songerein | [CLOSED] 'We need to talk'

[CLOSED] 'We need to talk'

Who: Loona and Moxxie (and anyone Mox may have informed for his wellbeing)
Which: Closed Log
Where: The circus!
What: Loona decides she needs to talk to Mox about something.
Warnings: Loona. No further context should be needed.

The message had been hidden in Mox's lunch. Whether or not he knew before he took a bite out of it was up for debate, but whatever remnants of the piece of paper shoved in his avocado salad would be recognisable enough straight away by the egregious handwriting scrawled over its simple title:

WE NEED TO TALK

Followed simply by a badly doodled picture of a circus big top.

Whether Loona had known she would find a circus or not, or whether or not the place just had a circus all time round because it was just a thing of course that was in this dreamworld of other equally saccharine distractions.

Still, whatever reason found the big top in their nearby radius, Loona found herself there at the back row of the audience, notably in human disguise oddly enough. With shades donned and a large popcorn she idly was scooping and flicking from into the air now and again, she seemed setrtled in.

After all, she had no idea how long she would be here waiting, or even if Mox would show, but still, the circus was the one place she could guarantee in a million miles Blitzø would never come willingly to hunt for her or for Moxxie. So at least this part would be boss free.

She stared ahead with only the shades hiding how blankly she stared at the feats of acrobatic and buffoonery that delighted the other denizens, all she could think about was how she and Mox had last left things. Gone was the leg cast and all the bandages, she'd had time enough to fully heal and get back on her feet and still she hadn't bumped into Mox at the office or anywhere else.

The longer this went on, the worse it was.

She just hoped there was still some time before it was too late.

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A circus. Of course, it just had to a circus. Something where only the likes of I.M.P. would find it inconspicuous. ...even if he and Loona tended to stick out like a sore thumb, themselves.

Though Loona did seem to be dressed for the occasion this time. Moxxie actually felt a little bit underdressed in his usual best. Though at least he could keep himself hidden behind an oversized-and-overpriced tub full of greasy circus popcorn.

"Excuse me... er, pardon me, sorry..."

You know, when he wasn't shuffling through the rows of seats before a bunch of inconvenienced patrons. But he eventually plunked down right beside-- no, let's make that one seat apart from Loona. Less conspicuous. And it put him out of immediate clawing range.

Once he was seated he turned his gaze to her, but said nothing. Having to uncomfortably share space with Loona wasn't anything new, nor was the belligerent tone which had defined their last few encounters.

But her voluntarily opting to engage him in conversation? That was new. And something had to be up. For now, though, he kept the subtle air with a seat beside her and a discreet sidelong glance; whatever there was to be said, he was sure she'd say it.

Loona stared onward ahead with an indifference that certainly betrayed none of her normal behavior or appearance to what was so different about this summons than their normal interactions.

She continued to watch on as Moxxie still drew every single attendants attention he brushed past all right up to her, but the only indicator she gave of anything different when he'd settle down a seat apart was that she stopped idly attacking her own bucket of popcorn.

When Mox would look at her? All he'd see was that same apathy, before she slipped into her pocket and hauled out her cellphone.

Ignoring him wasn't anything new, especially moreso when she was looking at her screen instead of talking to him, but summoning him here JUST to ignore him felt like a new level of insult.

Before Mox would get a chance to ask or inquire however, she put the phone down onto the chair that sat between them like no-mans-land, sliding it toward him with the screen facing him.

Still she hadn't even spoke or looked at him, but the screen was prominent enough to read without needing a close glance as it faced the imp.

this was the only place i thought your fave boss wouldnt stalk us wouldnt put shit past him still finding a way to see whats up tho just type into this to reply i dont want anything that we say here today to leave this place got it???

The response he awaited never came-- at least, not verbally. Instead, a subtle note was passed between them by way of a cell phone screen. Suffice to say, this didn't do much to alleviate Moxxie's confusion.

But it did appeal to his sense of theatrics. A clandestine meeting far from their boss' eyes? A discreet method of communication? A demand to swear to silence and secrecy?

It was like something out of spy fiction. Or an informant scene in a crime drama. And the air of dramatic gravitas and tension was more than enough to have him hooked. He nodded over to her in agreement.

...and only then remembered how he was supposed to get his messages across. He took the phone, quickly typing out a reply...

Understood. This stays between us. Top secret.

He tapped his fingers against the back of the phone, before apparently deciding that was enough and slowly slid the phone back across the chair.

She took the phone smoothly as it was slid over to her without even looking.

But for the next response she hesitated, grimaced even as she looked away from Mox and the phone entirely. This however didn't stop her from replying, oh no, even as she couldn't look at him her fingers danced over the cell phone in a nearly perfect memorization of where to type what she wanted to say.

Mox didn't have to wait too long before she slid the phone back again towards him.

And she still wasn't looking at him.

Although perhaps that had something to do with the new message she had written:

i wanna talk about last time in the hospital about what i said

Wait.

Was this her real plan all along? Get Mox into a crowd of people so he couldn't overreact to whatever new torment she had invented or procured? Hell, she still wasn't even looking at him!

Ah, yes. There was that numb, resigned feeling again.

...But with it came a certain degree of confusion. Sure, there was the chance that this was just some big scheme to knowingly prolong the sting of that whole debacle back in the hospital all those weeks ago, but that just wasn't Loona's style, was it?

I remember, yes.

No... she was too bracingly direct in expressing herself. Especially hostility. She wasn't the sort to engineer a grand scheme for humiliation, she was the sort to kick you in the teeth and be done with it. There had to be some purpose for all this roundabout... methodology on display. Something about Blitz, maybe?

...That or she suddenly realized the perfect retort only days after the fact. He looked searchingly over toward her, before remembering the whole 'subtlety' thing and averting his gaze once more.

Is there really more to say?

Again, the phone was slid back.

When Mox would look over to try and search the meth-addicted-homeless-person-Blitz-paid-to-man-the-phone for any hint of what this was all about, he'd find her fairly lacking. If she was going for any kind of enjoyment out of tormenting Mox she had a hell of a poker face for the event.

She was certainly very good at this little game of inconspicuousness when it came to not looking at him, taking the phone almost automatically. Only then when she saw it did she pause.

Her thumb was at the ready to punch in her reply when she stopped all of a sudden, her fingers tensing and curling for a moment. But it was only a moment and then she replied again.

But again, another hesitation. She went to place the phone down and stopped, pulling it back. Forgotten to add something to the message?

Who knew? Well, it only took another moment, but then, finally, she pushed the phone to Mox without editing its contents. For better or worse, this was happening now.

i went too far not sure you wanna hear me bitch about it or excuses or shit you didnt deserve to get your head bitten off (chocolate you maybe? he was pretty damn good eating) you? not so much so im sorry

Whenever Moxxie would look up from the message - one time or multiple considering at which point his suspension of disbelief would give way to what he was reading, he'd see Loona still doing her best not to look at him or the text, but she was notably tensed. In fact, her right hand there was shifting, her black painted fingernails were starting to more resemble her claws with flecks of whihte fur around them as they gripped her knee tightly.

She was most certainly waiting to see how he reacted here it seemed.

While he tried his hardest to make it appear he wasn't paying close attention to reading her body language just as much as her texts... frankly, the circus performance wasn't quite so thrilling to warrant the captivated look he forced onto himself as he stared out into the ring. I mean for one thing, nobody was even singing.

But then he took the phone back, glanced at the screen... and with each line of text that entered his eyes, that look got more and more sincere, albeit with his astonishment directed towards the phone instead of the circus.

Those last two words seemed all bit impossible. Was he dreaming? ...well, of course he was, but apart from the premise of his even being here, he--

He turned searchingly toward Luna, and it took him a few long, staring seconds before he managed to pick up the pieces of their kayfabe of indifference. He cleared his throat, and started typing up a response.

...rather, he stared at the screen, fingers above the keyboard, trying to figure out what to say. It wasn't like he'd told Dante or Blitz about their meeting and they could have put her up to this; heck, it was too expected and predictable of a result to even be worth telling his wife about.

It kept staring back at him like a mythic creature beyond mortal comprehension. "I'm sorry." It was like adding two plus two in a calculator and seeing it spit out the answer "One and one half pounds of butter".

Thank

No. Delete, delete... that's what got them into this mess in the first place. Something in a different direction. In fact, he kept typing, and deleting, and typing, and deleting for an unsettlingly long period of time, but... there really wasn't any better way of saying it, was there? And if she meant what she was saying, then maybe this time would be different.

Thank you.

...Strange. With that out of the way, the rest actually felt a little bit easier. Even if he still wasn't sure what he could say. But there was something else on his mind, and so much the better-- he wasn't sure if it'd do either of them any good to dwell on the new territory of apology.

What do you make of Blitz coming here?

The phone was returned, though it felt a little bit lighter this time.

There was a sideways snort out of the side her mouth as she looked at the reply, and here Mox would be able to see her type the reply himself as it was held easily enough.

what? to burn the place to the groun

Then suddenly she stopped. Her expression went from a halfway mirth back to a much more familiar blankness as she quelled whatever enjoyment was about to occur in that visual image, but instead, the delete button was firmly held down.

Yeah, no, they weren't that far yet.

Instead, she had to make sure what was important was established here and now.

She near enough dropped the phone on the seat beside her, suddenly folding one leg over another and folding her arms as indignantly as possible.

seriously you tell anyone about this im denying it and taking a shit on your desk this isnt me saying were friends now youre probly more likely to find my fecal matter there than flowers in the morning but this is me saying that theres a line and i crossed it so yeah... from now on??? ill pull it back a little no more fat jokes

Loona of course didn't mention she'd already promised Dante separately on that front about the whole weight prods, but, hey, is it was at least an olive branch. Even if it had been gnawed on somewhat.

after that? who the fuck knows ...and yeah im probly gonna fuck up once or twice and forget but ill try and give it a damn good shot

And there Loona remained as stonefacedly stoic as she could - so much so that one of the acrobats nearly fumbled their catch at the glimpse of such an unimpressed spectator - all the while hiding the tension and expectation of what Mox would make at all the cards laid out on the table.

She couldn't say much, but, at least she could be sincere in that regard. She'd certainly try.

The sudden change in her posture-- and subsequent posturing-- did not go unnoticed. When the phone was once more in his hands and he caught up on the lines drawn and... imagery evoked within her reply, he nodded to himself as he typed his response, albeit with a slight scowl on his face.

He knew who he was dealing with by now. And this was a lot to ask of her. Whether it was all given voluntarily or at the behest of Blitz, or Dante, or... well, Millie probably wouldn't have the sway on this one, but even so.

Noted. Besides, you should know of all the people we work with you can count on me to have a little discretion. You need not worry about loose lips filing the edges off of your reputation.

He drummed his fingers. Even another "thank you" felt like it'd be risky to type here, but nor did he wish to squander a chance to actually let things start being... better. And this was probably the only time he'd ever be at any sort of 'show' with his face tipped down at a cell phone.

Then again, this was just a circus. He practically worked at one already. And speaking of the topic of work...

And if we have the chance to have things change for the better we may as well take it. Which is why I'm a little worried about Blitz. And Dante. Do they strike you as a little bit

How could he even put this into words...

too alike for each others' good?

As the phone came back to her, for a second she had something that looked more than just a smirk tugging at her face, but before it could be questioned whether that was a smile or not, she kept reading.

And reading.

Then finally stopped as she straight up turned round to Moxxie. Although her transformation had stabilised that her fingers were back to human disguise, she certainly looked surprised enough at the question he proposed.

Putting her face back again from him to the phone she tapped rapidly, holding it out at Mox's eye level this time, about as close to just talking as he'd gotten out of her so far.

like... enabling each other some? like you wanna shove a recovering alcholic into the willy wonka of all breweries and then wonder what song the oompa fucking loompas are gonna sing about it after?

Well. For now it seemed at least an understanding had been reached... maybe not a full peace treary, but she hadn't just left and she was certainly sticking around to find out what this was about.

Giving the phone a read once it was returned, he actually cracked a smile of his own at a particularly poignant analogy.

Oompa, loompa, Dooble dee day; You should be che-cking into A.A.

...but she'd have to wait until he was done quietly snickering to himself and composing the rest of his reply to read his masterful parody verse, of course.

But yes, enabling each other. Do you get the impression these two are both trying to use everyone around to just patch some kind of hole in their life? I know that Dante's got some kind of strangeness going on in his own family, being half-human and all.

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[CLOSED] 'We need to talk'

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