bury me in straight laced shoes, a box backed suit and a stetson hat

[attitude]

It really said something about how much there was to do on Tabula Rasa, that Faye Valentine had offered herself up as a prize for a volunteer auction. With gambling being as fickle of a beast as it was, Faye had no way of guaranteeing that someone decent would win her as their prize. But maybe a part of her just didn't care anymore, would have been fine even with the dregs of island society opposite her at the dinner table, just as long as it meant having something interesting to deal with for a night. That was why she hadn't bothered asking around after this 'Felix Unger' character, figuring that it was best left to her vivid imagination until the night of the date.

And meanwhile, she could at least settle on a dress, an understated skin-toned fabric accented with a bright azure belt, the pattern sweet and feminine. While it was perfectly possible that Mr. Unger had seen her walking about the island in her hot pants and wouldn't be fooled by the facade, Faye preferred to put on a show, whatever would get her the most yield. Fine dining didn't exist on the island, and clothing she could get with enough pleading at the box's side, but Faye would have settled for plain old chivalry right then.

She waited by the entrance of the Winchester, having left a note in Felix's inbox to meet her there rather than at her doorstep. Hopeful she was (barely), but foolish Faye wasn't.

If he wasn't the type of man to take on a second date, she wasn't going to help him try.

Comments

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

Felix was not a gambling man by nature, but he'd been missing his weekly poker games with the guys for years now, and the island's casino night had been a welcome opportunity to recapture that same spirit of camaraderie with his new friends and neighbors. He also just so happened to be pretty darn good at it when he applied himself, so when his modest winnings proved enough to win himself the company of a (presumably, otherwise why would she ever have volunteered?) lovely young woman for an evening, further benefits had been revealed, like the layers of a particularly vice-ridden onion. Who knew what could lay at its core?

Considering that this was his first date in quite some time (864 days, to be precise, lunch at La Nueva Victoria and two tickets to I puritani with Miriam, not that he was counting), he came prepared. Dressed in a long-cut dress shirt patterned with criss-crossing lengths of rope that he's been saving for a special occasion and sensible slacks, his shoes polished to a shine (though there wasn't actually anything special about that), he arrived at the Winchester precisely at the appointed minute.

"Ms. Valentine?" he asked, pleased to see that he apparently hadn't wasted his bid as he presented her with a pair of freshly-picked heliconias that he'd hidden in his shirtsleeve. "Pour vous."

[attitude]

The immediate sight of her date had Faye hesitating. He was dressed in a way that didn't quite seem to fit the time, in a dress shirt that couldn't have been comfortable in the island heat, and with shoes so polished that she was pretty sure she could see her own reflection in them, if she tried hard enough. Perhaps all of that came part and parcel with his wanting to impress her, flowers and French and all, and certainly Faye planned on going with the flow for as long as she could (the idea of being romanced, at least, was nice), but the slight press of her lips, even as they curved into a grin, was laced with skepticism.

"Why, thank you," she quietly replied, making sure to keep the tone of her voice soft, her lashes fanning over skin as she took the bouquet and leaned in to catch the scent. If he was going all out, then so would she. But the demure femininity didn't quite extend to her eyes, which were still sparkling with amusement and mischief alike, as she glanced up at him again. "You shouldn't have. Felix, right?"

She stepped towards the entrance of the Winchester, wondering if he'd intercept and open the door first. "Call me Faye."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Splendid!" Felix cheerfully replied as he quickly stepped in to do what would be expected of him amongst anyone even remotely civilized and open the door for her, readying a sanitary hand wipe for afterward as he did so. "Felix Unger, as surmised, and may I just say what a thoughtful gesture it was to offer up your time to the island at large. Not all of us always have access to such refined company, even if only for an evening."

[attitude]

That Felix took the time to open the door for her was good— expected, if Faye was to be honest, but she knew that not all people on the island were from places where chivalry was widely acknowledged (or widely known, at least, as was the case in her own). But Faye couldn't help but arch a brow at the hand wipe that emerged right after, eyes narrowing from a mixture of confusion and muted amusement. Of course, people could always do their best to keep themselves clean on the island, but as far as Faye was concerned, door knobs were the least of one's problems on Tabula Rasa.

"I don't know about thoughtful, and I definitely don't know about refined," Faye offered in return, her smirk slightly subdued, mindful of her current company. "Honestly, it just seemed like a fun idea. And I know how successful auctions usually turn out to be when no one's willing to cough up a prize or two."

Waiting for the server to ready their table, Faye glanced at Felix curiously, silent for a few seconds. "So," she began. "Is that really why you bid on this dinner? Because you don't often have access to refined company?"

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"You have seen this place, right?" Felix asked, and while he meant for it to be more of a deadpan comment, he was far too earnest for that to quite come off, in this case. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my friends here dearly and great things have been accomplished, to be sure, but some adjectives get used very sparingly around these parts, and that is definitely one of them." No matter what she said, however, Faye seemed like a delightful person to him, so far!

"Mostly I just miss New York, I suppose. So where are you from?" he asked, his demeanor switching rapidly from cynical to morose to bright and chipper like a very complicated light switch.

[attitude]

There was a hint of petulance in his tone, one that Faye was pretty sure that she could understand to an extent. Surely, he was from a world where things like fine dining or art were appreciated by the vast majority, but more than that, could be realized without much effort. Here, the opportunities for fine dining were slim at best— beef itself was even considered a fine commodity, and only made available from the very occasional presents from the island, which not everyone trusted. Shopping for clothing felt very much like reaching for rare finds from a thrift store, everything being stored in a shabby cardboard box with rounded edges.

Faye missed her own world as well, although surely not for the same reasons. It wasn't the opportunities for parties that she missed, nor even the fine dinners (although she had always liked being indulged now and again on that front), but instead the very lack of meaningful work. She didn't accomplish anything on the island. Didn't have a job, didn't need to get one.

So when she looked over, it was with that measurable amount of understanding, softening her gaze a touch. "I'd argue that the company's no different for our current environment, but who knows? I could be wrong," she replied quietly, with a small smile. "But New York, huh? I was born in Singapore, but spent more time on Mars than Earth."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

Felix was about to opine about how at least back home, he could content himself with the knowledge that there was better company to be had out there somewhere, whether he was actually getting to partake in it or not, but then she had to go and drop a bomb like that, which made the matter seem rather inconsequential for the time being, indeed.

"Mars as in Mars Mars?" he asked, pointing upwards as if she might have been talking about that other Mars just down the street or under the ground. It could always just be the name of some city where she came from, he supposed, but Felix desperately hoped not, instantly invested as he leaned forward over the table slightly. "Really?"

[attitude]

She allowed herself a single chuckle when Felix pointed towards the sky. Of course, she couldn't blame him for being surprised. There seemed to be things in every single world that were unique, that other people couldn't hope to understand or conceive of. One of the more unique details about her own was how far all of them had ventured into space. It wasn't pretty thought, as soon as people knew what caused it all, but without going into detail, it was a dream. It was whimsical. The notion itself was beautiful, and Faye knew this most of all because of the fact that she was once filled with that same awe.

It was hard to begrudge another person that.

"Mars the planet, yes," she nodded softly. "I've been to Venus, too, but... it's not quite as romantic when you have to pop pills to fight the helium in the air. It's only novel the first time you start squeaking like a chipmunk."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

He'd known there was something special about this one!

"Really," Felix said again, only barely resisting the urge to lean forward with his chin in his hands and just goggle at her. Travel through the solar system, sounding as simple as a jaunt across the ocean or any other vacation. As much as he missed New York, the real New York, his New York, there were times where he had to feel like he'd drawn the short straw when it came to home worlds.

Instead, he grinned brightly again, always eager to flaunt his one bit of extraterrestrial experience whenever he got the opportunity. "I fought aliens once! Tell me, did you have Skrulls where you come from?"

[attitude]

There was awe in his eyes, and an eagerness to learn, not unlike the one that Faye had seen in her own so many years ago as a girl, when she'd stared into the mirror, or even seeing the half-reflection of her own expression whenever she stared through the window and out towards the stars above. A part of Faye wanted to quash it, to tell him that there was nothing glamorous about life in space, nothing that differed from the way that life was when everyone was shacked to earth. But another wanted him to keep that belief and dream, no harm and no foul if he stayed on this island, the true skies being unreachable from Tabula Rasa's shores.

Just barely, she managed to hang onto the latter.

"Not that I know of," she considered, reaching out for her glass to take a sip of water. "There weren't really lots of life forms on Venus or Mars when people first landed. Maybe some microscopic organisms caught in Mars' ice caps, but nothing beyond that. Some species changed after being migrated over, of course."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Like mutants, I know about those, too! I guess that makes sense," Felix said, nodding in spite of his mild disappointment. But still, Mars!

"If aliens existed as close by as all that, more people would probably have heard of them, huh? The Skrulls came from Tarnax IV," he explained, before dropping his voice to a whisper as if this next part was some reputation-compromising secret that had to be kept under wraps. "I looked it up after the fact."

[attitude]

"Like mutants," Faye nodded, her gaze momentarily growing distant. Not that she'd met many mutants of the sort that she knew lived around the island, the kind that were different from birth. Most of the mutations she'd ever come across were the result of radiation, of proximity to any number of technologies that people had never been fully equipped to deal with yet, but had been forced to for one reason or another. "Probably nothing that couldn't have happened on Earth if we'd let it, but well, things get chaotic once another planet's thrown into the mix."

Leaning in, her forehead knit as Felix continued to babble on— and strangely, she found she didn't mind. (What that said about the company she'd had since arriving on the island, she didn't want to know.)

"So... what are Skrulls, exactly?"

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Oh, they're terrible!" Felix exclaimed, although this fact only seemed to make him even more excited about the prospect of them. Certainly, he got more and more theatrical as his explanation went on. "Green skin, terrible complexions, and they can change their forms as easily as a set of sheets! You never know who could be one of them. And they can give themselves almost any paranormal ability you can think of. Growing to immense proportions, shooting lasers, you name it! Bent on domination and fueled by some religious fervor, there's nothing to be done with them -- but fight."

That had been a really strange day, in retrospect.

[attitude]

There was nothing quite like that living back on Mars, Faye thought to herself, intrigued in spite of herself. Plenty of people went under the knife to change their appearances, all the better for skirting the law and getting away with a life of crime, but there was always a consequence. Pain, money, any number of things forcing the option out of the hands of most. To think of people who were capable of changing appearance as readily as their clothes was unsettling, at best.

"And you came across these people in your everyday life?" Faye asked, brows knit. "Didn't people do anything about it? I can't imagine most people would have liked having Skrulls around."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Oh, they certainly weren't a part of everyday life," Felix was quick to assure her, lest she grow too concerned. "This was a special occasion. They were launching a full-fledged invasion! It was up to us humble Earthlings to beat them back." Eagerly, he raised his fists in a gesture that in no way managed to fully capture the sheer savagery of the battle that had ensued. The fact that it hadn't technically occurred in his world or that it may have only been a dream hardly mattered; in the moment, in the thick of it, it had been life-or-death, kill-or-be-killed!

[attitude]

She wondered if he would take offense to the fact that laughter was already bubbling from her lips, Faye feeling utterly incapable of taking them back. There was something very theatrical about the way that Felix behaved, and that theatricality, while something that hunters did occasionally turn to if they felt themselves clever enough to deal with the consequences of calling attention to themselves, generally wasn't seen around people who had to fight for the very survival of their own. Resting her forehead against her palm, Faye shook her head.

"I'm finding it a little difficult to picture," she admitted, her laughter more amused than derisive. "Surely you didn't beat them back with a mere shake of your fist."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

Undeterred by her laughter (if he was going to begrudge a pretty girl for laughing at a dinner date, he would have far bigger problems than the odd alien invasion to deal with), Felix barreled on. "Of course not," he said, shaking his head before he grinned. "I had an electro-arrow!"

[attitude]

With a hint of a laugh still on the tip of her tongue, Faye shook her head, trying— and how very strange it was— to take him seriously. The very thought of Felix fighting alien invaders with a rather hefty weapon was one that couldn't quite materialize fully in Faye's mind. It sounded quite as unlikely as anything else did on the island, and so she rested her chin against her palm, wondering if perhaps he was simply taking advantage of the thought that there was little way to prove his story, one way or the other. And how rude it would have been, too, for a date to point out the seeming impossibility of it.

"So you... have an interest in archery?" she asked, trying to be generous and lending him the benefit of the doubt. What harm did it do her? "And to think, shapeshifting aliens having a weakness in electricity. How'd you tell the aliens apart from everyone else?"

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Since they were launching their final invasion, they'd apparently stopped caring about fitting in as much," Felix explained, leaning back in his seat a bit. "Of course, some of the good guys looked a little less than human, as well, so there was still a bit of work in determining who was what, but I like to think I acquitted myself admirably. Although the arrow wasn't mine, it was given to me by a very close friend of mine since I'd arrived unarmed."

[attitude]

"Sounds like a blast," Faye remarks, and she honestly can't even deny that right now. Everything about this island is so quiet, so small, confining and quaint, that Faye wants nothing more than to get away from it and find something that she can snatch onto again. Something exciting, even if only a fraction of what her life once was. Even a story told by a man who seems more meant to watch over a dry-cleaning store is better than what she usually has, and that's something Faye doesn't want to dwell on for very long.

The waitress arrives with their food, Faye pulling herself back with a raised brow, vaguely interested. "And I assume that you fended them off. Or helped to, seeing as how you're here and don't seem very traumatized by the entire incident. Those who aren't victors don't speak... quite so freely."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Too true, too true," Felix agreed, as solemn as one could be with a fork in his hand. "It wasn't my first rodeo, but I doubt I'd be able to smile at the memories quite so readily if I'd been on the wrong side of the first one, either. But at the end of the day, nobody messes with Felix Unger's city and gets away with it!"

Even strange alternate future versions of it.