plasticasshole | Aefenglom IC Inbox

[To say that the situation has been tense is a fucking understatement as far as Hank is concerned. While he knows and understands he's not always the best person to be around with, Connor's temper tantrums have brought out the flaming middle fingers a few times when the other wasn't watching (because he's not stupid enough to earn his complete disdain either). So he'd thought about slinking right back to the reliable bottle, but 'thankfully' had only done so once, waking up by himself with a mouthful of regret the next day, and had decided to just leave Connor alone and hope the ceremony moved forward as fast as possible.

Yet when the day arrived, he felt the jitters and almost got cold feet. He understood why they had to bond; and his own excuse was that he was doing it for Connor, but Hank was a bundle of a nervous mess. His magic lately had become more erratic, the fires a little too low or too powerful, attempting to make earth float to work on the pool in the back had nearly sent an entire mountain of dirt towards him and trapped him there. Then there were the voices; you don't deserve to bond with him . Look how he's been reacting around you lately. No one wants to be with a shitty, grumpy old man who's nothing more than a walking disaster. Fighting the urges to stay in his room, he instead fought with his collar from his new suit, attempting to loosen the cloth around his neck.

Connor was talking to him normally as they walked over to the building they were going to perform the ceremony. Hank had been sprinkling comments in the conversation even as his mind raced a thousand miles per hour, hoping that Connor couldn't detect his increasing heart rate, least he think he might just fall over of a heart attack.

Although honestly, he half-expected himself to do that just then when their hands touched. Christ, he just had to remind himself he was doing it for Connor and ignoring the speech he was giving him attempting to bury deep within his own soul. Why did the fucker have to include salad in his speech? At least that knocked him briefly out of his dazed look, as he glared at Connor before going back to being a terrified man, because he had been expecting the android to go on for a bit longer before he just goes 'Nothing else'.

So now it's his turn.]

Uhhhhhhhh....yeah, okay...

[Briefly he breaks hand contact just enough to take out and look at his paper he'd prepared for his own speech, holding it in his left hand before it suddenly burns into a brief flame and he looks at it, mouth agape before his brain catches up. Yeah, his plan had gone up completely balls up in fire, figuratively and metaphorically. He knew most of it by heart but...

Right this wasn't for him. He had to remember that even if Connor's words seemed to imply otherwise, Hank Anderson still had trouble with praise after all that had happened three years ago. The voices were still too loud, but Connor was able to pierce some of it. He tsked before taking his hand back again, this time with a little more conviction than before, like someone had lit up a petard under his ass.]

Okay fuck it...So um, I'll help you any way I can back... [fuck the plan and fuck what had written] but you can't say I'm the only one who' been trying to help you, Con. You gave me hope for a future and fuck if that's not the greatest gift a fucking cynical old man like me can have. So uh...right back at you. If I'm going to eat salad, you're going to have to try a burger for once in your life. Maybe if we keep doing that it'll even itself out. That's what this is all about anyway, right? Balance or some shit.

[He knows that's like, the least logical thing in the goddamn world but he doesn't care.]

Oh right uh...I almost forgot this.

[He breaks hand contact again (and hopes there's no rules being broken as he does so), fumbling in his pockets before he pulls out a single American quarter.]

I figured it might be fitting if I gave you this back during the ceremony.

[It's the quarter he had confiscated all those months ago at the tower. He slips it between their hands with a mischievous grin.]

Think I finally managed to get the coin tricks working anyway, so you can have it back.

[Connor's eyebrows raise as the notes go up in flames, but Hank manages to stumble through it and he goes back to smiling warmly at the older man. When he gets his coin back he pockets it after rolling it on his fingers a few times, before going back to holding his hands.]

I promise that if I end up needing to eat, I'll eat a burger first.

[He feels good about Hank's other words, though. He knows it hasn't been easy for Hank, but knowing he has some hope again makes him happy. The Witch overseeing the ceremony binds them together with magic of some kind (Connor isn't entirely sure how she's doing it), and then it's over. Connor feels reluctant to let go of Hank's hands, but instead of doing so he just pulls Hank close and hugs him tight. That seems like the right thing to do, and honestly, he just wants to.]

I'm glad I have you here with me, Hank.

[Having someone here that he could trust with his life means a lot. And he feels closer than ever with Hank now.]

[Stumbling was a very generous word, Connor. He wants to make a comment about showing off even during a ceremony but just finds himself smiling instead.]

Heh. Then it's a deal.

[He's not sure exactly how the bonding ceremony works. Honestly, Hank hadn't even read the fine print or any side effects that they might be feeling, more worried about how Connor had been trying to fight his urges, and this was a way to at least cap them off for a bit. His connection to magic made him feel like something had changed, but he wasn't quite certain what just yet.

Not that he really thought about it when they embraced into a hug. The last two times it had happened, he'd been the one to do it, so the surprise at Connor taking the effort to do it himself left him a little humbled enough that he couldn't find a quip or complaint about it as he normally would have.]

I...yeah. Me too, Con.

[This place wasn't too bad with him there, he had to admit himself.]

[He smiles up at Hank when he pulls back, immensely grateful. He reaches up to neaten Hank's collar, then nods for him to leave the circle with him.]

We should do something to celebrate. How about I make you something to eat? Then maybe we can go to the beach for a while. Sumo might enjoy the sea.

[And Connor needs to swim soon, but he still wants to spend time with Hank.]

[Cheeky bastard, is he trying to tell him he messed up his collar. Hank had half a mind to adjust the other's tie, but Connor was already out of the circle by then.]

Well celebrating means neither of us should be doing something, Connor...maybe we should go eat somewhere. Or if you're gonna cook something, at least let me try to help.

[He'll mess it up but at least he'll try.]

Anywy...sure. Sounds like a plan. Sumo's gonna love the sea.

[Certainly not Hank. That would be ridiculous.]

[Connor thinks on it, touching a hand to Hank's arm as they walk. Contact is good for bonds, right?]

We can eat somewhere, then. Or, well, you can.

[Connor will just awkwardly watch him eat. Bonding!]

Do you know any good places to eat? I've never needed to look.

[This is still so weird being touched like this. Not that Hank (weirdly enough) is minding it, but it's been years since he's bothered touching someone for more than a few seconds (or slightly longer if he's holding them down to cuff them). It does feel like...well he's not sure how to describe it, but the electrical energy that had been building up inside of him is being ebbed away just enough that it's much more tolerable. It gives him Clarity, the type that needs a capital C because it's that important and now he gets why the Bonding ceremony is such a big damn thing in this place. Of course his goal was to help Connor, so he's rather glad his mood is definitely a lot better. Maybe that's why his reaction is both apologetic and embarrassment when he realizes what he's suggested.]

Awww Christ, that's right. The food! Sometimes I forget you're not...well uh...human.

[He waves his free arm as he speaks in a 'you know what I mean considering the changes' gesture.]

How about if I just get some takeout somewhere, grab Sumo and head out to the beach? [He suddenly stops walking realizing he may have come upon the best idea and smiles at him in triumph.] We can make it a celebratory picnic. Being a Mermai--[Wait no he needs to stop calling him the wrong name]--Merrow isn't making you hungry for anything? Fish, algae, how about those little pallets you give goldfish?

[Okay now he's just teasing him, all the more made evident by the playful push of his elbow into Connor's side.]

[He is trying so, so hard not to suggest that the takeout be healthy. He actually has to purse his lips to stop himself. He just promised that he'd stop nagging him, so... he needs to start that now. He stops walking when Hank does, and gives Hank a raised eyebrow at the suggestion.]

No, I don't want to eat fish flakes. I don't think Sparky would appreciate it if I ate all of his food.

[Yes, he called his betta fish Sparky. What of it? On a more serious note, though-]

I have... thoughts of eating, now. Sometimes I'll look at something and think that it might actually be nice to eat it, but... I don't get hungry, as such. And I'm worried that trying to eat something would just cause damage to my body.

[Meaning he'll actually have to be starving before he considers eating finally, just because he's worried about that.]

[As they move again, Hank takes a sudden turn leading them to a nearby general grocery store. As meals and ingredients of all sorts of tempting foods stare right at the both of them, Hank instead finds himself picking out sandwiches from the premade food counter, along with a whole ear of corn, and a...salad. Well, it's not completely healthy, but it's much better than what he'd usually picks. When he's all done, he pays before wondering just why the hell his body felt like it needed those things.

So you now before Connor has his little sassy moment, he just goes out in force with the fish joke.]

Yeah guess he'd hate that. Are you going to move him in the pool once that's done anyway?

[As they walk out, he starts to frown.]

Connor, don't fucking starve yourself just thinking about food. Maybe we could try uh...you take a bite of a sandwich and then we wait to see how your body reacts? Wouldn't be as bad as just eating the entire damn thing.

[Connor is actually kind of speechless as Hank picks up a salad. Did they send an android replacement of Hank or something?]

The pool wouldn't be good for him. Are you okay?

[Serious question.]

I'll try, but I'm really... not sure about it.

[Hank can probably feel his unease.]

[Maybe it's good for Hank's life that Connor doesn't realize that it was his own thoughts influencing him.]

Well it depends what type of pool we're going for. Dunno if you want chlorine or whatever I can use here to make it algae free. A pond-like setting might work better... [Why is Connor even asking about if he's okay? They just bonded. Shit, can he hear his heart beating?! What the fuck is going on..oh. Oh it's the salad. Of course. Hank looks down at his food as if he's realizing what he did for the first time.] Uhhhh....think so? I mean...it's not even that healthy anyway, it's got a cream salad dressing. Heard that shit's worst than hamburgers.

[That'll be his excuse and he'll stick to it.]

Hrrrgh. [He's not sure why but suddenly the idea makes him weary as well. Like some intuition telling him it might not be a good idea.] Maybe it's better to wait in that case. Maybe I can try to see if I can change water to blue blood or some shit.

We can take it a few steps at a time.

[Today there's dressing, tomorrow... maybe less dressing.]

Well, if we're going for a pond setting, we could get some fish for it too. Swimming with fish is very relaxing. It'll have to be a big pond, though.

[And Connor is now wondering if Hank could actually turn water into Thirium, because if he could... well, he'd feel a lot better about potentially getting injured here.]

Sure, sure. Whatever.

[Topic: Avoided, or more at least it wasn't an outright no at this time and Hank couldn't exactly place why.]

Well that's the idea. Fuck it, if I get good enough with magic, I don't even mind making half a pool on one side and a pond on the other and then just hope that I don't step in the backyard when I'm drunk.

[A joke at his expense? Don't mind if he does!]

The blue blood...I don't know if it's possible if I don't know what it's made of. Sure I know some of it because of the takedowns we did for Red Ice, but I left the science stuff to the actual lab technicians.

[Connor purses his lips disapprovingly at the joke, because if he has his way Hank will be drinking less, too.]

I know what it's made of. I've scanned it many times.

[And he could just nick his finger and taste it any time he wanted to know the properties of it again.]

I can write it down for you?

Yeah I figured you would...this would work better if you were the witch I think...

[He thinks about it and then wonders if it's even doable.]

I mean wouldn't I have to start a lab to be able to mix it all together? Remind me later when we're not celebrating to head to the library and see if I could find maybe a spell that duplicates substances, and we could work with what you still have in your body.

Sure. It would be a good thing if we could make more Thirium. If anything ever happens to me here, I don't want to risk the blood loss. I wouldn't function correctly without it.

[He steers Hank towards their cottage when Hank is done paying for his salad, still holding onto his arm.]

Hopefully it won't come to that, though.

Yeah I get you...dunno if healing spells would work in that case.

[He's been starting to study those, but who knows if they were made for androids in mind. Well merrow androids, technically. Fuck technology would be the death of him.

He wants to protest that Connor can let go of his arm now, but somehow it just feels...well right. Besides, if it helps Connor, he'll allow it for now until his brain catches up with it in a day or two.]

Well, I don't know about you, but even I have my limits when it comes to being gloomy. We'll figure something out and meanwhile let's get Sumo and go fucking celebrate.

[Connor nods, seemingly happy with this arrangement.]

I'm glad we Bonded. Things should get better for us both now.

[He feels no need to let go. The contact is nice. He does let go when they get to the cottage though, so that Hank can open the door and get Sumo.]

[ Better for you, at least , Hank can't help but think to himself.]

Yeah, so they say.

[He does give Connor's elbow a brief squeeze before opening the door, maybe because it feels right after all that's happened today. His mind is trying to ignore the fact Connor's been closer to him than a damn poodle like he accused him once before.

The dog seems incredibly delighted to see them, perhaps because he couldn't be brought to the ceremony and for a dog being left alone ten minutes or ten hours is the same. Hank has to admit ever since they've come here, Sumo's been a lot more active than before. Or maybe it's because he actually has Connor taking him on walks now.

Hank finds the leather dog leash he's managed to find in this world and attaches it to him.]

Well, lead the way.

[Connor pats Sumo before they go, because he can't resist. Then he leads the way to the beach, still sticking close to Hank but not touching any more. When they get to the beach he finds a good spot to sit, and starts taking off his shoes.]

The water looks good. Why don't you try swimming a little?

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