Re: Mean-Eyed Cat: Cat & Reece E
Reece was full of weaknesses to exploit, clearly, since he was here now, having one exploited thoroughly. Perhaps he was more back-against-the-wall when it came to work, a little more cutthroat, but it took a lot of energy for him to be that way. It was naive of him, he saw now, to think that mattered—to think that it could... that it could be different outside of Tethys. He'd made himself vulnerable, and he knew Dane Blake wouldn't be taking this sitting down. He knew Dane Blake would've managed to turn the tables from the go, if the go was ever even... got. Dane Blake didn't let anyone take the rug out from under him, whereas Reece apparently let the rug be taken and wrapped around him until he was cocooned and employed as the new mat for everyone to walk all over.—He--he hated himself. He sat there at the bar, before he came over to the pool table, with that knowledge seated deep in him, below even where whiskey swam.
Over on the bench, he opened his eyes when the cue ball shattered the carefully assembled triangle of billiard balls, and, unthinkingly, his eye tracked the various trajectories, opening itself up to calculate angles and estimates. Numbers distracted Reece briefly as they popped up, reeled by his vision, and it was only the incredulity in Cat's voice that brought him back to the horrible, very upsetting present.
"If we're pretending to like each other, is it just on the forums? Do we have to be seen together? If we do, what do we have to do? Do I have to pretend to stay over?" His words came out fast, split from lips with frustration and embarrassment. "That's what I'm asking. Have you thought of any of that, the depth of whatever it is you're asking me to do, or did you just think far enough ahead to make fun of me?"