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Post by Toni Craft on Nov 19, 2006 15:07:56 GMT
”How the hell d’ya get that past Chuck? He won’t let me have the sunlamp I so obviously need, let alone the fuckin’ snake to go with it”
"Uh...did you ever try asking, Johnny? The old man's easier to convince than my dad after a bottle of wine." Toni grins as Hector waggles his tongue over a finger. "But if you want, you can use that sunlamp," She nods back to the pen, "Hector doesn't mind sharing."
And yet the kid doesn't move. Somewhere in the back of her brain, Toni finds a touch of satisfaction and smugness. Not so tough now, are ya. Then in another section, a little red-clad Toni with horns and a pitchfork laughs maniacally.
”D’ya feed him live stuff? Or is your freezer full of rats?”
"Oh, he'll take both, but he prefers the live stuff. It's much more of a challenge, and he loves the feeling of them squirming as they're being swallowed." That's a little morbid, even for Toni, but the conversation had quickly changed from 'sex talk' to 'How much of a rise can I get out of his kid.' It was utterly enthralling and gratifying to see John flounder in the presence of the large snake.
”Could he kill you? Y’know, crush you to death?” That question brings a wicked smile to her lips and she lifts Hector's head up to her neck and dislodges him. The snake happily winds his way around her throat until he's watching John from her shoulder, his thick body looped about her neck.
"If he really wanted to, he could kill you, yes. But Hector's been with the family ever since he was just a pencil snake. He's as familiar with people as a hooker is with her nine o'clock Friday client." Toni gently kisses the reptile's head and turns back to John, the evil glint still present in her eyes as she shrugs. "He's big enough that he could strangle just about anybody he wanted, except yours truly of course."
The kid's like a fish out of water, that much Toni notices, and the seemingly casual smile, wave, and "Hey Hector" make her smirk.
"Come on, Johnny. You should know that snakes don't have any ears. And their eyesight's none too fantastic either. If you're gonna say hello, y'have to get in his face." She hefts the snake, adjusting him on her shoulders, then walks over to John. Hector perks up slightly and he senses the heat coming from the boy. Excited, he tastes the air for the scent of the newcomer.
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Post by Pyro on Nov 19, 2006 23:19:31 GMT
< The old man’s easier to convince than my dad after a bottle of wine[/color]
”Maybe given your feminine wiles and relative sanity” he shrugs ”As far as I’m concerned it’s a ‘serious fire hazard’ ” Half the time he thinks Chuck must be a prize idiot if he thinks depriving him of obvious sparks is any protection, because it’s not the thing that’s the hazard… and the other half (the half he’s less comfortable with) is sure he realizes that and is just making him work for the fire, testing his ingenuity.
< Hector doesn’t mind sharing[/color]
To his credit he doesn’t balk, or blanch at the idea, just gives a weird little half-smile and shrugs again. ”He’d be a much better roommate than Icicle. If Drake ends up driving me insane I might have t’take you up on that”
The not-blanching gets just that little bit harder as Toni explains the, erm, grisly details, though it’s still balanced by a weird fascination (because heck, he’s still a teenage boy, and therefore blood and guts and all that are still really undeniably awesome) and a juvenile determination to not look more of a girl than, erm, a girl (… yes).
< If you’re gonna say hello, y’have to get in his face[/color]
Oh… fantastic. She’s doing this just to torture him, isn’t she? Getting off on making him squirm, and kicking this up a gear or two after finding that the sex talk didn’t have the desired effect (and no, he so obviously does not have any twisted admiration for that)
Growing up Down Under, you went one of two ways when it came to the beasties – either the full-blown hands on wow, what a beaut approach, or the total opposite – and since fire had always been his dangerous toy of choice even before he could control the risk mini-St.John had been content to leave snakes, scorpions and all those things to the other kids. That had continued into Sinjin, of course, who’d had a whole other layer of *respectable kids just don’t* drummed in on top…
… and since neither of those kids were real, John Allerdyce as he stands shouldn’t have any problem, right? Nothing scares him. Nothing. Nada. (Keep saying it, Johnny-boy a voice which has always been there but is only just starting to sound annoyingly like Toni pipes up, some day soon you might actually believe it). So not flinching as Toni comes over should be…
… erm, let’s try that again. Not flinching as she brings Hector to within touching…
By take four he’s just about mastered it, eyeing the snake suspiciously and not exactly reaching out to touch him, but not running or blacking out or anything else either. "He's... cute."
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Post by Toni Craft on Nov 20, 2006 1:06:14 GMT
”Maybe given your feminine wiles and relative sanity...” Toni holds back the snort as best as possible but it ultimately makes it's way through, causing her shoulders to shudder and Hector to look up at her from his perch.
"....You know what, I'm not even going to comment on that. You obviously don't know enough about me to be making such dangerous claims." Toni smiles as humoured and forgivingly possible as Hector settles back down, laying his head on his midsection comfortably.
'Relatively sanity' was clearly either an underestimation, a misinterpretation, ignorance, or sheer idiocy. More that likely though, it was a thick mixture of all four.
"If Drake ends up driving me insane I might have t’take you up on that.” And in that Toni finds an easy entrance back into the sex talk, but quickly wiles her way out of that train of thought.
"I don't know, Hector's never too kind to me. You know, always hogging the covers, snoring, drooling on my pillow, and let's not forget the hissing in his sleep. And I'm pretty sure that sometimes I've felt something poking me under there." Damn, just the thing she's trying to avoid. Oh well, s'pose it could have been worse.
As she brings Hector closer to John, Toni notices the clear effort to stay firm. A valiant effort, for sure, and he seems to succeed, but the stiffness and hesitancy is still present. And when Hector looks up, flicks his tongue, and extends his head towards the teen, John makes no obvious squeamish motion, but he's clearly not comfortable either.
"He's...cute."
"Isn't he though? Positively adorable. But he'll get even bigger when he's full grown." Toni smiles as the snake holds his long body in the air and slowly makes his way towards John. "Hmm...someone certainly seems interested. You wanna hold him?" She grins and carefully hoists Hector off her shoulders and cradles him in her arms, but makes no attempt to extinguish the snake's curiosity as he tries to get closer to the pyro.
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Post by Pyro on Nov 20, 2006 20:16:49 GMT
”Let me guess… he leaves the toilet seat up and totally doesn’t understand that the world revolves around shoes and handbags…” John delivers the nearest he can to a grin (which is pretty damn close, all things considered) at her summation of Hector as a potential bedmate. ”Hell, with all that and his handy, erm, phallic nature, what the hell do you need men for? Perfect pet for the single mentor”
Yeah, he’s babbling. But at least it’s senble, in-character babbling. Something of that momentary spark tides him over as Hector gets down to the business of tasting and exploring, though nothing, not even that superhuman effort, can stop an involuntary flinch as the snake decides that the John-shaped pool of warmth is too tempting not to investigate.
< You wanna hold him?
”Nah, s’okay, you can keep…” he starts, but Hector has other ideas, and John’s failure to hide exactly how uncomfortable he is continues, with the approach of snakeflesh and inevitable skin-to-skin contact with a big-ass snake (who – thanks for this one, Toni – likes live prey and could easily strangle him) making him tense still further, and cringe as if pulling back into himself, and…
… oh, okay, that’s different. It’s still a snake, and he’d still rather not have it making its snakey way along his arm and across his shoulders, but it’s… not that bad, really. Not slimy or properly scaly, just sort of warm and heavy and… yeah, nothing to panic about.
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Post by Toni Craft on Nov 20, 2006 23:42:08 GMT
”Hell, with all that and his handy, erm, phallic nature, what the hell do you need men for? Perfect pet for the single mentor.”
"Single, yes. But if I have anything to do about it, and you know I will, I'm gonna have some man ass soon! And then you can babysit the snake." Toni smirks as Hector eagerly slinks his way toward John. "Obviously, since he seems to like you so much. You haven't been feeding him pinkies behind my back have you?"
She watches, clearly amused, as Hector reaches John's arm and begins to slide his way up to the shoulders, despite the teen's earlier protests.
"Awwww...look at that! Johnny's found a friend!" Luckily, the young pyro didn't seem too uncomfortable with the snake surrounding his shoulders. That, fortunately, works for Toni, who would rather that Hector stay Hector-like, and not reduced to a black squiggle. "I bet he likes your body heat, 'cause honestly, you're hot." Hector slowly loops his way around the back of John's shoulders until his head pops up next to his face then flicka flicka. "Ooo...someone's looking for some action. The tongue only comes out with he's feeling feisty." Toni waggles her eyebrows at that. "Bow chicka bow wow."
She lets go of Hector's tail and makes sure that John has a good grasp of him then pulls back. "You know, he probably likes you cause you smell more human than me." In other words, John was edible and Toni was not, but she'd never say that. "You taste tasty-like." Okay, maybe she would.
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Post by Pyro on Nov 23, 2006 3:58:24 GMT
Still not entirely comfortable with the whole situation, things don’t exactly get easier for John as Hector loops round... and looks him straight in the face. Not having eyebrows, Hector can’t quite cock one, but that’s the expression on his snakey little features, and John does likewise in return, figuring that humanizing the beastie and focusing on trivialities like playing copy-cat might make it easier to deal with the fact it could kill him any time it felt like it (thanks again, Toni…)… but nothing can stop the involuntary shudder that tongue provokes with it’s flicka-flicka… yeah, back to not comfortable all over again. Thanks Toni, really.
”Brilliant… all this sex talk and you’ve only brought me up here so your snake can molest me.” he somehow manages to half-laugh, though it’s getting harder to keep up the pretence that yeah, having a snake around his shoulders is exactly how he planned on spending his Sunday… though luckily Toni provides a momentary distraction, because it’s easy enough to cope with the weight and the texture when you’re not thinking Fuck! Snake!. ”Tasty-like? Human? What d’you smell of, then?”
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Post by Toni Craft on Nov 23, 2006 4:19:36 GMT
”Brilliant… all this sex talk and you’ve only brought me up here so your snake can molest me.”
"Actually, we make a great tag team, but I usually work solo." Toni leans in and brings her head closer to John's and makes a series of kissing noises. They're not directed towards the teen, but rather Hector, who is too busy admiring John to be paying attention to his real owner.
As for John, his up-close and personal encounter with the snake has left his comfort level at an apparent new low. Please don't make Hector a charred doodle. Please don't make Hector a charred doodle. Please don't make Hector a charred doodle. Please don't make Hector a charred doodle. Toni loves her snake too much, but she figures that John's calm enough to leave the poor animal be unless he tries to do something.
"What d’you smell of, then?”
"Like a rock. Some funky, metallic, red lookin' rock." The reptile turns his attention away from John for the moment and focuses on Toni. He lets loose a low hiss as she gives the underside of his chin a little rub. "Who's a good little snakey-wakey?" Toni purrs. Hector flicks his tongue out at her before turning back to John.
The snake gives him one more inquisitive look-over before continuing his journey around the lovely warm neck. Its not until he's looped himself around one and a half times that he finds a comfortable position and rests his head next to John's ear.
"Wow, he really does like you. I'm kind of jealous." Toni crosses her arms and rests her head on her hand with a dreamy sigh. "Will poor ol' me ever find someone (or something) to love me?" Naturally, the remark is brimming with a joking and sarcastic tone. Not like Toni would ever engage and depression and angst. Pfffttt..not a chance..
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Post by Pyro on Nov 23, 2006 23:02:34 GMT
.... Fuck.
Some black spark of humor wishes Chuck could see this – the old man is always complaining about John’s lack of control, but it’s taking a phenomenal amount not to start messing with his lighter now because somehow he thinks burning Toni’s best mate would not be the best start to their mentor-pupil relationship regardless of whether said mate is 6 foot long, reptilian and bent on rearranging his vertebrae into something more edible.
< Wow, he really does like you.
John half-laughs at that until he realizes that the motion from that startles Hector into flicking his head around again and freezes, trying to go back to being invisible and rock-like rather than human and tasty... though given the amount of heat he’s radiating now he’s nervous and hyper it’s probably not working. At least he can still fire off a few quick words though they no doubt lack his usual je ne sais quoi and are delivered in a somewhat more shaky tone than customary ”You’ll have to break it to him gently, I don’t swing that way. Scales have never really done it for me...”
Toni doesn’t seem in any hurry to take Hector back, and John’s fairly sure the snake wouldn’t take too kindly to him prying it off... think, dammit... erm... how not to loose face now. ”D’ya reckon he’s hungry, Ton?” Or sleepy or bored or anything that means you can get him the hell off me? ” ‘Cos, y’know, that live prey thing sounds pretty cool...” He surprises himself with how much enthusiasm he’s managed to put into that sentence, though it’s probably got more to do with the prospect of freedom than anything else.
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Post by Toni Craft on Nov 25, 2006 0:43:51 GMT
"D’ya reckon he’s hungry, Ton?”
"Ton? Darlin' I'm insulted. Is my butt really that big? I knew I had gained some weight, but 500 pounds? Oh dear. Time to start that copper-free diet I've heard raves about." She leaned back slightly and glanced at a calendar above Hector's pen. "And yes, I imagine the little guy might have the munchies. It's comin' up on his time of the month after all."
Toni walks over to a smaller cage on her dresser and opens the lid on the top. A plump grey rat scurries away into its box.
"Y’know, that live prey thing sounds pretty cool...”
"Just wait until you hear it squeal." Toni swears there's a level of anxiety still being kept in check inside the teen, but she makes no comment on it. She figures her evil smile gives her away. "If you want, John, you can feed this little guy to him." She looks up and points into the cage with an amused, sly grin. "What d'you say? Just pull the snake off and put him back in his pen and then you can do the fun part."
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