Midsommer's Night Run

[cian_oneill]

It was almost as regular as clockwork, heading up to Searchlight on a Wednesday night for a few beers and a game or two. Cian went to the Golden Nugget, probably the most regular watering hole, for someone who didn't have regular places. Sometimes he went all the way to Vegas, but usually didn't bother. The noise of the big casinos usually hurt his ears, and the smell of fumes on the strip was something he could do without.

Like this Wednesday, when he just went up to the bar and ordered himself a beer, taking it over to a table and sitting down. After taking a long swig he leaned back in his chair, legs stretched out in front of him, as he continued to survey the other occupants of the place.

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[cian_oneill]

Once she had reached him he turned and started trotting back down the track, eventually stretching out into a slow lope down the shallow slope, toward where the bundle of clothes lay off the side of the track.

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon had taken up a light jog to keep up but she paused by the pile of clothes, which she spotted because they were the only dark lumps on a field of beige. His night vision was surely far superior to hers. “This is the part where I avert my eyes,” she said, putting her back to the cat and watching the sparse, twinkling lights of the town as people settled into their couches or beds for the night. A breeze kicked up sediment around their legs and turned her hair into dark slashes across her cheek.

[cian_oneill]

"Don't need t' worry on my behalf," Cian said less than a minute later, his shift complete, and jeans and boots pulled on. He reached down and picked up the t-shirt which lay on top of his jacket where they'd ended up when he'd hurriedly pushed them off the track earlier.

"But by all means, t' preserve y' delicate lady sensibilities, feel free!" he teased, walking up beside her, his t-shirt tucked into the waist of his jeans and jacket now slung over his shoulder. The heat from the change meant he usually remained very warm for at least a little while, and they still had a bit of distance to cover to reach the dine. He could put it all on again before there.

Or earlier if she preferred.

[rhiannon_lee]

“Delicate?” Rhiannon laughed. “Uh no, I just didn’t want to get caught staring.” It was strange to see his face again in place of the animal, and yet he commanded such a similar presence that it felt as if Cian had never been gone. She began to walk backwards so that she could maintain eye contact with him. “If the situation were reversed, what would you do?”

[cian_oneill]

He frowned for a moment, not sure what she was asking.

"Reversed? As in me bein' a Slayer, or me bein' a woman?" he asked, curious as to where she was going with the question.

[rhiannon_lee]

“No,” she laughed. Her heel brushed against a prickly plant and she glanced behind her before stepping over it. “Let’s say I had to be naked to kill vampires and I was standing there without any clothes on, talking about how natural it is… would you stare or turn around? In other words, how much of a gentleman are you?” To avoid another mishap with the scraggly plants between them and the diner, she faced forward again as they walked.

[cian_oneill]

He laughed softly, shaking his head as he watched her turn around, able to walk a little more normally now there wasn't the concern about watching where she was going.

After a moment's consideration he shrugged. "If we'd just gone through a fight together I don't think that's what either of us'd be even thinkin' about," he replied, giving her a sideways glance and grin before looking at the path again.

[rhiannon_lee]

“Way to dodge the answer, slick.” Rhiannon tsked and shook her head, pretending disappointment in him. Perhaps he was sparing her feelings or too chicken to put it out there. Or maybe he was really in the zone after a fight. She kicked a small rock with the toe of her shoe. “P.S. You clearly don’t know slayers if you think we don’t think about sex after fighting. It happens sometime between checking for broken bones and bleeding arteries.”

[cian_oneill]

"Then there's y' answer," he said simply, a wide grin now clear on his face and slight swagger in his step. "Don't think there'd be much 'gentle' happenin' either," he added with an arch of his eyebrow.

There was absolutely no doubt in his mind Rhiannon would more than hold her own in any sort of confrontation, be it life-threatening, or life-enhancing, and he had to check himself from heading down that thought trail right then.