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Victria

"Never a Good Idea"

"Never a Good Idea"

Inside The Holy Grail aboard Camelot Station

w/ Travis Kroells, Mark Garrison, & Victria

 

After listening to Commander JoNs' farewell speech, Victria leaned back on the bar as conversation picked up. She glanced to where Mark was currently making a fool of himself. "Do you intend to continue drinking? I have no interest in carrying you back to Excalibur."

 

"Well, obviously I can't. Someone has accosted me and stolen my bottle. If I weren't such a nice guy I'd have him detained," Mark said belligerently.

 

"Uh, excuse me. This was my bottle to begin with, thank you very much." Travis gave Mark a teasing look before taking a drink straight from the bottle. "I swear you think you can run all over The Grail just because you wear that damned uniform."

 

"There is truth in that," Victria agreed. "You put on that uniform and become a completely different person. It has worsened since he was appointed the Chief of Security," she confided to Travis.

 

"Yes," Travis nodded in agreement. "Mark Garrison, always so high strung with his duty and rules. I'll tell you, this stiff didn't know how to have fun whatsoever before he met me."

 

"Yeah," Mark scoffed. "I used to have a clean record too."

 

"You are obnoxious when you drink too much," she said. "And vulnerable."

 

Mark's brow furrowed into a glare at Victria. "You're not so charming yourself either. Oooh, look at Victria, scary and blunt Al-Ucard. Pfft." He gave her an unimpressed look before glancing to Travis. "See what I have to put up with every day?"

 

"Mmm, yes. However do you manage Mark? It's a damn mystery." Kroells chuckled and took another drink.

 

"Your security force would be half of what it is without me," she said flatly. "You would do well to keep that in mind, intoxicated or not."

 

"You know Vic... Vicky, you're lucky I'm half drunk right now. You may have had the upper hand on me when I first joined Excalibur, but I'm more then capable of taking you down now." Mark stared her down with a good bit of intensity. Travis took a step back, and took another drink.

 

"Really?" Victria's gaze narrowed slightly. She glanced briefly to the milling crowd of their shipmates before fixing her attention firmly on Mark again. "You think so?"

 

Travis was eyeing the crowd as well. Brawls meant security, which meant searches, which meant contraband charges, which was all the excuse Corizon needed to stiff him payment. "You know Mark, you were right; she does remind me of Alison. As does this situation and the night we all spent in lock up for it..."

 

"Shut up Travis," Mark took a step towards Victria, leaning down and getting right in her face. "I know so. You make half the crew jump when you bare your fangs, but I'm not scared of you. Not one bit. So go ahead, try it." He raised his chin and tilted his head, giving her a free shot. "I dare you."

 

One eyebrow rose fractionally and she stole another glance at the crowd. Meeting Mark's challenging gaze again decided her. Without warning, she reared back and punched him directly in the proffered jaw. His head snapped upward and his muscles seized as he fell back unconscious, hitting the floor with a dull thud. She leaned casually against the bar, glancing about to see if anyone noticed. Her gaze slid back to Travis. "Do you have a place to dump his body for a few hours?"

 

Travis' jaw hung open for a few seconds before he reacted. "Uh...yeah...just drag him over here."

 

He motioned to a room by the bar and then grabbed Mark by the wrist and began pulling. Victria took the other wrist and helped to drag him out of the main room. Those that noticed gave them a knowing look as though this had happened many times before. In the storage room, the two of them hefted the Security Chief and dumped him on top of a stack of crates.

 

"You do not seem too worried," she observed, glancing to Travis. "Is this normal for him?"

 

"Normal for him, with a woman like you," Travis sighed and placed the nearly consumed bottle of Aldebaran Whiskey on a rack. "He never did cope with stubborn women very well."

 

"A woman like me? That is what you mean? Stubborn?" Thankfully for Travis, she seemed more curious than challenged. "That explains much. You have known him long, then?"

 

"Yeah, Mark and I went to the academy together, back on Earth. What was that... twelve years ago?" Kroells paused and considered the notion. "Since then, we would see each other randomly. You could never pull Mark away from the Mercutio, and I wasn't exactly in a respectable position at the time."

 

"Mark has mentioned you before, but never at any length. He has never divulged any stories of his past to me." She leaned slightly closer. "Is he hiding something?"

 

"Not particularly I'd imagine," Travis eyed Mark's unconscious form, considering the one thing they did have to hide. "Mark's just not one to tell a fancy tale of his life. Besides, the majority of what is interesting isn't all that pleasant. Truth be told, I imagine he came out here to try and put his past behind him."

 

"I can understand why someone would wish to do that," she said quietly. "You do not disclose the entire truth, but I will not ask why. We all have our secrets."

 

"That we do, and I can appreciate someone who understands that," Travis gave her a warm smile, pulling a random bottle off the wall and examining it. "I don't suppose you're much of a drinker?"

 

"Not of alcohol," she said with amusement. "But I do enjoy trying new things."

 

"I can only imagine what that entails," Travis replied with a bemused smirk. "I've heard a few things about how you sample the local variety."

 

"Have you really? What sort of things?" She took the bottle and removed the cap, sniffing the contents. She took a drink without reacting and handed it back.

 

"I imagine you've heard them all before. A good number of them sound like they originally came from Laarell's mouth." He gave her an impressed look as he grabbed the bottle and drank, producing a burny 'ahhh'. "Besides, I judge people by looking them in the eye, not what's whispered behind them."

 

She frowned at the mention of the Orion. "You should definitely not believe anything you hear from that direction. She and I are not the best of friends. She delights in both slander and provocation. I react... badly... to both."

 

"Well I think I have a decent understanding of her. I can see why you too wouldn't get along, though I must admit I'm curious as to what caused all the bad blood."

 

"That I cannot say, though I do have my suspicions. I believe her prejudice stems from jealousy. She cannot abide competition. Perhaps she believes I stand in her way in her quest to sleep with every male aboard the Excalibur."

 

Travis chuckled and took another drink. "Oh so there's a race then?" He gave her a joking grin and handed her the bottle.

 

She smiled thinly before accepting the drink. "I am not interested in that particular sort of rivalry. There is little she can do to keep me from what... or who... I want, if I am so inclined."

 

"I'd imagine as much. You took out Mark easily enough and he prides himself on being able to take a punch. I suppose I'd be inclined to stay on your good side."

 

"He can defend himself far better when not intoxicated. Perhaps it was unfair of me to treat him in such a manner." She glanced briefly in Mark's direction and smiled. "But he deserved it, and will hopefully not make that mistake again."

 

"I wouldn't much count on that," Travis regarded Mark. "But there's always hope. I guess."

 

"In any case, I do not intend to be here when he wakes."

 

"Neither do I. I shouldn't have put him around so much glass."

 

She laughed as she returned the bottle to him. "Thank you for the drink… as painfully ordinary as it may have been."

 

He examined the bottle again before putting it back, then glanced up to meet her gaze. He smiled slyly. "Maybe next time you're in I'll have something that will appeal to your tastes."

 

"Next time," she promised. Fangs flashed as she smiled in return. "I will hold you to that, mister Kroells."

Edited by Victria

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