Michelle's Apartment

[Mimi]

From her little bit of fire escape, Michelle considered her current situation. She liked L.A. Really liked it, actually. Granted, she'd only just arrived a week ago, and already, she was broke. The 120 dollars that she had arrived with was nearly spent on groceries and some sparse furniture for her apartment, and her current place of employment wouldn't be paying her for another week, unless she asked for her check in advance. But, given her boss' growly demeanor, she figured that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

I'll just have to make due, she thought to herself before she reached into her back pocket. The plane ticket was slightly creased, but still readable: Los Angeles, California to Topeka, Kansas. If things went back, she could always go home. Take a bus from the airport in Topeka back to good ol' Salina aka Hicksville. She'd live out the rest of her days taking classes at the community college until she married some farm-boy and made babies until she croaked...

Yeah, right.

A snort of laughter, and the plane ticket was neatly ripped in two, then tossed to the night wind. Mimi watched it with a michievous glint in her eye before she turned to get herself dolled up for work.

Sorry, Momma - baby's comin' home no more...

[Mimi]

CONTINUED FROM: Lunacy; Club Exterior and Alleyways with Bo.

The full-on headache didn't sneak into place until they had crossed the threshold of her apartment. After she had hung her keys on their little hook, but just before she managed to make it to the couch. Mimi cringed where she stood beside the door; one hand braced itself against the textured wall and the other carefully pressed against her temple.

"Ow," Mimi stated dully. Of course, she wasn't bleeding anymore and she could still stand on her own two feet -- that was certainly a relief. She would gladly laze about for a few days, take whatever time she needed to heal up, but the blonde human would be more than a little irate if she needed real medical attention. Health insurance was expensive, which was part of the reason why she didn't presently have any. No way she'd be able to pay off a doctor bill of that size on her own.

[Bo]

Bo closed the door behind them once they were both over the threshold and soon enough his blue eyes were fixed back on Mimi. She looked a little pale in the light of her apartment but other than the eagerly forming bruises and the blood that was beginning to dry she didn't look too worse for wear. That didn't mean she wasn't hurting though. It had been a long time since Bo had been human and vulnerable to the same simple but effective pains someone like Mimi could fall victim to easily.

"You need to sit down. Come on." Taking her by the elbow he guided her through in the modest living room and settled her down on the couch before digging out this and that, what passed for a first aid kit, water and a towel. He made his way back towards the couch, setting down his collection of essentials and then shrugged off his jacket, tossing it onto the other chair. He sat on the edge of the coffee table, flicking on the light on the small side table beside the couch. "Here," he said, offering her a box of pills. "Ibuprofen." There was a glass of water and he offered that too.

[Mimi]

Even with the dull throb that had settled firmly between her eyes, Mimi managed to crack a crooked smile. She took the pills with the water and set both down on the table beside Bo before she let her head come to rest in her hands. Any fear or anger-based adrenaline had well and truly fizzled -- now she was simply tired. And aching.

She took a moment, exhaled slowly and finally lifted her head to look at Bo. "Well?" she murmured. "Anyone ever gonna want to tip me again?"

Then again, maybe a broken nose would give her character. She'd be quirky-cute. Or she'd end up looking like the Wicked Witch of the West. One of the two, really, it was up in the air at this point.

[Bo]

"Are you kidding me?" he said to her, reaching forward and gently pushing back a wave of blonde hair, smiling at her when it cleared her face for a better view. "Even with a black eye you wouldn't know what to do with all the attention." He winked at her then and offered her a cheeky but genuine smile. Bo went back to checking her face; he wasn't entirely sure the nose was broken but it had taken one hell of a good knock, hence all the blood. Mimi would be fine.

"You want something to eat?" he asked her, tucking her hair behind her ear so it would stay out of her face -- for a minute or two at least; he knew for a fact how rebellious her hair could be, just like the rest of her -- before taking his hand back and setting them both on his knees as though preparing himself to get up from the edge of the coffee table. Bo wasn't entirely sure whether or not Mimi would have anything substantial in her refrigerator but he was sure he could dig something up. He was a wolf, after all, and they were nothing if not resourceful when it came to food.

[Mimi]

Smiling was more than a little uncomfortable -- painful, even -- but Mimi let her lips turn up anyway. She would likely be hurting for at least a couple of days and she saw a large purchase of concealer in her immediate future. For now, though, she could take it easy; part of her felt a bit bad for dragging Bo about, but she couldn't deny it was nice to know he was looking out for her.

The blonde human gave a careful nod at his question before pushing herself to her feet. "Not about to let you play housemaid for me, though," she chuckled. Bo's hair slipped between her fingers, thick and soft. "I'm helping."

She didn't have much in the way of expectations when it came to Bo. He was all kinds of fun to have around, but Mimi knew what their relationship was. Didn't mean moments like these were something she couldn't enjoy.

[Bo]

Bo found himself thinking about how the bruising would already be gone and the damage would already be repaired if Mimi were a werewolf. It was right afterwards that he found himself hoping Mimi hadn't picked up on those thoughts. Frequently he forgot that Mimi could do what most people could not and look into your mind, hear your thoughts and read intentions that were not clear at the surface. It had never disturbed or repelled him, if anything he had been intrigued by it but occasionally he found himself thinking something he would rather she couldn't do that if only because he didn't want her to think any less of him. It didn't matter that their relationship wasn't serious, that they had gotten together because of an impulse and because it would be fun. Bo liked Mimi and preferred to think it went both ways. That was how he wanted it to stay.

"Oh is that so?" He studied her face before giving a sigh that was a little more theatrical than it perhaps needed to be. "Fine, come on then." With that and a cheeky smirk for good measure he rose from the coffee table, catching her hand so he could pull her up as he went before leading them on their way to the kitchen. "What have you got to eat in this place anyway? Cereal and potato chips don't count."

[Mimi]

Mimi raised an eyebrow. "Sounds more like your cupboards than mine, sugar," she said with a smirk as she trailed along behind the blond wolf. "You think I look the way I do from eatin' junk food?"

She slipped around Bo when they stepped over the kitchen threshold, fingers sliding from his grip so she could gather supplies. A pot from the cabinet over the stove was filled with water and set to boil. From the pantry came a box of pasta and the fridge yielded a fresh bottle of marinara sauce. Simple, as far as meals went, but definitely not chips and cereal. The human woman turned to face Bo, leaning against the counter as the water began to heat. She met his eyes and smiled again.

His mind was present in hers. She felt the faint, feral buzz of him but, in order to read him, she would have to push and she didn't much want to out of respect for him. Mimi didn't go poking around in people's heads without permission as a general rule, and that especially held true with the people she cared for.

[Bo]

Bo's mouth turned down at the edges and his brows lifted, something of an amused expression of contemplation that quickly shifted and broke into a smirk and he leaned against the kitchen doorway with his hands slipping into his pockets, head cocking to one side as he watched one part of Mimi's body in particular as she walked. "From the looks of it," he said with a sly edge to his voice, "whatever you're eating isn't doing you any harm." It was a kind of precarious compliment, the sort that some women could take entirely the wrong way but Bo had an edge, or rather Mimi did; she would be able to read his mind and know that he meant it as a positive remark, even if it was delivered somewhat crudely, and with his gaze fixed on her ass at that.

His smirk became a satisfied smile when she brought the pasta out of the cabinet and the sauce from the refrigerator that would join it during the cooking process. "Pasta it is then," he acknowledged and rocked easily off the frame upon which he had been leaning, hands sliding free of his pockets so he could shove his sleeves up further past his elbows in order to help. Food had been his idea in the first place and there was no way Bo wasn't going to get involved when there was a meal on the cards. He was a wolf and wolves had fierce and generous appetites at the best of times.

[Mimi]

Oh, yes, Mimi could tell that the wolf's comment was meant to flatter, and flatter it did. She turned a bit pink, in spite of herself -- she was used to Bo and his blunt manner, but he still managed to ruffle her feathers every now and again. "Why, thank you," she shot back with a crooked almost-grin of her own. "Nice to know someone appreciates all of my hard work."

Still grinning, Mimi turned to check the water one more time and add some salt before she turned to the pantry and began to rummage for garlic bread supplies. She knew a werewolf's appetite, all right, and while she knew Bo would be happy eating just about anything she laid out, she felt she could do better than pasta and red sauce. Cooking had never been her forte but, for Bo, she'd sure as hell do her best.

Call it her way of making up for cutting his night short.

[Bo]

Bo offered the blonde woman a smirk that was all confidence. Before his wolf side had been gifted to him he had struggled to be so sure of himself, he hadn't been the strongest human by any stretch of the imagination, but lycanthropy had taken all the frailty and uncertainty away and left him self-assured and determined never to go backwards. Only forwards. Knowing that Mimi appreciated that confidence -- some might call it arrogance, and they wouldn't be mistaken in some cases -- was something he had come to enjoy, and so he let it sit on the surface, plain to see, whenever he was in her company. Then again, it wasn't often that Bo shrugged it aside. It was usually close at hand, even if it wasn't right there on the surface.

"So," he said to her, glancing around at all the supplies she had gathered, even as the water bubbled away. "Give me something to do. Like hell I'm just standing here while you cook. If I don't keep myself busy I'm going to start eating whatever I get my hands on." There was a familiar flash of mischief in his eyes as he spoke, and they brightened in that tell tale way that would let Mimi know the wolf was on the prowl.