Tuna was wrapping her hair in a towel when the phone rang. She'd freeze if it was still wet - she let the answering machine pick it up, humming idly. The voice on the other end froze her like free cryogenics.

"Pretty easy to find you, T. I think you know who this is. I'll be around 8th Orchard if you want to say hello." A click, and the monotonous dial tone of a dropped call. Tuna let the towel fall to the floor. She didn't mind catching her death so much now - as long as she could see what the hell he wanted. Grabbing a clean shirt and her jacket, she was out the door in five minutes, leaving a scribbled note to Bale explaining that Key had gotten his foot stuck in the toilet again.

~

The cold out here was even worse than yesterday, and a coat of snow was forming on the ground. New England in winter was no fun. Despite this, the blonde made no move to zip up her coat - her strides were long and fast, purposeful. He'd better not bloody leave, she didn't think she could stand missing out on a few free punches-

Her leg let out a sudden spasm of pain, sending her tumbling to the sidewalk. The concrete wasn't very forgiving to her bare knees, scraping them up as an addition to her smarting limb. "Bloody hell," Tuna muttered fiercely. She knew she couldn't get up without falling again. Instead, she jammed her hand into her pocket, searching for the bottle of pills she knew was hidden somewhere. Her frantic efforts left her oblivious to the quiet footsteps behind her. Only when a soft, familiar voice drifted down to her did she stop. "Looks like you've got another story to tell me. More than that, perhaps."

She stared blankly ahead. "If I'm in the mood. Which I ain't." She was so damn pitiful - unable to get up, getting colder by the second, and too snobby to even look at him. He sounded amused. "You will be." She felt a light touch on her shoulder - he'd bent down. Not that it was gonna work now, as it had before. "Wouldn't do that if I were you. I've grown up, babe." At last, her hand felt the hard plastic, and she pulled the bottle out of her pocket. He seemed to hesitate when she popped the pills into her mouth. A few minutes, and she could be on her way. "This is what you call grown up?"

"It's what I call effective pain management." She hazarded an attempt to stand, and staggered to her feet. Still, she didn't turn around and look at him, but her sense of humor was coming back to her - why wasn't she making him feel at home? "'Spose you could drop by my apartment. I wouldn't mind catching up." She was beginning to enjoy this. Maybe it was the drugs. The man chuckled lightly. "I'd be delighted."

Before he could finish, she had turned, brushed past him, and was limping down the street. "You finally got rid of that racoon on yer head. Good." She could hear him keeping pace just behind. "I came up to see if the jobs were better up here. College credit's only worth anything if there are occupations to fill." Holy mother of Christ, he sounded snobby. Tuna limped a little faster. "I'm amazed you even graduated."

"Same with you."

"I didn't." This was one of the rare times where mentioning it brought color to her cheeks. She could almost feel his smirk burning into her head. "I should've known. And you're still a fan of getting what you want all in one night?"

"I'm married."

That made him stop. Tuna nearly laughed out loud. "Your leg starting to hurt too? I'm not sharing the drugs."

"Married?"

"Yeah. Hitched. Living with a significant other." He hurried to catch up behind her. "I'll...I'll watch myself, then. But don't worry. I have just as outstanding stories to tell too. By the Gods, it's about time I had so-"

He collided into her back - she'd stopped dead. "Whoops." Tuna narrowed her eyes. "Yeah. We've got a lot to talk about."

The Gods were gonna get a swift kick in the ass if they'd given this guy a set of antlers.

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YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY lol I need to find a new name for him. |D I'll only explain stuff if you want me tooooo. -sits back- He lied about the jobs btw. XD Mostly he'll just bum around with T and Bale and George until they kick him out. cB