Make a good impression
“Just one person.” He answered plainly again, but a smirk appeared on his face as the image of Jim danced through his mind. That man was a pure genius and Sebastian, despite how annoying Jim could be at times, loved working for him. Jobs were interesting, some boring, minor ones, but others, that required all Sebastian’s expertise - those were the ones he enjoyed immensely. Many times he had to improvise, disobey because he found a better way to solve a problem, which got him into trouble, but the end result still pleased Jim. And even though his boss rarely admitted to that, Sebastian still knew he did good - or else he wouldn’t be sitting there in that Café with Alex now. “And he’s the devil himself. So yes, I’m on the bad side of our wonderful society.” This time excitement was obvious in his tone of voice and the drank the rest of his beer slowly. “So, shall we?” He looked up at Alex after placing the empty glass on the table and petted the rifle case.
Alex grinned at how he talked about his boss. “I didn’t expect you to play with anyone less than either a God or a Devil, Moran.” It was obvious from his face that he enjoyed what he did and - no matter how sick and twisted it would sound to anyone else - she found it really exciting that he was on the bad side. For some reason, she couldn’t imagine him working under the British Government. And after all, girls like the bad guys, don’t they?
When he spoke of finally leaving for the range, she almost jumped up, but kept her calm and managed to show her excitement only by bumping against the table with her knee. “Yes. Let’s go.”
If Alex would be me, this is what I imagine her to look like XD With the dudes shirt and the dark hair and all - I doubt the glasses would be anything else than a disguise though. She’s older than I look though XD
“Well I’m not drunk often, so you’ll rarely see the fun side of me.” He replied with a shrug and took another sip. One more and he’d be done. Honestly, he’d go for another, but ever since he started working for Jim, which was a few years now, he forced himself to keep his drinking under control. He over did it when he got discharged from the army, drowning in the alcohol for days before Jim gave him a choice - stop drinking and get your life back or continue drinking and you’re dead. Death sounded appealing for some time then, but hearing what Jim has to offer caught his interest, so when he said yes to the man, there was no turning back - his drinking habits had to be kept under control.
A devilish smirk appeared on his face momentarily when she asked the question, but he pushed it away instantly and looked at her, thinking whether he should tell her what he’s current employment is or lie about it. “Hired gun.” He said vaguely as if it was a perfectly normal job, common and something legal. Not that he cared if she’d get alarmed by it, no, he knew well that if anyone tried doing anything with that information, he’d get rid of them - besides, he sort of trusted her. She was just too excited to even bother herself with that sort of information, he could read off her she was interested in his expertise and would go for it no matter who or what he was, it’s not like she was his target, well not for now, if she’d do anything that wasn’t acceptable to him (try blackmailing or abusing the info), he’d make sure she’d leave this world before her final hour came by itself.
The thought of Sebastian drunk made her smile for a bit, and she made a mental note to get to the point of trust where they could go out and drink together. She loved drinking - perhaps she loved it a bit too much - but she was awful at it. The few times she had went out with her fellow cadets, she had always been the one to wake up hungover in the morning. She had run a lot of laps because of her ‘lack of tolerance’. But she never complained.
Alex merely raised an eyebrow at his answer about the job. Of course Moran of all people would find a way to make a living from something he was good at. “I see.” She smirked, quickly picking up on the meaning behind his words. “You clean up the mess for people. Or just one person? I can imagine the pay is incredible.” He did wear rather expensive-looking clothing - not treated well, for they were a bit ruffled, but expensive nonetheless. She did wonder about one thing, still. “So, not that I give an actual fuck, but, are you on the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ side of our beloved society?”
“Well does my reputation say I’m a friendly, funny guy?” He gave her a light glare at the comment. Yes he could laugh, yes he enjoyed fun activities, but he never found it amusing if someone mocked his choice of words. Despite that, he forced himself to relax - why ruin such a beautiful day with nonsense? No reason, so he relaxed. “Well since you’re targeting one single person, yes, we could say you’re training to become an assassin - those usually have one target. And in this sort of business, assassins usually get eliminated after their kill - bosses like to make sure there are no loose ends. But I guess your boss is nature..” He shrugged and took another sip of his beer. Two more sips and he’d be done, then they could go, finally begin her training. “And yes, it amuses me. It’d be boring if I was going to have you practice merely on static targets…” He left the sentence hanging in the air, allowing Alex to interpret it as she’d like.
“No, it doesn’t. It does say you’re very funny when you’re drunk, until you have too much.” She snapped back, rolling her eyes.
She was silent for a bit after his words, wondering about what he said. What use was there in eliminating someone who took a whole training to become a proper assassin? She glanced up at his last sentence, meeting his eyes and frowning. She opened her mouth to say something, but decided otherwise and closed it again. She fiddled with her watch, averting her eyes again and asking herself what exactly he meant.
Suddenly she thought of something, and she looked back at him, licking her lips before speaking. “What is it exactly /you/ do?” She only knew vaguely, and it struck her as something important she actually didn’t know.
“I don’t see what you find funny about me stating it as ‘personal pleasure’ because I for one, see it as that. I enjoy holding a rifle and doing what I do therefore it’s a personal pleasure of mine.” His face didn’t light up when she began laughing, in fact, it irritated him to be honest. He wasn’t here to make jokes and his question was a serious one. Though he did feel slightly amused with how one could interpret those two words, ‘personal pleasure’ could mean many things.
He ignored her when she gazed at his beer - he was in no rush. He had the day off and therefore could take all the time he’d need for this. Nothing could make him rush with his beer except Jim’s call. “So I’m training a future assassin?” His face light up a bit, a devilish smirk forming itself. At first he was slightly concerned about whether she’d be prejudice about taking a human life, but now, hearing she actually planned on taking one eventually, made him like her a bit more.
When he didn’t join her in her laughter, she stopped and sighed. “Really, Moran, for having such a great reputation, you are quite the sour guy.” She leant back, facing out of the window again. It really was beautiful weather, even though there were some clouds, and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth again. “Assassin is such a big word, isn’t it? I guess it just seems fair that since my life was taken, I can take one back. Or a couple. Doesn’t really matter that much anyway, does it?” There was no bitterness in that sentence, just a statement, and a clear question. Now of course, it might prove a completely different case once she actually had to complete the task. She had never killed a man before, since she had never actually went to battle.
From the corner of her eye she saw a smirk appear on Moran’s face, and she turned her head back, slightly confused. “Does that amuse you?”
The silence didn’t bother Sebastian at all. He wasn’t a man of many words, not that he disliked talking to people, no, he was just someone who preferred to keep things to himself. His thoughts weren’t always shareable especially since most of the time he was occupied with thinking about jobs. Like a faithful employee he knew how to keep to himself. But then again, chitchat bored him. He’d only talk when there was a real subject at hand. Therefore, when she returned and muttered her opinion about the coffee as she drank her medicine, Sebastian didn’t do anything beside giving her a look then took a sip of his beer again, allowing himself to drown in his thoughts. The rifle kept on resting on the table the whole time, his baby, his most faithful friend which saved him oh so many times and served as good partner in crime. A question sprung in his mind and he turned to look at Alex again, “Is this training going to be for your personal pleasure or do you intend to use this knowledge?” His gaze was locked upon her, studying her carefully.
She almost choked on her coffee as he asked her that question, and she quickly covered her mouth to hide her laughter. “Personal pleasure?” She quoted him, wiping her lips and giving him her trade-mark eye-smiles. “That’s a funny way of phrasing it.” She put the cup down on the table, licking her lips and relaxing her face in a more neutral expression. “I can think of a few things I want to do with the new knowledge. Then again, that depends on how long I last.” She hoped long enough so she could at least shoot the bastard who ruined her life. She felt a smile appear as she imagined him, not realizing what was about to come, until he would suddenly drop dead. Bam.
“It’s for some kind of personal pleasure.” She summarized, amusement obvious in her voice. “I’ll use the knowledge, but for personal pleasure. Oh, Moran, i won’t ever be able to say personal pleasure without laughing.” She chuckled, running a hand through her hair. It was weird how comfortable she suddenly felt - a lot of the tension she had previously felt for the man opposite her had completely disappeared, and instead she could feel herself be filled with some sort of fondness instead. She kicked it off as a side-effect of the medicine, and simply grinned. “I’m eager to start though.” She gave his glass of beer an pointed stare.
“Good.” Sebastian nodded again not really impressed. It wasn’t surprising that she already had experience with shooting ranges, but the thing they had to take care of now, was to give her some experience with holding a rifle. That bugged him slightly, the fact she didn’t handle a rifle properly yet. That meant they’ll have a lot of work. He’ll still have to see how she is with a rifle and if he’d sense it wasn’t something she’d be capable of he’d just give up. No point in passing on knowledge onto someone who’s not capable of having a steady hand and keep focus. Even though she said that she is capable, she’d have to prove that first.
He glanced at his beer again and then back at Alex. “Well I still haven’t finished my beer….” He shrugged, not actually planing on hurrying with finishing his drink so whether she orders herself a cup of coffee or not, he couldn’t care less. He’ll take his time with his beer and she can do whatever she wants in the meantime.
Alex chuckled. “Okay. Be right back.” She got up, walking over to the bar and leaning on it, giving the man behind it a grin and ordering a cappuccino. She payed him the exact amount of money - she was going to have to be careful with spending that, she was already running low - and turned, after a polite. “Thanks.”
Sitting down opposite Moran again, she added milk to her coffee, reaching inside her pocket and taking out a little box, popping one of the pills in her mouth and swallowing it with her coffee, before wrinkling her nose and putting the cup down. “Well, that’s awful coffee.” She shivered to get the taste out of her mouth, before shrugging and taking the cup up again and glancing up at Sebastian, hoping he hadn’t noticed her little outburst. “Paid for it. Can just as well drink it.” She muttered, taking another sip. It was less bad this time, but perhaps that was because she wasn’t combining it with her pill this time. She didn’t say anything else, just looking out of the window - it was still obvious Sebastian wasn’t one for the comfortable chatting, which was fine. She could relate, and it allowed her to let her mind wander towards the shooting range. She looked forward to the reassuring weight in her hands again.
That was good, that was really good. Now that she had somewhere to stay at, they could begin with her training. It would be quite inconvenient if they’d still have to take care of that, well her, Sebastian wouldn’t bother with that. He gave her explicit orders and he was glad she followed them. “Good.” He nodded and took another sip of his beer before he’d continue talking. His eyes glanced at the case on the table then back at Alex. “Well since you don’t have much experience with handling a rifle, I was thinking about going out to the Shooting range today, just so you could get the feeling for now before we move on to moving targets.” That made him smirk, knowing that ‘moving targets’ to him were humans, but he wouldn’t have her do that. She wasn’t training for an assassin.
Alex smiled, anticipation and excitement bubbling up in her stomach. “Okay. That’s cool.” She tilted her head to the side, eyes flashing between him and the case. “I have done shooting in a range before.” She remarked, wanting to show him that she wasn’t entirely inexperienced. With anyone else, it would be just showing off, but she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be doing much showing off in the near future - after all, she was dealing with Sebastian elfin’ Moran. Which was still a pretty hallucinating thought. Her smile widened slightly more as she fixed her eyes on his face again.
“Do I still have time for a coffee, or are we leaving immediately?”
Sebastian spotted her from the corner of his eye and this time he didn’t just ignore her, this time he turned his head towards her and greeted her with a smile, a stiff one, since he wasn’t so keen on smiling when not necessary, but a smile nonetheless. He was having a good day and he wasn’t about to let anything ruin it even though he knew her training would occupy some of his free time - free time which he liked having all to himself, but now that he agreed, he’d just go with it, until he’d lost interest. “Alex.” He nodded and pointed at the seat across him with his gaze so she’d sit down.
“Did you manage to find a room?” He asked immediately, not actually caring about it but it would be convenient if she did after all - when training for a sniper, one needs to have a place to rest or else the focus isn’t sharp and it gets in the way of the perfect shot.
So they were going to skip the small talk. She sat down opposite him and quickly answered. “Yes. It’s a little walk from here, but it’s still convenient.” Of course she had tried looking for something a bit closer to the centre, but prices were through the roof these days, and she couldn’t just throw money out the window like that. She sent him another cheerful smile, glad to see him again. It was business now, and she was glad her mind would soon be occupied and she wouldn’t be alone with her thoughts.
“So…” She said, crossing her legs and leaning towards him. “Tell me. What is the plan?” She wanted to start as soon as possible - she felt ready.
Sebastian left in a hurry as his phone just wouldn’t stop buzzing, so when he was completely out of Alex’s sight, he took it out and called his boss back, reassuring him he’s not slacking and that heis prepared for the job.
Everything went well, just as it was planned. No complications, no step backs, no delays so that actually pleased Sebastian greatly. When he returned to London, his behaviour showed he was pleased. So when he arrived at the pub where he met Alex two days ago, he was completely different now - not so cranky, and not so distant.
He sat down at his usual table and ordered a beer. Again, he arrived several minutes earlier - that was just a habit of his - and waited for Alex patiently while leaning against his chair and observed the streets again. Oddly, no one even noticed he had a rifle case with him, displayed on the table. Well, he couldn’t care less even if someone knew. It’s not like he was going to shoot anyone here, at least not if they don’t provoke him.
Alex had felt nervous the entire morning. She had woken up at 8, cleaned up the tiny room she had been able to rent for a small price - not that strange when she didn’t even have her own bathroom - and made herself some toast, spending the rest of her free time reading and thinking about how her training would be. And time only seemed to crawl forward, seemingly taking an entire week before it was 1pm. She started preparing herself then, putting on a bandana to keep her hair out of the way and dressing in a comfortable jeans and shirt, throwing on a light jacket and her worn-out Converse. She stuffed her keys and wallet in her pockets, quickly leaving the room behind her and making her way to the pub.
She had left early, but still she arrived only 10 minutes before 2, immediately spotting him at the same table he had been before. This time she didn’t hesitate, but simply walked over to him and sat down. “Hello.” She threw him a smile - he did look more relaxed than last time, that was a good thing. Her eyes immediately got drawn to the case on the table, but she decided to not pay it too much attention. Yet.
