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No ood news for me Why can’t these people leave uy picks up his beer and ood show of eager shyness, like he’s surprised to be singled out, but I know better "Hey," he says by way of greeting "I don’t want you to panic, but your drink appears to be blue"

It’s one of Molly’s concoctions, which he soives me for free as an excuse to actuallypitchers of beer

I make a snap decision If he wants to play it coy, I can do coy right back He’s not exactly hard on the eyes, and this curiosity is tugging atwith it I know he can’t be interested into be

I fish out the plastic sword--it’s hot pink--frolass and suck the cherries off of it, one by one The guy’s eyes fix on h et et much opportunity to flirt

I let my lips curve in a smile and lean in a fraction "I like it blue"

His mouth opens to respond, but instead he’s forced to clear his throat at length

"Got a touch of the swan concern "Molly’ll take care of that for you His drinks’ll cure anything, fros to appendicitis"

"That so?" He’s found his voice again, and his slea: pleasure He’s enjoying himself

Well, so are you, points out a snide little voice in ive it a second, we’ll find out if it’ll turn ue blue, to boot"

"That an invitation to make a personal inspection?"

I can see soto see if I rip off sohs, leaning sideways against the bar It’s a bit of a capitulation, a pause in the ga me out

I set my drink down on the bar next to a set of initials scratched into the composite surface They were here before I ever showed up, and their owner is long gone "This is the part where you’d ordinarily introduce yourself, Roo up "Pretty sure Romeo kept his mask on when henot to flinch at his use of my whole name He iven ot to have been educated somewhere off-world The swamp-dwellers can barely read an instruction manual, much less ancient classics

"Oh, a scholar?" he replies, eyes gleairl like you So, who’d you offend to get stuck on Avon?"

I lean back against the bar, propping ets with the plastic sword, weaving it back and forth through irl" Romeo meets my eyes with a smile, then looks away But not before I’ve seen it: he’s tense It’s subtle, but I’ve been trained to notice the invisible currents, the ebb and flow of a person’s energy A muscle tic here, a line of tension there Soet before someone tries to blow themselves up, and take you with them

Adrenaline sharpens my senses as I lean forward The air in here sar sh to drown out the invasive smell of the swa in the background and look ht, whether his pupils are dilated If he’s new to the planet, he shouldn’t have had time to succumb to the Fury--unless he’s been transferred here froht under etting brisker, "let "

Sootten a read onon" I reach out to lay entle touch, but firm He’ll have to jerk away if he wants to leave before I’o "You’re not a soldier," I say finally "And not a local Quite the little puzzle You’re not going to leave uy’s sot to be a spy from one of TerraDyn’s cohboring corporations with space staked out on Avon "That’s unkind, Captain Chase"

I abandon pretense "I never told you who I was"

"Like Stone-faced Chase needs an introduction"

Though you’d never catchht on like wildfire afterhis features and trying to figure out why he looks so familiar If he’s a criminal, maybe I’ve seen his picture in the database