milliways_bar | (no subject)

He stands, moving slowly and calmly to the seat before sitting with a soft, informal thump.

"Sure."

Silk's eyes are bright and they don't move off the man, otherwise he's as casual as anything.

'They call me Silk. What would you like?'

"Fawkes. Darien Fawkes."

Darien's eyes are on Silk as well. But he puts out a hand.

"Nice to meet you."

The hand is shaken, of course. No visible signs of checking for strength or anything, but there all the same.

'You too.' He calls a rat and doesn't order a hot spiced wine, or a fruit brandy as he normally would when it's evening and cold and he feels lazy. This time it's ale, cheap ale at that, and the rat is given brass coins as payment, nothing larger. 'I haven't seen you here before.'

He can get cheap ale and pay with brass coin, but he can't change what he's wearing or the twitch of his nose.

"Apparently, I'm back after a long timeline tour in my own world that ended up with me coming here before I came here the last time."

He sips at his Corona.

"Haven't seen you around either, though."

And he twitches his head to the bar at large.

Translation? You on the job?

If he'd considered that he might meet a fellow professional, he would probably have come in as Ambar. And he really should work on the twitching of the nose, it's a significant tell.

'That must be confusing for you.' He smiles slightly at the twitch. 'Busy at home so I don't get to visit often. Relaxing place though, I find, as much as a man is able to anyway.'

No. But sometimes, sure.

He smiles.

"Not so bad. Got me a couple of readymade friends and that seems to be working out all right."

He leans on one arm and swishes his beer around.

"What do you do back home?"

Specialty?

'Friends are always enjoyable, and useful, things,' he agrees easily. Then shrugs.

'Something of a diplomat.'

Spy.

'Businessman also. Acquire things, move them along, you know how it is.'

Thief.

'Occasionally run to cleaning up messes made in my friends' businesses also. Something of a troubleshooter in that regard.'

Assassin.

'You?'

"Well, I used to get people what they needed."

Cat burglar.

"Was pretty good at it too."

Good one.

"But now I'm doing work for the government."

Secret Agent.

"They've been trying to get me into that last one, but I just don't see the money in it."

Not a killer. Best at stealth.

Silk nods understandingly. 'There's never money in government work. Usually done by people who have a sense of the patriotic. Unfortunately I rather have no choice in that, but I find enough other things to keep me occupied along the way.'

Deliberately misunderstanding? Perhaps.

Or not.

Don't kill for money.

"Yeah, well, not exactly my choice."

They've got something on me.

"My brother got me into it."

And he's not alive to get me out.

'Ah.'

He examines him carefully, with no attempts at hiding it. 'And you can't stop them forcing you into it?'

Kill them?

He wouldn't do it himself, unless there was another option. Probably. But still.

"It's mutually beneficial this way."

No.

"And of course, it's not too bad really."

They're fuckers.

"Job security at least."

I'm TRAPPED.

Silk sighs and drops the act. They both know what they're saying here.

'Job security is highly overrated. In fact, I rather find no security at all to be much more entertaining but such is the life we choose, I suppose.'

Of course, his life was chosen for him, thousands of years before he was born. But still. At least he enjoys it.

He looks at the guy's clothes and figures he's not exactly from a world where biosynthetic glands and Swiss terrorists play into things.

"I'm sick. They have a temporary cure for it and they're working on a permanent one. But it's got it's advantages, so I can do what no one else can, so they have me working for them while they're working on it."

'Advantages?' His ears prick up. 'Such as...?'

Now he grins...as a silver substance covers him entirely for a moment before he suddenly disappears.

"Like this."

From out of thin air. That same thin air picks up his beer and takes a sip before grinning at Silk with invisible lips.

...okaaaaaaaaay.

Silk blinks rather rapidly. That's not something he's seen before.

'....I...can imagine that would be an advantage, yes.'

It weirds him out slightly, though he's seen enough strange things in his life. Nothing like this though.

'Are you some kind of sorceror?'

He shakes his head and takes another sip of the beer.

Still invisible.

"Nope. They put something inside me that let's me do this but the price is that after a while, I go nuts. Like stark raving mad. Bonkers."

The quicksilver scatters and he reappears.

"Enter why I don't use it often. But it's helpful. Especially since I can cover other things and other people with it as well.

.....really?

That is interesting news. Silk's eyes are practically on fire.

'Does it send other people mad, if you use it on them?'

He toys casually with his ale tankard as he asks, a picture of relaxation. 'And is there a way you can save yourself from that fate? Because it seems like a high price to pay.'

he shrugs.

"They're working on it, and they've got something that lets me keep my marbles as long as I get it every couple of weeks or so."

He grins and quicksilvers his beer.

"Doesn't make anyone else nuts, though. Just me."

Yes, he knows exactly what cogs are working. And no Bobby Hobbes was HERE to stop him.

'Interesting.'

Very interesting.

'So how do you find things round the bar, Mr. Fawkes? Fun to be had, with this skill?'

"Actually, I'm liking not using it mostly."

He grins.

"Got a friend here."

More than a friend.

'Oh? Does it hurt or something?'

He can't imagine why anyone would not use it - except that he finds the old-fashioned way of spying to be rather fun.

He shakes his head.

"The more I use it, the quicker I go nuts."

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guides-the-way.livejournal.com - 2005-12-22 17:52 (UTC) - Expand

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