acertifieduser | ○ 04: Maybe they once locked eyes.

[Filtered AWAY from George]
[AUDIO: There's a short pause before Eddie speaks.]

I have a favor to ask. I'm trying to help my warden understand a more modern approach to romance. What I need is a woman, between the ages of twenty-four and thirty-two.. thirty-three, who would be willing to take him out on a date. Maybe a private dinner, drinks afterward, and a starry walk in the CES or something. He'll know up front what this is; this isn't some trick and he won't be expecting to fall in love or anything.

I don't have anything specific to offer as a thanks, but I'm pretty resourceful if there's something specific you're looking for. I'm not providing any weapons and I reserve the right to refuse anyone for any reason.. because even knowing what's going on, he's still a nice guy and I don't want to mess with him. I'm really just looking to help him out.

Oh, it's George Crabtree. Some of you might know him.

[Private to George]
I want to know more about your time. Are there any books, fiction or non-, that you can recommend? I'm a pretty fast reader.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Persson. Una Persson.

This isn't something you do to help anyone else. Not here, at least.

Oh, yes. Of course. Miss Wanda is a very nice girl.

[George approves of your lady friends.]

Right... I think I can follow it.

So is dating someone you have no intention of marrying part of your culture? [Asked without a hint of aggression or suspicion. Somehow.]

Pleasure to meet you, Mister Spinola.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It's short enough that we can actually talk about the whole thing, it's awesome, and Richard Bach goes well with wine.

Deck's cool. I like the sky-show pretty well up there.

Why?

Good. Tomorrow night work for you?

I'll bring a picnic blanket.

Thanks, Miss Persson. Are you a friend of George's?

She said the same about you, actually. She's a little young though, George. [He says, despite making a date with her.]

Thanks. Do you think you can get them for me by tomorrow night? Or tomorrow morning would be even better if you can. I really appreciate it.

Good.

Sometimes it is, yeah. Sometimes people date because they want to get married and other times they date because they just want to have fun, or see if they have something in common. Sometimes people are just looking for someone to pass some time with who's fun but that they don't have to worry about marrying. There's a lot of reasons to date somebody. Marriage is one of many.

I apologize. Mr. Russet. Sometimes I forget we're not all friends. I hope you'll forgive me for being rude.

Young for what?

I'll see what I can do.

Young for you.

Thank you.

...She's eighteen. But I wasn't thinking about that.

Is that normal in your time? Courting 18-year-olds?

Yes, quite. My sixteen year old cousin is engaged. I was against that at first, but more because I didn't think they'd known each other for long enough.

It's a little different in our time. Generally you try to stay within ten years; it's called the 'decade rule.' It's less strict when you're older.-- But hey, she seems like the kind of girl who might be interested in that kind of thing. If you both like each other, I don't see why it couldn't work.

Because this place is too unstable. Anything can happen.

I suppose you might say so, yes.

Why?

I think...you and I need to have a very frank talk after this "date" about...me.

Yeah, that works just fine. I'll get reading. This'll be really cool.

Life is unstable. I'd rather appreciate the time that I have as much as I can before it's gone, even if that means ending up in situations I hadn't planned or dealing with things over my head. Most of the best experiences I've had in my life lately came from having a drink with perhaps the most worthless relation I've ever known. If I hadn't done that, if I hadn't been willing to try something stupid and unstable with someone I didn't care about, I wouldn't be where I am today.-- and I don't mean dead, I mean having an amazing history and getting a second chance. Life's too short to waste it.

I'll see you then, Wanda.

That's good. He needs more friends like you.

Honestly, George, I couldn't really tell you. It's about socially accepted norms. It probably came from the fact that women were encouraged to get a full education before getting married and that meant being a certain age or being older, then there was the idea of trying to stay together for the rest of your life and a man with one divorce under his belt shouldn't be seeking out a girl fresh out of high school.. But those are just speculations.

I would really like to talk about you, George.

Inspiring story.

But it's not really relevant to what I meant.

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○ 04: Maybe they once locked eyes.

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