Eddon observed by Vail
Eddon was eyeing her make-up disapprovingly: the wavering slash
of lipstick, the incomplete rings of kohl. Vail showed her teeth
in a grotesquely brilliant smile, like a parody of a holo-film
star.
"This is my new look," she announced. "The half-finished look.
I've decided to make it fashionable."
Eddon snorted. "Guess it doesn't matter. After seventy years
they'll hardly know what's normal in the rest of the galaxy."
"No, maybe they'll think it's you that's the weirdo."
Eddon rolled his eyes heavenward, and murmured something under
his breath. They stood in silence for a while.
Vail studied him discreetly. Good-looking enough, she thought.
A wry mobile face, full of expression, with strong jutting eyebrows
and deeply cleft jaw. His pale eyes roamed ceaselessly this way
and that. Everything about him was forceful, restless, pugnacious.
Yes, good-looking enough -- but seriously lacking in style. His
dark brush-like hair shot out at all angles and he seemed in need
of a shave. Even in Police uniform he looked somehow unkempt.
