"Don't worry, if he is anything like Riv, I know exactly what you mean."

Plum shook her head. From what she knew, River was nice. Perhaps a little scary at times, and certainly much less conservative than Plum (which was really saying something), but nice all the same. But Benjy would probably know better, being related to her and all.

"Good hands," Plum said with a wink as bottles of liquid came flying. She probably would have ended up dropping one or both and thus ruining her shoes. He really was cute.

"It seems River can follow a simple instruction. Who'd have thought hey?"

"Oh, you don't give her enough credit," Plum said, taking a sip of her new lemonade. Then again, he'd probably know better.

"About two years now. And there was a year at the Academy before that. They make us learn all sorts of basic stuff. And I like doing my part you know? I'm not really cut out for field work, but I am good at my job, and most people dont realise how hard it is. W-what about you? How long have you been at the Prophet and what do you like about that? T-the w-way River talks about it makes it seem like a pretty interesting place."

Plum listened carefully, twirling her bottle of lemonade and balancing on one heel while jutting one hip out to the side. A typical stance for the young and carefree.

"It's really not that exciting of a place," Plum said. "I've been there for... four years now? My word, has it been that long?"

Quite suddenly, Plum felt as if her life were slipping away from her. She'd already lost four years to the dull drudgery of the Prophet, four years to the leering asshole that was Joshua Cloud, four years to boredom, four years of her biggest joy being colored tabs in the filing cabinet drawers.

"I don't like my job," she said in a low voice, looking away from him. Damnit. These bouts of depression always came at the worst times. "I just do what I have to."

Ugh, she wanted to curl up and die. It was terribly cliche, and Plum tried to stay away from those, but all the same. Here was a poor boy just trying to make conversation with her and her own insecurities have to burst on in, without a care in the world for how much fun she could be having.