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[shipmaster]

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[shipmaster]

[ Continued from here! ]

Well, I was positive you weren't about to get into resolving 'inheritance disputes.' [ A deplorable but lucrative service of murdering the dead... ] And it was a bit too showy to be corporate espionage in a freezer box...

So I'm stuck.

[dendarii]

[ Goddamn he wants to pace so badly. He staves off the urge by gesturing the waiter over and ordering them some vegetarian prosciutto. ]

Do you know the Betan's name?

[shipmaster]

Evelyn DeBauer was what I heard on the unofficial channels. It meant little to me. It's a fairly common surname.

[dendarii]

[ Ah. Miles straightens as if he'd been struck. ]

There's the key. I'd have jumped to grab her in an instant, regardless of whoever she actually is.

[shipmaster]

[ That WAS a reaction, by the tone and posture, Bel doesn't hesitate to believe it. ]

Why's that?

[dendarii]

My mother worked with a man named Debauer back in her survey days. He was hit by a nerve disrupter - not killed, but not really functional after. He ended up in the care of his mother after, and I used to stop in whenever I was on Beta Colony.

[ So maybe it's not the same Debauer. Maybe not even related. But - if they were being kept prisoner via cryo, he'd have wanted to save them. As his mother couldn't. ]

[shipmaster]

[ Bel winces. ]

Ah. Hell of a life after that.

So.. doing some sort of karmic favor?

[dendarii]

Just so.

[ He nods at that. Reasonably satisfied by this answer, he settles back. Much more relaxed now. ]

Not knowing anything else ... That's what I think happened.

[shipmaster]

[ They drum their fingers on the table, putting it together... Yes, it washes. They went in on one mission, routing out a part of a terrorist cell under the guise of some small change parts, hit some dirty work they were doing in the mean time. Miles plays hero, gambling the ship, crew, and his cover (as usual) on a personal whim and line of honor. ]

It washes. Thank you, I'd have never gotten it out of you otherwise.

[dendarii]

[ Miles shakes his head a bit, but he's grinning despite himself. ]

Clever. I should be mad, I guess, but either we're not going to remember this or we will. And in either case it won't matter if you know.

[shipmaster]

Hm. I like to think the answer is we will.

... I wonder where we'll be in this timeline. [ A smile, as rueful as it is fond. ]

Also I wonder how insufferable you'll be knowing everything long before I do.

[dendarii]

[ Miles just grins harder at that. ]

It's even worse than you think. When I first arrived here, I was twenty.

[ You have eight years of Miles being impossibly insufferable to look forward to. ]

[shipmaster]

[ They start to grin back. Then frown. It deepens into offence. ]

... You're even going to give me hints, aren't you? Knowing that I will abjectly rule out the impossibility that is the actual truth. [U little shit]

[dendarii]

The most maddening ones I can think of. Just to see if you'll break down and confront me.

You'd do the same, of course.

[shipmaster]

Of course I would. But that's irrelevant when I'm the injured party here.

[dendarii]

[ He leans across the table, reaching for Bel's hand. ]

Then I'll make it up to you in advance.

1/2

[shipmaster]

[ A smile breaks over their face - a rare, sincere one. ]

I keep forgetting, or perhaps, disbelieving.

[shipmaster]

[ And in a flash, back to normal. ]

Or I could merely take it out on you. Both make for a good night...

[dendarii]

[ That smile goes right to the core of him. He can't help but warm instantly in response. ]

A little of both? Something romantic, something dangerous?

[shipmaster]

[ Their hand wraps over Miles' long fingers near engulfing the smaller hand. ]

I think that could work quite well.

[dendarii]

[ A bit of that nervousness again. Not as much as before, but his smile goes a bit shy. ]

Good. That's more or less what I was planning. After dinner, anyway. Might as well fit in all we can into one night, right?

[shipmaster]

Oh yes. I intend to. [ Half of time quite childishly insisting that the dinner was wasting time, the more hedonistic, reasonable self insisted this was more than enjoyable as it was. ]


It really is a shame you didn't meet that Jim fellow at twenty in our world.

[dendarii]

[ The entree is out next at least, paired with the vegetarian proscuitto Miles had requested. ]

Would it be as fun now if I hadn't said no all those years?

[shipmaster]

Good Lord, after all this time, do you still imagine it a passing fancy?

Yes, certainly.

[dendarii]

[ He flushes rather abruptly at that. ]

Well - well, there has to be some fun in the longing. In the chase.

[ He's still expecting all of Bel's interest to evaporate the moment they have Miles, even for just one date. Not as a slight against Bel, but rather against himself. ]