let the wolves enjoy my bones [perdita]

You asked me. Just another fucking reminder of yet another mistake he had made and he didn't appreciate the call out. "Yeah, I know," he bit out shortly as if every word was a chore to say, as if every syllable was another nail in the coffin. His stomach churned and he had to fight the feeling of apparating back to beat the shit out of McCormick just to make himself feel better and he couldn't get the fucking image of Perdy's pale face and wide eyes as she looked up at him out of his mind. Fuck.

He couldn't stop running through all of the scenarios that might happen in the aftermath. Ideally, she would take the potion - he watched as she downed it and he checked the goblet to make sure she had taken it all - and maybe take a nap and feel better in a few hours, his potions doing most of the work for him now to combat the effects. But what it wasn't enough. What if there cursed earrings had far-reaching effects even after he had gotten her out of there. How would he even know how to fix it without going back there right now and beating the truth out of McCormick.

He took a step towards the back door, glancing sharply as she apologized and then yawned. "Why the fuck are you sorry," not exactly a question because he knew exactly where the blame lay. He met her gaze briefly and had to look away, forcing himself to move his feet back towards his supplies, picking out a few things he'd need for the overnight.

"Of course you are," Torr told her, frowning at the thought that she would think he would leave her on her own to deal with this, but also knowing he shouldn't really be surprised. He picked a few other things out of his supplies, setting them in a bag before he stepped closer to her, looking at the goblet more than her. "Ready to go?"

"I wanted to go," she tacked on quickly in a last ditch attempt to absolve him of the blame. This wasn't his fault, either. It was just a case of the wrong place, wrong time. If it hadn't been Perdita, it might have been someone who didn't have any help to deal with the after effects. Heaven forbid they were going to be a gift for a woman. Though, buying jewellery from a decidedly dodgy shop wasn't the most romantic of ideas. The idea made her feel sick. What kind of monster enchanted such a beautiful gift in order to wreak such untold despair?

 Perdita ran a hand through her hair before she offered Torrence a feeble shrug. "I don't know," she answered honestly as she rubbed her hand across her forehead, trying to make sense of the last forty eight hours. There had been far too many revelations since last night and she wasn't sure she could handle anything else. "It seemed like the appropriate thing to do?" She ventured with a tired smile. If Torr thought he was right, he was a hell of a lot happier.

Torrence had agreed to her offer and so, Perdita got up off the stool slowly. Once her feet were on the floor, she swayed briefly before she cleared her throat. He'd stepped closer but she didn't reach for his hand. That moment had passed. She was okay now, there wasn't a need. With a quick nod, she eyed his bag before they were in Dublin.

Perdita trailed after him as he entered the flat and she lingered by the front door to remove her shoes before she placed them neatly by the front door, closing it behind her gently. Her stomach churned but she didn't know if that was because of the earrings or the weird vibes they'd created. He hadn't glanced her way and she wondered if she'd done something wrong.

Before she knew it, she'd broken into a jog as she darted around Torrence, catching him just before he'd entered the kitchen. "Will you just look at me?" Perdita pleaded with wide eyes, out of breath, even after the short distance covered. Her hands were outstretched towards him, palms outwards, in an effort to stop him. Her eyes darted over his face and she knew he was mad, she just couldn't tell how mad. "Please?"

Sure, she had agreed to go, but he shouldn't have let her or offered in the first place, that much was obvious. He thought it would be fine, and McCormick's wasn't even the worst of the places he had had on his list, her trailing after him. He hmphed a noise in his throat and while he ordinarily liked admittances of others' wrong doings, this one felt like a sharp slap, maybe because some part of him recognized that it was entirely on him.

He watched from the corner of his eye as he stood, adding it a few more things to the bag and cursing when she swayed. His hand went out automatically to steady her, his hand on her hip, and the moment she nodded, there were disappearing into the blackness and reappearing in his apartment. It was messy, food containers strewn on the coffee table, clothes on the floor. Shit, he had forgotten the state of his apartment and he gave her a guilty look before he waved his wand, not cleaning, but just shoving the shit against the wall. He'd take care of that later. Another wave of his wand had the door closing to the guest bedroom where his two dogs usually hung out. He couldn't deal with them right now, especially if they didn't take to Perdy.

Torr had it in mind to prep some other potions for her, mixing a few together just in case any other symptoms appeared, but he frowned at her as she darted around him, standing in front of him. Her question making him scowl at her. "I am looking at you," he said, meeting her eyes for just a second to make it true before he stepped around her. "You need to rest, come on," he said as he ushered her towards his bedroom and slashed his wand through the air in there too as he shoved, not cleaned some of the clutter and mess away.

Perdita sighed. This was utterly pointless. The moment he shut down, he wouldn't budge. She pursed her lips before she looked over his shoulder at the mess. She bit on the sides of her tongue - now was not the time for sarcastic comments. They'd both had a bad week but it wasn't that bad, surely? She still found time to do the hoovering. He had such a nice kitchen and it always annoyed her that he barely used it. Then again, why should she care? It wasn't like he'd ever cook her dinner.

She looked over her shoulder as he cleared a path for them, straining her neck to see why he'd closed the other bedroom door before her heart dropped. If there was a woman in there, Perdita was going to lose her mind.

"I'm fine," she said with a frown and a shake of her head. It must have been the third time she'd said that and every time she did, she felt worse and worse. Maybe she was just more susceptible to things? The idea made her snort with laughter - her? Feeling things? Absolutely not. She'd rather die.

Sat on the edge of his bed, she tangled a hand in her hair as her brain suddenly seemed to kick into overdrive. They'd gone from arguing, to him begging her to stay, to sharing breakfast, to her accidentally potentially becoming plagued by some sort of magical entity and now it was full circle; they were back to being awkward in each other's company.

Perdy was determined not to sleep. She already regretted asking to stay and she really didn't want to know where Torrence was going the moment she closed the bedroom door. Clearing her throat, she shifted up the bed, still fully dressed, but the action was difficult. Her limbs were heavy and tiresome and they seemed determined not to do what she wanted them to. She glanced at him before she turned her head, deciding not to get under the covers because she was having too much trouble trying to get her jeans off.

She rolled over so her back was to him as she sank into the soft mattress. Despite her earlier promise of staying up out of spite, the warm bed was luling her to sleep. She wriggled to get comfortable as her eyes closed, her arms around a pillow as she held it to her chest like a child would a stuffed animal, her hair covering her face as she sighed dramatically.

He waved his hand at her, hurrying her along as she sat on his bed, wanting her to get settled before the potion really kicked in. It should knock her out for a few hours, hopefully erasing any lingering effects of whatever dark magic had threatened to take hold. Torr felt his anger simmering at the thought of that shop and clenched his fist before helping pull the comforter over her since she hadn't wanted to get under them properly.

When she gave him her back, he frowned and inhaled, stalling for a moment. He wasn't sure exactly what to do. Given her symptoms, it didn't seem likely that she would slide back into anything too serious, but at the same time, how could he be sure. He wasn't really willing to take another idiotic chance like he had earlier. Torr took a step closer to the bed, his thighs pressing against the mattress as he looked down at her. "Perdy?" he murmured and then hesitated, wondering if she'd fallen asleep that quickly only to hear her sigh. He smirked a little and brushed her hair off her face. He wanted to make promises, reassurances, something to make her feel better but what the hell did he have to offer other than bad luck and bad karma. "Go to sleep," he told her instead before turning on his heel and closing the door to his room softly behind him.

He busied himself with checking in on his dogs and feeding them, checking the potions he had brought with him from the shop and lining them up neatly on the counter, cleaning up some of the old take out containers and clearing some of the trash from the living room and kitchen, and then finally going back in to check on Perdita. He was glad to see she was fast asleep, breathing even, hugging her pillow. And maybe after this past week of hell, he was still surprised to see her here at all, half wondering if she would change her mind when she woke up.

That thought was like a poison, invading every corner of his head, so to hell with it. Might as well make the most of it. Torr toed off his boots and slid over the opposite side of the bed before pulling the pillow away from her and holding her close. Yesterday he hadn't been anywhere near this reality happening and yet here they were. Of course, he had to make a drunken fool out of himself last night and almost get her cursed with some dark jewelry, but she was still here. After a while, he felt himself drifting off too, his arms securely around her.

/end

Perdita heard her name being called and she answered with a sleepy "mm?" as she pressed her face into the pillow. Her body felt heavy but not unpleasantly. She really did need to sleep, she was exhausted, mentally and physically. It had been a rough week and today hadn't helped. Torrence's cool fingers helpfully brushed her hair out of her face and she wrinkled her nose in annoyance. Even now, she loathed being told what to do. "Piss off," she replied groggily but without any real malice behind it.

She heard the door close and she wondered, in reality, what the actual fuck she was doing here in his bed. Would it matter? Probably not because they both knew that if he called, Perdita would drop everything.

She was asleep within minutes, dragged down by the delicious lull of sleep that she so desperately needed. The pillow was removed from her grip and landed with a soft thud! on the floor before he cradled her. She wriggled closer in her sleep without thought, an arm around Torrence's waist out of habit, her nose pressed against the centre of his chest and it wasn't long before she was snoring softly.

[done!]