milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The doctor is in. In the bar, that is-- sitting at the bar, rubbing his eyes with tiredness and drinking what appears to be an extremely intense energy drink. He's left his microscopic goggles on, absent-mindedly.

Someone might want to let him know why the table appears to be so close.

[open until sideways-eight.]

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She shrugs one shoulder.

"I like not being dead."

Maybe it's more of a problem with trust.

"I think that's usually safe to say."

Easily enough, "I think it means not having a code."

After a moment:

"Let's just put it this way. If anyone broke the code, Bad Horse would get very angry."

"Oh."

If this is supposed to have an ominous effect, it doesn't seem to have worked on Elle.

But then again, this would likely be the case even if it involved something not as vague as 'bad horse.'

Hey, it's a title. Dr. Horrible tries again:

"Yeah. He's pretty bad."

"And a horse."

Maybe this guy's world is just really, really weird.

You could say that.

"Yeah. That's correct."

"So..."

Okay, Elle doesn't know much about what horses do. She's pretty much left with, "... does he... trample you or something?"

"Uh... probably."

Beat. "I wouldn't want to find out."

"That would be bad."

She's not smooth enough to keep a straight face while saying it.

"He's in charge of your... club thing?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So you're an evil scientist and you work for a horse."

Beat. "A bad one."

She actually doesn't sound amused now. The whole idea seems kind of whimsical, even if it's not very accurate.

Oh, it's quite accurate.

"What about it?"

She shrugs one shoulder.

"Sounds fun."

Not especially intimidating, but. Elle suddenly doesn't feel the need to care about that too much.

"I guess you could... say that... if you really wanted to..."

Her expression doesn't change much as she tilts her head.

"It's not?"

"Well, I mean, it's work."

He looks down, then adds: "And, um... sometimes it's hard."

Like when you kill someone you love. That's hard.

"But you wanted to do it."

That's very, very even, the end just a note higher, to make it a question.

"Aside from hurting people I care about?"

He shrugs, as if he's okay. "Yeah."

Elle doesn't shrug.

"Then you don't have to."

He glowers.

"Didn't mean to."

She shakes her head. Her voice is still awfully even.

"If you don't want to be like that."

"I do what I can... not to be," he says, tentatively.

It's an out, but not a very good one.

"But it's your job."

It seems easy enough that they can go hand in hand.