New body, new emotions - Mr Ring-A-Ding x Reader Part 7
[I've just realised how mean I am to Ring in most of my writing. I promise we'll get back to more fluffy romance next, just gotta hurt you a little bit more >;>]
When you regain consciousness, you're definitely not in Palazzo anymore. You're not.. anywhere. All you can see is light. White, bright, blinding light. You look down at your… Where's your body? You had a body, right? It's just more light. Everything here is light.
No, no this isn't right. You had a body, a human body, you had hands and feet and eyes and a nose, where did it all go? The light that makes up your form shimmers as you internally panic, catching the attention of the ruler of this domain. “Ah! Finally awake, are we?” The voice echoes from every direction, disorientating you even more. Your light is now flickering. “Hey hey hey, relax. It's ok, you're safe here.” This time, you can pinpoint the source of the voice. You “look” up, and there's a distinct pillar -more of a monolith from its size- of light, brighter than everything else, with a shimmering halo of colour. What, who, is that? Your form moves away from that pillar, yet it doesn't get any smaller. It stands tall and foreboding, and you know it should be feared. “I suppose I should've expected such a reaction. No matter, with time you'll realise there's nothing to be afraid of here. You're perfectly safe, no harm will be done to you.” That doesn't settle your nerves at all.
“Ok, ok… Why don't you try manipulating that light of yours, hm? Do you remember what you look like?” Do you? Your gaze lowers to your “body”, and you try to remember what you should see. You have two hands.. four fingers and a thumb on each. Amazingly, that thought becomes reality right before your eyes. Now your skin colour.. Yes, there it is. Your arms fade into view as your memory slowly rebuilds your body. Then your abdomen begins to form, shifting through all the clothes you've ever worn. “Well, aren't you fascinating? Maybe I don't give humanity the credit it's due for these learning capabilities.” You can feel its eyes on you, the ring of colours dancing around the top of the monolith. Is this why you're here? So that.. thing can watch you learn? Wait… That voice…
A peculiar, very unique laugh echoes around you. A 7 note giggle, ascending and descending. You stare at the top of the pillar and, through the shifting colours, you spot that radiant gold. Lux. Lux Imperator, so-called God of Light. The reason you're in this strange place. There's a flash of light before the bright outline of Mr Ring-A-Ding appears in front of you. When he speaks this time, his voice comes from this silhouette. “Has your brain finally caught up? That's where we are, you know. I didn't know your weird little cells could produce light! Isn't that interesting?” What? What?! “The human body is so strange! But you.. that light. That intrigues me more than anything.” He's reaching out towards you, just like in Palazzo, and you flinch away.
Whether Lux notices or not, you'll never know, because he gets closer regardless. His fingertips barely make contact with you before he jumps back like you burnt him. A string of light follows his fingers as he clutches his hand. “What.. is this? Hah, how strange.” He's too busy observing his hand to notice you backing away. “Not even the light of a Time Lord compares to this.” It's not the same as when you had hugged him, but there's a definite warmth tingling at the tips of his fingers. Lux watches as it spreads down his hand, his arm, until he's wrapped up in that warm light. But it's not enough. It's not what he had experienced with you. Until the light from you finds what little light he has left from the Doctor, links together, and causes a surge of emotions that the God of Light had not been prepared for.
You're running through this world of light, desperately looking for any way out. How do you escape your own brain? Think, think! Just as you slow down, there's a wave that passes through the light around you. It repeats, over and over, so you try to focus on it. There's a voice, distant and quiet, calling out to you. Ring. When his name comes to mind, his voice becomes clearer. So you think about him even more; his blue skin, that cute pink pig nose, the yellow hat always present on his head, and he begins to take form right before you. “Oh, sweetheart, you genius!” He's in your arms in an instant as you cling to him, beyond relieved to have your toon with you. But his presence has alerted the God inside your head. The world is shaking with his anger. Ring cups your face, wearing a serious expression. “I have an idea. Do ya trust me?”
He surges forward to kiss you with enough passion to have you stunned, then reluctantly pulls away. “I'll be back. I promise.” It looks like he wants to say more, but Lux is charging towards you two. His hands slip off your face before he fades away.
The furious God of Light towers over you. Like earlier, his voice surrounds you at an overwhelming volume. “Where is he?! That little pest! What, is a God not enough for you?” Why does he sound almost.. jealous? The halo of colours is more akin to a thorned crown, almost appearing to glitch as its edges point towards you. Just as quickly though, it returns to normal as Lux sighs heavily. “Would it make you feel better if I was him? I'll take that form, I'll sing his dumb little songs, I'll do the dances..” The silhouette returns. “Here, see? Here's your precious little Ring-A-Ding!” There's a sad desperation in his voice. If he hadn't kidnapped you, tricked you twice, and hurt Ring, you might've felt bad.
Why am I acting like this? What did that human’s light do to me? Lux is struggling to cope with all these feelings. The aggravating swell of anger when he'd detected Ring. The growing desire to make you worship him. Worship.. Or love? One and the same to a God. And yet you still defy him. He reaches out to you, slower, like approaching a frightened animal, but you're past fearing him. Your hand slaps his away, and he can't decide if his hand or his chest hurts more. “You're not him! You think you can just change your face and I'll act like you're him? How stupid do you think I am? I'm not going to blindly adore you just because you're wearing his face!” Every sentence hits like a stake through his chest. And he can't understand why. Why won't you love him? Why does he want you to? Why why why?!
Poor, confused Lux doesn't get much of a chance to think about it, because a familiar face reappears. “Thanks fer keepin’ an eye on my sweetheart, but it's about time-” Ring grabs an arm and a shoulder of his copy, spinning around at a speed you can't follow. “Ya took your exit!” He uses the built up momentum to throw Lux into the distance. The light parts for him, revealing the fire exit sign above the door you were trying to escape out of.
A blinding light envelops your eyes. When you can see again, you're on the floor of the theatre facing that exit sign. Your head is pounding, so you close your eyes and sit up with a groan. Something charges into you and nearly knocks you down, which has your eyes shooting open again. It's just Ring tightly hugging you, and your headache is immediately forgotten. “Oh, Ring, my brave little hero.” You feel a shaky breath against your neck as his hand grips the back of your head. “How did you get rid of him? What.. What was any of that?”
At first you don't get a response, your toon just clings to you. Then he moves to press his forehead to yours and sighs. “I.. I thought he'd killed you.” His voice shakes as tears form in the corners of his eyes. “You were just.. lyin’ there, eyes open, I- I didn't know what to do. Kept shakin’ ya and yellin’ but you weren't respondin’” You cup his face and he leans into your touch, his eyes squeezed shut. “Then ya, somehow, got me into your head. I, uh, I could see all the light from your.. what’dya call them? Neurons? Your brain, thingies. So I thought, ‘cause he deals in all things light, why not force him into a different light source? So I came back here, turned your head so you were lookin’ at that sign and..” He makes a throwing motion, whistling with the gesture, and it gets a chuckle out of you. “Are you ok though, darling? Being trapped in your own brain must be a lot to process.” Ring rubs his thumbs over the back of your hands, watching your face with a worried expression.
You pull him forward by his cheeks and kiss him. He hums against your lips, wrapping his arms around your neck to pull you closer. When the kiss breaks, his antennae have curled together to make a cute little heart. “I'm alright. All thanks to you, Ringy.” One thumb boops his snout, and he breathes out a laugh.
“I did say I'd fight a God for ya. I'm a man.. pig, bug.. of my word!” You share a laugh, until you realise what that means. That actually was a God.
“I thought he was calling himself the God of Light just to be all intimidating. How do you.. know he's the real deal?”
There's a nervous grin on the toon’s face. “Well, uh… He's kinda the reason I exist..?” Your bewildered expression makes him continue. “This isn't his first time here. He showed up years ago and trapped 15 people in film.” The missing people.. “One of my cartoons was playin’ on the projector he got in on, so he used my image as a disguise, or a vessel. Problem is, that kind of.. infected that reel. Sally got her own sentience because of it, then she found a different frame of me and, hey presto, I'm now sentient too!”
What.. the fuck? “So..” You rub a hand over your face as you process all of.. that. “How are you.. here? And how come he's back?”
“I saw how he kept hoppin’ in an’ out of the screen, and once it was all quiet in this place I tried it out. Pretty easy, if a bit disorientating. As for him..” Ring shrugs. “Beats me. Probably here to torment humans again, maybe a nostalgia trip. I know how to get rid of him, but uh, we'd have to blow another hole in the building and I don't think ya boss would be all too happy about that.”
“That's why that explosion happened?!” He gives a “mhm” in response. You make a move to stand up and he takes a step back, holding your hands to help you. “We might as well.. try the doors again. Maybe, since he's not here, they'll open this time.” When you look down at Ring for his opinion, he's not meeting your eyes. He's looking past you. At the exit sign.
It's glowing, much brighter than it should be. And that light is intensifying. “No time to check them, come on!” The toon grabs your hand and pulls you along as he runs out of the theatre. Just as you both turn into the hallway, there's a loud shattering noise from behind you. And a blood chilling growl.
Lux doesn't notice the way the rough carpet digs into his hand, or the sharp pain from the glass cutting into his skin. There's only one thing in that rage-filled mind. Make that irritating celluloid pay. He'd made the mistake of leaving him weakened earlier. This time.. Oh, this time he'll do worse. You and Ring can only run so fast together, the speed of light is something you can't match. Lux plays along, draws out the chase just to amuse himself. Just to give that toon false hope. The God of Light, however, underestimates him. He's well aware of this pointless struggle. But he'll do anything to protect you, so his arm extends to pull you in front of him and away from the pursuing deity. If only Ring knew that he wasn't after you..
His hand is torn from yours in an instant as Lux catches up with ease. There's a quick struggle, just long enough for you to stop running and turn back, so you see what that God does to him. Ring is on his back, pinned down by his throat, as he screams and struggles, his back contorted and arched. When the God's hand is removed he falls limp. He doesn't move as Lux stands up. He doesn't move when you whisper his name, eyes scanning for any sign of life. “There. Who will you worship now? Him, or me?” You're motionless aside from your eyes, which slowly tick like the hand of a clock to the source of that voice.
The look in your eyes makes Lux tense up. He's never seen anger like that, not even from the Doctor. It makes something pound on the inside of his chest. Every thought in his head tells him to run. But why should he? You're a human, a mortal, there's no reason a God like him should flee. So he stands his ground when you charge at him, and he isn't at all prepared for the fist you slam into his face.
Pain. Lux Imperator, God of Light, the dazzle at the heart of the Pantheon of Discord, feels pain for the first time in his existence. The impact of your punch hurts, it hurts when he flies back and lands and rolls down the hallway, it hurts when he shakily touches his nose. And it scares him when he pulls his hand back and sees red. You've hurt a God. You've made a God bleed. He turns his head slowly to look at you, hoping he won't see you running towards him to hit him again. The sight before him hurts for a completely different reason.
You're kneeling before Ring-A-Ding, shaking him by the shoulders and saying his name. Over and over. Your voice gets louder until it breaks as tears flood your eyes, and you bury your face in his chest. You hold him so gently. The thing that had been moving in Lux’s chest now tightens uncomfortably, there's two emotions that he can't name. He feels a strange anger, seeing you kneel and hold that toon. Like he wants to be in his place. He wants to be worshipped like that. But he also feels bad seeing you cry. Knowing it was his fault. He can't understand why.
Something's dripping into his mouth. It has a strange, sharp taste which he doesn't actually hate. The fingers that dip into it come back red, and he remembers that he's bleeding. He's.. bleeding? How? He's light, this shouldn't be happening. What… “What.. Did you.. Do?” All these emotions, senses, thoughts. They all started with your light. Something about you has changed him. A human has changed him, and that frightens him.
Having your attention is even more frightening. The rage in your eyes has not dwindled, even with the tears running down your cheeks. When you see the blood dripping from Lux’s nose, a new, horrible light appears in your eyes, and the God of Light feels fear at his own concept as you let go of Ring and storm towards him. His limbs lock up, a deer in the headlights, letting you grab at the front of his suit while your other hand raises up. You know you can hurt him now. You know this thing can bleed. Now you want to know if it can die. But Lux flinches, turns his head away with his eyes squeeze shut, and it painfully reminds you of how Ring had done the same after confessing his feelings. You can't hit him. Your hand stays raised in the air, shakes with your anger and despair and hatred and love.
Cautiously, his eyes open when the pain he was expecting never comes. There's so many emotions in your eyes, swirling together into a confusing storm, Lux can't make sense of it. Why haven't you hit him? You stare at each other for.. a minute? Maybe longer. It feels like an eternity for the God of Light, who dreads the idea of your fist coming down at any moment. Then you use the hand curled into his suit to slam him into the ground as you stand, leaving him with the dull ache in the back of his head while you pick Ring up and carry him away. Lux doesn't move, blood still trickling out of his nose and the hand he still hasn't realised is injured as he stares at the ceiling light above him.
You lay Ring down on one of the couches in the lounge. It had gone unnoticed in your panic and rage, but now that you're alone with him you can tell he's breathing. It's shallow, weak, but it's there, and it fills you with a strong enough relief to nearly have you crying again. You sit on the floor in front of the couch and lean your side onto it. “Please be ok.” The hand that has hurt a God links with Ring’s gently. He doesn't move. His hand is cold, the usual static-y sensation is barely there. You let go of him, unable to stand that cold, and leave the lounge. Lux has moved since you left him, but only to prop himself against a wall. He doesn't react to your presence, so you go the opposite way - towards the diner.
Light is pouring in from the windows. The sun is rising. You'd been trapped inside your own brain for the majority of the night, it seems. How the hell are you going to explain that to your boss? Or the second Mr Ring-A-Ding that has suddenly appeared? You're tired and hungry now, so you grab a handful of protein bars along with a bottle of water from the kitchen before you head back to the lounge. Ring isn't awake. You eat two of the dry, oatmeal packed snacks and down half of your water. His breathing hasn't gotten any stronger. You can't just sit and watch him in this condition. Before you know it, you're standing in front of the wounded God. He's not doing much better, probably suffering from all the blood he's lost, but you can't find it in yourself to care about him right now. “What did you do to Ring? Why isn't he waking up?” He flinches when your hand digs into the front of his suit again.
“I-I took some of his light, that's all! I can.. I can give it back!” Maybe if he complies, he'll earn some favour from you. Or at least he might not get punched again. You grab his hand and yank him away from the wall, dragging him along as his legs stumble underneath him before he finds his balance and the speed needed to keep up with you. There's the faintest spark of warmth from your hand, and even though there's no resemblance of affection from your tight grip, Lux can't help but hope you'll hold his hand again in the future. He's shoved in front of the couch Ring is lying on, the warmth from your touch is removed. Geez, he really had done a number on that celluloid. If any more of his light was removed, well.. You probably would've beaten him to a pulp by now. The God of Light shudders at the thought, then places his unbloodied hand on the toon’s chest. Light collects at his fingertips, making them faintly glow, before it travels into Ring's body.
Huh… He doesn't feel any different without it. Usually there was a sensation of weakness whenever he gave up portions of light, but now, in this body, it doesn't affect him. Before he can ponder about it any longer you pull him to the other end of the room and sit him on the couch there. “Might as well get some of that blood off of you.” It's more out of you needing something to do other than watching your toon boyfriend recover than you actually caring about Lux, but he sits quietly and lets you wipe his face and nose clean with tissues. He only moves to flinch at the pain that arises when you move onto his hand. “Hold still! Wriggling around won't make this any easier.” You're gripping at his wrist now while you press a couple of tissues onto the gash in his skin.
“It-It hurts!” Why wouldn't he move away?
The way he says it makes you look up. “Have you.. felt pain before?” You're more gentle as you wipe around the wound. Lux winces but keeps still.
“No..? This is my first time in a proper, corporeal body after all. Well, there was that short time I had one. In this very building, too! But.. You know, no one punched me in the face so I didn't get a chance to experience pain back then.”
“Yeah… Ring mentioned you being here before. How long ago was that?” The God of Light snorts out a giggle.
“How am I supposed to know that? The passage of time doesn't exactly affect me, I don't keep track of it. What year is it?”
“Uh..” You can't remember. “I don't know.”
“Oh.” He tilts his head from side to side, examining your face. “Might be because of me, I hadn't poked around in a human’s brain before today. Should be fine. Let me know if you've forgotten anything else, I can always dig around in there to check.” You scrunch your face up at the idea of this God being back in your head. “Nevermind.” The sheepish grin that rises to his lips is actually quite cute. No, no, don't call the God that kidnapped you and hurt Ring cute.
There's some shards of glass in his hand. “Regardless of how much time has passed, why have you come back here? To this building, specifically? There's so many places on earth you could go to.” Might as well get him distracted with a question while you pull glass out of him.
“Oh! Right, yes, I wanted to- ow!” Lux nearly pulls his hand away, glaring at you for hurting him, but then he sees the broken glass and settles down. “Um, I came back to see the.. uh, oh, the caretaker. Old man, glasses, flighty, always clutching a film reel to his chest?” That description doesn't match anyone you've seen around. All the caretakers before you had left in quick succession, and none of them lasted years working here. Then your mind flicks back to your first day, when your boss was telling you about the explosion that had happened. A man had died in it.
Lux is smiling at you with a hopeful look in his eyes. “Uh..” His head tilts. “The caretaker that was around when you came here? When that explosion happened and tore through that one theatre?”
“The very one! Do you know Mr Reginald Pye? How is he? Still moping around about his wife?”
“He's.. dead. He died in that explosion.”
His smile drops instantly. It's not a look of sadness, more like surprise, but something akin to mourning crosses his expression as he looks down. “Oh.” Silence fills the room as you finish cleaning his wound. For now you just tie a tissue around it. You're not leaving him and Ring in the same room alone to find a first aid kit, no matter how wounded either are.
Your hand is holding his wrist, from when you were keeping him from struggling. He hasn't moved to separate himself from your grip. “Did you.. know him that well?” You brush your thumb over his skin soothingly. Do Gods mourn the deaths of mortals?
An awkward laugh breaks his silence. “It's surprising how much you learn about someone when you're the only being they have to talk to.” You now realise he's been looking at your hand this entire time. “He was.. the only one who worshipped me. It was mostly out of fear, all the humans I'd trapped feared me, but.. I learnt that his wife had died. He kept a film of her with him at all times. Never went anywhere in the picture house without it. So, just to stop him being all moody, I brought her out of the film. So they could be together again, for a short amount of time. The way he'd smile at me and thank me afterwards.. That wasn't out of fear. It was true appreciation. I hadn't been worshipped like that before.” His other hand slowly, tentatively, traces over your fingers. “I wanted to see him again. The only one on earth who didn't just use my light, but saw me. The God behind that light. Well.. at least he's with his wife now.” He looks up and smiles, like that speech had never happened. “You must be the new caretaker then! Now, I know we might've gotten off on the wrong foot-”
“We might've gotten off on the wrong foot? Oh yeah, pretending to be the toon I'm close to, tricking me in a deal, trapping me in my own fucking brain, then nearly killing the aforementioned toon is definitely the wrong foot to get off on.” Lux visibly gulps, his shoulders rising up as you heavily sigh. “Go on.”
“Um… So, we Gods are bound by honour, you see. So, I, Lux Imperator, God of Light, member of Pantheon of Discord,” He puts his uninjured hand on his chest. “Promise to not physically, mentally or emotionally harm you after this. Or the toon, if you care about him so much.” The last part is grumbled out, but your stern glare gets him nervous. “Both of you! Won't trap or trick or sap the light out of either of you again! Ok? Are we.. Good now?”
Well, he seems sincere enough. You can always hit him if he goes back on his word. “Alright. I will hold you to that, so don't you dare think about finding some loophole or whatever the fuck happened last time.” You get up to check on Ring. His breathing is stronger, more stable. When you run the back of your fingers over his cheek, he even turns his head into your touch. Though it doesn't wake him. “Why did you trap me in my own head? Ring said you trapped 15 people in film before. Were you just trying things out?” Lux practically coughs up a laugh.
You turn around to face him. “No, no! Ok technically yes, but not just for the fun of it.” He's leaning back on the couch now, one leg on the other. “I saw this light in your eyes. Hadn't seen it before, so, as the God of Light, I was obviously intrigued. Like I said before, I'd never been inside the human body, so everything was all new and interesting to me. And then.. you appeared, in your own head. This bright, radiant, intelligent form of light. And you could change how your light looked, you brought that Ring-A-Ding into your mind. I had to have some of that light. Now I'm… I don't really know. I can bleed, feel pain, there's all these emotions that I've never felt before, not even when I took that cartoon body for a spin. I don't know what your light truly did, but I'm different now. It's all so.. strange.” You suppose that would be quite unnerving; suddenly having a bunch of sensations that were previously absent.
Ring makes a noise, which immediately captures your attention. His face is scrunched up as he writhes, like he's having a nightmare. You automatically reach out, putting your hand on his cheek, and he pauses before his head flops into your palm and settles down. Lux watches the scene closely, stares at the way you caress his face so tenderly, at the toon’s expression - calmed just from one touch. How he envies that toon, for receiving so much love that he can never seem to find. He has to look away before he starts imagining himself in Ring-A-Ding’s place. Gods are born looking to be loved, and only now is Lux realising just how painfully true that is.
To interrupt his sad thoughts, his stomach decides now is the best time to gurgle. It almost makes him jump off the couch in shock. Did his body just.. growl? Why did it growl? He hadn't made that noise voluntarily, it sounded nothing like the growl he'd made earlier. Then he hears you sniffling and looks up, worried that he's somehow made you cry again. You're.. Not crying. In fact, you're trying your best not to laugh. Watching this God get startled by his own stomach was undeniably the funniest thing you've ever seen. With a deep breath (so you don't burst into laughter), you take a protein bar from the pile you'd brought in earlier and hand it to him. “You're hungry. Eat this.” He examines it for a second before bringing it up to his mouth. With the wrapper still on. You quickly take it out of his hands. “Right, yeah. Should've told you about the wrapper.” The snack is given back to him now that he won't be accidentally chewing on foil.
As soon as it touches his tongue, his eyes -quite literally- light up. Oh, oh! Why had he never tried food before? This is amazing! He shoves the entire bar in his mouth, which has you watching with an equally amazed and horrified expression. Ah, right. He'd watched Mr Pye eat during the months he spent with him. Humans had to break down food in their mouths so they didn't choke. In an unpractised manner, he slowly bites through it, looking to you for guidance. You just stare, utterly bewildered. How could a God be so clueless?
Just to spice things up even more, Ring groans as he regains consciousness. You're by his side in an instant, kneeling down to wrap your arms around him as tears collect in your eyes again. He's hugging you back as soon as his limbs don't feel like concrete. His head rests on your shoulder, eyes closed. He was so worried something might've happened to you while he was out, so having you here was a huge relief. Lux watches the interaction as he chews the protein bar slowly. He can't tell who he's more envious of now. Maybe he wants to be between you two, encased in that warm embrace from all sides. Protected, cherished, loved. And yet here he is, watching from the other side of the room like an unwanted stray. That's probably exactly what he is to you and Ring-A-Ding. Just as he's looking at Ring, the toon’s eyes open, and the both of them freeze as they stare at each other, both cautious and unsure.
Feeling Ring lock up, you pull away and follow his gaze. “Oh. Right.. Ring, it's ok, he's not gonna hurt us.” He tightens his hold on you, glaring daggers at his copycat.
“Not gonna hurt us? Sweetheart, he's already done plenty of that! Do ya really trust him after all the stuff he's done?”
It's a completely fair question. You lower your voice as you speak into your toon’s ear. “Not really. But, whatever happened in my head has done something to him. I made him bleed after he..” A flash of that scene has you hugging Ring to your chest. A couple kisses calms your breathing. “I think he's mortal now, or something similar. He can bleed, he gets hungry. Even if he does go back on his promise, we have that advantage over him. He gave you your light back, whatever that means. I-” A yawn interrupts you. It seems that worrying over your boyfriend kept your fatigue at bay. Now it's back with a vengeance. “God, I'm tired. Let me up.” You join him on the couch, cuddling him as sleep quickly takes over.
With you asleep, the two non-humans have time to talk. “What’re you playin’ at?” Ring won't trust this God so easily. He keeps his arms wrapped protectively around you.
The growl in his voice makes Lux uneasy. “Nothing! I'm being honest this time! Your darling human’s already given me a good beating.” His nose is still aching. “You know better than anyone what I want. I've gone about obtaining it in the wrong way, I know. I've made that mistake twice now.” The toon is still glaring at him from across the room. He sighs lightly. “Something about that human's light has changed me. I don't know how, and I don't know how much I've changed, but it's much more than the stuff I felt as a toon.” He runs a hand up his antennae. “I'll.. I just don't know what's going on. Let me at least figure this out, then.. Heck, maybe I can leave the building in this form. I'm certainly not light anymore. After I have a better understanding of.. this, I'll go. Leave you two lovebirds alone.” They stare at each other a bit longer.
Then Ring sits up carefully. He's not glaring anymore, at least. “I'm supposed ta believe you'll just up and leave? I'm not blind, I see the way ya keep eyeing my darlin’. You want worshippers, and ya think you've found one here.” Lux averts his eyes. “Just… Stay over there.” The toon lays back down, nuzzling into your neck so he can keep an eye on the God of Light.
Stay over there. Stay away from us. You're not involved. You're not loved. Lux copies your position, turning to face the back of the couch he's been given. He cradles his injured hand to his chest, pretends he's hugging something. Pretends the tissue wrapped around his wound is something hugging him. Clings to the tiniest sliver of care he's been shown. More care than he deserves. The thing in his chest tightens, like before, and it just highlights the cold seeping into his skin. He curls into himself, close to shivering, until his new body gets used to it and he falls into a dreamless sleep.
