A/N: Man, it's been so long. But I haven't abandoned this or anything! It's just that I update as ideas come, and they haven't been coming real strong lately, aheh. Actually, I should mention that this chapter actually doubles as a teaser for a much longer (and uh, less worksafe) fic that I've been working on. No idea when that's gonna get finished, though, and I really loved this scene and thought it could stand alone, so there you have it. X3 Hope you like.

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Interlude

"That was quite an adventure, the two of you, wasn't it."

Ormi had to be immune to vitriol. "Oh-ho-ho, you don't know the half of it. Second we stepped outta Guadosalam, we got rushed by those whatchacallems, Gold Elements. Fast little fuckers, y'know. 'S the one problem with this uniform— ain't nothin' hurts like a Thundara to the head."

Logos cast an arch glance to Ormi over his own feet propped on the table. The boss had opted for her ritual post-wettening bath followed by bed, and her subordinates knew quite better than to disturb. Especially given her current mood. As the weather did not comply with Leblanc's ambitions, much to everyone's displeasure, they'd been set back a day. The boss hated setbacks. Logos knew this. Logos knew her really very well, didn't he? He understood her the way a scholar might understand his field of study, and she certainly was his field of study. Such a thorough recognition of her habits, her actions, words and gestures and attitudes. Ormi didn't have the aptitude for knowing her in such a way— knowing of her; he merely found his way by the feel of her fire.

"Oh? Shall I pass the message along?" he replied, feeling unusually, unreasonably spiteful. "The boss designed those herself, you recall. I'm sure she would love to know if you were… dissatisfied with anything."

Ormi sat up a little straighter. "Whoa, whoa, hey, I didn't mean it like that. We just got unlucky this time, anyway. It ain't her fault. Hell, I'm just as excited to get out there as she is, so… Y'know."

Logos stewed with folded arms and averted gaze, silent. Thinking. Knowing that Ormi had to have sensed the strain between them; his sensitivity to feeling proved truly baffling at times. An empathetic soul, was it?

"Logos."

"Hm."

"I was kinda scared for her out there."

He peered back at Ormi. "Really."

"Yeah." Ormi breathed. "I mean, maybe it wasn't really such a big deal, but I'm practically a lightning rod out there, and those towers ain't workin' so much like they used to anymore."

Logos hesitated.

"Ormi." Logos said gravely. "Are you in love with her?"

"'Course I am," said Ormi. "Aren't you?"

fin