Cloud Nine - OTA

[angelica_jinx]

Nothing could kill her mood. Not the heavy gray clouds in the sky. Not the chill in the air. Not the mud on her boots or PT she had to run. As far as Angel was concerned it was the first day of spring. Ethan's kiss was fresh on her lips. She knew it wasn't likely to happen again any time soon. He wanted to take things slow. And by slow he meant

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[mongrelverine]

Daken expected anyone who was coming his way to automatically move out of his way. So when Angel smacked right dab into him, he was momentarily startled, as much as he ever was by anything. Within the span of half a second, his body was already reacting to something that could possibly be perceived as a threat, automatically planning possible moves.

His mind took another second to catch up with the rest of him, but when it did and he recognized who it was he had run into, Daken's quick reflexes snapped to attention. He grabbed Angel's wrists before she could stumble more than a step or two and steadied her. "How can someone with enough power to fry the atmosphere be so damn clumsy?" He mused.

[angelica_jinx]

One could categorically say that Angel's brain didn't do any of that junk. About the time her startled brain figured out that she ran into someone and fumbled around for something to grab before she fell, he already had a hold of her. "Just lucky, I guess. Nice catch, by the way." She replies with a smile as she jiggles her arms that he still has a hold of.

[mongrelverine]

"I shudder to think what would happen if you were sent on a stealth mission." His tone was flat and dry. Daken let go of her arms with a sudden and sharp jerk when he realized he was still holding them. His hands seemed to forget what they usually did at ease and remained looking tense.

He looked Angel over. Noticing the muddied boots and the light sweat, he asked, "Out for a jog? Or are you getting your exercise in by bumping into half the camp?"

[angelica_jinx]

The way he just dropped her hands was jarring. Like he couldn't stop touching her fast enough. If it were anyone other than Daken it would be insulting. "I have bright red hair and sport yellow spandex. Not exactly what you would call stealthy. I'm more muscle, I guess." Which was funny considering she weighed 110 soaking wet.

"I'm really sorry about that. My mind was a million miles away. You look okay. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

[mongrelverine]

"Point taken." Although how Daken managed to complete most of his assassinations and other assignments sporting a mohawk and giant tattoo was a question that was best left for the ages. He shook his head when Angel asked if he was hurt. "It'd take a lot more than playing human bumper cars to shake me up."

Daken liked to think of himself as being the perceptive sort. He couldn't read minds, as often as he had been asked, but he was good at reading people. Their moods and body language were like a puzzle he couldn't wait to solve. "Is it a person or a problem on your mind?"

[angelica_jinx]

Her eyes grew wide for a second, wondering to herself if he knew anything. Despite her lack of stealth, Daken was very good at finding things out. Plus, and this was embarrassing, but she wasn't exactly quiet. Someone could have heard.

"I..I wouldn't call it a problem. Just a distraction."

[mongrelverine]

"How delightfully vague."

The unimpressed look on Daken's face let Angel know just what he thought of that particular answer. The hypocrisy in expecting completely honest and full answers when he himself was a pathological liar certainly crossed his mind and just as quickly was dismissed again.

[angelica_jinx]

Ugh. That face made her feel guilty like she was a liar or something. She wasn't a liar. She just couldn't talk about it. "I... Fine, I have a crush on someone. Happy?"

[mongrelverine]

"Really?" This information intrigued Daken, the same way any valuable piece of information on the members of his team did.

After doing some quick math in his head as he eliminated the women on the team, as he highly doubted Angel swung that way, and those who were already in a relationship, it left him with only a handful that could fit the criteria. "Willing to bet how long it takes me to figure out who it is?"

[angelica_jinx]

Crap. She was kind of hoping he would be bored with the junior high display and that would be the end of it. She didn't expect him to start some quest to figure out the mystery man. He would put it together too. He was smart and sneaky. Not to mention perceptive. Ethan wasn't going to be happy. He wanted to sort of ease people into the idea of the two of them.

"Maybe it's you." She deflected, immediately wishing she had thought of something else to tell him and hadn't blurted something like that out. He wasn't the man, of course, but she wasn't completely passive where he was concerned either. There were times when he stood too close or flirted that her body reacted but it was like a superpower the way he could be so suave and say all the right things until the exact moment he needed it. Then like dominoes he'd say the first wrong then, then another and another until they were back at square one.

[mongrelverine]

Daken looked pleased with Angel's attempt to distract him. He already knew that there had been sparks between the two of them, but contrary to his usual obsessive nature, he hadn't bothered with pursuing her. Daken would never admit it, but he enjoyed Angel's company, and if the two ever became involved, he knew that the status quo would change. Perhaps it would completely snapping the ties that lay between them. He didn't want that to happen.

His arms folded across his chest as he stared down at the shorter woman, stepping closer to her. "If it was me, I'd have already down something." He inhaled the scents that had clung to her skin. It was a long shot, but there was a chance he would be able to pick something up that led him back to the source of Angel's current happy mood.

"Why don't you just tell me? It'd save me time and energy." He hoped she wouldn't. Daken enjoyed the challenge of solving a mystery.

[angelica_jinx]

And here she thought he was a little embarrassed by her. Not that she was someone embarrassing but he was always poking fun at her cheerful disposition. He hated her taste in music and seemed to dread movie night. That probably had something to do with all the musicals. She really should have known better though. Daken wasn't the sort of guy to let other people's opinions stop him from anything.

"Are you smelling me? Stop!" She laughed swatting at him and backing up. It was easy to forget he was a feral until he did something like that. It made her a little self conscious about what he could be smelling. Thankfully, she'd had a shower between now and the last time she'd been with Ethan.

"What do you care who I like anyway? With my luck, just when he starts to like me back he'll suddenly leave the base without so much as a goodbye. So it won't even matter."

[mongrelverine]

He rubbed his arm in a dramatic fashion where Angel had smacked him. "Ow." Of course, it hadn't hurt in the slightest. Sure, sniffing someone probably wasn't in Miss Manners book of proper etiquette, but it was the easiest way to find out everything he needed to know about someone. Unfortunately, it had told him zip about what he wanted to know about Angel's mystery man. "I care because I like knowing the high school politics that make up the camp." People were much easier to control when you knew everything there was to know about them.

"If you get your heart broken again, I'll snap his neck," Dakne flatly stated with a frown, his own twisted version of caring about what happened to Angel. If he couldn't hold onto something, the only way left was to destroy it. That applied to everything in his life.

[angelica_jinx]

She knew it didn't hurt him. She didn't smack him hard and she knew for sure that he'd shaken off a lot worse. So she made a face at him even as she rubbed his upper arm just in case. "Well, I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. It would make things weird and it's still too new."

The threat made her pause. Her large brown eyes searched his. That was maybe the sweetest thing he'd ever said to her. He was worried about her, concerned for her well being and the state of her heart. Her lip wibbled but she wasn't going to cry. Waterworks would just make him feel awkward especially when she slides her arms around his neck and hugs him.

[mongrelverine]

When Angel looked like she was about to cry, Daken was very confused. Now what had he said wrong? Great, now he was going to have to make an apology when he wasn't even sure what it was he had done wrong. The watery eyed look transitioning into the embrace completely puzzled the feral and made his brain temporarily shut down. Sure, he'd been hugged before, but not like this, something so warm and full of compassion.

Every instinct told him to stab her in the back or struggle to get away, but Daken couldn't move an inch. He resolved as his brain finally started working right again that he would never understand women, even if he lived to be a thousand years old. They were like a completely different species.

[angelica_jinx]

She knew it was something of an overstep for her to initiate contact like that but it felt like a breakthrough. Tirelessly, she chipped at that protective outer shell with no real way of knowing if she was making any progress with him. She knew in her heart there was someone worth knowing inside. Poets were like animal people. A guy can own a dog and still be a dick but just the act of caring for something meant there was hope. The same thing went for people with a poetic spirit. They could snark and bite and be self absorbed or push people away but just the fact that they are so tuned into their emotions and feel things so deeply meant there was hope.

Angel pulled back and smiled at him sheepishly. "You know, I half expected you to think I was attacking and punch me or something."