Duo and Pike - May 15

[ax_shinigami]

Pike catches Duo snagging a few dubious treasures from the school storeroom.

Half an hour of poking around in one of the school's storeroom hadn't yielded much for Duo except an absolutely ancient laptop and a little portable DVD player that they could maybe get $20 from if they could repair it. Every thing else that fit into their niche seemed to work and while they were perfectly fine with sneaking the odd piece of non-working electronics up their room to fix and flip, they had no plans to start making a habit of more clear cut theft. Well then, maybe a trip to the local electronics recyclers ift hey had such a thing? Or a walk around the surrounding neighbourhoods on garbage day? Duo sighed and picked up his finds.

Pike paused next to a doorway, thinking she might have heard something. She had a habit of going her own way sometimes, wandering off to rejoin her friends later, but usually it was only when she had something she wanted to do. And right now she wanted to make friends! That was partially why she'd bothered to do her hair in
fancy braids today. Also, she wanted to confirm that her braids looked even cooler with her new silvery blonde hair.

With the boost of knowing she looked awesome, she stuck her head into the mystery room. "Hello?"

Duo froze. About halfway down the doorframe was a face they didn't recognize, a girl with silver hair tucked up out of her face. It was too late to stash their treasures out of site so they simply smiled and stepped towards the door.

"Hola! Did you need to get in here?"

"I don't know, what's in here?" Pike glanced around at what appeared to be the room of broken toys before turning back to the... guy? In front of her. He, they, maybe she, was wearing a Pink Floyd shirt and an asymmetrical black skirt, which had the sort of classy casual vibe that Pike could appreciate. That plus the long hair made her think girl. But there was something more masculine about their face that was holding Pike back from making an assumption. "Nah, I'm just wandering about. I'm Pike!" She held out a hand to shake before she noticed his/her/maybe xir? Wasn't that a thing? full hands. "Oh, do you need a hand?"

"Ah, no, I'm fine. I'm... I'm liberating things I probably shouldn't be liberating, so I wouldn't want to involve you in my theivery." When they first saw her they'd assumed that the girl had been leaning over, but no, she was simply very small. Maybe she was a new student and this was part of her mutation? Or perhaps it was simply a result of the old-fashioned sort of mutation even regular people were subject too. Malnutrition? In the end it didn't really matter to Duo stepped by her out of the room and then stopped to wait for her to join him.

"I'm Duo. I usually haunt the library, not the lower levels."

"Thievery?" Pike was startled. She didn't have any moral objection to stealing - it'd be hypocritical for any of Vox Machina to feel that way - but usually people weren't so honest about it. And she'd kind of assumed that the room was full of stuff for the students. "Can't we use what's in there?"

Duo shrugged. "I suppose, but we can't..." sell them was what they were going to say, but the girl had seemed put out enough by their use of 'theivery' that they thought better of it. "Well, I'm probably being a bit dramatic about it. More fun that way."

"You probably shouldn't confess crimes to strangers, even if it does make it very dramatic," Pike advised, not super sure if he'd been serious about the theft or not. "It's better to keep these things on the hush until the statue of limitations runs out."

"Oh, now it sounds like you're familiar with this sort of activity," Duo teased. They raised an eyebrow. "Any more advice for someone involved in a life of crime?"

"Nothing I can talk about just yet," Pike winked.

They liked her; they knew that much now. Duo couldn't help the grin that spread across their face. "Yes, statute of limitations and all that. Well, expect me to ask again in seven years. Or ten. Or however long it is."

"I'll look forward to it," Pike laughed. She paused, debating whether she was about to make a mistake. Now that she'd spoken to Duo, she definitely spotted an adam's apple - it was pretty clear from this angle - and she didn't want to mess it up later. And better to ask now than in a few months! "So, sorry if this is rude, but... do you go by she?"

"I go by Duo usually, but she is fine. So is he. Most of the people here seem to have settled on they, so if you're after consistency that's the best bet." Duo waved a hand toward the elevator. Time to get out of here before a random staff member discovered what they were up to. "If you're asking about gender and not pronouns, well, I haven't really got an answer for you."

"Your gender isn't really my business," Pike blinked, surprised even as she started to move towards the elevator. "I just don't want to call you the wrong thing. But thank you for sharing," she added, a little solemn.

"Thank you! And I apologize if I sounded prickly. I didn't mean too, it's just one of the first questions I seem to get here so I have well-practiced replies at the ready. Honestly, there are worse alternatives then some simple curiousity." They punched the button and gave the girl a warm smile to show there were no hard feelings. The girl. "Oh, Inever did get your name!"

"Oh!" Pike smacked herself on the forehead. "Pike, sorry about that!"

"Like the weapon?" It was a wonderful name regardless and deinitely suited her - sharp and quick.

"Yes!" Pike beamed up at him. "Most people think of the fish first! My pop pop never told me which I was named after, but I prefer to think it was the weapon."

Duo shook their head. "Oh no. Fish are nice but... not for baby names."

"Medieval weapons are a much better fit," she nodded. "At least for me. Where does the name Duo come from? Your parents like twos?"

The elevator arrived and Duo stepped inside, glad for a moment to think about that question. They'd been here for months and no one, not even Loki, had asked about their name; it had almost been a comfort that they'd never had to broach that subject. "No, a friend gave it to me when I was younger, six or seven. I don't remember my first name."

After considering that while she joined them in the elevator, Pike offered, "It's a good name."

"Thank you," they said softly. Bless her for not prying. "My friend was um, bossy? In charge? So that joke was that she was Number One, and I was Duo, but how she know what two was in Latin is a mystery I never solved."

"Did she grow up Catholic?" Pike encouraged with a touch of humor. "That's how I learned all of my Latin."

"Maybe? When I met her, she didn't have a family either, but maybe before?" And she hadn't made it to the orphanage to learn as Duo had. Time for a switch in topic. "Can you read it? There are a few good Latin books in the library."

"I can read a bit, yeah," Pike nodded. "Maybe not enough for a whole book on my own, but enough to muddle through with a good translation dictionary. What kinds of books?"

"Ovid, Cicero, about what you'd expect from an old man in a mansion." Duo grinned.

Pike giggle-snorted. "Well that's a touch beyond me, but I can give it a go if you'd like."

Was she serious? Oh, they hoped so because they couldn't help getting excited about the prospect of introducing some of those works to her. "You should! If the Latin's too much, I can help. Or even if you dont want to learn it the library has an excellent translation of Metamorphoses - that's Ovid and he's amazing."

Nerd, Pike thought with utter affection. "You know, you remind me a lot of Percy. Have you met him? I think he basically grew up in a library."

Duo shook their head. "No, but I know him. He's a friend of Loki's. That's my roommate... boyfriend really, I guess." Had he said that word to someone before? Maybe Gilmore, but no one else, and they felt their face getting a little hot at the though of claiming a prince for that role.

"He's a great friend to have," Pike said, not considering herself a biased source at all. "Which just further proves Loki must have good taste," she added, trying to encourage Duo to move past any embarrassment.
"I hope so!" Duo laughed. "It says good things about me if he does."

"I think, if you have great friends, then you must be pretty great yourself to keep them," Pike said as she stepped out of the now open elevator. She glanced around and... nope, no idea. "Where are we now?"

"Second floor, where the dorms are. Girls' dorms are that way," Duo nodded to the right, "Boys' and assorted others to the left."

Pike peered to the right, Yeah, that did look a bit familiar. Sort of. "Is this where we part, then?"

"I suppose so." Duo was having an honest pang of regret because this girl's company had been so pleasant, but they had an armful of ill-gotten wares to get back to their room. "But I'm in 115 if you ever want to stop in. Consider yourself in possession of an eternal invitation - as long as I get to foist some Ovid on you sometime."

"I'll definitely do that," Pike promised them. And promised herself that she'd introduce Duo to Percy. "And same for me. I'm in 213 with Steph!"

Duo smiled and gave Pike a saulte with their free hand. "Expect me to drop by then. I never pass up an invitation from lovely people."

Pike wrinkled her nose with pleasure. She was lovely! "I look forward to it."