David kept a straight face. "I can assure you that I never saw the funny side."
He sighed. The girl wasn't really listening to him. She was pulling faces again at Christina. She finally groaned in dispair and giggled. "Uhuhhh... Christie honey...? Could you smile to me? At least once? Please?" she begged, joining her hands and making a big smile. "What? Why would I? There's nothing to smile about."
David gave her a somewhat saddened glance and thought again 'poor girl'. She didn't seem to notice Christina wouldn't need much more to break lose. He cleared his throat.
"Concordia, I have called up two of the porters from the guest wing, and they'll be here very soon to escort you down to your quarters. You can stay here until Mr triton comes to pick you up." She nodded and said"Okay, David honey"
The girl immediately focused back to Christina.
It seemed once she was started, nothing could stop her to ask more and more questions.
"You only smile when there is a reason? Uhoh... That's weird!"she asked, glancing at her, a bit puzzled.
Meanwhile, David unlocked the door and sat back slowly. "You could've asked me to do that." said Christina, ignoring Concordia.
David noticed her inquisitive look and finally said to help Christina : "Concordia... Christina has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, and she is a very intelligent and competant person. That is the reason I think she is able to do her job, and why I gave it to her... And sometimes, having all that responsibility can weigh very heavily on your mind. It means that people like us don't often get a lot of time to smile, because we spend our lives dealing with very serious things." "That's terrible!"She looked quite sad.
"You make it sound like it's a massive burden, it's not really that bad." "But the reason we do it, is to make it so people are safe. And that is very fulfilling." "A thankless job, I assure you... Well, almost."
"David honey... You told me you wouldn't give up until you found someone as competent as you are, right?" He nodded at that"The right person for the job... certainly." The girl shook her head, rather sad"But what if it never happens?! You will never enjoy to live?"
David thought a bit. He was somehow disconcerted by that girl who was looking at him as if she wanted to read into him...How was she expecting him to answer to that? "Well... Liberty is a very large place, and there are a lot of people who live here. Now, I think that somewhere in that massive population, there will be a young man or woman who would be perfect for this job. I'm not perfect... Not by a long way... But at some point, someone who can do this better than me, will show themselves. Just because there are so many people here."
The girl was pouting.... She didn't seem to be quite convinced... "Hmmm okay... But why are you never thinking about yourself?"
He looked over at Christina once again. "I do think about myself sometimes..." "Oh?!!!"She beamed"That's nice! I thought you never did!"
"Both of us do. But we just don't do it that much. If everybody thought only about themselves, we would live in anarchy." "What do you do to enjoy life, Christie honey?" "Paperwork, actually."
She laughed"Ah! You're kidding, right?! Sounds boring!" "To most, it is." "You never dance? Oooorrrr... Sing?"
David couldn't help to laugh at that question.
He quickly diverted the girl by answering himself. "I enjoy flying, Concordia. No gravity, no restriction in any direction..."
Concordia smiled"I love that too! Annnnd... I don't like to stay in the same place for too long!"
Christina was staring at the zoner girl... She was way too happy to her liking... Given what she did. "But it takes responsibility to wield that freedom. Responsibility that you'll have to learn if you don't want to be here again." David nodded at this"that's true. with every right comes the responsibility to weild it in a considerate way, that doesn't harm anyone."
He pricked up his ears, listening to the sounds in the corridor outside. "Looks like they're here, David."confirmed Christina with what could be interpreted as a somewhat relieved tone. "Hmmm... Who's there?"The girl was looking around curiously, not appearing to have heard anything so far.
The door swung open and two young women from the guards corps stood outside.
Concordia giggled when she noticed them. She waved at them and asked, pretending to whisper "Whooooooo! They are cute! Say say... You slept with them, David honey, right?" "Uhm... No, Concordia, I've never met either of these people."he replied with what could be a touch of embarrassement in his voice. "Uhoh...."The girl looked a bit confused. She grinned and asked"What are you waiting then?! Want me to help you?! I could talk to them..."
"Stop embarrassing yourself and get up. We're going."said Christina with a slightly angered tone as she was standing up. She then moved towards the door. "Uhuhhh.... Hmm Okay. Where are we going?! Somewhere funny?" The girl got on her feet, appearing to be ready for another adventure.
David stood up slowly and straightened his jacket. He grabbed his stick and walked towards the door.
The two guards were waiting, quite clearly just about to die of embaressment.
Concordia ran to them and hugged them in a blink, trying to make eye contact with them. "Hey!" However, the two women were occupied to look at the two officers, they expression mixed between surprise and shock.
Hale shook his head and finally said : "Take miss Concordia down to the quarters on the first floor, and watch her door, if you could..." "Hmpf....And keep yourselves professional."added Christina when she noticed Concordia was tickling one of them to make her smile. "They will tell me bed stories, right?"she asked with a mischievous smirk.
David was glancing at Concordia, his expression shared between amusement and consternation. He finally told her : "Thank you for your honesty, but really please do not molest anyone while you are on the base, and actually, just try not to make people feel uncomfortable in general..."
Said sentence made the girl think for a short while. She finally beamed"I promise nothiiiiiiiing! Ah! Okay! Just Kidding! I won't! Anyway hmmm... We're going?!!!" "We will be in contact with you and Mr Triton soon.." She blew a kiss at them and smiled cheerfully. "We will meet again, right?" She looked a bit sad now, as she seemed to have understood she wouldn't see her new 'friends' until a while.
"I expect so..." "Hmm... Okay then... Byebye!"She finally said, waving her hand.
As they were walking away, the two officers could hear the girl starting to 'interrogate' her own way the guards who were escorting her.
David sighed, stepped back through the door into the office and beckoned for Christina to follow him...