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 Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:41 pm
It was quite possibly the longest six week period of Vincent Leschande's ENTIRE LIFE.
... Oh, how he could still recall that first week with a twinge of abject horror, (not so) fondly remembering the misery, screeching, coughing, tears and tremors as vividly as someone who'd just experienced it yesterday. He'd honestly thought he was dying, and oh, did it feel like the cigarette withdrawal might very well be his end.
Some shitty faildeath that would've been too, huh.
Then again, the fact that he was hopelessly bedridden had actually played in his favor... sort of; being crippled meant that he wasn't physically able to get up and hunt down his packs (which Alex had thrown out), nor attempt to violently throttle his poor 'partner' in the occasional fits of deprived RAGE between those charming 'let's-be-sick-as-a-dog' spells.
But all good (or horrible) things had to come to an end eventually, and there came a point when the tremors weren't so bad anymore, and the misery was a bit less hysteric, and the coughing dulled enough for him to breathe again... and he felt a little less like he was dying and a little more like he was just under the weather, and even that eventually lessened after a few more days...
Which left him... okay. And bored.
Not that anyone could blame him for it, really, given that he had nothing to do but lay there in bed like the crippled invalid he was (the 'I only need a crutch' bravado had been discarded quickly after he realized how much it actually HURT to try) and watch the... lima bean slowly growing.
Oh, and eat.
And choke down pills.
And sleep.
AGH.
He really couldn't blame his stomach on neglected crunches now, seeing as the thing was most definitely getting more and more convex by the week (or day? was he paranoid?). He could still disguise it under a loose shirt if he wanted, but... only when he slouched and skipped the over-vest (which was hurting his ribs a little now and uuugh he felt so naked without it)...
But digressing from that, he was finally (more or less) mobile again, having graduated from crutches to cane around the tail end of week five and, after a few days of limping around their Inn room in some attempt to regain SOME kind of muscle strength (... of which, holy s**t, was he ever WEAK in), was finally 'up' for the GRAND moving in (aka walk) to their new... home.
He'd been told it was a decent place, some sort of little lower-middle class "house" in a lower-middle class "neighborhood" in a lower-middle class part of the city some ways off. Not big, but not quite tiny, with a couple of bedrooms and even a little... yard or something apparently, which he really didn't care this way or that over, but... eh.
As long as it was out of the way and vaguely... "comfortable" and all, that was enough for him.
Geez, this would be an odd day.
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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:02 pm
Frankly it had been the nicest thing Alex could find. Not to say that meant he'd 'settled' for it, but he'd gone the extra mile to make sure the house wasn't just... there. Not two but three rooms (thank god, but Alex wouldn't move out until the kid had made it's debut... Ugh, six and a half months to go now... Exciting!), and it wasn't that shabby either.
Out of the way so they wouldn't have someone get run over, not in a shady neighborhood so that was all good, and then there was even, and he'd made a point of this, a fence.
No randomly escaping children or invading...
WOOFWOOFBARKSNARLAROOROOROO!
Alex felt his tail puff up as he rounded a corner and the neighbor's dog suddenly lunged at the fence, smacking up against the wood and scraping it's paw out against the pavement to try and paw and scratch at him.
He'd hissed at it to scare it off, but it returned shortly to try again.
Dammit, keep the kid away from that.
Paternal instinct had already kicked in for him which was almost creepy, but he was pushing it off on 'Just in case' vibes which would probably also throw him out into naturally defending the 'mother' of said child.
Something he would have done anyways, but now he had something to blame it on.
"It's this one here." he finally said, pointing to the house which, of all things, looked cozy, though not small. It was actually decent looking.
Except for that dog.
"Care to hobble in?"
Yes, more teasing.
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:01 pm
Good god, long walk was LONG.
Not that Vincent was going to complain about being lame and sore when it meant freedom from the Inn and, even MORE excitingly (sort of), getting to their new place of residence for the next... uh, indefinitely long period of time.
It really was a pretty quiet little neighborhood, actually, lined with houses that were absolutely nothing grand but at the same time perfectly livable, and more or less the same: all single story (or two at most-- but they were rare) and lined with little fences that looked positively quaint (ugh) ******** managed to clamp his cane-free hand over his mouth to stifle the YELP, sure, but the fact that his tail had puffed out like a prickly orange cactus (oooh how he cursed that reflex) still gave his moment of guilty panic away.
Seriously though... was that thing a ******** bear? It was HUGE and HAIRY like one, that was for sure.
... A cane to the skull would still probably drop it though, he thought to himself, crinkling his nose a little and forcing himself to walk on. No, so long as the beast stayed in its own yard and didn't get near the k...
............. He hadn't just thought that.
"Hey, watch it, man," but there was always friendly teasing to fall back on, earning the 'offender' a light hiss and a brief wave of his cane. "Don't hassle a guy with a deadly weapon at arm's reach."
Which of course he probably couldn't use without pitching over at the moment, but hey, it was about the best 'intimidation' a (still pregnant) semi-cripple could get. Now, to see the inside of this place, taking a step inside and ...
... Dammit, did he smell potpourri in the air?
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:02 pm
'Okay okay, I give'
Or some fake act resembling such a feigned sentiment, at least, Alex holding his hands up in defense, though obviously not meaning said defense as being sarcastic and teasing was Alex's way. It was better than him being the 'gushy' significant other.
Yeah, that would have been pleasant.
The 'beardog' leered at the duo from the other side of the fence as they walked up to the door, Alex hissing in it's general direction again, before he stepped inside.
And made a face.
Ugh.. it did smell flowery, but he was sure he could clean that scent out rather easily. Once he figured out where it was coming from. That was the real task.
"It's not huge, but the previous owner..." he paused, "Well, they died so it came mostly furnished, but we can get rid of what we don't want and... clean up other stuff.."
And shove other stuff into the kid's room for it to claw to death if it came as well equipped as he was, the thought being entertained with a momentary flash of his own claws.
...
Ugh. Now he was wondering what of him it'd get. Not good.
"Outside of some work, I think we've got mostly everything."
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:29 pm
... Gushy? Ha. Gushy just wasn't their style at all.
Despite that, though, somehow the two ex-death-seeking men had managed to find an... odd "dynamic" of sorts, and even more surprisingly, it seemed to work alright between them. Sure, Alex could get a little grouchy here and there, and Vince had his moments of hormonally possessed HYSTERICS, but...
Eh, by and large it was still a good system-- some teasing here, some 'hanging out' there. It was sort of hard to explain the right way.
"... Huh, so... this place has some good karma going for it already," the latter male commented sarcastically, though at the same time, he didn't really give a damn for things like the past, so it didn't matter. "Hell... as long as there aren't any ghosts haunting the place, 'works for me."
Mmm, potpourri stench aside, the interior was nice enough too... a little couched space that fit as "living room" material, a functioning kitchen near the back, a little hall that stemmed off into the... three bedrooms, was it? While it took Vince a minute or two (or three) to make a roundabout of things, he found that there was really nothing particularly disappointing about the place.
Which only left...
"There's a fence and all, so... what kind of yard does this thing have?"
Yeah, okay, maybe he hadn't really cared about that sort of thing while they were in the housing market, but... now that this place was "theirs", he'd (MAYBE) gotten just a little curious.
That and he was already needing a breath of fresh air from all the flower-fumes.
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:45 pm
And having already seen the house before, Alexander sat down on the couch (pulling it over to the other side of the room so it was closer to the doorway) and steepling his fingers to wait while Vincent took his once-around to look at the house.
Frankly, Alex had held no qualms with it, considering it was 'livable' (or even 'die-in-able', considering) and they'd probably...
...
....
'Grow into it'.
Ew.
Once Vincent had returned though (God it was odd, still, to look at him with that belly), Alex was quick to rise to his feet, more than happy to accompany the other male (or female? s**t, wasn't it only women who looked at the yards? He certainly hadn't) outside.
And that's when he heard the audible 'GASP!' from the other side of the fence.
Just for three little Mench kids to scurry into the back door of their home and press their faces up against the glass to stare at them.
Oh dear god, not again.
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:11 pm
Hey, there was nothing wrong with a guy just going to survey the landscape a bit! If Vincent was going to be living in this strange little compound for God-Only-Knew-How-Long then dammit, he wanted to at least be familiar with all parts of it-- and that included the ya--
...................
Oh, great, they were being gawked by a miniature flock of beady-eyed Mench spawn.
Granted that he'd already been getting his share of stares to get there, what with the general 'Holy Hell Is That Scrawny Young Queer Pregnant' double-take tendencies of the public, but he'd been able to tune that out pretty easily by comparison. How could three sniffling little children make him squirm like that and hesitate to step out the door?
"... Just ignore it," he muttered very quietly to himself, deciding not to make eye contact (hell, shouldn't their parents have been watching him or something? how irresponsi... no HE WAS NOT GOING THERE), and focus on the "yard" in question instead.
It wasn't vast or anything, but it was fine for... s**t, what WERE yards for? Yeah, he might've liked to smoke outside or something, but... well that was pretty obviously NOT an option anymore (no matter how bored his hands got without having something to hold), and thus his only idea of usefulness went out the wi...
Ugh they were STILL STARING weren't they?!
Had they even blinked ONCE yet?
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:25 pm
Nothing wrong with it, but now Alexander had gone about attacking the yard, looking about at everything possible and seeming to have, again, gone into the 'Professional father-to-be' state.
Which after about 20 minutes was pretty old.
"I think this space is suitable for tuckering out at least a toddler."
Upon looking up, though, Alex saw both the trio of hellspawn (oh he'd think them to be little angels for a temporary amount of time in the future) staring at them through the window with googly eyes, but now there were two ADULT Mench doing it as well.
Why the hell were they staring at them??
Oh great, and they were mumbling about something. And now leering again.
They seemed even more upset when he hissed at the demon-dog again, causing it to scurry away. Oh wah, it was just Fido being told to 'back off'.
But it was enough to prompt him back to Vincent's side... which caused them to suddenly gasp (or so it looked) and start talking to each other with horrified expressions.
What?
Had they never seen pseudo-gay Koshka parents-to-be before?
Apparently not.
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:54 pm
While Alex went about patrolling the yard for any signs of "trouble" like any good, territorial young tomcat (... or Professional Father-To-Be, but NO THEY WERE NOT GETTING OFF ON THAT THOUGHT AGAIN), Vince resigned himself to leaning against the back wall of th-- ... their "home" and just watched him go about it with a minimally interested look on his face.
... And thank GOD for a distraction from those creepy kids too, jesus.
It wasn't even a matter of not caring; he just figured that his 'partner' was doing a more than thorough patrol job for the both of them and, if there was something wrong worth mentioning, then dammit, it'd get mentioned.
Besides, the yard had 'passed' inspection, so none of that mattered anyway!
"... Well, that's fair enough," he agreed, thinking absolutely nothing of the situation as Alex went over to rejoin him in his idling. "And the fence seems pretty... sturdy," he added a little more quietly, eyeing the demon-bear-dog-monster-thing as it scampered off ONCE AGAIN at a warning hiss (... to inevitably try AGAIN in five minutes but still)...
............. Oh, MORE JOY he noticed now.
"... What the hell is their problem?" he couldn't help but grumble, ears turning back a little and feeling the urge to... growl, oddly enough. Maybe it was the looks of horror on the faces of the "parents" that got to him... or the slack-jawed gaping of the "oldest" girl (who couldn't have been more than 13 or 14) with the sun-spotted freckles and bright blonde hair...
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:07 pm
He wanted to hiss at them as well, but ultimately let the thought pass without him, just giving the neighbors a long stare, before forcing some 'pleasantries' and offering a wave.
Then he practically shoved Vincent back inside, closing the door promptly behind him, then hissing at it now that the neighbors couldn't see it. s**t, they hadn't been around when he'd scoped out the house, so he hadn't been expecting to get such horrid looks from them.
"We'll go say....'hello' later."
Special emphasis on 'hello', before he put a hand on the door and scratched at it lightly. Scratch scratch.
Not digging at it, simply rapping against the surface. 'Marking' it in a way. At least that seemed to be what it was akin to.
"But if you don't like them, we can always find someplace else." he commented, before he passed into the living room, stopping in the doorway before groaning.
It seemed the two younger kids, a little brunette and another blonde, had gone out into the hallway and were now staring at their house, bodies pressed up against the fence, the younger of the two suddenly turning and yelling back to their house: "Which one is the 'Dirty' one and which one is the 'f**' one, momma?"
Yes, he could hear it through the window, unfortunately. (So could the rest of the street, likely. )
Oh how Alexander feared for those children.
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:42 pm
Hey, hold the phone, what was h-- OH s**t ROUGH SHOVE ROUGH SHOVE BAD LEG STEPPED ON TOO HARD s**t THAT STILL FELT PRETTY ******** UNCOMFORTABLE THE CLUMSY JACKASS--
Thankfully Vince's bad leg didn't give out underneath him (or snap like a twig, please god NEVER AGAIN) when he pitched forward and threw too much caneless weight into it, but the move did earn a hiss through clenched teeth as he awkwardly regained himself inside, only shrugging it off after a few forced, steadying breaths.
Uuugh, if he'd had the same claws as Alex (lucky b*****d for the 'strong' genes, though his more delicate nails had still left their mark before on-- ... WHOOPS THOUGHT DENIED), no doubt he would've been scratching a damned hole through the door in his frustrations.
"... Ah... no no, man, it's fine, really." But still he fought the (rather selfish) impulse to burst out screeching HELL YES LET'S FIND SOMEPLACE ELSE to fix their social suffering before it got any worse, reminding himself that Alex had probably pulled a lot of crazy-a** strings (among other things) to get them there, so... "I'm sure it can't be that bad..."
He followed the other male's example to limp into the living room, heaving a deeeeeep sigh and (carefully) slouching his back against the nearest chair. Huh, a little worn out, but... not bad at all. And it let him take the weight off that aching le--
"Faggy one's the little guy!" he heard a young female voice chirp (probably that blonde girl) through the window. "Bigger one's the dirty fellow, Daddy said!"
Oh, for the love of...
Suddenly Vince was wanting cigarettes again, if only to light one and BURYING THE SMOLDERING BUTTES IN THEIR EYES TO SHUT THEM UP.
Groan.
"They... can't be serious about this bullshit, can they?..."
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:05 pm
Painful? Probably had been, but now Alex was staring at the kids who were yelling oh so loudly, smirking to himself. Oh how he'd so seen that coming. It was almost cliche, but the neighbors were always racist in some way.
Ah well, they go anywhere near his child (or the one currently carrying it) and he'd maul them to death.
Promise, not a threat.
However, as the yelling went on, Alexander found himself just cackling. Oh these two were precious.
"MOMMA? WHICH ONE IS THE KOSHKA?"
"THEY'RE BOTH DIRTY f*****t KOSHKA'S STUPID."
"YOU'RE STUPID, STUPID!"
"I'M TELLING MOM!"
"NUH UH!"
"YUH HUH!"
"YEAH, WELL, IF THEY HAVE A BABY BOY YOU GOTTA MARRY IT."
"I DON'T WANNA MARRY A DIRTY FAGGOTY KOSHKA-SCUM BABY!"
While it was his child being yelled about, the sound of two stupid mench children yelling about it like that was just too funny, prompting him to open the window and wave to the kids.
"Well, you two can just fight over it once it's out, eh?"
SCREEEEEECCCCHHHWOOFWOOFBARKBARKHOWLAROOROOHIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSYIPEYIPEYIPE!
".. Damn, those little kids can run.
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:24 pm
Sweet Optimus Christ.
Just how the ******** had these people managed to live in a neutral city without getting LYNCHED by the inevitable HORDE of Koshka they probably managed to offend? Or was this just some kind of special greeting reserved only for the 'faggy new neighbors' to enjoy?
Huh, maybe they'd moved in from Haet?
Oh, HA HA HA. That would've been some pretty AMAZING (...ly SCREWED UP) irony right there.
Quite frankly, Vince had found more annoyance than humor at the conversation/epic children's yelling match they were privy to listening in on, just crossing his arms and scowling a little... until Alex shoved a window open.
... And he heard the little older girl SHRIEK like she'd just seen a spider the size of a dinner plate amidst the yelping bear-dog and the fleeing debaters.
Oh god, just... what. What was--
He had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out laughing at that, which failed because he did anyway.
"Holy s**t..." Oh, if only he could've been standing over by Alex to WITNESS the retreat, but just the audio was so damned CLASSIC. "... Maybe we should say 'hello' to those kids in a little while."
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all? Hell, it might finally provide him an at-home (... because yes this was his "home" now and he had to keep reminding himself of it) outlet for all the boredom!
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:40 pm
Alexander had been fully aware of what sort of reaction his 'greeting' would get, calmly closing the window after the children had flittered inside to lean back in his chair.
"Want me to drag the couch over so you can join in next time?" he asked, still looking out the window to watch the window across the way as the little children clung to their parents in a sobbing panic.
And then Alex got a look on his face which prompted him to get up and suddenly grab the seat that Vincent was sitting in to drag it over to the window so he could watch. Apparently something 'fun' was happening, as promptely Alex sat right back down..
...
And the eldest girl started to yell at them over the fence.
Quite a range of racists expletives at that. Oh yes, living next to racists might have been becoming more fun. Which, with a wave of a hand, Alexander motioned to the window.
"Would you like to greet this one?"
Scare neighbor's children game go!
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:18 pm
"Huh? Oh, that's alr--" Well alrighty then, it seemed that Alex had gone ahead and taken the initiative anyway! Not that Vincent was going to complain about it, of course, seeing as it meant that he could join in the fun now and.. hell, sad as it might've been, the past six weeks had gotten him more or less used to such... treatment.
Because sadly, a guy could only do so much for himself while crippled in bed, and... yeah.
"... It'd be my pleasure," he just couldn't help but grin at that, flashing back to the old antics of a bar-hopping troublemaker (if only for a moment) as he leaned forward a bit to peek out the window where, sure enough, the little (oldest?) blonde girl on the far end of the fence, looking horrified as she spluttered curse after curse...
"Hey, Missy!"
Oooh, that sing-songish voice had done a lovely job of getting her attention! Why, she looked utterly transfixed on his oh-so-sweet face.
"You've got a pretty damn fancy vocabulary for a kitten and all..." Yes, cliche terminology was cliche and he loved it. "Do you wanna know what those swear words really mean, though? Like that 'F' one you were just saying--"
Naughty, naughty boy, that one-- but all it took was one sentence before she, too, went FLEEING back into the house, as shaken and teary-eyed as her siblings.
BEST GAME EVER.
Shame it hadn't lasted longer now, though... The yard just looked so pitifully empty with only the bear-dog in it.
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