[For Auggie] Everybody's got a hunger, no matter where they are

[girlsolo]

It's the fifth night since she stole Will's baseball. Five nights and he still hasn't caught her, caught up with her, he probably doesn't even suspect her and she's bored of the game. Bored of stealing but not profiting and not interested in profiting at the expense of a bunch of random strangers as stuck here as she is. What good's profit when the drink the bartender serves her is free?

That's the problem with this fucking island. Even more than Will not being her Will and Magnus being just a woman instead of a legend. None of her skills are worth a damn. She's a thief on a commune. A gun in utopia. She's not even a misfit toy. She's just a useless one.

Fuck, that's depressing. She sighs, pulls her feet up onto the booth bench, leans back against the wall and scans the crowd while she sips her drink.
*
Title and lj-cut lyrics from Melissa Etheridge's Precious Pain.

Comments

[theblindguy.livejournal.com]

"D.C.," he explains as he sits back, getting comfortable in the booth seat. It's about as common a question as you can get around here, and even so, he always forgets that people might not even know what D.C. is. She comes across as someone who probably would, so he doesn't correct himself. "2011, if you're really curious. You?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

His voice doesn't sound like the Eastern seaboard but his speech has familiar rhythms. Like Feds or the UN inspectors or military higher-ups they sometimes deal with. She puts him on the Hill. Maybe a staffer of some kind. Color her curious.

"Old City, near the Canadian border." She adds that because people don't seem to know Old City. It's probably called something else in his words. "2011, for me too. Tell me you're not a lobbyist."

[theblindguy.livejournal.com]

No where he's ever heard of, but that isn't all that surprising. Not here, not anymore. Auggie laughs at the question, shaking his head. "Not a lobbyist. Never was a fan of government bureaucracy. Computers, though? Different story. I worked at the Smithsonian, in its' IT department."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Smithsonian, huh? What's it like to work there?" Kate thinks Smithsonian and her fingers itch. She never pulled a big museum job, but she bets she could. If they needed to get an Abnormal egg out of there or something. Like the bank they took down.

Then there's the part of her that's looking at him and thinking that body's no desk jockey. Or if he is, he spends beaucoup time at the gym.

[theblindguy.livejournal.com]

"Ever see those Night at the Museum movies? All true. Ben Stiller included," he jokes, even leaning in a little to act like he's telling her some big secret. He finishes off what's left of his alcohol before continuing, "Seriously, though, it wasn't a bad job. I was well paid, and the work I did helped keep things running. What did you do before here?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Sounded cool til you got to Ben Stiller. That guy is a freak." Doesn't matter if it's true or not, she guesses, so she grins and signals for another round for both of them. If he doesn't want it, she'll drink it. "Shit coming to life in the museum at night must've been wild." Maybe that explained the body. "Kinda like my job. Private security for a global NGO."

[theblindguy.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, he really messed up the movies," Auggie grins as he sits back, nudging the empty mug aside before he does. The mention of being security pretty much confirms just how right he'd been about his guess, and he's immediately curious about what kind of NGO she's talking about. "Your job was wild? Or are you saying you actually dealt with inanimate objects coming to life? Because I was kidding."

That he isn't actually completely joking about the second question says a lot about the extent he's willing to believe at this point since coming here.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate watches his hand move the mug and wonders how long it takes to get that sure about moving without your eyes. Definitely a skill worth having. She's going to talk to Declan about that. Sparring blindfolded.

His question pulls a rough snort for her. "Not objects coming to life, but I wouldn't have been surprised. We work with rare and dangerous species." She really needs to talk to Magnus about what it's okay to say here. "Protecting them from humans. Protecting humans from them." Smithsonian or not, if he's from DC, Auggie ought to be able to hear the Classified all over that.

[theblindguy.livejournal.com]

That went beyond classified and right into X-Files territory, actually. She's just vague enough for him to take a good guess she either can't or won't talk about it if he asks more questions. That doesn't meant they aren't immediately there, especially more about this apparent species she worked with.

"So what you're saying is I was really on the mark when I said you can handle yourself," he replies, the only indication of how curious he is is a slight lift of his eyebrow. Something about blatantly prying when he's lying through his teeth about most of his own background doesn't sit right with him.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't want to meet me in a dark alley," Kate says with a soft smirk and pushes her fingers half across the table to touch the back of his hand before flipping hers over palm up. It's mostly an invitation for him to "see" for himself from the calluses that haven't smoothed yet even after a month on the island, microscarring from gunpowder burns, strength in the curl of her fingers and her forearm.

"Unless it was pre-arranged and there's kneeling involved." That's sort of an invitation too, but there's something about Auggie that makes it lighter, more playful and less want to get the fuck out of here? She likes talking to him.