2020-10-14 - Ambush

Bennie knows that sleep is going to start being more and more rare for Easton the more he settles back in and recovers from the full body exhaust of the Veil, so she's not overly worried that something planned for him when he comes home late that night isn't going to interrupt any sort of sleep pattern.

The lights are out in the Cabin, but the one on the porch is left on, sure to illuminate the Nerf dart gun on the porch as well as a note that's been taped to the front door:

<<Welcome home, I am armed and hiding. Loser gives Gunner a bath. XOXO">>

And then underneath:

<<NO CHEATING YOU CHEATER HEAD, I'LL KNOW>>

And upon opening the door, he'll find a fort made out of every throw pillow and couch cushion in the house (hey, they came in good for something, Negative Nancy).

Before Easton even gets out of the jeep he knows something is up. He eyes the house, the area around it as he silently slips out of the driver's seat and shuts the door as quietly as he can. He sees something on the door and approaches quietly, not quite drawing a weapon yet but on full alert. When he sees what's taped up though he begins to laugh, making sure not to make noise though. There are people who might want to actually kill them out there, to prove a point to Monaghan's crew, but thankfully the only thing Bennie's getting shot with tonight is a nerf dart. Easton? He has no plans to be tagged tonight.

He picks up the gun and checks the ammo, as seriously as he would check any of his firearms. He looks at the front door and decides against it, too obvious. He walks around to the back deck and slides open the glass door. He stops in the kitchen for two very important preparations. First he pulls a beer from the fridge and second he pulls off his tee shirt and wraps it around his forehead like a bandana. Using his abs to his advantage is not cheating, it's playing to your strengths. Also the tee-shirt around his head kind of makes him look like Rambo which you know he spent countless hours playing as a kid.

And then he starts goign about clearing the rooms, the fort is ignored for now, too obvious to be an enemy hideout ... or is it?

The house is deadly quiet of the foam tipped variety as Easton slips into the house, and as stealthy as he was using the sliding door the opening of the refrigerator seems to echo through the A-frame, the crack open of a beer will sound like a shot. Still nothing stirs within the home, certainly nothing from the fort which was in fact a decoy. The trip wire leading back to the guest portion of the house though? That's real as real can be, even though it's made from a jump rope of twisted red and blue that Easton easily spots where its stretched across the hallway.

There is a creak of the floor above his head as he sweeps the bottom floor, but that could just be Gunner up above, so it's wise that he sweeps the guest room and that bathroom as well as the little bonus room that Bennie's taken over as her sewing headquarters.

"Is it cheating if I bust out a pair of NVGs?" Look he's used to having a certain level of tech involved in clearing houses. And a whole troop of men supporting him. But this exercise is far more likely to end in sexy-times with the enemy than nearly all of his prior missions. (wait nearly!?) And the grin on his face shows it as he fast opens closets, sticking his gun to do a visual sweep or crouching low to open a door, so as to be at a surprise level when it opens. The beer is sipped as he moves from room to room, clearly enjoying that Bennie spent the time to put this together and more than happy to roll with it.

Feeling confident that the first floor is clear he leans his head to the side and as if speaking into a mic says, "Yea, bravo team no sign of dangerous blonds down here, pretty confident they are up top and frankly I'd say the threat level is low to non-existent." His voice as usual is easy to hear and obviously it's said as much for her benefit as his. He walks back out, stepping gingerly over the jump rope/trip wire. He moves up the stairs, gun pointed at the landing, his back to the wall.

There is a most definite sound from the top of the stairs, the sound of a something wooden falling over followed by hollow sort of plastic sound. Easton will soon find out the source was a stick that was propping up a bucket of about a zillion plastic air-filled balls that soon come rolling and cascading down the treads, plunking off the wooden slats and bouncing disorderly off the wall, the railing and any object they come into contact with until they eventually lose their momentum and roll into the living room and kitchen. They're big enough that it'd be hard to accidentally step on one and slip, and when all of this is over, maybe they can have their very own ball pit!

"We have some sort of ballpit trap here base, please advise." Easton speaks into the tail of his tee-shirt hanging off his head and nods at the 'instructions' "Understood. Forcing any captured blonds to re-organize is a go." He appreciates her whimsical clutter, but boy does he still love order. But he 'rolls' with the balls, stepping over them carefully as he makes his way up the stairs. The smaller room is cleared first with Easton nudging piles of clothes with his nerf gun. And then he's making his way to the master suite, "It's a shame that I'm going to be forced to brutally murder the love of my life with a nerf gun..." Oh you know, murder humor.

To Bennie's credit, since his return, she's been trying to tame some of the organized chaos of her side-passion, a lot having been moved and crammed into the bonus room downstairs and some of the other project pieces have been folded neatly in the loft and her 'nest' that she had there has been cleaned up as they've reclaimed the bed with a promise to tackle the giant free standing tub full of clothing bits and fabric rolls she uses to make her own clothing and occasionally resell.

At least this isn't like Home Alone with swinging paint cans filled with concrete or super-heated door knobs. But surely he didn't think the boobytraps are over?

The bedroom and loft just off it are clear which leaves one place the blonde EMT could be hiding: the bathroom. The door has been left ajar because the string leading out to the bucket needed a way to be pulled, but there is a scraping sound from the top of the door when it's pushed open and a Tupperware bowl full of water is dislodged to dump into the opening with a mighty SPLOOSH! Just as the Blonde pops up from beneath the mountain of fabric piled in the tub with a triumphant "HA!" And a pull of her plastic trigger.

The fact that she's holed up in the bathroom doesn't come as a surprise but boy howdy does the fact that she manages to time her shot so well. Easton avoids the dumping water, except for some splashing up on him but then takes a dart to the bare chest even as his shot goes wide. He stands there, jaw dropped in shock with his gun down at his side. "You.. you shot me." He looks stunned for another moment before saying, "I don't know if I've ever been as proud of you.." But then he raises the gun and fires off two more shots, "But you didn't finish the job Oakes. Mercy is for the weak!" He then slides behind the freestanding tub for cover and calls back over his shoulder, "I think it's time we fire up another charity paintball match babe. Twibs can sponsor it. Geoff's nuts should have recovered by now." He peaks over the rim of the tub, and then back down. "We can always ask Harper to be sure."

Bennie is dressed in black from head to toe, even if it's in yoga pants and one of Easton's T-shirts she's tied off at the waist. She's even smeared streaks of mascara beneath her eyes in some confusion between football players and urban camouflage, even though the choice of outfit only makes her stand out even more against the tableau of her colorful project fabrics. After her successful shot, she steps out of the tub and is about to claim victory as he declares his pride, beaming all thousand watts of sunshine in his direction. Until he shoots her. Twice. Center-boob-mass and the forehead in a professional hit. "Where is your battle field etiquette! You don't shoot the medic!" Never mind she shot first.

She squeaks as he maneuvers to take up a new position, rubbing at her forehead with rueful fingers as she darts to counter his positioning, running straight into the shower stall and pulling closed the glass door. "Now whattaya gonna do! HA!" Cue victory butt-dance against the pane.

"The medic? Nonsense, this is nerf-war and there is no etiquette here." Easton calls back over his shoulder with a laugh. He holds his gun up and checks his rounds, only three shots left. But then Bennie gets the bold idea to hide in the shower stall. Easton cranes his neck around the tub and looks at her with twinkly in his eye. He shakes his head at her and then makes a flicking motion with the the hand that holds the beer bottle.

It's a nice shower. But even with the fancy thermostatic valve that keeps the temperature set exactly where you want it, it still sprays very cold water to start. Easton stands up now and faces her, dropping the gun and raising his hands. He knows there will be repercussions for the shower stunt. Still worth it.

There is a loud 'EEEEEEEEeeeeEEEEE' that reverberates off the tiled walls as that water is cranked on, followed by an, "EASTON CHARLES MARSHALL!" As the now completely soaked blonde turns around slowly, hands down at her side as water rivulets down her forehead and gets blown away from her lips in a spray of droplets. She's still smiling though, so that must be a good sign. Or a really, really bad one. She hips open the door with a twang of the glass against the metal framing as it pops away from its catch and then she's firing on the surrendered man in quick succession. Red tipped blue darts plink him in the gun boat shoulder, the abs that have got to be against the Geneva Convention somehow and one right in the nuclear silo.

The scream just causes Easton to laugh long and hard, doubling over as she calls out his name in mock fury. He shakes his head and says, "Situational awareness Oakes, you can't put yourself into that kind of dangerous position." He accepts the shots as retribution and only winces slightly when she goes low, more out of habit than anything. "So how long have you been planning this little stunt? And do I have anyone to thank besides maybe Kevin McAllister for helping you plan it?" He grabs a towel off a hook and makes his way over to her, offering it out like a peace offering.

"Hmm," Bennie considers Easton thoughtfully. "My grouping could use work."

But that beam takes on a mischievous tilt as she just reaches out to snag that towel away from Easton and simply toss it over her shoulder, because he's going to get a big ole wet soggy hug. "It was a slow night at work." She explains of her plans, "And either I saw it in a meme or stole the idea from one of our friends." The fact she can't pin down where she got the idea gives her momentary pause, a wrinkle of her nose as that memory is just a wisp she can't cling to. "So just give a general thanks to the Universe." She decides, arms wrapped around his shoulder and she gives the t-shirt tied around his head a little tug to pull it off.

"You should really let me clean this up." Offered as fingers scrub into his roughshod high and tight, "I used to cut my dad and brother's hair all the time."

"I like your grouping just fine." Easton manages to make that sound like a come on line even if it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny.

He doesn't mind the wet hug at all and pulls her into a kiss. The wrinkle of her nose just causes him to laugh, deeply unaware of things that might affect other memories. "Well thank you universe." He says it meaningfully obviously thanking the nebuluous everything for more than a fun diversion with booby traps and nerf guns. With the tee-shirt removed from his head and her hands rubbing against his scalp he leans against her and murmurs agreement, "I really should." but he also shows no sign of moving from this position.

There is a happy note of vibration against his lips in appreciation for the kiss, "To say I missed this is the understatement of the century. Cold, soggy hugs of retribution included. And I feel so guilty for saying that." This confessed as she still futzes with his hair, as if trying to figure out how to even up the sides a bit, but really it's just a distraction for her gaze. "Because can't imagine what you went through over there, but I'm sure missing human contact like me was one of the lesser of the evils. I lost you, but you lost everyone."

The distance between them is squished out, literally, water running down his jeans and onto the bathroom tile and Easton couldn't be happier about that. He looks confused when she mentions feeling guilty but lets her futz away without stopping her. "It was the veil." As if that's where he wants to leave it. /It was war/ or /It was the sand/, comments meant to shut down conversations he doesn't want to have. But he's trying to do better than that. "You don't have to imagine it. You've been through Dreams, they suck and you get through." The fact that he slept as little as possible to stay alert and alive isn't mentioned. Nor is the toll that took on his mental and physical well being. "I got through, and I'm here and I'm pretty sure pinching to make sure this is real is still allowed." That's the only warning he gives before pinching her butt and concluding, "Yep, still real."

Bennie gives a little yelp as she's pinched, "Pretty sure you're supposed to pinch yourself, beloved." And to demonstrate, she gives a little tug on his ear lobe. "You know I'll give you all the time you need if you ever want to talk about it. Or if you just want to focus on the here and now, I'm okay with that too. But you'll need to take it out or punch it out with someone, so you don't self destruct again, alright? I'm not going to get you back from the dead just to lose you again to the bottle and your own implosion. Got it, mister?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I did that right." Easton faux argues and then nods when she pulls his ear, "Right." as if pinching the other person were the correct thing to do. But then she's talking serious things and she can probably feel just the smallest tug of him pulling back ever so slightly. He lets her talk though and lay it out for him. He nods, "Okay." Agreeing to her terms and tempted to leave it there. "And I don't want to do that. You know..." He stops and pauses for the right words, "I don't want to do that to you." Because it's not just about him. He's someone that people's lives relied on, and somehow taking that pressure back on can help him deal with other pressures.

As she feels that familiar change in tension, that look in his eyes, she leans her head back to look at him in the eyes. "I know you don't, baby. But if we've learned anything, the only way out of things is through. Now will you please, please.." She tucks her chin slightly, as if about to ask him something entirely serious and earnest, but those moments never tend to last long between them. "Please let me fix that hair. I keep thinking I'm lopsided, but I'm pretty sure it's just your side fades. Conjure us up some beers." There is a peck on his nose and then she's trying to disentangle herself to find the clippers and a comb.

Easton makes eye contact with her but she knows that he's on lock down. She knows him plenty well enough by now to know that shortly he's going to dissolve into one word grunts of answers. The pleases only get a suspicious look before asking to fix the hair. He grin and accepts the peck on the nose with a, "Maybe. But haircut beers? Not a good idea." He disentangles himself and is still going to get the beer, because beer in and of itself is just fine. "Impossible to keep the hair out and I'm not desperate enough to drink hairy beers." He glances back over his shoulder as he moves towards the landing but waits to come back up with the beers before he asks, "Okay, now can I hit you with some serious talk?"

Bennie is busy changing out of her wet clothes, her leggings stuck on one foot and she's busy kicking them back and forth instead of bending over to pull them off. Finally they fling in the direction of the hamper, followed by her shirt. "If you wanted serious talk you should have grabbed the tequila." Bra and panties get covered up when she tugs on the shirt he was using to go all Rambo, happy to be wrapped up in the soft cloth and even softer scent of him. Serious talks aren't best done in bathrooms, so she intercepts him at the door and gives him a little playful shove out towards the bedroom. "Okay, so what's the topic? Animal, mineral or ...whatever the third option usually is."

"It's not that serious a talk. It's beer serious, not tequila serious." She may disagree with that sentiment when she finds out exactly what he's going to discuss. But he lets her push him out into the bedroom, laughing at her shove. He hands her the beer and supplies, "Alcohol?" as his best guess for the third category. Easton's version of 21 questions definitely required an alcohol category. "So it's about the bar, which you have done an /amazing/ job running." He takes a sip of beer before continuing, "And I think we should make that permanent. I want you to own the bar. Officially." That officially is left a little ambiguous. Does that mean just on paper? Does that mean that the paper is just recognizing what already is? He doesn't clarify.

Bennie kneels up on the bed, shuffling over towards the pillows where she twists to flop onto her back amongst them, beer held aloft as to not spill any. "First of all, you really have gotten a hang of this whole relationship thing, first buttering me up with the whole compliment thing. Second? With all due love and respect, heck to that H-E-double-hockey-sticks no. I kept it running for you, Easton. And I adore the bar, I really do. It's a gathering place for all our friends heavily laden with booze and loaded tots, but it's not my passion. Alexander talked me down from the ledge when I almost left my job at the station, and I'll be forever in his debt. Keep the bar? But don't you want it any more, Easton?"

"Right?" Easton agrees that he has this whole relationship thing down pat. And it's not like he expected her to agree the first time he asked. "I know. I know you didn't plan to do it. But there are some reasons why having my name attached to the bar looks .. not great." He edges towards talking more about things but leaves it off at Vic's suggestion. "I'm going to get back into the casino game. I'm now officially not dead" Woo! Not dead! "So there's some things to sort out with the trust but then I go back to being a casino mogul" No. Not really. "And just a lowly bartender working for the hottest blond bar owner I've ever seen."

And now she's wishing that the tequila was in fact involved, as evidenced by the glance towards the bedside drawer where she stashed that bottle. With a sort of panicked look, she takes a deep swig of the beer, nearly coughing right back up if not for the benefit of her back of her hand blocking her lip. "You're killing me." She whines from behind the cover. "Wasn't the whole point of getting me out of debt so I could stop working myself to death? Babe, I kept that place going by the skin of my teeth. I could balance the books, but I had zero idea where all that money was actually going. There were numbers I just don't understand. You said I did an amazing job, but we barely showed a profit. So unless you mean by 'lowly bartender' you mean back to just pretending you don't own the bar...but that was just about appearing humble before. Distancing yourself from family money. Isn't throwing yourself into the casino just the opposite? UGH. I don't get get it. Make me understand."

The 'plan' such as it were seemed really simple in his head. Bennie's running the bar, let he own the bar. But then she's asking some very good and very pointed questions and he says, "Well yes, but that was selfishly so that I could bump uglies with you more often." Ah yes the true noble reason why he wanted to help her get out of debt. When she brings up the money he winces and says, "Yea the accounting's a bit of mess but there is profit.." It's just moved off to other accounts and then liquidated and doesn't really come back to them. And then she's asking him to make her understand and he looks at her long and hard for a minute. "I thought you might want this, to be established and have something. I mean I get that you never wanted a bar per say but..." Yea he does not in fact tell her the truth.

And that gets a pillow flung in his direction. Though it's hard to say if it's because of the half truths and partial lies that are flowing out of his mouth or the notion that debt thing was just so she'd be readily available for ugly bumping. "Bull pockey." Bennie fixes him with a rather grumpy looking face. "You're doing that thing. That thing where you're dancing around with humor and misdirection. And screw you for thinking that I'm not making the mark I want to make on this town by saving lives on the back of my rig. You want to leave my name on the paperwork for whatever reason you've concocted in your brain, fine. But it's your baby, you run it or I'll sell the damn thing right out from underneath you and you can go play Rat Pack with Byron."

The pillow hits and he doesn't seem all that put off by the attack. "I'm doing that thing where I generously offer you my bar." He tries to sound offended but isn't very good at it. "And I would never say that about you being an EMT.." He can't help add, "Unless you wanted to go to med school?" Because picking one fight isn't enough?! Goodness Marshall. But the bar is his baby and he does want to run it except for the fact that it ties a whole bunch of things back to Felix, including Bennie. "Benz, if you don't want the bar, okay." It's a little late to back off on that account though, especially when he's throwing out the med school thing that's been bugging him ever since his run in with DreamJudd.

"Easton. What are you doing?" Bennie shakes her head, truly just trying to understand. The sting about the medical school shows all over her face, but she's really trying to rein in those feelings. "Five seconds after you tell me you're not going to self-destruct our relationship, you're pulling this crap on me? Do you want to keep the bar or not? You're confusing me, and hurting my feelings and treating me like I'm some blonde bimbo who will just smile and go along with you trying to change my entire life at the drop of...of..." Shit, what's the phrase? She looks to her beer, and fills in the blank that way. "A bottle cap?"

Really should have planned this out better Easton realizes that he didn't have much of a plan here other than shuffle things around to keep Bennie safe. But that's going extremely well, obviously. There's a reason Easton is not the successful business mogul. He winces and says, "I'm trying to get things straightened out. I fucked some things up by disappearing." Because people might have started asking questions. He shakes his head and says, "I shouldn't have just sprung this on ya. I know you love being an EMT and I.." He shakes his head and but gets a concerned look on his face as he finishes "...hat?" He lets that slide though, assuming she's just flustered by him being all squirrelly. "I am not actively trying to fuck this up. That's.." he slumps down and asks, almost defeated, "Can we cut my hair? Or just.. ignore me being weird?"

Bennie's gaze shifts away, looking towards some middle distance that focuses on nothing. "Let's just. Not make any life altering decisions right now, how about that? I promise you I'll think about it, and in the meantime maybe you'll figure out some better way to explain this to me other than trying to belittle my life choices to get what you want. We both suffered a trauma, now's not the time to be deciding anything. Why don't you fix yourself something to eat, and I'll clean up my mess."

And there is a lot of wisdom in stopping digging but then she's talking about him belittling her life decisions and his jaw flexes, "Life decisions? When did you ever get to make those? I'm trying to give you a choice. You were in full on survival mode for so long, did you choose any of it?... I don't-" He really should stop talking. He knows that he's already screwed up the conversation he meant to have. And it's not like he's really thought through the implications of offering her the bar. It's more that everything is in shambles and he's panicking about Reyes coming after her because of his name attached to things that they shouldn't be attached to. And somehow giving her the bar solved that? Which of course has echoes of his family's way of dealing with problems, not that he would want to face that.

Standing up, he shakes his head and says, "Shit. Sorry, you did all this.. an'.." His jaw tenses so hard it looks like he's trying to send out quills from his beard. And maybe eventually he'll explain, but not tonight. Not until he's talked with Joey.

"It's fine. We just took a little wrong turn, that's all." Bennie assures, but it doesn't sound as if she believes her own words. Slinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she pulls the hem of his shirt further down on her thighs when she stands, arguing brining out the modesty, it seems. "I'll cut your hair in the morning." But right now she has a bunch of bouncy balls to pick up, a trip wire to dismantle, and a pillow fort to knock down. And maybe a joint to smoke in the downstairs bathroom.