Look What Followed Me Home

"You seem tense." To Saito the woman seemed terrified, but he didn't want to say it quite like that. For all he knew her house guest was a perfectly adjusted young man who just happened to have a penchant for stabbing people, but either way there was something about the situation that made him hope he wasn't. Perhaps the truth was exactly as the stranger put it, that he really did want a chance to fight for his life, that maybe he really did just want to cut loose again... it had felt so good last time, but no, now wasn't the time or place, no matter how much they both wanted it to be.
Pussy.
Psycho.
At least I'm badass.
Shut up.

He looked about the room as he stepped inside, not quite sure what he was thinking he would find, the apartment itself seemed pretty generic as far as they went. A few wrappers here and there, a couch... nicer then his place, which wasn't saying much, but either way he shrugged idly and stepped inside, closing the door after them. Lance, huh... well, they'd meet if they would, and he'd just have to go from there.
199

"A charmer." he said with a slightly raised eyebrow. Well, he wouldn't have picked him out of a line-up for being a well adjusted young gentlemen, but he hadn't burst out screaming and swinging a knife at him... which was almost disappointing, in it's way. It was funny to him, watching the young woman step between them, but if nothing else it showed she was intent on keeping this relatively civil. He wondered if he would be able to do the same; he didn't have much patience for such things, and with the constant stream of adrenaline sliding through his system thanks to the stranger in him, he was practically ready to jump the poor guy before he calmed down and closed his eyes.
You're no fun.
That's because your definition of fun is murder.
Only if they're not strong enough to take a beating.
Not everyone has to be.
They should be.
He looked to him before he inclined his head. "Nice to meet you, Lance." He looked back to the girl and wondered why she was so afraid before moving on. The man seemed a bit unbalanced if only by the way she was treating him, and unbalanced people put him a bit on edge, so he couldn't much blame her for it.
Especially if he'd stabbed her.
Which seemed likely.
Which seemed like a good reason-
I hate you sometimes.
Not my fault you're really on my side.
241

Watching the two of them, Saito almost burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of the situation. It seemed like Lexi had invested in a per nuclear device, for all the worry she showed, and he wondered why she let him stay. Still, she seemed at least slightly comforted by the touch to her face, which Saito thought was rather creepy but didn't say so, and so he simply watched the whole ordeal before the man looked to him and nodded to him. "Nice to meet you." he repeated easily as he made his way to sit at the bar by the kitchen, loosening his shoulders lightly as he walked. He breathed out, relaxing as he went, trying very hard to rid himself of the excess adrenaline and tension he felt. He disliked being toyed with, and he disliked catering to people that by all rights he really shouldn't have to, but he was at least determined not to start anything himself.
Because you're a wuss.
Because I'm not insane.
Because you're a wuss.
He sat down in the chair easily, figuring that Lexi would try and make her way to the kitchen and make dinner. He wanted very badly to ask why she'd recieved a cut from a house guest, but he didn't and instead tried to bring up a bit of lighter conversation. "Are you two roommates, or a bit more?" he asked, amused as he watched the two of them, not sure if Lexi was terrified of the man or actually enjoyed being with him.
258

It was funny, to Saito, how she covered up for the man who had obviously stabbed her for whatever reasons. It was hard to imagine a legitimate need of hers to do so, or any real reason why she would, but he simply worked to accept it as a lapse of judgment on her part and be amused instead of concerned. He didn't have any real right to muck about in her life or her affairs, odd as they seemed to him, and was about to point out that it wasn't as though she could probably have handled herself against the monster, and it wouldn't have come up but for his own inadequacy before the expletive left her lips and the warm, soft, thick sent of blood came anew to the air.
You know, somehow not getting involved would be easier if you weren't trying to be the damn hero the whole time.
She's hurt, I can help-
By playing the hero. If she wanted help, she wouldn't be sleeping with a psychopath.
You dont know-
Yes I do. And so do you, if you wouldn't pussy foot around it.
Saito always hated when the man had a point, though he idly wondered how he ended up behind the woman so quickly. He teleported, he knew, but it wasn't a conscious act so much as a reaction. If it had been different circumstances he might have been assaulting her, but as it stood he simply grew irritated with the attempts at stoicism and decided that enough was enough. "This is stupid." he pointed out with a roll of his eyes before he slid her to the ground in the manner least likely to continue to hurt her abdomen, using his strength if she resisted too much, before sliding the shirt at her abdomen up and exposing the bloody cut before looking to the other man. "Bring me needles, thread, and something to disinfect the wound and we'll actually fix the damn thing." he looked down to her with eyes that were almost professionally chiding and shook his head. "There is stoic and there is stupid, the difference being that stoics don't have a choice and people that are stupid try to pretend that pain is unimportant or that there's some decent reason they should leave themselves wounded, whether through honest stupidity or depression or some misbegotten sense of guilt. In the future, treat your injuries properly and quickly and save yourself the grief; if you don't want to do it yourself, find a doctor." A doctor he wasn't, but a med student he was, and stitching up wounds didn't require a degree in neuroscience.
444

Watching the events unfold in the almost languid pace that things tended to around him, Saito watched her expression of bemusement and relief turn to one of irritation and surprise as turned his head to look at the man leaping onto his back in an attempt to take him down. Somewhere in him, the stranger was looking to enjoy the chance for a good brawl, but Saito decided that he would have none of it and with an almost surprising grasp on his own actions (at least to himself and the stranger) shifted into action as soon as he felt the urge. There was a wonderful feeling of lightness about his motions as he relaxed himself, untensed his body the way he learned to in his martial arts classes, and simply put himself where he would need to be with a slight shift while the man was still in mid air. It helped that he was far faster then the man, and it also helped that he had been nice and clunky about it, lumbering atop the surface of it and leaping like an animal. Which, he supposed, he probably was. In the first display of speed that wasn't just shifting to be where he wanted, as he'd done before to get behind her, his hand snapped out like a bullet and let him fall into the iron grip. As soon as he hit the curve of his hand he would tighten his grip around the man's neck, giving it a sharp squeeze to cut off the flow of air and give him something to cough about as he shifted his weight to toss him.
Rather enjoying his strength, he shifted weight to his left leg and turned it against the floor to allow him the momentum to thrust the man backwards properly. Throwing him back into the living room through the small opening besides the half-height bar, he moved before the momentum would have cought up with him and was hoping to disorient and incapacitate the man enough to catch his wits about him; certainly with the grip he'd put on his throat, he'd spend a bit coughing at least.
"Stop." He said as he let him roll away from his fingertips, having aimed in a manner that would send the boy sprawling across the ground in a path that shouldn't have him break anything. "Think, if you can. You've already cut your host for reasons that are beyond me; how well do you think she'll still see you if you continue to act like a monster? Get yourself together." he said coldly, with a slight threat in his voice to imply that if the other man couldn't, he would do it for him.
See? That was actually pretty slick.
Shut up.
463

Listening to the man, it was increasingly obvious that he was simply insane. No other explanation for it. Saito wasn't exactly the sanest guy he could think of, what with the stranger in his head commenting on every little thing, but at least that didn't come through and plague other people. As he watched the man curl and whimper and, more inexplicably, the woman's response to him. It was as though she still cared about the guy; not that he cared (a little voice in him said You're just telling yourself that, but was summarily ignored), but that was just stupid. For crying out loud, the man had knifed her! He sighed one way or another, not sure quite what to do about the whole situation as he got to his feet and leaned back against the fridge, kneading his temples before he looked to the woman.
"Would you like me to stitch you up and leave?" he asked mildly, cocking his head to the side with a slight sigh. "I seem to be upsetting your friend, and you seem to care quite a good deal for your pet nuclear device. If I'm setting him off, while I can't exactly say I'm sorry, I'd rather not brawl through your living room." he pointed out dryly as he looked to the man, wondering if it would still come to that; he didn't exactly trust him to remain any form of stable for any length of time.
245

Saito shrugged lightly as she delcared her intent for him to stay here and have a decent meal; she had her heart in the right place, even if she was way on the stupid side of the stoic spectrum, what with her babbling about stitching herself up again and the like. He'd show her otherwise eventually, if only because by the look of her other scars that she'd showed him she was relatively poor at doing it herself, and he knew that wounds to the abdomen were especially tricky.
The display between her and her bestial friend was irritating to him if only because it demonstrated a willingness on her part to deal with him that was, in his eyes, both unwaranted and unwise. Why did she have any reason to think he would listen to her? He couldn't imagine her having asked to be cut earlier, and he couldn't imagine the man not having another such episode, so why did she think she wouldn't be involved in the crossfire, especially when it seemed obvious that he could get worse then what he was now? While Saito cared in a distant, 'this is a bad idea' kind of way, it still bothered him, but he said nothing during the exchange between the two and simply watched on, leaning back against the fridge idly with a slight smile on his face. He hoped for the best, to be sure, he just didn't expect it.
"I don't much care; food is food to me, I'm afraid, and I'm sure whatever you cook will taste good." he shrugged as he made his way back to his seat at the bar, his body tensing slightly with the carefully restrained sense of motion that he usually allowed himself.
293

He chuckled idly, shifting slightly from where he sat to stretch his arms over his head, lean muscles wiry but immensely strong beneath his clothes before he answered. "Stitching up said stupid girls, so they don't have another scar to add to their collection." he said dryly. The girl was making an effort to restore things to normal, and if nothing else he was willing to entertain the thought; no real harm had been done to him, to be sure, and while the stranger inside of him was hungering for something more, he held firm and didn't allow him any leeway, keeping his heart-rate and his adrenaline in check as he spoke to her. "I'm not really sure; I'm in premed, so I don't have a lot of spare time... or at least I didn't. I don't have to sleep anymore, it seems, so I'm not quite sure what I'll do with myself." he said, shrugging slightly. "Yourself?"
Could offer to take up a bit of her time...
Shut up.
You're getting predictable, I totally called that one.
I hate you some days.

183

As he watched her bake the potatoes, trying to remember how she did it so he could replicate it later, he nodded with a slight shrug as she mentioned his choice of profession. "I'm not sure why I'm doing it. I don't even know that I like medicine all that much. It just kind of happened." He assumed she wasn't listening, but it seemed appropriate to answer anyway, fill the silence between the next bit of conversation. It was natural, sort of, a nice little social touch that the stranger inside of him was quick to note, though he ignored it again. "I assume it's a part of the possession, at least; I don't know that it is, but I certainly had to sleep previously. I don't know, I just have more energy when night comes around." He shrugged lightly, before cocking his head to the side as he suddenly realized he didn't know much about her possession; certainly normal girls couldn't hurl balls of destructive energy from their hands. He got to his feet and washed his hands before motioning to the couch. He hadn't thought that she would remove her shirt, and he suppressed a flush at the sight of her in little but a bra, but he said nothing and moved to sit on the coffee table, threading the needle and pulling out a lighter as he looked to her dryly.
"You do know that if you went in, you could have this numbed before they stitched it?" he said dryly as he looked at the cut, running his fingers along either side of it with disinfectant on them before he began to heat the needle to disinfect that too. "Especially on your abdomen; trying to stitch yourself up is a bad idea in the best of times, possession or not."
304

He listened to her talk and watched her knead in the soft flesh of her breasts, trying not to stare and succeeding for the most part as he watched the needle glow and begin to fade in color almost immediately as soon as the application of heat went away, cooling rapidly in the air. The moments just after the glow were the important ones, where it was as sterile as it would get, and he brought his fingers to the wound and applied a slight pressure, closing it as best he could and giving it enough room to bend with her if she moved much with the stitches still in. As he slid the needle through the skin, threading it closed, he spoke to her in an attempt both to distract and to shock, both of which would limit the amount of pain she would be in.
"I know that pain dulls with exposure; the first time I was shot was excruciating, but it got easier from there. I barely feel most things, now; I heal impossibly well. In any case, the point would be that yes, pain dulls, but that doesn't mean that it should be allowed, and that doesn't mean that you should just play the stoic and suffer through it when it's not necessary, especially when it could possibly be serious; I'm not much worried about scars leaving marks, but if the wound were to heal wrong, especially one like this, you might not be able to bend properly. And that," he said, his eyes running up her body and seeing the slight marks of the scars beneath her breasts, slowing his speech for just a moment as his eyes widened almost imperceptibly before snapping back to her face, the stitching done neatly and cleanly and the wire properly cut and tied, "would be a shame, wouldn't it? You seem to have rather interesting scars, Alexi."
He sat back on the table, his hand lingering on the area about the stitches before he removed it and looked to the bloodied fingertips, a slightly mirrored look glossing over his eyes with the way the light was shining, a bit like before as he examined the blood before he snapped back to normal and ran his fingers over a cloth quickly to remove them of blood. It was the most talkative he'd been and the most talkative he'd planned on being, but hopefully his rambling had at least given her something to limit the pain with.
"Next time you're injured like that, perhaps you should give me a call." he said dryly. "It might be easier then patching it up yourself."
442

Being a plaything to demons certainly didn't sound like fun, to be sure. His own story was a bit more family focused, but he'd at least avoided most spiritual attention until lately, what with the advent of the stranger showing up inside him and his moonlit jaunts of late. Still, by the looks of the scars on her there was slightly more to the story, as typically scars along the back and breasts and such implied rape. They might have been consensual, Saito'd known a few people who were into the...rougher side of sex, and Lexi didn't exactly seem the type to let a little thing like pain and sanity stop her from whatever it was that she enjoyed, but somehow he doubted that. He wondered briefly if Lance had anything to do with them before shaking his head; the other boy was insane, but he didn't think he was actually possessed.
Though now that he thought about it...
Of course he's possessed. Didn't you see the way he flipped out? There's insanity, and then there's stupidity, and then there's something else. He's got his own demons to stare down, buddy boy.
And here I thought I was just mad. Compared to what he's got going, you must be a cream puff.
Give me sixty seconds of free reign and I'll show you a creampuff.
Because that sounds like a good idea, what with the veiled threat and everything.
The spirit he's got in him? Candy. Too messed up to do anything important other than jump the first thing it sees and go wild. Me? I've got some class.
Bullshit.
Play nice and maybe I'll show you sometime.
Bite me.
No thanks, but I might take a bit of her.
Saito blinked lightly, cocking his head to the side slightly, unable to keep himself from considering the train of thought before he snapped back against the man in his head. Is it you that's been doing that? Everytime I see blood that isn't mine-
Blood tells, kiddo, and blood's part of the real world. It's part of where you're not. You don't seem to get alot of my subtler hints-
Subtle? That's-
-SO, I've been dropping a few bigger ones for you. We need to have a chat, Saito, sometime real damn soon, because if I don't get a little something of my own, you're going to have a whole lot bigger things to worry about then an oversized pussy cat with a knife.
Then leave me alone for the moment, and we'll do something when we get back to the apartment.
It's a date, sugar.
Saito groaned idly, running a hand over his face before he blinked and realized that he hadn't responded to her question yet, her words seeming to come back to him in the time the conversation took. He almost blushed, coughing into his hand slightly and straightening his back. "Sorry, my mind was elsewhere. Of course I'll leave my number, and I've been shot three times now. When I first...well, when I first slipped a bit, I got into something of...well...a bar fight, you might call it, and the owner stared me down with a shotgun and got a bit antsy with it. Ruined a perfectly good shirt, but my chest was fine by the time I hit the door of the bar. After that it's just been minor things, relatively, and they've healed in seconds. Still left me a bit thirsty, but that's the extent of the real damage." He said with a shrug, sounding a bit embarassed as he talked about the barfight.
600

He shrugged lightly, blinking as she came back in and wondering idly if he'd missed a good show before berating himself for caring; wanting to see a girl strip down wasn't exactly the height of class, and despite the chuckle it earned from the stranger he forced himself not to think of it as he shrugged, leaning back lightly to bring his hands behind her back, cracking it lightly. Still, as he watched her, he smiled slightly. "It's interesting, to be sure. It would help you a bit more then it would help me, but..." he shrugged lightly. "If you don't mind my asking, what has your possession allowed you to do? You seemed to at least understand what you were doing when you created the blast back there." he noted.
131

Having listened to her speak, he blinked and wondered quite what the difference between their possessions was. To be sure he seemed to have more bonuses then she did, or at least he seemed more aware of them, but at the same time he wondered if she had to worry quite so much about who she was, about eroding herself into something different and less with every passing day. He found himself wondering whether the power he now held was as addicting as he sometimes feared it would be; it was certainly deliciously tempting to let loose and enjoy the full strain of his abilities, but he so rarely did that he hoped it didn't much matter. Still, as he listened, at least he didn't have the same sort of random mishaps as she.
He was about to respond when the young man came out of his bath, wearing only a pair of pants and displaying his own relatively impressive set of scars, the likes of which Saito knew he couldn't match and wouldn't match. He wasn't sure quite why, but he wondered if scars would matter to him when they came. He couldn't imagine them being important to him, but at the same time it seemed so hard to think about juslying back and accepting any real wound... his flesh seemed eager to heal, eager to return to fighting condition-
You could tell me, you know, before just busting in like that.
What do you mean, Saito dearest?
You know damn well what I'm talking about. My mind is my own, you twisted fuck, and if you start fucking with my thoughts-
So angry all of a sudden! What have I been doing all along? You think I'm something else, that I'm something outside of you? I'm you, Saito, and you damn well know it.
Bullshit.
Hey, more ammo for that nice little chat of ours, something we should be getting to one of these days if you'll ever hurry the fuck up and have some dinner with your nice little new playmate and her pussycat.
She's not a playmate, obviously, or-
You're too much of a pussy to fuck her when you wanted and you know it, you're just getting off on your chivalry fetish.
Shut up.
I don't tell you anything you don't already know, kiddo, you just don't admit it to yourself 'cause you're a pussy.
I'll find a way to beat the fuck out of you yet, you know.
Ooh, macho posturing to the man in your head. Bravo, you'll win big points with your lady friend for that one.
Saito sighed and put two fingers to his nose, bowing his head lightly; he was beginning to get a headache from listening to the stranger in his head the whole time, the bands of pain throbbing with his heartbeat and beginning to slide-No. He refused to let it. It was a nice little trick, he remembered it from the adrenaline, how the bands of pain slid together into a seamless whole that sung hrough his body and filled it with something stronger, better, other, something-NO. He would kill the fucker, the next time he got the chance, this was NOT how he was going to conduct himself in public. He blinked and realized he'd lapsed on the conversation once more, looking to the two of them and straightening up, a bit embarassed once more.
Poor-
Not a word.
573

Listening to her, he almost chuckled; she seemed careful to cater favor with neither of them, it seemed to him, as though she were weighing her options, the thought of which amused him. He wondered listened to the banter between the two of them easily, noticing both how she stepped away from the man and how she seemed happy as she showed off the stitches, both of which almost made him chuckle again, before she started back to the kitchen and went about going to work. She seemed to be offering the other man a chance to go about fixing up his bruised ego, and he didn't begrudge him that,if only because the voice in his mind seemed to feel that he'd won in the situation. "No trouble, no harm done." he said easily to the other man, wondering whether or not he would make the situation worse or better by having done it before shrugging and making his way along towards the table. At the chance to demonstrate something to her, he wondered if the other man would leap at it or hold himself back, and he stepped aside lightly as an offer to allow him to do it, if he so chose. If he wouldn't, he'd do it himself without much trouble, but he felt that he should at least give the man a chance. Even if he struggled not to feel a bit smug doing it.
239

He stepped aside to let the other man go about getting the dishes and such, sitting down at the half bar and watching her cook easily as he smiled, shrugging his shoulders lightly in response to her question. "That's largely what I'm interested in, really; if I were to be in medicine, I figure I might as well be dealing with the serious matters right off the bat. I'd rather deal with car crashes and gunshots and things that need help immediately then sit and wait behind a desk and try and out puzzle my patient's illnesses. It's just a matter of putting in the requisite time..." he said with a slight shrug, leaning back and stretching slightly before watching her for a moment. "You still haven't told me what you do; you mentioned that it was dark, that was about it I'm afraid."
144

As he shifted to sit down at the table, he heard her speak to him before shrugging. "Don't just wait until I'm at the emergency room; if you're injured, a seems to happen often", he said with a reproving shake of his head, chuckling dryly as he picked up his fork and knife and started in on the meal with a hungry look on his face, "then call, and I'll be happy to help. I'll leave my number with you, so if I catch you stitching yourself up then there'll be hell to pay." He spoke with the joke of threat, though it was obvious he'd be rather displeased if he caught her doing it and would have a few choice words for her. Still, as he dug into his meal, he found himself rather enjoying the taste of something real, something that didn't boild down to either the fast-food grease the he swore was thick in his veins or the ramen sodium that probably disolved somewhere through his system and would one day come back to haunt him. Rea meat, honest to god dead animal...
"This is painfully good." he noted dryly, shaking his head as he ate, thoroughly enjoying a meal that for once actially involved something along the lines of preparation and had something approaching flavor. "It's going to make going back to ramen and fast food horribly depressing." he quipped easily as he ate, amazed at how easily something real in his stomach seemed to change things around for him.
254