55. [Action]

[justcautious]

[Chris has been out patrolling for the day so far and he hasn't really noticed anything odd. Or rather, he's noticed quite a lot of kissing but presumably it's holiday-related? Nothing to do with him, unless it's a troop of devious kissing-pickpockets. But he doesn't find that likely, at least, not likely enough to bother with investigating any of

Comments

I always wind up going with 'hilarious'. 8| Even- no, especially- at the expense of her dignity.

[badhairlifetime]

She notices that fowl pas* while noting that she really should make an effort to be friendlier in the City.

"About as much as I can be, I suppose. What about you?"

*Like a faux pas, but the person committing it winds up looking a bit like a duck.

[badhairlifetime]

"You were bit by one? But- now you're, er, better?" The curse, for as little sense as it still made, was something explained by the City, how did this add up? She nods, though. Smoking was used a lot as a blood-replacement for the black ribboners of Ankh-Morpork.

"They usually are. Oh, sure, they can get off of blood, but even if they've sworn it off, they assimilate into everyday life so easily, like they were meant to be there." She glares at nothing in particular as she goes on. "They could be planning on killing you as soon as talking with you. And no one realizes that, because they're not acting like a vampire, except that they are. They act friendly and sophisticated."

[justcautious]

"Yeah, this bloke 'ad a cure. M'not allowed t'talk about it, though. I promised him."

This speech strikes Chris as a little odd, after he's nodded to it for a bit. "Um....you know a lot of vampires, then?"

[badhairlifetime]

"Right."

Damn! Damn damn damn! She hadn't meant to go on like that, although she was glad that she wasn't the only one who wasn't too keen on vampires. It was this plant! She hadn't known what people meant when they were describing the effects of the curse, but she knew now. And she very much understood now. She was putting a lot of effort into doing something other with her mouth than what she wanted to do.

"Back home, yes." Keep it cool. "What about you?"

[justcautious]

"I don't really know any," says Chris, shrugging. "We don't get 'em at 'ome." He's not quite under the mistletoe himself, or he would have lunged by now. No self-control, our Chris. "Th'only ones I know here're the criminal sort."

[badhairlifetime]

She would snort again, except that the urge is becoming stronger. "What, the ribboners haven't come about to defend them? They must be terribly disorganized here, then."

[justcautious]

Chris frowns. "Ribboners? Must be somethin' only you've got."

[badhairlifetime]

She looks shocked at this. "Really? Black Ribboners? 'Not even vun drop'?" She knows that there's no one else from Ankh-Morpork, but this is unexpected. She would figure that they were all over.

[justcautious]

"Never 'eard of them." Chris thinks for a moment. "They the sort of good guy vampires?"

[badhairlifetime]

"As good as can get, I suppose. They have a unique view on the whole thing, at any rate." This was getting to be too much- just- get it over with! That was the ticket. Maybe.

She reaches over, grabs his face, and kisses him, on the lips, unlike her other encounter before.

[justcautious]

Oh, bloody nora. Even despite the curse going on today, Chris hadn't been expecting this. And maybe he's getting better at not thinking about the sex of coworkers (...ner ner ner) because he has a strange, brief moment of 'ohnoanothercopper' before he properly remembers that this is Angua, who may be taller than him but looks sort of...blonde and womanly, actually. Okay. He can go for this. Not that he has any choice, really, but he relaxes.

[badhairlifetime]

The combination of her normal personality and how angry she is, not only at the curse, but how she's letting it affect her, means that she's being particularly aggressive about how she's kissing him. Her hand goes to the back of his head as she pushes him against a convenient pole. She reminisces about how this reminds her vaguely of her first time with Carrot, and she mentally curses again.

[justcautious]

Whoooooa. Ray is going to get a play-by-play of this, next time he sees him. He stumbles a little bit when he gets shoved but he's caught by the pole so that he doesn't go falling backwards. Wow. He never would have guessed Angua had it in her. Well. It is a curse, but STILL. Blimey. Various mental exclamations. He puts a tentative hand on her shoulder, his feet braced in case she goes pushing him into other things again.

[badhairlifetime]

It was bad enough trying to fight the urge when her lips weren't mashed up against his, and their hands weren't on each other's torsos. She's none too happy, but it is a curse, after all. It's a weak excuse that everyone uses, but it's also an accurate and substantial one. After all, after some of the things that she's seen happen in the City, no one could deny the reality of the curses.

And this one was real, alright. As real as the tongue that was now at Chris' mouth.

[justcautious]

Chris is into the point of just accepting this as a thing that is happening now. Snogging an attractive female coworker who looks like a movie star and would probably bite his arm off if he tried to make a move in the normal course of things? Totally rational. French kissing a woman at all when he still isn't over Penny's departure? Well, the mistletoe says so! He'd go for outside-upstairs, now, if it wasn't so clearly pointless to try.

[badhairlifetime]

And Angua's kissing a coworker who she's just embarrassed herself in front of, and who's just had his girlfriend leave, when she has a boyfriend of her own back home. But the curse is seeing to it that it doesn't seem to matter what either of them think. Not that Chris is entirely unattractive, of course, it's just that neither of them work particularly well together. He's not bad, though.