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fond_affections ([info]fond_affections) wrote in [info]bellumlogs,
@ 2010-01-02 16:28:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood: curious
Entry tags:beauty

Who: Ed and Ella
Where: 905
When: Right about now.
Warnings:None. Really now--they're just meeting!



He smoothed his slacks as he rose from the floor. His laptop was temporarily living on top of box of books near the only power outlet that wasn't buried behind other boxes. After running his fingers through his hair and pulling on his shoes, he grabbed his overcoat and wallet. This was a neighborly visit, after all, and it wouldn't be appropriate to turn up without a token gift. He eyed the elevator with suspicion for a moment and then decided to take the stairs--loping down them with the easy stride of an active, but not athletic man.

Since he didn't actually know Ella he couldn't shop with any specificity--but he dashed out to a bakery two blocks down and emerged minutes later with a selection of treats tied up in the requisite pink box-with-string style that was all the style among bakers these days. Back up the stairs he went--this time keeping to a slower pace so as not to arrive at the door of #905 out of breath. Another quick run of fingers through his hair and he knocked rapidly and firmly on the door. Rap. Rap. Rap.


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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 06:53 pm UTC (link)
He stepped back as she climbed the ladder. He would have scratched his head in stereotypical confusion if he weren't holding hammer in one hand and the nail in the other. Chuckling he put the nail in his pocket, hung the hammer by it's claw through a beltloop, and picked up the mirror with both hands. He tried not to look too obviously at the slender figure she cut up on top of the ladder.

"Animalistic...that's a good way to describe it. Sociopathic might be another..." he quipped darkly. "If you're right then he might be more or less harmless. I mean, if no one really died and he's just spouting off to scare us..." his tone was uncertain, as if something told him that it wasn't that simple.

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 07:02 pm UTC (link)
She reached for the mirror, stubbornly insisting on lifting its weight, even though it would have been a job better suited for the man at the foot of the ladder. Ella wasn't about to admit that, even if she knew she should at this point. Luckily, she managed to lift it high enough to prop the bottom edge on a bookshelf ledge. She didn't look smug when she reached down for the hammer and nail; she looked proud of herself, with a touch of endearing triumph.

"He's the villain," she said, referring to the landlord. "He's trying to scare people into doing what he wants. I don't think we necessarily take him at face value, because people don't claw each other apart like he said. It's not a very effective way to kill anyone, even if this were a novel. What's important is to find out what motivates him. He has to do this for a reason, and that reason needs to be found to put a stop to his tyranny."

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 07:14 pm UTC (link)
He was impressed when she got the mirror hefted into a resting place. Something about the look on her face when she reached for the hammer and nail told him not to suggest that they trade places. He did however, move around so he could reach up and help steady the mirror during the actual nailing process. The view was just as nice from the front side of the ladder, he watched her face as she spoke. At the mention of villains and novels he quirked an eyebrow.

"A villain, huh? Well, I guess every novel and every building has to have at least one..." he paused, waiting to see how she proceeded with the mirror. "If this were a novel, his motivations would unfold as a matter of course. I'm not so sure we'll be that lucky--unless we think our landlord is going to help us out by dropping hints..."

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 07:22 pm UTC (link)
Ella wasn't unaware of Ed's perusal. She hadn't led a protected or guarded life, and while she wasn't showy or flashy, she'd found that men liked something about her; it meant that she was sure of herself, without being vain or a flirt, and that she was comfortable with appreciation, when given. It didn't mean she always acted on such appreciation; she knew that sort of appraisal led to bed, and she wasn't a silly heroine in a novel that thought men could be kept with flesh and moans.

She leaned forward precariously, and she nailed the nail into place, the ladder tottering a touch, which she ignored in her desire to triumph over her task. She needed his help to lift the mirror into place, but she knew he'd offer the push to the bottom required, so she proceeded.

"No, the protagonists have to find his secret. If not, the novel is too passive and he has too much control."

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 08:01 pm UTC (link)
He forced himself not to flinch as she leaned forward. He put one hand on the ladder to steady it and put the other hand on the base of the mirror. She was determined, that he could tell and he couldn't decide whether he was amused or just really impressed.

"Ah, but in a novel the only real control is with the author... In our building, we have no author--that I know about. So, control is going to be a complicated issue--what if our landlord already has more than we like to think?"

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 08:03 pm UTC (link)
She hung the mirror, and she looked down at him with a smile. "Giving up when you've only just begun?"

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 08:06 pm UTC (link)
He looked up at her with a gleaming smile and all but purred, "Darling, one thing you really ought to know about me is that I very rarely give up..."

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 08:11 pm UTC (link)
Definitely Rochester, she decided. "I'll be glad to see you put your mind to it then," she said, climbing down from the ladder as if she hadn't noticed the gleaming smile or the accompanying almost-purr. "Are you tormented?" she asked with carefully planned abruptness, and she moved over to a stack of books and started placing them on a shelf. They were already piled according to subject and author, and she was curious to see if he'd decipher the pattern and put them in the right place without guidance - or if he did something altogether different.

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 08:19 pm UTC (link)
"As I said before...I'm at your service! Is there anything else I should be putting my mind to while I'm at it?" He teased with the almost-pur lingering just in the back of his throat.

He barely paused to blink before moving over to a stack of books. Rather than busy himself with putting them away, he stood in place fingering the spines and slipping through pages to search out signs of use...were they dog eared? thumb worn? His own fingers ran over the soft paper of the pages and for a moment it seemed he might not answer her question.

Then he spoke, without looking up from the book he was currently carressing. "Aren't we all?"

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 08:24 pm UTC (link)
The wear on the books varied. Some were so thumb worn that the pages were thin almost-nothings, others had clearly been read in the tub, and their edges were water stained and bloated, while others still were perfect and pristine, as if their spines had never been cracked. "You should be putting your mind to shelving," she said with a smile that was warm, even as it chastised.

When he did answer, she considered. "I hope not. You're a pessimist by nature, Ed?"

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 08:31 pm UTC (link)
He seemed unembarrassed by being caught more or less fondling her books. He grinned boyishly and shrugged, "Tactile, remember?" Then he got to work, following the apparent organizational structure of subject and author. But exercising some discretion when it came to organization within smaller groupings. He hummed a barely audible melody under his breath as he applied himself to his task for a moment.

"I like to think I'm realistic...while I, too, hope that I'm wrong I strongly suspect that I'm not..." He paused to thumb through a book that had apparently been read repoeatedly, showing the patina that comes from being well-used with care. "To answer your first question more directly. Yes, Ella, I would have to say that I am tormented."

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 08:39 pm UTC (link)
The book he was holding was Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, and she laughed a little, because what would he think of that, if he'd read it? Most people, she'd learned, disliked Faulkner. And that particular novel was at the top of the list of disdain. "My books feel violated," she said, but it was clear she didn't mean it, and she stopped to page through a book or two as she shelved as well.

"What torments you?" she asked, because he had to be tormented to be Rochester. There was no way around that.

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 08:50 pm UTC (link)
He shelved the Faulkner and made a mental note to pull out his own copy for a quick review before their next meeting. He was smiling as he cocked his head and looked toward the sofa and then back at her. "Just my luck! I had hoped that your books were as receptive as your throw blankets, but I clearly overstepped my bounds... too bad my assigned duties involve the books and not the blankets..." He mused in a mixture of wistfulness and mischief.

"Right now I am tormented by guilt over violating your books..." he teased, not at all sure he was ready to risk more than that, even though the shift in his eyes from blue-grey to storm cloud said there was much more to be risked.

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 08:55 pm UTC (link)
The teasing made her stop. Not Rochester. He wasn't surly enough, she decided, and she turned to him, catching the storm blue of his eyes in that instant. "You're a very challenging character to pinpoint," she finally said, moving to the next shelf, but sitting on the floor in front of this one, sorting the books that needed to go on the lower shelves.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Who would you compare yourself to?" she asked, not specifying that it should be literary, because really anything would do as a starting point for consideration.

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 09:04 pm UTC (link)
He continued shelving, his mind working fast as it fought to wrest control away from the emotions that were rising to the surface along with the certainty that this was why he tried not to talk to any single woman too much so early on in an acquaintance.

Too late his mind caught up his instincts and failed to make the save. "Heathcliff..." he muttered under his breath before shrugging and picking up the conversation in a soft, almost subdued voice. "Honestly, I haven't thought much about that sort of comparison.. but I'm pretty sure that I'm not likely to be a protagonist...perhaps an anti-hero of sorts..."

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 09:34 pm UTC (link)
"Oh, I already decided that you weren't a pure protagonist," she said with certainty. "You're too charming to be that person." She turned then, and she looked at him when he mentioned Heathcliff. "Say something cruel," she coaxed, because that was a requirement of the role, and she wasn't certain he had it in him.

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 09:39 pm UTC (link)
He hesitated slightly, shelved another book and then turned to face toward her. She was sitting on the floor, charmingly beautiful and young amid the rich colors and books that spoke of her life. He walked over and dropped into a half-crouch beside her--balancing on the balls of his feet, knees bent and body leaning slightly toward her.

His smile was the first truly predatory smile he'd shown her, but nothing else about his face or demeanor changed. "Ah, but Ella. To be cruel I would have to know your secrets. The most effective cruelty always strikes at the true heart of its object... So, my dear, I'm afraid cruelty will simply have to wait until I know you a bit better..."

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 09:46 pm UTC (link)
His predatory smile caught her attention first; not because it frightened her, but because it was different, unique. She hung on his words like you hang onto the letters on the page of a particularly good thriller, and she let them marinate in her mind for a moment before she replied.

She gave him a smile that was all intelligence coated with curiosity. "You would do it too, wouldn't you?" she asked, but it wasn't a thing of dislike; it was something unexpected, but not threatening. "Maybe you'd make a better rake than the man in the penthouse." Then, another smile. "Don't sell yourself short. Heathcliff wasn't that strategic."

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 10:00 pm UTC (link)
"Of course I would... you asked me to, remember? And I am, after all, at your service..." His reply was low and the tone darkly sweet, gravity pulling every syllable from his lips like drop of honey.

But then he reached out and lightly brushed a finger against the tip of her nose-the first touch he had initiated and it was a gesture of playful, friendliness. Safety was written all over his movements as he rose to his feet and went back to shelving books. "Perhaps my charm is actually just a highly refined form of cruelty? What would that suggest about my character?" He didn't comment on the topic of tragedy--he wasn't sure he wanted to know just how tragic she perceived him as being.

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 10:05 pm UTC (link)
"You're dangerous," she said softly as he stood, not unaffected by his actions; it was an awed sentence, as if a dangerous man was something she'd never encountered and couldn't fathom actually existing off the page. "Does it work often?" she asked, even knowing the answer, because of course it did. She rephrased. "Have you meant it ever?"

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 10:24 pm UTC (link)
He turned at smiled at her--a cheshire cat smile that made him look more youthful and less dangerous than he was. "Funny, I've been thinking that you are dangerous... I guess we have that in common..." He winked.

He cocked his head as he considered her question... well questions. "What is "it" exactly? The charm...or the cruelty? No matter. The answers with regard to both are Yes. And..." he paused lost in a fraction of a second of regret..."...Yes."

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 10:29 pm UTC (link)
She shook her head. "No, not that. Have you ever meant the feelings you brought about in others?" She corrected again. "No, in women?" She stood, and she went over to him, to the books he was shelving and she looked at him closely, making her own determination. "Mmmm. Yes, I think. Somewhere, deep down. Somewhere an appropriate heroine could find, perhaps. But she'd have to be something very special, wouldn't she?" It was an open appraisal and an equally open question.

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 10:47 pm UTC (link)
He stopped shelving and turned to face her as she studied him. He stood still, wide open for her contemplation.

"It's an odd question, that one. Meaning the feelings that I evoke in another person? Their feelings are their own. As are mine. If I am true to my dangerous nature I would have to say that it isn't within my province to mean of those feelings...or not..."

He leaned one shoulder against the bookcase he had been filling. Shifting his stance from being studied to studying. He seemed to be measuring her--not physically, not like that. But still. "Yes, she would have to be something very...very special indeed. She might even have to be a bit dangerous herself, come to think of it."

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[info]bookshelved
2010-01-03 10:54 pm UTC (link)
She laughed softly, because compliments came easy to him, and she knew a charmer when she saw one. "You mean to evoke feelings. It's intentional; a well thought-out thing based on a logical choice, not a run of emotions that controls you and demands it," she suggested. It was a theory, of course, but Ella knew he would disabuse her of the notion if he felt outraged by it. She wasn't worried about making incorrect conclusions aloud, as they generally led to the path of the correct ones.

"I'm supposed to make the connection that you think I'm dangerous?" she asked without shyness.

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[info]fond_affections
2010-01-03 11:07 pm UTC (link)
"Ah yes, I mean to evoke them...but how can I be held to account for whether or not they are given meaning by the other person? " His face was serious, almost steely around the eyes, a hint of hardness in him that almost belied his usual charm.

But then the look faded and he leaned closer to her--not close enough for her to feel his breath, but close enough that he could feel her warmth. "Ella if you didn't make that connection I'd be seriously disappointed."

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(no subject) - [info]bookshelved, 2010-01-04 01:54 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]fond_affections, 2010-01-04 02:01 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]bookshelved, 2010-01-04 02:18 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]fond_affections, 2010-01-04 02:32 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]bookshelved, 2010-01-04 02:35 am UTC

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