december (pins_n_ribbons) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-09-01 02:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-09-2017, december, december and mannix, mannix |
last kiss
Who: Mannix and December
Where: The Morgue
When: After Midnight
There were few people in town that Mannix could drop by to visit at 3am, but December was one of them. The streets were empty and the hospital was quiet, and no one asked any questions as he found his way down to the morgue. While he thought about bringing a couple of beers, he knew how she felt about her job and instead opted for coffee. She’d need something to wash the taste of blood away. “Evening,” he said, pushing the door open with a smile. “How’re the dead faring? Staying dead, I hope?”
"So far." December said with a smile as she looked up from extremely boring inventory. "How fares the supernatural brothers of doom?" she asked. "Things all quiet on the home front?" What with them being vampires and werewolves and all. Cuz that was a thing now.
Mannix laughed and set the thermis up on the table. “So far, so good, but I haven’t checked in with Jack since he went to the big werewolf meeting.” Which sounded like a bad idea if he’d ever heard of one, but that was just him thinking that a bunch of wolves in one room was probably a bad idea. Hopefully Jack was the only hothead among them and things would go fine.
"Yeah, we'll have to see how that goes." she said. She made a show of thinking about something. "Think these would be offensive to werewolves?" she asked, flicking one of the wolf fang earrings she'd made out of the pair Serge had left her. She loved the hell out of them. They were fun, and seemed very 'her'.
“Ooo,” Mannix said, stepping over to her so he could see the fangs up close. “Very nice. And my guess is that you don’t really care,” he grinned. “Now if they were vampire fangs, I might be a little worried.” Mostly because he wasn’t entirely sure if they’d grow back or not. Everything else seemed to heal, but losing his fangs? He was concerned that was permanent and he didn’t want to find out.
"Okay, you're right, I don't really care." she said, smirking. "But, if I'm being sort of weird ambassador to the supernatural around here, I might want to be at least slightly PC. Just, y'know, whatever that means these days." she replied. "You know I'm not sure that would even work, since you lot turn to dust or ash or whatever when you die. So it might be totally impossible." she commented. "So, should I tell you my decision on things before we get farther? Because I've been thinking."
“Maybe it depends on when you pull ‘em. If you yank ‘em out before you kill me, I doubt they’d turn to dust, but who knows? Just like I don’t know if a werewolf stays a wolf after you kill it, or does it become human again?” They were things he was going to have to find out, though he didn’t want to figure it out on anyone he knew. He had a feeling there would be some rogue werewolves, though. “Your decision on what things versus farther on what?” he grinned. “I’m not sure what I’m choosing between.”
“...we’re way too into this conversation and let’s not discuss me yanking your fangs before dusting you.” December said. “I mean, I know I can come down pretty hard on the matter of staying in line, but...yeah. No.” she decided. “And my decision on things with me. I’m going with friends for everyone.” she said. “Right now it just seems...I don’t know. Like the only option.”
“Glad to know dusting me is not on the table,” he said with a little smirk. “I know I can be an asshole sometimes, but I’ve been good lately. Nothing that warrants dusting.” In fact, he’d been almost a model citizen. It was difficult for him to come up with anything that would have put him in jail way back when. Except for running a whorehouse, of course. “Friends with benefits or just friends?” he asked lightly, though he could feel his smile falling. He pushed it back into place, the disappointment only evident in his eyes.
December sighed and gave him a smile. "As much as I really love the benefits? Just friends." she told him. "I could tell you why, but I'm sure it wouldn't make it suck less, even if it says something good about you." she told him. She was disappointed too. She truly was.
“Damn,” Mannix sighed, but gave her a smile anyways. “Glad I opted for coffee and not beer, then. No point in trying to get you all liquored up,” he teased. It was a harder pill to swallow than he liked, not having had to deal with rejection in a long time. Not like this, at least.
"Yeah," December said, sighing. "I'm sorry. But I just...know this is going to blow up. One way or another, and I'm not ready for it to do that yet." she admitted. "I don't want either of you gone." She watched his eyes. "You're important to me."
It would have been easier if she’d let him joke. Mannix knew she was serious, but it was hard for him to talk about it as someone who generally avoided discussing feelings. She was stalling, hoping that one of them would find someone else to distract them maybe, but Mannix wasn’t sure he could see that happening. “You’re important to me, too,” he said, giving her a small smile in return. It made him sad, yes, but he wasn’t losing hope.
"Good. Then stick around." she told him. It did suck that she was just going to go into nothing mode when she'd finally gotten touched after too many years without, but if she had to make a choice, then this was it. She wasn't good with either one of them wandering off, and she also didn't think she was going to be even a little bit good at messing around with the both of them. She clearly wasn't built for it. So, this was where she was at.
God, this was going to suck. A good friend would do as she asked, but Mannix wasn’t sure he could be that good. He’d give it a try, though. “I intend to,” he said, watching her closely. Despite the sterile smell of the morgue, he could smell her, that note that was purely December. He could hear her heart, it’s steady beat the only one in the room. Eventually he sighed and gave her a smile. “Well, that was a downer. So how about I heal that arm up for you and then we can have some coffee.”
"Sounds good. Though, I admit, I'm kind of nervous about it. Like I'm having second thoughts, even if logically, I know I need to be in better health, and seeing what your blood can do is probably a good thing..." December told him. It wasn't fun to admit, but she was going to be honest about it. He might be able to tell either way. She tugged her sleeve up and pulled the bandages back, and hey look. It still looked like hell.
“What part are you nervous about?” he asked, wondering if he could ease her concerns. He’d seen Jack do it and the results were pretty miraculous. And apparently he’d gotten more from Zania before going to his little meeting this evening. With all that blood, he’d probably gone from half dead to almost perfect.
"I don't know. Drinking blood? Because ew." December said. "And I guess I know it'll do something to me, and I'm not sure what exactly. What if there are other effects? Does anyone know how you make a vampire?" she asked.
“I think I can get you past the ‘ew’ part,” Mannix said with a little smirk. “As for the other effects? None that I know of. We know now that the only reason Jack’s alive is because Zania fed him her blood when he was bleeding out. She thought it would turn him, but it didn’t. Instead, it healed him enough to get him to the hospital. Since then, we’ve both given him more blood and I think he’s pretty much grown back a kidney in the process.”
Chewing her lower lip, she listened, nodding. "Okay." she said. "How much do I actually need? Because the less the better." she put out there. She didn't want a mug of it or anything. Sips would be better. Anything that wasn't super involved.
“Well, I’d been planning on giving it to you in a less than conventional way, but since we’re just friends now I’ll have to think of something else,” he said, coming closer to her. “You shouldn’t need much. It’s just a surface wound. I doubt you need more than a tablespoon.”
December arched a brow at him. "You were going to bite your lip or tongue or something and kiss me, weren't you." she said. Which sounded way better than taking a spoonfull of it. She was incredibly tempted to just take him up on it. In fact she drifted closer to him unconsciously in response to the idea.
“Would one last kiss really be all that bad?” he asked, arching a brow as he gave her a little smirk. She could just as easily drink it from his wrist, but where was the fun in that? “After that, I promise to try and behave.” Try being the key word. She couldn’t blame him for still being interested.
December considered that, eyes narrowing at him. In her head, it seemed almost fair. Mickey had got her into bed. Mannix hadn't. "Fine. But your efforts at behaving had better be legendary." she warned.
“Cross my heart,” Mannix smirked as he made a little X over his non-beating heart. He was going to have a hard time with it, but he’d try out of respect for her wishes. “Let’s fix your arm up,” he said, moving closer to her, hands settling on her hips as he pulled her against him. It was something he was going to miss, he realized, though not as much as her kiss.
And this was why she was backing off, because he did that and all she wanted to do was chuck her convictions to the side and dive right in. But she wasn't going to. Shit. She watched his eyes, then ticked her gaze to his lips.
With all the powers that came with being a vampire, Mannix thought that mind reading would have been far more helpful. He watched her for a brief moment, trying to guess what she was thinking, but her eyes betrayed none of her secrets. “Trust me,” he said softly, then leaned in to kiss her, at first doing nothing but that. He let it grow more heated, deepening the kiss before extending his fangs, raking his tongue against them and letting his blood flow into the kiss.
December savored the kiss, though then there was blood there. It was weird, tasting it and knowing it was meant to be there. Though it wasn't long before she could actually feel her arm crawling. It wasn't painful, but she could feel things going kinda weird there. Still, she drew the kiss out, knowing she was giving up kissing at all for who knew how long. So, if it was going to be her last kiss for the foreseeable future? She wanted it to count.
Mannix was in no hurry to stop kissing her, even if her arm had completely healed. He thought that he’d given her enough blood to do so, but he wasn’t willing to stop and check, potentially ending what could be the last kiss she ever gave him. His hands slid down her body, cupping her ass before one hand slowly made it’s way up her back. He could feel the pins and ribbons beneath her clothes, her beautiful torture that he’d never gotten to properly see. This cutting things off aggravated him to no end, but if it was what she wanted, he would do it.
She had to break the kiss to breathe, though nearly dove right back in. She barely stopped herself, and she did actually lean closer again before she caught it. Knowing she should sit back didn't mean she did it. She stayed where she was, trying to catch her breath.
He was breathing heavy by the time they broke away, fingers lightly rubbing up and down her back. That was one hell of a last kiss, he thought, and maybe it would be enough to change her mind, if not now, maybe later. He even thought he might get another, but then she held off and he wasn’t sure if his legendary good behavior was supposed to kick in now or later. “How’s your arm?” he asked, still keeping his hold on her.
She'd forgotten to check. But when he asked, she looked down, finally leaning back so she could take a look. The stitches were stuck into skin that was all healed up, if scarred as shit. "...jesus." she swore softly, blinking. For some reason, knowing the effect and actually seeing it were totally different things.
He sighed softly as she pulled back, fingers brushing along her sides. He couldn’t tell if it was another missed opportunity with her or if he was doing as she’d asked. Enjoying a woman’s company had never been this complicated before. “Pretty cool, right?” he said, looking down at her arm. “As far as I can tell, anything that’s already scarred will stay scarred. If I’d gotten to it sooner, it might’ve been much worse. But I didn’t know back then.”
"Just...wow, though. I know you told me, but...wow." she had to run her fingers over the healed flesh. Then she went to find scissors. She needed those stitches out. "Thank you." she told him, honestly very grateful. She tested her movement, tested her grip, seeing of there was any lingering pain but there wasn't.
“You’re welcome,” he said, giving her a little smile. While he hadn’t minded kissing her, there weren’t a ton of people out there that he would willingly bleed for, even with his healing abilities. The list was growing as he stayed in the dome, but it was still short, and December was near the top. “Want help with the stitches?”
"Please." she said, since there were a shit ton. She went into her office, then grabbed scissors, and a scalpel for herself, sitting on the couch. "Come on." she invited. "This is going to take a while." Yet she was smiling.
“I always kind of liked the feeling of pulling stitches out,” Mannix said, following her into the office and sitting by her on the couch. With her arm between them, he began to carefully cut one, then gently tugged on the stitch to remove it. “It’s one of those things that doesn’t really hurt, but just feels cool.”
"I always found it weird." December said, pulling at her own. "And there's those ones that every once in a while pull hard. Then there's the smooth ones, and it just felt weird to be pulling something out of my skin, where it was healed. It's unique, that's for sure."
“Do you usually do your own stitches?” he asked, glancing up at her. She seemed like the kind to want to do her own work, but sometimes that wasn’t possible. He also found it was harder to have a steady hand when he was the one in pain.
December nodded. "Yeah. This time I wasn't able to put them in, but I used to. And I always pulled them out before I was supposed to. When pain kind of doesn't register the same to you, it's not that bad. I mean, don't get me wrong, it still hurt, but yeah."
“I never minded keeping them in the full length of time, but I had trouble keeping still long enough for them to heal properly,” Mannix said. “Which usually meant I had to keep them in longer. Now I don’t need them at all, which is still kinda weird.”
"Yeah, you pretty much don't have to worry about anything like this." December said. "But that doesn't make you invincible." she added. "So...I would still like it if you were careful." she added. "And by the way--where are my cool weapons you're meant to be making me?"
“I know,” Mannix said, his eyes ticking briefly up to hers, then back down to her stitches. “Sometimes it feels like I am, but then I remember that I can’t go out during the day. The sun keeps me in line.” As did the fact that he could be turned to dust if his heart was destroyed, which he had to remind himself would have killed him as a human as well. It wasn’t a new weakness in that way. “I’m working on them,” he smiled. “Remember this is my first forray into weapon creation. I don’t want to give you something that’s not ready to be used.”
"I know I keep vampire hours for the most part, but I can definitely say I figure that it would suck ass to be stuck inside all day every day." December said. "You'll have to move to Alaska someday, stay there when it's all dark all the time for a while." she added. "And yeah, yeah. Perfectionist."
“I’m learning to avoid sunlight and still be up during normal hours,” Mannix said. “There’s just more hours of light in the day than darkness. Alaska might be in the cards, but I kind of like it here at the moment. No reason to rush off.” Even if he could leave, Mannix wasn’t sure he would. “I’m trying to hunt down silver now, since we know silver bullets work.”
She had to smirk at him. "What, this place feeling like home, Mr. Traveler?" she asked. "And wait, what?" she asked. "Silver bullets for...the werewolves?" she was guessing.
“It’s been a long time since I had a home,” Mannix answered with a small smile. “And not all of that was by choice. I’m beginning to like it here.” Even if he did feel like the more people he knew, the more people were in danger. The difference this time was that he knew everyone was willing to defend themselves and he was much more capable himself. “Silver burns ‘em like acid. Jack found that out the hard way.”
"Ouch." December said. Then she made a face. "I might have some jewelry, but I'd have to figure out if I actually want to sacrifice it." she said. "What's the healing rate on them? Do we think they'll be hard to kill? Do they heal up like you do?"
“Don’t sacrifice jewelry yet. I’m going to see if we have anything like candlesticks or something,” Mannix said. He’d hate to see her melt down something of value for a bullet. Another option he’d been considering was plating some kind of a blade. There were so many ideas to try. “I’m not sure on the healing rate, but I think it’s accelerated. Not as much as a vampire’s is, but more than a normal human.” It was hard to tell on Jack, seeing as he drank vampire blood to hurry the process along. “I think they’ll be as hard or harder to kill than the wolves that bit them.”
"I suppose that makes sense. But is there proof of that?" she asked. She liked knowing what she was getting into. And the better knowledge they had for everything, the more things could be kept under control. Flying blind wasn't the way to go. Hell, even with dealing with the zombies, once people knew how to do that, humanity had a chance, at least.
“Not yet,” Mannix said, thinking that they’d know once the full moon came around. “I suppose Jack and I could fight it out and see how he holds up, but I’m also not sure what the full moon will mean. There are a lot of possibilities, as far as I can tell, but the worst would be the raging monster wolf that kills everything in sight.”
December pulled the last stitch from her arm and looked it over, the tiny red dots patterning on her skin. She was still thinking about what she wanted to tattoo there. It would be quite the process. "What's the current plan for the full moon?" she asked. Then she paused, and went to her desk to check the calendar. "Says here it's on the eleventh." she added.
Mannix pressed one of his fingers to one of the little red dots, then stuck his finger in his mouth as she rose to go to her desk. There wasn’t really any blood there, but he couldn’t seem to help himself when it came to December. “Damn. I didn’t realize it was that soon,” he said, rubbing hand over his face. “I say we lock him up, but I need to talk to Jack about it. He might already have something in mind.”
"Let me know if you need any help." she said. She'd rather help with precautions than deal with carnage later. And they had no idea what to expect, so...better safe than sorry. "I'm going to suggest we think worst case scenario til we know different."
“Of course,” he said, leaning back as he made himself comfortable. “That’s pretty much the approach that I would take, too. See what the first moon tells us, but under the safest conditions possible. Then we can alter accordingly going forward.”
December nodded. "Right. Werewolf detail." She exhaled sharply. "Awesome. How did my life get like this again? Oh riiiight. I survived a zombie apocalypse and now I live in a fucking snowglobe. That's it."
“You know, I hadn’t thought about it, but I wonder if this is going on elsewhere,” Mannix said. “In other domes or outside the dome. What are the chances that this is the only fucked up snowglobe in the bunch?” It’d been awhile since they’d heard from anyone outside the dome, so anything could be happening.
December considered that, dropping down into her desk chair, and she propped her feet on the desk. "If I had to guess right now, I'd say we aren't the only special snowflakes." she said. "Maybe it's just something about the domes themselves, maybe zombies were just the first step in turning the earth into a giant fantasy universe. Who knows. But I doubt we'd be it."
“So maybe this is something that’s been present the whole time, but the containment of the population is bringing it to the forefront,” he said. “It might be the kind of thing that would go unnoticed if there were millions of us, but with so few, we notice these things. It’s not scattered attacks across a big city.”
"I doubt that. People have been contained before in the world, but yeah. I don't know. I doubt we ever will." she said. "I guess all we can do now is just...deal with what's on our plate right now. Killer wolves, vampires and werewolves."
“Contained, but not so few in number,” Mannix said thoughtfully, though he thought December was right. They would probably never know what brought this on or where it came from. “Have there been anymore vampire attacks that you know of?”
"How many are we talking?" she asked. She guessed she needed to talk to Micah, see if there was something they could all organize...or something. Maybe he'd already taken care of that. "And no. Not that I know of."
“Well, in all other instances where people have been contained, there’s still been the rest of the world’s population on the outside, yes? But I’d say we’re one-tenth of what we used to be at best, probably less. We group together for safety, for a better chance to survive, so who’s to say the supernatural elements of the world haven’t done the same thing?” Mannix wasn’t sure what he was proposing was really possible, but it was an interesting theory for him to think on. “I’m hoping that, at this point, the remaining vampires are those with a good head on their shoulders.”
"You were bitten by a bat. One that came in with other bats, into a place they shouldn't be. Wolves appeared, and you can't tell me they were hiding out, or something. Weird shit is happening. But I feel like it's just popping up. Like it's jumping in. I'd buy your theory more if you were bit by another vampire. Then I could see it. But this seems different." Then she sighed. “You and me both. Here’s hoping for no more bullshit.”
“I’m still trying to look for a logical explanation where there is none,” he smiled. He wasn’t sure why he thought there might be one with he was a vampire, but he had trouble grasping the idea that the dome might be doing this to them. Changing bats or wolves, which had the ability to infect people. It was all kinds of crazy.
"You do that, dear." she said with a smirk and a wink. "So. You, me. Let's do something when I'm not working at some point." she suggested. She was serious about the friend thing and that meant she wanted to hang out.
“Let’s,” he agreed. “Either you need a night off, or you need to come visit me during the day. You know I’m stuck inside, but if you come by, then you can see the weapons I’m working on.” He still hadn’t made it into her house and he wasn’t going to put her in a position where she had to invite him in. Maybe his house was safer ground.
"Yes! I'll totally hit up the whorehouse!" she quipped, laughing. "Noooo. But the call of weapons is enticing... hm." she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'll figure something out." she said.
“It’s either the whorehouse or your place,” Mannix reminded her. “Unless you want to go out. Not during the day, of course, but we could hit up the pub.” A part of him wanted to hit up the movie theater, since it had been years since he’d been in one, but that also sounded date-like. “You know I’m pretty much game for whatever.”
"Okay." December said. "Then soon. We'll do...fill in the blank." she decided. They'd work it out. She was just happy to have something in place. "Til then?" she said. "...and thanks again." she said, gesturing to her arm. She was appreciative.
“Till then,” Mannix smiled, rising from his seat on the couch. He’d let her get back to work and enjoy the coffee he’d brought her, then hopefully see her again sometime soon. While he was disappointed that she’d put an end to being anything more than friends, he hoped it was only temporary. He’d give her her space and hopefully she’d figured out what she wanted. It was just a matter of time, and that was something he had in abundance.