blah blah blah no idea what I'm doing

[perago]

You sure you're ready for this?

[ Swirling his glass around with a smirk. ]

You've got big shoes to fill.

Comments

[loan]

But you're here, aren't you? They must not be completely clueless.

[perago]

[ Oh, dear. Bond Girl. Bond Girls mean trouble. Bond Girls mean feelings, and we've got no time and no energy and no emotional reserve left for any of those. Just play it cool, then.

...still sizing you up, though. Subtly. Bond is still Bond, after all. ]

They come damn close enough.

[loan]

[ Feelings? What are those? Come now, Mr. Bond. Feelings are for human people with human jobs and human emotions. You won't find any of that here, no sir. ]

And yet I could think of much worse places to be than in this limbo.

[perago]

[ Nor here, ma'am. Simply doing our job. Or rather regretting how we failed to do it, looking in your eyes again, but that mask of charisma gives nothing away.

At least he hopes so. He might be fiddling with the stem of his glass a bit, though that's as much out of boredom as it is anything else. ]

Better there than stuck twiddling my thumbs like a ninny. [ James. Play nice, now. ] I don't exactly run well on idle, you understand.

[loan]

[ If she notices, Severine doesn't say a word. Why bother, when they both know what happens?

Instead she smiles at him, though in her own way, that too is both elusive and a little mysterious - but not in a terribly coy way. Just in a way that's not wholly there. ]

A man of your make and caliber? I'm sure you will find a home in no time at all.

[perago]

[ Not wholly there. That's a sensation he knows as well as his own skin, but he'll save any smart remarks for later, flash a similar smile in turn and raise his glass in a celebratory gesture. Celebrating what, only James will ever know. ]

I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or a congé, but I thank you for it all the same.

[breastpionage]

How big?

...that's probably the greatest username I've ever seen, just saying

[perago]

[ Speaking of big. Hello. ]

Well, if you have to ask...

Haha, why thank you

[breastpionage]

[They are quite distracting aren't they]

I just did, didn't I? [She raises a challenging brow.]

So, tell me... Just how big are those 'shoes'?

[perago]

[ Only a little. Honest. ]

I'm infamous for a reason, darling.

[loan]

[ She, in turn, leans forward to pluck the crystalline glass from his hands, her nails long and pointed when they clink against the rim. She looks at him as she takes a sip.

Celebrating, Bond, all by yourself? Doesn't that sound frighteningly lonely? ]

I meant it as a compliment, but I think oftentimes men will hear what they want to hear.

[perago]

[ Just as presumptive as he remembers, then, which is both relieving and unsettling. At any rate, he surrenders his drink without complaint, hands sliding back to his pockets with practiced ease. Guess it really is a party now. ]

And the same couldn't be said of women?

[loan]

[ Misery loves company, after all. ]

We're all much too busy being bitter and jealous and longing for lives beyond our measures to worry about what's being said, Mr. Bond.

[perago]

[ Boy, does it ever. ]

Hence why I prefer to live in the present day.

[beforefirstcup]

They aren't that big.

[perago]

[ You're just getting a long, long stare for that one, kid. ]

Well, I'm sure you can attest to the fact that size isn't everything, Q.

[ ...ouch. Literal low blow. ]

[oedipusrat]

If you're worth your weight as a double-oh, then I'm sure you are up to the task, darling.

[perago]

[ Making the faciest of faces at you, Silva. You sure know how to ruin a good drink. And pretty much everything else, too. ]

Your vote of confidence is sincerely appreciated.

[ Now please proceed to fuck in the general direction of off before this gets messy. ]

[oedipusrat]

[Don't be like that! After all they've been through...]

You're very welcome, Mister Bond. You have, of course, proven yourself time and time again. We agents are so very difficult to put down, after all.

[perago]

[ Cuttingly, as someone touched a nerve: ]

Don't lump us together, Silva. You're a bloody disgrace to the field.

[oedipusrat]

Me? I'm the disgrace? Do I need to remind you how you were shot off a train by your own people? Or the scores you received when you returned? We have both been disgraced in various ways through the years.

[perago]

I'm not playing this stupid game with you again. You can tout all the justifications and excuses and deflections you'd like to try and tear me down and raise yourself up to some gold standard.

[ James spits, without hesitation, at Silva's feet. ]

At the end of the day, you're just another loser flapping his gums. [ Smirking. ] A loser I took utmost pleasure in burying, might I add.

[oedipusrat]

[Well, that gets his expression set more in stone.]

James, James, don't you know that spitting is a filthy habit? No, I don't tear you down; you were already torn like some war-torn flag stuggling to fly in the breeze. I try to lift you up, to see your potential.

Perhaps now that our surrogate mother is gone, you may very well live up to what you could be.

[perago]

[ You tried so hard, Silva, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter. ]

Filthy habits suit a roach just fine. [ Push, push, push. He's going to keep upping the ante until one of them snaps, because that's the only way he knows how to handle the other man: ruthlessly. ] Fits about as well as backstabbing a traitor, I'd wager.

[oedipusrat]

[It's crawling in his skin; his mental wounds, they will not heal.]

Your aim was very good. It's a little disappointing, however, that you didn't come up and make it oh so personal. To slip it in, hm? Do that damage with cunning and grace, maybe whisper sweet nothings in my ear~? I suppose you couldn't take the chance that she might have pulled the trigger. Shame it didn't matter in the end, since she died anyway. Do you think she would have rather had a bullet?