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Rich Brook enjoys filming for The Storyteller. He honestly does. It may not be the role of a lifetime, but he could do worse than to spend the day reading fairy tales to kids.

He's always liked fairy tales.

Still, when Milliways pops up during a break in filming, he doesn't turn it down. He glances back over his shoulder first; then, when no one else seems to see anything amiss, he goes in.

At the Bar, he asks for a club soda with lime. He could have something stronger if he liked - with time stopped at home, no one would be the wiser - but it seems wrong for the Storyteller to drink while he's technically on duty.

[OOC: For clarity, Jim is in character as Rich, and will be making a much stronger effort to remain in character than he usually does in Milliways. And yes, he really is coming in from filming. DVDs don't make themselves.]

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"That's only sensible," Rich says. "Do you work with anyone else, or is it just you?"

Isn't that what he asked before, more or less? Well, now he knows what not to say next.

"It's just me," says Martin.

Hang on. Didn't he say earlier something about working with a guy who has a thing for Hester MacCaulley?

(He did, didn't he?

Jim, at least, has noticed the discrepancy.)

Something isn't quite lining up here, but Rich is not prepared to push until he's worked out what it is.

"That's especially dangerous, then. At least I'm not in mine by myself."

"Luckily, I live with a few other people, so there's a little bit of a safety net there."

Someone to report him missing, at least.

"That's good," he says. "Lot of flatmates?"

He knows how that goes.

"Something like that, yeah," Martin says. "If you know the right people, you can get into the sort of places you're not technically allowed to be."

Which is how a 34-year-old pilot is living in student housing.

Rich laughs.

"Everything comes down to networking in the end, doesn't it?" he says. "It's all in who you know."

Also something he knows a thing or twelve about. Talent is optional for actors. Knowing the right people in mandatory.

Martin laughs. "Yeah, I know someone who gets through life entirely by just knowing the right people."

It's a bit maddening.

Rich . . . pauses, as a few things start to come together in the back of his head.

"What, like - Hester what's-her-name?" he asks tentatively.

If Martin says no, he'll let it go. He's not one to force the issue when it's not really all that important.

"Oh, uh. No. Well, maybe. I don't know." Martin wouldn't be surprised, with the way she behaved. "I only knew her for about a day.

"No, it's this other guy I sometimes work with. Everything goes his way, even when he should be getting in trouble for something."

If Martin sounds a bit bitter, well... Rich would understand if he knew Douglas.

"A repeat client?"

Being an actor, Rich is good at sounding innocently confused. Admittedly, it isn't that hard, because he really is confused. He just doesn't want to sound like he's interrogating Martin or something when he really isn't.

"Nnnno," Martin says slowly. He realises now that he's been contradicting himself this whole time.

"I, uh, do some other stuff on the side. It's more of a hobby, really — or charity work, really, since I don't get paid for it or anything."

He considers leaving it at that, but then figures that he's bound to embarrass himself sooner or later, and he may as well get it over with.

"I fly a jet for a small charter airline. Well, airdot, as the owner calls it. Just the one jet, and only one other pilot. But it takes up most of my time, which is why I need a job with flexible hours."

And now's the time when he starts steeling himself against being laughed at or mocked. That's what usually comes by this point, because who spends so much time indulging their hobby that they take a job as a removalist just to get by?

"Oh."

There are entire chunks of this conversation that suddenly make more sense.

"God, it must be nice to be able to set your own hours. I've been sacked because of rehearsals running too long before, it's a scheduling nightmare sometimes."

In other words, the bloke who has mostly not quite made a living pretending to be other people isn't about to judge someone else's professional choices.

"Tell me about it," Martin says, though he's still far from relaxing again. "My first six months doing this, I went through nine jobs. Employers tend not to like it when you disappear for a week on end because the airline gets a last minute client who wants to go to New Zealand."

Rich makes a rueful face.

"They don't much care about the perfectionist bastard of a director, either."

He sympathizes.

Martin manages a small little laugh. "I wouldn't know anything about that. Slave-driver CEOs, on the other hand..."

He does like Carolyn, for the most part. Just not when she makes them sleep in the plane.

(There, you see? Is telling the truth really all that hard, Martin?)

"And I don't know anything about that." Rich sounds rather pleased, now that the air seems to have been thoroughly cleared. "What's it like being a pilot, anyway?"

(No, just embarrassing.)

"Uh—" He seems rather caught off-guard by this question. "You really want to know?"

Usually when he hears that question, or one like it, the person asking is just being polite. Or they think they are, and then just try to change the subject again once he starts going on about it.

Martin can go on a bit, it must be said.

"I might play a pilot someday," he points out. "Could be useful."

Plus it sounds familiar, wanting to do something so badly he'll make all kinds of compromises to get there. Rich can identify with that.

"Oh. Well, OK."

And Martin does go on a bit, now. He starts off slowly, and more than a bit nervous, but once he's convinced Rich isn't going to wander off or anything, he starts to get into it, going on about take-offs, and the places they've been, and the bird strike in St Petersburg. Eventually, he comes round to his crew, talking about Arthur and Douglas, and while he tries to paint Douglas in a positive light, he does sort of fail a bit.

It's not unlike the torrent of enthusiasm you might get from Rich if you asked why he loves acting as much as he does. He listens with interest, and if he doesn't always follow the more technical details, Martin's eagerness still gets the point across. More or less.

"That sounds fantastic," he says when Martin winds down. "Really."

"Really?"

Martin doesn't get that reaction, like, ever. Except maybe from Arthur, but Arthur still manages to derail everything.

"Well, I mean, yeah. It's a lot of fun, and if I could get paid for it, it would be even better, but something about a pilot with test anxiety makes people not exactly want to hire you."

He knows his stuff. If anything, St Petersburg proved that. But four goes to get his CPL and another three to get his ATPL has rather limited his choices, unfortunately.

"Really," Rich assures him.

He's finished off his drink. A fresh one pops up for him, and another for Martin as well.

"Doesn't experience sort of - supersede that, though?" he asks. "I mean, I dunno, I don't run an airline, but if I'm a passenger and I have to choose between a pilot who makes a landing on one engine and one who passed the tests on the first go, I'd rather have the first guy."

He's just saying.

"I guess it doesn't really work like that," says Martin. "I mean, I got the highest certification license three years ago, and failed every interview but two in that time. The first was for a job that wound up not even letting me fly, and the second was the one I've got now."

If you can even call it a job.

"Well, maybe if you tried again now it'd be different?"

Rich is uncertain of this hypothesis, both because he is not the one who knows how things work in the airline industry, and because he is well familiar with the importance of detail on a CV. There's a reason he claims to be five foot ten on his.

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