InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "i'm justa teenage dirtbag baby"

Erebos (the__dark__one) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2011-09-06 19:23:00

Entry tags:

erebos, eris, morpheus

CHALLENGING [Dov, then Charlie]
WHO: Elias + Dov + Charlie (later)
WHAT: Integration
WHERE: Elias' Apartment #202
WHEN: 5:31 p.m., Tuesday, September 5th

It was an odd thing to wrap up at the office and then be responsible for the well-being of another person. Elias hadn't needed to hurry home in some time, and his eating habits were so solitary that it was difficult for him to consider "normal" dinner times without putting effort into it. But effort he did put into it now, since that kid at his apartment would likely starve if he didn't make dinner.

That was why he'd been adhering to a set schedule. Come 4:45, Elias was shutting down his systems and wrapping up email correspondence. 5:00 meant that he was exiting the building, and today he went by the market directly afterward. When he opened the door to his apartment, it was with an arm full of groceries.

"Salmon or chicken?" he called, as he toed the door closed behind him and headed into the kitchen.

The day after he met Dov and subsequently gave him the couch to crash on, Elias purchased long swaths of opaque material from the fabric store and tacked it up on the ceiling to partition the living room from the entry way and the kitchen/dining area. It gave them both some privacy.

Typically, Elias would have chosen black for the fabric color, but something made him choose a dark blue instead -- almost midnight in its shade. In his apartment, it still looked black. But Elias knew that it was deep blue. It felt like a secret. When Elias looked over at the partition as he unpacked the groceries, he smiled a short and very secret smile.

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morphinedream
2011-09-27 11:01 pm UTC (link)

"What the hell else am I supposed ta tell ya? I mean I ain't like, a goody-good or nothin', but I don't got anythin' I can't handle. I don't got any bombshells or nothin'. Freakin' relax, alright?" Dov smiled. Okay, so he was kind of going to be screwed in the work department at the time being (goddamn it, the conversation with his boss was not going well) but he didn't need any help from anybody with that. Even if he was broke and basically getting allowance from Elias.

Dammit.

"Things are uh, fine." The expression Dov gave Charlie so Elias couldn't see said otherwise. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful, but he definitely didn't have the space he needed. The makeshift curtains had helped, but shit, he needed to get out. It'd been way too long since he'd gone to a party. Or a bar. Or gotten laid. Fuck. And now he was going to be doing like... charity stuff? This wasn't his kind of thing at all.

"I'm thinkin' about findin' a job here. Just 'cause I mean... I might as well, right? Get back faster n'stuff."

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the__dark__one
2011-09-28 12:46 am UTC (link)

Although Elias would never have allowed it to show, he was inwardly relieved when Charlie finally closed the door. The girl did not eat very well; he knew that much from the leftover takeout boxes, bags, and cartons in her apartment. A healthy meal would be good for her. But more importantly, he knew the importance of family.

It troubled him that these two siblings were not able to speak reasonably together. If he could be the venue by which the two began an amiable dialogue, then he would stomach the discomfort of sharing his one-person apartment with Dov. The makeshift curtain across his living room entryway was less than appealing. The necessity to play host to another person during his off time was also unappealing. But yes, seeing the two in the same room together without grand arguments was worth it.

An eyebrow raised when Dov suggested finding a job here. It seemed that the boy was looking to be here longer than just long enough to get him to New York; he'd have that sum in a couple weeks, depending on air fares. But Elias would not object. In fact...

"What do you do, Dov?" he asked. Perhaps there was an opening in his office for a tech-savvy youth.

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eristic
2011-09-28 03:44 pm UTC (link)

A brow rose as Charlie moved further into the apartment, eyes wandering curiously around the space. The curtains that were supposed to offer privacy reminded her of the hospital in Germany she'd lingered in, and a frown curved her lips.

"Yeah, what do yah do?" Not like she was going to offer him a job - she couldn't imagine who would actually enjoy her line of work when she herself detested it. Plus he was a kid, and the best she'd probably be able to get him hooked up with would be some sort of a desk job, but Charlie wasn't that benevolent in the first place. She wandered closer to the table, eying the food Elias already had set out. It looked like stuff Rylee tried to make her eat, but her stomach grumbled in response to the food regardless.

She was trying to seem nonchalant, but there was the feeling of excitement that Dov wanted to stay longer. If that happened, she had a better chance of getting to know him, and through him, her mother. But she wasn't going to go skipping around the apartment, telling him what a good idea it was and oh was there anything she could do to help? Instead she simply turned on her heel to look back at the younger man.

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morphinedream
2011-09-29 07:26 am UTC (link)

"What do I do?" Dov blinked a few times. Well, shit. It wasn't exactly like working at a convenience store was that great a field, and he'd never done anything else. "Well - uh - I dunno yet. I mean I work at this little corner store in Catskill - well, kinda. I mean I think my boss is gonna fire me as soon as he texts me back. So uh... I dunno yet. But I'll find somethin'. Can't be that hard if I ain't picky about it." Even if it was something shady, he'd make it work. Whatever. As long as he got some money.

Shrugging, he checked his cell phone. Nothing yet. "I was gonna call up this number I saw today. Movie crew lookin' for PAs, ya know? Like the guys who carry shit and buy coffee. Ya get pretty decent money, even just for that. And they feed ya. So I think I'll do that in the morning, see if they still need people." He'd always been interested in that sort of thing, but by the time he was old enough to work on a set he was in fucking Catskill. If he'd still been in the city he'd have been doing this already, but this little nowhere town? Not on your life.

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the__dark__one
2011-10-02 07:56 pm UTC (link)

Unskilled. Probably uneducated. That was unfortunate. DynTek expected even the personal assistants to have some form of prior experience or education. From the description Dov gave, however, he had no marketable skills. Unfortunate indeed. But Elias' face was meticulously clean of disappointment.

Given the boy's tenuous employment at home, it was more and more likely that the kid would remain here. But one last question troubled Elias -- and perhaps it was one he should have asked a long time before now: And so Elias asked it -- carefully but firmly:

"What is left for you in New York, Dov?"

A beat, as he glanced to Charlie, then a whisper of a smirk touched his mouth. It was gone again before he asked a second, more immediate question, "And Charlie, can I bring you another?" He gestured to the bottle the girl had -- and if he didn't miss his mark, it was dangerously low.

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eristic
2011-10-02 10:11 pm UTC (link)

Charlie took another swig, and nodded toward Elias' offer of another - there was always an undeniable thirst in her throat, whether she needed it or not. And she felt like she always needed it. The alcohol was certainly helping to stomach this particular scene, not that it was as awkward as it had been.

Glancing back at Dov, she suddenly felt...not protective, necessarily, but certainly that they were a little more along the lines of kindred spirits. Being young and stupid in Missouri, what with Rylee going off to college, she was just as much pulling at straws as Dov was, currently. The military had been something of a godsend, in the end, giving her something other than ending up working at her father's garage for the rest of her life.

But she left things to be questioned by Elias, since he seemed to be better at extracting answers from the boy. That, and she was curious to see what else Dov would say. If there wasn't much left for him in the other location, obviously he'd stay longer in California. That would give her more time to get herself together and hopefully have less of an issue of having him around, without needing a couple of beers in her.

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morphinedream
2011-10-03 02:20 am UTC (link)

Dov wasn't quite expecting Elias' question, and he found that he had no idea how to answer it. What was left? He'd never thought of things that way before - but now that he was, it was quite obvious to him that he had a lot less waiting for him in New York than he'd originally thought. Frowning, he took a long sip from his bottle.

"Nothin' much. I mean... I got ma's house to sell, and all our stuff, but other 'n that..." He just shrugged, the weight of the situation really starting to sink in. He had nothing, really. Friends he couldn't trust and no real future in goddamn anything.

"I dunno, man. I guess I got nothin'." He tipped his bottle back again and finished it off. Fuck.

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the__dark__one
2011-10-04 11:33 pm UTC (link)

From the fridge, he pulled two new bottles and opened them quickly. Dov was closer, but Elias still went to Charlie first, trading the empty bottle for the full beer. "Do you have more here?" he asked Dov as neutrally as he'd asked the last question. He considered and then declined to kick Charlie under the table before he left -- as an unsubtle hint to point out that Dov had her at least.

When he traded the empty for the full with Dov, he finally took a seat at the table. Glancing first at the clock, then back to the kids, he decided that they had just a few more minutes before dinner began. If he could somehow manage to convince Dov and Charlie that they should learn more about each other -- and possibly delay Dov's leaving back to New York, then dinner would be almost a celebration.

It was a lot to hope for in 7 minutes and 24 seconds.

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eristic
2011-10-07 01:06 am UTC (link)

It was quite an opportune moment - of course Dov had more here, though Charlie rarely ever had the confidence to say that she was worth much. But with a little alcohol in her, Charlie perhaps was unaware that she was capable of just about anything.

"So yah should stay here. I don't mean here here," she intoned, gesturing to Elias' apartment. "Jus' California. S"better than nothin'." Taking another swig of the liquor, she walked up to the dining room table and put a hand on the backrest of one chair, still facing Dov and Elias in the kitchen.

"I mean, since we're on good terms now, an' I assume that's what we are, ain't no reason for you to leave."

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morphinedream
2011-10-07 05:28 am UTC (link)

Dov fell unusually silent for a moment, biting his bottom lip as he thought. Maybe he did have more here. Opportunity. Something. A fresh start rather than going back to New York and wondering what to do next for the rest of his life. Since he'd graduated he'd been doing... Really, nothing that really meant anything to him.

Fine. Elias won this one. "Yeah. I guess I do." He ran his hand through his shaggy curls again, glancing over at Charlie for a second. He had family here, at least. Well. Family that he was barely on speaking terms with now, but still. Charlie was more family than anybody else he had out in New York.

"Guess you're right. I still gotta like, sell ma's house and everythin' though. And I don't really got the money to get a nice place around here, ya know? I mean I'm guessin' it's not really that cheap even for a shitty place to stay."

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the__dark__one
2011-10-10 05:12 am UTC (link)

Elias kept the smile under lock and key, but his ice-green eyes had taken on a warmth that hadn't been there before. It looked like Charlie was going to be able to keep her brother around after all. This. Was. Good.

"There are services that assist executors with the dissolution and disbursement of estates. It may be easier to handle the final arrangements from here while you look for employment. If you'd like, I can help with the particulars. We should also see what we can do about more permanent living arrangements."

Standing just as the oven buzzer went off, Elias grabbed an oven mitt from a drawer and pulled the chicken out of the oven.

"Dinner first, though," he said as he began assembling their plates. And this time, there was no chance to hold back a grin. This was a good night, indeed.

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