(no subject)

[aimedforthemoon]

from here:

Esfir leads Cal into to her room and shuts the door behind them. Her room has changed from the last time he was here - she's been building bookcases, and even though one is incomplete with tools and pieces of wood on the floor, the room looks more homey.

On the wall is pin-up board, complete with both black-and-white and colour photographs of her old life, but the model aircraft are gone from her desk.

"Um, mind the mess."

Comments

[isaysimplewords]

Cal laughs. "It must have been a hell of a surprise. That's a lot better than I would have managed."

[aimedforthemoon]

"I'm from Soviet Union. If you can't cope with odd things, you don't last very long."

She's smiling as she says it, though.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal laughs. "Yeah? When do they cover the fish aliens? Third grade or so?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"Other odd things. Beside, I did not go to school."

[isaysimplewords]

"How'd you learn what you need to know to be an astronaut, then?" Cal asks. You have to start at the beginning to understand all that stuff, right?

[aimedforthemoon]

"When I was selected, they taught me. Before that, was flight school, and before that...mostly, my aunt taught me. Then she called in a favour with a professor."

[isaysimplewords]

"How'd they pick you?" Cal asks.

[aimedforthemoon]

"They said they were looking for volunteers for something. I was at a loose end, had a feeling it was something to do with the space race, so I...stepped forward and apparently met all the criteria."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal smiles. "That's cool. Good for you."

[aimedforthemoon]

She smiles back.

"And then to show how grateful they were, we were packed off to a secret site where we had to hitchhike. But it...it was very good time."

[isaysimplewords]

"Hitchhike?" Cal asks. "Like, to get back?"

[aimedforthemoon]

Now it's a grin.

"Oh, no. Everywhere. Star City is a little town, so it takes time to walk or run across it. Quicker to hitchhike."

[isaysimplewords]

"Oh. Wow," Cal says brilliantly. "What'd you do there?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"Classified."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal just snorts. He does it while laughing, though, so it's an even more elegant sound than usual.

[aimedforthemoon]

"It is. I'd be shot if I were caught with you," she informs him, grin still there. "Certainly if I told you that we studied rocket theory and spacecraft engineering and such things."

[isaysimplewords]

"I think probably you're safe," Cal says. "I mean, they didn't pick up on the vodka, and that's pretty important too, right?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"I could have been...uh, what's the word....not fly, um. Seeking information."

[isaysimplewords]

"Spying?" Cal asks, and then laughs. "What, like seducing the enemy agent? Okay, first, you suck at that, and second, you picked the wrong damn enemy agent. I can't even get the plot of Star Wars straight."

[aimedforthemoon]

"But I'm sure you could tell me state of the politics in your America, yes?"

[isaysimplewords]

"Yes," Cal says, trying for a straight face. He even kind of succeeds. "They're completely fucked up."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Oh, I believe it."

[isaysimplewords]

"I don't think there's any political system that isn't seriously fucked up," Cal says. "I mean, that's what you get when you put politicians in charge."

Cal is certainly not above cracking the occasional politician joke.

[aimedforthemoon]

"Sadly."

And she does sound like she means that.

Then she stops.

"What did you mean before, I sucked at seducing?"

[isaysimplewords]

"You haven't been able to get me in bed yet," Cal says brightly, with a smart-ass grin.