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Linnaea ~ Sigyn (delicatefire) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2010-11-10 21:15:00

Entry tags:

There will NOT be love in an elevator.
Who: Naea and Zio
What: The elevator has some weird ideas about Naea and Zio spending some time together.
Where: The elevator, silly.
When: Wednesday evening.
Warnings: A swear word! And some falling down, but nothing overly exotic.
Notes: All Naea was trying to do is go to the market...

So, she was out of eggs. And butter. And the really good tofu that she would pair with that crazy Miso recipe that she picked up from a dude in Chinatown, of all places. Naea hated shopping for the most part, so just doing it when the cupboards and fridge were bare at least saved her the headache of getting run over by mothers with full shopping carts and people who rode those power chair carts and would catch her heel in the checkout.

Any other day, Naea was all about the stairs, but she was nursing her dumb knee that decided to get hurt when she slipped on a wet floor at work while closing. It was her own fault and she decided to keep it to herself rather than deal with the worker's comp paperwork, so the elevator was the carrier today. Less stairs to deal with=faster healing.

She pushed the button for the lobby and waited patiently while the crazy contraption took her up, up, up. Either someone had pushed the button before she got inside or it was starting to freak out on her like it had David. Sighing softly, Naea folded her hands in front of her, bag slung over her shoulder and waited to see who would step inside.

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work_of_art
2010-11-12 02:30 am UTC (link)

"Well, hello." One of Pax's newest arrivals stood on the other side of the sliding doors, grin appearing readily when he saw the elevator occupied. Zio smiled ever so slightly wider as the doors parted further to reveal the petite brunette. "Hello," he repeated genially. Absently, he swung the strap of his leather messenger bag up and over his shoulder, hand moving to absently stabilize it as he stepped into the car. He hit the L button and then moved to settle against the other side of the car. His gaze stayed on her face, mild and friendly. "How are you doing?"

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delicatefire
2010-11-12 04:26 am UTC (link)

You know that expression that embodies a perfectly sweet smile and that "Oh, holy hell..." look in the eyes? Naea was sporting that right about then, and it took quite a bit to convince herself that groaning outwardly would be very rude. It was, indeed, the guy from the diner. "Oh, hi," finally came out of her, pleasantries and all that. "Doing all right. Yourself?" It was the same spiel she went through with her customers, old and new. Christy at work would be foaming at the mouth if she knew Zio had taken up residence in Naea's apartment building-- mostly because she was hell bent on getting a date with this guy.

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work_of_art
2010-11-16 05:56 am UTC (link)

"I'm getting settled." If Zio noticed any annoyance or coolness in Naea's posture or tone, he ignored it magnificently. Instead he only smiled more. "It's a really interesting building, isn't it? I'm surprised there aren't more tenants. Between the view and the charm of it all..." He gave a little shrug as if indicating his confusion over the whole situation. Then he dropped his hand to toy with the zipper on his bag in idle motion before tipping his head to one side and studying her. "How long have you been here, Ms. Linnaea?"

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delicatefire
2010-11-16 06:10 am UTC (link)

If Naea could be any further in the corner of this little car, she would darned well try. But, she tried to keep her cool and look casual and not tell him to just shut up and ride the elevator.

"Oh, not long. August." Her answer was reasonably short and sweet and to the point. Was there really a need to go into detail about David? Not so much. "There are nice folks here." Her thumbnail seemed nice enough to chew on while she watched the numbers slowly go down. Why did it seem so slow today? They were only at the eighth floor. "I'm sure you'll get settled into your fancy digs in no time." Naea found a half-smile.

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work_of_art
2010-11-16 07:54 am UTC (link)

Zio seemed amused now and smiled wider. "I'm sure I will. It's a big place, though," he explained. "Bigger than my last apartment. I might have to do some shopping." Tipping his head back to rest against the cool wall of the elevator, Zio allowed his eyes to drift shut. He was quiet for a moment as if listening to the gears grind, the elevator sinking slowly with the occasional ding as it passed a floor. Finally, he sighed. "Does this thing always move so arthritically?"

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delicatefire
2010-11-17 03:59 am UTC (link)

She was less than impressed with him telling her his current place was bigger than his last. She'd just moved from the biggest place she'd lived in to something that might fit a friend or two on a visit. Not that it was his fault, but Naea just felt the need to be angry at someone physically there for a moment.

Naea brushed the bridge of her nose. "Only when you're in a hurry. It's usually faster to take the stairs." She regretted it the second it came out of her mouth: Without missing a beat, between the fifth and fourth floor, the elevator grunted to a halt. No bells, no whistles. No, "Fuck you guys. I'm an elevator!" Just ceased movement.

Her blue eyes widened, then she sighed heavily. "Goddamn it," she muttered.

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work_of_art
2010-11-17 07:38 am UTC (link)

Zio flinched at the jarring motion and dropped his chin, bypassing a look at Naea to glare at the control panel of the elevator as if it had just insulted his mother. One hand clenched at his side while the other closed on the top of his messenger bag. There was a definite moment of wanting to punch something as the mechanical monstrosity interrupted his own careful plans regarding Miss Linnaea Benson.

Only a moment, though, because he froze and, in the next instant, drew a slow breath to calm himself and then smiled faintly. "Murphy's law," he commented dryly. "We should have knocked on wood." He lowered his bag to the floor and crossed to prod at the control panel. "Does this break regularly?" he asked.

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delicatefire
2010-11-17 09:48 pm UTC (link)

"It only did this for one person that I know of. Another person just got taken to various floors until he found the right one." She would decline to say just who that someone was for the time being. This was not happening. All she had wanted to do is go to the store and not put much strain on her knee. But, oh no! She was now stuck in the elevator with him and she really couldn't figure out what she'd done to deserve it. Murphy's Law, indeed.

Naea frowned and watched him poke at the buttons. Because poking buttons really gets the elevator working when it's stuck between floors. "Does the emergency phone work?" It made her consider looking at her own cell phone--of which held one bar of reception. If the phone inside didn't work, perhaps hers would.

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work_of_art
2010-11-18 06:02 am UTC (link)

Zio glanced over his shoulder at her, eyebrow raised. "That was next on my list," he answered mildly. "Thank you." He noticed her looking at her cell phone and a faint smile appeared on his mouth before he turned back to the panel. Neatly, he jerked open the small door high above the buttons and reached inside, searching for the service phone that he knew had to be there. His face darkened slowly and then, with a controlled movement, he removed his hand and closed the door with barely a slam.

"Someone took out the phone," he announced in a deliberately calm, careful voice. Almost as if concerned that Linnaea might snap at the news and commit bodily harm. He looked at her cell phone again. "Are you getting reception?" he asked as his hand dropped to the small leather pouch on his belt, his own cell phone.

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delicatefire
2010-11-18 06:29 am UTC (link)

Naea glanced up from her phone and looked up at Zio with those blue eyes of hers framed with a fringe of dark lashes. She sighed gently. Figures someone would take the emergency phone out of an elevator. What purpose it served was beyond her. "Yeah. Kind of. I have a bar." She looked back down at the screen and noticed said bar blinking on and off. "Sort of." Well, she couldn't really expect much. They were in a metal box surrounded by concrete. Naea wrinkled her nose, punched in 911, hit 'send' and held the phone up to her ear.

She listened for a moment before growling softly and flipping her phone closed. "Got a lot of garble and it cut out. Maybe they can trace the call." Usually they would call back in the circumstance that the phone disconnected, but it wasn't likely to come through. Naea felt slightly defeated at that moment. She was going to have to make nice, much as she dreaded it because she knew what this guy was all about. There was probably nothing worse than being stuck in an elevator in complete silence.

Her features softened and she looked up at the rather tall man. Well, tall to her anyway. "What about you? You probably have a better phone than I do. Anything?"

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work_of_art
2010-11-18 07:02 am UTC (link)

The slim Smart-Phone was already in his hand and Zio frowned down at it, one finger tapping here and there as if trying to raise a signal. Finally, he shook his head a bit. "It should have a signal," he murmured. "Damn thing had a signal the other day."

He sighed and looked back up at Naea as he slipped the phone back into its pocket. "Not a peep," he answered. Then he turned to press one palm against the wall closest to him. "What's this thing made of? Lead?"

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delicatefire
2010-11-18 07:12 am UTC (link)

"Probably. It was built in the twenties, from what I understand, but I wouldn't be surprised if it also served as a fallout shelter later." She tucked her small phone into her front pocket. "Hopefully the asbestos are gone or we're all in for a treat in about twenty years." With a shrug, Naea slid down the back of the car and planted herself on the floor, not without wincing at her bum knee in the process. Stupid thing.

"So, anyway. What brings you to the neighborhood?" Naea wasn't entirely sure she was overly interested, but something had to start somewhere. "My coworker would have my throat if she knew you were living in this building."

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work_of_art
2010-11-18 07:51 am UTC (link)

Zio had watched her sit with no change in expression but, inside, he noticed the stiffness of her movement and the flash of pain across her face. That leg, probably knee, hm. He filed away the fact for later. It could be something useful.

Once she was comfortable again, though, Zio gave a little shrug and moved to lean against the wall opposite her. He looked down at her with a grin. "Which co-worker is that?" he asked, neatly skirting the first question. "There are a lot of waitresses at Newton's, you know."

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delicatefire
2010-11-18 08:01 am UTC (link)

"Christy. She's been eyeballing you since I don't know when." Naea brushed her hair away from her eyes. "Might want to ask her out before she starts marking her territory all over you." She had never been particularly fond of the towheaded woman who had this aura of 'God's Gift to Everything', but maybe she could sic him on her. "Still doesn't answer my question of what's brought you to the complex."

Oh, Naea caught his skirting. Oh, yes. She did. And Naea was going to reel him back.

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work_of_art
2010-11-18 08:11 am UTC (link)

"I'm starting to think it was divine Providence, keeping me firmly out of Christy's way and her impending marking." Zio laughed and leaned further back until he was more comfortable. Then he tucked his hands in his pockets and tilted his head ever so slightly to study her face. "She spilled coffee on some of my paperwork, you know," he offered conversationally. "Is that a usual thing for her?"

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delicatefire
2010-11-18 06:25 pm UTC (link)

"Only if it means she can shove her cleavage in your face." Naea smirked and leaned her head back against the wall, looking up at the lighted ceiling. "She's totally going to take me out behind the diner and shank me with a pair of tongs."

She glanced over at Zio out of the corner of her eye. "You sure like skirting around the original question, don't you? If you don't want to tell me, just say so and stop twirling around it like a figure skater."

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work_of_art
2010-11-19 02:53 am UTC (link)

"I thought I did answer you." He lifted an eyebrow as if confused by her response. "Divine Providence, remember," he repeated with the faintest of smiles. "It's not a secret, you know. I heard about this building in the course of things and, since my own lease was coming up, I looked into it." He gave a casual, little shrug and slouched back a bit more into the wall behind him. "I'm an art dealer," he explained. "It's an interesting building. You could say it appeals to my aesthetic, I suppose. I like the lines of it."

Zio's gaze took her in, running briefly over her seated figure, and there was a momentary feeling of innuendo. Then he broke the look and glanced back towards the elevator's control panel. "Except I'm rethinking the elevator and its lines," he sighed. "I'm going to have to give the management a call. An elevator in a building this size really should work."

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delicatefire
2010-11-19 10:14 pm UTC (link)

Again with the Divine Providence. Did he really expect her to believe that God willed him here? Righto. At least the second half of Zio's explanation made sense.

"Good luck trying to find management most days. It took me two weeks to find them so I could rework a lease issue." Naea sighed softly, bending her good leg up towards her chest. She couldn't help but look him over for a moment while he seemed intrigued by the controls. It wasn't that he was a bad looking guy-- on the contrary. Linnaea found him quite attractive. There was just something about him, other than his rather playboy type flirting, that made her take a step back and have the want to wield a baseball bat and mace if he got too close. Maybe he was a lot like David had been. It was also likely she just didn't want to date anyone ever again.

Her eyes shifted to his face instead, her expression mildly interested and reasonably relaxed. "Art dealer, hm? Anything exotic or rare ever cross your path? Like a Dali or a stick figure with a house drawn by Vladimir Lenin?" Naea couldn't help but grin at the last part. "Stranger things have come to light."

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work_of_art
2010-11-20 11:02 pm UTC (link)

Zio gave a lazy, artless shrug but his eyes brightened at her interest in his work. It was an honest sort of joy - as honest as he ever got, at least. He truly did love his job. Allowing his bag to drop to the floor once more, he pressed his back hard against the wall of the elevator and used that as leverage to lower himself down into a crouch opposite her. "Nothing so flashy as that," he admitted. "I seem to have a talent less in finding things and more in disproving them."

At her blank look, Zio smiled more. "I have a knack at discovering forgeries," he explained. "Particular when it comes to older pieces, it seems. I don't know." His grin was almost boyish now. "I know a lot of the new artists but there's something really beautiful in a classic. It has depth and resonance. The modern art lacks the..." He hesitated and tilted his head a bit, looking at her like a curious bird, almost daring her to supply the word he wanted.

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delicatefire
2010-11-22 07:45 pm UTC (link)

Well, it was the first time she'd noticed him interested in something other than women, and Naea had to admit she was reasonably impressed with his line of work. It wasn't something you came across everyday. She did have to agree with him, however, about classic vs. modern art. It wasn't that some of the pieces weren't great in their own right, but they lacked something. "Mysticism? Soul? Depth?" She curled her fingers around one of the straps on her bag, toying with it and gave a smirk. "There are a variety of things missing from modern art that seem to be found all over the classics. Anybody can smack a line of red paint on a canvas and call it 'art'. Fewer still can call what they've created a masterpiece."

Her shoulders moved gently in a barely visible shrug. "I think that title belongs to most things before 1950 and a child's finger-painting on a fridge." Something in the back of her mind said to not drop her guard, because this was exactly what he wanted! The rest of her had the sense to keep hold of the proverbial mace pointed directly at Zio.

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work_of_art
2010-11-24 02:17 am UTC (link)

"You're far more generous than I am, Miss Benson." Zio grinned, still boyish but now also horribly wicked and teasing. His dark eyes shone with mischief. "But then I get paid to be a horrible snob so no one blinks when I say it can't possibly be a masterpiece if it was done any time before 1850. When I'm in a generous mood." He gave a little wave of his hand, nearly laughing. "But I'm trying to be more open-minded. Not everyone is going to share my taste and, let me tell you, there have been more than a few buyers for those red smears across white canvas... At five to six figures, no less."

He better settled into his seat and gave her a friendly, little nod. "But I'm glad we're not going to have a fight about art," he added. "It would've been really uncomfortable."

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delicatefire
2010-11-25 01:36 am UTC (link)

"True. I'd hate to get into it with you about van Gogh and Goya. And, in some cases, Picasso." Naea smirked and rested her elbow on her bent knee, taking a moment to brush the hair away from her eyes. "And if me throwing red paint on a canvas and calling it Passion gets me six figures, where do I sign up?"

Her smile went a little wider as she shook her head and looked down into her lap. Naea was trying to figure out if he was being cocky, overly sure of himself or a variation thereof. It was good to take pride in your work, no matter what you were doing, but sometimes those that worked in better jobs than what she had grated her nerves. Zio didn't seem to be doing that currently, though she secretly wondered just when it might come out. The other part was that there was really nothing about her job worth talking about. She just wasn't that interesting.

"Here we are talking about art when we should probably be banging on the door for someone to get us out." Blue eyes finally looked up at him. "We're probably going to have to pee sooner or later."

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work_of_art
2010-11-26 04:27 am UTC (link)

"Probably." Zio grinned again, not at all put off by her comment. "I haven't had anything since my morning coffee, though..." He paused, tilted his head, and studied her thoughtfully. Silence settled between them for a few moments but, before Linnaea could break it, Zio sat down more completely on the floor of the elevator with a faint thump.

"Are you okay there?" he asked suddenly and his voice was rather gentle, less laughing and more serious. "You're not claustrophobic or anything, are you? Are you feeling alright?"

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delicatefire
2010-11-26 06:51 am UTC (link)

A brow arched at his question. She hadn't overly been expecting a voice of concern about her well-being while they were stuck in the box. Naea had to admit it threw her off slightly. Though that might just be part of his master plan.

Whatever that might be.

"I'm... fine. Only get weird around very large groups of people in fear of being trampled, but other than that, unless I can't breathe, I'm okay in cramped places. Why do you ask? Are you okay? You aren't going to freak out on me and start climbing walls, are you?"

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work_of_art
2010-11-27 02:18 am UTC (link)

A brow arched at his question. She hadn't overly been expecting a voice of concern about her well-being while they were stuck in the box. Naea had to admit it threw her off slightly. Though that might just be part of his master plan.

Whatever that might be.

"I'm... fine. Only get weird around very large groups of people in fear of being trampled, but other than that, unless I can't breathe, I'm okay in cramped places. Why do you ask? Are you okay? You aren't going to freak out on me and start climbing walls, are you?"

"Not likely. Do I seem it?" Zio immediately shook his head, dismissing any need to answer. "Though I was kind of thinking about all of those movies you see, the great escapes and such." He let his head tilt back and his eyes move upwards to indicate the ceiling above them. "I couldn't fit but you might be able to. Though I'd rather it didn't come to that." He smiled at her, chin dropping to look her in the face again. "I don't think it'd be safe and you already seem a little... banged up?" he continued delicately.

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delicatefire
2010-11-27 04:27 am UTC (link)

"Me either," she replied as she looked toward the ceiling as well and then back to Zio. "My luck it would decide to start back up as soon as I got out. And that?" Naea pointed at her knee and shrugged. "Eh, it's my own dumb fault. I've dealt with worse, though." And she had, indeed, but she wasn't about to offer up that information quite yet. Few people knew about her past and there were just some things she preferred to keep that way.

Naea appeared thoughtful for a moment as she decided to re-study the ceiling. "If we don't get moving in the next little bit, maybe I can see just where we're stuck between if you lift me up." Well, no she didn't want to do that and she was tempted to try her phone again. "And maybe one of us can get a signal outside the box."

Her gaze landed on Zio's features. "What do you think?"

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work_of_art
2010-11-27 04:57 pm UTC (link)

"I think you're sensible," he returned, voice light again and gaze approving. "I also think that I'll be taking the stairs next time." He inclined his head a bit towards her in a gracious little bow. "Even if I've had lovely company," Zio added, "this kind of thing really puts a cramp in your day. Places to be, things to do, right?"

Reaching to his belt again, Zio wiggled his phone out of the little leather pouch and held it up for her to see as he first turned it off, then turned it back on. He gave it a little shake. "Hm. I have bars now." He glanced back at her, grin bright. "Should we try this again?"

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delicatefire
2010-11-28 06:11 am UTC (link)

A brief smile flashed across her pretty face as he mentioned 'lovely company'. He was charming. It was kind of annoying for her. "Well, if you have bars, maybe I don't have to climb out of the top. Give it a go."

Naea's derriere was beginning to lose feeling; her current sitting position wasn't exactly doing her any favors, but her knee hated her just the same and she knew if she didn't stand up, she'd have a hell of a time trying to do so once they landed. The last thing Naea wanted was to be stuck in the elevator. Again. Mostly with him. Zio hadn't been a terrible sport in this case, and she might have liked him better if he hadn't been an obvious playboy from the get-go-- at least, that's how he came off. First impressions and all that.

Grabbing hold of the rail that ran across the walls, Naea pulled herself up with relative ease, loading her weight on her good leg. Shifting, however, proved to be more of a problem. Her bad leg had fallen asleep on her, much like her ass had. Naea gave a yelp and back she fell, missing the rail bar on the way down.

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work_of_art
2010-11-30 05:15 am UTC (link)

Luckily, Zio was in the way between her body and the floor and, though the catch wasn't at all graceful and probably would leave some minor bruises on them both, he threw himself beneath her awkwardly. His arms immediately closed around her to further cushion her landing against his own body and keep her steady as their combined weight had him sprawled across the elevator floor. Breath knocked out of him at her collision, he gasped a bit into her neck, warm and teasing, before he caught himself and drew his head back. Next he loosened his grip in a very deliberate manner, careful to resist the sudden urge to trail his fingertips along her sides. It was a hard road. For some reason, something about this young woman focused his attention. He had the nearly irresistible urge to hold her closer, claim her by keeping her in the cage of his arms. It was, to say the least, annoying. He disliked the implication that he had no control and gritted his teeth for a moment.

Only then, sanity restored, still close but at a more reasonable distance, did Zio draw a fresh breath. "Well," he murmured, "we're definitely not trusting you to climb up there now." He shifted her in his hold to put more space between their bodies and, while he was gentle, his movement was still firm; it encouraged her politely to slip away entirely and sit up. "You'll break your neck," he added dryly.

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delicatefire
2010-11-30 07:54 am UTC (link)

For him to catch her was sensible and polite. That had been the only thing she'd hoped for and it prevented her ending up with a broken arm or nose. And she just didn't want to try and have to explain missing teeth to, well, everyone. Her hands grasped his shirt as she went down, her cheek managing to brush against his as she plowed against his sitting form on the floor. She wasn't sure how she'd managed to turn as she was falling, but that would be something she'd forget to contemplate on once this was over.

It was the sensation at the moment of their physical connection, mainly the flutter of her skin and his, that Linnaea hadn't expected.

After the initial shock of the two of them smacking into the floor as one, Naea felt hot and cold all at once--and the two met deep in her center, somewhere near her solar plexus. Goosebumps flared across her skin, especially at that warm butterfly of a breath that left Zio and found its place at the curve of her neck.

The worst part of it all? Naea had to fight the overwhelming urge to grasp onto him for dear life as if he were her own. And it terrified her. Oh, gods-- he smelled absolutely and undeniably divine. Later on, she would catch herself marveling over the fact that her shirt still smelled like him and it caused her tummy to flip over in some strange anticipation--of what, she had no idea.

Her heart was pounding (though from the actual fall or what she had just felt she wasn't sure) and somewhere in her throat was the breath she was holding. Naea's gaze met his as she gently pushed away from him and scooted back on her bum to her own side of the elevator. Looking away at the sensation of the blush she felt coming on, the young woman shrugged with a pretty frown, blue eyes narrowed. "You won't hear me complaining." Naea's voice was strained and soft. "...Thanks."

She could barely hear herself over the noise of the blood rushing in her ears. When was this stupid contraption going to move??

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work_of_art
2010-12-01 05:03 am UTC (link)

Zio watched her for a few more minutes and his dark eyes searched over her face, looking for something that he could not quite put his finger on. This was starting to goad his temper and he tried to focus on the charming color of her blush in an effort to push it aside; that worked for approximately half a second until he realized that the rising pink at her cheeks was downright adorable. To fight the unsettling urges and the new flare of anger at his loss of control, he cast his eyes around the elevator. His phone had spun out of his hand at her landing and rested in a distant corner.

"Let's check those bars," he announced abruptly. With a slight heave, he pushed himself upright and stretched to his full height. He barely glanced at Naea again as he strode to the corner and bent to snatch up his phone. Standing still, he stared down at the little digital display for a moment before giving his head a quick shake. He felt full of cobwebs and indecision; he had to get this elevator started again so he could go about his business. He glanced at her briefly. "Cross your fingers, Miss Benson." He had managed to soften his voice again and he sounded as he did before the mishap. He smiled faintly and began dialing.

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delicatefire
2010-12-01 06:06 am UTC (link)

She wanted to cry. Naea wanted to bury her face into her legs and just let it all out. She didn't know the reason; Linnaea never allowed herself to cry if she could help it and especially not in front of others. Pierce had been there when her father died, when she didn't know what else to do but cry. Not a lick of any of what she was currently feeling made sense and didn't piece together at all. There wasn't anything about her experience with Zio that would warrant the punch of want right in her chest--it lingered heavily.

Pulling herself together mentally before she lifted her face to look up at him, she nodded and found something of a smile herself. Naea's gaze lingered a little longer than normal. It was as though she were trying to figure out what it was about him that made her feel the way she currently was. He seemed a little shaken up, but she didn't quite believe it was anything other than her disrupting his perfectly ironed shirt with her grabbing him on the way down. "It's what I do."

Just as his dialing finger hit 'Send', the elevator car jerked to life and began its journey to the lobby as though it had never stopped. Naea blinked, blue eyes wide as she looked from the number of floors going down over to Zio. She sat on the floor until she knew that the thing was actually going to make it to where they were trying to get to in the first place. No sense in standing when you'd just have to set yourself back down. "Well, fucking A," she muttered.

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work_of_art
2010-12-02 05:12 am UTC (link)

"Indeed," Zio agreed softly. Then he canceled the call and slipped the phone back into its holster on his belt. The elevator was moving rapidly now and he estimated the enforced interaction would end within a couple of minutes. Some part of him felt a loss at the notion but the rest of him sighed in relief. This strange little encounter could be put behind them both and he could settle back into how the world really worked.

Though it was also unnerving how neatly she had pegged his information sources. The little waitress had far more brains than her co-workers. He would have to remember that.

Catching himself staring at her lips, Zio gave his head a little shake and turned to study the panel of buttons once more. The mechanics were distracting, soothing. "I'll see if I can't report this malfunctioning piece of junk to the owners later," he commented. "I'd hate for anyone else to get trapped." He looked back over his shoulder and smiled warmly at her, feeling in control again. "Not everyone can have the luck I had when it comes to company."

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delicatefire
2010-12-02 05:47 am UTC (link)

Somewhere around the second floor, after wiggling the sleepy pins and needles from her ass and legs, Naea finally decided to stand up, bag in hand and wait for the doors to open. She wouldn't be taking the faster route anymore. Knee be damned.

Much as she hated to admit it to herself, the situation hadn't been all bad. Except for the last part where her leg decided to completely betray her and practically toss her into Zio's lap. Linnaea looked straight at the doors as she felt the flush rise in her cheeks again while she remembered his hot breath and that sensation he left her with. It was then she decided that she would resume her way of avoiding him like The Plague.

So why was it that some part of her didn't really want that to happen?

"Not everyone can have the luck I had when it comes to company." A smirk, a shrug and a readjusting of her bag. "You have no idea."

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work_of_art
2010-12-02 07:37 am UTC (link)

Zio opted not to answer and instead focused on gathering his bag and thoughts. Then he moved to stand beside the panel of buttons so that, when the elevator finally touched down with a slight bump, he could press his forefinger hard on the doors-open button. They slid open and held at his command and he looked over his shoulder at Naea. "I'll hold them while you get out," he offered. "Be careful of that knee."

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delicatefire
2010-12-02 07:44 am UTC (link)

"I'll do that." Naea flashed something of a smile, murmured something of a thanks and stepped out of the elevator smoothly. It's amazing how fast you don't end up on the floor when your leg isn't asleep. She waited a moment for him to step out. "Well, I must say you made being trapped in an elevator less boring. Take it easy, yeah?" She really didn't want to dwell on much else. Best to let that boat sail.

Naea being Naea, smiled sweetly without her brain really acknowledging it, took a moment longer than she should have to look him over once more. What was wrong with her?

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work_of_art
2010-12-03 05:57 am UTC (link)

Nodding warmly, Zio rewarded her smile with one of his own - less sweet but carefully friendly. "I'll do that. I'll also try to keep that compliment from going to my head." He stepped from the elevator and the doors slid shut behind him in silence. Then he shouldered his bag and lifted his free hand to scrape back through his hair. He tilted his head and his expression had shifted to wry in the brief moment of silence. "I might as well warn you now," he added, "that I'm going to be in the area of Newton's on Friday so I might end up eating there. Just in case you want to call in dead and encourage Christy to go on a long vacation. Whatever you like."

Dark eyes laughing now, Zio ducked his head in a slight bow that allowed him to hide his sudden smirk. "Have a good day, Miss Benson. Maybe I'll see you around." Then, with that, he pivoted on his heel and strode past her, through the lobby, and out the front doors of Pax into the sunshine.

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delicatefire
2010-12-03 06:50 am UTC (link)

Wasn't he just delightful. Watching out for her and whatnot. Maybe she should work on Friday (which she was going to--schedule and all that) and maybe she would let Christy "Pleasepleasepleaseletmetakeyourtableomghe'ssogoddamnedhotpleaseNaea!" take that table. And maybe it might annoy her the next time he came in and Christy wanted to shove her tits in his face.

Naea blinked after him. "Yeah," she replied as she watched him walk away, her voice something akin to a library voice. "Maybe."

Shaking herself out of whatever her mind decided was more important to think about, she finally begins her journey out the door and down to the farmer's market before hitting up the regular grocery for milk.

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