Characters: Surpanakha (surpanakha) and Anubis (dogofthedead) Date/Time: May 9th Location: The streets of New York! Rating: PG-13ish...:| Warnings: Surpie's got the mouth of a sailor. Summary: Surpanakha spots a wild Anubis and talking ensues.
It was rare that Surpanakha got called in to do a matinee, but apparently the actress slated to be Nala for that afternoon had unavoidable circumstances. Whatever the fuck those were. She did it for the overtime pay, made the crowd happy, and left the theatre fully intending to go home right away. Dushtabuddhi had been a wisp of smoke, so obviously there, tangible only for a moment, yet gone the moment it had been grasped. Her every attempt at distracting herself had failed, and if Surpanakha were to be honest with herself, she wanted no more than to bury her face into her pillows, where the barest remnant of his scent remained still.
And then she caught sight of the pup. So maybe distraction was still a possibility. With quick strides, Surpanakha reached Anubis, her hand curling around his wrist in a display of Surpanakha's utter lack of boundaries.
"Pup!"
Walking Sam was routine. Especially since most of his time was spent in training and training could get difficult at times. He was trying not to think about the inevitable time when Sam would be assigned to an officer and leave. He was trying not to think about much of anything that had been going on recently. Especially not that week of strangeness.
It was perhaps this forced lack of thinking that caused him to entirely miss the sounds of someone trying to catch up to him until he felt a hand around his wrist. His focus came back quickly and he looked down at his wrist before glancing up. "Oh. Uhh...Hi." Smooth. Totally smooth. He cleared his throat before making a quick, wordless motion to Sam, reaching in his pocket for a treat when he sat next to him. "Are you..." A pause. "How are you?"
In a perfect imitation of Bastet, Surpanakha looped her arm around Anubis's, her cheek falling to his shoulder with insistence.
"I'm totes good!" With her ability, even the inflections were spot on Bastet. Anubis's little crush hadn't escaped Surpanakha - no, not at all. She knew the mannerisms of a man infatuated, the slight change to his voice, the particular angling of his body. A certain rigidness that escaped the eyes of most, but not the eyes of someone who knew the slightest changes in affectation or demeanor like the back of her hand.
Anubis stilled almost instantly, tensing up slightly. That sounded just like Bastet and the action was typical Bastet and he was trying not to be at all obvious. He didn't know why she was reacting the way she was when she was most assuredly not Bastet...but then he didn't always understand why women did anything sometimes.
"That's a little creepy," he said, hoping it sounded casual enough. He glanced down at Sam quietly for a moment but his dog could not give him guidance here. Unfortunate. He turned his attention back to the woman next to him. "But..uh...nice to see you?"
"Neat parlor trick o' mine," she replied, grinning at his discomfort. "Ha, nice to see me, my ass. Made you miss her for a second, didn't it?"
It was probably masochistic of Surpanakha to do this, taunt the boy about his love life. So soon after the second dissolution of her own. How many times would she have to lose Dushtabuddhi for it to be enough, she wondered. The thought was quickly put aside.
It seemed that he'd been transparent. He was thankful that it took a lot to make him blush. "I..." He should argue this point. He should. How? "Is it that obvious?" That was the thing he wanted to know...even if it meant admitting it. Horus would have a field day with this but he was sure that Surpanakha seemed the sort to do the same.
He looked back at his dog, pressing a finger to his lips to quiet the low whining noise. "This is Sam...so you know."
"To me, you fucking are." She leaned away from him, though her arm remain entwined around his. "But you can be bloody sure she ain't got a fucking clue." Whether Bastet was usually dense to those she was attracted to or not, Surpanakha was firm in her conviction that when it came to the pup's feelings the cat goddess was clueless. Or perhaps she had an inkling but chose not to accept it.
"Sam." She didn't feel like getting her fingers dirty on the dog, so she simply smiled down at it politely. To make the whole thing look more sincere, she tried to imitate an acquaintance of hers who adored dogs. There - a big, happy smile. Good enough.
Anubis wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed. He settled on relieved after a moment. It wasn't that he didn't want her to know - okay, maybe it was a little. He was still sure that he was alone in this situation. Entirely alone. "Oh." He was trying to relax, trying to feel less weird about this. "I guess I'm not as good at pretending as I thought." He'd hoped, though.
There was a brief moment where he watched her reaction. Her smile helped him relax a little and Sam pressing up against his leg a little more helped even more. Sometimes Sam just seemed to know when he needed just that little added something to calm him. He smiled a touch before clearing his throat. "So...uh...how've you been?" Yes. Change the subject. That should work.
"Some of this, some of that," she deflected airily. "The recent week meant an apartment with less space, but it wasn't so fucking bad compared to the usual shit." It was worse - the ending was worse. But Surpanakha would be damned if she gave a quarter of weakness. She might have whined, but this was Dushtabuddhi. This was sacred. On this matter, Surpanakha allowed herself any and all exceptions. (She deserved them.)
"Bastet was at your place, right?" The question was ribbing him as much as it was trying to understand the situation. In this mood, Surpanakha hadn't had a thought for using the community. Thus, she had no idea how the week had affected other people. Was it just one's loved ones returning from the dead, or was it something more sinister? Conversely, more innocuous?
If she wasn't telling the truth, Anubis wasn't going to try to figure out. As much as others poked and prodded at him, he preferred not to poke and prod at them unless it was absolutely necessary...or it was Horus. Horus was his exception. He was his baby brother. It was his brotherly duty to poke and prod. He just didn't do it as often as he could have.
This time he did blush just a touch and his body tensed. He knew he wasn't good at hiding his discomfort, it was just a hope that he could find a way. He rarely ever did. "Umm..." Which was clearly a useful response. "My mom was there and Horus and Dad...Isis sometimes." It was like happy family. But yes, Bastet was there, too. He didn't really want to talk too much about it. "It was a weird week."
Regardless of whether or not he wanted to talk about it, Surpanakha was going to push the envelope. "Mmmhmm. Are you going to do anything about it?"
She wasn't sure how well that would end, but hell if Anubis didn't try. Bastet would make sure that herself and the former jackal were friends however which way a confession of feelings went. Surpanakha was certain of that much.
And this was the part where Horus would tell him to be confident...only he wasn't. Not about this. His work, his other actions, practically everything that had nothing to do with this, he was confident about. This was...this was not that. He was silent for a long moment, trying to decide the correct way to word it. He couldn't just say there wasn't a point even if he believed it. "It would take someone special to deserve her." And he wasn't sure that was him, but he left that unsaid for the moment.
There was a small sigh. "I think I'm more difficult than special, but if there were any chance..." He forced himself to relax. He had to focus on Horus for a moment - just for mannerisms. "Then I guess I'd do something." But what?
"Maybe you should start by giving her a fucking hint." Surpanakha herself would've preferred to be flamboyantly expressive - but no. That would not work for this man. Not at all. Which was almost ironic, considering the way dogs were when it came to mating.
"And you're right. It would take someone goddamned special to deserve her." Bastet was Surpanakha's cousin, after all. "But if you like her as much as you fucking seem to, then that might be special enough shit." Dushtabuddhi himself had been no paragon of virtue, but they had loved each other and that was enough.
Anubis didn't recoil from her words. They were true enough. He'd been keeping secrets to himself...almost entirely. He looked at her quietly for a moment. He wasn't trying to be intimidating, he was just doing what he'd done before. At least before now. He was trying to judge her heart...even if he didn't need to really. He could sense the darkness there, but most people had some and she wasn't Set. He wouldn't have said it, but it was probably her connection to Bastet that allowed her to stay this close.
"You sure like to curse," he said, a slight humor to his voice. "I'll try."
"Cursing is pure passion," she said, absent-minded. "No thought to it, just substance. Raw, fucking substance."
But the moment of depth passed. Anubis was right to think she was a dark person. She was a demoness reincarnated, a demoness who had been content to live without an excess of evil until her dearest brother slew her spouse. She was like Set, yes - fratricidal and unforgiving. But, unlike Set, a creature driven by love. There was a reason crimes of passion were given less weight than those done in cold blood. And if anyone epitomized passion, it was Surpanakha, sailor's tongue and all.
Thus, she was sorely tempted to tell him there is no such thing as trying - only doing, and consequently only succeeding or failing. But she bit her tongue, for once, and simply said, "Good."