ataraxion | [Voice]

All right. I’ve got two things.

So if gettin'... um... close to people makes us bleed less, it seems like now would be a good time to get people together to spar. So I’m offerin’ now, if anybody wants to meet in the gym or whatever.

[Because that should work just as well as holding someone’s hand or hugging them, right? And it’s much less weird and embarrassing--Firo's sure that the ship's intending to torture them even more with the "solution" to their problem and he'll do his damndest to get out of it.]

And the second thing I got... Well, it’s kinda gross, so I won’t show it right here. You’re welcome.

[He hesitates, realizing he really should have rehearsed this at some point. How the hell does he explain this?]

I got an eye in my locker. Thought I’d ask around and see if anybody wants it, ‘cause I sure as hell don’t want this thing hangin' around and watchin' me sleep. Somebody said Medical might be interested.

And no, it’s not all gross from sittin’ around. I’ll show you if you want.

[By all rights, it should be kind of gross, given how long ago the jump was. This eye is a bit... special. As most immortal eyes are.]

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[Obviously a perfectly normal planet where they only carve out eyeballs for sane purposes! Kinda.]

Yeah, I have no idea what that is. You use 'em to make it or what?

It's a lock that scans your eyes, because everyone's are different. So if you have the right eyeball you can go all sorts of places.

[He just stares for a moment.]

Who the hell came up with that system? Why would you want somethin' that gives people even more reasons to mess with your eyeballs?

[Okay, maybe normal people wouldn't think about that, but the way she's talking, it sounds like people in her world just carve out eyes and keep them in their pockets.

...And knowing the people he does, he can kind of see that almost making sense to some people.]

[pandora's a hell of a place, okay.]

Well, I mean, most people are pretty protective of their eyeballs. ...of their everything, if they want to live very long. You don't see many old people on Pandora.

Anyway, there were extenuating circumstances.

Yeah, I think that's how they are everywhere. I'm just sayin'--I wouldn't wanna go makin' a market for 'em.

[Unless maybe his Family could get in on it... No, no, no, that's a disgusting idea.

That sounds awfully like an excuse for some terrible eyeball-related thing. Firo is intrigued--maybe he isn't the only eyeball thief around.]

And what were those, huh?

He was pretty dead at the time.

[this is a lie, but fiona lies for a living.]

Also, we really needed that eye.

...I guess you were nicer about it, then.

[Okay, Huey was kind of dead! Temporarily. Thanks to Firo's knife in his neck.

Details.

He rests one elbow on a desk and sets his chin on his palm. If he was curious before, he's very curious now.]

For one a' those scanners, right? What was in there that was so important?

I'm just a nice kind of girl.

[let's leave out the part where she botched the first eye.]

Things we needed at the time. It's not really relevant here.

[Hey, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Can't make an omelet without splattering a few eyes, or however the saying goes.

Firo frowns, mostly for show.]

C'mon, you can't just start a story like that and not finish it.

Sure I can. It doesn't mean much without hours of side-stories and a really long explanation about the hellhole Hyperion has made Pandora into. Not that it was all fluffy bunnies before that, but at least it was our hellhole.

[she flicks a hand, dismissive.]

You're one to be squeamish for a guy who also has an eyeball in his possession.

[He smiles. Heck, the place he grew up was called Hell's Kitchen for a reason, but he still has some affection for it.]

I hear ya.

[He shrugs; he may complain, but having to take the eye was more of a mild inconvenience compared to everything else. Those are really the only things he can gripe about.]

A guy doesn't hafta be squeamish to not want somebody else's eye. I never wanted to take this thing in the first place and I'd kinda hoped I was done with it.

And there you were making it sound like you were never responsible for this eye.

Yeah, well--

[He tries to look and sound completely innocent. Which is hard when you're a career criminal and the eye is most definitely your fault.]

...I'm not the one who wanted it. I don't even know what they were plannin' on doin' with it. It's like a--a "don't shoot the messenger thing."

[Though his task wasn't quite analogous to merely delivering the message.]

You look awfully cute and innocent to be in a gang.

[Rude. Firo's not even sure which part of that to object to first, so he just pouts really hard at her.]

Excuse you? I-I'm not and I'll do you a favor by forgettin' you said that.

[He practically spits out the next words, because the implication that the FBI had anything to do with the Martillos is completely odious to him.]

And those people weren't my Family, okay?

[Which is kind of admitting that, yes, he in a gang.]

Easy there, slugger.

[she holds up her hands in a surrender gesture.]

Hey, don't expect me to be able to tell the difference between your 'they's. Bet the innocent thing works to your advantage, anyway.

[he's talking to a lifelong grifter, she knows all about a con.]

[This is probably the part where he should apologize, but, in his delusional Firo way, he considers them to be even without one.

He sighs.]

You know, I've heard that before, but you'd be surprised how often it doesn't. The cops already know who we are, so it's not like it'll help me get away with anything anytime soon.

[Maybe he wouldn't be so prone to freaking out about it if it were helpful. But as it is, it just means he gets a whole lot of people not taking him seriously and making some pretty insulting comments when they wonder how he's got to his position.]

What are cops? Your local militia or something? That seems like the exact opposite of the way to operate.

[pandora doesn't have police. they have militias, gangs, and hyperion, and nobody is guaranteed to be the 'good guys'.]

You don't have police..?

[Damn. To him, that's like not having vermin all over the place--something of a dream.]

I guess militia would be kinda close. They like to say they lock up the rabble and clean up the streets or whatever. They can't really do anything about us, so it usually doesn't matter much if they know us. They just pop up every so often to be annoying.

[the look on her face says no. in fact, it says what the hell are police?]

What, you mean they don't bribe, torture, or just shoot you? Sounds like they're soft.

[to be fair, fiona's never seen a clean street in her life.]

We can't be bribed, torture's never worked on us, and those law and order types think they're too good for gunfights with criminals.

[Though the police have never tried bribes before, Firo knows for fact that they've often tried the other two, if only behind closed doors.

He smiles.]

...The ones who aren't as big on the law and order stuff are the ones who work with us. They're the ones who take the bribes, not us.

[Voice]

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