Gun Runner (Doc)

[Pi dArtois]

She hadn’t talked to Doc since..well, since she’d talked to him about kicking both him and Spike out of Canidae and yanking their permissions to the Faction and the Den. She hadn’t been avoiding him, so much as she hadn’t had any reason to get in contact. Which seemed to be the way of things lately. If there wasn’t a good reason to approach anyone, she hadn’t. It wasn’t even that she was feeling anti-social so much as she hadn’t actively attempted being social. (which really if she’d considered that piece of rationalisation for five seconds, she’d have rolled her eyes at herself).

Pi was dressed casually. Well, she always dressed casually, today more than usual since she’d come prepared to jump in the pool after the exchange. Her feet were bare, baggy sweat shorts hanging low on her hips, the loose tank she wore showing the straps of her plain racing one piece bathing suit underneath. Serviceable swimwear for a woman who enjoyed the water not as a place to splash and be seen in string bikini’s but as a way to slough off energy. Laps, laps and more laps until her arms ached and legs felt like melted rubber. She’d hung her towel on the back of the office chair.

Doc had given her an opening to meet with him again and she took it. He wanted Bella. Sometimes it felt like her life had revolved around one form of weapon or another. She couldn’t deny she had a talent with making weapons of mass destruction but she had stopped making those as often as well. Only when needed and when necessary. And since the Den was sewn up tighter than Fort Knox with traps already, it hardly seemed necessary to indulge other than keeping her stores up.

Unless, like tonight, when the parts she’d picked up around the city created a sweet hybrid rifle she’d named Bella. She named all the guns she made. Stella, the custom she’d had created at the forge, a sweet rifle she’d spent her last dime on and had for… years. So comfortable in her grip there was worn groove along the stock from the many times she’d lifted it to fit into the curve of her shoulder. To Bethesda, the newest hybrid that still sat on her workbench, never been used.

Zipping Bella into its rifle bag she checked the rounds she’d bought for it and settled in to wait for him inside the Training Room. It was a location she picked because it was connected to the Den but also because it wasn’t as busy as Lancaster’s. You didn’t go to a public bar to hand over weapons. Too public, too exposed. Instead she waited behind her desk at the Training Room and considered the benefits of a few laps of the lap pool after this was over, looking forward to her nightly swim.

Firing up her laptop, Bella lying flat along the top of her desk she waited for Doc to arrive.

[Doc]

It was almost as though the stars had aligned for him. Just two nights earlier, he had broken his favorite rifle. He be had been ******* pissed by it too. Even though he was able to repair it, the accuracy wasn’t what it had been, and he was complete disenchanted with it. It was like having a pristine car that gets wrecked and the love or feeling for the car is never the same again. That was how he felt about the rifle. He was annoyed with, almost as though the inanimate object had degraded on purpose. Doc knew that it hadn’t, but he was still annoyed all the same. Then Pi offered up a rifle for grabs. A rifle that was so very close to what he had been using. He accepted the offer before he really thought it through.

The last time He and Pi had met, she was kicking his *** out of Canidae. Realistically he understood why. She didn’t trust him or Catherine. Pi thought they had broken their promise and invaded the Den to get to Cartis. But Doc had tracked the truth down after having left Pi. Catherine had not broken her word. Fact was Cartis was in the city. Someone tipped Catherine off, and then Tytonidae pounced. He was outside of the Den’s protection. So all Pi had succeeded in doing, was dividing the family more than ever before.

If he wasn’t welcome in Canidae per Pi, he presumed he and Catherine wouldn’t be welcomed by the rest of the lineage. He figured Elliot was dancing for joy. Elliott had always hated him, not that he cared, poor ********. The girls, Asteria and Aidan hadn’t made an effort to contact him, so be it. In truth the only one that made an effort outside of Cartis, was Lyana. But even she was quiet and and had tendencies toward wanting to be alone. Madison didn’t like him hanging around her spawn, so it was best to just leave her be as well. It’s not like it really mattered, he just wanted the ******* rifle. He pushed open the door of the Training room and let himself in.

[Pi dArtois]

“Bonjour.” Pi greeted with a small smile. Closing the lid of her laptop she stood, coming around from behind the desk to stand in front of it. She rarely sat behind her desk when she met people. She thought it felt a bit ostentatious, an attempt at an upper hand she rarely tried to attain. The desk too often represented a position of power and in most cases Pi wasn’t trying to intimidate anyone. Certainly not now. Certainly not this man whether she tried to or not, she doubted he would appreciate it (or give it any notice).

Coming around to the front of the desk she propped herself in front of it, butt resting comfortably there. Despite which, there was no way a person could possibly look threatening when they were 5’2…. Or was it 5’4” now, (somehow she was getting taller and she wasn’t sure how the hell that was happening). Either way her short stature, her lack of shoes and the wonderfully underwhelming track shorts and tank top was hardly power clothes.

Pi waited until he came into the room before she spoke. “Did something happen to your weapon?” she asked. It was safe to assume something had happened. Lets face it, in this life the first thing you equipped yourself with was the best weapon you could get your hands on. Given he was rolling with the homies at Tytonidae she figured (quietly confident of her assumption) that he was set for ammunitions. The fact he put up his hand was curious, because she also thought he was also talented enough to make his own if he wanted.

The last time she checked he was about as good at crafting things as she was. Maybe better now. It had been a while (even before she’d kicked him out of Canidae) that she’d seen what he had produced when he put his mind to it.

[Doc]

“Hello Pi.” Doc’s tone was devoid of any emotion. Her tone had sounded downright perky, in comparison. Her mode of dress was also unexpected. Expected or rather, her usual dress had been serviceable and stylish, how was dressed currently, was not. He was dressed in a business suit, though his tie was loosened and the top button of his dark gray dress shirt was undone. His hands, after entering the room, had been shoved into his pant’s pockets, giving him a somewhat relaxed look.

Doc gazed about the training room, noting there had not be any great changes since he had last been there. He absently wondered if she meant to try to disarm him with her ‘affected cheerfulness’, in hopes of getting the tome back. Hell would freeze over first.

Her present demeanor was more like the Pi he had first met when he was still human. This happy facade was not the real Pi. The real Pi was a quiet and solemn woman, who never made a move without thinking it through thoroughly. So he figured there was something she wanted from him, since the ‘happy and cheerful’ Pi only showed up when it was strategically needed. If it wasn’t the tome she was after, he wasn’t sure what she had up her sleeve. So he was on guard, though he specifically acted as though he wasn’t.

At Pi’s question, he broke his gaze from his perusal of the room and looked at her. He looked at her for a moment, a derisive comment ready to drip sarcastically in answer. However, he bit it back, and then smiled quite politely, and replied, “Yes.” He chose not to elaborate. It really wasn’t that important, and she only asked for lack anything else to say. It was similar to the way people would ask each other, “Hi how are you?”; when in reality, the speaker does not care how they are, it is just something to say. He broke eye contact with her, and went back to looking around the room.

Etiquette dictated that he should at least, offer a comment, to continue illusion of the meeting being affable and pleasant. “I trust Elliot is well?” Yes, one of those questions. He could care less how Elliot was. But it was polite.

[Pi dArtois]

Ahhhh she thought with very little internal surprise. Cold shoulder and short sharp answers. She hadn’t really expected anything else, and she shrugged internally. It was what it was because she’d make the decision she had. There was no going back.

He was dressed like a man who had just left work, and loosened his tie in the car glad to pull it away from his neck to get a bit more space between his skin and the corporate noose. She’d been trained to note the details, and could, if asked, pull together something similar if needed. Her trained gaze took it all in and she curiously wondered what he did with himself these days and whether the suit was actually used in a professional capacity or whether it was an affectation he pulled on, like a suit of armour. Considering what they were and what she knew of him, he suspected the later.

The same couldn’t be said for her own attire however. It had been a long time since she’d attempted to be much more than exactly what she wanted to be, at the time she wanted to be it. It wasn’t so much about lack of effort as it was about… comfort. Even if, right this second, she felt like a bum next to his rather dapperly dressed self.

“He is well.” Pi replied, holding the shallow smile, willingly answering the question in the spirit it was asked. Which was very little spirit at all. She tried not to smile, but probably failed since she felt her smile tilt. Doc didn’t give a crap about how Elliot was, and she had little doubt that the verbal tip toe was merely a form thrown in there to pad the otherwise flat interest in either Elliot or herself.

Better to stick to business. Their continued association was a frazzled thing, torched long before she’d turned him and Spike out of Candiae and she had no real hope it could be salvaged. Turning she lifted the rifle bag, pulling it over her lap and unzipping the bag before folding it the flap back to reveal the weapon within.

Running her hand over the stock she moved sideways on the desk so she could prop the gun over a thigh and held it up. “It’s a hybrid made with a rifle stock and semi-automatic barrel.” She explained, her expert hands pulling back the cocking lever showing the empty chamber, then held it up and looked through the rear sight with the barrel pointed at the wall. “I’d watch the pressure switch on the trigger. If I were to pick any potential concern it would be there. It’s a good weapon but it’s not like the stuff you can get out of the forge.”

Holding it up, Pi offered it to him. “Hold?”

[Doc]

At her offer of holding the weapon, Doc crossed over to where she and accepted the proffered weapon. It was lighter than expected, which made for easier and more nimble movement when hunting. Another added bonus, that since it didn’t have the usual rifle barrel length, it could be used for closer in fighting. It was no secret he preferred guns over blades, but when your weapon was an assault rifle, it didn’t allow for use when you were close-in fighting. But this particular one could be used single-handed if the need arose. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it was an option.

He check the magazine release function. It was a smooth and easy release. The last thing you wanted was a sticky release, when needing to replace your magazine. You wanted to be able hit the release and slap a new one in the shortest amount of time possible. It appeared this particular weapon would be ideal. He dropped the magazine and slid it back in with a solid snap. The trigger pull was a bit light for his tastes, but he could correct that easy enough. All in all he was rather glad he put in his offer for the weapon. He was rather curious what the recoil was like. The caliber and length of the required ammo, in that short of a barrel could cause a vicious recoil if you were not prepared for it. He had seen people knock themselves out from the recoil of the weapon when they weren’t ready for it. It could be amusing to watch.

Without relinquishing the weapon, he looked back at Pi and nodded once, “I’ll take it. Thank you.” He was silent for a moment and then spoke again, “I am rather surprised that I am still allowed to receive family communications, since my spawn and I were summarily kicked to the curb.”

[Pi dArtois]

Watching him check out the weapon, Pi waited patiently, knowing he’d find nothing wrong with the weapon. It was actually better spec’d than her old faithful Stella, even if her workmanship wouldn’t hold up to long term, continued use. It would fail at some point, but it would give good before it did and she knew he’d find nothing wrong with it.

A gun is a personal thing. It’s why lately, she only used Stella or those she made. She rarely relied on others to make her something she knew she could do for herself and she knew her workmanship and trusted it. A gun was the wall you put between the creatures you hunted, to ensure the table wasn’t reversed and you became the one being hunted in return. It was a life jacket in their world, and a necessity and you had to be damn sure what you were getting was the best you could get because out there, it was the only thing between getting out of something unscathed or getting your *** handed to you. Pi much preferred getting out… in one piece.

Lifting the gun bag off her desk she offered it to him, releasing it into his care for him to pack the weapon away in. All guns came with a case, this was no different. “Good. Her name is Bella… ” She replied, kicking the box of ammunition at her feet. “There are about … four hundred rounds for it you can take too. I bought …. in excess for testing and none of the rounds fit the two guns I have. All yours.” She offered, sitting back on the desk so one foot dangled, her bare toes wiggling as she scooted back.

It was inevitable really, that this particular topic would be brought up. She wasn’t surprised and would actually be more surprised if it hadn’t and could well be a recurring theme of conversation between them. Until it was resolved, or until they resolved that it was too hard trying to resolve and stopped altogether. Pi still wanted to try, even if, by his very statement she realised he had got the wrong end of the stick.

She shrugged in answer first, because she was French and the French shrugged, just like Italians were known to wave their hands emphatically and the Japanese to express maximum emotion with minimal facial movement. “That, was not what happened… I needed to secure Canidae so any hunt you, or Spike undertook for Tytonidae for one of d’Artois would not.. cause any … conflict of interest.”

“The rest of the family, and what we can offer is still here if you need it. It always will be.” Waving her hand down, knowing that below them sat the tunnels that led to the Den, and he would know what she meant by the action. “Just not there.”

[Doc]

Doc snorted lightly. He understood perfectly. He was family in ‘name only’. And that was probably only because Pi was trying to be politically correct and mitigate something. What the ‘something’ was he didn’t know. If Pi completely disengaged him from the family, there would be a bit of fall out. Not from him or his spawn, per se’; but rather, in other people’s minds. It could be seen as drawing a line of distinction between Canidae and Tytonidae. It could get people thinking and jumping to conclusions that were erroneous. Pi was far too savvy to allow even the hint of such a thing to be considered. She was the quintessential modern day example of ‘do not air your dirty laundry in public’.

If push came to shove, Doc understood her perfectly. She, and she alone would listen to his request and then politely turn him down. It would be too detrimental to the ‘family’ to do anything else. Elliot and Madison despised him; Asteria and Aidan had nothing to do with him; Cartis.. Well Cartis was the one person in the family other than Pi, that should he really need anything, he expected to get a fair hearing from him, than anyone else. Cartis would probably smile and say ‘suck’s to be you’, wave and be on his merry way; or he would help him. He and Cartis had reached a tentative relationship, in that, Cartis finally realized hopefully, that when Doc attacked him for his violations, it wasn’t a malicious attack. It was business.

When Doc attacked out of malice or anger, it was an unrelenting attack. If he saw the person in the street, he would attack; in a raid, he would attack; in a shop, he would attack. It didn’t matter the time or place. When Doc was on the hunt for someone, he would attack on sight. And, he would attack in his own good time. He could wait days, weeks, and even months, between attacks. It didn’t matter to him. He had eternity to hold a grudge. And he did, and would for any future offenses. Thus far, all his grudges he had come out as the victor. The downside of being the victor in such cases, was that sooner or later he was not going to win; and how he dealt with that blow.. could be life changing.

Doc took the bag and ammo from her, placed the weapon inside and zipped it shut. “Thank you for the weapon.”

[Pi dArtois]

Pi smiled, the expression a short sharp thing, like a momentary glint when sun hits a shiny object, before skittering away. Still there was no surprise at his discontinuation of the conversation, so she nodded in acknowledgement of this non-answer-answer. She wouldn't push to explain more or engage him where he didn't want to be engaged. They were quite similar her and Doc, especially in times like this. What use were extraneous words, words that were difficult to pick, were often taken wrong and pulled out of context to twist and turn to designs they were never intended to do. And maybe it was this similarity that, like a magnet repelled and pulled at her.

Elliot was teaching her to express more, to pull herself out of her self imposed shell and share what was going on in both heart and mind, but it was a creeping effort, a slow wearing away of a natural reserve whose natural instinct was quiet watching and silent consideration. So it felt natural to accept Doc's disinclination and she did.

There was nothing more to say really. It seemed clear her and Doc would communicate just like this, in short sharp sentences, stolen from moments that need and necessity required they actually talk face to face. It would be in those moments they would eventually find their peace or they never would. Either way she would let it be what it would be.

Standing, she moved to the side to allow him better access to the ammunition.

"Do you need help with that?" she asked, as another polite inquiry. She doubted he would say he needed any, as if carrying one gun and one box of ammunitions was a hardship. One port and you could cover the distance in a heart beat. But she offered anyway, because ... well, just because.

[Doc]

Doc gave her a look at her question. It was maybe twenty kilos tops, hardly a hardship, so why the offer? Was it because she was merely being polite or was she trying to find a lead in for something else? And if she was trying to find a lead in, did he want to hear it? Was he opening the door to something he should leave alone or was it something he would obsess over as a missed opportunity? More than likely she wanted to ask for the tome again, and if so , he would enjoy turning her the **** down.

Lips pressed together, he sighed and looked at her. “Why do I get the impression you want to say something, Pi? If so, please just say it.” There. Now the ball was in her court, if she refused to take the opportunity to play, no problem with him. He would count this as a mark in his favor. that this one time he didn’t shut her down. Their whole relationship had been based on lies from the very beginning. She had lied to him and he had lied to her. However in his mind, hers was the greater lie. Because he was going to change for her. He was going give it all up and go straight. Become the man she ‘had said’ she wanted. He had been ready to do the 9 to 5 job, and come home to her every night. He had even gotten excited about having a family. A thing that he had fervently opposed. But Pi had lied. She had no intention of having a long term relationship with him. It was a game to her. It had been real to him. Too real. So that when he learned the truth, he had been gutted.

Even as Doc watched her and waited for her answer to his question, he saw the face of the illusion he fell for. The feelings of love and attraction for her were long since gone. However, the feeling of betrayal lingered, and grew. It grew from the fact that Pi chucked his spawn and himself out of Canidae. Yes he understood her reasoning, and in her place he would have done the same more than likely. However, this made two betrayals by her, which did nothing but reopen the old wounds of resentment and anger. He knew that allowing the anger to fester did nothing productive. It was a waste of energy. Energy that could be used for something productive, not destructive. Yet, it did not help that every run in he had with Pi or her significant other ended with negatively.

Part of him wanted to say ‘**** it she had her chance’, but the strategist side of him, said ‘do not do anything rash’. Eternity was a long time, and he did not need to burn any bridges over petty ****. And betrayal in a ‘love that was never real’ and a ‘misunderstanding’ did not rate as a reason to do that in his mind. In a hundred years from, would he care? The answer was ‘no’. Therefore, he he gave her the opening, if she wanted it.