Shake it off!

[Mikko Ashby]

"He's just... protective of Cori, that's all. Any time anybody threatens Cori he turns into a big mama bear." Truthfully, Mik couldn't blame him for it. He wanted to protect Cori too but he didn't want to do that by glaring at people and grabbing them and yelling at them. Sure, Mik didn't know as much as Lieve did about golems and fairies and whatever, but he knew people. He knew Rip. It just didn't seem like Rip was the type to hurt Cori, especially because Cori took to him so easily. Plus, Rip had some... kind of soul of Cori's brother and surely that soul would try to protect Cori too!

Drawing Rip back to the bench, he pulled him down to sit and leaned into him. Mik lightly rubbed Rip's back in large, slow circles. "Celestial? Like... an angel or something?" Mik's lips quirked. Cori was a little cherub or something? The thought was amusing—if also intensely confusing and shocking. For a human, it was... It just boggled the mind to be thrust into a world of supernatural creatures!

"How do we find a fixer then? To make sure Cori's okay?" Oh boy—was Lieve going to snap at this fixer person too? Mik wanted to ask what a fixer was but he was still getting over golems and golemology and celestials! He wondered if Cori knew any of this, or if he was just as clueless as Mik. Probably the latter; both of them honestly thought they were human until this whole business. Mik sighed and let his head drop onto Rip's shoulder.

"So that King person. He's Cori's dad huh? And that Jack person you're... modelled after, he's the King's son too?" It sounded messy. Like some kind of Jerry Springer type shit on steroids. Mik slipped a hand into Rip's, letting his thumb absently brush the back of Rip's hand. "Doesn't that make them princes? Cori and Jack? And you?"

[Ripper Nightshade]

"Hm... yeah? I think that's what humans call them."

Celestials were so full of magic that they weren't normally suited for the world, not for very long. They were easily found out by those seeking to find them; it was a miracle that Cori's mother had hidden herself and her son away for so long. But... without her protection, it seemed like it was easy for Keith to eventually find poor Cori.

"I... I... don't know," he confessed. Rip didn't know any fixers himself. He knew of them. But the one that they had come in contact with was killed by Prince Rhys himself. Now he was gone... Rip didn't know where else to look for one. "Maybe... um... maybe Lieve knows one."

But the thought of asking him about it made him blanch. That guy really didn't like him, even if it was just his overprotective instincts protecting Cori. Not sure what to do since Mik was being very handsy with him, Rip slid a hand over his thigh and gave it a squeeze. Reassuring people wasn't in his old job description, he wasn't even sure what would soothe somebody like Mik.

"Yes." The King was Cori's father and that made Cori a Prince. He nodded. "He is a prince. And his brother is also a prince. But I... am not."

[Mikko Ashby]

"Maybe. We'll ask Lieve later, after he's calmed the hell down." Cori would do his part, Mik was sure. Especially if he was a celestial, or angel, or something. Half angel, half... whatever that King was. It sounded conflicting, really, like there was a dark side and a light side in him. Why wasn't Cori a scumbag then, like his King daddy? Why was he just sweet and innocent? All his life, Mik had never seen him hurting a single living creature—plant, animal or person. Where did that darkness reside?

Mik smiled at the hand on his thigh. Rip was doing his part too, giving them context for whatever was happening. And, you know, being all cute, trying to reassure him even though he was the one being assaulted and yelled at and looked down on! Rip was an angel too!

"Hey! Listen here, you." Mik sat up, indignant on Rip's behalf. He held up the index of his free hand to make a point, with a defiant flick of the head. "If you look like the prince and if you have a piece of a prince's soul in you, then that makes you a prince by default! Don't even try to tell me otherwise. Maybe you weren't born from daddy getting it on with an angel or whatever, but over here that still makes you a prince."

[Ripper Nightshade]

"It's okay," he said with a shy smile. "I don't want to be a prince."

He just wanted to be... a person. Not a golem, even if Pax said they were superior in ways that Rip didn't fully understand. How were they superior? All his life, he had been told that he was nothing but a tool and indeed, that was how he was treated by not only his creator but those around him, too. Prince Rhys, his entourage (except for Raphael), Keith's cohorts, those that worked with them in the past as well. A lot of them looked at him with a mixture of disgust and pity, which Rip didn't understand but distinctly had grown to dislike over time.

But, the part about the prince's soul... Pax seemed to think that was special, too. Not many golems had souls. He couldn't think of any that had the soul of a prince. That did make him a kind of special. But... he had to wonder. How... did Keith get his hands on a shard of the Prince's soul in the first place?

"I don't want to be him or to take his place," he said, mostly to himself, but partly to Mik, too. "I just want... to be free. But it scares me, too. I don't know what to do with myself when I don't have orders."

[Mikko Ashby]

Rip looked like a prince to Mik! He could have passed for one even if he didn't have the soul of one inside of him! Of course, Rip's biggest fan would think that but—but why the hell not! Who was to say that Rip wasn't a prince? Maybe Lieve didn't think much of golems but they were alive, they breathed and ate and had feelings just like the rest of them, who didn't even have princely souls inside!

"You do whatever you want when you don't have orders! You can play with kittens or go have a coffee or take a walk or... you know." Mik's shoulder nudged his lightly. "Give me a kiss." That wasn't an order, but a strongly worded... suggestion? Honestly Mik didn't know much about Rip's situation but he could tell that Rip was conflicted and he was vulnerable and confused like the rest of them. Talking about being free... His creator controlled him, Lieve said earlier. Keith controlled him, that abusive ex-boyfriend of his. Except Rip said that Keith was gone but if Keith told him to lie—as Lieve also said—then Rip had no choice.

Mik lowered his gaze to their clasped hands, fitting so well together. Lieve wasn't wrong when he said that Mik didn't know what he was getting into with Rip, but at the same time it wasn't like he could turn away from Rip now. The way Lieve felt about Cori, Mik felt the same towards Rip. He wanted to protect him, to keep him safe, to make him happy. He wanted to be with him and unlike Lieve, he wasn't afraid to put his heart on the line even if it meant screwing something up. Better to try than to sit on his feelings!

"Do you want to stay with us? With—me? If you could be free, would you stay, Rip?"

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip already did those things and he could do those things, at least for the time being. While he was on mission, he didn't have to explain himself, because he wasn't closely guarded by Keith and he didn't have anybody watching over him, at least... not at the moment. But... but... Pax... could look through his eyes any time he wanted to. The way Keith did, too.

With that in the back of his mind, he was a little nervous as he leaned in and kissed Mik. They tried this once before and they were interrupted, he recalled with far too much clarity, and so the kiss was soft and gentle... and brief.

"I don't know what I want..." he said truthfully. He knew Mik liked him an awful lot and that he wanted him to stay but... Lieve didn't and Aunt Shelby didn't. And Rip was so tired of feeling unwanted. On top of that, he was... deeply conflicted, emotionally. He liked Mik. But he liked Cori, too, despite having a somewhat... familial connection to him... And he liked Allie, too. They were all nice. They were all attractive. And he didn't know how to feel about that.

But most complicated of all, despite how everybody else hated him, Rip missed Keith. He felt strangely empty without his connection, without feeling it. He scared him half the time but Keith was still his creator and he couldn't help but... love him. And there was something else, some other tug in his heart, the one that he saw in dreams. The one that led to him saying the wrong name while Keith was fucking him. The name that really... really... pissed him off.

"Sometimes, I think the things I do want aren't really things I want but... things Jack wants." He looked up at Mik. "Like wanting a drink really bad because some topics are hard to talk about."

[Mikko Ashby]

"Cause you have his soul inside you? And that guy lived a whole life, right? While you just... kind of took a part of it half-way?" Best guesses from Mik, because he didn't know anything! Even what he said now sounded nutty but... whatever. Rip wouldn't laugh at him if he got some or part or all of it wrong!

"You just need to live your own life some more, I think. You haven't experienced enough to... to have preferences of your own, I'm willing to bet. And that Keith guy, he probably kept you super isolated..."

Probably to keep him as close to original Jack as possible, while preventing the real Rip from developing. Mik kissed him on the cheek softly. "You'll get there eventually, baby. It'll take some time to adjust to living life as a free man but... you know, you're probably already super different from that Jack guy already! And you just don't know it yet. I bet if we put you side-by-side with him, nobody would say that you acted alike at all, even if you looked the same. Because you're with us, with me and Aunt Shel and Allie and Cori and Lieve. And that other guy isn't, so these experiences you have, they're yours. They're making you... you! Jack won't ever have Star, either, or the fish. That's all you."

[Ripper Nightshade]

"Sort of...? I have some of his memories. I've never met him in person so I don't know how much like him I really am. Not enough like him, though..."

Not enough to satisfy Keith, even though Pax basically said he was super special for a golem. But he wasn't, really. He was just a stand in for somebody else and he knew that. Sometimes it hurt more than other times. But he wasn't a stand in for anybody with Mik. He wasn't in second place. Yet. He couldn't help feeling that if he ever met the real Jack, he would see that Rip paled in comparison.

"Isolated...?" He didn't have to think that much about it. "Yes... he did... isolate me. I stayed home most of the time and waited for the others."

Mik did have a way of painting things in a much more positive light, though. Jack didn't have these experiences, which was true. He didn't have Mik in his life at all. And he didn't have Star or the fish or even the day at the festival. Jack didn't have any of that. Rip smiled.

"So I'm already different," he declared. Not to mention all the other experiences he had before this that weren't Jack's! Like helping Raphael collect things for his room. ...too bad the room was probably never going to be the same again.

[Mikko Ashby]

Meh, Jack. Whoever that was, he was never going to be Rip; he was never going to have the same kind of first impression that Rip made on Mik. He wasn't ever going to have that moment with Mik when their eyes met and something sparked inside. Rip was Rip. Jack was Jack. Rip was a golem and Jack was a fairy and they were different people and different things, just like Rip said. That made Rip unique.

"See? He wanted you to be like Jack! To keep Jack's memories and stuff inside you, but I mean that's basically psychotic because you're adorable, and so not like anybody else! You're you, Rip. You're different and special. All these new memories and experiences are shaping you now, as a real... golem-person."

It was totally obvious to Mik, even if Rip might not have seen it that way initially. Every human being was different because they experienced different things—even twins! And Rip and Jack were basically soul twinsies, but really, they were not the same. At all. Mik liked Rip; he didn't feel anything for Jack, even if he looked like Rip in some way. He felt close to Rip but he hadn't the foggiest impression of what Jack acted like, and he didn't even know if he would like Jack!

"Jack will never have what you have. He won't ever come close to being you, Rip." Mik snuggled against him, hugging him tight. "Which is a shame because I think everybody would be much better off if they were more like you, sweetie." He nuzzled Rip. "Cutie pie. My adorable little baby golem~" Okay that was... kind of sappy and over-done and probably grossly lovey-dovey. Mik laughed; he felt happy even if he sounded silly.

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip nodded slowly, trying to understand. Keith made him in the vision of somebody else because he wanted that person. He wasn't so dumb as to not understand that. Of course, he would never be him, even with his memories or his personality because he... wasn't him. He would never and could never be him. And the real Jack was out there, still. Rip wondered if Keith really went back to the fairy realm. It seemed like he preferred it here, though. Wherever the heck Jack was going.

And he still wondered if the things he liked were things Jack liked, too. If he saw a kitten, did his heart feel like it was melting a little? Was he a little ticklish behind the ears? Did stress make him think of alcohol? Was listening to his lover's heartbeat at night his lullaby? When he watched television did he lean against a friend or let a friend lean on him? Did he feel at his best when he was touching or being touched? Was he lonely? Did he hate being alone?

Rip closed his eyes.

If people were more like him... He didn't know if he wanted them to be him. If he was him, he wanted to be the only him there was. But he thought Mik was just saying it to make him feel better so he only smiled. Because... at least he wanted him to feel better. It said a lot more than... most.

"Hush, you," he said, putting a finger to Mik's lips when he opened his eyes. "I am not a baby. I promise you that." His smile was mischievous for a moment. But he was not. He was not a baby and he could show Mik so. Gently, he guided Mik's hand to the crux between his legs, whispering into his ear, "I'm a man."

It was... cute that Mik called him adorable and cute and sweet but... Rip wasn't sure those words really described him. Maybe that was what Mik wanted him to be but Rip was Rip. Mik said it himself. And maybe Rip was not so innocent and not so cute.

[Mikko Ashby]

Forcing someone to be the exact copy of someone else—just because he couldn't have the real person—was so... wrong. It was wrong on every level that it was possible to be wrong and creepy and sad and pathetic and just psychotic. Keith was unhinged, for sure. He didn't care if he hurt Rip, who had feelings and thoughts and was a real, independent person. He didn't care that the life he brought into the world wasn't here solely to please his whims and wishes. He was selfish, despicable. Disgusting.

Mik didn't really have words for somebody like that. He grew up in a world of love. Yes, his dad walked out on him and his mom and he had lost his mom at a young age too, but that didn't mean he went around lashing out at everyone. He was shown love and he showed love in return. That was the only way to make the world a better place, with love and by caring for others. Even, yes, Lieve when he was acting weird! At least Lieve came from a place of love, too!

"Hmm?" He rolled his eyes upward dramatically since Rip's finger at his lips told him to shut up now about being a cute little baby golem. Well. Most guys didn't want to be compared to babies. Not that he thought Rip was a babyyyyyikes... Hand at crotch! Mik was no blushing virgin but he was caught off-guard. Usually he was the person coming on to other people, although once or twice somebody surprised him.

Rip surprised him.

"You..." The breath kind of whooshed out of his lungs for a second when Rip whispered into his ear. He gulped like a fish out of water. "You are naughty!" Ohh the things he wanted to do right about now... Mik's hand stroked gently, the one at Rip's crotch. Less like a kitten-stroking motion though, more like a... naughty intent to do something inadvisable. They were right out in the open! But hey, they weren't going to go at it right then and there. This was just. Um. A statement of intent?

He leaned in close, at first simply to be... close. The tips of their noses brushed, playfully. Lips brushed too, still playfully. Slowly a kiss evolved out of that nuzzle, deepening into something sultry and seductive. Mik wasn't a baby either. He squeezed Rip through the fabric of his pants, then let his fingers drift up and hook into the waistband.

[Ripper Nightshade]

The truth was, Rip did not mind being Mik's cutie pie. And being adorable sounded... adorable but it also sounded a lot like how he felt about the kittens. It sent a strange message to Rip; was he just another sad little stray picked up off the street to take care of... or was he a man? Because he felt like maybe Mik was not seeing that part of him.

And it was a part of him. To say otherwise was only denying who Rip was. Maybe he was made a certain way for a certain task but he had a mind of his own, a personality of his own.

He had never been like this with anybody else. Only Keith and Keith's other golems, on the occasion that Keith preferred to watch himself in action rather than... participate. But Rip had never made a conscious choice to be with anybody for himself. It was sort of... exciting to have that freedom, the autonomy to be Rip, Rip the golem-person, Rip with no strings pulling him in any direction except where he wanted to go.

"I can be," he said with that same mischievous little smile. Mik's hand was different than any other hand on him. It was a new hand, a different hand. And it felt... good. He bucked his body up against that hand as heat flooded his lower body. Pleasure given to him was normally torturous, meant to elicit desperation. Not so with Mik. He was quite... generous.

Rip slid a hand around the back of Mik's head to direct him into another series of kisses. Distractedly, he could feel Mik's movement to the waistband of his pants. He thought he knew where this was going and it sent a thrill up his spine.

"Please... touch me. Skin... to skin..." The best feeling in the world. He could not deny it. "And I..." He none too subtly slid a hand over Mik to return the favor. "...will do the same... for you, Mik."

[Mikko Ashby]

"Oh I bet you can!" With a smile like that, Rip was hiding a big ball of naughty behind that sweet and innocent exterior! And that was sexy, Mik wouldn't deny it. It meant that there were more layers to uncover, more mysteries to solve about this golem called Rip that everybody seemed to write off as being nothing more than a vessel for someone else's soul. That wasn't what Mik saw.

Mik saw someone confused about his identity, because he was held on such a tight leash. He saw somebody with a good heart, a soft heart, capable of caring for even the least and the slightest of lives—the goldfish given away as toys. Rip didn't see them as toys; he saw individual lives and that said more about him than anything Lieve or Keith could ever convey with their scorn. Mik saw a man capable of gentleness, a man who cared and who wanted other people to care about him, too. He saw somebody deserving of love and he... he wanted to love Rip. Even if they never fell in love, he wanted them to love each other.

So it wasn't really hard to kiss him, to touch him and protect him. It wasn't hard to slide his hand under Rip's pants as the kisses heated up, it wasn't hard to want to show him pleasure—especially since he promised pleasure in return. Mik only smiled and nodded in between kisses, humming low in the back of his throat. How could anyone resist Rip when he asked in that tone? When he asked so nicely, and said please, and looked at him with so much affection in his eyes?

Mik's fingers made short work of the button and zipper, and then wasted no time in delving underneath to touch Rip. Warm, hard, velvet heat greeted him; he let out a soft moan that was swallowed up by the next passionate kiss. "Ah... Rip..." He kissed greedily and he explored eagerly, trying to find the most sensitive spots. A thumb massaging over the flared head; did Rip like that? Did he like to be squeezed just so? Or when Mik cupped him and rubbed his palm against him, did that feel good? It was exciting with a new lover, like another game, seeking out every erogenous zone, finding all the ways to make Rip squirm—in all the good ways.

[Ripper Nightshade]

"Oh..."

He... he didn't know if Mik would actually do it or not. But he did. Skin to skin. And it felt so good... His eyes slowly closed as he soaked in the attention. Surely Mik knew now, he was a man. The way his body reacted to his touch... That was all man. His breath caught in the back of his throat and his lower body moved against Mik's touch, just as eager, pressing against the feel of his palm. His entire body jerked against that feeling of a thumb rubbing over his head, heart jumping in his chest.

Still kissing Mik, Rip reached for Mik's pants. Practice made perfect; he didn't fumble with zippers or buttons--he had quick, deft hands.

And he was madly curious. He wanted to know what it felt like, what another person felt like. Mik was so different in every way than what he was used to. His body was different. Different was good. Like Mik, he explored generously, feeling every part of him. His kisses tapered off and he shifted his weight, moving to straddle Mik as he pulled his pants further down.

A soft gasp escaped as he arched his aching body against Mik's. Velvet and hard, their bodies met with a friction that sent electricity all throughout his body from the back of his head to the tips of his fingers and his toes. His lips found a new place against Mik's throat, hands slipping underneath his shirt and over a surprisingly well built body beneath. He had never seen Mik in a state of undress before but he didn't expect the muscles.

[Mikko Ashby]

This was dangerous but the thrill of it—the possibility of getting caught—added a little spice to the moment that made every shift of Rip's hand, every sultry kiss, feel so much more pleasurable. It wasn't ideal to be getting it on in the back room where they fostered all those kittens, but hey—Mik tended to live in the moment and he was glad that Rip did too.

A hand job would've been more than enough but was it bad that a part of him liked that Rip slid over into his lap? Mik's hands slid out of Rip's pants, only to steady him. They were both sorta... super tall, and he didn't want Rip to fall over backwards! Mik let out a soft gasp as their bodies met. He wasn't generally a screaming out loud during sex type of person, but he wasn't a quiet mouse either. Plus if they made too much noise, somebody was going to come knocking and he didn't want to be caught (even if the prospect of it sent a thrill down his spine!).

"Rip... Ah..." Mmm warm hands up his shirt. He did like that—physical contact was never unwelcome. Mik was a touchy-feely type of person too, with the way he kept hanging on to people, hugged them, took their hands, looped his arms around theirs. But his body was starting to want a little more than he thought they could get away with, and... there were no condoms, no lube! He didn't want anybody to have to limp into the room with Lieve and Cori!

So he slipped his hand around and stroked Rip gently, bringing his body closer as he scooted a little bit off the bench. "We... we can't... have sex here..." Rip was so distracting with those lips at his throat! Mik tilted his head to the side to offer him more access. "Tonight. You're definitely coming home with me tonight so... just a handjob, baby? For now?"