milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Zoe's settled near the fire, one hand resting on her belly while the other cradles a cup of tea.

She's looking slightly out of sorts. This hasn't been a fun week, pregnancy-wise. Nothing so terrible in and of itself, but all in all, the whole thing is losing its charm. And there are still several months to go.

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He's carrying a thin sheaf of digital papers when he walks into the room. Gabriel hesitates briefly before letting the door swing shut behind him.

His glance falls on Zoe, and he looks at her for some moments before going to the bar and requesting something in a glass, which he carries across the room.

"Ni hao." A pause, then a half-wry smile, and he proffers the glass. "Regan always swore by it when she was carrying."

The glass gets eyed for a moment, and, when Zoe takes it, sniffed a bit.

After a moment though, she drinks, grimacing only slightly at the taste.

"Xiexie. Evenin', Mr. Tam."

He offers a small bow in response.

"Everything is well, I hope?" It's cordial, even affable.

Zoe shrugs lightly.

"More or less. Can't say I've been feelin' too shiny, but accordin' t' Simon, it's nothin' that ain't normal."

"He'd know."

Gabriel pauses, looking down at her.

"It's not my intention to disturb you, Miss Zoe. If you'd prefer quiet, then I'll ask you to excuse me?"

"If I wanted quiet, there're better places I could go for it than a bar."

A beat, and then, in a somewhat apologetic tone,

"By which I mean, no, you're not disturbin' me."

He's had warmer invitations, but he's also had far cooler ones from the crew of the Serenity, as it happens.

Gabriel takes a seat in a nearby armchair, signaling to a waitrat and requesting a cup of coffee as he props the sheaf of papers the arm of the chair.

"Business is treating you all well?"

Zoe inclines her head slightly.

"Been better, but it's also been worse." She realizes how much of a non-answer that sounds like, but really, she has no idea how to proceed in a discussion of Serenity's usual kind of 'business' with a man like Gabriel Tam.

"We're between jobs right now, but hopin' t' find somethin' on Athens, when we get there."

"Athens," he repeats. "Your business on Muir is completed, then?"

It's a polite inquiry.

Zoe shakes her head.

"What we're headin' t' Muir for ain't so much business, so we're hopin' a job on Athens'll make the trip cost us a bit less. Can't really afford t' be goin' on pleasure trips, even for somethin' like this."

'Somethin' like this' may or may not be clarified if he asks about it.

Curiosity is very clearly visible, but he says nothing of it openly, at least not yet.

"I'm given to understand that as a financial concern you're operating rather close to the edge, yes."

Carefully said.

Zoe quirks an eyebrow at his phrasing.

"If you mean money tends t' be tight, then shi a."

Zoe does not speak corporate. At least, not willingly.

"That ain't unusual for folk like us. We get by."

"'Folk like us,'" he repeats. "Somehow I suspect you're not referring to independent business operators...?"

Zoe shrugs.

She may be resisting an impulse to challenge him to use fewer syllables and see how long he lasts.

"Folk who make their livin' out away from th' Core. Whether you're dirtside or on a ship like us, pickin's tend t' be slim."

She's not complaining. This is the life she chose, after all.

It takes a moment before he answers her.

"I'm afraid I've not spent that much time out on the Rim, Miss Zoe."

Zoe gives him a frank look.

"Can't say I'm really surprised t' hear that, Mr. Tam."

Not for the first time, he wonders just how hard it must have been for Simon to adapt to such a life, and how long it had taken.

"That doesn't mean I'm not interested," he responds. "I hope that's clear."

Zoe's eyebrows go up a bit.

"Interested?" A beat. "'Cause of Simon and River?"

Having kids stuck in the Core would make Zoe a hell of a lot more interested in it than she is.

"Dāngrán," he agrees. "That's not the only reason, however -- but it's certainly a large part of it."

"That so?" Zoe tilts her head to one side a bit. "What's the rest, then?"

He shrugs.

"I'd like to understand things better, that's all."

It's surprisingly reticent, although not closed off.

Zoe's look of curiosity doesn't abate, but she doesn't press.

"Some things, it ain't so easy t' understand just from hearin' talk of 'em."

And now his expression is closed.

"I'm well aware of that."

Zoe nods casually. "You're ahead of a lot of folk I've met, then."

"I'm not at all certain of that, Miss Zoe, but I'll thank you for the compliment just the same," he responds cordially.

Zoe looks at him quietly for a moment, then leans forward a bit.

"Mr. Tam, I don't mean any offense if this comes across as blunt, but I for one'll feel easier in this conversation if I know where I'm standin'. So would you mind my askin' just what your interest here is, aside from your children?"

He looks back at her with a direct gaze.

"Do you mean my interest in the crew, or the fact that I'm asking questions about your style of life?"

Zoe shrugs, meeting his gaze. "Either. Both, if they're connected."

There's a silence that stretches for several seconds.

"You're aware of what I'm planning to do, I presume?"

Zoe nods. "I've heard."

Her tone is neutral; she's still not sure what she makes of the idea. It's a bold move, certainly--but there's bold, and there's stupid-bold.

"That's why. A large part of it, at least," he tells her quietly.

"What happened at Miranda can't be allowed to happen again. The system we have isn't working."

"Whatever we make of the Alliance needs to include everyone, Core and Rim, and not just those who are clearly willing to write off border planets as collateral damage."

Zoe's eyebrows go up a little.

"I could've told the system wasn't workin' a long time before Miranda, Mr. Tam. Glad t' hear you say it, all the same."

She smiles a bit crookedly. "'Course, can't say I want any more inclusion in your Alliance than I can't avoid, myself."

"I'm sure you're not the only one who feels that way, Mrs. Warren." Gabriel offers her a smile that's thin and somehow dryly amused. "I don't expect miracles overnight."

"But in time..." He trails off with a shrug. "Well, we'll see, now won't we?"

"Suppose we will," Zoe agrees, "but...it ain't like I stopped trustin' or likin' the Alliance when we found out about Miranda. So nothin' personal, but sayin' you seem like a better option than the Alliance as it is..."

"... well, at least it's a start," he finishes wryly. "We all have to start somewhere."

"Even in political reform."

"Suppose we do."

Zoe shrugs, with a wry look of her own.

"Dubiqui, Mr. Tam. I've just never been much of a fan of politics or politicians, even when they seem honestly well-meanin'."

The people on Miranda meant well, after all. That's one of the parts of the broadcast that burnt itself into Zoe's mind most clearly--the sincerity in the woman's voice when she says we meant it for the best.

"You're hardly alone, I'd think," Gabriel replies. "But be that as it may... there's still a need."

"Some need, yeah. But generally, I think people're better at governin' themselves than their governments give 'em credit for."

"In this case, it's not the people who need the governing so much as the government itself."

Another wry smile. "Not gonna argue with you there."

Reserve doubt about whether the people who end up governing the government will be any better, yes.

"I certainly appreciate that," he says dryly, smiling back.

It's neutral enough ground, and valued as such.

Zoe's still got her doubts about Gabriel Tam's campaigning plans.

But she's maybe willing to hope for the best, rather than simply expect the worst.

It's a start.

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