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jill_at_law ([info]jill_at_law) wrote in [info]free_form2,
@ 2008-06-17 10:12:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Dazed and Confused
Jill was either a victim of really poor timing or karma was finally deciding to have its way with her.

Literally weeks after she decided to hang up her proverbial spurs and leave Wolfram & Hart, instead picking up a badge for Uncle Sam, the whole thing just goes AWOL. Which she supposed happened when a media leak sprang and everyone was running around 24-7 trying to keep it under wraps. But if the newspaper reports were any indication, such efforts were in vein.

So with the inevitable stand-down Project Integration gave all its agents, Jill found herself in a purgatory of sorts. Unable to do the work she left Wolfram & Hart to do, unable and unwilling to go back to her former life. She couldn't even visit the facility to see Oliver, check on how he was doing.

But he had asked her to swing by his suite, though why he really didn't say. He was sort of rambling at that point, probably a result of the head injury he'd suffered. But he'd asked Jill for the favor, and she was all too willing to do anything to repair what she'd broken.

It was like her own version of My Name is Earl, only less funny.

"Hello?" the former attorney called out tentatively as she opened the door. She found it weird, even a little unsettling, that the place was unlocked. As long as Oliver had been gone, one would've thought it would've been locked.




[Thread open to Hannah.]

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-18 06:53 am UTC (link)

Had Jill arrived a few moments prior, the suite would've been empty and dark, looking as if its owner had simply stepped out for a bit. While the spellcaster hadn't occupied the space for weeks, his belongings were on a miniature trek around the room. Some days his shoes were by the bed, and others they were tucked into a small closet. Sometimes his bed was perfectly made, and others the covers were pushed down, as if a warm body had only just arisen.

It was Hannah who was responsible for the movements. The ghostly blonde excused the exercise easily... She didn't want housekeeping to report that the owner had gone missing, so she rearranged Oliver's things. But it was more than that. On a Psychological level, she needed to keep his suite looking lived in. It was far too unsettling to watch dust collect on a cigarette pack, or the book of poems she'd given him, or worse, his art supplies.

The paintings were superb. Hannah liked to view them, and not just because many featured her figure and he'd made her beautiful. They were insights into Oliver's mind. Pieces of his soul brushed onto canvas.

When Jill made her tentative greeting, the blonde was standing at a canvas. She quite literally jumped out of her skin. The surprise knocked her temporarily out of phase. She became a smear of flesh-colored light, but only for a moment. "Yes?" Hannah peeked around an easel, expecting to say a woman in a uniform.

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-18 07:46 am UTC (link)
Jill smiled at the direction of the voice, frowning slightly when she didn't see anyone in particular. Then, she saw the figure re-appear, and it was all the former attorney could do not to yelp in shock herself. The blonde was striking, that much was certain, as was the painting behind her.

A painting, incidentally enough, resembling the girl. It seemed Oliver had moved on since their breakup. Not that Jill was surprised, or incredibly broken up over it. Had things not been so hectic in Jill's professional life of late, she might've found someone else herself.

"Hi," Jill said once she'd calmed enough to offer a smile. This would normally be where Jill would show her badge, announce her Homeland Security connections and be done with that. But her badge and clearance were both gone, so all she could do was talk.

"I'm Jill," she continued, suddenly unsure of what to say. Did this woman know who she was? And if so, how much did she know? "A ... friend of Oliver's.

"He asked me stop by here, but I suddenly can't think for the life of me why."

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-18 08:06 am UTC (link)
"He did?" She sounded bewildered. "When?"

At the pronouncement of the name, Hannah hadn't shown any facial signs of recognition. Mostly she had on worry-face. Had the dark-haired lady seen her little 'poof' routine? Maybe it would look like a trick of light. Lamp light.

Very unlikely, Flynn.

This was the sort of thing the Powers were always yammering about. Don't spend so much time on the earth plane, Agent! One of these days, you're gonna get caught with your pants down. Okay, so that colloquialism was Hannah's interpretation of their actual warning, which was way wordier and multi-syllabic. But at the moment, Hannah's seemed more accurate, given the nudee painting to her left. She glanced it at, realized the obvious similarity between herself and the girl on canvas, and pinkened slightly.

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-18 08:43 am UTC (link)
"Couple weeks ago," Jill admitted with a slight cringe. "Work has been a nightmare of late and I haven't had a chance to come by before now."

Try as she might, Jill couldn't for the life of her remember why she was supposed to come here. Was it to tell Hannah something? Was it to find something? The brunette scratched her head for a moment, realizing the awkwardness of the situation.

Ex-girlfriend barging into ex-boyfriend's pad, only to run into (possibly?) current girlfriend -- next to painting of current girlfriend in the nude.

Yeah, this wasn't awkward or anything.

"He was hurt when I last saw him," Jill added, trying to keep details to a minimum. "I got him medical attention, and he asked me to come here." Then she remembered. "He said something about someone waiting here for him."

Was this the girl? Was this who Jill was supposed to explain things to?

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-19 02:20 am UTC (link)
A new look of surprise broke out over Hannah’s features. “Are you an Agent?” she asked. The thought had occurred to her because of timing and the formality of Jill’s attire. Every piece of her outfit looked expensive. “Because that’s the only way you could’ve seen him.”

She came fully into view. Hannah was a smaller female, barely 5’2” and delicately figured, and she was wearing a pale blue dress. It lent her the appearance of being much younger, though she was 23 when she died.

Her suspicions increased and she asked, “Why are you helping him?”

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-19 04:27 am UTC (link)
How was Jill supposed to answer that? Saying yes would subject her to termination if the government found out, yet no would've been a lie. And a no comment would be about the same as a yes, so Jill was really in a bind as far as that question was concerned.

But she was here for Oliver, and she figured being honest was the best way to fulfill whatever wishes he had.

"I am," she affirmed. "Well, was. Not really sure what's going on right now."

The former lawyer sighed, wishing she was still a smoker. A cigarette would do wonders for her nerves right about now. But giving up smokes was just one small thing Jill did to help her transformation from corrupted bitch from hell to a respectable human being.

"I'm not here on Agent business; whoever got a hold of Ollie had nothing to do with me." Jill's expression suddenly turned solemn, and she couldn't bring her eyes to look at the other woman.

She didn't know.

"We were ... we used to be close," Jill added. "Before I fucked it all up."

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-19 08:51 am UTC (link)
...Ollie?!

Hannah's nose crinkled in distress. Not only had he been referred to as 'Ollie' by a former girlfriend, but he'd been okay with it? Yeesh.

"Well," she began, twisting her fingers, "As the current girlfriend, can't say I'm sorry about that." Only Hannah could pull off such a snarky-sounding comment without seeming malicious. She was just honest, and showed it by shrugging her shoulders. Sort of a 'what can ya do?' gesture.

It required a measure of trust to believe Jill was there to help, and that she hadn't turned Oliver in as ex-girlfriend revenge. But the blonde was willing to give it a shot. She went forward and offered her small hand. "I'm Hannah."

There was no trace of resentment. Heck, she had a good-looking ex in her past, too. She couldn't fault him for that.

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-19 07:10 pm UTC (link)
"Jill," the former lawyer said with a smile, shaking the hand offered to her. "But ... I guess you already knew that."

Her laugh was a nervous one, partly because of the inherent awkwardness of the ex-girlfriend meeting the new girlfriend, and partly because she couldn't help but notice earlier how Hannah just -- appeared. Trick of lighting, Jill could've told herself, but her work with both the government and Wolfram & Hart told her it was something else.

So Oliver had someone else ... that was good, right? Not like Jill actually expected them to hook back up any time soon. What with him being locked up by Uncle Sam and the specter of broken trust still between them, and it was nice he was apparently with someone a little closer to his ability range. Jill had always been somewhat intimidated by the fact that he was such a formidable user of magicks, while Jill's only talent had been acting like a royal bitch.

"He was in pretty sorry shape last I saw him," Jill added in hopes of breaking the silence. "They didn't seem too terribly interested in helping him recover, either, until I pulled some strings and made a few threats.

"Hopefully he's better now, but they haven't let me see him since the newspaper started blabbing about all our secrets."

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-19 07:22 pm UTC (link)
Hannah’s teeth nipped her lip. Everything Jill said so far sounded genuine, if a little forced, like the niceness didn’t come natural to her. Hannah wanted to promise that she was Oliver’s angel on a white horse, bound and determined to set him free, and that Oliver had given her a plan… It might ease the brunette’s mind.

But what if she gave away too many clues and Oliver’s escape plan was foiled? Certainly she couldn’t tell Jill about Grace. For one thing, Hannah wasn’t sure Grace would actually help. For another, it might make the Agent look like a traitor.

Easing closer, the ghostly blonde said, “I think he’s better now… His head, I mean. He’s very brave and strong, and so much more capable than anybody knows. So don’t you worry. I’ll take good care of him, and he’ll be free sooner than you think.”

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-19 07:45 pm UTC (link)
For a moment, Jill was surprised by Hannah's statement. Then she remembered that she'd just seen the blonde appear out of thin air, so who knew what this woman was or wasn't capable of. But she seemed to have Oliver's best interest in mind, so for that, Jill was thankful.

"Sorry," the brunette said with a soft, awkward chuckle. She could sense a certain uneasiness about Hannah, and truth be told, Jill herself wasn't feeling all that comfortable. This whole nice thing was relatively new to her.

"Just ... a lot of this is new to me," Jill offered without divulging too much. "Trying to make up for past mistakes, start over again -- it's a lot harder than people make it look."

And even now, as Jill fought to redeem herself, she realized karma would continue to kick her ass. And she would continue to deserve every bit of it; this was what she got for allowing David Gregor to poison her the way he had for so many years.

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-20 02:42 am UTC (link)
Edging to the mattress, Hannah sat on the end of it and smoothed her skirt into place. "Not to be rude," she hedged, "But... if you're trying to make up for past mistakes, how come you joined the bad guys?" It felt like a valid question. She was unsure of what Jill got up to that was so awful. She looked human enough. Nowadays Hannah could sense when a being was other than human. Say, a leprechaun for instance.

When Hannah was first sent to Oliver, he was an assignment from the Powers. A truly dark person, full of anger and gloom and distrust, capable of hurting people a lot, and willing to follow through. Maybe Jill was part of that life, and of the things Oliver was mixed up in before.

"What are you?"

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-20 07:11 am UTC (link)
"Human," Jill replied with a certain gravity to her voice, sitting in one of the nicer-looking chairs in the suite. It was one of those that looked as if it cost a small fortune -- a chair that, three months ago, Jill could've afforded on the considerable salary Wolfram & Hart gave her. But the price she was paying for such material comforts was no longer worth it, so she took the first out she could find.

Only to find out that too was a mistake.

"A fact I've only recently been reminded of," she added, glancing at her own hands. She couldn't meet Hannah's gaze for some reason, and as she looked at her hands, Jill couldn't help but think of all the people she'd killed -- starting with her own father -- a man she once worshiped like a superhero.

"I didn't think they were the bad guys ... the government seemed like a good place to start over; surely they couldn't have been any worse than Wolfram & Hart. But, now that I see all this shit going on, and what they did to Oliver ... I'm just not sure anymore."

Pretty much the only thing Jill was sure of was that she wasn't going back to the law firm. Government job or no, she would never go back. The Senior Partners would have to kill her before she'd ever set foot in that beacon of evil again.

"I'm ... human," she answered again. "And suddenly quite lost."

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-20 07:36 am UTC (link)
Hannah watched the brunette's hands, too. Surely it was only a trick of vivid imagination that made her imagine them red. The spirits's own hands disappeared beneath her thighs. If she sat on them, she wouldn't fidget. Death and ressurection had done much to calm Hannah's hyperactive persona, but in situations like this, it was a wash.

She contemplated Jill's explanation and subconsciously put on her counseling hat.

"Do you always need a guide to show you the way?" she asked. "What's Jill's way?"

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-20 07:49 am UTC (link)
It was an interesting question, one Jill took a few minutes to ponder in silence. At first, Paul was her mentor of sorts, then Gregor took that mantle once the cops took away her father. And even though David Gregor died -- twice, in point of fact -- Jill felt many times as if his presence was still with her. Guiding her, holding her back.

But now that she was out of Wolfram & Hart, Jill couldn't deny a little direction would be nice. She wasn't exactly the world's best at taking care of herself -- winding up at the law firm being evidence of that. She'd screwed up so much of her life already, and she thought Project Integration was her way to begin picking up the pieces.

Instead, someone blabbed and they took her badge.

"I don't know," Jill admitted in a soft voice, shrugging her shoulders. "When I was a kid, I thought it was to follow my dad into the force, be a police officer. Then I fell into the law thing, and it looked like I was well on my way to making ... whatever the top of the Wolfram & Hart ladder is. But now ... I dunno."

It was a sobering realization. Jill had found her humanity again, but now she was unsure of what to do with it.

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-20 08:38 am UTC (link)
The toes of her small white shoes became fascinating. Hannah angled them together and then apart. "Living by somebody else's rules sucks sometimes, but it feels safe, I think." The best advice came from the heart, so the blonde spoke from hers, even though their situations were vastly different. "I was raised by my grandmother. You wanna talk about sheltered?" She raised her eyebrows at Jill. 'Whoa nelly. I once found my cousin Stacy's tingley-hot sex lotion? Grandma got all flustered and told me it was a facial mask. I believed her and rubbed it all over my face, even my eyelids. That was a mistake."

After a solemn nod, she continued. "I hated being on sunset curfew. I wasn't ever allowed to do anything. No sports, no field trips, nada, partly because I was sick, but mostly because Grandma was scared to let me out of her sight. My best friend was this old lady Nadine who taught me how to play Euchre and gave me a wine cooler once. Anyway, when Grandma died, I was totally lost. I didn't like living under her rules, but living without them was even worse. Who knew how much trouble I could get into?"

Hannah swept her arm. "So then I hit the open road. It was the scariest thing ever. But for months, I didn't get in any real trouble. All that newfound freedom I had, and I never once did anything daring or adventurous! It was the pits, because I was a complete square, and the only person I had to blame was myself!" She lifted her shoulders. "The moral of the story is, it's easy jumping into a system, 'cause then you've got somebody else to blame when you don't turn out like you wished. The brave thing is striking out on your own. You make up your own rules, and if you mess up, you take accountability and you make adjustments. If I were you, I'd say sayonara to the high life and start from scratch."

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-20 08:46 am UTC (link)
Jill couldn't help but burst into laughter when she heard of the "facial cream." Fortunate to have never had such a childhood incident herself, Jill found it comforting to a degree hearing Hannah tell this story, even if she was -- for all intents and purposes -- a complete stranger to her. As awkward as it should've been knowing Hannah was now Oliver's, Jill was more consumed with her plight, and it seemed the blonde was trying to help with that.

"My dad," she began, pausing to gather herself a bit, "he was one hell of a cop. Every night I begged Mom to let me stay up so when he came home, he could tell me about all the bad guys he put away before I went to bed. I wanted to be just like him ...

"Then he got into some real bad shit, made a lot of mistakes and found himself in prison. And I found myself at the mercy of someone who had way too much power and influence over me. He used me, and I let him. Next thing I know, I'm knee-deep in all this corruption and darkness, and I can't find my way out.

"For a while, I didn't want out."

The former attorney sighed, taking in the weight of Hannah's words. The brave thing is striking out on your own ... say sayonara to the high life and start from scratch.

Maybe the blonde was right; maybe that was the best thing to do. She was out of Wolfram & Hart, she'd already made peace with both Victoria and Oliver and Project Integration went belly-up on her, so what else was there for Jill in Las Vegas?

Not a damn thing, and who was to say Jill couldn't relocate somewhere, find a way to enroll in a police academy and get back to going after her childhood dream?

"Start over. I think I like that idea."

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-20 09:02 am UTC (link)
The girl on the mattress nodded. "Just think, you're already halfway there. You quit the etchy-sketchy job, and nobody made you. You did it yourself."

Being that it was human nature to err, there was every possibility Jill might fall into old habits. Hannah didn't have to know her well, or to understand what Jill's old habits were, to know it was true. Everybody stumbled when they had to take big leaps. "But just to be on the safe side? Make it easy on yourself. Don't go tryin' to be moral in amoral territory. If you were an alcoholic in AA, you wouldn't hang out in bars, would ya?"

Hannah lifted her palms. "I'm just sayin'."

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[info]jill_at_law
2008-06-20 09:06 am UTC (link)
Jill nodded in agreement. Was this what Oliver had sent her here for? Did he know she would've run into Hannah, and thus had this conversation that more or less opened her eyes? Doubtful, given the spellcaster's mental state the last time she saw him, but still ... she was glad he asked.

And even more glad she agreed to do it.

"Might go back home," the former attorney announced. "Baltimore, start over there."

Jill stood and turned to leave, confident she'd done what Oliver had asked of her. But before she did, she stopped, turning to Hannah with a smile. "He'll be okay. You're lucky to have him ... and if the advice you just gave me is any indication, he'd lucky to have you.

"Take care of him, okay? And tell him ... tell him I get it. That I'm off starting over."

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-20 09:16 am UTC (link)
A bit surprised by the abrupt departure, Hannah stood up, as was polite when company rose to go. Apparently when Jill made up her mind to do something, she meant right then!

"I'll tell him," she said, "The minute he's home, I'll let him know you said so." She laced her hands in front of her dress, looking every bit the obliging Woman of the Suite. The place wasn't hers, but it was as close to an earthly home as she had, and she wouldn't relinquish it until Oliver came back to take it over.

"Bye Jill. It was nice meeting you."

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[info]hannah_flynn
2008-06-20 09:17 am UTC (link)
*END THREAD*

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