nextgenerationmarvel | What was I thinking? [Felicity]

After returning from the solo mission that had gone upside down thanks to HYDRA, Nika had gone to a medical professional to check how bad her wounds were stitched. She had all the confidence in Felicity while in the plane, but she wanted a professional opinion about possible scarring. She was sure some of the amazed invectives while examining her wounds would be useful later.

Since then she had kept herself busy until the day rolled around for getting coffee with Felicity. The Symkarian wasn't sure how this would go or if she should be even doing it. She could almost hear her mother's lecture moving along to the cadence of the elder Sable's pacing. Nika was sure there was no one else on the planet as good at frustrating her mother like herself.

Opting not to go to coffee in a tactical corset, Nika rummaged through her closet to find something suitable. It took the third outfit choice for her to realize she was distracted. She tried to focus on one color with some accents. And no animal prints. Why did she have tiger-striped pants?

She smoothed down her tight pencil skirt outside of the coffee shop. Then she adjusted her fitted jacket. It was possibly a tad too dressy for a casual coffee... date, but it made Nika feel better. Particularly as the jacket was tailored to hide the weapons she had hidden about her torso. She took a breath and pushed the door open.

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"Mmm. Troubled past. Dark eye make-up. Fidgety on a date. ...are you close to anyone but your sister, Nika? Are you even close to her?"

My, but wasn't Felicity delving deep on a first date?

Nika blinked. That was not... really the type of questions she expected on a date. She took a breath and straightened up a bit to try to keep her figurative hackles from rising.

"My sister, my parents, my niece and nephew here in the States... it's a small list. Used to be bigger. I'm not close to my brothers, but they've lived in Japan most of my life."

"Samurai mercenaries? Yes? No?" Felicity stirred a little more sugar into her coffee. "It's just me, my dad, and my mom. I had an older brother, but he died a couple of years ago." Which Nika would know about, of course. It was all in Felicity's files.

"No. One of them is married to Dazzler." Technically, he was a brother by adoption as an adult, but he was still related as far as anyone in her family cared. Also, she wasn't sure if she was allowed to mention their family business anyway.

She was aware of the older brother, but she didn't think a date would be a time to ask about it. Nika had sometimes wondered what it would have been like to have an older brother who had been there instead of halfway across the world.

Felicity's eyes darted down to Nika's hands. "You're not missing any fingers there, lady." She knew who was related to Dazzler. Everyone who considered themselves Dazzler fans did.

(Though, okay, maybe Felicity was a smidge more partial to the rock stylings of Lila Cheney?)

"I can see the question in your eyes, by the way. I'm an open kitty. Ask me anything."

"Brother by adoption," Nika supplied before she took a sip of her drink. "He helped my father and older siblings escape their world and come here. I'm entirely human. As your hands up my shirt could attest."

She set her cup down. Nika chewed on her lower lips a moment. "What was it like having an older brother who was around for more than just vacations?"

"Hey now, it's not like I've ever gotten up close and personal with a Mojoworlder before," she said.

Felicity paused and took a bite of her olive oil cake. "It was great," she admitted. "I mean. Any help I needed, the first time a bully picked on me, teaching me how to drive...he was there for all of it. He had a ton of extra-curriculars but he always made time for his kid sister."

"I have a belly button. That's the first sign I'm not a Mojoworlder," Nika informed with a half-grin. First sign she was born from a person and created.

"That sounds... wonderful. Him teaching you how to drive must have saved your father a few gray hairs." Nika took a nibble of one of her rose and almond cookies to get a taste.

"A lot," Felicity laughed. "You've no idea." She shrugged then. "But you know the story. Mom's past caught up with us, and Gene was caught in the crossfire."

The shrug was casual, but Nika had a hunch the feelings under it weren't so. Not exactly great first date material to the Symkarian.

She reached over to place her hand on Felicity's. "I'm sorry."

For the loss and for bringing up a painful memory. While Nika had brothers at a distance, she still had them.

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate that." She squeezed Nika's hand back. "Some nights...well. Some nights are harder than others. It's always easy, going from being the only child to being one of the children. But the other way around...how does that even work? Even now, during family visits, it's difficult."

"I... wouldn't even begin to know how to answer that." She had been very fortunate in terms of family and none of them dying. Then again, her mother had tried to spare Nika the pain she had been through.

"But if you need someone to talk to, hang out with, or whatever on those hard nights, I'm available."

"If one of us was a man, those hard nights would be something very different indeed," Felicity said, pushing everything back and coming out with a joke.

That was what she did. She either joked about things or invented something in order for her to think about something else and suppress the things at hand.

"Woman can still have hard nights. Proper application of hard surfaces. So, you're gentle at night?" It was a gentle tease as she pulled her hand back. She doubted that the issue was gone, but Felicity would have to be the one to signal if she wanted to talk further.

As it was Nika quirked an eyebrow as she picked up her cup to take a sip.

"God no," Felicity said softly. "I'm an absolute wildcat beneath the sheets, meow."

Okay, so that was absolutely the most obvious answer she could have given.

But she couldn't help it, at all.

Edited 2014-02-20 06:43 (UTC)

She tried hard to not snort her cafe cortado out of her nose. But it was a very close thing.

Nika momentarily put the back of her hand under her nose to make sure nothing dripped out.

"That's what I thought," she commented as her hand fell away from her face. She picked up the cookie she had nibbled not long ago and took a proper bite out of it.

Felicity grinned. Widely. "Wow, look at you, able to hold back a reaction to that. Have to say, you have a hell of a poker face. I wonder how long it lasts while you're being, you know, poked." She chuckled and took another bite of her olive oil cake. "Seriously, though. The poker face. Genetic trait of all Silver Sablings?"

Nika also didn't spray bits of cookie on Felicity. She was calling that a good thing, too. She swallowed her mouthful and licked the crumbs off her lips.

"Poker face usually helps in business dealings, not sex. I find reacting during sex helps the other person find all the right spots."

Felicity gulped down that bite of cake and blinked. "I did not expect you to go there," she admitted after a long moment. "I have to admit, I'm all kinds of impressed. Maybe there's hope for you yet, Nika."

What was I thinking? [Felicity]

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