“What are you still doing here?”
The soft, familiar voice roused the chronomancer from whatever paperwork had his unwavering focus at the moment. It broke the spell, in more ways than four.
“What? Oh, hey River.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a tired yawn creeping up in the process. “Eh, guess I lost track of time. It’s been a long few weeks with the whole….drama with the Storyteller and other potential fugitives. I….”
The young brunette Blinked her way across the office, finding an empty space to plant her rear on the man’s desk. He could see the hint of a garter when the fellow mesmer crossed her long, slender gams --her perch on his desk far too calculated to be accidental. She even gripped the desk’s edge and slightly arched her lower back.
“You look exhausted, Aiden,” she murmured.
Soon enough, her delicate hand went to find his, in attempts to lace fingers with the man’s pale, cold ones. But Aiden quickly withdrew his hand, glaring up at the brunette.
“River, come on. What are you doing. Don’t.”
River’s mint green eyes widened as she glared right back at Aiden like he grew a pair of oversized asura ears.
“Um, /seriously/ Aiden? Gross. Grossss! Do you think I’m hitting on you? Eww? Do you think all girls are into you? Because you’re not the type of guy that's universally hot. If someone finds you hot, well, you’re very /specific/ and, trust me, even if /you/ weren’t -you- I still wouldn’t be into you! Ewwwww!”
The Chronomancer sighed, erratically running fingers through his shaggy hair, “Okay, calm down, I get it, jeez. Look, I’m just, you’re an adult now, and I just don’t know anymore what anyone’s thinking apparently, and I’m a bit on edge and I’m just…. Sorry, River, I don’t know why I assumed that. Also I quit smoking and drinking for a while? No that -that- should be a thing to affect my…eh, I guess it is.”
“It’s fine,” she rolled her eyes, then admitted: “I’ve been on edge too. I… All this, with the prison escapees and the whole drama, it’s…it’s brought back a lot of memories”
“You’re not alone, River. And I, I miss him too.”
River nodded again, drawing in a deep breath before hopping off the man’s desk. “Aiden, you’re the closest thing I’ve got to him left. And part of me knows that if you have your way, you’re going to do something stupid to avenge him and Blair. And I don’t think they’d want you to do that. Nor would I. Please promise me you won’t let your feelings get in the way of your /job/ when the time comes.”
This time, he was the one reaching for her hand, pale fingers weaving around hers as they laced together in friendly affection. But poor River. She had no clue the sister-in-law that never was didn’t actually….die? Not yet anyway.
“If your brother’s killer is one of the jail breakers, I will make sure to bring him in. And no, I won’t do anything stupid.” With those words, he lifted her hand to his lips, placing a soft peck on her knuckles, followed by a gentle and reassuring squeeze of said hand. “I promise. But you have to stay out of trouble, too. David was my best friend, and I always swore to protect his little sister. So don’t make me fail him, yeah? Stay -out- of all this. We’ll take care of it.”
River offered a faint smirk in turn, “Okay, but…. You really should talk to Coralie and work things out. I don’t know what happened between you two, but you look like hell and it’s past two in the morning. Yet you’re still in the office.”
“So are you. Wait, why are you bringing Coralie up? What did she tell you?”
Lifting a velvet-clad shoulder nonchalantly, River simply stated, “Nothing? But, I do keep track of missions, and I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been going on some ‘missions’ without her, so…. If you two are having trouble working together, you might want to do something about it. She’s your partner, and now’s not the time for dissent among coworkers. So, just fix it before Sage finds out, yeah?”
“Nothing’s wrong with Coralie and –”
“I don’t care, Aiden. I really don’t. But Phil did stupidly block ‘Cora time’ on his schedule, which only makes me think they must be having a fling. Just make sure she reports it before Sage finds out. You know our policy.”
Aiden blinked at that, “I…what.”
With a chuckle, River started to make her way out of the office, lifting her hands to her temples and mimicking earmuffs, “I’m in HR! I don’t want to hear it! Have your partner and the physician report it and go through the proper paperwork to make it official! Goodnight Aiden!”
Aiden just stood there all…. “What the fuck?!”
(( lol @lipstickmirage )) by