[ToxicShadow]

"Come oooon, Zeeeeeee~" Toxic fussed at the man, wrapping both of her arms around just one of his arms, pressing herself up against him and blatantly batting her eyelashes.  "Let's go get candyyyy~" It didn't even occur to her that she might have been too close for comfort; the boundary between the two of them was incredibly blurred, and had been for a long time. There weren't many other folks that she'd allow to rest their heads on her lap, but he fell into that category, and vice versa.

[ToxicShadow]

The young man seemed entirely unfazed by the woman's antics. Though he turned his head to meet her gaze, and she very obviously batted her eyelashes at him, he still shook his head in response. His expression made it all too obvious to the woman that he was saying, "You don't need me; just go by yourself."

"Oh, come ooooon!" Toxic was not at all deterred by Z's initial lack of interest. "It's more fun if we go together."

[ToxicShadow]

"I'll even buy you candy, too!" She added on, without missing a beat. "And, you know, the sooner the better. If we wait too long, all the good stuff will be gone by the time we get there."

He stared at her for another moment, before sighing, and giving in to her request. "Okay, we'll go to the store for candy." Z didn't agree because he wanted the candy. He agreed because he knew it would make her happy.

[ToxicShadow]

That was how the pair ended up going for a drive in one of Z's cars.

Between Mixie's teleportation portals, Neffie's massive wings, and Z's herd of Frightmares, honestly, travel by car was a rarity, but Z's love for cars persisted, even in such a strangely magical world.

Grinning, Toxic, whom rode in the front passenger's seat, reached for the dial that controlled the volume level on the stereo face, turning it up louder than she usually tolerated.

[ToxicShadow]

Toxic hadn't butchered her hearing as much as Z had, and ended up more sensitive to noise. However, she made certain exceptions for songs that she particularly enjoyed and liked singing along with.

Z glanced over at her briefly, when he noticed the music being turned up louder, and, within moments, the two of them were singing along to the old song. It was nostalgic. It was one of the tracks from the CD that she had sort of stolen from Z, way back then.

[ToxicShadow]

His copy had been a burned one, which he'd gotten from another friend, but it was one of his favorites at the time, and, in turn, Toxic, wanting to understand him better, borrowed the CD. Every night while she fell asleep, she listened to it with what would now be considered a very out of date portable CD player with crappy headphones, until it was in somewhat poor condition.

Rather than returning the burned copy, she ended up purchasing a proper copy of the CD for him as one of his Christmas gifts that year.

[ToxicShadow]

Consequently, both Toxic and Z brought along their copies of the CD when they were sent away from their dying world, not even knowing if the discs would be able to function wherever it was that they were to end up. But both were important to the each of them.

Even to this day, in spite of the majority of the lyrics not necessarily being the comforting sort, the songs of the CD actually brought the young woman a sense of comfort and ease.

[ToxicShadow]

The first track, the pair was able to sing together flawlessly, but as the songs continued on, Toxic was found to be the only one singing the majority of the lyrics. After realizing that he wasn't singing much any more, she was concerned, worrying that, perhaps, something was the matter. So, she reached out to lower the volume significantly, turning the dial to the left.

"Is everything okay?" she ventured to ask, without even having to think about it.

[ToxicShadow]

Z hadn't realized that his lack of singing brought worry to the woman that sat in the car beside him, so when she made her inquiry, it took the man a moment to figure out what it was that she was referring to. "Oh, yeah. You know, I don't actually know the lyrics to all of the songs," he admitted.

"What? Really?" Toxic was very obviously surprised to hear such a thing.

"I didn't exactly have my CD very long before you stole it," he reminded her.

[ToxicShadow]

"Hey, hey! I bought you an actual copy to replace it!" she then reminded him. The tones of their exchange wasn't harsh, not in the slightest. "Had you been dedicated to learning the lyrics, you would know them, too," she even pointed out. "Since you liked the CD, I took it and listened to it every night, so I'd know all the songs and all of the lyrics." But it wasn't like she knew all of the lyrics to all of the songs anymore. There were some she wasn't entirely familiar with, after all this time, even though she could sing the majority of the lyrics, like they were carved on her heart and ingrained deep into her soul.

[Wild Pet Found]