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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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...

Moon looks down at herself, and then up at him.

"I can cover up."

She opens the closet and pulls out one of Charlie's shirts, slipping into it and buttoning it up. It covers her down to mid-thigh, the long sleeves dipping over her hands some.

"Better?"

Jason looks her over, then scoffs and shakes his head. "Not really."

This might actually be hotter. He shakes the thought off, knowing he has to do this.

"I just...I need to apologise, Moon. I didn't treat you anywhere near how you should have been treated, and I'm sorry I did that."

Moon looks down at the floor, grasping one arm with one of her hands.

"I know you weren't yourself," she says softly. "You were treading a dark path."

"Maybe so, but I still hurt you and I'm sorry I did that," he replies just as softly.

He wants to step closer, but he refrains just yet. He'd hurt her, and regardless of whether she'd forgiven it or not, he hadn't really earned the right to be as familiar as he'd like.

"I forgave you that night," she says, her cheeks flushing slightly. "I told Charlie I forgave you. Didn't understand it, and they all tried to explain, but I didn't need to understand to forgive."

There's a soft huff at that. "Yeah, Ruin told me."

"I'm not going to deny that, yes, sometimes I just want it quick and dirty and rough. But I shouldn't have done that to you. Not like that."

He pauses, then, "And I'm sorry I told you to leave me alone. I was hurting and not thinking clearly...I don't want you to leave me alone, Moon."

Moon finally looks up.

"You don't?" she asks, a slight hopeful lilt to her voice.

He shakes his head slowly. "No. I like having you around. I'll tell you right up front: I'm not making any promises. I'm working on letting go of Khem, but I loved her; I still love her and if she came back tomorrow, I couldn't promise that I wouldn't want to see how this all could work out. But I'm not going to sit in a corner and watch someone slip by who I'm very much attracted to."

"I can see you again?"

This seems to be the only thing she's concerned with at the moment.

His expression softens. "Of course you can. As much as you want. I want to see you more; I want to see how things work between us now that I'm clean."

Her eyes shine in the bedroom light, and it's tears that make them sparkle.

"I've missed you. You were my wolf, and then you weren't, and everyone was angry and no one was happy."

"I know."

He sees and smells the tears, so he takes a step in the room and holds his arms up in offering.

"I'm working on it; things will get better. They already are a lot better." He gives her a small smile. "Still your wolf, Lady."

There is only a moment of hesitation before she steps forward, crossing the small space between them and pressing her face against Jason's neck. Her arms wrap around his waist, hugging him tightly as she sniffles.

"My wolf," she murmurs.

He holds her tight, his face pressed against her hair as he murmurs softly in her ear.

"It'll be ok now; everything will be fine."

He holds her and breathes in the scent of her, surprised how untainted his memories of her were by the cocaine: she really does smell that good.

He pulls back enough to look her in the eye. "Moon, I need to get something off my chest, though. I don't know what you want out of all this, but...I have responsibilities back home. And I enjoy them. So if you want to stick around, I need you to understand that you probably won't be the only one I..." keep it clean, Jay: this is Moon we're talking to. "...smoosh with."