Owner	Pose
Terry O'Neil	The 'procedure' (for what else could someone call the process of infusing healing magic into a body until it more or less begins to repair itself at record speed?) had been a resounding success, something that had been a great relief to all parties involved... and no unexpected amount of delight for a certain Cheshire Cat, due to the rather extreme side-effects that such magic has on him. <<HEY J'ONN THIS TERRY!>> is the first text. It is followed by many more that are fired in drunken exuberance. <<You gotta promise me you won't get worried but I kinda got very badly hurt when the Shiitake attacked the Xavier school but I am better now cause Phoebe healed me with her magic and oh my god I am a little loopy from it>> <Shiitake? Oh my god auto recurrent!>> <<Auto correct>> <<I'm more than a little loopy>> <<I'm at my apartment if you want to drop by sometime. I'll send the landmark>> <LANDMARK APPENDED: Shady Pines Retirement Village> <<Wrong one, one sec>> <LANDMARK APPENDED: The Rusty Anchor> <<OMG what is that even? One sec->> <LANDMARK APPENDED: The Carroll Arms> <<That's the one! I'm in 2D. But my balcony's open, anyways>> The Cheshire cat lounges on the couch, in nothing but shorts and stretched out as much as he can over the available surface. Gar and Kian have stepped out for a short while, confident in leaving Terry like this after copious promises to not try to Rabbit Hole... or anything else that might involve magic. They were /boring/ like that. It wasn't exactly that he was /drunk/ in the chemical sense of the word. He was drunk in the... metaphysical sense of it, one might say. Everything seemed so much funnier, and lighter. It's why he opens his eyes and chuckles a little at a tiny spider crawling across the ceiling. "... dork!" he says to it. "How do you manage to move all those legs and not tie yourself into knots?"
J'onn J'onzz	That was an interesting set of texts J'onn found on his phone. He had been at Happy Harbor when the arrives, the Game Night almost over when he checked them. A brow raised. These were not at all like Terry, so clearly there was some loopiness going on. Finishing up at the school, he headed into the air to search out the apartment complex that had been marked for him. Pausing along the way to collect a small fern in a pot, for reasons only he knew, he lands and heads into the building and to the apartment indicated. Knocking lightly on the door, he waits.
Terry O'Neil	"Someone's knocking without!" Terry calls, and then he realizes that there is nobody in the apartment at the moment. Except himself. So he slides off the couch and stops himself, "A knocking without what?" he frowns, but before he answers himself, he is already gliding towards the door and opens it without asking who it is. J'onn might assume he looked through the peep hole, although Terry has forgotten it is even there at this point. "J'onn! I was just thinking of you!" Did he forget he sent the texts? He gives the Martian an effusive smile. His eyes go down to J'onn's arms, and his eyes widen "... and you brought Swamp Thing with you! Come in, come in, it's so good to see you!" he swings the door open and steps back, and finds himself suddenly going back when he stumbles over his own feet. Luckily, his reflexes are still as good as ever, and so he ends up clinging to the door while leaning back and swinging slowly outwards. "Come on in and make yourself comfortable!"
J'onn J'onzz	Oh yeah, Terry was loopy alright, and not so steady on his feet. Without hesitation J'onn steps forward and hooks his arm around Terry to hold him up, 'Swamp Thing' remains firmly in the other hand. "Easy Terry," he offers softly, literally holding the man up. "Close the door and we will get you back to the..." a quick scan of the room tells him where. "... couch." If there's no resistance, he will wait for the door to close then try to guide Terry back to the couch. "You were right about being loopy, are you certain you are alright?"
Terry O'Neil	The door closes, and there is no resistance from the Cheshire cat as J'onn leads him towards the couch. "Oh, I'm as right as rain. Although if you ever stop to really /look/ at rain, it tends to fall more like... at an angle. So I'm not entirely sure how right that is... unless it falls at right angles! But then the question is..." he lowers his voice, the red fur that passes for his 'eyebrows' rises in a gesture full of significance as his voice lowers: "Is there such a thing as... a /wrong/ angle? Then it would be a criminal angle, which is, I guess, what novelists use to write murder mysteries." Settling himself on the couch, he smiles up at J'onn. "But here I am babbling like a brook. Won't you sit down?" he pats the couch space next to him, and then he focuses on the potted plant once more, "Oh, you have a plant attached to you."
J'onn J'onzz	Once Terry is sitting, and thus J'onn is pretty certain he won't fall over and hurt himself, the Martian moves to set the fern in a safe place. Turning around he looks over the apartment for a moment, but his attention returns to Terry. "Believe it or not, I followed that train of thought about rain," a smile touches his lips as he moves to sit on the couch. He is still wearing his space uniform as he hadn't thought of changing, it was still something that often slipped his mind when things were hectic. "The plant has been marked as the appropriate 'get well' gesture," he then explains. "Something green to brighten a room, something living in good health to encourage a return to good health, and a fern because they are such lovely plants."
Terry O'Neil	Terry aahs at J'onn's explanation, staring at the fern for a few seconds as if making sure that it isn't going to sprout feet and walk away. It actually happens more often than you'd think. "I understand that sentiment, because you're green and you are brightening the room right now," He says, reaching over with a hand to pet the top of J'onn's head in a gesture that seems completely spontaneous. "Green is such a nice color. No wonder plants like being green. Although people say that when someone is 'green' they are not good at something or new, and it's somewhat pejorative because usually you'd say /seeds/ are that, and most seeds aren't green, they're brown or grey or something like that." He notices his hand on top of J'onn's head, and then he moves it down to the shoulder, "... what was I saying? Oh! I didn't tell you. I got injured."
J'onn J'onzz	There are numerous things that J'onn has faced and seen in his very long life, being petted like a feline or canine. He understands that Terry is not himself, which is made even more obvious by what he says. A lot of rambling, some sense in there about green, numerous compliments, and then the subject changes as quickly as it started. "No, you did not tell me how you were injured," he replies with a slight tilt to his head. "Are you certain you are alright? Your text said you were loopy, but you seem more like..." he has to take a single moment. "Yes, more like you have consumed an entire bottle of vodka."
Terry O'Neil	The cat chuckles at this and sits up, spine straight and legs crossed under him. "I'm not drunk! I just had Phoebe pump me full of holy magic. And this sort of stuff has... a funny effect on me. I once grabbed Diana's lasso and I laughed for /hours/ after!" He rolls his eyes and then closes them for a second. Then he grows serious. "It hurt... a lot. Some guy who could /steal energy/ just neutralized everything I threw at him, stole /my/ magic... and then he blasted me with lasers, burned my arm-" he moves the arm in question, which is fine. "Then I attacked him with my claws and he bled all over me, and he bled /fire/ or something like it and I... it burned a hole in my stomach." Which also seems fine. Opening his eyes again, he says somewhat quietly, "I started to die, so I switched to my human body. So I was okay. But then Phoebe had to use her magic to put me all back together again." And he topples, ending up half-leaning against J'onn, the smile returning again, "She says she had to use so much magic, I'm gonna be loopy for at least a week. So I've had to promise I'm not gonna go out and do heroic things for at least a week..."
J'onn J'onzz	Putting his arm around the young man as he topples into him, J'onn lips shift to a frown for a short time. That sort of trauma and pain wasn't the sort anyone should have to deal with, let alone someone trying to help others. A very faint wince of his body at the recollection of feeling burnt and bleeding fire, these are simply to things the Martian has to force from his mind almost immediately upon hearing them. Folding his arm more tightly around Terry, a smile returns to his lips. "Well. I am very pleased that you are alright, I was extremely worried and more so that I could not check on you until now," J'onn begins, looking to Terry's face as he speaks. "I am also pleased to hear that you will be taking it easy while you are... loopy. It is a wide decision."
Terry O'Neil	Terry returns the smile and finds himself nestling against J'onn's arm. His two arms come up to return the favor, although he winces slightly when he moves his left arm. "Phoebe said my arm and stomach will be tender for a while..." he glances down at J'onn's arm around him. "You know, you have a strong, firm hug. I feel like I could topple back and you'd be able to catch me no matter what." He wobbles a bit, and then looks over his shoulder. "Of course, you can't topple over when you're being held, so maybe that's why. You are so strong, I like it when you hug-" He suddenly glances up at J'onn, his eyes going slightly wide and the inside of his ears reddening, as if his brain has suddenly caught up with what his mouth has just said.
J'onn J'onzz	From the minute J'onn entered the apartment he had been attempting to block out every thought that was quite literally flying rampant around the room from Terry's head. Some he had managed to toss back into the wind, other struck him like water balloons into a pool, no way to not absorb them. As the young man start talking about Phoebe, whom he doesn't know, and that he will be tender the thoughts in Terry's head race into another direction that J'onn was prepared to avoid but them he just speaks those thought, making it impossible to pretend he didn't hear it. The smile on his face broadens just a touch, his cheeks directly under his eyes turn a little darker shade of green, but the Martian powers through the compliments and more by offering a simple, "Thank you, yes I would catch you if you toppled, and keep you from falling." The rest, the parts that made the inside of Terry's ears change color, it was said, but how to do you safely react to something like that? You let it slide, you let it fade out as clearly the young man hadn't meant to say it and was already regretting it.
Terry O'Neil	There is a moment of silence, and then Terry clears his throat for a second. The changing of coloration is observed, and he is about to say something, being without a filter as he is, when he also looks down at J'onn's chest, and says- "You have a different suit! Is this one you wear for special occasions or for buying ferns?" he asks, looking at the details of the suit. Even in his somewhat altered state, he is interested in elements of design. One hand reaches over to touch the suit and rests on J'onn's chest, "Where do you get the material? Is it comfortable or is it cold? I sit easy to wash?"
J'onn J'onzz	J'onn watches Terry's face until the color gets more normal and then he's being touched. He doesn't mind, he's not stand-offish about that sort of thing, most people just believe he is. Terry should know by now that it doesn't bother him. "It is a material once used on Mars," he replies. "It is the suit I wear in space for a touch more protection, though really I do not need it. The last time I wore my other uniform in space, Superman appeared to be bothered and asked if I was cold, so I use this one now." Glancing down at Terry's hand, he looks back up at the young man's face, "It is a part of me Terry, very easy to wash."
Terry O'Neil	The old adage of curiosity and the cat rears its head once again, as Terry looks down and he moves his hand a little up and down across the chestpiece of the suit, "Part of you? Do you mean like... some symbiotic piece? Is it sentient?" He oohs, "Is your suit sentient? Does it have conversations with you like I have heard Stark's armor does? Does it ever ask for the day off? What's the material?"
J'onn J'onzz	J'onn has to use his stronger than average will not to laugh, but he does in fact let himself smile in amusement. "When I alter my appearance, I alter my clothing. The suit is literally a part of my skin. It did not used to be, a very long time ago, but as I can no longer get this material, I cannot make the actual suit. There is nothing intelligent about it, unless you count that it is me, and I am intelligent, it however does not talk to me like Stark's Iron Man suit."
Terry O'Neil	Even through the haze of magical inebriation, the concept finally gets through to Terry and he glances down at his hand. "... so, you're basically naked under your clothes..." the Cheshire cat frowns, even in this state realizing how silly that sounds. "I mean. I'm not actually touching /armor/..." He looks up at J'onn again and the redness comes to the inside of his ears once again. "...It's a very broad chest. It's very strong. I kind of did wonder what it would feel lik- I mean, it's that... you've got arms, and when you put them- I mean, on me- with ..." Captain, we have language meltdown. Terry exhales a little, realizing he's hyperventilating a little, and giggling, which comes with nervousness /and/ being loopy.
J'onn J'onzz	"Breath Terry," the Martian says calmly, giving Terry a pat on the shoulder with the hand on the end of the arm around him. "There is nothing wrong with attraction," he continues, just as calmly, as if the young man wasn't just fawning all over him with words of compliment. "Yes, I am basically naked. My skin is as pliable as that thing in the egg," he pauses a moment, trying to remember the name. "Yes, silly puddy, that is the stuff. I use it as clothing as easily as I do my own skin when naked."
Terry O'Neil	Terry takes the breath that are requested, and he does steady himself for a second. Then he realizes the word that was spoken. "I... I am attracted to you," he says, having the virtue of having no filter to completely restrain his stream of thought. "I think you are- I mean, I don't know exactly what words to use, but I always thought you were impressive. And then when talking to you, you are so gentle and kind." He swallows, his throat is a little dry. "And you probably think I'm rather silly, but that's how I feel. And now I am a little relieved that I have said it but I'm also a little mortified to hear what you think of it and there isn't an easy escape avenue in case it offends you," he lets out a little nervous laughter, "Except, maybe, suddenly watering the plant. But that's awkward."
J'onn J'onzz	A soft smile touches J'onn's lips, no offense to be taken from anything Terry has said, it's so very flattering he just has to choose it words carefully. It had been a very, very, very long time since anyone showed any interest at all in him. "You have not offended me in any way, so there is no need for an escape," he begins, his voice soft and calm, his eyes on Terry's. "I do not believe you to be silly at all, in fact you are quite brave to admit your attraction. From the first time we met Terry, I believe there were small indications of your attraction, but I must confess however, that it has been well over five hundred years since anyone said words of this nature to me. I am flattered, a great deal." His head tilts slightly, "You must be completely honest with yourself, and with me, what do you hope to accomplish by admitting this?"
Terry O'Neil	Terry takes a deep breath, and he wonders whether he would have that much courage to say it were he not benefiting from an enormous infusion of holy magic giddiness. Nevertheless, he makes a powerful effort to focus on the question that was asked and not to derail himself in any possible way. 5rBecause he was not a train. If he were, he'd have a caboose... although, come to think of it, someone did say he had a magnificent caboose. Or was that something he heard in an old movie once? It's strange how things from totally random parts of your life suddenly jump into your stream of consciousness... like a flash of that famous clip of Gene Kelly dancing with jerry the Mouse that everybody has seen even though most have never seen Anchors Aweigh- Wait. Where was he? Oh, right. "... hope? Maybe that you might... feel the same. And if you don't... it's okay." He blinks. "Five hundred years? I find that hard to believe..."
J'onn J'onzz	J'onn chuckles quite softly, a small shake of his head, "It is the truth, over five hundred years. Perhaps some were attracted to the skins I wore, but not to me." He cants his head again slightly, "I will not lie, you are a handsome young man Terry, but I have spent most of the time with you ensuring that I did not give impressions that should not be given. Again, that is my fault for continuing to present myself in the way I believe humans prefer." Straightening his head, he takes a moment to actually /think/ about what he feels and not what others might expect him to feel. Terry was attractive, either form really, and very intriguing. There was something about him that always made the Martian want to smile, sometimes just seeing him. Yes... that was attraction and interest. "I cannot say that my attraction is the same as yours," he then says honestly. "I am uncertain the extent or intent of your attraction, but I can tell you with complete honesty, that there is an attraction."
Terry O'Neil	Terry exhales a little, and he smiles at J'onn a little. "Well, that's good-" he says, and finds himself leaning a little more into J'onn. Since the Martian already has an arm around him, the Cheshire might as well get the full benefit of it. "But you are uncertain of my intent?" he can't help it- he is a cat, and therefore there must be /some/ teasing, especially when he's rather high. His expression is impish, full of mischief, and he finds himself sliding on to sit on J'onn's lap, putting both arms around his neck to steady himself as he looks at the Martian in the eye and does his best impression of a Bond villain. "Are you uncertain of whether this is all a ruse so that I can capture you when your guard is down, and force you to live on my secret underground lair, to spend the rest of your days feeding me grapes and helping me plot world domination?"
J'onn J'onzz	And there it is, that moment when Terry flaps the unflappable. J'onn stares unblinking with a completely blank expression at the cat in his lap, the words uttered nearly forming a full on question mark above the Martian's head. Finally he blinks once, then again, and starts to comprehend that Terry is teasing. That is when the slightly playful smile slowly spreads across his face, and one brow lifts rather high. "In this fantasy in which I feed you grapes, am I wearing anything more than a loin cloth?" he asks. "Are the grapes green? And in this secret underground lair, please tell me there are silk sheets to rest your naked form again while feeding you grapes. Cotton just will not do." It seems to can play the tease game.
Terry O'Neil	And the flapper has become the flapped, so to speak, as Terry blinks a couple of times, and then the inside of his ears become so red that they might as well be used for a traffic signal. They might even glow. "... you in a loin cloth?" there's something about that mental image that is clearly causing some system reboots, because it takes Terry a few more seconds to respond. Then he finally seems to get some pepper back in him, as he says "I think a loincloth is /too much fabric/," he plaufully lets his hands disengage behind J'onn's neck and rest on either side of his neck as he leans a little forward, to touch forehead to forehead in this game of one-upmanship. "And how long exactly have you been picturing my naked form, might I ask?" his grin spreads and he stares at J'onn directly in the eyes, not blinking, daring him to blink, or laugh, or whatever. He can't hide the fact that J'onn's twist on the scenario intrigues him, but he is also curious to see how J'onn will one-up /his/ twist!
J'onn J'onzz	J'onn slides his hands up Terry's back to rest on the back of his shoulders, holding his head still as the young man leans forward and looks into his eyes, foreheads resting together. The playful smile merely grows a touch deeper, perhaps a hint of mischievous edging into it. "I know perfectly well you have imagined me naked," he starts, eyes sparkling. "I am also aware of the amount of fan art out there involving my naked body, so no loin cloth would be nothing new to you really, would it? As for my mind and your nakedness, which form are you referring to, skin or fur covered? Because both could be quite appealing, there is just one small thing to consider... what about Kian?"
Terry O'Neil	Terry gulps. Now he was not counting on J'onn being aware of... /those/ things on the internet. Goodness knows Terry himself has tried very hard to ignore some of the art that has been made of /him/, on top of the fact that he doesn't consider himself to be famous enough for there to even be /any/ of it around, which only goes to show how wrong he can be at times. "... maybe I have," he says, trying to seem as cool as a cucumber. "Kian? He wouldn't be surprised one bit," the Cheshire giggles, "Gar and I sort of came to adopt the way of Kian's people. We know whom we love, thanks to telepathic contact we know exactly how we feel about each other. With that in mind, there is no threat in sharing a special connection with someone." And then, after a second of silence, he reaches over with one hand to place it under the Martian's chin. "As to what form... you make it sound like you'd get only one. Was it a half-off sale or something?"
J'onn J'onzz	J'onn continues to watch Terry's eyes, but after this explanation of the way of Kian's people, his own brow knits slightly in confusion. "Where as I enjoy a game as much as anyone else Terry, I am uncertain as to what you mean by 'came to adopt the way of Kian's people'." He leans his head back slightly, his hand moving now to rest lightly on the young man's hips. "I do not know Kian's people well, and something tells me this is more than a game now, so I need clarification. And Gar?" Yes, the Martian is very confused because he still refuses to tough Terry's mind in any way, in fact since the 'game' started, he has locked his own mind down tighter than Guantanamo Bay.
Terry O'Neil	"Maybe you should read it off my mind--" And then Vorpal immediately holds up a hand "Wait, wait, don't! I forgot... my mind is sort of..." he pauses, and tries to explain. "When I'm... Cheshire... my mind is... well. You know how /I/ am right now? Well, you'll be like that. Or worse. Kian describes me as a walking hallucinogenic for telepaths that try to actively touch my mind... sooooooo maybe I should explain." "Gar and I and Kian are a couple. Trouple. Treble? Trouble..." his giddiness makes him get slightly derailed as he tries a few more combinations for a word that doesn't technically exist in the language, but his Humpty Dumpty-esque endeavor bears little fruit, because 'a trio' has the implications that there are musical instruments involved, and although Gar may be green, they can't quite pull off the Thre Caballeros look. "In any case... on Kian's world, a person may have one or two people with whom he shares some intimate connection, which does not pose a threat to those involved because telepathic communication is open and honest." This is where he feels he needs to clarify, "When I'm human... I'm not, like, a hallucinogenic toad, and it's safe to look into my mind. In any case..." right, back on the rails, right? "Kian and Gar wouldn't feel threatened because of my attraction to you." He tilts his head, looking at J'onn. "Did that explain?"
J'onn J'onzz	Listening intently, picking up the intent of the explanation between rambling and giggles, J'onn nods. He hadn't been about to touch Terry's mind, or perhaps he should think of more of him as Vorpal? It was confusing in a way to him. "That makes sense for Kian's people," he offers with that nod. "It was... similar on Mars once, the telepathic communication, not the thruple," yes, he knwos the right word that Terry couldn't find. "I do not believe that I could allow my mind to be that open," he then admits, offering a slightly forced, small smile. "Just as I lock myself against reading other minds, I lock again anyone touching my mind. There are numerous reasons for this, but the most obvious is that I know things others may not. Your relationship with Kian and Gar sounds wonderful Terry."
Terry O'Neil	"Nor would I ever ask you to open your mind like so," Terry replies. "Gar and Kian only need to know my feelings, no one else's. Besides... do you really think I would be so deluded as to ask J'onn J'onzz to /prove/ his intentions to me by baring his mind?" He is doing remarkably well, forcing himself to be grounded enough to have this conversation right now, despite the fact that he is being pulled away to dance with the fairies every single moment that holy magic is coursing through his body. He reaches over to place a hand on one of J'onn's. "I trust you." His green eyes, trying to focus on the moment and not on the twinkling, variegated things that tug at his attention, fix on the Martian's eyes.
J'onn J'onzz	A real smile touches J'onn's lips, and he looks back into Terry's eyes. "You trust me, I believe that without hesitation or doubt, but what about Gar and Kian? Do they trust me? This..." he pauses slightly, a moment of thinking. "This is a new situation for me. I have never shared the person I am interested in before, and I am uncertain if I can, as I have never been in this situation before. I know that right now your mind is not entirely centered." He reaches up to give one ear a light pet. "So I think it best that for now, we put a pin in this and wait until the magic loopy has passed."
Terry O'Neil	Leaning into the pet, the Cheshire nods "If you think that's best," he says, and gives J'onn a glance. "I had never been in that situation before either, but I found out... there's always a first time for anything." Seeing how he is still seated on the Martian's lap, the cat smirks a little, "But you now have a choice. Evict me from your lap and show yourself a cruel man, or..." he tilts his head "you can keep me company and tell me stories of your adventures and things you've seen. And you may scratch me behind the ears, but only because I am making a special allowance just for this once."
J'onn J'onzz	J'onn laughs softly, the smile on his face growing broad. "I had no intentions of ejecting you, you are welcome to stay right where you are. As for stories, I may need a topic as I have seen /a lot/ of things." Again he reaches up to scritch lightly at one of the ears, "A special allowance, then normally this would get me bit?"
Terry O'Neil	At the scratch, the Cheshire actually purrs. He smiles and leans against J'onn, resting his head on the Martian's shoulder and wrapping his arms around his broad frame. "Oh no, no biting. But there's usually a toll that must be paid," he grins and nuzzles the side of the green neck, "Let's see... tell me about the first time you and Diana ran into each other, that should be a good one."