[PRP] Talking Time #2 (Fin)

[TawnyAngel]

With the techno beat thumping in his ears through his headphones Aulus abandoned the step up block and jogged over to one of the large exercise balls. Breathing hard and soaked with sweat he knelt down in front of it, got his feet up onto it, persuaded himself that yes he was balanced and yes he was going to finish this sodding workout, and then took his weight on his hand and started his set of decline press-ups. These were really kind of hard when you only had one hand especially at the end of thirty minutes of intense exercise but it wasn't as though he had a lot of choice about that. Well, not the whole hand thing anyway. Aulus gritted his teeth and counted reps.

Rose, who was following along in solidarity, picked a bench to put his feet on and started his own press-up though really it wasn't too much of a challenge for the Sawk. Not too far away Tortie and Killer were running on a pair of treadmills with Char overseeing the speed, and just to the side of them Thanatos was doing some stretches.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

A black-haired grunt entered the room with a bucket on wheels and other cleaning equipment in tow. He stopped short upon noticing the gym was occupied, about to turn around and come back later. However, the sight of the exercising pokemon gave him some amusement, as if they were pretending to be human. He chuckled softly to himself until he realized he recognized the Charizard monitoring the speed on the treadmills. Not a moment later, his searching gaze caught sight of the fire-type's trainer.

Nakura leaned forward, his arms casually draped over the handle bar of his cleaning cart. Grinning at the headphones over the agent's ears, he didn't bother attempting to speak. Instead, he chose to enjoy his view of Aulus' burly, sweat-streaked body until he was noticed.  

[TawnyAngel]

After a punishingly long time Aulus finished the set and, given he thought he was alone, he flopped off the ball and rolled onto his back. Panting for breath he pulled out his headphones and lay there with his eyes closed, rubbing at the stump of his right arm. It ached. Everything ached right now actually but he'd got through the routine and within the time he'd allotted himself too. Once he'd got his breath back he'd take a drink, hit the showers and then go and relax.

Aulus might be oblivious but his pokemon were not.

Char turned off the treadmills and gave Izaya a Look; he was soon joined in this by Tortie. The rest of the little gathering of pokemon hadn't met the grunt before but they picked up on the mood of the more experienced pair and stopped what they were doing to see what would happen next.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Upon his inspection of Aulus' working body, something struck Nakura as being different. Not just different - missing. Since when had he lost an arm?! Just what had happened on that last assignment? The info-broker's smirk gave way to a look of unease. He wasn't sure what he felt about this.

Perhaps irritation at not having kept up with the news around headquarters despite his grunt busywork. But then why was there that gnawing; that trace of familiar helplessness he'd felt when Aila had been suffering from shrapnel? It wasn't as if there'd been anything he could have done even if he'd been on that raid too, right? He just observed people. If anyone would have been able to do something, it would have been Hayes. Or Tambrey, Aulus' new partner. He wondered idly what shape they were in.

Shaking his head to clear it, Nakura wondered what had gotten into him again. If anything, he should have been pleased not to have had to go on that stupid mission. That could have been him with a stump of a right arm and he was sincerely glad it wasn't. It was then he noticed Char's and Torti's looks and cringed, feeling as if he'd seen something he shouldn't have.

The other pokemon only served to add to the grunt's wariness, especially those he was unfamiliar with. He knew the first two were well-trained, but who knew how the others would react to his uninvited intrusion? With a sheepish smile, Nakura put his palms up in a gesture of surrender before turning his cart around to head back out. Hopefully the agent on the floor would be too wiped out to notice.  

[TawnyAngel]

Now that Aulus no longer had his earphones in he heard the light rattle and squeak of the cart. The more primitive areas of the Agent's brain totally bypassed his frontal cortex and promoted his motor cortex to flick him up onto his feet from a sprawled start in one smooth movement that ended with him poised to beat the s**t out of something. As he landed however his higher brain functions caught up with proceedings and pointed out that if there had been any threat to him his team would have acted, and so he relaxed into scowling annoyance instead.

When he took in the identity of the noise-maker his expression darkened.

"Oh it's you," Aulus said with a sneer that carried perhaps just a hint of threat as well. "Leaving so soon? You haven't even started cleaning, I shouldn't think your partner would be too impressed." Izaya. To say that their last meeting hadn't gone that well would be as much as to say that liquid nitrogen was kinda chilly.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

At the sign of sudden movement in his peripheral vision, Nakura jumped, half-expecting to have to make a run for it. It didn't help that the agent had given chase before, so no matter if it was his pokemon or he himself who chose to attack, the grunt wasn't about to stick around.

Turning part-way as he prepared to abandon his equipment, though, he noticed Aulus' face change and Nakura's own body managed to release its coiled tension as well. Most of it, anyway.

"Heh...when is anyone around here ever impressed by me?" he asked jokingly, flourishing a hand in a casual gesture. The grunt kept the other red-eyed man's gaze, taking extra care not to let his own stray to the alien nub that had once been an arm. "I thought I'd come back when you and your pokemon were finished perspiring all that sweat. There's no point if I clean up just for you all to make it dirty again."

Other than his typical, mocking tone and usual, meaningless smile, Nakura did his best to embody a proper grunt who knew his place. No questions inquiring about uncomfortable subjects. No acting above his station. No nosing his way into others' business - not unless he was prompted to. He was in deep enough s**t as it was; likely more than Aulus knew. The agent had larger issues to worry about. If Nakura really wanted to find out what had happened on the last mission, perhaps he could browse the reports some time between his odd jobs.  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus found himself a little off balance, mainly due to Izaya not going on the offensive but partially at a bit of a headrush after flinging his tired body from horizontal to vertical so quickly. He sat down on the exercise ball, trying to look casual. "Not ever so far as I've heard, other than 'impressed you've lived this long'," he replied, looking over at Char as he spoke and gesturing to his waterbottle which was on the other side of the room to the exercise ball. "We're done, so you can get on," he added to the grunt with a jerk of his head back into the room.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

With a genuine laugh at the agent's remark, the grunt wheeled the cart back in and a clean cloth. He dampened the cloth with some fresh water. "New faces, I see," he commented, hardly bothering to glance up at the other pokemon. "Is that one an evolution of Eevee? It's worse than that Lugia of yours! You've got a secret love of pink, don't you?"

Tossing the clean cloth at Aulus' face, the black-haired man grabbed another along with a spray bottle of disinfectant from his cart. "Here. Any towel that fire-lizard gives you is probably just as hot as he is. No good for cooling down."  

[TawnyAngel]

Waaaaaht?

Aulus caught the cloth and it suspiciously but couldn't detect anything weird on it. He wiped the sweat off his face and then looked up scowling, Izaya wasn't supposed to be nice.... Well okay not entirely nice but he wasn't supposed to make nice gestures, it didn't fit at all and Aulus was sure he smelled a rat.

"He is; Sylveon, fairy type," Aulus said, still scowling deeply and breathing hard. "And seen as you ask I was assigned both of the pink ones, so maybe somebody higher up has a love of seeing me with pink. We may never know the truth," he added dryly. He suspected Executive Nadja. "Anyway what's with you? Making civil gestures isn't something I've come to expect from you without an ulterior motive." Whatever the reason was he wanted to know it. Had Faleen said something? Had Izaya got himself into even more trouble somehow?

lZAYA ORlHARA

Kitomyx

 

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Fairy-type," Nakura repeated, giggling. "Where do they come up with these things? Might as well have been called the 'girly-type'." He'd watched as the brawny man had caught the cloth easily, interested to note he'd already adapted rather well to his lack of a limb. Well, it had been a while, he supposed, but the grunt would have suspected most human beings to have still at least fumbled while trying to make use of their non-dominant arm.

Aulus was a hard worker, though; that much was certain. Even if he had been left-handed or ambidextrous before his loss, Nakura doubted anyone else would have pushed themselves so hard during a work-out just three months afterward. He wasn't a doctor, but he'd been under the impression that it could take years, even with a prosthetic, for people to adapt. And that was without having a team, pokemon, and a career as a high-ranking criminal to worry about.

"Ah, so that's your excuse," the informant teased in response to the explanation of having been assigned the pink pokemon. "Maybe your former partner might have even put them up to it for fun. I, at least, wouldn't put it past him." He was wiping down all the handle bars and most frequently touched places on the exercise equipment when the question about his motives came up.

"Eh?" His hesitation didn't last long as he sprayed more disinfectant on his cloth. "Oh, that. It's not a big deal." Nakura shrugged. "If anything, think of it as my gratitude to you for allowing me the pleasure of your company and conversation." A weak smile rested on his lips as he worked. "I've been kept so busy as of late, I've hardly even gotten a chance to speak to my own partner. And, as you might know, I've even been lacking a roommate since Agent Jerome was promoted." He chuckled bitterly. "Some grunts might have enjoyed the whole place to themselves, but I think the higher-ups know me better by now."

TawnyAngel

((Sorry you end up quoting two names. ^_^; You don't have to if it's too much trouble. I check the threads pretty often.))

 

[TawnyAngel]

lZAYA ORlHARA

No worries!

Kitomyx

The continued teasing was a bit more like it, almost reassuring actually. "I don't think he'd do that," Aulus replied, rubbing his neck with the cloth and looking directly up at Izaya. "So what if I did choose them though, and did like pink? Have you got a joke in stock for that one? Come on, indulge me." What was the worst the grunt could say, and what would be wrong with it if he did like pink? He did like it actually, in a natural setting, it just wasn't a colour he'd choose to wear. Why not though? Probably some masculine, patriarchal bullshit. Uuuuuugh.

"I can't say I keep track of your rooming situation," Aulus continued as he accepted and then swigged from the bottle Char had just brought to him. "One thing I did notice though is that you swore you were coming on the last mission. Unless you were seriously discreet I guess you decided it sounded too scary for you after all?" Aulus took another swig of water, watching the grunt's face carefully. The fact that he hadn't shown up on the mission had been a huge relief at the time but now he wanted to know why Izaya hadn't come after being so damn adamant that he would.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"In fact, no," the grunt admitted, his smile still meek. "I've actually come to be fond of the color myself. There's a man I know who wears it almost constantly, but no one would think to question his masculinity, so it's not as though I associate it with anything in particular. I just thought you might have, what with apparent your attempts to avoid showing weakness, softness, or femininity, so I played on that."

Scrubbing at any grime that might have built up on the equipment, Nakura concentrated his gaze on his work as he continued to respond. "Maybe not, but I thought you and Agent Jerome might have exchanged a few words about it while you two were getting so buddy-buddy. Maybe even at my expense." He offered a laugh, but his heart wasn't in it. Instead, there seemed to be a touch of sourness in his words. The remark on his absence during the last mission didn't affect his fixed grin, but it did cause him to visibly flinch. So Aulus had remembered.

The grunt sighed. "And here I thought I'd have been beneath your notice as the lowly grunt I am," he chuckled, acting as though he hadn't taken offense to the voiced guess that he might have been too scared. Sure, he was a coward by nature; he had to be to survive and that was one aspect of himself that he loved. Still, even if in jest, the suggestion that he would have so easily gone back on his word after he'd been so set in his resolve was biting. Just how unprincipled did they think he was? Well, given his track record and others' lack of understanding his motives, he guessed he couldn't blame them.

"I suppose you could have realized it simply because you were worried about how I'd be extra trouble," he mused aloud, rubbing at a particularly stubborn piece of dirt. "In any case, it wasn't my choice. Agent Faleen forbade it after I abused my time off under her watch for prior good behavior." His tight grin became crooked at the memory. "She was so disappointed, especially after she'd thought I was becoming such a good little Rocket. I hadn't meant to make a mess of things, but it's difficult to explain certain...motivations when the person you're explaining to thinks they already have yours figured out." Nakura shook his head. "It might have been worth it if I'd actually managed to accomplish what I'd meant to, but I didn't even get that far. She hasn't really talked it over with me, but I think it's fair to say she counted that one as my first strike."

"Nevermind that, though," he continued, brightening as he happily took the opportunity to turn the line of conversation toward the mission. Sitting up, he perched on the edge of a treadmill and eagerly leaned forward like a child ready for a story. "How'd it go? I haven't heard much, but I take it I missed quite an adventure. Possibly the biggest yet, if your arm is anything to go by. I'm jealous."

TawnyAngel

(( heart ))

 

[TawnyAngel]

Kitomyx

lZAYA ORlHARA

Aulus nearly got angry but then he thought about it. He thought hard and tried to be like Alex, showing too much to people who were against you got you nowhere. He shrugged. If it had been a bigger thing he wouldn't have managed it but this was just a niggle and so he shrugged and dismissed. "Nothing wrong with pink, not my colour but nothing wrong with it... And anyone who thinks I'm weak is welcome to fight me, they can have both hands and I'll still flatten them without breaking any more of a sweat than I already have at the time." He'd survived a lot and he was still alive, and apparently valuable enough to put back together with expensive tech. It might never feel like a part of him - he didn't know - but at least he was worth something to the organization.

"As for Jerome," Aulus shrugged again, "he's no gossip, he's not bitched to me about you if that's what you were thinking." Was it just him or did Izaya sound a bit sour? He was nearly sure but nearly wasn't worth all that much and anyway, there was more to say.

"You got my attention, so I remember," the Agent said coldly, and he was cold because he was being careful. He remembered. He remembered the urge to break bones, to choke, to rend into pieces. He had always been an angry person but that level of anger had frightened him and he didn't want to go back there....

But wait, Faleen had forbidden him? Hu.

Aulus rolled his shoulders and rubbed the end of his right arm again to remind it that it did stop where it was, that there shouldn't be a sensation of more that hurt. "I'll tell you how the mission was if you tell me what you did to piss Faleen off so much. An exchange of information, right?" Was that a good reaction? He hoped so.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"See, there it is again!" Nakura announced. He didn't sound so pleased as much as exasperated at his findings. He'd thought he'd had this talk with the agent last time, but evidently it hadn't made it through to his thick skull. That, or he was being doubly self-conscious now that he was one arm short. If Aulus was going to start up that racket about being all menacing and tough again, then the grunt wasn't going to bother putting a muzzle on his own mouth.

"You're still doing that?! Those threats of yours are so obvious, it's like you want people to see you're completely vulnerable." This time, any semblance of playfulness was gone. "Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but as someone who spends his time observing humans as his favorite hobby, I'm betting I know how they work better than you do, Agent. I might even know how you work better than you do."

He waved a hand impatiently. "You might have been able to discourage the idea that you're insecure by that comment about nothing being wrong with pink. But when you go on and on about how you could flatten anyone who thinks you're weak, you completely obliterate any doubts. Don't you see that the harder you try to show off, the more you're exposing what you're trying to hide? What's the point of all that?"

"Obviously, even I'm not perfect," the grunt couldn't help saying with a partial smirk. "I have insecurities the same as anyone else. But even if I act fairly confident, I still know how to let people underestimate me, like how, just from looking at me, someone would probably think they could snap me like a twig." His crimson eyes sharpened. "At least until they cross me, which is when I use that underestimation to my advantage," he elaborated. "Because with twig-snapping in their minds, I can usually divert people from recalling my speed, parkour skills, or flick-blade until I actually need to use said things against them."

"Not that I'm saying you would be diverted," Nakura added almost derisively, "but I trust you see my point. If said people never end up finding themselves at odds with me, then there's no reason for them to be aware of the full extent of my...capabilities. Do you catch my drift?" He tilted his head. "Don't boast your hand unless you want to be called on your bluff."

"I'm betting you don't put on such a stupid front for Hayes or Jerome or Tambrey, which is understandable because they have trust from you that I don't." the grunt talkatively went on. "But please don't insult my intelligence by blabbing empty threats. We both know what you can do regardless of your missing arm, but I don't intend to ever put you in a situation where you have to prove those things to me, so there's no need to beat your big gorilla breasts for my sake. Alphas and omegas are already pretty well-defined by our ranks." He stared at Aulus in all seriousness. "So here's my threat: if you ever start that nonsense about needing to prove what a tough manly-man you are again, I just might get annoyed enough to finish talking what's left of your ears off."

Having said his piece on that, Nakura didn't respond to the bit about Jerome, but he did keep it in mind. It was kind of good to know that the ex-gangster hadn't gone around telling everyone - particularly Aulus - that his previous roommate had done something to upset even him. At the same time, the grunt wondered if maybe it just had been too painful to share. Jerome seemed the sort to just keep those things to himself anyway. Nakura wondered idly if he was still angry at him.

Brought out of his pondering by Agent Aulus' offer of an information exchange, the grunt grimaced. "No," he said, barely giving it a thought as he quickly began to pack up his cleaning supplies. "I've spent enough time here already; they'll start scolding me for slacking off. I can find out what I want to know of the mission from the reports later." His back was to Aulus as he stripped off his plastic gloves. Of course he would have preferred to hear it first-hand from a Rocket who'd been on the mission, which was part of the reason he hadn't gone to read the reports already. But some information he was as personally self-conscious about as Aulus seemed to be. "Besides, you'd just laugh."

TawnyAngel

 

[TawnyAngel]

Kitomyx

lZAYA ORlHARA

As Izaya launched into his speech Aulus' expression darkened and his body started to tense. Here they went again, just as everything had seemed almost alright there was this! He concentrated on his breathing, fighting down the urge to cut in and biting back every initial reaction because they would all be wrong and stupid.

When Izaya fell silent there was a growl but it didn't come from Aulus, it came from Tortie. Hackles raised she took a step towards the grunt but a whistle from her trainer stopped her in her tracks before she could go further than that.

Aulus - still sitting on his exercise ball - glared up at Izaya, his features tight and flushed with anger. "You're wrong," he snapped, "and you are going to stand there and listen to why you are wrong, you long streak of piss." To make sure that the grunt did stay in the room and listen Aulus motioned Char over to stand by the door.

Okay, now; breathe in, breathe out, think before you speak. Don't be the idiot he thinks you are. Be better than that.

"It was an observation not a threat," Aulus began, his voice tight but currently controlled, "an observation made in direct response to what you said about my 'apparent attempts to avoid showing weakness'. All I was saying was that there's nothing wrong with the damn colour and that if anyone did think I was weak and tried to take advantage of that I could deal with it. It wasn't a threat to you, or a boast particularly, it was a statement of fact. And aren't you showing me some of the cards in your hand to me right now? And another thing, contrary to your lovely little assumption yes I would react the same in front of any of them because - let's cover this again you limp weaselly excuse for a human being - it was Not A Threat.

"But please!" Aulus threw up his hand and showed his teeth in a rather unpleasant smile, "Tell me more about how much you know about how my tiny gorilla brain works, I'm dying to find out just how much you are underestimating me." Izaya was wrong... right? He hated that he even questioned that but questioning himself seemed to be one of his greatest talents at the moment. It hadn't been... or he hadn't meant it to be? Maybe it had been unconsciously defensive, maybe he did see... yes he did see Izaya as a threat but he hadn't been threatening him. Was that different? He thought it was but once again he wasn't sure. Izaya was right about one thing at least, he was insecure and vulnerable and all of that s**t and he really hated it right now.