Room 318, Thursday Afternoon

[lockestheway]

Time went quickly when you were as busy as Peter was - he attended his classes and the odd party here at Fandom, but most of the time his mind was elsewhere. Sometimes, it was with Haiti and its problems... but Peter never forgot about the bigger picture

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[whenshewasnice]

Natalie's days seemed long this week, with little ability to focus on things for long. She didn't stay at the theater all day, but when she got back to the dorms she was still feeling restless, and that led to wandering.

And wandering led her here. (Maybe it was surprising but she could be fickle if she wanted to.) She observed, from the doorway, "All those snacks make it look like you have a lot of work to do."

[lockestheway]

"Just a minor assassination attempt," Peter said, popping a chip in his mouth. "Not mine this time."

[whenshewasnice]

"Anyone important?"

Well, she supposed that may have been a silly question, but whatever.

[lockestheway]

"Bean's," Peter said, like that meant anything to her. "It'd be pretty inconvenient if he paid the piper." He spun around in his seat. "Chips?"

[whenshewasnice]

If it was a name Natalie had heard before, it wasn't one that had stuck with her. It wasn't surprising, she didn't tend to commit a whole lot of his business to memory.

She moved into the room, reaching for the snacks. "So what are you doing about it?"

[lockestheway]

"I'm running up some research regarding the circumstances of the assassination," Peter said. "Other parties are taking more immediate steps to keep him from harm. But, well, it's Bean - the little marubo is exceedingly hard to kill."

He opened up a can of soda.

[whenshewasnice]

"Good for him." She popped a chip into her mouth, a little absently. "I would offer to help but it's a little beyond my skills and knowledge."

Too bad for her and her need for distractions, really.

[lockestheway]

"It's beyond all of our skills and knowledge unless you'd happen to be able to teleport over there right now," Peter said, taking a sip of his soda. "I mean, if this assassination attempt is real, it's already happening. I can't exactly launch a missile from here to make it stop."

[whenshewasnice]

"I meant the research part," Natalie clarified. "Teleportation skills are yet to manifest themselves."

But she was going to eventually date someone who'd be able to fly to the moon and back pretty quickly?

[lockestheway]

Peter shrugged. "I have people for that," he said. And then added, magnanimously, "But if you want to hang around, you can break into the snacks."

He was practically high on this very big, very delicate job. He didn't really have space in his mind to waste on perpetuating some fight right now.

...and he was showing off a little.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie noticed. Just this once, she welcomed it - he wasn't ever too inclined to talk about things, but with stuff of his own to focus on, he'd be even less so. And Natalie was all talked out.

She did still roll her eyes as she went to take a seat. "Where is this possible assassination happening, anyway?"

[lockestheway]

"Thailand," Peter said. "I used the last of my influence prior to my uncovering to get him in with the military there. Guess I should have had them screened while I was at it."

[whenshewasnice]

"Probably." Well, it did seem like it may have helped, didn't it? She had a few more chips. "But wishes and horses and all that:"

[lockestheway]

"Mm. And the guy we're up against seems to have a seminal talent for sweet-talking governments."

Something Peter might want to remember in a couple of years...

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "How does one sweet talk a government?"

She understood the principle, and was really just getting him to talk.

[lockestheway]

"Achilles promises them the world," Peter said, "The means to undercut their enemies. All they need to do is whatever he asks of them. You'd be surprised how many people fall for it. And he's always got a new potential target spinning in the air."