InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Hail the King of Babylon."

allamericanboy (allamericanboy) wrote in forgotten_gods,
@ 2009-05-24 20:58:00

Entry tags:

democratic party, feminism

Who: Mark and Libby
What: Mark fears evisceration from his boyfriend's older sister.
When: Saturday (backdated)
Where: Dean and Deluca, Rockefeller Plaza
Warnings: None?

Mark had his laptop out on the table while he waited for Libby to arrive. He'd contemplated writing and sending an email to his coworkers and friends about his possible demise within the next hour or so, but in the end decided that was overly dramatic for a meeting with Libby (and would have inadvertently revealed the relationship he was in; something he was trying, subtly, to avoid doing). If anything, Libby would leave him standing for her brother's sake, wouldn't she?

He could acknowledge that the very fact that he was nervous about this talk meant that he knew, somewhere, that the way he was going about things was wrong. Even if Libby didn't address the fact that he and Glibt never went anywhere in public, and that he couldn't contemplate doing so at this point, Mark knew it was wrong. He didn't know what to do about it, but he knew it was wrong. To do anything else, though, would have been career suicide. Mark needed to be taken seriously in Washington. He needed to be respected without the use of his godly powers. He knew, as wrong and horrible as it was, going public with the fact that he was sharing a bed with another man would crumble some of that respect and pull his mortal persona had.

It made him feel better to think that Libby was just coming to talk to him about how to deal with situations like the other night when Glibt had been at the mercy of being they couldn't see. Or even just to give him some sort of lecture about using protection. He could do embarrassing. He kept things in his mind on a positive note as he scrolled through his email and sipped on coffee. For all he knew, Libby wanted to grill him on political issues. That was comforting.

(Post a new comment)

ex_ladiesfir479
2009-05-27 02:26 pm UTC (link)

Even among the collection of overworked and overworking businessmen complete with attached laptops, Mark was easy to spot from the door. She hadn't seem him for a while, sure, but there was something always recognizable even without the godly influence. For all that she didn't like politics and hated to have to play the games, she could occasionally grudgingly be convinced to admit she envied him that a little.

Well aware that her much more casual state was the rarity there and not much caring, she passed by the counter to grab a cup of coffee before moving to drop unceremoniously into the seat across from Mark. The entire process was mostly silent, generally in an attempt to see exactly how long it would take to pull him out of whatever it was he was doing.

It was entirely possible she was getting a little too much amusement out of the fact that she seemed to make him nervous these days. Part of her wondered if she should feel a little bad about that.

[ooc: I am so sorry it took me so long to hit this]

(Reply to this) (Thread)

allamericanboy
2009-05-27 02:45 pm UTC (link)

Frank Rich had sent an early copy of his Sunday column to his box and, admittedly, Mark was rather engrossed. It was politics, he couldn't help it. It was just the smell of coffee much fresher than his own that made him look up. "Oh, geeze, Libby. Hey!" Immediately he began clearing the few papers and books he had spread out around the table, trying to make sure Libby had enough space.

"Hey," he said again, once he'd stopped frantically moving things. "It's good to see you-- it's been forever, seriously."

Was he trying to make a good impression? Of course he was. He might as well have been sitting down with Glibt's father for as nervous as he was right now.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_ladiesfir479
2009-05-27 03:01 pm UTC (link)

"Mark," she returned with a grin, giving a little finger-wiggling wave with her free hand. Less time than she would have expected. She was almost impressed. She did take some of the cleared space, though, setting her cup down on the table.

"It has," she agreed, still wearing an expression of faint amusement. "I got the impression you've been kind of busy lately." The last was managed utterly deadpan. "How's that whole ruling the free world thing working for you?"

She made absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that she was studying him. Mostly out of curiosity, really, but still. Being able to make him fidget was never going to not be funny. Good thing she was already grinning.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

allamericanboy
2009-05-27 05:22 pm UTC (link)

"This is what I wanted so, I can't complain. I'm in power." he answered with a slight grin. "So far it's been going surprisingly well. I can't leave the country, but I've got the power again. I can save the country."

But enough about him. He had the feeling that she was picking up and far more from just staring at him the way she was. "How've you been?" he asked. That was safe.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_ladiesfir479
2009-05-28 02:02 pm UTC (link)

She tipped her head a little and waved a hand. "You know. Managing. Blood pressure's definitely improved since coming coast-side." She made another obscure gesture before picking her coffee back up. "The concentration of godly-types was a little surprising, though. Seems like everybody's here."

And that really was enough of a lead in for her to drop the small talk. The grin faded just a little as she fixed him with a pointed look. "Speaking of. You and Glibt seem to be pretty close at the moment."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

allamericanboy
2009-05-28 02:29 pm UTC (link)

Mark smiled. "I can relate. Being in Red States makes me nauseous, I can only imagine what it does to you." He and his sister had always had something of an agreement... he stayed out of her states and she stayed out of his. The lines only crossed during election season.

The grin on his face stayed around right until she mentioned Glibt. The nervous look came back almost immediately. "Yeah, we are. Um, for a few weeks now. He's been staying with me since he got to the city."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_ladiesfir479
2009-05-28 08:34 pm UTC (link)

She nodded a little, her expression more thoughtful than anything else for the moment. "Right. How's he doing? I mean besides," she waved a hand, somehow trying to encompass last week.

Okay, so she knew she was a little overprotective. And possibly more than a little overbearing. Not like that was anything new, though. She kind of figured people were used to it by now.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

allamericanboy
2009-05-28 10:47 pm UTC (link)

"He thinks he's alright, so he's thrown himself back into his work," Mark answered honestly. He made a face before finally closing his lap top and sliding it down into it's cushioned case. "I know he feels he has to, but I wish he'd take some time off and recover. Like I said before, he had to take morphine. Lots of alcohol too."

He could practically feel Glibt's head against his shoulder that night and his fingers gripping into his skin as he tried to fend of the attacks from the anonymous source. "We still don't know what did it. I told him if it was mortal... if it's mortal I'll get it."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_ladiesfir479
2009-05-30 04:19 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, he thinks," she repeated with a sigh. "As long as he can stand upright he's gonna say he's all right and get back to work. Maybe not even then. He doesn't fucking know how to stop." She made a frustrated sound and slumped back in her seat.

The last made her shake her head and wave a hand. "Of course you will. That's you. And it'll be great until the next time something like this happens." She went quiet for a long moment, lost in thought.

Until she looked up, fixing Mark with a sharp look. "We realize of course, that as long as you two are close, I'm going to be grilling you instead of his impossible ass, right? This is not a question."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

allamericanboy
2009-05-30 05:18 pm UTC (link)

"Right," Mark said, maybe in a slightly sheepish manner. He made a face, looking down into his cup of coffee. "I know. He doesn't like to talk about what's bothering him. I'm not going to spy on him for you, but this... his older sister should know when he's shooting up morphine." Mark knew that made it sound worse than it actually had been, but it still worried Mark that Glibt was even carrying the supplies around.

When he looked back up, his eyebrow was raised slightly. "So does that mean you're okay with this? I had the idea I was going to get here and you were going to... bite my head off," Mark admitted. Granted, this was still very much a possibility. The meeting wasn't over yet. "I like your little brother."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_ladiesfir479
2009-05-30 05:45 pm UTC (link)

She let out a faintly amused huff. "Wouldn't ask you to spy, but if I can ask you instead of him, yeah I'm gonna. Would make my life a whole lot easier." Her grin widened a little, arms folding to rest on the table in front of her.

"I'm not not okay with it. Much as I like to pretend I can, I wouldn't presume to tell either of you what to do with yourselves. I don't understand how it works, but if it does then fine." One should lifted in a kind of shrug. "If you do anything that even approaches hurting him, I will start removing pieces but you knew that."

Which was probably as close to giving her blessing as he was ever going to get.

(Reply to this) (Parent)