[Ah, a firm get out, Koski. Be still his beating heart, it's like he never left.]
[For most of the day, Gepard will be without a blue-haired shadow-- while stalking the good former Captain is always a fun pastime, Sampo does actually have other things that he has to do. One of which is start to unpack his things, meager though his current possessions are after years of essentially nomadism, into his apartment. It's a little nicer than his old safehouses, mostly because he actually plans on hanging around for his quasi-retirement, so ditching at the first sign of trouble isn't part of the plan.]
[But he really needs to like. Unpack his clothes and such so that he's not showing up to his little not-date with Gepard wearing yesterday's things.]
[He does still watch Gepard's house that night, sitting on the opposite roof and watching the silhouettes behind the curtains move from room to room. There, he sits at the table and eats dinner with his daughter; later, they sit in the living room; later still, upstairs for her to wash up and go to bed. The light in Gepard's bedroom stays on longer, and Sampo can picture him sitting in bed, reading another chapter or so of one of his nightstand books.]
[He really probably shouldn't do this. But what's a little light stalking between friends?]
[Sampo gets to the bookshop at noon, like he said. Almost late because he'd slept longer than he wanted-- late night Gepard-watching really puts a dent in his sleep schedule-- but he'd managed to catch the tram at the very last second. He opens the door and sticks his stupid blue head into the shop, singsongs out,]
[...he gets up early - harder than it used to be, but not unbearably so - and goes for a brisk jog before Lily gets up. It's...nice, actually, and he gets back in time to wake up his daughter. Lily asks what papa was doing, and he says he went running, and she wants to go with him next time and he laughs and says maybe when she's older, but for now? Breakfast. They eat, Gepard settles back into his normal routine like it's a second skin, or like he's diving deep underwater, waiting to open his mouth and drown.
The bookstore opens on time. He sells...not that much, a couple of books, but that's what things are usually like at his store. He's in the middle of talking with an old woman, one of his regulars, a sweet old granny, when Sampo sticks his stupid head in the store and singsongs out his stupid question.]
Absolutely not, Koski.
[And looks back in time to see said granny flash him a sweet and understanding (what is she understanding) smile, and she croaks out that she should be going, and totters out before Gepard can fix whatever just happened, because he doesn't know what happened, but he knows she got the wrong idea about whatever-it-is.
[Sampo holds the door open for the sweet and lovely granny as she exits, and gives her an absolutely beaming smile and a wink when she pats him on the arm. She calls him a scamp as she goes, and it makes his day. With the undoubtedly gossipy old woman wandering her way off down the street, Sampo moseys on in to the store where his delightful lunch partner is probably regretting all of his choices.]
Ready for lunch? [He could use a meal, his breakfast consisted of a slug of hot instant coffee right before he went out the door.] Or do you have some other old ladies hanging around back here?
[Sampo would be great with your customers, Gepard! And he'd be so glad to help.]
[Geppie. Geppie! At least when he was with the Silvermane Guard, he could take the title of Captain and shove it between the two of them. He misses that, right now, a layer of formality shoved between the two of them, a status difference that kept them wedged firmly apart instead of whatever-this-is.]
And if you're really offering to help me with my customers? I might just take you up on it.
[For all his grumbling, though, Gepard's clearly locking up for lunch. So. Sampo can take that however he wants.]
[And he can't go around calling him Captain anymore, so what else is he supposed to call him? His name, all the time? Sure, he could do that sometimes, but it's so much easier to tease him when he has a cute nickname to call him by.]
[Sampo idles by the door as Gepard locks up for lunch. He can protest as much as he likes, but Sampo knows that he's won-- he's still going out with him.]
I'm a very good businessman, I'm sure I could manage a few old ladies. And who knows, maybe I could bring in a few more customers with my many charms!
[He grunts as Sampo calls it a cute name, his keys jingling, locking the locks, weighing his options, and then Gepard looks at Sampo. Because who is he if not someone who'll call Sampo's fucking bluff when he's full of this much shit?]
If you're serious, I could always ask the owner to take you on part time. Once or twice a week, just you and me, Koski. [He probably couldn't manage more than that. The budget wouldn't cover it. But, maybe a few hours...
But that's only if Sampo is serious about it, but he's not.]
Why, Gepard, if you wanted more of my company so badly, you just had to ask! You don't have to try to get me employed for it.
[Besides, Sampo works much better when he's self-employed. A real entrepreneur, he is.]
I'm sure I could carve out a little extra time for you, outside of our little lunch dates! What kind of pal would ol' Sampo be if I left you lonely?
[Just what you always wanted, Gepard-- more of Sampo Koski. And now that the door is all locked up, Sampo's going to be even more obnoxious and hook his arm through Gepard's, so they can stroll along together to the cafe. Very chummy, the two of them! Thick as thieves, as the saying goes.]
[He stiffens like his arm is caught in a bear trap, and he's torn between cutting it off or fighting whatever it was that had clamped onto it - Sampo. Breath held, Gepard closes his eyes for a moment, just one moment, a moment so brief that someone might think of it as him blinking. He exhales, shuddering, soft, quiet, so quiet that Sampo is the only one that can hear it.
Gepard doesn't look at him. He doesn't make a point of looking away from him, so much as he's trying to act normal and failing at it. They're two strangers, walking arm in arm towards the same destination.]
Sampo Koski, there's easier ways of getting a free lunch than to spend time with me. [That. Focus on that.] And I didn't say anything about dates.
[Gepard sighs, soft but not so soft that Sampo can’t hear it. His face is still impassive, though, maintaining his composure even in the face of Sampo Koski. But he doesn’t pull his arm away, so Sampo’s going to count that as a win. Just a little win.]
[They walk, two men going in the same direction.]
Ah, is it a free lunch? How generous! I’ll graciously accept, of course.
[Thanks for offering to take the bill, Geppie, that’s very kind of you. Sampo certainly won’t object to it!]
I suppose you only agreed to one lunch date, but I don’t know if I could tell you all of my stories in just an hour or two! We might need to meet for another, so I can finish.
[And that gets Gepard to shoot at look at Sampo, straight at Sampo, not past him, not around him, not in the middle distance as Gepard forces himself past...something, right at Sampo. He tries to remind himself that Sampo Koski is a criminal. He's a conman, a thief. He's a smuggler, for good causes as well as bad, probably, and who knows what else he's done. That if Sampo had insisted on paying for lunch, there was a decent chance that it would be money stolen from his wallet, pickpocketed when he wasn't paying attention.
And, well, it's a pretty good reminder. He intends on saying one thing, but out slips,]
I missed you.
[It's less sentimental and more of an accusation. That's fine.]
You're the only person ridiculous enough in all of Belobog to want to trade stories for food.
[He knew you missed him, Gepard! For all his complaining about how Sampo made his life difficult, he knew that Gepard's life would be so much more boring without a blue-haired conman running around in it, being morally questionable.]
[Sampo has done a lot of things for a lot of different reasons, some good and some bad. Sometimes he's setting the stage for the salvation of a planet from a slow, lingering death, sometimes he's the partner-in-crime to a particular scheming woman with a terrible sense of humor. A man contains multitudes.]
[But today, he's a storyteller for Gepard Landau.]
I don't think it's ridiculous at all! I get lunch, and you get to hear about everything that's going on in the galaxy. There are people who would pay good money for the kind of first-hand accounts that I can provide! You should really count yourself lucky that I'm giving you such a deal.
[So sue him for showing a little favoritism! Gepard is his most favorite boy in Belobog, so he gets better deals than most.]
And I forgot to eat breakfast, so I'm pretty hungry.
[It feels like he conceded something and he doesn't know what it is, and Gepard kind of hates the fact that it felt like he gave something away- something important, something he never wanted Sampo to know. He hates it, and he hates the fact that Sampo's taking it all in stride, seemingly content to have an increasingly surly blond arm in arm, two men walking to a common destination.
He hates it. He hates the fact he likes it. That there's something that warms inside of him as Sampo determinedly insists on being with him no matter what he does, arm in arm, walking towards the same destination.]
Fine.
[And he looks away from Sampo again. They've got a cafe to get to. Sampo is hungry.]
You're being a lot clingier than I ever thought you would be. [The arm in arm thing.] What changed?
[Gepard might be surly, but he's all bark and no bite-- now that he's no longer a guard captain, he has no reason to want to wrestle Sampo to the cobblestones for an arrest. What's he going to do, punch him? That would be assault, and as a good little citizen of Belobog, he'd be obligated to turn himself in for the crime. No, Gepard is both too good and has too much control over himself for that kind of thing.]
Changed? Come on, now, Captain. If I'd have ever tried to touch you while you were a captain, you would've probably bitten my hand off!
[Sampo Koski has a pretty well developed sense of self preservation-- he knows that he would've never gotten close enough to Gepard to touch him like this without severe consequences, ones that would be detrimental to his business. So it was really a practical decision, keeping his distance from the good Captain at every opportunity.]
Don't you touch your friends or your sisters? [Hugs and the like. That's what normal people do! Otherwise, Aeons, the kind of touch starvation you'd get, keeping yourself distant even from the people you love and care for.] Well, if you really don't like it, I guess I could let go... but that's kind of unfriendly, don't you think? And I'm a friendly kind of guy!
[There's a lot of things wrong with what Sampo's saying. There's something off- there's a lot of somethings off about what he's saying. There's so many things off about what Sampo's saying that Gepard doesn't know where to begin. It's like a whole constellation of stars spread out in the sky, laid out just for him, and each twinkling point of light is Something Sampo Koski Said Which Is Very Wrong.
And the worst part is that he should leave it alone. He should just ignore Sampo and keep on walking - resolute and determined - like the captain he once was and march into the cafe the same way he once charged into danger. Gepard knows this. He'd be an idiot to challenge him. Challenging Sampo had never gone well. Ever.
But he's an idiot. He holds onto Sampo's arm with his free hand, like he's poised to pull him off or force him away- Gepard doesn't. He just holds him where he is, right by his side, and looks at his face again and thinks, not for the first time, that it's a stupidly handsome face he might have once liked. It's unfair.
It's really unfair. All of this is unfair. He doesn't care how this looks. Damn how it looks. He's mad and he doesn't know who he hates more: Sampo, or himself.]
You make it sound like you've wanted to give me a hug for quite some time, Koski. [That can't be right.]
[There they are, standing in the street, just staring at each other. Gepard with a sort of mulish, stubborn expression, Sampo with as innocent a face as he can bear to make. What a pair they are, two idiots arm in arm.]
Somebody probably ought to. I didn’t think I’d be the man for that job, but I suppose I could, if you’re that hard up for it.
[Gepard always has come off to him as a man in desperate need of getting laid, but sure, a hug works too. Some kind of human contact that doesn’t involve him trying to punch or arrest anyone. Theoretically, his former baby mama would’ve been fulfilling that need, but she clearly has reneged on her duties, so Gepard has an open spot for it.]
I’ve never charged for hugs before, though, so I don’t have a pricing model yet! You’d have to be my first customer.
[Gepard Landau politely raises his eyebrows at that, and then impolitely raises them (it's in the shift of the eyebrows, in the way he goes from polite curiosity to 'bitch, are you kidding me' disbelief) as Sampo talks about jobs and cost and pricing models and being his first customer? His hand clenches for a moment, half-prepared to tackle Sampo to the ground and rattle off some speech about the Silvermane Guard.
Gepard doesn't. He just- he forces his hand to relax, smooth out, still holding Sampo close. Unpleasantly close, for the both of them, probably. Neither moving forward nor moving back. Standing there, like two idiots.]
Should I ask what you would charge me? Or am I better off not knowing?
Ah, that’s a good question. You shouldn’t buy anything without knowing what it costs first!
[Especially not from Sampo. Who knows, he might ask for your firstborn child, like goblins did in old Belobog fairytales. And Gepard actually has one of those!]
I could just charge you in cash, but I’m really not hurting for credits right now. For you, it should be something more interesting! Since I’m giving you something you don’t have, you should give me something that I don’t have.
[A novelty for a novelty. The question is, could Gepard ever actually find something to give that Sampo doesn’t already have?]
Right now, though, I might take having my arm back. You’ve still got a strong grip, Gepard.
[He’s pretty well caught, and they’re still standing in the middle of the street.]
[A blink, Gepard hesitates, his mouth frowning, and then-]
Right.
[-and he lets go of his grip on Sampo's arm, and, for that matter, makes a half-hearted attempt at shaking his other arm loose. (To be decided if Sampo lets him or not. It's a half-assed attempt anyway.) Regardless of how imprisoned his arm is, he marches forward and onward and then into the cafe.
It's a nice cafe, by Belobogian standards. He gets a look from one of the servers, which, well- he's a regular, and now he's here with a blue-haired nuisance, he supposes he should expect this. He quietly holds up a hand in response to the question: two fingers, two seats, the blue-haired nuisance which may or may not be on his arm is with him, they're sitting together.
His face is grim, his mouth set in a frown, they seem to believe that Sampo's heralding trouble (he is, not in the way they'd probably expect) and they're ushered to a table by the window without too much fanfare. Somewhere where they can sit with a little bit more quiet than the rest of the building. And Gepard has to ask himself just why did he agree to this, again? Why did he challenge Sampo to whatever-this-is? What is the point?
They're given two menus, and Gepard's ready to order, but- ah, he should wait for Sampo to make up his mind, and the girl who seated him- them walks away.]
[See, walk nicely with him, Geppie, so that the server who knows you so well can give you strange looks about the blue-haired nuisance with you, walking too close to be acquaintances. And, really, after all the hours that Gepard spent chasing him and gathering evidence and putting said evidence on a cork board like he was trying to solve a murder mystery, could they really be called acquaintances?]
[Sampo smiles at the server when they’re seated, thanks her politely when he’s handed a menu. Just like a regular, upstanding citizen! That’s him, Sampo Koski, pillar of the community. A normal businessman here to do businessman things, legally.]
My, there’s a lot more on the menu these days! [With Belobog back on the galactic map, offworld imports are possible again. The people of this fine city are no longer constructed to dairy and rye based diets.] I don’t know what’s good anymore. Why don’t you order for me, Geppie?
[You know, like how normal people order for their friends.]
[He flinches as he's fucking called Geppie and he looks up at Sampo, and his hand clenches around the menu, and his mouth opens to say something sharp, but-
By Qlipoth (for what little that means, for all the oaths he had to forsake for the sake of his daughter), they're in public, he can't pick a fight over Geppie. As much as he wants to. These people know him, kind of. He's a regular. His hand relaxes. Nothing just happened.]
If you don't give me at least some idea of what you like, I'm ordering you one black coffee and you can watch me eat, Koski.
[Gepard’s hand tightens, wrinkling the menu briefly before he relaxes it. It takes effort, ignoring Sampo’s little irritations, but he does an admirable job of it! As stalwart as ever, his Gepard.]
[Well. His only because a man gets a certain sentimentality about someone he used to see day in and day out for years. A constant presence in his life. It sometimes felt like Gepard was his personal captain, whose sole purpose was to pursue him.]
I’ll take the coffee either way. But if you need a little guidance, that’s fine… get me something light! A guy’s got to watch his figure, you know?
[Can’t go gaining weight, not with how his outfits still have those hip cutouts. He has to keep his svelte figure so that he looks good with all that skin showing.]
[It's immensely tempting to order Sampo a reuben out of spite, but- but Gepard nods, gets the woman's attention.]
Excuse me.
[She heads over to them, ready to take their order with a bright smile for Gepard, and a slightly less bright smile for Sampo: it's less bright and more curious. Gepard tells himself he saw nothing, he understands nothing, nothing is going on, there's nothing for her to be curious about.]
Two coffees. My friend will have the croque crystal lizard. [Welcome back to Belobog, Koski.] And I'll have the reuben.
[Sampo props his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands and lets Gepard do all the talking, ordering lunch for the both of them. How very manly of you, Gepard, taking the lead and doing everything. Sampo's just here to be the pretty entertainment for the next hour or so!]
[Surely the waitress won't be curious about anything.]
Crystal lizard! I haven't had that in a few years. [Really, the fact that people ate lizard around here isn't the worst part of Belobogian cuisine.] Have you tried any of the new imports? I hear people are getting really excited about citrus.
[It's one part of the importing business that Sampo wants to get into-- getting more of what the galaxy has to offer into Belobog. Not just food and luxury goods, though there's certainly a demand for that, but also the practical things. There's safety equipment that would make geomarrow mining less risky and more efficient, new building materials with better insulation, medicines that could treat what was previously untreatable. Sure, a lot of this could be procured through IPC channels, but Belobog has a few very good reasons to not want the IPC to have a foothold on their planet. And that's where smaller merchants like good ol' Sampo Koski come in.]
It must be exciting! There are so many new things coming in every day.
[There's nothing to be curious about. No tension, winding as tight as a violin string, threatening to snap. Nothing. Just two men, one of them ever so slightly relaxing as Sampo sounds like he approves of crystal lizard...? They can trade sandwich halves.
It is exciting, but also makes him feel like a relic of the past, sometimes, standing still as the universe moves on without him. Sampo doesn't need to know that. What he needs to know is...]
I don't know how I lived life without lemons. Easily purchasable lemons, no less. It likely seems silly to you. [Someone who walked the stars and is coming back just for a quick visit to Belobog before he saunters off again.] But it made it seem like our efforts were worthwhile just seeing something as simple as that become so common to so many people.
[It's a cute answer, really. Of all the marvelous bounty of the universe, Gepard comments on the accessibility of lemons. Sure, Sampo had brought up citrus to begin with, but there are a lot of new things coming into Belobog these days. Gepard didn't have to comment on yellow fruit, but here they are.]
I don't think it's silly. There hasn't been a lemon on this planet for over seven hundred years, it's exciting to have them back.
[Now that the Stellaron is gone and the planet can recover from its effects, Belobog will be able to flourish. Maybe neither he nor Gepard will be alive long enough to see a real spring return, but they'll know that their actions were the start of it. Planting seeds in a garden that they'll never see in bloom.]
It was all worth it, wasn't it? Even my little role! [Because he'd never told anyone that the whole thing had been according to his plans-- that old Sampo Koski had set everything into motion and made sure that everyone was in the right place at the right time. He was the stage manager for that production, just there to swap the sets and hand out the right costumes and make sure everyone remembered their lines.] Things are better for everyone, now. And hopefully only going to keep getting better!
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2024-09-26 03:15 am (UTC)[For most of the day, Gepard will be without a blue-haired shadow-- while stalking the good former Captain is always a fun pastime, Sampo does actually have other things that he has to do. One of which is start to unpack his things, meager though his current possessions are after years of essentially nomadism, into his apartment. It's a little nicer than his old safehouses, mostly because he actually plans on hanging around for his quasi-retirement, so ditching at the first sign of trouble isn't part of the plan.]
[But he really needs to like. Unpack his clothes and such so that he's not showing up to his little not-date with Gepard wearing yesterday's things.]
[He does still watch Gepard's house that night, sitting on the opposite roof and watching the silhouettes behind the curtains move from room to room. There, he sits at the table and eats dinner with his daughter; later, they sit in the living room; later still, upstairs for her to wash up and go to bed. The light in Gepard's bedroom stays on longer, and Sampo can picture him sitting in bed, reading another chapter or so of one of his nightstand books.]
[He really probably shouldn't do this. But what's a little light stalking between friends?]
[Sampo gets to the bookshop at noon, like he said. Almost late because he'd slept longer than he wanted-- late night Gepard-watching really puts a dent in his sleep schedule-- but he'd managed to catch the tram at the very last second. He opens the door and sticks his stupid blue head into the shop, singsongs out,]
Did you miss me?
no subject
Date: 2024-09-27 02:21 am (UTC)The bookstore opens on time. He sells...not that much, a couple of books, but that's what things are usually like at his store. He's in the middle of talking with an old woman, one of his regulars, a sweet old granny, when Sampo sticks his stupid head in the store and singsongs out his stupid question.]
Absolutely not, Koski.
[And looks back in time to see said granny flash him a sweet and understanding (what is she understanding) smile, and she croaks out that she should be going, and totters out before Gepard can fix whatever just happened, because he doesn't know what happened, but he knows she got the wrong idea about whatever-it-is.
She probably pats Sampo's arm on her way out.
This doesn't help.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-29 03:11 am (UTC)[Sampo holds the door open for the sweet and lovely granny as she exits, and gives her an absolutely beaming smile and a wink when she pats him on the arm. She calls him a scamp as she goes, and it makes his day. With the undoubtedly gossipy old woman wandering her way off down the street, Sampo moseys on in to the store where his delightful lunch partner is probably regretting all of his choices.]
Ready for lunch? [He could use a meal, his breakfast consisted of a slug of hot instant coffee right before he went out the door.] Or do you have some other old ladies hanging around back here?
[Sampo would be great with your customers, Gepard! And he'd be so glad to help.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-29 09:02 pm (UTC)Don't call me that.
[Geppie. Geppie! At least when he was with the Silvermane Guard, he could take the title of Captain and shove it between the two of them. He misses that, right now, a layer of formality shoved between the two of them, a status difference that kept them wedged firmly apart instead of whatever-this-is.]
And if you're really offering to help me with my customers? I might just take you up on it.
[For all his grumbling, though, Gepard's clearly locking up for lunch. So. Sampo can take that however he wants.]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-01 04:25 am (UTC)[And he can't go around calling him Captain anymore, so what else is he supposed to call him? His name, all the time? Sure, he could do that sometimes, but it's so much easier to tease him when he has a cute nickname to call him by.]
[Sampo idles by the door as Gepard locks up for lunch. He can protest as much as he likes, but Sampo knows that he's won-- he's still going out with him.]
I'm a very good businessman, I'm sure I could manage a few old ladies. And who knows, maybe I could bring in a few more customers with my many charms!
no subject
Date: 2024-10-02 03:48 am (UTC)If you're serious, I could always ask the owner to take you on part time. Once or twice a week, just you and me, Koski. [He probably couldn't manage more than that. The budget wouldn't cover it. But, maybe a few hours...
But that's only if Sampo is serious about it, but he's not.]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-04 03:21 pm (UTC)Why, Gepard, if you wanted more of my company so badly, you just had to ask! You don't have to try to get me employed for it.
[Besides, Sampo works much better when he's self-employed. A real entrepreneur, he is.]
I'm sure I could carve out a little extra time for you, outside of our little lunch dates! What kind of pal would ol' Sampo be if I left you lonely?
[Just what you always wanted, Gepard-- more of Sampo Koski. And now that the door is all locked up, Sampo's going to be even more obnoxious and hook his arm through Gepard's, so they can stroll along together to the cafe. Very chummy, the two of them! Thick as thieves, as the saying goes.]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-04 09:06 pm (UTC)Gepard doesn't look at him. He doesn't make a point of looking away from him, so much as he's trying to act normal and failing at it. They're two strangers, walking arm in arm towards the same destination.]
Sampo Koski, there's easier ways of getting a free lunch than to spend time with me. [That. Focus on that.] And I didn't say anything about dates.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-07 06:14 am (UTC)[They walk, two men going in the same direction.]
Ah, is it a free lunch? How generous! I’ll graciously accept, of course.
[Thanks for offering to take the bill, Geppie, that’s very kind of you. Sampo certainly won’t object to it!]
I suppose you only agreed to one lunch date, but I don’t know if I could tell you all of my stories in just an hour or two! We might need to meet for another, so I can finish.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-08 02:01 am (UTC)And, well, it's a pretty good reminder. He intends on saying one thing, but out slips,]
I missed you.
[It's less sentimental and more of an accusation. That's fine.]
You're the only person ridiculous enough in all of Belobog to want to trade stories for food.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-13 08:57 pm (UTC)[He knew you missed him, Gepard! For all his complaining about how Sampo made his life difficult, he knew that Gepard's life would be so much more boring without a blue-haired conman running around in it, being morally questionable.]
[Sampo has done a lot of things for a lot of different reasons, some good and some bad. Sometimes he's setting the stage for the salvation of a planet from a slow, lingering death, sometimes he's the partner-in-crime to a particular scheming woman with a terrible sense of humor. A man contains multitudes.]
[But today, he's a storyteller for Gepard Landau.]
I don't think it's ridiculous at all! I get lunch, and you get to hear about everything that's going on in the galaxy. There are people who would pay good money for the kind of first-hand accounts that I can provide! You should really count yourself lucky that I'm giving you such a deal.
[So sue him for showing a little favoritism! Gepard is his most favorite boy in Belobog, so he gets better deals than most.]
And I forgot to eat breakfast, so I'm pretty hungry.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-14 03:15 am (UTC)He hates it. He hates the fact he likes it. That there's something that warms inside of him as Sampo determinedly insists on being with him no matter what he does, arm in arm, walking towards the same destination.]
Fine.
[And he looks away from Sampo again. They've got a cafe to get to. Sampo is hungry.]
You're being a lot clingier than I ever thought you would be. [The arm in arm thing.] What changed?
no subject
Date: 2024-10-14 04:36 am (UTC)Changed? Come on, now, Captain. If I'd have ever tried to touch you while you were a captain, you would've probably bitten my hand off!
[Sampo Koski has a pretty well developed sense of self preservation-- he knows that he would've never gotten close enough to Gepard to touch him like this without severe consequences, ones that would be detrimental to his business. So it was really a practical decision, keeping his distance from the good Captain at every opportunity.]
Don't you touch your friends or your sisters? [Hugs and the like. That's what normal people do! Otherwise, Aeons, the kind of touch starvation you'd get, keeping yourself distant even from the people you love and care for.] Well, if you really don't like it, I guess I could let go... but that's kind of unfriendly, don't you think? And I'm a friendly kind of guy!
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Date: 2024-10-16 01:57 am (UTC)And the worst part is that he should leave it alone. He should just ignore Sampo and keep on walking - resolute and determined - like the captain he once was and march into the cafe the same way he once charged into danger. Gepard knows this. He'd be an idiot to challenge him. Challenging Sampo had never gone well. Ever.
But he's an idiot. He holds onto Sampo's arm with his free hand, like he's poised to pull him off or force him away- Gepard doesn't. He just holds him where he is, right by his side, and looks at his face again and thinks, not for the first time, that it's a stupidly handsome face he might have once liked. It's unfair.
It's really unfair. All of this is unfair. He doesn't care how this looks. Damn how it looks. He's mad and he doesn't know who he hates more: Sampo, or himself.]
You make it sound like you've wanted to give me a hug for quite some time, Koski. [That can't be right.]
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Date: 2024-10-17 10:52 pm (UTC)Somebody probably ought to. I didn’t think I’d be the man for that job, but I suppose I could, if you’re that hard up for it.
[Gepard always has come off to him as a man in desperate need of getting laid, but sure, a hug works too. Some kind of human contact that doesn’t involve him trying to punch or arrest anyone. Theoretically, his former baby mama would’ve been fulfilling that need, but she clearly has reneged on her duties, so Gepard has an open spot for it.]
I’ve never charged for hugs before, though, so I don’t have a pricing model yet! You’d have to be my first customer.
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Date: 2024-10-18 01:22 am (UTC)Gepard doesn't. He just- he forces his hand to relax, smooth out, still holding Sampo close. Unpleasantly close, for the both of them, probably. Neither moving forward nor moving back. Standing there, like two idiots.]
Should I ask what you would charge me? Or am I better off not knowing?
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Date: 2024-10-18 02:18 am (UTC)[Especially not from Sampo. Who knows, he might ask for your firstborn child, like goblins did in old Belobog fairytales. And Gepard actually has one of those!]
I could just charge you in cash, but I’m really not hurting for credits right now. For you, it should be something more interesting! Since I’m giving you something you don’t have, you should give me something that I don’t have.
[A novelty for a novelty. The question is, could Gepard ever actually find something to give that Sampo doesn’t already have?]
Right now, though, I might take having my arm back. You’ve still got a strong grip, Gepard.
[He’s pretty well caught, and they’re still standing in the middle of the street.]
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Date: 2024-10-18 02:45 am (UTC)Right.
[-and he lets go of his grip on Sampo's arm, and, for that matter, makes a half-hearted attempt at shaking his other arm loose. (To be decided if Sampo lets him or not. It's a half-assed attempt anyway.) Regardless of how imprisoned his arm is, he marches forward and onward and then into the cafe.
It's a nice cafe, by Belobogian standards. He gets a look from one of the servers, which, well- he's a regular, and now he's here with a blue-haired nuisance, he supposes he should expect this. He quietly holds up a hand in response to the question: two fingers, two seats, the blue-haired nuisance which may or may not be on his arm is with him, they're sitting together.
His face is grim, his mouth set in a frown, they seem to believe that Sampo's heralding trouble (he is, not in the way they'd probably expect) and they're ushered to a table by the window without too much fanfare. Somewhere where they can sit with a little bit more quiet than the rest of the building. And Gepard has to ask himself just why did he agree to this, again? Why did he challenge Sampo to whatever-this-is? What is the point?
They're given two menus, and Gepard's ready to order, but- ah, he should wait for Sampo to make up his mind, and the girl who seated him- them walks away.]
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Date: 2024-10-18 03:16 am (UTC)[Sampo smiles at the server when they’re seated, thanks her politely when he’s handed a menu. Just like a regular, upstanding citizen! That’s him, Sampo Koski, pillar of the community. A normal businessman here to do businessman things, legally.]
My, there’s a lot more on the menu these days! [With Belobog back on the galactic map, offworld imports are possible again. The people of this fine city are no longer constructed to dairy and rye based diets.] I don’t know what’s good anymore. Why don’t you order for me, Geppie?
[You know, like how normal people order for their friends.]
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Date: 2024-10-18 03:31 am (UTC)By Qlipoth (for what little that means, for all the oaths he had to forsake for the sake of his daughter), they're in public, he can't pick a fight over Geppie. As much as he wants to. These people know him, kind of. He's a regular. His hand relaxes. Nothing just happened.]
If you don't give me at least some idea of what you like, I'm ordering you one black coffee and you can watch me eat, Koski.
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Date: 2024-10-18 03:53 am (UTC)[Well. His only because a man gets a certain sentimentality about someone he used to see day in and day out for years. A constant presence in his life. It sometimes felt like Gepard was his personal captain, whose sole purpose was to pursue him.]
I’ll take the coffee either way. But if you need a little guidance, that’s fine… get me something light! A guy’s got to watch his figure, you know?
[Can’t go gaining weight, not with how his outfits still have those hip cutouts. He has to keep his svelte figure so that he looks good with all that skin showing.]
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Date: 2024-10-18 04:35 am (UTC)Excuse me.
[She heads over to them, ready to take their order with a bright smile for Gepard, and a slightly less bright smile for Sampo: it's less bright and more curious. Gepard tells himself he saw nothing, he understands nothing, nothing is going on, there's nothing for her to be curious about.]
Two coffees. My friend will have the croque crystal lizard. [Welcome back to Belobog, Koski.] And I'll have the reuben.
[There, everything's settled.]
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Date: 2024-10-18 06:55 pm (UTC)[Surely the waitress won't be curious about anything.]
Crystal lizard! I haven't had that in a few years. [Really, the fact that people ate lizard around here isn't the worst part of Belobogian cuisine.] Have you tried any of the new imports? I hear people are getting really excited about citrus.
[It's one part of the importing business that Sampo wants to get into-- getting more of what the galaxy has to offer into Belobog. Not just food and luxury goods, though there's certainly a demand for that, but also the practical things. There's safety equipment that would make geomarrow mining less risky and more efficient, new building materials with better insulation, medicines that could treat what was previously untreatable. Sure, a lot of this could be procured through IPC channels, but Belobog has a few very good reasons to not want the IPC to have a foothold on their planet. And that's where smaller merchants like good ol' Sampo Koski come in.]
It must be exciting! There are so many new things coming in every day.
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Date: 2024-10-18 10:12 pm (UTC)It is exciting, but also makes him feel like a relic of the past, sometimes, standing still as the universe moves on without him. Sampo doesn't need to know that. What he needs to know is...]
I don't know how I lived life without lemons. Easily purchasable lemons, no less. It likely seems silly to you. [Someone who walked the stars and is coming back just for a quick visit to Belobog before he saunters off again.] But it made it seem like our efforts were worthwhile just seeing something as simple as that become so common to so many people.
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Date: 2024-10-19 12:35 am (UTC)I don't think it's silly. There hasn't been a lemon on this planet for over seven hundred years, it's exciting to have them back.
[Now that the Stellaron is gone and the planet can recover from its effects, Belobog will be able to flourish. Maybe neither he nor Gepard will be alive long enough to see a real spring return, but they'll know that their actions were the start of it. Planting seeds in a garden that they'll never see in bloom.]
It was all worth it, wasn't it? Even my little role! [Because he'd never told anyone that the whole thing had been according to his plans-- that old Sampo Koski had set everything into motion and made sure that everyone was in the right place at the right time. He was the stage manager for that production, just there to swap the sets and hand out the right costumes and make sure everyone remembered their lines.] Things are better for everyone, now. And hopefully only going to keep getting better!
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