Ficlet: Aggravation
Sep. 3rd, 2008 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolevalanTitle: Aggravation
Fandom/original: Original/Shadowrun
Characters: Sabine Hamilton
Rating: PG
A/N: Another prompt from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rougen. Unproofread, given the loveliness of my day.
The comm was beeping, for the third time in an hour. This time, it was Blake. Sabine didn’t answer it. He could wait until after her shower. She knew what the conversation would be about, regardless. It would be about taking her to dinner, read going on a third date, read why-the-hell-haven't-you-slept-with-me-yet? He was, of course, much too suave to actually voice such an opinion. Usually. But on the other hand, she wanted to be as sure as possible that if she slept with him, it was entirely voluntary. Damned wizards.
This was inane. She needed another job. Climbing out of the shower again, she dried her long curtain of ebony hair, wrapping it up in a towel. Of course, if jobs were becoming that scarce, she could just climb back into her other self and go to a party or two. Flirt with some foreign millionaire's son, laugh at a diplomat's joke, drink an obscene amount of champagne. But to be frank... being Bruce Wayne had lost its thrill. And unlike Bruce Wayne, her money had started to go. Tools for work, but still. Maintaining two lifestyles at once was costly, and -
The comm buzzed a fourth time, interrupting her conjectures. An unmarked number. Excellent. That could mean several things, but if she was lucky, it meant a job. A job with all the danger and cash she needed right now.
It was her grandmother.
“Nana, you didn’t tell me you’d gotten a new number.”
“Oh, I haven’t, sweetpea. Your grandfather bought me this new IP scrambler. For security.”
Sabine smiled to herself. She’d long since programmed an extra shell of security around her grandparents’ online identity, integrating it into their laughably basic firewall. Grandfather fancied himself a bit of a wonk. Bless.
“Alright, Nana. What can I do for you?”
“I can call my granddaughter just to talk, can’t I?”
Sabine waited a moment, not answering.
Sure enough, her grandmother added, “But since you mentioned it, there is this lovely little party I could use an arm for. I don’t want it to be any hassle of course, but…”
Suppressing a groan, Sabine said, “Who is he? Pretend we’ve skipped your protestations of innocence.”
Her grandmother made a harrumphing noise. “He’s a very nice young man. His father is in some sort of cybernetic designing field.”
“Uhuh.”
“Please, sweetpea? It’d mean so much if you’d just come to the party. You only have to dance with him once.”
Sabine considered. She could pretend to be serious about Blake, which would require some sacrifices, or she could go to a deadly boring cocktail party and let her grandmother set her up. Decisions, decisions…
Blake would not be worth the aggravation.
“Of course I’ll go, Nana.”
“Good! You can come get me at eight on Thursday.”
Sabine said goodbye and disconnected. She really needed something better to do. This easy living could kill a girl.
Fandom/original: Original/Shadowrun
Characters: Sabine Hamilton
Rating: PG
A/N: Another prompt from
rougen. Unproofread, given the loveliness of my day.The comm was beeping, for the third time in an hour. This time, it was Blake. Sabine didn’t answer it. He could wait until after her shower. She knew what the conversation would be about, regardless. It would be about taking her to dinner, read going on a third date, read why-the-hell-haven't-you-slept-with-me-yet? He was, of course, much too suave to actually voice such an opinion. Usually. But on the other hand, she wanted to be as sure as possible that if she slept with him, it was entirely voluntary. Damned wizards.
This was inane. She needed another job. Climbing out of the shower again, she dried her long curtain of ebony hair, wrapping it up in a towel. Of course, if jobs were becoming that scarce, she could just climb back into her other self and go to a party or two. Flirt with some foreign millionaire's son, laugh at a diplomat's joke, drink an obscene amount of champagne. But to be frank... being Bruce Wayne had lost its thrill. And unlike Bruce Wayne, her money had started to go. Tools for work, but still. Maintaining two lifestyles at once was costly, and -
The comm buzzed a fourth time, interrupting her conjectures. An unmarked number. Excellent. That could mean several things, but if she was lucky, it meant a job. A job with all the danger and cash she needed right now.
It was her grandmother.
“Nana, you didn’t tell me you’d gotten a new number.”
“Oh, I haven’t, sweetpea. Your grandfather bought me this new IP scrambler. For security.”
Sabine smiled to herself. She’d long since programmed an extra shell of security around her grandparents’ online identity, integrating it into their laughably basic firewall. Grandfather fancied himself a bit of a wonk. Bless.
“Alright, Nana. What can I do for you?”
“I can call my granddaughter just to talk, can’t I?”
Sabine waited a moment, not answering.
Sure enough, her grandmother added, “But since you mentioned it, there is this lovely little party I could use an arm for. I don’t want it to be any hassle of course, but…”
Suppressing a groan, Sabine said, “Who is he? Pretend we’ve skipped your protestations of innocence.”
Her grandmother made a harrumphing noise. “He’s a very nice young man. His father is in some sort of cybernetic designing field.”
“Uhuh.”
“Please, sweetpea? It’d mean so much if you’d just come to the party. You only have to dance with him once.”
Sabine considered. She could pretend to be serious about Blake, which would require some sacrifices, or she could go to a deadly boring cocktail party and let her grandmother set her up. Decisions, decisions…
Blake would not be worth the aggravation.
“Of course I’ll go, Nana.”
“Good! You can come get me at eight on Thursday.”
Sabine said goodbye and disconnected. She really needed something better to do. This easy living could kill a girl.
