19centconstable | Case #56: Video

[This much is audible over the network:] --don't see what's meant to be so bloody serene about hurtling violently to one's death, right? Where I come from, that's just called suicide!

I agree. And they might have been kinder about the whole thing.

Yes! Exactly! I don't know why all the shouting was necessary! [, she shouted.]

I can't apologize enough for involving you in that. I had no idea the water at a water park was meant to be so interactive.

[She relaxes a hair, hackles still metaphorically raised (in a way that would not be so metaphorical if she were Changed), but slightly mollified.]

You couldn't have known. I certainly didn't.

You aren't...put out with me, then?

I'm put out with a bunch of damn fool people who think drowning is fun.

Do you...that is...would you like to attempt to attend a more traditional park? With me?

[Well, if he's just going to make it impossible to stay mad, then.] I thought that's what we were doing, George.

Yes, but I was afraid you might have been put off the idea.

[She sighs, smoothing down her hair, maybe a little self-consciously now. As many hackles as she has, that's a lot of hair to be standing on end.]

Just... maybe if we try to rescue anyone again, we'll shout, "Yes, but are you actually in trouble?" first.

[George understands how difficult hair can be at times, even if he doesn't have quite as much.]

That's quite a clever idea. Or if we see someone committing a crime, we can ask: "Are you doing a crime?", and if they answer yes, we can be doubly sure.

[This earns him the sort of sidelong glance that is usually reserved for her coworkers, which is to say, the sort that silently asks if he's being particularly clever instead of the opposite.]

Ye-es... and if they say no?

Well, then we'll know that they're apt to lie as well.

[Well, it's better than a Fred Colon answer. She smirks.] Right you are, then.

[And of course, she doesn't question the idea of policing on vacation, or on a date, not anymore. She's City Watch: the badge never comes off.]

And you know, this place has two moons, and neither one is even close to full?

Would that make a difference, you think? I mean: if they were both full at once? Or if one was, and the other wasn't, mightn't they cancel each other out?

I'm pretty sure not. I can, you know... tell. [It's a little like PMS! ...although she's also pretty sure that is not something she should be bringing up.]

[George nods knowingly.]

A sort of women's intuition. But for wolves.

May I ask you something?

Er. Yes? [Coming on the heels of that, it's a little hard to predict what the question is going to be, or if it is in fact going to be awful.]

Had you been avoiding me for...any particular reason?

[Well, that is a little awful, but not for the reasons she was expecting. She keeps her face very neutral, taking a moment to smooth herself down again.]

If I'm trying to avoid you, I'm doing rather a poor job of it, George.

That's certainly true currently, but previously you had seemed to have been doing alright at it.

Had I upset you in some way?

[Some sexual way?]

Not... you, per se...

Look, does it matter much? I'm here now. Come on -- a safer park awaits, I'm sure.

[He gestures for her to go first, and strolls after in the direction of a more land-based park.]

I suppose not. If it doesn't matter to you. Only...I do want you to know that I think you're exceptional. Exceptionally exceptional.

[Oh. Well. She hesitates, and then keeps hesitating on purpose, waiting for him to catch up so she can quietly take his arm.]

You... said you had someone back at home once, didn't you? [Unless that someone was a dog. Or a coworker. Or a suspect. It's hard to tell with him.]

[He lets her do so happily.]

No. Well. I had been...interested in a young lady, whom I thought was interested in me, but in fact she wasn't. Or she was more interested in her career. Or perhaps I waited too long to express my feelings to her, and in waiting too long put off another young lady whom I also believe may have been interested in me, but I may have been wrong there as well.

...Unless you mean my dog Violet, or my cousin Penny, who is my ward?

It's entirely possible that I was thinking of [Violet]-- er, one of your young ladies.

All right, so you may not, but-- you know I have, don't you? Had. Have. [Tenses and emotions: both very annoying right now.] ...Had.

I do. And I do admit that I have said in the past that this isn't any place for that sort of thing, because it's difficult to imagine what sort of future there could be in it.

But at the same time: I do wonder what might have been with Miss Ogden, and Miss Moffatt, and even Miss Garrison, and I do perhaps regret that my actions, or lack there of, are the reason that I might only wonder. And so, when given the chance, I decided that this time I wouldn't worry about the future; that I would follow my heart in the moment.

Even if that was the wrong choice, I don't regret it.

[Talking of the future doesn't seem to strike her as any better; she glances away, expression unreadable, but certainly not pleased. He's right, of course, but... She thinks of Stildyne's advice, which was more or less the same. The future is the future, and the now is the now.

And Ankh-Morpork is very, very far away, and not just in mileage, and George... isn't.

She smiles wanly, putting her other hand atop his.]

And what moment was that, exactly, Mr. Crabtree?

Well, when we...

[George makes an elaborate hand motion which signifies coitus.]

[And because they're in public, and also because no, she again puts a hand over his, only rather more hastily this time.]

All right, George, all right. I was bloody well teasing.

Edited 2012-07-05 01:12 (UTC)

Case #56: Video

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