➹BEEPER

[intheblanks]

"It had better be an emergency."
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Comments

[intheblanks]

You are. He's not blind, he's just about twelve.

[Chase's nose wrinkles, faintly.]

[synanthrope]

[She pauses, and looks at Chase]

I know. I'm hardly interested.

[And another pause....]

I want someone who can watch their movements to tell me what's going on.

[intheblanks]

[If there's one thing Chase can't pin down, it's the why behind the objects of some of her interest. This, at least, he can follow through, though it makes him sigh, turning in to face her.]

They're not going to be plotting against you, Satya. The whole wolf-spider animosity? Pretty sure it's one sided here.

[synanthrope]

Who said they were planning against me?

[Saya's web is much more involved than that]

But if I take precautions, are you going to fault me?

[intheblanks]

[He pushes a hand back through his hair.]

I used to live with a girl who kept a gun in every drawer.

[He only partly remembers the experience, but his memory has been refreshed since.]

[synanthrope]

No guns.

But does that mean you understand, at least in theory?

[She turns to bracket him with her legs.]

[intheblanks]

It means I can live with it.

[And he understands, even if a life relatively devoid of threat hasn't equipped him well for it.]

I just don't want you creating trouble for yourself which doesn't exist right now. A guy's only going to be more loyal to a women than his mates when he's actually sleeping with her, and then only sometimes.

[synanthrope]

I don't plan on sleeping with him. I would break him.

[She takes another moment, inspects him]

Are you more loyal to me than to your friends?

[intheblanks]

He might not object to that. [Chase should know. He clears his throat before answering the question.]

You are my friends.

[There are others. Eden's just one of the small collection he's added here. There are people from back home where the discord between how much he cared for them in the past and how much he cares now buzzes like white noise in the background of every encounter. But in terms of comfort (even with all the things that make him uncomfortable) it's all too often here and her.]

[synanthrope]

I thought you would comment on my newfound sense of moral compunction.

[Actually she just doesn't want to. It's almost never worth her time to sleep with guys like Stiles]

Well it was never my intention to breed loyalty, although I enjoy your friendship.

[It's a comment that could mean a lot of different things, but as is usual when she speaks to Chase, she doesn't mean it in a way that is upsetting.]

[intheblanks]

Restricting the shortlist of who you'll sleep with to the less delicate? [He has to grin at that even as some small bunch of stomach muscles clench.] Oh, yeah. Very noble.

[He leans in, resting his arms on the raised bridges of her knees.]

If it helps, I never intended to be loyal. Not everything requires calculation to achieve.

[synanthrope]

There are a lot more restrictions than that.

[And then she frowns a little]

They seem to be increasing.

[intheblanks]

[There are a few well known words of wisdom on this subject. Out of sight, out of mind. Ignorance is bliss. They're all nearly entirely inaccurate, but Chase still doesn't know exactly how far he should let this thread of conversation go.

He counts off a couple of fingers on his left hand, and keeps his tone from slipping into seriousness.]

Werewolves. The young and ill-equipped...

[synanthrope]

They're probably idiots.

[She shrugs and sets her tools aside.]

Most wolves are. There's more than one. Two, I think.

[intheblanks]

[All right, he'll go with the subject change.]

Both from Stiles' world?

[synanthrope]

I suspect so. They smell similar. Like they're related.

[They're not, but one can't be bitten where Saya is from]

You weren't asking if I would sleep with them, were you?

[intheblanks]

[He shrugs a shoulder]

If the city likes its cliques enough to pick up a group of doctors from the same hospital, sucking in a - whatever the collective noun for a group of werewolves is wouldn't surprise me.

And no, I was listing the restrictions I know about.

[synanthrope]

Oh.

Do you want to know them all?

Anyone from your world. Anyone named for a color. Women who don't know how to dress. Anyone who smells like a narcotic. Men who try too hard, or attempt to make me do something I'm not interested in. People who are wet. Anyone who tries to touch me first.

And after that it's a case by case scenario.

[intheblanks]

[It's a... sweet enough (from her) sentiment that Chase doesn't even consider pointing out that she's had just about everyone here from his world already (and the last candidate is - well, she isn't a candidate). He just curls his fingertips gently under her knees leaning in a little.]

Hm. I think I've hit at least three of those, at one point or another.

[synanthrope]

I thought you knew, Chase.

You're different. You don't count.

[intheblanks]

[Different, complicated. He knows and at the same time doesn't quite comprehend.]

If I know that, I don't know what to do about it.

[synanthrope]

You don't have to do anything about it.

[She tilts her head. This is her issue, not his. She's acting on him, not the other way around]

[intheblanks]

[She's his issue, and a boat he's trying desperately not to upset. He knows the damage that can be done by wanting more.

So he nods and doesn't meet her eyes. He looks at the jeep, instead.]

Anything left I can give you a hand with?

[A hand being holding her wrench while she executes perfection, but still.]

[synanthrope]

I was about finished, for the night.

Have you ever fixed a car?

[intheblanks]

I kept something like this running long enough to strand a few of us in the bush one Winter break. Fixed would be an exaggeration.