milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Everyone's seen a ruined man, a hopeless man, walk into a bar.

They probably have never seen one walking in and standing so taut with pent-up...
something, that he looked as if he'd tear the head off of someone with the slightest provocation. Not that Vimes would do such a thing, but it was certainly what he looked like tonight. Deep, dark circles were under Vimes' eyes, and he was chewing fitfully on his cigar.

He barely noticed when he walked into Milliways--or rather he did, but he had so much else on his mind that he merely accepted it in an instant and walked up to the bar, sat down, and ordered some water.

He would not go home to sing to his son tonight. He had not in the last few weeks. He would not until he found the one responsible for his man's death and stopped him--really stopped him--at last.

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He turned to give her her a Look*--the sort he gave her the first time he was here actually--but upon seeing who it was, his face softened. Slightly. "Sure." He amended, "Something non-alcoholic."

He needed some information.

*One that fully justified a gratuitous capital letter.

Ace knows all about Looks. She's gotten quite used to getting them from a certain Doctor she travels... travelled with.

"Cocoa? They make a pretty good version here. Or something else? Tea? Coffee? Prune juice?" She fishing. Thankfully not in the Ankh.

"Tea's fine," Vimes said, taking off his helmet and leaving it on the floor at his feet. He rubbed his eyes.

"Right. Cream? Sugar?" Ace reaches out and snags a conviniently-passing rat, scruffing it before it can escape her.

"Neither," Vimes said absently, staring, as he had been the entire time, at the liquor bottles at the back of the bar.

Ace knows that stare. She's used that stare before. Usually when she isn't allowed to use her nitro and she really, really, really wants to blow something up.
"Right, you heard the man. Tea, and not that cheap rot." The rat squeaks indignantly at her, and she lets it scurry back towards the kitchens.
"You alright then?" Silly question, but she has to start somewhere.

"What's it look like to you?" he asked absently, thinking, thinkimg, those cogs turning in his head.

"Honestly?" Because Ace isn't really any good at anything else. "You look like hell." The rat returns with a cup of tea in fine china, and she offers it to Vimes.

"Thanks." Vimes was pracitically grinding that cigar apart now. He stopped, then asked, "How do you kill a man when he's already dead? And you can't find him? And the one place you can find him, he can't die?"

"Talk to Death about it?" Ace suggests. "It's her realm, after all." Besides, Death is nice to talk to, despite the bad rap.

He paused, and looked at her. "Does she deal with zombies?"

"Oh, you mean that Carcer guy? The one you warned me about last time? Run if he looks normal?" Ace has got a good memory. "He's dead, right? Her realm."

"Undead," Vimes said to her. "But I suppose that's close enough." He gnawed on his cigar again. "Has he been in lately?"

"Err, not that I noticed? I've never seen him in the first place, so..." Probably unhelpful, but Ace hasn't seen a normal person in a long, long time.

"He'd have been pretty noticeable--the smell mostly," Vimes told her. "Means he hasn't been back."

"This is good right? Or no?" It could go both ways.

"on the one hand, if he were here, he'd be hurting people. One the other hand, at least I'd know where he was, even if I couldn't do anything," Vimes explained, weighing out the options.

"If he were here, we could lock him up. The cells are pretty secure." She'll have to keep a closer lookout for normal people.

"Cell won't do anything to him," Vimes said dismissively, waving his hand. "What he needs is the hemp fandango--or something a little more...permanent this time."

"They'll keep him from hurting anyone. And Death might take exception to the other option. She doesn't like to work here." Ace reminds him.

"I know. That's why I need to catch him in here, and take him out into the city," Vime said. His turf.

"...."
Ace gives him a long, quiet look.
"And do what? 'Cause it didn't work too well the first time..." It's good to have a plan.

"Fire would take care of it," Vimes answered. "Can't be a zombie if you're body's been burned to ashes."

"No..." Ace considers. "You could be a vampire though."

"He's not one." Thankfully.

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nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com - 2005-03-20 07:11 (UTC) - Expand

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