un: b.zethir, text;
So tell me something.
If someone wants to go home the people in charge here will do their best to get the portal aligned so they can do just that. At the same time, there's no guarantee they'll ever manage that that someone. Which means that a person waiting for a chance to go home could end up waiting not just for weeks or months but years. Maybe even the rest of their blighted life.
Knowing this, do you think it's better to hold back putting down roots just to make it easier to get up and go if the time comes? Even if it means you may be living your life among the people but distinctly separate from them as they build their lives here?
Or is it stupid to waste time, to waste your life and potential happiness on the off chance that one day you may get to return home one day?
[Is she just being stubborn because she won't be a Council Agent anymore if she doesn't return home, or because it feels like she's selling out for an easier lifestyle and having magic at long last? Her pride and sense of honor stings at the thought. The idea of never seeing her family again, of trading them up these things makes her taste ashes in her mouth. Then again she doesn't really have a choice in the matter right now anyway. She's not actually giving anything up at this point.
Really, the more she thinks about it, the more she's coming to realize that no matter what happens, she's going to have to make sacrifices of one sort or another.]
If any has an opinion or any insight I'd appreciate it.
[There's only so long she can sit on this fence before she drives herself even crazier than she feels now.]
If someone wants to go home the people in charge here will do their best to get the portal aligned so they can do just that. At the same time, there's no guarantee they'll ever manage that that someone. Which means that a person waiting for a chance to go home could end up waiting not just for weeks or months but years. Maybe even the rest of their blighted life.
Knowing this, do you think it's better to hold back putting down roots just to make it easier to get up and go if the time comes? Even if it means you may be living your life among the people but distinctly separate from them as they build their lives here?
Or is it stupid to waste time, to waste your life and potential happiness on the off chance that one day you may get to return home one day?
[Is she just being stubborn because she won't be a Council Agent anymore if she doesn't return home, or because it feels like she's selling out for an easier lifestyle and having magic at long last? Her pride and sense of honor stings at the thought. The idea of never seeing her family again, of trading them up these things makes her taste ashes in her mouth. Then again she doesn't really have a choice in the matter right now anyway. She's not actually giving anything up at this point.
Really, the more she thinks about it, the more she's coming to realize that no matter what happens, she's going to have to make sacrifices of one sort or another.]
If any has an opinion or any insight I'd appreciate it.
[There's only so long she can sit on this fence before she drives herself even crazier than she feels now.]
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[the urge to give a fake name is RIGHT THERE. but he resists. he's getting better.]
Cassian. What should I call you then?
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[Oh, isn't that a familiar name.]
Bryn. At least, that's what you called me the first time you were here. I assume you won't remember that, however.
[Seeing as he has asked her name.]
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I have never been here before.
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It's fine, though. For what it's worth, we didn't get to know each other well. No more than a first meeting, maybe a second. All superficial.
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[he is grateful this stranger doesn't know much more about him - but it does make him worry about other strangers now.]
I would apologize for a third meeting, but it is not the case for me.
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No apologies necessary. I don't dislike meeting people, even if I have to meet the same person a few times. Besides, you were quite helpful when we did first meet. I can tell you about it in person sometime if you'd like.
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[yeeeeah being able to read tone and body language! he's not too concerned about a dangerous meet up in this. he just wants to know what she might already know about him, and he thinks face to face would tell him more.]
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Tomorrow or the day after may work.
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Either day works for me. Midday or afternoon?
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Afternoon. There is a park that may work well, near communal housing.
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I know it. There are some benches under the shade, by the pond?
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[that's not really a secret.]
Yes, that one. It's quieter, without being isolated. Does that all work for you?
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[Maybe she'll pick up coffees, just to see what he does when she offers him one.]
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[will he get there early?? probably.]
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Once she's about twenty feet away from where he waits, she lifts a hand to wave, smile faint on her face. In her hand, she carries a small plastic bag heavy with its contents.]
Hi there.
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[he sees a woman approaching, knowing it must be bryn the moment she waves and finding it disconcerting to be recognized. he doesn't wave back, but he does nod.]
Good afternoon. Shopping?
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[She takes a seat on the bench, putting the bag between them.]
They're not necessary but I figured a few props related to my explanation wouldn't hurt.
[Reaching into the bag, she pulls out a piece of fruit, local to the moon. She takes a bite, through the somewhat sour rind and into the sweetness of the flesh within.]
Would you like one?
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It means nothing so far. [he doesn't say it particularly meanly, just sort of dryly.] I will pass for now, thank you.
[it feels too weird to accept food from a woman he's never seen who claims to know him.]
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About a month or so into my time on the moon, I found myself being tailed while walking around downtown. They'd been following me for about twenty blocks or so. Not some amateur but professional. Stayed a good distance away, skipped blocks and stayed on my path carefully enough that I didn't even know for sure it was happening right away.
[Her lips twist a moment, glancing away from her fruit over to him.]
You were standing in front of a market stall selling these. Saw I was being tailed and called out to me. Said, "There you are. I was looking for you." I played along. Gave us a chance to put the guy off-balance while deciding what to do. I bought us some fruit. Some sugared almonds. And then we left, letting him follow us into a building. We took off down a hallway once we got out of his line of sight, lost him in a parking garage with some effort.
[She lays it all out for him, no language with hidden meanings, no major gaps in the story. Straight-forward.]
It didn't come to weapons, thank the deities, but at least we would have had him outnumbered if it had.
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Do you know why they were they following you? [it may be too much of a personal question, but it could still get him more of the picture. more of her thoughts on him.]
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Not specifically. I was a new arrival at the time. I told them I was military when I came through the portal, but some of the questions I was asking around the city likely raised some red flags. Made me a person of interest.
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[she might answer him, she might not. he's still getting a feel for it, putting together more of the pieces.]
Who was it tailing you?
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I'm still not entirely certain. They could have been government but they had the whiff of private sector. Too well equipped to be on government paygrade. It all fizzled quickly after so I haven't had any major leads since then to get to the bottom of it. Or perhaps they realized they were barking up the wrong tree. I can't be sure without more information and there's been nothing in the last several months so.
[She shrugs.]
But that's the basic gist. When you were here before you helped me, and I appreciated that. I don't know what made you prepared or even inclined to do that, but the encounter was notable enough that I remembered you.
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Did you speak to this... other me after that encounter? [she said she'd only really known him superficially, but that can still carry on outside one single meeting.]
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