Runelords 00.8 - Scholarly Hermits

Lucca stood outside of a plain doorway, in a hall that didn't see much use at all. Double checking the number, he nodded: this was Luna Estaban's office. He could feel the passive emotions of someone lost in thought beyond the door; it was the only feeling he could pick up. This hallway was really empty.
He knocked politely. A woman's voice called out immediately, "One minute..." A few seconds later, she added, "Come in." Pushing open the door, he saw the small office was crowded with books and fine equipment; a young woman with dirty blonde hair and glasses regarded him from behind a desk. "Can I help you?" her expression revealing her lack of recognition of the man before her.
"I'm not really in the market for help at the moment, but thank you for asking." He replied with a small, crooked smile. He was wearing the customary form he tended to take when visiting the hospital; a blend of his old changeling and human forms that seemed at once perfectly human and slightly unearthly, although it was difficult to put a finger on why. His demeanor was both friendly and polite as he continued from the doorway, "I'm sorry if I've disturbed you, but I was actually just passing by, and it occurred to me that we'd never actually properly met before. I figured it was only polite if I stopped in to say 'hello' and all that. Are you busy at the moment?"
"Umm...not particularly, no..." she said with a hesitance that you didn't need to be an empath to detect. "Um, should we have properly met before? I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you at all."
"Mmmh, not necessarily, but maybe?" He offered, with a soft chuckle to himself, going on to explain, "I pop in from time to time to visit a good friend of mine here, and wander I around catching up on what research people have been up to, generally. Word on the street is we share similar...time constraints. Or lack thereof, rather. So, while clearly we haven't occasioned to run into one another before, it was really only a matter of time until we did. Hence it only feeling right to get acquainted, in my opinion anyhow. That is, if you're amenable to the idea?" He made a vague gesture, dismissive of his own rambling. An hint of playfulness tinged his smile as he went on, "What I'm getting at is, would you like to join me in watching tea get cold somewhere?"
"...I...What?" Luna looked at him, and he could feel the supreme hesitance and uncertainty coming from her. However, she masked it with professionalism as she replied, "I'm...sorry, I was a bit unclear; I was more wondering your name, and what your position on staff is. Also..." she raised an eyebrow, "that sort of sounded like you asked me on a date? And I'm reasonably certain that wasn't your intention."
"Heh, yes and no? That is kind of exactly what I did, save for it without the romantic aims; sort of like a platonic date, if you will." He grinned, clearly amused with himself, then explained more clearly, almost offhandly,  "My name is Lucca. I don't have a position on the staff here, unless 'occasional research voyeur' counts these days. I'm a friend of Dr. Cohen's, I visit sometimes. I'm immortal; I hear you are too. There tends to be a lack of familiar faces around, when you're around this long, so it's nice to get to know those that are. That's what I'm going on about. I'm sorry if I'm weirding you out, but there's not exactly a standard of etiquette for something like this, that I'm aware of."
"Oh! Oh. ...Oh." Luna fidgeted and looked around, obviously at something of a loss. "Um. Ok. Uhm...so, are, you...undead?"
Lucca hesitated, squirming slightly under the question, "...Ah, no. Not quite."
He could feel the slightest tinge of disappointment come from her, though she kept it off her face. "Oh. So...how are you immortal, then? If you don't mind me asking."
"Heh. Very direct," Smiling bemusedly, he replied, "I'm an extraplanar."
"Ooh," her disappointment was shown clearly to all now, and she frowned slightly towards him. After a beat, she sighed, "Fine. Sure. Why not." Standing up, she continued, "We can't really leave the hospital though. I get enough dirty looks here." As she approached him, she gave a dry, tired look, "And it's better than being called by security to clean up hazardous waste or break up a magically-compulsed orgy, which are the only reasons I usually get called on..." 
Lucca was taken aback, and a look of displeasure flitted across his face, though not directed at the woman in front of him. Shaking it off, he said, "That...is possibly the last thing you would have to worry about in my company. I swear." With a slightly strained smile, he switched gears, "Please, feel free to choose wherever you're most comfortable. I'm honestly not particular."
Luna shrugged, "Alright. Let's go to the east wing lounge. It's usually empty, and it has decent chairs." Muttering almost inaudibly to herself, she added, "Not like it won't empty pretty quickly anyways..." Speaking to Lucca again, she added, "I'm Luna Estaban. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, but most people know me before I meet them, so it's a bit of a moot point."
Stepping to the side and with a slight look of sympathy, Lucca gestured for her to pass by, "Lead on, then."
----
Lucca pushed open the door to Cohen's apartment; he had apparently let his reputation double as his door lock. He found him napping on a couch, his face covered with an open book, other books strewn all about him in organized piles, and Xiao Pang sleeping on top of him. The cat stirred at the devil's intrusion, blinking slowly and yawning unconcernedly; the doctor, however, did not. Stepping lightly, Lucca made his way across the room pausing to scratch his cat under the chin before ever-so-carefully scooping him off of the sleeping man. He nuzzled his face into Xiao Pang's soft fur, then gently placed him on the floor and returned his attentions to Cohen. Slowly leaning down, he drew a deep breath, bringing his mouth next to the sleeping man's ear and bellowed, "WAKE UP, JACKASS!"
Yelling, Cohen flung himself upright, flailing about and missing Lucca only because the devil had the foresight to step backwards. Breathing heavily, he glared at Lucca with confused fury, "What was THAT for?!"
"It was for being a stupid, mayonnaise-eating jerk-ass!" He retorted, folding his arms and glaring down his nose disapprovingly at the man. "It's also what you get for sleeping with your door unlocked. But, that is entirely beside the point, which is you being an ass." Barely letting the Doctor get his bearings, he launched into a rant, "What the actual fuck is even going on here? Last time I dropped by you were bitching about how people suck and oozing loneliness and all this shit, and it was like 'man, poor dude...' But then I come back and find out you've got some poor undead girl living here that you're seemingly ignoring the fuck out of!? For decades! After you goddamn hand-picked her for social compatibility! Why? What the hell is that all about? What even is this? It's bullshit is what it is! You're lonely! She's lonely! You're practically living in the same fucking building! Why are you not interacting!?" As he spoke he paced the room, gesturing animatedly and radiating frustration. Cohen said nothing, merely sitting and staring at him with the fury of someone who had been scared and the confusion of someone who had been asleep a minute ago, fueled by Lucca's own irratibility. There was a deeper level of confusion as well, that Lucca could sense: Cohen had little, if no, idea what he was talking about. It was just enough to give the devil pause, and he stopped and faced him once more, hands on his hips. "What do you mean you're confused? This shouldn't be confusing!" he asserted. Scowling pointedly at the other man, he continued slowly, ensuring he kept up. "There is a young woman 'living' and working here as a researcher. Luna Estaban. She is undead. You apparently picked her to be undead, because she was the most pleasing candidate personality-wise. The very act of which, I have to add, implies that you intended to continue a social relationship with her. You have not! You appear to have staunchly ignored her for the majority of the time since she was turned. Why!? You get very lonely here! That poor girl is dreadfully lonely, and gets treated like a pariah most of the time! It makes exactly zero sense for you two not to be better acquainted!" His agitation had begun to rise again, driving him back to pacing, "I did give you the benefit of the doubt, you know. Just in case you'd botched your initial assesment or something and had a valid reason  for this nonsense. But you don't! She is a lovely girl! She'd make a perfectly good acquaintance, at the least! And she most certainly doesn't deserve the jerk-ass treatment you've leveled her way thus far! If you could tell me what the deal is here, I'd love to know!" As Lucca ranted, Cohen's mood shifted, the anger ebbing away to be replaced with the embarrassment of realization, and a facial expression that suggested that he knew better than to vocalize what he was thinking. The devil stopped and stared at him harshly, taking in the Doctor's expression and emotions, his own aura one of steadily growing portent. "You didn't." He growled ominously, "Did you seriously forget about her entirely!? Seriously!?" In lieu of replying, Cohen sank lower into his seat, looking away and crossing his arms. "You JACKASS!" He yelled, snatching a book from the shelf behind him and lobbing it at the doctor, who caught it and placed it down gently, his frown suggesting that books shouldn't be treated in that fashion. Throwing up his hands, Lucca huffed, "Spirits help me, you're hopeless sometimes!" With a sigh, he rubbed at his face, "I suppose on the upside, at least you're not harboring any ill-will towards her. We can work with this. Frig though! It's bad enough to forget and ignore a person, but to lead them on like that first? Ugh!"
For the first time in the conversation, Cohen spoke, though it was both muttered and sullen, "I didn't lead anybody anywhere..." He grumbled to himself, crossing his arms and legs again, looking away, "I don't do well with remembering people if they aren't showing up regularly, and even then..."
"Bull. Shit." The devil retorted, "The second part, yes, vaild. But no, you totally did lead her on and it was especially shitty of you. Think about it! I'll walk you through, even. She was after this competitive, highly desirable grad student position. It turned out to have what for many people could be a pretty nasty catch: immortality. Undead immortality. Which is, as you know, two-pronged because eternity can be hard, something that anyone with a quarter of a brain can riddle out, and undeath can be messy and off-putting to most people. Enter your stupid ass: 'Oh, I've interviewed everyone to see who I get along with best, as we're both gonna be eternity-ing up in here together. I liked you best, so you win the prize!' Now, what does that say to a person weighing undeath against a position they desperately want?" He paused a beat before answering himself, "It tends to imply that 'hey, at least you'll have some sort of company in the endless years ahead of you. At least you wont be utterly alone!' Might skew the weighting a bit, no? Do you see where I'm coming from here?" As he explained, his mood shifted away from angry frustration and into a gentle sort of sympathy.
"Yes! Fine! I am a terrible person! Everyone knows that already!" he snapped. "What do you want? Did you show up to scold me for being the jerk you're already well aware that I am?"
"Oh, don't start that with me. You know full well that isn't what I was saying, or why I'm here." He chided, making his way over to the nearest chair, sitting down and beckoning Xiao Pang to his lap. "I showed up because I want to help. I know you can't pick up on these sorts of things; that's why I'm pointing them out to you. Now you know you made a mistake and you remember she exists. The nice thing about eternity is there's always time to fix things and start over. So go, knock on her door and stop being lonely." He smiled slightly, "Or, if you must, be lonely, but do it together."
Cohen continued to sulk, "That sounds both disingenuous and awkward." Sarcasm was thick in his voice as he continued, "How is that even supposed to work; I go up to her and say, 'Oh, yes, I forgot that you existed for 70 years, after I gave people permission to put you in an awful position, but this devil I know said that we should be friends, despite my chronic case of jackass and your fear of me being your overlord'? And then what, we get coffee?"
"Awkwardness is the price you pay for being a twit." Lucca said with a teasing smile. He went on, "You know, if you add a smile and a bit of self-effacing humor to your tone and you could certainly try that route, might work. Or if you feel like going the white-lie route you could play the 'I got lost in my work, hee hee.' card. Not my favorite choice, but it's there. Or any number of other things. I dunno, be creative. " He snorted and added somewhat sarcastically, "I don't really care how you do it, myself. If I have to take the pair of you and," he motioned as if squishing something together between his hands, "I will. I'll drag you both on a weird-ass three-way date, I don't even give a shit. But one way or another, it's gonna happen." Cohen snorted and looked sidelong again, muttering unintelligible things under his breath, his mood stubborn. "Oh what? Is that what we're doing then? Don't even try me, doc. You know I'll do it." He waited a couple moments more, to see if Cohen would give, before declaring. "Okay, fine. We're all going to go stare at coffee together, and nobody's leaving until I'm satisfied. Go get your ass ready."
Cohen blinked at him, "You're not actually serious."
----
Sighing moodily, Cohen slumped in a chair. "I can't believe you were serious..." He had shifted to appear not too unlike himself, though his age was early twenties at best. He sucked a frozen drink through a straw sulkily, with Lucca sitting beside him, smiling serenely and perhaps a little smugly as he stirred at a frothy drink.
As they sat, a young woman with dark hair and glasses walked warily into the store, glancing about with the frantic nature of someone shy looking for their friends before anyone could ask them if they needed help. Spotting Lucca as he raised his hand and gave a small wave, she scuttled over quickly, eyeing Cohen with hesitance. "Hi..." she said to Lucca, though her eyes kept flicking to the younger man. "It's me. I just...changed my hair..." she half-explained, though it was obvious she had changed her face as well.
"Hello," he replied warmly, "I can see that. It looks lovely. Please, sit," he added, gesturing to the empty chair at their table.
"Good afternoon," Cohen added as she slid down.
"I...umm...can't stay here too long..." she said, looking at the table. "I've only got...about half an hour..." Lucca could feel her hesitance and shame, and knew she was referring to the illusion that covered her appearance.
"So short?" He frowned slightly, then cast a pointed, sidelong glance at Cohen, "Perhaps you might be able offer her some help with that, mmh? Either now, or later?"
Rolling his eyes, the doctor stood up and made to move to the bathroom; "Give me a few minutes, then. I didn't make any, and I'm not pulling out an alchemy kit in a restaurant."
"Thank you, you're only too kind!" Lucca chirped after him brightly.
Returning his attention to Luna he smiled once more. "I hope you don't mind that I've brought that fool along." He gestured at the other man as he walked away, "He doesn't get out nearly enough, and I thought we all might find each other's company agreeable. I believe you two have met before, some time ago, yes?"
"I...don't recognize him..." She said, frowning thoughtfully at Cohen's receding back as he entered through a door.
"Mmmh, I'm not terribly suprised. Recreational shapeshifters can be a chore to keep track of. Let's wait 'till he's back for introductions, you can see if you can guess in the meantime, perhaps." He looked up once more from toying with his drink, and switched gears to small-talk. "So, how have you been? Well, I hope?"
"I'm...not really good at remembering people, especially if they're sigmas," she said. "I meet a lot of people, and none of them very well, so they sort of...blend together, a bit. If they start changing their faces, I'm totally lost." She had seemed to calm a bit, now that she was seated and the stranger had left. "I've been ok, I guess. Nothing really new. How have you been?"
"I've been quite good, quite good. Keeping busy and all that. How's your side-project been going?"
"Not badly. I still haven't quite got the hang of higher calibers yet, so I can still only really get the underpowered models working." She carried on, discussing her work and showing signs of liveliness. After a few minutes, however, Cohen returned to the table and she silenced herself, visibly drawing back into her metaphorical shell.
As he sat down, he placed a handful of five glass vials on the table in front of her. "There. Disguise Self. Each one should last a little over two hours." He drew his drink over to himself as he added, "If we're still here after ten hours, I can make more." After a pause to take a drink, he added, "Though I would probably guess the management might start to get irate at that point..."
She blinked, looking uncomfortably between the vials, Cohen and Lucca. "Oh...umm...thank, you? Thank you, I guess." She took the glasses and placed them in her purse. "I...can make extracts of them myself, I'm guessing they're extracts, because you mentioned alchemy and they're small volume, but mine only last about 10 minutes, so you must be a lot more skilled than me if they last that long..." she cut off her nervous rant and added quietly, "And...I guess this means you know who I am too..."
Cohen continued to slurp his drink, looking at her dryly. When she finished, he said, "...I'm thinking the actual problem here is that you don't know who I am." 
"N-no..." Luna said hesitantly, "Should I?"
"Oh my gods, seriously?" he said towards Lucca. "Seriously? When you said you'd tell her to meet us I thought you told her who she was meeting!" He put his forehead in his palm, "This is getting difficult to make more awkward..."
"I did tell her! Myself and a friend. That is who we are, isn't it?" Lucca shot back with a devilish grin.
Luna fidgeted timidly, and made motions to turn away slowly, "I'm...I'm sorry...I can...I can go, if I'm..."
"No, no!" Cohen said with bright sarcasm, sitting up. "Please, stay and join me in the magnificently crafted awkwardness! I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself properly, because I assumed he wasn't a jerk and told you. I'm Dr. Cohen, I'm sorry it's been a while; this is Lucca, his sense of humour is befitting the plane he crawled out of, and we're all sitting here in disguise because any one of us would cause a scene with our actual faces." Luna looked slightly shell-shocked at this blunt explanation. Cohen turned pointedly to Lucca, said with the same bright sarcasm, "I hate you," and returned to his drink, scowling.
"You're welcome!" The devil chirped brightly, shooting the other man a broad, supremely smug grin. "It is magnificent isn't it? I'm quite proud, myself. And the real beauty of it is, there's no place to go but up!" Turning to Luna, his expression changed dramatically, becoming somewhat apologetic, "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that and letting things get far more awkward than they needed to be, you didn't deserve that. At all. He on the other hand," he gestured to Cohen, "did. For the twofold crimes of being a heinous shut-in, and refusing to take atoning for the rudeness committed towards you by being said shut-in into his own hands. Once again, you have my apologies."
"Uhhmmm...that's...ok?" she offered, unsure. She looked between the pair of them, "Did...did you need me for something then? Is this a meeting?" Cohen muttered something, made unintelligible by the straw in his mouth, then proceeded to blow bubbles into the cup.
Lucca shot him a disapproving look, "My dogs have better manners than you. My cat has better manners than you. Please, try? Even a little?" Cohen responded by sticking his tongue out at him. Rolling his eyes, Lucca turned his attention to Luna and said, "No, it's not a meeting or anything like that. We're here to sit and chat and have a nice time. Like last time we met, except now with the addition of this man-child here," he gestured to Cohen once again, "who, if he deigns to stop sulking, is actually surprisingly pleasant company! That's all." He finished with a pleasant smile, then said, "As long as he is, however, we may as well continue with our conversation, hmm?"
"Oh, I'm done," Cohen said, grinning slightly and sitting up. He rubbed his face, and when he sat back, he looked slightly older than he did a moment before. "If I have to languish in awkwardness, so will everyone else. And since I'm being treated like a grade-schooler, I'm going to act like one. But fine, that's enough. Unlike some people," he intoned pointedly at the other man, "I find acting immature quickly wears thin. Also, your cat is not well-mannered. The stupid thing gets into everything. Now, what are we talking about?"
Lucca regarded him with a raised eyebrow for a moment before returning to the conversation. "Thank you. Luna was just telling me about her efforts to get a bit more power from the current gun design she's been working on."
Luna sank lower into her seat; she would be blushing if not for the illusion that covered her. "Um...yeah. Just...tweaking it." She spoke in a whisper, "It's...it's not really that interesting..."
"You can speak up a bit," Cohen offered, "We can't hear you in the back."
"Yes, sir," she said, more clearly, sitting up a bit straighter.
Cohen rolled his eyes slightly, turning to Lucca with drink in hand. "Now you see my problem."
"What's that? Your attitude? Yes I do." He replied dryly, with a crooked smile, "Maybe don't talk as if she isn't right here? That's rude, come on." To Luna, he said, "I was finding it rather interesting myself; in all these years I never once bothered to consider how the things worked. But please, don't feel like you're being put on the spot, we can always come back to it later. Is there by chance something else you'd rather discuss?"
"...I...mmn..." Luna rubbed her elbow awkwardly. "...I'm...I'm sorry, I'm not very good at talking. I just...don't usually talk to...people..."
"Neither do I," Cohen said, as he looked past his drink into the middle distance. "Because everyone knows who I am, and everyone has a very clear opinion of me that dictates that I should be avoided. And from that point it's easier to just avoid everybody right back. Except, I've never been shy, so my avoidance is sarcasm and acting innane." He tapped the table twice with his index finger before looking up, "Did you meet his cat? It lives in my apartment and is a fat, ridiculous thing."
"Um...no...I...don't get along with a lot of animals..."
"Well, you should come meet it, if you like cats. This thing likes the Managers, so I'm sure it will find you enchanting."
Luna blinked, "That's...sir, insects avoid the Managers. The Managers frighten bacteria."
The doctor looked impressed, "Did they prove that?"
"Didn't...didn't you read the paper, sir."
"I read absolutely everything. Reading is easy. Remembering is the trick." He stirred his drink about, grinning slightly, "Refresh my memory; who did that study again?"
"Well, I...I don't remember exactly, but..."
"I don't remember at all!" Cohen said brightly, "So you're one up on me."
"I think...I think it was Renevald's team...? And...well, I remember the methodology, they were taking samples and introducing them," Luna carried on, explaining the experiment in reasonable detail, becoming more animated as she settled into the topic. After a few minutes, she finished, "But, really, the question here is the cat. How can this one cat like the Managers, when literally every other living, mobile thing in existance is repulsed by them?" She turned to Lucca, "What is your cat?"
The devil, who had settled back comfortably in his chair with a look of quiet satisfaction as they talked, blinked at suddenly being addressed, then smiled slightly, "He's just that: a cat. A cat who loves everyone and everything. He was a gift from rather powerful fey, but we're quite certain that despite his quirks he's not a fey-cat. His name is Xiao Pang, and he's is a truly magnificent creature; Cohen's right, you really should meet him some time."
"There is no definition of 'magnificent' that would correctly describe that cat," Cohen said. "It is a fat calico tabby. It eats whatever is lying around and sleeps 20 hours a day. It is a remarkable cat: it has never aged a day, and it enjoys literally anything's company, despite having no arcane or extraplanar influences about it at all. But it is not a magnificent cat. It is a useless glutton, who messes up my files." 
"Oh shut up. You were cuddled up napping with him when I came to get you earlier, so don't even start talking smack." Lucca shot back with a grin. "You love him. Everyone loves him, he's the best."
Cohen frowned, "I wasn't even tired until it showed up. I blame its black magic for the nap to begin with." He turned to Luna, "It is actually a ridiculous sight though, watching the Managers pet it. It is literally the only animal the Few have ever been able to touch, so they revere the thing."
Luna smiled shyly, "Heh. I would like to meet it, sometime, if it's no trouble..."
"Not at all," Cohen said.
"You...you said you had dogs too?" she asked of Lucca.
"Now, those I wouldn't keep," Cohen interjected, earning a grin from the devil.
Luna tilted her head, regarding the doctor before turning back to Lucca, "And, why are you keeping your cat at his house, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, for one, I can't really see him doing too well with the dogs," Lucca explained. "For two, more importantly, we don't know if he'd be alright off-plane or not, but I didn't want to chance it when I...moved," he explained off-handly, going on with a dismissive wave. "That and he seems to do so well here anyway; it just wouldn't be right to hoard him away somewhere when there are so many who appreciate him here. I'd be unfair to the Few, and what would the Doctor here do without him? Forget time exists altogether, probably."
"Don't pretend it has a function. It's only function is eating my food," Cohen said, grinning. "And we've been calling them dogs, but that's a terrible misnomer." He turned back to Luna, "He keeps wolves. Ruddy huge white hell wolves, with bird wings, and teeth and claws of unearthly steel. 'Dogs' doesn't quite...elicit that mental picture."
Luna looked a bit shocked, and asked Lucca, "Are they tame?"
"Aww, come on now! You make them sound so awful when you say it like that! They're good dogs and you know it." He shot back with a grin of his own, replying to Luna, "That...really depends on who's doing the asking. For me? Yes. Also for my husband. For most others? Perhaps not so much."
"You know how you swear up and down that Mako's spirit wolf is terrifying, despite all of his assertions that it's a 'good dog'? That. A thousand times that." Luna smiled slightly and fidgeted, looking like she wanted to say something. Cohen raised his eyebrow, "What?"
"Nothing! It's nothing," she replied.
Cohen sat back, grinning slightly, "No, go on. I don't offend easily."
"Uhmm...well...please, don't take anything the wrong way, sir, you know a lot better than I do,"
Cohen interrupted, "Doubtful, but anyways."
"Um...I...thought the core of the AHP is to surpass extraplanars. So they can't take advantage of us. The whole island is pretty anti-extraplanar. No offense to you, of course," she said quickly to Lucca, "but...it, sounds like you let extraplanars into Materia. A lot. Why did you start a pro-Materian extraplanar defense project...if you're friends with extraplanars?" Cohen looked thoughtfully towards her, and she looked down, "I'm sorry! That was pretty prying, I shouldn't have asked."
"No no. You're right. It's hypocritical." He played with his straw, "But really, it boils down to the simple fact that I made friends, once, 300 years ago, with Materians. Most of them decided to stop being terrible people and start being devils. I still don't like extraplanars. I won't deal with extraplanars, and I certainly won't summon them. But, they were mortal, and they're still my friends, regardless of my lack of agreement with their life choices. I have had about four friends, ever, so I can't exactly be picky. And so here we are," he grinned towards Lucca, "with this twit showing up in my house screaming at me while I'm asleep."
"Hey, someone has to keep you on your toes," he said, returning a muted grin of his own.
"Pull a stunt like that again, and I'll start showing up in your house uninvited. You'll be sorry then," he said smugly. Turning back to Luna he said facetiously, "Anyways, it's always good to temper your racism with a few exceptions, don't you think?"
"I...I guess, sir."
Cohen rolled his eyes, then carried on, "So, are you working on anything interesting? I'm between projects, so I'm spending the majority of my time alternating between reading about locomotives and souffles, and going insane."
"Oh. Well...I...guess I'm writing a few papers for Professor Timmons, but I'm not really working on anything new, at the moment..."
"Heh. How many times have you read the library?"
She blinked, then gave a self-depreciating smile, "Well, I haven't read all of it yet."
He grinned, "Wait until you get to the index card listing. It's riveting. Heh. So, are you more of a fiction reader, or non-fiction?"
"I...guess I prefer fiction..."
"Mmm. The public library is better for that than the academic reserve. The problem is so much of both of them are limited to very recent titles? I suppose that because of the importing..." Cohen carried on, talking of books and libraries, goading Luna into speaking. As time passed, she became more comfortable, opening up and talking more freely with the two men. Lucca, for his part, subtly and gradually eased his way out of the conversation, only occasionally throwing in a question or comment to keep conversation flowing when it seemed like they might have hit a snag. He settled back, content to let the other two enjoy themselves.
----
Osamu's voice spoke into Lucca's mind, Are you coming back soon? You've been gone a while.
I guess I have, haven't I? I certainly can; I do believe I'm finished what I was doing anyway. A faint smile touched his lips as he added teasingly, Why? You startin' to miss me?
That seems a silly question. Don't let me rush you though; come back when you're ready.
With a slight chuckle to himself, Lucca thought, Aww! Nah, I'm ready to come home. One Plane Shift request, comin' your way! Just gotta say my goodbyes first! He stood up, drawing the others' gazes. With a stretch, he explained, "Well! Time for me to be getting back." He turned to each of them, saying goodbye for the time being. "Thank you both for the lovely afternoon."
"It was nice to see you again," Luna said. "Take care."
"Next time keep it down to a dull shriek, Whispering Pete," Cohen said with a sardonic grin. With that, Lucca excused himself to find a decent place to cast the ten-minute ritual.
As he left the building, Luna looked at Cohen awkwardly, "I...I guess I should be going too."
The doctor sighed, "I suppose. We've been getting dirty looks from the wait staff for a while." The pair stood up, and Cohen paid the open tab. As they both walked out onto the street, Luna shuffled, "It was nice talking to you, Doctor."
"It was a decent afternoon, after all that, I suppose."
"I'll...um, let you get back then. Have a good night, Doctor," with a slight bow, she turned to leave.
Cohen watched her turn and walk away; before she got too far, he called, "Did you want to see his stupid cat?"
Luna looked over her shoulder, "Huh?"
Cohen shrugged, "I'm doing nothing of any value, so, if you didn't have any other engagements, you could see the cat we were talking about."
"Oh! Um..." she floundered, "I don't want to intrude or anything..."
"Literally. Nothing of value. I was probably going to stare at the ceiling for a while."
"I...I don't know..." she said, looking down.
Cohen regarded her for a moment, then shrugged, "The offer's open; don't feel obligated." He turned to leave, "Have a pleasant evening."
It was Luna's turn to watch the other leave. She thought for a few seconds, biting her lip. Finally, taking a breath, she called back, "Sure!" He looked back, eyebrow raised. "Sure. I'm...I'm not really doing anything either. I'll come see this weird cat."
There was a vague hint of a smile on his face as he waved her over, "Come on then."
Category:Rise of the Runelords