"It's central, convenient. I can walk to work in seven minutes."

[sings_too]

((Closed RP for Fraser, Ray, and Starbuck. >.<))Walking beside Ray down the Main Street of a place that was not actually Disneyland, Benton raised a hand to interrupt his partner

Comments

[shake_bad_guys]

"That's about the size of it, yeah." It was really kind of nice to be the one telling the ridiculous story for once. "Oh, also, I got her gun off her. Got it back at my place. She's not too happy about that."

Ray looked a little skeptical at the apparently random choice of shop. "You sure you don't want a place where there's more trees or something? How do we know if nobody's living here already?"

"HEY," he yelled into the doorway, almost in the same breath. "ANYBODY LIVING HERE ALREADY?"

[shake_bad_guys]

Ray took a break from the glaring to roll his eyes. "Kowalski, Fraser. Detective Kowalski." Having his virtues listed like that - all sincerely and Fraserishly - was really kind of uncomfortable.

[i_have_my_flaws]

Starbuck's brow furrowed. "Right. He's your personal friend, saved countless lives, and you don't know his real name. And I should believe you why exactly?"

[sings_too]

"Well, because I'm telling the truth," Fraser pointed out reasonably. "And I was aware that Vecchio isn't his real last name. May I ask why it is that you are so certain that my friend is whoever... or rather whatever... you think he is?"

Dief, meanwhile, seemed rather concerned by the whole affair, and crossed over to the woman and looked up at her before trotting back to where Sador was standing. Once there he gave a short, soft bark in her direction.

[shake_bad_guys]

Ray, his face screwed up in a rather teenagerish blend of embarrassment and aggravation, had begun rubbing his temple with one hand and making vague, wordless cease, desist, nevermind, leave it gestures in his partner's direction.

At least Fraser hadn't brought up the whole "Stanley" issue. Small favors.

[i_have_my_flaws]

Sador whined back to Dief, snuffling heavily in what nearly sounded like exasperation. She lay down on the ground and put her head on top of her paws.

Starbuck had the strangest urge to tell the dog to stop talking about her, which was just crazy, and should have been the first indicator that she needed sleep. "Okay, so you gave me the wrong last name and now expect that I'm going to listen to you, when you've admitted that you lied to me already." This guy wasn't very smart.

The question was one that had been asked to her different ways by different people since toaster arrived and it's wearing her thin enough that she snaps, "Because he has the same frakking face! And I don't mean he looks just like, I mean it's a copy. I'm not crazy, I don't make things up, and I don't have to prove it to you. He is responsible for the death of billions of people. Him and all the rest of them."

[sings_too]

Fraser looked taken aback.

"Oh," he said. "I see." A long pause while he considered, and then he offered a heartfelt; "I'm sorry."

Billions of people. If it were true, and he supposes it has every right to be, given where they are and what has happened... well, the horror of it was unfathomable, really.

Dief whined and lay down beside Sador and put his nose down against hers.

"My wolf seems to have taken a liking to your dog," Benton observed.

[shake_bad_guys]

"That's great, that's just...that is great," Ray said, giving Dief an et tu, Brute glare.

"Fraser wasn't lying about the name thing. He doesn't lie," he said, defending his partner. Okay, sometimes Fraser got kind of...creative with the truth, he was really good with the strategic omission thing. But this was not one of those times. "I was undercover, it's a long story, he's just in the habit of calling me that."

"It's not important, what is important is..." He tried to collect his thoughts. "I am not this guy, this guy you think I am. I never killed anyone," and that hurt a hell of a lot more than he was expecting it to, coming out; it might be true, but he still remembered Beth Botrelle, and how close he'd come to having her blood on his hands. "I think I would know. So you don't believe me, fine, whatever, I can't make you. But I am

[i_have_my_flaws]

"I guess so," she said to Fraser, turning her head to glare at Sador. It would have been sort of funny, in any other situation, watching how the dog carefully avoided Starbuck's eyes.

She barely even heard the rest, or at least, it didn't register properly until he said her name. Because, no matter how much he protested that he didn't know her, the fact that he had done that made him sound more like Leoben than anything since he had arrived. Even in a different accent it sounded right. "I never asked you to feel sorry for me," she said, perhaps the first time she had spoken to him and it didn't sound instantly hateful. "That's the last thing I want from anyone."

[sings_too]

Fraser scratched the side of his nose

[shake_bad_guys]

"Well, every other freaking person I met here did!" Ray exploded, aggrieved. "Okay, so you didn't ask for it. First good thing about you."

He'd tried not to wince as Vecchio got brought into it all. Honestly, the whole mess of undercover for an undercover operative had never made that much sense to Ray. (But honestly, he had never really expected his life to make sense.) Of more importance was the fact that, after living Ray Vecchio's life for all those months, he'd actually just met the guy and had kind of had to wonder if it had all been worth it at all. Not that this was anything he could say to Fraser, who he knew still looked on Vecchio as his best friend.