Meet & Greet [open]

[apropergent]

CHARACTERS: aproper_gent and all others
DATE: ( August 25th (Day 7) )
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: A meet and greet of... island proportions?

Comments

[distinctive_guy]

After the morning's excitement, Eliot had considered skipping the afternoon meet. That it was the first of its kind made him reconsider though, so after a thorough clean up, he decided to attend if merely to keep an eye on the proceedings. A moment of deliberation had the hitter leaving most of his fake police gear -real gear, fake police- in his room to avoid giving the illusion of being armed

[besttoshootit]

Fiona had kept to herself for the past few days, watching the comms, eyeing the people, getting the lay of the land. The creepy, currently foggier than Ireland, monster infested land. It was like something out of a bad horror movie, which was apparently the point. In which case, she supposed, the crazy ass powers that be had accomplished at least one goal

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot had Hardison on the security cameras, but given that the hacker couldn't possibly cover all the angles piggybacking only from island security, the hitter didn't expect any full coverage of everything. Still, he expected a little warning when someone came stomping up to him with the intention of knocking him out.

Spotting the movement just in the nick of time, Eliot's left hand shot out and caught the slim wrist behind the incoming fist. Even as his body twisted into a fighting stance, his right hand flew out through reflex to catch the other wrist as his attacker came in for a second punch.

Then, staring face to face with his beautiful blonde opponent Eliot's eyes widened briefly and his scowl melted quickly into his most charming grin. "Fiona." Given the recognition, his hands immediately released her limbs. "What a surprise." And he did sound genuinely surprised.

[besttoshootit]

Fiona was, of course, unaware of the fact that she had a possible audience. That was too bad really, she may have attempted to put on more of a show. As it was she merely made a noise of frustration as she was immediately thwarted at both attempts to land a blow. She had forgotten how good his reflexes were. But that was about all she had forgotten.

"Don't you 'Fiona' me," she hissed, about as charmed as cobra by a tourist with a kazoo. "You stole from me, you smug bastard."

And then there went those fists again, except this time she thought ahead, following the most probably ill-fated punches with a nice, neat, swift kick to the shin.

[distinctive_guy]

Well, can't deny having done that. Eliot's smile fell sideways into a bastardization of a grin and a grimace when his greeting was returned with another flurry of fists. He caught the first in an open palm and went for the wrist again with the second, but that still left his leg open enough for the strong kick to find its mark.

"Damnit!" He hissed in pain. That will bruise horribly.

Taking steps back without releasing the tall legged blond who attacked him was probably a bad idea, but Eliot wasn't too keen on letting their little reunion draw public attention. "Keep an eye on the proceedings," he intoned quickly to Hardison while tossing a glance in Alan's direction. Seeing things were peaceful on that end, Eliot turned back to Fiona and attempted to maneuver her towards the closest hallway exit. Thankfully Eliot chose to stand near one.

"Good to see you too," Eliot offered through gritted teeth as he tightened his grip on the Fiona's wiry limbs. "Do we really have to settle this now?"

[besttoshootit]

The dull thud of her wedge connecting with his shin was oh so satisfying and the resulting grin that spread across her face was quite smug. Even as he all but dragged her into nearest empty hall, she still bore the expression of the cat who blew up the canary, though it had faded just a little as she wondered what the hell he was talking about, and to, for that matter.

His mutterings about proceedings were forgotten though as he offered up what she perceived to be a rather sarcastic greeting. Her expression turned defiant, never mind that even in the heels he had a good few inches and several pounds on her. Chin tilting upward she offered up a bitter chuckle, giving her arms a hard, if ineffective, tug. "You don't really expect me to trust you not to just disappear again, do you? What kind of fool do you take me for?"

And then she kicked at him again for good measure, this time aiming for the other shin.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot met the smug look with a halfhearted glare he didn't really mean and smirked a bit at the tug. The kick this time was dodged by a well timed twist of his leg. He didn't fancy getting a matching bruise just to calm the fiery brunette down.

"Kinda hard to disappear when we're all stuck on an abandoned island," Eliot pointed out. Using his greater strength, he tried to force Fiona's trapped hands down so they weren't waving above shoulder level. But until he was certain she wouldn't hit him again, he wasn't letting go. "So how 'bout we lay off the blows and move on to the pleasantries, darlin'?"

[besttoshootit]

He dodged her second effort, mores the pity, but she had expected nothing less. Eliot Spencer was many things, but slow on the uptake wasn't one of them.

She gave up the tugging when she caught sight of the smirk, not fond of the idea of amusing him further. Her eyes narrowed on his face, showing exactly what she thought of his abandoned island argument. "Ha. But you want pleasantries? Fine. Hello Spencer, great to see you. Where's my," she cut herself off and cast a glance toward the hall entrance, wary of listening ears. Though she saw no one she still eased closer, lowering her voice a couple notches. "Where is my package? The one you stole from me?"

[distinctive_guy]

"Retrieved," he corrected, more out of reflex than any insult taken. "That was over five years ago, Fiona. You don't really think I'd still have it, huh, do ya?" He smiled then, not quite friendly but just a bit less sinister than the smirk he had earlier. If anything, it was more amused.

"For what's it worth, I was doin' my job. It was returned to my client which it originally belonged to." He paused for a moment to soften his expression. "Can we let go of it now?" He followed by looking down emphatically at their locked hands.

[besttoshootit]

"Oh, for god's sake." She rolled her eyes at the correction. "Stole," she repeated, elongating the word. "If you're going to do it then just call it what it is. Stealing. You're a thief, a thief for hire no less. Admit it. You'll feel better."

She sounded annoyed but it was a vast improvement over the venomous tone she'd had a few moments previous. And though she had more or less ignored his question, both of them actually, she gave a semi-commital shrug--really, the best he was going to get from her--and tugged firmly at her captured wrists with a pointed look.

[distinctive_guy]

"Retrieval specialist," Eliot corrected again, stressing on the first word to make his point. He released Fiona and quickly stepped back, putting two steps of distance between them in case she got it in her head to attack him again. "I only get back what was originally stolen."

A pause. "And perhaps I might use a little stealin' to do it." He grinned as he conceded the point and raised his arms to show Fiona he meant no harm. Of course, it was also a good position to put his hands if he needed to get active in a hurry.

[besttoshootit]

Leisurely examining her completely unmarked wrists she noted that Eliot was apparently still ever the gentleman, which just annoyed her more at the moment.

"And that makes you a thief," she said, her tone patronizingly patient, as though she was speaking to one of the slower children in class. She looked from her wrists to him, noted that damned charming grin and narrowed her eyes again. "But enough therapy for the day. Whose bright idea was it to bring you to this god-forsaken hellhole? Now I know the idiots running this place are crazy."

She allowed a small smile of her own as she noticed the distance he had put between them. Charming and gentlemanly yes, a fool, no.

[distinctive_guy]

Eliot shrugged, showing he wasn't going to argue the point any longer. He technically ran with a band of thieves now, so the accusation wasn't that far off the mark anyway.

"Dunno," he answered as his eyes took on a harder set. He continued to smile, but his tone went flat. Gauging it safe for now, he lowered his hands. "Whoever it was, caught me and... a few friends of mine off guard. The story's the same for everyone though, no one remembers bein' brought here 'cept for wakin' up on the beach."

[besttoshootit]

Fiona scowled at the memory of waking up on that rocky shore. "Consistency. How nice of them."

She eyed him a moment, hands on hips and lips slightly pursed as she grudgingly acknowledged to herself that he was probably the best person to get information from at the moment. He may be a thief, but he was an honest thief, which she knew personally not to be nearly the oxymoron one might think it to be.

The annoyance and chill easing a bit from her voice, she dropped her hands from her hips. "I'm sorry to hear that your friends got dragged into this too. But if they're hanging around with you then I'm sure they can handle themselves." There may have been something of a compliment hidden in there, but she would never admit it. Or allow much time for dwelling on it. "So how long have you been here?"

[distinctive_guy]

Something like humor returned to his gaze at the left handed compliment and his smile reflected it. Judging that situation was defused for the moment, he didn't want to act like a stranger. He took a step back to close their distance.

"Six daylight cycles," he recalled, then specified by saying, "This is the Sixth. I recon that's about three weeks..." Eliot gave his companion a quick glance. "I'm guessin' since I haven't seen any sign of you before this, you came with the group that arrived three days ago."

[besttoshootit]

Truth be told, she gave one last thought to whacking him good, just too keep him on his toes, but her more logical side prevailed. Gathering information took priority. For the time being, anyway.

So she nodded, the annoyance returning but not aimed at him this time, merely the situation. "It's like you said. Woke up on the rocks, with no idea how I'd wound up there." She glanced at him, her brow furring slightly. "So these 'cycles', they're always like this? Darkness seventy-percent of the time?" She frowned with a soft tsking noise, her tone chagrined. "That'll really do a number on a girls' tan."