Shake it off!

[Cori Viera]

Cori laughed, "I was gonna say you could get in the bath too, but you're too tall to fit, aren't you?" Well, two people jammed into a tub was romantic in theory, not so much in actual practice. If Lieve wasn't so tall, maybe... Then again he was a birch tree dryad, and birch trees were all tall and slim and pretty, with their white-banded trunks and shimmery leaves.

"I won't go anywhere without you. And if you have to go out, I'll just stay home and wait for you."

For a long moment he held Lieve's hand as he soaked in the tub, letting the soothing powders and salts do their work. There was a very pleasant scent rising off the top of the water too, something fresh and clean like the air after a heavy rain, or the scent of someone who had been soaking in the sun. It was a scent mixed just for him, by Lieve, to calm him down and he appreciated that.

"I guess I must've scared that old lady at the Sunrise huh?" He laughed again, this time with more amusement as he recalled stalking her and running up to her, yelling about a curse. Whoops!

[Lieve Averesch]

"Oh, I can fit," he said with a laugh. "But it wouldn't be a pleasant experience for either of us!"

It would be all knees poking out of the water and awkward body parts meeting each other. Not the good kind, either. More like elbows in ears, that kind of awkward. But the joke was just what he needed. That and maybe the scents he'd chosen help relax him too. The face burning had faded and they were just Cori and Lieve again.

"It won't be that way forever," he promised. With Cori hiding away at home, waiting for him. They'd get to the bottom of what happened to him and what Rip was doing and then Cori would be safe again. Perching on the side of the tub, Lieve couldn't help grinning at the vision of Cori running up to that poor woman while he was on the phone with Lieve. He didn't get a good look at her because the way Cori held the phone but he definitely heard her and she didn't seem too happy!

"Well, you did basically accuse her of being a witch! Now the poor old lady's probably going home to check and make sure she doesn't have any warts."

[Cori Viera]

"What if she was a witch? I could've been right!"

Chances were low that he was, though. There was a grandmother somewhere very confused about a young man dressed in a long coat and mittens and sunglasses on a cloudy day running up to her with a phone in his hand, babbling about curses and begging her to lift them off of him. Cori laughed again, the motion of his body shaking causing the water to ripple and splash against the side of the tub. It was funny! He scared some old lady all because he didn't know that he was a fairy!

It was really nice to soak in the tub with Lieve sitting nearby, holding his hand. After the horrible day that he'd had, scared of his cursed hands, getting kidnapped, fleeing and suddenly discovering that he had magic all along, he needed a moment to stop and sit with his best friend and... relax. Let his head loll against the side of the tub, closer to where Lieve sat.

He smiled dozily up at Lieve, feeling happy, dopey. Lieve had such a nice smile. Such bright, white, even teeth—perfectly perfect without braces even! Meanwhile Cori spent two terrible years in his teens, labeled braceface by everyone he knew—except Lieve. Lieve never made fun of him no matter what stupid thing he did. Lieve was always there to be supportive and kind and cared about him even when he killed plants or exploded them.

"Thanks Lievie... Without you, I don't know where I'd be right now."

[Lieve Averesch]

"Even so, you can't go around calling old women witches!" Lieve laughed. "They take offense to that!"

Poor old lady. That probably really ruined her day! That or she went home and had a funny tale to tell her husband that day. Or her grandkids, maybe. Or her cats. Who was he to judge? He was the crazy plant hippie. There were worse things to be known for. He could handle being crazy plant hippie guy.

Lieve smiled, too, at Cori's smile. He wondered if he used too much relaxation herbs; Cori almost looked drunk.

"Probably at a certain animal shelter," he said, because those were the two options when they went looking for him. Shelter with Mik or home with Lieve. His smile softened as he ran a fingertip over the bridge of Cori's nose down to the tip. He used to practice makeup on Cori, too. Lines of color, like warpaint. Cori had much more delicate bone structure, though. He didn't really need makeup to stand out.

"I'm glad you came home."

[Cori Viera]

At least, Cori thought, he didn't call her a batty old witch. He wanted to because he was indignant over being cursed and he truly thought that old lady was the one casting spells randomly. Then again, if he had insulted her and if she did turn out to be a witch, she might have actually cursed him! Cori had no desire to live the rest of his life as a... frog or something equally unpleasant!

He wrinkled his nose ever so slightly when Lieve touched it but he didn't mind it. He never minded being touched by Lieve, whether it was holding hands when he felt ill or a gentle nudge to get him out of the way in the nursery when he took up too much space, or... this. A touch without a motive. Simple contact without explanation. Cori didn't know if it was the bath relaxing him or if he was crashing from the terrible excitement of his day, but he felt a giddy rush of emotion that surged from his heart into his head when Lieve uttered the word home.

Cori came home. This was the first and only place he thought to come back to when he was finally freed from Greenwood. The shelter was probably closer but he ran home as fast as his legs would take him. Swirling the water with his free hand, he smiled down at the ripples he was creating along the water's surface. The bath water was a calm green color, from the powders.

"You were the first person I thought of when I got out," he confessed. "I didn't even think about the shelter... I just wanted to get back home and see you."

[Lieve Averesch]

"And I wasn't here." Lieve lightly brushed Cori's hair back from his face, springy and lively. When he was younger, Lieve wanted his hair, which was funny because so many people wanted Lieve's hair. Eventually, he embraced his own hair, his own face. But that was the thing about other people; they were different. But he had to admit, he missed those days when he used to do Cori's hair and makeup; it was an excuse to be close to him and tell him to close his eyes here, and move his head there. He was still his muse. His sketchpad would betray that easily.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was out looking for you, if that helps. Mik called me in a panic, saying you were kidnapped and he was in the hospital. I even called the... cops."

He paused, then cocked his head curiously. "Did they come by before I got here, Cori?"

[Cori Viera]

"It's okay. Don't apologize, you didn't know I'd be here." Were their positions reversed, Cori might have gone out looking for Lieve, too. Worry and panic would have sent him running all over town yelling Lieve's name, he was sure, because the thought of losing another person close to him was enough to terrify him to the core. He could never lose Lieve. Never, ever—and his hand in Lieve's tightened.

The fact that Lieve did actually go out looking for him in a panic said that Lieve cared about him just as much as he cared about Lieve. Cori missed the old days, too. He never had to fight for Lieve's attention, then or now, so it wasn't that he felt like he was losing his best friend. It was just that he felt something shift in the dynamic of their friendship, and he didn't understand it. Something was different in the way they looked at each other, touched each other, spoke to one another. He tried to think it through some nights, laying in bed staring at the ceiling, but he thought he was just too dumb (or too close to the situation) to see what it was.

Cori blinked. "I think so. I heard somebody knocking on the door while I was hiding in the closet..." Obviously he didn't go out to see who it was. The cops probably thought it was a prank call or something; they left without entering. Cori had the decency to feel slightly ashamed. Whoops! Cowering in the closet terrified, he didn't think that it could be the cops. He thought it was the kidnappers again!

"Are we in trouble with the cops? Should we call them back and tell them I'm okay?"

[Lieve Averesch]

Lieve laughed.

"No, we're not in trouble."

He did call the cops and nobody answered the door... but it wasn't like they'd left anything on the door to indicate they'd been by. Or if they did, Lieve was too panicked to see it. He did sort of leap the steps and run into the house like it was on fire and he had to save everything.

"I probably wouldn't have answered if I were you, either."

After Cori's ordeal? He probably would have remained silent, too. They could have been the kidnappers right on his tail for all he knew. How was he supposed to know Lieve called the cops? For naught, anyway. There was nothing they could have done against some person that used magic. Unless they were also magic wielding cops. Who knew in this town?

"I didn't get a chance to put in a report, so I don't think we have to call them back."

He relaxed. So no cops would be banging down the door, either. They were all good. Everything was back to normal. Well. Sort of...? Cori awakened to some kind of magic that he thought was a curse. It killed plants but then grew them after that creep helped him. (Was he still a creep if he helped Cori?)

"Do you think that Rip guy is your dad?" he asked, thinking on it. "He was an old guy, right? And he knew how your magic worked?"

[Cori Viera]

Whew! Thank goodness for that, because Cori didn't want to be on any kind of FBI shit list for not going to the door and answering it for the cops. They could have been anybody! Besides the only person authorized to enter was Lieve, and Lieve had his own keys to the house—and didn't need to be banging down the door. Cori thought he did the right thing and Lieve agreed, so he stopped feeling bad.

Buuut...

Rip being his dad?

Rip? His dad?

Cori thought about it while he laid there soaking in the tub. "He did try to protect me," he said slowly as he turned over the events at Greenwood in his mind. "He was really, really nice to me and he knew a bunch about how to get rid of the curse and how to break the thing over the door, and cloaking... And—" Cori sat up with a splash, wide-eyed.

"And he had hair like mine! And eyes like mine! Lieve!" He grasped Lieve's hand with both his own—one dry, the other one definitely wet. "He could've been my dad! He was way old! And—yeah!" Then he sank back as the enormity of what he had just said hit him. "My dad... But... mom said he died in some war overseas. Mom wouldn't lie to me, would she?"

[Lieve Averesch]

Whoa. He did? He had hair and eyes like Cori? This was a new turn of events. Lieve didn't have a very good mental picture of this guy. Mik said he was handsome, like a thousand times over. But he also said he was an older guy so Lieve just sort of dumped him into ugly old man territory. Not that he thought Mik had bad taste (okay... maybe he did think that) but all he could see when he imagined an older dude named Rip was a creeptastic oily old man grooming young guys with stories of how sad his life was.

Now he was imagining an older Cori. And maybe he sort of got it, Mik's obsession with him. After all, Lieve found Cori attractive and he would probably still be attractive as he aged. Lieve mostly just threw the dad thing out there because of the magic. The guy knew how Cori's magic worked and his appearance also coincided with Cori's magic awakening. It felt too connected to be an actual coincidence. And now this...

"I... I don't know." Cori's mother was such a nice woman. She had a radiant energy about her but also a deep sadness in her eyes. And she loved Cori with all her heart. Whatever made her disappear could not have been of her own volition. And now that guy who could be Cori's dad appeared...

"Maybe she would have lied if it was to protect you."

[Cori Viera]

"You know how there's stories of kids whose dads walk out on them? Maybe it's like that. Maybe he didn't want to stick around so mom... made up that story so I wouldn't feel bad."

There were so many stories like that! Kids whose moms or dads couldn't handle the pressure of being a parent and left. Cori knew his mom must have loved his dad because—well, the way she smiled when she talked about him said that. And if it was a story she made up, she could have said he died or told him the truth, to bias him against his runaway father.

Instead, she told him a heroic story, so that Cori's impression of him would be good.

"Do you think we could try to find him again, Lieve?" Cori sat back up, now relaxed—but too relaxed. There was a lot going on and he didn't want to be all mush-brained while they talked about important stuff. "Maybe we can ask him if he's my dad..."

[Lieve Averesch]

"That's what I'm thinking."

Cori's mother was way too kind to tell him the truth if it was nasty. It would be better to tell him something that made his father into a hero in his eyes, to keep him from wondering what he'd done wrong or maybe... just maybe... to stop him from seeking him out. If she said he died, then Cori wouldn't go looking for him. But... now...

Parents were kind of an odd subject for Lieve. As a dryad, he didn't have parents that he knew. His seedling had been raised by another dryad and from there, he mostly took care of himself. He used illusions to conjure up a parent when one was needed. But for the most part, he had raised himself. But Cori, he knew, was not like him. He wasn't a dryad. He was something else. Something much more powerful.

"Actually..." Lieve debated whether he should tell Cori or not. He still had so many misgivings when it came to this Rip fellow. But if he really was Cori's father... didn't Cori have the right to know? "I already know how to find him. Mik's... ahem... Mik's in contact with him."

[Cori Viera]

"Whaaaat? Mik knows him too?!"

Well shoot! What were the chances of that! He never mentioned Mik though. Or did he?? Cori was extremely flustered back at the apartment so whatever Rip may have said about Mik probably flew right over his head.

"Let's ask Mik to find him then! If he's my dad, then maybe he came back for me! Maybe he heard mom went missing!"

Cori couldn't help it... He was already starting to get excited about the idea of having a dad. A nice dad like Rip, someone he already liked because he knew Rip tried to help him and take care of him. Starry eyed, he clung to Lieve's hand.

"Wait how does Mik know Rip? How do you know Mik knows??"

[Lieve Averesch]

"Yeah..."

He didn't know whether to tell him Mik was mad crushing on the guy or not. It was an awkward situation, if Rip really turned out to be Cori's father, since Mik was Cori's other BFF. How weird was all this? Did Rip know about Mik being friends with Cori? Did he put him into his line of sight for this purpose? Did he use charms against Mik?! AHHH.

"They met at the winter festival. Mik and Rip." He made a slight face as he went on. "And I guess they hit it off because Mik's falling head over heels for him..."

Oh, it was so weird, even for Lieve.

[Cori Viera]

Oh the winter festival! How nice! Rip must have met Mik at the shelter's booth! Cori was going to help man it, since Mik had asked him to, only he got a little side-tracked. By being kidnapped. But if they met there, then it made sense that they would know one another. And what if Rip was going to adopt a cat or a dog? They could finally have a pet of their own! How excit—

Wait.

What?

"Eww!' Cori flailed in the bath a little as it all caught up to him. He swallowed some of the water—luckily it tasted almost like it smelled, a little green, clean, refreshing. Sputtering, he sat up straight and stared at Lieve. "They cant! Mik can't! He's too young to be my other dad! And what about mom?! WHAT ABOUT MOM?!"

Was...

Rip GAY? Was THAT why he left? Because he tried to marry a woman and had a son and everything, then realized he was gay so he up and left?! Being gay was fine because Cori was kind of a little bit gay too—hence the reason he had... lots of gay friends like Lieve and Mik—but he didn't want his dad to date one of his best friends! It'd be like if Rip was trying to date Lieve! No! NO!

"NO!" He shouted, shaking his head. "Mik can't be my dad! I'll never call him dad!"

Yeah he was over-reacting. But he. Wanted his dad to be his dad, not to be his BFF's boyfriend! Rip was way old! Mik was way young! That kind of thing didn't feel right! And... yes okay he was jealous and hurt, because how come Mik got to meet his dad first? How come his dad didn't come right away to find him and let him know that he was alive?