milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Ramon's back in the bar again after managing to sleep for about an hour or so. Saying that he looks a mess would be something of an understatement.

Twelve hours to go. He's wondering how much he can drink in that time.

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*snicker* True

He laughs lightly. 'Well, I don't think I'll be doing it again. It's been an interesting experiment though.' He's thinking he shouldn't really discuss this much further with a cop. I f he meets her again when he's back to normal, it could be awkward. 'So anyway, tell me about the city you're from. It sounds interesting.'

"Ankh-Morpork?

"It's interesting enough, I suppose, compared to what I know about Earth, which isn't much. We have more sentient species than Earth, and all the associated problems that causes: racial animosity, species-specific crimes and so on. We're the biggest and most diverse city on our world, as far as I know."

He frowns. 'Sentient species? Like what?' He smiles. 'If its big and diverse, sounds like my kind of place.'

"Men," Angua lists as a start, "dwarfs, trolls, zombies, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, golems, among others."

It's natural to her, but she watches him for a reaction anyway.

He blinks. And looks at her to see if she's kidding - but she obviously isn't. So he has another drink while he thinks up a suitable response. He supposes he shouldn't be surprised - there was probably a few of those types around the bar and he just hadn't run into them yet.

'Sounds...I don't know. All those types of creature living in one place?' He has to laugh a bit. 'Must keep you busy. What does a troll look like?'

She eyes him some to make sure he's not kidding, then remembers they really don't have trolls on other worlds.

"Like a small mountain. With arms and legs and the ability to direct its momentum directly at you."

He's trying to remember stories that have trolls in. 'Aren't they made of stone? Or is it that they turn to stone in the daylight.'

He's thinking about ways you would take one down in a fight - just because that's how he thinks.

"They are made of stone, yes," she confirms. "And they tend to sleep during the day up in the mountains, which means they can look like boulders."

Oh, she'd love to see that. But then, part of her's hoping he'd try to take her on in a fight. She's not listening to that part. ~~much~~.

He laughs at the image. 'Well, I suppose you wouldn't want to piss one off then. What's the point of them though? I mean...what do they do?'

He could think of a few uses. Troll bodyguards and workers would have him ruling the entire South American drug trade within a year, but he knows it just a flight of fancy. Entertaining though.

He wouldn't challenge Angua to a fight because...well, she's a woman. No contest there, it simply wouldn't occur to him. Yes, he is a sexist. ~~And his mun doesn't want him getting ripped limb from limb :D~~

That causes a frown.

"What do you mean what's the point of them? They're people. They eat, sleep, work and make more trolls."

Oh great, thanks Ramon. She didn't need that mental image. She masks her dicomfort with another sip of her drink.

He feels that he's made her uncomfortable somehow, and curses in his head. He's too good at pissing people off, and it makes the hurt worse. He assumes it was the comment about the trolls, and grits his teeth.

'I'm sorry, that was probably rude of me.' The apology sounds weird even to him. 'Sorry' is not a word he uses. 'What I meant was - what do they do for work?'

"All sorts of things," she says with a shrug, happy to not have to think of troll procreation anymore. "Manual labour mostly, because they're large and strong. We have a few in the Watch, as well."

Any comment about troll intelligence is left out. Angua's unusually defensive when describing her world's people to Earthers.

He nearly splutters into his drink. 'Troll policemen?!' It makes sense though, wasn't he just thinking something similar? 'I suppose they're safe from most things but...I don't know, it just seems strange. Are they intelligent?'

Because he's so good at realising when people don't want to comment on things.

"They can be," she says diplomatically. "Some more than others of course."

Beat.

"We have dwarfs, zombies and a golem as well."

He looks at her curiously. 'Aren't zombies dangerous? I know a girl here who kills them. Maybe they're a different sort though.'

"Everyone's dangerous in the right circumstances," she points out. "Zombies are just people as well, albeit dead, really strong ones."

'Definitely sound different then. The ones she was talking about tend to kill people and eat them. I think.' He smirks a litte. 'Everybody? Even you?'

There's the smile again.

"I can be."

He's not sure why that smile makes him a little nervous, but it does. 'I think I believe you.' He smiles and gets another drink.

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