pike | nigel's mobile;

[She leans over him, still quiet. It is a spider thing, her silence, along with her lack of scent, a hunter thing. But she is not hunting him. Instead she speaks, vaguely from above, quiet]

Are you interested, then?

[ Her voice is enough to turn his attention away from the silently winking monitor (sound wasn't important, did it really matter what they said?). Nigel doesn't seem to be bothered or care by how close that brings his face to hers, though he is momentarily distracted by the tendons of her throat and the slenderness of her neck. He stares at it as he speaks and then returns back to his device. ]

Spectacles are meant to be watched, aren't they? Though the gladiatorial games were meant to appease the discontented masses. [ Nigel lifts the device so that Saya can watch as a contestant is run through with a spear. ] Are you appeased, Saya?

[She watches for a moment, and shrugs]

Some of it's a waste, isn't it?

[She manages to tuck herself against him, on the arm of the chair. It would be uncomfortable but she doesn't seem to mind]

[ Nigel turns to stare at her again and although he doesn't ask, there seems to be an implicit question in his expression of what on earth are you doing. Still, there is no protest because in the end it didn't really matter. He sets the device back onto the table, making sure it is neat and parallel to the tabletop's edge. ]

There's a saying about eggs and omelets that I'm sure someone would find necessary to say right now. [ Nigel looks absently at the communicator, its screen still a blur with motion, though he doesn't seem to be watching. ] The definition of barbarity is waste.

[She doesn't seem to notice. She tilts her head to look at the screen]

Blood, blood, everywhere.

[And not a drop to drink]

They could at least be neat about it.

[ Again, distracted by the line of her throat. Nigel wonders for a moment what she would like with her head off. That wouldn't be a waste, would it? Not at all. ]

Neatness requires practice.

Edited 2010-12-08 00:34 (UTC)

[Her eyes flick over, the brown tiny compared to her blown pupil.]

Are you neat?

[ He watches to see if those pupils contract when she looks at him, when they don't he turns back to the device. ]

Science demands neatness. Therefore, I've had plenty of practice.

[They do, stabilizing after a moment. She's hungry, she realizes. She needs to find someone tonight]

But you don't mind how messy they are now.

[ There's a distance in his voice when he speaks, as if he's thinking of something else when he talks. ]

They can hardly help it, can they? They're barbarians. [ The corner of Nigel's mouth crooks very slightly. As if he's just told some sort of joke. ]

Uneducated, without a doubt.

[She leans so she's almost against his ear when she speaks]

Would you like to be in there?

[ Nigel doesn't have to consider it very long to answer, though his attention turns again towards her. Close enough that his breath is on her face. ]

Too frenetic, too much impulse. And no near enough deliberation for my tastes. I'm afraid I would make a very poor barbarian, Saya. [ He blinks at her slowly. Like a cat eying the canary. ] Would you?

[She doesn't seem to mind.]

I would survive. But you've seen my workspace. I would not like it very much.

[ He would be a hypocrite if it bothered him as well. Nigel had no sense of other's personal space, why should he suddenly have one of his own. ]

You'd prefer something more deliberate?

[Her smile widens]

Yes. Thought out.

[ Silence as he stares at her for a while. He has no illusions to know what she's thinking, though he imagines whatever is happening in that mind of hers, he'd be able to appreciate on some level. ]

Is there something about the mess in particular that you can't stand?

The waste of blood.

[She tilts her head and looks back at the screen]

[ This close, Nigel is both confused and intrigued by the lack of smell to Saya. All people had it, an odor or a scent -- proof of their biological processes usually masked by soap and perfume and deoderant. That she's entirely neutral holds his attention.

He lifts a hand and absently pinches a bit of her hair between his fingertips, studying it the way one might analyze a forensic sample. ]

And what's so important about the blood, Saya?

[It's black and silky and smooth, and perfectly natural. Her hair is not dyed that color.]

If these people can't serve any purpose but to die, they can at least assist the rest of us to live.

I suppose their organs are equally valuable.

[ He doesn't bring himself to smell it, dropping the lock again as he settles back into the chair more naturally, lifting the device again to see who was next upon the slab. ]

How very pragmatic of you. Many would sacrifice practicality for the sake of compassion.

It's not compassion. It's simply practicality. If you're going to die, at least leave something for the people who can use it.

[ There's something in the phrase 'people who can use it' that gets Nigel to smile fleetingly as he flips idly through channels. ]

Tell me. What happens to the dead here?

They come back dead.

[ Hm. Problematic. ]

All of them?

[She thinks of the bodies, cocooned in her sylie upstairs]

No, not all of them.

nigel's mobile;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;

Baby doll I recognize, you're a hideous thing inside;