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[amicably_absent]

Glitch had swum for hours, chasing fish and insects and bubbles and sunbeams. Eventually, worn out and tired, he had swum to shore and curled up on the bank on the sun warmed pebbles, grumbling about his lack of coat until he fell asleep.

He woke up with Rennie shaking him, a scolding voice telling him he had to come in, he was all wet and dirty and needed a bath and clean clothes, and was she going to have to strap him in the chair.

Glitch reacted predictably.

He screamed at her, judo flipped her while sitting down, dove into the water, swam to a far edge and took off.

Rennie asked Cain to go find Glitch and bring him in before he froze or hurt himself.

Glitch had retreated to the rotunda, sitting on the seat and swinging himself back and forth, watching the sun setting on the lake. He was soaking wet again, but his trembling didn't seem to worry him at all.

Comments

[amicably-absent.livejournal.com]

"I've had a few rides in my time," Glitch says with a flirtatious glance. But he beams and hops onto Cain's back, clinging onto Cain's shoulders. "I'm not too heavy?"

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And yet, all the girls at the dance made him feel like he blended into the wallpaper. Cain thinks it may be best not to ask.

"Nah. I'm the gorgeous hunk of man doing all the hard work around here, hoisting an Advisor about is nothing. Piece of cake."

He sets off towards the house, making sure his grip around Glitch's knees is firm enough.

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Glitch is just flirting, really, because he thinks he always had the thoughts but never said them.

He drums his hands on Cain's chest. "Uh huh. Sure are."

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They make their way inside in relative silence, winding their way through corridors, nodding at servants of different kinds passing them by (and looking. They get plenty looks).

And then, after a while of saying nothing. "Do you really think I am?" He won't say gorgeous again, because he suspects it's an exaggeration. "Handsome?"

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Glitch swings his legs and rests his head on his arm on Cain's shoulder, eyes half closed.

"Mm? Yes, of course you are. I bet Adora thought so too."

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He has to concede to that point. "Yeah... Back when we met, she'd tease me about being the prettiest boy in town."

He wasn't even a boy, back then. Hadn't been for many annuals.

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"You're not pretty. You're handsome. But you have really pretty eyes." He swings his legs.

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His lips turn into one thin, straight line; he moves on, knowing Glitch's room is just around the corner. "Thanks."

And here they are. "Is it open?"

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"I don't know. Why should I know? Doors are usually locked, especially when you're cold and wet." He nods firmly.

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He might've known. He should've known, which is the only reason he doesn't sigh. "It's your room, Sweetheart."

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"Oh, is it? Then I guess it's probably unlocked, since I don't remember locking it."

It means nothing, but it is actually unlocked. Inside has been tidied up from the mess Glitch left getting ready that morning.

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More than that, stepping inside, he can smell something else in there, something a lot like walking into a soaps shop and being bombarded by the overwhelming odor of a thousand different 'natural' scents mingling and clashing with each other.

It smells nothing like Glitch should. Nevertheless, it'll have to do. He puts Glitch down once inside the en suite bathroom.

"Want me to stand guard outside, keep Rennie out?" In other, unspoken words: Will you be okay in here?

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Glitch wrinkles his nose and hisses as his feet touch the tiles, shrugging off the coat and letting it pool on the ground. "I don't like this place. It smells flowery." He looks to Cain next. "Who's Rennie?"

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"It sure does," he replies, wrinkling his nose too. "You don't remember her?"

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"No. Should I?" He sat on the edge of the bath, lifting one foot to peer at it. "I don't like all the flowery." He slid into the empty bath and started rummaging through things, sniffing a bottle and then throwing the offending item out the window when it proved to smell flowery.

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"She's your caretaker. A nurse from Central City Hospital."

He picks up the by now damp coat off the floor, takes it out to hang on one of the hooks by the entrance. "She asked me to come get you before you froze to death out there."

His tone of voice should more than fill in the gaps on what he thinks about incompetent nursing staff.

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"I don't need a caretaker. I've been taking care of myself for ages. For as long as I remember."

Another bottle and a bar of soap go out the window, so does the potpourri.

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Returning to the bathroom. "You're on the mend, Glitch. The Royal family wants only the best for you, and that includes being cared for, for a little while."

He sits down on the edge of the tub, looking down at his friend. "Even if she is incompetent. And a fancier of cheap, flowery crap."

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"I've got you keeping an eye on me." The last two bottles and another bar of soap went out the window, then the shaving cream. "There's a woman I don't like. She wants to strap me in a chair. Strap me in a chair. Strap me in chair."

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"Glitch, no, not the shaving cream, you have to keep someth-- She said what?!"

The nerve... Of all the wrong things to say, she had to go there. There, of all places, and Cain wonders once again if she hasn't been taught anything at all about empathy for your fellow man.

"You," he jabs one finger at Glitch, already on his way out the door. "Take a bath. I'm gonna go find that woman, give her a piece of my mind."

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Glitch pouts when Cain snaps at him, but obediently turns on the taps.

And then turns them off.

And then turns them on. Not glitching, just interested in taps right now.

"Hey, Wyatt," he turns to look. "Wyatt? Don't give away bits of your mind, you need them!" he hops out of the bath, padding after his friend.

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But Cain's already stormed off on his spike of adrenaline, searching for the silly little girl who shouldn't be working with other human beings at all. If he notices that Glitch is on his trail, he doesn't show any sign of it, too focused on his current objective. Find Rennie. Wring her neck.

If only figuratively speaking.

He finds her in the kitchen, preparing a late snack, presumably for her patient.

"Nurse!"

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Glitch trails after Cain, tracking mud in footprints as he follows, dripping water occasionally.

Rennie looks up from her work. "Yes, Mister Cain?"

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"A word. Outside. Now."

He's boiling, thundering on the inside and thrumming on the outside like a contained force field; like magic burning just under the skin. And yet, he's never felt more calm than right this moment.

He leaves the kitchen, fully expects her to follow him, and doesn't even look back to make sure that she does. That Glitch is there is unfortunate, but maybe he needs to be. Maybe he needs to see this.

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Rennie sets down her work and demurely head outside, skirts rustling softly.

Glitch trails them to the outside door, peeking out.