river_meimei | (no subject)

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in milliways honest

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The rafters have a few advantages.

They're comfortable, for one thing! (If you're River Tam.) And interesting. And sometimes you find candy. And they provide a fun change of perspective.

And sometimes they're a good way to find people.

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River twists from her crouch to a similarly seated position, ready to slide off the rafter after him. The silent gesture has a eloquence that her words tend to lack; it says, lead on.

Puck and Havelock's room tends be hard to find, depending where you come from, but from the Bar it is simple enough as long as you know where you are going.

There's apparently some kind of trick to opening the door, though. Havelock pauses, and waits for a conspicious thump before it opens fully. He then holds the door politely for River to enter.

Edited 2010-01-04 23:36 (UTC)

Havelock Vetinari is a true gentleman.

"Skip the knives," River says amicably to the room at large, and steps in without hesitation. But with a certain degree of care.

Havelock looks innocent, shutting the door.

Well, maybe River can just about detect the attempt.

Or not.

"Please, take a seat," he offers. Translated, this means 'the chair is not booby-trapped.'

Since this is not a context in which the offer would mean 'the chair is totally booby-trapped, please do sit in it,' River correctly translates. At least, she settles down comfortably.

"From Puck," she says. "In the palaver."

The chair completely fails to explode or collapse under her. Havelock leans thoughtfully back against the wall instead of taking a seat as well.

"I see," he says.

River has settled down with one leg tucked beneath her. Now she pulls the other to her chest, arms twined loosely around her ankle, and regards Havelock's general vicinity. (Mostly that wall, from the look of her focus.)

"It's a loophole."

"He promised. No talking. Aid and succor in the externalities."

"I'm the interlocution."

AREN'T YOU GLAD to have such an articulate translator, Havelock!

It could be easier, but then again, it would be a lot worse without her. And for someone who constantly analyses every word everyone says in any case, it's almost refreshing.

Havelock's expression doesn't change, but he is silent for a moment.

"Yes," he says finally. "I thought it had to be something like that."

River's expression says, briefly: yeah, it's kind of a theme, isn't it.

It's mild, though, and the exasperation is tinged with something between sympathy and affection; River wouldn't quite call Puck a friend, but she wouldn't quite avoid it either, and Dracula is very clearly the enemy here. River has no fondness for anyone preying on patrons. She's a gunslinger, and at Milliways, she watches the bounds.

Softly, "Got teeth inside the shadows."

It is getting to be something of a tradition.

Havelock doesn't say that out loud.

"A vampire of some kind, yes?" he asks instead.

River nods, just a little, her gaze fixed on Havelock.

Softly, "He likes to listen. Rummage and cover the tracks."

Vampires are known on the Disc, but he's never encountered one before himself. It's almost a pity, since seperating lore and reality - always tricky - will now be near impossible.

And it's no guarantee that whoever this one is will be the same.

"Hmm," he says softly. "No, Nita could not remember much about her attack."

River doesn't say anything to that.

Because: yep.

"Do you know who he is?"

Or she, Havelock.

But the victims have been all young women, so far as he knows, and there's a stereotype there.

River hesitates.

And shakes her head, reluctantly.

"All right," he says, fairly gently, for him. It was a long shot, admittedly.

River would much prefer to.

Then she could ~~kill him~~ kick him satisfyingly in the head and then turn him over to Security like the virtuous citizen she is!

Sadly, she never picked up a name from Puck, and she can't pick up faces.

"Old," she says again. "Games in the shadows. He listens where they think it's not."

Well, that's worrying.

Age is always a dangerous characteristic in a vampire. It tends to mean that they are powerful, which he already knew, and that they are intelligent enough to survive, which concerns Havelock more.

"I see."

It's much handier when your enemies are weak and/or idiots.

(Though, to give Puck credit, he mostly doesn't get trapped or manipulated by weak idiots. He saves his foolhardiness for use around competent and powerful bad guys, instead!)

River's silence says, Yeah. Pretty much.

"Did he--"

Havelock pauses there, then looks up deliberately.

"Is there anything I should do?"

It sounds as if it should have been is there anything I can do?

Softly, "You can oppose. Not bound by the stipulations. Free assessment of preferential options."

Beat.

"He'd say be careful," she adds.

Because Puck is secretly a marshmallow. Um.

"I'm sure he would," he says, just a little dryly.

Puck is also a POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK.

"Stipulations?"

"Word and deed."

Puck said that one clearly.

Well. 'Said.'

Well, that covers a whole swathe of possibilities. Still, it gives Havelock a starting point.

"I'd been meaning to keep a closer watch on him in any case."

Boyfriend-stalking is wrong, Havelock.

"He takes lots of looking after," River agrees, sympathetically.

Poor Havelock, stuck dealing with Puck all the time!

There's no accounting for taste, and all, but still.