Conversation · Lilienne, the Net Picker

The woman gazes steadily at the waves. A sudden gust picks up her dark hair and lets it fall again, tussled, wild. She brushes a few stray locks from her eyes, and only then spots you approaching.

"Aye, so here you are. It's late and it's raining. The water is..." She puts her hands out and lets the rain fall on her palms. "Cold. Ice cold."

"Know that you're not the first guy to bring a girl to Land's End. This is what locals call a make-out spot. That is not going to happen here today -- I just want to make that clear, dimples." She turns to face the sea once more.

Her thoughts are still elsewhere -- with distances across the water, and with the water itself.

Across the rusty water -- that's La Delta, the financial district. In the mist-covered distance, towers rise as a rebuke to the poverty of this coast.

"Kim, we ready to do this?"

Keeping a tactful distance, the lieutenant takes out his notebook, demonstrating complete disinterest in your "date."

Don't be fooled. He's watching you to make sure you don't act unprofessionally.

(Look at her) "You seem surprised that I made it."

She chuckles. "Drinking men aren't known for keeping their appointments."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"The world?" She laughs. "Those big words men like to throw around as though they had weight."

"Let's just admire this piece of the world we happen to have in front of us, a?" She nods to you, a playful glint in her eyes.

"Here it comes," she says. As she turns back to the sea, the weather begins to clear under her steady gaze.

So fast as to make it seem like the weather turns at her command.

"You know, I have special abilities too. Pa-ra-na-tu-ral abilities."

"Wait, do you think I did that? Nay, I just grew up on the sea, that's all. Know which way the wind is blowing."

"As for your 'paranatural abilities' -- I'd love to hear about them sometime, really, but can't we just enjoy the view for a moment?"

You should say something. Anything. Maybe the Tequila Sunset thing?

No! Keep quiet about your sordid past.

The sun reflected in the waves and the skyscrapers rising across the bay is mesmerizing. Your mind clears for a moment as your senses take it all in -- not just the glass skyscrapers, fragile-looking in the shimmering air, River Esperance flowing into the bay...

"Isn't it strange," she breaks the silence abruptly, "For this all-powerful thing, the sun... to be so generous towards us? You know, the best time to go out fishing is usually toward sunset, when the water is warmer..."

The sun also falls on the cape-side tenements and war-torn ruins. An old sea fortress juts out, seemingly impervious to the sheen cast over everything else, shaking you out of your reverie...

The Sun does little for the dead, and those hopelessly lost in their own minds.

Or people living in desert climates with sparse vegetation and little drinking water.

"Is that why you named your boat 'The Sun'?"

"Oh, that was a bit of pride, and a bit of superstition..."

And a bit of conceptual unity too, it being yellow and all...

"I'm not sure desert people are happy with too much sunlight."

"Now you're just nitpicking." She smiles. "But aye, I concede -- maybe desert people sometimes disagree."

Just enjoy the view. (Continue.)

There's salt in the air and the cries of the gulls and the skuas; grit of the sand and the green glint of broken bottles. But still your gaze always returns to the dazzling streaks of light, wherever they may be reflected, their opulence...

"It's bringing us spring, summer... It's entirely on our side, no matter what we do or who we are. For absolutely no reason. It's unlike no other powerful being -- certainly no powerful organisation, or government? How can that be?"

"The sun isn't exactly an organisation."

"No." She smirks. "And it will outlive them all."

Maybe some general remarks before you say something big? Work your way up to the cool.

"You have fish-hooks in your ears."

"These?" she turns her head and they dangle. "These aren't real fish-hooks, silly. They're earrings shaped to look like fish-hooks. A drunk called Rosemary brought them to me. I kept them."

She's right. They're made mostly of plastic. A cheap novelty gift you can buy from a flower shop or a kiosk.

The lieutenant makes a show of glancing at his watch and tapping his foot.

The wind ruffles her hair as she looks at the sunlit coast across the water.

"This was nice. Thank you." (Conclude the date.)

"It didn't suck," she smiles. "I'll let you get back to your business now. The twins probably found a land mine by now..."

As she walks off the wind picks up, and the light from the sun seems to fade -- the crumbling silhouette of Feld Electrical R&D towers in the distance, beckoning.

Say something about the sun.

Here we go. Two different approaches to cap this off with style.

"The only fault with the sun is -- it shines on us as well as our enemies."

"That it does. But then... we are also enemies to our enemies, eh? And so she shines on us. The cops and the commies, the killers and the saints. You know..."

"The wind's gonna pick up soon and I have to go, but..." She takes her sword out of the scabbard. The blade reflects the sunlight, a dark orange.

"Have this. The sun's good but it doesn't stick things -- I've no use for it anymore."

"Are you sure you don't need the sword?" (Look at it.)

"No. Men around here are too drunk to pose a threat to me."

The lieutenant looks at the sword with distrust in his eyes.

Do not bring it into a gun fight, he thinks. Please understand it's merely ceremonial.

"Think we can do this again sometime?"

"Doubt it." She smiles sadly. "But thank you for the company."

This is as far as it goes with her. You'd need to put a year between you and your last drink for anything more.

"Thank you for coming on this walk with me." (Conclude.)

"Farewell." She nods to you and turns to go.

As she walks off the wind picks up, and the light from the sun seems to fade -- the crumbling silhouette of Feld Electrical R&D towers in the distance, beckoning.