^^ The Home Carving ^^

"Theo? What's, uh... do you need something, or you just want to talk?" Luna answered the communications device almost immediately, sounding equal-parts confused and cautiously optimistic.

"Well... a bit of both? I want your opinion on a sketch I'm doing, an improvement to the Statue I'm making; the back side of the mountain will be Dream, Yeera's Twin, and I need your help to visualize him for the art. But if you're busy, it can wait, it's legitimately a small thing that can wait, considering I have to do the front half of the mountain before I start on that one, so there's easily six months before it even begins at all." I hummed.

"Oh!!! That sounds wonderful!!! But yes, I'm in the middle of a healing Session... my patient is resting for now, so I answered, but I'm regrowing his foot, so it's kind of important I finish." She chuckled.

"Whoa... you can do that?!? That's Amazing!!!" I grinned, intrigued by the concept. "Do you start with the bones and then add flesh and Nerves, or is it a reversal of the damage? Could you regrow a whole leg if you had enough time? What about an organ? a heart? Or skin?!?"

"Uhm... thanks? And it would take a long, long time, I mean months, to grow an entire leg. And a heart... well, the patient would be dead already, so there'd be no point, but a Kidney, sure, if they still had one that worked, and maybe bits of a liver, but they'd likely die before it was finished... One basic rule of Healing: The More Complex the wound, the Longer the Time. A kidney would be about a month, and a liver about two, maybe three." She explained patiently.

"Huh... could you grow a heart in a jar, instead of a patient, if you had a sample of their blood and tissue?" I hummed curiously, and began chiseling the rock again, placing the communicator in my cleavage, so my voice would still reach it.

"Uhm... I hope not? Because that's gross? Also why? And where are you?" She asked.

"About 120 feet in the air, chiseling a very nice pair of breasts on a statue of a goddess whom I imagine as having such a pair... being a Gorgeous Goth Gal is a mood I wholesomely hope she embodies. Where are You?" I answered casually, and swung out from the rock face, getting a view of the Set so I could make sure they were even.

"Wait... what? You're flying right now? Also, don't blaspheme, please?" She sighed.

"Flying? People can fly here? Also, why is it blasphemy to hope a goddess who embodies both the 'Land of Milk and Honey' and Death has a pair of gorgeous breasts and a Goth Vibe?" I asked, curious, and made some corrections to the curvature of the left one.

"Okay, 1: Thinking of a God in a sexual way is-... oh, no, I guess you're not? Huh... then it might be fine. And question 2:... how are you 120 feet in the air and not flying?" She hummed.

"I'm hanging from a cliff face from some rope while carving rock. Duh." I chuckled, climbing to the left and beginning the striations that would become the flowie-portions of the robes.

The stone stopped working, making me look down, and then I shrieked as Luna crashed into my shoulders with the strength of a freight train, slamming my head and chest into the cliff and then teleporting us to the ground all in one movement.

I took a few deep breaths, calming myself and shaking off the daze from getting my head smacked into a rock face, and then grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her to get her to look me in the eye. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS?!?!?" I roared at her, checking her ribs for breaks from crashing into me at those speeds.

She stared at me for a moment, shocked, then looked at my harness, and the severed rope now hanging from the cliff, and back at me, before slowly setting her face onto my chest, and taking a few deep, shuddering breaths. "I'm sorry." She said quietly after a moment.

I wrapped my arms around her slowly, and pet her hair, feeling deeply the fear she'd felt. I realized, suddenly, that she was an Empath; when in my presence, I could 'hear' her emotions clearly. I could feel her fear and joy and embarrassment all at once, with no chance for deceit, just like Clark.

Then I paused, remembering feeling that somewhere else, as well. "Luna? I hate to be crass, but... can a Baby be a Blessed Healer?"

I felt her confusion before she spoke, but when she did it was a whisper. "Yes."

"Alright... is there a way to check, at a later date, after you and I cuddle for a while?" I asked, rubbing her back gently.

"Yes."

"Alright... this way, dear." I slowly led her into the tent, and then to my room, laying down with her and rubbing gentle circles on her shoulders while carefully avoiding her spine.

A panic rose up as someone apparently saw the snapped rope on the cliff, and I contacted Clark immediately with the little stone. "I'm fine, calm everyone down." The hubbub took a moment to quiet, but it did.

Eventually she began to relax, calming down and feeling mostly sorry for herself, and then mad at me for phrasing my situation in a way that was intentionally misleading, then embarrassed she'd reacted so strongly.

I interrupted that one, smoothing her snow-white hair back out of her face, which was pressed between my breasts. "You did not do anything wrong, Luna, besides acting without thought; and even that is excusable, as you assumed I was in danger. I would have done much the same, if I had the ability to teleport and didn't know what rock-climbing was." I smiled, and she snorted humorlessly. I giggled at the ticklish feeling on my chest, and she laughed louder at the bouncing of said chest and her immediate proximity to it.

The laughter built until she had the sudden urge to kiss me, finding my laughing face beautiful, and I immediately paused the situation, holding her at arms length. She blushed, ashamed of herself, but I simply hugged her to me again, cuddling. "Just a reminder of boundaries, not a punishment." I murmured in her ear, to be sure she understood, and then covered us with a fluffy blanket and snuggled her cold body with the intent to warm her up.

"I should get back to my patient." She grumbled an excuse, trying to run away from her mistake, but I kept hold of her, making sure she understood that she didn't need to. I wasn't angry at all, and she could feel that.

"I like being able to feel your emotions. Can you feel mine?" I murmured, closing my eyes and imagining myself radiating peace and comfort.

"Only a little... are you sure you're... comfortable?" She whispered.

"Yes. Very. I like cuddling. I also like kissing, but you just almost died, so now would be taking advantage of you, and I am also, despite my calm front, quite shaken by the events that just transpired, so I'd like to just snuggle. That's all." I smiled down at her, and leaned against the wall, looking out the window next to my bed. There was originally only cliff face there, but I'd carved my own private, hidden little piece of art; my childhood home, and the mountains around it.

She glanced at it, and tilted her head. "That was yours?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Huh... where are the others? The village?"

"Hmm? Oh, we lived under Glacier Ridge, -that big mountain there,- four hours by car from the nearest... well, anything. I was raised in a... unique home, I'd say. My parents died just after I was born, see, and so I was sent to my Uncle, my father's brother... he thought I was a Boy, because my name is Theodore(a), and he ran a sort of... training camp? Yes, that's a good word." I smiled at the memories.

"Training? For what?" She asked.

"It was for boys who just didn't deal well with people. Most of them were feminine or gay; boys who sex other boys. The judge that sent them thought teaching them to survive would make them 'man up', and my uncle let them think that, because it meant he could teach them how to be proper men; to love and respect their fellow man, to be kind, and generous, and to never be ashamed of themselves... also, how to hunt and kill a man with their bare hands, if they ever got attacked by some bigot in the street." I laughed at memories of him teaching one particularly flamboyant boy how to use his nails (which he refused to cut,) to slash an attacker across the carotid.

"I... I don't understand? It is Illegal to be 'Gay', in your land?" She hummed, the thought tainting her view of our laws.

"No... not explicitly, but there are bigots in places of power, who use that power to further their hate, that's unfortunately true. Not everyone, of course, but even one can leave a bad taste in your mouth." I explained as best I could.

She nodded slowly. "That makes sense, I suppose... go on?"

"Mm. Well, he thought I was a boy, as I said, and HA was I a surprise for him!!!" I laughed. "My dad didn't know a damned thing about women; he'd never dated a woman, never lived with a woman, never even met his own mother, so he had no clue what to do with me! Everything I did was a learning experience for both of us... I did inherit the family body, though, big and wide and strong, so he just treated me like the other boys, once I was about seven; I learned what they learned, I hunted when they did, I ate what I killed or gathered and the vegetables from the garden and not a single thing more. The exception was on holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, Valentine's Day, and so on, when we were allowed to share our kills, and he would buy a can of cranberries to share in the main cabin, where we weren't usually allowed to go unless there was a blizzard..." I chuckled and looked down at her, finding her enraptured by the story.

"Wow... that sounds nice..." she hummed.

"Yeah? I guess it was pretty great... of course, my dad was also a horribly, horribly paranoid individual who, if he stopped taking his medicine, thought that eating pre-packaged food would kill you, or worse, let the government take over your brain, so it had its moments of Crazy and Not-So-Fun." I snorted derisively at those memories.

"Ah... yes, that would put a damper on things." She sighed. "What about after that? You left home, right?"

"Mm. When I was 18, yes... well, here's a fun story; The first time I saw a city, I nearly shat myself." I nodded seriously.

"Really? Why?" She screwed up her nose in disgust.

"Well, I'd never heard a train before. Never seen a building as big as a mountain. Never seen more than fifteen people at once, and definitely never seen people with electronics... so I stood in the middle of the bus station, staring at everything, and this guy in a Tie-dye shirt screeches in my ear, screaming about how 'FUR IS MURDER!!!', (I was wearing the clothes I'd made myself from my kills, one of which was an Arctic Fox I was quite proud of,) and throws a bucket of red paint all over me! I jumped nearly out of my skin, almost shat myself, and then punched him so hard half his teeth popped out!" I laughed at the absurd introduction to City Life.

She snorted loudly, laughing and covering her mouth to try to stop it. "Sorry, sorry, I know that's probably horrible, but the image of you punching him, covered in red paint and scared out of your mind... HA!!!"

"You're not wrong." I shrugged. "But anyway, I was scared I killed him, for a moment; he was tiny, you see, and at Eighteen, I was already almost as big as I am now, just with a little less muscle... his jaw was a flattened, bloody mess, and he didn't seem to be breathing, so I panicked, and grabbed what I thought was his corpse, and just started Running. I got maybe six blocks before some cop saw me and freaked out, then shot me. I woke up in a jail cell, and laughed when they offered me a phone-call home; I knew what a phone was, but my dad had said they were 'tools to control your mind', so I didn't trust them... they sentenced me to Community service, in a Scrap Yard, and that's how I found my love for working with metal!" I nodded.

"Whoa, wait... shot? He shot you with a sleeping drug? And you got sentenced to slave labor?!?" She asked indignantly.

I grinned. "No, he shot me with one of those weapons from the Challenge... the ones that spat metal?" I showed her the scar on my collarbone, a near-perfect circle where the bullet had entered and exited my body, making me pass out from shock. "I didn't even bleed much, but I'd never been shot before, so I passed out... they patched me up and stuck me with the same guy I broke the jaw of; he was awake and terrified of me, but alive."

"Oh... but still, Slave Labor?!? The other guy was clearly the aggressor, and he wasn't even dead!!!"

"Well, I did drag what I thought was his corpse for six city blocks in an attempt to hide the body..." I shrugged.

"Ah... well... still..." She frowned.

"No, I deserved the punishment; it was just a month of work in a scrap yard, hauling metal around and watching it get crushed, and it was actually very pleasant; serene, almost, and I could be alone, and not deal with anyone at all, all day long... and it wasn't Slave Labor, I was paid for my work, though I didn't know how money worked because, again, money was 'to control your mind'. I got some psychiatric help for my paranoid delusions and trust issues, and eventually adjusted (mostly), though I still moved to a large patch of woods outside the city, and took a train to work every three weeks." I looked back at the piece of art, and smiled.

"Well... I'm glad you took the train." She mumbled, and laid her head down again.

"Awwwww!" I teased her gently, and kissed her forehead while she pouted at me. "You're very sweet, Moonie."

"Moonie?" She asked, confused.

"You don't like it? Your name is Luna, which means Moon?" I raised an eyebrow at her, curious.

"Oh... I see..."

"But it doesn't matter, it's not like you have to come up with one for me, you can let it happen naturally, I was just thinking of you, and then I saw your eyes, and I just called you 'Moon'... it was mostly reflex." I assured her quickly.

She smiled and laid her head down again, humming along with the tune of Helen's Statue softly, as it sang and informed us of the Sunset Hour. "That's beautiful... but I really have to go now, I left my patient on a table." She sighed sadly.

I nodded and kissed her forehead. "Off with you then, and you can come back any time for cuddles. I... I'm usually busy during the day, we can... share a bed? Ya know... if you want?" I asked hesitantly, controlling a blush as I felt her joy clearly.

She smiled and nodded. "I'd like that."

"Ahem! Good, then off with you, go heal some people!" I stood us up and unwrapped us from the fuzzy blanket. She nodded and disappeared with a wave, leaving me along with my thoughts. I hummed at the smell of her on my bed, and sighed. "Dammit... I definitely can't sleep now..."

"Hey, Theo?" Medea tapped on my door.

"Thank god for the distraction... yes dear, what do you need?" I opened the door, taking off my climbing harness and leaving it on my chair for repairs tomorrow.

"Do you think that I could... privately... suggest a mold for the, Uhm... Silicone?" She asked hesitantly.

I raised an eyebrow slowly at her. "You're like... 12."

"I am not!!! I'm 19, you jackass!!!" She yelled at me instantly.

"Oh... I guess, fine. What shape you want? We're making a collection, so if it's a good one, we'll just add it to the molds we already have." I nodded, filing that knowledge away.

"Well... you know... maybe..." she lowered her voice unnecessarily. "What about a tentacle?"

"A tentacle? We have that already. We have tongues, long tongues, prehensile spirals, you'd be surprised; Rhea is in charge of the molds, and she's Very creative. There's even some of those Bad-Dragon-types I've heard about, but I don't really care about those. But yeah, I'll put in an anonymous word in the Suggestion box." I shrugged.

She blushed, and cleared her throat. "No, I mean... like, one that moves? Or vibrates?"

"Yeah, I'm working on the vibration feature; essentially it'll be its own Golem, and it'll shake the core exactly like the normal vibration function, but with no batteries. And as for a Prehensile Tentacle... I could manage one, like with a suction cup, you'd put it in to shower and ask it for what you want-"

She covered my mouth quickly, clearing her throat as James walked past us, carrying a chunk of steel.

"So anyway, it'll follow your commands, it's a pretty good system. Draw up some dimensions for how big you want it, and any specific functions, and we'll see. Now go on, before you have a coronary." I waved her off as her blush turned volcanic, and then closed my door.

After a moment of thought, I turned, and my eyes found my box of toys, sitting on the end table with each one casually displayed and individually wrapped (for hygiene purposes). "And I definitely have an idea of what to do now... You, me, and a Showerhead, it's a date... I wonder if Luna will want to listen? She's definitely the kinky-type." I smirked and gathered the box, as well as my communication stone, and opened the door to my private shower, humming a happy tune.