Log; Ongoing

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

When; Sunday, November 24 (backdated)
Rating; PG
Characters; Toshiko Sato warped_inside and Fox Mulder call_me_spooky
Summary; Toshiko is buying the beer, Mulder is providing the stories.
Log;

Tosh has given Mulder directions to the pub where they're to meet, a place she's fond of for both the quality of their beer and the quality of their pool tables. She arrived a little early and reserved them a table, and now she's just waiting outside to make sure he finds the place.

Comments

[call_me_spooky]

He smiles. "Yeah? Next time we'll shoot hoops." He picks his best option, and is silent for a moment as he sights down the cue.

"In a way, yeah... But I'm thinking more of his appearance than his disappearance."

A solid clack punctuates his sentence as the cue ball makes contact, sending the yellow-and-white across the table. It bounces off the bumper and neatly into a corner pocket.

[ooc: just a little OCD, haaa~]

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

"Sounds good, maybe we can start a pick-up game. I tried to talk Luke into letting me teach him, but we never got around to it before he left."

Ooh, it's a nice shot, and Tosh applauds. She's definitely caught by the story, too, and leans forward to listen. "So what was unusual about his appearance? Had something happened to him? Time differential? Aliens lay eggs inside him?"

[call_me_spooky]

"He really was a Roswell gray," Mulder says almost offhandedly, taking a moment to re-chalk his cue.

"I heard it from a man named Arthur Dales, who was a cop there at the time. Assigned to protect Exley. There had been threats on his life from local Klan members who didn't appreciate his talents..."

He leans over the table with a slight frown of concentration. "Dales walked in on Ex one night and found him... out of uniform."

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Tosh's eyes widen and she sits up a little straighter. "He was a sleeper agent? Do you know what for?"

Of course, it's possible he was just one of those aliens who tries to pass and lives a perfectly ordinary life among humans. But Tosh has yet to actually meet any of those types.

[call_me_spooky]

He pauses in the middle of lining up his shot, and looks at Tosh, face expressionless. Maybe just a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"He was a baseball player."

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Tosh cocks her head and eyes Mulder skeptically, trying to decide whether he's pulling her leg or really serious.

"An alien came to Earth disguised as a human just to play...baseball."

[call_me_spooky]

"No." He shakes his head, turns back to the table. "I'm not sure why he came."

He shoots, but the ball misses the pocket, and Mulder steps away, grinning. "He stayed to play baseball."

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

There's a pause, and then Tosh laughs delightedly. "What happened to him? I guess after he was found out, he had to leave or go underground. Maybe he's playing somewhere else now."

It's kind of nice to hear a story with a 'happy' theme, and it reminds Tosh of something she told Mary. "There really are commonalities that connect us all, aren't there?"

[call_me_spooky]

"He told Dales that baseball was the first useless thing he'd ever done." He takes a seat, smiling. Though he's not sure he wants to tell the rest of it, not only because it's not such a happy ending, but because it's... weird. Even for him.

"Exley threw a game to keep out of the major leagues-- couldn't risk having his nonexistent background looked into. But his own species wasn't big on the idea, either... He was targeted by them, too. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if they'd started the threats."

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

"His own people went after him." Tosh's smile fades, and she nods, thinking of Beth and her sleeper cell. It's not quite the same, but Beth had wanted a life she wasn't allowed to keep either.

She doesn't get up to take a turn at the table, just turning to face Mulder instead. "So what happened to him?"

[call_me_spooky]

"I should mention this. It's a weird quirk with their physiology-- their blood is corrosive in our environment. Acidic, almost-- can eat through most substances, definitely toxic to humans. I've seen it before-- bodies just... melting." Pain in the ass when you're looking for tangible proof, and a body dissolves in front of you.

"A bounty hunter went after Exley. They're not easy to kill--" he pauses, just for a moment. "You have to hit 'em in a precise place, on the back of the neck. Dales showed up too late; Ex had already been stabbed."

Sitting here, he thought of the empty beer-cans and chinese takeout cartons littering the former cop's apartment. The story didn't seem anymore likely now than it had then.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," Tosh murmurs, as though Mulder had lost someone he knew personally. "It's one thing when they're presenting a danger, but if all he wanted was to play a game..."

She's quiet, looking down into her beer for a long time. "Do you think we'll ever manage to really get along with any of them? Enough so that the danger comes from individuals, not communities? Not...other planets, other species?"

[call_me_spooky]

He shrugs. "After all this time, maybe I should have an answer, but I don't. But..." He sips the diminishing beer. "What Dales told me... would suggest that it's not impossible, I think. When he found Exley bleeding he was just... bleeding. Like anyone else."

It's been a few months, now, since he'd heard the story, and Mulder still doesn't know what to make of the I'm-a-real-boy now twist. He's got no reason to doubt Arthur Dales; no reason to believe him, either.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

That's a twist Tosh wasn't expecting, and she looks up quickly. "Just regular blood, human blood, not the corrosive like the other aliens? It's too bad it was so long ago, Owen and Martha would be able to figure it out, I bet. Maybe even learn something really useful from it."

Still, the story teaches something kind of useful too, doesn't it, and she gives Mulder a grateful smile. "I think I like this story, even if Exley didn't survive it. It still has a little hope in it, you know?"

[call_me_spooky]

"Dales told me that I spent too much time looking for the heart of the mystery, and ignoring the mystery of the heart. That human passions make a human. I didn't see it myself, but... I want to believe he was telling the truth, about everything that happened."

Mulder takes a last swig of his beer, and leans back in his seat, dropping the empty bottle onto the table. "It's definitely in the running for the best baseball story I know." He grins.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

"The mystery of the heart," Tosh muses. "That's a lot more complicated a puzzle that I care to try taking on. Think I'll stick with figuring out the tech and let someone who understands people a little better deal with the rest. But I guess your friend has an interesting point."

She grins back and hops down from her stool, grabbing up her cue. "Oh, best baseball story I've ever heard," she agrees. "Almost makes me feel guilty for having to beat you."

[call_me_spooky]

"Beyond my understanding," he agrees. "It wasn't what I expected when I went to see Dales, but it was worth it."

Mulder leans forward as Tosh heads back to the table, smirking. "Bring it!"

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you just remember you said that," Tosh teases, choosing her shot. "I'm just regretting I didn't suggest we play for stakes."

She grins up at Mulder, and then angles a pretty shot off the bumper that sinks two of her remaining balls. "Don't think I've any decent sports stories, unless you count Ianto going after an animated resurrection glove with a hockey stick." A little frown follows her words, because that actually...is connected to a story that's heartbreaking to her even now. But the image itself remains pretty amusing.

[call_me_spooky]

The image he's got from that probably isn't terribly accurate, since he's not sure what that is or who Ianto is, but where can you go wrong fighting badguys with a hockey stick? That's inherently funny.

And damn, there goes any chance he's got at pulling ahead in the game. "I'm glad you were nice enough not to hustle me," he says. He's choosing not to ask about the frown. Too many of these stories don't have happy endings. Not that most stories do, of course.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Tosh has to admit most of her stories are kind of a mix of funny and tragic. Which is fine when you're sure your listener is prepared for it, but not such great material for a first meeting.

"I never hustle a friend, not without warning them first," she laughs, the frown gone as quickly as it appeared. "Been known to try and talk them into hustling with me, but my luck's not been so good lately."