InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I thought I told you...!"

so_changeable (so_changeable) wrote in expresslogs,
@ 2012-07-16 23:03:00

Entry tags:

!plot, {james moriarty, {maryanne walker

Characters: Jim Moriarty, Maryanne Walker
When: Monday afternoon
Location: Jim's Room
Warnings/Rating: Irritated psychopath/none
Summary: Jim learns exactly what being a kitty involves.
Status: Closed/Ongoing

Sat straight on the edge of the room's couch, doing what he did best. Remaining calm. Frustration always did its very best to bubble up and overtake him, especially when something unpleasant was happening, but Jim had a long-practiced poker face that went a great deal deeper than his expression. He spent a lot of time like that. A blank sheet of paper. The girl had said stress was a factor.

He hoped she had better advice than sticking tissue up his nose to keep the smell out, too, because that was the best he'd come up with so far.

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maryanne_walker
2012-07-17 08:40 am UTC (link)

Maryanne chuckled softly, though it held no humor. "I don't know about any of that being brave. Sometimes I felt downright cowardly to be something else. But... Thank you." He might not have been sincere in what he was saying, she wasn't wasn't going to bait him by calling him on it. To provoke anything that would cause his shift. But she wasn't naive either.

"And lately I feel like I'm ..." She stopped herself, he had bigger problems than to hear her own. Shaking her head, as a sign that she wasn't going to carry that farther. "I feel like I'm in the need of a good stiff drink." She had shifted gears completely.

"But I'm glad I could help somebody."

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so_changeable
2012-07-17 08:47 am UTC (link)

"I have a bottle of what the train passes off as scotch, if you'd like." Jim rose, returning mostly to the blank sheet of paper he had been before she'd arrived; getting ahold of himself was priority. Doing something. Being someone. When he turned around, lifting the bottle from his end table, his smile was much more relaxed, and familiar to his train-mates.

"If you'd like to see what getting drunk like the rest of us feels like. I owe you that much. You didn't have to help me." God knew who she'd be putting in danger if she hadn't, but Jim was still processing all this new information. Even for a mind like Moriarty's, this was a lot to take in at once.

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maryanne_walker
2012-07-17 07:10 pm UTC (link)

Jim did actually earn an honest chuckle. "I've got drunk before. Before that mutation reared it's head. And when the power loss thing was going on I contributed to the delinquency of a minor, and he and I got very drunk on just a few beers." She confessed. Though part of her felt bad because Cato had one hell of a hangover the next day. "So I wont rob you of your scotch. You might need it, because if it relaxed you as a human, you might be able to use it as like a security blanket of sorts. I use music, myself, because as they say: Music soothes the savage beast. But that wont work with everybody." It didn't work with Bruce.

"But thank you for the offer." Her rich southern roots demanded a polite rejection, even if it wasn't really that. She, in all honesty, didn't want to take it if it would be something that kept him of sound mind.

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so_changeable
2012-07-17 07:28 pm UTC (link)

"Fair enough. Thank you. For the consideration." Replacing the scotch, he walked carefully to face Maryanne where she stood. "I had hoped it would go some way toward thanking you for any future help I might need... questions, questions, questions. 'Maryanne, I've just mauled a shower stall, help?'" He smirked, self-deprecating. The amount of control it was taking now didn't bear thinking on; he could feel everything, tingling and smelling and whistling; he had been since he'd woken up. Two weeks. Fury demanded it come out and play football with people's heads.

No. No, control was what he practiced, and that would continue, especially now. "One more thing, my dear.. the animal. The thing itself. I would retain my own mind? Not some- mongrel cat ready to lash out beyond my control?"

That, really, was the difference between Jim locking himself in the bathroom or not, until this passed.

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maryanne_walker
2012-07-18 03:23 am UTC (link)

She chuckled softly. "You don't have to thank me, really. Even if you maul the shower. Because I'd probably say, 'The train deserved it, do it again.'" Chasing her fingers through her hair a bit. "If you do damage to the train it's not a big deal though, it usually rights itself while you sleep. Or if it doesn't it'll kick us all off at the next stop and right itself then. But any questions, you can text, call... whatever. I'll answer. I'll even give you your own special ringtone. Because I know how much it sucks to deal with at first." Though she loved it now. She'd accepted it. And she and the cat were one. Except for at times like these.

She raked her lower lip with her teeth as she thought it over. "You should. I've never had it try to take complete control. It's always worked with me, or taken a backseat while I went wild. The only time it ever came close was in a life or death situation, and it simply kicked my sense of self preservation up a notch, which tuned my senses up. And I don't think you'll go through any life or death situations here." Maryanne felt like she was forgetting something. "If you do shift, you will be able to talk. Cougars are the biggest cat that retains it's vocal cords, so your voice will be very... different, but you will be able to communicate. And you could probably purr right now, if you were content enough." She added the last bit with a small bite of humor.

Catching her lower lip again she chewed it a moment. "I will ask you to do me a favor. Smell me, and tell me everything you catch, in the first words that come to mind. I know I've got some wizard magic, but... It doesn't feel like it's just that." She needed to know if he came up with the word Predator. If one of the reasons she felt froggy was because she was a werewolf.

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so_changeable
2012-07-18 03:37 am UTC (link)

The fact that she referred to the cat as though it were a mind of its own, sitting in the back of Jim's head and waiting for him to slip so that it could take control... that didn't bear dwelling on, either. Semantics didn't shape reality. Unless it was Jim speaking.

"I appreciate that." There was a meter in Jim's head, when he chose to pay attention to it. How much room there was left for irritation and ignorance and stupefying boredom before he boiled over, and rage took control. The strain of the morning was showing, no doubt, but he was still well within the green. All he had to do was stay that way.

He was not inclined to purr.

Her request made him curious, though; what could he distinguish in the scent of one person? It seemed far too overwhelming a melange, but as she was offering- requesting, really-

"Warmth. Blood. Food. Wet dog. You need a shower, Ms. Walker. I mean no offense." Now that he'd noticed it, it wouldn't go away, and the tension he was keeping under lock and key rattled at its constraints. Like a cat rearing and hissing, he was appalled to realize. "Don't tell me the powers that be have given you something even better."

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maryanne_walker
2012-07-18 04:49 am UTC (link)

Maryanne was torn between wanting to kiss him, and go into a row of every offensive word she knew. Because now she knew what was off about how she felt. "That seems to be the case. It's given me a more volatile critter. A werewolf that hasn't seen a full moon." And if she was right on the rest then she was a magic welding volatile critter. "But it's a little weird that you came up with food." Was that her fault?

Of course she wasn't offended at all by the comment that she needed a shower, because she often felt the same way around the other shapeshifters. "I just hope I don't keep the smell after everything goes back to... as normal as it ever will be on this train." She couldn't imagine smelling dog on herself.

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so_changeable
2012-07-18 04:56 am UTC (link)

"A werewolf." Apparently it was his instinct to be threatened by werewolves. A new one, that, given that Jim wasn't threatened by anything. Another minute of this and his teeth would begin to grind; at least that would have been his reaction a few days before. God only knew what would happen now.

"I'm sure that once our masters have had enough fun, it will be no more than a memory. There may not even be a moon, wherever we are now. Count yourself lucky." That was about as close to charm as Jim was going to manage until he'd had a very, very long time alone. to seethe in measured, even, non-transformative bits. He hoped.

"You can, of course, contact me if you should need anything." It rang hollow compared to all his other offers of help, but he was taxed as it was. "I'll try not to bother you with this- problem. It will be over soon enough."

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maryanne_walker
2012-07-18 05:17 am UTC (link)

"Not having a moon is actually worse for some. I don't know about this brand of werewolf..." She trailed off. Glancing back at the door, knowing there was someone out there that knew a whole hell of a lot more about it than she did. And she was pretty sure they wouldn't help her as much as she was willing to help anyone that got stuck with her... condition.

"No, Jim, if you need to bother me, bother me. Well.. It's not actually bothering me. But don't stop yourself if you need something. For this thing, your only second to Daryl." Who she dropped everything for, at any given moment. Which made her sound whipped. But wasn't that what you did for the person you loved? Dropped life itself for them? "No one else on this train understands it right now."

That said. Maryanne knew he needed a little while to process all this. And she needed a little bit to process her own 'swap' and the fact that her best friend was gone. Her hand on the door knob, she twisted it and pushed. "I mean it." She didn't want to be pushy. But she knew some people didn't ask for help even when they really needed it. And this wasn't something easily handled alone.

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so_changeable
2012-07-18 05:28 am UTC (link)

All of Jim's remaining energy was poured into the smile he gave her, the gentle way he took her hand in thanks, the crinkling of his eyes with appreciation and humility. Every last ounce.

"You are the picture of compassion, Maryanne. I can't tell you how much you've eased my mind." Letting him know some prowling cat consciousness was ready to tear his body to shreds without warning. Whether it was her fault or not, Jim had to steady his breathing. "Honestly, there's no telling how many people might have been hurt if you weren't here to help. I will take you up on it, should the need arise. I promise. I only hope it doesn't come to that."

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maryanne_walker
2012-07-18 06:28 am UTC (link)

"Actually, no I'm not. Jim I didn't do this for them. The only people that I worry about are the ones that are mine. To be frank, fuck everybody else that's on this train. I did this for you, and you alone." In that part she was sincere. There were so many people on the train that were just out and out dicks, that were only out for themselves... She couldn't find a shit to give if they got hurt or not.

"But I'm going to get out of your hair. And if you need it, the caboose, or Chance car, has a padded room. I don't know how many times you'll have to open and close the door to get to it... But I find it a good place to go ape shit in that way you don't hurt yourself." Opening the door she pointed down to the end of the train. "And don't be afraid to scream your head off. I'm fairly sure that qualifies up there with stress relief." After all she did enough of it during her favorite stress relieving activity.

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so_changeable
2012-07-18 06:39 am UTC (link)

"Oh, I'm not afraid. I'll scream when I need to." Hmm. Now that he was babysitting her curse, he counted as one of hers, did he? That bore consideration. When he wasn't ready to shed his own skin with the effort he was expending, staying calm.

"Don't you worry, either. About the wolf. As you said, it's temporary. I'm sure we'll both make it through beautifully, and- if you need my help, with anything at all. I'm here." he kept the smile on his face when he opened the door for her to leave, his voice was as sincere as it ever was, but each time Jim caught a whiff of something new, he felt himself start to sweat.

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maryanne_walker
2012-07-18 07:24 am UTC (link)

"Maybe before it's all over I'll let you come drink me under the table. That way someone worthy can say that they did." Maryanne teased with a bit of a wavering grin as she stepped out of the room.

Tipping her head she took a few steps backward so that she didn't face the door opposite his. So she wouldn't have to face the fact that her best friend was gone, until she was good and gone.

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