Night's Omen

Prompt List

• Illusion
• Spiral
• Card
• Thrill
• Pain
• Silence
• Innocence
• Secret
• Firefly
• Silver

Innocence
This post takes place in the present.

This whole situation was absolutely ridiculous and made no sense whatsoever.  He knew it made no sense because he'd been trying like hell to MAKE sense of it, all to no avail.  If there WAS a way that it made sense, then he was going to question the sanity of whoever had found that way, because he sure as hell didn't see it.  Of course, he had the sneaking suspicion that he didn't have all the puzzle pieces. 

Grayson, naturally, thought it was hilarious.  Ethan was so riled up and frustrated that he wouldn't even sit down for his rant, but the other man was seated comfortably in his rolling desk chair, feet propped up on said desk as he watched Ethan's reactions.  Really, Ethan wanted to accuse him of not paying attention, given how much effort was being devoted to snickering and downright laughing at opportune moments, but he knew that Grayson was actually focused on him.  That was WHY he was laughing over Ethan going over the different avenues he'd taken in trying to figure out what was happening, and Ethan knew it.  He wouldn't even be enduring this whole ordeal if he hadn't had a reason, and that reason was plainly so that Grayson could offer an opinion on where he should look for answers next.

Grayson just wasn't cooperating. 

"Would you stop with the giggling already, you little girl?" Ethan snapped, but he pressed on as though he hadn't.  "I need to know what you think, other than that it's adorable."  Okay, maybe not as though he hadn't. 

"Seriously, Ethan?  I think you're in love.  Everything you've explained sounds like it fits.  You said she zens you out just by being near, and that's pretty telling," Grayson offered, grinning ear to ear as he said it.  Ethan wanted to punch him.

"You think WHAT?  Are you forgetting who the fuck you're talking to?  Because I think you are," Ethan shot back, smacking his hand down on the idiot's desk as he did so.  In love?!  Really?!  What the hell was Grayson smoking?  "I really fucking doubt that it's anything as normal as love.  It's instantaneous.  My mood can be as foul as it gets--"

"You mean, as foul as usual."

"--Shut the fuck up, as foul as it gets, and as soon as she walks in, it's gone.  It's blue fucking skies and I don't even know what the fuck else but it has nothing to do with my usual thought processes.  It's fucking...normalcy, or something.  She said 'whole', but I don't get it."

"Oh.  So, she makes you feel like something other than a constantly angry sociopath?  Like some black hole inside your soul is suddenly full?  I can see why you might be unhappy with that," Grayson remarked, imbuing the last statement with a suitable amount of sarcasm.

"Wow, what have you been reading lately?  Did Chandra give you something new agey or romantic?  Because you're seriously sounding like a total flamer," he pointed out caustically, pacing away from the man's desk as he tried to listen and think at the same time.  Grayson made that difficult, but he managed.

"You're deliberately missing my point and sniping me to distract from the fact that I'm right.  It's okay, I understand and accept your unspoken apology.  It's completely normal for you to be having a nervous break--"

"I'm NOT."

"--down over something like this.  Your entire demeanor is being affected, and we both know how much of a TRAGEDY it would be if you actually CARED about something organic and living.  Besides, we wouldn't want your reputation for being a cold-hearted bastard to thaw any because someone found out you were in--"

"DON'T fucking say it!" Ethan shouted suddenly, having stopped in his pacing to snap at Grayson a moment earlier, but now he took a few somewhat threatening steps towards the man.  At that very moment, Chandra opened the door (she rarely knocked because most of the time she'd have to remember important bits of conversation for Grayson, anyway, so she might as well interrupt), and Ethan twisted in her direction, throwing some power from his black aura her way.  "GET THE FUCK OUT!"

Grayson had to have felt the power shift, and seen it in Chandra, who slammed the door shut and was probably going to go decide on a way to fuck Ethan over the next time he wasn't paying attention, because the man actually fell backwards out of his chair and rushed the door.  He wasn't laughing anymore, and Ethan rolled his eyes and just fumed as he watched his colleague deal with his own assistant as though she were his wife.

"Chandra, WAIT!  He's sorry, I'M sorry!  He's just having a nervous breakdown!"

"When isn't he?"

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" he called, but they both ignored him, mostly because Grayson started talking again.

"This one is special!  He's in love!  It's driving him crazier than usual!"

"SHUT IT, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

"Oh, is he?  That cute Asian girl with the blue eyes?"

"Yes!  Her!"

"Right.  I'll leave you alone, then."

"Thanks, and sorry, really sorry."

"I'm going to kill you someday," Ethan assured the other man as Grayson returned, glaring at him and already considering how he should do that.  Decapitation was nice, but it was hard work. 

"You always say that.  Anyway, back to your problem."

Ethan didn't respond, instead just glaring some more.  Was this really getting him anywhere?  Grayson just kept laughing and making inane comments.  Why was he discussing this with him, anyway?

Oh, right.  Because Clover had wanted to come with him, and he had to explain her presence somehow.  If he mentioned the fact that hurting her actually hurt him, then maybe Grayson would be able to help more, but Ethan wasn't so sure that he wanted anyone to know.  That was a pretty serious weakness.  He didn't understand it, but it was, and it meant that nobody was allowed to hurt Clover. 

"You know what?  Fuck it.  You tell me, if you remember, when you have time to actually think about this instead of laughing about it.  As funny as it might be for YOU, I know that it's not fucking normal, and I need to figure out what the fuck it is before it gets me killed," he snapped, snatching up his coat, and then the door opened again.  He turned to say something rude to Chandra, but it wasn't her in the doorway.  It was Clover, and he could actually feel the anger and frustration drain out of him.  It wasn't like mind control, not like vampires did, but rather like he just didn't feel angry anymore.  His mood had lifted instantly, and he actually smiled back at her when she grinned and quickly crossed the room to show him something.

"Wow.  WOW.  Now, that's creepy," Grayson commented, back in his seat and suddenly leaning forward to focus on the two of them.  He wasn't laughing anymore.

"Huh, and to think, I just told you that," Ethan returned sarcastically, and he was still more than capable of it.  He just wasn't furious, and he felt more...stable.  Stable was a good word for it, and grounded. 

"Told him what?" Clover asked, looking up at him curiously.  It was almost scary how innocent she was, and that she was so bound to him, however it had happened. 

"Nothing.  What's that?" he asked, gesturing to the magazines she was holding.

"Oh!  The pretty lady gave them to me!  She said that you'd like what's in them, and I was looking.  They're nice!" she said happily, showing him the magazines. 

He had to resist groaning when he saw the first one, which was a home decoration magazine.  Naturally, he would be the sort to like the way his home was and not want to change it, and Chandra would choose to get Clover interested in doing exactly what he didn't want.  He could live with that one, though.  It was the second one that he almost choked over.

It was a Victoria's Secret lingerie catalog. 

He snapped it shut as soon as he'd casually flipped it open, and looked down at Clover in about as close to a panic as he got.  Grayson had gotten up over the shift in Ethan's expressions, and now he plucked both magazines out of Ethan's hands.  Then, the laughter started.

Clover, who had been watching Ethan for a response, laughed some with Grayson, though she seemed worried a little over whether Ethan really liked it or not.  Grayson fixed that for her.  "Oh, don't worry, he loves it.  He's just surprised that Chandra knew," the man lied, and Ethan's head shot in his direction with a murderous look.  Grayson just shrugged and laughed harder.

"Oh, good!  I'd like to paint some more when we go home, but when you're done working will you look at those with me?  I want to know what you like," she told him, way too happily, and he found it difficult to tell her no, as usual.

"We'll see when we get home."

He was pretty certain there was no chance she'd forget by then, but maybe he could ditch the magazines somewhere.  Hopefully.