Title: Sartorial Dating Senses
Author: MouseBebe
Rating: PG
Summary: Dylan catches up a little more to his new century and new crew.
Spoilers: None.
Pairing: None.
Setting: Early first season.
Disclaimer: Tribune owns all rights to Andromeda.
Archive: Do not archive without express permission.
Feedback: Constructive criticism welcome.
Author's Note: Just something fun I wrote a while ago.
Loud music. Very loud music. Another reason, Dylan reflected, that he had stopped going to these clubs around thirty. Not that this seemed to bother Beka, who had to be about that age. He had more sense than to ask. Instead she was dancing in her seat to the barely-discernible beat. He suspected that she would be out on the floor with Harper and Trance but had been the one assigned to babysit the captain, not that the Maru crew had ever said that was what they did when they made sure someone was with him whenever they were off the ship. He was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to realize that was what they were doing, even assuming they were doing it consciously.
"Beka."
"Yeah?" She paused in her twisting, taking a sip of water while she waited, even as the rings on the knuckles of her other hand clicked against the tabletop in time.
"Go. Dance. Have fun. I'll sit here and enjoy my…" he sniffed the violently purple concoction and winced, "… whatever this is… until everyone's ready to go back to the ship."
She grinned. "You let Trance order for you, didn't you? Her method is to order anything on the drinks menu that sounds fun. I think that one was the 'plum passion.'" She tilted her glass toward him. "You can have my water if you're desperate."
"Uh, I'll think about it." He nodded in acknowledgement and gently pushed away his cocktail glass, marveling at how her energy seemed ramped up just from the music; he hadn't seen her have anything other than the water. "But won't you want it later?"
"Nah, I think I'm going to see if I can get that guy by the bar to buy me a drink. I'm pretty sure he's got money to burn and I'm willing to have him spend it on me." She grinned again and pushed back her chair to stand.
"How can you tell?" Was this one of those things that Dylan should know about his new era, or had she just been watching the man for a while? Or did she know him from elsewhere?
She sighed, leaning her elbows on the table, and for a moment it seemed like she had given up on the idea of leaving. Then she explained, "Okay, see his sleeves? That really tight band above the elbows?"
"Yeah…"
"That was a thing years ago in some systems. High fashion, expensive, you know the thing. Anyway, it's just starting to come back and again, high fashion, expensive, that type of thing."
"I'm following." It may have been against his better judgment, but he was following.
"I got a better look when I got my water. It's definitely the retro style, but it's too new to be something he pulled out of storage just now or got secondhand. And the whole thing's too coordinated to be sheer chance, so he bought the whole thing at once, and even a knockoff's not cheap right now. Near as I can tell, he has money and I have none, so the least I can do is make it a little more even." She bounced to her feet. "I'll tell Trance to get you on her way back. Don't wait up!" And with a wave and a smile she was gone.
Bemused, he watched Beka strike out across the room to her mark and wondered whether his own three-century-old clothes qualified as "retro."
The End