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[alsohawkeye]

OPR » 027 » 193
KATE BISHOP

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[alsohawkeye]

cool, thanks. i can come pick it up later if you're around in an hour or so?

[humanistic]

I don't know I've got a pretty big block of nothing scheduled for later on this afternoon. The space calendar fills up fast

Yeah I'll be around

text --> action (this is what you had in mind right i can swap to more texts if not lmk)

[alsohawkeye]

haha yeah so much nothing to schedule around. i'm just at training now, i'll come up after.

[ And she does, knocking on his door an hour and change later. T-shirt and jeans don't look much like work-out attire but her hair is freshly washed and slicked wetly back into a ponytail that's dripping down her shoulder. ] Mitchell? It's Kate.

action (it's perfect!!!!)

[humanistic]

[He answers the door, and of course the space television is playing in the background, the way it always is--and there's clusters of cold mugs of tea on most of the available surfaces--but there's no one else in the room, at least, and Mitchell stands aside to let Kate enter.]

Hey. Come on in, I've got it in here somewhere--

[alsohawkeye]

[ Geez Mitchell you called her and then got an hour's warning and you still didn't track it down before she got here?? Luckily Kate's just a little amused by it, and wanders in to lean against the wall beside the door frame. She smiles. ] No problem, that was my only commitment for the day. Have you stumbled on anything else worth watching lately?

[humanistic]

[THE ROOM IS UNTIDY okay and also he was trying to work out how best to say so have you been getting your leg over with any vampires called Aidan lately because that's probably a bad idea in some way that isn't.. saying exactly that.

In any case, he turns to rifle through some of the junk, in search of space Rocky.]

Sadly, no. We thought we had space Die Hard for a bit there, but it turned out to be really shit and nothing like Die Hard at all. Guess even superior intelligence can't work out just what it is that makes Bruce Willis a great action hero.

[alsohawkeye]

It's obviously some strange bargain he struck with the devil, giving up his hair for action greatness. Like Nic Cage.

[ But no really please say exactly that so she can laugh about 'getting your leg over with' for a while first and maybe forget to be offended. ]

[humanistic]

[A bargain with the devil hits a little too close to home there. Also: you know how people keep saying Nicholas Cage is a vampire? Yeah, vampires don't find that very funny.

But he's got his back to her, and it's not like he's rookie enough to pull a face or anything.]

I think the Devil could make it up to space, if he really wanted. [But a second later, more triumphant--] Ah, here it is--

[And he unearths the space DVD from beneath another two space DVDs and a mug of cold tea.]

It was definitely worth the pizza.

[alsohawkeye]

Speaking of things worth deals with the devil. [ Kate grins, and takes the DVD back when it's offered. ] Now I'm craving pizza again. The next outpost we run into someone has got to buy a dairy cow or something.

[humanistic]

[maybe we can just not talk about deals with the devil]

There's a cow in the gardens. Or there was. Maybe it's gone home.

[And okay, no time like the present--so as he's handing back the DVD, casually--]

Hey, that reminds me. You know Aidan, don't you?

[alsohawkeye]

[ Oh my god what a segue. Kate blinks, and then laughs as she replies. ] Yeah, I do. Do I want to know how the cow reminded you of him, exactly?

[humanistic]

Yeah, maybe it's better not to ask.

[He says it lightly, like, ha ha, inside jokes--but really, there's a lot of connections to be made, if you're in the right frame of mind. Cows at a slaughter, unwitting, heading for danger--a cow that was sent home and hey, did you hear, Aidan's in a space coma, what's that about--et cetera, et cetera.

In the end, Mitchell just shrugs.]

Just wondering. I heard your name come up with his.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Space coma was the connection she made but imagining some sort of embarrassing cow-related inside joke is much more fun. Less fun: questions.

She plays it super casual, just the slightest furrowing of brows like that's a little surprising but not concerning because what could it be it couldn't be anything because there's nothing. It's not even really a secret, precisely, but the reflexive urge to slide away and cover it up is there anyway. Some combination maybe of ingrained WASPiness, a subtle sort of reserve you could easily miss given how much she talks, and knowledge that it is probably a dumb risk that someone at some point is going to call her dumb for taking. ]

Yeah? Come up how?

[humanistic]

[Well, they'll call it a dumb risk because it is, actually a dumb risk. And also there's some alternate universe type things going on but that's not his part to tell. (You're welcome, Sally.)

But all that said, his tone stays pretty light (which is more of an impressive feat than she'll probably ever know, considering he's thinking about dumb vampire related risks and about how much Aidan sucks).]

Supposedly there's some sort of mutual fancying going on. Gossip gets everywhere on this ship.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Shush with that logic if she wanted to hear it she'd have listened to herself earlier.

She would be impressed if she knew and in some fashion grateful; but as it is she's too busy debating her own response to mark any effort that tone might require. She kind of wants to lie but can't really come up with any reasonable justification for the impulse, so she just shrugs. ] Yeah, maybe some. But he didn't wake up this month, so. [ Another shrug. So, you know. None now. Probably at least an even chance of none in the future. ]

[humanistic]

[Aidan not waking up is what actually connected the missing-and-possibly dead cow in his head, by the way--and maybe he ought not to lead her on down the path of any hope if he's just going to turn around and tell her she's an idiot for hooking up with a vampire--which he's going to do, by the way--but first things first--]

Yeah, I heard that, too. There's always next month.

[alsohawkeye]

Yeah. But there's also like a 50/50 chance he won't remember me if he does. [ Kate shrugs, like she's neither going to get her hopes way up nor angst around about it for the month. ] We'll see. So how do you know him? You guys never seemed friendly on the network.

[humanistic]

[The casual dismissal is a good thing, but it also means: probably warning her away won't meet with good results. Not direct warnings, anyways.]

Yeah. Well, we're not, really, but for good reasons.

[He shrugs, like there's a history there, and those reasons are very, very good reasons... but he's not just going to say them.]

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate watches him for a moment with a vaguely expectant air, and then chuckles. It's a quick little exhale of humor, one corner of her mouth hitching up as she gestures. Go ooooon. ] And so you brought him up becaaaaause...?

[humanistic]

Oh, come on. You don't really want t' stand here and listen to me complain about him--and I wouldn't ask you to, either. That's not why I had you come down here.

[Or it was, but, whatever. He gestures toward the space DVD that she's got.]

Space Rocky. That's why. Aidan is just, y'know. A thing.

[an unfortunate, dangerous thing, and the flat way that he says thing sort of gets at that.]

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate is more than tempted to just take him at his word, or pretend that she does. Take the DVD, say 'okay then' and swan out with a shrug. She's never had much patience for dancing around things, especially when it comes to gossip, especially when it comes to other people's opinions on her life choices. But the way he says thing gets a hook in her, just that little itching pull she can't quite ignore.

He gets another arched brow, a tilt of her head. Not quite long-suffering, more serious than that, but without infinite patience. ]

Look, if there's something you think that I should know about him, you should just tell me.

[humanistic]

[Gotcha.

And it's unfortunate, because he really actually does like Kate. But that's why he's doing this, right? In part to get at Aidan, to ruin a little bit of his life. And in part for Sally--not that he wants her with Aidan. And in part because Kate shouldn't get involved, because--

Well, he stops there, because because ends in ways that Mitchell knows how even casual sex could lead to death, and he's not going to go there, even in his own head. Bad enough that his glance goes, once, quickly, to Kate's throat. He looks at her face instead, meeting her gaze.]

Look, I don't want to get involved. But I don't want you to get involved, either. Not in something you can't get yourself out of.

Not that you can't handle yourself. I'm sure you can, and I mean that. I'm not trying to offend you. I'm just telling you, know what you're getting yourself into before it's too late.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Her kneejerk reactions are offense and defensiveness, and there's a stubborn clenching at the hinge of her jaw that doesn't bode well. But he's trying, she can see that. And it's not like this is some generic warning-off situation. She suspects he knows, and probably doesn't know she knows. But on the off chance he's concerned about something else entirely, she's not about to offer the secret she hasn't even technically been told.

She swallows down an urge to snap at him and lets her response come a moment later, even, sincerely friendly. ]

I appreciate the concern, really. I promise I've got my eyes open here. [ Sort of. ]

[humanistic]

[You don't live over half a long life as something very predatory without learning a few tricks here and there. The clench of her jaw is something he notices, the turn of thoughts through her head. And then she smiles.

Mitchell gives her a patient smile in return.]

Yeah. The thing is-- I know how this-- [This; he points to her. The inclusion of Aidan is implied.] --ends. And I'm sorry, but I don't want to see that happen to you.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate's reckless, not suicidal, but finding the line between brave and stupid is a work in progress. This conversation is doomed to be a losing battle for Mitchell, but she's not wholly uninterested in what he's selling. (She'd be the first to find fault with Twilight, but she'd also say this isn't like that.) ]

Has he hurt anyone since he's been here? Or tried to? [ It could be a line of argument (will be if he says no like she expects), but it's an honest question. ]