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Post by Kelathi on Jan 17, 2019 1:28:56 GMT
She blinked, regarding him for a moment with a stunned expression, before she finally mentally shook herself as he began to speak. She hardly heard his words, merely laughing when was appropriate, her mind clearly elsewhere. What exactly had she seen? It was strange, she had not only seen and felt his reaction, as was normal, but this so-called 'curse' itself had felt... real. A real threat in her mind, and that was not just his fear speaking for her. She had been afraid, in that moment, not just piggy-backing on his emotions. That was not how it normally worked. Normally, it was easy to distinguish the person's emotions from her own, they were just so different, even if she emphasised there was still a distinct difference. In that split second, the curse had genuinely terrified her, and it had seemed powerful and real and…
Now it was her turn to have to try and distract herself. Realising she had been quiet a good few moments after he had finished speaking, she was quick to run through her head and recall what he had said, so that she could contribute and try to cover up her odd reaction. “Well... The real question is, could you bring yourself to use the tissues?” she pushed, tauntingly. Then, in reference to his comment about wifi, she laughed, far more genuine this time. “Well, I can’t wait to see them. I have high expectations, now.” But at the back of her mind, she was still thinking about what she had seen...
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Post by Red Irish Dragon on Jan 17, 2019 17:31:57 GMT
At her question, Seth laughed, but took a moment to consider his answer. As if he needed that long to return with a quip. “Well… I guess it would depend entirely on how dry the Kleenex was coming out,” he said with mock seriousness as if imagining not getting a dry one. His expression relaxed again at her comment about high expectations, and surprisingly he scoffed, again going mock serious.
“Well, yeah you got high expectations… you rejected me already, right?” he asked, pretending to be mortally offended, except there was a curl of a smirk at the corner of his mouth that he couldn’t quite control, making the raised eyebrow even more comical.
His expression shifted again, hearing a sigh a few seats over. With a truly mischievous look, he grabbed his napkin and began shredding it into small balls, grinning at Nima as he asked, “Do you still have that straw? I’d love to get some target practice in,” his voice soft enough to almost count as a whisper, leaning over to see if he could get a good angle at Carter for his spitballs.
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Post by Kelathi on Feb 5, 2019 18:40:19 GMT
Nima smiled in response, shaking her head in silent mirth at his comment, his joke conjuring up comical, if gross images in her mind. At his comment of her rejecting him, she merely raised an eyebrow. Did the fact that she didn’t just fall into his arms read to him as rejection? Or was this just another wind-up? Before she could quip back, he had begun to set up his next prank on Carter. Not wanting to be party to another feud between the two, she stood up then, deciding that now would be the perfect time to hunt down someone to bring her a coffee. “I don’t know what makes you think I would help you with whatever mischief you are planning.” She announced, in response to him asking for the straw, although it was clear what his exact intentions were. “Anyway…” She spoke, as she pushed past him, her legs brushing his in the narrow gap. To hell if she was going to turn her back to him as she sidled past, allowing him a full view of her backside… Now in the aisle, she turned to him before she left, blocking Carter’s view of Seth by the way she stood, one hand on Seth’s seat as she leaned forwards slightly, holding his gaze with eyes that glinted mischievously, in a surprisingly flirtatious way. “I don’t think my standards are that high. But for the man to not be a criminal is definitely up there as a minimum.” But before she left, she suddenly plonked something into the seat pocket in front of Seth… the straw he had asked for. Then she turned tail to let the events play out, without her presence and therefore washing her hands of any responsibility, despite the part she had played.
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Post by Red Irish Dragon on Feb 5, 2019 22:28:07 GMT
Seth offered a look of pure offense at Nima’s indication that he was planning anything at all, in spite of what he was still prepping his napkin for. Nima’s mischievous and flirtatious comment, however, got his eyebrows to raise, his own mischievous grin spreading in response as she deposited the straw and walked away.
Less than five minutes later, Carter could be heard roaring bitterly about having to babysit such a child.
---
The long flight took its toll in the end, encouraging sleep with dimmed cabin lights and pillows and blankets delivered upon request. Seth had initially sprawled when he laid down to sleep in his seat, as expected, but as the hours dragged on he had slid more to his side, curling up a little, or at least as much as he was able in the seat.
His sleep wasn’t fully restful, however, noticeable as he would softly moan in his sleep.
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Post by Kelathi on Mar 11, 2019 23:15:05 GMT
Nima had been reading a second-hand book she had grabbed in the airport. She was about a third of a way through, but honestly could not remember most of what had happened in the novel up to this point. She had been trying to distract herself with it’s contents, but it had soon become clear that that simply wasn’t going to happen. No sooner had her eyes roamed over a few lines that she had found the need to start again, the words not registering the first time. Still, she had continued on doggedly, determined to give it a good try.
Eventually, with a sigh, she closed the book and admitted defeat, slipping it into the pocket at the back of the seat in front of her. A glance over to Seth, then a double-take as she noticed his strange position, had her smiling faintly. It was strange to see the lively, witty man look so… vulnerable. Strangely enough, she thought back to the interview room then, to where she had pitched the ‘choice’ to him, although it hadn’t really been a choice at all. She thought about how she had mentioned his mother.
She pushed up the plastic shade of the window on her right, but was met with a deep, impenetrable blackness. With another sigh, she closed it again. There was nothing to distract her from her thoughts, so she might as well think them through. It had been necessary; of course, to mention Joanne. She doubted Seth would have agreed to help if she hadn’t dropped that bombshell. Still, that didn’t stop her from feeling guilty about having to use such a ploy.
She decided to get some sleep, there was no point in sitting here and regretting things. What he couldn’t know is that she had a part to play in this as much as he did, that she too, did not really have a choice. Still, it didn’t offer her much consolation with the guilt that plagued her now, having been not just an accessory to trapping the man, but having played a prominent part in this spectacle.
**
Sleep didn’t come easy, and nor did it come peacefully. Nima found herself tossing and turning in her seat, every now and again, an annoyed noise would be muttered, as if the movement was annoying even her. This was how, as she turned towards Seth, the back of her hand happened to not only brush against his arm, but rest against it. The action was enough for to begin to subconsciously and unintentionally read him, the images flashing across her mind…
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Post by Red Irish Dragon on Mar 11, 2019 23:58:07 GMT
”Oh come on, that’s WAY worse than drowning…!”
The amusement in the men was morbid while at the same time being ridiculous. They were all excited and dancing on an adrenaline high from their discovery that day, an undiscovered tomb. Well… “tomb” was perhaps not the right word for it, as the deepest chamber hadn’t held any sarcophagi at all. The remains found soon after opening the main passage suggested someone of great importance being guarded, but all they had found was another sealed chamber… with a warning that was still pricking their imaginations.
“Seriously? You die in a fire quickly… drowning wouldn’t hurt as much but you’d be suffering for much longer,” came the rebuttal, a few others groaning and still insisting that their method of dying would be the worst. The only one to keep his own worst death secret was Seth, too busy laughing at how moronic the discussion had become. “I don’t see how any form of dying isn’t a hundred percent horrible in any aspect,” he finally piped up, the others laughing. “Well, there HAS to be a reason the ancients wrote the curse that way,” one man replied, waving his beer bottle at the younger man. “I mean, it’s pretty damn specific compared to the usual. ‘Whoever enters here’-“
“WHOMever,” another interrupted, immediately being shushed and made to drink instead of interrupting again.
“‘WHOever enters here shall die how they fear most…’ Y’know, I’m used to seeing these curses, but it’s normally like, ‘the wrath of the gods shall come down upon you,’ or some Mummy-type shit.”
“Oh yeah… watch out! It’s the mummy’s hand!”
“The mummy’s foot!”
“The mummy’s dick!”
“Nah, that’s the royal mummified scepter!”
As the men started throwing out random titles, Seth started laughing so hard he actually slid out of his chair and landed on the sand, which only made everyone laugh harder. The group was a ragged bunch, only one true archaeologist who was desperate enough for funding to work with men who were, in simple terms, of ill repute. Seth had been invited along after helping one evade the police, fresh from an overly exciting adventure in England that changed every time he was asked to explain. But everyone’s attention had been shifted to the lone item that was inside that sealed chamber, with the curse written in a strange red paint that didn’t quite match other tombs… a statue of Sobek, the crocodile headed god of the Nile, made out of a similarly unusual red material. Only Seth had recognized the symbol on the bottom of the statue, and he had kept his mouth shut. It was too close to what he had just experienced in England… what he was escaping.
“Yep, that’s the worst way to die,” Seth finally managed, referring to some of the last few ideas thrown out from the old Hollywood films, everyone laughing and agreeing while also opening a new round of beers. Their diggers had already primarily gone to bed, less impressed with the small discovery given the lack of gold and jewels that usually piqued public interest. So it was just the group sitting around the fire that had gone into that back chamber, comparing notes as to which death the curse promised would be the worst. Charles had always been scared of water, to the point of never even going past a basic shower, and had heartily argued that anything would be worse than that.
The scene quickly flooded, and Charles was thrashing, clawing for the surface of the water. Seth was the first one to try and reach for him, unable to see what could possibly be holding the man down. Charles began to scream under the water, the bubbles rising furiously to break the water, and Seth could swear he heard Charles’ voice as the bubbles broke the surface, even though he couldn’t reach him in time before he ran out of air and had only the Nile to gasp in…
Seth woke with a gasp, kicking out and sitting bolt upright, his heart hammering in his chest hard enough to hurt. His eyes were wide and looked paler than usual, his normal mask of flirtatious mischief gone as he tried to remember where he was. On a plane… not next to the Nile, not reaching out for his dying friend…
Finally he put his hands to his face, half curling over as he tried to calm himself, every inch of him shaking from the vividness of the memory. Fortunately for him, he didn’t seem to wake the nearby passengers, or Carter, as he could still hear the tell-tale whistle snoring. But his jump had knocked Nima’s hand off of him, and he could only hope she was able to ignore him as well, with no mask of calm or confidence to hold up in that moment.
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Post by Kelathi on Mar 12, 2019 0:16:18 GMT
Nima had awoken as suddenly as Seth, his fear and urgency dragging her along with him into the waking world. She felt cold all over, with that feeling of dread that lies heavily in the pit of your stomach like a squatting toad, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as… Somebody’s just walked over my grave. … the thought passed across her mind unbidden. The phrase was loud and clear, and she knew it was a memory of her own, of someone speaking it to her, but she just couldn’t recall whom she had heard it from right at this moment. Either way, it was pretty damn appropriate to how she felt.
As she fought to slow her breathing, she watched Seth run his hands over his face, for the moment, unaware that she was awake too. His memories… even though she could stock it up to a rather peculiar dream, she was certain as to what had actually happened, as it was not the first time she had accidentally read someone whilst being asleep. They must have touched accidentally, maybe her hand had fallen on him, or something. The urge to put her hand on his arm now to comfort him was great, but she didn’t want to startle him, and she certainly didn’t want to feel the rush of his feelings again. She felt she had taken as much as she could handle at the moment, the residue of his memory still hanging over her like a dark, menacing cloud.
“Seth? It’s okay, it’s over now…” she found herself saying, in a soothing voice not yet heard from her, as she sat up in her seat, uncurling her legs from underneath her.
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Post by Red Irish Dragon on Mar 12, 2019 3:14:29 GMT
At hearing Nima’s voice, Seth’s hands moved from his face, and for the first time since meeting her, he didn’t have his usual mask up. This wasn’t the devil-may-care thief, the casual ladies’ man, the proud figure whose mask hadn’t even fallen when his mother had been delicately threatened. Even then, he managed to hold it, to keep his cool.
The man who looked at Nima was obviously scared, his eyes wide with an unreadable look, one he couldn’t maintain for long as he quickly pulled his face away, forcing himself to sit back in his seat and try to calm himself. A quick wipe at his eyes and he scoffed, but the pretense was a desperate bid at this point, even for him. “Eh, what I get for watching horror movies too often,” he said, quickly dismissing his own problems in favor of not having her sympathy. A strange response, given how he seemed to always crave the limelight…
Even as he sat back, finally grabbing a magazine to paw through, anything to look like he was fine… his hands were still shaking, but this wasn’t simply from the memory. The memory referenced something else, something that terrified him to his core.
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Post by Kelathi on Mar 14, 2019 23:16:41 GMT
Nima could see how terrified the man looked, the intensity of the dream plaguing him even though he was now awake, and technically safe. Technically… she knew as well as he that that wasn’t necessarily true. Stop it, Nima. She was creeping herself out, now. Who’s to say the curse is true, anyway? Sure, it felt real, and sure, that man, what had his name been- Charles, had died in the way he claimed he feared the most, but… this was the real world, right? Things like that don’t happen, things like curses don’t exist. Just like people like me don’t exist. The thought was sneaky, creeping to the forefront of her mind, uninvited. If people like her could exist, who was to say the curse couldn’t, too?
She could see Seth’s hands shaking, but deigned not to try and soothe him further, the man clearly unhappy with her having see him in such a vulnerable state. And who could blame him? She was pretty sure she would react in much the same way were the tables reversed. She averted her eyes instead, staring at the book tucked in the back of the seat in front of her, but she was not really seeing it, her mind elsewhere. A moment’s pause, then she turned back to him, her expression schooled so that he didn’t see pity when he looked at her. “Would you like a drink? A coffee or something?” She paused, reconsidered. Caffeine would just keep them awake. Alcohol, on the other hand, might send them either way- straight asleep, or joyful enough not to care that they were awake. “Or maybe something stronger?”
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Post by Red Irish Dragon on Mar 15, 2019 0:14:09 GMT
Seth was actually doing his best to forget the dream and the panic any thought of Egypt drove into him, so he didn’t immediately respond to Nima’s voice, only recognizing she spoke a moment after she started. He looked over at her, his gaze one of exhaustion and desperation at trying to pull a mask back up.
Her last few words earned a quirk at the corner of his mouth, which quickly turned into a laugh and a full grin. “I never thought you’d ask,” he replied with his usual, expected cocky air, the distraction seeming to solve one problem at least. Even in his tone it was evident how one mask slid back up, the easy-going, devil-may-care one. Perhaps he was too tired to bring up any other constructions he had built around himself, or maybe he was simply grateful to be able to pull at least one back, as much a shield as a disguise. As if it was a relief to not be showing his true face…
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Post by Kelathi on Mar 17, 2019 23:46:00 GMT
It was probably not the best idea for her to be sharing a drink with their prisoner, but in that moment she wasn’t viewing him as such. It’s impossible to read so much about someone, in the way that only Nima could, and not feel some kind of connection. She felt like she knew Seth, even though she had only been in his presence a short amount of time. Of course, there was much still about him that was a mystery to her, but right now she just wanted to comfort him, and a stiff drink seemed just the ticket.
***
Nima didn’t normally drink, which was pretty clear soon after their drinks arrived. Halfway through her first glass of wine, her cheeks had begun to colour up. Now on her second, there was a marked difference in her attitude. She seemed more talkative, for one thing, something that was definitely eased by the company she was keeping. Her position in her chair was relaxed, one foot up and tucked beneath herself, her body open and angled towards Seth. Her arm rested casually on the armrest between them, subconsciously drawing herself closer to him as they spoke.
Carter meanwhile, slept through all of this, even as their voices began to rise in laughter. Thanks to the earplugs he had equipped that evening, he remained oblivious, and they being the only three in first class they were able to speak easily.
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Post by Red Irish Dragon on Mar 20, 2019 1:21:46 GMT
While not at the other end of the spectrum to Nima, Seth had long since learned to handle his alcohol thanks to the prolific drinking of old friends, and sat a comfortable distance over the middle of the range.
Given who it was and who he was playing up to, Seth had of course ordered the most expensive and elaborate cocktail they offered, given it was on the FBI’s dime. Of course, being an airline, that restricted him to a three ingredient margarita. He’d proudly worn his pout until about halfway through the drink, where he finally had to admit it wasn’t all that bad.
Ok, it was fairly decent if he was going to have a third… all expenses paid, right?
Seth’s easygoing attitude had returned with his mask, which blended in as if it wasn’t an emotional mask at all. It meshed beautifully with Nima’s own newfound ease, allowing the conversation to flow, jump, skip and perform however they wanted.
Carter would have absolutely hated it. Nima had to keep Seth from intentionally waking him up to hear it once he was into his third drink.
Seth leaned back in his seat as his laughter finally started to subside from her latest account of Miguel’s oddities clashing with the establishment, legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle in the expected pose of overly relaxed with his prison guard. Even so, his posture was open and inviting.
“Ok, ok, ok…” he managed, catching his breath. “So, you still haven’t really talked about yourself. What convinced Agent Venus to join with the FBI, eh?” he asked, right back into his flirtatious act. "Surely it wasn't just because of little ol' me?"
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Post by Kelathi on Mar 20, 2019 1:44:54 GMT
Nima would have been dismayed to find that Seth’s seemingly relaxed attitude was a mask in that moment, especially as most of her own defences had been swiftly lowered with the introduction of alcohol and the easy attitude of his company. She chose to ignore yet another nickname he felt the need to bestow upon her, hardly even minding it in her tipsy state. At his question, somewhere at the back of her mind, alarm bells were sounding, warning her to redirect from conversation about herself in regards to the case. Even so, she wanted to respond. What would it hurt to talk a bit about herself? She wouldn’t reveal too much, she was sure. The problem was, in this state, she was perhaps not as well tuned as to what might be considered ‘too much’ as she might have thought, nor was she currently thinking about Seth’s possible powers of deduction in the accidental subtle hints she might leave.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” She spoke teasingly, taking another sip of wine before continuing, unsuccessfully trying to stop the smile dancing on her lips. “They needed someone who was good at what they do. And I’m the best.” She drawled out the ‘I’m’ a little, the action causing her to mentally attempt to regroup. Damn, she was a little tipsier than she’d thought…
A thought suddenly occurred to her, and her hand found his shoulder, as if holding onto him would garner his attention, despite the fact that it was already focussed on her. “D’y’know, I said I’d only agree to it all if they offered cat-care? Honestly! Maybe you weren’t wrong, maybe I am a little crazy…” She laughed then, drawing her hand away again. Evidently, being called ‘crazy’ was only acceptable when she was in such a mood as this. “The guy’s alright too, for a con. You know what, one night I called up to check on them and he'd...” She paused, eyes widening suddenly as she realised what she’d just said. Maybe… he hadn’t noticed? She met his gaze and she was certain, even through the fog of the drink, that he had. “I don’t know what… That’s not what I meant, why did I say that?” She laughed again, but it sounded a little breathless, a touch nervous. She’d just called her cat-sitter a convict. She waved her hand then, as if trying to wash away her last words. “I don’t normally drink, I’m mixing up my words.”
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Post by Red Irish Dragon on Mar 20, 2019 2:20:19 GMT
Seth pretended to look mortally offended at her tease, although he’d had enough to not stop the quirk at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, I’m sure you are,” he teased right back before taking another drink.
His eyebrows shot up, naturally, at her hand on his shoulder, even leaning in a little to respond in kind. Seth smiled at her laugh, and at the mental image of it… but as she went on, her words finally rattled enough to make sense. Unintentionally, she was giving out more than he was even asking for. Frankly, he had just been grateful for such a distraction from… from… And as she seemed to sober a little, Seth managed to keep his expression neutral, not wanting their easy conversation to end. He thought for a few moments, although on what wasn’t clear, until he began, of all things, to sing. The question she had asked that he was answering was ‘why did I say that’ about her conman cat-watcher.
“Mac-av-vit-ty’s a mystery cat, he’s called the hidden paw,” he began, softly, almost as if he had somehow figured out some special wisdom to the universe, but as he kept going, his volume went up, getting into character. “For he’s a master criminal, who can defy the laaaaaaaw… he’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despaaaaaiiir… for when they reach the scene of crime, Macavity’s not there!”
Then his gaze dropped back from their invisible audience to Nima, wiggling his eyebrows at her to invite her to sing along.
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Post by Kelathi on Jul 28, 2019 21:40:44 GMT
Although Nima had tried to hide how the slip-up had affected her, she’d clearly grown concerned, even turning her body away from him subconsciously as she tried to regroup and gather her thoughts. Had she really just hinted that she mixed with criminals? She was supposed to be posing as an FBI agent! Maybe she could play it off as a joke, that the man may as well be a criminal because… well… all excuses evaded her for the moment.
Then, of all things, Seth had begun to sing.
Her eyes had widened, catching his gaze, her own, surprised. As he finished though, clearly inviting her to sing the next line, she didn’t. But she did smirk, narrowing her eyes playfully. “I can’t believe you know that musical. Are you kidding me right now?” laughter, then, which seemed to ease the tension somewhat, helped along by Seth’s redirection of the conversation. “Don’t quit your day-job, Seth.” She added, a gentle taunt, the corners of her lips curling upwards as she took another sip of wine.
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