Who: Vex and Lem When: Saturday, midday, Nov 11th Where: Their house, Ludlow Lane Status: Complete
Lem didn’t keep track of the calendar too terribly well, but there were some days she definitely knew to remember. One of those happened to be Vex’s birthday. Eleven-eleven, it wasn’t too hard. Since he was her Number One, it made sense in her head. It suited him. And it happened to fall on Saturday. She’d seen it coming, and made a few lowkey preparations, wanting to do something special for him. Things had been kind of stressful with the werewolf and Vex getting hurt and all, and Lem wanted to give them something good and fun to focus on for a day.
So she’d gotten up before Vex was likely to be awake and gone down in the kitchen to do some things. Feeling kind of buoyant and excited, Lem had forced herself to wait until noonish before she went back upstairs to wake him up. She nudged the bedroom door open and crept inside, then climbed onto the bed from the foot of it. Moving slow and careful, she settled where she was face to face with Vex, biting into her bottom lip to try and tame her smile. Lem didn’t like her own birthday, it was a shitty reminder of her family to her, but she happened to adore helping -- making? -- other people celebrate theirs. She just stared at Vex and willed him to wake up, her gaze drifting over those sharp features she loved so well.
Vex could sleep through Hurricane-Lem any day of the week. He was used to her presence and his primal brain found no reason to question her presence or fret about any noise she made. It was different when she tried to be sneaky. He had told her this, even joked about it that if she ever wanted to kill him in his sleep she had to do so casually, preferably loudly. Sneaking just triggered Vex's predator senses. Today was no different. He could feel her when she crawled up on the bed and it was mere curiosity that kept him from opening his eyes and letting her know he was awake. He let a few seconds tick by, amusing himself by testing her patience, curious to see what she might do. She outlasted him this time and he couldn't help but grin a bit as he opened one eye and found her staring at his face. "Hey firecracker," he murmured, his voice raspy from sleep.
Lem grinned instantly when Vex’s eye opened. He’d seemed asleep enough, but even if he hadn’t been, she didn’t mind the waiting contest. Lem could wait a long time, she could be patient when she had to be. But Vex was there now, and that made her excited. She bounced a little, slipping her hands under the covers to lightly beat out an upbeat rhythm on his chest. “Hey,” she said. “Happy birthday.” Lem darted in to kiss Vex’s nose, then pushed herself up onto her knees. “Are you up now? We have to get started!” They technically didn’t have to, but she’d warmed everything up downstairs and everything. She was impatient like it was Christmas morning.
Vex had no idea what it was that they needed to get started but he did know he'd probably have at least stirred if they had company in the house so it was likely not a surprise party or anything. "Let's get started," he agreed because he didn't really have any problems following Lem into the unknown. Something smelled good and he'd noticed that when his senses started kicking in but now it was more prominent, more alluring. He sat up and looked around for his glasses but he'd probably left them downstairs somewhere, or in the car. No matter. He just needed pants. Or did he? "Do I need pants?" he asked through a yawn.
Lem bounded off the bed as soon as Vex sat up, and she flashed him a grin. She was barely wearing pants herself, just some small boxer shorts and a tank top that she lazed around the house in, and colorful socks because the floors got chilly sometimes now. She definitely wasn’t dressed for company ... not that she generally cared much. But today was their day, because it was Vex’s birthday, and he got to make that call. “Up to you, birthday boy! Pants not required,” she chirped, heading for the door to lead the way once he was ready to actually move around.
Vex opted for pants anyway because he was really warm under the covers and it made the air of the room feel a little cooler to him than it probably did to Lem. He made do with sweat pants and didn't bother with a shirt before hurrying out after Lem. He might not feel terribly excited but she did and he respected that and cherished her feelings. Following her lead was no big deal though he couldn't quite skip with his leg still messed up. It was better after Zania worked some of her magic on it but not fully healed. "Something smells really good," he said and he thought he could pick out what it was but he didn't want to ruin the surprise for himself or for Lem.
“Everything smells good,” Lem corrected, tossing a grin back over her shoulder at him. She didn’t rush, aware that he wasn’t completely healed up, but her steps were pretty perky as she went down the stairs ahead of him and toward the kitchen. On the table was a spread of food, some of it homemade but most store-bought because Lem couldn’t cook everything. But there was a plate with burgers, a bunch of fries, a spread of tacos and burritos, a meatloaf, mashed potatoes, a couple of pizzas, spaghetti, all spread around a birthday cake in the middle with chocolate frosting. It was way too much food for the two of them, but what were birthdays for if not extravagance? “Tadaaaa,” she sing-songed, grinning and spreading her arms. “I didn’t know what you’d wanna eat on your birthday, so I just got ... everything.”
Given how inconsistent Vex was even on a good day, he couldn't blame Lem for not knowing what to get him. Some days he loved meat, on others he loathed it. The only thing he was certain to like was something sweet and she'd delivered on that too. He stared at the overloaded table for a beat before laughing and moving in to hug her. "You're the best," he murmured and it was obvious Lem had been busy. How early had she gotten up, he wondered as he let her go and patted his stomach. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us, I hope you're hungry too." He leaned down to her again. "Are you gonna sing for me?"
Lem beamed and hugged him back, squeezing his lanky body to hers and giving a happy little bounce. It had taken her a while to come up with the idea. Maybe food was a lame present, but all the money came from Vex, and they’d never been too big on stuff anyway. So a day to lounge around and eat whatever junk they wanted sounded like a good way to celebrate. She tittered at the question and slapped Vex’s ass before letting him go. “When we do cake and it’s actually time to sing, yeah,” she said, flashing him a grin. “And later on I can beat on you too, if you wanna.” It had been a while since Lem had hurt him, and while he was already sort of hurt, that was different. She wanted to put the offer out there, anyway.
Vex hummed at the offer, narrowing his eyes as he thought about it. It had been a while and he did miss the clarity he always felt when he got a good beating and Lem did give good ones. Unlike the first one that made him realize how addictive they were she knew where to kick without causing permanent damage. "I might take you up on that," he murmured. "If I'm not too full." He grinned again because that was a lot of food. They probably should invite the neighbors over to help them. He didn't waste more time, moving to the table and sitting down, looking over every plate as he decided what he was in the mood for and settled for the meatloaf and mashed potatoes. At least to start with.
Beating Vex wasn’t a given, it all depended on his mood at the time, but Lem wanted the option to be there for him. It was his birthday, after all. He would fuck her on hers if she wanted, and kicking his ass was the only comparable physical act she had to offer. She pulled a slice of pizza and some spaghetti onto a plate -- complete with breadsticks, ‘cause why not -- and plopped down into a chair herself, pulling her legs up to cross as she started to dig in. “So did you have any prophetic dreams for the year? Any like, old man insight? Words of even-more-wisdom?” she asked between bites, flashing Vex a teasing grin.
Vex had started eating when she asked him and he hummed as he chewed. He'd had a lot of dreams, some mostly forgotten, others remembered but nonsensical. "There were a lot of people in our cage," he said once he'd swallowed, already cutting another bite for himself. "Not wolves, we were protecting them from something on the outside. I think it's a sign we did the right thing." He didn't, not really, but he still worried about Lem and he'd take any chance he got to tell her she hadn't done a bad thing when she shot that man. "We're on the right track, firecracker." He winked at her and shoved more food in his mouth, meat and potatoes and jam all mixed together on his fork, sweet and savory.
Nic had made Lem better enough about what had happened that the contentment was lingering. Vex’s reassurances helped too, of course, but he was potentially a bit biased, considering he was the one whose life had been saved. That alone should’ve done it, probably, but Lem had never killed someone before, and there was a lot to think about. Not today though, today she felt good and light and she’d all but forgotten the dissolving human mush in the basement. Tucking food into her cheek, she beamed over at Vex before she went back to chewing, giving a little bounce in her chair. Right track dreams were a good sign. She liked the idea of the two of them being protectors, too. “I’m going to try to get into Nic’s dreams, if he has another weird one,” she declared without much context. “Other people are in them too, people in meat space. And a monster. They can’t see it, but maybe I can.”
That wasn't the kind of happy birthday chatter Vex was comfortable with, though he wouldn't have wanted her to keep it from him. He furrowed his brows and wished he could join her on her little trips. "Maybe not seeing it is a good thing," he said. They searched for truth and realness underneath the thin pretense layer of the world but he couldn't help but worry Lem would get hurt doing it without him. Looking at a monster in someone's dream... He didn't know what he'd do if he lost her.
Lem had kind of forgotten that she hadn’t told Vex about Nic’s dream stuff. It hadn’t been on purpose, it had just slipped her mind whenever they’d been talking. He knew about how Lem had saved Nic from the car in the street, but not how it was all connected, she didn’t think. “Yeah maybe,” she agreed after another bite of food. “I just know he wants it to stop, to figure it out. And he can’t see what it is. I’m a Conduit, so maybe I can.” She offered a smile over, always pleased to be of use to the talented people around her. “He hasn’t had one on the nights we’ve slept together, though,” she added with a bit of regret. “Unpredictable.”
Vex didn't like it but he wasn't going to ask her not to do it. They'd taken down a werewolf, well aware of the dangers involved. Lem's fate was her own, Vex could just hope it involved him and she wasn't going to be taken away from him by something he couldn't see with her. Maybe seeing the monster was all it took to vanquish it, some monsters thrived on the darkness that encased them. "Who are the other people?" he asked and wondered if this was somehow related to everything else, another piece of a puzzle they were meant to find and figure out.
Maybe it was naive of her, but Lem wasn’t terribly worried about it. The thing was haunting Nic, not her, and if she managed to slip into one of Nic’s dreams and the monster happened to see her back ... she would burn that bridge when she crossed it. In the meantime, she was feeling chipper and happy about Vex’s birthday and the surprise spread she’d put together, so why care about anything else? Lem shrugged at his question. “I dunno, just random people from town. Three others and Nic. They didn’t even know each other.” She picked up her pizza to take a big bite out of it, giving a bouncy little dance in her chair.
"Curious," Vex drawled. It didn't surprise him but it definitely felt like they were digging up more and more strange things on their little excavation trip through life. Strangeness might be expected but it was still interesting. "I wish I could come with you, get a look around. Wonder if it's related... I saw black goop dripping down the wall on Thursday, like it just appeared in a puddle on the side of the wall. I don't know what the fuck that means." He pushed the meat away for now and grabbed one of aunt Sarah's dainty little cake dishes to shovel some of that delicious looking cake on there.
Lem raised her eyebrows, then let out a ponderous hum around her mouthful of food. Goop-bleeding walls probably weren’t a good sign, whether it was related or not. She wondered if it had anything to do with the remains of the dead man in their basement. Was their house haunted now? Ugh, that was all they needed. “I wish you could come too,” she said once she’d chewed and swallowed. Lem offered him a little smile and reached one foot out to brace her toes against his knee. “You always see things better than I do.” There was a pretty good chance that she wouldn’t even make it into Nic’s dream, but if she could and it would help, she wanted to try.
"No no no no," Vex almost chanted, wagging a finger at her. It wasn't true, he hadn't really understood any of the things he'd seen before he met her so clearly he didn't see them better than she did. "I see them better with you," he told her firmly before licking frosting off his fork. "There's a big difference there, you're my conduit, I'm a machine that keeps churning on without production value if its vital components are missing." His face went a little blank as he thought of himself as a machine, a mix of metal and flesh, gears spinning, nonsense coming out - sludge from a grinder.
It was the only thing Lem really liked to be chided about, and she grinned openly as Vex corrected her. She liked the idea of acting as a conduit for Nic too, but she would always belong to Vex in her heart, she knew that. She clucked her tongue at his assessment of himself, however, shaking her head as she tore the pizza crust away from the rest of her slice. “You’re way more than a machine,” she said. “At least not a simple one. You do all the work, I’m just the ... magnifier, I dunno. Like a projector lens.” It was a small part, but important. Lem abandoned what was on her plate to grab a burrito to munch on. “How’s your leg feeling?”
"Much better," Vex said and Lem's words had snapped him out of his daze. "Zania put some sticky witch stuff on it and it's healing abnormally fast." Unless that had something to do with the wolf. He really hoped it was just Zania's magic and not some new werewolf thing. Sure, it sounded cool in theory to be a wolf especially if it ended up causing him to heal faster but in reality it was going to be a pain in the ass. Keeping track of the cycle like some menstruating woman, only if he lost track people would die instead of just underwear. He grunted at the thought and got himself more cake. It was going to make him feel bloated but it was worth it. "We really got ourselves the best neighbors. We should bring them leftovers."
Lem’s eyebrows raised, though she guessed she shouldn’t really be surprised to hear that Zania had some magical healing knowledge or whatever. She and Nic were both good witches. It made a part of her want to start doing crazier things, risking more, because she knew that there would be someone to patch her up on the other side. Lem knew better than to say that out loud though. Vex would always disapprove of her getting hurt, even in the name of adventure. She smiled bright at what he said instead and nodded her enthusiastic agreement. “We should! Or invite them over to come pick off the buffet,” she said, making a gesture to all the food laid out in front of them. “I thought about inviting them to surprise you, but ... y’know. I wanted it to be an Us Day for at least half or something.” It was always a crapshoot as to whether or not either of them would want company on any given day, and better to play it safe on Vex’s birthday.
"No, this is good," Vex murmured. It was too early for guests and he didn't want to put a shirt on. There were times when he didn't give a shit about those sorts of things and could easily go naked for all he cared but today wasn't like that. It was different with Lem, she knew him more intimately than anyone had ever known him and she didn't care what he did as long as he wasn't fucking himself up too badly. "Good call, firecracker. You can bring them leftovers when you go sleep-investigating with Nic." If she was going to be gone all night, maybe he'd try the cage out while he was alone in the house, let his subconscious get used to sleeping in there or something - just in case. He probably should eat more food, but the cake was so fucking good it was hard to go back.
“If I stay over,” Lem said, shrugging a shoulder. “I dunno if he wants me around like, every night.” She huffed a little laugh and took another bite. She didn’t know if she wanted to sleep with him every night either. She was good sharing a bed with Vex no matter what, but other people were different. They were other people. And while she liked Nic and he was pretty Special, that was a lot pretty fast. Going from hardly any social interaction for so long and into practically living with someone was too much. “And I mean, I can stay if you want me to,” she offered, looking at Vex curiously again. “It’s your birthday. They can get leftovers tomorrow too.” Lem didn’t know if he wanted her around all day either, maybe he wanted some birthday solitude, it was impossible to know. Lem wanted him to want her, though, as always.
"They can get leftovers tomorrow," Vex agreed, reaching over to stroke Lem's face with his knuckles before turning his hand around and dabbing her nose with the frosting on his fingers. "You should stay with me today." He was allowed to be selfish on his birthday, she'd pretty much given him permission for it so he'd take the opportunity. Truthfully, he didn't really need a special occasion to be selfish, that came easily on any day of the year except when it came to Lem, she was probably the only person he was invested in. "I'll let you go at midnight, like a fairy tale Cinderella." He was sure Nic would be up that late if she really wanted to go see him.
“Okay!” Lem wrinkled her nose cutely with the frosting on it and giggled at the reference. She tried to picture herself in a sparkly frou-frou dress with mice and a pumpkin-carriage or whatever the fuck Cinderella had had. “Isn’t it weird that like, ‘Cinderella’ was the mean name her shitty family called her? Like I don’t even think she had a name.” She crossed her eyes and stretched her tongue up to try and get the frosting off, only halfway succeeding before she used a finger to snag the rest of it and pop it in her mouth. Lem was honestly just happy that Vex wanted to spend the day with her. He spent most days with her already, but he wanted it to just be them, so she would just enjoy that. Whether that involved beating on him to get him high or just lazing around watching TV, Lem was going to be happy with it.