2022-06-11 - Explosives For You

It was time for a run for essentials, which meant going out and braving the local market. Eden is back not too much later, only taking about an hour, give or take. The door slams heavily, if only because it's kicked shut, arms full with bags and two big cases of beer tucked under each arm. Essential. "Come put those muscles to good use before I drop these beers. We'll have to suck em up from the floor with a fucking straw."

"Depending on what you decided to get, it might improve the taste," Rick says, his tone as utterly flat as it can get. The ex-soldier pushes himself up from his chair, having made himself at home behind a desk - which is to say, there's a slowly growing pile of sharpening instruments and Sharp Objects on it, and a precarious pile of books growing on the floor. "Fine, fine." With all the speed of a particularly lackadaisical snail, Rick goes to help carry things in. "I would say I was starting to get bored waiting, but you'd know I was lying."

"I've seen some of the shit you drink. Don't pretend like you have taste buds." Eden stands near the door, staring at him as he takes his snail pace way over. Stuff is hefted over to make her own burden a little more easy. With her hands still full, she moves around him and pushes a knee into his butt to nudge him towards the kitchen.

"Sure, Chair Force. I'm sure it was such a chore to sit and wait while I did all the actual shopping. You could come with me next time if you'd like? Actually get out of the building?"

"Having acquired a taste for Malort doesn't mean my tastebuds are dead, it just means I enjoy suffering sometimes," Rick says, still entirely seriously. As he gets kneed, he picks up his pace and lets out a little chuckle. "I have a lot of reading to catch up on. I leave all the time - just not to do much useful. It's so much more pleasant in the woods than around all these... people. All so boring and not good at running." It's entirely possible that the last part is a joke. Maybe. It's hard to tell. Maybe all the mercenary time flipped a different sort of switch. Probably a joke, though.

Not good at running? "You are not allowed to hunt these people for sport." There's a pause. Unless they've done something to warrant it and we're suddenly being paid for it, of course. You never know, gotta keep the options open. But no doing it just for funsies." Eden lifts her arms to drop stuff up on the counter with a sigh of relief. "I'll let you chase me, though. You said I have to work on my woods training, right? I'm great in urban environments, but not so much out in the wild. Seems like a good way to learn."

Richard says, "I don't think anyone has ever accused me of having a pleasant sense of humor," Rick says, setting down his own load next to Eden's with a fair amount less effort. "I'm not actually going to hunt people for sport. If nothing else, it wouldn't be entertaining. Civilians make terrible prey." He grins, all teeth, and moves to start loading things into the various cabinets around the kitchen. "Probably not the worst way, no. Could always start you off like we did in SERE. Drop you in the middle of a forest, blindfolded, with a knife, a few matches, and a compass. Alas, if only there was some tundra closer. That's always fun.""

"Showoff," Eden grunts. But, he was hired for the muscles that she doesn't have after all. "Pfft. I have no desire to be trained like the Air Force. Even the best of the Air Force. Thank you very much." She's probably just trying to get under his skin. Maybe? Who can tell. Army vs. Air Force runs deep. "I know basics of survival already. But it doesn't hurt to hone up a bit. I'm not talking matches and a compass kind of skills."

"You do know that I've trained... everyone, right? Literally everyone," Rick says, flashing a much more affable grin and turning to lean against the counter. "I would say that it's different when you're being stalked, but..." He pauses, thinking briefly. "I have this suspicion you'd be pretty able to spot me out. 'course, part of it is keeping it up over a length of time. Easy to stay hidden for one night. Harder when you don't get to sleep for a week, too. What'd you have in mind?"

Eden rips open the beer and starts shoving them in the fridge. "I have a good powerset that really helps with figuring out where people are within a certain distance of me. It's pretty helpful. But relying on that shit is stupid. I need to be able to do it on my own in any environment. That's what I need to focus on. Staying hidden, finding the target, getting out, all without detection. No powers." She glances him over. "You're the one to teach that sorta shit."

"Keeping track of things without any sort of powers isn't hard - think of it like putting faces to a deck of cards. Since you've been here, four yellow cars have driven by, two red, and one that I think might have recently been on fire," Rick says, casually sliding over to snag a beer before it makes it into the fridge. "I will admit, I was less good at complete stealth than I was very good at getting the drop and... solving problems before they're really problems. Less useful to know where everyone is, in that case, rather than knowing, say..." Another pause, his head tilts slightly to the side as he studies Eden. "That you woke up a little sore in the right leg and it'd be easier to come from that side if I had to take you down."

The rest of the beers are shoved in while he talks, one of the cold ones that was already in there gets pulled out and cracks open. Because taste buds. Warm beer is gross. "So situational awareness. I'm not terribly shabby at that, but probably not as great." A slender brow ticks up at his comment about her right leg. It's a correct statement after all. She glances around the room, taking it in, watching him. "But, given your stance, you don't have any actual intention of it. Though, you'd be ready to if you had to."

"No, if I were going to go after someone like you I'd be more worried about a holdout in your boot and I'd probably just use explosives or wait until you're sleeping," Rick says, matter-of-factly, but with a friendly smile. He realizes that, as he was showing off, he entirely failed to notice the beer already IN the fridge, and just pretends that maybe he likes warm beer. Maybe it's just a preference, not a mistake. Totally reasonable. "But, yes. Something like that. Just - knowing how best to sort things in that pretty little head of yours."

"Explosives." That gets a tip of the beer from Eden and a sharp grin. "Now that's the way to do it. "Sleeping I still might sense you coming." Her brows lift in warning, grin still there. It's hard to tell whether or not she's kidding about that. But maybe that'll keep him on his toes if he ever thinks about actually trying it.

"Holdout in my boot? I have no idea what you're talking about." She knows exactly what he's talking about. There is, in fact, a gun in her boot. "Ahhh. That was almost sweet if it weren't for the condescension. Have you been working on your flirting?"

"Am I supposed to be working on my flirting? I thought you were the sociable one. I just stand there and am scary," Rick says, his tone dry, though one corner of his mouth curls up at the edge. "Don't you worry - if I had an actual plan for you, it'd be much more thought out and involve a lot more complexity than just waiting for you to be sleeping. You're worth more than a basic plan."

"It couldn't hurt. Private security is different from mercenary work. There may come a time where you need to provide distraction. Sometimes that involves flirting. Using this ruggedly handsome face." Eden reaches up for his jaw in one hand and wiggling his face back and forth with a smirk.

"I certainly hope it'd be more complex than that. Otherwise my feelings would be hurt. I do still have those, you know. Somewhere in here deep down in this mess." She gestures vaguely over herself.

"If you ever employ me to flirt with someone I think you've handily fucked up as an employer," Rick replies, dryly as Eden grips his face, though the look he gives her is fond. He shifts, turning to lightly shove her away - or at least, to hip-check the woman. Then he smirks, smugly satisfied. "I'm fairly certain that the other night proved we at least both have a subset of feelings left somewhere in our burned-out hearts, no?"

Eden laughs. "Sometimes the situation just calls for it out of the blue. You're gonna have to hone those skills, starshine. Like it or not." The laughter ripples louder as she's hip-checked away, pounding down the rest of her beer as she skids to a halt. "Subset of feelings? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" she wonders as the empty can is chucked into a recycling bin next to the garbage can. "You sure that's feelings and not just a biological directive or some shit?"

"...I really do not think that is the best idea," Rick says. "I'm fairly certain I'm literally incapable of being good at socializing, Eden. Even before..." He just gestures vaguely at himself. "I was never -good- at people." He smirks, and slaps Eden on the ass as she turns to toss her beer away. "Something like that. I think I heard a therapist say it once or twice. Though, I'm fairly certain some of the things we've done are direct evidence against a biological imperative."

"Maybe we'll just start you off in the shallow end of the pool, then, huh?" There's a little jump at the ass slap, Eden's head shaking as she laughs again and he gets a whack on the arm following it. Hoping up onto the island in the middle of the kitchen, she rests back on her palms and lets her legs dangles, considering. A snort follows, along with a quick quirk to one side of her lips. "Hey. Back then it was all about learning new and exciting things. Fuck biology. But there were absolutely feelings all tangled up in that mess. Then life decided to take us down two very different roads."

"Or we could find another person to be the pinch hitter if we need a pretty face," Rick suggests, shaking his head, clearly amused. "It certainly did that." There's a moment where the mask slips back into place and his face goes stony, before he shakes it off and sets a hand on Eden's knee, companionably enough. "Might be something worth talking about eventually, if you wanted to. I have a hunch you and I both have an - interesting story. Maybe the sort we have to be a lot more drunk for."

"Yeah. I figure we might be able to get a couple more powered folks to join the team now that I'm setting up shop here. Lots of folks like us walking around if what I see when I'm talking a stroll is to be believed. Used to be I'd only catch a glimpse of someone else shining every now and then when I was out and about. But here they're all over the place. It's crazy."

Eden spots the mask slip, then watches it fall off again, her hand coming to squeeze his. "Hah! Talk. What, like we're mature adults or some shit? I'm gonna need harder shit than beer for that. But yeah. Maybe eventually we should have that talk."

"...good to know I haven't been going crazy, thinking I see people a little weird around here," Rick says, squeezing Eden's hand in return. And then squeezing a little harder, like maybe he's thinking about forcing the issue. "Yes, talk like we're mature adults or something." He grins, a little wolfishly. "Because otherwise, working together will inevitably get complicated, and it can be solved with a little effort on our part in the near future."

"Nah, it's not you," Eden assures with a quick head shake. The harder squeeze is noticed, her fingers moving to slide through his to make it a touch less painful, and the grip a little easier to manage. "Hey, who's to say it'd get complicated? What's complicated about a boss nailing an employee on the side when they used to date back when they were deployed together ten years ago and then were forcibly separated by the fact that one of their contracts was up?"

There's another of those brief snorts. "If we keep feelings out of shit, it should be fine. Feelings just fuck shit up. That's what I've learned the last ten years."

"I'm fine to keep things casual," Rick says, with enough of an uptick to his voice to indicate cheerfulness. "But the fact that you had to illustrate why it's totally fine and not at all weird makes me think you're having a little bit of a time processing things. Maybe I'm wrong." He gives Eden a Look, with that same half-grin. "If I'm wrong, just tell me, but if I'm not...." He relaxes his hand, rubbing his thumb across her fingers lightly.

Eden runs her tongue over her teeth and narrows her eyes at him. "Listen bitch. You don't need to be so in tune with me, alright? I'm the fucking empath here." Still, her fingers squeeze his as she sighs. "We both know there's residual feelings. Like I just said, they fuck shit up. I want to keep things casual, but I recognize how weird the affection we got can make things. So if it gets too weird, we gotta promise to talk about it, yeah?"

Her eyes roll. "You gotta promise to pin me down and make me talk about it."

Rick's head cants to one side, and the grin that he gives Eden is entirely mocking. "Aw, poor baby, did I read you without magic powers like I was trained for a literal decade to do exactly that or something?" he taunts. "Like I said. I'm fine. But I'm not your fucking dad, which is probably good, since I like seeing you naked. So. You catch something you can't deal with, you either tell me, or I'm gonna read it on you eventually and then I'm gonna beat it out of you. Good?" Another grin. This one is not friendly.

There's a low growl, dark eyes narrowing on Rick's face. "Keep it up, Chair Force. I'm not the only one who has to sleep sometime." Oh! Oh! He can see her getting all riled up. Not actually, but in the old, playful way that meant she'd be going after him in a second. "Beat it out of me?? Just you wait until we get a little distance. Don't you forget all those sniper medals I have, buddy. You won't even see me coming!" But then Eden is foolishly launching herself at him. Though she's in great, athletic shape, the woman is not muscle. This is not a fight that she can win.

There is a brief, very violent flurry of movement from Rick. It's hard to track, because he's pretty good at this, but with a few sweeps of the arm and leg, the mercenary has both of Eden's hands pinned up against a wall with one hand, and the pommel of one of his knives pressed against her neck. "Really do need to work on your poker face. I could have seen that one from a mile away, even if I didn't know you." And, probably because Rick's not a good person, there's a twitch of his hands that wrenches Eden's wrists painfully hard. "Sniper medals are only useful when you aren't already in my hands, doll."

Back slamming up against the wall, Eden lets out a hiss as the air knocks out of her lungs and her head slams back. "If you didn't know me, I wouldn't have already been in your hands. Plus I would have actually been using a poker face." Her voice is a little raspy due to the fact that she has to catch it thanks to that impact. Despite that, he can see the grin at the edges of her lips that twists a little higher as he shifts her wrist in the wrong angle. "Wrong end of the blade, though. You're holding on the worst part. Know why?"

Her eyes dance, the energy around her dances even more. "Metal." He can feel the electricity a moment before it sizzles through him, the lightning bolt striking out of nowhere.

There's a blistering burst of electricity that sends Rick flying across the room, his back slamming into the opposite wall. He drops, falling to a knee and shaking his hands out. "Then we do this the fun way," he says, looking up at Eden with - it's a hard expression to read. Somewhere between love and desire to violently kill. One hand snaps out to the side, smashing a chair and launching a leg into his hand. "I don't need metal to beat your ass." Then he charges, with all the rage of someone relatively sure the target won't die no matter how hard he hits.

Arms dropping from how they were pinned, Eden cracks her neck to the side and runs back to the other side of the island to put an obstacle between them. "I like the fun way," she murmurs, watching as he shatters one of her chairs. That's so coming out of his paycheck. As he darts in her direction, she's running out of the kitchen and behind the wall trying to get a shield up in time before he's on her. But he's too quick.

She shifts and rolls, dodging under him as he launches at her, taking the blow to the shoulder instead of head on. She comes out of the roll balanced on on the balls of her feet and the tips of the fingers on one hand. Her grins at him before darting off again.

Richard is still just the goddamn Juggernaut when it comes to an assault. Blow hits the shoulder and she dodges, and he swings again, and again. The chair leg shatters as he chases, absolutely playing the movie monster in her flight from him. The next assault, however, he decides to go simple - and lashes out with a quick, sharp strike to simply try and pick Eden up by the back of the neck.

This is why she hired him. Because these are the things that he can do that Eden cannot. A duck, a dodge, moving this way and that, but she can't evade for too long and eventually that hand grips around the back of her neck and she's pulled up face to face with him. "Fuck." It's another hiss. Her legs reach out, wrapping around his waist to try to force him into a quick flip so that she can get the upper hand, but he's too fast, countering the motion even as she moves. Not even losing the grip on her neck.

"I hate you," she sulks, clearly not meaning it from the pleased glittering in her eyes.

"I'm not going to point out that you tried to brawl with your hired muscle," Rick says, his tone once again deadpan. He pauses for a moment, holding Eden, and then just gives in - and pulls her in to kiss her full on the mouth.

Eden tsks as he points out the obvious. "Just sharpening my skills. Some day I'll win." No she won't. She gets pulled in, growling into the kiss. When she pulls back, it's with a nip at his bottom lip. "Don't think you can get out of talking about the fact that you broke my chair."

"I'm certain that my silver tongue will, somehow, get me out of paying for this again," Rick says, pretty casually hucking Eden over his shoulder and walking her towards her office.