(no subject)

[anita_blake]

So, Anita's been busy.

In the meddlesome, over-protective, annoying way she usually is, but she has been busy.

However, at the moment, she is preparing to step back through the door to St. Louis. She had spent most of the time with her pard and Damian, but had run across Richard a couple of times. Tense, as usual, and the conversation always short-lived. She was always chasing after someone, needing to be somewhere else.

Tonight, though, she's seated in a booth, readying herself to go back to the city.

To go back, tell Jean-Claude about this place, and drag his ass back somehow.

But, before she does that, she's hoping to talk to a couple of people.

Comments

[chartreuse_eyed]

"We've moved to prevarication, have we? Maybe, just maybe, friends aren't going to harm Nathaniel...it can't hurt to give him a little slack on the short leash."

He smiles lightly, content just talking with Anita. It was rare they managed that much. "I think you'll be happy with your decisions."

[anita_blake]

She's quiet for a moment.

"He started to cry when I told him," she murmurs. "I thought he was unhappy I was revoking the decision, but he thanked me before curling up in my lap."

[chartreuse_eyed]

"Nathaniel cried? Maybe he's relieved you lightened up. He's trying, Anita, but you know as well as I do the only way to learn, really learn, is mess up a little."

He squeezes her lightly for a moment, letting her relax back. "Not a lot. You'll keep him from that much."

[anita_blake]

Anita sighs, closing her eyes and just listening to Micah's heartbeat for a while.

"I figure either Damian or Nathaniel will tell Asher, but I think I should talk to him too."

Not apologize, maybe, but say something.

[chartreuse_eyed]

"Why? They'll pass it on." He kisses her cheek lightly. "What is it that worries you so much about Asher?"

[anita_blake]

"I don't know."

But she does, and her reasons for mistrusting Asher are petty and personal, and she knows it.

Which is why she tells Micah she doesn't know.

[chartreuse_eyed]

"Liar."

It's a fond little chuckle; he knows Anita better than that, even now. "Tell me?"

[anita_blake]

"He wants Jean-Claude," she sighs. "And he prefers men... and Nathaniel is vulnerable... and he absolutely beautiful now... and I just don't trust such... cold... perfection."

Anita is uncomfortable sharing her thoughts, but he is her mate. Nimir-raj to her Nimir-ra, and she won't keep things from him when he directly asks.

[chartreuse_eyed]

"So you don't like him because he's pretty and openly bi." Micah leans over and looks at her quizzically.

"What's wrong with him wanting Jean-Claude? It's not a communicable disease, sweetheart."

[anita_blake]

Anita frowns at him.

"I don't share my men, Micah. You know that. And that's what he's after, me sharing Jean-Claude."

[chartreuse_eyed]

"Yes, I do, though I've yet to understand it." He nuzzles at her. "I think Jean-Claude would be happier, and perhaps more helpful in the long run, if you let him be happy. They're both fairly openly bi, what's the harm in letting them be together?"

If she agrees to Jean-Claude and Asher, it would be a foot in the door to Asher and Nathaniel. Though how the leopard will react to this news is anyone's guess. "Aside from you keeping us on a short leash."

[anita_blake]

"Can I not discuss my boyfriend sleeping with his ex-lover with my other boyfriend? It's just... weird."

Then again, everything in her life was weird, from her obsession with penguins to the fact she was a Nimir-ra and a lupa.

[chartreuse_eyed]

"Because that wasn't convoluted at all," he chuckles, turning to kiss her cheek. "You can leave it, if you want. And simply be my beautiful, albeit pervy, necromancer-penguin-lover."

Beat.

"Don't think I haven't noticed how you shun me for Sigmund."

[anita_blake]

Anita actually feels herself blush, and she elbows Micah playfully.

"I am hardly pervy, and with this attitude, it's no wonder I choose the stuffed penguin over you," she says with a grin.

[chartreuse_eyed]

He laughs, and cuddles her closer. "You hooked up with me and you still say you're not pervy? Obviously I haven't corrupted you nearly enough," Micah says, bending around the elbow.

[anita_blake]

"I don't need to be corrupted," Anita says, trying her best to be miffed. "I am perfectly fine as I am. Hang ups and all."

[chartreuse_eyed]

"Oh yes, dozens of hang-ups," he says into the side of her neck. "You are perfectly fine to me."

[anita_blake]

Anita shivers, tilting her head a little more for him.

"Good, 'cause I don't think I can change."

[chartreuse_eyed]

He nips at her throat, smiling. "You want to be very, very late picking up Jean-Claude?"

[anita_blake]

"I don't think he'll mind," she murmurs, turning her head enough to kiss him, sliding her tongue into his mouth as she shifts against him.

[chartreuse_eyed]

"Good," he teases, turning her over so her front is pressed against him as they recline. "Though unfortunately we can't do anything...here."

[anita_blake]

Anita nuzzles his throat, her hands pressed to his chest.

"Then I suggest we find somewhere we can do something."

[chartreuse_eyed]

He chuckles, and pulls her close. "As usual, stellar idea. I have a room, if you don't mind it looking plain. Got a bed..."

[anita_blake]

"A bed is all that's necessary," she says, biting at his throat.