LOUIS AND UMBRA
Prompt - “That is one hell of a mess.”
raventuk
“That is one hell of a mess.”
Umbra opened her mouth, words rushing to the tip of her tongue, but for once, the half-breed managed to keep whatever sharp remark aimed to leap out lingering there. It was kind of hard to play something off when you had mashed cake all over your ass. With large hand, she reached around, wiping some of the frosting from the seat of her tattered shorts, sniffing it.
“Chocolate. Ya shouldn't have, bird.” She rumbled, managing to stem a bit of the tide of embarrassment.
“Well, I might as well not have now.” Louis said, his pale face twisted in discontent, darkly feathered wings ruffled. “I was in the kitchen all day, working on that. Do you know how hard it is to get real chocolate down here?”
Once again, the beast opened her maw, and once again, the words faltered, though this time it was more due ot the fact that her darkly fleshed tail flicked upwards behind her, sending a bit of smashed cake spiraling into the air, landing atop the nearby table. Was that damn traitor trying to get her in even more trouble? Reaching back, she gave a tug on the appendage, and it bristled, but returned to a more lazy sway.
“Every time ah come and visit, ah jump onto that couch. Every. Time. Why do ya think puttin' a cake on it was a smart idea, huh?”
The nephilim laid his pale hands on his hips, a stern look in his blue eyes. The fact that he was wearing an apron did little to stop the half-breed from an amused snort, but that only made matters worse.
“It's the only thing in this room that faces away from the door. I didn't want you to see it before I was ready. Besides, you're early. You're never early.”
“Ah am sometimes!” The beast protested. “Ah'm very inconsistent. Ya should know this by now, hm?”
“You're always on time or you're late. You are never early, Umbra.”
The half-breed stared at him for a moment in silence, eyes narrowing. She raised her hand, pointing at him, dark claw leveled at his face.
“Ya know, ya tellin' me that only makes me want ta' be early in the future, right?”
Louis gave a shake of his head, turning away to take a few steps towards the door to the his kitchen, past stacks of books and candles, most at half wax, grooves formed along the sides. He huffed, a frustrated huff.
“I just wanted to do something nice for your birthday.” He said, with the hint of a sigh.
Umbra blinked at him, her head cocking a bit, and a curious expression crossing her features. The surprise was evident. What exactly was he talking about?
“Ah have no idea when ah was born, Louis. Ah've told ya this before now. Why do ya think today is my birthday?”
Of course, as she said the words, the half-breed realized why exactly all of this had meant so much to him. The invitation had been given with excitement, and she rarely saw him beaming so much as she had that day when he came to knock on her door in the Winding Ways. How often did he even leave the Alley of Glass Tears unless he absolutely had to? This was his domain, not the Partregate, the Ash District, or the Laughing Stalls. She usually came to him, down in the alley, not the other way around. It was safer that way. Less chance one of the Burnished Garrison would notice him.
“It's Allhallows.” The nephilim explained, looking back at her as he said those words. “It never sat well with me that you don't know when you were born. I do, and I grew up mostly on my own. I celebrate every year, even if only with Lock. Don't you think you deserve that?”
Umbra dipped her head down, as a feeling of knots formed in her gut. Suddenly, the cake she had landed atop seemed far, far less funny.
“Ah...never really thought about it, Louis.” She grunted, giving a short shrug, and returning her gaze to him with some embarrassed reluctance. “Why Allhallows? It's just some fuckin' day for people to mock the darkness, when the walls of the many worlds are all a wobblin'.”
Louis smiled then and motioned at her with his pale, slender hand.
“Exactly.” He said, the word hanging in the air for a moment. “I met you when you were on the verge of death, remember? Even though I found you, quickly, and brought you to the clinic, you should have died, yet you didn't. You fought, every inch, to cling to life, and since then, I've seen you look danger and death in the face, grinning all the while. I couldn't do that, but you inspire it in me.” He trailed off, and then nodded sharply. “Why not claim the day that everyone pretends to be afraid in mockery of fear and darkness? You actually do mock it, on a daily basis, or am I wrong?”
If the nephilim had pulled down his pants and mooned her, in that moment, she would have been far less surprised. For once in her life, the half-breed was speechless, pointed ears flattering to her skull, tail slowing in that already lazy sway, and eyes wide. It took her an uncomfortable silence to compose herself and when she did, Umbra chuckled, a bit breathlessly, shaking her head.
“Right. Right! Ah like it, boyo...ah do. Ah just never really had anyone that cared enough to want to celebrate with me. Ah guess, when it was like that, it didn't matter. Ah was alive, right? When ah came screamin' into this world was kinda far from the front a' my mind.” She reached up, scratching the side of her head, looking sheepish. “I'm sorry about the cake.”
“Don't worry about it, Umbra. I've still got some stuff in the cupboards. I can make something we can celebrate with, even if it isn't exactly what I wanted. The night is still young, after all!”
The nephilim turned, with a swish of wings and feathered tail, and made his way for the kitchen once again, this time not stopping, hellbent on his mission. Umbra, however, had different plans. The half-breed grunted, loudly, and her tail gave a hard flick to the side, like the crack of a whip.
“Louis?”
A soft foot-fall signaled his stopping and he turned back to look in her direction.
“Yes, Um-” His words were cut off as a glob of smashed cake and frosting crashed against his face, splattering in all directions from the point of impact. The chocolate stuck to his hair and cheeks, but between it, his blue eyes were wide as they could be, comical in expression.
The beast was already grabbing another handful of cake when he came dashing towards her, his own hand digging in, to pull free a hunk from the cushions of the couch. She threw, sailing over his head, just as he lobbed upwards, hitting her in the chest. Umbra twisted, cake-covered tail flicking, and sending splattered pastry in a line in his direction, small globs striking his arms and chest, though it was more of a feint. The next throw was the largest yet, and when it struck his stomach, it sounded like a wet fist had smacked against his apron. Not one to be overdone, he double-handed his next attack, one fist-full splatting against her face and the other against her legs, on shorts and bare leg alike.
“Ah'm gonna kick ya ass, birb!” She roared, and went for another handful of utterly destroyed birthday cake.
“Yeah? Aren't you a much bigger target?”
With a defiant snarl, the half-breed dove behind the couch, and just as she crested the jump, he beaned her squarely in the ass.
He was never going to live this down if it was the last thing she ever did.
---
An hour later, on the roof of his clinic, Umbra and Louis lay thoroughly splattered from head to two with the remnants of her birthday cake. The light from the riftships at Port Partregate was cascading down into the alley, and true enough to its name, the glass tears, hung from miles of rope and twine and wire, shone with a rainbow brightness, casting the entire area with a shine of hues and colors. Beneath them, residents of the alley moved about, humans and half-breeds, creatures from all worlds and realities, who had come to settle in the canyon beneath Salvation. In all of the places she had been in the vastness of Limbo, this was by far her favorite. It seemed impossible that such a varied group could live in relative peace, but in the 'garbage dump' of the city above, that was a reality. Falling down, sometimes, wasn't as bad as it was made out to be.
“Ah'm not cleanin' that up.” Umbra said, her voice a husky rumble. “It's my birthday, after all.”
“It's your first birthday and you're already milking that, are you? I've created a monster!”
Louis laughed, and she laughed with him, just as one of the lights above shifted, casting a glow across them, a golden shimmer, swirling down the middle. Umbra shifted, looking over at him, a smile across her face.
“Ah'm sure Lock'll take care of that, for us. He eats pretty much anythin', doesn't he?”
“Mostly. Sometimes I have to prod him a bit, but...he does have a sweet tooth.”
“He's not the only one.”
Long, rough tongue slid from the half-breed's mouth, licking some of the cake from around her maw, and she grinned afterwards, uneven and sharp. Even now, it still tasted pretty damn good. More than ever, she was regretting squashing it beneath her mighty bulk.
“Well, I'll bake you another one, next Allhallows. Just promise not to leap before you look, all right?”
“Ah can't make any promises. Ah'm inconsistent, remember?”
The nephilim swatted her on the arm, and she growled a playful growl, snapping her sharp teeth in his direction. Silence settled on them after this and they watched the lights, felt the wind roll through the alley, and heard the murmur of crowds in the distance, gathered to celebrate the holiday. Children in costumes walked hand-in-hand around, collecting treats, as the elders of the alley told stories around bonfires, both real and imagined. Umbra had never gotten to experience such things, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it now. Dis was a long ways away, even if the dregs and outcasts of the hells lay right above them, plotting and scheming to try and reclaim their places of power. None of that mattered, not in this moment.
“Thank ya for the birthday, Louis.” She said, breaking the silence.
“We'll have many more.” He replied, and then smirked. “Besides, now you have to get me something nice for mine.”
The half-breed snorted, crossing her arms against her torso.
“Well, ah'll tell ya one thing, boyo...”
The nephilim tilted his head, looking in her direction.
“Hm?”
“It's not gonna be a fuckin' cake.”
When he smiled, she smiled, and in the distance, a bonfire crackled. The night was still young, after all.