Fifth floor common room, Tuesday Evening

[cyclopeanmerc.livejournal.com]

Pip lay on the couch, hat over his face, snoozing.

He looked like he was enjoying a nice break from his homocidal psycho street cat.

He could probably be woken and even interuppted for something interesting enough.


_[[Open!]]

Comments

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Then you're going to have to figure out how to step back a little."

Walter sighed and dropped his arms to cross to Nadia and offer her a hug. "I talked to Alphonse and he's completely willing to let you stay with us. You're staying in my room tonight and I don't want to hear you arguing about it unless you have a better, rational alternative."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia leaned into him, closing her eyes. "I thought I was past all this. But I don't want to put Al in danger. I told you that."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"You told me." Walter sighed again and tightened his hold on her. "But Al can decide for himself whether he wants to be in danger for a friend."

[nadiathesaint]

"Not if he's not going to make the right choice,"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter was, thankfully, a person trained in patience or he might just start shaking her soon. "He's not as harmless as he acts."

[nadiathesaint]

"Yeah, he has his magic alchemy, but what's that going to do against Sloane?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"It's going to be something he's not trained against. Something he isn't anticipating. That's our advantage."

[nadiathesaint]

"He's a follower of Rambaldi. You think something like alchemy is going to throw him?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Are you listening to yourself? He does not know everything. He cannot be everywhere and he cannot do everything. Now stop it."

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia pulled away from Walter, her arms going around her chest again. "He's one of the most dangerous men on the planet. If not the most dangerous. He's smart, he's quick, and he's obsessed. And I'm scared, alright? I'm scared of what he could do to me and I'm very scared of what he'll do to anyone else who gets in his way!"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter wondered if slapping hysterics actually worked. Maybe if she tried to break his arm, she'd pull herself together. "Listen. Alphonse told me that he could seal the windows and the door. Sloane isn't going to be able to come through stone so easily, that will give us time at least to be ready for him, alright? You have to let us help you."

[nadiathesaint]

"Yeah? And how quickly can he unseal them if there's a problem?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"I've seen him work. It's fast."

[nadiathesaint]

". . . and he might make the room explode, like he did in that common room. . . ."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"That was an experiment with his brother."

[nadiathesaint]

"I'm not going to get you to understand, am I."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"That you're afraid of Sloane and you're not thinking clearly?"

[nadiathesaint]

"I'm trying to think through all the possibilities!"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Grand. Then come back to my room with me and think about them there."

[nadiathesaint]

And suddenly Nadia was, oh, about five with her stubborness.

"Make me."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Fine. When I pick you up off the floor, you walk down to my room with me and you don't try to leave tonight without telling me."

He'd just have to show her how much he'd been holding back when they sparred, since she apparently underestimated him quite a lot.

[nadiathesaint]

"If I don't feel safe, I'm leaving."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Not good enough. You don't feel safe anywhere right now."

[nadiathesaint]

"And you think forcing me to go somewhere is going to help?"

She'd forgotten just how stubborn he could be. Like that night in the water. . . .

Hmm.

Maybe he had a point.

She shut her eyes, squeezing her arms tighter around her body. "I'm not trying to be irrational."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"I don't think people try to be irrational." He stayed back, not wanting to scare her by touching her when there was a chance he wasn't going to have to get her in an arm lock to get her to go to his room.