milliways_bar | (no subject)

[OOC: *totally squees!*]

(ooc: *thanks!* :) )

Oh, wait.

Standard issue black suit. Bookish glasses sitting on her nose. Riffling through what looks suspiciously like governmental files and form... That must be a tall, beautiful, young goverment agent sitting at the bar, drinking coffee.

She spots the other suit and nods respectfully.

Huh, K thinks. A Fed here in the bar. Wonder how many forms she had to fill out to get clearance to come *here*.

He sets his bourbon down on the bar, looks up from the glass to meet the agent's gaze and smiles. There's a faint shade of Texas in his voice as he asks:

"How are you tonight, Miss?"

"Well, thank you. Yourself?"

Her own voice has a tiny bit of Tennessee. She slyly covers the papers with a blank folders so he can't read them. Confidential information, you know.

Amused, K openly watches her cover the papers, then looks her in the eyes, smiles, and winks. He knows the drill.

"I'm doing well, thanks. This bar stocks the finest selection of bourbons outside Kentucky itself. In fact, she's a little *better*."

He pats Bar affectionately.

He puts out a hand. "Name's K."

Aaahh. Agent code. Of course she knew he'd see her do it. That's why she did it. Sneaky sneaky.

"I'll have to remember that."

She shakes his hand. Her skin is just a tiny bit cold.

"Nice to meet you, K. I'm Jean."

"And you, Jean."

"Taking some time off after work? I'm finding this a good place to get away from it all. Don't usually need that much, but when it's good to have a place to go after a tough ... day."

The suit may scream "Fed!" but K's not going to say something like 'tough assignment' or 'tough mission' just yet. Sneaky indeed.

"Yeah... especially the messy days. It's nice to go for a swim in the lake. Though there seems to be a shark there, now."

"And a giant squid. And a dolphin. And christ only knows what else."

"Place makes my Manhattan look like Akron..."

(....Before the Torquelians opened that miniature golf course anyway.)

She nods.

"Yeah. Smelled those too..."

Dammit. Slipped.

Oh, yeah. *That's* going to get noticed and remembered.

"Just got back from a New York myself. Was helping Ray Stanz and Naraht put down a spectral threat. Luckily the suit holds up pretty well against slime."

The switch is smooth. Just two people, talking about normal stuff over coffee.

"Nice. Haven't done many of those, myself. For me, it's mostly the aquatics and dream-walkers."

"Yeah, get a lot of aquatics. Get more subterraneans, though. Always a pain in the ass. Mildew, slime. They *love* to hang out in the abandoned subway terminals. You ought to smell those places after they've had a chance to hold a couple of keggers."

K doesn't shudder. Otherwise, that thought might have made him.

"Don't deal with many dream-walkers, though. That must be weird. Sounds more like Ghostbuster territory to me."

"Dream-walkers sound somewhat like your subterraneans. Just generally without the slime. Unless they've for whatever reason decided to bath in corpses so old the flesh has turned to goo."

Jean doesn't shudder at that either.

"They can tunnel through the ground straight into a collective dreamland. I'm their go-between."

K smiles. "I dunno, Jean, that still sounds like plenty of trips to the laundry."

"What does being their go-between amount to?"

She smirks.

"It can be. And most of them don't smell that great. They are, for the most part, peaceful, with some odious survival needs that make integration impossible. They are also somewhat secretive, and will only meet with one person, should an exchange of information be necessary. That person is me... I had to take over after the previous liason got eaten."

"Been eaten by a few things myself. Try to avoid that when I can, but you know how it goes."

Well, Jean probably doesn't, but K seems pretty matter-of-fact about it.

"Liaison work. Yup, spending my career doing that too. Tough work, but rewarding, don't you think? Always like being the guy in the know. Really keeps you on your feet, especially when failure means you lose the planet. Or, uh, become lunch."

Always a good thing to meet a new professional colleague, of sorts.

Okay. That went well. Let's see how he takes the next part... She's still not too good at this. Where else can she really be open about this stuff?

"Well, I was the obvious choice, after an unfortunate incident turned me into one. Suddenly, I became a huge asset for both parties."

"Oh yeah? So you're a dream-walker yourself then. You're good, Jean. I'd never have guessed. And I have an eye for that sort of thing."

K deals with people who turn into giant cockroaches and piles of slime, and then try to kill him. So long as she's not trying to gnaw on his leg, K's not going to make trouble for a hottie turned ghoul.

She smiles, taking that as the compliment it was meant to be.

"Thank you. Admittedly, this is neither the form I was born with, nor my current natural one. It was acquired through a spell I found in the same book that was used to change me into a ghoul, as we generally call the dream-walkers. Magic, in my world, is not suggestible, as it tends to drive people insane, but under the circumstances, it was necessary, if I was to continue my work on the surface."

K shakes his head, sympathetic but also impressed.

"Haven't had to make that kind of sacrifice yet. Hope I never have to. But hats off to you for going all the way, Jean."

"Say, have you met the Ghostbusters yet? Stanz and Venkman? Sounds like you might have interests in common, might be able to help each other out from time-to-time."

She nods.

"Thank you. It's something my branch has to face. There is no retirement. There's death or insanity, or in my case, being changed irrevocably. It's a small price to pay."

More people who work with things like thing. Milliways is positively brimming with protectors of humanity.

"I haven't met them. But I'm always glad to talk with people who share my work. Perhaps we can compare notes and see if there are links and commonalities between the various worlds, if we're not actually from the same one. Though that should probably wait for another time. My trip was a long ne, and I should probably head to bed."

"I'm feeling pretty out of it now myself. Long day yesterday."

He puts out his hand. "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Jean. I trust I'll be seeing you around the bar. Take care of yourself now."

"Good to meet you, as well, K. I'll be around. Have a good night."

She has a wait-rat bring her a box that is waiting for her in the kitchen, and with a wave, takes the box upstairs. Probably her dinner. So polite, she refuses to eat it in front of people.

[ooc: Thanks for the RP!]

(ooc: you too! looking forward to the next thread)

A slight nod from one well-dressed gentleman to another.

K notes one elegant-looking gent passing by.

As K holds his glass to take a sip, he raises it slightly in a friendly if silent greeting.

"Good evening, Officer. Or is it Agent?" He smiles slightly, tilting his head like a bird, watching K.

In a voice that still carries a slight hint of Texas, the man replies:

"Good evening to you, sir."

The 'sir' isn't deferential, but it *is* polite, with an American touch neighborliness.

"'Agent's the title. K is the name."

He puts out a hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Agent K. I am Doctor Hannibal Lecter." Without any visible hesitancy, he shakes briefly with K. His grip is carefully neutral and unassuming. One might think, from such a grip, that the man with that handshake could be soft, but from the sinew-and-bone of his wrist, it would be a mis-judgement.

At this point, K is trying to determine whether Lecter is as human as he looks. So he probably won't recall that insight based on the handshake for a while.

"Doctor," K nods. "I'm surprised I haven't met more medical specialists around here. This place is a magnet for species with dangerous lifestyles."

"Interesting choice of words, Agent K. Do you come from a reality where there is more than just the human race?" His maroon eyes are steady, and he is ... exceptionally still.

Which stillness makes K wonder, Argillian? Terleptian? Hmmm. Those maroon eyes don't really fit the typical profiles.

"I'm part of bureau that licenses, monitors and polices alien activity on the planet Earth. My planet Earth, anyway. From the Year 2005."

He would ask Lecter if he's from a world where aliens *aren't* present--but that could be said of K's own Earth, after all.

"One shouldn't be surprised by such a bureaucracy, I suppose. Are they openly present, or is it a secret?"

"Oh, secret. Secret. Governments ask too many questions. Just makes things easier all around."

"Most aliens are there for tourism or just to get by, get a job, make a living. Best just to let humans get on with their normal lives. Why make 'em worry?"

"Possibly because when the secret manages to get out, the citizens would be incensed. Unless your organization is quite prepared to destroy large numbers of humans to force a terrified quiescence on the citizenry ..."

"Oh, there are plenty of alien invasion fleets out there prepared to do just that. Doing it ourselves would be a bit contrary to the mission."

"But you have the right idea. A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, who don't have a clue and don't want one either."

Which is something K has had to point out to every cadet he's every trained ... sigh.

"I don't envy you your duty." He smiles. Glancing at the clock (a contrived glance, really), he nods politely to K. "My break is over, and I have work to do in the kitchen. If you'll excuse me ..."

"Certainly, Doctor. A pleasure to meet you."

And K returns his full attention to that fine glass of bourbon.