2013.03.26 - Unexpected Dinner Guest

"Man, this guy was a nightmare..." One massages his brow, shakes his head, and looks away from his computer screen. "Glitch, save all the personal logs with my notes under a new file. And find me something to watch. I feel like a cleansing bout of violence after reading that."
As the doctor wheels his chair away from his desk and stands up, his laptop replies obligingly, saving the text file currently being viewed and then pulling up Netflix. A number of potential selections are chosen and discarded before the computer brings up an episode of The Deadliest Warrior.
Meanwhile, One is working on something for dinner. Considering the sparse furnishings in his office at Weischel House, he seems to be managing fairly well. Or planning to, anyway. He's got couscous, an array of vegetables, and a whole fish laid out on the folding table that holds his few kitchen appliances, along with a cutting board and scalpels.
After a quick glance at Glitch's display, he nods approvingly at the sight of Nazi SS and Viet Cong soldiers being matched up against each other. He's dressed casually tonight, just a maroon sweater with the sleeves pushed back, a pair of cotton pants that tie at the waist, and soft moccasins.
Normally Selina wouldn't just drop by unannounced but a meeting brought her out and about during the day and by the time it concluded it wound up being semi-late. At first she considered just going home but the thought of another night without human companionship just did not appeal, hence why she's here, coming to pay a call on him.
The entry into the building itself is easy, that being because of how she's actually been granted permission, but she doesn't go much further in than a couple steps inside as she realizes she is not sure which part of the building he has set up as his home. A hand slides over the gray woolen skirt to smooth it while her other hand is used to take off the suit's jacket, the rest of her outfit - white silk blouse, stockings and heels - are presentable even if she did have to sit at in a board room all day. "One! It's Selina! Are you home?"
Having announced herself, Selina waits. Best not to wander and accidentally set off a booby trap. Would definitely put a damper on the evening.
The couscous has been rinsed, salted, and laid out on a sheet of parchment by the time Selina arrives, and One has moved on to the fish. It's a hefty red snapper, still wrapped in paper and fresh from the closest market. The packet is slit open with one of the larger scalpels, then he goes about the bloody business of cleaning the fish.
Naturally, he has guts in one hand and a bloody knife in the other when he opens the door to his office and peeks out. "Hey, Sel," he greets. "Come on up. You're just in time for dinner. And to watch the Fatherland's finest tear a few farmers to pieces."
The sight of innards and the bloodied scapel is taken in stride, Selina used to seeing such when it comes to One. "Hello, handsome," she greets the doctor, her eyes bright. "Dinner, hmm? That's very kind of you to offer, especially considering I just sprung myself upon you. I'd love to join you." He's given a fond kiss upon the cheek, rather close to the corner of his mouth, before she slides into his new 'home'.
The comment about the Fatherland is lost on her, the lack of context making it fly right over Sel's head, her confusion getting her nose to wrinkle faintly. "I think you need to fill in the blanks," she chuckles. "Just what are you talking about, One?"
It doesn't take long for One to finish up with the fish. Once it's cleaned, scaled, and seasoned, it's set directly on top of the couscous and his attention is focused on the vegetation. He has fresh herbs, a lemon, an onion, a head of garlic, grape tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. Quite the array.
He chuckles as he goes to work on the tomatoes, slicing them in half and scattering them over the couscous, but avoiding the fish. The same treatment is given to the artichoke hearts, then he points at Glitch's screen as a Nazi brandishes a Mauser pistol. "SS versus VC. I haven't seen this one, but I bet the Germans take it. I should know, I was there."
"Is there anything I can do to h..." Selina falls silent when she watches how One prepares the meal and it immediately sinks in that she'll probably only slow him down. What she does instead is position herself so she can watch him as he goes about his thing, her gaze held to his face and then the fish. She probably won't be able to replicate his technique but she can at least watch and keep him copany.
The show is finally noticed once he points it out and she nods, catching on to what he meant. "I've never seen this show, I don't think. What is it called?"
One stuffs the herbs into the fish and gets to work slicing the onion and the lemon very thinly. He pauses to glance at Selina and raise an eyebrow. "Deadliest Warrior," he explains. "They scientifically measure the killing capacity of two fighting forces who have never clashed openly to see who would be victorious. I have faith in the Ubermensch."
His sliced onion and citrus are stuffed inside the fish, along with the garlic once it's been peeled and crushed. Finally, the whole assembly is sealed up and slid into the toaster oven.
"Ahh. See?" He points as the Mauser comes back onscreen for a moment. "Great weapon. I--Ignatius, that is, carried one of those for decades. Got it when he and Hitler decided to join the Bavarian army in the early 1900s. I'd still carry it today if Ignatius hadn't smashed it..." There's a pause as he searches for a hazy memory. "...that's right. Smashed it against a British soldier's helmet during World War II. When the Nazis were being driven out of Egypt, I want to say."
No wonder Selina has never heard of it. As interesting as he makes it sound it isn't exactly what she would watch, Selina usually the kind to watch movies or an occasional TV show if she's afforded the free time to do so. It does make sense to her that he'd enjoy the topic, however, especially when he talks about Ignatius. "That had to be one hell of an experience," she says while stepping away from the table now that the prep work is done, her mind set to work upon the concept of someone actually having worked with Hitler during the War. "You almost sound like you were there yourself."
A hand slides up and rubs at the back of her neck, Sel looking at herself before taking in One again, particularly his attire. "I hate to ask this but I just can not relax while wearing this damn suit. Could I possibly borrow a tee and some sweats or something, please?"
"I may as well have been there," One replies. "Even I don't know where I end and he begins, or if it even works that way."
As he speaks, he crosses the room to a standing wardrobe and retrieves some things for Selina. A hockey jersey and a pair of pants that are similar to his own; loose cotton with a tie at the waist. He hands them over and turns his back to give her some privacy. "Here you go. As far as I'm concerned, I've been around long enough to lead men into battle with everything from swords and horses to mortars and tanks. I worked with Mengele when I-- when Ignatius first started developing methods of human augmentation."
He's seen her naked and he still turns his back so she can get dressed. Sel looks up at the ceiling for a moment before it's shrugged off, her smile softening. "You've seen me absolutely without clothes and in various states of undress, One. You don't need to turn around." The skirt, stockings and blouse are swiftly removed and then the loaned clothing donned, One no longer needing to afford her privacy for modesty's sake.
Sel slides up behind him to give him a hug before he turns around if she can, her arms sliding under his arms, palms pressed to his chest, cheek against his back. "It sounds like something out of a movie to me," she admits with a sigh. "So surreal. But... it isn't. It was very real. And as much a part of who and what you are now as it was for your creator all those many years ago."
"It was very real," One agrees, echoing Selina's words. "I remember all of them. Rommel, too. The Fox was actually a pretty decent guy. Damn shame that Hitler made him commit suicide."
The clone shakes his head and smiles lopsidedly. It's a wry, half-hearted attempt at good humor, but these clearly aren't pleasant memories. "Adolf was like that, though. He and I grew up together. He never liked being slighted, hated being lied to, even as a boy. But the Fox knew if he went along with Adolf's plan, his family would be safe. So."
One rolls his shoulders, turns around, and gives Selina a quick squeeze. "I might be a murderer, but I'm still a gentleman, and a gentleman turns his back while a lady changes."
'I'. Contextually speaking, that single syllable holds quite a lot of power and Selina can't help but to wince a little as well as hug him a little closer until he turns to face her. The returned hug is relished for as long as One allows it to linger but she can't help to pout a tiny bit when it ends all too soon in her opinion. "It is nice to be in the company of one, One. I'm so used to being around men who act like they are, but..." A hand moves, lifted to rest against his chest, palm held over where his heart is so she can perhaps feel it beat. "Thank you for the clothing. I'll return them before I head home."
A seat is claimed and she makes herself comfortable, 'Indian style'. "How much of what he did do you remember," she goes on once comfortable, the question asked in a slightly trembling voice.
One moistens his lips with the tip of his tongue. "It's hard to say," he responds. "If you forget something, how do you know if you ever knew it? There are a couple of obvious gaps, but I think I remember pretty much everything. I've only been physically alive for a few years, but I have over a century of Rasmussen's memories. And because I have a hard drive, I remember it all in pretty vivid detail."
He coughs into his fist and crosses the room to retrieve dinner from the oven. It's a no-frills affair, he just tears open the parchment pouch and lays it out with a couple of forks. "Go ahead."
"It must be difficult, having that much stuck in your head." Over one hundred years plus all of the memories One has accumulated on his own during his own life? Selina's surprised it hasn't driven him crazy by now. "How do you handle it? I mean, how can you possibly... uh." Not exactly the easiest thing to talk about, this, and she falls silent, her features hinting to how bothered she is by the subject for reasons she most likely won't be able to put into words.
When dinner is done she moves to join One, a fork taken and used to take a bite. She can not help but to smile, the fish some of the best she has ever had. "This is positively delicious."
"I'm glad you like it. It's one of my favorites." One takes up a fork as well, heading straight for the couscous. He pauses with an artichoke heart halfway to his mouth. "That's part of the reason I have to plug into Glitch every day. Accessing that much data means resorting it later. I have to defrag and reorganize files. It's a lot like sleeping, it just takes less time and I need a compjuter to do it."
Selina glances sidewards at her host when he mentions Glitch and how he uses it, her fork held just above a tomato that is spared from being skewered. "I was about to ask if it hurts," she says with a sheepish grin. "But I suppose it wouldn't, would it? It isn't like you're doing major surgery on yourself or anything." The instinct to offer One a hand to hold for comfort kicks in at that and she sets it upon the table, palm up.
One doesn't reach out. Affection is a foreign concept to either of his personas. Instead, he takes his bites and savors it. This time, this moment, this piece of perfection.
"It doesn't hurt, but I don't really like it," he says. "It's difficult to describe."
Talk about awkward. Selina sighs and slowly pulls her hand back, letting it settle upon her lap. "Someday..." she muses to herself before the meal is returned to and she starts to eat again, this time with a little more gusto.
"I can't imagine it'd be any kind of pleasant," she mutters around a mouth of couscous, forgetting her manners for that quick moment.
Behind them, Glitch is showing the face-off between the SS troops and the Viet Cong commandos. As One predicted, the Nazis emerge victorious.
Oblivious, he salutes with a forkful of fish. "Hah! Knew it. See?"
Sel turns as One mentions the show, his enthusiasm contagious enough to make her forget... well, just about everything from the past fifteen seconds or so. "That you did." A pat is given to One's knee in a congratulatory manner, a quick tap-tap of that joint and nothing more. "Since you were nice and shared your dinner with me how about you let me return the kindness and have you over for dinner at my place?" Granted, she won't be doing the cooking but she can at least order in something nice for them.
"Love to. I haven't been out of this place for days, except to go shopping." One nods agreeably and takes another bite. Chew. Swallow. "It'd be nice to get out and stretch my legs. Speaking of which, I may have dug up a lead on where the last of the clones are hiding out. I won't know for certain until my agent gets back to town, but things looked promising when she left."
"Good. Give me a call tomorrow and we can make plans. My evenings are free for awhile. This is the time of year when people aren't throwing many parties and I'm not taking as many jobs at the moment." The latter is because she realized just how bad she is in need of a little 'vacation', the past month or so having done quite a bit of damage to Selina's game. 
"Just promise me one thing." A finger is used to lightly tap One on the tip of his nose, her eyes holding to his if she can. "One night. All I ask is for one night were we do nothing but... act like total mundanes. No clones, no thievery, nothing but just us being normal." 
The mention of the clones that are left over has her frowning. "You know the routine, One. When you need me, you know where I am." Because she will not let One face them without her.
Category:Log