milliways_bar | (no subject)

"That's really quite good," he observes from behind her.

Idly.

So idly.

Kaylee looks up. And twists behind.

"...uh. Xiexie." A little taken aback, but not displeased. "Nothin' much -- just some doodlin' to pass the time, you know?"

"I know." He gives her a very pleasant smile. "I've been known to do things like that myself."

( She's a little older than he'd like. Got a ring on her finger. Normally the ones married off are good enough at making themselves miserable that he doesn't like to step in.

But hey. He did it with Leland.

And he loves the ladies. )

"Yeah?" Smile broadening. "Drawin', or paintin', or -- ?"

"Drawing," he says smoothly. "Mostly what I see in the woods. I love nature."

( There was enough distress from Dale Cooper to last for a while. But now...now he needs other sources.

He feeds on it. They all feed on it. Pain...and pleasure.

Moiraine knows too much. Moiraine has been putting the good word out. Only he thinks it's a very bad word.

Time to see if she knows what's what. )

"Guess this is a fair shiny place for you to be, then. What with the woods out back and all." She beams at him. "Don't suppose you'd want to sit for a while? We can get more paper, if you want."

"That's a very kind invitation," he says, happily, "and I'd be delighted to accept, Mrs...?"

It's always polite to get her name first.

She's still not used to people identifying her as being married. A little strange, it is.

"Oh -- just Kaylee. Figure standin' on ceremony don't mean all that much in here, so -- why not?"

"Why not, indeed," he agrees as he sits. "You can call me Dale."

Kind of like Shane.

He's always thought he'd make a good gunfighter.

Time to see how unobservant she really is.

"So. Do you come here often?"

...he wouldn't hit on a woman he knew was married.

Right?

Kaylee decides to ride over this for the sake of tact.

"Pretty, yeah. Where I come from, things food-wise ain't all that varied, so it's nice to come in and get somethin' to change it all up."

"Oh?" Politely. "Where's that, then?"

"Same 'verse as Earth," Kaylee says, very matter-of-fact. "Only a while ahead from most folks here who're from there. Year's 2519, where I am. And we're out on a ship, in space."

Silence.

( Cross-referencing. )

"That's...do you know a girl named River? And her brother Simon?"

Kaylee holds up her left hand, beaming. "Married to him. And River's my sister-in-law. ...You've met 'em?"

( Three for the price of one. And maybe more, considering they're in a contained living environment. Certainly there was enough radiating off the town of Twin Peaks after sweet Laura's sad death to last him a while.

Optimal, really. )

"I've met them, yes." Smiling. "And I like them very much."

Pause.

"What am I thinking -- you can take the books I promised them!"

Well. That's...sudden. "The...books?"

And...couldn't River and Simon just get any books they wanted from the Bar?

Isn't that kind of why the Bar is there?

"Yes," he says. "I have access to some very rare books -- first editions -- autographed by the authors. Twain, Faulkner, Fitzgerald -- apparently they're still around in the future? Or still read, anyway. Certainly they're not still alive."

He laughs a little.

"And when I mentioned them, Simon and River exhibited interest, and I told them that I'd be glad to let them have a look."

"Oh." Kaylee considers this. "Well. That was real nice of you -- yeah, shi a, I'd be glad to take 'em back for you."

"Kaylee," he says, "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

Pause.

( Easier to do blood work when there aren't any pesky rules.

Easier to do it when it's out of sight, in the woods.

And when Harry Truman can't find any record of a Jane Doe with big dead brown eyes, assuming she's not a skeleton by the time they get to her...

Harry Truman might just give up.

Oh, he likes Milliways. )

"I don't suppose I can pay you back with a nice cup of coffee at the Double R Diner back in Twin Peaks? Second-best coffee I've ever had -- and the pie is sublime."

"Twin Peaks...is that on Earth-that-Was?"

If he's friendly with Simon and River, and he knows what's going on in the future, he likely knows about everything being used up.

"Washington State," he agrees. "Of the United States of America. And the trees in that part of the country..."

A big grin.

"Kaylee, there's nothing like them."

"Well..."

Wavering.

"Don't suppose it'd be too horrible if I made a little trip." She grins back. "Only I maybe shouldn't stay gone awful long -- it's gettin' late back home."

"Well then."

He stands smoothly, and heads for the door.

( Forgetting his manners, he's forgetting Dale Cooper's manners, but she doesn't know Dale Cooper, and he's getting hungry.

Oh, what he's going to do to her.

How she's going to taste. )

Kaylee follows, and when he's got the door open, she turns back for a moment. "Wait -- I ought to leave a note, let folks know where I've gone, just in case -- "

There was this field trip to India to view some elephants in their natural habitat, see.

Still a little bit of guilt over that.

Better to avoid it with any trip. Even if it's not going to take that long.

( No. No. She's not allowed, he's so close -- the door isopen -- )

"No." He reaches out, and seizes her wrist.

Kaylee's eyes widen in surprise.

And a far larger, far paler, hand seizes Bob's.

(

He's lustful and mean, not stupid.

This is someone -- something -- he has no business tangling with, if he wants to continue doing what he does so very well. )

Good thing the door is open.

He bolts. Beyond is Twin Peaks.

And the scent of Napthalot, the sweet scent of Napthalot, a thick, heavy scent; nothing delicate about it, but nothing wrong either. It is something like the smell of artificial floral perfume; heavier, with bases of other things that change it and ruin the purity, but created with the intent to please, it floods the room.

Choking thick, strangling thick, and there is a swirl of black, and white, and even as too-sane laughter rips open the air.

And then the door closes.