The One With Whiskey Eyes || 30 || Deciphering Ink Stains
Warnings: None
Words: 2500+
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~30~
The large, underground home of her soulmates had been a welcome, comforting space from the first moment she had set foot inside. That feeling only increased each time she sat in the kitchen with Patricia or perched on a stool for Felicia as a soft brush dusted her eyelids with the colour of the day. She found that each 6 she came by a new book has been added to an already crowded shelf in the living room. She had come to find Margaret Atwoodâs Oryx and Crake sitting on the table waiting for her during her last visit, and The Year of the Flood was ready for her this time.
Which is what led to her sitting on the couch, her legs pulled up toward her chest with a soft blanket wrapped securely around them, warming her feet.
The faint snore next to her drew her gaze away from the pages of her book to where Hedwig was snoozing on the other end of the couch. His feet were tucked up against her thigh, face smooshed in against the back of the couch.
She smiled fondly.
Theyâd made hot chocolate and heâd bounced around the living room for an hour before he started to slow down. Once sheâd curled up with her book on the sofa, heâd taken up the space beside her and had chattered away like a magpie. Only when he quietly and sleepily curled up had she cracked open her book and let the child doze.
Sheâd come to realize that out of all the soulmates sheâd met so far, Hedwig was the one that seemed to most crave her focus. It wasnât just her being there or getting the chance to see her instead of one of the others. No, this was a childâs need to know she was entirely paying attention to him. Even when she was cooking for them, he would need her eyes on him as he chatted away.
It meant that things took a bit longer, but she didnât mind. If he needed her to make eye contact more often or offer words of encouragement and acknowledgment, she didnât find it difficult to oblige him.
So, while the others would entertain themselves with something as she sat close by and read a book, Hedwig would get her full focus for as long as she is able.
The only sound that filled the living room was the faint snores from the other end of the couchâbarely more than a rumble in the back of his throatâand the comforting sound of pages turning. Sometimes, depending what she was reading, she would read aloud at his request. It had the desired effect of soothing him to sleep, but today that had not been necessary.
Hedwigâs feet flexed against her leg in his sleep, deep in his dreams.
Placing her thumb next to the paragraph sheâd finished, Iris looked to the side to take in his relaxed expression. Lips parted slightly and cheek creased against the cushion of the couch, neck at a somewhat uncomfortable looking angle. For a moment, she warred with the thought of waking him up to shift his position or to leave him be with the possibility of a crick in the neck.
But, knowing Hedwig, he would not go back to sleep if she woke him now. It didnât take long for her to catch on to the fact that he scrambled for every possible moment he could have in the light, even if that meant not sleeping. When he did finally go down, it was usually because heâd wound himself up and stayed awake for far too long. It was less falling asleep, and more of a crash.
Not only did Hedwig himself desperately need the rest, but the body of her soulmates did, too. Even though each alter was very different, to the point of apparently having medical conditions specific to only one, things like rest, diet, and hydration effected the body and therefore each alter as a whole.
So far, Iris had learned more about D.I.D from spending time with her soulmates than any available research. Sheâd pulled books and even read through published studies, but the available information was painfully lacking.
Perhaps it was for the better. Going in blind meant that her time with her soulmates and each occurrence that followed would be authentic. She couldnât study for possible situations like someone with a cheat sheet tucked in their sleeve.
The following day is what would prove most interesting, though.
It was a day off for the both of them, something had had been rare as of late, and she was going to be attending one of Patriciaâs sessions with Dr. Fletcher.
Barry had expressed that he wanted her to join him, but Patricia was the one who had a session on a day that Iris was off work. She knew that Barry had a bit of a tense understanding with some of the other alters, Patrica being one of them. Neither spoke badly of the other, it was more of a tone or facial expression that alerted Iris to their feelings.
When Patricia had found out that she and Barry had expressed their love for each other, a pinched look had come across her face for a split second. Barely more than a tense of the lips and crease near the eyes. But Iris had grown up learning how to read micro expressions; at the time, it was her best survival tactic.
Barry looked moreâŠexhausted than anything. Like someone who hears a topic so many times it sucks their energy just by hearing it again.
She didnât have any illusions that all of the alters got along wonderfully just because they shared a body. No. The diversity of personalities sheâd met already warned her that there was due to be some clashes.
Her eyes drifted to Hedwigâs sleeping face again. The reaction to her meeting Hedwig was a perfect example of exactly that.
She wouldnât change a single one of them. Not for all the money in the world. They were her soulmates for a reason. They were meant to be, right down to their base level. She knew they shared that sentiment. To them, she was perfect. It still shook her to her core when she thought about it.
Lips tipping upward in a soft smile, she watched the boy for a moment more before she returned to where her thumb had marked her place, falling back into Margaret Atwoodâs fictional world.
Another calm hour passed by at a gentle lull before Iris decided it was time for the two of them to find their beds.
Luck was on her side that Hedwig went to bed fairly easily, letting her coax him to brush his teeth and wash his face. She was already changed into sleep clothes sheâd left behindâFelicia had a drawer reserved for her, since she had a standing invitation to use her bed when she neededâand met Hedwig in his room as he yawned broadly and flopped facedown onto his mattress.
Like she imagined many kids and teens to do, he didnât even care about getting under the blankets.
âSleep well, hun,â she mumbled quietly, stroking a hand along the back of his buzzed head. He heaved a great sigh at the touch, then went still again. She lingered long enough to hear his breathing deepen like before, just on the verge of those rumbling snores.
With a final, gentle rub to his back, Iris left the overly-energetic boy to finally rest and finished her own evening routine, preparing to crawl into Feliciaâs bed, among the plethora of throws and soft blankets sheâd accumulated.
Unlike their first meeting, Hedwig did not wake her by crawling into bed with her in the early hours.
Instead, the strong smell of a potent Chai tea ticked her nose shortly before her inner clock would have pulled her from sleep. She floated on the edge of waking, her subconscious minutely aware of the sudden change. Then, the bed gently dipped at the edge. It was the movement that finally woke her, opening her eyes to near darkness.
The light from the hall was the only thing to provide visibility, and it was silhouetting Patriciaâs seated form.
âGood morning, dear. Did you sleep well?â
The soothing lilt of Patriciaâs accent brought forth a sleepy smile.
âMorning,â she replied quietly, her voice roughened with sleep. âI hope I didnât oversleep?â The lack of windows made it difficult to tell.
Patriciaâs hand came to sooth the strands of hair mussed from moving around through the night, sending a ripple of goosebumps down Irisâs neck. Even after these many weeks with her soulmates, she was still caught off guard by the gentlest of touches. Her nerves seemed to dance with each one.
âNothing to worry about, dear, still plenty of time. I brought you a tea; take your time and come out for some breakfast when youâre ready.â
Her eyes had drifted closed again as Patricia stroked her hair, giving a soft hum of acknowledgement to her words.
âAre you falling asleep again?â
Truthfully, she had been. It was amazing how easily Patricia was coaxing her back into slumber just from softly caressing her head. Sheâd felt the seductive call of sleep teasing the edge of her consciousness.
âNo,â she protested, instead, and lifted her head from the pillow to avoid the allure of dozing. She could see the lift of Patriciaâs cheek, even silhouetted as she was, as her hand stilled at the back of her head in a cradling gesture. âI need to shower,â she murmured a moment later, belatedly thinking about how she should have done that the night before.
âAs I said, plenty of time. Would you like your breakfast after you shower?â
Irisâs first instinct was to insist that she didnât need to cookâshe was always the one cooking when it was Patriciaâs time in the Light. However, she knew that such insistences would mean absolutely nothing. âAfter,â she declared, instead. âThank you for the tea.â
âOf course, dear. Come to the kitchen when youâre all cleaned up,â Patricia assured, her fingers moving again as they started to card through the long strands of hair at Irisâs nape. âIâll brush your hair for you.â
It wouldnât be the first time Patricia had taken a gentle comb to Irisâs increasingly long hair, so she nodded without argument. She supposed it was similar to Felicia; she didnât have the chance to enjoy brushing her own hair, so she took the chance to enjoy Irisâs.
Considering the younger woman could be lulled to sleep with the simple grooming technique, there were no arguments from Iris.
Patricia left her to get up from Feliciaâs nest of blankets, picking up the hot tea that had cooled to the perfect temperature as theyâd talked. The subtle spice of the Chai was warm and welcoming, especially in the chill of the basement they resided in.
She took a few minutes to sit and sip at the tea, the bedside lamp turned on low to let her slowly adjust to the light. As she warmed her belly, thumbs stroking the smooth ceramic of the mug, she tried to remember where everything was that she would need for a shower. Felicia had told her which bottles in the bathroom would be best for her hair and the bodywashes that she was free to use.
Knowing that if she took too long she may very well fall asleep again, Iris rose to her feet and made toward the small, shared bathroom.
Her fretting was apparently for not, however, since Patricia had already taken matters into her own hands and there was a fresh towel sitting on the counter with the necessary hair products resting on top.
She smiled at the thoughtfulness and place the mug with her remaining tea on a free spot of countertop.
As her mind continued to wake up, it gave more time for the nerves of the day to begin setting in. As much as Iris knew her soulmates didnât mind her occupying them for a session with Fletcher, it still felt like an invasion of privacy.
Stepping into the shower, manoeuvring around a mass number of bottles, she began the quick process of scrubbing her hair.
Patrica was definitely more guarded than the others sheâd spent time with, so it felt that much more intense to know that she would be occupying her. And as kind as Dr. Fletcher had been in their previous interactions, she got the impression of being analyzed like a bug on a slide. Obviously, it was her job, but Iris wasnât accustomed to someone not personally known to her being aware of secrets that she carried close to the vest for nearly her entire life.
But her soulmates were putting themselves out there and allowing her into a private moment, she could push aside her own discomfort for the time being.
By the time she was rinsing the conditioner out of her hair, she was almost reluctant to have to leave the steamy warmth of the shower. The chill of the basement was already hard to step into after emerging from Feliciaâs blanket pile, she knew it was going to be that much harder to leave the bathroom.
Turning under the spray one last time, lifting her hair to be sure all of the soap was rinsed away, she paused upon looking down to see the blurry mark on her chest looked just a little moreâŠsolid?
She traced her fingers over the dark smudge, as though attempting to clean away a stain. Of course, no changes happened before her eyes, but she was nearly certain that it was clearer than it used to be. What did that mean?
Was it an alter that already existed or was this some sign of one that was yet to emerge?
As far back as she could remember, none of her other marks had steadily emerged like this one.
Each had appeared abruptly, like snapping into existence the moment a regular soulmate is born. Just waking up and there were new words printed on her skin.
With the size suggesting simply one word, she regularly found herself wondering what it could be. She been tempted to bring it up with Barry once before, ask him about his thoughts on it, but it felt strange to bring up a soulmate that may not yet exist. Considering the situation in which all of her soulmates were housed within one body, it may be one topic too far to bring up with them.
Pushing the curiosity aside, she finished rinsing herself and turned the taps off. Pondering on the mark wouldnât speed up the process. One thing she could take pride in was how much patience she had obtained over the years. She could wait a while longer to find out. She still had many soulmates left to meet as is, what was one more?
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