milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The ball seems to be closer and yet farther every day. Jane has not gone looking for the Bar but she's found it today as she's considering something she wrote a while ago.

Her thoughts keep straying to Mister Lefroy but he has returned to London and may not come back for the ball.

It is best to move on and do as her mother would wish even though she doesn't wish to. In the end, it takes her rather longer to find a seat as her thoughts are not truly in Milliways.

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This sounds fascinating.

"Could you tell me about him?" Data asks.

Jane smiles as she tries to think where to begin,

"When I first met him, I thought him terribly full of ego and proud of his rather rakish ways. Now I think that there is more to him, but I know too that there is more that I can learn of him."

"He sounds like an intriguing person," Data says. "From what evidence did you decide that there was 'more to him'?"

"The depths that he has shown himself to have during further conversations."

Data nods. "I have heard people described as having 'depth' before, but I have never quite been sure what that means. Could you perhaps explain it to me?"

"He holds himself with the airs of someone who does not truly care for anyone but himself. Yet I have seen him fight for justice for others so I believe that he cares more deeply about the world and is not truly as shallow as he appears."

"How did you first become acquainted with this man?"

"He is friends with my brother Henry and he slept through one of my readings."

"I have had similar experiences with my own crewmates," Data says, remembering some of his poetry readings. (Though certainly whatever Jane was reading was far more interesting.)

"Do you often come in contact with this person, then?"

"Yes, quite often but at the moment he has returned to London and I do not know when he shall return."

Jane would like to see him at the ball but doesn't know if she will or not.

Data cannot quite read her expression.

"Do you consider that to be a good or bad thing?" he asks, curious.

"I am not as sure of that answer as I wish to be."

Data nods. "You are unsure as to how you feel about him, then?"

"Yes, I would say that is true."

There is a short pause before Data asks, "May I ask you a very personal question?"

"You may ask but I may not answer."

Data pauses again before asking, "Have you ever been in love?"

"I do not believe so. Why?"

"I was simply curious," Data explains. "I have never talked with anyone extensively on the subject, but I have noticed that has been a popular theme in literature for centuries. It has always fascinated me."

"A great part of life is taken up with worrying about marriage and all its complications. It makes sense that so many would wish to write of it to better understand it."

"Is that your motivation for writing?"

"No, I wish to write the truth of the world. Too often what is found in books is closer to a fairy tale than the true complications of the world."

"I have found that to be the case," Data agrees. "Perhaps some humans enjoy reading such literature because they are seeking an escape from those very complications.

"Personally, I would prefer the approach that you are suggesting."

"Yet those escapes can still create hopes of what might be when in truth the world is never as simple as it is laid out to be."

"Do you think that such hopes are beneficial or detrimental?"