tampered | Log: Complete

Log: Complete

When; August 18th
Rating; PG? Will edit as needed
Characters; Frederick Abberline and Faye Valentine
Summary; Meeting for cards.
Log;

Frederick was much more comfortable with the return of all his clothing (it was interesting that in his 'assigned' room, a wide variety of his personal belongings including a large chunk of his wardrobe had appeared in the 'oops' boxes) - nakedness on his own time in private was one thing, but to know there was simply no option due to some great cosmic prank was unnerving. Even with Victoria, most of their intimate time still involved... layers. It didn't help that he was pale (even for an Englishman) and had a history of malnutrition due to his addictions.

Miss Valentine's apparent fascination with his nude form perplexed him. However, she was friendly, and he was without a great many friends or even acquaintances in the city. He sat at a small table in the cozy, casual cafe, absently rolling a cigarette (being so expert at it by this time that he hardly had to look down at his hands), awaiting Faye's arrival.

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Abberline wondered exactly where she was hiding the cards - if she was at all. The clear signs of addiction and the pride over her nickname more or less confirmed she was cheating. He wasn't entirely bothered, though - if he couldn't catch her at it, he all but deserved it.

"Nine. Hit me."

He disposed of the remains of his cigarette, and decided to finish off his bottle before rolling another.

Faye drummed her fingers against the deck of cards, waiting while he studied her. When he gave his instruction, she followed it, flicking the seven of hearts across the table. "Sixteen," she chimed. "Play it safe or take a leap, hun?" She was feeling hot again, and she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol--though she had always been excellent at holding it--or just the heat, since there was no breeze anymore.

She finished her own cigarette in time with him, and threw back a great deal of her drink too.

"Leap," he said, finishing off his bottle and setting it aside. He felt fine, really. Mildly entertained by the entire situation and doing something in this place. It occurred to him he should call on Scarab sometime soon, and see how she was settling in (not that he had any tips).

Faye chose another card from the deck and sent it the way of the others. It was a five. She smiled at him and took a drink. "What do you know?" she said. "Twenty-one."

She didn't know why she didn't just use the ten to make him lose. Perhaps it was because she was hot and kicking off her shoes seemed like a good idea.

Without anything other than her smirk, she dropped her boots next to Abberline's shoes.

"Lucky me," Abberline quipped mildly, and began rolling yet another cigarette. He was itching to drink or smoke something harder - he wondered if it was an impulse from just sitting about in his living room. Company was rare; his consciousness demanded stimulants while he was lounging. But no, now was not the time. Blasted addictions - he'd have to get those under better control.

Faye made a non-committal noise in the back of her throat. "Don't sound very excited," she told him, shuffling again and stretching out her toes. Her feet felt nice now, and it cooled the rest of her down. She furthered the feeling by taking down the rest of her drink while she dealt the cards again. It was like having an itch that she couldn't help but scratch. At least Abberline more or less seemed to enjoy indulging her.

"That stuff is weak, by the way," Faye said, indicating her empty bottle.

"Gambling has never enticed me as it has some," he said, taking a drag. "Of course, being a man of the law, I am predisposed to ... finding it disagreeable. Purely business, you understand." He gave Faye an obviously fake dour look, and then stood, taking the empty bottles away.

"It's all I have," he said, lying. He didn't know how he felt sharing absinthe at the moment. "So I suppose we'll have to make up quality for quantity." He returned, setting another two bottles before them.

Faye tried to decide if what he was saying was meant to be a jab at her, but she restrained herself from bristling, even if it wasn't, saying with a pleasant smile, "Well, we're not exactly gambling are we? At least this isn't what I would consider gambling. This is just a good time." She passed a hand through her hair and said playfully, "At least you can't arrest me."

"A man after my own heart," Faye said agreeably, cracking hers open and lighting another cigarette. At this rate she was going to smoke her whole pack away before either of them even got down to underwear. "What's the total on those cards, Inspector?"

Abberline could tell he had rattled her, and found it interesting. He used to get very touchy when people called him in his own addictions - she'd grow out of it. Or she'd grow out of them. One resigned themselves to their fate after a while.

"Thirteen. I'll chance another." He took a drink, and then said, "Would you like to smoke one of mine? You needn't run out of yours, I understand they're hard to come by here."

She picked at the corner of her mouth with a thumbnail, staring at the cards for a moment. Faye dealt him the ten she kept in her sleeve and wondered idly if her cheating would ever stop. Probably not. "Twenty-three," she said. "Ante up."

"That would be nice, to have one of yours." She extinguished hers and slipped it back into the red packaging. "They are hard to come by, even more so considering my money is nearly non-existent." Faye sighed, playing with her unturned cards and waiting to see which article of clothing he chose.

Abberline rolled and handed her a cigarette, and then stood to remove his jacket, leaving him with his vest and shirt - still entirely covered except for hands and face. He folded it neatly and hung it on his chair back.

"It seems you're beating me quite soundly," he said. "But there is always time for revenge, hm?"

Faye took the rolled cigarette and lit it. They tasted a bit different, but she like it and inhaled deeply, watching him remove his jacket while she dealt and cut the deck to her advantage. A little part of her wanted to get caught--just a little, just to see what he might do. "I do have talent on my side," said Faye, cupping her chin in her hand and leaning forward. "There's always time for revenge, and you do have the upper-hand, considering the difference in layers."

She nodded to his cards. "Seven. Hit?"

"Hit, of course," he said, "And it's not my fault England is cold.

Faye smirked and took a drink. "Callisto was cold, but I was still a trooper," she said. "Ten makes seventeen." She swallowed more alcohol and found that she just couldn't stop smirking. "Feeling daring, I assume? Or playing it safe?"

"Daring, might as well," he said, leaning back and not even bothering to touch his cards. Part of him felt like he was mostly a toy that Faye was playing with, because she was so enthralled and he was so ... not. But the company was unoffensive.

"Callisto?"

Another card. A two. Abberline leaned back. "Nineteen." She took another drink. She wanted to get drunk. It had been awhile and cards were much more fun that way, cheating or not.

"One of Jupiter's moons," she replied with a huff. "Cold as fuck. No women either. Interesting place."

Frederick paused, contemplating a cold world with no women. There was something strangely ironic about it, but he didn't vocalize any of his thoughts.

"I'll stay at nineteen." He finished his cigarette and decided to wait on another. There was no rush.

"Jupiter's moons..." he shook his head. "I've never been out of England."

Faye turned over her cards. She had twelve in total. She knew the next card was a ten but at this point she didn't really care all that much. She wondered if she was sick: she didn't even feel like cheating anymore. She pulled the ten and said, "You win some, you lose some." And easily went about untying her red sweater and dropping it over the back of her chair.

She tapped her cigarette with a smile. "Sometimes it's better to stay in one place."

"Sometimes." As Abberline watched Faye remove the scrap of fabric she was trying to pass off as a sweater, he thought about Whitechapel. He'd managed to escape for a large part of his life, having been promoted to Chief Inspector and moved into Scotland Yard... but every time he dreamed, he was in Whitechapel. It was there, under his skin, in his eyes. Fucking place.

"Perhaps I'm getting better at this," he said with a vague smile.

Faye watched as Abberline rolled something around in his head, and while he did so, she thought of the Bebop and its inhabitants. But that was dangerous territory. She chose to stay out of it with a snort and took another drink.

She returned his smile, saying, "Maybe. Skill increases with time, I'm sure. Would you like to deal? Maybe your luck will carry over even more." She paused, looking at him carefully, not quite sure of what he thought about her teasing and playing. "Besides, I hear there's no better feeling than the one a teacher gets when her student improves."

"Why not," he said, taking the deck and dealing their cards after a moment of half-idle fiddling.

"What did you do, on the outside?"

Faye watched him deal out the cards. She received eleven total. "Hit me," she spoke, rather listlessly, inspecting a spot on her fingernail.

And there it was. The Territory. The No Zone. It was a place, a frame of mind, that she hadn't approached for a while. It was unsafe, unstable, and it made her stomach clench. "I definitely wasn't a teacher," said Faye with a smile. She paused for a moment, biting her thumb.

Oh, what the hell? "I was a bounty hunter. Didn't pay shit on most days but..." She trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Maybe he would ask another question and give her a better idea.

He delt her another card - a nine. "Damn."

"A.. bounty hunter?" Frederick looked up, clearly perplexed. The words were technically familiar, but the concept of it being a real profession was foreign, to say the least.

Faye smiled, crossing her arms across her stomach and leaning forward. She couldn't sit still. "I'll stay, I think," she replied.

Giving him a nod, she said, "To make a really long story exceptionally short... bounty hunters, well... hunt down criminals." She paused, trying to think of an easy way to explain this. "In my time,"--fuck but that statement sounded ironic even to her--"the entire solar system is populated. We're all on different planets. Earth isn't really hospitable anymore." Faye thought of Ed and sighed. "The ISSP--that is, basically the police of the entire thing--have trouble keeping up with all the crime. Small fries. Hackers. Thieves. Syndicates." She didn't know why she added the last one, but she finished up. "They use us to help catch them all. Sometimes they pay good, sometimes they don't." She snorted. "They call us cowboys."

Faye rubbed the back of her neck and said, "And that was a pretty long story in the end, wasn't it? Sorry."

Abberline was staring at her in a sort of half-daze, his mind trying to wrap around the concept of living on another planet, and even space travel. He had read about such things, so it wasn't a total shock, but hearing about it so casually was... A tiny spot somewhere inside him was jealous. The idea of that sort of freedom... He pulled his thoughts away.

"Cowboys," he said, a delayed echo. "Interesting. The only cowboys I've seen have been of the Buffalo Bill variety." He looked down at his cards, which were about in the middle - he could stay and lose, or go again and probably still lose. He put down another card. Twenty two.

"Well if that isn't just insulting." He cracked a faint smile at Faye and worked off his vest.

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