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

Bells

"Pft." I breathed, sinking my chin into my palm. Ouch . . . I accidentally touched the bruise under my eye. I had it hidden with practiced care behind a bit of my hair, now that I was out of Skelet's way again. He hated it when I covered my eyes. But even if it meant walking around half-blind, I didn't like the way people stared. "That's a new one."

T.Mor:

I wasn't quite sure... how to go on... Because...well... Like... Uhm... er. "I...Is that...Is that a ...good thing?" I finally asked after a minute of... sitting and trying to figure out how I could say something that sort of made some kind of sense...somehow...

I wondered briefly...if she had the same...walking behind a sheet of hair...skill that Cricket had...Probably not the best time to ask...

Bells

On one hand . . . that's what I'd been telling that one short lass Dimples was with. I was being nice to this guy. On the other hand, I'd never actually been called that before. "I . . . s'pose," I said, studying him.

T.Mor:

"...Uhm... that's...A... good thing... then... I guess... uhm." I looked at my knees uncertainly. Not really uncertain for any reason...in particular... but just...like... uhm...yeah. If that makes sense...

"So... ... ...er." I had no clue what else to say. She was nice. And...er... Yeah.

Bells

I just sat there a moment in silence, trying to shut up my own thoughts and staring at the blankness of the scene in front of us. ". . . coffee?" I sighed, tucking my hair out of my face. The headache being half blind gave me was worse than the bruise.

T.Mor:

Coffee...Coffee always sounded good... And, It had been a while anyway...I probably needed some. "Ok..." I said and looked back at her... the hair had moved... She had a bruise.

From... oh yeah.

Erm.

"Are... Are you...uh... Alright? " I asked as I pulled myself back to standing. I knew that bruises were really no big deal, I had enough of them from...things... back home... But...still, I thought... maybe... I should ask... Because... I mean... er...yeah.

I didn't know where the coffee was this time, hopefully back at that place with nice chairs again...

Bells

"What?" I gave him a questioning look, and then noticed his gaze on my eye . . . see, that was why I kept it covered. I pushed myself off the ground, smoothing my shirt. Gotta keep my head up. "Aye, puppy, I'm fine," I reassured, and started sauntering to wherever that one shop was.

I stopped mid-step with a thought. Skelet. I wasn't supposed to be with T.Mor . . . but Skelet was nowhere in sight.

He'd been out of sight before T.Mor lost his nose. I glanced around warily. "I, ah . . . T.Mor, I'm not sure if . . ."

T.Mor:

I watched her shake off that bruise...like... like it was nothing. Which... It wasn't... But...It was just a bruise...Anyway.

Anyway.

We got about... 10 feet from where we started...Before Bells kind of stopped. And then she said that...and I realised that... well, That Skelet dude, he could show up at any time...and...it would be bad.

I mean...yeah. I didn't want to get Bells in more trouble...Because... She was nice, and nice people didn't deserve that. So...I just kind of nodded. "Er... If... If... You... can't, because of... erm... you know, that guy... It's... It's ok...uhm... I'll...mapquest it or something...uhm..." Although, I didn't know how well mapquest worked here... and drinking coffee in a real place made for drinking coffee at all alone was a bit... intimidating or something.

But, if she couldn't, I would understand. Really...

Bells

I stopped looking for Skelet for a moment, and listened to him.

. . .

. . . AGH SAD EYES. "Stop looking at me like that, you bloody Outlander! Laddie, 'oly 'ell . . ." I shook my head, running a hand through my hair frustratedly, before whirling back to him. I felt my harsh expression slide off my face . . . sigh. ". . . a'right, it's just coffee. Don't worry about it, I'll get you some noproblemwhatsoever. Just . . . let's be careful, a'right?"

T.Mor:

She was suddenly kind of...angry? or...something? Uhm...I wasn't really sure. "I'm sorry..." I muttered, instantly dropping my eyes to the floor when she said something about it.

She said not to worry... But... I mean... I didn't want her to get in trouble. So...er. How to not worry? ...I didn't know...I didn't know at all.

Still not looking back up from the floor, because...I wasn't really sure how I looked at her that made her so...how she was for a minute, I nodded about being careful...Almost felt like when I was five...and I was always told to lie about my age to the guards... Almost like that kind of feeling... This.

"...Thank you..." I stated.

Bells

I didn't answer to that. "Just . . . c'mon," I said, holding a hand out to him.

T.Mor:

I stared at her hand for a minute...She was...uhm...doing that... and she could get in craptonnes of trouble for it.

I realise I've said this like...over nine thousand times now...but...She's so...nice. I mean...she...she doesn't have to do any of this... And yet... there was her hand...floating in space... and here I was...staring at it.

Oh...er...I should....I should probably do something...shouldn't I?

Uhm.

Yeah.

I took her hand...And...er...yeah. It was kind of cold...but not like...scary cold like Mr.Face...uhm...er.

Bells

Honestly, his hand felt like it might shatter into peices if I held it too tight. I blinked down at our hands for a moment, noticing for the second time how skeletal he was, and then shrugged and continued on our way. "It's th' same place it was last time, I think."

T.Mor:

"...Oh... That... that makes...sense..." I muttered. Er...uhm... I guess we should... probably go there.

Probably. Yeah. Uhm. I waited for her to start walking, as she seemed to have a better idea of where it was than I did.

Bells

After a while of wandering, I finally happened across the little too-clean shop that smelled like money. I kept getting that feeling like someone was watching me, but it was probably just that damn imagination. I slipped inside with T.Mor, careful not to hold his hand too hard as I walked up to the counter. "What'd'you want?"

T.Mor:

"...Uhm... A big...coffee... like...like that one last time..." The one that tasted like the coffee at home... "Are...are you going to...er...have...anything?" Again, I was prepared to foot the bill... because...stealing...just didn't...feel right.

And...I mean... It could get you in lots of trouble. Stealing.

And...really, I didn't mind...I'd gotten paid yesterday, and ate two days ago...If I didn't eat tomorrow, I wouldn't even notice the money was gone. She was nice...so...It was ok to... do things like that... I mean... it's the least I could do...after er...she was nice enough to shoot me...

That sounds kind of weird. But... still.

Bells

I leaned on the counter boredly. "A watered down plain coffee, nothing in it, 'ear? Just water an' coffee, mate." The cashier gave me a wierd look, so I continued to talk back and forth. "No, nothing in it, 'cept water! Aye, that's what i sai--what in 'oly 'ell, are you deaf-- . . . ah. Th' big size."

I turned back to T.Mor, smiling softly and a bit triumphantly. "Want t' go get a table, puppy?" I swept a bit of hair out of his face.

T.Mor:
I watched Bells talk to the guy behind the counter. It was kind of...neat. Like... she just told him what to do...like... like she ran the place. ...For... for my coffee. I mean...wow. Uhm. Yeah. Er.

She pushed some hair out of my face....I probably needed to cut it again, but our mirror at home fell off the thing it was perched on and I didn't have enough duct tape to stick the pieces back together...so... I just had ignored it for a while, and hoped it would go away...

Typically... that doesn't work... but... uhm.

Anyway...She asked me to go find a table. ...They were kind of... all over the place... but I was guessing that that was not exactly what she meant. I nodded anyway, and went and sat down...far away from the window. No need to be seen... that would be bad.

I sat... and looked at the table. So...clean. And... not...dirty.

Bells

A moment later, I found T.Mor in a more secluded part of the place, which I was relieved for. " 'ere." I slid the gigantic cup of coffee across the table to him, propping my legs up on the table once again.

T.Mor:

Coffee slid across the table and stopped right under my nose. "Thank you..." I mumbled, wrapping both hands around it immediately.

I was halfway to trying to figure out how to knock back the whole cup at once, when I realised... I didn't really need to down it all at once. I had...time. And someone to sit here with... Instead of just being in my kitchen at some ungodly hour of the morning hoping that our stove would light alone...

Knowing that... I took a smaller drink of it...it was a bit hot yet, but... not scalding...just kind of... toasty... if you can call something that isn't toast...toasty.

"...er...So..." I didn't really know what to say after that...but...er... It was better than just sitting here...silently... while I drank coffee. That would be... kind of...weird.

Bells

"So," I said, twirling a strand of hair around my finger. "So, so, so . . . you seemed a bit like a ragdoll, just letting Skelet whack off your nose like that. Don't like fighting, much?"

T.Mor:

Well...er. That... that was a conversation to start. I nearly inhaled coffee up my nose, and had to set it down abruptly so I wouldn't burn all those....pipes behind your face that connect everything up...

"Er... Fighting...is kind of... I mean... You met my boss." I stated after I got my whole 'caffeine inhalation' thing sorted out. "...If... If we...er... go against that...him... uhm... It's... Its scary. And... bad. Easier to...stand still... Less... bad in the long run. uhm... yeah. " I said, more to the rim of my coffee than to her. "And... I don't like... that whole... uhm... violence... thing....also...so.... there's that." I added.

Bells

"Ahh." I said thoughtfully. "Y'know, you're one o' th' few that do that . . . not fight. Usually it--" Oh bother. Bloody images shot through my head, uninvited. I waved them away. "--it takes a while for most t' give up. I 'ave no clue if you not fighting makes you brave or a coward, T.Mor."

T.Mor:

"I...dunno...either..."I guess...It just made me... dead. Well, it had made me dead...

And she had said 'most'. I remembered back when Skelet had mentioned others having drowned... "Does... does...stuff like that... happen... a lot?" I asked, not wanting to directly ask about... well... It seemed like she had at one point had....someone... as some kind of...like... pet or something?

At least... according to what I'd heard... uhm... while people were killing me...

Bells

I frowned a tad, wondering if I even wanted to go storytelling on that subject. "Well, laddie, it's like this." I sighed. "I've only seen a couple o' Outlanders myself . . . aye. People get killed . . . a lot. Normal people, too. Th' only difference b'tween Outlanders an' normal people when it comes t' death, is that Outlanders are already sentenced t' it by being around. Usually they're good at 'iding, but . . . when I see one, I 'ate t' let 'em die . . . so a couple o' times, I've tried t' 'elp." I paused, still debating whether or not to go on.