[A stack of romance and adventure novels by the bed, tidily folded stacks of clothes in the drawers and closets. That odd hairbrush on the dresser, the one that could be a woman's, if she has particularly eccentric tastes. But one single hairbrush isn't the marker of a wife, where are her clothes? Her jewelry on the nightstand, her make-up in the bathroom, any single thing that implied that a woman actually lived here?]
[Is there no wife?]
[Sampo stands in Gepard's bedroom, looking at the tidy but simple bed that is, technically, big enough for two.]
[Is she dead, or did Gepard divorce her? Did she leave Gepard's daughter on his doorstep one day and disappear?]
[He's been left with more questions than answers. And while he's standing there trying to puzzle out the mess of Gepard Landau's life, there's the sound of a door opening and closing on the lower floor; someone's come in. He can hear shuffling footsteps, an older woman's voice complaining about her aches and pains when she thinks no one can hear her. There wasn't a whole lot of time for him to go and poke around, but that's all right-- Sampo has things to think about as it is.]
[He leaves the way he came, slipping out the window and back onto the roof. He should catch back up to Gepard, anyway, and follow him through the rest of his day. How else is he going to learn the man's schedule? It gives him time to think about how he wants to approach this, too. What he wants.]
[He'd thought that he would know what he wanted when he set foot back on Jarilo-VI-- his Winterland, his cat-and-mouse games. Everything as it had been when he left. But now he's back and everything has changed and he has to decide what he's going to do with that.]
[First thing, he's going to keep watching Gepard for a few days like a completely normal person. Because Sampo is a man who knows the value of information, he intends to have as much of it as possible on the confounding factors. It's while he's watching over Gepard that he comes to a decision-- he can't approach the former Captain first. If Sampo approaches him, he'll be suspicious and defensive, worried for his daughter's safety. Gepard needs to approach him, and he needs to think that it's his idea to do so. Like he's in control.]
[Thankfully, Gepard is a man with a very predictable schedule. He gets his daughter to school at the same time every day, he goes to work at the same time, he closes up shop at the same time. Routine is good. Sampo can work with a routine. Sampo can time out the exact moment that Gepard will be opening up for another day at the book store, exactly when he'll look up and catch a glimpse of magenta coat and blue hair disappearing around a corner. Once upon a time, that little glimpse would be all that Gepard would need to start up a chase.]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2024-09-21 05:45 am (UTC)[Is there no wife?]
[Sampo stands in Gepard's bedroom, looking at the tidy but simple bed that is, technically, big enough for two.]
[Is she dead, or did Gepard divorce her? Did she leave Gepard's daughter on his doorstep one day and disappear?]
[He's been left with more questions than answers. And while he's standing there trying to puzzle out the mess of Gepard Landau's life, there's the sound of a door opening and closing on the lower floor; someone's come in. He can hear shuffling footsteps, an older woman's voice complaining about her aches and pains when she thinks no one can hear her. There wasn't a whole lot of time for him to go and poke around, but that's all right-- Sampo has things to think about as it is.]
[He leaves the way he came, slipping out the window and back onto the roof. He should catch back up to Gepard, anyway, and follow him through the rest of his day. How else is he going to learn the man's schedule? It gives him time to think about how he wants to approach this, too. What he wants.]
[He'd thought that he would know what he wanted when he set foot back on Jarilo-VI-- his Winterland, his cat-and-mouse games. Everything as it had been when he left. But now he's back and everything has changed and he has to decide what he's going to do with that.]
[First thing, he's going to keep watching Gepard for a few days like a completely normal person. Because Sampo is a man who knows the value of information, he intends to have as much of it as possible on the confounding factors. It's while he's watching over Gepard that he comes to a decision-- he can't approach the former Captain first. If Sampo approaches him, he'll be suspicious and defensive, worried for his daughter's safety. Gepard needs to approach him, and he needs to think that it's his idea to do so. Like he's in control.]
[Thankfully, Gepard is a man with a very predictable schedule. He gets his daughter to school at the same time every day, he goes to work at the same time, he closes up shop at the same time. Routine is good. Sampo can work with a routine. Sampo can time out the exact moment that Gepard will be opening up for another day at the book store, exactly when he'll look up and catch a glimpse of magenta coat and blue hair disappearing around a corner. Once upon a time, that little glimpse would be all that Gepard would need to start up a chase.]