mongrel heart

Did you know him well?

The girl was about to ask why when she kept going, then was going to intervene again, but it seemed her millisecond of a chance was up, the girl kept going. She couldn’t help but let a small laugh out. “Well you know what they say, if you can’t do…teach people how to kill a person the physical way and spend your day dealing with training the Q-branch while trying not to kill yourself.” the girl said with an overly wide smile as she picked up her gym bag and hoisted it over the shoulder. “You should be happy, if the place is at a hotel it might just force me to rest in a way you can’t.”

At Lillian's second comment, Hayden narrowed her eyes, increasing the intimidating factor of her presence. "Oh, I can force you to rest, young woman. Don't test me — I'm bigger than you, I'm stronger than you, and I have the authorization to cross that line if I deem it necessary." She smirked, letting Lillian know she was (mostly) in jest, before adding, "Yeah. I have a lot of privileges here."

"For the record, I’m not gay or in the closet,” he said with a scowl as threatening as a kitten with a nose in some Irish Cream, trying in vain to twist away from Hayden’s prodding without spilling out onto the floor. The comment meant to try to get the woman stop sniffing on his trail was technically true, even though he was just not piously heterosexual by anyone’s standards and the marks were from a man this time… Probably. He couldn’t exactly remember details like ‘were there breasts or not?’ anymore with his possibly more than mild intoxication. “Not exactly eventful… I mean I think it was earlier, but now I’m on my own with nothing to show for it and just trying not to fall asleep. It’s a bit difficult.”

At "nothing to show for it," she started to let out a chuckle, drowning out the rest of his statement — she didn't really care much about his explanation, anyhow. She cocked her head dramatically to the side to look at him. "Nothing to show for it?" she scoffed, raising an eyebrow at him, "Mate, you look like a hungover university girl the morning after, and technically it's still nighttime." She pressed her index finger against her thumb and flicked the discoloration on her neck. "Welcome to the slag club. Grab a condom and a cosmopolitan," she smirked, taking her arms out in a grand gesture. She pushed his shoulder gently and laughing, shaking her head.

"I have a what?" he asked nervously, running a hand along his neck and trapezius to find where there was a hint of pain… there. Oh god, he thought to himself with a slight panic, she knows I’ve been snogging! To the man who valued his privacy more than anything else this discovery was promptly mortifying, and he waved his hands a little wildly as he blushed to his chest. ”I-It’s not what it looks like!” he tried desperately, despite already knowing that rectifying anything was a lost cause.

When she pointed out the strange discoloration on his neck, then he decided to return to coherency. "It's not what it looks like!" he yelped, astonishingly lucid considering his earlier state, and Hayden laughed, something halfway between a chuckle and a cackle. A little bit maniacal, but not mean-spirited. "Oh, it's definitely what it looks like," she managed between laughs. Hayden sat down next to him and poked the spot, laughing again and shaking her head in disbelief. "Who knew Samuel Keats was such a ladykiller?" She looked at him and amended, "Or mankiller," with a tilt of her head. "It's all the same, I suppose." Running a hair through her hair, she turned her head towards him and added, "So I take it you've had quite an eventful night?" Sleep could wait, Hayden thought. This opportunity demanded to be seized.

"What brings you around this part of town, Ms. Lewis?" he asked as polite as if they were still in the office, his tone rather teasing despite his sleepiness. "You seem rather vexed yourself."

To be honest, she was impressed.

… Besides, I’m convinced that you might have cracked my sternum.

Samuel groaned softly as he collapsed in a metal chair of a cafe, entirely too sober for this time of night, and wondered if he should order a cup of that sludge the rest of the branch was so fond of drinking. But was he that desperate for caffeine…? His stomach roiled at the thought of coffee after his two lagers, and he idly ran his fingers through his hand-tousled hair. Sure he was disappointed that he wasn’t going to get laid tonight, again, but that was no reason to sink to the levels of drinking coffee!

The station was 3 blocks from her apartment, and she was so close, she could practically feel the cool touch of cotton sheets on her skin already. She passed a open cafe. She stopped for a moment — what kind of cafe is open this late? — and was about to turn away when she noticed Keats at a table, alone, with a sour look on his face. Though she presented an exterior of coldness, Hayden was actually rather fond of most of her coworkers. So she made what was surely a monumental sacrifice in detouring from her route home and entered the shop. She walked up to his table and announced, still standing, "You look glum."

It was true that sometimes Siobhan treated herself as an android, it was certainly easier than trying to work out human emotions. She did not think of herself as strange, but simply found it easier to not express or explain what emotions were. She watched Hayden’s reaction and noted her expressions. It was shock and maybe apprehension? She knew that it was hard on others when she expressed more than just mild amusement; it was kind of funny in its own way. “It is different on the field. We have to trust each other, or someone will get injured or killed. The stakes are high. Trust falls, not high stakes.” Siobhan’s features softened in amusement. 

To Siobhan's second addition, Hayden had little to offer. Despite working for the same agency, their jobs were nothing alike, and the truth was that no matter how closely she worked with the agents, Hayden understood little about them and the way they worked. Some, like Bond, behaved more charismatically, but the truth was they were all very private people, and very much alone in their minds. Hayden didn't try to venture in. So in response to Siobhan, Hayden went for the joke: "Well, if it's... trustfalling over a pond of hungry alligators, perhaps..." Besides, Siobhan, for all her stoicism, did seem to have a hearty sense of humor.

She watched the girl walk over to her phone, finishing off her stretches and placing her main gear back into the bag, she could feel this ending, though on hearing about the mission she couldn’t help but feel a little intrigued. A mission where even the trainers were involved, what was this to be, some kind of relations-oh no, she could not. If it was a relations seminar she would fling herself off the building, there was nothing worse than being forced to interact with people. She took a deep breath out and looked at the girl. “This is going to be…interesting.”

"Do you know the last time I was asked to assist in a mission?" Hayden asked,hands on her hips. She didn't wait for a response from Lillian before continuing, "It was a few weeks after I started here. They were sending a junior agent to Thailand to infiltrate a human trafficking ring, and they needed an expert in muay thai. I told them it was horrible idea, but of course they didn't listen — they never do — and do you want to know what happened?" Again Hayden didn't wait for an answer. "It turns out that I can't act to save my life. Quite literally." She finished her speech with a sigh, and then, "So, um, missions and I, we have a bad track record."

And I was never afraid of women, I just hide from the ones that want to beat me up.