river_meimei | (no subject)

Entry tags:

duo,
field trips

(no subject)

Moon Base Station is, apart from certain restricted-access sectors, built for tourism. Some tourists, like Duo, are just killing time during a layover; others come here, to the cheap hotels or the expensive ones with a real-time video view of Earth, to spend their whole vacation within the base's walls.

There's a casino area somewhere not too far away, but River and Duo have opted for one of the more family-friendly bits instead. It's a shopping area, full of glittering storefronts and small food-court nooks, with an intricately tiled floor and fountains every few dozen meters. Tiny potted trees show off the station's opulence -- this is space, after all, where trees are hard to come by.

River's already found herself cotton candy somewhere.

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River eyes him.

And matches, but doesn't raise.

"Read 'em and weep," Duo declares, showing her the cards.

River stares at him.

"No."

(He wins this round, though. River makes a face at the cards.)

"Ha, see? Did you catch me? It's all in the shuffle. I bet your hands are fast enough- let me show you."

A few false starts and a few closely missed games of 52 Pick-Up later...

Duo looks up sharply over River's shoulder. Then he immediately looks back down at the table.

This cannot be happening.

River looks up equally sharply -- at Duo, not behind her.

(Though her gaze does slide sideways, behind her tangled curtain of hair, after several seconds.)

"Don't turn around," Duo says, voice calm, if cool. "I'm not sure what I saw yet, and I hope I'm wrong."

He deals them both another hand, and lifts his cards up to shield his face slightly, before glancing over the top at them.

Sure enough, that's Dario Nove, highly wanted drug smuggler extraordinaire, over there by the baccarat table.

"Shit."

"You're monitoring," River says, halfway between question and statement, and just as calm. Her eyes flick between Duo's face and her cards, and back to him.

"Forgot the ante," she adds, and pushes in hers.

"Yeah," Duo says, matching River's ante without even looking at his cards.

"Okay, here's the deal. There's a seriously wanted criminal a couple tables away from us. We need to finish this hand, turn in our cards, and get out of Dodge without looking suspicious. No problem, right?"

"No problem," River echoes.

She doesn't sound worried. Cheerful's not the word, but it's close -- her tone is light, everyday, untroubled.

"Plan goes smooth."

"Just keep telling yourself that," Duo mutters. He is dubious about the power of positive thinking.

Their last hand passes quickly, and they promptly hand in the cards and make for the door.

River follows Duo's lead. She doesn't look in Dario Nove's direction, and her expression is, if not entirely normal, at least a combination of preoccupied thought and curious crowd-gazing that shouldn't look out of place in a tourist destination like this.

But she also manages to keep herself between Duo and the smuggler until they've stepped through the casino door.

Duo moves away at a nice clip as soon as they're outside. He's already tapping at his phone as he looks for a corner to duck into. He wants to keep an eye on the door.

Hopefully there isn't a back door.

"Stay put. I'm calling this in."

"I'm staying," River agrees amiably, and studies the wall with some interest while he ducks into said corner.

Fortunately, she's picked a wall with a subdued light show rippling under the translucent wallpaper. (River would probably find tastefully neutral paint just as intriguing, but passersby might find it a little odd.)

Duo's half of the conversation, once he has gotten onto a secure channel, goes something like this:

"Yeah, Captain Maxwell here. Listen, I need to talk to the Commander-"

"What? Maneuvers? On the-"

"You don't get it. I'm on your station and I was just staring at Dario Nove."

"Yes, the guy from the-"

"Look, just get me in touch with your Commander pronto, okay? I'm not on duty, I don't have any back-up, and I've got a civilian with me."

"Yeah, I'll hold."

He puts a hand over the voice pickup and rolls his eyes at River. "Not to disparage my fellow Preventers, but I see why they put this girl on the Moon."

River makes a face behind his back at the word civilian.

"Try a reassignment of specialties," she suggests, a little drily.

"Yeah, maybe she ought to try- hello?"

"Commander," Duo says with some relief. "Yes, I'm absolutely sure it was him. I couldn't have been ten meters away." He listens, with a look of careful concentration on his face. The connection isn't all that good, even considering how many receivers it's bouncing off of.

"Two hours? Sir, didn't your Agent tell you I have-"

"But-"

"No, sir, I'm not questioning your order," Duo says through gritted teeth. "But your office will have to contact my Commander on L2, because I'll miss my connecting flight. And if you can arrange putting all take-offs on standby at a moment's notice..."

"Yes, just in case. I'll be in touch." He snaps the phone off with a grimace.

River studies him.

(This is one way in which it's much easier to be a space pirate.

Or a self-directed gunslinger.)

"Interdepartmental cooperation can be a bitch," he says with a sigh. "I just keep telling myself it's worth it. They want me to keep an eye on him while they cut their EVA maneuvers short and catch up with me here."

Duo shrugs. "Sorry we have to cut our trip short. Let's find you a door."

Blankly, "Skirt's okay."

She can still kick people in the head if she needs to. She's wearing good boots!

He blinks at her. Time's wasting, River! Why are you talking about-

No.

Oh, no no no.

"You're kidding, right? Please tell me that you're kidding and you do not seriously want to stay."

River returns his look blankly. The general effect is, ...Yes?

"You need backup," she says, very patiently.

"Sometimes the plans don't go smooth."

Duo would really like to throw his hands up in the air and swear a lot, but that would attract more attention than he wants.

"This plan is already not going smooth. We were just supposed to have a few hours of fun before I caught the red-eye back home!"

Insert more stifled gesticulating here.

"River, I know you're awesome. But this is my world! I brought you here, and I'm responsible for getting you back safe!"

"No," River says, gently. "I am."

Beat.

"You're my friend. It's in the reciprocities."

They do not have time to stand here and argue about this. She's not going to go of her own free will. And if he ditched her, she'd either get lost, or follow him without him knowing. Neither of those options appeal.

"All right. Fine. But if you stay, you do exactly like I tell you, okay? I have to play this by the book, as much as I can."

"Got paperwork."

River's still steadier and more serious than her usual wont. But this comment is, if anything, faintly sympathetic.

"Okay. He's on point and intel."