milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Duo is sitting on top of a table in the bar. He's pretty relaxed at the moment, t-shirt and jeans, with a bottle of soda sharing the table with him.

His concentration is currently on the yo-yo he's practicing with. He's no expert, intermediate at best. But he can do a trick or two, and his lack of true skill certainly doesn't show when it's just going up and down.

Pretty mesmerizing, too.

[OOC note: It's getting a little late for me here, so ping before you tag! So's we can discuss slowtime options if necessary.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

His eyebrows go up again. "No kidding." Obviously they aren't blood related, but Milliways tends to foster interesting relationships.

"Sorry," Duo says, not really sorry at all. "I'll figure a good one out someday." He's still looking for another good name for her.

"Okay."

X shifts a half-step closer to Stitch.

On purpose.

"I will wait."

Stitch blinks uncertainly for a moment. A good what?

"Is Twenty-three." A clawed thumb is jerked helpfully in her direction. Stitch is of the opinion that you get to decide what your name is.

"Well, sure. And Laura. And even Joe, I guess." He wrinkles his nose at that last one. "But since she never told me which one she really likes best, I'll keep trying with some new ones."

"'sides. I got a number too. Only use it for special occasions these days. Not much fun."

X studies Duo warily. Does he know she can hear him?

And then, only a little intransigently, she says--

"Joe is okay."

Beat.

"John calls me that, too."

"You wanna be?"

He's been referring to her by number. And she'd picked a name.

Duo already had this conversation and thus rolls his eyes tolerantly. "See? You just need to learn how to tell people to shut up when they're annoying you. We might even listen!"

X is looking more than a little bewildered.

None of this makes any sense.

"You call me Twenty-three," she says to Stitch.

"That is okay, too."

It's his name for her. That is important.

Stitch for once probably looks equally confused. She...

"You sure?"

"Toooold you," Duo puts in, sing-song. Not much bothers her, but the girl will do something if you really piss her off.

"Yes," X says firmly. "Twenty-three is okay. For you."

Then she looks at Duo.

"You did not say anything relevant."

Duo is glared at. One set on fingers close into a fist with an audible cracking of knuckles.

"Grrrrr."

"Oooh, so tough. I'm not scared. Your cousin there won't let you beat me up. We've got a sparring date, and she wants to do it herself."

Not that he'll be feeling any less ground into hamburger, but at least it's for a purpose?

"Stop it," X says, voice level.

And then, a half-second later.

"Please."

She does not want them to fight.

And she does not want to have to hit either of them.

Stitch's eyes go wide at the 'please'. He casts a look up at X. And slumps back down in his chair.

Duo grins at both of them. "Okay, okay. Pax, big guy? Tell you what, I'll even teach you 'rock the baby' if you give me the yo-yo back."

X could take them all with a hand behind her back anyway.

X looks at Stitch, half-startled and half-frowning.

"You have a yo-yo?"

She flicks a glance at Duo, half-curious, now, too.

"You are very good?"

There is some half hearted grumbling. For the principle of the thing.

"Ih." To both of them.

The yo-yo is handed over.

Duo wipes the slime off on his shirt before winding the string around his middle finger. "You gotta know how to make it sleep first, but after that, it's simple. Just a matter of grabbing the string in the right spots. Here, watch."

He demonstrates.

X studies his movements in silence for a while.

Then--

"That is useful?"

She looks a little skeptical.

"Oooh."

Stitch, on the other hand, is intrigued. Grabby hands ensue.

"Useful? For anything but impressing an audience, not so much. Fun? Yes."

He passes it over to Stitch. This should be good. "Guess you could always use yo-yo tricks to work on your manual dexterity."

"My manual dexterity is very good."

X's voice is matter of fact.

"Better than yours."

Beat.

"It is okay."

Stitch ignores the commentary, engrossed as he is with the task at hand. It takes a few seconds of fiddling but in the end there is a similar (four fingers make for slight differences, don'tcha know?) triangular shape, the yo-yo swinging merrily away.

Smug aliens are smug.

"You're so generous, X." If he didn't know her better, he would have suspected that was a joke.

"-and hey, how the hell do you know, anyway? It's not like you've ever seen me dropping stuff or tripping over my own feet!" He's pretty sure she's never seen him do much but sit, stand, and talk. "Sure, walking and chewing gun is hard, but that's no reason to judge a guy!

"Nice work," he adds to Stitch as an aside.