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 Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 1:21 pm
His own smile flickered out at her statement, for a moment dumbstruck -- and then annoyance creeped in to replace it, his mouth shifting and his eyes narrowing just a touch. Annoyance grew to frustration, to a flicker of anger, and then faded away. Damnit. What had he expected Lydia to do? He grumbled, smoothed a hand over his hair, and shook his head.
"I don't have a thing for Lydia." His tone was too dry, was a touch disbelieving. He could push it away, could roll his eyes and make nothing out of it. "She was flirting with me all the time, I figured I'd toss her...uh."
A pause. Veer actually watching his mouth for a moment. Saying 'toss her a bone' probably wasn't the best choice of words. "I figured I'd give it a shot."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 1:33 pm
She was carefully watching his expression after she brought up the Lydia ordeal, and she could very clearly see the shift in emotions. She sped up a few paces so she could turn around and walk backwards so she was facing him. Quinn had zero intention of upsetting him, she just wanted to clear the air.
"You asked her out. There's gotta be some interest there, even if you were just asking for shits and giggles. It's really not a big deal, I'll just back off."
With her smile still in place, she spun so she was walking next to him again. "It's her loss though. I hear you said you're good at everything", she nudged him playfully and laughed, the word 'everything' emphasized with finger quotes.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 1:48 pm
Veer looked -- Veer looked flustered. A little lost. Adrift, maybe. He licked his lips, looking Quinn open, and tried to figure out how the hell to react to that.
"...hah." That wasn't much of an interaction. He fought, dug, struggled for indifference, for the casual carelessness that always say 'cool' to him. Not caring was the greatest. People who didn't care were always the most awesome. You never turned around to look at the explosion behind you, and you never scrambled to ask after people. He needed something indifferent, maybe a little bit sarcastic.
"I didn't realize...there was any backing off to be done." His tone was dry, joking, that part he got right, but his expression was still confused. Not exactly pleased. His stomach dropped out. "I mean, mostly you seem to like to hit me."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:05 pm
The flustered expression made Quinn laugh harder. She had the biggest grin in the history of ever on her face, quietly satisfied at how freaked out Veer suddenly got. This was not at all the reaction she expected from him; she expected some quick witted remark about his skills in the sack, not a flustered struggle to reply.
Her grin did wane slightly at his comment. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she peered at him. Why did he look so damn confused? She shrugged her shoulders as they approached the tattoo parlor, happy to see a sign that said they accepted walk-ins. She pulled the door open and stepped in before he did.
With a smile, she replied, "You're right. I totally didn't kiss you. Twice. And if I did, I definitely do that with everyone, so no backing off to be done."
She approached the counter, showed her ID and signed a consent form while she waited for an artist to be available. She was still talking to Veer while she did all of this.
"Maybe I hit you because you're so damn frustrating."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:23 pm
Behind her, Veer pried out his own wallet and gestured for his own forms. If she was getting a tattoo, he sure as hell would join her; wouldn't want to leave a lady in the lurch. Some kind of mirror sounded fascinating, even if matching tattoos were a bit weird.
Or maybe he'd get a falcon. A red ghostly falcon. Maybe he'd get it somewhere that showed. He made a sound, only halfway thinking about it, distracted by her babbling.
"...I'm frustrating? The ******** am I supposed to think when you hit me as much as you do." It didn't have the bravado it should have -- Veer sounded uncertain, really, his eyebrows pulled together and expression too soft. He flicked her a sideways look, swiping hair back out of his face. "And when you treat it like some kinda...I don't know. Punishment."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:09 pm
Quinn's eyebrows raised when he asked for forms of his own. She muttered under her breath and then forced a smile at the girl behind the counter that was tending to them.
"I don't hit you that often! The first time was training, I was supposed to hit you." She frowned, thinking back to the other times that she had in fact hit him. "And you told me I hit like a girl," she hissed between clenched teeth, trying not to cause a scene in public. "The ******** did you expect me to do?"
"And yes. You're frustrating. I kissed you and you asked out my roommate! So forgive me for being really ******** confused when I thought that maybe you had a thing for me." Her voice softened and her eyes lowered to the ground, her cheeks flushing. She hadn't even noticed that her hands had balled to fists at her side.
She swallowed hard and looked up when the large man that was presumably the tattoo artist called her name. She moved and stood across from the man, describing in detail what it was that she wanted done. When he agreed and told her he'd be a few minutes sketching something up for her, she went to sit down, her hands in her lap and her eyes focused on the ground.
Leto may have been a hard-a**. But Quinn? She was far from it and now her feelings were hurt and she was incredibly embarrassed about this entire situation.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:31 pm
That was totally unfair -- tossing that at him and then running off to deal with the tattoo artist. It left Veer standing in her wake like an idiot, flustered and annoyed both. She was yelling at him, in public, and he quite honestly didn't have an answer, and that made it all the worse. Hurt-feelings Quinn. Embarrassment all around. And he felt like a jackass but he couldn't do anything about it.
So instead he nabbed someone to talk to himself, got a sheet of paper and a sharpie, and while she talked her stuff out, he sketched out his own. Veer couldn't draw for s**t. Hopefully they'd get the idea. She sat and he was a minute or two behind, dropping into the chair like a sack of bricks, coat open around him now.
His toe tapped, somewhere between annoyed and afraid. He could blame that, at least, on the tattooing.
"...this is the twenty-first century, you know. Girls are allowed to ask guys out."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:43 pm
In her defense, it wasn't Quinn's fault that the tattoo artist had really convenient timing.
When he finally dropped down into the seat next to her, she shifted slightly in her own seat and watched his toe tapping on the ground. Finally she raised her head and turned in her seat to look at him.
"I know what century it is," she mumbled. She looked away for a moment to think, then peered at him again. "I'm not asking you out. If you wanna go out with me, you can ask me. I'm not gonna make an a** of myself and ask you out just for you to say no if you're not interested. Or for all I know you'd say yes just so you can prove that you really are good at everything." She threw up the air-quotes again around 'everything'.
She pulled her legs up and adjusted so she was sitting cross-legged on the chair to keep herself from fidgeting. Nerves were starting to get the best of her, both because of this stupid conversation and the fact that some giant man was going to be drawing on her with tiny little stabbing needles in a few minutes.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:09 pm
"I thought you called me so I could come hold your hand, not so you could grill me on asking Lydia out." He slouched, shoulders rolled in a bit and his head tipped back in the chair. He didn't look at her, instead stared up at the ceiling, expression too-serious. He looked weird, when he was serious like that. It looked wrong.
"I don't know why she told you, anyway." It came out frustrated again, as he folded arms over his chest, too-tight. Just a little bit petulant. He rooted around for words.
"It was just a stupid thought. I haven't seen anyone in ages, and haven't, like, dated for two years or something. Just messed around at a con. And then with this one client..." He shot her a look and shut his mouth, frowning as he did. "I wouldn't say 'no', anyway."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:21 pm
With a deep breath and a moment to force aside her pride, she finally spoke louder. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drill you about it, I was just trying to back off. It wasn't supposed to turn into this stupid ******** bullshit. Who you wanna date is your business."
Her lips were turned downwards in a deep frown while she watched him. She didn't like serious Veer at all, and pouty Quinn wasn't much better.
"Well you've got me beat, stud. I haven't dated ever. Moved too much when I was in England and then since being here... Well, I've been busy, I guess."
Did she seriously just admit that she's never dated anyone? Way to look like a giant loser, Quinn.
"So maybe I'm just not good at this s**t, you giant a**. And instead of beating around the bush and trying to get me to do it, you could just grow a pair and ask me." When her name was called by the tattoo artist, she pushed herself to her feet.
"I don't know what you're so afraid of," she said with a wide grin, looking down at him being all frowny.
"And now you're getting a tattoo too, so who the ******** gonna hold my hand?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:41 pm
"I can still hold your hand. We'll just." He rose to stand, awkward, turning in place to look around them, and then focused back on her. He'd follow, trailing in their wake, hands in his pockets and just a little awkward. Like hell was Veer going to wait around sitting in a chair and leave her to the devices of a burly tattoo artist.
"We'll just take turns. And then you can hold my hand. Right man?" He blinked at the artist, who stared at him and then gestured to a nearby chair, rolling his eyes. Veer managed to dig up a smile, hooking it with one ankle to draw it in closer, his expression bemused.
"And, I don't know, get dinner or something after."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:58 pm
"Deal," she said in regards to taking turns, following the man to the back room with Veer following behind.
Quinn's grin quickly turned into a genuine smile. She flopped down onto the padded tattoo-bed-bench-thinger, rolled up her pant leg and laid on her side, letting the tattoo artist do his thing. She cringed at the cold liquid that he rubbed over her calf, and then watched as he pressed his stencil to her leg. She nodded in approval when he asked about the positioning, then relaxed and grabbed for Veer's hand.
She was chewing her bottom lip nervously, waiting with anticipation for the man to get started. When she eventually felt the sharp pain on her leg, her eyes clamped shut and her hand squeezed Veer's. After a few minutes of getting used to the sensation, she opened her eyes and looked up at Veer, her hand still clutching his.
"Thanks for coming with me," she said and then added "And I suppose I can do dinner," with a grin.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:07 pm
Her hand clutched and he winced, eyes closing for a moment -- even out of uniform, Quinn had a pretty solid grip. He could just be grateful she wasn't powered up. If she had been, that might have been the end of his hand.
As she relaxed, he cracked an eye open again, watching her expression. Relief bloomed, followed by nervousness; was his choice of placement going to be more painful than hers? For all of the piercings he'd had over the years, Veer never actually had wandered into tattoo land before. Doing it randomly because of a girl was probably a stupid decision.
Oh well.
"Uh. If I pay, does that count as a date?" He wiggled his fingers in her grasp to make sure they still worked, and tried to sound casual.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:39 pm
Quinn really didn't realize how hard she was squeezing his hand until he tried to wiggle his fingers. A blush swept over her cheeks and she loosened her grip, only squeezing every once in a while when certain areas hurt more than the rest did.
"This hurts like a ********," she said and laughed nervously. "Why did I think this was a good idea? Thank God I went first or I would've chickened out if I watched you go through this," she stuck her tongue out at him. "But you're a big strong man and I'm sure you have nothing to worry about," she said as she winced and squeezed his hand for a second.
"That would most definitely count as a date." She gasped in an overly-dramatic way, clearly joking. "Veer, are you actually asking me out? Looks like you do have a pair after-all." She trailed off, still grinning. <******** frowny!Veer and pouty!Quinn, they were no fun. This was much more enjoyable.
She shifted slightly when the tattoo artist pulled away to clean her leg some. When she was comfortable again and he got back to work, she nodded. "I'll go out with you on one condition. This s**t that happened today? We don't do that again."
She smiled and closed her eyes, her hand holding his while the tattoo artist finished. After what seemed like forever, it was finally Veer's turn.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:49 pm
"What, the tattoos?" It was light, but also distracted, Veer looking -- well, a little pale. As pale as he got, anyway. His eyes flashed from her to the needle and then up to the tattoo artist's face -- and he pried himself away. Quinn would get a little alone time while they stuck the transfer on his neck, while he fussed, and then settled into the same damned chair.
He looked...well. Terrified. The sketched-in tips of the bird's stylized wings curled up onto his neck, and he was certain that was going to hurt like a b***h. So he grinned at her, even if it was a bit manic. "s**t. My mom would freak out."
And he held out his hand for her to take, likely to clutch just as roughly at her fingers as she had his. Not his best moment. The first touch of the needle was going to get a spew of curses that took a bit to fade out.
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