AEDOLIS > The Rest of Aedolis

Word Gets Around [Pal!]

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Paladienne:
“I don’t think it would be a shame at all,” Valentine replied, almost conspiratorially. “I think it would be a rather interesting dynamic. Your enemies think otherwise of you, their guard drops, and it makes it far easier for you to sneak in and kill them. They think you cowed, so they don’t expect you to strike at all, least of when you’re expected to.”

She leaned back in her seat and gave Prox a small smile. “And yes, you’re right. It would look extremely bad if someone in my position had to fight off the unruly public, since I’m supposed to be appeasing them with stories of your heroics and other such things. But that doesn’t mean I can’t throw someone out of a press conference if they become disruptive.” She tilted her head toward him, silently indicating the menu. “Go ahead, pick whatever you want. It’s my treat, remember.”

With that, her attention turned to her own menu, her teal eyes scanning the words written on the glossy pages. She didn’t know what to talk about now. She couldn’t ask him about personal things. She couldn’t ask him about his job - well, she could, but it’d ruin the appetite of anyone who overheard him and this was a public place, after all, and discussing dismembering bodies while eating dismembered fish was a little tacky - and she really couldn’t tell him about hers. After all, Public Relations was pretty self-explanatory.

Thankfully, Valentine was saved from answering by the arrival of the waiter who looked practically about to wet himself at the chance to wait on them. She smiled and placed her order, waited for Prox to do the same, and when the waiter walked away, she focused on his face again, folding her arms one over the other on the table’s surface so she could lean on them without seeming like she was invading his space. After letting the silence stretch for a minute, and understanding that Prox wasn’t about to volunteer any information, Valentine allowed herself to smile and canted her head gently to one side, making sure she kept her eyes on his so he’d know he had her undivided attention.

“So, what is it you like to do in your free time, Prox? It can’t be all training, right? Do you have a favorite movie? A favorite bar? Book?” She dropped her gaze then, a small smile blossoming on her lips. She wanted to encourage him, not scare him off. So she offered a little bit of information about herself. “I like kickboxing. In my spare time, I’ll go down to the gym in Nevermore and spend a few hours beating up a sandbag. It’s hard finding an opponent, though. You’re half-Tsumi, too, right? So you know how that is.”

An idea sprouted in her mind then, and she considered it for a moment. Would he want to, though? Would he want to be her opponent for an afternoon? Test his skills against one who wasn’t a combat operative?

Chewing her inner cheek for a moment as she made her decision, Valentine leaned back in her chair again and simply asked the question. “If you’re interested, you could come practice with me for a few hours one afternoon? If it wouldn’t interfere in your other duties, I mean.”

Marakai2.0:
That slight curl to his lip grew only slightly more pronounced, his smirk growing just enough to allow the tip of one of his elongated canines to come into view. "Well, I've got a sort of trump card for that, already. To walk in under the guise of another...that's one thing. To walk in using the body of one of their own....that's something completely different." His eyes flashed mischievously for a split second, before his face relaxed into its normal expression. "There's no better way to insert yourself into a group. They never expect one of their own to begin stabbing them in the back."

He watched her face carefully, tilting his head to the side. "Is tossing your coworkers out of a room a common occurrence?" Amusement flashed in his eyes at the thought. "I've tossed Ren out of a room a couple of times....though that was long ago. We've all changed, I suppose." He glanced down at his menu, scanning the contents to find something that ignited his appetite. More than one item appealed to him, and he took a few moments trying to pick one thing from the many that called to him.


When the waiter arrived, he did what he could to pay as little attention to him as possible - simply giving his order and moving on. He was cursed, he knew - stuck wearing this antisocial shell at all times, so as to avoid causing a scene. Some part of him felt for the man, knowing that all he wanted at the moment was some attention, but to begin was to continue, and he didn't want to open that box. There were more important things in this moment, namely the woman in front of him. Prox gave his order, and returned his gaze to her.


The way her head was tilted and that smile graced her lips almost gave him a start, a spark in his brain causing him to just look at her for a moment. He caught his own lips trying to curl into that smile for a moment, before he realized she was speaking. "Free time? Mmmm....my free time is, admittedly, much more...empty than it was long ago. Lately, I've been spending an increasing amount of time with one of my squadmates. Dekval. He's become a good friend. Otherwise, a lot of it is spent training. Though we watch movies, do some late training...he politely declined sparring with me after the first incident. But we've recently discovered the VR training area, after Dekval tried and failed to get me to play videogames." Prox shrugged. "Otherwise, I'll find a perch on a building somewhere, and stare at the coast and watch people."

He tilted his head, then, thinking about the invitation to practice with her. "...it is hard to find good sparring partners for people like us, isn't it?" What was he kidding? There was little point in thinking about it. His twin hearts began hammering, and he knew that this was something he wanted to jump onto. Keeping his expression schooled into a small smile, he nodded.

"I think I would like that. Just let me know when, and I'll happily volunteer to take the poor sand bag's place."

Paladienne:
Valentine watched Prox for a long moment, a small smile on her lips, as she listened to him talk of his experiences with his younger teammate. She’d spoken to Dekval on a few occasions, but hadn’t exactly formerly met the young man. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t polite when they ran into each other by accident in the lobby of the building, but they hadn’t exactly floated in the same social circles to allow them to become close. The same, of course, could be said for her and Prox. They’d likely floated by each other in Nevermore without even recognizing the other existed until Valentine had sent him that text message to arrange for this meeting. And everything he said, everything he told her, she committed to memory to make use of later, for when someone pressed her about Prox’s activities or something of his personal life, something that she could use to deter them or, more, create an air of mystery around him, as if he didn’t have one of those already.

As he talked, Valentine kept her eyes on his, watching more his expressions as he mentioned things that pleased him and things that brought good memories to the fore of his mind. When he mentioned Dekval politely declining further sparring sessions with him, Valentine couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her. “Yeah, that’s usually what happens when we duel someone from another race. I’ve yet to come across someone who could match me when it comes to pure strength. Of course, I haven’t had the privilege of dueling more than that sandbag you’re talking about replacing.”

She lifted a hand and ran her fingers through her hair, as if she were trying to tame it. Then she folded her arms in front of her on the table, leaning forward just slightly, an easy smile on her face. “I haven’t quite found pleasure or escape in video games myself. I suppose I’m just too old to be interested in that kind of frivolity. I do, however, enjoy movies and novels. I suppose I’m a sucker for the written word, and for seeing a story played out before my eyes.”

Valentine dropped her eyes to her water glass and lifted a hand to wrap her fingers around it. She lifted it and took a sip, then set it back down in its exact spot and gave it a little twist, her thumb swiping through the condensation. “I usually go down and train early in the morning, before work. It isn’t for long, of course, but just enough that it could be a decent workout.”

She lifted her eyes from her glass to focus on Prox again. “So, if you’re available during those times, you can find me there. I don’t think it would be much of a problem.”

Even as the last syllable faded from the air around them, Valentine felt her heart skip a beat. She didn’t let it show on her face, but her mind was starting to race. What was she thinking? Inviting him to fight her? They were both Pilots, yes, but his training was certainly more extensive than hers. Even a friendly bout might prove dangerous to her. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, along with others that were starting to crop up. They didn’t bear thinking upon right now. Right now, she needed to be focused in the moment, focused on the man across from her. Valentine pulled her hand back and dried her fingers on her napkin.

“So, now that we have some of the pleasantries out of the way, why don’t we discuss something else? Perhaps... maybe why you’ve decided to return to the Ravens after such a long hiatus from squad life?”

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