'Sup?

Genre: Romance/Comedy

Characters: Dr. Tannis, Maya

Standing Offer


Tannis awoke with a jolt. Her mouth was dry and her clothes were soaked through with sweat. She gasped for air as if her lungs had stopped. With a few deep breaths she managed to calm herself back into a —relatively— rational state.

It was that damned dream again, she realized. The one where Maya pushed her against the wall and kissed her and ran her fingers through her hair. The one where that beautiful blue haired woman down the hall finally took her up on that standing offer and they made sweet, rough love in her lab. The one where she finally learned what else a siren's power were good for.

She licked her lips and found them very dry. Pushing herself out of bed she stumbled across the room. She shed her sweat soaked clothes as she did, tossing them into a dark corner of the room, to deal with at a later date. When she reached her dresser, she opened a drawer with one hand and grabbed a bottle sitting on top with the other. She opened the bottle and muttered a mild curse to herself as the cap fell and rolled around on the floor.

She took a sip then went looking for the cap. She found it quickly, hiding in a shadow next to a mirror. As she placed the cap back on the bottle she locked eyes with her reflection. When she stood up, she continued to look in the mirror, in a rare moment of admiration for her own figure. Her hands danced over her bare skin, and she imagined what it would feel like if those hands belonged to Maya instead.

"Why not just ask her to join you?"

Tannis spun around. "Who said that?" She grabbed a pistol from the top of her dresser. "I'll have you know I don't believe in ghosts, so you'd better not be one."

"Ghost?" The voice chuckled. "No, just a figment of your imagination. Turn around please."

Tannis turned slowly back to the mirror. Out of the corner of her eye she caught her reflection waving.

"Hello." The reflection said. "I'm you."

Tannis raised an eyebrow. "I'm not still dreaming, am I?"

The reflection shrugged. "Not as far as I know. But it could be, or it might be sleep deprivation, or hallucinations brought on by Salvador's cooking."

Tannis nodded in agreement with her doppelganger. She placed the pistol back on the dresser. "So why is it you're talking to me, hallucination?"

"I want to help you with your problem. Your siren problem."

"There's nothing to do about it, she doesn't feel the same about me as I feel about her, I'm sure of it."

"What makes you so sure?" The reflection leaned against the rim of the mirror.

"She never seems interested in me. Even when I can muster the strength and courage to not throw-up mid-flirtation." Tannis picked the water bottle up again and began sipping from it.

"Have you considered that she doesn't understand your advances?"

Tannis swallowed a mouthful of water. "Doesn't understand? What does that mean? Even I understand physical attraction and sexual desire, and I'm talking to a reflection right now."

"I'll wager she doesn't. Think about it. When you called her pretty the other day, what did she say?"

Tannis closed her eyes in thought. "She said... 'I'm pretty?' And she walked away with a confused look on her face."

Her reflection deadpanned. "And you think that somehow she understood what you were doing was flirting with her?"

Tannis chewed on her lower lip. "I hadn't considered it. I suppose I thought no one could be worse off than myself when it came to understanding relationships. Despite the, in retrospect, ample evidence to the contrary."

The reflection leaned forward. "So all you have to do…?"

"Is be more forward with her?"

"Exactly." Tannis's reflection smiled.

Tannis put down the water bottle and started towards her bedroom door. "Thank you hallucinatory reflection."

"Wait, where are you going?" The reflection tried to turn around and watch Tannis leave, with no success.

"I'm going to go be forward with Maya. About wanting to have sexual relations with her."

The reflection coughed. "Maybe you'd like to get dressed first? I don't think you need to be that blunt with her."

Tannis stopped mid-step. She looked down at herself, felt a very slight heat in her face and walked back to the dresser. She took an oversized, long sleeved shirt from the open drawer. It had Maliwan printed on the front in bright gold letters. She looked at the mirror, where her doppelganger was now similarly dressed.

"Why didn't you mention that I was still naked earlier?"

The reflection shrugged. "I didn't mind, we are the same after all."

Tannis made an amused hum and started for the door again. On the way she turned the mirror towards the wall.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking preventative measures. If my venture is successful and we come back to my room I do not want you watching us."

"But I'm you!"

"No. You are a helpful hallucinatory reflection of my conscious, and I do not appreciate this new voyeur streak of yours."

Tannis made it to the door again, and in spite of protests from her doppelganger, she went out into the hall and walked down to Maya's door. She gave a quick knock on the metal frame of the door and awaited a response. After a short while, a very tired looking Maya appeared in the doorway. She stifled a yawn and rubbed an eye with the back of her hand.

"What is it?"

"I have been lead to believe that you do not understand some of the things I've said to you, and that I should be more blunt." Tannis watched Maya for a reaction, she got little more than a confused, tired stare.

Tannis cleared her throat. "I am attracted to you. Sexually. I think you are a beautiful woman and I would very much like it if you would accompany me back to my room to make love sometime."

Maya blinked a few times. "I…"

"A simple 'yes' or 'no' will suffice."

Maya coughed. "Uh, yes?"

"Excellent." Tannis turned to leave, then stopped herself. "Also, I seem to have a problem with a ghost in my room, do you mind if I sleep with you tonight?"

Maya shrugged, then smiled weakly. "I guess not."