he leaned over the desk, thumbing through papers on it. from behind him came the sound of plastic being pulled apart and a box being opened.
he rolled his eyes and continued to search for the transcript he needed. he had no time for games right now.
or for her, for that matter.
bzz...
"ow!" she shrieked from behind him, and he jumped slighty. he grit his teeth. "it bit me," she pouted.
"Generally that's what insects do, pet." he shook his head slightly and threw an entire stack aside.
"yes, but it hurt! like, a lot! i think i'm bleeding..."
"You'll live. Ah..." he fished the paper up out of a pile and turned around, reading it.
she was giggling like a schoolgirl on the bed.
"lookit!" she said gleefully. he looked over the paper and raised an eyebrow at her.
she sat cross-legged on the sheets, packaging torn and discarded around her. a dragonfly the color of gray metal flitted about her head on wings of metal, examining her.
"isn't it cute?" she asked, grinning.
"Cute," he replied, "is a word that should never be used to describe insects." he walked past her, towards the door, still reading. "Let alone toy ones."
she glared at his back and reached up, poking the dragonfly lightly. it zoomed at the back of his head and circled him a few times - he ignored it. finally it ducked down and bit his ear.
"Son of an Arkatchelian whore, you little--" he swatted at it, turning round and round trying to bat the little machine down. it
zigzagged away, as if it was taunting him.
medli flopped back on the bed and laughed loudly, beyond amused. the dragonfly fluttered down and landed on her nose. she giggled and looked at it.
"why hello there."
it buzzed off happily again, its wings taking it all over the place. she looked over at him. he did not looked amused.
"oh, lighten up," she said, propping herself up on her elbows.
"I'm trying to figure out what we're supposed to be doing next, and you send your little toy after me. And you want me to lighten up?"
"yes, yes i do." she sat up, then stretched out on her stomach, still looking up at him. "forget about them once in a while, won't you? what about me?"
he stared at her.
"okay, fine. what about just relaxing once in a while? can't we go somewhere fun?"
the dragonfly came to rest on the top of her head where it flitted about for a moment before stopping. she reached up and took it gently, turning it off.
"We have work to do."
"you might, maybe." she rolled over onto her back and watched the ceiling. "for me it's just boring."
he shrugged.
"Nothing I can do about it. I need to go look for some stuff, I'll be back later." she heard the door open, and he left without another word.
she turned her toy back on and talked to it.
"go bug him, bug." she giggled and tossed it up into the air, where it spun around, confused, for a moment, before taking off and flying out the door.
she sat up again and did nothing for a few minutes. she looked over at the door, and paused.
she shrugged, got off the bed, and decided that she would look for some things, too.
she learned many things from the things in his desk.
so many things.