Leon Orcot (under_arrest) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-10-08 20:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, ilia amitola, leon orcot |
Who: Ilia and Leon
What: Checking in on Leon
When: Before Alex gets out of prison
Where: Alex and Leon’s
Warnings:
Status: Log | Complete
Well it wasn’t like Ilia could have said no to Alex about checking in on Leon. She didn’t know the man beyond his post on the network and he was a cop. But….she could put that aside because they both cared for Alex and it was probably the only legal thing she could do for her friend. Even if it was a bit uncomfortable. So once the eighteen year old got the information she needed, she found herself standing outside the door and just staring at it, as if it would tell her that Leon was fine and she could go.
That wasn’t the case and so she finally knocked, brushing some (currently blue) hair behind her ear.
Despite the summer heat, she had left the bracelet at Logan’s and so was in dark jeans, boots and a green sweater. She was beginning to think that it was more than just shock and that it might have something to do with being a Faunus but she honestly hadn’t put much thought into getting answers. There was time for that later if it crossed her mind and she decided that she just had to know. For now, it was seeing if Leon was around or not.
Chris had started school, and the security job that Anakin had gotten him didn’t start until the evening, which meant that Leon had the entire day to sit around and do nothing. The first few days Alex had been in prison, he’d tried to do a bit of working out, but he still wasn’t fully healed from the run in with his dreams and couldn’t push himself very hard without doing much damage.
All that meant was that all Leon had to do with the day was to drink it away and think about how Alex was locked up, getting the shit kicked out of him and possibly worse, and that it was all his fault. Leon generally wasn’t that prone to blaming himself for things he had no control over, but Logan took every chance he could to remind Leon that this was all his fault, and who was Leon to argue? The guy with a locked up boyfriend and a brother who’d barely smiled since Leon had woken up shot.
It took him a moment to realize that the knocking was from the door and not from the TV, where he was watching Die Hard with a vengeance. He rolled off the couch, rammed his shin into the coffee table with a loud string of expletives, and made his way to the door. He was wearing a wrinkled t-shirt and a pair of boxers, his scruff growing into something resembling a beard - though that, at least, was intentional so he could visit Alex without immediately being recognized by someone he’d locked up - and without Alex to do basic cleaning, his apartment had fallen into its regular state of disaster, beer empty bottles strewn around the floor, socks in the kitchen sink, and a pair of jeans hung on the ceiling fan (so they didn’t get dirty, he would insist, if anyone asked).
When he opened the door, he looked at the girl on the other side and frowned. Blue hair and sweaters in this kind of heat generally pointed to a specific kind of person, but looking at her eyes, it didn’t look like she was on something. There was something nearly familiar about her, but he didn’t really know what. “Yeah?” he asked, the smell of liquor and cigarettes thick on his breath.
She had almost been about to turn around when she heard the crashes in the apartment and her hand went to where her whip was just in case she needed to fight someone because Alex’s boyfriend had gone and gotten an enemy or something. Okay so she hadn’t said she’d beat up anyone who hurt Leon but if she was there… and it was part of the checking on him.
However it soon became clear that it wasn’t an intruder or anything and she relaxed just as he opened the door. Well. She knew that look. She and Chloe got drunk plenty of times and she was used to how Chloe was and she was used to people who were drunk.
“Alex asked me to check on you.”
Sometimes Ilia’s bluntness could be abrasive. In this instance, it seemed like it would be necessary.
Leon’s brow furrowed together, for a moment wondering why Alex was asking people to check in on him, when Alex was the one locked up in prison, probably without a damn soul to look out for him. It wasn’t like Leon could count on the prison guards to keep an eye out for him; being locked up for shooting a cop wasn’t likely to endear him to them at all. But then he realized that Alex was probably still worried about the Dreams, and his expression cleared up.
“Well, I haven’t been shot again,” Leon muttered, stepping away from the door and heading toward the kitchen, grabbing the jeans off the overhead fan so he could clumsily pull them on as he walked. “You want a drink? I’ve got beer, Coke, or liquor.”
Because funnily enough, when one was unable to check on the person they care about themselves, they would ask others to do so for them. Ilia still didn’t understand why Alex had asked her of all people to check on Leon but here they were and all she could do was wait to see what Leon’s reaction would be.
Which was to mutter about not being shot again (valid given the entire mess that was going on because of the fucking dreams) and then to invite her in. Oh. Okay. Stepping in, Ilia tugged on the sleeves of her sweater. While part of her was really tempted to say liquor she figured the fact she was underage would be frowned upon no matter what mood Leon was in. Cop and all.
“Um. Water?”
Leon frowned a little at Ilia’s choice, but he wasn’t going to try to convince her otherwise. He poured her a glass of water and helped himself to another beer before handing her the glass. There were a few things Leon wanted to ask, like why Alex had decided to send her to come check on him when he had no idea who she was, or how she knew Alex, or even what her name was, which probably should have been his first question, but what came out was “how’s he looking?”
Oh, she noticed the slight frown but shrugged it off. Because really, while he might not want to drink alone (and really, who did?) she had a feeling that him giving her alcohol would generally not be something he’d be fine with in any other situation and might as well try to keep him from thinking about it if he were to remember later since...Alex cared about him so she would do her best to put aside her natural distrust of law enforcement to the side.
She figured that the question made sense and all she could do was shrug. It was hard to tell. She’d shown up after some guy named Damon so any injuries would have been healing and nothing new. So that was improvement, not that she really knew about the time before she showed up.
“He’s been better. But he also seemed more uncomfortable with everything.” Which made sense. And why she went along with his wanting to know how things were going with her. It was something else to think about, something that was almost normal in a very much not normal situation.
Leon’s frown deepened. Of course Alex was uncomfortable; it would be impossible not to. Stanton’s words when he’d arrested Alex kept running through his head, “You’ll find a new boyfriend.” He wondered if someone had found Alex, and if Alex would tell him if they had or if he’d keep it bottled up forever.
“Sorry,” he said, forcefully pulling himself out from his thoughts. “I don’t think I even got your name.” He offered her a hand. “I’m Leon.” Obviously. She’d shown up on his doorstop. Smooth, Leon.
Yeah. Frowning cops, not a thing that made Ilia relax. Didn’t matter he was off the clock and clearly drunk. It was an automatic stressor for her and she just remained as she was. He had asked how Alex was and Ilia answered truthfully since she never saw the point in sugarcoating or lying about things. Especially the things that mattered such as the well being of someone they both cared for.
“It’s fine. Ilia. We spoke briefly on the network.”
Realization dawned on Leon; that’s where she looked so familiar from. He really had to start doing a better job at trying to recognize people from their profile pictures. “Right, Ilia. Nice to finally meet you in person,” he said. She was, he realized, a little embarrassed, the first one of Alex’s friends that Leon had ever met in person, and despite the fog of alcohol, he was pretty sure he hadn’t made a very good first impression. For one, he’d answered the door in his boxers.
“I’m uh, sorry we couldn’t meet in better circumstances.” Maybe one where he had shaved recently, he thought, running a hand over his almost-beard. “I’m normally… uh…” he glanced around the apartment. No, he couldn’t lie and say he was normally tidier than this. “Alex normally does the cleaning,” he finished lamely.
While Ilia hadn’t known what to expect, she also couldn’t exactly fault Leon for the way they met given all the bullshit with Alex being arrested because cops were fucking idiots and just went with the easiest explanation. Yes, the dreams certainly made things more complicated but she still held to her firm belief that cops were idiots.
“Likewise.”
And even with her natural aversion to cops, Ilia meant it. Alex obviously cared for him greatly, so that was why she had put aside all of her reservations to check on him. As for meeting under better circumstances? Ilia just shrugged.
“That’s life, not much you can do about it.”
Perhaps a bit bleak but she had never been one for optimism or the like. So she just gave a slight nod as Leon mentioned Alex usually did all the cleaning.
“When Alex gets out, you should come over for dinner sometime,” he offered, as if it was a sure thing that it would be. Logan had said that he had something up his sleeve, and Leon had to believe that he’d figure something out. Better that Leon didn’t know exactly what it was.
She appreciated Leon’s confidence on Alex getting out. Ilia figured he did have a better chance at getting out than others might, but her general distrust of law enforcement didn’t give her all that much faith. Oh well.
“Yeah. That’d be cool.”
“Great,” Leon said, not sounding very excited, but then, the only thing he’d been excited about lately was the prospect of getting Alex home again. He ran his hand down his face again. “You sure he looked alright?”
Ilia didn’t read too much into the lack of excitement in Leon’s voice given all that was going on. And she was still convinced it would be awkward but if it meant Alex was out? She would take it. As for the question, she nodded.
“All things considered? Yeah. He looked alright.” Because there was no way Alex would look perfectly fine, but she’d been there after Damon had compelled the guards (not that she was aware of any of that) so there had been faded injuries but nothing new or to make her especially worried.
Leon let out a relieved sigh, some of the lines on his face smoothing in his relief. “That’s good,” he said. Alex was looking pretty rough the last time he’d been able to see him. He’d wanted to go see him every day, but he’d realized pretty quick that that wasn’t really allowed.
At least he seemed to relax some. Maybe that was part of why Alex wanted her to check on Leon. Not just because of concerns from the dreams (what with him getting shot in them and that leading to this entire mess) but because she could let him know Alex was okay all things considered. So she supposed that could count as helping in some shape or form since her initial reaction and way to help just would have made things worse.
“Yeah.”
“You’ve probably got places you’d rather be,” Leon said, partly because he knew he was bad company right now even for people who actually liked him, but mostly because he’d rather be alone with his beer right about now. “But uh, you want anything? I can probably make you a sandwich or I might have some granola bars around here…” He was already looking through the cupboards, drunk enough that he didn’t think it that strange of an offer. He tended to show his gratitude through food more than anything else.
Ilia was all too familiar with the wanting to be alone to drink thing and she figured he probably shouldn’t be. That said, she doubted her feeling of being completely out of place would ever fade either and if she was given an opening to leave, she should probably take it now.
“I’m fine, thanks. I actually do have to go meet my roommate though. You going to be okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m not likely to get shot in my dreams again anytime soon.” At least, he hoped he wasn’t. The one right after that involved two of the hottest women he’d ever seen in either life saying they were born to pleasure him, so things seemed to be on the up and up as far as the dreams went. Besides, if he did get shot again, maybe that would finally make them realize that Alex hadn’t done it in the first place. He didn’t voice that particular thought though.
“Thanks for coming to check on me, though. Alex’s got a good friend.”
Probably a good thing not to voice since Ilia would be forced to tell Alex that. Mostly because it would worry her and thus….she’d need to let him know since he was asking her to check on Leon and things of that nature? Yeah.
“Good. I know a healer, well kinda, but better not to deal with that again.”
Because really. Who wanted to be shot numerous times?
“Of course. If you need me for anything, um there’s the network?” Not that he would but she figured as awkward as this was and as much as she disliked cops, she’d still offer because all things considered, he was an okay guy and Alex cared about him. “I try at any rate.”
“Do you? There a lot of them around here?” he asked. Liz Forbes’ girl had told him that she could heal him too, though he hadn’t taken her up on it or pried for more details. Frankly, the idea of healing by magic made Leon’s skin crawl. He’d watched enough horror movies to know that magic always came with a price, and he didn’t know if he’d be willing to pay it. Besides, being prepared to be shot came with the job.
But that had been before Alex had been locked up. “They don’t need me to sign my soul away to the devil or something, do they?” he asked.
Ilia shrugged at the question.
“I don’t know how many there are. I just know that when my-” What was Chloe to her? It was one of those things that required too much thinking and she wasn’t usually good at putting her feelings into words anyway, “friend was in a car accident, I guess the driver was also the network and asked and someone showed up and was able to heal her.”
Which had been good given all of Chloe’s issues with car crashes because of her dad.
“No soul signing from what I saw though.”
If Leon had been paying more attention, if he hadn’t been so wrapped up in his own mind and Alex’s problems, and if he wasn’t drunk, he might have noticed the hiccup while Ilia was talking about her friend. He might have even teased her a little about it. As it was, he just nodded. “Guess that’s good to know,” he said. Maybe he would get in touch with Caroline at some point and see if her way of healing was relatively risk free too. “I’m glad your friend wound up being alright.”
Facing feelings was not a thing Ilia was good at, especially lately. She might be honest and blunt about who she was, but feelings? That was something else entirely. So instead she nodded.
“Yeah, especially in this place.”
Because it was beyond fucked up so knowing people who could help in situations like that? Always a good thing.
“So am I….” Which...that was obvious. Of course she would glad that Chloe was alright.
Leon gave a bit of a forced smile, and then reached into the counter behind him to grab a handful of the granola bars that Chris was a fan of. “Sorry for all the questions,” he said, holding them out to her, already forgetting that she had said she hadn’t really wanted food. “You ever need anything, you lemme know.”
“It’s fine. I’d worry, too.” And she would. Ilia had trust issues and if she hadn’t been in the hospital room when it happened, she probably would have been more suspicious. As it was though, she had seen it first hand and those concerns had been quelled. She did take the granola bar that was offered. “Thanks. And yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”
He walked Ilia back toward the door, and opened it for her. “We’re going to get him out,” he promised again, though he couldn’t be entirely sure if he was promising Ilia or if he was promising himself.