xp_logs | [Domino, Paul] A time and a place for everything.

Domino is feeling a little bubbly, of all things, and decides to stop and smell the flowers in the garden. She meets Paul and Delphine there and all three of them have a lovely chat before Domino and Paul begin making plans to ~~get into trouble~~ keep busy for the afternoon.

It was a very nice day, Domino thought. Peachy, as a matter of fact. Beautiful weather, more-or-less coherent Nathan... yes, this was the best Monday she'd had in a while. She wandered rather happily through the gardens, stopping to sniff at the odd flower. Maybe she would go for a swim. She certainly had an excessive amount of energy today, and it tended to disturb people when she was bubbly.

Paul was feeling civilized today. Well worn out from hours of flying in the very early morning in which he'd flown out to the sea and back and then come home to swim for an hour in the pool, he was relaxing in the garden. He'd showered and dressed and gotten himself some tea, now he and Delphine were comfortably settled among blanket and pillows on a bench under a dense green lilac. Paul was reading, sort of, "The Life of Pi". His attention was really on Delphine, who was stalking a ladybug that was trekking across the instep of his bare foot.

Well, goodness. Domino's eyes lit wickedly as she spotted the rather attractive not-quite-still life of Gorgeous Man, With Cat. "Oh, for a camera," she quipped lightly, hands clasped behind her back as she wandered over.

Paul looked up and tried to place the new woman, probably Nathan's friend. "I don't know how many times I've said that," he said dryly. "I'm happy to wait if you wanted to run and get one," he offered, smiling a little. Delphine pounced on his foot, claws extended, and missed the ladybug.

"Happily, I have a photographic memory," Domino said, and smiled at the cat, who peered up at her inquisitively. "And you must be Bella's partner in crime."

Delphine looked back at Domino curiously, judging her. Bella, she knew Bella's name and this woman smelled a little of Bella-papa. She pricked her ears forward and mewed affirmatively.

"Partner in crime, indeed," Paul said, completely failing to be stern in any way. "The thing is, we've never /caught/ them at their mischief. I suppose we should be proud of that. They're clever girls, yes, they are." At Paul's affectionate tone, Delphine put her paws on Paul's knee and stretched her nose up for a kiss, which he gave her.

Domino couldn't help a grin. "You would be Paul, then," she said. "Nate's mentioned you. I would be Dom." She winked at the cat. "And that would make you Delphine. Hello, beautiful."

Delphine mewed happily. Beautiful! Yes, that was one of her Words. Smart woman. Paul held his hand out to Domino and returned her smile. "Nice to meet you."

Domino shook his hand firmly, then extended hers to Delphine, who sniffed it and purred, ducking her head against it. "You know, this is my... hmm, fourth or fifth time here, I'm not sure which... and this is the first time I've been in the garden?"

"Well, Delphine comes here more than I do," Paul said. "Then again, my favourite alternative to boredom is not rolling about in the flower beds until I glitter with pollen, then going in to rub myself all over someone's clean sheets. Though," he gave Domino a wicked little smile, "it does have appeal when I put it that way..."

"Why, Mr. Beaubier," Domino said with a perfectly straight face. "You'd think you were trying to... unsettle me."

"I don't think that I could unsettle you with a Stinger*, mademoiselle, and I wouldn't flatter myself that I could," he retorted, softening it with a genuine smile.

"Ah, the Stinger," Domino said brightly. "One of my favorite toys. Used it to shoot down three North Korean Mi-2s one night. That was a productive evening."

"I've only had the pleasure of avoiding being on the receiving end of one," Paul said, amused by her enthusiasm.

"What an offensive use for a perfectly nice missile," Domino said with a grin, turning away to inspect a flowering bush she didn't recognize. "I do hope you shoved the launcher somewhere unfortunate."

"I did, after making use of it as a somewhat makeshift meat tenderizer," Paul said cheerfully, tossing his book onto the bench and putting down his almost-empty cup of tea. "Did you want to have a seat or were you planning on touring the gardens?" Paul liked the woman already, she had a fairly steady presence and she hinted at a sense of perspective he could appreciate.

"A seat would be nice, thank you," Domino said, plunking herself down beside him. Delphine immediately came over for a closer inspection, and Domino smiled in delight as the cat continued to purr. "I think I much prefer this to the slobbering puppies, cute as they are."

"I'm not fond of slobbering from any type of puppy," Paul said. He loved how quickly Delphine won people over. He wondered if he could get away with ducking his head under someone's hand for a pet as a greeting... he'd have to try that some time. "I didn't think of myself as the type to own a pet until I saw Delphine. I think she was a trap from Bast or something. I'm fairly certain she's unnaturally cute."

"Hmm. I'm definitely not the type to own a pet - don't stay in one place for long enough. I did however conspire to bring Nate his bird." Domino made a bit of a face. "Poor Bella's not had the most settled first few weeks in her new home."

"Cats travel fairly well, and the last couple years I've been lucky enough not to work anywhere too uncivilized for long. Delphine is quite familiar with Athens, Cannes, Algiers, Brussels, Nairobi, and Geneva. Those are our usual off-continent haunts." He smiled at the cat who was being rather flirtatious. "And Bella's just a little out of joint because her world isn't revolving around her quite as fast as she'd like. She'll settle down now that Nate's got no choice about keeping himself in one place for a bit."

"And you and she can go back to raising a little hell," Domino told the cat whimsically. "Keep all these pesky humans in line." Delphine rolled over onto her back, purring ecstatically, and Domino grinned. "You like that idea? I'm not surprised. You strike me as a feline of taste." She looked up at Paul, giving him a long, slow once-over. "Definitely a feline of taste," she said, a mischievous sparkle in her violet eyes.

Paul laughed quietly and reached out to rub Delphine's belly. "That's why I let her screen all my social contacts," he said lightly.

"Excellent strategy," Domino complimented him, and then grinned as Delphine reached out and caught at her wrist almost imploringly. "Oh, whoops, did I stop petting? How appalling." As she started to stroke the cat again, she let her gaze roam around the garden. "So. The garden a favorite place? Not that I mind the peace and quiet by any stretch of the imagination - it's been a hell of a week - but I'd think it would get awfully boring after a while."

"Well, if you're a cat, it's full of interesting things. It's delightfully empty of children, so I'm here at the moment. Usually, I'd be soaking up a little sun, but I thought a change of pace was necessary, in case people thought I was predictable." Paul looked around, relaxing against the back of the bench with a bit of a sigh.

"Ah, the kids." Domino shook her head. "You'd think I'd welcome the sense of perspective I get from witnessing their little soap operas when I'm here," she said dryly. "I usually do. Or at the very least find them entertaining. Not quite in the mood this week, I have to confess."

"There's a time and a place for everything," Paul said quietly. "I don't mind the occasional bit of entertainment, but the real drama is nothing but wearing. Unless it's about me, of course," he amended. "Then it's wearing and important."

"Oh, of course," Domino said gravely, drawing her hand back and getting a petulant squeak from Delphine. "Hold on, silly cat," she scoffed lightly, undoing the bracelet she had on and dangling it for Delphine, who sprang upwards, batting at it in glee. "Much more interesting, no?"

Paul shifted a little and leaned his chin on his hand, elbow propped on the back of the bench, watching them play. "I do try and keep things in perspective at all times." He smiled tolerantly at Delphine. "Though, like someone else I know, I can be distracted by shiny things."

"I like to think I have a fairly good sense of perspective on most things," Domino said easily, continuing to dangle the bracelet for the cat. "Can't say that's always the case, but I do recognize when it's not."

"Even better," Paul said, shifting the focus of that same smile to Domino. "For many reasons, not the least of which is that sometimes one simply needs to admit defeat, drop all pretense of perspective and rationale, and let instinct and emotion run loose. Very rare occasions, those, but they can be necessary for one's sanity."

"Mmm. Haven't had a chance to do that, after the events of the week," Domino said, making a bit of a face. "I was running around northern Canada, trying to keep my mind off what was happening here. Didn't work so well."

"Good heavens," Paul said disparagingly. "Northern Canada's the last place to go to keep your mind off things, unless you've gone to stick your head down a polar bear. What on earth possessed you to do that?"

"I was chasing down some of the leads we had on Mistra," Domino said, then grinned wryly. "And as it happens, I did have a close encounter with a polar bear. Also with about a dozen Mistra personnel operating some kind of training station. Enough action to keep me moderately diverted for a few hours, but ehh. Left too much time to think."

"Mistra up north? That would explain why everyone's busy all of a sudden." Paul looked serious for a fraction of a second and then the smile was back. "And now? Still in need of distraction?"

Domino grinned suddenly. "Thoroughly. Nate's doing better, so I don't feel the need to camp outside his door. Thus I'm getting kind of restless." She made a little face. "I get bored very easily. It's a character flaw."

"Hardly." Paul gestured dismissively. "That would imply that my character has a flaw and that's simply not tolerable," he said, managing to sound utterly serious. "I have an empty afternoon stretching before me with only the prospect of tanning and possibly thinking about starting to plan my classes as entertainment. Perhaps we could solve our dilemmas together."

Domino grinned as Delphine jumped into her lap, still batting at the bracelet. "Any suggestions?" she asked. "I really have little to no clue as to what there is to do around here. Been in New York all of five times in my life, and two of those were just passing through on the way to here."

"Depends on what entertains you," Paul said thoughtfully, getting his cellphone from his pocket and thumbing through the numbers. "Where should I start?"

"Well," Domino drawled, "something that's the opposite of Yukon-style amenities might be nice. I feel rather rough around the edges after a couple of weeks in the wilderness."

Paul flipped through categories in his numbers list. "How complete would you like the amenities to be?" he asked, glancing up at her from under lowered lashes.

Domino grinned. "I'm not into doing things halfway, Paul. Another character... quirk."

"Quirk. That's tolerable. I prefer the term quality myself." He selected a number. "I'll call ahead," he said, looking her over with a smile. "We'll see what we can do about getting those edges smoothed down. Did you want to get that hair trimmed while we're in town?" he asked, almost as an afterthought. "Your ends are looking a little frayed."

Domino brightened. "Oh, yes. I'm quite sick of the perpetual bad hair-day." Delphine finally got bored of the bracelet and turned around in Domino's lap, settling down. "I do so like you," she told the cat with a giggle, scratching behind her ears.

"You've got perfect cheekbones," Paul said, dialing. "It's a crime against nature to let them go unappreciated because one's trying to find your face under that hair. Nice colour and texture though," he mused, looking critically at her hair as he waited for someone to answer. "I think you're salvageable." He grinned and winked at her. "Ah, Choi, it's Paul..." he said as someone finally picked up.

[* http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/stinger.htm ]