She's a Lady (Finished)

[Nako]

Merlin sat under the shade of the coffee shop, but it was not Merlin's form that could be seen. He was Avington still, but his shape was that of a female with the cutest little tussles of a blue mane, a bipedal feline, with a four of hearts emblazoned on her chest. So low a rank for having a bipedal. Perhaps that's why she disappeared so long ago in Merlin's home town... Perhaps that bitch of a Bog dweller had killed her for being an abomination. So crazy, she was... but her son... he was merely corrupted. Merlin felt a pang deep in his heart at remembering such things, one hand going up to his feline face at the thought of those intense bog eyes he'd stolen from the boy's head. Those pretty, yellow bog eyes.

Once again, Merlin found himself masquerading as a female. To what end? Well, it was one of the only ways that straight men would approach him. Yes.. the effeminate ones did not suit his style at all, and he never wished to get.... close to those in the form that was more true to his real self. It was strange enough being an Avington in this form, but as it was, it was the safest form because the previous owner was dead. There would be no running into his exact copy while shopping.

And shop he did. For damned ladies clothing. What the hell was wrong with him? Bored, perhaps. With a sigh, he swirled the contents of his cup around, not really interested in drinking what he bought. Was he spending money because he was bored? Normally he was so frugal. Yes. Merlin needed a hobby.

[carcinoGeneticist]

It had seemed as if the only possible answer was for Apocalypse to take a short vacation from the courts.

His hands - oh, Suits, his hands - were getting to be a problem. He had worked out methods of getting his paperwork done, but none of it mattered when it felt like his damn arms were about to tear out and drop onto the ground. He was so tired all the time, and sleep did little to appease what felt - to him - to be bricks tied to his wrists. More often than not he felt utterly useless, strapping cold-packs to his arms until his wrists went numb, resting his arms against tables and chairs and any surface he could find.

He had to leave the palace for a few days, get away from those damnable roses. He could give his arms a chance to rest, to recover from the strain, before something really awful happened. While he was here, he fully intended to find someone who could make him something, some magical item that would take off the strain. Hadn't Seth found a man to make his katars here, Serafino a swordsmith?

Surely Apocalypse could find someone with the skills to make something to keep his arms attached to his body.

...There were other nice aspects to the Capital, too. He could rest and meet new people, which was why he was in the coffee shop. Four days wasn't that long, but two lonely nights into his trip and the man was horny, damnit. So he'd found himself a quiet coffeeshop and was holding a drink in his miraculously normal hands, glancing around to see who he might meet today. A woman caught his eye - Avington? Feline? Well, wasn't she a pretty thing? Feeling bold with normalcy, Apocalypse strolled towards her table, giving her a smile.

"Good afternoon, miss." he greeted, the smile widening. A Heart. This was getting better. "Is this seat taken..?"

[Nako]

It wasn't entirely uncommon to be approached in this form; Merlin had no qualms with admitting it was attractive. That was one of the reasons he enjoyed being in it so much. There was a certain... thrill to being treated like a lady, there really was.

He looked up, his female face smiling as he spoke. "Good after-" He hesitated when he took note of the rank, and the smooth human skin that bore it, blinking in light surprise. "Afternoon... Sir." He finished, looking the human over with a keen interest. "No, not at all. Have a seat."

Now... -this- wan an interesting turn of events. He stared quite openly; he wasn't one that could always contain his curiosity, his yellow eyes that stayed the same in whatever form he was in roving over the pale creature. It wasn't always obvious at first what a human's realm was. They were quite the.... mysterious creatures, even to a Joker. Perhaps Merlin would one day aspire to attain his own human form, but at this point and time in his life, it just hadn't happened yet.

Those eyes... hm. -Those- were suspicious. Was he...? The thought of it sent the foreign heart to beat heavily in his light, female chest. How frightening.

How exciting.

[carcinoGeneticist]

With her attention centered in on him, the woman was even more beautiful than she'd seemed to be at first glance. His thin lips curled into a rather pleased smile as she looked him over. He could tell that she was checking him out, and that was a nice feeling, wasn't it? It certainly did something good for his self-esteem. With all the grace of the feline that he was, Apocalypse slipped into the seat across from the Avington cat, setting his drink down on the table and leaning back to grin at her.

"Thank you. I must say, it's been quite the boring afternoon so far, so..." he rolled the drink between his hands, marveling at the dexterity that normal human hands possessed. "A little company will be a nice change of pace. My name is Apocalypse." Slowly, he picked up his beverage, lifting it to his lips and taking a slow sip.

Curious eyes, the woman had... They made him think of Bog eyes, which looked bizarre in an otherwise perfectly normal Avington face. He found himself staring, and he shook himself, an almost embarrassed grin creeping onto his face. He blushed, feeling suddenly rather awkward. He hadn't intended for his attention to be grabbed in that way, and his reaction had probably come across as strong. "Ah, forgive me for staring, I just... Seeing eyes like yours remind me of my family."

[Nako]

He watched the creature with a wide, hawklike stare, hand wrapped around his drink, but the stuff far too cold to want to take a sip from it. Merlin had reached for it in reflex, a social need to mimic what the other card was doing. Funny, how such behaviors could arise when one felt anxious.

Merlin's brows raised with curiosity, and perhaps even the slightest bit of hesitance at the name. "My. A foreboding name if I've ever heard one." But a smile found the feminine curve of those feline easily.

At the next comment, he couldn't help but glance away just a little bit, self conscious that they had been noticed. He couldn't help but smile when Apocalypse actually explained why he'd been staring. Family, eh? "Funny you say that; I could say the same. Goodness knows how -these- got passed along. Couldn't find a Bog anywhere down the family line.." It was a lie that came off the tongue easily enough, one of many that he pulled out of his head for any occasion that came up. His eyes cut back towards the Bog dweller. Yes. He was certainly from that realm. Merlin was sure of it now.

"Darla. A pleasure to meet you." He extended the dainty, clawed hand over the table.

[carcinoGeneticist]

He gave a casual shrug of his shoulders, rolling his head and grinning to himself. It really was. That was part of why he liked it so much - also because, more than anything else, it was his. He saw the hesitation in her eyes as he introduced himself, wondering for the briefest of moments if he should have instead swallowed his pride and given her another name, but then she smiled and his worries vanished. Ohhh, she really was a pretty creature, wasn't she? He wanted to tuck a strand of that blue hair behind her ear, just to touch her a little bit more.

...Jesus, was he really that desperate? He knew the answer to that question, but he didn't really want to think about it. He felt justified. It had been a few days, after all, and while his hands were in what had become their normal state... Well. It had been a while.

"What can I say? I have a rather eccentric family. Think they liked the sound of it without knowing the full meaning." Oh, he was lying through his teeth, but that was much easier than telling the full and convoluted truth. He and Heilyn had spent hours weaving him a past, talking until the lights outside had faded, but he needed something. Otherwise he was just too damn suspicious. "Really, it's... fascinating. Almost makes me homesick." he laughed softly, the sound light and cheerful.

Slowly, the man reached out for the offered hand, pausing for a moment before he was reminded. He had normal hands while he was here. He could take her hand without worrying about her adverse reaction. He drew it up, his orange eyes sliding closed as he kissed the green-furred knuckles rather softly. "It really is. Tell me, what brings you out on such a lovely day?"

[Nako]

Homesick? And by home, was he referring to the Bog? He didn't act as if he were born from the bog. He smiled politely at that, but he was also somewhat suspicious. But... not suspicious enough to be fearful. Perhaps he was covering up the fact that he was probably a brat born in the Capital instead of his home region. He acted... far too refined.. Too sane. Then again, perhaps Merlin was a touch biased.

He flushed obviously, the insides of the feline ears taking a pink tinge at his gallantry. No. Not born in the Bog at all.. but that was refreshing. Despite himself, he was grinning like a fool, even giving a soft, girlish giggle.

"Is it boring, or lovely?" She asked, smiling even broader. She didn't let go of his hand though, instead drawing it a bit closer and flipping it over, inspecting it. "The day, that is."

He couldn't help but tease him; he was contradicting himself so cutely. "Goodness, you're so pale... Are you one of those rare -albino- Boggy boys?" As he said that, his feminine voice dropped to a lower, more sensual octave, running a finger gently down his wrist. A fang protruded to bite his lip without even noticing he was doing it. Goodness... He even smelled of the bog, if only faintly. Attempting some semblance of reservedness, he cut his gaze up cutely at the King of hearts.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Homesick could mean many things, of course, and in this case the man was only thinking of the Court. The truth of the matter was that Apocalypse was indeed born far from the Bog. Pretty much as far as one could get. He'd been there, of course, and between his adoptive mother and his summoner, he acted quite a bit like a Bog-dweller at least in terms of beliefs. But he'd never dreamed, not once, that he would run into someone who would recognize his behavior as somehow... Off.

He didn't even think about it now, noticing instead the fact that he wasn't the only person who was beginning to blush. And that giggle! So feminine, so lovely!

Oh, damnit all, he'd gotten a bit flustered, hadn't he? Apocalypse flushed when the lovely woman called attention to his slip, his grin picking up a crooked lilt that (he hoped) would make it all the more charming. She was still holding his hand, which told him that perhaps he hadn't ruined things completely. "Ah... I would say that the day itself - the weather, for the most part - is quite lovely, but the events in my own day, up until now, were boring." his lips twitched into an almost nervous grin. He felt the part of the fool.

Her next question took him by surprise, and wide orange eyes focused on his new companion, blinking a few times. She knew about the white Boggies? That was a new event, too. "I am," he replied softly, turning his hand in her own to better give her access to touch wherever she so desired. "I have a question of my own for you... For someone with Bog eyes and no Bog ancestry, you seem to know quite a lot about the place. How did that happen?"

[Nako]

His eyes cut upward a little more sharply this time, in that same second hoping desperately that his own face didn't give him away too much as he measured the suspicion on the Bog Dweller's face. But there didn't seem to be much at all on that hairless, enigmatic human expression. Only curiosity. And his voice was soft, his hand giving way to his ministrations to it, massaging the pads there gently. Merlin didn't offer to pull his hands away, and Apocolypse didn't seem too concerned about it either, so he did not stop.

Finally, deciding that this was no threat, he put on the most secretive of smiles, leaning forward as if it was one great secret. "Well. It's not as if you're the first Bog Dweller I've known." He let that thought hang in the air before casting a glance around as if to make sure no one else heard their conversation, which seemed to be becoming increasingly intimate.

"Now look what you've done... you've made me kiss and tell. For shame." Light and teasing, the voice would be. Ah. Females were certainly gorgeous creatures. Merlin's tendencies leaned more to -being- one that being -with- one, sadly. Not that he wouldn't give it a try...

[carcinoGeneticist]

Oh, that gentle kneading felt quite lovely. Apocalypse shifted in his seat and closed his eyes as the woman increased the pressure a little. How he missed things like this... He wasn't exactly looking forward to his return to the palace and what it implied for his hands. This kind of massage would probably work wonders for his often-stiff or sore joints, but he was too uncomfortable with his own mutation to let another see it so closely, let alone ask them to touch it.

But with normal hands, he could accept as much of it as he wanted. Which was, in fact, quite a lot. Abruptly, Apocalypse felt the need to touch back, feel the contours of her body in a way that he'd been sadly unable to do in weeks, it seemed.

In truth, the thought that she was implying a more deep relationship never occurred to the man, and his eyes were bright and interested. "No one has ever know what I am without asking directly," he mused thoughtfully. "I can't say I've ever met anyone with your level of... familiarity."

Then he paused, his cheeks going a deep crimson. For once, the man hadn't been implying a damn thing, and she'd gone and told him quite an interesting fact about herself. His heart beat a little harder as he turned his hand in her grip, letting his fingers tickle across her palm. "Could it be, perhaps, that you'd like to get to know me a little better?" he leaned a little closer, lips parted thoughtfully. His own thoughts were getting loud and obnoxious, difficult to ignore. "I'd be happy to give you some of my time, if you'd like to learn more about the Bog from the perspective of an albino."

Hah. Perspective.