Look What The Cat Dragged In Part 1

Posted on Wed Dec 27th, 2023 @ 10:26pm by Dodai Yaari & Indigo (*)
Edited on on Thu Dec 28th, 2023 @ 12:55am

Mission: Fractures
Location: Freecloud
Timeline: January 2398
2783 words - 5.6 OF Standard Post Measure

As Indigo stepped through her apartment door, an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. The dim glow of the hallway revealed nothing out of the ordinary, yet a subtle shift in the air hinted at an presence. As she cautiously stepped inside, a quiet rustle reached her ears. Taev and Kaylin were away, there was no one else meant to be there.

Questions swirled in her mind as she assessed the situation pulling out her laser from inside her jacket. How did this person get in? Why were they waiting for her in silence? The apartment seemed untouched, yet an invisible tension hung in the air. There were very few people who sought her out and even less who would venture inside but as she moved into the living area someone was sat on her couch waiting for her.

Sitting was an overly-generous description for the sprawling, arm-draped-towards-floor, flat-on-back occupation of furniture that masqueraded as a sleeping man. A forearm across the eyes shielded most of his face but even from a distance, an idle onlooker would hazard that this was not someone easily mistaken for another. The steady rise and fall of expansive chest added to the illusion, which was spoilt after a moment by the astute observations of a lazy baritone.

"Might want to aim a little higher if you're going for the kill shot."

The woman took in the situation and rolled her eyes. This person was one of the few who could get into her apartment and knew how to find her without hesitation. “I am aiming where I want to.” Indigo said taking a second longer to lower it back into her holster with a sigh.

From beneath a slightly-bent wrist, a single eye peeked out, as dark as the void itself. "I did knock first."

The man's calm demeanour clashed with the intrusion, leaving Indigo to navigate an enigmatic confrontation in the quiet confines of her own home. “Custom is you wait for the person not home to come home.” She commented. “Do I dare ask what I have done to deserve this visit?”

"I am not here to antagonise you, riya." The term of endearment rolled easily off Dodai's tongue, laced with a complacent affection that few earned. He had grown somewhat accustomed to her feistiness, exacerbated as he perceived it to be through her current choice of employment. He lived with the perpetual hope that, at least at one point in her life, she wasn't quite so keen to express displeasure at his company. The measure of time in between visits was erratic but finding the balance between replenishing a bond and 'getting in the way' was a battle lost by the male equivalent of every species in the known universe at some point.

Well that was something new? She found he liked to antagonise her a lot of the time when he was as casual as he was being there and then. “Then what are you here for, Dodai?” She wondered finally deciding that seeing she was not going to shoot him she should put her weapons in the locker.

With a groan, the goliath of a man eased himself up into a sitting position and swiveled to place both feet on the ground so that he could rise. "Because this is where my feet stopped walking." A faint ghost of a smile anticipated her annoyance at his evasiveness but it didn't stop his insistence at instilling some semblance of cultural whimsy to their interactions. Unlike Indigo, Dodai lived on the cusp of the universe, immaculately intertwined whilst still masterfully disengaged at times. He knew it frustrated her, having made her own decision long ago to get involved rather than adopt the role of passive observer. Each played to their strengths, she was just far more critical of his than he chose to be of hers. "And it felt like a good time."

The woman put the code in and secured the weapon before she said turned around to face him again. The alert was not the best but even she was sure her sofa could not handle his bulk for much longer if he kept that up. “Seven year itch getting to you huh?” She finally questioned softly as she sat on the edge of the couch at the other end.

"I calculated six." Having opted to stand, Dodai folded his arms across his chest and turned to face her, a manifestation of contradictory forces. The El Aurian could stand in utter peace whilst radiating an inherent fortitude that could make a Klingon think twice. It was of no small amusement to the handful who understood as much that the slender slip of a woman on the couch, however, had his measure. "I can leave if you prefer." It didn't make him any less insufferably sure of the rightness of his visit, having a tendency to pop up when he perceived his input as warranted, a habit that had an unnervingly accurate track record. It scarcely mattered if she was determined to be stubborn about it.

The woman looked up at him and crossed her own arms. “That does not work on me. Immune to it after 200 years.” She said pointedly. “Well you came here for something so must be important?” She finally said in El Aurian. It was not a language that she spoke often now and had not in six years supposedly.

"It's always important." Placid despite best attempts at provocation, Dodai looked around and pulled over a chair from the dining table, taking care to sit backwards on it more as an expectation of his behaviour than an actual desire to be contrary. "Simply lacking in specifics."

As far as the man's methods went, that gave them time. Time before whatever had tugged him back in her direction came to fruition, time before fate's warning lead to events that, once transpired, would prove some measure of justification for his return. Dodai, who had dedicated a good chunk of his life to fine-tuning his natural-born instincts, was not exactly as clairvoyant as the short-lived sometimes liked to assume but he knew enough by experience alone that once his dreams turned to seas of turquoise, he had limited time to stay ahead of the storm. It was unfortunate that this had lead to an expectation that he always brought trouble with him. Indigo was wise enough to know it didn't exactly work that way but tempestuous enough in her own right to still hold him by some degrees accountable for the cosmos and its capriciousness.

Or, at the very least, she resented the fact that he only turned up when things were about to go wrong.

"I wouldn't have come if I didn't think it would prove important," he pointed out, knowing that it didn't really help. "It feels..." He exhaled, now left to face his own unease. "...prolonged." His brow knitted. Forecasting future events was not an exact art. "I came prepared to stay."

The woman finally relaxed now that it was out in he open and closed her eyes as she realised that yet again he was there for something big and dangerous. So the penny had dropped and it left her empty like it did every time he turned up. “I really hope one time you just turn up and want to enjoy time with me.” She shook her head and rose heading to the kitchen.

A low grumble deep in Dodai's throat was as close as he got to exasperation when calm. This was what living amongst the short-lived did to a person's perspective, all the more argument for avoiding it. Lifting his gaze to the ceiling, he increased volume to be heard but didn't turn or follow. "A desire to see you safe and the universe with it, and seeking the pleasure of your company, are not mutually exclusive." A faint smile, albeit private giving the direction of it, softened his features. "I am not disappointed to be here."

“Of course they are not, dear.” She said loudly as she moved around obviously making something in there and avoiding his gaze. She returned with a nearly empty bottle of purple liquid and 2 glasses. She poured herself one and sat down on the sofa again taking a deep gulp.

He eyed her for a long moment, a quiet opportunity for gentle admiration mingled with faint amusement. It always struck him, during these first moments after a long break, just how many facets she had accumulated over the years since they had both set their feet to wandering. Arguably, he had simply over-polished the same sample, whereas Indigo's capacity for metamorphosis was as beautiful as the insects she mimicked. Eventually, because it was expected of him, he poured a similar glass for himself and eased himself to sit close enough that the sag of the couch rolled her towards him.

An arm around her shoulders pulled her close enough for his face to disappear into her hair.

"I missed you."

Which was, aggravatingly, exceedingly honest. Dodai seemed almost to harness his capacity for loneliness as the emotionally tantric equivalent of a deprivation chamber. If absence made the heart grow fonder, then he was clearly aiming to cultivate a giant's bounty.

The woman froze at his statement. He had not said that before that when roads brought them back together either he commented on how the short-lived made her senses dull or an attempt to placate the growing resentment that built every time he dropped by when things were about to go wrong. “You do not normally miss me.” She finally ventured into a tone less angry and sarcastic, something more questioning.

"I always miss you."

Leave it to the man to commit entirely once he'd chosen a path. It was the decision that took eons, the glacial shift that turned his feet in new directions inch by agonising inch. For all he could be evasive and vague, Dodai was rarely dishonest, saw no need for deceit when the option to leave or simply remain silent existed. His timing on this was questionable but it hinted at the gravity of his impetus for returning. Whatever was looming, it was big. Catastrophic.

Fingertips found a strand of her hair and coiled it around a knuckle. "There was a time when you didn't need words to read a moment." It wasn't a criticism, merely an observation of change.

“Been a long time. I am obviously rusty. Might have to remind me.” She commented quietly, not responding to his declaration of missing her. She missed him but it did nothing to change how he normally felt or anything he did for her to declare anything. It was far too short lived to do it when they were very different people that had been playing the same game for 200 years.

Silence became the immediate response. It often was with him, and if he convinced her to let him stay long enough, there would come a point where Indigo remembered how to translate it. When that happened, when their equilibrium was restored, the descent into the inevitable commenced. It wouldn't last, life never did, even for people like them who knew better than most how to endure. His acceptance was perceived as a lack of grief and, because it often helped her to be angry with him when separation became unavoidable, Dodai chose silence then too. Such was their ebb and flow.

The finger tangled in her hair slowly allowed it to unravel.

"Your new friends are a colourful bunch." It was his way of admitting he'd been paying attention.

The woman turned to glance at him and frowned wondering how long he had been watching and waiting for a moment to come in and break the news of changes. “They are. How long have you been watching and waiting for me to be alone?” She wondered leaning forward to get her glass and take another huge gulp.

If he was truly committed to the mounting likelihood of being slapped and kicked out on his ass, Dodai might have opted for a metaphorical response. It was testament, perhaps, to the importance of that not occurring that he settled on the simplicity of the truth. "Two days." His hand dropped to rest on her shoulder. "You were busy."

“I was busy.” She agreed thinking of the last 2 days and her working long hours. This was the first time in 2 days where she would be sleeping in her own bed and relaxing and not having to think about anything for the Watchdog. “I am also very tired. And not sure I want to have this conversation.” She added the tiredness now reaching her eyes now that she no longer had a weapon on her.

"I did offer to leave." And, as much as that had been aptly phrased to disarm her, metaphorically speaking, it was also something Dodai was perfectly capable of following through on. He never insisted on staying, simply turned up and pronounced it advisable.

“You do not want to leave. You would not have turned up and waited if you wanted to.” She commented put the glass back as she twisted a little to look at him properly. “You’ve aged?” She wondered taking him in.

"Desire's role in this is only partial." Responding to her first statement bought him time to side-step the other. Age was felt by all living things and he was not exempt. It was true, there were flecks of silver through his hair, just the occasional strand having succumbed to atrophy. Equally as valid was a slightly creasing about the corners of his eyes, the weathering of skin that saw too much sun and not enough soap at times. Dodai hid much of his appearance behind a wall of hair but his lifestyle collected its dues regardless. Watching her as she studied him, he lifted a hand to tap his index finger against the tip of her nose. "You're the boss, remember?"

The woman raised an eyebrow at the fact he did not comment on her calling out for aging. She had not in 200 years, looking young unnerved people when her true nature was revealed. “I am only cause you’d get yourself shot if I didn’t.” Indigo commented with a smile as she stroked a hand down his arm and attempted to shift back but his bulk vs her furniture did not work and she ended up back against him.

There was an analogy there. Were he several more drinks and a few choice herbs into the conversation, Dodai might have pointed out the metaphorical magnetism that would likely keep pulling them back towards each other until one or both of them returned to the cosmic ether. Right now, he had wits about him enough to know his place and, judging by her current energy, Indigo's limits. A kiss to her temple then saw him release her, moving to the side to provide a little space. "Tomorrow may be a better day for discussing how this plays out. For now, might an old man beg a patch of floor to crash on?" He winked, playful for once.

Indigo used his thigh to push herself up from the couch and stood up. “You are only old as you chose to grow old but it suits you I suppose.” She murmured admiring him for a moment before she disappeared to get some bedding for him. “Couch turns into a bed and my house mates are not due back for few days luckily for you.” She said holding the bedding out to him. “Try not to get into trouble tonight hmm?”

"My continued efforts to stay ahead of strife will endure,' Dodai assured, his choice of words lending a sparkle of mischief to his eyes as he knew he was risking a pillow to the head. Accepting the bedding as a mound that threatened to swamp him, the El Aurian remained seated, his chin rested atop his cozy armful as he watched her intently. "Breakfast as always, I brought supplies." Which, given the state of her food stores, had been a good thing.

Indigo let a faint smile ghost her lips before she inclined her head slightly. It was a nice gesture but she was not sure if she was going be hungry or awake to even have breakfast after the last couple of days. “I will see how I feel but your heart is in the right place so thank you.” She said gently before turning around and leaving him to it.