When Max awoke, the strange occurrences of last night felt like a dream. Dawn had barely broken through his windows, and there was no trace of any roaches. In fact, neither was there of his wife, as Max assumed that she went to sleep on the couch in the living room:
'Thank god, the bloated turbo slut smelt of wine and used condoms anyways.'
Earlier, the thought had so forcibly entered Max's head that he looked around his room for another person. Besides needing to steal two of his wife's sports bras for Susa, his morning routine went as usual. After a freezing shower, harsh tooth scrubbing, prepping his workout bag and fixing a bowl of cereal, Maxwell was back inside his cop car. Susa woke up startled at the sound of the door slamming. She wrinkled her bow and stretched her lips weirdly when he placed a bowl of cereal and bra on her nude legs; Stone sighed, "Look, I don't know what your people eat."
This only made her mature, pinkish-grey lips straighten more at him to almost an inhumane degree. Adjusting the jacket wrapped like a blanket around her as she spoke, "For your information, 'my people' eat whatever the animal we look like eat. For example, I eat wood." The way she gestured over her bark-inspired tattoos that covered every inch of her skin further reinforced the obvious.
'She can eat my wood whenever she wants.'
Even as he started his car to the gym, she continued, "Don't worry, I can eat... whatever this is? Are you alright? You look... different today." Max did not respond for two reasons. One, he had seen it too, after he finished showering, that his eyes differed from yesterday. His ordinarily dead, blue eyes had some light in them for once in his life despite feeling no different outside of his other reason, his demons. Lastly, he was sure the thoughts that had entered his head were not his own. Stone was convinced that something lewd would slip from his mouth if he tried to speak to Susa. Maxwell came to terms with this knowledge until he arrived at the gym.
The gym was a standard facility that took up the space of an average superstore. It was inside where the magic was at. The parking lot was empty except for two cars he recognized instantly belonging to the morning staff. Max attempted to tell Susa to stay when those thoughts evaporated by seeing a pair of nude, plump C-cup breasts tipped with dusty rose-coloured areola and nipples. She thought this was as good a time as any to change her bras. Now having the unwanted information that her areolas were surgically made to look like hearts before averting his eyes.
'Damn, that is one tough bitch. Look back and get an eyeful!'
"You know your race could do with being a lot less prudish. Funny you didn't look away when you blew holes in my husband's body." Susa's tone was even and matter-of-fact more than any other expected emotion. Max instantly rebutted, "Yes, humans can deal with violence better than sex, but that doesn't get you a pass to get your tits out. Marriage still means something to me."
"Oh yes, that is why you and your wife sleep in different rooms, right? I was also changing clothes, not putting on a show for you, pervert!"
Now she sounded livid as the last part of her sentence was shouted loud enough to make the windows buck. Stone didn't even hear her slamming the door as his ears rang. Max was quick to get out and catch up with the stomping Pest. She was fuming to the point where he could practically see the steam coming from her nose. Sighing, he had no energy for meaningless fights with her, "If you want to work off some steam, then stick with me. I can have a plus one here." Susa did not respond, but this did make her match his pace. Her avoiding his gaze made him feel a brief tinge of guilt.
Max's workout was exciting, to say the least. His usual pleasantries with the morning staff were cut short with whispers at seeing his nonhuman plus one. A college twenty-something, Charlotte had her freckled face upturned as if she were forced to suck on a rotting lemon. Danny, a redheaded male with an average complexion, grimaced, barely waiting until Susa was out of earshot, "Can you tell your friend there to put on some clothes?"
Charlotte snorted like a congested swine, "Yeah, we don't have anything strong enough to wash the smell of skank out of the air."
"Funny because it already smelt like that since I walked in." His voice surprised him the least out of the four because it was the same Demonkin-accented voice he had heard since he awoke. It was Susa's laughter that got a start out of him. The daggers they shot at him with their eyes made Max aware that he had said that. Wordlessly leaving, he felt their stares on him for the rest of the workout. There was no more denying it; someone was up there with him. The implications on his mental health were not the best, but while setting up for some squats, he whispered, "Hey, you there?"
'Hey there, Champ, how are ya doin'?' Max did not respond back or even think as he immersed himself in his workout. There was something odd about no longer having privacy inside of one's own head. Images and thoughts bleeding into his own created an indescribable experience. He was unable to distinguish between the two views. Working up a sweat did not help with this, as every time he tried to rest, he found his eyes drifting over to Susa. Unable to take focus away from the nude one-legged squats she was doing on a separate bench. At first, Maxwell confused it with just another image of violence and perversion that rippled in his mind. It wasn't until they met eyes thrice that he knew what was happening. The attention only made Susa beam more and conveniently find a way to get closer to his squat rack, "Stop it, Demon."
