Participants:
| Scene Title | Awkwardly Loaded |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Just go tell the man you're stupid and offer a beer. He'll forgive you. |
| Date | July 30, 2019 |
Rooftop, Branch Offices of Raytech
It's been a really long day — and it's well past when she usually returns from the precinct. Elisabeth makes her way through the main lobby to the elevator, her blazer in her hands instead of on her, which exposes the badge and the firearm at her hip. It's been stupid hot the past few days, and she looks positively wilted. As she takes the elevator up to the lounge on the top floor, where there are always cool drinks and at this time of night few people, she leans her head back against the back wall. When she steps out on the top floor, she's surprised to find a few people still here. And then realizes most of them don't live in the building… they've stayed because it's air conditioned, one of the few places that does have it.
She nods to a couple people and makes her way toward a favorite corner, a smile quirking her lips upward when she spots a friend already inhabiting the corner. "Hey lady," she greets Devi as she drops into the chair across the low end table from her. "Long time no see. How goes?"
Maybe subconsciously she wanted to run into Liz. Maybe she missed her bestie. Maybe Devi doesn’t think about shit like that and likes this corner to sip her beers in quiet and watch the lingerers. The dewy bottle lowers from electric blue lips as Devi blinks up at Liz. “Look what the cat dragged in.” As if she hadn’t spied her from across the room.
“It… goes. Kinda.” Devi leeaaans in her seat, a long bare arm stretching towards the six-pack tucked beside her chair. She sets a bottle up for Liz and toes a seat out just a smidge. “You’ve been working too hard. I know, because I haven’t seen you.” Devi gives her usual cheshire grin.
"Yeah, well…. Who knew getting a whole fucking police department off the ground was going to be a fulltime job?" Elisabeth retorts with wide, innocent eyes. "Oh yeah… I did know that and I was stupid enough to take the job anyway." She rolls her eyes. "Dumbass me."
Taking the proffered beer, Liz slumps back into the chair and says, "What does 'kinda' mean? I'd have thought you'd be busy as fuck too, what with the cycles coming out soon."
There’s an airy, husky chortle. “You made your bed…” Devi winks at her friend. “And now that it’s rolling? How’s it feel?”
The Biker Bitch gives a dismissive manner of shrug. “The bikes are rolling right along. That keeps me busy enough. But, the hands-on stuff is really up to Brynn and Gene. My schematics are on file. Cas and I can check the work and all, troubleshoot. But… after the initial model, I’m obsolete, Mama.” Devi thumbs the label on her beer, peeling it up from the bottom. “Been spending more time at the shop than here. Looking for… “ What? Solitude? Answers? “Inspiration.” Yeah, sure, that.
Elisabeth narrows her eyes slightly over the beer bottle while she takes a swallow. "Glad the shop is getting off the ground," she offers, quite sincerely. "As far as how it's rolling? Eh… I like it. It's… familiar. At least in most ways. I have a great boss and my boss's boss watches my ass." She shrugs and grins. "Could be a hell of a lot worse. Used to be a hell of a lot worse, honestly. The squad has hit the ground running. Now if I could just quit worrying over them like they're my kids, I'd be doing great. They're all so damn young." And one of them is almost her own kid, so there's that. "Except Felix… but he's positively gleeful to be back on the streets, almost like a kid."
“It is. And I like it. It’s familiar.” Devi echoes Liz’s words back upon her, now with respect to the garage on the other side of the Safe Zone. She grins around a sip of beer and leans back to listen.
“Isn’t worrying about them in your job description? Or, do you really expect that part to fade, hm?” She chuckles warmly. “Hit the ground running, huh? Out there doin’ good. Kickin’ ass and taking names. Normally I might be worried, but …” She makes a small gesture at Elisabeth. “You’ll keep ‘em all honest.”
"That I will do," keeping them honest. Elisabeth grimaces. "Got to admit, I expected it to be a lot of paperwork — and there is. Always. But we had a bomb threat that I actually had to hit the streets personally for, and that … was eye-opening." She takes another swallow of her beer. "It's definitely something I'm only going to do on an as-needed basis. I might have to actually admit that my body can't quite keep up the way I'd like it to."
“Bomb threat?” Devi’s brows creep higher. “Things panned out… it seems?” It’s half question, half statement. The biker hadn’t heard anything, but her attention to news is… limited to say the least. “And, as much as I want to dispute what your body might, or might not, be able to handle - I ain’t going to argue about you staying off the streets when you can.” She looks around the room. “You mean too much to too many. Blind man could see that.” A little nod sets her dark locks brushing loosely around her shoulders.
"Yeah, turned out okay." Thank goodness. Elisabeth doesn't shrug it off, but she's not dwelling too hard on it either. "Really glad we got there before he had time to arm it, but that was in question for a little while. Adrenaline burn, lemme tell you." She smiles, and then a soft color climbs her cheeks. "That's a nice thing to say. Thank you." She seems a little embarrassed by that thought.
"So what's been up on your end? The garage is getting up and running. What about the social scene?"
The blush freezes Devi - body, expression, and even gaze - momentarily. Thankfully, Liz continues on without drawing too much attention to the compliment and feels. The lanky biker tips her beer up for another sip, dark eyes holding the blonde as she considers the question laid out between them. It seems innocuous enough. Friendly even. And yet… “Well, that’s kinda a loaded question, isn’t it?” She raises a brow at Liz: Didn’t he tell you?
A brow quirks upward and Elisabeth looks both puzzled and amused. “Why is that a loaded question?” she queries easily. Either he didn’t tell her or perhaps the blonde is fucking with the biker babe. Not usually her style when it comes to such things, though. And then she pauses, studying Devi thoughtfully. “Let me rephrase that. It wasn’t intended to be a loaded question.” The realization of why that was a loaded question is sort of obvious to her now. Pursing her lips, she takes a long sip of the beer in her hand and debates a moment internally.
“You are someone I consider a friend,” Liz finally says. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I’m fine with that. If you need to talk to a friend, you’ve got my ear.” Her words are careful — she’s apparently navigated these waters before. “I won’t act as a go-between to smooth things over between you if you’re having issues… but I also don’t want you to think that there are things you can’t say just because we’re talking about the same guy.” A faint smile is accompanied by a shrug. “I learned the hard way not to play peacemaker in a relationship.” Felix and Lee could occasionally be a volatile mix.
Tattooed hand brought up, palm facing Liz, Devi gives a gentle shake of her head. "What's done is done. I opened my face and shoved both feet in." … "Boots and all."
"Maybe it's better this way - Knowing. Besides, I got Caspian and apparently we're goin' about shit the old fashioned way." She lofts a brow at Liz, filling a fresh pause with a shrug of one shoulder. "It just all feels outta sorts. The flows been fucked and I dunno how to swim in the new ride, ya know?"
She adjusts herself to a casual and lazy slump in her seat. "I'll figure it out or… I won't." She takes a deeper draught from the quickly emptying bottle.
Quirking an eyebrow at Devi, Elisabeth considers what she knows about Devi herself and what she's seen in Richard lately. "All right," she acknowledges mildly. "Unless you did something really heinous, though, you can pretty much go hand the man a beer and tell him you tripped over your own tongue and wanna be friends again. He's a complicated guy in some ways, but not that one," Elisabeth grins.
Sipping from her own beer, she tilts her head. "Caspian…. not a name I'm familiar with, I don't think. He must be a good one to have you willing to do more than casual date." (Fishing?? Moi?? You better fucking believe it. Gotta have my girl's back.)
Black hair passes in a breeze caress along the backs of her shoulders as Devi tips her head and thoughtfully rubs at the subtly concave slope of her cheek. “Mm.” There’s a hissy pop as she sucks air through her top teeth - tsst - and then nods. “An olive branch or some shit might be nice. Sexual tensions one thing, but this whole legit tension blows…” Her nod continues a moment more before she smiles up at Liz. “Thanks, Mama.”
Her head bobbles over to the other side as Liz starts wriggling in on the topic of a new beau. “You might’a seen him a time or two. He helped on the Mantis project. Even rode ‘round with me at the present for World’s Fair.” She bobs her dark, penciled brows flirtatiously. “He’s good for me, I think.” She smiles and then leans in with a clandestine hunch to her shoulder, hugged protectively around her beer bottle. “He’s hot as all the best sins and way too fuckin’ young.” Pause. “And yet… “ Cat-eye-lined lashes tense in a squint. “He’s always got his head on right. The only flaw is that I haven’t found one yet.” The biker fidgets in her seat but remains tipped in towards her friend.
"Oh right!" Now Elisabeth remembers. And at the expression on Devi's face, Elisabeth can't help but laugh. "He's definitely pretty hot," she agrees. "Although… I dunno about too young. I mean… he's what, 30? You're not that much older." There's a pause. "Don't know if you knew, but there's like 7 years between me and Richard." She's the older of the two. "Age is just a number — matters more what's between his ears than between his legs, too. Sounds to me like you have found a genuinely nice guy." Her tone asks so what's the problem? But… she kinda figures she knows.
Taking another swallow of her beer, the blonde points out mildly, "Not casting stones or anything like that, but… I mean, you dated some serious stinkers, yeah? Maybe you were just waiting for the right one to come along and see through your bullshit."
Devi’s smile pinches and twists awkwardly with the effort not to laugh. She turns her head away subtly, all the better to give Liz a probing, side-eyes look. “Serious stinkers?” Those darkened brows knit up and near and finally the husky chortle bubbles up and out. “Too much time with the 5-0… or Seren. Why does that sound like something Seren would totally say?”
She’s laughing still until she muffles the sound with the last swig of beer. “I feel like I’m standin’ on an edge though - waiting for something to fall one way or the other … just dunno if it’s going to be him or me.” She scratches the back of her neck. “S’pose you’re right - I’m just not used to the good ones, mostly.” Azure lips turn up a more confident smile Liz’s way. “I better not fuck this one up, too, eh?”
Grinning, Elisabeth retorts, "Just too much time with a small child. You should hear the shit Kain used to come up with." Kain's creative way with not swearing in front of Aurora were epic. Always guaranteed to make Liz laugh her ass off. But she gives a slow shrug to the thought of fucking it up. "If it's the right one, I think you'll figure it out quick enough. And believe me, I really don't think you could fuck it up worse than I have."
Amusement lingers in blue eyes as the blonde purses her lips and glances toward the large windows. Elisabeth seems to be considering the days of fucking it up, ifthe rueful expression is anything to go by. "Fucking it up and working it out seem to be the things that are a constant."
There’s a clink as Devi drops her empty beer bottle amongst others in the cardboard six-pack case. She pushes to her feet and rests a hand on Liz’s shoulder with a little pat of her fingers. “Sometimes fucking it up just to work it out is the best part.” The rebellious woman gives an painfully obvious wink the shadow of her dark hair before collecting her empties.
“You give Aurora my love, ‘kay? Don’t work too hard or I’m going to have to step in, ya hear?” Hell only knows what that would entail. Strippers sent to the precinct? Don’t tempt her. “Sounds like I have to stop sitting ‘round with my thumb up my ass and go make a grand gesture or some shit.” She grins foolishly.
Elisabeth laughs. "Well, there is that, of course," she agrees. Reaching up, she catches Devi's hand briefly. "He's still down in the office," she says with a small grin, "but give him ten minutes and he'll probably be in his apartment." Devi can pick neutral territory, if she feels like it. "Good luck, lady."
She holds up the bottle of beer. "I'll stick around up here for a bit."