(no subject)

[maxwellsdemon02]

Duo is sitting on the floor by the fireplace, print outs stacked in careful piles all around him. It's not usual for a digital-age kinda guy like him to have so much paper, but that's what legal cases get you. (It's harder to hack paper.)

He's also eating Meat On A Stick™. It's probably beef teriyaki, if you're feeling generous.

Comments

[cutting_edgex23]

On any other day -- during any other week -- X would approach, giving the Meat On A Stick a dubious look.

As it is --

She just watches him.

Carefully. (Silently.)

She is not sure what --

She is not sure.

[maxwellsdemon02]

Since she is not walking up to him, or even obviously staring at him, it takes a minute or two for Duo's instincts to poke him. When he finally looks up, he gives X a questioning glance.

Why is she all the way over there?

...and why doesn't he think it's a good idea to call her over, and therefore call attention to her?

[cutting_edgex23]

Eventually -- several minutes later than usual -- X meets his eyes.

And after another pause, full of a great deal of careful study, X offers a shrug.

It is one-shouldered.

It is also a great deal more awkward than it has been in quite some time.

[maxwellsdemon02]

Yikes. Something's up, but hell if he knows what. Well, only one way to handle an overly cautious, highly trained assassin, as Duo well knows.

Make room, and let them come to you.

Duo scoots over a little, and organizes his stacks some more.

[cutting_edgex23]

She studies the space he's left for another few minutes, then stands.

Another hesitation presages her approach.

And yet another comes before she sits down.

Carefully.

She remains poised to move in a heartbeat.

It is easier.

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Hi," Duo says, glancing at her briefly, then making himself look back down at his work.

Seriously, what the hell. She's acting like a stray alleycat. What happened on that mission? Was it the future? Freakin' time travel.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Hello. Duo."

The name seems to help.

Fractionally.

"You are working."

It's not quite a question.

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Sort of, yeah. Just trying to get some things straight in my head."




"You okay?" He looks a little wary about asking this question.

[cutting_edgex23]

"I -- "

She hesitates, studying him carefully.

Again.

Then --

"I am trying that. Too."

It is not a particularly graceful opening.

[puckishly.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooh.

Meat on a stick.*


Very, very slowly, a fairy's head pokes out from behind the nearest chair.

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Yeeeees?" Duo says.

It's been a while, and Duo has no current reason to be annoyed with Puck. So the tone is more genial than usual.

[puckishly.livejournal.com]

"Oh, hullo Master Maxwell," Puck says, sprawling from out of hiding in a largely contented cross-legged jumble.

"How do you here? And, nearer to the heart of things, what have you got on that stick?"

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Uhhh." We did mention you could say it as beef teriyaki if you were generous in your classification.

"Busy, and meat. Sort of. In that order."

[puckishly.livejournal.com]

"You do busy meat and have got sort of on a stick?"

Puck blinks owlishly.

"How very curious."

[maxwellsdemon02]

...

"Yeah, that's it exactly." And we're right back to the annoyed voice. Sorry, Puck!

Except not.

[puckishly.livejournal.com]

Puck smiles brightly.

"It is marvelous to see you. I had thought you were avoiding me."

[maxwellsdemon02]

"I don't avoid you. I just am thankful when I don't see you," Duo says, dry. It's pretty impossible to avoid Puck if he wants to find you, after all.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary is at a table, doing work and frowning - frowning quite a lot.

Every so often, she shoots Duo a sidelong look.

They're still Not Speaking, aren't they?

(It sucks.)

[maxwellsdemon02]

Duo would be perfectly fine with them speaking, seeing as a few things have happened since they last spoke.

He's frowning right now, at one of his sheets of paper. Oh, legalese. You never get any easier for the layman to understand.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Yes, but Duo, you are reckoning without Mary's OVERWHELMING STUBBORNNESS.

She squints harder at her newspaper instead. Troop movements, colonies . . . for a Europe theoretically at peace, there certainly is a lot of activity going on.

[maxwellsdemon02]

Well, no, he isn't. Which is why he is sneaking a look at her while she's reading her newspaper.

Is she still mad at him? Are we playing 'ignore Duo's existence'? She must have noticed him by now.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Sooner or later, with all the look-sneaking, one of the looks is bound to cross over.

When it inevitably does, Mary decides she may as well face the inevitable head-on. SHe sits straighter and fixes him with a direct look, trying to project IF YOU'RE STILL ANGRY I TOTALLY DON'T CARE vibes to the ceiling.

[maxwellsdemon02]

Oh, she's definitely still pissed. Great.

"We could talk about it," he offers. It doesn't carry very far, no yelling across the bar tonight.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary gives him a mutinous, defensive look, and folds her hands in her lap in front of her.

"Are you still cross?"

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Am I still worried? Always, but a little less now that I see you're okay. Am I still mad at you? No. I owe you an apology, too." He gives her a little smile.