taking care of business

[requiresssacrifice]

Who: Rex Lewis & Open
What: Getting business in order.
Where: Various.
When: Various times/dates this week.
Notes: Rex is due for some encounters with Alter Ego, Tadhg, Ana, Will...? ANYONE ELSE IS WELCOME, TOO. Just go ahead and start a thread at any location and any date this week, and I'll drop Rex in.
Warnings: None yet.

Now that the move from Griss Twist (which he will never, ever set foot in again... except, perhaps, to pass through to another location) to a new, two-bedroom apartment-- a proper apartment-- in Flyside has been completed, Rex is settling back into a routine. Work, work, more work, the occasional contract job, partner, sister, cat, research project... On the one hand, it's exhilarating, being busy again after so much idle time wasted in a cosmic prison, but he's finding it difficult to juggle his side projects with his obligations. For nearly two years, he suffered from an abundance of free time, and now he can hardly find enough hours in each day. Time management, it seems, is a skill that can indeed atrophy with disuse. Still, he manages as best he can.

With long hours, inconsistently scheduled shifts and only two days off each week, it doesn't leave much time for his research project into magic-- really, he can only devote one day a week to it, and beyond that, he just has to find gaps in his schedule where he can and work from there. As a result, it's moving slowly-- not that he expects expediency, not with how very little he knows about magic. It's still largely academic at this point, learning magical theories and hypothesizing, brainstorming. By now, Rex is no stranger to the University library. From time to time, there are minor experiments, generally conducted in his modest workshop in Brock Marsh, which he managed to find at a reasonable rate.

When he has a contract job for his budding side-business, Rex has to shift his other projects and commitments to the side and focus on hammering out whatever needs to be done-- repairs and upgrades to technology, mostly. Hardly stimulating, but whatever it takes to build up his reputation. It can be frustrating, trying to juggle these unexpected projects with his routine, but he's finding his groove now.

When he can, Rex shops around, trying to create something respectable out of his workshop. Proper equipment being as rare and expensive as it is, however, he's learning the fine art of, well, scavenging for discarded components and bargain-hunting. Sometimes, he simply explores... and winds up in strange or awkward places. Baedal's full of surprises like that.

Luckily, Rex doesn't have enough of a personal life to sacrifice at the altar of science. Ana and Iago aren't needy sorts, and Rex is accustomed to getting by on minimal sleep, so they find time with each other where they can, but it doesn't seem to be causing any sort of strain when Rex is occupied with his experiments and work for days on end.

Then again, if it is, he's hardly perceptive enough when it comes to the feelings of others to notice.

Depending on when one finds him and what he's doing, Rex can be found in varying states of dress and exhaustion. Bags under his eyes aren't an uncommon sight. When he's out making contacts, he's professional and polished, hair slicked back as he wears a suit. When he's scavenging or bargain-hunting, he's dressed down in jeans and tees, wearing hoodies for warmth, leaving his hair unruly, looking more the part of a poor college student than a brilliant engineer-slash-weapons-developer with megalomaniacal tendencies. Sometimes he's wearing scrubs, which are just a touch too big and make him look smaller than he really is. Work days. Which are practically every day.

Well, at least he can't complain about boredom now.

Comments

[seeyaduke]

Ana is meeting her brother for lunch. She's loving the freedom of the city, and at the moment she's fitting in rather well. Of course, things are always changeable, but at the moment she's happy. There's something heady about freedom after so long in various prisons, and it's very nice to be her own boss. Of course, that will come with unexpected pitfalls eventually, it always does.

Arriving at the Italian restaurant, Ana looks well. Despite the way her eyes move over the area she's relaxed (somethings where just too far ingrained in her to ever completely go on vacation) and clearly happy to see her little brother in an area that doesn't have Barges, a warden or a concern that they were going to once again seem a sudden call to return to the ship.
The honeymoon phase is still in effect for her, but then again she's always been far more happy-go-lucky than he has.

Speaking of happy-go-lucky, Ana is carrying a large bag over her wrist. A large loaf of bread is sticking out of it, but mostly it's dominated by a large, elaborately wrapped present, complete with red swirly bows. Ever since she was a little girl, Ana had loved giving presents, and wrapping them was one of her favorite things about it.

[requiresssacrifice]

Rex is already at the restaurant when Ana arrives, although he's surprised to have gotten there on time, since work ran a little late, then he had to take the train home to change clothes, and that took longer than planned... (Okay, so it took longer than planned because Rex isn't quite used to the train schedule yet, but shh.)

Now, he's sitting at their table, still smoothing down his hair and trying to look presentable. He glances up when Ana approaches the table, then stands to greet her. It's the polite thing to do, and Rex is nothing if not... Well, okay, he's not the most polite person, but Ana's his sister.

"Hey." His lips quirk into a smile, then he points to the bag and arches a brow. "You know Catenrat was last month, right?"

That's right, Catenrat. He's learned the lingo.

[seeyaduke]

Damn right he stands to greet her, and as he does so, Ana wrapped her hand around his neck and gave him a quick hug. Now that they were in the 'real' world, Ana was going to be doing their relationship more like the one they'd had been before there'd been faked deaths and evil organizations and post-death barges. It was nice to have a bit of normalcy.

"I know it's past it, but this is a housewarming present. I saw it in the bazaar and I couldn't help but think of you." Sitting in the chair across from him, Ana watched him for a moment, seeing how he looked. After all, it was her job to look out for him.

But that could be done while she handed over the package and the sign that it contained. It was wood, and had been carved in fancy calligraphy. The words on it? 'The Cobra's Nest' of course, complete with a snake on it.

USING THIS MF ICON BECAUSE I CAN

[requiresssacrifice]

He quickly returned the hug, stiffly, although he was making an effort to relax into it. He wasn't big on hugs even before his accident, so it was usually a somewhat awkward experience with him. Hugging Ana, of course, was all well and good; he just had to get used to normalcy again.

With a slight grin, he sat down across from his sister and glanced around for their server. Now that Ana was here, she could order the wine... Yes, Rex made his sister order the wine. She was the one who was married to a French baron, after all.

Ana speaking brought his attention back to the table. The server could wait.

"A housewarming present?" That was unexpectedly domestic. Then again... This was sort of his first real home, he supposed. College housing didn't count, and neither did army. Or MARS's underwater base. Or the Barge.

...

Well. This innocent gift was certainly putting things into a strange sort of perspective. Rex took the package, inspecting it for a moment, as though he could see through the wrapping paper and discern its contents. Then, he carefully started to pull at the bows and pick at the seams of the wrapping. Where others ripped packages open with abandon, Rex was the sort to keep as much of the paper preserved as possible.

He slid the wooden... plaque?... out of the paper and flipped it over in his hands to get a better look at it.

"Cobra's..." Rex stopped, let out a laugh, and gave his sister a crooked grin. "And here I thought France took care of your kitsch problem. Iago's going to hate this you know." Which meant that it was totally going in the bedroom. "Thanks."