3nanashi | (no subject)

Entry tags:

circus

(no subject)

It's late afternoon. The first show is at 6:00 -- 1800, Trowa still thinks of it really, but the translation is easy -- and most of the circus is making early dinners or otherwise enjoying the downtime before they have to get ready.

Trowa opens the door from Milliways into the trailer he shares with Cathy, and lets X follow him through.

It's a narrow room, combining kitchen and common room in a compact and tidy package, with doors to Trowa's room, Cathy's, and the bathroom. (And, behind them, to the outside.) It's all lived-in, in an impeccably tidy way.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

X moves out of the doorway, pausing for a few seconds as she looks around.

Once the exits are marked, furniture locations determined, scents absorbed, and the rules of the house read, she looks over at Trowa.

Then she tilts her head very slightly.

Now what?

(Surely he has a plan.)

"I'll let Duo know you're here if you want."

He knows they're friendly, or even outright friends. But Trowa is not one to impose socializing on other people. So that one's her call.

"Then we can take a look around. There's about an hour before I have to get ready for the show."

'Take a look around' here means something midway between a tour and reconnoitering. (If this weren't Trowa's home ground, it would be 100% reconnoitering, and he might even use the word.)

"Okay," X says, nodding once.

Then she takes a few steps forward, pausing on the far side of the sofa and looking back at Trowa.

"It would be good to explore."

That last word sounds subbed-in.

Because it was. For reconnaissance.

Who knows who might be listening in?

It does sound it. (Trowa parses it correctly.)

He opens the door to his bedroom. It, like every room in this trailer, is both small and ruthlessly tidy. There's a bed (with a bag and a couple of storage boxes underneath it), a small desk and chair, a wardrobe and some shelving. There's also another door to the outside, and a small window. Both the bed and the desk are positioned in view of the doors.

"My sister Cathy comes to Milliways," Trowa says, going to his computer to pull up an email program. "If anybody else asks, you can tell them you're an old friend of mine. Nobody will ask too many questions."

He glances at her, typing in Duo's name. "They'll probably assume you were a soldier."

She looks young, younger than him, which would make her just a kid during the wars. But that's not unheard of -- Trowa, of all people, knows that one -- and more to the point, she has that air.

She absorbs that.

Silently.

Then --

"It is better to call me Laura? Here."

Clarification is important.

And details make the op.

Trowa considers that.

"It'll blend in better. X isn't a normal name."

"But the circus is pretty tolerant of eccentricity. They'll notice, but most of them will try not to draw too many conclusions. They'd rather think like civilians."

If this were a matter of an undercover mission -- one with higher stakes, and one in which Trowa was lying about himself too -- the answer would be a simple yes. But she's just a visitor, and all she'll get are some sidelong looks. That means Trowa will let X make the call about her own name.

She hesitates fractionally, studying Trowa with a careful and discerning eye.

Then --

"X is better. For me."

Beat.

"If it will not be problematic."

That is for clarification, too. And possibly they will dismiss her as a teenager in her rebellious phase. Or a young adult with pretensions.

(X has met those before. Both kinds.)

Trowa nods slightly.

"You can let them think it's a nickname."

Trowa's met stranger -- not in this circus's current line-up, but you cross paths with a lot of people in this business. There are a lot of reasons they're tolerant of eccentricity here.

He hits Send, and closes the program.

(Duo will receive the following: X is around for tonight's show. Feel free to come by. Let me know if you want a seat too.

Trowa doesn't really bother with small talk in written form, either.)

This time X does not bother nodding in return, just lets her attention drift from Trowa and toward the view from his window.

Her head tilts ever-so-slightly as she listens.

It is almost as powerful a tool as scent.

She makes use of them both.

Trowa cants his head at her fractionally as he closes his laptop. (After setting the habitual protection measures.) Anything of interest?

He's mostly asking if there's anything out there she wants more details about. But -- even though he's got years of experience in monitoring this circus, and even though he stepped into Milliways just minutes ago by this world's time, and even though X doesn't seem tense -- if you've got a superpowered and sensible friend, it's just stupid to not pay attention to what they notice.

X shakes her head, just once.

Though her expression suggests she is still listening to what is going on outside.

(This is unlikely to change anytime soon.)

"There are animals. Here."

She hesitates --

And stays silent.

"Lions," Trowa agrees. "And elephants. And a couple of people have pets."

"We'll see them."

From a distance, depending on what X wants, but they're relevant to the tour. For a few reasons -- they're relevant to reconnaissance, and they're Trowa's friends.

"There are cats?"

X's attention sharpens. Fractionally.

(In this respect, among others, she is predictable.)

"Besides the lions."

Elephants are irrelevant.

Trowa shakes his head. "Nobody right now. They're hard to keep track of during moves, sometimes."

"A dog and two snakes."

The importation paperwork is hell for that with all the colony travel, but Grant clearly considers it worth it for his beloved albino corn snakes. Trowa does not judge. (Just assesses.)

"They are constrictors?"

X is curious.

And -- at least for a few seconds -- she sounds it, too.

"The snakes."

"Small ones. Corn snakes."

If she doesn't know the species, he can give more detail.

"Oh."

X absorbs that.

"You like them? The snakes."

And the dog. Of course.

(X does not need to ask about the lions.)

Trowa shrugs. "Sure."

He does.

Not as much as the giant predators. And they spend most of their time in their cage in Grant's trailer. But he gets along with them well, all the same.

"Okay."

She is silent for a few seconds, listening to the sounds of the circus again.

Then, with quick sideways glance at Trowa, she shifts position and starts heading for the door --

Slowly enough that she will be easy to overtake.

Trowa has no objection!

He'll move to half a step ahead by the time they're going through the door. He's the tour guide, after all. (The translation of this is: in new territory, it's the friendly thing to let X be at his back, instead of vice versa.)

"The war ended seven years ago," he says, while they're passing through the kitchen. No one will overhear at this volume, not with the door closed. "There was a brief coup attempt the following year, but other than that the peace has held. You could be in law enforcement or bodyguarding, if you need to come up with a job, or anything in the civilian sector."

"Bodyguard," X says, succinctly.

"It is a more efficient skill set."

And this way she does not have to know procedures.

Helpful!

Trowa nods. Makes sense!

And because this isn't the sort of scenario where anyone's going to question her beyond whatever vague details she chooses to give, they don't really need to work out a cover story in more depth. Accordingly, he proceeds out into the balmy L2 afternoon.

It's not technically sunny; that's because colonies are enclosed, and the interior doesn't actually get sunlight. But the ambient light is afternoon-bright.

X does not squint. She does, however, take a series of brief looks around.

Gaping like a tourist is not in her toolbox. She has no plans to put it in, either. (Especially not here.)

There are places Trowa likes to go? Or likes to show off?

It is difficult to know, offhand. And X is terrible at guessing.

Because it's X, Trowa's path is going to be what he considers a sensible one. That is to say, a systematic circle through the non-restricted areas, to facilitate assessment of the terrain. (The non-restricted areas are most of them, when you're with Trowa.)

Because it's the circus, they're likely to get curious looks and occasional people wandering by for a brief and discreetly inquisitive chat. So far, it's only the glances, though, and just a couple of them.

Trowa gives her a moment to take in the ~~terrain~~ sights, before he starts across the grass.

The circus usually sets up in a park of some sort; it's a good central area for the big top, and in the colonies parks are among the few areas with a lot of open space for trailers and tents. (The other common option is a parking lot. Grass is better on everybody's legs, though, and the only parking lot around here is where they need the audience to be able to park.)

X meets the looks as she passes, holding them for a moment or two before looking away. It is not meant to be dismissal.

She notes which of them move like people with combat skills, which could overpower her at close range, and which may (or may not) regard Trowa with surety.

A larger mental database is always better.

Always.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 8