Lobster Hut, Thursday evening

[future_sandworm]

Leto was quite certain that Triela would show up, despite her obvious nervousness about this dinner. She was too proud not to. He also suspected that she had suggested seafood to make him a little uneasy, but it didn't quite work. The Fremen did keep fish to protect their water reserves, after all, even if they tasted differently than those from the sea.

Lobsters, however. Leto wrinkled his nose a little as he looked through the menu, waiting for Triela.

[For one, obviously.]

Comments

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"We'll have to put that to the test sometime, then."

[future_sandworm]

"What about now?" Leto offered.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Fine," Triela smirked. "Now works for me."

[future_sandworm]

He gave her a challenging look while smiling. "So, tell me something."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela sat forward slightly, propping her chin in her good hand. "I'm seventeen years old." She tried to keep her breathing and expression even, working hard to allow nothing to indicate her state of mind to show.

Which was what it said in her file, even though know one was really sure since even the Agency hadn't been able to track down where she'd come from before they found her.

[future_sandworm]

He watched Triela, his mind open to the tau of the Reverend Mother Mohiam. She wasn't lying but... "You're not sure?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Is that a question?" Triela asked, allowing her eyebrow to quirk slightly. Because if it was she was going to count that as a win.

[future_sandworm]

"It's my guess," he replied.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"A guess, huh?" Which didn't change the fact that he was right about it. It just made Triela feel a bit better.

"Fine, you got lucky. But that can't hold out forever."

She pursed her lips and considered another one, then blanked her expression again. "I think Arthur Pendragon is the most infuriating person I've ever met." Which was so, so true. Triela may have hated other people more than Arthur (like Jean), but even they didn't piss her off the way he did.

It wasn't that Triela was an especially bad liar, at least when she managed to disengage her emotions. It was just that she wasn't particularly good at it either. She didn't have all that much practice.

[future_sandworm]

That statement made him laugh. "I'm sure he'd be flattered that you think that, Triela."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure he'd be insufferable whatever I think," Triela muttered darkly.

Oh, wait, that was probably giving away her position.

[future_sandworm]

"It wasn't exactly a lie," Leto said. "Another one?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"I feel no remorse for any of the people I've killed." It was Triela's understanding that most killers felt at least a little, but they didn't have the Conditioning.

[future_sandworm]

That was interesting. Yes, most people felt remorse, or at least some kind of recognition that life had been ended, unless they had been truly trained to ignore that. "No, clearly you don't."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela sighed. "You're pretty good at this."

[future_sandworm]

"As I told you," he replied, picking up a lobster claw.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"You've got to crack that open," Triela told him, waving at the shiny metal tool designed for that purpose. It felt good to know stuff that he didn't. That it also, somewhat conveniently, let her side step the discussion of Leto possibly being right about something was a bonus.

[future_sandworm]

Leto ignored the tool and cracked the claw open with his teeth. "There's not much meat on them," he said.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"The meat is inside," Triela teased. Which didn't mean there was a whole lot of it. Lobsters were, in all honesty, a lot of work to eat for not all that much payoff.

[future_sandworm]

He gave her a pointed look. "Oh really? I hadn't noticed."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela flashed a too-happy smile. "Yes, well, you're not very observant then, are you?" It was nice to be able to poke at him instead of the other way around, for once.

[future_sandworm]

"Have you heard of irony, Triela?" he countered, smirking.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Oh, of course," she countered with a smirk of her own. "I just wasn't sure you had."

[future_sandworm]

That was too easy, and Leto just chuckled in reply. "What do you dream of, Triela?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

That prompted a slightly quirked eyebrow. "That's an interesting question. What makes you ask?"