A Little Bit of Elbow Grease (Nosferatu and Sigma Octantis)

Started by Two Faced, April 10, 2010, 01:05:47 AM

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Nosferatu

Enzo had rather good timing. The waitress had arrived right when he'd decided on whatever it was he was going to order - Morry hadn't caught exactly what it was he'd decided on until he relayed his order to the waitress. Ah, prime rib. Morry's second favorite. Definitely knew there was a reason he liked this guy.

It wasn't a long wait for their meals. The place was known for its remarkably fast service, especially for the quality of the food. They hadn't even gotten past idle chatter before the steaming plates were set before them.

Morry dug in with such enthusiasm it might appear he hadn't been fed properly in weeks.

Two Faced

The two engineers talked while waiting for the food, but it wasn't a particularly deep or personal conversation. (He did, however, remark that he liked the other's hat and how his affinity for it reminded him of that German spy he kept mentioning.) When the meal was set before them Enzo was quick to dig in, though his enthusiasm was a little more restrained then Morry's.

The food was fine-- great, even, and he would have been relatively happy to focus on it, but... that kind-of went against a personal code.

"So... what about you? I mean, I have-- had-- Clara, who'd you have before coming here?" Maybe that was too personal a question to start with for most people, but Morry seemed laid back enough that he didn't think it would come across the wrong way. "I mean... before the war and all, what'd you do?"
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

Morry slowed down considerably, stopping even, when Enzo brought up Clara, and then interest in his own affairs. Funny he'd managed to find out all about the BLU's personal life without divulging an ounce of his own.

He sighed and wiped his mouth, tucking the napkin back into his lap. Fair was fair. "I had tenure down a' Texas A&M," he said between small(er) bites, "a nice research position. Had a wife too. She was in physics." Morry smiled, perhaps a bit ruefully, before taking another few chunks out of his dinner.

Two Faced

Enzo had thought that was pretty odd, too. It was why he'd asked such a bold question-- after all, if Morry hadn't talked about it so far, maybe he was uncomfortable with it. And if he was uncomfortable with it, he was a lot more likely to talk over a warm meal. He didn't stop eating when the other started explaining, but he did nod a little. "Had a wife?" He asked, knowing the first word must have sounded a little forced (and maybe even a little rude, if Morry wanted to take it that way.) "She... she wasn't involved in this whole war mess, right?"
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

Morry chuckled, shaking his head at Enzo's alarm. "No, no. She was a professor, like me. I joined up after she..." he paused, choosing his words carefully, "after she left." His face almost fell at the memory of waking up to find her simply gone.

He prodded at what was left of his dinner. "She was beautiful, Enzo." He smiled weakly. "Y'think yer Clara is somethin', ye shoulda met my Susie." Morry shook his head slowly. No sense in dwelling on it any more than necessary. She'd been gone for nearly six years now. He'd moved on. Really.

Two Faced

After she left.

Enzo's heart dropped a little at the words-- after his last comment, he'd started to fear that she had gotten involved in the war and had an accident, and he'd hoped to hear something else-- but this wasn't much better. He made a quiet noise in the back of his throat and nodded-- that tone sounded familiar, and thinking about Clara brought up that same abandoned feeling that Morry must have been going through at the moment.

"Tell me about her," he finally uttered quietly. Talking about Clara usually helped him, maybe it'd help Morry.
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

He swore his heart stopped for a moment. He hadn't talked about her in... well, ever, actually. And Enzo was actually interested?

Morry nodded quietly and cleared his throat. He didn't speak immediately, needing to gather his thoughts and keep himself in check.

"She was th'most beautiful girl I'd ever seen," he started with a sheepish smile, "smartest too. Probably knew Physics better'n me. Had the sweetest blond curls," he sighed and pushed his plate to the edge of the table, "always smelled like flowers, roses or some'n."

He paused, feeling the constricting sensation in his throat and the burning in his eyes. Goddamn, and here he'd thought he'd been fine...

"But that hotshot graduate brat caught her attention, and one day she was just... gone..." he shook his head, avoiding eye contact for a moment.

Two Faced

Enzo went back to simply nodding when Morry went on-- to be truthful, he'd started to tune him out a little. He didn't want to hear the other engineer describe this girl-- every time he focused long enough to catch a descriptive word or two he found himself matching it up to Clara. And that wasn't right, considering he was honest to god curious about the RED and his past.

He took the final bite of the meal and began tapping the back end of the fork against the table's edge in idle thought.

"She loved you, though? She must have loved you."
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

Morry could only shrug in response. "I thought she did, really truly did. Maybe at one point." He took the napkin from his lap and balled it up on his plate, just for something to keep his hands busy. "S'been almost six years, Enzo. Life goes on."

Two Faced

Enzo could not stop himself from gawking at the other man a little-- six years, life goes on-- god damn, what was he supposed to say to that? He was frustrated at it, really. "So after what amount of time does it become okay to ignore that it's still bothering you?"

He put the fork down on the plate and ran a hand nervously through his hair-- "She loved you, right? Loved him more though, maybe. Maybe it was infatuation, maybe she didn't know any better. It still bothers you, so... why does the amount of time matter?"
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

He balled his hands into fists in his lap, controlling the urge to hit something. Like the table. Morry released a frustrated breath through his nose. "Don't s'pose I'll ever know. Loved us both, couldn't make up 'er mind, whatever," he almost growled, "I don't have much of a choice about moving on. 'Least you have some hope of findin' her again... knowin' she didn't run off with some kid..." He clenched his fists and sighed.

"I joined RED to escape, and've been doin' fine, thanks." End of conversation. He shot Enzo an apologetic smile and moved to scoot out of the booth. He'd pay the bill and they could make their way back to base. "Dinner's on me, by the way."

Two Faced

Enzo cringed and felt a bit guilty that he brought those feelings up in the other-- but it wasn't as if he'd caused them. The engineer began digging through his pockets and eventually pulled out a few scraps of paper and a pen, and then he started scribbling something upon one. "RED's your escape?" He uttered, though didn't look up-- "Seems like a bad reason to get yourself killed, RED."

The engineer stilled the pen and glanced up at Morry-- "You can't avoid thinking about it forever." A few more lines were made on the paper, and eventually the pen was shoved back into his pocket, the paper balled up in his hand. Now was no time to be worrying about that. He pushed himself up and glanced cautiously at the other engineer-- but god damned if he wasn't expecting the other to be more then furious with him about this.
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

"No worse th'n any other reason I figure. And yes, I can."

He was more angry with himself for not being more composed. He pulled a few bills from his back pocket to cover the meal, glancing over to see Enzo scribbling on a crumpled up piece of paper. Morry raised an eyebrow, and before he could ask or reach for the paper it was promptly balled up and shoved aside. He frowned, he'd figure out what that was about later. For now he was content to shove his hands into his pockets and head out the door toward base.

The walk was spent in a considerable amount of brooding silence. Mostly coming from Morry. He'd been so lost in his own troubled thoughts that he didn't even notice when they'd reached the compound.

Two Faced

The papers followed his pen into his pockets before too long-- well before he realized that Morry had even noticed what he was doing. That was the sort of thing that you kept to yourself, that you worked out on your own. Brining Morry into it would have been unnecessary and probably an annoyance.

Enzo trailed after the other thinking on what he had been writing, and right before they got too deep into the compound he decided to speak up. "It's a great reason, Morry."
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

That was enough. Without a word Morry turned and took a swing at Enzo's head. No, he wasn't angry, maybe just... frustrated. He wouldn't let it go.

A low growl escaped him. "Would ye just... drop it?" He was tempted to go in for another swing, even if Enzo didn't react.

Two Faced

Enzo would like to have said that he was expecting that, ready for it. He could have blocked, maybe even stopped himself from stumbling away and grabbing at his head with a look that said he'd just seen something that couldn't possibly have happened. When the BLU dropped his arms, he was gawking at the RED (something that he'd been doing quite a lot, he noted,) and shrugged dryly.

"I'd rather not."
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

If Enzo had been trying to incite Morry to violence, well, it had worked. The engineer was seeing red and wasn't sure he could stop even if he wanted to. It just felt so ... good to lay into the BLU. For provoking him, and even for things he didn't do. For that prick graduate student. For the loss of the love of his life.

Morry drew his arm back and took another swing at Enzo.

Two Faced

Now that, that was better. The engineer actually had to repress a grin, because provoking violence was exactly what he'd intended. Enzo had braced for the next blow and it hardly knocked him back even a step-- and he put his arms up as if he was going to take the other on.

"She left you, so you ran away."
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

He ignored the stinging and burning in his eyes that told him the tears had started and kept laying into the BLU. Over and over again, he just kept coming.

"What else was I s'posed ta do?" He panted between strikes. "Stay there? An' be reminded o'her every day?"

Two Faced

Enzo took the blows the best he could, even blocking a few that would have been just a little too much. Beyond that he let the other wail on him, though he didn't exactly have time to notice the other was really that upset. "No," he grumbled low, "you should have ran like you did. I never..." The man paused and took in a deep breath, because he was getting every bit as worn down as the other-- "I never said there was anything wrong with running sometimes."
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

Mid-swing when Enzo spoke, his punch was diverted to the side as the words sunk in. What might have been intended to calm him down only served to enrage him further, at least momentarily.

With a growl, Morry lunged forward and grabbed Enzo by the collar of his shirt. "You..." he could barely speak, and was nearly shaking with rage, "you planned..." he let him go and forced himself to take a step back.

Calm. Down. Deep breaths. In a few moments his breathing was under control and his desire to beat the shit out the other engineer had waned significantly.

"Sorry," he mumbled, realizing what an idiot he must have looked like.

Two Faced

Now that was another reaction Enzo hadn't expected; he'd been expecting another punch, not to be grabbed by the collar. "I plan a lot of things," the man uttered in response as the other let go and backed off-- "It's kind-of how I get by. I run a lot." He winced a little and began carefully prodding at the spots that had already begun to bruise and swell up a little-- "But I wouldn't have said anything unless I'd... I'd planned it out, right?"

He grinned at the other man sheepishly and shrugged with his palms up. Well that went... roughly according to plan, but he hadn't thought things out quite this far. Now what?
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

It was another long moment before Morry could even look at Enzo, let alone think about the damage he'd just inflicted on his new friend.

He took to adjusting his shirtsleeves. "Dunno. I figure most men would've said some'n out of frustration, spite, or even just'a knock me out." Finally he met the other's gaze. "Sorry again... even if y'did, y'know, plan it." Morry shifted awkwardly on his heels. "Next time, at least hit back so I don't feel so bad."

Two Faced

Enzo's gaze faltered a little, and he shook his head-- "Nah, RED. I'm a pacifist, right? I don't hit back. Maybe I'll get you back tomorrow during work hours, though." He grinned at Morry then, and shoved one hand in his pocket before patting the other just as awkwardly on his back-- "Just push to the base, you know where to find me. C'mon-- let's head back."
A funny thing, the king who gets himself assassinated.

Nosferatu

That earned a chuckle from Morry, and he clapped a hand to Enzo's shoulder in assurance. "Don't worry, all bets are off during workin' hours," he grinned, nodding and following him without protest. "Yeah, it's late."

The silence this time was companionable, a welcome change from the tension. Morry was happy to let the silence hang around a little longer this time.