When it Rains - It Pours. [Kire]

[Kire]

Does, Says, Thinks

She watched him eat, his furious pace making her hungry enough that she snatched her plate from where it sat and joined him in what could be appropriately called a feeding frenzy. Her eyes stayed on him, even as she stuffed as much food into her mouth as she could, careful not to spill as she started to chew. She was halfway through her eggs before he spoke, having placed down his fork and swallowed the contents of his mouth. "Nope, no sleep for me, but that’s normal." Another spoonful of eggs had made it into her mouth, and were being chewed, by the time he spoke again. "Though, I am sorry to hear that you also had a bad night’s rest. Maybe it’s contagious."

She coughed, her laugh interrupting her swallowing. The little smile on his face had brought the humor out from the statement, and she couldn't help herself. Trying to keep from coughing in order to swallow properly, she had to strain for a moment. Once her mouth was clear, she coughed into her elbow a couple times, giving him a slightly sheepish smile. He had moved on while she coughed, answering her second question. "Yes, I was out for a run. It helps me relax, and think. It also helps that I’m an adrenaline junkie." She nodded, not trusting herself to speak just yet, she knew the feeling.

Going back to eating, she took it a bit slower, but not much. If he was going to crack jokes, she could be caught offguard and choke again. "Sorry I didn’t wake you, now that I know, I will certainly be sure to invite you with me next time." His face split into a wicked grin, and his eyes held a spark of teasing light. "That is… if you think you can keep up." His words and voice were casual, but the teasing light in his eyes had been replaced by a challenging twinkle. She grinned at him, making sure there was nothing in her mouth for her to choke on before speaking. "I'm more worried about you keeping up with me, I may not be as tall as you, but I have a pretty big stride of my own."

He had resumed eating as she answered his issued challenge. When she had finished speaking, she quickly finished off her breakfast, taking sips of coffee between bites so when she finished her food, there was only one last mouthful of the bitter liquid left. Gulping it down, she followed his eyes to the clock, noting that it was almost six. Back home, she would still be sleeping. Her shift was never set, as she was basically only ever called for missions, which rarely needed her awake before seven. She stood as he did, not bothering to scrape her plate off as he did, since there were only small remnants of her breakfast remaining on her plate. Being an efficient eater had its perks.

"We need to be in the station by seven. I usually shower and get ready there. Our shift starts at eight." She nodded, watching as he tossed his dishes into the sink, and followed suit. When he grabbed his duffle bag, she slipped into the bedroom and fetched her own bag. Quickly, she ran a brush through her hair and tied it up, smoothing her clothes as she pulled black sweatpants and sweatshirt from her bag and put them on. Leaving the bedroom, she swapped the runners in her bag with the boots she had worn yesterday. Pulling the shoes on, she nodded to Fahrenheit that she was ready. "It’s a lengthy walk from here to the station. We could run there, so you can get some running in this morning."

She smiled at him, stepping toward the door. "You up for it? You don't have to run again just because of me." Her smile became a little softer, but then it turned slightly wry. "After all, it wouldn't be fair for me to beat when I'm fresh and your not." Her smile was a grin now, and she went up to the door, placing a hand on the handle and turning it. "Still, if you say it's a long walk, we'd best get moving." She pushed the door open, and held it there, waiting for him to exit. She wouldn't admit it, but she didn't know where she was.

Tags: Sunrise | Words: 730
Other: Seems I had Dalena!muse. ^^

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[Eastern Orange]

Fahrenheit decided that it was best he didn’t run. He had just finished thirteen miles, after all. He smiled at Dalena and hefted his bag over his shoulder. “Next time, then.” He grinned. He waited for her to exit, but realized that she was waiting for him. “Why don’t I lead the way?” He said as he passed her, remembering that she was new to Twelve, and probably had no clue where she was.

The streets were busy, despite the early hour; when you’re poor, you have very little time to waste. People bustled about toting goats, baskets of food, and other assorted goods. There streets were loud with haggling, idle conversations and choruses of children playing, laughing and crying. This all quieted, however, when the denizens spotted the tall, blonde Viking with his characteristic icy-blue glare entering their midst. The people within eyeshot of him shut their mouths, averted their eyes, and tried to subtly sink into the background until he had passed.

It no longer surprised Fahrenheit that he had this affect, even without his intimidating white uniform on. He had never done anything cruel or even slightly unfair to deserve their fear and hate, but for some reason whenever someone thought about the evil, corrupt peacekeeper, they thought of Fahrenheit. He kept his face blank, and stared straight ahead. Their scorn no longer caused him pain; he was used to it by now, resigned. He didn’t acknowledge the weird behavior toward him to Dalena; he just plowed ahead, hoping that she would either not notice it, or not mention it. He walked quickly, purposely lengthening his stride, so he did not upset the lives of the citizens any more than he had to.

It was a relief when they got to the station. He looked over his shoulder at Dalena and said with a small, tired smile “This is it!” He swept a hand over the shabby building in a mock grand gesture. He was sure she was used to something more fancy, and felt bad that she had to be stuck here slumming it with him. He showed her into the building, and checked in with the guy manning the front desk. “The female locker room is back through there.” Fahrenheit pointed her toward the right direction. “The women here are…” he searched for the appropriate word, “rowdy. Don’t let them intimidate you.” He smiled as he said that, suspecting that if there was any intimidating going on it would be from his partner. “See ya, later.” He waved, and went into the men’s locker room.

He took a quick shower, washing off the sweat from this morning’s run. He emerged from the showers with a towel wrapped around his hips, and shamelessly walked amongst the other guys to his locker. “Hey Frost.” Maximus said, opening the locker next to his. “Who was that woman you walked in with?” It was an innocent enough question, but the way he said it made it far from innocent. Fahrenheit shot Max a look of warning. “My new partner.” Maximus grinned at Fahrenheit’s glare. “You already get a piece of that, Frosty?” Max said gleefully. “No worries, guy, she’s too butch for my liking. I like my woman dainty, and actually looking like woman.” Fahrenheit set his jaw, making an effort to not punch his superior in the face. Another guy, Shaw, turned around to join the conversation. “I don’t know, Max. I thought she was fucking sexy. I wouldn’t mind being dominated by her in the bed room.” This elicited laughter from the guys in the surrounding area, and more guys joined in. Fahrenheit tried to remain calm, fighting the protective instincts he already had for his partner. “I saw you guys walking to the station together, Frost! Did she sleep at your place last night?” A guy said as he pulled on a shirt. Everyone looked at Fahrenheit expectantly, but he didn’t say anything. The guys took that as an affirmative, and there was a long round of claps, whistles, and congratulations. “Damn, Frosty, I didn’t know you had game.” Shaw said enthusiastically, and clapped him on the shoulder. “Though… You don’t have game, so she must just be a great big slut. You think she’ll-“ Shaw never got to finish his question, on account of Fahrenheit’s fist hitting him the jaw so hard that his head whipped to the side, and he fell against the locker.

Silence descended on the locker room.

“Fuck, Frost. We didn’t know you were so fucking sensitive.” A reproachful voice said toward the back. Max just shook his head, and Shaw tried very hard to remain conscious. Fahrenheit got dressed quickly, slammed his locker shut, and brushed out of the room. He went and stood by the door, waiting for Dalena to be done. He rubbed his bruised knuckles, absentmindedly, wondering what kind of trouble he’d get in for decking a follow officer. Though, said officer was being a repulsive scumbag and talking badly of a female officer, which was not tolerated, so it might be overlooked.

[Kire]

Does, Says, Thinks

With her words, Fahrenheit seemed to reconsider his offer. "Next time, then." She returned his grin with a smile of her own, and watched him as he seemed to wait for her. New to the District as she was, it would have taken her a long time, and possibly a few stops for directions, in order to find her way. Seeming to realizing his mistake, Fahrenheit walked past her, quickly saying, "Why don’t I lead the way?" Smiling at his back, amused, Dalena followed him.

It took a bit for them to make their way through the already bustling streets, and Dalena couldn't help but be surprised at the level of activity so early in the morning. Then again, back in her District of three, people worked all sorts of shifts which left few times where it was extremely busy instead of evenly dispersed. Not to mention, that even those who didn't pull odd shifts weren't getting ready this early. She supposed that being poor meant that people had to spend harder and longer hours at work, trying to scrape together enough to live.

No one noticed her as they passed. She looked enough like someone from the Seam to blend in. They did notice her companion, though, and made sure to stay out of his way. However, Fahrenheit took no notice of it, or at least he pretended not to notice it. Not able to see his face, and instead looking at the spot between his shoulder blades, she couldn't tell how he felt. Something told her to keep quiet about it, though. She stayed silent for the entire trip to the station, pondering questions in her mind even as she blankly stared at Fahrenheit's back. At times, her gaze would wander to little shops and the people who manned them. At one point, her gaze was caught and held by and old woman. The woman gave her a smile, but then her gaze changed to one of someone who was trying to read another. Pulling her gaze away, Dalena couldn't help but continued to feel the eyes of the woman on her.

It wasn't until she actually entered the station, after a quick introduction from Fahrenheit of, "This is it!" with an accompanying hand gesture, that the old woman's gaze faded from her awareness. They checked in with the desk Sargent, which took mere moments for Fahrenheit, but almost a minute for her. Then Fahrenheit gestured towards a wall which blocked the entrance to a tiled room, "The female locker room is back through there. The women here are…" He paused, and Dalena wondered whether he was searching for a word to say, or recalling memories. It was seemingly the first, as he continued, "rowdy. Don’t let them intimidate you." She almost spluttered with laughter, but controlled herself. If he had known the kind of things she put up with in her normal job, well he might not be so worried about her. The smile on his face as he finished, and the casual way he walked away, with a simple wave and a "See ya, later." made her realize that he probably knew that she would be fine. She didn't know whether that bothered her or not.

Walking into the woman's locker room, she held herself confidently, but didn't put herself into any awkward situations. That was, until one of the older women came over to her, wearing only underwear and her white shirt. Sighing as inaudibly as possible, Dalena looked up. "Yes?" She kept her voice calm, trying to prevent the sarcastic sweetness from dripping into it. For the most part, she was successful. The woman snorted. "You aren't from around here." It was terribly hard for Dalena to keep from retorting with a dreadfully sarcastic comment, but she managed. Barely. "You a rookie or something?" Obviously this woman would show no respect for her if she thought so lowly of her, and the desperate response most people would give would only provoke her into further teasing. So instead, she decided to tell the truth, but only enough that it would give her the power over the woman. "A temporary transfer from District three, actually."

The woman sneered, assuming her theory had been confirmed. "How long have you been out of training, little girl, a few months?" A couple woman who were a short distance away snickered. Dalena didn't even bother to look at them, instead pulling off her shirt and grabbing her white undershirt before answering. The woman could wait for her answer. "Almost eleven years now." The woman paused at her answer, then tried to press harder. "I saw you enter with Fahrenheit. You guys getting acquainted early?" Her sneer itched at Dalena, but she showed no sign of it, instead waiting until she had pulled on her white uniform pants and done up her belt to answer. "Yes, but not in the way your suggesting. After all, a relationship with my partner is something that would be hard to explain, and to deal with during duty." The woman was growing frustrated, it was plain to see. Trying to crack Dalena was leading her to crack herself. With what Dalena was sure was a last ditch effort, she took a stab at her again. "So are you here to show off, to dance around us poor folk assigned to District twelve in order to promote yourself. How proud you must make your father."

All of the irritation that had grown in her before now flared. It was one thing to joke about her, to poke fun at misunderstandings and to call her names. None of that affected her anymore. After all, when enough criminals spit at you and call you names, the pitiful whimpering of Peacekeepers with a bruised ego mean nothing anymore. But to mention her father, to insult him in such a way as this woman had, there was nothing anyone could do to keep her from at least giving the person an earful. Voice taught with strained anger, she spat her words at the woman, her tone poisonous, "If you had a mind to see the reason why I was here, and not create fantasies in your head in order to attempt a pitiful mockery of me, then you would know I am on assignment and I had not come to so called 'dance around you poor folk'." The woman's face went from sneering, to fearful and finally to gleeful. "Ooh, it seems I've hit a sore spot. Are you a daddy's girl, wench?" That was it. That was the final straw. Unable to take it any longer, she spat at the woman. The spittle struck her on the cheek, and was then followed by her clenched fist. Dalena's narrowed eyes met the woman's stunned gaze before going back to her clothing. Throwing on her jacket and neatening her appearance while hurrying out, she tried to shake her foolish anger. Something told her that the woman would not report her, but that she would have more to worry about tomorrow. It didn't scare her. Pushing away as much of her frustration as she could, even if she could probably be seen still smoking from her outburst, she exited the changing room.

When her eyes fell on Fahrenheit, she knew that she hadn't been the only one who had gotten a hard time. There was a hardness to his face, a clenched jaw, an angry spark in his eyes and a slight frown, but the biggest give away were the knuckles on his right hand. They were bruised, slightly swollen and being rubbed absently by the fingers of his left hand. No, it didn't seem to be the time for her to impress her irritation on the situation. She couldn't help but make comment of it to him as she came to stand beside him, however, "When you said rowdy, I wasn't expecting persistence." Silently, she stood by the man, waiting for him, and for herself, to cool down. Whatever had happened in the men's locker room, she wouldn't hear about it. Just as he wouldn't hear about what happened to her. It just wasn't what they did around here.

Tags: Sunrise | Words: 1361
Other: Phew. Done.

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