Participants:
| Scene Title | Just A Peek |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Tibby delivers a package to Raytech. |
| Date | April 16, 2019 |
The sound of the lobby doors to Raytech Industries opening can be heard. It's just after lunch, many of the workers have already settled back into their offices working on their various projects. Companies like this always have have foot traffic in the lobbies. People of high ranking on the way to conference rooms, the intern running and almost spilling the coffee. A robot raptor. The usual.
One of these pair of feet wearing black scuffed Converse belongs to Tibby Naidu. Her eyes scan the people milling about in front of her. On her shoulder she clutches a messenger bag that seems to be filled with something.
All black, that's her usual choice of clothing these days. Today the top is long sleeved and too big for her, the sleeves covering her hands while her her shorts are… short and black. Tibby's small but she holds her head up high. Slowly turning it from side to side watching through sunglasses. It takes a moment but the South African woman with the punkish style haircut removes the glasses. Revealing emerald green eyes, she rubs at them and continues blinking for a few seconds.
She hated that.
…at least there weren't any cats.
Every time Devi takes Seren out to lunch they always come back so late. It's not an unpleasant experience overall, but Seren always feels a little sheepish coming back in. It's not a walk of shame, by any means, to come in so late when everyone else is already settled back in … but they just wonder about what impression it gives off.
Baird, on the other hand, is shameless in every way. The happy, stuffed-to-bits creature trots along between its favorite human and their very good work friend. The beast sways its tail back and forth with something of a consistent purr, the size and general look of a large lynx cat that pads along at its own whim, head hanging low as though it's in pursuit of something though it can't be. A second glance reveals the odd beast to have a distinct coloration. Distinct, varied, and bright. Its form is smoother than it is furred, everything but a white maw covered in daring designs of paisley, shells, circles and lines in a rainbow of vibrant color. Unlike a lynx, has a slightly longer tail that glimmers with scales like a serpent — or a dragon.
"You know, I was thinking when we get back — maybe I pull out the sketches again and add some last touches? Do you think it's too late to add in some additional flair?" Seren is asking Devi, seemingly oblivious to the out-of-place person loitering in the library. The creature, on the other hand, swivels its head in Tibby's direction, an ear flicking in idle curiosity as it peers at her with black eyes surrounded by golden sclera. It breaks course from its companions, padding on golden-toed paws over in her direction without so much as a second thought. In a pool of navy on its forehead, a white spot glistens with iridescence, changing color as it trots closer to her.
There's something to be said about cats and strangers — they tend to gravitate toward the ones that want to meet them least.
Devi walks an easy pace at Seren’s, seemingly oblivious to the tardy nature of their return. “Additional flair?” Lips glossed in a shiney, lime hue tilt up on the left. Chocolate eyes flit to Seren from behind a few errant, dark locks. “There’s always time for flair.” The biker, donned in black leggings and a billowing, gossamer shirt with hints of neon green over a black tank, is showing off a lot of tattoos today as she carries on with her work partner. “Wait…” Her steps falter a moment, her scrunching up on the side framed by inked, black stars. “What … day is it anyway?” This completely lacking concept of time is very likely the reason the pair ends up late from lunch more often than not. In fact, Devi’s time cards have been a growing contention in payroll. Sometimes Wednesdays totally feel like Sundays, it’s an easy mistake.
“Nevermind. We’ll make the time,” the raven-haired woman promises Seren more. Having stopped, she takes note of Baird’s distracted wandering and pops a dark brow. “Your buddy’s goin’ a-wol, Little Bird. Friend o’ yours?” Her chocolate gaze flits from head-to-toe and back again over the unfamiliar lobby visitor.
Whilst the infernal creature that is surely not like any fucking cat that Tibby… or she had ever seen before wanders up to her in curiosity the small woman's green eyes widen a fraction.
Tibby would really rather not…
She would really rather not…
The woman tilts her head back and screams like a banshee flailing her arms and legs around. Her messenger bag drops to the floor, the logo for Pigeon Courier Service visible now that it's not pressed against Tibby's side. Her foot goes to kick at the projection with a look of horror on her face. The young woman had two options when faced with Baird and doing her job here today. Choosing this way was ultimately the best route but she now would need to talk to people. Tibby just closes her eyes as she screams to keep from rolling them.
Klaus would be so proud.
“What day is it?” Seren echoes back at Devi, more incredulous than anything else. They’re still trying to get their feet under them about that when Devi points out that Baird’s wandered off. With a rough blink, they swivel their head just in time to see the pale-haired woman on the verge of a panic attack prepared to— oh
actively panic.
Flinching at the poor reaction that Tibby has, Seren lifts their hands in a calming gesture as they try to come forward. Baird, in the meanwhile, skitters back from the flailing limbs, ears flattened back against its head in alarm while its tail hangs low. The opal dot on its forehead shimmers and shifts, momentarily black before it fades rapidly through blue and settles on a deep red after passing through shades of purple. A low growl fromes from the creature before Seren all the more hurriedly rushes by its side, hands still held up placatingly.
“It’s okay, it’s okay!” they cry out. “Baird wouldn’t hurt a fly, okay?”
It’s impossible for Baird to hurt even a fly, but that’s beside the point. More to the point they’re trying to make, though, the rainbow creature shifts, its alarm lessened as it looks up to Seren. It receives a firm nod from its favorite human and the shelled, layered patterns on its back that looked almost like wings suddenly unfurl, paper thin, to become what they actually looked like. With a downstroke and a shudder, the butterfly-like wings quickly take substance, thickening out. It powerfully beats its wings again, hovering off the ground…
And by the time it gets to Seren’s shoulder in its flying, it’s shrunk, barely the size of a lapcat.
“See?” Seren asks, hoping to encourage the calm. “He’s not going to do you any harm, promise.” But it does look very upset, mewling out its opinion. If it could react differently than it’s currently been bade to by some controlling power, it probably would be.
“Yeah, how many days until the W-…” But then a little bubble of chaos bursts in their daily corporate world. Devi follows after at a languid pace, cheshire grin growing with each calculated step that draws her towards the flailing woman and the dear figment called Baird. The raven-haired femme considers the shrunken Baird with a tilt of her head one way and then the other, checking for (impossible) signs of injury. Even with her dark, shadow-exaggerated gaze probing Seren and passenger for signs of distress, she lets her husky voice take on a tilt that clearly directs her next words towards the stranger amongst them… “If you’re going to attack every strange thing you see ‘round here, you’re going to waste a lot of energy…” Finally, Devi turns her tattooed face directly to Tibby, “And get very hurt.” Her amused smile is unwavering.
"Chuck Chop." Her childlike tone is scathing and hard edge directed right at Baird. Emerald green eyes widen as it shrinks and unfurls wings. The tiny courier rears back and looks between Devi and then Seren and then the creature on Seren's shoulder. Some sort of illusion, trick, obviously. But the scream worked. Tibby was grateful for that at least.
Small miracles and shit.
Both women disarmed the pale haired woman raises a hand to her cheek as she crouches to the ground to pick up her messenger bag. Tibby hesitates for a moment, even though she's broken her silence it's still a daunting task, what she abhors the most about her duties, conversation. Looking down at her bag a moment later she sighs, "Oi," softly emitted as she rises from her crouch, green eyes watery.
Wet eyes turn towards Devi and she smiles weakly, her insides still and cold as her eyebrows raise. "I don't know.. what.." her accent is obvious, she's definitely not from here. Maybe an exchange student? The raps like quality to it, as if she doesn't talk much at all. Her age is hard to tell, her tiny stature and tiny voice but something about her speaks of experience. Even if Tibby herself didn't think she had much. "I thought. Dof." The last bit seems to be aimed at herself from the way her shoulders bend inwards and she looks down while shaking her head.
She's actually calling all three of them dof but good for her her native tongue isn't so easily spoken. Heh… heh.
Baird slights on Seren's shoulder, sclera glowing yellow in interest. It grows slightly smaller, less threatening even so, its gossamer wings becoming more fairylike and pointed. It remains tense, like it senses something off, but Seren lets out a sigh of relief when Tibby stops crying, or looks less like she's about to.
They have no idea what a dof is.
“Are you all right?” they ask with some concern.
With her own image reflected back in those water eyes, Devi lofts a dark, chiselled brow. Her smile droops a the edges until she’s looking at Tibby with a mixture of confusion and concern. Is she going to cry? “Please don’t cry -…” It’s a phrase of half distaste and half fear. Crying is such a buzzkill and then people have to do stuff like be compassionate and comforting and ….
She, too, shows no sign of understanding what chuck - chop or doff might mean. So, she focuses on what she can do to head off being faced with a woman in tears. Maybe Devi’s got a weak spot about that sorta thing, who knows. The raven-haired biker leans down to try and pluck up the messanger bag and hold it out to Tibby, pushing it at her gently but perhaps a bit impatiently. “Come on then. No harm done.”
Pointedly ignoring the figment of Seren's imagination Tibby looks between the two women dabbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her top, fingers still hidden beneath them. There's a nod for Devi, no harm done. Correct.
Tibby was fine. There's a glance behind Seren's shoulder with slightly widen eyes. It could be mistaken for more fear for Baird but she's looking at where the security checkpoint is. Badges. Green eyes flick back over to Devi and she looks sheepish, "Apologies." For being a "ham", Tibby's body shakes for a moment and she sighs. "First few weeks… new job." Taking the messenger bag with a hint of a rueful smile at the corner of her lips.
"Messy."
The overall tacit behavior of the woman is slowly adjusted to. Just like talking with miss Alia, Seren tries to tell themselves. And miss Alia was great, even if she spoke sometimes with not enough words to make her easily understood. The mention of the new job has Seren searching for ID on the woman to learn her name without asking it, but she comes up wanting. Not Raytech, then. The messenger bag handed back, it's realized she likely is a courier. Gah.
"It's all right," Seren reassures Tibby. "Promise." Their hand closes and reopens, palm turning up. A beautiful flower bud has pearled into existence in the quick turn of their hand, and they bring it closer to their face. With a puff of air, the petals are sent scattered Tibby's way, showering her with white petals edged with blues, pinks, purples, even a tinge of black on several. All meant to be day-brighteners.
"I think she's okay now, miss Devi," Seren pronounces, turning to her with a warm grin. Who wouldn't be pleasantly surprised by sudden flowers? They weren't animals, after all! Right? Right, that's great logic.
Deep, brown, ebon-lined eyes watches the illusory bloom and following shower of scented, coptering petals with a singular brow raised into a sharp swoop. Devi considers Seren a moment with her signature tilted smile renewed. “Everyone ever tell ya you’re a showoff?” Answer: Yes. Devi. Almost daily. With affection. The biker bitch winks at her coworker and turns her attention back on the little-spoken, tiny woman.
With her hand freed up of the bag, Devi presses her thumb into her opposite shoulder, rolling the joint back once or twice in some unconscious effort to ease some otherwise unobvious pain therein. With a single, subtle wrinkle between her dark brows being the only other sign of discomfort, she considers Tibby. “That’s one way to put it.” Messy, that is. “There’s always learning curve though. Everyone ‘round here is pretty chill, though. So, shouldn’t be too hard to get your feet under ya.” The tall, raven-haired woman, and even her illusionist partner in comparison, tower over Tibby despite their easy nature.
Ever since that first scream, Sera has been hiding under the desk.
She’s still down there.
The petals drift towards her and Tibby doesn't rear back out of fear instead she just squints at the petals as they fall. No smile there, though it's less a steely expression and more one of slight suspicion, she's playing up the new girl angle and her size always lends aid to that effort.
"…had a package to drop off?" Tibby's eyes go searching for Seren and then Devi's face, they surely seemed like women who could sign for something. There is… Sera. The small woman lost sight of her since she started screaming.
She had time.
Baird turns its small face toward Seren, bumping its forehead against their cheek. It supposes the overreactive messenger is all right. Still wearing half of that grin, they lift a hand to brush their fingertips against the small, rainbow-vibrant creature’s little neck. “A package?” they ask, voice bright. Like that’s a perfectly interesting thing that they have a stake in.
At least, until they turn to look toward the front desk, where those sorts of things are supposed to be checked in and signed for by more knowledgeable parties. “Um…” The visible lack of a Sera or even a helpful raptor does put a bit of a damper on it, though. The whole … doing-what-one-should thing. “Normally there’s…”
Slowly, very slowly, a piece of paper rises up from behind the counter.
There is a crude picture of a dinosaur drawn in crayon, labeled ‘SECURITY DINOSAUR’ and a note that says ‘Please leave packages with Security Dinosaur’.
The paper just stays there, presumably for the package to be set down in front of.
“Anything good?” Devi’s question echoes a hint of Seren’s interest. As her small companion turns to regard the front desk, the biker’s attention turns to follow. The puppetted, childish depiction of the the ‘Security Dinosaur’ pulls up on her drawn, dark brows. “You know, out of the few things around this place I don’t understand…” Devi reaches up and taps a hunter-green nail against her temple by way of explanation. “..that woman there - she’s one of them.”
The towering, raven-haired woman watches the pale hand wave around the drawing another moment before giving a shake of her head. She swivels her attention back to Seren and Tibby. “Yup, so just follow the sign. Anything else you need, Shortie?” Her husky tone gives the nickname that endearing, flirty quality. As an aside, she glances down to Seren. “We got a few tweaks to make before Caspian comes to take a look at the panels.”
Her eyes flick to the receptionist desk and widen a fraction as they slide over to the raptor. What in the fuck was this place?! Tibby squints at it now and looks up and down before nodding her head. Easy enough. Still though… Pulled out by the ends, Tibby holds a pen out in front of her to Seren, "Just anyone. Can sign." Words clipped as her expression begs the person to help her in not having to like trying to get a raptor to sign. Yea no.
Turning her gaze to Devi she shrugs, "Pay is enough, I don't need to snoop." Though there's a ghost of a grin on her lips as she says so. Tibby isn't going to say whether or not she's peeked before. The nickname Shortie earns a uptick of the corner of her mouth. The grin is hint enough but that small peek of something other than the mask she always wears falters when a name is uttered from Devi's lips.
Something nudges at her from the back of her mind, the same way it did when she ran into Remi. Tibby seems to freeze in place as her face falls. She's not sure why the name Caspian would give her pause but as it is with her "cousin"… it just makes her angry. Swallowing as she blinks and looks between the two women she coughs, "Do ya give tours?"
Seren slowly lifts their hands up in resignation as the pen is offered their way. The creature perched on their shoulder is watching the pen with far more interest than they are, as they’re trying to pay as little attention to it as possible. “Ehm…” They like their job, okay.
Turning to Devi at their side, they entirely miss the shift in expression that Tibby goes through, too busy trying to work through wondering if it’s possible, maybe even desired by Sera that they sign in the name of the Security Dinosaur. Reluctantly, they come to that realization, and begin to reach for the pen to make their mark on behalf of the dinosaur. A sound like bubbling water emits from Baird in lieu of a mew as the kitten-small creature takes flight, leaping up and pumping its butterfly wings. It soars past Tibby’s head before it curves back around, its interest clearly still fixated on the small woman though it hovers near Devi when it comes back around.
It doesn’t bother trying to land or get closer to Tibby, not interested in a round two of being hissed at. Baird is nothing if not sensible, in that regard.
Devi holds up a hand to stay Tibby’s offered pen and to answer her question. She curls most of her fingers, turning the open stop-palm into a single, tatooed index finger that she wags from side to side. She starts with the tone of some giving a clear cut list.
“I do not do tours.”
“I do not do packages.”
“I do not do people.”
Devi pauses and looks up at Baird, when in fact she’s just considering her own words. She cracks a grin before leveling dark eyes back on Tibby. “Scratch that. I totally do people…” She rocks onto her toes and pivots her hips forward, as if more elaboration where really necessary here. “I just don’t generally like people. So, all that shit that goes along with being a people-person…” Devi sliiiiiides back with a hiss of her boots on the finely polished floor. The effect is a wide-open pathway from Tibby to the lobby desk. The biker gives a little twirl of her hand that melds into a sweeping gesture.
“But, if you do sign up for a tour, tell ‘em to let you by Devi’s office.” The raven-haired woman rests a hand on her tattooed sternum like a gracious gentleman.
Bingo.
Tibby's expression stays the same as Seren signs with the pen and the smaller woman takes the pen back by the ends and drops it into her messenger bag all the while ignoring the creature. As Devi slides back, Tibby slides forward and quickly pads to the dinosaur. Laying her package on the desk with slightly narrowed eyes at the thing before scooting back. Security Dinosaur. As the signature, a hint of a smile on her lips. Ande would like that.
No tour that was fine.
The South African woman looks towards the two women and promptly waves as she sails by then hustling for the door, the raptor must make her nervous.
"Thanks." And she's gone.
Huh.
——
A Few Hours later
The sound of tapping can be heard in the car, Tibby huddled up in the driver's seat wrapped in a large white faux fur coat. Head tilted to the side as her gaze flicks to and fro not really gazing at the tablet in her lap at all.
Raytech's website pops open and the woman's pupils dilate as she refocuses her gaze on the screen. Looking over photos, perhaps she would sign up for a tour. That is if she even needed it. Slowly Tibby's eyes lift and they lock onto two figures laughing and making their way into a bar not too far down the street. Devi and Seren. Deep forest green irises study the two but ultimately Tibby's eyes fall on Seren.
Devi was tough. Too tough to fall for anything that Tibby might try. Though with a look down at her dominant hand there's a flash of silver in the light of her tablet. She and ways of dealing with tough girls, last resorts. It was practically beat into her.
An object sits on the dashboard laying in a bed of tissues, the pen that Seren signed with. Not her first assignment persay.. extra credit. She hoped Klaus would give her an A for effort. She'd fuck him up if not. Tibby plays with that notion for a moment as fingertips dance over the steering wheel.
Wheels turn in Tibby's head as she tosses the tablet into the passenger seat and the screen goes black on the Raytech logo. Drawing her hands back into the sleeves of her coat and taking that glint of sliver away from the public eye, the woman straightens her posture and goes to light a cigarette the flare of the lighter illuminating scars at the corner of her eyes, white now and healed. Staring ahead at the entrance of the bar that the two co workers walk into Tibby exhales a cloud of smoke, her left arm dangling out with the cigarette.
And she waits.