tampered | Log; Ongoing

Log; Ongoing

When; Dec. 16th, evening
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Kitty Jones (

kittyjones), Bartimaeus (

djinni_tricks)
Summary; Kitty goes to address Bartimaeus about the gift Morpheus gave her.
Log;

Kitty had been debating how to do this for a long time. A very long time. An amount of time that was entirely justified, she felt, by what she was going to have to do. Bartimaeus was... well, he was dying. And she'd managed to find a cure. Well, not a cure. More like a... temporary delay in the death process. But it would help, she knew.

Only problem was, how was she going to explain to him how she received it? And how... how was she going to give it to him? She paced up and down inside her flat, each time getting a little closer to her friend's bedroom door before turning away, her hand once just touching the knob before flying off like it was red-hot. She had to do this. But it was...

"Sod it." And with that highly reassuring speech, she went for the door one last time, knocking before opening it a tad. "Bartimaeus? Are you... I have something I have to..." In a rather unspectacular fashion she trailed off, not really sure what to say.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Bartimaeus, as Kitty has been pacing the apartment had been curled up in his room, in the simple form of a cat. Well, not just any cat, an egyptian mau. Ptolemy had liked them, or at least he liked them better than the bald sphinx cat's. Now those were some ugly cats.

As Kitty knocked and opened the door he pushed himself up, willing his essence into the form of Ptolemy and did his best not to wince at the pain the change caused him. He didn't want to worry her. But then, he couldn't even help how his form looked. He'd opted to have Ptolemy wear cotton pajama's, but the black hair hung limply and his skin was pale.

"What do you need Kitty?" He didn't even bother to wipe away the weariness in his voice.

Even though he'd been looking paler and paler for the last few days, it didn't stop her flinching with shock when she saw him, didn't stop her heart catching in her throat. She'd never seen him like this, and she never wanted to see him like this ever again. He was Bartimaeus. He was ancient, all-powerful, and suddenly he was... weak. "It's nothing I need," she spoke quickly. "It's about what you... what you need."

This was just as hard as she had thought it was going to be. "All right. I'm not sure how to say this, so I'm just going to try and say it. Good? Good," she paused, running her hands through her hair. "I... I made a deal with someone. To... to help you."

Swiftly, she looked up from the ground, pointing a finger accusingly at him as he lay there. "And before you say a single word about making deals with strangers... firstly, you're not my mother, for heaven's sake, and secondly... it's already done."

Bartimaeus avoided looking Kitty in the eye as she flinched. He knew he wasn't doing well, his essence was spread thin, it was amazing he was still corporeal with the extent of his weakness. He cocked his head to the side as she spoke quickly. "What I need?"

She didn't. Bartimaeus opened his mouth to say something about how she shouldn't make deals with strangers in this city when she cut him off. Was he getting that predictable?

He pushed himself up so that he was leaning against the headboard of his bed and frowned mentally, his mind wandering as it was apt to when he was weak. He really preferred the couch to this bloody bed, so inconvienent. "What did you pay?" He asked once his mind got back to the subject at hand.

When he spoke her eyes quickly darted back down to the ground again as she shrugged nonchalantly, "Nothing. S'not important. It's paid."

God, if he found out... but then, how wasn't he going to find out? I mean surely to get it to him she'd have to do the same, and it... What would he say? Would he refuse? But he couldn't, not after she... She shook her head. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

"He... his name is Morpheus. He has some power. And he gave me... he gave me some of it." Haltingly, she walked over to the bed, stopping to sit on the corner. She fiddled with her hands nervously, trying to do anything to distract her from what she was surely going to have to say. "Power to give to you. It won't cure you, but it'll... I don't know, supplement your essence, or something."

"I want to know what the price was." Bartimaeus said insistantly, taking in how she looked down, avoided his gaze. "Tell me, please?" His tone was almost pleading. Kitty was like Ptolemy, he wanted to protect her, repay her somehow.

He didn't realize how human he looked at that moment, worry etched into his features, one hand clutching at the sheet. If he had, he would have probably opted to stick with the cat form, less expressions.

He listened to her explanation, who gave it to her and how it would help him. "Then it would prolong my life?"

I won't tell him. He doesn't need to know. I'll bypass it somehow, I'll... But when he spoke her train of thought went instantly silent. Did he just say... She had never, never heard him say... did he just say please?!

No. No. This wasn't fair. Why did he choose this time, of all times, to act human? Why did he look so worried, so weak? Why was he making her tell him... she didn't want to tell him...

She glared at the spirit, her words sharp as she blurted them out before she lost her nerve, "I kissed him, all right?"

Struck silent by the force of what she had said, she took a deep breath, concentrating back on hands, which she squeezed into small fists and then relaxed as she inhaled and exhaled in turn. Her voice was very quiet now. "I... I kissed him. That's it. That's all he wanted."

Nodding, she still tried to look anywhere but him. "Yes. It would give you more time. A fair amount more. Time enough for us to find some cure. The only problem is," she gulped, biting her lip a little, "is how I'm going to transfer the power from me to you."

Bartimaeus blinked in a blank manner, worry vanishing as he tried to wrap his head around the concept of Kitty kissing someone as payment for a way to help him. Even with as many planes of thought as his, that was impossible to think about.

And thus, Bartimaeus, Sakhr al Jinni was struck speechless for the first time in centuries.

"You... you..."

He got a hold of himself, still gripping at the blankets as it was all he could do at the moment. "And how will you do that?"

"Yeah." What more could she say? The way he was looking at her, the way he wasn't saying anything, the bloody silence... broken at last by a question that was even worse. How?

"I'm going to have to... I think the only way is..."

He was her friend. He was more than that. After all they'd been through, they... they had an understanding. She couldn't define it. But more than anything, she couldn't bear to destroy it. That would be... she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did. So... so how was she going to do this?

Listen up, Kitty Jones. Always a sure sign of desperation, when you turn to the voice of your own brain for guidance. Let's face facts. You are never going to be able to tell him this. How could you? So it's best you just do it. Get it over with. Just do it.

She turned to face him. As they had been speaking, she had been shifting further and further up the bed, closer to him. She was close enough now to... to...

Enough. Just do it.

Without another word, even another thought, Kitty placed one hand on the cheek of her friend, gently, as though afraid. And then, before he had time to say a thing, she moved in... pressed her lips against his. Kissed him. Kissed him, and prayed that this would work.

Bartimaeus waited for an answer, but there was nothing. What was wrong? Did it involve some weird ritual such as the ancient aztec rituals? He hoped not, that would be messy.

His mind, a it was wont to, wandered quite a bit during Kitty's silence, remembering patches of information from all over his illustrious career. So, of course he was too distracted to even notice Kitty getting closer until she was upon him.

He froze as he felt strength rushing through him. Power, beneficial essence that shot through him like adrenaline. Without even thinking he pressed into the kiss, welcoming the maelstrom of healing energies. He didn't even stop to think that it was Kitty kissing him.

It wasn't like a normal kiss, it was like... oh, hell, she couldn't describe what it was like. When he pushed back against her she almost pulled away, but willed herself to stay, closing her eyes, not breaking the connection.

Ever since Morpheus had told her what he had given her, she had been dimly aware of the power within her, the energy pulsing like a second heartbeat. Warm and yet cold, deep blue in colour, crackling and turbulent and everywhere and nowhere. She concentrated on it. Willed it to move.

And it worked. She could feel it travelling up and out of her and into Bartimaeus, drifting invisible through where their mouths were still joined. It tied them together, tugged her towards him as it drained out of her, pooling into his body from hers. She was beginning to feel weak, light-headed, leaning more and more against him as her body began to sag, but she wouldn't stop, she refused, not until he was healed enough.

As the energy entered him, strengthened his essence the color flew back to his cheeks, hair became lively and previously dull gray eyes darkened to a black with small bits of light that could have passed for their own universe.

He felt her sag as he sat straighter, and as soon as he felt he was strong enough, he pulled away, no longer the invalid he was only a short while ago. He was back to his full splendor, well, he was still a scrawny egyptian boy in white cotton pajama's, that much hadn't changed. But he was well again!

She was becoming less and less aware of anything but the kiss and the flow of energy. The world around her was slowly becoming more and more muted. The darkness she could see when she closed her eyes was beginning to swirl and then he... he pulled away, and with a deep, gasping breath she was jolted back to reality.

The world still spun however, when she opened her eyes. She could see him sitting in front of her, could see the strength in his posture, could dimly make out the familiar depths of his eyes, but she was unable to focus.

"You look better..." She managed to mumble the words out, before realising she was falling forward towards him with a small "oof".

"Sorry 'bout that," she murmured against his chest before giving a little semi-delirious giggle, "bit light-headed."

Bartimaeus was alarmed as Kitty wavered and fell forward onto him, thankfully with his strength she didn't knock him over. If it had been the true Ptolemy he would have been flattened.

"It's fine... you did well, Kitty." He said softly, petting her hair lightly as he eased her down on the bed. "Just lie down for a while, alright? I'll try and make you some tea using the mirco-thingy."

Though her vision had all but faded into murky grey and her eyes were beginning to slip shut, she could still feel him moving her, was aware of the bed suddenly against her back. Her body was completely thrown by the previous process – the energy that had been there was now gone and without it she felt more than a little hollow, and the method of transferring it had been draining to say the least. "S'fine, s'good, I'm fine, just a bit... tired..."

Another of his words filtered through, and her face creased into a little frown, "No... y'don't... not with the microwave... tea... not... wrong..." She dimly waved her hand as though hoping that would explain everything.

With great effort she forced her eyes open a crack, reaching out towards him with one unsteady hand, trying to find his own to hold on to. "Bartimaeus, I'm so glad you're... you're..."

But it was too much, she was too tired. Her hand sank down onto the bed, as her lids closed once more, her head tilting to one side as she slipped into a deep sleep, completely oblivious to the rest of world, let alone the demon now at full strength who sat just inches away from her on the bed.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Log; Ongoing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject