xp_logs | Domino and Pete, Sunday morning (Reply)

Backdated to Sunday morning, before Pete gets 'called away'. When Domino arrives at the mansion to find out that Nathan's had another vision and needs just a bit more sleep, she wanders around on her own for a little while, and of course can't resist looking up Pete.

The door was open, so Domino stuck her head in, grinning at the sight of Pete at the desk, poring over something on his computer monitor.

"So, this is the office of a guidance counselor," she teased, stepping in. "Funny, I don't see any signs that you've been trying to climb the walls. That rather large groundskeeper paint them over on a regular basis or something?"

"They let me out every so often." Pete grinned and leaned back in his chair. "Besides, the guidance counselling only takes up a few hours most days. The rest of me time, I spend doing real work."

He stood up.

"But right now, I could use a break. I've been putting together a dossier on a particularly nasty little cunt in Germany for a friend in Mossad, and I'm bored to death of him. Fancy a walk?"

"Lead on, MacDuff," Domino said, following him back out into the hall. "Let's try and avoid the children, though, shall we? Some of them are cute, I suppose, but I've run into at least one I would like to throttle if I have to have the pleasure of his company again."

"Oh?" Pete raised an eyebrow. "Can't say I'm surprised - there's a few I'd like to give a good slapping to, but did you happen to get a name?" He lead the way out into the grounds, lighting up as soon as he was outside.

"Sadly, no. He tried to run me down in the hall and then attempted to drool on my boots." Domino smiled slyly. "Nathan gave him the 'I can kill you with my brain' look and the boy ran off yelping. It was quite entertaining."

She breathed deeply of the fresh air, looking around approvingly as they walked. "Speaking of the children," she continued dryly. "I want you to do me a favor. As in the type of favor you can redeem later for services of your choosing." Pete walked beside her, listening, and she went on.

"Moira and I talked last night about some of the stuff that's happened since Nate's been here. One particular name kept coming up." Domino smiled thinly. "So. If you would just keep an eye on the big idiot and remind him of what a fuckwit he's being if he tries to butt heads with that de la Rocha kid again, I'd be grateful." She batted her eyelashes at Pete. "In the demonstrative sense."

"Promises, promises." Pete flashed her a smile. "I've seen you use that look before, and I ain't falling for it, but yeah, I'll keep an eye on him - the de la Rocha kid is a problem, but there's a small army of people trying to teach the little fuck to be human before someone like Nate or me has to happen to him. Doesn't help that Amanda's gone and got mixed up with him - she's got Nate half-wrapped round her finger, sohe's been trying help the pair of them - you know how he gets round the pretty girls in trouble..."

"Yeah. One wonders where that damned chivalrous instinct came from. Not that I'm complaining, mind you." Domino tugged at the collar of her duster. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad he had another of those damned visions and had to go crash for a while. Gives me a chance to take a look around on my own." She looked up at Pete thoughtfully. "So what's the attraction? Of this place, I mean. I have to say, while I fully expected to see you de-employed at some point, this isn't the kind of place I ever imagined you'd end up."

Pete took a long drag on his cigarette, looking off into the distance.

"Didn't really mean to wind up here, and I've come pretty close to fucking off a few times. I don't see myself here for good, truth be told. But for the moment, it's a safe place to sleep between jobs while I keep up with what's really going on in the world, keep Charlie in the loop on some of the things his own contacts don't want him to know, and while I'm here, I can try and make sure that Charlie's tinpot soldiers don't turn all the kids into leather-wearing perverts and amateur do-gooders. Or that Infonet don't recruit the lot of them - one of their boys, Jake Gavin, he's here too, and I know he's approached a couple of them."

He blew a stream of smoke upwards.

"And Amanda's here now, and I promised Romany I'd keep an eye on her. Shame you're not going to have a chance to meet her while you're here..."

"Oh, I'll be back, believe me. And I am curious about Amanda, after what Nate's told me. I'll have to take her out for a girl's night sometime - she sounds like the type to appreciate it," Domino said, mentally filing away Pete's words even as she puzzled over some of their implications. Seemed there was a lot more going on in this place than was obvious on the surface. Not that she was too terribly surprised by that. "I'm not sure what's going to happen with the Pack, so you might not be the only one between jobs for a while," she said slowly, giving Pete a sideways look. "Nate told G.W. last night that he wasn't coming back."

"Yeah? Not suprised to hear it, but I thought it'd take him a bit longer to admit it to himself. Him and Moira aside, he's in shit shape, Dom. Even if he does go whole days without falling over now, it's still bloody obvious he's not all there half the time. It's probably for the best." Pete's tone was half-amused, and half-worried.

"So, what, you reckon the Pack'll take a break for a bit, then?"

"Possibly," Domino said with a shrug. "We're all meeting up in Berlin again this week to talk. G.W.'s bizarre optimism aside, I foresee a fair amount of bitching once they find out Nate's retiring." Shit. Now she was using the r-word. She slipped her sunglasses out of her pocket and put them on. "Hammer, the bastard, will probably be gloating. Between getting rid of Nate and having one less mutant on the team..."

She snorted angrily. "Stupid asshole. You know, to be honest, I wouldn't shed too many tears if we decided to... well, it wouldn't really be going our separate ways, I suppose. I mean, with Nate here, I go where G.W. goes. I imagine Theo would come with us, and I doubt either he or Bridge would cut the boys loose just yet--they're not old enough to be off apron-strings. But Mina and David, fond as I am of them, would probably do just as well on their own, and Lien could get on with another team easily. Hammer can go fuck off and die for all I care." She looked up at Pete, smiling tightly. "Okay, so I'm a little unhappier about the whole thing than I'm letting on to Nate," she confessed. "I don't know why, really. Hell, I've got six offers for solo jobs to choose between when I get back. Not like I'm going to be out of drinking money anytime soon."

"At at guess, it's 'cause it ain't the Pack splitting up that's really bothering you - you could have fucked off on your own ages ago, anyway, and even if you do split, you'll probably keep working together with most of them when you need to. It's not having Nate at your back, Pack or no Pack, isn't it?" By Pete's usual standards, his tone was fairly sympathetic. Apparently having to babysit children was teaching him something.

"Yeah, well, we all know I'm unhealthily attached to the asshole. That's not news." Domino made a face. "Don't like change," she grumbled, knowing she was pouting. "And don't tell me it's inevitable." Another laugh slipped out before she could help it. "I reserved the right to act like a five year-old occasionally ages ago."

"I'm not allowed to act like that any more - I've got to be grown-up and a role-model, and all the rest of that crap." Pete almost managed to keep a straight face.

"But seriously - don't let Nate's 'retirement' get to you. He's not going to retire any more than I am." he snorted. "He's too fond of getting up to his neck in something good and horrible as his penance for all the shitty jobs he's done. Besides, as long as he doesn't drink the Kool Aid here, once they stop his brain recieving Future FM, I'm in a position to be pretty sure he'll be hearing about all sorts of fucking rotten things going on all over the shop, and I suspect he'll give you a bell pretty shortly after that. OK, so the pay won't be great, but like you said, it ain't like you're about to go broke."

Domino's expression brightened. "Wisdom, you've always known just what to say to cheer me up."