(Untitled)

[nostoppinglife]

Moira's made her way down to the Compound before Rahne even wakes, stopping in for breakfast with the intention of going to the lab next. Those ridiculous cherubs are gone, at least, and if the island's still crawling with people acting like lovesick puppies, Moira's barely noticed. There's too much else on her mind, and she doesn't particularly

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[oscaroscaroscar]

Normally, Felix's days started even earlier, his morning shower finished before breakfast was even served, but he was giving himself a bit of leeway today, having managed to survive another Valentine's Day being hopelessly, helplessly alone. He'd certainly weathered worse, but that didn't make it easy.

Suppressing another sigh as he strode towards the kitchen, he was so focused on not being horribly depressed, he barely noticed when he nearly walked straight into the woman who was just coming out. Snapping momentarily out of his stupor, Felix glanced up to apologize, shaking his head. "Nonsense, the fault was all..." Trailing off, he found his breath caught in his throat for the briefest of moments, brow furrowing in surprise. She was the most enchanting woman he'd seen in... well, ever! "...mine, I'm sure. And you are?" he asked, spinning on his heels to head in the same direction as she. Breakfast may have been the most important meal of the day, but matters of the heart always trumped matters of the stomach.

[nostoppinglife]

Moira hardly expected him to follow after her once her apology was accepted. She wasn't entirely sure why he was looking at her like that either, but there was no reason to be rude. It wasn't like she was on a schedule here. All the same, she found herself hesitating before snapping out of it. Transferring her coffee to her left hand, she offered the other to him.

"Moira," she said, sparing a glance to be sure she didn't get in anyone else's way when she stopped in the hall. "Moira MacTaggert - an' I should ha' been lookin' where I was goin', but it's kind o' ye t' say."

[oscaroscaroscar]

"Moira MacTaggert," Felix repeated, his voice falling nearly to an awed whisper as he took her proffered hand and dropped dramatically to one knee, pressing a kiss to the back of it. Those eyes, that accent, those manners. "Enchanté."

Where had she been all his life? Knowing this place, probably fighting aliens on a space ship or under the ocean or something ridiculous like that, completely unsuited to such a marvelous creature.

[nostoppinglife]

"Wha--" Moira stared down at him, caught off guard. There was no telling, of course, if he just happened to be from a time or place where that was simply the custom, but that didn't mean he didn't look a bit daft, kneeling there. She drew her hand back cautiously, a little bewildered by the display. Though he seemed entirely in earnest, she wasn't sure she wasn't just the target of some impromptu practical joke. "Yes, charmed, delightful -- now d'ye mind gettin' up off the floor?"

[oscaroscaroscar]

"What's a little dust on my knees when compared to paying you the respect you're due?" Felix asked, entirely earnest as he looked up at her before his mind caught up to his mouth.

Dear God, what am I saying?

"Oh course, though, of course," he quickly amended, rising to his feet and brushing himself off thoroughly, chuckling self-consciously. "I'm sorry, it's just that it isn't every day that one meets a rare beauty such as yourself, I'm sure you understand, you must get this all the time." Heck, it wasn't every lifetime that one met a beauty like this one.

[nostoppinglife]

Rare beauty? Moira knew she was alright, pretty enough, but she was hardly that and not on this island, populated as it was by the young and gorgeous. She certainly didn't merit that dopey expression.

"Nae, I really don't," she said, arching an eyebrow. It was sweet, she supposed, in a terribly awkward way, but mostly it was just absurd. "I mean, thank ye for the compliment, but that's carryin' it a bit far."

[oscaroscaroscar]

"Nonsense! If anything, it's not carrying it far enough, but I'll defer to your judgment nonetheless." Chuckling momentarily in a way that he knew to be fantastically charming, he broke it off when he suddenly remembered himself. "Oh my- where are my manners? Felix Unger, at your service!" Surely, he could be forgiven for being a bit absent-minded, given the circumstances. He was understandably distracted, after all.

[nostoppinglife]

"A pleasure t' meet ye, Mr Unger," Moira said, cautious still. It was only polite, though, and he was being kind, if mad. She sipped her coffee before she continued, half afraid he might launch into further dramatics and spill it on her. She didn't want to be cold, but she wasn't about to encourage this sort of exaggeration. "I was jus' goin' t' work, though, so I'm afraid - another time, perhaps."

[oscaroscaroscar]

"Of course, of course!" Felix said, taking a sweeping step back out of her way which he just as quickly doubled back on, his expression suddenly dead serious. "When are you off?" Maybe he didn't have a shot in the world here, surely she was already spoken for, but still he knew that he had to see more of her.

[nostoppinglife]

"I -" Moira stopped, at a loss for an answer. "Well, I dinnae have a schedule exactly. It's nae like a job precisely, ye ken, so..." There was no reason at all she should be flustered by this, but it had been a long time since anyone had pursued her, let alone this doggedly. It was bad enough to be trifled with, perhaps worse if he meant it sincerely. "I'm sorry, Mr Unger, if I've given ye the wrong impression, but I really have nae interest in seein' anyone right now."

[oscaroscaroscar]

"Oh," Felix said, trying to hide the way his stomach fell at that. He almost hoped it was a lie, that she was letting him off easy, although if it wasn't... he might still have a chance! Best to play it cool, then.

"No, no, of course," he said, shaking his head and passing a hand through his hair, cool as a cucumber. "It's alright, I get it. You want to be your own woman, play the field, that's fine. I can dig it." This last part may have featured finger quotations around 'dig it', all part of the act, of course. An act that went promptly out the window as he went on. "Couldn't we still get together afterward, though? Surely everyone can use a friend!"

[nostoppinglife]

Moira stared at him, taken aback. "I'm nae playin' any field," she countered, "an' I dinnae want t'." Of course, she didn't want to explain what had put her last relationship on a temporary hold either. That didn't mean she considered herself unattached. "But aye, I s'pose I'll... see ye around." She was in no hurry to arrange a time or place, mostly hoping that by the time she emerged from the lab, he would have given up or forgotten, sparing her the need to be even more stringent about the matter. "As a friend, mind."

[oscaroscaroscar]

Oh, she was a cagey one, alright. "A friend, right!" Felix replied, brightly as ever, despite the way his mind continued to churn with possibilities. If she was willing to see him again as a friend, then that meant she liked him. And after like, came love, first friends, then more, that was the way these things worked. Maybe she was reticent now, but it was only a matter of time before she had to come around!

"...but just so we're clear, you're not actually seeing anyone at the moment?"

[nostoppinglife]

Moira tipped her head back with a faint sound of exasperation. "It's nae so simple as that," she said, not entirely sure how to answer without giving hope where none should exist. Maybe she should have just gone on and left, gotten it over with. "I'm only nae seein' him because he isnae here, ye ken?" It was true enough, as far as she was concerned, not to be a lie. She'd not always been the best of girlfriends, that was true, but they'd suited each other just as they were; a bit of a distance had never got in their way before. "There is someone."

[oscaroscaroscar]

Felix understood, of course, and all too well. Of course, as much as he would always love and miss Gloria, she suddenly seemed to pale in comparison to the radiant spirit before him, so maybe it was all for the best.

"I understand, of course," he said, drooping his head sadly as he raised his hand so she could see the ring he still wore, though he was suddenly hard pressed to remember why, "and all too well."

[nostoppinglife]

"I'm sorry," Moira said, automatic but entirely sincere all the same. She'd been relieved to break free of her own marriage, but that had, presumably, been a very different matter. In any case, although she'd always handled long distances well, she could understand the difficulty of the situation. "It cannae be easy, I know. But I dinnae think chasin' after me's goin' t' make it any easier."