Wellspring Arms, Tuesday Afternoon
Temari
Cleaning her weapons, Temari spent today at work like she would any other. Not expecting a single person to stop by.
It was the sort of job she really could begin to love because it gave her so much free time.
Rikku
Rikku was bored, and Rikku, when bored, got fun ideas of what sort of things were amusing.
"Hiya," she called, entering the shop and waving to her co-worker. "Having lots of fun not selling anything?"
Temari
Temari just snorted in amusement, shaking her head. "Have you ever sold anything?"
Rikku
"I've given some handy directions to the Meditation Room," Rikku laughed. "You know, it's kinda weird, being paid to stand here all day and not sell guns."
... Well. It was.
Temari
"I'm perfectly fine with not giving people guns," Temari replied. "Any moron can use one of those."
Rikku
"It's too easy," Rikku agreed, her face growing serious. "I mean, most weapons, it's a lot harder to accidentally hurt someone, or yourself. You bump a gun wrong, you can kill someone, you know?"
Not that she feared them -- it made them particularly useful, in the right situation -- but it meant you had to take them more seriously, dammit.
Temari
"I'll stick with knives and my tessan," Temari said firmly. No need for any of this crap. Those took skill.
Rikku
"Tessan?" Rikku asked, bouncing a little on her toes. Weapons talk always piqued her interest. "I have claws. You just strap them onto your arm and go. It means you've gotta pay attention, though, because there's no range on it. You just run up and go for the slice and dice."
Temari
Temari reached back for... the fan that wasn't there. Sometimes she hated this place. "It's an iron fan. Long distance fighting mostly. But it can be a club if needed."
Rikku
The gesture earned a wry smile, from Rikku. "Weapons locker?" she asked. "I hate that. If I want to keep my Godhand under my pillow, I should be able to, you know? It's mine."
Agent X
Sadly, Temari wasn't able to answer that one. Oh, no. She was prevented by the non-stop bickering of the pair that happened on into the shop.
"--no taste asshole. Trying to turn the kid's brain to mush with your crappy music!"
...that was the end of a rant that was best not to think about.
Taskmaster
"Hayden," Taskmaster snapped, shoving the door shut behind him, "Will you shut up? Fucking pidgeons can hear you coming. Pretend like you're a professional for a minute, will ya?"
The crying heap of baby in his arms had not done Tony's mood any good, no.
"There's nothing wrong with the Spice Girls."
Agent X
"You may as well just sit her down in front of Baby Einstein," Hayden snapped. "That's how horrible it is!"
Taskmaster
"It sure fucking well beats your crappy classical shit."
Taskmaster brushed past him, destination: that damn desk. "Girls," he said, "Is the big man in?" The quicker they got this over with, the quicker he'd-
"Oh, hell. Poopy diapers."
Temari
A very familiar baby at that. Temari shot Rikku a look before palming the knives on the front desk in case they were needed. "What do you want with Cable?"
Taskmaster
"Poopy diapers," Taskmaster repeated. "I'm a merc, not a baby carrier."
Rikku
"He's not available right now," Rikku said firmly. She could have just said he was out, but there was no reason to hand information to strangers, especially not ones who identified themselves as mercs. She noticed Temari equipping herself and nodded. Right. Be on her guard.
Curiosity got the better of her, and she nodded to the baby. "Is that ..."
Either Cable had a lot of friends with kids, or ...
Taskmaster
"Yeah, it is," Taskmaster said, before she could start stammering or something. He dumped the kid on the desk. There. "Listen, I don't have the time to stand around and do the poodle-sniffing thing with you. I don't care where he is. Make sure he gets the kid."
Grumble grumble mutter.
Rikku
Rikku had no idea whose poodle he wanted to sniff, but that baby was important, and so she wasn't about to just let her sit there on the desk. She scooped up the little one and ... awwww, she forgot how big Janice's eyes were. Who had such big eyes? Who was it?
Ahem.
"She'll be safe," she stated, setting her chin. Meaning it. Nobody was going to breathe funny on the baby. She'd kill if someone tried.
Agent X
Hayden just rolled his eyes and tried not to look too interested in things in the shop. Because that was much better than a baby.
"We'll just leave you kids to that then."
Taskmaster
"Tell him we only take cash," Taskmaster added.
What? He had his professional pride to think of here.
Temari
"We'll be sure to let him know," Temari said dryly in that way that implied it was never happening.
Rikku
"Okay," Rikku chirped, in her very best dismissive tone. "We've got it from here. Baby. Cash. No checks or IOUS. Did you guys need anything else ... ?"
Another day, another mysterious baby dropped off, you know. Same old, same old. There was the door, gentlemen.
Agent X
Hayden just stared. "...Are we being told off by a fifteen year old? I knew you were dragging down my rep!"
Taskmaster
"Me?!"
Taskmaster stared at him.
"You started on monkey jobs and moved up to dirty underwear, you fucking idiot. This is right up your alley. I am outta here."
Rikku
Rikku held the haughty pose until the two merc guys left, still bickering at each other. Then she finally let herself exhale. Okay, it'd be silly to think that the people who brought Janice here would then turn around and hurt her, but that didn't mean Rikku should trust them, either.
She adjusted the baby on her hip (so big! she was getting so big) and shot Temari a wry smile. "So ... do you have any idea where he is?"
Temari
"Not in the slightest," Temari admitted after they were long gone. "I doubt he'll be gone long if she's back, though."
Rikku
Rikku fished in her pocket for her phone, flipping it open and clicking to Cable's name. Score! ... And then the store phone started ringing.
"My bad," she grumbled, hanging up quickly and navigating to Deadpool's listing, instead. "I forgot, I put his work number in. I mean, he's usually here anyway, right?"
Janice, for her part, seemed content to wrap her chubby fingers around strands of Rikku's hair and jam them in the direction of her mouth.
"Voicemail," she sighed, rolling her eyes as the service picked up. Which meant she had to leave a particularly useful message for her mentor.
Temari
Temari just eyed the slightly bigger redheaded brat for a moment before looking away. It was a bit eerie for her to see red hair and green eyes on a baby and not be afraid of it still.
"We'll watch her until he gets back."
Rikku (and Janice)
"Okay," Rikku agreed easily, pocketing her phone again. "I have a single, shouldn't be too hard to put a crib in. And Turtle's store has lots of baby stuff. Doesn't it? Yes it does. Yes it does."
Janice laughed, tiny palms patting against Rikku's face.
Really, it was amazing that Rikku had held off the baby-talk that long.
Temari
"I'll keep watch out for anyone looking for the kid," Temari said. Because that was where she did best. Kids.
Ugh.
Rikku
"Good idea," Rikku said, glancing up with a serious expression again. "We have to assume someone's looking for her, right? Lots of someones, who are probably armed, too. So ... how do we want to do this?"
Temari
Putting all of the small weapons away safely, Temari glanced up at her and the baby once. "We get back to the dorms where we know they layout and have weapons. And then we wait."
Rikku
Rikku nodded. "We can work out the details from there," she agreed, cuddling Janice closer. "Let's go."
Guardian. They'd keep her safe.
(OOC: I WILL NEVER BE AS SEXY AS the_merriest and also you should type your own damn OOC note. KISSES! Preplayed with the awesome the_merriest and spring_lost. Even if one of them is a ho...)