InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm dizzy."

burnt_chocolate (burnt_chocolate) wrote,
@ 2008-01-26 21:06:00

o16.
"By making sexual insinuations and then, when confronted, playing innocent." Mello chashed Near's duck down with a vengeance, driving it hard into the side of the kiddy pool and keeping the throttle on, splashing a great deal behind it as it drove Near's duck against the rim of the pool and pinned it.

"I can believe you'd be 'innocent,' in the grand scheme of things, but I'm not so quick to assume that you're ignorant."

[[Continued from here.]]

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	blank_puzzle 2008-01-27 02:08 am UTC (link)
	Near raised a brow at the duck situation. "I see. And then how would one manage to be a good tease?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

	burnt_chocolate 2008-01-27 02:23 am UTC (link)
	"There is no such thing as a good tease." Mello breathed with calm assertiveness as he backed his duck away from Near's suddenly, freeing it and giving it plenty of space to move again. "You aren't the least bit cute when you play dumb." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blank_puzzle 2008-01-27 02:26 am UTC (link)
	Well, that was a flat-out lie. In fact, they were both lies. "But if it's never good, then why do so many people do it?" he asked, following Mello's duck quickly. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

burnt_chocolate
2008-01-27 02:35 am UTC (link)

Mello sighed, and for a moment he had that nagging, unpleasant feeling of having backed himself thoughtlessly into a corner while he was wrapped-up somewhere else. He'd been a liar, on all counts, and Near was clearly calling his bluff right now... but still, Mello was not about to turn to Near, put down his controller, look him in the eyes and instruct him clearly and concisely on how best to woo him. That was territory Mello wasn't quite ready to get into, not even in jest.

"Some people think it's charming." Mello muttered, evading Near's duck desperately.

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	blank_puzzle 2008-01-27 02:40 am UTC (link)
	"Ah," Near said thoughtfully. "And you're not one of them, then...?" Poor Mello. Near almost felt sorry for him. ...Almost. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

burnt_chocolate
2008-01-27 03:15 am UTC (link)

"Look," Mello sighed, turning his head towards Near and fixing a very serious, intent look on the shorter boy, losing sight of his fleeing duck in favor of making this little point. "Do you want to know what I do and do not find to be cute and charming that badly?" He frowned deeply, expression reflecting a certain degree of stress as he reached-over and patted Near's shoulder lightly, in an almost confiding and buddy-like gesture. Really, though, he just wanted Near off of his case.

"It's not gonna' be helpful information, so far as our working partnership goes..."

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	blank_puzzle 2008-01-27 08:55 pm UTC (link)
	"...Mostly I just wanted to see what you'd say to my asking," Near said simply, and it was more-or-less honest, too. "However, if you wanted to tell me, I can't say I'd mind. I'm curious now, I have to admit, but it really is just idle curiosity, mind you, so there's really no cause for concern." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

burnt_chocolate
2008-01-27 09:18 pm UTC (link)

Mello breathed-out a low, faint snort, staring at Near for a moment and very clearly weighing his options, calculating percentages of good and bad and this and that in the hope that he would eventually figure out what his best course of action was...

And eventually, he settled for being truthful. It would eliminate Near's curiosity, for one, and put him off of the pursuit of more information. Even if it was merely 'idle curiosity,' Mello knew that he certainly wouldn't settle for that lack of knowledge.

"Honestly, I haven't met very many people who I thought were genuinely cute or charming, and I can't say that I'm one of those people who has a 'type' or anything asinine like that..." He reached for the chocolate bar on his knee, cutting-off the physical contact with Near for not reason other than that he'd prefer to gnaw on some chocolate as he thought-over his next move. "...But I like people to not be stupid. I certainly find people more attractive if I don't have to lead them along by the hand in order for them to keep-up with me."

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blank_puzzle
2008-01-27 10:13 pm UTC (link)

Near pondered all of this with a sort of detached interest; it wasn't surprising, really; it made sense with Mello's personality and intelligence.

"That sounds reasonable," he said thoughtfully, still keeping his gaze on the ducks, rather relieved, really, that Mello had stopped touching him-- he wasn't sure what it meant (or rather, what Mello meant by it), and it was far more confusing than what Mello had said. He reached over and pilfered another small piece of chocolate off the end of Mello's bar. "I have little comparable experience, obviously, but that seems like it makes a lot of sense..."

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burnt_chocolate
2008-01-28 02:52 am UTC (link)

Mello shot a quick look at Near when the little brat snagged a piece off of the end of his chocolate bar. He had been holding it, so it wasn't exactly as though he were offering or that the chocolate had been risked and left out in the open for just anybody to snag bits off of it... but, beyond giving Near a look, he didn't say anything, just raising the chocolate bar to his lips and licking at the broken-off tip of it: childish maybe, but it certainly staked his claim on that corner at least, the material melting against his tongue and becoming a funny, soft edge.

"Experience doesn't really help with the assessment, believe me." Mello played one-handed for the moment, trying to speed away from Near but definitely not being so intense about playing as he had been earlier. "If anything, you figure out that it's a strictly case-by-case basis."

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blank_puzzle
2008-01-28 07:43 am UTC (link)

That was even more confusing. Really, sometimes Mello could be utterly inscrutable, and it was very annoying.

"...I see," he said quietly, scooting his robot around as he chewed the rest of his chocolate. Well, at least Mello hadn't made too much of a comment on that; really, Near had been doing it to get a rise out of him, but not getting one was somehow actually more satisfying.

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burnt_chocolate
2008-01-29 06:51 am UTC (link)

"Hn?" Mello frowned slightly at the quiet, simple reaction, turning his duckie around and cruising it back towards Near's for a nice, old-fashioned, 2-second game of chicken before their ducks collided and veered away from one-another again.

"You seem confused... Have you put an awful lot of thought into what you find to be cute and charming?"

Honestly, Mello doubted very much that Near had... but he couldn't this littlest bit of teasing.

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blank_puzzle
2008-01-29 02:52 pm UTC (link)

"I can't say I've thought about it," Near had to admit, and it was even mostly true. "Although I should probably be relieved to hear that experience doesn't have much of a bearing on it, it doesn't really make any difference either way..."

And it didn't, really; it wasn't just that Near lacked experience, he also lacked (for the most part) any thought given to the subject, as well as (most likely) the potential to find out either way.

His duck bobbed a little in the water before he righted it with a carefully timed burst of acceleration, heading away from Mello's before circling it again.

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burnt_chocolate
2008-01-29 05:39 pm UTC (link)

"You're a growing boy." Mello steered his duck through the water, making lazy loops as though Near's duck circling his own was nothing to be concerned about. "I'm a bit surprised that that impressive mind of yours hasn't invested just a little bit of time in the matter..."

Mello transferred his controls to one hand again, raising his chocolate bar to his mouth and breaking off a sizable chunk to chew on before he rebalanced the piece on his knee, returning his hands to his controller.

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blank_puzzle
2008-01-29 05:48 pm UTC (link)

"I'm eighteen," Near pointed out. "Most males stop growing before then," he added, decidedly not commenting on the rest of Mello's statement. "The matter" was a broad and complex spectrum of things, some of which Near had thought about, yes, but it was truthful to say he had not given any time to thinking about what he personally found "cute" or "charming", so it's not as if he was actually lying.

He glanced over at Mello, and seeing him one handed for a moment, took the opportunity to attack, his duck bouncing off Mello's and sending them both careening through the water.

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burnt_chocolate
2008-01-29 06:01 pm UTC (link)

A sound very like a choke came from Mello's throat as his duck was struck and sent reeling in the water before he had a secure grip on his controller, teeth clenching in his chocolate as he fought to regain control of his ducky and retaliate in some manner.

"I know that." Mello said, finally, around the chocolate piece between his lips, finally righting his duck and charging after Near's. "I was just saying that I was surprised that someone at the peak of their 'interests' wouldn't be... interested."

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	blank_puzzle 2008-01-29 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	"Interested in what, exactly?" Near asked. "Do you really spend large amounts of time sitting around thinking about what you find to be 'cute and charming', then?" He was terribly amused by Mello's reaction, and would have liked to get another similar reaction out of him soon. To that end, he had his duck ram Mello's again, just to see what would happen. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

burnt_chocolate
2008-01-30 03:04 am UTC (link)

"Who would do something like that?" Mello growled, that question firmly placed within the bound of 'rhetorical' as he steered his duck away from Near's after the next impact. There was something to be said for this exciting new aggressiveness on Near's part... but still.

"You tend to come by these discoveries by way of looking at another individual and thinking to yourself 'my, that person is attractive, aren't they?'" Mello frowned as he dove his duck back towards Near's, trying to tackle it in kind.

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	blank_puzzle 2008-01-30 03:56 pm UTC (link)
	"You seem to think I did," Near said calmly. "I haven't, though, or... the other," he added. ...Mostly true, anyway. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

burnt_chocolate
2008-01-30 04:09 pm UTC (link)

"I have no idea what you're getting at." Mello groused, not grinning an awful lot even as he finally succeeded in tackling Near's duck back, the surface of the kiddy pool choppy and tumultuous from their terrible, ongoing battle. For now, his eyes were strictly on the water, though it was clear that at least as much attention was being paid to Near's words.

"But I don't think you're being entirely truthful with me about this. Come now... you haven't glanced over at Miss Lidner and thought 'She has very nice... hair.'" Mello gestured vaguely, tossing-out 'hair' because he felt that it'd be rude to point-out something like her bust or her hips in what could only be described as 'the work place.' He may be a man who was rather lax with certain conventional morals on the whole, but he wasn't a pig by any means.

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blank_puzzle
2008-01-30 04:28 pm UTC (link)

Near stared at him, decidedly not looking back over his shoulder for the source of the intense coughing coming from Lidner and Gevanni's working area.

"I have never looked at members of my team in that way," Near gritted out through clenched teeth. "It would be an abuse of my position, and it would be wrong."

Again, this was completely true, although to say that he had never looked at almost anyone that way would perhaps have been more accurate-- especially not a girl. Still, he wasn't volunteering that information to Mello.

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burnt_chocolate
2008-01-30 04:41 pm UTC (link)

"If it's morally objectionable to check-out your subordinates, then what of your peers?" Mello pressed ahead, unfazed by the severity of Near's voice or the way that he was gritting his teeth just now. It was a weird thing to suggest, and a little bit closer to home than he wanted to aim attention, exactly... but Mello reached up and tapped at his head, frowning very seriously at Near.

"What about my hair?"

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	blank_puzzle 2008-01-30 05:05 pm UTC (link)
	Near gave him an appraising sort of look, tilting his head to the side. "...It's very pretty," he said finally, which was as much insult as compliment, probably. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

burnt_chocolate
2008-01-30 06:28 pm UTC (link)

Mello frowned slightly at Near, the eye on his burnt side squinting slightly as he tried to figure out if he was pleased or insulted by the results... And after a few moments of consideration Mello figured out what he felt about that.

"Well, I take rather good care of my hair, of course..." He mock-preened, reaching up and running fingers through his hair in a luxuriating, slow motion. His fingernails were in disrepair and his hair was in need of a cut, and Mello knew well enough that his face was a bit less than pretty these days... but accentuating these details only drew attention to the fact that he was being sarcastic. Mello had decided that Near wasn't going to be honest with him, so he would just drop it and figure that at least he was being left alone now as well.

"come now, my duck's doing circles around yours right now. Put forth some effort!"

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	blank_puzzle 2008-01-30 07:21 pm UTC (link)
	"Just because it's in need of a cut doesn't mean it's not pretty," Near pointed out. "However, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is highly debatable." He scowled at Mello's assessment of his duck-steering skills, and used to element of surprise to stage a sneak attack, setting on Mello's duck from the side. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)