I got you something (Mat, of course) - Mat & Ren's Haven

Ren told Mat to meet her at the docks. She didn't say why, but she sounded stupidly excited.

It didn't take him long to answer her request - just long enough to get the pups some food and a walk. After that, the hat wearing Gangrel walked along the docks as if he belonged there, as if he had built them himself: how easily the memory of each plank, each light returned to him, a muscle memory. A pleasant memory.

"Madam called?"

"Evening, Mat." Their relationship had certainly changed. It was no longer blood driven. No longer desperate. She smiled up at him as she held out both hands, a treat for eash of the big dogs in them.

"I...sort of got you something..." She looked little nervous. "You gotta promise not to get mad though."

They were no longer fledglings, no longer scraping by. He no longer fought what he was, fought against the system. He may dislike it, but he understood its more organic nature. Even society evolved. As the dogs gobbled up their treats, the planks beginning to groan under Roux's girth (let alone Mat's), the Gangrel pushed back his hat a few inches, scratching at his forehead.

"Par Toutatis Duckie... " he was pleased though. Surprised, but pleased. "Ah doubt ya can make meh mad, gittin'meh sumptin'."

Oh, it was possible. He never liked expensive things. Never liked ostentatious gifts. Ren looked rather sweetly worried as she took his hand and lead him down the dock and through the gate that kept out those who didn't have access to the little harbor.

Once through the gates she contined down to one of the slips where she let go of his hand and pointed to something she hoped he'd be happy with.

It needed some cosmetic work, which she knew Mat would end up loving to do, but it was otherwise solid.

Just like him. Solid, sea worthy, but nothing much to look at. He was lead down, her small hand dwarfed by his own. He was even smiling slightly before he looked up. Saw what she had bought. His mouth opened to protest, but it died in his throat. Mat... was breathing. His chest grew and deflated, as he was taken back to when he was truly alive. Back when his greatest dream was the freedom of a ship, of a boat... his own boat. Her hand was squeezed with all the strength he had gained - natural, and the unnatural she had given him before he stepped forward. Touched... another part of the Dream. His Dream. Their dream.

"... ah boat...." it was all he could manage as he touched her hull. Endlessly more graceful than the simple vessel he had built for them. He looked at her after a long moment... gratitude. A bit of confusion. A lot of confusion. His mind wondered, wandered... then he held out his free hand. For her. To put her hand on the boat too. To the hull she had financed.

"... bad luck teh not 'ave ah name."

Her hand rest against the side of the boat. The gift. "I figured you could do that part. She's yours after all."

He gave her a look - one that said it wasn't just his... but for the moment, he wouldn't fight her on it. That could be for another night, another week. So many thoughts and wants. Things which were no longer forced. He tore his eyes away from her face, hand slowly curling up, into his five nails were against the hull. Several names ran across his mind, swirled around the gale that was his soul.

"Freedom." because that's what it was. What it could be.

She watched his hand travel over the hull, turned to watch the expression on his face. She was moved that she'd been able to bring him such joy. "It's perfect."

"Yeah, it is." by the sound of it, perhaps they were talking about two slightly different things. Perhaps not. He finally removed his hand, and went up the gangplank. There was a whole boat to explore. Well, he got most of the way up the ramp - two bundles of Red beat him there, who were all about sniffing what would likely become a fixture in their lives. Once his boots touched the boat itself, he turned and waited for her. Beaming. He was beaming, fighting the urge to go get his few tools, to start work at night.

It was so rare that he smiled, at least not one of such rue happiness. She followed up the ramp, a little waif of a woman surrounded by rather large beasts. "I didn't do anything with it...I figured you'd want to do most of the hands on stuff." She was willing to help, always, but she also understood his desire to work on such things.

Words just couldn't express it. He wasn't sure if he was capable of expressing what he felt as she came up, joined him. He looked down at her, boinking the top of her head with his forehead 'gently'. So many things he wished to say, do. Instead, his fingers played with her short hair, watching as the dark strands washed past his ruddy skin.

"... Together." he said softly.

"Together." She agreed. HEr eyes closing as she accepted the bonking.

"... I have been burned by you. Blessed by you. Touched by you. Punched by you. Sought by you. Lost by you... but tonight... you have made me feel something beyond nearly everything we have shared." He took one of her little hands, and put it against his chest. Where his heart was. "... I feel human. Humane."

"Oh Mat..." She was ready to cry. Truly cry. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"Sometimes, we need to hurt so we can see what matters." a wry smile. "I have thick skin, means it takes longer for me to put two and two together." then a full one. "Gallons of blood, pointless. All it took was a smile. And a boat."

"I'm glad you like it." She was so cute when the shyness overtook her.

It was obvious 'like' was not strong enough a word. Period. He finally just closed his eyes, breathing in the salty air, feeling the rocking of the water. She still stood there, in his mind's eye, just as she was. Just as she would always be.

"Alright. If I don't stop, I'm going to try to be romantic, and we know how well that works out." he nodded to himself, letting her hand go after a moment or two longer. Clapped his hands together, as he surveyed what would be one of two projects. He began to inspect the deck, or try too - distracted was a good word for him right now.

"You picked flowers for me once." The memory of him and his bouquet of stollen flowers still amused her.

That stopped him short - he had forgotten about that memory. He bowed his head, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I guess one almost successful attempt in three years counts for something? Two, I suppose, if you count the color I choose for the tie."

She laughed. "Mat, neither of us are the romantic type. I'm still not sure why we tried so hard, so often."

"Because for some Toutatis damned reason, we think the other person wants it? Or that we... should. Left overs, perhaps, of life." apparently, he had given this some thought. "I know that I tried because you... you've liked pretty boys. I will never be one of those. So, I figured, I could give you something of what you liked. Of course, you stayed with me because you wanted too, so it's idiotic." a helpless shrug. "I don't know. I figure because we try so hard, it means something. Then again, it could mean we're just a pair of deuces." he looked up at the stars, the few they could see near the city. Rubbed his jaw with the back of his right hand.

"We are silly."

"I like you too. I always have." She wanted him to know that. To believe it.

"I know. You just bought me a boat, after all. Even bonded yourself to me. It was just..." he paused from looking at the stars. Here was the truth, after all, what he prided himself on. What he had tried to understand when he had run.

"It was just us coming to a point... where we liked each other in the same amount. Rather than me following you like some love sick puppy." he glanced at Roux, whose paws were on the railing, tongue out, breathing in the night air.

"... And I know how annoying that can be, having watched him for long enough."

"It never bothered me overmuch." She looked out over the water.

"I know I've said it before, but...it applies even more now. If you need anything, please just ask." The way she said it made it sound like she had even more money than before.

She'd always been generous.