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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Mar 1, 2012 22:20:27 GMT -5
M7W1D7, semi-private, at a park picnic area, in the general vicinity of some performance art, mention of Rodney with permission
So Ms. Zaman and her house guest are off on a picnic today. She has packed a cooler full of rosewater Jell-O. She may be doing picnics wrong, but she also doesn't care, because if no one else does, she will eat the Jell-O and do so happily.
She comments, "Nice day. Think Victoria will show?"
If Victoria blows them off, Rodney is probably going to rope Ms. Zaman into playing Frisbee. That would just be terrible.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 2, 2012 21:43:35 GMT -5
Rodney is carrying a cooler of his own, one of those soft sided ones, because he's intends to eat more than just rosewater Jell-O, and he damn sure isn't going to eat anything Victoria brings. While he did pack enough to share... he kind of suspects he'll be the only one eating it.
He looks around, searching for a spot, and gestures his head to an open picnic table. "Either she'll show, or it's a trap."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 2, 2012 22:25:11 GMT -5
Victoria is actually not very far away from the picnic area. She is standing near the performance area and speaking with the curator of the performance. She is dressed upscale casual today, in black pencil skirt and purple cardigan set. A long cotton trench is draped across one arm, and she holds a wine glass in her hand.
She takes a sip of her wine and looks across the area. Her eyes light on the pair just settling at the tables. Ah. That one would be Rodimus. That should make the other....
Sharon Zaman? The attorney? Fascinating.
Victoria starts to make her way toward the pair. She would admit it to no one, barely to herself, but the space between her shoulderblades itch slightly. This place is too open, and she does not trust the Emirate in the slightest.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Mar 3, 2012 20:10:38 GMT -5
The attorney that Addison Payne's boyfriend inexplicably moved in with if Victoria happens to follow the rag sheets.
Ms. Zaman puts down a rather nice orange tablecloth on the picnic table and starts to set three place settings. She replies cheerily, "Or she won't show, and it won't be a trap, because she's messing with us."
She keeps smiling, but her eyes narrow. Who is that she sees walking this way?
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 4, 2012 20:51:38 GMT -5
Rodney begins to open up his own picnic basket, more concerned with food than with making sure everyone's place is set. He glances up, spotting the woman heading their way, and answers, "Or she's here."
As Victoria approaches, he inclines his head slightly. "Ms Raines, I presume."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 4, 2012 21:20:57 GMT -5
"You presume correctly, Mr. Pryor," Victoria says as she reaches the table, "And this formidable woman with you is the attorney Sharon Zaman. I do not believe I have had the pleasure."
She sits without waiting for invitation. "I hope the day finds you both well."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Mar 4, 2012 21:52:52 GMT -5
Ms. Zaman snorts. She replies, "You certainly haven't had the pleasure," the displeasure, perhaps. "Do you like rosewater Jell-O?"
She offers a cube of rosewater Jell-O in Rodney's general direction. He will have his rosewaster Jell-O and he will like it, slag it. Ms. Zaman will give Victoria a cube, too, if Victoria indicates that she would like one.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 4, 2012 23:38:47 GMT -5
Rodney accepts the rosewater Jell-O, even if that's a strange choice of Jell-O flavors. He ends up eating bizarre variations of common food with Addison all the time, and anyway, he has no problem with eating the Jell-O. He just has no intention of only eating Jell-O.
"I've got drinks and sandwiches," he proclaims, implied offer in his statement. "Cold cuts and... well, just Coke, really. Oh, a couple Sprites in there."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 7, 2012 1:41:41 GMT -5
Victoria quirks a brow at the little pink cubes. "Having trouble assimilating, I see. But no thank you," she makes it clear that she is refusing both offers of food, "I tend to eat but little, and I will be expected to consume something at the after-event for this show."
She sips her wine, and says, "Besides, I would no more trust food from your hand than you would food from mine, Emirate," she cuts her eyes toward Rodney, "You I trust slightly more, because of what you are. But not enough."
As she sets her wine down on the table, "I find it quite interesting, the lives that were chosen for us," she smiles slightly, "You keep company with a rather public figure, Rodney."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Mar 7, 2012 10:34:18 GMT -5
Victoria tries again to get a rise out of Ms. Zaman. The thing is, the issue is not as cut and dry as Victoria is trying to make it seem. Maybe Ms. Zaman just wanted a recognisable snack to make it easier for Victoria to find the table. Maybe Ms. Zaman is genuinely an eccentric and is going to be making broccoli aerogel spheres tomorrow (and send Perceptor some in the mail).
Maybe Ms. Zaman is screwing with Victoria's head.
She squints at the cold cuts and mutters, "I don't suppose any of them are halal," not that she particularly keeps up with that regulation, given that she happens to believe in Primus instead, and Primus really doesn't have many regulations on slaughtering animals, since His children can just live off solar panels and stuff.
Again, there rises the question of if Ms. Zaman is just screwing with Victoria's head.
"A Coke, if you please, Mr. Pryor."
She pops a little rosewater cube into her mouth and then asks bluntly, "Because he carries the Matrix or because he's young or yes?"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 7, 2012 20:56:04 GMT -5
Rodney frowns as he hands Sharon a coke. "Hal-huh?" He peeks into the basket. "Erm... I have sliced turkey breast?"
He glances at Victoria as she mentions who he spends his time with, and he shrugs casually as he pops open his soda. "So the internet tells me."
What he really wants to do is threaten Victoria if she dares think about hurting him. But that'll just paint the bullseye brighter.
He glances back at Sharon at her question, and if he wishes she had not used present tense to describe his Matrix carrying, he doesn't say so.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 7, 2012 23:28:06 GMT -5
Rodney's boytoy is probably safe from Victoria, at least until she is more certain that Addison Payne is an Autobot. Victoria finds herself oddly reluctant to bring the truly human relations of either the Decepticons or Autobots into their conflict. Not that she will not do so if needs must, but she would prefer not.
Perhaps she has been human too long.
"He is a Prime," she answers Sharon, "and I have yet to know a Prime who did not have the merit-or flaw, depending on point of view- of compassion and a desire for unity along with his more warrior-like aspects."
"That is the short version. The long version involves a drier sort of conversation on statistics that would make for quite the boring conversation, I fear."
"You recognized me at the undersea lab, Rodney," Victoria says, shifting the conversation abruptly, "You also recognized the energy source there, and so you have some understanding of what we are dealing with."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Mar 7, 2012 23:54:30 GMT -5
"Halal, my dear. It's a religious set of dietary restrictions that I mostly ignore. I'll take sliced turkey breast, then, please," Ms. Zaman explains. She takes the Coke and checks it over carefully before opening it and taking a sip. Then Ms. Zaman says brightly, smiling, "Oh, all right, so you weren't just trying to sow division."
Oh look, Victoria is being evasive already, refusing to actually cite statistics. That's adorable.
She pops another rosewater cube. "The planet doesn't like us. I can't blame it. So it adopted us - now there, I can fault it. A sensible planet wouldn't want a thing to do with our kind." She grins. "Not even our own."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 8, 2012 20:11:33 GMT -5
Rodney doesn't comment on Victoria's assessment of his 'weakness.' It's true enough, he supposes, and yet, along Twin Twist's timeline, it apparently doesn't keep him from killing the Decepticons to a man. He hands Sharon a turkey breast sandwich, and nods.
"I've never seen anything like this. Certainly it never happened on my Earth. But that pool... that was..." He shakes his head. Then he looks at Victoria, eyes narrow. "That's not for you, at any rate."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 9, 2012 21:49:59 GMT -5
Victoria meets Rodney's narrowed gaze with her own impassive stare for several seconds before one corner of her lips quirk up. She her chin drops slightly and her eyes half close as she uses the back of her hand to carefully brush a windblown lock of hair out of her face.
"Hmpf."
"We are poor stewards for a planet, perhaps," she says, addressing Sharon's point, "The fault for that lies not with us alone, of course, but I find I cannot truly disagree with you, Emirate."
"It cannot have escaped either of you," she continues conversationally, "how unique and specific an influence this planet has upon our kind. There is not a reality set in my knowledge who has not been touched- and touched significantly- by it. Certainly there are other planets we have altered with our war, but this one little backwards mudball call us back. It awakens the greatest designs of conquest in some, and the strongest desires to protect," she cuts her eyes again toward Rodney, "in others. Does it not make you wonder why, when we- both sides, for you are just as guilty- have stopped, taken, destroyed and left so many other cultures, that we hesitate at this one? It is not merely your efforts which prevent such things, and it certainly isn't the laughable attempts by its inhabitants at dissuading us."
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