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[vendettaevey]

The rain having gone a fortnight ago was very much a good thing, as far as Evey was concerned. That much rain reminded her of London's weather, which had always been fairly depressing other than the rain on the night she'd discovered V's deception. That was exhilarating rain, but it was certainly an exception. She'd gone only to the school,

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[fears_nothing]

Niko didn't often wander far from his typical loop of hut, beach, Compound and occasionally Susan's but the weather was nice today and he ventured a little further, back into the thicker cover and closer to the waterfall. Apparently he wasn't alone in this particular thought because, as he approached, he realized someone was having a picnic right there. It was a nice enough place and, Niko mused, for people from places less dangerous than his own home, maybe picnics were the norm.

He waved a little at the woman as he passed. "Don't let me disturb you. Just a quick walk so I can enjoy the weather for once."

[vendettaevey]

The man was quite quite tall, probably at least a full foot taller than her, if not more. It was hard to judge from her position on the ground, but she craned her neck up at him anyway to respond.

"It is quite nice after all that rain," she agreed. "But you're not disturbing me. Feel free to enjoy the clearing if you like."

[fears_nothing]

"It makes it easier to meditate when you're communing with nature," Niko said, nodding at her slightly. "I am quiet, though, so I shouldn't be annoying."

Unlike some relatives of his, Niko knew when companionable silence was best.

"Have you ever seen it rain like that before? Or is that a first time island occurrence?"

[vendettaevey]

She appreciated those who didn't feel the need to fill every silence with yet another barrage of words and smiled at the large man. At his questions, she thought for a few moments, considering the weather over the four years she'd been here, then shook her head.

"I haven't, actually. There have been more short rainstorms, of course, and the snow in December, but not like that. It was quite odd, even by island standards, I think," she replied seriously.

[fears_nothing]

Perhaps that was a good sign for the future. Niko wasn't sure that excessive amounts of rain would be good for the overall island ecology, or at least the parts of it that human life had contributed to.

"This place just gets weirder and weirder. I've tried to figure it out but I haven't been able to yet. I'm getting the sense that this is a common problem."

[vendettaevey]

"Generally, yes," she admitted. "I was given the advice that one shouldn't actually try to figure it out unless one wished to end up in the care of the island's mental health staff, and it's not a bad plan in some ways."

It wasn't a good one, either, but if the choice was insanity or not understanding, she'd take not being insane.

[fears_nothing]

"I always choose sanity over the alternative," he agreed, then offered a hand toward her to shake.

"Niko, by the way. I didn't mean to distract you from your moment, but since I have, I thought offering a name was only polite."

[vendettaevey]

"It's often the better alternative," she agreed seriously. It wasn't always, and insanity did have its uses (revolutions, for example), but generally it was.

"It's very nice to meet you, Niko. I'm Evey." She accompanied the polite declaration with a handshake that wasn't brief enough to be rude, but certainly didn't prolong the contact.

[fears_nothing]

"There have been a lot of great minds who weren't on this side of sanity," Niko mused, "But on the whole I think sanity is preferable. At least in my world, anyway. I wouldn't have lasted very long without a good head on my shoulders."

[vendettaevey]

"It was quite preferable in my own as well," she agreed, though she didn't confirm that it was for the same reasons.

"Insanity does seem to go with genius, though. I'm sure there's some study regarding it somewhere."

[fears_nothing]

"I'm sure there is," Niko agreed. "I know in Ancient Greece many of the best philosophers were well known to be insane. Socrates, for example."

He laughed a little. "So, from madness comes beauty?"

[vendettaevey]

That sounded like something V would say, and she smiled slightly. He had simply stated that a revolution without dancing was a revolution not worth having.

"Perhaps that's so. One could certainly make the argument for it. All pioneers are considered to be insane by a certain percentage of people, after all," she noted.

[fears_nothing]

"Of course. We're just not progressive enough to follow," Niko said, smiling slightly before letting his face fall into more stoic lines. "Are you a pioneer, Evey?"

[vendettaevey]

"No, I'm not," she replied, and indeed she wasn't. She might have accidentally been involved in a revolution, but V had made the path for her. Everything she'd done up until the island had been in the path of others. Even here, she wasn't much of a pioneer. She was alright with that, though. It wasn't her personality type to do such things.

"Are you?"

[fears_nothing]

"I'd like to be," Niko admitted, "But I think I'm much better at standing on the shoulders of giants than making my own path. I like to read and I like to use history as a tool rather than forget about it, but I'm not really a trailblazer."

[vendettaevey]

"I don't think everyone can be. Someone's got to follow others' steps and be aware of history, if only to be sure we don't go down paths that have already been shown not to be good ones," she pointed out seriously.

The conversation had unexpectedly become more than small talk, but she wasn't opposed to that. She didn't much like conversations without a point.