victormakesart | (no subject)

"They could piece it together from the way I walk, the way I talk, the way I move-- the way I interact with people. If there's one thing I've learned, it's never underestimate the deductive power of the average person."

"I might have to teach you a few tricks about misdirection," he says, thinking. "Time Agents usually only get made if they want to be."

"I think I'm pretty good, but I could use some extra training that I didn't get from being paranoid."

"I think we can do lesson one now," he says with a grin. "Relax. People can see if you're tense and they'll wonder more about why that is. Just have fun."

She takes a deep breath that, in spite of herself, she ends up letting out shaky. "I don't seem relaxed?" she asks, with a wobbly half-laugh that shows that she's very, very aware of the fact that she doesn't.

He puts an arm around her in a partial hug, warm and very Jack. "Don't worry. You're with the captain."

Victor does something she rarely ever does, in that moment. She lets someone else have control of the situation. She's with Jack. It'll all be fine. She leans into the hug and finally, for the first time in much longer than she'd like to admit, she relaxes.

He gives her a squeeze, then begins leading her back out onto the sidewalk, keeping his arm around her. The warmth of his closeness is like a security blanket, and he oozes confidence, enough for the both of them.

Slowly but surely, her pounding heart stops being the only thing she can hear. The sounds of the city filter in... not just her sharp-for-danger listening, but real listening. She feels her face, hot and flushed, begin to cool down. She walks with him.

"Now, which way to 'fro-yo'?" he asks with a grin, saying it like it's some sort of exotic foodstuff, and to him it might as well be. Having a destination will also help take her mind off the people around them.

She gives a twittery giggle at his tone, and says, "Straight a few blocks, then a right turn at the light."

He recalls those terms from his lessons on 20th century life, even though 'blocks' are really squares and the 'lights' are meant for motorized traffic, not pedestrians. "It's kinda weird to me how cities in this century are so quiet." Even though there's the noise of traffic and people, and folks of her century wouldn't call it quiet by any means.

"Quiet?" she asks, giving him a kiss on the shoulder, as she does sometimes, a gentle expression of her strangeness-- her odd affection. "How loud is it in your century? The Doctor's never taken me near there."

"Well combustion engines are pretty noisy, but at least automobiles stick to the streets. If you're near a spaceport, you've got ships flying overhead all the time, and not all of them are in tip-top condition. And I can really only hear one language being spoken here... in my time, there's two main trade languages, but people still stick to their native tongues too so there's a lot of different kinds of chatter." He's moving confidently down the sidewalk even though he's never been here, walking like every step is one he's walked thousands of times before.

"That's kinda awesome," she says, imagining the clutter of the streets, the humming buzz of vehicles all around. Truly the future. Sales for soundproof headphones must be through the roof. "Scary, though. I'd hate for a sky-car to lose an engine part!"

"That doesn't happen too often," Jack says with a chuckle. "Most decent ports have a kind of force field between ground level and the above-lanes, kind of like a safety net."

"That's cool! I wouldn't've thought of that, but it makes perfect sense, to segment the different layers with a field."

"Yeah, even in the future, sometimes accidents happen. You wouldn't want a kid with a learner's permit to crash into the local shops or anything."

"That makes sense. Are new drivers relegated to the ground?"

"That depends on local laws and what's available. On some of the smaller colony worlds, kids need to learn as soon as possible so they can work, so it tends to be sink-or-swim. I'm not quite sure how they handled it on Earth, but it probably depends on where you are."

"Makes sense! I never would've thought it'd be based on specific local laws. During this point in time, road laws tend to be national. But I can see when we're dealing with colonies and, maybe, a less centralized government, how things could be different."

"Well sure, there are some basics that tend to be planet-wide, especially in high traffic zones. But some stuff that makes sense on one planet doesn't necessarily carry over to the next, and some colony worlds don't have any kind of official government, so it always pays to look up the laws for where you're going before you get there. Of course, that applies to any kind of law, not just the road ones. I've had my share of trouble with the local authorities and a few angry mobs before." He flashes a grin to make it sound like a joke, although it really isn't.

Victor can see right through that charming grin-- having charming grinned a few times herself to lighten the weight of what she says. "Nothing too bad, I hope? What's the most ridiculous law you've broken on accident?"

"Depends on what you mean by ridiculous," he says, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "I got in some serious trouble on a nudist planet once because I left my wristcomp on."

She splutters, holds onto his arm a little tighter as her face goes hot. "My goodness! What's the next most ridiculous?"