bakerstreet | ( picture prompt meme )

[ ... Alright, Mari can't help but smile at that. She does feel guilty for keeping her up, but with Kanan so earnest about it-- who is she to say no? ]

Well, since you insist-- I can think of one thing! [ And she shuffles aside in her seat, patting the cleared space. It's a really big chair! ... but ultimately still built for one human, so while the two of them could reasonably fit on there, it's going to be a bit of a squeeze.

Mari appears utterly unperturbed by this as she smiles up at Kanan, all expectation. Go on, then! ]

Really now.

[So she says, even while slowly, cautiously, climbing into the proffered area on the chair. It is indeed cramped -- their elbows are sure to knock against each other when Mari is writing, and if not for her essentially perching on the edge as Mari is further inside, the seat won't hold them both.]

I'd tell you to find a secretary for the kind of work I was talking about... [Half-leaning on the armrest to support herself, she's almost speaking into Mari than at her.] But this is harassment, you know.

[ Mari waves a dismissive hand -- the one away from Kanan, mind -- and clicks her tongue. ] It's skinship, skinship! And besides, I was just starting to feel a little bit chilly when you came, so this is perfect. Practically Destiny!

[ Humming brightly, she reaches back for the mess of papers blanketing her table. A moment's hovering, and Mari snatches up three in succession, followed by her pen. There's budgets to calculate... hardly the most stimulating part of the job.

But Kanan's close, and warm, and that's nice.

Mari's eyes are on her papers, pen scratching away a scribbly string of calculations -- but the mild airiness to her voice makes it sound, oddly enough, like that part's the distraction. ]

Mm... tell me something.

Focus. [It's. Something. A prod at Mari's temple follows, to stress on the point.

For a glorified chair accessory, Kanan isn't making herself very useful. She adjusts herself to allow a better view of the papers, skimming over the numbers as they appear.

Wouldn't be much of an issue if extra or less funding went to their own club, that can always get sorted when they discover it, though if budgeting for another club goes wrong, the problem is far more troublesome to handle.]

I'd like to actually go home sometime today.

[ Mari's head tilts a bit at the prod, and her nose crinkles, but her eyes stay on the paper and her hand barely pauses. Over-energized and all over the place as she may be, once she settles into her work, she remains rooted surprisingly firm in it -- which is why she feels confident enough asking: ] Don't be stingy. Listening to your voice helps me focus.

Yeah, right. [Flattery, if she's ever heard any. Still...the idea's far from unpleasant.]

After all the mixing it's gone through recently, I'm beginning to forget how my voice sounds like.

[Not intended as a complaint, either -- on an end product, ready for audiences, the person singing might well be someone else. Riko is a wizard.]

I'm being se~rious. [ The way she sing-songs it might be less than convincing, though.

That remark gets her to raise her head for the first time, shooting Kanan another expectant smile: ] Why don't you sing now, then? It'll be a good reminder!

Edited 2016-10-16 09:21 (UTC)

Now?! Acappella? [There's an audible wavering and change in pitch between syllables, even as she sputters. The tight space is the only reason she hasn't fallen right off the chair.] I'm -- I'm not prepared...

[It's embarrassing, to sing without any backing... (ฅฅ*)]

My, that's quite the reaction! [ Her eyebrows hike up about as far as they can go, and she's sure to sound extra stunned, just in case Kanan could stand to be a little more embarrassed at the moment. ] We've sung in front of each other plenty of times before, haven't we?

But -- but -- [aksdljh

aaaAAAAAAAAAA why is this happening] That was in recording! And on stage! There was accompaniment!

Just...do your work already!

[Forced into a corner, she can only fall back on this.]

[ Mari blinks, as if only now recalling her looming mountain of paperwork, and stops to consider this. ]

... Ah, no good, my focus is all gone! ☆ It's absolutely impossible for me to concentrate without Kanan's beauteous singing voice!

Rubbish.

[VERY POINTEDLY looking at anywhere except in Mari's direction. She'd turn her body, too, were that possible.

(In truth, the gesture is as much to hide the flush she can feel herself, but the redness in her ears gives it away.)]

Don't make me repeat myself.

You get shy about the strangest things, Kanan!

[ Giggling. Goodness, her ears are bright red. Mari can't help herself-- she shifts in her seat, snaking her arms around Kanan's waist. She's close enough now for the tip of her nose to brush the side of Kanan's neck, almost.

It'd be bad if she stormed off in her fluster, after all. ]

It's just me. Isn't it fine?

[Hrrrgh. It's petulance to anyone but herself, now, that she continues to face away, when it accomplishes absolutely nothing.] Shut up. Don't sit on me. Don't breathe on me.

[This is stupid. Mari is stupid. And she is the stupidest, to let things go out of hand.]

[ The puff of laughter she exhales against Kanan's neck isn't a deliberate act of defiance. She can just be so funny! And stubborn as a bull, even about tiny, silly things like this. Even without seeing her face, Mari can effortlessly picture the sheer intensity with which she's glowering at the wall right now. ]

Mhmm... Only if you look at me, first.

No.

[No at what? At the conditions she never agreed to? At the sensation on her neck, to which she wriggled reflexively in response? At how Mari can get to her with so much ease, in ways no one else will?

The answer, of course, is all of the above, and then some.]

Kanaaaaa~n, come on...

[ All right, the second puff of breath is on purpose. As is the third. But that's only because Kanan is being very, very difficult right now, and because that little twitch earlier was frankly adorable. ]

Look at me, look at me!

[Mari's breaths are met with magikarpsplash.gif levels of wriggling. Holding her down really was the correct move.]

Fine!!

[When she whirls around, the blush is from frustration layered atop her embarrassment.]

Now, do your work.

--Ah.

[ Mari's caught a little off-guard. One, because that proved a considerably shorter struggle than she had prepared for -- and two, because she may not have accounted for Kanan's face being quite this close once she'd turned around.

Close, indeed. Mari can swear she can feel the heat radiating off Kanan's cheeks, that close. Or maybe it's the sheer redness of her skin that's tricked her brain into creating that illusion? No matter! It's delightful either way.

While this particular concoction of embarrassment-anger is likely less than pleasing for Kanan, Mari, on her end, is reveling in it. She's wholly unapologetic in the way she's staring at her face, and in the broad, toothy grin that stretches across her own features in response. Kanan's order to return to her work might as well have gone unspoken. ]

Listen. [The glower rises in severity, no doubt prompted by Mari's expression.

Kanan is Very Done.

Figuratively, at least for the moment, but perhaps literally very soon, if the cooked-crustacean colour of her skin continues.]

You aren't gonna finish what you were doing, huh? Fine. Fine. Exactly what I came for. We're going home.

Kanan! [ She pokes her cheek with the tip of her forefinger, scolding. Oh-- it's exactly as warm as it looks. ] That's very rude, you know. First distracting me from my work, and then trying to take me away from it! Downright incorrigible!

Trying?

[Mari, wrapped round her middle, their faces in such proximity, is conversely easy to grab hold of. And so she does, fixing her feet on the floor, sliding off the chair and lifting Mari up in one movement.]

I don't have to try. I can and I will.

[Call her rude, incorrigible, so be it. The end justifies the means.]

[ --Okay, they all know Kanan's strong, but Mari is pretty sure she couldn't pull this off so effortlessly two years ago. Either way, congratulations, you got a squeak that wouldn't shame a rubber duck out of her, and now she has her arms and legs wrapped around Kanan not unlike a koala on a tree.

Once she gets over the initial start, though? Her face lights right back up. ]

Oh wow! Nice Beef, Kanan!! Are you going to carry me like this all the way back?!

[For the agitation and getting tree-ed without warning, Kanan feels she's taking the whole situation quite decently.]

I could sling you on my shoulder. [A la caveman.] But you'd puke.

[#logic

She'll regret this after the urgent burst of strength wears off. Enjoy it while it lasts.]

Don't be silly, I've got stronger tolerance than that!

[ Well, gut tolerance. But being a human koala isn't much more sustainable than being the tree, so after a moment she untangles her legs from around Kanan, followed by her arms, and goes back to standing independently.

Stretching her arms out over her head, Mari looks from Kanan to her desk, musing aloud as if the thought's only just occurred to her: ]

Ahh, should I pack up for the day after all...

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