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 Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:09 pm
Her attention snapped back to him and he earned the strange smile again. "How Darwinian of you," she murmured.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:13 pm
"Yeah, they say it's a black outlook, if you subscribe to that whole path philosophy." Autry shrugged to indicate he neither believed not denied it. "I can see why most people woud prefer the Fleet's way of doing things, infinite benefit for zero cost, but personally I'm better off without it." (He was purposefully forgetting that were it not for the Fleet he would be dead.) "How about you? Prefer the infinite bounty or the struggle of mortality?"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:27 pm
"I'm Fleet," Serafima answered simply. Languidly, she straightened and resettled herself in her chair. Leaning back, she rested an elbow on one of the spindly arms of her chair, tucked her chin slightly, and touched her lower lip with two fingers as if further considering his question. "I respect the rules. Rules are sensible and convenient. Order is a thing to strive for." She paused again and moved her fingers to lay against her cheekbone. The curve of her lips that followed the movement could only be described as a smile; it was too mild to be a smirk. "Of course, my area of expertise allows for some loopholes and judgement calls are not unheard of."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:42 pm
"Yeah, there really is a lot of leeway in the Fleet for questionable morality..." Autry trailed off and shrugged, noticing one of the staff approaching.
A waitress arrived to bring them salads and the topic was momentarily changed to the subject of the fictitious director of their supposed movie. "John thinks we can get all those no-gravity shots using just wires, but I don't like being strung up in those harnesses all day long, do you? I think we should try to get them to pay for one of those no-gravity airplanes," Autry said, as if this had been the topic of conversation for the past fifteen minutes. The waitress's eyes boggled a little and she scurried off to spread this piece of gossip to the rest of the staff, how they were going to be doing zero-gravity sequences using wires or airplanes and wasn't that just scandalous?
One she was gone, they could resume discussing the Fleet. "It's not that the Fleet's a bad system, it allows a lot of freedom, but I'm a big boy. I don't need to be mothered by my overly-concerned government. I don't need to have some Praetorix checking in on me to make sure I'm alright all the time." Autry speared several pieces of lettuce together and started to munch on the greens.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:47 pm
"Ah, I see. You were doing so spectacularly before the Fleet stepped in then?" Serafima absently rearranged the salad on her plate, removing the bits of onion without thinking. It was hard to tell if she was goading him or not. Her voice was just so very, -very- mild.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:57 pm
"Let's just say I had a lot of profitable investments," smiled Autry. His smile faltered as he thought about where those assets might be now. Seized and confiscated or destroyed, if not by the authorities then by his former partners. He quickly changed the subject back to Serafime. "What about you? What was your role in the world before you joined? Were you a recruit or a conscript?"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:07 pm
"Recruit." Serafima took a bite of her salad. She did not much enjoy talking about herself but a little information to another Fleet-sanctioned person was completely different than chatting over coffee. "I was with the," she hesitated over the word, unsure if he would understand the levels of meaning to it, and eyed him narrowly, "I suppose you could say I once served the Soviet Union's police elite. Military. The Fleet offered levels which an Earth-based unit never would have opened to me. As a woman. More importantly, I suppose, as a woman with my particular talents. And you?" She smiled faintly, one eyebrow lifting. "You don't talk much like a willing addition."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:35 pm
"No," said Autry, enough bitterness in his voice to suggest just how recent a conscript he was. "That would be an understatement." He quickly involved himself in another mouthful of salad to keep from elaborating.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 8:39 pm
"I see." And she did, too. So clearly that she bent her attention to her salad for the next few minutes. Finally, she set her fork down again and studied him. "And this would be your first time on Gaia. First time on-planet, too?"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 9:13 pm
Thankful for the lighter nature of the question, Autry nodded. "Yeah. This isn't really anything like my original line of work. I still haven't figured out why they paired me up with Investigative Services. You'd probably be better at this line of work than I am."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 9:17 pm
The hint of a smile again appeared at the corner of her mouth. "And why do you say that?"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 10:30 pm
"You have a policing background," he said, even if they both knew it was hardly the same as the average domestic police. "I'm more in the... 'circumvention of the police' line of work." Autry smirked.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 10:42 pm
Serafima laughed at that and the sound was sharp and low, not quite unpleasant but certainly unusual. "Oh, I see." She nodded. "I think I must have mis-translated a bit, however. When I said police, I was being a bit... Euphemistic. My organization was pure military." She smirked back at him. "I never spent time chasing con-men."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 10:44 pm
"Con man?" said Autry in mock indignation. "I'll have you know I put the simple con man to shame." He flashed his pearly whites. "There's a world of difference between a simple con man and what I do."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 10:47 pm
"Would the trick you pulled tonight be an example of your more refined sleight of hand?"
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