tampered | Log: Static

When; The 14th
Rating; PG?
Characters; Abberline (

noh_dancer)
Summary; They're out taking pictures at the beach.
Log;

It wasn't much of a walk from building seven to building eight, and there was little going on as he did so - the maintenance day was over, and it seemed that the City had nothing sinister planned for its inhabitants the next day, aside from the normal oddities. Abberline was used to roaming miscreants and abnormal sights being very normal within the confines of one area or the other, so he wasn't too terribly shocked by the things that the 'locals' got up to. It was the aspect of the supernatural that unnerved him. In both the workings of the City and the people it took, things that weren't supposed to be real were proving day by day to be very real indeed. One might not think he would find such things so shocking, he himself subscribing to his own 'visions' of the future, but sporadic bursts opium-induced clairvoyance was nothing compared to the things that were here.

Abberline found Scarab's door easy enough; the buildings were layed out the same, and he lived just one door down in building seven. In fact, the door the the beach (supposedly) was just another door down, so things were working out very well indeed. He knocked politely, and waited.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They were both quiet for a while, except for Scarab occasionally telling Abberline to stand still in certain places, and then to show him how to use the digital camera ( which took a few minutes of button pushing, but he got it in the end).

All too soon the heat was becoming bothersome, and she called a break from strolling int he sun in favor of sitting in the shadow of the Black Swann.

After rummaging in her bag agian she took a water bottle, then offerred it over.

" So do you know who owns these ships?" she asked after a moment, seeking to start the conversation ( and the questioning in neutral territory).

" You said something about pirates? Do you know any of them personally?"

Abberline frowned and muttered over the camera, but it was clear that he was at interested, and also rather impressed. He snapped a few here and there, not really comprehending the lack of film. The buttons were small and fiddly and he was a bit useless with them.

He was pleased with the break, but didn't think it was proper to divest himself further in the company of a lady (even if she was showing an obscene amount of her skin). He thanked her for the water and took a drink gratefully.

"Mm. This one, the.. one that looks real, is what I believe is the Black Swann. Her captain would be a man named Jack Sparrow, who is, apparently, a pirate. It's interesting because we look very similar - and there seems to be a number of other men about the city that look equally similar. They're all up in arms about it, but it doesn't bother me."

Scarab stretched her legs out in front of her, and leaned back comfortably.

As an operative she had worked as a model to cover her erratic travel arrangements...and of course being a model opened many doors otherwise closed to most girls.

She wasn't stupid, though. Her life often depended on reading people, and she knew when certain amounts of subtle flirting could help her in gathering the sort of information she needed.
She wasn't using this excursion strictly as an intel gathering means, she genuinely was enjoying herself, but she capitalized on the seemingly innocent stretch in order to show just enough skin to be distracting, without seeming overtly sensuous.

"A pirate, for real? Huh.

Well judging by the look of his ship i would estimate he is the real thing, yes? Originating from the 1700's maybe, around the time the East India Trading company was hitting it's prime."

She took a drink while he spoke of the other look-a-likes.

" Similar? How similar? Are we talking family-type resemblance, or long lost twins running all over town?"

Abberline caught her movement - even if they were from different times, he was no fool. One didn't make it all the way to Chief Inspector without knowing a thing or two about people - and while this woman was a damn bit more subtle, he'd worked around enough 'unfortunate women' to pick up on the habits of 'feminine wiles'. He knew a variety of things, the first and foremost being that if Scarab were to be trying to get information out of him, she not only just had to ask, there was little to get out of him to begin with.

"I assume it's real," he said, sitting and leaning back against a mooring post. "As real as anything here is, I mean." A pause. "The latter, actually. I think it would bother me more if I spent any large amount of time admiring myself, but I just don't think about those sort of things.. and people have always told me I have one of 'those faces' - whatever that means."

She smiled inwardly, awarding Abberline more mental brownie points for no falling for the mild flirting. Smart man.

" Wow, that must be really wierd having dopplegangers all over the place."

" You know, I have to confess; I know who you are. In my world your somewhat famous for investigating a very messy serial murderer...

It makes me wonder just who else might be here that I would recognize."

She sighed wearily. Wasn't death supposed to be 'eteranl rest'? Why was it now necessary to throw her headlong into a whole new world of problems.

Abberline seemed to freeze up a bit at the mention of the Ripper case. Why did everyone have to know about that? He'd looked for it in the library - unsolved. No leads. None of the so called 'historians' that were ludicrously obsessed with the case had even made a close guess ... and the theory that the Royal Family had been involved had been debunked and shuffled away, now seen as a completely laughable thing (by Royal lawyers, of course).

"Yes... I did investigate... that."

He paused, obviously much tenser than just a moment before. Mention of Ripper put him in a poor mood normally, but knowing that it had survived through hundreds upon hundreds of years and the truth had never been brought to light vexed him terribly.

Sensing the shift in his demeanor, she looked down.

Hmm.

" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

She sighed quietly, and fiddled with the sleeve of her suit.

" I seem to be rather good at stirring up unwanted feeling from people's past", she commented ruefully, thinking of the reaction Ran had when Scarab mentioned seeing the shinigami in her line of work.

"Ah.." Abberline gave a little half-smile, flicking his eyes back up at her. "It's just when someone brings it up, I can't help but think about it, and it's... difficult. The time I spent on that case encompassed too much of my life for such a short span."

Feeling a bit guilty for dredging up such unhappy things on what was supposed to be a fun excursion, she nodded, and patted his shoulder softly.

" I'm sorry. If it's any consolation I always believed in the royal conspiracy."

She gave a smirking laugh.

"Then agian, working for people who wouldn't hesitate to do the same may have made my perceptions a little different than most of the public's"

A slightly uncomfortable silence descended agian, and kicking herself for causing it, Scarab stood and set her boots near her bag.

" Want to go walk on the beach? The sun will be setting soon, and I bet we could get some beautiful shots?"

Hopefully she could turn the conversation to happier things, and then get back to more positive, and productive questioning soon.

Abberline blinked in surprise at her words, but stood and made to follow her. After a moment's awkwardness, he bent to remove his shoes, stockings, and roll his trousers up to his knees. He stared down at the desperately pale skin of his feet and shins, bemused.

"Sounds good," he said lightly, and walked with Scarab, flashing her a small, but genuine smile, showing that all was forgiven, and that he appreciated what she'd said.

Log: Static

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