I have seen the future, brother, it is murder.

[iron_and_latin]

((closed RP for Sam and the Master))

(It's like an old picture in black and white from some noir film, a beautiful woman smoking a cigarette, the man across from her sipping something expensive from a highball glass. They're talking, words he doesn't quite understand, and there's laughter in their tones, an almost lightness. He recognizes her, it'

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[una_harlequin]

Some time later, perhaps an hour insofar as an hour could be measured, a slim figure in a dark blue dress could be seen quietly approaching City Hall.

Una glanced around out of habit, seeing no-one. That the door was ajar was unusual, and this time when she knocked, she didn't wait for him to answer, instead pushing the door open the rest of the way and taking a step inside.

[hear_the_drums]

He was sitting in the only chair the room had, sipping something expensive from a highball glass. Twirling a prize between his fingers.

His eyes wandered slowly up to where she was standing. There was something playing at the corners of his mouth, but it seemed keen on keeping hidden.

[una_harlequin]

Una raised an eyebrow. "You look-" She considered the possible adjectives, and finally selected, "-pleased."

She took out her lighter and a cigarette and lit one. Crossed the room slowly, one foot deliberately placed in front of the other, and stopped a few paces away, hand on hip. She looked curiously at the object in his hand but, unable to tell what exactly it was, chose not to comment on it just yet.

[hear_the_drums]

The object was slipped into his inner jacket pocket without any ominous cues. No foreboding chords. Nothing important.

"Had a good day," he said ambiguously, as though 'pleased' discribed such a natural state for him. His glass raised in her direction. "Drink?"

[una_harlequin]

Probably just another widget off his work table.

"Don't mind if I do." A thoughtful drag on her cigarette. "A good day? Really? Sufficiently distinct from the rest?"

[hear_the_drums]

There was an extra glass next to the bottle. -just in case...- He poured just over a shots worth and handed it over. "It hardly started out that way. But things evened out in time."

[una_harlequin]

Una accepted the glass with a gracious little nod, not yet bothering at this juncture with the usual nails-across-the-back-of-the-hand tease. She swirled the liquour, took a small sip, and said, almost to the contents of the glass, "And are you going to tell me how they evened out, or is it for me to guess? Which gives you the most satisfaction today?"

[hear_the_drums]

"Oh, it was entirely unexpected," he assured her, though why that should be a comfort was up for discussion. He took a sip from his own glass and inhaled the smoke from her cigarette before saying, "I doubt you'll be able to tear the reason from me this time, however." -lucky for her, though she'll never know it-

[una_harlequin]

She took another sip from her glass and gave him a slightly narrowed look over the edge. The problem was that when he was being cryptic, it was just as likely that it meant something awful as that it meant he was simply trying to pull her chain. And it was nearly impossible to tell which was which unless he wanted her to.

"Interesting choice of words," she observed. She moved a little closer; he could reach out and touch her now without having to lean very far forward in the chair. "Why so violent? I could just as easily coax information from you. Or tease it. Or persuade." A faint smile tugged at her lips. "Tearing is your specialty, darling."

[hear_the_drums]

There was that slow smile. "Mm." It was an agreement that still had the advantage of telling her very little. He leaned forward in answer to her challenge. "You might try any of those things. They might even work. But I'm not sure they'll get you exactly what you want."

What they would get her was a safety she might not have had coming in a few hours previous. His head had been pounding all day, something that might have been deducible from the uncommon disarray on his workbench and several trashed components in a corner. There were some accidental burns in places that were not currently showing, but they would probably help to distract in the end.

The one thing that worked against him was the bruise developing on his cheek from that unexpected roundhouse. He had been resting the mangled side of his face in one hand (and ducked his head down to pour the drink), but she would see it eventually and the added pressure was beginning to hurt. So he dropped the hand and waited to see what she made of it.

[una_harlequin]

At the sight of the bruise, Una felt a faint twitch of something that she did not want to examine too closely; it wasn't pleasure, or even amusement-it almost felt like ... worry? possessiveness? She pushed it away. She was tempted to ask if he and the Doctor had had words again. She was still gauging his mood of the moment, however, and wasn't sure if the joke would go down particularly well-if, indeed, it was actually a joke.

She shifted glass and cigarette into her left hand and with her right, reached out to brush his bruised cheek with her fingertips, as if to confirm for herself that it was real. "I suppose a brawl is some kind of a diversion," she observed. "Did you bring this on yourself, or were you the victim of a random, purposeless assault?" Her tone rich with irony.

[hear_the_drums]

"Isn't both possible?" he argued, trying to cover his wince at the touch. "You know how well I'm liked around town." Wrapping brittle fingers around the wrist of her free hand, he stood up from the chair.

That left them considerably closer.

[una_harlequin]

"It leaves a very broad pool of suspects," she said. She didn't back away, didn't try to free herself. She looked up at him, a calm, cryptic little smile on her lips. "And did the person who landed the lucky punch escape scot-free?" A very real question, this one; something faintly suspicious was sparking a little in her grey eyes, despite pleasant, ironic tone of her voice.

[hear_the_drums]

"Does anyone resorting to violence escape scot-free?" That was more a question to her multiverse view than it was to his actions.

It was at that moment that his highball glass slipped -was dropped- from his fingers and tumbled to the floor, leaving one hand free. He placed it against her stomach and pushed in the direction of the wall.

[una_harlequin]

"In the long view-" she began, and then he was pushing her backwards. Startled, she stumbled a little and when she flung out her arm to stabilise herself, she let go of her glass and it arced a short distance through the air before shattering on the floor. She followed where he moved her, taking a quick glance behind to make sure she wouldn't fall over anything; then her gaze returned to his face, studying his expression for clues for the nature of his latest move in the game.

[hear_the_drums]

Once he had her up against the wall, he pinned her with his weight and traced a thumb down her cheek. "I'm sorry. I interrupted you." In such an understated tone, it might have been hard to pick out where it was coming from. Easy interpretation had never been much fun.

Especially not on the day when the brink had moved that much closer.