely in the daytime, or purely in the nighttime but instead more active in the dusk and the dark, needing sleep at midday and midnight. The human in them, in both of them, would allow an adult to push through the midday idea, if they wanted, but for a toddler...she really needed some sleep. The toddler only looked up, peeking over Torque's shoulder, when Toni offered juice. She liked juice, and was very thirsty, despite her tiredness, and so reached out one hand for the cup with a very quiet "Pease and tank you."

Torque, for his part, shifted the little girl clinging to him, so that she could sit on one of his jean clad thighs, her side against his front. He really had no desire to have juice dripped into his shirt or against his neck.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." Toni told the little girl once she'd gotten the cup in her hand. She was so tired and miserable and it practically radiated off of her tiny form. Toni felt so bad for the little thing. All of this having to happen when there was at least one demon running around. It wasn't something that Toni even wanted to think about right now. "She's very well mannered." Toni told Torque as she let her eyes meet his. "Perhaps better than you." she teased.

"Yeah, guess she took the lessons on manners a lot more to heart than I ever did," for her part, Patience was sipping on her juice, only one hand on the handle and the other still fisted in her uncle's shirt. As sleepy as she was, with heavily lidded eyes, she didn't look to be too interested in letting him go right then, too clingy in her uncomfortable state. Torque grinned at his words, but it was slight, and he glanced down at his niece halfway through. "I was always in trouble for trying to play doctor, in church."

Toni smirked at him and nodded a little, pushing her still damp hair over her shoulder. "Sounds like you." she murmured. She could see little mini-Torque trying his best to get up the skirt of some female child and that amused her a little. "Looks like you've been doing a good job with her though." she said. "Most guys would have tried to find some other option." Which she figured that Torque would have already done if he was planning on doing it at all. "Looks like you're too attached to figure out something else now."

Torque laughed at the memory, muted partly with Patience looking to be half asleep against his chest. His father certainly had not been pleased, especially when he had been the man preaching from the pulpit when Torque had been hauled in by the back of his shirt. More than once. "Been trying," there was a wince he had to hide at the mention of 'some other option,' seeing as he had nearly done what he had thought was right, at the time, and nearly gave her up. His "You're telling me" was more or less muttered, although he didn't doubt that she could hear him anyway. The toddler in his arms was leaning more heavily against him, no longer drinking her juice, and he took it from her hand to set it on the coffee table. "You 'bout ready for some sleep, Munchkin?"

It took a real man to step up and take care of a child, especially one that wasn't his. Even if it was his siblings daughter, he didn't have to take her. She was beautiful and would have been snapped up for adoption immediately, Toni had no doubt. But he'd kept her. He was still keeping her and he was protecting her from all the evil that lurked outside the door. "Where's her room?" Toni asked. "I'll open the door and turn down the covers." At least she could help a little.

Those deep blue eyes of Patience's were nearly closed then, and she yawned under her currently messy mop of chestnut hair. Torque was aware of how easily she could bend adults to her will, he had seen it happen, and often joked that she was going to take over the world. Now with ninja skills. Well, fledgling ninja skills, "It's the door just before mine." The room that had housed the weights that were now out on the balcony, and in his closet. The close proximity of the two bedrooms had had him setting her bed as far on the opposite side of the apartment from his own, without actually putting it in a strange place in the room.

Toni got up from the couch and carefully took those directions, opening the little girl's room and flicking on the light switch. Moving to the bed, she pulled the covers back so that Torque could settle the little girl on the mattress. It was odd to see him with her, even just putting her to bed. To think that this was the same man who'd rammed into her just like she'd wanted over and over again and now he was being as gentle as a mouse as he carried the nearly sleeping little girl to her bed. It was sweet and in a way it really endeared him. He had a lot more angles to him than Toni had even begun to think about.

A small shift of Patience's body, and Torque scooped her up entirely into his arms, the small weight of her feeling like almost nothing at all. There was this utter trust in the girl's ease with him that, when he actually paid attention to it, was as humbling as any aftermath of any mission when he had been Active Duty still. This wasn't a role he was used to, or was even sure he would or could ever be completely sure of it as a permanent thing without looking twice at it, but at least he could say he was trying. Lying his niece in her bed with the utmost care, he had to take a second to unclench Patience's fingers in their hold on his shirt, even as she was falling fast asleep.

A little smile curled the full lips of the female feline as she watched him laying the child in the bed and carefully unfurling her fingers from within the fabric of his shirt. Once he'd taken the moment to lay her down, Toni reached over to take the blanket, carefully pulling it over the tiny being's body and tucking her in. Brushing the soft brown hair of the little girl back behind her ear with the gentleness of a mother, she smiled a bit brighter and turned to look at Torque, lifting one hand to press a single finger to her lips. "Come on." she whispered. "Let's go before she wakes up."

The scene was too domestic, when Torque took a step back from the bed after nodding, he was able to see it as such for a second. The whole thing with Lia...Torque wasn't about to mix up who he had sex with with who was friends with Patience, despite the way she seemed to attract women like honey. He waited until they were out of the toddler's room, with one moment to be sure he heard the even, deep breathing that told him she was asleep, before he turned to Toni to talk to her again. This time he was sure to close Patience's bedroom door, and being moving towards the living room again. "So, you okay? Physically, I mean," he hadn't seen any obvious damage when she was naked, before, but he had to doublecheck in an case. Common courtesy and general care of any women and children, mixed with the rights that came with her being in the category of 'Sex' in his mind.

"Yeah." she said, nodding a little as she settled on the couch again, crossing one leg over the other. "Shaken up, but I think it's more because it caught me off guard." she admitted. "It just moved like water and I didn't even notice it was coming until it had me and was dragging me back into the lake. I didn't want to shift right there in public, but it was trying to drown me." she said, reliving the horror in her mind's eye. "I'm alright though." she nodded. Biting her lip she leaned back against the cushions of his sofa and let out a little breath. "Thank you." she said. "For not turning me away. I mean I know having sex with you doesn't classify me as someone you actually want to spend time with doing anything else. I appreciate it though.."

Taking a seat on the couch's armrest, well aware that it could handle his weight, Torque listened to what she had to say. Mentally making a note to avoid the lake for awhile. "Good. Good that you're okay," as he leaned forward, setting his forearms against his knees, Torque shrugged his shoulders. Just a slight rise and fall of them. "It's not a problem. We're not friends, 'cause I have a rule against fucking my friends, and I really want to do that again sometime," the rule was new, he'd never had to consider it before, given his complete lack of female friends until very recently. "But if you're in trouble, and I can help, I'm probably gonna."

"Well I didn't want to be your friend anyway." Toni said, sticking out her tongue childishly, smirking all the while. She could understand his mantra for not wanting to sleep with friends. It didn't tend to turn out well. But they weren't friends when they slept together, so she didn't worry too much about the road ahead for them. As far as she was concerned, he was a nice little playdate when she needed a fix. Or when he did. And that was perfectly fine with the feline. "Thank you though. In all seriousness. Friend or not, I appreciate it. I don't like to feel threatened and you were the first person that popped into my head for protection... if that makes sense. I don't know, something about those big, strong... arms." she smiled. "I fangirled for a moment and ran to the only person I thought could keep it from getting me that was close."

"Fine," with a snort, Torque shook his head, "Be that way." Keeping their definitions, or non-definitions simple? That sounded perfect to him, complicated was just too... complicated, and he wasn't really looking for complicated just then. It would have been humbling, hearing that he was the first one she thought of who could keep a demon at bay, and in some ways it likely still was, but its impact was muted by years at giving everything he had to doing something similar. Not defending against demons, but against IRA terrorists, military coups overseas, pissed off corrupt officials holding American citizens. He grinned at the mention of his arms, and her fangirling, and nodded slowly. "Look, I don't know about water demons, as much as I love the water," hell, the current extreme humidity of the day was his prime weather, "But I've handled a demon before, and I know they can be killed, so you can bet your 'pilates toned ass' that I'd do anything to take it down before it hurt anyone."

That got a little grin from Toni and she shifted, crossing one leg over the other and tilting in such a way that gave him a nice view of her backside. "I don't think your clothes do anything for my ass." she teased. "But," she shrugged. "What can you do?" She actually quite approved of having his scent on her, though she wouldn't dare admit that. "Well I'm glad." she said. "It's nice to know I won't die when you're around." she chuckled.

He tilted his head, leaning towards her and to the side to get what he deemed was the best angle to view the offered rear, a thoughtful expression on his face as if he was carefully assessing and grading what her ass looked like beneath those blue drawstring shorts. "Actually, it's got this whole 'air of mystery' thing going for it," although he definitely knew what was beneath that loose fabric, emblazoned with a USMC logo on one leg, and he highly approved. "See, I'm good for something besides getting under your hood," his joke slid away from the more serious topic of demons and the panic one dragging her under must have brought. It was an easy coping mechanism, offering up a distraction from thoughts of nearly being drowned by a monster.

"I guess you are." she smiled, settling herself back into a normal sitting position and moving closer to the arm of the couch where he sat. Letting her head rest against his thigh, she let out a little breath. "Though I believe you're far more exquisite at getting under my hood than you are at anything else." she murmured.

All he could do was echo a statement he had made before, "Well, you know, I try." The concept of demons, back in Scarlet Oak, and everywhere else, wasn't remotely comforting. Especially not with Patience to be protected, and his parents out of reach, but not in the more protected Carthage, his hometown. He had friends, former squadmates, all in town, even the Weiss family, although he didn't known them all that well on a social level. Missions, with the enemies ones he had to travel to meet, those he could handle. Torque could not swallow an intruding enemy on what he considered his territory, and would likely be looking up that civlian anti-demon group, try to take out another demon, at the very least.