Thar Shaddin

After he set her down, she tried to get his attention by waving her arms but it was too late. Shade was already out the door to hunt for a box. Looking around, Tanya snagged up a pencil and started to use the non sharpened end to push all the debris out from under his bed.

If he was going through all this trouble for her sake the least she could do is help with the cleaning. Boy did she feel bad that he was hunting for a box when all she needed was a place to sit. Her joints were all lined with leather to make the doll easy to pose. If she sat somewhere she wouldn't get knocked over, she could rest just fine.

As Shade rummaged through his things, his mind flashed from one thought to another. His wolf side demanded he rip apart the thing, to make sure it didn't move again. The man in him was terrified, agreeing with the wolf in a way but wishing only to pass it on and be done with the creepy thing. Yet, there was a bit of him that felt sorry for the poor girl. His mother taught him to be gracious to women... so, it was meant to save the girl or at least help her... right?

He sighed, finding a box her size and bringing it back to the room. What he saw however made him stop dead in tracks, blinking a couple times as he watched in curious disbelief as the little doll used the pencil like a broom, pushing random things out from under his bed and was by all appearances.... cleaning?

"What are you doing?" Shade asked slowly as he put the box aside for now to frown at her. "I can do that myself you know."

Tanya stopped in her work when she heard Shade speak to her. She lowered her head and propped the pencil against a leg of the bed. Yet again she had seemed to freak him out without meaning to. Lifting her face to meet his gaze, the porcelain doll rested her hands over where a heart would be if she was in her old body. She then raised her hands up to him beseechingly.

All she had wanted to do was help Shade somehow. She was thankful to him for coming into her life. If it wasn't for him, she would have still be sitting on that storefront shelf. Tanya would have been alone, lost to her thoughts and memories in the dark. The antique doll wanted to repay him. She didn't want to be a burden but to help any way she could to make things easier for him, not harder.

Her emotions lightly perfumed the air as she lowered her arms to her sides. She then folded her legs under her while tucking her dress and apron beneath her. Tanya sat like a lady and placed her hands on her lap. The poor man had way too many shocks for one night and she was the cause for all of them. Perhaps it was better if she moved when he spoke to her and to stay put when he left the room. The last thing she wanted to do is give her savior a heart attack.

When Shade felt the little aura that pulsed from the doll he felt his body relax instinctively. He dropped down onto his knee and peered at her, his eyes softening slightly as he offered her his hands. He would pick her up if she wanted it, it was her choice alone.

Thinking about it now, he couldn't imagine it. He couldn't imagine the pain of being passed on from family to family, pack to pack as each one grew terrified of you. What would it be like to see you're Father leave you? To be unable to speak yet forcing yourself not to feel in fear of being abandoned? To have skin so delicate that it could shatter and you yourself would die? He felt a sadness take his heart the longer he thought of it.

Poor girl...

It took her by surprise when Shade knelt down on one knee in front of her, holding his hands out to her. Tanya watched him as his eyes softened and his whole body language changed. She was glad that he was starting to understand her more and was able to work through the fear of her.

The porcelain doll carefully rose to her feet, one hand flipping her thigh length hair back over her shoulder when it slipped over one eye. With her gaze meeting Shade's, she walks forward to stand between his hands. Tanya then raised her arms out to either side so he could easily pick her up. She was putting her life quite literally in his hands and trusting in him to keep her safe.

Shade picked up the tiny doll with gentle hand, his lips curling into a chuckling smile. Gently he picked her up, putting her in his lap so she faced forward. He hummed pleasantly as he plopped his head atop of hers, looking at nothing in particular and bent almost painfully but still moderately content.

"So, ya want to clean my room huh?" Shade mused as he let out a huff. "Odd, usually most woman avoid it at all cost. In fact, Lucy tells me that she's afraid Bec'll get lost in the piles of junk I got laying around. Banned the poor girl from my room she did." Shade glanced at the room and frowned a little. "Though, I guess I can't blame her. Haha!"

"Well now, one question remains though..." Shade glanced down at her and gave her a wink. "So, do ya think two of us could tackle this horrendous pig pen and survive or shall we die trying to unearth who knows what?"

Tanya laughed inwardly and relaxed under his chin while rubbing the top of her head back and forth, trying to tickle his chin with her hair. It was nice to be held like this instead of like she was an unfeeling object like previous owners did. It wasn't their fault, really. She never moved when they were around.

How Shade talked about Lucy and Bec made her smile inside. It was obvious he thought a lot about them and they cared about him just as much. Rolling up her sleeves, she showed him that she was ready to clean if he was. Since it had been so long since she had moved this much, she was ready to do what she could to help if Shade was up for it.

Shade laughed as he gently put her back on the floor and stood up, groaning as he cracked his neck and peering around the room. A frown tugged at his lips whoever as he felt suddenly lost. It was a pile of mess, and when he means pile he means like Rebbecca could get lost for days and nobody would find her kind of pile. He glanced down at her and gave her a dry smile.

"So... Where should we start? Clear off the bed or try and smash our way through those piles of laundry, junk and who knows what else?" He asked itching the back of his head with a grimace. "Damn, I'm not sure I actually want to see what's in there though. Probably a monster living in it."

She smoothed her dress out absently as she surveyed the mess, thinking where to start. She held her hand to her lower lip as she laughed silently again at his mention of monsters living in the piles of debris. Oh Tanya could definitely believe it! Walking back towards the bed, she took up the pencil again with one arm and then pointed at Shade then to the clothes. He could tackle that while she cleared out underneath and behind the furniture.

With that she sprinted underneath the bed to do her part in the battle against clutter and dust bunnies. It was crazy that one grown man could make such a huge mess in a place too low for him to fit under. Tanya stooped while she worked, taking the same stance and attacking the clutter as if it was a farm field full of weeds and rocks that needed to be removed. If they worked together, they should be able to get at least the floor cleared off and the laundry sorted for washing. The porcelain doll shook her head and would have tisked aloud if she could as she pushed a pile out into the open.

Shade barked out a laugh as he glanced at the pile she pointed at. Laundry? He distantly wondered how much was there and if Lucy would help with it. He sucked at doing laundry, one of the reasons why it was piled up. Yet, if he asked Lucy to do it..... she'd probably think he went off his rocker. He never cleaned and suddenly he shows up with a doll and starting cleaning like crazy? Definitely something up.

Turns out he was right, smiling innocently despite the suspicious stare as Lucy took the clothes and demanded what exactly happened while he was out. So, Shade used the only excuse he could come up with. Smiling he put on a blushed face and fidgeted with his toes as he gave her a sheepish smile.

"My Kitan doesn't like messy rooms." He said 'shyly' as he openly pouted at her. "I... I figured if he just dropped by at some chance...."

"I know you don't swing that way Shade but I'll let this slide." Lucy said with a roll of her eyes. "Are you cleaning all of it up there or did you run out of clothes?"

"Cleaning." Shade answered immediately thought the grin never left his face.

"If you need help, call. I doubt a man like you could handle it by himself." Lucy snorted as she trudged away with his laundry basket. Shade's grin widened.

"I'm not by myself." He answered with a wave of his hand as he turned and trotted back up the stairs. "I got myself a female buddy!"

The antique porcelain doll paused in her work when Shade walked out of the room with a huge armload of laundry and could hear talking near the bottom of the stairs. One of the voices was his and the other was one of a woman whom Tanya assumed was Lucy. She caught enough of the conversation to know he was trying to come up with an excuse for the cleaning spree. She giggled silently at his excuse and her response to it before he came back up the stairs.

Tanya quickly went back to work so he wouldn't think that she had paused to listen in. A couple of moments later, she was pushing some more random junk out from underneath the bed that she swore the dust bunnies had colonized. She could make out what looked like a outline of a old boot but she wasn't sure...and that was the scary thought. The good news was, she was almost done with clearing out from under Shade's bed.

Shade wasn't sure exactly WHERE this doll was pulling this stuff from because there was simply no way it could have fit under his bed. At least, not all of it. Trinkets, odd and ends, even the occasional book came from nowhere it seemed, pulled from the blackhole he had dared not venture towards.

"Find anything interesting?" He asked in amusement as she pushed more from the pile. "Nothing terrible I hope."

He spotted the colony that horded under his bend and grinning deeply, his eyes narrowing as he gave them a look of pure darkness. "Oh, so that's where you hid from me... Silly bunnies. Fufufu...."

After shoving the last of the debris out from underneath Shade's bed, the porcelain doll took a little break. Happiness and the feeling of accomplishment radiated from her as she playfully pantomimes whipeing sweat from her brow. Looking around her to see all they had done, she was surprised just how much she had unearthed.

Tanya props the pencil against the leg of the bed again and attempts to shake the dust from her dress, apron, and hair to no avail. Half of it didn't want to come off and stuck to her. She looked up at Shade when he made his bunny comment in time to see his smile. The look made her startle a bit but then she smiled inwardly, knowing the look was for the dust bunnies.

As the cleaning progressed and the room got cleaner, Shade felt himself thinking about the doll. Away she clanked and clittered, pushing with pencils or pulling around random socks she`d found. All in all, he wondered what it'd be like for her. To be breakable and completely dependent on somebody in hopes not be abandoned. The mere thought of her alone on a shelf made him bristle.

"That does it." he declared suddenly as he turned halfway through moving an armful of books. "You're sticking with me. No more damn moving, no creepy sales guys, and no damned well collecting dust lookin' pretty. You're a young lady now and I expect you to behave like one."

Shade snorted as he dropped the books rather heavily on the nearby desk, his eyes burning with determination.

"If I can't fix this, you'll stay with me." he promised with a growl. "Don't you worry kid, you won't be left alone again."

Shade's declaration took her by surprise and made her grow still. No more creepy store clerks or sitting on a shelf collecting dust? Memories of the last ten years played through her mind. Her father who sold her all the while not knowing she was inside. The rich elderly couple that always showed her off then sold her at auction. So many stores and hands Tanya had passed from that she couldn't count.

To be able to stay in one place...no that wasn't right. This was a home. The way Shade talked about Lucy and Bec, the way Tanya heard Lucy and him interact, this was definately a family. Not only did Shade took risk in bringing her here without knowing if she was a threat or not, he was now telling her that he wanted her to stay for good. It meant a lot to the porcelain doll that she had his trust. It went without saying that he had hers.

With a sudden burst of movement, she lightly clapped her hands before twirling around and bouncing on the heels of her little black leather shoes. She was so happy that the light hearted feeling flooded the room. A image flashed in her mind of the real her when she was still in her own body.

Tanya was smiling at her reflection in the window as the fire in the fireplace crackled. It was dark outside and it was winter time so she could see her reflection clearly. She had a heart shaped face with a slight widow's peak, fair skin that had lost its summer tan, dark wavy hair, and large almond shaped clear blue eyes. She was smiling and laughing at what her father was saying behind d her making the humorous dance in her eyes. They were the same eyes as the doll's but human.

If Shade was sensitive enough, he would have seen the same image in his own mind. Tanya had never felt so happy since that time. The porcelain doll had no idea that she could project images from her memory yet so she was unawares. All she knew was that she was so very happy about what Shade had said, that she wanted to express it to him.