02.25.10 - Hot Stuff

Location: Halyard Tavern Office

Characters Involved: Tameus, Keita

Oh, Keita. All the time you spend in this office, here. But at least for once she has an excuse! She's hiding out. Ahaha. The doe's to the point where it's pretty plainly obvious she's pregnant. She's too slim otherwise for the small bump not to be apparent. She's in the grumpy stage where she's obstinately decided that she can hide out for the next six months. What a fun six months those will be! She's lying flat out on her sofa, staring up at the ceiling with one arm tucked behind her head. Her peg leg's off, the stump of her leg resting comfortably on a pillow. You've got to love on the stump every now and again, after all.

Well, it should be easy to guess why Tam's here. If Keita hasn't heard the news on the grapevine just yet, boy is she in for a surprise. He doesn't knock, he just lets himself on in, pushing the door open and stepping into the office when he sees her there. His own stump of a wrist is tucked in the front of his jacket, held close to his body and out of view. "Hey."

'Hey'. These creatures, they just wander in and interrupt her brooding without a thought! Her nose wrinkles with displeasure and she lifts her head, ready to give whatfor... wheeeeen. Oh. "Lad," she greets the young buck. She pushes herself up, drawing her knee towards her chest as she sits up. "C'mon in," she offers.

Tameus's ears twitch a little, and he shuts the door behind him. Private, this conversation is going to be. He steps toward Keita and her couch. At this point he doesn't try for the whole.. smiling thing. "I came 'round lookin' f' y' las' night," he says gruffly. Besides the hand thing, he still looks pretty beat up.

Keita isn't trying for a smile, either. Then again, how often has Tameus /seen/ her smile? Haha. "I was probably busy... sorry. It's good t'see ya alive." And all not dead. Pause. "How ya feelin'?"

Tameus grimaces at the question. "... a lil' like 'd rather be dead," he mutters, honestly, and shrugs. He reaches to pull out one of the chairs near her desk, turning it and sinking down onto it, facing the doe and hunching his shoulders. "Y' mind if I ask y' somethin'?"

Keita leans back into the sofa cushions, her head tilting a bit as she watches the buck. She considers him quietly for a bit, then shakes her head. "Nevah mind a question," she finally replies. There's no snark or tease in her this eve.

".. I was gonn' ask how y' lost y' leg," Tam says, muzzle ducking and ears back, his gaze on the floor between them. "But. I guess what I really wann' know 's.. how. How y' made y'r peace wit' it?"

Keita's muzzle twists in a very faint smile... and after a bit she shakes her head. "There's no peace t'be made with it, Tam. Have you evah lost someone ya love? I figure you have. Well, now ya've lost a part of yerself, too. There's nothin' for it but time. Mournin's like that."

Tameus goes on staring at the floor, hard, his muzzle in a scowl. The mourning is pretty near the surface right now, looks like. ".. it changes things f' ever, don' it? I jus'. I feel like nothin's ever gonn' be th' same 's it was."

"How much it's gonna change ya... that's up t'you, Tam. Yer not gonna be playin' the fiddle any time soon 'n' I'm not gonna be dancin' a jig to it, so sadly it seems we won't be able t'enjoy each othah's company in tha' regard. But everythin' else? That's all still open for ya," Keita replies evenly. At all the talk of it, her paw falls absently to her thigh, in a gentle rub. "Won't be easy... re-learnin' things ya've known since you were tiny. But life's not meant t'be easy, I've come t'learn."

Tameus's muzzle lifts, and the look he gives her is extremely bleak. ".. 'm supposed t' be a patrol fighter," he says after a moment.

"Yeah? So?" Keita queries with a quirk of a brow. "You think you can't do tha' just 'cause you're missin' a paw? I c'n point to a bloody lot o' sea rats'll argue they c'n still gut you jus' fine with just the one."

"I can' button up m' own damn shirt," Tam points out, his brow knitting as he shakes his head. His remaining hand comes up to push through his hair. ".. an' Mike. An' Fi. They jus' looked at me like..."

"Like... what? Like somethin' really awful just happened t'you? Like they can't stand t'look at it 'n' they can't stand t'look away, neithah? They'll get past it," Keita replies with a gentle shrug. "And you'll learn t'button yer shirt with the one."

".. like. Horrified," Tam mutters. He balls up his fist and brings it against his muzzle, mouth pressed to his knuckles for a moment. "... this isn' th' guy I wanted t' become," he finally says, voice breaking.

Keita worries at her lower lip in thoughtful silence for a moment, then shifts, pressing her paws to either side of her as she swings her legs over the edge of the sofa. So he can see stump full frontal, which! Not very often, that. Usually all pegged up. She rolls up the cut-off pant leg that loosely covers it and then glances up at Tam, with a slight frown. "... You look at this, Tam. An' you tell me if you think fer one second I'd let somethin' like this change what kind o' beast I am." Her brow furrows. "You try'na tell me you're weakah than some crazy ole doe who makes 'er livin' off o' happy juice? That what yer tellin' me righ' now? Because I know. I know Zoe ain't the type t'waste her time with /fools/ ovah in her mountain."

Tameus lifts his head slightly, while his ears are laid down in an unhappy posture. His eyes look a bit red around the edges. They focus first on her face, then on the stump of her leg, and the buck is quiet. It goes on for a minute or two, and he looks down again, drawing his wrist out of his jacket. he sleeve is long enough to hide the bandaged nub, but not disguise the fact that.. That's all it is. A nub, not a hand. "Do y' really think.. I c'n be th' same now 's I used t' be? Even in th' patrol? Even 's a fighter?"

"D'I think you'll be the same fightah as you are now? No. You're going t'have to relearn how t'fight. Learn how t'make up for the missin' paw. To compensate, but more'n that, how t'make it /work/ for you. How t'make it deadly, again. An' it will be. You know what you'll be able t'do with a hook?" Keita asks with a delicately arching eyebrow.

Tameus's gaze remains on his wrist, and he pushes up the sleeve gingerly, then rubs against the bandaging with his thumb. He looks.. troubled, still, but as Keita speaks he looks up at her again. "A hook?" The curious lift in his gruff tone suggests that the thought hadn't occurred to him before now.

Keita's muzzle twists with wry amusement. "... Trust me. I went around with jus' crutches for a while 'n' I shouldn't've. 'Sides, all the does'll think yer hot stuff," she concludes. While trying not to laugh. XD Ahem. "They like the ole peg, anyway, 'n' that's jus' wood." Grin grin.

Is that a little perk to Tam's ears? He's sitting up a little straighter. "Does aren' what 'm worried 'bout," he mutters. But, she has his interest now. "Where'd y' get y'r pegleg? Made it y'self, 'r what?"

"Had it made custom-like," Keita explains with a grin. "Gotta coupla spares 'n' all, too. They're good t'have 'round. Just broke'un a little while back when I got the bar beat outta me."

Tameus glances around - her pegleg must be nearby. When he sees the thing he eyes it thoughtfully, rubbing at the bandaging over his stump-wrist. "C'n y' tell me who y' had make it? Probably pretty expensive." His tone now is low and musing. Calculative even.

"I figure you'd want t'petition a blacksmith rathah than a carpentah. Ask that Talisin bloke, eh? Or - I wouldn't be surprised if Zoe could rig one up for ya. She's handy in a forge, s'far as I recall." You know. Not that she'd have any clue. Psh, Zoe and her hobbies. Who cares!

Tameus lifts one brow at that. Really, now? "'ll ask her. Yeah. .. thanks." His rather beat-up looking muzzle works into a small smile. "Thanks."

Keita returns the smile with a small grin, shrugging her shoulders. "No problem, mate. Everyone deserves a talkin'-to aftah somethin' like this." She nods a bit, then.

Tameus stands up out of his chair, and drops his eyes for a moment to his stump. His wrist turns a little side to side as he considers it, then his smile tugs into more of a grin, to match hers. ".. hot stuff? Really?"

"Hot stuff. Really," Keita replies with a laugh. She swings her legs back over the edge of the sofa and lies back down again. She has s'more vegging to do!

Tameus doesn't go quite yet. He steps toward the couch, and leans over, his hand braced on the back of it. And, he presses his muzzle to her cheek, in a soft but meaningful kiss.

Oh, these bucks, always wanting to kiss on Keita. Her muzzle twists in a small, amused grin and she reaches up to pat the back of his head, like. Yes, okay. XD "Go on with you, Tam. I think you've got someone else t'be kissin'."

"This 's true," Tam mutters, but. Just for that! He grins and pecks her on the mouth, then straightens up. ".. y're a good person, Keita," he huffs at her, then turns to go.