It's a cool night out, but thankfully it's the sort of cool that's pleasant enough for walking, rather than the sort that sends any sensible person running indoors. Not that Daen's ever really been known to be the sensible kind, what with talk of half-squirrel armies and the like. A faint smile decorates his face as he walks, slowly of course, across the length of the bridge while admiring a view that's both obscured and enhanced by the bits of fog that cling to it. He's been quiet since leaving the restaurant, the outdoors seeming to instill him with a sense of silence.
     It can't last forever of course, and eventually he breaks it as he looks across the waters at some of the bridges across the waters. "Just build them bigger and bigger don't they? I wonder how big the trolls that live under bridges are these days." And of course, an absolute non-sequitur.

     "Oh, trolls are rather like goldfish, and corporate derrieres," Audi responds promptly, shrugging complacently within the loose confines of her vest. "They expand to fit the size of their environment. But there's some limitations, you know - pollution, for example. Pollution will do more to stunt a troll's growth - just like smoking does, you know. And can you imagine the dietary issues? They may well get enough iron, but when was the last time you saw a billygoat traipsing or clip-clopping by?"
     She's had her own stillness, apparently not feeling any real need to fill the silence with noise - but once the comment's been made, there's a need for it to be responded to. She offers a cheerful enough smile, then comes to a halt, leaning up on tiptoe to press against the railing of the bridge and peer down into the darkness. "I always wonder what it'd be like to go over the side."

     "Pity, the same couldn't be said of Corporate derri�res, but they seem to be thriving well enough on pork fat by the barrel." Daen offers Audi a sort of mock thoughtful look then, with the edges of a grin hidden just under the expression, "And well, Billygoat can't possibly factor in very much to Troll diets. After all, I can say with a degree of surety that trolls have never actually eaten a billygoat. Accosted and threatened sure, but their planned dinners never seem to successful. Which might be just as well, wouldn't it be a nasty shock to discover after so many centuries that one's allergic to mutton?".
     He walks past her then, not quite stopping at the same time as she does, but going to stand by her as she veers off to the railing of the bridge. "You know, from anyone else, I'd say that that's a bad sign, but I'm going to guess honest curiousity on your part." A slight pause as he grins at her, "Or at least I'm going to assume that you're not entertaining thoughts of saying goodbye to the cruel cruel world." He too peers down into the depth past the railing then, "Well, I can guess. A moment of exhilaration, a moment of fear, and then no moments at all as you go out with a splat. Water's got the consistency of concrete if you drop from this height." A slight pause then, "Unless you can fly of course."

     Audi readjusts her position so that her elbows are more or less lined up with the railing, though it involves being up on tiptoe. "Mutton is sheep, not goats. Perhaps they're allergic to wool, though. I don't know - I've never met a troll to speak of. Well, I take that back - there's some distant cousins of theirs who come into the shop on a regular basis, but I'm fairly sure those would be the black sheep of their respective families. Ba-aa-aah."
     One knee rests up on a lower bar of metal as she tilts her face upwards for a moment. "Oh, I'm not suicidal. I think though that people like bungee jumping because it's a safe alternative to suicide - it's not really just the adrenaline. That way, they know what it'd be like, except for the final contact at the bottom. Why would I say goodbye to the world, though? It's got all sorts of stuff in it." She peeks back downwards at the water, unseen though it is in the darkness. "I don't know. How do we know it's not like gelatin? You might hit bottom and die from it, but what it actually feels like ... it's after all not like a swimming pool. Though I couldn't swear as to the salinity of the water down there, I admit. I don't know about flying. I can swim, though - does swimming count?"

     Daen, while not being spectacularly tall, is still tall enough that he can more or less fold his arms across the top of the railing without having to tiptoe. "Well allergic to goat-meat then, whatever the technical term for it happens to be." An almost startled chuckle makes its way past his lips then, "I'm sure that they only watch for the acting." A pause, "That was wonderfully bad by the way."
     "I don't know, plenty of other people seem to do it from time to time. Not curious enough about that flower that they never did see I suppose." He leans out over the water then, balancing almost precariously on his folded arms, "Well, with all the things that are in the water, it might be something like gelatin. Still, you fall on something from this far up, I'd still say that you're more likely to go splat than splash.". He studies the water for a moment then, "I'm not sure that it does... and I don't think you'd want to swim in that water, it might eat you.".

     "Thank you," Audi responds demurely. "I do try." She relaxes back onto her heels, looking contemplative. "And I think most people spend too much time looking inside and not enough outside. They don't see things - or they spend all their time looking for things which're right in front of them, just ... not in the packaging they expected. That's all. Blame it on too much television, I suppose, but I think that most people, at least in most of the so-called civilized areas, don't really know what true despair is, to make such a decision."
     There's a pause, and then Audi adds thoughtfully, "I've never been eaten. I wonder if it's like being drunk?"

     An easy sort of grin is Audi's response, that along with, "You do? It seems so effortless though." A slight shrug then as he peers off into the horizon, what little of it isn't blocked by civilization, "Perhaps, but to most, the most important thing in the world is what they see when they look inside. They never do look outward to find themselves." A wry sort of grin, "Not that I haven't been guilty of the same thing from time to time." A slight pause before he notes, "It doesn't matter at that point though does it? True despair or not... dead's dead. Despair enough to kill you, one way or the other."
     A pause, and a grin, "Let's just say another little comment joins the first amidst the forest of high heels shall we?"

     "Oh, what's inside is important - and unimportant. It really depends. I don't know - I think though that people spend so much time in front of mirrors that they stop recognizing other people when they see them." Audi grins, tipping her head back to look up at the skyline. "I wonder what it must have been like, to see London without the backdrop of electrical illumination? - Dead's dead, you say? Oh, I don't know. I think that in the end, death is something you should get used to. After all - everybody dies. Some people know more about it than others, that's all."

     He follows her gaze for a moment then, "Darker. But there will still be a backdrop, though far fainter. Man's always been afraid of the darkness, so he scrabbles away at it's edges with fire." He shakes his head then, "No, dead's still dead I think. Whatever matters before you're dead, and after you are, are rather different. Well, unless you become a ghost I suppose."

     "I haven't always worked in a porn shop, you know." Audi grins, stepping away from the railing and folding one arm behind her back, the other hand tapping lightly against her thigh. "Mountaintops don't really have more enlightenment than cities, you know - it's just easier to tune out all the noise and flash. If you just learn to ignore the static, you get pretty good reception just about anywhere."
     Her hand comes up to ruffle through the choppy locks of bronzed hair, and she shrugs, blase. "Darker isn't bad, you know. If it's dark, you can see the stars much better than you can now. I admit, I do miss starlight - you can read some things much better by starlight and moonlight than you ever could by fluorescent bulbs."
     There's a moment's pause for breath, and then with one hand still behind her, the other pushed back to circle the original's wrist, Audi begins strolling down the sidewalk again. "People're afraid of a lot of things," she half-agrees. "I don't really know why. It's silly to be afraid. And are you so sure of that?"

     A slash of a smile flickers its way across Daen's face, "I'd imagine not, there's laws against that sort of thing I believe. So where else have you worked?" And while she steps away, he doesn't for the moment, instead turning around to watch Audi, while leaning backwards against the railing. "Fresher air though. Less of it, but fresher."
     "No it's not a bad thing, certainly comforting in a way that light isn't. But as the old saying goes, man fears the unknown... and the dark is about as close to an icon for the unknown as anything." A faint smile, "So when did you get the chance to read by starlight and moonlight? Both are rather rare commodities to be had in London." A final shrug then, "I'm old enough to not be sure of anything at all. But if I've got to deal with taxes after I'm dead, someone's getting an earful."

     "Well, there was the pet shop. I helped at a veterinarian's for a while at one point, and of course the nursery - plants, not children." Audi wanders in an elliptical line, forward and from side to side, then turning around to wander back. "I worked at a pub - that lasted three nights. I much prefer the porn shop. They don't paw at me nearly so much."
     She abruptly flops down onto the sidewalk, tucking her legs in underneath her so she's crosslegged, hands folded daintily on her ankles. "I worked at a curry takeaway joint for a bit, and very briefly I worked for an interior decorator as a personal assistant - that didn't go awfully well, I'm afraid. Briefly I was a shop-clerk at a stationery place - as opposed to office supplies, mind you - and for a very short time, I helped out at an antique shop. Oh, and then there was the florist's, and ... well, I've had rather a lot of jobs, I'm afraid."
     Peering through the steel grating, Audi smiles. "I have left London on occasion, you know. As it happens, a girl I went to school with was dead keen on camping. Well. Not on camping, as such, but on a boy who was. She hadn't realized that the sort of camping he did meant no hotel reservations, I'm afraid. But I quite liked it. Not enough to do it all the time, of course." Her head tilts to the side, then. "You make it sound as if being dead is just like being alive. But it isn't, you know."

     An eyebrow arches upwards at Audi's rather long list of jobs, and the other one follows it up at the mention of how long some of those jobs lasted. "I see... so what didn't work out for you there?" Daen's got an idea of why of course, he's been experiencing to a degree all night, but he's curious to hear it from Audi's own lips. It's the things closest to us that are obscured... and he wonders if it applies to Audi as well.
     A bemused look follows her sudden resting spot on the concrete, and after a moment, he joins her, though he sits with his back leaned up against the railing. "It can be fun in moderation. After that, it's just something to put up with." Adventure is someone a thousand miles away having a miserable time as the saying goes. "Maybe, maybe not. How many times have you died recently?"

     "At which one?" Audi blinks as she looks up, eyebrows going up slightly with the query; nonetheless, there's a small grin. She doesn't seem perturbed by the listing. "Things just tend not to work out, I suppose - my current job works fairly well. At the porn shop, I mean. I could likely make more money somewhere else, doing other things, but ... for all that I poke fun at it, it does give me decent hours, and lets me make enough without starving that I can still keep on trying to do what I'd like to."
     She leans forward, arching her neck first one way and then the other with an audible popping of vertebra. "Most things tend to not be so much fun except in moderation - it's rather like Easter baskets, yes? And ... mm. Depends." Her expression is utterly guileless. "What's today's date?"

     "At all of them, no offense, but generally when you run through that many jobs there's something of a common factor." He really isn't trying to be offensive, but maybe it's a little blunt, "Unless of course you just happen to be spectacularly unlucky in terms of employment... which is sort of a common factor in and of itself." He nods at Audi's assessment of her current job, either in agreement, or just as acknowledgment of what she says. "Reasonable enough. So what would you like to do?".
     A gust of wind whips by then, ruffling his brown hair into disarray. "Most things yes." This is followed by a look of what might be consternation, but with the current lighting it's a bit difficult to tell for sure. "Erm... the twenty ninth of april.". A brief silence follows as he adds, "Of the fourteenth year beyond the second millennium."

     "Well, the woman at the pet shop let me go because she didn't like that I liked mice - she sold them mostly for snake food, you know, and while I didn't do anything to get in the way of that, I did get on rather well with the mice. It made her nervous, I think; I'd catch her watching me and then she'd notice I'd seen her, and hurry off. She was very apologetic when she let me go, but said she needed to hire someone who liked animals a little less." Audi doesn't seem offended, tugging her ankles in a bit closer as she speaks. "The veterinarian's wife found me a bit threatening; I'm not sure why, except I suppose if you're going to be jealous and possessive, any reasonably young, approaching attractive girl working in your husband's office is a threat. I heard my replacement was a rather strapping young man who she ran away with six months later..."
     "The nursery went out of business," she continues placidly. "The owner'd taken a bit of a risk - he thought he could handle orchids and make pot-loads of money that way, but his partner didn't know how delicate they could be and forgot to set the thermostat before leaving for the weekend. They closed for restocking and never reopened. The pub job, I quit - my bum was black and blue from being pinched by drunkards. The ones who weren't too drunk usually weren't so bad, and even'd help me out with the drunks, but who goes to that sort of pub to stay sober? The curry takeaway place got closed by health inspection, and the interior decorator objected to his boyfriend making passes at me - that, and I really didn't go with his office, and I wasn't about to shave my hair off for his idea of fashionability. It was a bad match-up. The stationery place caught fire and burned to the ground - they suspect arson, but I don't know, the wiring was rather faulty."
     Audi grins a little, then shrugs. "The antiques shop - well, to do well in that business, you've got to know something about furniture and antiques. I don't. The florist's - I got help up at knifepoint, and she decided she wanted to hire someone who looked a bit less easily intimidated. It was in a poor neighborhood, you see. Things happen; I don't mind much. And after all, what's going to happen in a porn shop?"
     "What I want to do? Illustrate children's books. I do try - but it's not the sort of job which pays an awful lot unless you're really terribly good and famous. So I do the clerking as my main job," she adds contemplatively, glancing up at the tall towers of the bridge's structuring. "Oh... all told, about ... probably seven thousand. Give or take, you understand. Who's counting?"

     Daen responds with a sort of an amused look as she recites exactly what happened to each and every one of the places that she worked at, before he barks out a short, and rather amazed laugh. "So it was an inordinately long string of bad luck after all... with more emphasis on long than bad I suppose, except of the bit with being held up.". He pauses slightly there and gives Audi a quizzical sort of look, "How'd that turn out by the way? Did the police show up? Did he walk away with the money?" He gives a little grin then, "Or did you talk them into submission?"
     "Well, that's a nice sort of thing to want to do... I'm sure the future generations would benefit from your wisdom. What of it you can transmit in illustrations in anycase." Which, might well be quite a bit, who knows. At the last he gives her a somewhat skeptical look, "Seven thousand you say? Do you believe in reincarnation? Or are you scheduled for another death in the next..." He does a bit of calculation in his head, "one and a half days or so?"

     "Oh, he walked out with the money - actually, he also asked me for my phone number, but I wouldn't give it to him." Audi grins, tugging lightly on the cuff of her top. "Apparently he thought I was cute."
     Both eyebrows quirk upwards. "I'm not sure there's much wisdom in drawing pictures for children's books, but it's nice of you to say so, anyway." There's a lopsided but cheerful grin, and she then promptly adds, "Oh, I don't know if there's reincarnation or not. And no, of course not. Nononono." The girl laughs merrily, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her palm. "Just later on tonight."

     Another startled laugh, "My, you get asked out by the oddest of people don't you, and at even odder times." So what's that now... asked out by a robber, the man that knocker her down, and a some random guy in the park that's trying to breed a half-squirrel army? "But he probably thought right enough. You are cute." And that's true enough, Audi might not be classically beautiful... but she /is/ cute, in an unruffable sort of way.
     "Well, wisdom can be found in the oddest of places, why not pictures for children's book? If there's anyplace that'd benefit from imprints of wisdom, it'd be there.". He arches an eyebrow at her again, she seems to be prompting that from him quite a bit. "You're referring perhaps, to sleeping?"

     "Well, he was holding me up at knifepoint. I don't think he anticipated I'd refuse to give him my number." Audi shrugs cheerily, one fist under her chin as she relaxes back on the concrete. "At least he wasn't a rapist. And I'm short - that often's enough, for cute."
     Her other hand comes upwards to describe a circle on the air. "I'm not really wise, you know. Wisdom implies a lot of things - I'm too busy for that. Hm? No, not sleeping. Death. There's a difference, after all."

     "Well, yes, usually when you're holding a knife on someone you don't really expect them to refuse much. The threat of being stuck with a metal pointy bit tends to upset most people after all." An amused glance at Audi, he's sure that the robber had an interesting experience, he'd almost wish he'd seen it. "Maybe, depends on the person that's using the word I suppose. I've seen plenty of short people that definitely aren't cute."
     "Maybe that's true, but it fits better than any other word that I've got anyways. If you've got a better one, be sure to share it with me." He nods slowly giving her a searching look, on more than just the usual level before noting, "So you're saying, that in a few hours from now. That would be later in the evening, you're going to die. And then comeback presumably, since you've done it before."

     "Well, what was he going to do if I refused - stab me?" Audi doesn't seem to think that it's a real concern. "He didn't stab me - so obviously, I was right." And thus she is refuted, her argument proven valid - by her own lights, at least.
     "What I do is just being myself, Daen. I don't have much time in which to be someone else," she adds candidly, lacing her fingers together behind her back and then lying down on the cement, peering upwards at the stars. "Oh, look, isn't that Sirius? - Well ... yes. Doesn't everyone? Oh, I imagine we're not supposed to talk about it - cultural taboos and all - but still, we're both adults, aren't we?"

     "Well, he could have you know. There wouldn't have been much of a point to it, but people have been known to do quite a few pointless things." At this point, he really isn't arguing or anything anymore, simply making points to keep that bit of the conversation going. It's convenient, since the other half of what they're talking about promises to lead into odd territory, and might well need the thinking time.
     "Can you really be someone else? Even if you try to be someone else, it's still you being someone else. And besides, wisdom's just a concept, and wise is just a description. One, which might well apply to you." A slight pause and a grin, "At times."
     He looks up almost quizzically, before nodding, "I think so... maybe. Too much light pollution to be sure, but it could be." He looks at Audi then before he draws out, "Yeeeeeessss, we're both adults, but I can assure you that I've never died be-... well that's not true. But I can assure you that I don't do it on a regular basis." A pause, "Most people only ever do it once." He tilts his head at you, "Are we talking about the same sort of dying? You know, the not alive anymore, and afterwards people either burn your body or bury it if you're lucky. Just rot in some alley if you're not?"

     "No, he couldn't have. He was more afraid than I was, I think. Most people are, you know - they're afraid of what'll happen. Afraid of things. Me, I'm not afraid of anything." Audi says it in a factually calm tone of voice, still looking up at the sky. "I think it's going to rain."
     She shifts position to sit up. "The point is, even if you're you, if you're being someone else or trying to, you're running in circles. Circles're easier for most people than straight lines. But there's so much you can do with a good straight line, especially if you put one down between two puns..."
     She flops back down, folding her arms underneath the back of her head. "Oh, I think everyone dies, they just don't like to remember it, or think about it, or admit it. And yes, I'm talking about dying, not some ... I don't know. But yes. Death. Heart stops, no breathing, blood starts to pool - all of that. Tick, tock, tick, tock, cuckoo!"

     "Some do anyways. Not many people... if any really, aren't afraid of anything. Most live in spite of it, some see past it, and some few ignore it. Usually it's still there though. For some, it's useful, it keeps people from dying after all." Daen shifts his gaze to a space in front of him then, drawing up his knees and setting his chin on them.
     His eyes move over to track Audi again after a moment, before he repeats slowly, "You come back if your table isn't ready yet?" His tone is quizzical, and alludes to the fact that a few more details might be nice.

     "Well, yes. Fear is healthy. I never said I was healthy," Audi points out, tone of voice mild, as if stating something obvious. "Healthy people don't have conversations about mutant human-squirrel hybrids in the middle of the park, Daen."
     Her eyes open, and she turns her cheek towards the stone. "Think about it. You die - you get to ... wherever you're going, and - I don't know. But they're not ready for you. They're not prepared; the floor hasn't been swept yet, there are no fresh sheets on the bed, the performers are still rehearsing, warming up - the food's nowhere near to being ready. The busboys're still rattling about with their tubs and carts, trying to get things in order. So they apologise and - send you back, because it's not time..."

     A light laugh comes from Daen's direction, "Only as long as you need it." There's a momentary silence before, "So you say, but I'm healthy enough. Not normal perhaps, but healthy enough... in my own way at least." The smile is more heard than seen now, it's night, it's dark, and the lights don't illuminate so much as shine where they're sitting.
     After Audi finishes her description, silence, a thoughtful one is the only thing that emanates from Daen's direction. And when he speaks again, he changes the subject, if only slightly, "So how do you die? And why do you do it so often?" Healthy people don't sit in the shadows of a bridge and talk about dying multiple times either. Or maybe just not-normal people do.

     "I don't talk about it all that often. People," Audi explains, "are afraid of death - they don't like talking about it. I don't think they need to be afraid of me. But you're not afraid of me. So why not talk about it?" She sits up, then moves to stand up, brushing herself off neatly. "I love looking at the tension cabling of these bridges. It always makes me think some gigantic spider came and wove the bridge into being."

     "Well, I'm not exactly all that afraid of death either. So yes, let's. I'm quite curious about the whole thing." He looks up at Audi then from where he sits on the concrete still, he's quite comfortable, and if Audi doesn't look like she's going to decide to walk off, he's just going to stay here for the time being. "Ah, well now there's an interesting mental image. I wonder what such a spider would hope to catch." Well, he doesn't really wonder, except on an abstract level now that he's posed the question, he's far more interested in what Audi would have to say.

     "Cars and boats, of course," Audi answers promptly, stretching. "But only ones of a certain size. Anything smaller just - passes right through..."
     She wanders back over to the railing, peering over it and down at the blackness below - somewhere down there, there is water. "There isn't much to say. Death is death. We live, we die, and in between there are naps and hot cocoa and fluffy kittens and hot curry. What else could one ask for?"

     Daen chuckles lightly at the image, "Serves the SUV drivers right then. Though I'd feel a bit sorry for the families with mini-vans."
     Daen chuckles, "Well, I for one could ask for a bit of enlightenment. Why do you die so often? After all, if you've died twice, then you've died twice the number of times any normal person does." And funny that, there always does seem to be water under bridges doesn't there? Except when the river's dried up and there isn't anymore.

     "Oh, I don't. If you're going to deliberately venture into a spider's nest, then you've got to take what happens next. Even if it happens to me, then, well, it's my own fault, isn't it? Here I am, standing underneath its glittering web..." Audi grins, holding her hands up over her head. "A spider could shoot some silk and grab me and that'd be the last of me, wouldn't it."
     She lowers her hands again, resting them on the railing. "I don't know. It's just the way I am. Like being double-jointed, or allergic to peanut butter. For all I know, everyone does die every day - and I'm just the only one who remembers it."

     Daen looks up into the superstructure of the bridge as if looking for giant spiders to descend, "It'd have to be cabling instead of silk. I mean, only makes sense that they'd use the same stuff they build with no? Anything else would be... silly." A small smile decorates Daen's expression at this, "Nah, I'd drive off the spider and save you. Might be an interesting workout."
     Not everyone has something about them that defy all the usual laws of...". What, physics? Life? The Universe? Everything? "Stuff." My, so articulate. He grins, his teeth flashing in the dark, "But how do you die? Does your heart stop? Or does a string of strange accidents happen to you every night?" Wow, morbid isn't he? Either that, or just too curious to care... if he cared in the first place.

     "What makes you think the cabling isn't silk? It hardens, doesn't it? And if it's that big a spider..." Audi argues for the fun of it, without any real heat or need behind it, whimsy stamped onto her features, into her smile as she turns. "Oh, my hero. Saving me from the monster, hm? But sometimes heros come in unlikely shapes. Who's to say the spider would be coming to kill me?"
     She turns back to the railing again and shrugs calmly. "Who's to say what's a law and what's just ... a guideline? Have you ever tried not dying? Most times, my heart just stops. I stop breathing, and it's peaceful for a bit, and then it gets all noisy and bright and panicked, and then I start up again. I suppose it must be like what a computer feels when it's rebooted. Occasionally other things happen, of course - like the time I got hit by a car - but usually I just die quietly and peacefully in my sleep."

     "Well, I haven't heard of any kind of spider silk that hardens into black cabling with a core of metal wire, so I'm going to guess it isn't silk.". And Daen's probably arguing for the same reason, it's fun, and really, there's nothing else that he'd rather be doing.
     "Eat you." Daen corrects, "The killing bit's incidental, 's just so happens that you get killed when it eats you.". He grins in amusement then, "Well, I'm under contract to be stereotypical and narrow-minded by the hero's guild. Besides, if it's taken up heroing without guild approval than I'd have to chastise it anyways.". A slight pause, "And why would it do other than eat you? I mean, if you think squirrels aren't for you..."
     "Hmm? Oh yes, I done that a few times before. Living is good, not dying, always a plus. It's been a while though, no real point to it anymore. I'm not allowed to die anymore, union rules." He tilts his head at her slightly, "And that's relatively amazing. How fast 'd you heal up after the car hit you? That couldn't have been pleasant."

     "The hero's guild, hm? Do I get to see your membership card? Union dues all paid up? How's the medical plan?" Audi peppers with questions, even as she swings herself up to perch neatly on the railing - dangerous as that might be. "For all I know you're a fraud - pretending to be a hero. A con artist's scheme to make me think you are and - and ... well, drat. I don't seem to know what heros get out of being heroes."
     She tilts her head to one side, swaying on the railing. "Squirrels aren't for me because they've got claws and that'd be unpleasant in bed - like Chinese fortune cookies, you know. And I don't remember. I don't even remember being hit by the car, but they say it happened, so I suppose it must have. I woke up in hospital - they kept me for observation over the weekend and then let me go."

     You know, that's got to have been the first time that anyone's ever asked me for identification, usually they all chalk it up to a big cosmic joke. He shifts then to rummage around in his back pocket, digging out a wallet and digging inside for a moment before digging out a card that he offers up to Audi. "And yeah, dues are paid up. And the medical plan just consists of the admonishment: Don't Die. Or Else." Daen grins at Audi then, "Oh that's easy enough. Half the kingdom and a night of passion with the damsel. Rather nice really."
     "You do know that the hair on some spiders are irritating to human skin right? You'd be one giant rash." A pause, "A giant itchy rash." He gets to his feet at this point, "Well, it must be an interesting experience to die and come back so many times. So what's the restaurant like?"

     She accepts the card, peering at it curiously, but with as little surprise as anything else anyone's said to her to date. "Horrible medical plan. I'd strongly consider changing lines of work if I were you. The pay sounds nice, until you think to realize what half a kingdom entails. After all, you don't get to choose which half, do you?"
     Audi hands the card back and grimaces. "Well, irritations are part of the human condition, I suppose. And I don't know - you have to be let in, to find out what it's like. I keep getting turned away at the door, don't I."

     It's not as if he'd really expected to surprise her, still, it just seems to flow in with the rest of the conversation. After all, the conversation itself is blatantly improbable, why shouldn't everything else match? Daen smiles triumphantly, or rather he affects a triumphant smile, "See, that's where the guild comes in. They pushed through legislation, such that it's the damsel that picks the half. And since usually the damsel promptly gets married to the hero...." He nods then, "I admit the medical plan is rather poor though. On the other hand, there's no cure for a case of the dead anyways. Well, dead with a table reservation anyways."
     Daen nods then, "Well, the claws are more or less an irritation too then aren't they?" A faint smile then, "So what does the door look like then?"

     "Usually," Audi echos with a small grin, offering the card back. "By that token though, it means if you rescued me, you'd have to marry me - and I somehow don't think you'd want that. The door? Well, I don't know - it's more impressions than a clear glimpse. I just know that there's ... people there, sort of. They're always surprised to see me, though by now it's rather resignation - rather an air of 'oh, you again, haven't you gotten the message, don't call us, we'll call you' - I don't pretend to understand it."

     A laugh, "Well, it wouldn't be boring in anycase. And I could think of worse fates. Still you're right, marriage after the first date is just a bit much." An unconcerned looking smile quirks his lips upwards as he accepts the card back, "Well, I did say usually. I've got a special dispensation to not marry the damsels I save. I'm too successful you see, and we're not supposed to be polygamists."
     "You know that's as much evidence that everybody else doesn't do it you know." He pauses before continuing, "I mean, if everyone stopped in every night, you'd think that they'd at least have a bar or something by now for everyone whose table isn't ready."

     "Ah, so you just sleep with them and end up with your get running about," Audi answers with a sagacious nod. "Still, I might say yes to dates, but that doesn't mean I'm easy. I wouldn't be willing to put out on the first save..."
     There's a chuckle, then, and she shakes her head. "For all I know there is a bar - but I don't meet it." Another pun. "Or the drinking age is like in America, and I'm just too young. I don't know - I honestly don't tend to worry about it terribly much. I die, I wake up - I start over. Maybe there's a reason for it. Maybe there isn't. No one's ever looked at me and said there was anything wrong with me - or anything special about me, either. So why fuss? It's just life - if you miss it, there'll be another along any minute now."

     Here Daen affects a rather affronted tone of voice, "Hey! I use protection. I'll have you know that I don't have a single bastard running around." He's joking of course, or at least, one would hope that he's joking. A mock disappointed look crosses his face then, "Well you're no fun. What about the second save?" Well, there goes the conversation, of course this is probably familiar territory for Audi.
     "Oh no reason to fuss, true enough, plenty of reason to be curious though." Daen nods idly to himself at this, as if confirming some internal thought, "Really though, have you ever told anyone else and had them believe you? That's a requirement before the other things like like saying you're special or gaping in awe happens." He chuckles then, "Now that's an interesting philosophy to live by."

     "I don't base my sex life on saves," Audi answers promptly. "If I did, that'd mean I'd have to possibly sleep with any fireman or policeman who came along, wouldn't I? And that's just not something I'm prepared to do. Sorry, Daen." She pats the air lightly, as if by way of consolation.
     Leaning back at an almost dangerous angle, Audi lets the breeze whip through her hair, grinning again. "I don't talk about it much. Death makes people uncomfortable, you know - people're afraid of it. That means they'd probably end up afraid of me, or setting up some sort of religion in my name, and while I may come back to life once a night, I don't want to be a medical curiosity or some sort of enshrined saint - or burned as a witch, either. I mean, I've never turned a man into a newt in my life! I've told one or two people. They've pretty much thought I was on drugs, so I didn't press the point."

     "Ah well, C'est la Vie I guess. Not that it matters, there doesn't seem to be any giant spiders intent on making a meal of you anyways." Daen, it may be noted, has a distinctly horrible french accent, it's so abominable that it's nearly unrecognizable as such. "And if you put it that way, I suppose it's not too bad a policy to have.". The words are accompanied by an easy shrug of his shoulders.
     "Careful, you might not die permanently die if you tip over the edge, but I can't imagine it'd be a pleasant experience." A slight pause before he amends, "Well, that bit at the end of it when you hit anyways." He joins you at the railing, though Daen only places one hand on the rail so as to lean against it. "Maybe, people are afraid of the strangest things. Though I don't know the Church of Audi has a certain ring to it. I wonder what the scriptures would read. Hrm... how about: Disturb not the penguins on ice cubes... for they are cute." He chuckles at the reference then, "Are you sure he didn't just get better?"
     "Well, to most people it /is/ just a little unbelievable. It takes an odd person to believe an odd thing I suppose.".

     "Pretty sure. I mean, I'd have noticed turning someone into something else. I don't know." Audi remains on her perch, looking dreamily off into the distance. "I suppose it's partly that I don't fit. But you know, I've yet to meet anyone who truly, truthfully felt like they fit anywhere that they'd been - they might fool themselves for a little while, but except for the pack of frightened sheep that's most people..."
     She chuckles, then shrugs, dropping regretfully onto the cement again. "I don't know. If I die, I die - it's going to happen soon enough, isn't it? But if I do get my table, I hope the food's good, at least."

     At this, Daen leans a bit to the side so that he can peer into Audi's face, "Ah, well now you sound just a little bitter, that's for old men like me. It doesn't suit you much." He straightens then and smiles for a moment, "You know, I've never really understood that expression. It isn't as if life's a jigsaw puzzle, and you certainly don't resemble a puzzle piece. As long as you're enjoying yourself... Well, on the whole at least, who cares?"
     "Maybe, but there's plenty of things left to see on the street before you head into the restaurant at the end of your life. Why tempt the doorman?" A chuckle, "It depends on how hungry you are, I'd think."

     "Bitter?" Audi seems surprised by this assessment. "I don't feel bitter, really. And it will happen soon enough. It happens nightly, remember? I never know though - if I die every night, some night it might be permanent. So I'm resolved to enjoy life as much as I possibly can in the meantime." She cocks her head to the side. "And since when is life not a jigsaw puzzle?"

     "Maybe a bit more cynical than bitter, I was referring to the 'pack of frightened sheep' bit. Not exactly a sterling commendation to the rest of the human race, is it?" Daen looks curiously at Audi then, as if pondering if this is the reason why Audi is the way she is, he's doubtful though, it's not likely something quite this simple... or is it? "Well, if you've been dying every night of your life, what's to say that it'll continue to happen for many years yet?"
     Daen grins slightly then, and looks sidelong at Audi, "Almost all of the time I'd say. Life's life, you can throw as many metaphors or similes at it as you want, it'll defy them all."

     "Oh, but most people are afraid. That isn't cynicism; it's truth. It's what people do. They might have hope, but without fear, what's hope?" Audi shrugs, then stretches until there's an audible popping of vertebrae as she realigns her spine. "It might happen for years yet, or tonight might be the night it all stops for good. I won't know until the morning, will I?"
     She grins, stooping abruptly to tie a shoelace. "And life can be life and still be a puzzle. A riddle, if you like - something wrapped around something else, something to be played with and you can try to figure it out. I like it like that, though."

     "Maybe, but calling them a pack of frightened sheep isn't quite the same thing as just saying that people naturally fear things is it?" Daen looks up, but at the superstructure of the bridge itself rather than the sky hanging above even that, "I wouldn't know, I've never met anyone that didn't fear anything at all before. So why don't you tell me? Do you still hope?" He chuckles lightly then, and shakes his head, "No I suppose you won't at that, but no one has a guarantee that anything will happen in the morning."
     Daen smiles faintly, "A puzzle has a solution, and a riddle has an answer. I'm pretty sure that life doesn't have either. I do suppose you could try to find them anyways though."

     "I'm fairly woolly and baa-like myself, I'm told, actually, even if I'm not really very afraid." Audi blinks mildly, running her fingers through the cropped curls until they stand in wild directions on their own. "I don't know. I hope that people will like me, I suppose - but I'm not afraid if they don't. I don't much like pain, whether it's rejection-type pain or a stubbed toe, but I can endure it. I'm not afraid, maybe, because there has never been anything that I've had to endure which wouldn't go away in due course."
     She pauses, then shakes her head. "I take that back. There /is/ something I'm afraid of. But who says that life hasn't got an answer? Just because the answer's different for different people doesn't mean it's unanswerable..."

     Daen considers for a moment, before a small mischievous smile flickers onto his face, "Nah, you're not very sheep-like. The whole fear thing more or less defines sheep-like. Either that or blind stupidity. No... You're more cow-like if anything. They don't scare all that easy and, hey, there's got to be a reason why the Hindi think of them as the highest form of life, right?" He lets a silence into the conversation for a moment then, and idly flicks a stray strand of brown hair out of his eyes. "What'll you do if you ever run into something that doesn't?"
     A slightly surprised look overtakes his face then, "Oh? And what would that be?" But his curiousity doesn't stop him from answering Audi's last comment. "Mm... no, or at least I wouldn't say so. Life's got a point, but finding out your point isn't an answer, it's just a direction. An answer... that's an end. After all, what do you do with a puzzle you know the solution of, or a riddle you already know the answer to?"

     "Moo?" Audi laughs, shaking her head. "That's what I'm afraid of," she admits candidly. "For example, scientists could lock me up - and kill me over and over again. For all I know, anyone could kill me and I wouldn't stay dead. And if I couldn't get away ... Or I could get some form of inoperable cancer, or ... well, pretty much anything. If life ever stopped being enjoyable and started being a prison - well, other people do have, at least in theory, the option of committing suicide, don't they?"
     The mismatched eyes widen underneath raised eyebrows. "I'd say though that if you ever figure out what the point of your life is, then it gives you at least an idea of what not to do. Having figured it out, you then have the option of going in a new direction, don't you?"

     Daen pauses for a moment and nods gravely, "Yeah... I can see why you'd be afraid of that. But well, I don't think you have to worry about scientists at least, you'd break their world view in so many ways. I don't think most of them would allow themselves to believe what happens to you. As for the rest... well...". Daen shrugs, "I guess you'll just have to hope it doesn't happen. But I think that short of a disaster, you won't let that happen."
     He chuckles then, somewhat pleased to have at least gotten some reaction from Audi, "True, but that's till not an answer is it? Just a few paths that you know you shouldn't go down."

     "Two words - military research." Audi shrugs nonchalantly, then shakes her head. "It's an answer. It depends on how you define the question." She smiles, taking a step back. "I should get going, though. I mean, if I do die, that's going to leave you with a corpse on your hands - and in a public place, that could lead to some difficult questions for you to answer." As calmly as if warning of the trouble of a curfew, or a flat tire.

     "Well, I am a hero, care to employ my services just in case?" Daen grins faintly then and pushes away from the railing, "But you can't, the question we were talking about is Life after all, if you can define it, well... it almost is as good as the answer." He chuckles then, "Well, I can deal with a few awkward question. But....". And here he looks up into the sky as if he can determine the time just by looking at it, "It is getting a little late." He gives her a questioning little look then, "I hope you enjoyed yourself?"

     "That depends - what do you charge?" Audi grins again, lopsidedly, sliding her hands into her pockets. "I'm hardly independently wealthy, you know. But yes, I had fun - I almost always have fun. Did you?"

     "Ahh, well, I charge one of the rarest fares that heros such as I can receive. So rare that almost always we do not get it, and even if we do, it is a fleeting thing. My price, is a dram of gratitude."
     Daen grins then and after a moments mock-thought nods his head, "Mmm... I do believe I did, and one of the most interesting conversations that I've had in quite a very long time."

     "Gratitude is poisonous," Audi answers seriously. "I'd be careful about charging that high a price. But," and now she smiles again, warmly, "I did enjoy myself. So - I suppose I'll be around. Talk to you another time, mm?" She turns, hands still in her pockets, walking backwards.

     "Well, we always want what's bad for us. So it's a fitting enough price, even if it may do me ill in the end." And while the words perhaps seem somewhat playful, Daen's tone is serious enough. But after a moment a smile breaks across his face and he nods once in affirmation, "Yes, I'll speak to you another time, and we'll have plenty of interesting conversations more I'm sure." He tilts his head slightly then, "Are you sure you'll be able to get home alright?"

     "Oh, I'll be fine." Audi laughs at that, a bright, cheerful sound. "I'm a big girl, even if I am short, you know!" She shakes her head, then turns around to face forward, wandering along the bridge's footpath. "You'll find me if you need to, I'm sure. Take care, Daen - even heros don't always win every fight, so be careful. G'night, now!"

Posted by rowan at May 01, 2004 12:51 PM