lady_moon | (no subject)

(no subject)

Moon looks up from the couch when she hears the door open.

"Charlie?"

But she stops, half peeking above the couch back, her green eyes wide as she sees Ruin give Jason a shove in, offer her a wink, and then close the door. The viewscreen is prattling on with some romantic movie that has been making her laugh, and she hears Mare's low warning growl when the wolf sees Jason.

Moon is naked.

Completely and utterly, settled with a bunch of blankets on the couch. Charlie had told her she didn't have to wear clothes here, and so she hasn't.

She hadn't been expecting company.

Moon stares at Jason, noticing all the subtle differences in him since she'd last seen him, and then her eyes meet his, but she doesn't have any words for him.

So she stays there, kneeling on the couch facing him.

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Jason is frozen in the doorway when he sees her peek over the couch, not even able to come up with a parting shot at Ruin. Wouldn't matter since the door is already closed.

So he too is staring wordlessly, his mouth suddenly very dry.

Until he notices Mare. It's too close to the full moon for him to ignore that. He drops his gaze from Moon to give Mare a considering look, keeping all hostility out of his posture. "No trouble, Mare, I promise."

Mare remains hunched. The Lady was not expecting anyone.

"Mare," Moon says quietly. "Have we ever turned away the unexpected?"

No, Lady, we have not. Mare gives a final warning growl, and then returns to his place at Mons' side by the large sliding glass door that shows the night sky outside.

Jason watches him walk off: he'll be polite, but he won't act submissive by dropping his eyes first.

And then they're on Moon again, or rather the half of her face he can see.

"...Hi."

"Hello."

Moon tries to think of what you do when you have guests.

"Do you... want something to drink?"

He gives her an awkward smile. "No, I think I'm good. Maybe later."

He falls silent again.

"Your brother said you were here," he says, cursing how lame he sounds.

Moon nods.

"I like the viewscreen. I can watch little people. Charlie also has marshmallows here."

Jason can't help but smile at that. "Are you only eating marshmallows? No graham crackers and chocolate to go with them?"

His eyes shift to the viewscreen and the movie playing. "You're watching a Hugh Grant film?" He knows Hugh Grant, but he doesn't know many of his movies. They're generally chick flicks, and he rarely keeps anyone around long enough to have dates.

"Chocolate is brown. I don't eat brown things."

She looks over her shoulder at the screen.

"He bothers her. She works for him. She's a lawyer. He has a pretty accent. There was something wrong with the sponge, and she said it was made with tofu. I don't know what tofu is, but it seems to be good if you have high cholesterol."

Moon turns her head back to him so she can look at him.

"The wolf made his choice. The Moon was happy for him."

A blond eyebrow shoots up. "A woman who doesn't like chocolate? Have you tried it or do you just avoid it because it's brown?"

He snorts, regarding the movie. "Tofu is made from soy; it's a bean curd. Nasty stuff, if you ask me. I'd rather have the high cholesterol steak."

His smile softens when he drops his gaze back to her. "Yeah, the wolf is trying not to fuck up so much. He was doing a lot of that."

"Brown things taste like beetles sound in the wet, moldy leaves," she says with a wrinkled up nose. Moon tilts her head. "Are you... well? I saw you ask Norman for the branches. He didn't mind. He was thankful you asked. No one really asks him."

"I think you're just talking out your ass: chocolate is delicious."

"I'm getting there. Still have bad days, but I'm working on it." His eyes narrow playfully. "So you were there. I knew I smelled you. I'm glad he didn't mind: I don't really speak tree, so I couldn't be sure. Did - do you want to see why I wanted them?"

"You told me to leave you alone, so I hid higher up, making myself not seeable."

Moon nods.

"I would like to see. Do we have to leave here to see why?"

Jason's expression falters a bit. "...oh...Moon, I...I didn't mean it like that, I..."

He swallows, taking the distraction to try to remember the apology he'd planned out. "No, I've got it right here." He steps hesitantly towards the couch to offer up her present...and stops short when he can see over the couch.

His eyes widen...he really can't help himself from staring for a moment.

Moon looks at him, brow furrowed a little.

"What?"

He's a lycanthrope and a stripper: he sees naked people every day. He wakes up in large, naked co-op piles as often as he can, and everyone usually behaves themselves.

So why can't he stop staring?

He closes his eyes and shakes his head, smiling at himself. "Nothing, just...didn't realise you'd be sitting around Charlie's place naked." He gestures to a place on the couch next to her. "May I?"

"I don't like clothes. Charlie told me I didn't have to wear them."

He'd helped her bathe, so she didn't really think he counted when it came to not showing nakedness.

Moon nods, scooting over some to make room for him, shifting her blankets a little. "You can sit with me."

He chuckles. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

He sits beside her, trying to resist the urge to stare/oggle/touch. He pulls up the dream catcher and hands it over to her.

"Here, I told you I'd make something with that yarn. It's for you."

She stares at it for a moment, eyes wide and mouth open in a silent O, and then she takes it from him, fingers touching the yarn, beads, and the silver pendant.

"It's sparkly!" she cries, a bright smile on her face. "So sparkly!" Moon looks at him. "What is it?"

Jason can't help himself: he laughs, and it's a wonderfully light sound. "Thank Liz for that: she donated a bracelet for the sparkly beads. And it was your yarn...the pendant I bartered off of Teja in exchange for helping him out in the forge a little."

She likes it, and he's all but beaming with pride at having made her smile. "It's a dream catcher. The native people in my country used to hang these above their kids while they slept to keep the bad dreams out, but they've become a sort of folk art now."

Her fingers trail over the pendant, her eyes still big.

"It's a wolf and a moon," she says, her gaze darting up to Jason. "I can ask Charlie to hang it in the bedroom when he comes back. It can keep the bad away."

She gets up and walks into the bedroom with the dreamcatcher, eying the ceiling, trying to pick where she would ask Charlie to put it.

"I thought it was appropriate."

He watches her walk away with rapt attention. He sighs and rises to follow, knowing he shouldn't be following a naked Moon into the bedroom.

He's here to apologise.
He's here to apologise.

He stands awkwardly in the doorway, not daring to go further in.

Moon seems to make a decision about placement, and then nods. She carefully puts the dreamcatcher on the dresser, ready for Charlie's help, and then turns to face Jason.

"Thank you for the gift," she says, folding her hands in front of her. "I've only been given one gift, and Merlin only gave me the flowers because I'd never been given a gift before. It's beautiful and sparkly and catches dreams."

He shrugs, still in the doorway. "I figured since you worked so hard getting that scarf unraveled, you should be the one to get what it made."

He clears his throat. "I did have an ulterior motive though."

"Ulterior motive? For giving me a gift?"

She tilts her head. Moon wasn't as fully aware of Jason as she used to be, mainly because she'd pulled away from him, trying to honor his request to be left alone. But he's in the same room with her now, and she can't help what she senses from him.

"You're all muddled," she murmurs. "You feel bad about things, but you also feel... you feel the squidgy that can lead to smooshing." She has to think hard to find the right words, the moon too near full for perfectly lucid thinking. "Guilt and desire."

He gives a nod, clearing his throat again. He'd forgotten what a shock it could be talking to her, not being able to hide your thoughts.

"Well, I might be less muddled if you weren't standing in your bedroom naked."

He tried, but he couldn't deny the obvious attraction he felt. He's glad that he's at least wearing clothes...