THE THIRD STANDARDISED OCCURRENCE OF VIOLENCE PREREQUISITE TO ROMAN ANTZ (Jacky+Invisimort)

T.Mor:

"...oh. Er... uhm..." I wasn't quite sure how to reply to that without saying that I was sorry again... "...One day...er... if you want...we could go to your house..." I realised what a bad idea that was as soon as I got it out of my mouth. I mean... Yeah... "...er... Wait... no... that... that would be bad... for you...and stuff...and...yeah..." I corrected myself.

Bells

"Aye, not th' smartest idea," I sighed, and leaned against the doorframe. Funny. I hated Luna, a lot. Called it Hell. But I was proud of it at the same time, and missed it right then.

T.Mor:

"So...er...uhm..." I said, not quite sure what to do now. I remembered that it was my turn to eat today. And I hadn't yet. There was half a can of skettios in my cupboard...for me.

"Er... It's my turn to eat today...so... if... if you want some skettios... you're allowed to have some..." I offered her. It was nice to feed people who didn't live with you but were at your house, I'd learned. And...really it was the least I could do... she was so nice..

I pulled the can out of the closet... Ana had covered it with a piece of fabric and a rubber band after she'd opened it yesterday...good. It wouldn't be all... weird tasting. I put the can straight on the stove and turned the stove on.

Bells

"Skettios?" I asked, following him to the stove. It was a can of little round things . . . lovely. I'd already feel bad taking his food, but now that I saw it, I wasn't too appetized anyhow. "Nah, I'll just find something back 'ome."

T.Mor:

"...Oh... uhm... Ok...I mean... I wouldn't mind sharing... but... If you're ok... uhm..." I put a hand on the can to see how hot it was. Hot enough... Well, hot enough that I could hold it without it burning me. I turned off the stove and reached into a drawer for a spork, and sat down at the table. "And...Skettios...are noodles...in red sauce... kind of like ketchup..." I explained.

Bells

"...Ketchup," I repeated. Felt like I was being taught a whole different language. At least I knew what noodles were. "Looks a bit gross." I sauntered over to the table, leaning on my elbows, staring at the can. Looked very gross. Some sort of red soupy mash. But y'know, people had told me that eating fish without gutting it was disgusting, and I'd done that before. It wasn't half bad. Just tasted like fish. I wiped the tip of my finger on the inside of the can and popped it in my mouth. ". . . tastes like watery tomato."

T.Mor:

I have no idea what a tomato is. "...er...what's that mean?" I asked. "And...It's not gross... It's not even expired..." I muttered defensively. I really liked skettios... They were good...and better than yellow goo. Or yellow noodles. or Hard package noodles. Although, hard package noodles are good when you throw them on the ground and boil them...

I dragged a sporkful of skettios to my mouth and ate. It was weird having someone just...watching me... But... I mean...she just sat and watched me drink coffee yesterday...so... I guess it's ok...

Bells

"Tomato . . . makes tomato sauce . . . I think that's what th' red stuff's supposed t' be." I raised an eyebrow. "But 'ey, if you like your Skettios so much, no need t' get defensive. I don't 'ave t' eat 'em."

T.Mor:

See...explaining that a tomato makes something called tomato sauce doesn't really...help to figure out...like...what a tomato is... "So...is...is all red sauce made of tomato?" I asked uncertainly. I had another sporkful of food. The downside of only being able to heat it enough so that I could touch it was that sometimes there was still cold noodles in the middle...I swirled my spork around in my can so that it would kind of warm up the cold noodles and cool off the warm ones.

Bells

"Mate, I 'ave absolutely no clue. Per'aps. Probably." I got tired of leaning, and finally just had a seat on his table. Chairs were boring.

T.Mor:

She was sitting on my table... I honestly didn't know how strong the table was... but, she seemed alright...so...And I mean, It was kind of big and heavy looking, my table...I thought that she'd be alright sitting on it.

I'd hit the bottom of my can of skettios. I looked into it, just to be sure. "er...well... Now what?" I asked.

I glanced over to the clock by my door, I didn't know the numbers, but I knew where the hands had to be at in time for me to start walking. I still had... like... two hours before I had to be anywhere. That was good.

Bells

"It's your 'ouse, laddie," I said with a shrug. "You tell me." Then I followed his eyes to the clock. "Or, do you 'ave t' go soon?"

T.Mor:

"It's ok... I have... like... two hours... I'll just...er..." I put the empty can into a different cupboard. I'd flatten it out later to use for more leak patching probably. Or just use it as a can to put under a leak to keep it from rotting away the floor.

"Er... we could play more Katamari...if...If you want..." I suggested. I realised that that was really all I ever did. Go to work, come home, eat if it was the right day to, play videogames, drink coffee, go back to work. That was my whole life... Oh...and pay taxes... but... that was only once every thirty two days...so...yeah...

Bells

I glanced back at the light box thing warily. "A'right . . . odd rainbow game about running over people an' things . . . sounds lovely. Bring it on."

T.Mor:

"...Ok..."I went back over to the sofa and sun into it, picking up my controller. Our game was still paused.

I heard footsteps upstairs. My sister...uhm.

I hoped she was just going to... like... go into another room and work on something or something...And not come downstairs... I didn't need her right now... I mean, my arms and feet still ached from work, and I had a guest... I didn't need it.

Bells

I followed him to the couch, hearing footsteps that weren't either of ours. "Who's that?" I asked, scooping up that controller thing and curling up next to him.

T.Mor:

"That...That is my sister... She... Lives here..." Well, duh she lives here... I really hoped that she was just going back to sleep or something... I didn't want to have to like...explain why I had someone over...

"T.Mor... Don't we have any more-- who's that?" My sister, Ana appeared at the foot of the stairs.

Great...Just...just what I didn't want...

"Er...Bells... uhm... my friend..." I muttered.

"Why'd you bring her here? You know how I feel about having people over." She asked me.

"She'd.....er...never played videogames...uhm..." I told the floor. "Sorry...uhm... yeah..."

I was kind of frustrated... I mean... this was...my house.

Skelet found out about the whole Bell's little kissing and going into the Outlands with T.Mor. This was the result.

Bells

I cried. I admit it. Me, proud me, couldn't hold back tears in front of him. And I screamed for him to stop, and I fought, like a child. I didn't forget the look on his face; he had this smile that was disgusted at me and proud at himself, like I was . . . garbage. I wasn't an Outlander . . . but under that gaze, I became one.

Well . . . my face stung, like Hell. I could feel blood run in thick streaks down my skin, and what remained of my chopped-off hair stuck to my cheeks in red-stained strands. The burning gashes trailed around my jaw, down to my shoulders, curling around my arms . . . forming carvings of eyes and other symbols that I didn't recognise.

I curled over myself, clamping down on my lip to keep myself from sobbing too hard. He hadn't cut anything off, which served as one hope for me: he still loved me. I could go back to him tomorrow, and everything would be fine . . . I'd say I was sorry, and he would love me again, and I could just be beautiful again.

I would have the scars forever.

Another sob whelled in my chest, and I clenched myself tighter, like perhaps I could dissapear.

T.Mor:

I walked into the box all... happy to be off shift, you know...coffee...talking... how things go normally...

But...er...I got there...and... Bells...

Oh no...uhm.

I guess that Skelet found out.

Well...er.

I walked over to where she was being all...a mess... all curled up like... and sat down in front of her.

For a few minutes I didn't say anything...because... I mean... If I'm bad at words normally... Then... I'm awful at words when bad things happen.

I kind of wanted to go I dunno... Hand that guy over to Mr.Face or something... I mean... how could he... I didn't even want to think about it...at all...

Instead I pulled off my boots to get at my socks... I needed like three more pairs of socks actually... But...then again.. you can't just stick socks to someone's face... even if that's how you fix everything else...because...it's just... weird...

"Uh... Bells...uhm... Is... is it...can I... er..." And then I figured out that the language I spoke had broken...and that talking more would just be... bad... and just kind of put a hand on her hand, and pulled carefully, so I could put socks on it so it wouldn't be all... gore...

This...I... Skelet... found out about...coffee...and...probably that one time... uhm... Where she...er... kissed me... and... and then this happened... I...I shouldn't have... like... I dunno... talked to her...If I knew that it was going to turn out like this.... for her... with all this...bad... I wouldn't have... I mean... It's not fair... she doesn't... I... I mean... if anyone deserved to be chopped up...

I mean...really...this... I...

Bells

. . . Someone touched my hand.

I whimpered at the sting, hearing someone's voice. "T-T.Mor . . . what're you--" I shook my head and tucked my face to my knees, just trying to make myself smaller. He didn't need to see me. I was ugly.

T.Mor:

"... ... ... ...socks..." I barely succeeded at explaining. Her head went to her knees... I did that sometimes... But seeing someone else... It was kind of... uhm...

"...I'm... ...it's... Socks...help..." I muttered really quietly as I tried to get as much of the bad...goreness... covered in sock as possible. It kind of seeped through... but... It was better than just...how it was...

Seriously...This... this wasn't right... It was...so... bad... If I...If I was...

Bells

I tried hard to think of something to say, but all that came out was another whimper. I let him wrap the socks around me, just . . . wanting . . . something. I couldn't let him see me like this, but . . . I wanted him to be there. Desperately. It felt like I was crumbling away.

I was ugly and bloody and falling apart, so . . . why was he here? Why? I sucked in a breath, tasting something salty in my mouth, still wanting. It stung, but I wanted someone to hold me. Something. "T.Mor . . . help . . ."

T.Mor:

She asked me for help...er... I had run out of socks though... I mean...what else... What could I do?

"...yes... uhm... of course... but...I'm...out of socks..." I stated.

I remembered that sometimes when really bad things happened, people liked...hugs...and...yeah... I mean... all of the really bad DDS stuff normally involved hugs later... I dunno how that actually all works... probably psychology or something...but I mean... It did kind of make you feel better...

But...she was all...ripped up... I didn't want to hurt her...Maybe if I just kind of... put one arm between the wall...and...her...From what I could see, there wasn't as much of a mess on her back as her front...so...er...

I tried it. "er...if this...if... I don't want to...er...hurt you...so...uhm... I mean... if...If it... I...er... just... say something...if it does..." I muttered as I kind of clumsily wrapped an arm around her shoulder. It occurred to me that I'd just washed this uniform a few days ago... but... It was going to be soaked with gore eventually anyway, so...it didn't really matter...

Bells

I flinched at his touch, drawing in a breath and holding it there in my chest, like it would numb the sting. Then, I bore with the sharp pain and relaxed again into the cradle of his arm. It felt nice . . . well, no, it hurt and made me dizzy, but for some odd reason I was willing to deal with that, so I could have his arm around me.

"I-I don't . . . understand, why . . ." I'd gotten him killed, I'd shot him. I called him lower than me. I didn't understand. Why was he here, why was he . . . Why was he helping me? Things didn't work that way . . . he was supposed to hate me . . . "T.Mor--" And held like that, I just crumbled. I buried myself against his chest. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, that I was wrong-- about you, and about . . . I used you . . . Why are you doing this? I-I don't understand-- why you're 'elping me--"

T.Mor:

Her head...was on my chest...And she was apologising...

I dunno why she was apologising... I mean... she was always so nice...and... stuff... If anyone should be apologising... It should probably be me...for... Existing to get her all...in this kind of situation in the first place... But no... she was apologising... and being all... right there... uhm...

Though... part of me realised that she might be admitting that I counted as a person... which was kind of nice to hear...

But...really...she was a mess... and... it wasn't good...

"...er...because... you're nice..." I told her. "And... I mean... you... It... this isn't your fault... uhm... So... I'm sorry....for... you know... getting you in trouble...and stuff... and...yeah..." I muttered. Even though she didn't like when I apologised... I mean... It wasn't her fault...so...yeah.