(Untitled)

[walking_napalm]

In stark contrast to the last several times that she has entered the bar, Liz today is not dressed in tatters, she's not wearing a gun, and she's not staggering. It makes for a nice change, she thinks

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[nurse_espinosa]

Carla has changed out of her scrubs by now, instead in a colorful top and loose jeans, and has settled in an armchair nearby.

The book gets a glance, like she's trying to make out the title without bothering Liz.

[walking_napalm]

Liz doesn't look up, but her book rises (in the interest of making the cover visible).

One side of her mouth twitches.

[nurse_espinosa]

After a moment, Carla leans back in her chair again.

But she's smiling slightly, too.

"Sorry."

[walking_napalm]

Liz lowers the book, which is when it becomes more immediately apparent that she's half-smiling.

"It's okay. It's just an old Agatha Christie; nothing top secret."

[nurse_espinosa]

She raises an eyebrow.

"Is a lot of what you read top secret?" she jokes.

[walking_napalm]

"--Well, I was kidding," Liz says, after a quick beat, "but -- actually, yeah.

"It kind of comes hand in hand with the whole classified government agency thing." Wry!

[nurse_espinosa]

Now looking moderately impressed, she admits, "So was I."

"Is that the kind where you actually get to say 'I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you?'"

[walking_napalm]

She smiles, quick and sudden; the sort of expression that transforms her entire (slightly severe, thanks to the contrast of her pale skin against all that black) look. "I've actually never said that to anybody," she says. "Surprisingly.

"Liz Sherman." She wiggles her fingers in a tiny wave. "I'm with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense; we tend to spend more time convincing people we don't exist than we do threatening."

[nurse_espinosa]

"I've... never heard of that."

Pause. "Which I guess means you must be doing your job."

With a small wave back, "Carla Espinosa. I'm a nurse."

"And I actually do a lot of threatening."

Sometimes it's hard to get those patients with severe heart disease to lay off the cheeseburgers.

[walking_napalm]

Her smile is warm. "Every good nurse I've met has been a little scary. You probably need the threatening skills more than I do."

[nurse_espinosa]

"It's possible," she acknowledges.

"Though I don't know what the Bureau of ... Paranormal Research does."

[walking_napalm]

"Well," says Liz, "we research the paranormal, and then we defend people from it." She looks and sounds a little amused; beat. "If it needs to be defended against."

[nurse_espinosa]

"And the paranormal is..."

While 'normal' may not be a great way to describe Carla's world, 'paranormal' probably isn't, either.

[walking_napalm]

"If you go by the dictionary, it's unusual experiences that science can't explain. If we're going by my life..." She considers for a moment.

"Vampires, ghouls, lake monsters, swamp monsters, possessions, chupacabra, gnomes, trolls, restless spirits, djinn, and the Jersey devil."

[nurse_espinosa]

"... and you don't do much threatening?"

[walking_napalm]

"Not verbally..."