InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "vote for me for President!"

the inestimable irene adler . iris thorpe (nightmrholmes) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-05-23 17:57:00

Entry tags:

beauty, black forest witch, dr. watson, irene adler, javert, jonathan harker, peter pan, plot: riddles, sleeping beauty

Who: OPEN to anyone that wants to spill into the Lobby after they completed their group hell.
What: Probably a lot of wigging out.
Where: The Lobby.
When: After Group C's exit--they were pretty early on, so chances are it was before yours.
Warnings: We'll say language, since people are unhappy.
Notes: 1) The doors to the Group Hells turn back into the doorway down into the basement after people are through. 2) You can't see where they've been. 3) There's no posting order. Just reply to the main post with a new thread if there are specific participants you want to reply to--make sure you note who they are and what the char is reacting to, or leave it open, up to you. I don't have specific directions, my brain is not wired for public planning right now.

Iris looked about as good as she felt. The gray-toned sleep clothes she was wearing didn't do anything to help the ghastly color of her normally bright features, and her eyes were burnt red by stress and tears. As soon as her bare feet sensed wood flooring instead of the cold concrete of the horrible room with the lights, she took her hand from Peter's arm and stood up herself. She wasn't much paying attention to where she was going, and she kept tensing up under hard waves of wracking shudders that went up her spine.

She was trying not to think about what might have happened when she pointed that gun at Peter, but she was too used to sudden attacks of panic and now she was having a hard time breaking that loop of continuous explosive fear. Mostly blind to her surroundings, she didn't look back for John and Cole, she just went forward toward the stair and vague perceptions of safety.

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nylonghorn
2010-05-24 05:30 pm UTC (link)

Peter smiled and shrugged a little, "I'm afraid it's not that interesting, I grew up in Texas and went to college there too, I moved to New York to go to law school where I met my wife, got married, finished school, passed the bar, got a job, and then about a year ago I met Vlad who hired me and we moved here and," he chuckled a bit, "that turned out to be a terrible idea because since then my wife has left me for my boss and now I'm unemployed and wifeless," he took another drink of his coffee and shook his head.

"That sounds more pathetic than I meant it to, I think in spite of all that stuff at the end there I do alright, I'm job hunting and my wife's friend left her dog with me when she moved out so I've been keeping busy." He blinked, "And it just gets more and more pathetic the longer I talk. I should just stop. What about your story, Micah? Hopefully it's not a bad country song just waiting for Kenny Rogers to come along and discover it." he said chuckling, though it occurred to him that he would feel pretty terrible if it actually was.

He was still unable to really take himself too seriously about what had happened, because if that wasn't the makings of a perfect country song he didn't know what was. It was just a good thing Lena hadn't taken Kiki's dog or else he'd be jobless, wifeless and dogless.

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acatalyst
2010-05-24 06:18 pm UTC (link)

"What do you do?" Micah asked. He'd been asking around about jobs for Iris for so long now that he knew every opening in Medical Examiner's office. "What kind of law, I mean," he clarified. The job was an easier immediate fix than the wife.

He took the coffee cups away, opened the cupboard and poured them both a shot of Chivas instead, leaving the bottle beside the shot glasses. "More appropriate for this conversation," he said, tipping back the drink.

"I'm in love with her," he said motioning toward the room, putting it in to words for the first time, "and she's in love with someone else. You still in contact with your wife?" At least if Peter's wife had married him, she must have loved him at some point. Maybe this could be fixed. And his willingness to help had absolutely nada to do with an unvoiced pleasure at Peter being emotionally unavailable.

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nylonghorn
2010-05-24 10:52 pm UTC (link)

Pete didn't really like the "what kind of law" question, it made him feel like a flake, but the fact was he wasn't sure what kind of law he wanted to make his career. He didn't care much about money, so long as it paid the bills, he just wanted to do something that meant something to him.

"When I left law school I used to work for Legal Aid Services, the money wasn't great but I really enjoyed it, I did mostly a mix of family law, immigration, juvenile legal issues, I did a lot of housing complaints, it was mostly low income clients and I got that whole job fulfillment thing out of it. I'd have stayed but then I got offered the job with Vlad and the money was good, free rent, school loans would get paid off easier, I was hoping we'd have a family down the road but..." he was digressing and he stopped himself, "the job wasn't great, and it wasn't interesting, definitely not a career. Now that I'm back on my own I'm kind of trying to remember what drove me into law school in the first place."

He grinned when Micah brought out the booze and held his full glass up briefly with a "Salud," before he took his drink. He wasn't quite ready for Micah's confession but he wasted no time in clapping the other man on the shoulder with a sympathetic smile, "That's rough," he said knowingly.

"And yeah we still talk, it's like..." he furrowed his brow. "We're trying to stay friends I think, and it's always been easy to be friends with Lena but I think that it means something different to me than it does to her, and that's where the sting comes in. To me it makes sense, we get along, we make each other laugh, we get each others obscure references...But as I've recently learned that's not quite enough for her, and I am trying to understand that. I mean I love her and I want her to find whatever makes her tick, but," another pause and he poured himself another drink making a mental note to drop off a bottle for Micah at some point, he drank it quickly, "It stings that it's not me."

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acatalyst
2010-05-25 02:04 am UTC (link)

Micah drank, and he listened, and then he drank some more, pouring some more for Pete as well. "One. Come by Medical Examiner's oficina on Friday. Maybe quieres work there," he said, obviously drunk from the swirl of Spanish and English words. "I want Iris to work there, and she likes you," he said.

"Dos. We'll work on getting your wife back. Tienes que take control, be commanding. Un hombre, entiendes? You can't let this man just take her; she has to know you want her back as much as he wants her for himself," he said with complete certainty.

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nylonghorn
2010-05-25 04:25 am UTC (link)

Pete kept on drinking, it was easy when his glass just kept refilling. The spanish didn't bother him, or even confuse him really. He wasn't fluent by any means but it was a second language in Texas, and even more than that, it was pretty much required to be conversational in his line of work. He chuckled at the suggestion he go check the medical examiner's office, and even more so when he said he wanted Iris to work there. But he wasn't about to turn down the chance at a job, "I'll come by," he said sincerely.

But when Micah said they were going to work on getting Lena back he started to feel a little strange. It made sense, he wanted Lena back, but at the same time she'd broken his heart. He didn't know if he wanted to risk that with her again. "I didn't let anything happen, I wasn't going to keep her against her will," he said simply. "I just want to see her happy. I want to see her content, I want to see her using contractions again," he said chuckling and taking another drink, "I just...I just want to see her I guess."

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acatalyst
2010-05-25 05:41 am UTC (link)

"Have you told her that?" Micah asked. "Have you told her you want to see her, and what did she say?" Peter was an okay looking guy, and while he didn't know anything about his relationship, it seemed like Peter cared about his wife (and her use of contractions). "Okay, what's he have you don't?" he asked, slow and slurred. "It's just like a scientific problem, and we'll work it out like men," he assured in a manly manner.

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nylonghorn
2010-05-25 06:19 am UTC (link)

Pete sighed loudly, "I haven't told her enough," he conceded easily. He thought about everything Vlad had that he didn't, but he didn't peg Lena for the shallow type at all, and they were all superficial things. He had money, he was a real adult, he was suave, and he wanted to think that things like that didn't matter to Lena. If that was the case then maybe he didn't know her at all anyway. "He's got plenty but I don't know how much that matters to her. I think he's just...Not me."

He clenched his jaw trying to put his finger on the whole thing, it drove him crazy that he couldn't have done something sooner. He was continuously kicking himself for not managing to see that things were going badly, "She says she wants to find herself and can't do that if she's with me, she kept saying it didn't have anything to do with Vlad, it just had to do with her being with me. We got married young, for what she thinks were all the wrong reasons."

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	acatalyst 2010-05-25 03:20 pm UTC (link)
	"We need to find a woman she talks to. They're more honest with those," Micah said knowingly. Women and gossip, he knew, went hand-in-hand. "I'll work on it." He motioned toward the room where Iris was sleeping. "She can get to the bottom of anything. We'll have her help." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nylonghorn
2010-05-25 06:38 pm UTC (link)

Pete thought about the women that he knew Helena talked to, Ella was the only one who came to mind but he felt strange asking her. He didn't know her all that well and he somehow doubted she'd want him hanging around asking questions. "I only know of one, but I don't know her very well."

He chuckled at the suggestion of Iris getting to the bottom of it, "Excellent, we'll put her on the case, and see what I'm up against."

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	acatalyst 2010-05-25 08:24 pm UTC (link)
	Micah nodded, thinking this a concrete plan. "I'll talk to her," he said, tipping back another shot glass, after which all sensible conversation flew out the window. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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