InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Poor Queequeg."

Bran Wilder {The Phantom} (lemortvivant) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-06-07 00:50:00

Entry tags:

meg giry, phantom of the opera

Who: Bran and James
What: A meeting
Where: Le Croquembouche
When: Thursday at 3
Warnings: Language... probably not much else. It's a public place.

Bran really would have preferred to keep his fable a secret for a few more weeks, maybe even a month - actually, if no one had ever found out then it would have been just fine with him. Realistically, though, he realized that sooner or later people were going to start connecting the dots. People were stupid, but even stupid people caught on eventually, especially when they were in groups. Now it was out in the open, and at the very least he hadn't had any threatening notes or unexpected visitors. Lotte seemed to have been right when she said everyone would be more distracted with the guy from the penthouse and his predicament.

Thinking of Lotte just made him frustrated, since he had the feeling that he'd said something wrong during their conversation but couldn't figure out what. That was the problem with the internet - it was fucking impossible to read people with nothing but typed words to go off of.

Despite his general dislike of the entire situation, Bran was at the coffee shop by 2:30, dressed simply in a shirt and jeans. As always his facial scars were well hidden, because his whole building might have known he became the Phantom once a month but that did not mean he was going to start flaunting his bitch of a grandmother's handiwork to the world. He ordered a large coffee, black, and grabbed a corner table by the window to wait. This James had no idea what he looked like, and he didn't know what she looked like either, but he didn't care. Maybe it would mean this meeting would never happen and he could head back.

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lemortvivant
2010-06-11 01:46 am UTC (link)

Bran had to bite down on his tongue to keep back the sarcasm, distracting himself by taking a deep gulp of coffee so he wasn't tempted to roll his eyes either. It was becoming clearer and clearer that James had never read the book, or else she would have known that Erik's life only revolved around two things: music and Christine.

"Yes, she does." He didn't add that she was the one who suggested it, and Christine was the one who agreed to stay with Erik in the first place.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-06-11 02:07 am UTC (link)

No, James had not read the book despite Lotte's near constant insistence that she do so. Not only did she not have the time or patience for it, but James was still desperately trying to stay as distant from the story as possible.

"Well, that can't happen," she explained coolly. Nudging her iced coffee away from herself, James crossed one knee over the other and pinned the man across the table with serious, but sincere eyes. "She's terrified of him, Lotte and Christine. Lotte is not going to sacrifice herself to appease some madman," she waited a moment to assess whether or not he took offense at that before adding gently, "She has enough problems as it is.."

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lemortvivant
2010-06-11 03:52 am UTC (link)

He really didn't have the patience for this. Sacrifice herself - all Christine had to do was spend a few hours with Erik. For fuck's sake, what did James think he was going to do? The guy burst into tears over kissing a woman's forehead; he was most definitely no Don Juan. He'd probably just play something for her, ask her to sing, maybe even talk to her. What part of that involved a sacrifice? There was no Raoul, so it wasn't as though she was giving him up.

"Sacrifice herself?" Bran couldn't help but take on a disbelieving tone. "You make it sound like he's going to hurt her in some way, which he won't." He stopped abruptly once her last sentence sunk in, brows furrowing in confusion. Enough problems? Christ, was she talking about the voices? The fact that he was a 'problem' when he was just trying to help her find her voice threw him for a moment, but he managed to collect himself smoothly. "I know Lotte isn't thrilled about this plan, and frankly neither am I, but we've already tried telling him that Christine isn't here and it didn't work. Locks won't hold him - he's too good at escaping." He took a deep breath, wincing inwardly at his next words. "If you have any other ideas, I'm willing to listen." That was only half true - the only reason he'd even agreed to this meeting in the first place was for Lotte, and if he had to pretend to care about this woman's opinion for a few minutes too, it wouldn't kill him.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-06-11 04:48 am UTC (link)

James bristled, narrowing her eyes at the disbelief that fed into his voice. "Did you not hear me? She's terrified of him, that in itself will hurt her." Lotte was far too paranoid and anxious as it was, there was no way that giving her to the Phantom with a little bow on her head was a good idea.

"We can't let her think that it's her responsibility to keep people safe from Erik, and that is what she thinks. It's not her responsibility, it's your's." Of course, James had nothing to add when he proposed that she should voice any other ideas on the subject. She was somewhat at a loss, but knew that there had to be another way.

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lemortvivant
2010-06-11 06:28 am UTC (link)

Bran frowned, his fingers curling tightly around the cup of coffee. It wasn't his fault that both Christine and Lotte were terrified of Erik - what was he supposed to do about it? "I'm very well aware that Erik is my responsibility." He hadn't asked for any of this; all he'd wanted was a place to fucking live in and instead he got pulled into all of this bullshit. "I didn't ask Lotte to take it upon herself to make sure Erik doesn't hurt anyone. It's not her responsibility, but it's going to be damn near impossible to keep Erik away from Christine."

So that was why Lotte was upset, he realized suddenly - she hadn't wanted to spend the moon with him any more than Christine wanted to be around Erik. He shook his head, utterly frustrated. "Look, I'll think of a way to keep him contained so Christine won't have to worry about him. He's my problem and I'll take care of it." He hadn't quite decided on that just yet, but he didn't have much more tolerance for this woman getting on his case, and he'd say anything to shut her up and get this over with.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-06-12 07:36 am UTC (link)

James seemed to accept the way he was suddenly willing to comply with her. He must have seen to reason, and probably wasn't such a bad guy if he was willing to at least understand how uncomfortable this situation must have been for Lotte.

"Great," she said with a smile that bloomed genuine, if not a little smug. "I'll talk to Lotte and see if we can come up with something else, then."

Standing from her chair, she nodded in gentle farewell to the man across from her, aware that she was going to be late for work if she didn't get a move on. "Thanks for meeting with me."

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lemortvivant
2010-06-12 04:44 pm UTC (link)

Bran was too preoccupied to wonder why James seemed to accept his sudden change of heart, but the bottom line was that she wouldn't be hounding him about it anymore. "Alright. Let her know that I can handle Erik and she doesn't have to worry about it."

He meant that part of it, at least. Clearly she didn't want to be around him, just like Christine didn't want to be around Erik, but unlike his counterpart he wasn't going to force himself on her. He couldn't possibly accept her lies as truth and pretend that everything was fine now that he knew she probably counted down the minutes until she could get away from him again. "It was my pleasure." Although he wasn't polite, he was used to giving the impression that he was; which meant that he stood when James did. "Lotte's lucky to have a friend like you." What it must be like, to have a friend - Bran had conditioned himself to believe that he didn't need or want one, but sometimes the lie would slip just for a moment. It never lasted long, though, and even now the feeling was gone as quickly as it had arrived.

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