Can You Recognize My F A C E (closed)

[Devon]

Devon had one last stumbling session in his system, assuming the cold water he intended to drop himself into would help with his balance and stem the tide of heat. He sat upward and glanced to the sound of the shower curtain being moved, and he decided that's where he needed to go.

Sitting upright he could feel the material of his muscle shirt sticking to his skin as he sat up and stood up, wavering in a circle, but he propped his hand against the bed. With a groan he walked toward the bathroom, pressing his palm against any surface he could get his hands on.

Even though there was an offer to help him it went over his head. How would she help him? He just wanted to sit down in the tub and potentially pass out in the process. Devon came up to the tub and fell forward, his thighs had smacked into the rim, and he tumbled into the tub.

Devon reached out and turned on the cold water, shuddering as he felt water start to fill the bath. He stretched out and sighed loudly, pressing his limbs against the walls of the bath, his eyes finally closing as he felt heart being pulled through his skin and into the cold film of water that slowly raised up over his body.

[Liana Williams]

Even when Liana had offered to help, he hadn't taken it seeing as how he was now stumbling toward her to get to the bathtub. Before she could do anything he was literally falling in, but he seemed content enough to just continue to lay there. Out of habit, as she leaned against the frame of the door she bit onto her thumbnail, her other arm draped across her stomach and her elbow propped against the hand. By the way he sighed and relaxed, she was certain that Devon felt better, but she dropped her arms and turned in the door.

For now she left him there and made her way through the guest bedroom and down the hallway the way she had come – taking the time to shut the door that was still wide open before heading straight up the stairs in front of her. Skipping up the carpeted wood her hand skimmed along the banister and hung a sharp right at the top to head toward her parent’s bedroom. Finding something to wear for Devon wasn’t all that hard, the sleep pants she found as she pilfered through the middle drawer of her oak dresser had drawstrings, and the shirt she plucked out of the one above that was actually a size to small for her dad.

Soon enough she was heading back down and making her way into the bathroom again were he hadn’t moved a muscle – still breathing and hadn’t drowned. Kneeling beside the tub, Lia turned the tap off so the water would splash out and eyed his still fully dressed state.

"You're gonna have to get out of those clothes..." She hated to think what kind of questions her parents would have for her if her mother saw damage done to her new carpets. She had absolutely no problem with helping him out of the clothes, but she wanted to spare him his dignity in the matter. "I can wash them and dry them for you, and I found something you can wear in the mean time…”

Ducking her chin down she rested it on top of her wrist as she propped the arm along the rim of the tub waiting on his response.

[Devon]

Devon wasn't sure how long he stayed huddled down in the tub, the cold water was resorting some function to his body. His hand eye coordination improved, and his mouth no longer felt like it had been stuffed with glue. The things that didn't recover were his eyes, which still took in too much light, and the sensation of vertigo that still affected his movements and thought. But he wasn't falling all over himself, and his thought process wasn't muddled with fear and a heightened blood pressure.

Soon his body would likely be too cold, but for the moment he was basking in the cold water. His pants clung to the firm muscles of his thighs, and the shirt he wore still rested tight against his abdomen. Above him he could see the water being turned off, and his eyes trailed along the limb until he was glancing up to a young woman at the side of the bath. Even in his altered state he was aware of just how odd it was.

Devon cocked his brow at the woman, who's features were still blurred at the edges. "You're..." His mind pressed for a name, he knew he had heard it. "Liana, why are you... and I'm?" He tried to process things again, he was in a strangers house, named Liana, being looked after. "You're either dangerously naive or you know my Father." He muttered as he shifted his shoulders in the bath, groaning as his back was gouged at by something metal. Devon sat upright all the same, and turned to look at her as she rested with her chin ontop of her wrist, not appreciating being looked down on.

"Where am I?"

[Liana Williams]

Giving a small smile Liana straightened, lifting her head as Devon stumbled to say something, his immediate assessment of her making her stifle a laugh by clearing her throat. Pushing away from the tub she sat back on her heels, her fingers remaining on the tub, curled on the lip and keeping her balanced. Honestly she could hardly do a chin up so she wasn't dangerous, though she didn't like to think of herself as naive and she didn't know his father, at all. So with a short shake of her head and a dropping hum to tell him she was denying any of that.

When he asked where he was, Lia looked around, figuring he was just to out of it to remember she had already told him. "You're at my house, a few miles away from the park you were at." Lia informed patiently enough - noticing that his eyes were still dilated, but his breathing was even enough, and he wasn't sweating anymore. Standing with a grunt slowly, she made a show of holding up the clothes and taking a step over to the sink and placing them down on the counter. "When you get those off, here's something dry for you, and I'll umm throw everything in the dryer later."

Stepping back again toward the door, Liana found more interest in the painted wood for a moment before looking back toward him, her hands clasping together behind her back, "I can make you something to eat if you're hungry, but you should hurry out of those clothes before you get sick."

Turning more quickly then sharply Lia headed out her hand catching the brass knob and closing the door behind her lightly, letting him have his privacy. Unless he outwardly asked her what she thought she was doing, by taking him in, she was going to continue to play the part of the concerned citizen. Would she do this with just anyone though? No, absolutely not, and it was probably hard to believe anyone would out of the kindness of their heart these days. Dragging her teeth over her bottom lip she let go of the door handle to head toward the kitchen.

There was stuff to make a sandwich with int he fridge, even a almost full pizza, some chili her father had made the other night before leaving, and plenty to drink. Liana would just find herself busy making all of it, heating what she could and pulling out the fixings for a sandwich, since she hadn't thought to ask him what he wanted - or liked, even felt like having. Of course she wondered if he was even hungry, and by the time she had the island counter full of stuff she realized she was just this now to keep herself busy.

[Devon]

Didn't know his father, pretended not to be naive. So there was something else going on, some kind of game. Was he in cold water because she wanted it and not him? He kind of doubted organ harvesters would go after a stoner in San'Fran. But that didn't leave him with a whole lot to work with, and he really didn't like not knowing what was under his feet.

At least he knew he was a few miles away from the park. He knew the area fairly well, so there wasn't much chance he could get lost. But then again he had to glare at her, his altered mind trying to decide if she was lying to him. Somewhere along the line he decided it didn't matter, he couldn't walk easily as he was, and she hadn't gone for his now-soaked wallet yet.

Devon watched the clothes held up to him, and he frowned thoughtfully. He felt a hint of shame brush over his awareness. It was hard not to feel that he was being treated like a stray dog some rich girl plucked off the street and decided to take care of until her parents got home and sent it to the pound.

But there was still something missing, he didn't know why she was doing it. Devon reached out as she was going to the door, water sloshing over his thighs as he firmly grasped her wrist. Firmly he would pull, not tug, her back to the edge of the bath. Easily he could have twisted the twist into a lock and have her on her knees, moaning in pain, and that sense of power gave him comfort as he glared at the young woman from inside his cold tub.

"The fuck you doin' this for?"

[Liana Williams]

Whatever Liana's plans were as far feeding him, didn't happen she felt herself being tugged back, the water sloshing inside and over the tub a little at his sudden movement. With a gasp and a small noise of mixed protest and pain left her lips involuntarily when she was made to come back to where Devon was - though it wasn't as rough as she imagined it could have been. The glare he was sending her in that instant more then anything got her attention completely.

"The fuck you doin' this for?"

The harshly asked question surprised her more though. Why was she doing it? "Because I wanted to? Would you have preferred I called the cops? Or taken you to the hospital so you could get your stomach pumped? " Lia shot back, but not at all defensively. Of course that was what anyone else would have done, so she got the necessity of the question at the moment. "Then again I could have left you in the state you were in, and the possibility of you getting mugged was wide open since you could barely stand."

Liana's tone was low, soft and even, to the point and not backing down. There were other reasons she was doing this, but how was she supposed to just bring up the fact she recognized him from ten years ago? "Is this how you treat everyone that tries to help you?" Her words weren't coming as soothing or slow as they were earlier seeing as how he had regained a good portion of his sensibilities it seemed.

She had no idea if that would be good enough for him at the moment, but until he demanded more out of her like she suspected he might, that was what he was getting. Normally she was honest, brutally so, but she realized the absolute absurdity of her real reason. Besides she'd like to think she was still being honest, just omitting a good chunk of the truth, so it wasn't really like she was telling a lie here.

[Devon]

Devon was unused to the way she acted around him. He didn't see any fear in her, other then a spike of surprise and pain. Why wasn't she afraid of him, was he really that pathetic? It was frustrating to him, nothing was clicking in his mind properly. If she was doing it out of naivety she should have shown fear, which left him with the only one thought left, and he clung to it.

The way she became defensive, if not in tone but only in word, he would narrow his eyes until they finally closed. They felt heavy anyhow, he rationalized. The way she spoke wasn't clicking quite as well, her tone was different, and the words she used gave him a sensation awkwardness. It wasn't odd to want to know why he was being helped.

So when it came down to it he didn't have an answer, and it drove him to an action that likely wouldn't be all that comfortable to someone already on the edge of fear. His thumb shifted and pressed down on a pressure point, still holding tight to her wrist. At the sam time he pressed himself against the wall of the tub, allowing him to look her in the eye while the distance between them was mere inches. "This is how I treat someone when I feel like I'm being lied to."

[Liana Williams]

The pressure on her wrist made her flinch, and if she had thought that he may have just let her go when it seemed like he wasn't going to answer, she was sadly mistaken. Her brown pressed down in a frown momentarily until he drew in closer making her wan to pull back a little, but leaving her unable to do so. Her lightly colored eyes delved to the side briefly hearing his comeback.

It was sort of a guilty unconscious action on her part and with a sigh her arm went limp in his hold, even though the pressure was still there, present enough to hurt. After a moment it was her turn to sigh and close her eyes for just a moment before looking back at him. "Fine," she said shortly, "Devon Richardson...I remember you from ten years ago."

With every thing that past her lips she could feel her cheeks started to heat up with what was probably a nice rosy hue. "At a park..." Along with her almost disjointed recollection the volume in which she spoke got softer with each syllable. "I didn't talk to you back then, but I remember wanting to - because you were playing in the sandbox and that was my favorite spot, but you...hit that kid and my mom made us leave."

Rolling her eyes up and turning her head completely to the side with a almost indignant expression crossing her features Lia's shoulders slumped down a little more, completing the look. "I didn't know for sure if you were the same person at first, from then but...I had this feeling you were, and," with a sigh and a pause she looked at him again an eyebrow raising like he should get it now that she was utterly spilling everything. "Well I couldn't just leave you there now could I?"

Liana would have been happy going on with the misgiving that she was just some overly nice and naive person that liked to help random strangers (despite the fact she could get hurt or robed her blind from someone a binge) - she could live with that. Now she felt a little foolish, and weird.

[Devon]

Devon always had a way to make people uncomfortable, and getting what he wanted by doing so. Usually it was picking up on things people would have preferred kept under wraps. Other times it was something truly devastating, and generally it was to get pick a get someone to hit him so a fight could start, or hit someone else. He had found later on that it was a good tool for other purposes as well.

When he pressed close on top of pain and a verbal rebuke he had applied several techniques at once, although he was only aware of his own frustration, which cased the rebuke and the need to control through psychical discomfort.

Moving closer was mostly due to simply wanting to impress upon her that he wouldn't be letting the subject drop until he had an answer, as he had no idea how long the state of lucidity would last. She would likely feel that it wouldn't be long, as his hand would feel more like icy fingers of death gripping onto her wrist, pulling heat from her to sustain itself.

Devon loosed up his grip upon noticing her turn her head away, feeling like she would give him a straight forward answer. Although his cynical leanings wouldn't let him release her wrist all together. So he sat in the freezing water, on the verge of breaking down into shivers, listening to her as she explained why she decided to help him.

It was then that he started to feel awkward, trying to run over what she had said, if he should believe her. This time it had felt like the truth, but that wasn't exactly all that comfortable since she knew his full name and he couldn't remember her looking at the card he had given her. "You mean... how could you know that was me? That was..." Devon let go of her arm and slipped back into the tub, shuddering as his mind stopped processing, information overload mixing poorly with his altered state.

[Liana Williams]

When his grip relaxed and finally gave way, she could untie from being tense all the way. Her answer doing nothing it seemed but confusing him it seemed. It was a little far fetched that someone would remember someone else from a brief chance encounter as a child and probably a very difficult pill to swallow. However he seemed to believe Liana when she finally came out with it, which she supposed was all that mattered at the moment.

The rest of his statement seemed to cut off and hang int he air, trail off unfinished as he gave into a shiver, sinking lower into the water. "Yeah I know, it was a long time ago," she muttered, finishing it for him - even if it wasn't what he was going to say. Reaching down into the tub and settling to her knees a little more comfortably, Liana made it a point to keep him in the now by giving a tug to his clothes, despite the randomness of her reasoning. He was still sitting in cold water, with all his clothes on - now shivering.

Anymore shock to his body and he'd get sick - going from one extreme, hot to cold, couldn't be good for him. "Now, do you want some help getting these off so I can get them clean and dried? Or would you rather I made you something to eat?"

Either way she'd be doing something to help him further. With an arm resting on the side of the tub now, her fingers dangling down she waited for his answer, but narrowed his choice by reaching over and pulling up the stopper by the chain so the water would start to drain. Looping the thin beaded metal with the rubber plug on the end over the tub fixture Lia once more shifted to a standing position, but let her hands come to rest on her hips.

Devon had gotten the answer he wanted, probably for the most part - even if it still didn't make sense to him (he wasn't alone - it really didn't make straight sense to her either.) There really wasn't a reason to dwell on the technicalities now though, if he just let her do what she wanted, to help him, he could leave and choose not to speak to her again. Though she kinda hoped that wouldn't be the case, even if their personalities weren't anywhere near matched to be even remotely compatible enough to be acquaintances.

If anything, Liana was a stubborn person, and she just wanted to get to know the guy even if he was going to see her as odd and annoying for it.

[Devon]

Devon could remember the day vividly, it was one that stuck out in his memory for several reasons. Of course he couldn't exactly remember it all that well the way he was, as he focused his attention on why he was loosing lucidity, as his heart sped up to compensate for the drastic loss of body heat.

The shirt he wore was being tugged on, the area just above the waist of his pants. He frowned and shifted his body slightly, trying to fight past the buzzing in his skull to make a decision. Devon felt water seeping out from under him soon after, and he glanced up with an irritated expression as he looked up at her.

"Get it off me." He grumbled, giving something closer to an order rather then asking for help. Pressing his palms into the sides of the bath, pushing himself upright. Devon felt like he had balance, he wasn't tipping to one direction or the other, but his arms shuddered every few seconds in response to the cold. His instincts were telling him to just pull his limbs into his chest and conserve heat, but he was determined to ignore them.

Devon would eventually manage to stand, his clothes clinging to his body as water rolled down from his hair along the whole of his body, only to drain away as excess of the once near-full bath. He could feel his limbs shudder every few seconds, and he wasn't feeling all that confident in his ability to step out of the tub without landing on his face.

[Liana Williams]

Taking in a breath and forcefully keeping it there to hold her tongue when he practically ordered her to take the clothes off him, Liana stiffened a little indignant at the annoyed look she was getting. If anything she should be put out, and he should have been a little more grateful. Was he someone special? Did he have a lot of money and expect he could talk to anyone how he wanted?

Through her silent ranting, that never actually had the nerve to become verbal, she stood - quicker the he did, but waited until he was solidly on his own two feet without looking like he was going to tip over. Even though Devon didn't move from his spot for a moment her hands hovered out, paused like she was going to try to help him step out of the tub. In a swift decision, Liana moved so her fingers caught the end of the rather snug shirt he wore and tugged up. As the back of her fingers brushed up along the corded muscles of his abdomen and side the first thing she noticed was just how cool his skin was now - and the fine uncontrolled tremble that made the tendons noticeable from under the skin. With his slightly elevated high the only view she had the moment his shirt came off was chest, which had her paused for another moment longer.

Biting down hardly on the inside of her cheek she felt her eye twitch as she turned away ringing the material as best she could before shaking it undone to drape over the side of the tub. Like this was all business and she did this all the time. Sure undressing some guy in her bathroom was no...big...deal. Clearing her throat, Liana rested her hands on her hips again, her tongue touching to her top lip before pressing them together.

"Okay well, you're gonna have to get out of the bathtub, if his highness wishes me to finish," she said with a little more attitude then she normally would have, but she thought it more of a defense mechanism.

Not only was she doing something she never had with someone she didn't know, but she was getting the piss taken out of her for it too. Stepping up closer so her knees bumped against the outside of the tube, Liana reached for Devon - or rather offered the hand out so he could get out.

[Devon]

Devon was having to spend too much of his attention on his balance, which was much easier then it had been, but the waves of tensing muscle that were attempting to keep his muscles active and warm messed with him more then it should have. Fighting off the urge to smack his own abdomen and swear at his body for being so pathetic he managed to steady himself, in time to feel warm d fingers brushing along his skin.

Glancing up he noticed that it was the obvious, she was helping him out of the shirt that clung to him. The tightly corded muscle shivered against the touch, his breathing still until the shirt had been dragged up along the tense muscle and up to his shoulders. He ducked his head, feeling his blond hair being ruffled as the shirt was removed, leaving thick damp locks to hang over his eyes.

In that moment he had no awareness of how awkward it must have been for the woman helping him out of his clothes. His muscles still shivered every few seconds, his breath returning to be long heavy breaths, his chest raising and falling. Devon glanced up through his hair, reading the woman's expression as best he could through his dilated pupils.

He noticed that she was starting to look nervous, and he was clueless as to why, as an experienced young man he hadn't given any thought to how many people she had been this close to with ever shrinking amounts of clothing. But whatever curiosity he held over the awkward shift of her eyes and small shift of her tongue over her upper lip seemed to diminish somewhat when she gave him attitude.

No one could really blame her, but it wasn't something he tolerated. Before even given it thought he gave her a sharp glance through the thick locks of hair, clearly stating with the look: don't fuck with me.. Devon leaned forward and rested a hand on her shoulder, the other on the shower curtain, leaning his upper body forward. The arm she had offered would be pressed against his side as he swung one leg after the other over the top of the bath.

Once he was standing on the shower mat he could still feel his muscles tense in waves, only to weak the second after they raced along their way. The chill he felt was not diminished as of yet, and his hands sought something to steady himself with.

[Liana Williams]

As soon as she had gotten the look Liana's eyes had delved to the side again but she continued to help, somewhat cowed over by the fact she was getting grief. It was turning out that Devon had some pretty big complexes, mainly that he didn't like attitude from anyone and that he was in charge. Regardless she got the message clearly, even though the urge to say something again was there - it never did pass her lips. She guessed something could be said for understanding the male brain and the tendencies they all hand to want to be in control. Whether or not they were really wrong, they were always right.

So much for good first -er- second impressions, Liana knew enough about herself and how to placate to get that butting heads wouldn't get them anywhere. But...she wasn't going to tremble and simper just because she was getting growled at.

It sort of reminded her of the time she had found a stray dog - who was starving - and even though she had gotten bitten, she hadn't backed down. Instead she had waited it out with the food she had until it came up to her on its own accord. There might not have been a bond of unconditional admiration there on either of their parts, but there was at least respect. Her - respect that if she tried to push the animal anymore that she would be getting bit again, and on the dogs part - that she wasn't going to hurt it, just that she had merely meant to provide food.

The coolness of his skin against hers was felt in a stark comparison kind of shaking her back to what she was doing and she firmed up a bit to support the slight of the added weight leaning down on her to steady himself. Liana found her arm slipping around his waist completely when she finally settled out of the tub on the mat, her fingers found the slop of his spine going up as she stood there for a moment, still. Her other hand lightly on his other side, high on his ribs - fine with being that way until he was steady.

"Can you sit down on the edge of the tub so I can get your shoes off?" She finally asked quietly only moving to help him do so when it seemed like he was ready. Normally Lia worked off someone else's personality, how they came at her - she reciprocated, but if she was determined to make something work, she didn't mind sacrificing on her part. She wasn't an entirely unmovable person, in fact she was quit easily adaptable to the things around her.

[Devon]

Devon could feel his tip slightly from one direction to the other, and the warm digits pressed against his lower back and his ribs keeping him from slipping too far while he steadied himself. He could feel his muscles quake again before he finally got a hold of his balance, not put off by the fact that the potential-ten-year-stalker was basically hugging him through it as long as he felt like he had control of the situation.

Which he seemed to have taken, as she had formed her suggestion in the form of a question, softening her tone to sooth his more primal instincts. He grunted lightly at her all the same, his legs shaking faintly as he dropped the back of his thighs onto the edge of the tub. Devon dropped his forearms on the top of his thighs, supporting his weight and keeping his balance. While it would make it easy for her to pull off his shoes, after unlacing several tightly held knots, but would mean he would need to stand again to get the largest piece of clothing he had left off him.

Again he took a list of what was going on, trying to sharpen his mind instead of focusing on the chill of his body. He had gotten himself drunk enough to buy from a competitor of his supplier while his normal guy was out for the next shipment. During his normal wanderlust that followed he wound up in the place he usually relaxed at, only to bump into a young woman he mistook for someone else. The encounter was physically, but all the same he wound up at her house, apparently being helped by the Liana, who claimed she remembered him from their childhood.

Did he take acid on top of everything else?