Ain't No Particular Sign I'm More Compatible With [closed]

[ryuuzaki]

Who: L and Tex
When: Quite recently!
Where: Their condo, R1
What: Planted a capsule from the Ingress Complex; it's about to bloom.
Warnings: Rampant botanical speculation.



[If the capsule hadn't come from the Ingress Complex itself -- if it hadn't been part of some sort of vaguely inscrutable integration effort on the part of their hosts -- L wouldn't have planted it as instructed. He might have discarded it, taken it to a lab, done some kind of controlled experiment with it… but what he wouldn't have done with it is what he was told to do.

Given its source, he was curious about what the result of following the instructions would be.

It turns out that they're logical: you put the capsule in soil and you get a plant. It's green, and it looks like it might even be of Earth origin -- maybe. He's not a botanist and not sure how much plants here might differ.

Either way, it's going to bloom, so he sets it on the table one day at breakfast so that Tex can also see it.]

I have to admit, I'm a little bit irritated that I want to know what this is going to be.

Comments

[a_shadow]

[ Tex is eating when he enters and she raises an eyebrow at him, pausing with her spoon halfway to her mouth. ]

It's a plant. I don't know if you noticed, but it has all the signs.

[ryuuzaki]

[He gives her A Look.]

I've noticed. But I'm not taking the biology of this place for granted. It was at least partly lab-produced... that could be interesting.

[a_shadow]

I suppose.

[ She takes a bite of her meal, looking at the plant. ]

That's a good spot for it. I guess.

[ryuuzaki]

I thought you might like it.

[A beat, and he adds, sitting down,]

Or not, depending on how it turns out. I don't completely trust that there won't be a very small monkey living in it... something like that. You remember the kitten tree on the ship.

[a_shadow]

[ She lets out a sound, half-chuckle and half-scoff, pleased that he was thinking of pleasing her. The dog, which has been wandering the house, comes and sits next to her, attempting to beg a bite of her breakfast. Everything about this is so domestic, it makes her feel like laughing. A condo, a dog, and now a house plant. ]

I do remember. Do you think that's a feature of this universe? Animals that come from plants?

[ryuuzaki]

I think it remains to be seen, until we're certain it never happens. But I suppose it doesn't matter very much if it does.

[Since this conversation began, the flower has bloomed about 5% further. Red is visible.]

I wonder what he would think. [L indicates Hachi with a little jerk of his head, then reaches for one of the cream-filled eclairs on his own plate.] If I really thought this might have an animal in it, I'd isolate it until we knew for sure. As it is... I thought you might like a flower.

[This is said with the least sentimentality imaginable, given the circumstances.]

[a_shadow]

This probably doesn't even need to move for him to decide to tear it up.

[ She rolls her eyes. Hachi's a terribly destructive creature sometimes. He whines and noses at her leg, which she ignores. If she pays him any attention, he'll just climb right into her lap. ]

Anyway, I'm sure it'll be lovely.

[ryuuzaki]

Well, don't let him. Until we know whether or not it's poisonous to dogs, we should treat it as if it is.

[Hachi gets another glance, this one more skeptical. He's very poorly trained, which is what comes of having run wild in the air vents of a space ship for most of his life. Their training efforts at the Midway Hub have helped, but Hachi is still very much his own dog. And grudgingly, L has to admit that Hachi is... cute.]

I'm going to hire a dog trainer if I can find one.

[a_shadow]

You ought to put it up higher than the table, then. The living room shelving, maybe.

[ She looks down at Hachi, who gives a great doggy grin and sets his paws on her knees. She brushes him back. ]

We probably need trained as much as he does.

[ryuuzaki]

Yes, eventually. It might have taken a while for you to see it up there.

[In response to the second comment, he initially gives her a long, flat look.]

Training?

[Is he being suggestive? Isn't he? Is he maintaining plausible deniability? How well does she know him?]

[a_shadow]

[ She raises her eyebrows when he gives her that look. ]

Yes, training. Someone needs to teach the owners how to get him to behave. I don't think you've ever owned a dog before, now, have you?

[ryuuzaki]

Have you?

[He admits nothing. In any case, he hasn't had both time and opportunity for this sort of thing in many years.]

A few years ago, someone I was working with had a dog they liked to bring to our workroom. It eventually had puppies under his desk. Then he disappeared -- I can only hope that he was able to go home -- but the dog was still there.

[What he means is "I helped deliver my friend Nathan's dog's puppies."]

[a_shadow]

Oh, yeah?

[ There are a lot of little stories like this she's never heard. It surprises her sometimes to find the way she wants to know everything about him. She takes another bite of her food and rests her hand beneath her chin. ]

Did you help train them?

[ryuuzaki]

No. I helped care for them a little early on. He had mostly arranged owners for the puppies, and he had an adult daughter... a young adult... so she took over, for the most part, when he left. The dog visited our workroom for some time after that, however.

[It occurs to him that he doesn't feel like explaining to Tex how Nathan's daughter Claire had been a close friend of Darcy, a subordinate who L had had a consuming crush on. Darcy had brought Izzie down to Comms to play sometimes. When he tries to focus on it... the warm, salty smell of Izzie's paws and the way she would insistently push her head under the palm of his hand... it all seems dreamlike and faraway. And it's better if it stays at that distance.

Running away from Darcy at a party -- a Darcy who had no memory of him prior to her arrival on the Moira -- is nearly the total foundation of his relationship with Tex.]

[a_shadow]

[ Unaware of his train of thought, she smirks. ]

That definitely doesn't count then, sorry to say, Daniel. Nice try, though.

[ryuuzaki]

No.

[He takes a bite of his eclair, then washes it down with a sip of coffee.]

What do you want him to learn?

[a_shadow]

Standard stuff. Sit, stay, don't beg. Don't trample people. That stuff.

[ryuuzaki]

"Don't try to steal people's pastries"?

[He gives the dog one of his pointed, raised-eyebrow looks.]

He's better than he used to be. Do you want to take him for a walk on a leash after we finish this? I have my eye on some office space, if you're interested in seeing it.

[a_shadow]

That's true. The time in the tent seemed to be good for him.

[ She spoons up another bite of her food. ]

I would like that, yes. It's in walking distance, huh?

[ryuuzaki]

One of them. I really haven't decided yet. It might even be better to take more than one, but my funds here aren't unlimited.

[a_shadow]

Funds rarely are.

[ Yet the way he says that makes her think that's more like what he's used to. She studies him with an air of amusement for a moment. ]

Maybe you'll get back there sometime.

[ryuuzaki]

It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

[He sounds, at least for him, blithe almost to the point of being glib. As he continues, it becomes distinctly sardonic.]

If I don't fill the time until then, I'll probably die of boredom before Yagami gets another chance at me.

[a_shadow]

Well, I do believe doing something is going to do far more to get you there than sitting around doing nothing.

[ She's not going to touch the comment about that murderer. She scrapes the rest of her breakfast up out of the bowl, eats it, then rises to get the dog something to eat. There are appropriate pet foods in the shops here, thankfully, and she prepares him a dish before she sets it on the floor near the sink. ]

[ryuuzaki]

I don't really have any argument with that, except that I seriously doubt the two are connected.

[He glances at the plant: much more red is now showing.]

Tex, look. The flower.

If this what I think it is... I can't remember the name of it. But I think it might be an Earth plant, or maybe a synthesized version of it.

[He sounds at least one-quarter of the way to delighted.]

[a_shadow]

[ She shakes her head. ]

You're certainly not going to make any money without trying to earn that money.

[ She returns to the table to look at the plant. ]

That certainly is a flower.

[ She chuckles, just slightly, and slings her arms around his neck, leaning in on him from behind. ]

Mystery solved.

[ She kisses the back of his head. ]

[ryuuzaki]

[That first comment gets another one of his looks -- a "no, really?" look.]

Mystery solved.

Tex. I really can't claim that I made much the year before I was pulled away from home... the case I was working on was very necessary, but it wasn't lucrative. The year before that, however, I made... about $40 million.

If making money is a problem, it won't be because I didn't try.

[A sigh, mock-resigned.]

But it may mean that I have to try something else.

[a_shadow]

You might.

[ Not that she has any claim on his money, but the fact that he's wise enough with money to earn a goodly amount makes her glad to know. She squeezes him before she stands up again. ]

I bet you'll figure it out.

[ryuuzaki]

[He gives her a mischievous look.]

How much? 100 sencs?

[a_shadow]

[ She snorts. ]

No.

[ She takes his hand, to try to nudge him to stand with her. ]

If you and I are betting anything about anything, it's going to be bedroom things, not money. And I'm not really going to make a wager on this topic, so it doesn't matter.

[ryuuzaki]

[He allows himself to be nudged, somewhat reluctantly, and stands.]

Good. I'd have to rethink my impression of you if you were to take an obviously losing bet without a mitigating reason.

[He's teasing her; he doesn't even make a pretense of seriousness.]

[a_shadow]

Uh-huh.

[ She prods him in the side with her fingers, drawing him in toward herself. ]

What kind of mitigating circumstance makes it okay to make a losing bet, hm?