Aries had been looking up and down the streets of Genil for a little over a week now, and finally, he had caught sight of her. The girl in Lawrence's paintings was staying at the Bella View Gardens, a little apartment complex that had sprung up seemingly out of nowhere to the young unicorn. His white hair was bound up, the locks kept in a tight little bun that was covered by a purple golfer's cap that hung low over one of those vibrant silver eyes. His feet moved across the ground with the slight tap of the one-inch heels on his knee-high boots. Despite his cute and cheery smile, Aries was on the path to war. He was wearing his favorite purple gloves, and a skirt that just exposed his knees before the rest of his legs were covered in his boots.
His shirt was made of satin, black with purple wings embroidered on the back and purple vines crawling up the rolled sleeves. He stood at the entrance to the complex, staring up at its many windows and suddenly realizing he hadn't really figured out which apartment the girl he wanted to verbally massacre occupied and was on completely foreign territory to do it. The caution that warned him not to step forward kept him hesitating for that moment by the opening, but his anger propelled him anyway.
Hell to it. Nobody deserved to get away with hurting Lawrence, even if it meant Aries was thrown out of a third story window to his death. The unicorn moved to the front door of the lobby and proceeded to lift his hand to knock, but realized it was a business moments before his knuckles wrapped against the wood of the door. His hand dropped and pulled the door open, darting his head around it to smile at a man much larger than he with blonde hair. "Hi.. I was looking for a Miss Chance. I thought she lived here, but I'm a little lost...." He almost looked like a sixteen year old girl, with his size and stature and the way he moved. A blush spread across his cheeks for having to ask someone where to find a woman he was going to argue with. It seemed inappropriate, even, but he couldn't just allow her to.. get away with it.
Michael looked up from the desk as he saw the door open and then lifted his eyebrows as he watched the strange creature walk across the foyer to him. At first, he took the person for being female and was ready to look back down again, but then he realised it was a male and he all but tripped over his own jowels. "If only I wasn't married." He whispered to himself and then put on the best smile he could manage. "What can I....?" The man cut him off.
Michael listened carefully, but then furrowed his brow. In the week that Chance had been there, not a single person had asked for her and she had made it clear that if anyone came asking, they were to tell him or her that she wasn't there. She wanted to be alone to get on with her work and grieve in her peace. Michael didn't mind much, but Andrew had been determined to make her smile. As yet, he had not succeeded.
Snapping back to reality, Michael realised he'd opened his mouth before thinking. "Sure, she's down in the basement doing the tenants' laundry." He then bit his tongue...........
Re: Hunting for HateShe works here. Oh, my god. I'm in so much trouble. The thought was brief, but went through Aries head like a train plows through an empty field of wheat. Despite his minor distraction, he smiled his brightest flash of a smile and waved at the man as he wandered out the door. Finding her was the easy part, not strangling her would be the hard one. He twines his fingers together and fiddled with them nervously. He moved around, staring at the flowers and the painting on the newly-made apartment complex. His bright, silver eyes dragged the colors out of the very sky and shone them forward as if they were always possessed by his own. He put his hands behind his back before he headed to the entrance to the basement.
His skirt bounced around him as he descended the stairs, happy for the little hat he was using to keep his hair from dragging across the dirtied tiles. The flickering light of the downstairs added to the lonely feeling of the place, which was completely appropriate.. and there she was. Moving clothes between washers, her hair and eyes matching those same images in Lawrence's studio--that same face--and jealousy welled up in him again. You're just like her. I hate you both. There was some resentment there that he didn't quite understand, but it was buried underneath a mountain of false smiles and calm, collected hatred.
"Hello, Miss Chance. Finally, we meet.. and I must admit, My Lawrence's art does you no justice."
That's right. Mine. I've been there.. the whole time...
Re: Hunting for Hate
Chance had worked herself hard that morning. Several of the tenants needed bedding washed and pressed and she couldn't quite believe the strange things she'd found on their sheets. Still, it wasn't her business, so she carried on regardless. In between being sick and being dizzy, she'd managed to get more than half of it done by the time a strange person came down the stairs asking for her. When she'd first heard the footsteps, she'd taken them for Michael or Andrew and was about to tell them she was half done, but then a voice she didn't recognise and she quickly bolted upright.
Dropping the sheets she was transfering from one machine to the other, Chance staggered back in dizziness and leaned against another machine behind her. Her forefinger and thumb pressed agaist the hollows ebside her eyes and she groaned. "I can come and collect your laundry in a few hours Miss." She started, "I'm sorry it's taking so long. I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise." She'd mistaken the stranger for a tenant she hadn't met yet and there were plenty of those. Puerly because she stayed out of their way.
After taking on the job in Bella View Gardens, she'd made it clear that she wouldn't deal with the tenants directly. Basically, they left their laundry outside their door and she collected it, washed it, and then put it back without them ever spotting her. That was the way she liked it and she was slowly getting used to the happenings around the complex. This new face however, knocked her off her game a little.
My Lawrence. My Lawrence.
Had Chance heard this creature right? Her hand strayed to her firming belly and she cautiously looked up again, locking her gaze with what looked like a girl, but sounded more like a young man. A young man wearing a skirt and heels? Before she knew it, Chance turned about and quickly heaved her stomach again into a large tin sink next to the industrial machine.
My Lawrence. My Lawrence.
The words spun in her mind. The knowledge of Michael and Andrew aside, she hadn't figured Lawrence to be that way too. It seemed everyone was full of surprises.
My Lawrence. My Lawrence. My lawrence's art doesn't do you justice.
Lawrence had been painting her? Since when? "I'm sure they look much better than reality." She said finally, wiping her mouth with hanky from her pocket. Carefully, she looked back at the strange man/woman/thing. "And if he's your Lawrence now, you can keep him. I won't make any fuss." Inside, her heart was shattering all over again. Already he'd found another lover, it seemed. "I wouldn't shame his house, so you need not fear any competition from me."
Slowly, she slid down the machine to sit on the floor. "He made his point clear a long while ago that he didn't want me, so I'm not expecting any forgiveness or friendly banter from you." Tears quietly fell down her cheeks as she drew her knees up and crammed her hands between them. Should she tell this creature about the baby? It was a hard choice. It could ruin their relationship and she didn't want to make him unhappy again. But, he was entitled to know he had a child, even if it was by accident. A mistake... just like her.
To the stranger, it must have seemed that Chance was eotionally unstable and out of control. In fact, that wasn't so far from the truth. her bosses had often knocked on her door to find her curled up in bed crying, even in the afternoon when she should have been working. "I hope you can succeed where I failed." She whimpered, feeling her grief coming out again, "Please make him happy? Please? And look after him? He needs someone proper to look after him."
Her head dropped forward, resting on her knees and she started crying again..........
Re: Hunting for Hate
Aries flipped his cap up a few inches to stare down at her as she slumped about. His silver eyes rested on her stomach.. she was sick, and no doubt with child, so then she had roped him. He wanted to hurt her, truly. Aries was so mad right now, he might have transformed and kicked her with one of his large, dangerous hooves, but the whim was short-lived and undaunting. It was just the anger. She'd thought him a tenant as he had come in, and apparently she had not been paying much attention to them, either. Wallowing in her grief.. like.. like some child. Grow up. GROW UP! GROW UP! He wanted to snarl, to release the fire that was burning in the pit of his stomach, the acidic anger that made him sick.
She'd called him a female--and no doubt, Aries' voice was high, but not high enough to constitute a child, and his flat chest either implied a very unfortunate woman or a very young babe. Such was his misfortune, he supposed, to be born this way. But it was the way he was--he could change it, but it wouldn't truly mean anything. He couldn't reproduce, couldn't be a woman, even if he could rearrange anatomy to fit. Too late to catch a heart that was so bent on not being gay. Lawrence' father had ruined Aries' chance from the beginning--ironic, that the woman before him had that name; a name that described the very essence of everything Aries had ever wanted from Lawrence, and the one thing he'd never get, even if the artist gave him everything else in the world.. his love, trust, and faith... even his scorn and anger when he needed to.
"You're right about one thing. You definitely shouldn't shame his house," The words came out coarse, but light in the silent room, "He's been mine since before you got there, but I think you have something confused. He's my best friend--not my lover." Aries stepped toward her, leaning down to look at her pointedly, "To put it blunt, I came here to attack you. Not in the physical sense--I hate violence with a passion--but verbally. I hate women like you. You're self-pitying, pathetic wretches." The voice was stone cold, without love or anything else that should have filtered through his mind. In the same way Aries had given up on trust, he had given up on compassion. Other people had no place, no feelings, and no truth in his position.
"You came in on a grieving man, with a wife not long since dead, and instead of being a friend to him--you threw yourself at him like some hunk of meat. Lawrence doesn't just screw anyone, Chloe," The mistaken slip of the name was soft, but purposeful. "You're just like her," His fingers gripped the side of the washing machine as he slid down to come to eye level with her. If someone had walked in, they might have been mistaken for lovers if they weren't smart enough to see the tension, the anger that rose about the unicorn's feet like a wildfire waiting to spread, "Even she had more tact--that bitch he married. The tact to wait, to at least pretend she loved him and cared about his feelings, even when she was lying straight to his face. But I don't give you that credit."
Aries breath was soft, hot against the girl's lips because he was so close, his voice was barely audible, "I think you did love him--that's the worst part. You were just stupid and selfish and buried him in it. His wife had just run off with some.. some demon to fuck and get killed.. and you didn't think twice about his feelings at all. He offered you a place, and you repaid him with what? Not even having the decency to let him get to know you. Under the sheets isn't the place to create a life with each other. Above them is." He slowly stood again, moving away from her in a vicious circle that lead him to the stairs, and he leaned cautiously against the wall as he stared down at her. Every bit of his majestic glory painted him far larger than he was, like the beautiful horse he represented, he was intimidating and beautiful.
"And then, when he said one thing wrong--after you had done so much wrong--you ran from him. Not the same way he ran from you, hiding himself away for a few moments to cool off when he was angry with himself and you for the callous things you had done without easing into it. You ran, and hid his child. You buried yourself under a weight of whining guilt, like it justified your actions, and you really thought it did." Aries sat bolt upright, his long, sharp ears pricked up to listen, to make sure the tenants passing by had no intention of coming down the stairs. Seemed not for now, "I've been thrown out--He couldn't stand to hear the truth from me, just like he couldn't take the weight of guilt from ravaging a child with you. You were a mistake--never think different--but so was I in friendship, and that never stopped Lawrence from loving me. I will see him again--in one month I will. I wonder what you'll do then." How could he be sending her back to him--Aries was not going to cry in front of this woman. Not ever would he. No matter what kind of a sensitive child he was--He let the cold envelope him, and turned to begin to walk up the stairs. He couldn't.. be here anymore.
Re: Hunting for Hate
He was so close, so very, very close. She couldn't stand it. His breath was hot on her face, yet his words were ice cold, devoid of anything that could be considered friendly. He was there to destroy her, to hurt her. Oh yes, she knew he was definitely male now.
A pathetic wretch. She knew those words all too well. She'd been called them so many times in her past life. This man, this evil, cold creature reminded her so much of her brothers right then that it was hard to remember he wasn't. His words cut so deep into her soul.
"You know nothing of what happened between us." She said to him, but he continued regardless, comparing her to Clhoe, Lawrence's former wife. "And I knew nothing of her, save that we looked alike. You have no idea how much I loved him, still love him. He meant mroe to me than life itself until he spoke those words to me that day." Yet still the strange, cold creature carried on, staying so close she could smell the hatred on him. He hated women like her. And he knew she was pregnant. Chance turned her face away, unable to tolerate him any longer.
"Get out." She finally whimpered as he got up and walked away from her, "Get out and never come back. You know nothing of Lawrence and I. Nothing! This was an accident! I never intended any of this to happen!" Her voice was steadily growing in confidence. "I left because he didn't want me! I left because I couldn't bear to see the regret in his eyes! I couldn't allow myself to hurt him again, however I did that! All I did was love him and you have no right to call me those things!" Then her voice dropped right down again, "All I ever did was love him."
Slowly, she uncurled herself and got to her feet again. "So you know absolutely nothing that happened between us. You weren't there when he pulled me to him and you weren't there when I lvoed him back. You weren't there when he said those things to me. You weren't there when he said those words. You don't know anything of anything about us and you never will. If you're supposed to be his friend, you should know this. You should know what a loving man he was to me. You should have known the life he offered me. And you should have known the regret, but instead, you come here and destroy me. Call me names and make assumptions about me that you have no right to!" She turned her teared eyes on the man and glared right back at him. "That man deserves far more than you or I could ever give him! He called me a mistake, fair enough, but what about you? At least I left on my own. he had to throw you out!"
And witht hat, she fled for the stairs, pushing past him to get out of the suddenly incredibly confined space. She had to get out of their before it killed her, or he killed her, whichever would come first.........
Re: Hunting for Hate
She darted past him, self-pity in her voice the whole way. He stared up after her, and her audacity left the tears for her in his eyes a pure imagination. They disappeared, forgetting to spill over, just drowning. "You're... such a whiny, childish idiot." It was the last, soft thing he said before she disappeared. His appall stared him right in the face. He was about to help that. That crying, whining creature--that thing that thought Aries did anything without knowing what he did first. He had been getting that answer since he started with her.. reading it behind her eyes what he hadn't read behind Lawrence's. He knew what transpired, like it had been a movie--but it didn't upset him, just left him with a sense of.... elation. Because he knew the color that screened the story--the truth in the sad actions of his best friend. She wasn't loved. No more than he. The same. But Aries wasn't throwing himself at Lawrence rudely.
She could think that way. But Lawrence didn't love her--not yet. And never would, if she hid from him, and Aries wouldn't tell her otherwise. He'd rather she just died. Flew from a tower somewhere. Aries shook his head, and smiled. Truly, he'd been right. She was just a baby... a child, and he'd been scared of that emotion--"Love" that she cast around so freely like it were some piece of candy. True, he never told you to get out. But he never called me a mistake, either. One is eternally more permanent than the other. Yours will never change, but he'll ask me back. Aries ascended the stairs after five or so minutes, giving her plenty of time to run away.
And then he came up and walked from the complex. He had thought this visit would make him feel empty, but there was no sense of guilt. She'd proven to be exactly what he thought--so he had nothing to feel guilty about.
"Truth is truth." He slipped past the flowers and out the main gateway, sliding his hat off. We're finished.
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