Quest: Love Me [Kazifel] [Finished OMG FINALLY]

[The Jenn]

Something prompted a slow kind of awareness to creep up on her, a combination of the warm sun just beginning to brush against the fur of her back and the knowledge that she was snuggled in the arms of the most wonderful man in existence. Her doll man. Her Real Doll. She opened her eyes slowly, watching him watch her, and just nuzzled against him for a moment before she contemplated having to get up. When he could feel her touch him... would he want to nuzzle her back? She hoped so. But even if he didn't, that was okay. He still hugged her and smiled at her and that was more than she had ever gotten from anyone. He really was her True Love.

He really did need to be painted, though. All of that white... more and more, it just wasn't his color. He needed his proper skin back. Maybe it would make him happier, to have it back and unchipped and bright? She hoped so. With a little bit of sealer, it would stay that way for even longer.

She sat up and reached her arms up above her head, wincing at the pull of muscles all the way down her back and shoulders and arms. She'd be feeling this for quite some time. "Are you ready for a bit more work today, dearest? I'm afraid your head will have to come off again, but this should be the last time."

[Spiderfly]

Kari and Jenn both receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Kari Muffin]

Again? Off with his head then. If it would get the job done quicker than so be it. He certainly wanted skin tone, and she probably would take his head off if he liked it or not. He still let out a whimper as he sat up.

"All right. Of course I'll let you do it. You know best." It was the truth. She knew what she was doing and she was determined to fix him. Hopefully this would be a quicker part of the fixing. He nodded to himself as he got out of the bed and directed himself to where he had stood previously. It seemed to be the proper workspace. He hadn't really gathered any knowledge on the rest of the layout of the house. Kazifel just remembered the doll room and... no. He didn't want to remember that.

He waited for her to do her work. Trust. He really did Trust her to let her do this.

[The Jenn]

Her beautiful Kazifel really would let her do whatever she wanted to fix him up and make him even more beautiful. He would take his promise to every extreme, even going so far as to let her sever his head from his shoulders and place it on the bed. Which she quickly did, facing the same way it had before. She had a promise to keep too, after all, and she would approach it just as diligently as he did. And with just as much love and devotion as she hoped were behind his words.

The basic coat of paint was easy, now that it had the primer to glide over and didn't try to soak into the wood. The joints were still tricky things, but the consistency of this paint was a lot less thick and easer to smooth around where she needed it to be. Detailing could come much later, after she had painted his face with its base coat and allowed it to dry. Detailing the body would probably be her goal today. Detailing his face... all of tomorrow. When she stared into his eyes, she wanted the face staring back at her to be the face he was born to have, his own and oh-so-elegant. Every line, every shadow, it would have to be perfect.

Forgetting food - she loved him far more than food, and she had so much work ahead of her still! - she worked the whole day on painting him, and ended everything with his head in her lap and her mind wandering to far-off places where she wasn't quite awake but didn't dare sleep for fear of shifting and jostling the drying paint. She had managed to finish a little earlier than planned and detail the body, so the very base coat of his lips could be applied, and a faint shadowing to his eyelids. Very faint.

"Ready for your head to go back on for the last time?" she asked him with a giggle. Of course he was. Really, what kind of question was that?

[Kari Muffin]

She put some much work into his body. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of it. Femi was so very dedicated, the least he could do was dedicate himself to her. The least. She was his love. What he had been searching for. Even with his head detached from his body, he still couldn't help but be happy in his bit of his discomfort.

"Of course," he managed. It was still quite disturbing that his head was not in it's proper place, but he had gotten over it. "So... you're almost done?" he asked curiously. He had to know how close they were. His curiosity was eating him alive... well he would be alive regardless. He smiled, as she mended him. It was wonderful to have someone who would fix him. Someone who could love him unconditionally.

"Thank you," he said again, smiling. He couldn't thank her enough. Never enough. He would have to thank her every single day for as long as forever actually was.

[The Jenn]

The pad of Femi's thumb ran across his lip, smiling like that, and she just closed her eyes and smiled back. "You're wonderful," she said with a happy sigh. "Going to sleep cuddled next to you makes me happy that I'm going to wake up in the morning."

Tomorrow, his face would the the focus of all her attention and some of the smallest brushes she owned for the kinds of fine detailing she would need to do. She'd stared at human faces before. Sometimes when Lord Ghi let his human pet out for the afternoon to play, she dared to approach him and make him sit still for her while she stared at his face as a model for some of her other dolls. He was such a quiet person, scared of anything and everything, that she didn't have to feel scared or uncomfortable around him. Sometimes he was quiet and still enough that he could be a little doll himself.

All of the paints were gathered, all her brushes set out... the work would be a pleasure and every cramp of her fingers would reassure her that she was helping him. Maybe he would let her add a few small, shimmery golden swirls to his face? That would be so pretty...

And then the day after tomorrow, she could take him to meet her parents.

[Kari Muffin]

He could have cried with joy when Femi ran her finger across his lips. If only he could feel it. Then he would be beyond happy. Without another word, it was too joyful for words, he escorted her to bed.

The night was long, but Kazifel hardly noticed. He actually slept to some degree. He hardly noticed the sunlight peaking through the windows. He continued to stroke her fur until she woke up. It was time to finish his face, and eventually get her food, right? He had to assume she was hungry... her stomach made sounds again. He looked to her as she woke up and directed him. Of course he followed the directions she gave. He trusted her. And she seemed to know what she was doing when it came to painting.

Staying still was still as simple as it had been. And he needed to sit very still for this. He just hoped it would be easy for her.

[The Jenn]

The squirrel woke up late enough that morning, feeling hands running through her fur and stretching happily into them, that she was right back up to her normal energy level in terms of conversation. A few bites of food at his request and she was back to work. When his head was on the bed and in her arms, she had missed being able to talk with him instead of at him. She purposefully saved his lips for next to last, just so that he could respond to more of her conversation, brush gliding along the hard wooden planes of his face. She simply adored painting.

In earlier conversation, when her Kazifel had mentioned his mixed heritage as Corvistowneian and Highlander, all Femi could think about was one of her favorite dolls and how pretty his face markings were. Someone had painted them gold and dusted them with glitter so they sparkled like magic against his avian cheeks. Her beautiful man didn't need glitter - that would just be over the top - but maybe if she used the one gold paint she had with a natural luster that glimmered just a little bit when the light hit it just right... that would be perfect!

Before the brush touched his lips, while the rest of his face was busy drying and the afternoon sunlight shone brightly in through the window, she paused. "Eyes still need to stay closed, my love, but... what would you like me to put on your chest after this? That will be the last step, the very last one before I let it all dry and seal it against damage."

[Kari Muffin]

Well, they certainly had interesting conversations when he was incapacitated. It did give him time to think about the past, the present, and the future. He throughly enjoyed it when she spoke at him--he learned things about her.

She finally asked the important question. The one that he had been deciding. Did he truly want to be hers? Did he truly want to devote himself to her. He promised. Kazifel couldn't break the promise in good conscious or any conscious for that matter. Cassiel had said she hated liars like their father. Certainly Kazifel didn't want to be like his father. His mind was already made up.

His eyes remained closed as Femi requested and he said, "I'll be your King. Of course I'll be your King. But... Clubs. I want to stay a Club." Hers forever then. There was no turning back now that the words had been spoken. He had to thank the heavens for this turn in luck. It was almost as if all the bad things had washed away. Almost.

[The Jenn]

"Mmm. Yes. My King of Clubs, forever and ever." He had chosen, once and for all, chosen to be her King. Someone had chosen to stay with her, to love her and cherish her and be hers... had chosen it. Free will. Her Kazifel doll man, with his free will. It was what made him Real.

Her pale, furred hands moved in small, fluid strokes for the detailing of his lips, and then in sweepingly elegant strokes, painting on the outline of the markings before filling them in with dark, midnight black. And then, just because she could and it would be Pretty, she outlined it in the same lustrous metallic golden paint she had used on his face. The color could almost pretend to blend with his skin, except for the gleaming. No one would ever see his rank and think he was anything less than a King. Her King.

The rest of the day was spent gently gently fanning the paint dry and taking him outside for sealing. That was one smell she really didn't want in her bedroom, even if she could handle the whole things smelling like paint fumes just fine. While he dried from his first coat, perhaps four hours while the sun slowly sank and plunged the Wood into near-complete darkness except for patches of moonlight, Femi scurried around and collected nuts. Then she applied the second coat. That was only an hour to dry until she could touch him, and she did. He was glossy and smooth and she nearly danced, except the fumes left her a little bit woozy and that wouldn't be a good idea.

She led him in, eyes closed, until she could light a few candles and stand him in front of the full-body mirror. Then she told him to open his eyes and held her breath.