why do you build me up buttercup baby just to let me down

[intellectualrapist]

[After a rather exhausting time of however long, Erika is finally quite fine enough to walk around without any worries. Of course, she's still a little tender, but going without her corset a week or two more isn't the end of the world. It means simpler dresses and walking around outside like a normal person instead of a stand-out lolita.

Maybe for the best right now. She was generally associated with Dagon but surprisingly doesn't get many looks. And the fresh air of the park is...actually kind of nice. Not that she'll so it like that.

This is also for Zelos. Poor dear. He probably needs a break from her so she figures spending it outside might be good for her.

At the moment, she's flopped over in the grass, staring up at the sky with a quiet mind.]

Comments

[inhumanity]

Wonderful! We have all possibilities. We may be whatever we wish to be! We have liberty and our choices have equality. So what's to stop me?

[intellectualrapist]

Because I'd like to try your baking.

[Look, she's a good detective, okay.]

[inhumanity]

Why haven't you? I sent that boy away with a box full of it.

[intellectualrapist]

I enjoyed them! That's why I would like to taste them freshly baked sometime. I wouldn't have suspected you had a talent for baking.

[inhumanity]

I take offense to that. You've wounded my heart. You've wounded my soul, and a soul is a world so it's my world you've hurt! I'll bake until you take back your injury to my universe.

[intellectualrapist]

Baking sounds like an excellent solution for your wounded soul. Please kidnap me someday so that I can help heal your wound by testing the finished products.

[inhumanity]

['Someday' slides along in meaning until it is 'semantic' and now don't mind if Christopher attempts to pick up Erika and put her over his shoulder. Hope your ribs aren't THAT bad?] We'll do it now!

[intellectualrapist]

[Erika squeaks mostly out of surprise. What the hell. She didn't mean it like that! Fffffff-] I-I guess I'm not busy but I can walk!

[inhumanity]

That isn't much of a kidnapping! [Watch out for this kind of laughter as he carries her awayyyyy]

[intellectualrapist]

[She blushes deeply because this is kind of humiliating and embarrassing but at least she'll get food out of it. Thank god her ribs are feeling better.]

[inhumanity]

[But where do you get a bakery at this hour?]

[You hijack one by breaking in, firing a gun at the ceiling, and cheerily telling everyone that you've never tried using blood in your cookies but you're willing to start.]

[Thankfully, they leave.]

[intellectualrapist]

[Whelp. Erika has seen weirder, so.] That was very polite of them.

[inhumanity]

A little disappointing that they'd believe me. Blood in cookies would be disgusting.

[Ignoring that he makes a conscious effort to look like a vampire, Christopher sets down Erika and strolls to the kitchens to start his baking.]

[intellectualrapist]

[Erika follows, peeking in curiously.] Do you have a rule about people watching you?

[It is a weirdly innocent question. She just...wants to watch him bake.]

[inhumanity]

Why would I? Enjoy yourself! [He doesn't have rules aboutanything.]

[intellectualrapist]

Thank you! [She hops and leans against a counter.] Have you been baking for long?

[inhumanity]

What is time when it comes to baking? Since I first made an effort almost five decades ago, it has become eternal.

[intellectualrapist]

I can only make a few things, myself. It's a little admirable to me.

[inhumanity]

Food is the lifeline of any relationship. Try to learn more.

[intellectualrapist]

[She will take crazy Christopher's advice seriously.] What sort of things should I learn to make?

[inhumanity]

Seafood.

[intellectualrapist]

A Deep One stew? That might be toxic.

[inhumanity]

You'd save him. He'd be put into a life debt to you. You'd own him for as long as he lives.

[intellectualrapist]

If you mean my boyfriend, I'm not worried about him leaving me. Mikado will stay my friend, too. ...Anyway, that's a pretty shitty way to keep him. He wouldn't stay out of love.

[inhumanity]

Trust, loyalty, and obligation are aspects of love.