(Untitled)

[bestmachine]

WHO: Cavil and Xena.
WHERE: Just outside the prison.
WHEN: 5/26, early evening.
WARNINGS: None!
SUMMARY: Cavil thinks Xena looks a little too much like someone he knows back home. It's time to investigate this bullshit. >:|
FORMAT: Paragraph.

Comments

[atoningforsin]

It had been a very long day, Xena thought to herself as she walked out of the prison. Bad enough that not one but three inmates had thrown food at her, but she also sported a few bruises and scratches from a brawl she'd had to break up. Fantastic.

It reminded her of home, almost.

She'd been able to remove all the food from her clothing, but was much the worse for wear. A shower was in order, and dinner. Yes.

As she headed outside, she picked yet another piece of food out of her hair, with a disgusted noise.

[bestmachine]

Cavil arrived at the prison more or less the moment Xena left its gates, which was what he had planned all along. He watched her for a moment before approaching, this inconspicuous fly on the wall, this harmless looking old man with the brown trench coat and leather shoes. He knew this was where he could find her. Of course he knew. He didn't only memorize the streets, for frak's sake. He was well-prepared.

Of course, he wasn't prepared to run into her in the City in the first place. Xena might have been her own woman, but to Cavil, she was a fraud. A mistake. A bug he had failed to clean up months ago, even though he swore he fumigated the place to high heavens. She looked exactly like a million someones from his world whose lives he locked away in a cold, unlabeled room and never expected to see again. She was a danger. Maybe.

"Excuse me," he said, stepping towards her. Following.

[atoningforsin]

She noticed the old man in the coat before he spoke, but paused at the sound of his voice.

"Yes?" she asked, turning to face him fully. Even in modern clothing, she carried a sword, the worn hilt peeking over one shoulder.

"Can I help you?"

[bestmachine]

He stopped when she stopped, and then raised his hands nonchalantly, palms exposed. A casual I'm not armed. I come in peace. It was a habit.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't mean to bother you. You're Xena, aren't you? Of 'Greece?'"

The word 'Greece' was foreign on his lips. You could practically hear the quotation marks.

[atoningforsin]

She tilted her head thoughtfully at him, one hand in a pocket. That's one thing she liked about modern clothing. Pockets!

"Yes, I'm Xena. Of an alternate timeline and over a thousand years ago, Greece. Amphipolis, to be exact. Have we met?"

His tone grated. She raised an eyebrow in response to it, unimpressed.

[bestmachine]

Well. Her story hadn't changed.

"I'd be careful waving the words alternate timeline around here." He pursed his lips. "You'll end up confusing more than clarifying. You see, we're all from an alternative timeline. That's why we're here."

He extended a hand, the faintest of smirks on his lips. In his eyes.

"My name is Cavil. We've spoken before, but my connection rudely cut me off before I could properly introduce myself. I'm here to apologize. I didn't want to leave you with a bad impression."

[atoningforsin]

Of course it hadn't changed. It was the truth.

She took his hand and shook it firmly, with a grip like a vise. Every part of her that could be tightly-muscled was, though not in a bulky fashion.

"It's nice to meet you, Cavil. I took no offense."

He received the faintest smirk back for his trouble.

"I find it easier to explain that way, than to try and tell someone that I knew Julius Caesar, Hippocrates, and Helen of Troy. Apparently they didn't exist at the same time for most versions of this world."

[bestmachine]

The names earned a blank look Cavil didn't even try hiding. He tilted his head nearly horizontal, as though he wasn't hearing correctly. He squinted.

"I see," he said. "You're going to have to forgive me. I'm not from a version of 'Earth.'"

[atoningforsin]

"Two weeks ago, I would've thought you were insane for saying that. But now, with what I've seen here? I'm not surprised."

Xena favored him with a brief, reassuring smile. That was rather interesting, though, the way he tilted his head so far. Hm.

"I remember that you seemed to take offense when I mentioned Ares. Did you know someone by the same name?"

[bestmachine]

He could take her out right now. He could slice open her head and figure out what she was the old-fashioned way. He could--

Not now.

"Oh believe me," he said, casual as ever. "I know. Thanks to this place, very little surprises me anymore. But to answer your question, the only 'someone' I know named Ares is the god. I was merely surprised you spoke of him so casually. More surprised, even, that someone from this planet would share our gods."

[atoningforsin]

He could try.

"Ares is the god of war where I'm from. One of many. There's also Aphrodite, Hades, Zeus, Hera, Hephaestus, and many others. Ares is the one I have the most experience with." She paused, looking at him thoughtfully. How much should she tell him?

"He and I are well acquainted. I used to be a warlord. Conquered nations. Took many lives. When I stopped, he didn't care for that, and has tried to win me back over since."

[bestmachine]

He listened to her rattle off the names. No, that's all the same. That's exactly right. She knew the Lords of Kobol. But what if that was misleading? What if her "alternate reality" not only skewed Earth's history, but his own? There was no way to know if she was telling the truth, if she thought she was telling the truth, or if she was lying to him through her teeth.

Frak.

He narrowed his eyes for the quickest moment before regaining his composure. His voice, however, was darker. Subtly.

"I see you still have your sword," he said, signaling to it with a raised chin.

[atoningforsin]

To her, they were just the gods, and that was that. Annoyances for the most part. Learn you some Earth history, Cavil.

"Hm? Yes. I'd feel more than a little naked without it. It's been with me for years." She reached up to tap the hilt with a finger, then made a face.

"The metals from my time don't stand up to the metals of here, though. It's already been damaged, so I'm in the market for a better blade."

short tag, sorry D:

[bestmachine]

"Has it?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in feigned surprise. "How did you manage to damage it? Hopefully not in some prison brawl."

Luls, is okay.

[atoningforsin]

"I fought two duels against people with better weapons," she sighed, and drew the badly-nicked blade to show him. The light caught on the gouges, which were deep and close to being a structural issue.

[bestmachine]

He tensed automatically as the blade was removed, though he hardly made it obvious. He wasn't afraid of her, he told himself, regardless who she was. (Or wasn't.)

"I suppose 'fighting duels' is different from being a warrior that even the gods sought after."