I always feel like, somebody's watching me [Kate]

[tricksthetreat]

[Dated October 12th]Trixa's Mama had told her a lot of things over the thousands of years she'd been alive. One of which was pick your battles and second to that, pick your battlegrounds. Tonight, Trixa was doing both. By now, she knew just about the whole story - Kate got bored and angry, Kate went on a little thieving jaunt. Trixa could respect

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[girlsolo]

Kate snorts and takes the few steps over to the edge of the boardwalk, then drops to the edge, one knee up on the walk to turn her toward Trixa and the other foot edging through a pile of sand.

"Not much to tell you haven't heard a million times and I'm not one for sob stories. My life, my choices." Besides, her mom, dad and Thad don't really have fuck all to do with this and she knows it. "Everything kind of turned around two years ago when I ran into Magnus working the other side of something a lot bigger than me. Magnus pulled my ass out of the fire and I stuck around to help save hers. I've been with her and Will ever since."

Kate watches her hands pick at the fringe on her jeans and rolls her eyes at herself. "I stopped running cons and stealing and smuggling because they gave me something a lot better to do. Gave me people to point, aim and shoot at who deserved it." She frowns because it's taking a lot more words to get to the point than she's comfortable with.

"Getting to the island and finding out Will and Magnus never lived through the stuff that made us family, I don't know if I was more pissed that they didn't know how hard I'd worked to be someone they could be proud of or that the island wanted to give me a blank slate after all the shit I've done that I need to make up for."

[tricksthetreat]

"So you're working out your insecurities with a few amateur felonies?"

Granted, it was far from the dumbest idea she'd heard, hell, when she was a kid, really a kid, she'd done her share, but never like this. There was a difference between getting caught when you were really trying and getting caught because you didn't care. She knew that she was wired different, she was a trickster born, maybe she was projecting her own sense of duty and pride on a simple human woman who was having a rough time of it.

[girlsolo]

Kate laughs at that, sharp and bitter. It's not the stupidest explanation of it she's heard and not that far off the point. "Probably oversimplifying a bit, but not far off the mark."

She plucks at the fringe on her thigh again and rolls the idea around in her head some. "It all started with Will and me stealing something of his that meant something to both of us. Something that should have meant something to both of us. When it didn't and he didn't call me on it, I got pissed off and made him call me on it." Kate's not at all proud of that. "It was stupid as fuck but we got right because of it. And, it wasn't the plan, but it fixed something else too. Now I don't have a blank slate so much. I hurt people here too, and I owe them something. Putting it right's kind of helping me get my head on straight."

The effed up thing about that is, it's 100% percent honest. For a girl who lives on lies, when she decides to tell the truth, she tells it without flinching.

[tricksthetreat]

"And the rest of us fit in... where exactly?"

Because if she'd been trying to get her friend's attention, stealing from Trixa wasn't going to cut it. Not when she was the type to not advertise when she'd been wronged, the type that just took matters into her own hands. Truth be told, if it weren't for not wanting to put Ishiah in an awkward position, this conversation wouldn't be happening - Trixa would just be raiding Kate's space for her own souvenirs... and leaving her own little surprises.

[girlsolo]

"It was different for everyone." But she gets a little where Trixa's coming from, asking the questions she's asking. "Most of it was opportunity or connections that amused me. You were the only one I picked out on purpose. I honestly wasn't thinking to take anything from you when I went in. I just thought if anyone knew a damned thing about this island that they weren't telling, it'd be you. But then there wasn't anything."

Kate lifts her head to meet Trixa's eyes because she owes her that much, too. "If you broke into my place, I'd expect you to take something that mattered. And I'd expect you to keep it safe so I could steal or barter it back. So I took your feather. Courtesy. Twisted, I guess. But I kind of figured you'd get it."

[tricksthetreat]

Trixa had to repress the urge to laugh. Really? That was what she had thought? Maybe it was time she set a few things straight for the record. "First, if I broke into your place, you'd never find out it was me. Second, I might take something that mattered, but what I take, I don't give back." She had to pause and reconsider that one - it wasn't entirely truthful. "Unless I'm ramming it down your throat or up your ass."

Trixa fixed a half-glare towards Kate. She was serious about this and she wanted Kate to understand it. "The con, the tricks, it's not a game, not for me, it's what I am. I get that you were trying to be nice and in your way this was a gesture of respect. I can forgive that as a rookie mistake. But I wasn't amused. And I'm a little insulted that you thought I'd be impressed."

[girlsolo]

Kate gets the message because she's not stupid. She's not cowed by it but she doesn't think Trixa expects her to be. There's a difference between showing respect - which Trixa can have and being craven - which Kate isn't.

She could dig in her heels about some of it, but there's no point. Kate learned early when to cut her losses. Trixa'd still be right and she'd still be wrong. So she nods once, accepting what she's being told, same as she would with Magnus if she dressed her down.

"Funny thing is, where I come from, I'd be the one saying what you're saying. So I hear you. I crossed a line, and it's one I won't cross again." Not just because of Trixa. "So now what? If you're looking for an apology, you can have one. I owe it to you. But that's not exactly the vibe I'm getting."

[tricksthetreat]

"No apologies, wasted words mostly. I prefer actions."

Trixa paused for a moment, she really didn't want an apology, but she wasn't sure what she did want. Reparations? Please. In the end, Kate hadn't known, she hadn't cared, and Trixa had given her sermon and was done with it. But there was one thing....

"Just promise me, you ever get the urge again - have some professional pride. Don't get your ass caught. You make us all look bad."

[girlsolo]

Kate's mouth quirks in a sharp little smile. She's not planning on stealing again, not for the wrong reasons anyway. And if she steals for the right ones, she won't get caught. "Give you my absolute word."

[tricksthetreat]

"Good. I'd hate to have to have this conversation again. Gets messy when I have to do things twice."

Trixa leaned back, looking up at the sky through the trees overhanging the boardwalk. It was getting pretty dark ad she should probably be heading back, but there was one thing she wanted to add. Something that someone claiming to have professional courtesy should understand, but after all of this, Trixa just wanted to make certain.

"And I'm sure I don't have to tell you that me and mine are off limits. I'm a territorial creature and I'd hate to see accidents happen."

[girlsolo]

Kate turns her head and looks at Trixa across her shoulder. "No, you don't." And Kate doesn't have to tell her that the same goes, so she doesn't. Instead, she offers up a quirk of a smile and says, "I'd say the same, but frankly, if you decide to mess with Tesla, that's just icing on the cake of me doing it." Will and Declan aren't Trixa's kind of targets and Magnus can more than take care of herself.

[tricksthetreat]

"I think messing with Tesla could be fun. I could use a little fun."

With an arched eyebrow, she looked over at the erstwhile thief. "The sex any good?" She had to ask and she wasn't asking Helen, besides, she was pretty sure Kate would dish.

[girlsolo]

The question's unexpected, but only because of timing. She'd figured Trixa would get around to asking at some point.

Kate grins, sharp and as blunt as her words: "Surprisingly talented with his tongue and willing to use it. Likes to think he's dominating the situation, but isn't. Generous enough to make one long night a good call. After that..." Kate waggles her hand in that classic gesture for maaaaybe yes-maaaybe no. "Depends on how willing you are to put up with the ego."

[tricksthetreat]

"I have plenty of experience with ego, I have a God for a best friend. Ego goes with the territory."

He couldn't possibly be more obnoxious than Leo with one of his stripper-girlfriends. No one was that bad. Well, maybe his brother, but then when you're the god of drunken frat-boys it kinda went with the territory. And no one was scarier than Leo on a rampage, either. If Kate thought Tesla would or even could rattle Trixa's cage, she was sorely mistaken.

Annoy the hell out of her would be a more likely scenario, maybe even bore her.

"But the rest is good to know."

[girlsolo]

"Yeah. I hear you. The ego's just annoying." Kate tips her chin in a mild shrug. She and Magnus both hit it once and decided they wouldn't go back. She'll be surprised if Trixa enjoys it enough to go back, at least without duct tape for his constantly running mouth.

"I've been dealing with him long enough that it's not worth going back for. Besides, I found something I like a lot better." A lot better. Just...maybe not better enough to choose just him. But she's getting more sure every day.

[tricksthetreat]

"Good for you."

Trying not to sound droll or bitter, Trixa had to repress the instinct to roll her eyes. She really shouldn't hold someone's happiness against them, hell, if Leo showed up tomorrow, well... she just shouldn't do it. Just because she hadn't gotten any in awhile, didn't mean she could snipe at some other young doe sowing her oats and if that wasn't a terrible mixed metaphor, she didn't know what was.

"We'll see what happens."