"Maybe," he said, "but anyone who might recognize me also
knows that I'm just a poor L2 street rat -- one who's only known
starvation and disease and war.

And he looks THAT pretty?

Where did I say he looked pretty?  He's dressed up in a masquerade costume, 
that's all -- and a pretty outrageous one at that.  ^^

And while Duo's obviously in the midst of war, it's been a few years since 
he did the starvation and disease thing.  He survived the plague that killed 
Solo, and then was taken in by the Sweepers and Dr. G, taking care of the 
whole lack of food thing.  ^^

It's Heero's POV, and this isn't a shounen-ai fic.  Heero's visual appraisal 
is supposed to be one of bemusement and skepticism.  He's not supposed to be 
thinking how cute Duo is.  ^^  If I gave that impression, I'm willing to 
take suggestions on how to fix it.

     He laughed. "I *knew* you hacked your American Lit grade.
Edgar Allen Poe wrote The Purloined Letter... among other things.
Look it up, genius."

I never quite bought the theory that spies wouldn't look for a missing 
letter among the target's correspondence.  At least these guys are going 
to a party and have an excuse to have their guard lowered.

If I remember the story correctly, the letter wasn't in the correspondence, 
it was framed and hanging on the wall.

     Especially now, as I holstered my .45 and stepped over the
fallen bodies of the seven soldiers unfortunate enough to get
stuck with security room detail, while the rest of the
aristocratic military-bent-on-world-domination indulged in music
and dance and drink in the Romerfeller Estate Ballroom, two
floors below.

It's nice for once to see a Gundam Wing fic that's prepared to include a 
little explanation of who these guys are and who the other side is.

I was attempting to convey as much information in as few words as possible, 
while still allowing people unfamiliar with Gundam Wing to get the gist of 
what was going on.

     But then he grinned that lopsided grin that never quite
reached the spark in his eyes. "'And Darkness and Decay and the
Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.'"

The Poe reference earlier is a nice set up for that.

Heh.  The entire fic is supposed to be a Poe reference.  ^^

Thanks for the C&C.

-Krista 


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