xp_logs | The merits of yak cheese [Sarah, Domino]

Domino comes down to distract Sarah for Shinobi. They play darts, but not against each other. They compare stories, and Sarah gets lots of advice from somebody who's been there.

There were only so many days one could look at the same wall without going crazy. She'd reached that limit in the medlab, and had just gotten to that point in her own room, so Sarah had grabbed her notebook and slowly made her way to the boiler room for a change of scenery. She lounged out on the ugly-as-fuck couch, keeping herself occupied by throwing darts at the board by the door, alternating her aiming and throwing with taking drags off the cigarette in her left hand.

The boiler room had been second on the very short list of places to look for Sarah, according to Shinobi, and Domino was rather pleased to find that she was there. The idea of wandering around the mansion like she was lost or something, hoping to spot her, hadn't been appealing. "Hey," she said casually, pausing in the doorway. "How're those knees?"

"Better," Sarah shrugged, a slow smile forming as she talked, "The scars are gone, and I can make it up the stairs without them deciding that being shot was some sort of excuse for not working properly." She threw the last dart in her hand at the board, and pushed herself up and off of the couch, switching her cigarette back to her right hand now that it was free. "I take it you heard the story, then?"

"Nate's an awful blabbermouth," Domino said amiably, eyeing the dartboard with interest. "I haven't played darts in ages," she said. "No one will play with me in pubs anymore. Apparently I cheat."

"From Nate? I'd love to hear what kind of spin he put on it. I imagine there was a lot of 'stupid kids' in that story." She walked over to the dartboard, and if she's got a limp it's not all that noticeable. The same can be said for her scars. She might as well have not even died two weeks ago. "You cheat? No way," she grinned, pulling the darts from the board and taking a moment to lean against the wall.

"Actually, you'd probably be surprised," Domino said, her eyes lingering longingly on the darts. "And I don't cheat. Really. Not my fault I can't turn my power off."

Sarah pushed herself back off of the wall, holding out her hand to offer the darts to Domino. "Knock yourself out."

"I'll show you what I mean," Domino said, waiting until Sarah was out of the line of fire before turning her back to the dartboard and throwing two at once over her shoulders, deliberately making her aim as negligent as possible. She heard two solid *thunks!* and turned around to see both buried right in the center of the dartboard. "See?" she asked, waving a hand in that general direction.

"Well fuck. I've been doing this since the bones started popping out, and I'm not even a challenge." She took a drag off of her cigarette, and put her other hand on her hip. She added with a vague pout in her voice, "You're no fun."

"Tell me about it." Domino shrugged, then tried throwing one of the other darts at the ceiling. It bounced off the ceiling, the wall, the floor, and finally impacted the dartboard just outside the bullseye. "I got caught in some nasty crossfire - the equivalent of a shooting gallery, really - on a job in the Sudan a couple of years ago. Something happened and my power kicked up in a major way. I haven't ever gotten more than minor injuries since, and I've been in some pretty hairy situations." She sighed, shaking her head. "Wish I could convince myself that I don't suck all the good luck out of the vicinity, though. Not so bad when it's a bad guy who has a sudden stroke of bad luck, but it bugs me when it's my friends."

"Ugh. That sucks," she nodded, taking another draw off of the cigarette in her hand. "It comes in handy, but you have to wonder sometimes if the good outweighs the bad? Mine's like that."

Domino nodded. "There have been a bunch of times since where I probably should have died," she said easily. "I'm not all that desolate about still being here, let me tell you." She turned her back to the dartboard again, trying the last dart. "You?" she asked in amusement, slanting a challenging look at Sarah.

"Nah, I enjoy not being another body in the Morlock tunnels. Though it's like I told Shinobi, at the end of the world, it'll be me and the cockroaches." She shrugged. "Maybe by then I'll have figured out a way to beat you at darts."

"Don't know about darts," Domino said, "but Nate's figured out how to beat me - sometimes - when it comes to hand-to-hand." She grinned. "He aims for where I'm not, or where he thinks I'm liable to be. Winds up connecting more often than not."

Sarah laughed, making her way back over to the dartboard to pull them out again. "There's got to be some sneaky underhanded way to beat you. I'll get it eventually."

"Even if you don't, the trying will be fun," Domino said cheerfully, going over and planting herself on the couch. "And possibly not-boring, which would be a switch. You know, I'm going to Mongolia? Fucking Mongolia. Apart from the yak cheese, the place is a total waste of space."

"Its only redeeming quality is yak cheese? Fuck. I'd say what you're doing there had better pay well." She grinned, and made her way across the room to throw. The first one landed to the right of the center, but not by much. "Really well."

"Don't knock the yak cheese. It's good stuff - I'll send you some." Domino smiled wryly. "As for pay, not particularly, no. I owe a certain Russian gentleman for pulling mine and Nate's tails out of the fire a while back, so I'm playing cat burglar for a bargain price."

Sarah threw the next two in quick succession, and one hit in the bullseye, while the second hit just below it in the second ring. "Guess there's not much you can do if you owe him, huh?"

"Well, I could have said no and let him try to collect from Nate," Domino said after a moment, snickering at the idea. "But he's not a bad guy, really, for a member of the Russian Mafia. Pulled us out of the shit, patched us up, and was a pretty gracious host for a few days." She rearranged herself in a cross-legged position, shrugging. "I'll survive Mongolia. Not all jobs can be entertaining."

"Nah, I guess not." She threw two more, and both landed in the second ring, beneath the first one. "Still sounds like it's going to suck. A lot."

"Probably. I'll just have to have extra fun after the fact." Domino grinned. "Maybe I'll detour somewhere warm and tropical for a week or two after I'm done. Or hey, I could always come back here and make a nuisance of myself. Amanda wants me to come back for Angelo's birthday, I gather..."

Sarah grinned, throwing her last dart and going to pull an ashtray out from behind the couch. "We know how to throw one hell of a party when left to our own devices."

"Tempting," Domino said with a sigh, leaning her head back against the top of the couch and staring up at the ceiling. She really was more tired than she'd thought. "I think I do need a vacation. Was supposed to be taking one this past couple of weeks, but stuff came up, as stuff generally does." She raised her head again, smiling at Sarah. "Sorry. Whining. But I'm having one of those 'feeling old before my time' weeks, I think."

She ground out her cigarette, in the ashtray, perching herself on the arm of the couch. "It happens," she shrugged, pulling a bone from her shoulder, and dropping it to the floor. She added with a grin, "Maybe the yak's cheese'll make you feel better."

"Quite possibly," Domino said, mock-gravely. "I promised Nate I'd chase him around the gym for a while later, too. I should be able to get out all kinds of assorted angst that way. The man is in dire need of a serious beating these days." She gave Sarah's knees a significant look. "And you make sure those heal up okay, all right? I want a rematch, when I'm not heading off to a job and can afford to get cut up if you score some good touches."

"If?" Sarah raised an eyebrow in amusement, crossing her arms over her chest. She brushed her hands over her knees, bones on her fingers leaving little white scratches behind. "I'm working on it. I've decided that clubbing would be the perfect physical therapy, too."

"Talked the horde of rabid doctor-types into that yet?" Domino said with a smirk.

"Heh. That's about as likely as them lifting their ban on the gym." She sighed, almost wistfully. She missed her time in the gym. "Doesn't mean I won't do it anyway."

"Look at it this way," Domino offered. "You give your healing factor a chance to work without straining it with anything new, you'll be back on your feet for real sooner."

"I know..." she grumbled, running a her hand through her hair, and tucking it back behind her ears. "I feel so fucking useless right now."

"Yeah, and?" Domino countered, smiling to take the edge off the words. "You go down that hard, it takes you a while to get back up. Fact of life."

"Uh-huh." Sarah nodded grudgingly, starting to pick at the bone on her hands. "I'm not going down like that next time."

"Oh? Giving some thought to maybe having a strategy next time?"

Sarah shot a glare at Dom, obviously not amused. "Nah, I was thinking of going after them again tomorrow, just for shits and giggles."

Domino bared her teeth at her cheerfully. "Glad to see you've still got your sense of humor," she said. "You know, I once tried something really similar? Was a little younger than you, even."

"Yeah? Your ass get saved by your mutation too?"

"Nah," Domino said, her eyes going distant for a moment as she went over the memories in her head. "You remember me telling you I grew up in the combat pits in Hong Kong?" Sarah nodded. "Decided when I was about seventeen that I was going to go back and kill a couple of the trainers and the owner. Found out that my mutation doesn't really do much good against tear gas."

Sarah listened intently, her chin cradled in the palm of her hand, and her elbow resting on her knee. "Then what?"

Domino's mouth twisted. "Then I got to be part of the show again, is what. They probably made a ton of money on the betting - I was pretty popular before I got out." She sighed. "My power's psionic, and inhibitors for psis have been around for ages. They kept it on all the time, except for when I was safely locked in the ring for my next bout. And I'm good, Sarah, even without my powers, but electrified cages and large numbers of guards with tazers don't leave much room for escape. Though I did try."

"You ended up back where you started from. I let them kill the last true Morlock, even though I didn't stay dead, but I still didn't get the job done." She sighed heavily. "I still can't tell you it wasn't worth it."

Domino nodded. "I did kill one of the trainers I was after, before they took me down," she said. "Sadistic bastard. Liked little girls a lot. I may have lingered just a little too long with him and screwed myself." She stopped for a moment, schooling the bleakness out of her expression before she went on. "But hey," she said, her voice cheery again but a little brittle, "you're here, I'm here."

"I got three. The whole thing would have been worth it just for the one bitch who got to watch a Morlock kill her teammate. Callisto would have been proud." Sarah shrugged again, and finally nodded. "We are. And we're still able to make all sorts of fun trouble. At least that's a plus."

"At least you didn't have to be conscious for the rescue, from what I understand," Domino said dryly. "I did. Although to give Tall, Dark and Grumpy due credit, he saved the lecture for when we were back home." She couldn't help a snicker. "If you ever hear Nate say something about owning my ass twice over, that's what he's referring to."

"No, I was pretty dead by the time they got there. I wasn't conscious for another three days after that extra heart of mine kicked in." She stopped to think for a second. "I'd say that was a good thing, but if I'd been conscious I'd have still been fighting, and wouldn't have needed their rescue in the first place."

"But you did," Domino said. "Just like I needed Nate to rescue me from the same damned place for the second time. Might sting the old pride, but it's not such a bad thing to have people who'll fish you out when you get in over your head."

Sarah shrugged, and looked off towards the other corner of the room. Not much she could say to that, really.

"I never went back to Hong Kong," Domino said after a moment. "Not after I found out what it took to get me out."

"I am. I may be taking them with me this time, but I'm still going. I have to."

Someone had been at her, Domino thought, noting the concession. Which was probably a good thing. "Want a piece of unsolicited advice?" she asked, then went on before Sarah could answer. "I know Nathan's not your favorite person around here, but you might want to talk to him. About strategy and tactics, if nothing else - he was black-ops military for a long time before he was a mercenary, Sarah. I doubt he'd be able to give you much in the way of intel - he's been out of the States for too many years - but there are things he could tell you about how people like that think, how they fight." She smiled faintly. "And as much as he might have acted like a particularly hard-headed bastard over your choice to involve your friends by proxy... I'll just say this flat-out and hope you don't feel the need to pass this along to him... he didn't really have much of an issue with what you were doing. He couldn't. Not when he did the exact same thing himself, successfully."

"Nathan and I can't ever seem to get on the same side of -anything-. This is too important for me to waste my time trying to pry information out of him." She says it simply, and adds, "Whether he'll admit to being okay with it or not."

"Look, up to you," Domino said with a snort, "but if it's that important to you, why pass up a resource like that just because he might take the opportunity to growl at you? Like cutting off your nose to spite your face. And what makes you think you'd have to pry? One of Nate's more annoying traits is his tendency to offer large amounts of unsolicited advice. Trust me. Besides," Domino said, her smile turning a little malicious, "what else are you going to do with your time while your knees finish healing?"

"Enjoy the peace and quiet that goes along with having just gone on a murderous spree, so that most people are scared to come near you. -That's- what I'd like to do. Beats the hell out of dealing with Mr.-fucking-know-it-all."

Domino laughed. "Oh, grow up," she chided affectionately. "You sound like me, and you're making me feel old."

"If I remember right, you didn't need my help feeling old," Sarah shot back, a ghost of her former grin returning.

"Yes, yes. Old and decrepit, and not yet twenty-three," Domino said dryly. "Look, just... take what you need to make sure you don't get yourself killed permanently the next time, all right? Whether or not that includes putting up with Nate being a snarky, smug bastard is up to you, but if you happen to discover some hitherto unknown reservoir of patience it might be worth asking him. He's been at this for longer than either of us have been alive." She shook her head at Sarah. "And hey, don't give me the crap about being immortal, okay? Unless you can regenerate from individual cells, I can think of about half a dozen ways off the top of my head to compensate for your healing factor. If you're bent on finishing the job with these bastards, take the time, swallow your fucking pride, and do it right. Makes the whole thing much more satisfying if you survive to dance on their graves."

"No kidding. The whole dying thing was sort of anticlimactic." she shrugged, and got up and stretched, her arms up over her head as far as she could reach. "Thanks for the advice."

"Eh, I am occasionally a pedantic bitch," Domino said with a shrug and a grin. "Mostly because I like you, and shit, your boyfriend's too cute to be moping because you got your rather attractive ass wasted."

Now it was Sarah's turn to snort. "You think my ass is attractive now, come back for Angelo's birthday and clubbing, and I'll wear the leather skirt of doom. It's got its own fansite."

"Oh, stop. You'll get me all hot and bothered." Domino's grin turned evil. "I liked Shinobi's ass better."

"Too bad I'm not inclined to share," she smirked, hands resting on her hips. "He's got a very nice ass."

"Oh, not to worry," Domino said, glancing at her watch and decided that sufficient distraction had been provided. "Got plenty of men around here to keep me entertained, I don't need to be poaching yours." She rose off the couch and started towards the door, looking back over her shoulder at Sarah and grinning. "In fact, I think I'm going to go look up that groundskeeper."