Paradise Lost

[remindmeof_me]

Shephard took it upon himself to get some supplies before leaving Milliways last time. Not big-ticket items like food or anything; those would take a little too long to explain, and anyway, he didn't have the money for any meaningful amounts. He'd managed to earn enough from turning in demon rabbit pelts to pay off his tab and get a few extras,

Comments

[smelltheashes]

There's only so much maintenance you can usefully do on a vehicle that's lying idle. Eleanor has spent most of the past few days in quiet observation of the goings-on around her, getting a feel for how things are run. (Assuming they're run at all. Given how much upheaval there's been of late, it's hard to say. Not that she would ever dream of saying so out loud, of course.)

Just now, her wanderings happen to take her back to the hangar. Her eyes drift toward Shephard and his reading material. Then she double-takes.

"--is that Milton??"

[remindmeof_me]

Shephard's shoulders tense up at the question. He's had conversations start that way far too many times before; it's part of why he hadn't read the book in a few years before coming to Milliways.

"Sure is," he says, glancing up as he slides a finger between two of the pages. (Eve, having an angelic visitor to her and Adam's home, is currently in the process of preparing the only meal on record that has ever even come close to making Shephard consider vegetarianism.) "Surprised?"

They nearly always are. Kirk didn't count. He was just surprised to see the book, not the reader.

[smelltheashes]

"Well, yes."

Not unpleasantly so, judging by her tone.

[remindmeof_me]

"Uh huh." He's got a scrap of paper around here somewhere, he's gonna need a bookmark, where did he- oh, yes, there. As he marks the page he says, "I git that a lot. Half the time it's folks bein' surprised I know how to read at all."