driftfleet | it's a mingle, a paisley mingle

After a day of just catching up, it's time to show Loki the lay of the land. One of the first places they head to is the datary. "The actual books are over in this section," Rogue said as they entered through the futuristic doors. In direct contrast to the flash of the rest of the station, the datary is almost minimalist. It still has some of that 'glow stick' decor, but it's toned down. This is clearly meant to be a place of focus and learning, and even though the book section is smaller than the electronic media, it still has that distinct library smell.

"There's a good sized section from Earth, but a ton from places I've never heard of as well. Then there's the electronic data information over there," she waved in its general direction before smiling up at him. "Where do you wanna go first?"

Loki had made it his business to meet up with Rogue, if a bit unexpectedly, after his encounter with Leto. After their conversations on the topic in Luceti, he didn't feel the need to tell her what had happened as such, but he wanted to reaffirm his own position. And remind himself where he stood. He needed the distraction from unwise thoughts, after that little incident.

Loki paused in the entrance of the library and inhaled deeply, then sigh. "Oh, that is much better," he said. "Let us see what books they have." He had a love of the physical form of a book.

Her features softened slightly at his clear enjoyment. "Okay," she said, wanting to take his hand but hesitating. She wasn't sure if he was still on edge and feeling like he'd need to have easy access to movement, and in Luceti the two of them hadn't been that casual about such public expressions of affection and trust. But that was before she'd lost him for a year, for this past month. Rogue just wanted to hold onto him while she could.

So she compromised, moving to loop her arm through his and walk with him toward the books. "Where to first? Fiction? Non-fiction? ...poetry?" she added with a warm smile.

He'd been tempted to take her hand as well, but the gesture had been one of such significance in Luceti. Her taking his arm was a decent compromise, which pleased him. "I'm always curious about the non-fiction," he admitted. "I'd like to see if we've come upon anything new yet." He gave her a warm smile in return. "And I'd like to save the poetry for last." Since that was the most important.

Pleased with his answer, Rogue ducked her head to hide her smile before returning her attention to where they were going. "I haven't spent much time here," in the non-fiction section, she meant. "I just looked through history ta see if there was anythin' useful about where we are, but mostly everythin' was from Earth or about really obscure, specialist topics like Styles of Lace through the Aegean an' Magean Eras."

She'd looked at that, she admitted. How could you not look at that?

"How odd. Was that interesting at least?" It sounded like the sort of thing he'd look at just to see what it was about. "Odd that the history is so... truncated. Limited to Earth." He found that suspicious, just as things had been very odd in the Luceti library. "I wonder if the sciences are similarly constrained..."

"It wasn’t what I'd call interesting... but there are a surprising amount of uses for lace and more styles than I ever knew. Which makes sense, really," since this had nothing to do with Earth. "I reckon there's only one way to find out."

"Now you tempt me to read it." Just because it sounded bizarre. And one never knew when something like that could come in handy. "But let us investigate."

He headed them over to the science section so he could begin to look through. Nothing was as advanced as he might have liked, annoyingly. Though there did seem to be a few interesting mathematics books.

This was so not up her alley. She squeezed his arm and moved a little away to scan for titles he might find interesting.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed some movement down the aisle, and did a double take when she recognized an alien from the audience of her last fight. When had that been, a week or so ago?

The alien also recognized her, eyestalks swiveling in her direction, before he gave her a little nod. She returned it.

Loki had a book out and paged rapidly through it, though he still had the situational awareness that habit had given him. He glanced up when Rogue and the alien exchanged their nods, though he remained silent until the alien had moved along. Not someone from the ships. "A friend?" he asked, turning another page.

Ah. Ahahaha. Rogue tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear, a hesitant gesture she rarely used with Loki anymore. "Not really. Just - someone I recognize from the station."

Ah, screw it. Was this something she really felt like she needed to hide? Not so much, more of just -- it seemed so silly. He probably wouldn't like it. He never had when she'd taken out her pain and frustration with sparring or by just... hitting things. She wished she'd thought of that before. Would it have stopped her?

...probably not. She'd been wound up pretty tightly, not able to get to him. "He was at my last fight, in the other guy's corner."

There was enough of a hesitation between "station" and "he" that Loki would probably be able to pick up on the fact that she'd been tempted to evade. She was out of practice, talking with him about things.

Yes, he did cop to that attempt at evasion. His eyebrows crept up a bit. He didn't like the feeling that Rogue was being evasive. They'd had bad times with either of them acting in such ways before.

But wait, what about--"--your last fight?"

What was that?

"Uh... yeah." Smile?

Yup. That's all she's got. But at least she turned to look at him to smile, right?

Stare.

Book still held perfectly level in one hand, he waited with apparent outward patience for more of an answer.

He could do this all day, Rogue. You know that.

She very well does know that.

This wasn't really something she felt the need to hide, although his expression didn't exactly inspire confidence. So she shrugged and took a half-step closer to him, expression turning wry, engaging. "Ya know that a station this spick-an'-span has got ta have a dirty underbelly, right?"

Come on, Loki, stop looking at her like that. It wasn't anything.

"It would make sense," he agreed. "And?"

Well, at least he wasn't still just staring at her. She gave a half-shrug. "An' I joined the underground fightin' ring. Well. I joined a few underground fightin' rings." If she was going to be honest, might as well go all the way. "Better ta drift around."

But, see, look at this smile! How could you be irritated with this wry smile? Especially since she continued, "Apparently, I had some frustration ta work out."

Remy's words. He hadn't been wrong.

"Ah." He nodded, smiling now. So why had she acted cagey about this? "I trust you are enjoying yourself." Did he think she'd have some sort of reservation? Half of why he found her so attractive was because she brooked no nonsense and had a ready fist.

Edited 2016-03-14 01:00 (UTC)

Oh. That was easier than she thought it was going to be. Maybe he wasn't connecting those dots she was afraid he would have. She'll just... leave them alone, then.

Rogue shrugged. "Yes an' no. Hard ta find someone where it's a really fair match, an' it's kind of weird just fightin' for the sake of it."

Fighting and hurting a person, not a sim, not a wooden post, for money just had felt... weird. It had felt necessary, but it wasn't something she'd been particularly proud of afterwards. "Can't really let loose, an' it's sort of annoyin' fightin' so carefully."

She bobbed her head back and forth, considering. "Decent money, though."

It seemed clear that she was doing it for the money--he'd already been made aware of the situation there, so no surprises. It wasn't a bad route to go, since she had the skills. "I'd imagine so." He considered. "You could make more if I directed your gambling, you know."

She laughed a little at that. "Actually, made most of my money through bettin' on myself via proxy."

A quick grin. "Pickin' the round to win in made it more challenging. I reckon that's 'bout as fair as lettin' you place my bets."

Win every time, no doubt.

He grinned. "I can sweeten the deal more than you might think by betting against myself. 'tis all a numbers game." And he had quite a bit of money to spare, thanks to his time in the casinos. This was another bit of amusement, really.

She shook her head at him, smiling. "Glad you're havin' fun."

Then her expression turned mischievous. "Might even let ya treat me ta dinner an' a shoppin' spree somewhere, if you're rollin' in it."

Loki laughed. "Let me run the numbers on one of your fights, and I shall." It was something for a bored god to do, to be certain. "And at some point you ought to buy a lovely dress and come be my... ah. Arm candy." He still remembers that term.

She laughed: "Arm candy, huh?"

Rogue stepped forward, moving deliberately into his space. "Should I bat my eyes an' get somethin' with a real high slit?"

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