Threadlog: Avalance and Mercury Who: Cait Kincaid and Dominic Petros When: September 13th, upon getting back Where: The Lair What: Tabby's rescued, Dominic's in sore need of a shower, and Cait hasn't seen him in months.
Dominic was tired. It had been a long day at the end of an even longer couple of months. Despite how he'd last left the place, he could almost admit that it was nice to be back in the Lair. Almost.
At the moment, all he wanted was a shower to rid himself of the grime, blood, and ash that was beginning to make him feel itchy all over. While the others were busy with Tabitha down in the lab Dom had slipped off. He was sure John would want to talk later but he wasn't going to stand around smelling like shit for that long.
Stripping off his shirt and dropping in the floor of what used to be his living quarters (no one else had moved in yet), Dom wiped his face on the inside of the shirt. He shuffled around for a spare change of clothes. He'd left a few things behind when he left - just in case.
Cait ... Cait wasn't really sure what she thought or what she felt about what was going on. Tabby was safe, she was rescued - and she was not the same girl Cait had once known, which was almost the cause of more distress than the first word that she'd been taken.
She'd made sure that everyone in the medlab was doing ... medlab-like things, that no one needed her for anything - relatively safe bet, under the circumstance - but when she saw Dominic sneak away she followed, and when she passed his room and saw a light on, slipped easily under the crack to reform on the other side, arms crossed, fingers fidgiting slightly.
"Yo."
"Yo?" It was more of a question than a greeting, though Dominic did quit rummaging through the dresser to look over at her. "Forget how to knock since I've been gone?"
He straightened, angling his body to better face her. They'd seen each other earlier, of course. But there had been the mission which trumped anything else for both of them. They were soldiers, after all. It may not have been their primary designation but that was what it was.
"You," Cait warned, pointing a threatening finger. "Shut up. Like I'd start now." She pushed away from the door, approaching him slowly. Still in battle gear - her basic shorts and tank top, in spite of weather - with ash in her hair, and he didn't look much more put together although Cait was willing to give points for a lack of shirt.
Gross, sweaty on his part ... stopping in front of him, Cait blinked, and caught him in a bone-crushing hug.
Dominic started at the sudden movement from Cait, half expecting her to launch a sneak attack at him in some impromptu sparring match. (It had happened before). But when she went for the hug instead, his shoulders slowly untensed.
Awkward as always, he just froze for a moment waiting this out. As his body relaxed, one of his arms went around her, loosely at first. Then came the other, returning the hug hesitantly.
Cait loosened her grip slightly, dropping her head to rest against his shoulder. She wasn't usually a particularly physical person - moreso than Dominic, but that didn't really say very much - and hugs were the sort of thing she didn't know she missed until the rare chance to have them vanished.
"Fucker," she said with a soft laugh, shaking her head. "Took long enough."
"Not my fucking fault," he grumbled, scowling at nothing in particular. "Bitch at John for his stupid ideas."
The pain in his shoulder had faded to a dull ache; he couldn't bring himself to complain as she leaned against him. For once, he just took comfort in the presence of another person who he didn't have to pretend to be something else with.
"Hell, bitch at him for me, too." He added. "Used to think this place attracted the fucking nuts. Jesus."
"Eh." Cait shrugged, comfortably relaxed. "I'll bitch at him later. Right now, you're warm. And gross." It was one of the advantages of being what she was, the fact that she could escape a conflict with only a slight tarnishing of her skin on a really bad day. Dominic ... well, the fact that he was shirtless drew attention to the fact that he couldn't - when it wasn't being distracting.
Pulling away slightly, Cait looked up and offered a mischievous half smile. "So. Miss me?"
"Fuck no," he answered as his scowl turned into something that might have been a smile. "And I didn't have to try any lame ass new recipes the whole damn time."
She really shouldn't complain about how gross he was, seeing as how he was trying to take a shower. He pointed this out. "I was going to change that."
"So that's a 'no' on the cookies then." Cait smirked and finally stepped back, pulling her ponytail over her shoulder to critically examine her hair. Soot, ash, blood, and something else that might have been motor oil, although that didn't make much sense ... she sighed in mock regret. "Can't say I'm much better," she admitted, then paused as an idea struck.
"Hey, most of everyone's downstairs - might actually get to shower after a fight without havin' to take on the entire Lair for it!"
"That was the plan." He admitted without shame. Let everyone else hover over Tabitha. Dominic didn't want to look at her right then. And for once it had nothing to do with their mutual dislike for one another. And everything to do with what he'd done for the last four months.
He wiped a bit of soot from his forearm absently, although it was one of the least dirty spots on him. How had he gotten dirt there, anyway? "I deserve those fucking cookies."
"You deserve a lot of things," Cait muttered, "but if you wanna rag on my recipes, cookies ain't one of 'em." She grinned, tossing her hair back and folding her arms patiently. "I'll give you a chance to take that back, though." She'd missed this, familiarity and bantering, contact with someone who actually meant something after months of living alone and playing sapien during the day, pretending to be the happy mutant friend on off hours.
She jerked her head towards the door. "So ... you plannin' on goin' any time soon?" As though he might be keeping her waiting ...