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Virginia prepared coffee in two cups and placed them on the cookie tray, along with two bags of milk-like powder and sugar. She then placed the entire tray on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa.
Virginia reached for the metal cigarette case, lit one and took a long drag from it before she decided to answer him, "I honestly don't know what to think about this besides it pissed me off. It doesn't fit the profile I have of you, Morreti.". She paused for a moment and motioned for him to sit down next to her on the couch, "So far, I think it was just a... momentary lapse that you didn't think through. Or am I wrong?".
Her body language was more relaxed now than it had been a few hours ago, but it was still obvious she was alert. She watched his reaction carefully, trying to read his face as she took another long drag from her cigarette and tapped ash from it into the ashtray, "Will that be enough of an answer for you?".
She had his attention from the moment she mentioned profile. It became clear what she was doing asking all those questions. The ultimate motivation was to compile a record of how he behaved, and it didn't seem like he appreciated this coming from a place of mechanical disinterest. "Profile?" It was obviously going to be his next question, because now he had to confirm her reasons for even keeping one. It was one thing to try and get to know somebody, it was another to treat them like an asset that needed to be understood in order to be used correctly. And it was the idea that this was an effort to do exactly that which attracted distaste.
If he was previously a little uncomfortable being questioned, he was now frustrated instead. When he sat down, he put the duffle bag down on the floor just beside him. But at this rate, it was unlikely he would stick around for much longer, his posture growing defensive. The conversation was steadily making him feel like less of a person and more of a factor.
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"Yes, call it what you want - profile, picture... And don't look at me like that, I don't have any real file on you.", she took another drag from her cigarette and dumped the milk-like powder into her coffee cup and stirred. She fixed her piercing blue gaze on him again, "I guess you want to know what I've observed about you."
She made herself comfortable on the couch, "I'll start with your background - back in Texas you told me I was like one of you from Houston - but you didn't mean yourself, did you? You have a certain natural elegance about you - your attitude, your speech, and the way you spoke to me at Fontana. I think you come from a background where first impressions are the most important thing, and careers rise and fall with that." Virginia paused for a moment and took a sip of her coffee before continuing, "Higher society, but I can't place your accent on the planet."
"Manhattan. You could have just asked." Something about the way she explained her observations calmed him a little. It made him reflect on something she'd told him earlier. That she was a terrible people person. At the time he saw little in the way of actual justification. But now he could see why that might be the case. With a sigh, he shook his head and relaxed. Using the next few seconds to focus on preparing his coffee the way he liked it. Milk and two sugars. Since the biscuits seemed like they existed purely for the sake of adding texture to meals, he resorted to dipping them in his coffee before actually trying to eat them. And surprisingly this did actually help a fair bit.
Feeling satisfied that he wasn't going to end up drinking bitter water and dry cardboard, he looked back at her. "Is that it? I figured you'd be more observant. Maybe figure out a few personal details along the way. The kinds of things people won't readily admit to." Since he was more or less over her poor communication about how she'd been figuring him out, he posed that question sarcastically. But he did actually want to know if there was more, despite the fact he was joking with her.
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"I could've asked, but that would be boring, don't you think?", Virginia took another drag from her vanilla scented cigarette, and blew a puff of smoke away from Morreti, scratching her nose, "I know you're a very dangerous man too, but I don't know why yet. Dangerous, without mercy, but also willing to risk much for others. It wasn't until later that I learned from my gunners that you were alone in one fighter defending my ship from bombers and their escorts."
There was a professional admiration or respect in her voice - she too knew what it meant to stand up for her subordinates and face the consequences for her decisions, but the fact was that she had never been put in such a disadvantageous situation and so it was hard to predict how she would have acted in his position.
"And you know how to inspire others for your cause, you know how to sell it.", she added after a moment, tapping the ash from her cigarette into the ashtray, "I think you knew that a soldier like me needed a cause to fight for, a hope for something better. But... you could still sell me revenge if I needed it, but we've talked about that, haven't we?".
There was uncertainty in the way he looked at her. Some of what she'd said he could agree with, but the rest seemed wrong to him. He was smart enough to know that there was no point questioning her perspective of him. He could only hope to prove it wrong through action, or perhaps only serve to prove her right. "We did talk about revenge. But that's your choice to make. The only thing I assured you of, was that I had your back either way." That much was the truth, and while he might be able to partially dispute the idea that he sold this cause to her. He did provide all the fundamental reasons to turn her away from the Insurgency. And he knew that by doing this she would seek alternatives. He couldn't deny the impact he had on the rest of the Alliance either, their sheer loyalty and willingness to follow through with what he asked. There was never a need to compel anybody, to hand out punishments. All he had to do was ask.
"You just want the truth. I see it now. But what does knowing everything about my nature do for you? It's not as if we're trying to wine and dine each other. Doesn't seem like what either of us are into. I've proven reliable enough, and I've given you no reason to doubt my word. But you're still searching. So you're obviously trying to find something. What is it?" It was frank and to the point, he was asking her to just come out with it and state her intentions. And he was acutely aware that he'd asked this question before. But her answer then had just been about wanting to know for the sake of it. She'd proven a remarkably decisive person so far, so the notion of simply "wanting to know Damien Morreti" didn't translate as entirely authenticate. Or at the very least, it was, but only partially. The actual context concealed behind reluctance to state it.
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Virginia chuckled, "Why? You don't care about the people you work with, who are your comrades in arms or sometimes even rivals?", she answered his question with her own, though she meant it rather rhetorically once she answered it a moment later, "I guess you'll be something like my superior, and I want to know what I can expect from you and what to look out for."
She took one last drag from her cigarette before putting it in the ashtray. The uncertainty of the future was written all over her face and attitude - but at least there was a hope future now.
"My last working relationship was built on strict hiearchy and discipline, rules that were given and strictly enforced, but there's nothing like that here, is it? I guess that's why I want to... probably on some subconscious level to replace mindless saluting with the professional confidence of near-equal colleagues.", she replied, taking a long drink from her cup.
He shook his head almost as soon as she finished speaking. "I'm not your superior, even if you did decide to volunteer with us and integrate your crew into the Alliance's structure. We don't abide by any of those philosophies, it's anathema to us. I wouldn't want to be your superior anyway, I prefer this. Not near equals, but equals. At the same time I get that you'll be facing the challenge of adapting to your new circumstances."
With the aid of coffee to combat how dry these biscuits were, he satiated the fact that he was actually slightly hungry. Taking a generous sip of hot coffee afterwards to wash down whatever was left. "If this was purely professional, I wouldn't be able to buy you that round of drinks I promised. And I don't want to be bothered by regulations and formalities when I'm just trying to spend time with somebody I'm interested in." There a few moments of pause, not because he wanted to let the words set in, or for the fact he'd made a blunt admission. But because his coffee was running the risk of getting cold. He'd really prefer finishing it while it was enjoyable hot rather than lukewarm, and so he focused on this first.
Once finished, he set his cup down, and turned to face her. "Wouldn't be fair if there were barriers towards me getting to know Virginia Belle. Especially when she's profiling me." It was a reversal of her original answer to him, with an added joke but similar context. People of her station often had to play rehearsed parts. They couldn't afford to actually be themselves, not in front of their subordinates and certainly not before their superiors. So his absolute reluctance for either of them to occupy those roles was hardly surprising.
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"I'm going to drink myself unconscious for sure.", Virginia nodded at his offer for a drink.
Virginia got up from the sofa and waved her hands around living room, "But... what I wanted to discuss - what should I do now?", she asked Morreti with a serious tone in her voice. It was a genuinely sincere question, because up until now she had been operating within a military organization that took care of everything, and who's only expectation of Virginia was that she would fight when ordered.
"All I'm doing now is just damage control, nothing else.", she said, giving a truthful assessment of her accomplishments in the service of the LFR so far - she had only addressed the state of her crew, and the only thing she had come to is the fact that she had to send most of them on leave to spend it with their families and forget about the stress and trauma of the last few days.
Virginia let out a long sigh and said quietly, "All I need to do is to act like a leader, but I haven't found my bearings yet.", Virginia had diverted her attention from potentially personal issues to work matters, probably part of her defense mechanism to protect her privacy, but also because she needed her war to continue.
When she rose to her foot and expressed all these concerns, it made something clear to him. And when the realization struck, he couldn't help but smile. She'd see his reaction and perhaps be curious of why he was smiling. But she was going to have to ask him if she wanted to know why. With a slight groan, he stood up as well and approached her. "Of course you don't have your bearings yet. It's not even been a month since your life just entirely changed. You spent years living under a rigid military structure, being told what to do and never having to think for yourself. And now that you've found a cause that accepts you for who you are, and doesn't want to condition you or order you around, you feel lost. It's a natural reaction, and time will remedy that."
For a moment he considered placing a hand on her shoulder, as a gesture of solidarity. But his intuition told him she might not appreciate that, so he visibly reconsidered and withdrew before he could even get close and apologized with his eyes. "The important question is - what do you want to do?" His choices here were simple. She was in an extremely vulnerable period of transition, and somebody with his level of influence could dictate how she developed. He could take advantage of it and do what the Legion did, perhaps far worse too. Or he could simply foster her and let natural growth handle the outcome.