Private Finished Just A Little Nibble

Maisie lifted his pillow and smelled it as well, and, lo and behold, it didn't smell like much of anything either. It was almost as if Ash never even slept in his own bed, but she knew better than to think that. Her bed, on the other hand, obviously smelled like her--her shampoo, fabric softener, maybe just a little bit of lotion, and of course her natural scent. However, there was no perfume smell lingering around--there hadn't been since the day she got there, in fact. Her roommate and told her not to spray it around, so she'd decided not to spray it at all to avoid getting on his bad side.

"My own bed? What's that? I can't hear you," she said as she stretched out across his bed. Maisie rolled onto her back with her arms still stretched above her head and stared up at Ash. "It's all the way over there though, Shortcake, and my poor feet can't take anymore walking, not when it's this cold. Can't you have pity on a poor girl and share your bed?"

She pulled her legs up and wiggled until she'd managed to get under the covers and stole them all for herself. There was a mischievous look in her eyes as she stuck her tongue out at her roommate. "What're you gonna do about it, anyways?"

Maisie was definitely not complaining about Ash getting in bed with her. She watched him as he moved, and for a second her eye caught the brand on his chest. A confused, curious look mixed with just a tinge of concern passed over her face, along with a quiet, "Wha..?"

But she stopped, shook her head, and reached to pull his t-shirt up for him. If he didn't like talking about his past, she wasn't going to prod him. Besides, there had to have been a reason that she'd never seen the mark before--he didn't want her to see, probably didn't want her to make a big fuss out of it, so she wasn't going to make a big fuss about it.

Instead, she hummed and thought of a way to shift the attention away, just in case her noticing the brand made him uncomfortable. "Do you wanna know how I figured out I had infinite blood?" she asked nonchalantly. "If you don't, then plug your ears 'cuz I'm gonna tell you anyways. . .I was stabbed. A whole lot. You wanna hear the story? 'Cuz I'll tell it to you if you wanna hear."

Maisie wiggled out from under the covers and laid on top of them instead, laying on her side, facing him, with her head now resting on the pillow. "Pillow talk, okay?" she said said with a small smile, looking into his eyes.

She stretched her legs and her feet out, all the way down to her toes, then relaxed again as she thought. "Well, I was about thirteen or so years old at the time. I'd gone to town with my family to set up shop at the farmer's market; we were sellin' all our good produce from the midsummer harvest. Still summer time, just to set the scene. At the end of the day, I'd decided to head back to the farm; well, I was only thirteen and so I didn't have a driver's license to take our truck back, and I'd insisted on going alone."

"The town was never known for crime or violence, y'know? We all knew each other there--it was like a whole 'nother family, but bigger. So it was a total surprise. I was walking back in the dark along the country road with trees on either side and this big ol' hill drop on my left, well I was awful careful not to slip and tumble down that hill. All a sudden, I start hearing footsteps behind me, but whenever I looked, there weren't anybody to be found! So I just kept on walking, thinking it was some bunny or something following after me, maybe a lost dog that I'd feed back at the house."

"Well, I couldn't've been anymore wrong. The footsteps got faster, and next thing you know I'm in a choke hold with someone's hand trying to go down my shirt! So I did just like daddy taught me and I stomped on his instep--" She paused and lifted her leg up, grabbing her foot to point out exactly where as she spoke, "Y'know, that lump on the top of your foot. And I darn near broke it, but he got so mad that he pulled a knife on me! Next thing I know, I'm rolling down that hill with what had to be a few dozen stab wounds, and I'm bleeding to all hell."

Maisie paused to take a breath, allowing Ash time to react and respond if he wanted to.

"Thank you, though you know you ain't having to be sorry." She squeezed his hand back, then took it in both of hers and started playing with his fingers for whatever reason while she retold her story. Still, she didn't seem to mind the proximity--it wasn't like she could scoot much further away, what with her back almost against the wall and all.

"Well, I hit the bottom of that hill, and I'm bloody and crying and in a lot of pain, and I'm laying there thinking I'm going to die, I'm going to die. So I start saying all my prayers and my goodbyes to my family, and then I lay there and I wait to bleed out--but I didn't. It had to have been a couple hours before I realized I wasn't dying, so I got up even though it hurt way worse to move, and I started back up that hill. I had to have left such a mess behind--but I couldn't see with how dark it was. So I made my way back home and I swear all my family that was there almost died of heart attacks, I looked so bad. I was covered in blood and they just didn't know how I wasn't dead yet 'til one of them suggested I might have some of them powers that a few in the family get."

"Turns out it was ol' Joe from the auto-shop in town who attacked me; I'd told them that there was someone out there with a broken foot, and they searched high and low til they found the rat bastard and arrested him for attempted homicide and sexual assault. His poor wife would've had to have taken care of their children all on her own if it wasn't for the whole town pitching in to help her."

Maisie turned onto her back and lifted her sweater to just above her midsection. She pointed out all the little white scars on her belly and sides. While she spoke, she left her sweater up and her skin exposed. "They've been fading more and more each year, but they ain't gone away yet. I dunno if they'll ever go away completely. But..thank you for listening, and thanks for being there for me. And, y'know, saving me from that tree and taking care of all my cuts and everything. You've done a lot, and I ain't hardly done anything for you 'cept drive you nuts, probably. Well, I'll always be here for you too if you ever need my help or you want to talk or need advice or what have you. I'll be as much help as you'll let me be, I swear."

Maisie's midsection twitched when he first touched her, but she relaxed and let him do as he pleased. The feeling of his fingers was ticklish to her, so while she sometimes shivered from the sensation, she was mostly giggling or attempting to bite back her giggles (and failing). Her cheeks were tinged with color by the time he removed his hand, and she pulled her sweater back down and covered herself up again. "It'd be mighty hard proving what you've gone through if all you have are words and no scars, I guess. 'D just have to take someone's word for it."

She quieted back down when he started to share something about his past. It was mighty hard getting anything about himself out of him, she thought, so him trusting her enough to say something was real important. Her grey eyes traveled down from his amber eyes to the brand and scar on his body. Ever silent, she reached just as he did and very, very gently touched the brand first, then dragged her fingers down to the scar over his heart. Lightly tracing, petting like there was pain to soothe.

"That sounds awful," she said quietly once he'd finished speaking. "I can't imagine what you must've gone through, and I know I can't do anything to change what happened to you, but...I'm here for you, Ash. If you ever, ever need me, I'm here."