driftfleet | single mingle!!!

[Alright, so here's the thing: Ray likes strong women. Likes them a lot, in fact. Hey, his ex-wife was a defense attorney, if that doesn't scream 'strong woman' he doesn't know what does.

But so far, a lot of the strong women in space have been... intimidating. Like, scary. And he's no stranger to scary people (usually guys, but he's met his fair share of scary women, too), but usually he's running down a street to catch them, or in a submarine trying to catch them, or falling from an airplane into a frozen wasteland to...

You get the point. So he's still trying to get the hang of this, talking to people he'd usually probably see as a perp and being a crewmates with them.

So he walks by Natasha's office while she's looking at it, toothpick in his mouth, and he looks like he's not sure how to handle the conversation- but they're stuck on this ship, so he might as well give it a go.]

Hey, Romanoff.

In all honesty, it wouldn't be the first time she's been called intimidating. Or scary, for that matter. She can be a lot of both, when she's not trying to be either. And being teleported into the mess that was the Windrose's confetti-covered bridge wasn't exactly helping her be at ease, to be fair.

Now, though, she just looks perplexed, frowning at the door, only glancing up at the slightly stiff greeting. "It's just Natasha, Detective." She looks slightly amused at his discomfort. "Something I can do for you?"

Edited 2015-04-21 17:42 (UTC)

"Just Ray, then," he replies, still looking at the door. He takes the toothpick out of his mouth and gestures at her name.

"How come you get your name on a door and us mooks are slummin' it, huh?"

A very good question, and one she's been wondering, despite the too-helpful implant in her head giving her suggestions. "Well, Ray, that's something I've been wondering myself." Mooks. That's a good word, one she hasn't heard in a while.

"You want to do the honors?" She's peeked in already, too curious not to, and she does wonder what he'll think of the desk, chair, and the long couch inside.

"Afraid they put some Martians in there?" He grins at her over his shoulder, but he's already at the door, jiggling the doorknob. The door opens with a snap, and he throws it open.

She might notice that he lets out a small sigh of relief at there not being something freaky inside. Just- a desk, chair, a couch. He lets out a low whistle and steps back to let her in.

"Pretty nice digs."

She thinks of the Chitauri at the mention of Martians. She can't help it. It might have been two years ago, but it's still too recent. Too raw, even for someone like her. Luckily, he's distracted and she's good at faking it, and the fact that her own skeptical look at that is a little distracted goes unnoticed.

His sigh of relief, however, does not, and that makes it a little easier to school her face into something quietly amused as she glides past him, leaning against the wall just to the left of the doorway. "Guess they think a little fake leather will make it easier for people to open up, tell me about their childhood." It's a joke, or it should be. Atroma must have some sick sense of humor, suggesting her as a psychologist.

He steps inside, hands stuck back inside his pocket, toothpick between his teeth.

"Hey, you never know, right? Listening to people tellin' stories, some noddin'-- sounds like a pretty good deal to me." Only he's had enough compulsory psych evaluations that he's not too enthused by the idea of actually doing that.

"Really? Then how about you be my first patient? It's all confidential, I promise." There's something about the man that makes him easy to tease. Maybe it's the slightly nervous posture, the slang she hasn't heard in years, maybe just the awkward looks on his face when no one's looking, but it's hard to resist poking just a little fun.

Of course, she looks entirely serious as she gestures to the couch.

It's because he reacts to everything, and even once he's settled down a little more he'll still be easy to rile up. He looks a little less awkward now than he'd done when he first got to the Windrose: once he started approaching this as an undercover job, it got a lot easier. Blend in, go with the flow, take info where you can and don't make an ass out of yourself.

The latter still happens, but that happens when he's not undercover, so whatever.

At her suggestion he bristles, first making a big X in the air with his arms, then pointing at her directly. "Nuh-uh, no way, you are not shrinking my head, lady." But he still flops down on the couch, stretching out his legs.

It's a good way to look at things, and pretty close to her general approach, actually. Approach everything in life with a little bit of distance, blend in, wait to see what happens. Listen and keep your eyes open. Not that she's expecting to learn much from the other contestants here regarding their predicament, but more information is never a bad thing.

His response gets a grin from her as she moves to the desk, easily lifting herself up onto the edge. "What, you don't trust me? I'll be gentle, I promise." And hey, he's already on the couch. What's a little conversation on top of that?

He lolls his head to the side to look at her. She reminds him of Stella, a bit- the way she was before things got bad between them. Funny, pretty, smart, and totally aware that she's all of those.

"Had enough psych evals to know that's never true," he says, but he's grinning back a little.

She is aware of all those things. Hard not to be, when she's tried very hard to make herself the person she is, or at least seems to be. But it's always nice to know the effort is appreciated.

"Maybe you've just never had the right shrink before. Psychologists who go into law enforcement are pretty much a special kind of sadist, as a rule," she offers, the tiniest of smirks still hovering on her lips. She's known a few of them, though usually from the other side of a bare light bulb.

He takes the toothpick out of his mouth and points at her with it. "Exactly. I shot that douchebag cause he kidnapped a kid and threatened to blow up Sears Tower, not cause I got fuckin' anger issues, lay off me."

He thunks his head against the back of the chaise, wiggling his toes in his boots. "Anyway, you're not a real shrink, are you?"

She takes in his example without comment, exactly as a good shrink should. Not that it's because of the whole shrink thing; more because she can't really argue with the reasoning. She's shot people for less. And stabbed, and poisoned, and strangled, and...well, she's done a lot for less noble reasons. Children are one thing she's always considered off the menu, at least.

"Why would you think that?" Her voice sounds amused again, a little curious. "Do I not seem professional enough for you?"

"Hey," he points at her again, "That is not what I said. Maybe you are a shrink," he grumbles, chewing on the toothpick. "You know how to twist my words, at least."

"It's a talent, what can I say." That amusement is clear as day, and she taps her heels gently against the side of her desk. "If they put us all in places we're actually trained to be, maybe this won't all be such a disaster, anyway. You're a cop--they assigned you to security, didn't they?"

He shoots a glance at the movement, then starts relaxing again. "Nah. Got an engineering chip. Maybe they figured I already knew security, make me a whatchamacallit-- universe man."

"A renaissance man?" Though universe man would probably be appropriate, given their circumstances. "Guess it's possible. Maybe it's as completely arbitrary as everything else in this place. Personally, that doesn't make me feel any better about things." Her boots thud softly against the metal of the desk as she looks out over the tiny room, then back at him again. "Would it make you feel any better about me doing this if I weren't a shrink?"

He doesn't look at her, half out of avoidance, half out of plain laziness. "I got some experience with cars, but nothin' like this," he remarks, gesturing vaguely at the ship in general.

"'This'? I'm still not really clear on what you're doin', so I dunno. ...Probably."

Edited 2015-04-26 09:25 (UTC)

She almost laughs at that. If any of them do actually have experience with something like this, she might almost call it an unfair advantage. Hell, she's had plenty of experience with advanced technology, experimental aircraft, and beings from other planets lately, and even she's at a loss. Not that she's likely to show it, if she can help it.

"Picking your brain," she answers, and it's practically cheery. "It's my job now, isn't it?" There's clearly some private joke in there, somewhere. "I wasn't a psychologist back home, but maybe I should have been. Seems like an exciting career path."

"If you like listening to people whine about their problems, sure," he remarks. He stretches his hands out over his head and starts playing with the silver bead bracelet around his wrist.

"Anyway, I didn't ask you to pick my brain, so it ain't your job, and there's nothin' to pick at."

The phrasing has her smiling slightly, waiting a moment to see if he gets the implication. "Don't sell yourself short, Ray. I'm sure you've got plenty of brains in there." She takes her amusements where she can find them, and this is one she's not sure she's getting bored with anytime soon.

"But hey, suit yourself. What is this, then? Storytime? Tell me a story."

He grins a little at her joke, and he flips her off half-heartedly.

"Storytime, heh," he chuckles a little, like he's thinking of a private joke. "You mean like, caribou and Tracker Joe, that kinda stuff? 'Cause the only stories I know are cop stories."

Storytime. She's patient and waiting, all ears. See? She's looking right at him, and doesn't even bother with more than an arched eyebrow at his half-hearted salute.

"So tell me a cop story. I've always been a big Tom Clancy fan." There's something in the words that implies a private joke of her own. Sliding from the edge of the desk, she pulls the chair over, sitting with legs crossed and one arm on the back of the seat so she can watch him more easily.

Wow, those legs just go up to here, don't they? He tears his gaze away from her, shakes himself out of it, and then briefly closes his eyes as he thinks of what story to tell. He apparently settles on one, because he turns his head back to her (her face, okay) and grins.

"You're not gonna believe this one, but alright, here goes. So me'n my partner, Fraser, one day we run into this old guy who thinks he receives calls from the government through a plate in his head. Totally coo-coo bananas, clearly, but Frase, I dunno, he's got a weak spot for the weirdos." Clearly, since they're friends. "We chat a little, y'know, play a little chess, then later, bam!" He slams his fist into his open palm. "We hear gunshots, and this old guy Hanrahan's yellin' for help. We pull the assailant off of him, I get in one punch and he goes down. Flat-out gone, and he's dead."

He sits up, draws one leg underneath himself and looks at her. "I'm thinking shit, did I just kill this guy? 'Cause I got a mean right hook, but it's not a killing blow, I'm not the Terminator. But when Mort checks it out, turns out he's got this thing in his tooth, cya- cy-- poison." He sits back like he's still experiencing the relief from that.

"So I didn't kill him, but what's up with that, right? Poison in your tooth? Somethin's funny. So Fraser says, he says-- could be a Russian spy, cause he had all of this-- Russian crap goin' on." He can't be expected to remember all the details, come on. "But I can't get any info on this guy, none whatsoever. But my partner, right, he's Canadian, so he hops onto the piggybank or somethin'. Says there's this ex-KGB Russian armed group known as the 'Colonels', and they were gonna try and intercept a weapons shipment made by another bunch of Russian spies. So now, because the Russians figured him for an infiltrator or somethin', we hafta put up Hanrahan and his girlfriend in my apartment, as a witness-protection type of thing, only, you know how old people smell? Gross."

He sits back again, kicks up his boots. "Anyway. This other Russian guy gets whacked, it's getting a little out of hand, and then I get a visit from a lady says she's the old guy's daughter, ooh, she's just so worried about her father, and I fall for it, dumbass that I am. So we're in the car on our way over to my place, when all of a sudden she goes from nice all-American lady to crazy Russian spy." He pitches a falsetto and grins, imitating a terrible Russian accent. "'Hang up ze phone, take me to him or I shoot!' But I don't let a little gun action psych me out-- I crash the car, bam, and I get away.

So me 'n Fraser, we get to the docks, right when they're loading up the ship with a buttload of illegal weapons. Only, here's the weird thing, everyone keeps talking about some 'Nautilus'-- everyone's afraid of this Nautilus type, even the Russian spies. We try to arrest the Russians, there's a little gunfight, but suddenly, outta nowhere, it turns out that Nautilus is the old guy's girlfriend, and she's there, ready to shoot our heads off for figuring out who she is. This little old lady pulls of her wig, points an AK-47 at us, and Hanrahan tackles her."

He'd been getting more and more worked up towards the end of the story, and with this he falls back against the sofa.

"We arrest 'em all, they all go away for being slimy Russian scumbags, and I give the old guy a medal for service to his country. Ta-dah, there's your story."

just gonna... tag everything

yesss, good

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