CLIW

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

She shivered at his touch, those gentle fingers stroking her wing where it had been damaged all those years ago. It was always that wing that bothered her after training, always that one that ached so terribly if she slept on it wrong while the other one only went a little numb as with any arm or leg. But this felt nice. Mattie felt that she should have pulled away and that she shouldn't be letting him touch her like this. She couldn't, though; it was either that she was too tired to resist or that she liked it. More likely it was a little of both.

Her eyes shut slowly and she held onto him, tight, tighter. The alcohol was starting to get to her and she felt as though if she were to let go she might fall over. But even if she weren't drunk and emotional, she might have still clung on.

"We'll face it together," she agreed groggily. Did she forgive him? She didn't know. Her world had shrunken to just the two of them, standing there, for now. To his smell. To his soft words. Mattie sighed.

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

Mattie felt as though Nick wasn't telling the whole truth to her, but she just didn't want to pursue it right now. Although her crying episode was very slowly beginning to simmer down, she was still reeling from all the feelings and questions and ideas that the man's return had brought on. She mindlessly opened her mouth to ask what had changed, but she thought better of it, instead noticing foggily that she was being held against harder muscles than she remembered.

Perhaps her own muscles had grown too, but it had mostly been her wings that she'd trained. That would work her pecs, but since those were nestled under her boobs she doubted there was any noticeable change.

She traced her fingertips absently along Nick's tricep, her eyelids drooping. It had been a long time since she'd felt this strung out, and right now she was stretched between interrogating him and simply settling for the fact that they were together again. For now. Evidently, it wouldn't be a good idea to count on things staying the same in that regard, at least not yet.

"I'll be safe," she mumbled finally. Her voice sounded weighed down. "I can fly so much better than three years ago. I'm stronger and...so are you."

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

Mattie squirmed but half-heartedly. She would have been able to escape Nick's grasp had she really wanted to, but she simply found that she suddenly didn't have the energy to fight him anymore. Accepting his arm around her, she twitched a few times and then, apart from the continued heaving of her sobbing chest, was still.

"W-why––" Something between a sob and a hiccup interrupted her. "Why did––" gross sniffle that didn't do much to clear her nose–– "Why'd you c-come back? After all that time..."

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

Mattie's eyes were smarting with tears again. She tried to contain them, to contain herself, but it was apparent that she could not be contained. Her anger, her tears, her anxiety... she could hold none of it back, and the thought of letting it all go right in front of Nicholas only made it worse.

"You had the nerve," she started shakily, "to treat me like a child, like I didn't know the danger of it..." The first of many tears rolled down her right cheek, and the second down her left, and she was almost holding her breath in to keep from exploding into a mess again. "You only put yourself in danger! Did you think I had no idea what we were up against?! I was willing to take that risk!"

She took a deep breath. The thought of what Jacob had done was still traumatizing, and remembering it, remembering how he plunged with her into the lake and practically tore her apart, made her ability to stay calm even more fragile than it already was. More tears. Mattie knew what was coming, because her eyes smarted more and her nasal cavity was beginning to feel runny.

"I thought sometimes you were dead!" she choked out. "B-because I thought––I––there was no way you could have just left me of your own will!"

And that was it; she was bawling like a four-year-old, heaving out wretched sobs and doubling over with her head in her hands and mucus streaming from both nostrils. It was disgusting. She could almost see herself, making an embarrassment in front of Nick. So much for keeping up the damn act. She tried to grab the bottle, but it just slipped out of her hands and spilled all over the carpet. So instead, she blundered toward her bedroom where she could lock the door and hope that Nick wouldn't kick it down again.

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

Mattie watched as the door was propped up. Maybe she should have been relieved at the privacy they had again, but she wasn't, because now here they were again at square one: Nick at her doorstep, completely uninvited, now evidently angry at her over over the justified assault from moments before. It rekindled her fury, made her snarl and back away from him. Like an animal.

"Don't you dare act like this is my fault!" she raised her voice to the point of it cracking; she was unafraid of neighbors hearing the argument. "You just up and fucking left me without any warning, without even telling me why! I worried myself sick about you! Those first weeks without you, I––" She restrained herself: mentioning her emotional reaction to Nick's absence three years ago would only make her seem weak, and right now she wanted to intimidate him. So she picked herself up again, her incisors flashing as she spat more words.

"And then you come back here like some kind of fucking stalker and expect those stupid little fucking flowers to make me forget everything! Did you expect me to treat you like a good old friend?! Did you expect me to suck your dick right then and there?! And speaking of that––" she paused, very briefly, only to take in a breath–– "why'd you come back anyway, huh? Were you not getting enough pussy out by yourself? Poor little fucking Nicholas! 'Wah wah, the only people I can get to touch my crotch are the herpes-positive hookers out back of the dry cleaners, sure wish Mattie were here!'"

For a moment as she picked up the bottle of vodka, it looked as if she were going to smash it or throw it at him. She knew better, taking a very impressive several gulps of the stuff. Then she set it down, hard.

"Grow the fuck up," she concluded her tirade with a growl prickling her throat. "You can't just up and leave someone, only to visit when it suits you. Get out of my house."

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

Mattie took a deep breath and forced herself to step out, following Nick. The last thing either of them needed was a swarm of police asking them questions. She didn't even know what was happening, herself, especially now that Ms. What's-her-face was getting involved.

She contorted her face into the most fake smile she'd ever had the displeasure of making.

Glancing between the two young'ns, the old woman opened her window. A loud meow and faint smell of cat urine emanated from within. Phone still in her hand, she addressed Mattie. "Who is this?"

"O-oh! This is just, just an old friend. Hah!" She punched Nick's shoulder a little too hard. "The door, um, that was an accident."

"What was the screaming?"

Jesus, the lady was nosy. "It was um...happiness? So sorry for the noise, ma'am. How's Mr. Buttermilk Pancakes doing?"

And immediately, the elderly neighbor was beaming.

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

That...was a little unexpected. It was also going to cost a lot, and whoever would be out to repair her door was bound to ask questions. Questions she didn't want to answer. Questions that involved whether Mattie should get a restraining order. This was what tumbled through her head in split-second flashes as she stared in shocked silence at the man who'd left three years ago, who now would not go away.

She wiped her face with the back of her arm, glaring at Nick. She was going to go off on him... when she got herself together, at least.

The neighbor took in the entire scene wide-eyed and raised a massive, ancient looking corded telephone, beginning to dial.

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

The neighbors were probably getting a little worried. The cat lady next door rarely went outside, but she often peeked out her windows with a cat nestled in her arms. She was a sweet old woman, and this extremely brief consideration for an uninvolved human being made Mattie feel bad.

She was crying, and it wasn't a Disney princess cry either. It was ugly crying, with her face contorted into a grimace and her nostrils flaring and the occasional strangled, weird-sounding whimper coming from her throat. Her mind was racing, outpacing itself; she was tripping over her own frantic thoughts to get to the next one. Why was he here? How had he found her? Why now? When she'd almost managed to cleanse her mind of the invasive feelings of missing him after what he'd done?

She yanked open the fridge and pulled out a full bottle of vodka. Then she started chugging. A little bit spilled down her face.

One thing was certain: Mattie was a complete mess. She was too afraid to respond to Nick and betray the emotion in her voice, which by now would definitely be wavering if she tried to speak. Maybe if she pretended not to be home, he'd just go away!

Except she knew he wouldn't.

She paused from drinking, set the bottle down hard on the counter, wiped her eyes and gathered her strength.

"Why don't you pack up and fuck off for three more years, you fucking used tampon?!"

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

She'd finished the burger now, but she really wanted to move on to the second one. The second set of knocking jarred her again. They were never this persistent. Maybe it was a debt collector? But she tried not to have any debt. A drug dealer? Now, that wouldn't be too shabby. Maybe, she fantasized, it was a moonshine salesman––now that would really knock her socks off. With a very overdone sigh, Mattie heaved herself out of her seat (a magical seat that only became comfortable when she wanted to leave it).

She crossed swiftly to the door, so ready to give this bastard a piece of her mind, ready to shout, "The sign says no soliciting, asshole!" and then slam the door.

Moodily she opened the door just a crack. Nick's face greeted her.

Nope. Wasn't happening. No, no no, not real, not happening, lalalala, and she was so busy telling herself this wasn't reality that she didn't hear herself scream. She did see herself uppercut him, although her fist had moved after she registered that those were roses he was holding.

Swallowing the slight guilt, Mattie slammed the door. Locked it. Bolted it. Dragged a chair from the kitchen to stand across the doorway and provide an extra barricade.

"Ho-lee fuuuuuuuuck," she panted, stumbling into the living room doe-eyed with panic. "Put a fuckin' stick up my asshole and call me a popsicle! What the fuck?!" Her head was spinning. She'd decided after he'd abandoned her that she never wanted to see him again. Forever and ever, and even after that. She'd also figured he wouldn't bother coming back. Or that he'd been killed by Jacob and she'd never found out.

Now here were the tears. She knew the cure to those.

Return (Re-boot) | 1x1 |

Mattie had only been home for around... twenty minutes, maybe. She'd been flying all day, and it had taken a lot out of her. Luckily, she got paid more at the liquor store than she probably deserved, which meant that she had money to pay for rent and utilities in addition to her high energy needs and alcoholism. As a result of this perfect deal she'd snagged almost three years ago now, after Nick had left her like the piece of shit she should have known he was, she'd become a quite impressive flyer, as well as an impressive drinker, and a fairly good brawler (which was needed at the occasional bar). What was less impressive was her ability to stay in therapy. She'd decided about a month into her sessions that the shrink she was seeing was a complete prick.

Today was her day off, which was why she'd been flying through the hours. She'd stopped at a fast food chain on the way home and ordered... how many again? She counted the paper wrappings along with the yet-unconsumed triple cheeseburgers. Eight burgers. And some hash browns. And some fries. And some salad that she knew she wouldn't eat; she'd only ordered it out of guilt from ordering all those burgers.

"Big family to feed?" the person at the drive-through had asked amiably.

To which of course, Mattie responded, "No way, man, I'm just super stoned."

Now, indulgently, she unwrapped the sixth burger while reclining on the couch. Oh, this was going to be good. She licked her lips, briefly wondered if she was really replenishing those lost calories or just eating herself to death, sank her teeth down into that lovely seared cowflesh...

Knock, knock, knock.

She let loose an irritated growl. No one ever knocked on her door, except for the same two white, greasy-faced Mormon teens every damn week. She'd tried to deter them by asking if they were polygamists. That hadn't worked, so she'd proceeded to ask them how magnets worked. It had only made the situation more awkward and they still came back. So, she'd just about given up on them. She let them come in and sit down, zoned them out while they lectured her, made them coffee, and then told them politely just how terribly busy she was and that she'd think about what they said.

She wasn't in the mood for them while she was pigging out.

"Busy!" she shouted with a huff, and tucked into the sixth burger.