Take a Shot

Casual

"Pst."

Tekh closed his left eye and leaned his ear to the right, where Gordie sat. She nudged him lightly and nodded her chin towards what appeared to be a conversation on the edge of getting heated.

The 'Star assassin' was perched on the table, arms out behind her and face towards the ceiling, green hair in twin braids nearly scraping the table. In the chair one closer to them, arms crossed and shoulders hunched, sat her black-haired partner.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Gordie asked, tucking her arm into Tekh's. The purple-haired man chuckled.

"Her outfit."

"What? Her outfit?" Gordie leaned forward onto the table with an unpleasant expression. "She looks great. She normally comes to these meetings in a sweatshirt and shorts."

"You don't often see her out of her working apparel or...pajamas, do you?" Tekh asked, tipping his head further towards Gordie. The healer shook her head. Tekh nodded slowly. "Me neither. But Matt does. He sees her casual like this all the time."

"Is he jealous?" Gordie hissed, pulling Tekh's arm closer to her. He merely chuckled. "Oh gods! That's lol-worthy. What a goofball."

"Do you blame him?"

Gordie tapped her chin absently. "I'm not that into girls, but no, not really. The off-the-shoulder neckline really looks good on her. Anything that shows off that collarbone and shoulder blade area really does favors for her figure. It's the curves," Gordie snickered.

Tekh bypassed the comment quickly to say, "The shorts are utilitarian, too. They don't look like pajamas. This is an actual outfit, not something she rolled out of bed in."

Matt threw his hands in the air a little and sighed, rolling his head to look towards the end of the table, where Tekh and Gordie sat. Gordie's grip tightened on Tekh's arm. Tekh and Gordie both waved at the black-haired operator with smiles. Matt frowned, squinting their way. When Emerald noticed he stopped talking, she looked down at him, then her gaze followed his to Gordie and Tekh.

"Hey, Starry baby!" Gordie trilled, waving. Tekh questioned the nickname quietly, but Gordie ignored him. Emerald waved a hand in a loose hello. "I like your outfit today! Supes cute!"

The effect on Matt was instantaneous. He crossed his arms, slumping down in his seat and pouting his lower lip out. Emerald sent Gordie a smile, the smile turning a bit nasty as she nudged Matt in the side with her boot. He tucked his head down further. The smirk turned into a frown, her eyebrows pulling together. She leaned forward on the table, nudging him with her foot again, this time clearly gentler.

"He is jealous. O. M. G." Gordie giggled to herself. She pulled a mirror out of her pocket and grabbed an erasable marker from behind her ear. She scribbled something on the mirror. "Cardi is gonna get a kick out of this."

Tekh shook his head and leaned back into his seat, unhooking her arm from his. She looked up to give him a pouty look for a moment, then snickered and went back to drawing on her mirror. After a moment, she hopped up from her chair and strutted towards the quarreling partners.

"I don't get what you're so pissed about, anyway," Emerald said as Gordie got closer.

"I'm not pissed about anything," Matt objected, now looking back at his partner. She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"You told me I looked nice, I said thank you. And then we got in here, and you got all..." Emerald squinted, flailing her hand at her partner absently. "Weird. Pouty. Pissy."

"I am not pissy!"

"Whatever. I know pissy when I see it. Right, Gordie?" Emerald lifted her eyes to look at the healer-in-training as she approached. The blonde healer giggled. She set her butt against the table on the other side of Matt from Emerald, crossing her legs at the ankles.

She fluffed her hair a little, saying, "I agree with Star. You look three peaches short of a parfait." She booped his nose, and Matt swatted her hand away with a scowl.

"I am not pissy. I'm just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"I wonder why," Gordie said airily. Matt and Emerald both gave her a weird look. Gordie rolled her head to the right to look at Emerald, giving the assassin an obvious up-and-down look. Emerald rolled her eyes.

"Gordie!" Matt protested. The blonde giggled as he leaned forward, smacking her arm and giving her a glare.

"Aww, is someone sensitive?" Gordie cooed. She reached out, ruffling his hair. He grumbled, ducking his head down and crossing his arms again. "Anyways, Star, you do look really good. Watch out, though. I heard through the grapevine that your little assassin buddy is single again."

"Slash?" Emerald asked, eyebrows pulling together.

Gordie nodded, snapping her fingers. "Slash. I can never remember his name! Not my type. Anyways. Didn't hear it from me," Gordie said, pulling a finger to her lips and winking.

"Of course," Emerald nodded towards Gordie. Then she sighed, laying back on the table with a groan. "Damn. That means he's gonna be even more annoying than usual."

"Oh?" Gordie asked, eyes going to Matt with a shit-eating grin. The operator put his hands up like he was going to hit her. She held her hands up in surrender, making her eyes big and innocent, then crinkling her nose and grinning.

"He's always such a shitty fighter when he's not getting laid." Emerald sat up and sent a cryptic look at Gordie. The blonde snapped her attention back to the assassin, keeping her hands up for innocence.

"Oh, no, yeah, sorry Starry baby. Like I said, cold-blooded killer isn't really my type," Gordie said apologetically. Emerald groaned again, flopping back down on the table and lightly banging her head against it. "Besides, I don't date other magicians."

"What?" Emerald and Matt asked at the same time. Gordie looked back on the table to see Emerald had cocked her head, temple resting on the table. The blonde shrugged, looking back at Matt.

"Yeah. I only like non-magic boys. There's more of them, so more opportunity, plus they never really get jealous of how good I am at magic." Gordie shook her head with a little laugh. "I dated a magician back when I still lived on Piagoa, and he was a douche, so now I avoid them altogether."

"The sages let you get away with not dating magicians?" Emerald asked. Gordie didn't look back, instead opting to tap her chin and nod.

"Well, duh. They only pay me, they don't control my life. Some of the sages have ideas of, like, magical purity in blood or whatever, but I think that's silly. And as long as its casual, no one says anything, anyway."

"Must be nice," Emerald griped.

"Yeah, no kidding," Matt said, looking away from Gordie. The blonde pushed herself off the table and jostled Emerald's thigh with a smile. The Star assassin moved eyes only to look at the healer.

"That goes for you guys, too. The organization only pays you and houses you. You still have freedoms and stuff."

"It's harder to think about it with how much time I spend with Sage Geechis," Matt said with a shrug. "You know he's one of those rabid clean-magic-blood people. He also isn't a fan of coworker relationships, in general."

"Sure, but he's not the King anymore, is he?"

Emerald sat up slowly, her face blank. Matt looked at her carefully, bracing in his chair like he should be ready to run at any given moment.

"He's not. Joy is."

"Exactly!" Gordie cheered. "He would still probably be a little bit upset if you started dating someone without telling him, though, Emerald, but that's more of a family thing."

Emerald rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Not really interested in...dating."

Gordie ignored how Matt deflated like a popped tire. She put a hand on Emerald's shoulder, which the assassin quickly moved away from.

"Yeah, I get it." Emerald gave her a disbelieving look, and Gordie laughed awkwardly, "Not for me, but for you. You're an inquisitor now, after all."

Emerald sighed sadly.

"That I am. Assassin first, human second."