Cherubplay

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Terezi's eyes went to the game. Horror games? Huh. She doubted that those kind of things work. Then again, he was around enough horror as it is. Tassek's father looked. Shit. He wants a response. "Well...I'm sure there could be much worse things he could get himself into." Like being friends with a vampire.

2015-04-15 02:05:20

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Very true. He looked satisfied and put the game down. As long as he wasn't doing drugs or going clubbing. Or riding buses.

Or befriending vampires.

Ehem.

Tassek returned with two stools, one covered in dust and the other with shoeprints on it. Generally he used it to reach the top of the fridge. The other was for the nonexistent guest he was never prepared for. His father looked slightly disappointed at the obvious disuse of the extra stool. Did no one come over here?

That was about right, yes.

2015-04-15 02:24:03

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Once Tassek returned with the stools, Terezi sat down on one without much to say. Obviously, Terezi couldn't give two shits about how his house looked. She had lived in worse and had been through worse.

It was better than living with Spyders, that was for sure. Who was still outside the apartment building.

2015-04-15 02:39:55

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What house? This was a closet. There was chirping from the birdcage and he left the stools to go lift the blanket and feed the medium-sized white bird inside some seeds. His dad hesitantly sat on the dusty stool. "How has your job been going?" he asked. "Pretty good, though I'm not sure if you could call it that. Midterms are coming up, so I've been earning more." There was one girl in particular who seemed to require a ridiculous amount of help with studying for her physics class. He was almost worried for her, actually. He considered mentioning the almost paper route, but that would probably just get his hopes up.

When the blanket divider between the bird and the people in the room was brushed aside, the bird in question let out a startling cry and puffed out all of its feathers, glaring at Terezi. Tassek stepped backwards, surprised, and glanced over at her. "Sorry, he's...not normally this angry." Angry, yes. This angry? Never.

2015-04-15 02:53:13

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Terezi shook her head. She knew exactly why. Animals and Vampires were not a good combination. There was a reason why she lived in an apartment where absolutely no animals were allowed. "It's fine." She stared back at Tassek. "Animals just seem to not like me for some reason. You could say it's like they sense something about me that they don't like."

She hoped that he got the hint that yeah, there was a reason he hates her.

2015-04-15 03:03:35

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Ah. That made sense. He scattered the seeds inside the cage and dropped the blanket. Immediately, the bird went quiet, though it seemed more out of fear of being noticed than calm. His father raised an eyebrow at her but didn't comment. He was beginning to wonder why she kept on tightening her scarf; even for a crappy building, the heating was running full blast to keep the pipes from freezing.

Tassek was slightly curious himself, but of course she wouldn't want anyone to see her bite marks. The hoodie seemed to do a good enough job of hiding them by itself, though, so what was with the extra layers? "Um, Dad, if you're hungry, I can make some sandwiches..." He didn't bother asking Terezi if she was hungry. That would bring up all sorts of awkward conversation. The man looked away from her and towards his son, nodding. "Thanks. It was a long trip, and you know how those deli meat airport hoagies are." He didn't, actually, he generally avoided them in favor of bags of complimentary peanuts, and wow, maybe he really should eat more. He went to the kitchen to make a rushed meal from his sparse groceries.

2015-04-15 03:15:02

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Good. His father didn't get it. At least, from what Terezi observed. She fixed her scarf once more. Yeah, she wanted this thing off as soon as possible.

Terezi rested her hands in her lap. Stop fiddling with it. She'd draw attention to it if she did it too much. Or did she already? She hoped not. Terezi didn't want to lie to Tassek, if he asked, but she didn't want him in anymore danger.

She watched him go to the kitchen. Ah yes, humans and their human food. At least that was one situation they avoided.

2015-04-15 03:24:37

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This was all like a bad soap opera. Had to keep the unsuspecting parents from realizing the family pet was an extraterrestrial acid-spitting dictator. Bad comparison. He quickly put together a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The fridge was too inconsistent to be trusted with cold cuts.

Out in the...um...main room, his dad took advantage of years of interviewing experience to find out more about his son's new friend. "So, Terezi, what do you do for a living?"

2015-04-15 03:31:19

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More like this was the biggest elephant in the room. Instead of an elephant though, we have a panther that could rip a throat out in ten minutes.

Oh good, normal conversation. Something she didn't have to bullshit. "I'm a seamstress." She answered. "I sew wedding dresses for a local dress shop, more specifically." .

2015-04-15 03:36:42

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Ten minutes? That would be a slow, painful, humiliating-for-the-panther death. Seriously, it's more like ten seconds.

At the word 'seamstress', alarms went off in his head, but he calmed down when she elaborated. You never knew with these things. It was NY, after all. He nodded and made a mental note. Good marriage skill...for seventeenth-century pilgrims, anyway. "Interesting. And you live by yourself?" This would make or break the deal.

2015-04-15 03:41:26

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Terezi nodded. Though it was time for more bullshit. "My parents died a few years back in a car accident, I've been living alone ever sense." Yeah, a car accident. Not the guillotine. Nothing about the french here except for her language skills. Though I doubt his father would ask about that.

2015-04-15 03:45:19

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Oh. Dear. He felt a sudden and urgent need to hug her. "Oh...I'm so sorry." That was much worse. Fortunately, he didn't have to follow that awkward topic, because Tassek came back out with the food and handed it to him on a paper towel. He glanced over at Terezi. "Did I miss anything important?" "Her parents died in a car crash, but I expect you already knew that," his dad responded for her. "Isn't it a good thing you don't take the bus? It could happen to anyone." Tassek almost replied that the subway was capable of crashing, too, but that would just be stupid. He didn't need his dad worrying any more. He supposed he was lucky, at least, to have one parent. It had never really occurred to him that Terezi's parents might be dead, but considering she was centuries old, what else could he have expected? Now he felt kind of bad. With a sigh he sat on the mattress with his own sandwich, earning an approving nod from his father. Whatever. He hadn't even been thinking about that. Did he have to bring it up /all/ the time? Couldn't he just pretend to be normal every so often?

2015-04-15 03:55:53

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Yeah, there was one thing she didn't want Tassek's to feel. Remorse for her. Her parents death was something she knew was going to happen the day she turned. Was it sad? Yeah, but she got over it after the first few years or so. In her lifetime, she had seen more death than she could count. One could say that she was desensitized to it.

Apart from the chance of Tassek dying, for some reason. She moved a piece of hair out of her face, and adjusted the scarf once more.

2015-04-15 04:12:04

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Tassek finished his sandwich, watching her for a moment. Then he stood up and crumpled the paper into a ball. "I should walk her home. Terezi, is that okay with you?" His dad stood up too, running a hand through his already messy hair. "I should get going anyway. I promised the editor an editorial on the traffic here in return for extra vacation days." He grinned. "Nice to meet you, Terezi. Take good care of my son." With a pat on the shoulder he walked past her and out the door, hugging Tassek tightly on the way out. When he was gone Tassek stood rigid, rubbing his arms for a second. Then he looked at her again. "....seriously though, is that okay?" Are you okay?

2015-04-15 04:18:10

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Terezi gave a warm smile of reassurance to his father, then looked at Tassek. Would she want that? Spyders was following her, that was for sure. What would happen then? She was in a lose lose situation. At least if he was walking her home, she could protect him. It'd also keep Spyders away from Tassek's father. "Yeah, a walk home sounds nice."

2015-04-15 04:22:16

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He smiled a little, relaxing his shoulders and pulling a green hoodie out of a suitcase by his bed. In a rare moment of rebellion, he left his phone on the mattress. It wasn't as if his dad hadn't talked to him two minutes ago. "Then let's go. Before Warlock tries to eat your hands or something." Warlock was the bird. Yes, it had a name. He went and held the door open for her.

On the way to the bus stop, Mr. Paxaro noticed a tall blue-haired man staring at him from an alley and shivered. The riffraff around here, really. Then he boarded the arriving bus and disappeared.

2015-04-15 04:27:57

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Terezi pulled her hood up, as if she needed it. It was mostly habit now. Maybe if she wore it enough the scars of her bite marks would just fade away. Ha, if only. "I'm sure I can protect myself from a bird." Terezi exited the home and stood outside until Tassek came out as well.

She felt Spyders move now. This time up. Yep, back on top of the roofs again. He was definitely following her.

2015-04-15 04:35:01

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"I wouldn't be so sure, he can be pretty aggressive when he wants to be." He meant this as a joke, but it came out sounding too serious. Dangit. He went downstairs and through the lobby, then waited outside for her before walking again, breath coming out in puffs of steam. "....so...what's with the scarf?"

2015-04-15 04:39:37

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She followed behind him.Once hitting the outside, it was someone obivous she wasn't human. As she breathed, her breath didn't fog like Tassek's did. It was still, almost as if she didn't need it. In which, she didn't, but forcing her breath was normal now.

Then he mentioned the scarf. Oh, shit. She stuffed her hands into her pockets. "It's um, nothing really." Fuck, that was horrible. Why was she suddenly a horrible liar around him?

2015-04-15 04:46:26

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He furrowed his brows and stuck his hands in his pockets. "No, really, what's wrong? With the hoodie and all my dad wouldn'tve noticed. Did you get a tattoo or something?" Okay, weird assumption, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Mentally facepalming.

2015-04-15 04:54:49

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Her gaze moved to in front of her. "It's personal." More stalling. Yes, Terezi was beating around the bush once more. Mostly because she was sure Spyders was listening. A bit because she didn't want to worry Tassek.

Honestly, Spyders was who made her worry the most.

Until today, he never physically harmed her. Not once.

2015-04-15 06:48:23

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He was still worried, but if she wanted to keep it to herself he didn't want to bother her about it. So instead he went silent, frowning at the sidewalk as they walked. He wanted to be able to protect her sometimes too; it wasn't fair that she had to save him constantly, but she wouldn't let him help.

2015-04-15 16:27:04

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Yes, she knew this wasn't fair, but what could she do? Expect Spyders not to bluff. Consider it only a mere threat? No, that'd be signing Tassek's death certificate with his own blood. She glanced over at him, noticing the frown. Great, now she's upset him.

"Trust me, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with. I'm fine, really."

2015-04-15 16:30:47

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He didn't really believe her. Sigh. But he nodded and took off his glasses to clean them, letting his hair fall in front of his face. "...has Cale been bothering you any more? Or that blue haired guy?" They didn't seem like the types to give up that easily.

2015-04-15 16:35:23

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Terezi shook her head. "I have even seen Cale in ...a while, actually. What about you? He hasn't bothered you, has he?" Of course she avoided the subject of Spyders. The less Tassek knew, the better.

2015-04-15 16:37:44