thaitrees-blog

[thaitrees-blog]

"Obviously," Ace looks at Hatter for a long moment, like he can see through him if he just tries hard enough, "I'm only just forming my perception of you, so any answer you give for any question is bound to influence it. I'm your friend either way, so I don't see why it should matter much." Before he appeared, Ace had made a deal with himself that he would only be honest with Hatter. So, that's what he's doing. It's not as strange as one might think, for the ruler of Hell-- lying has never really been his thing. "As for what I think of you so far... Mostly it seems that you don't value yourself as highly as you should, and that's a shame. You're perhaps a bit desperate, may not think things all the way through to the end, and you may be somewhat pessimistic about the state of the world and your place in it, but those all remain to be confirmed. You seem to hide behind humor and wit, but it's largely good humor and quick enough wit, and you seem respectful and well-intentioned. It's another shame, because a soul like yours would almost definitely have made it into Heaven if you hadn't taken that deal." Ace takes a bite of his food and chews, chews, swallows, "This is as delicious as it smells. I apologize if that was more of an answer than you were looking for, by the way. I've never been very good at small talk." He wasn't made that way. 

Hatter hides behind the pretense of getting the food out onto the table while he formulates a response for all of Ace’s questions. He can just tell the truth, but that seems too messy. Too intimate for something like a first dinner. Owner of his soul or not, Hatter isn’t rather thrilled to start off with laying his wounds out in the open. “Will either answer change your perception of me? Maybe an even better question is, what is your perception of me?” That seems like enough to distract Ace for now. He stares down at the plate in front of him and grins all smugly to himself. ”Thank you. I appreciate the compliments. Hopefully it’ll taste delicious as well so it’ll be a trifecta. It’s my favorite. The flavors are bold and leaves a lasting impression.” 

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"It does beg the question, though-- are you otherwise entirely devoid of friends and loving relationships, or is it simply that all of your other relationships are lacking something that you think you can get from me?" It's curiosity, pure and simple, rather than any desire to needle Hatter or however else it might come across. Ace is having-- has been, since the deal was made-- genuine trouble understanding why the man would make such a deal. Surely he's handsome and friendly enough to make friends on his own? And it had been clear in the contract that being friends with the Devil wouldn't get you out of going to Hell, so... It was baffling. Humans were, in general, Ace found. "Thai sounds delicious. And smells delicious, come to think of it. Is there a reason that that's the food you went for?" Step one in becoming friends: get to know them. Right? That included asking a lot of questions, Ace was pretty sure. 

Hatter’s grin falters just a touch at the mention of Hell but he slips right back into his amused expression shortly after. It’s too big of a feat for him to try to focus on anything outside of how cute Ace is when he’s all riled up. “Yes, yes, you did warn me and I signed anyway. No regrets on my end so far. Not when I have such great company over for dinner. Speaking of, I made Thai.”

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"It does worry me that you were willing to sell your soul for a friend," Ace points at Hatter in emphasis, and then moves in the direction of food at his behest, "I did warn you about Hell, did I not? That's a very worrying decision, on your part. Have you seen a therapist recently? It might be in order. What are we having for dinner?" It feels like centuries since he's properly eaten anything. Which... May be entirely accurate, actually. 

Despite the slight lull in their repartee, Hatter takes the opportunity to quietly appreciate the hint of emotions in Ace’s emotions. “Hmm,” he hums, easing himself back into the conversation. “Well you’d be surprised. I did sell my soul for you to be my friend. Should we continue this over the dinner I prepared for us?”  

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"Mm, but then I might miss another lonely soul who decides that he needs the devil for companionship," Ace glances at Hatter out of the corner of his eye, finally letting a small amount of amusement show, "I'll be here as long as you need me, of course. I can always delegate, or make the others wait, though you far from need me. In the typical manner, at least." 

Hatter lowers his head a touch to hide his laughter. “Oh, yes. You are menacing.” He makes his way across the room to stand beside Ace. “That doesn’t sound like such a good use of your time. Now hypothetically what if I truly needed you hear as well?”

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"Helps keep up the illusion of evil," Ace scans Hatter's face quickly as he speaks, before looking back to the rest of the room again, "Of course, I'm terribly busy. There's always a rise in attempted summonings around this time of year, and I do hate to disappoint those that feel they truly need me." 

"Point taken. Scaring people’s definitely a perk to be taken advantage of,” Hatter smiles, clearly amused. “It shouldn’t take more than half an hour to forty-five minutes or so. Do you have important plans you have to attend afterwards?” 

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"What sort of  powerful entity would I be if I used the doorbell?" Ace replies without looking at Hatter, examining the room around him instead, "Would you use doors and so on if you didn't have to?" If he wasn't so used to keeping a straight face, by now, it would be difficult to keep the amused smile off of his face. "How long is this dinner going to take, again?" 

Hatter enters in his living room but stops short when he sees Ace standing in the middle of it. After he lets the initial shock subside, he clears his throat. “Please come in. Make yourself at home. How nice of you to use the doorbell.”

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Chess moaned softly into the kiss-- a sound more relieved and content than sexual-- and felt himself relax into March's touch. That was what he'd been missing, for sure. All of the strange, discontent, tension that seemed to build up underneath his skin seemed to melt away in March's arms. 

"Hmm... I, uh, four? I think? I think it was four, that we had left-- honestly I haven't eaten anything else today, though," Chess placed a small kiss on March's nose on impulse, "So it's not that bad, is it?" A lot of human food still felt a bit too heavy for him-- sure they were nutritious enough, but after a lifetime of various types of vegetation, as much as he liked the cookies and breads and meats, there were some days that he just didn't feel up to them. 

"And I'll go shopping with you to replace them, this time-- I hope I didn't interrupt anything by showing up?" 

Come Soon || Cheshare

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"March!" Chess lit up as soon as he heard the voice behind him, and he half-bounced his way over to his human, and draped his arms around March's neck without hesitation, "I did! You only have so many books, you know." Which was completely besides the point, as Chess had been known to spend days on end doing nothing at all once upon a time. Boredom was familiar and quick to come to him, but easy to bear. The truth was that he'd started to miss March desperately about a half an hour before he left the house, and right now March's touch was about the best thing in the world. Worlds. Anywhere. 

"I took the bus here-- I used some change from that jar by the night stand, I hope you don't mind, how is your day going? I ate all of the bananas again--" 

Come Soon || Cheshare

[thaitrees-blog]

Come Soon || Cheshare

"Ah... Yes, I'm here to see Mr. Hare?" Chess had only just remembered to throw on shoes before leaving the house-- he was still getting used to all of the human customs that he actually had to learn, now. Walking, too, was now something to be done for actual transportation and not just leisure time (how did the humans have time to get anything done at all? They must have spent most of it getting from one place to another, or using the bathroom for goodness' sake--). Of course, there was the bus, and he'd managed to figure that out well enough. Well enough to get to March's workplace, at any rate, when staying alone in the apartment for several more hours became a truly unbearable thought. 

Now he was standing at the front desk, waiting as the lovely woman behind it reportedly 'paged' March-- which Chess was assuming would summon him... Because apparently Chess wasn't deemed capable of finding the man on his own. Oh well. 

[thaitrees-blog]

Tegan and Sara | Dark Come Soon (2007 Spinner Session)