milliways_bar | AU Week: Daemonverse

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AU Week: Daemonverse

Eighteen years of tight quarters led to some changes in basic biology. Everybody below the age of thirty settled as something small, compact, easy to keep close. People around Curtis’ age usually had something a little bigger: malleable enough to re-settle, just hardened enough not to venture too far from their original shape. A few people who were too old — too set in their ways, even after what the train did to them — ended up dying from the stress, unable to keep their outsize daemon from being touched so many times a day. Nobody had anything much bigger than a dog anymore.

And nobody’s daemon could ever get more than a foot or two away from them without feeling the strain of separation.

But, like Dejah’s fond of telling Curtis, he’s not on the train anymore. He remembers people whose links could extend almost the full width of a car. Joanna thinks it’s a shitty idea, but it’s just a test, he keeps reassuring her. It’s just another muscle to build up.

So, by the fire, Curtis hunches in an armchair with his eyes fixed on the honey badger next to his feet. Slowly, Joanna places one clawed foot in front of other other, inching forward against the pressure of their link.

They can do this. They’ve endured worse hurts.

[ooc: keeping it simple for AU week: daemons! Everything else about Curtis' background remains the same. Mun will be sporadic until about 10 PM ET, then around solidly until 11:30ish; post is open until I say it's not.]

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"It's going," says Curtis as he accepts the tea. He leans in to rest shoulder-to-shoulder with her.

As always, there's that weird moment where Joanna, visibly at a loss, presses herself against Curtis' leg, like they're an awkward teenager unsure of what to do with their hands. Dejah doesn't have a daemon Joanna can touch, and this -- whatever this is -- is far too new for Joanna to touch Dejah.

"What about you?"

It never occurred to her until recently, as strange as Curtis's daemon is to her, her lack of one is equally as strange to him. And to Joanna.

"It goes. I keep forgetting that time has stopped on the other side of my door, and thinking, 'oh shit I forgot to do the thing!' Only to realize, nope, the thing doesn't even need to be started until I get back. So -- as usual with this place -- good, but still a little weird."

She leans in and after a moment, takes her hat off and puts it on his head, lightly.

"Maybe someday it'll get less weird." Deadpan. "I doubt it."

He wrinkles his nose as Dejah drops the hat onto his head. Joanna looks up. Her lips curl into the best approximation of a mischievous smile you can get on a honey badger; heaving herself up onto the couch, she plants her paws on Curtis' shoulder, stretches, and snags the hat with her teeth.

If she can't say hi to Dejah's daemon, at least she can play with something Dejah gave them.

"I think I'd be disappointed if it did. I mean, it's weird, but I like it. A lot." She nudges Curtis's shoulder as she says it.

Dejah laughs as Joanna steals the hat. "Hey! Be careful with that. I -- uh -- acquired it from someone important."

"You did?"

Both he and Joanna endeavor to look as innocent as possible.

"Who?"

"Someone," she says, grinning at her tea. "I forget his name, but everyone else at the party seemed to think he was the bee's knees." She says it with a heavy sarcasm.

Someone who obviously deserved to have their hat "acquired".

"Oh, well," Curtis says with the utmost solemnity, and punctuates it with a sip of his own tea. "If he was the bee's knees."

Joanna's grin has turned downright predatory. (It suits her, naturally.) She flops next to Curtis, tail flicking from side to side, and starts to give the hat a thorough sniffing.

Still straight-faced, he adds, "I trust you to tell me if we should be jealous."

"Pfft!"

Dejah wrinkles her nose at Curtis and mirrors his sip with her own, licking her lips when she was done.

"As if."

He snickers. Briefly, his gaze flicks to her lips, back up to her eyes.

Ah, why not: Curtis leans in to sneak a quick kiss. Next to him, Joanna sighs, contented, and starts to gnaw on the brim of the hat.

Dejah meets him half way, and then follows him as he sits back. First kiss of the day should never be a quick kiss. She closes her eyes and reminds him of that, thoroughly.

She's utterly oblivious to the honey badger's contribution to the hat.

Oh, okay. He's more than happy to do it that way, too.

Curtis hums. With his hand occupied by the mug, he can't draw her closer; he settles for pouring just as much focus into the kiss, letting the rest of the bar fade away to nothing. For an instant, he wonders what her fingers would feel like in Joanna's fur; his daemon breathes out, resting her head on top of the bowler hat.

Eventually, the kiss breaks. It's Curtis' turn to let out a contented sigh as he opens his eyes.

Dejah's there when he does, meeting his gaze with all the same focus. "So, I'm curious."

"Yeah?" His eyebrows lift. "About what?"

"So, you guys -- share everything, yeah?"

"Yeah," he confirms. "We're a part of each other."

Curious, Joanna abandons the hat for now, scooting over to put her front paws on Curtis' leg as she listens to the conversation.

She smiles, waiting as he readjusts for Joanna.

"So -- what happens when two people with daemons -- y'know..." She opens her eyes wide, her lips pressed into a thin, decidedly playful smirk.

"Well," says Joanna, with dry amusement, "it's kinda tough trying to fuck a praying mantis or a -- "

Curtis jostles her with his thigh, cutting off that train of thought (and trying not to laugh). "Their daemons touch each other," he says. "It's more like...I don't know. Depends on what you're doing. Sometimes they're just cuddling or grooming each other or some shit."

He hesitates, exchanging a look with Joanna as they debate what else to say.

"If it's not just a hookup, they'll touch each other's daemons too."

She smirks as she listens to Joanna.

"Ah." She's not quite sure if she's crossed a line, but she trusts him to tell her if she has.

She looks to Joanna. "So you can feel it when I touch him?" To illustrate, she balances her mug on her knee and reaches up to stroke a hand over Curtis's closely shorn head.

"Kind of?" she hedges, as Curtis closes his eyes at the touch. "It's not the same as a daemon touching me, but -- "

Joanna blows out a frustrated breath.

"It's hard to explain. I know it happened even if I wasn't looking. And he knows if something's going on with me."

Dejah leans in to nuzzle Curtis's cheek before settling back, still resting against his shoulder. "Makes me wish I had a daemon for you to play with, honestly. An old hat seems like a really poor substitute."

They have no idea how much self control she's exerting to keep from petting the adorably gruff creature. It's why both her hands are firmly wrapped around her mug now even as she looks to Curtis with the same open, honest gaze.

He tips his head just enough to kiss her temple. "Yeah. It's a little weird for us," he admits. "Back home Joanna and your daemon'd be all over each other right now."

"But it's okay," Joanna adds. "A lot of stuff here ranks way higher on the scale of weird shit."

Like the fact that Joanna's even here at all, after Curtis' death. She heaves herself a little further into Curtis' lap at the thought.

"Yeah, I guess," she says, leaning into that kiss. She's still not quite happy about it. Over the days, she's found she's become just as attached to Joanna as she was to Curtis. Which made sense in a strange way. She just didn't want the little beastie to feel ignored.

She takes Curtis's mug from him and sets it on the side table with her own. And then she unceremoniously wraps his arm around her shoulders, her whole body nestling against his side. "So you know, furface, half of these snuggles are yours."

Curtis doesn't seem to mind! He squeezes Dejah's shoulders as Joanna chuckles. "Thanks," she says, lowering her head to her paws. "And half of whatever he's doing comes from me."

"Just in case you ever wanted to imagine making out with a honey badger," says Curtis, straight-faced.

Dejah's face is incapable of doing straight-faced. Her eyes always give her away.

"I'm sorry, I don't really see any difference?" She's grinning by the time the words are out and she steals a quick kiss at the end.

Joanna barks out a loud hah! Curtis' own laugh is more subdued.

"If that's a suggestion for me to finally get a fucking razor -- "

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