milliways_bar | (no subject)

The first thing Javert notices, when Milliways appears to him this time, is the subtle change in the atmosphere. It's exactly the kind of thing an officer of the law encounters time and again - a quiet tension, a shift, the sense that something has gone very wrong.

In response, Javert's own demeanor changes. He has been, in the weeks since contacting the Paris prefecture about Valjean's false office in Montreuil-sur-mer, lighter than anyone in Montreuil-sur-mer had seen him to be before. Knowing that the justice Valjean believes himself to have escaped will claim him once more has been precious to Javert, allowing him to endure the inevitable wait as Paris sorts through the hundreds of letters it must deal with every day. It has also allowed him to quietly endure Valjean and to play the part of the humble inspector who has learned his place, which he must do to perfection. Valjean cannot get wind of anything that would prompt him to flee once more. But Javert is a born spy, an actor when the law requires him to be, and that much has come easily.

It is equally easy to cast away that lightness in favor of a more reserved and watchful approach. Something has gone wrong in Milliways. Javert may not have the authority to do anything about it, but some responses are involuntary, and there is nothing preventing him from gathering information if he can.

[OOC: Open till it falls off the front page.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I don't think I've met you before," said the woman with the English accent and the black hair, "Please tell me, you're in a better mood than the rest of the people in here."

She stretched like a cat in her chair near the door.

Javert looks over at the woman, taking her in in one quick glance. Whatever the wrongness is here, it isn't affecting her.

"I'm resigned to socializing," he answers, "if that's what you mean."

Milliways tends to keep him until he's talked to someone. It's quicker and easier to just play along.

"Well, if talking to me is that bad, then I think I might see if my door will open," she said and made to stand up.

"Has it been giving you trouble?" Javert has heard of people being Bound, but has neither experienced nor witnessed the phenomenon himself.

The rest he doesn't bother to address. Social niceties are relevant only if he needs them in the course of his duties.

"I've been trapped here for weeks," she informed him as she moved to her door, "Its been stuck."

She pulled the handle and it didn't open.

"I don't think I'm dead," she said, "Because I still have a door."

Of course having Vala bound in the bar is a catastrophe in itself.

[OOC: Sorry on the delay; slowtiming it for the next couple of days until my work shifts get shorter, then I should be able to tag a bit faster.]

"You wouldn't know otherwise?"

Javert, of course, has no experience in that particular field, but he wonders if there could really be all that much doubt. Dying in delirium, maybe. That could leave room for some confusion.

"I thought I was dead," she said, "For all accounts I should be, you know. I did destroy a super star gate with my ship-with me in it, but most people who are dead don't have doors."

She nodded and grinned. That must be it. Then she tried pulling on the door handle while pushing on the frame with her feet. Nothing happened. It seemed that Bar wasn't willing to let her leave just yet, or that someone had locked the door.

"Evidence can be misleading," Javert observes.

Whether he is referring to the evidence that she might be dead, or the evidence that she might merely be Bound, he doesn't clarify.

"Do you always speak in riddles?" she asked as she flopped back into her chair.

If he's looking for someone suspicious, he need look no farther than the slim man slouching on the couch by the fire, bright-red drink in hand.

Axel has nothing to do with what's been going on, but he is an inherently suspicious character, with a broad grin on his face as he watches the goings-on of Milliways.

[OOC: Just a heads-up - I'm slowtiming it for the next couple of days until my work shifts get shorter, then I should be able to tag a bit faster.]

Javert is learning rapidly that Milliways has no shortage of suspicious characters. Some people are suspicious even with nothing specific to suspect them of. And while Javert has no authority here for acting on any kind of suspicion, vague or otherwise, his instinct remains the same; once he becomes aware of the man by the fire - and it happens quickly - part of his awareness remains on him even as he continues to scan the room and its inhabitants.

Eventually, Axel's observation of Milliways brings him around to... Well, someone he doesn't know. He doesn't seem to have the air of a newbie though.

Still, it is that time of the month.

"Yo," he greets, raising his glass (closer to empty now, than full) in salute.

((ooc: I'm always cool with slowtime. :) ))

Javert simply nods in response. So casual a greeting, while only to be expected from that sort, doesn't merit anything more than that. His attention doesn't waver, though. There's even a bit more of it on the other man than before, now that Javert has been noticed.

"You new here?" Axel asks. It's a reasonable question, given the time of the month; he can't recall ever seeing the guy, either.