Topic: Domestic

Keirra Owens

Date: 2015-09-26 18:31 EST
(Some play between Gerard and I.)

Gerry sat at the small kitchen table in the apartment, a record book open in front of him. He'd had 4 captains he was working with to get 40 men working with, two of whom he didn't trust. It wasn't an easy job. Half of it was knowing which guys would work best with which kind of captains. A group of bruisers would be a preferable for a captain likely to welch on the deal. Whereas some lower key individuals would work for a captain a bit touchy about his ship.


Ugh. Gerry set his pen down and rubbed the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. He'd seen enough faces and names for one day. They were all blending together.

-

In the few days that she'd been living with him, Keirra had become somewhat domestic.She was still abusive, still closed off as always; but she'd done little things here and there. So when he was stressing out at the table, she was making dinner for him. Glass clanked around as she struggled in the kitchen, a few curse words, a few slammed drawers. Then she was moving from her work and setting the meal down in front of him. "I cooked you something..." Keirra said awkwardly and set the bowl down in front of him. It was a bowl of cereal with too little cereal and too much milk. "Oh... Spoon." Keirra said and then moved off to grab him one, plopping it into the bowl. There was something of a proud smile on her face.


-

Those blue eyes shifted up to her. He smiled to her, a look that could not have been more in love with the woman at that moment. "Aww...Thanks, hon." He took in a spoonful of cereal and popped it into his mouth."Sorry I'm a little...distracted."

-

"Yeah well.." A little uncomfortable with that look, she shifted her eyes away from him. "Eat it before it gets cold or something." You know, because a bowl of cereal was supposed to be warm. Hopping up on the kitchen counter, Keirra let her feet hang off and peered down at them.

-

He chewed and looked at her, trying to read her mood. He could tell yesterday was still weighing her down. "Wanna talk about it?"

-

"There's nothing to talk about.." Keirra told him without breaking the gaze upon her toes. "I don't want to get stepped on anymore, Gerry. I don't want to be in a place where nobody wants me, I didn't mind it before, but.." There was a thoughtful, agonizingly brief glance in his direction before she shook her head and stared back down. "I can't do it now that I know what it feels like to be wanted."

-

God. That simultaneously made him feel REALLY good and really sad. That he could make someone feel that way was a foreign idea to him. He set down his spoon and scooted his chair. Slowly he walked up to her and gently took her hands. Blue eyes looked down at her hands and shifted up to look into those beautiful blues of her own.

-

A vulnerable face was staring back at him, and she blinked slowly. Her mind raced with thoughts. Don't be mean... Don't ruin this moment, Ko... A deep breath was taken in, and then she offered a weak smile. "...hi."

-

"Hi." A soft kiss was placed at her forehead. "I know you don't....like this stuff. I know it makes you kinda...uncomfortable."

-

"Kind of uncomfortable?..." Keirra raised an eyebrow and then let out a scoff. "It makes me feel like there's a swarm of horny, mating hornets swarming around in my stomach." Too graphic? She just couldn't help herself, after all, he was the one that said she had a way with words.

-

He completely failed at suppressing a laugh, shaking his head before looking back up to her. "I want to make it better."


"I know I can't...but I want you to be happy."


"So...whatever I can do to make that happen, just...just tell me."

-

Those eyes wanted to stare at him forever, lips wanted to curve up and beam at him. Instead, she just shifted her eyes away. "Then eat that cereal that I slaved over and shut up for two seconds, geez..." Keirra said, scoffing ever so softly as she tried to reclaim her hands and muster up the best glare she could point at him.

-

His smile faltered only slightly. He nodded. Yeah. Not sure what you expected Gerry. The girl wasn't going to suddenly talk to you about what she's dealing with. That wasn't her.


He turned and walked back, flopping into the chair getting back to work on his cereal, while looking over his ledger a bit.

-

The wounded rogue watched him careful as ever, curling up on the counter and staring. Her mind was probably racing, thinking over a million things at once. A million what-ifs, a billion regrets. To him, though, it might have looked as if she were tuned out to something as simple as a television, because her face hadn't shown a single sign of the worry her brain held.

Keirra Owens

Date: 2015-09-26 19:11 EST
"Where did you come from?" He glanced up at her."Like...originally?"


"Were you and...were you just always on the road?" He took in a mouthful of cereal looking up to her, genuinely curious.

-

"For about as long as I remember," Keirra nodded. "I grew up with them.. I had parents at one point, but... Things happen. You can say Gwen's name. She wasn't always bad." They were once the best tag team in sibling history. Pulling scams, stealing... Keirra was the faster one, quicker hands, at least in her own opinion, but she wouldn't have been what she was without her big sister. "What about you? Were you always a meathead?" she asked with a small grin.

-

He thought about that a long moment, his eyes glancing down to that ledger. Ships. Hundreds of ships over the years. He could smell the open sea. Hear the waves crash in a squall. The feel of the ocean spray as the water crashed into the ship. He could hear the screams as someone was pulled overboard, lost to the deep. Those blue eyes shifted up to her. "No. I was weak."


"Just a kid in way over his head. Got pushed around a lot."


"Figured out early that becoming the biggest, toughest son of a bitch in the room kept you safe."

-

That made her frown, because she couldn't ever imagine him to be weak. In Rhydin? Sure, he was weak compared to all the superhuman jackasses that seemed to swarm this place. When his last lyrics were spoken, she leaned back and nodded. The rangy rogue stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Yeah... S'what I did, too." Obviously, because being five-foot-nothing, and ninety pounds soaking wet with absolutely no muscle mass, made her the toughest son of a bitch in the history of everything.

-

"Spent a lot of time on ships. Grew up on the water until it was all I knew. Earned a bit of a rep." He made a fist mimicking a punch. He cleared his throat taking one last spoonfull. "But yeah. Showed up here, 11 years old...scared shitless...took my lumps and figured it out."

-

Now Keirra was actually showing sorrow in those usually hard features. She couldn't imagine being left alone at such a young age. She was left alone at an older age, and it had messed her up good. How in the world was this man such a saint? A deep breath was taken, and she suddenly felt terrible about herself. Keirra hopped down from the counter, his shirt riding up on her tiny body that was otherwise naked beneath it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to walk away, or hug him, so she froze.

-

"About 11 years ago, I quit, moved to the shore and ain't looked back." For a moment he was there. He could see the face so well. Hear the shot. He diverted his attention to her again, snapped out of his thoughts. A smile was offered to her and he leaned back. "Promise you won't hit me."The look on his face was almost a dare. A little smirk upturning the corners of his mouth.

-

"I don't make promises that I'm not sure I can keep, that would just be... Wrong." What? Like how hitting was wrong? Keirra smiled softly at him, and leaned back to look distantly at the ceiling. "Are you... happy with your choice? Happy that you left?"

-

"I am. Because you're here and you...you look absolutely beautiful right now." He opened his arms for her to hit him. "Okay. Go on."

-

There wasn't a hit waiting for him, instead, she just winced lightly. "Don't.. do that, please?" she asked, refusing her eyes. She really didn't want to hit him, it was more as if she'd been mortally wounded by the compliment.

-

God, sometimes she just made him SO sad. "I mean it. But...I won't say it anymore."

-

In a perfect world, she would have lit up at the world, she'd have at least smiled. In such a world, she would have looked in the mirror every day, and loved what she saw. It wasn't a perfect world, it was a cruel hopeless one; and she'd never understand what he saw when he looked at her. "..thank you." Now her fist was flying at the side of his head. It wasn't fun if he was expecting it.

-

He had JUST turned back to his paper work when her fist struck. "AGH!" His head kept low for a moment, his teeth grit. She could see that he was gripping the table tightly.

-

Fingers stretched out, and then tensed up as she eased away from the pain that his thick skull had inflicted. Blue eyes stared down at his hands and she blinked for a moment. Uh oh...

-

She was SO frustrating...and it built a lot. And he may not have said anything, but he had grown tired of being hit. It didn't help that she hit him while he felt vulnerable for a moment. Frankly, he was just trying to control himself. To control his breathing keeping from exploding.


Suddenly his fist slammed on the table, jostling the bowl, the spoon falling out. It was sudden violent...and, frankly a bit scary. His hand went instantly to his mouth, regretting it the second he'd done it. He wouldn't meet her eyes. Just stared down a long moment. "I'm sorry." The tension in that room could have been cut with a knife and served at a wedding.

-

There would be a noticable flinch that jolted through her body the second his fist slammed into the table. Keirra took in a deep breath, looked at him with a wounded expression and then she turned away. His shirt was discarded as she moved to lock herself in the bathroom.

Keirra Owens

Date: 2015-09-26 19:58 EST
His heart sank as she walked away. "Keirra, wait!" He walked to the door...not sure of what to say. What COULD he say? He lost his temper and did exactly what he was planning to fight that Pike character for doing back at the camp. Well. If she hated HERSELF, that made two of them. "Keirra...please? Open the door?"

-

Keirra sank against the door, and curled up. It wasn't that he scared her, and yeah he did. She walked away, though, because she'd never felt bad about hitting somebody in her life. Except Van, that one time.. But that wasn't guilt, that was pain. Horrible, bone breaking pain.

-

"Keirra..I'm sorry. I'm sorry I lost my temper. But you have got to STOP doing that. If it were anyone else, they'd be dead. If we're going to be together...you've gotta stop making me your punching bag. " He shook his head, "I don't...I don't have it in me to do that."


"...To be that. Not even for you."


"And that's...saying something, because, there's not much I wouldn't do for you."

-

That's...how she showed affection. Through punching. To be fair, it was also how she showed rage and sadness... Those words killed her inside, and she slowly reached for the door handle. He'd hear the lock click, but her meager weight still sat in front of the door.

-

He waited a moment and turned the knob, opening gently. "Can I come in?"

-

The rogue's curled up body was slowly pushed to the side, and she flopped over to the floor. "...yeah," she answered from her spot on the floor.

-

He stepped in and sat on the other side of the bathroom, knees tucked under. He looked over at her quiet for the moment. He chewed the back of his lip. "I shouldn't have done that."

-

"I shouldn've hit you.." Keirra admitted, and looked up at him. "I don't think about it most of time time... It just... happens. I don't mean anything by it," she tried to explain. How could she, though? "I punch people when I hate them... and I guess when I like them, too."

-

His voice was hardly a whisper. He looked to her, feeling like complete sh*t. Pissed at himself for letting her get to him. She had drudged up memories of a past he'd let go. Days when he had to fight in order to keep the respect of the other men on his boat. It set him off. He nodded. "...Well...maybe..I don't know...just...pick the moment better. You know?"

-

Arms stayed curled around her body, and she was a tiny, sideways, naked ball on the floor. A soft nod at his words, and she thought them over. It was going to be hard to control herself, but he was more than worth it. "I'll try," an honest answer of what she could offer. He could take it or leave it.

-

He hung his head low. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me." He looked up, not meaning just physically. "I know."


"Just...We'll work at it. Right?" That had become the mantra for their entire relationship.

-

Keirra did mean to hurt him, though. That's what she'd taught herself to do. Hurt others before they hurt you... That was something she was going to have to work on, if she wanted to be with him. A weak smile was offered up to him, "We'll figure it out together," wasn't that what they decided going in?

-

He smiled back to her a little hope in his heart. "Forgive me?"

-

"I..." There was hesitation there that could be taken the wrong way in the few seconds it took for her to continue. "...was never mad at you... I was mad at myself." Keirra told him, a bit surprised that he thought that he needed to be forgiven. She'd never had somebody try this damn hard for her. Mark had gone out of his way for her, but it was a mutual benefit. Not anything that made him seem like he actually cared about her. Gerry was different, and she was trying so hard to figure it out.

-

He reached out to her, offering his hands. He wanted nothing more than her close right then and there.

-

Tiny hands reached out and grabbed his, she scooted herself closer. There was a whole new light to her eyes as she moved to sit on his lap, curling against his body. Her own had been dwarfed by his massive form, made to look even more feeble and weak than she already was. There was color to her cheeks from eating every day, but her bones still stuck out from her body. It was a slow road to recovery, but he'd been helping her since the day they had met. When he didn't even know her name.

-

He'd scared and in doing so, completely terrified himself. He was certain he'd scared her off for good. There wasn't a thing in the world he wouldn't do for that little rogue balled up naked in the corner. He hated himself for making her feel like everyone else had. Even if he had a legitimate gripe. Huge, strong arms wrapped around her tiny body, holding her tight to him.