Living in the Shadows: IC, Jan 8th-14th Options

[grendel]

10:39:44 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Kovacs glances down at their intertwined hands, his face immobile. After a moment of slack, he gives Mac's hand a squeeze in return. Taking a deep breath, he settled his shoulders, the armor around his soul once more intact. He flips off the autodrive and resumes control of the vehicle, dumping them from the highway and onto the surface streets of Puyallup.

Traffic is light this early on a Saturday, and he moves them quickly through the commercial zone surrounding the interchange and into the endless blocks of gray, utilitarian blue-collar housing. The apartment blocs rise between ten and fifteen stories into the gray winter sky, their harsh urban lines enclosing the street like worn and tired sentinels. Kovacs guides the truck into one of the underground parking garages, fishing out a keycard that he scans through the access box. The heavy steel gate scrolls aside, and the dimness of the garage swallows them. Kovacs backs the truck into a spot before grabbing his satchel from the back seat and sliding out of the cab. Mac follows him, once more seeking physical contact as they walked to the elevator. Kovacs gave up his left hand, and they rode up two floors in silence, exiting into a remarkably plain hallway. Once more, the tall samurai uses his keycard to open the maglock on apartment number seven, stepping through and letting Mac enter the sparsely furnished room first.

[Vegas]

10:45:03 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Mac followed his lead, stepping into what she assumed was yet another of his many safehouses as she let her eyes roam over the generic decor as simple and impersonal as the apartment from last night. She felt Kovacs step in behind her and shut the door, hearing it lock behind them.

She took a few steps further into the apartment feeling Kovacs shadow each one, feeling his more predatory nature stalking behind her. She touched her tongue to her lips as she turned with her next step on the ball of her foot to face him. She tilted her head slightly as she tried to read the situation, to read something in the impassive set of his face and his body.

She watched as his grip on his satchel tighten almost imperceptibly and she raised a brow in response. She voiced the question at the forefront of her mind in that very instant not wanting to misread the moment, her voice soft and with a hint of something else hidden in it.

"Kovacs, why are we here?"

[grendel]

10:50:52 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Kovacs drops his satchel onto the couch, raising a thin cloud of dust. He peers into the kitchen, scanning for any signs of unauthorized visitors. A small cleaning drone whirs past, quietly vacuuming the carpet.

"Because you wanted to talk, and it sounded like you wanted some privacy. And because I wanted to do more than talk."

He headed down the hallway towards the closet at the far end, opening up the folding door and rummaging through the shelves before finding a clean set of sheets.

[Vegas]

10:58:17 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Mac both loved and hated the effect his words had on her as a shiver of electricity ran through her and her body started to respond to the anticipation of what was to come. The primal part of her brain that craved the addicting mix of pain and pleasure and the feeling of his body against hers won out over her desire to dredge up more dark memories or talk about the issues she had with the run, or the file on her commlink. She couldn’t help but smile darkly as she shrugged out of her coat, setting it beside his bag on the couch as she spoke to him down the hall.

“Yes I wanted to talk…” She dropped her voice, knowing full well he could still hear her even as he stepped into what she assumed was the bedroom. “Emphasis on wanted at this point.”

She started slowly down the hallway, her heels barely sinking into the generic carpeting as she walked. She pushed the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbows and enjoyed the feeling as the cool yet stale air of the apartment washed over her warm skin. The hunger in her heightened her senses, her body hyper aware of every sensation as she stepped closer to the threshold of the bedroom.

It took every inch of control that she had to keep from throwing herself at him, to maintain her casual lean up against the door frame as he finished with the sheets and turned to look her up and down. They stood feet apart, one dark soul a mirror to the other. The need in her feeding the predator in him in a thrilling game of continual give and take. Her eyes locked on his. She could see the darkness in him just below the surface, the need, the hunger struggling to break free.

It stole her breath away.

[grendel]

11:39:41 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Kovacs closed the distance between them with slow deliberateness, his body turning to press Mac against the open door, his hips grinding into hers. A low growl escaped her throat as she pulled him down into a hungry kiss, tongues tangling together. She felt clothes leaving her body, her sweater yanked over her head, jeans worked down across her hips. She gasped as his lips found the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs, her hands pressing his face tighter as her back arched. Then Kovacs was on her again, spinning her around, forcing her hard against the wall, the chill surface biting at her nipples. He captured her arms with a sweeping twist, wringing a hiss of pain from her lips. The ropes burned around her skin, their implacable grasp wresting away her freedom, pulling her relentlessly into the darkness of her mind.

Belatedly she realized she was lying on the bed, her hips lifted as Kovacs' hands groped and mauled the rounded cheeks of her ass, his face pressed into her groin. Her hungry cries filled the small bedroom, rising twice to a crescendo. Then she was face down, back arched as he knelt behind her, driving into her with bruising force. Fire burned through her veins, raw, hungry energy, as if she'd never been sated in her life. And yet she could feel it from Kovacs as well, an elemental wellspring that fed the painful emptiness within her.

[Vegas]

11:58:03 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Mac gasped for air as Kovacs drove her face down against the bed with each thrust of his hips, her arms immobile beneath his ropes. She rocked back against him in counterpoint doing everything she could to draw out his release by using her body against him. Her hands closed and flexed around empty air as she longed to dig her nails into his skin, to ratchet up the level of pain he delivered to her. She felt herself slipping over the edge from her restricted breaths, losing herself to the intense heady sensation of when she surrendered to the darkness that burned within her, when she submitted to him. She lost track of time as she lost herself in the moment, only coming out of her headspace as Kovacs clenched his grip on her hips and spent himself inside her, as her final climax though muffled against the bed, mingled with his own.

He pushed her onto her side, her chest heaving with each draw of breath that gave her fresh air as he sat beside her and ran his fingers through his hair. He let her stay bound as she lay there beside him, her eyes half-closed enjoying the ebbing sensations racing through her, as she struggled ever so slightly against the rope and in turn against his will. She was content for the first time in as long as she could remember, her mind was calm and serene. That peace was shattered as she was suddenly lifted up to her knees by her hair, wringing a yelp of pain from her lips.

Stripping the rope away from her body with a speed and force that left lingering marks across her biceps Kovacs wasn't quite done with her, his appetite not yet sated. As he cast the ropes aside, the synthetic of his right hand wrapped around her throat, the latent strength holding her in place and more still than his ropes ever could as he slowly increased the pressure of his grasp. He pulled Mac to him, her long legs straddling his hips as he settled her against his lap, his body stirring beneath her heat. He locked eyes with her as he continued to squeeze tighter, the edges of her vision dancing in hazy grays and indigos. Her body bucked involuntarily against his hips as her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. Her lips parted as if to call out, but no sound came and her eyes flashed with a moment of fear thinking Kovacs might not let go.

As her panic registered with him, he let go and as she drew her deep gasping breath his hands moved back to her hips, driving her down onto him. Mac cried out at the overwhelming mix of pain, fear and pleasure as she snaked her arms around Kovacs' shoulders and held on tight as she gave herself over to him, mind, body and soul.

[grendel]

12:09:56 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Mac tasted blood on her lips, and for a moment she wasn't sure whose it was. Blinking open her eyes, she pushed her tangled hair out of her face and saw the raw red wound on Kovacs' shoulder. He didn't seem to notice, his right arm wrapped around her waist while his left draped lower, his hand palming the curve of her ass. Their bodies felt bonfire hot in the narrow chill of the room, pale reflections from the noonday sun filtering through the cheap curtains on the far wall. Mac had a sudden irrational urge to take this man and run, run far away from everything. Find some small room in some far away place and submerge each other in the raw emotions binding them together and never come up for air. She clung to him, desperate for his strength. She felt him trail his fingertips gently down her back, bringing a shiver of goosebumps to her skin. Again, she feels him press his face into her hair, inhaling the rich female scent of her, as if he would never be able to hold her again.

[Vegas]

12:16:38 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Mac nuzzled her cheek against his chest, pulling herself closer and insinuating herself against him. Whether she was unwilling or unable to let go of him in that instant she wasn't sure but she clung to him all the same. She closed her eyes and tried to memorize every nuance of the moment. The feeling of his skin against hers, the sound of his relaxed breathing, the way he could steal her breath away with a single look or the slightest touch.

She shook her head slightly trying to dispel the foreboding feeling that was creeping into her high that threatened to shatter the moment they shared. The reality that they couldn’t run at this point, too far invested in seeing the plan to the end and doing everything possible to burn it down and make certain de Medici didn’t rise from the ashes. The thought sent a shiver through her that was altogether different from the sensation of Kovacs’s fingers against her skin.

“Can we just stay here a few minutes more?” She murmured against him, her lips brushing against his skin as she spoke.

I’m not ready to go back to reality quite yet…

[grendel]

12:34:19 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

We can stay forever, said the voice in Kovacs' head.

"We can stay a little longer," said his mouth.

He slipped his arms tighter around Mac, the warmth of their bodies warding off the chill of the room. He felt her breathing against him, the energy of her body soft and sated for once, a peacefulness to her that he wished he could grant forever. He knew, though, that this was the calm before the storm. Tomorrow they would armor up the vehicles and start their recon runs, and by Monday they'd be well set for the intrusion. And everything after was blood and tears.

Rolling to the side, he pulled Mac in to spoon with him, wrapping them both in the blanket, his arm draped possessively across her hip. Silence surrounds them, as if the city had somehow turned its back on the small room to give them privacy from everything. The pale reflected sunlight crossed the room in shadows, and the warmth and comfort lulled them into a restful haze. For the first time in a long time, Kovacs doesn't fear closing his eyes. The minutes seem to crawl past like hours, but all too soon the clock inside his mind tells him that their interlude is over. Pressing his lips against the back of Mac's neck, he gives her one last kiss.

"C'mon. We should get cleaned up."

[Vegas]

12:51:37 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Mac groaned her displeasure as reality stomped back in on the peacefulness of the bedroom. She tried to bury her head in the blankets as she felt Kovacs slip out from underneath them, taking with him the warmth the pair had almost insulated themselves with against the rest of the world.

“Go ahead,” Her voice muffled as she spoke into the bed. “I’ll join you in a minute.”

She could feel it when he left the room, an emptiness that rushed in on her as she heard the shower start across the hall. Fighting the urge to burrow deeper into the blankets, she forced herself to get up, stretching out her body as she padded into the bathroom to join Kovacs. The shower was utilitarian, purely to rinse off any evidence of what they had just shared of one another and time was of the essence.

Mac started to fix her hair into some semblance of her original ponytail as Kovacs dried off. She couldn’t help but steal a glance at him through the mirror, her lips curving into an appreciative smile as her eyes raked over his body. When his eyes caught hers, she couldn’t help but cast her eyes down, a subtle blush staining her cheeks. She laughed softly at herself and it was slightly infectious, getting a smile out of him as well.

It didn’t take long before they finished getting dressed and completed a few housekeeping tasks, returning the apartment back to its original, anonymous state. Mac slipped her arms into her coat and settled the now-familiar weight of her holster at her hip before she turned her gaze back on Kovacs.

“Anything else you needed to get done while we’re out, or are we headed straight back?”

[grendel]

12:58:42 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 801 Alder Ave Apt 7, Puyallup, Seattle

Kovacs flexed his right hand as if seeing it for the first time. "Nope, finished all my errands earlier. We should pick up lunch on our way back, though. And we can make any stops you need."

Mac furrowed her brow for a moment, then shook her head as well. "Can't think of anything pressing I need, but food does sound good. Where were you thinking?"

Instead of answering right away, the tall samurai gestured her out the door, making sure it locked solidly behind him, then leading her down to the parking garage where the truck waited.

"There's a Thai place I know nearby, we can get some pho," he said, firing the heavy diesel. The truck's navigation system responded to the unspoken request, and without a look back they emerged onto the city streets, disappearing into the urban jungle.

13:41:49 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

"You haven't missed much," said Tristan around a mouthful of rice noodles, gesturing with his chopsticks to the surveillance feed that spun past at eight times normal speed. Kovacs nodded, his attention on the images as he stirred his own bowl. Mac sat behind the two men, perched on the hood of the truck. The dissipating heat from the engine was keeping her nice and toasty warm. The Roadmaster was buttoned up, Drift taking the opportunity to catch some sleep. Suda lay curled on her cot, napping as well. She'd waved a hand to acknowledge the food, but hadn't risen yet.

"Workout later?" asked the lanky swordsman.

"Yeah," replied Kovacs. "Cardio. We're going to be doing some heavy lifting tomorrow."

[Vegas]

13:43:26 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Mac watched the dizzying display of the surveillance feed spin past her vision, catching probably less than a tenth of what was contained in it. She refocused her attention on her Pho, deftly using her chopsticks to pluck a piece of protein along with a slice of a fiery chili from the broth. The burn in her mouth was nearly instant and brought a smile to her lips as she enjoyed the heat of the truck radiating beneath her. She looked up as the screens slowed faded back to real-time footage. She watched the back of Kovacs’ head as he remained with his gaze transfixed on the screens in front of him as he answered Tristan’s request. She cleared her throat, as much to slow the burn from the Pho as to get his attention.

“So if Tristan is heading to Geisty's and you and Drift are going for a drive, what do you need me to do while you're gone?”

[grendel]

13:51:38 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Kovacs gestured with his chopsticks, leaning around so Mac could see a quarter profile of his face. "Stand watch. If something happens push it to us on the network. If it looks like we won't make it back in time, bug out to one of the safe houses and we'll either rendezvous there or grab you on the way."

Tristan appeared from around the corner of the truck, having dressed in his traveling gear. Kovacs passed him the keys, and Mac reluctantly gave up her perch for the swordsman's recently vacated seat.

"Back soonest," was all he said as he fired up the truck's heavy diesel. Kovacs watched with a critical eye until the truck had cleared the surveillance zone around the warehouse, then checked the time stamp in the upper corner of the display before briefing Mac on his plan.

"I'll give Drift another half hour to rest, then we'll do our drive by. Shouldn't take more than an hour."

[Vegas]

13:54:09 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Mac had been afraid that was going to be her role and yet she nodded as her face went a little unreadable as she did her best to hide her mild concern of being the one left responsible, if only for a couple of hours. She shifted her gaze from Kovacs’ face to the screens and get a better look at the layout and what “normal” looked like.

“I’ll try not to be the girl who cried wolf while you’re gone. It’s all icy. Anything you want me to keep my eyes open for?”

She turned back to him with a brow raised as one more, yet very important question popped into her head.

“Suda. Staying or going?”

Frankly given this morning’s revelations and not wanting to walk a tightrope around the Shaman for the next few hours, she rather hoped she’d have the warehouse to herself.

[grendel]

14:07:23 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

"Don't sweat it," replied Kovacs. "Drift still has his mobile assets, he can check things out even when we're on the road. Better to push the question and find out it's just the local squatters than to miss someone moving surveillance assets into place. Just keep an eye out for anything that strikes you as strange. Use your intuition." His mouth twisted into a rare, wry smile for a moment, leaning back in his seat and stretching his arms overhead. Mac scooted her chair ever so closer and was rewarded as he draped his arm over her shoulders. Once again she intertwined her fingers with his. After a moment, he answered her second question.

"Staying, I surmise, she hasn't listed anything in the network which would draw her from the warehouse. You girls play nice."

[Vegas]

14:18:12 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Mac pursed her lips in disappointment at the news but pushed it to the back of her mind and just enjoyed the feeling of his arm around her while she could.

"I'll be a perfect angel."

She laughed softly as she rested her head against Kovacs' shoulder and once again had the near irresistible desire to beg him to go to Plan B, to walk away from this all and leave with her to places unknown. When the realistic and logical part of her chided the romantic movie-type ending she was hoping for, her fingers laced a little tighter with his. She lifted her head slightly and moved her eyes away from the screen to look at his profile.

"Promise me you'll stay safe out there today?"

[grendel]

14:24:38 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Kovacs arched an eyebrow which eloquently expressed his doubt as to her ability to be a perfect angel. Rather than commenting, he leaned over and kissed her. He glanced over her shoulder, concentrating for a moment. The door to the Roadmaster slid open and Drift flopped his arm out.

"Yeah, yeah."

Kovacs smiled, disentangling himself from Mac's embrace. He gave her one more kiss.

"We'll be careful. I won't let anyone turn Drift's son into an orphan."

The Roadmaster's diesel fired and the lanky street sam climbed into the passenger side. The heavy truck backed and disappeared out of the warehouse, leaving Mac alone with the flickering surveillance display and her thoughts.

[Vegas]

14:49:12 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

A soft smile lingered on Mac's lips as her eyes watched the various feeds until the Roadmaster was no longer in any frame. Once they were gone, she reached her arms over her head and stretched before settling into the chair, tucking her feet up beneath her. She made sure that while she was paying attention to the information coming in from the surveillance outside, she didn't do it to the exclusion of all else around her. With the majority of the team gone, she could hear more of the sounds of the warehouse itself. The sounds the limited heat made, the soft hum and buzz of the electronics that surrounded her and even the muffled sounds from the world outside the warehouse that crept in between the relative silence.

She was however acutely aware of the shaman who stirred and started moving around back near the cots and she quietly hoped that Suda would keep herself otherwise occupied for the next couple of hours. She was rather enjoying the headspace she was in and didn't want it disturbed by having to "play nice." She drummed her fingers against the arm rest of the chair absentmindedly to the soundtrack in her head as her eyes moved from screen to screen silently.

[grendel]

15:33:06 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

As it turns out, Mac's concerns are unfounded. Suda merely nodded to her as she went past, giving the surveillance feeds a perfunctory glance before returning to the carefully etched circle she'd constructed yesterday. And it was only fifteen or twenty minutes later that she caught Tristan's text over the network:

Inbound. ETA five minutes

True to his word, the truck rolled into the warehouse only six minutes later. The swordsman slid out from the cab, a four pack of frosting drenched cinnamon rolls in his hand and the remains of one in his mouth. Their fragrant aroma immediately filled the warehouse. He'd barely had time to sit down next to Mac when Suda poked her head around the screens, her face and eyes suffused with eager hunger, like a kid on Halloween.

"Oooo, treats?"

Tristan smiled, offering one to the slim Cat shaman, who retreated to her corner with her prize, devouring it with dainty finesse. Mac accepted one as well, although she ate at a more measured pace. Tristan smiled and stretched, looking far too pleased with himself. Mac did some quick mental calculations before letting a small smile dance across her lips.

"So," she asked, her tone the very definition of innocent curiosity. "How's Demetria?"

Tristan arched an eyebrow in a gesture not unlike what Kovacs had favored her with. "You should know a gentleman never kisses and tells."

"Good thing you're not a gentleman," rejoined Mac, smiling openly now. Tristan twirled a hand lazily, dismissing her allegation as patently untrue, his own smile saucy.

"She's delicious, thank you, but don't tell her I mentioned it."

[Vegas]

15:42:03 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

"Wouldn't dream of tarnishing your reputation with such talk." She said with mock seriousness a moment before she licked a tiny bit of errant frosting from a fingertip.

"Thanks for the indulgent sugar rush. I'm going to need another workout because of it."

She turned to face the screens as much to watch what was happening outside as to hide her smirk knowing full well she had worked off more than a cinnamon roll with her own carnal activities earlier. She lowered her voice slightly as she grew a bit more serious.

"I'm glad you made time for her, given everything that's coming..."

She trailed off the rest of her thought, shaking her head to dismiss it, her voice growing even softer and more introspective.

"How do you do it? Let someone get that close I mean. With a lifestyle like this, this kind of job looming over your head? Nothing's ever really normal after the catalyst point hmmm?"

Mac shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat, suddenly craving a cigarette or a piece of gum. As her fingers found an empty pack and empty wrappers she let out a soft sigh of frustration.

[grendel]

15:49:32 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Tristan smiled, leaning back in his chair and pitching his voice to carry no further than Mac.

"I'm sure our fearless leader has told you all about The Way and The Path necessary to walk the shadows. But in truth, there is no one true way. It is different for everyone. Sure there are commonalities, but our experiences are unique. You have to figure out what works for you, you have to understand how to handle your own headspace and mentality. Most of us, we keep it light. There's already enough darkness in this world without having to add to it. Besides, if you can't laugh at things, you're not really alive."

He runs a hand through his hair, his eyes on the flickering screens in front of them but his gaze was distant, on some far internal horizon. "Tria and I are just casual. She breaks her professional ethics with me, she swore she'd never get involved with someone she works with."

His smile was rakishly proud, the ego of a man who had successfully seduced a powerful woman. His expression softened, though, as the glanced at Mac.

"It's not like what you have with Kovacs. I haven't seen him like this in years. Ever since before...."

He let his voice trail off and Mac didn't need the subtle tilt of his head towards Suda to know what he meant.

[Vegas]

15:53:19 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Mac gave a slight nod in Tristan’s direction and while her eyes sparkled slightly, her lips compressed into a tight line. She was glad that she was an apparent good influence on Kovacs but she didn’t want to be the cause of history possibly repeating itself.

“I’m still not sure that’s such a good thing, given what that cost him before.”

She drew a long slow breath in and released it just as slowly, trying to imagine the tease of nicotine and clove on her tongue, but it was a poor substitution for the real thing. Her thoughts swarmed inside her head as she debated pressing further with this line of conversation with Tristan. Everything with Kovacs was different from anything else in her life before. The file. The honesty. The sex. It both thrilled and terrified her in the same breath, afraid of letting anyone in that close.

“Can he still be objective about her given their history?” She dropped her voice to an almost conspiratorial whisper.

[grendel]

15:57:46 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Tristan's smile was full of sadness. "If it's one thing he understands with brutal clarity, it's the situation with her. I don't know what he has planned, but he has something in place. It's just a question of how well she knows him and what he's capable of. As for me, I'm betting on the man. If I wasn't, you can be sure I'd be long gone from this job."

The lanky swordsman stretched, rolling out his shoulders. His expression brightened somewhat as he contemplated her earlier statement, though.

"I don't think this situation now is comparable to what happened earlier. As much as the two of them loved each other, they couldn't be in love together. They weren't right for each other. Not like you are for him. I won't lie, it's been nice having the team back together and seeing him move in the old ways. The rest of us might have been capable of moving on and doing other things, but Kovacs was born for this life. Might as well ask a bird not to fly as keep him out of the shadows."

[Vegas]

16:05:22 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

The concern on Mac’s face softened considerably as Tristan spoke, worries put to bed simply by the trust he had in Kovacs and she found herself nodding along slightly in agreement. If she didn’t trust him, she would have disappeared a while ago, or worse. She knew his life was always going to be tangled in the shadows, it ran in his blood, it was a piece of his darkness, one of many things that drew her to him. She silently wondered if something similar lived just below the surface in her as well, if she belonged here as much as he did. A smirk pulled at the corners of her lips as she keyed in on Tristan’s last few words.

“Yeah, he doesn’t strike me as the poster boy for a corporate wage slave. None of us do… Well maybe you do, a little.”

She fixed Tristan with a wink and she stuck out her tongue at him, her need for levity greater than sinking back into her headspace for too long. Her eyes moved left off his face for an instant as she looked at the screens and more specifically the timestamp on the frames. She checked the inner pockets of her coat thoroughly and was rewarded with a small, fat silver-foil wrapped piece of gum. She unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth and smiled with delight.

“Thank god, I thought I was going to have to go for another one of those cinnamon rolls, damn the consequences.”

[grendel]

16:12:39 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - 1400 Willow Heights Road #4, Tacoma, Seattle

Tristan coughed. "Not bloody likely! I'd be fired about five minutes after the first cute intern waltzed passed my cubicle."

"I knew it." Mac snapped her gum. "You are most definitely not a gentleman."

Tristan made an elaborate show of examining his fingernails. "The way I hear it, you get all wet for a not gentle man."

Mac punched him in the shoulder. "Just because you're not a gentleman doesn't entitle you to talk that way to a lady!"

The lanky swordsman laughed. "I'll remember to watch my tongue next time I'm around a lady."

The chime of a network message interrupted Mac's retort for a moment.

Inbound. ETA 26 minutes.

"I'll be that's not all you want to do with that tongue," muttered Mac as she responded to the advisory.

"Sassy, sassy," chided Tristan, shaking his head. Standing, he stretched and yawned. "I'm going to make sure everything's ready for our erstwhile leader's return."