Break ins!

[mitochondriaaya]

"...and then I said how was I suppose to know the difference right? Denture paste, tooth paste? Who knew one was glue?!" Kyle laughed and held open the door to her floor. They'd just exited the stairwell after Kyle's normal night of taking Darlene out.

Pheh. Normal. That was a depressing thought. "Well...they do put nice, step by step pictures on the side of one of them?" That was a CLUE Mr. Detective.

"Who reads toothpaste tubes? Really, I just passed it to him!"

"...I do? Janna's allergic to Xylitol and a lot of toothpastes have that in as a sweetener." Because it was bacteria neutral or something. Anyway! "So do a lot of chewing gums, so no giving her gum unless you've checked!"

That was...not the come back he was expecting. "What the fuck is Xylitol?" She was making that shit up wasn't she?

"No, honest! It's a fake sweetener! Toothpaste can't use sugar right? That defeats the point of brushing, so they use fake stuff but Janna's allergic. The doctor said it wasn't uncommon!" SHE WAS NOT MAKING IT UP!

"Huh," weird. "What do you use then?"

"Toothpastes that are mainly baking soda based with mint extracts!" The whole family did! It was a solidarity thing!

"Damn allergies huh?" Kyle smiled as they turned down her hall then...froze, hand reaching for the gun he wasn't wearing. Fuck. "Darlene, stay here." The door was kicked in.

"What? You need my key t-" Oh. OH. THAT WAS HER DOOR. WHO WOULD WANT TO KICK HER DOOR IN?!

"I think some of those people Traver pissed off may have stopped by. I'll look around."

Darlene nodded mutely, wide eyed...then lifted her cell to her ear to call Traver the moment her partner went into the apartment. Because...that was her life in there. Her material life. She needed to talk to Traver.

Comments

[mitochondriaaya]

"And on Breaker's off days?" She countered just as quiet and serious. "You will need them."

[sliceitwithwind]

"I do." Braig said, "Kyle won't try to push past me into the place, he might try to push past you."

[mitochondriaaya]

"He would, too." She admitted sourly. "He might even find Darlene trying to block him 'cute'." In his patronizing, annoying way.

"I don't know which way he'll crack after tonight. More obsession? Trying his damnedest to get Darlene out of Traver's again or will he play cold 'make her beg for forgiveness for yelling at him'?" It frustrated her to not have a reliable prediction.

[sliceitwithwind]

"No clue." Dilan said, "He didn't really give indicators either way. Just that he was pissed that you weren't jumping at the chance to move in with him."

"Traver," said Braig, "is almost as smug as me at that."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Why are you smug?" Aya laughed. "It's not like there was a chance I would move in with him!" No chance in Hell.

Darlene on the other hand, well, she could understand that worry.

"Darlene was already starting to feel a little foolish to keep up the 'living alone' bit anyway. She's made a mumble or two at the girls, though not to Kyle directly." And the break in would be the last straw really. "If he turns the 'enemies of Traver broke in' to 'Traver sent someone to trash your place so you'd move back in' Darlene will smack him.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Smug is a normal state for him." Dilan said, tugging the pony-tail gently, "It's sort of default."

Braig, meanwhile, just gestured at Dilan. Who WOULDN'T be smug if they had a Dilan? Then, "Heh. I'd pay to see that. The smack, I mean."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Ah, so it's just omnipresent smug, not situational smug." Aya grinned around her slice of pizza and...well, nodded when Braig gestured. Who wouldn't be smug over dating Dilan?

"It probably wouldn't happen in 'public'. It'd have to be something Kyle could brush off later and that wouldn't happen if other important people saw it."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh, yeah, I know." Braig said, "You're just gonna have to describe it in detail later if it happens."

"Eternally smug, yes." Dilan said, bending down to kiss Braig's hair.

[mitochondriaaya]

"In dramatic detail," Aya promised easily. "Possibly with hand puppets if I'm a little slap happy afterward." Because even the idea of being able to hit Kyle made her grin.

"And I guess he's got cause really."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Don't encourage him!" Dilan said, "He's hard enough to deal with as-is."

Braig stuck his tongue out at Dilan before answering Aya, "I can make puppets, easy."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Not encouraging! Just pointing out fact!" She held up her hands in mock-surrender. "It's just truth! Hot, skilled, and he has the worlds best significant other! Do you want some kind of crippling issue to balance that out?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Damn," said Braig, "I am good."

Dilan just laughed, slapping his forehead.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Not that he doesn't deserve a good kick sometimes..." Aya drawled and tossed a balled up napkin at Braig's head. A napkin Sheeva was more than happy to intercept.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sheeva!"

NO! IT WAS HERS AND SHE WOULD TEAR IT UP!

Dilan sighed, "I'll get that later. Pizza grease is a dog magnet."

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya glanced at Braig, then the triumphant dog and...giggled. "Your mighty hero." She'd help clean too!

[sliceitwithwind]

"I'd say good dog," Braig said, "buuuut I think I'd be sleeping on the couch if I did."

Dilan snorted quietly, "Damn straight." he said, jokingly.

[mitochondriaaya]

"But she'd keep you company! Wouldn't you Sheeva?" Aya proclaimed to the accompaniment of much cheerful tail thumping. After all Sheeva had heard her name! But she was not moving away from her napkin prize. Nope. She knew better.

"Anyway..."

[sliceitwithwind]

"I have lost the train of the conversation." Dilan admitted, "So."

"Good pizza?" suggested Braig, "Or we could go back to talking about how awesome I am."

Thunk went Dilan's hand against Braig's head, gently.

[mitochondriaaya]

"You earned that one Braig." And Sheeva, his protector, was HAPPILY TEARING A NAPKIN TO SHREDS OMG!

And then Darlene's phone rang. Aya glared across the room balefully before going to pick it up off the table by the door. "Hello? Yes Kyle, I'm fine. I was in the middle of...oh. Good, glad your place is okay. No, I'm really fine, Traver and I are talking things out. No Kyle, he hasn't gotten any threats recently, geez, drop that already!"

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan and Braig rolled their eyes at the end of the conversation that they could hear. They kept eating, of course, because they were a pair of walking stomachs.

Cat wandered over to strop against Aya's legs.

[mitochondriaaya]

"No Kyle, I don't want to know about the apartment below you that opened up last week! I have a place!" She bent down to fuzzle Cat, then scooped her up to cuddle the fluffball against her chin. "What?! No I'm not high right now! I am making a good decision! Traver is my boyfriend why wouldn't I..." Oh, boy. The faces she was making.

"Kyle! Just...go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." And yeah, hanging up.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Soooo..." Braig tilted his head, "What did he say? Aside from trying to get you to move in with him?"

Dilan leaned in, hoping to hear as well.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Oh, you know, the 'You can't do that Darlene, you're a cop.' thing, as well as the 'You know you deserve better right?'. Even after yelling at him tonight. Guys an idiot." A very large idiot really. "He may think Darlene traded her single status for a place to live."

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig snorted, "Yeah. Because, like, she and Traver haven't been going out at least once a week for the last month right?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Obviously it's just because Traver has the keys to Janna or something." She rolled her eyes and flopped back down to finish her pizza. "Not real dates, not like his taking her to dinner."