InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I need a girlfriend"

he's (misterenigma) wrote in rooms,
@ 2015-09-14 23:07:00

Entry tags:

*voice, death, eddie nigma

emily/ed
[Emily]
[After this. He calls from Wayne Manor, where he's currently hiding out with Bruce. Ring, ring!]

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	Phone: Emily/Ed soundofwings 2015-09-15 06:15 am UTC (link)
	[Even with her having given him her room's direct dial phone number, there's still a delay of several rings before she picks up. And then a silent little pause before she takes an audible breath and speaks.] ...Hello? (Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 06:19 am UTC (link)

[There's the faint sound of Mario Maker in the background. Classic video game pings and music. He smiles and has to remind himself that she's probably nervous. Actually? He is, too.] Hi, it's Ed. [His voice is undoubtedly nerdy, but it has an undertone of roughness from the Gotham slums. Like a stain you can't wash out. Playfully:] A redhead on the forums gave me your number because I thought you were cute.

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	Re: Phone: Emily/Ed soundofwings 2015-09-15 06:23 am UTC (link)
	[She tries to listen to the unfamiliar sounds, but they're just a little too soft for her to make much sense of. And before she can say anything else, he makes her laugh, a surprised sort of exhale.] Oh really? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Phone: Emily/Ed misterenigma 2015-09-15 06:25 am UTC (link)
	Yeah. [He audibly shrugs.] I think I should also mention I'm hanging out in the middle of a super old, incredibly expensive mansion playing video games. You know, no big deal. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Phone: Emily/Ed soundofwings 2015-09-15 01:40 pm UTC (link)
	[Another soft laugh, and she's still audibly smiling.] Same stuff different day, hm? [Her voice is... normal. There's very little accent to it, not too high, not too low (though maybe a little lower than high). She doesn't have the sort of Gotham edge that so many other people at the school do.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Phone: Emily/Ed misterenigma 2015-09-15 02:35 pm UTC (link)
	[Doing his best high society impression:] Indeeed. [He smiles.] No, but seriously? This is the first time Bruce let me visit. It's monumental. [Ed takes a moment to listen to her and then:] You and your brother...middle class? Suburbs outside of Gotham? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 02:41 pm UTC (link)

[A hum of agreement, shot with amusement at his upper-class act, but she finds she likes his normal voice better. She likes the Gotham laced through it.] Have you known him long? Or just since coming to school? [She finds she's actually interested in the answer, wanting to know, but then Ed's tossing questions back at her and it makes her falter. The pause is telling in itself, even before her words that are forcibly casual.] Mmhm. Got it in one. [Suburbs would be normal, would make sense. And maybe that is where they're from. Maybe she just doesn't remember it for some reason. Maybe Destin would know, if he were there to ask.]

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	Re: Phone: Emily/Ed misterenigma 2015-09-15 02:49 pm UTC (link)
	We met in college, but I feel like I've known him for a long time. [...] I think he has a hard time making friends. Being Bruce frickin' Wayne and everything. [He doesn't really know what to make of the strained tone. Digging might make her hang up on him or something. So instead:] You know, you're slumming it talking to me. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 02:57 pm UTC (link)

I don't know that much about him. I mean, the name is familiar, but... [She trails off, and the shrug she gives is obvious even though it's silent. She doesn't quite realize how much not-knowing about Bruce makes her sound... sheltered. Or at least ignorant of the city she is attempting (and claiming) to be a part of. She relieved when Ed switches the attention back on himself, at least in the casual way he does it. It earns another smile, one that warms her tone.] It doesn't feel like slumming. It just feels like... talking. [She's fond of him already, just from their back and forth on the journal and the few moments of their phonecall.]

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 03:11 pm UTC (link)

Come on, Bruce Wayne? The Wayne family was the only thing keeping this city afloat. Charity work actually worked instead of simply being an excuse for rich people to party. Mobs didn't want to kill each other, crime was down. [He sighs and shrugs.] But, then Bruce's parents were killed and everything went down hill. The whole city took it hard, but no one was hurt by it more than Bruce. [Ed pauses, smiling at the clear fondness in her voice.] Well, the good news is that in a few years no one will see me and think slums. I'm [...] glad I came from there, but staying is a death wish.

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 03:22 pm UTC (link)

No, I know... [But she doesn't. Even with the cheat-sheet version, it only seems hazily familiar. In the way she might remember a story she heard once, a very very long time ago. And it's there in her voice, the way the recognition is just a little too forced.

But then it goes softer again, warmer.] I didn't think slums when I saw you. [Teasing.] I thought That guy really needs to keep it down, this is a library, but nothing about slums. [She grins as she moves back across the room, glad that her phone is cordless, and settles herself on her bed, propped with a pillow in the corner of the wall where she has the bed pushed as close as it can go. The movement rustles a bit with fabric and the mattress' springs, but then she's quiet on her end of the line. And after another breath, she goes a little serious.] I'm glad you've left, then.

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 03:30 pm UTC (link)

Smart girls hate it when guys explain things to them. [He teases lightly, voice flat like a verbal side poke. He laughs:] Well, I'm already pretty good at hiding it. At the party? Well, if you went to the party. You'd see me and think, wow that kid must have grown up next door to Bruce or something. [Ed's smiling but it's bittersweet.] I'm good at making people see what I want them to. [Pause. Then:] Where do you want to be in five years? [Smirk.] Sorry, that sounds like I'm interviewing you for a job at Best Buy. Still.

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 03:41 pm UTC (link)

Hey, even smart girls need explanations sometimes. As long as you aren't a jerk about it. [It was a verbal poke right back at him.]

Mm. Maybe... [She didn't sound convinced though.] But maybe not. Wouldn't you be a different person altogether if you'd grown up next door to him? Whatever's gone into making you you wouldn't be there. I mean, I guess you can make people see what you want them to see. As long as you don't lose track of who you really are, right? There's enough people that wouldn't care about where you grew up, as long as they get to know you. [The words spilled out, and it took a little bit to realize that they were maybe too heavy for a first phonecall. But they came easily, like there was already a place for them in the conversation between the two of them.

And then she breathed out again, that sound that was almost a laugh.] Oh, probably going for my PhD. Maybe traveling for research. Maybe just staying here and writing papers. ...You?

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 04:31 pm UTC (link)

I was not being a jerk. I was giving a heartfelt backstory of my city. [Ed didn't sound like what she was saying made him uncomfortable. In fact, he warmed to it, as if he had been waiting to talk to someone besides Bruce without wearing a specific mask.] I know, I know. But, I could pretend to be anything. [He leans back on the couch (which is basically a priceless antique).] I'd be a complete prick if I grew up around here. Bruce is the only one that got out of it decent.

[He listened, not surprised about anything she listed.] I'm probably going to take over the world. Revolutionize the tech industry. Make Lex Luthor look like a chump.

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 04:39 pm UTC (link)

I know you weren't. It's just a warning not to be. [But she's still smiling. Even though her voice does dip softer, almost gentle, at the next:] Decent but not unscathed though, right? [She doesn't know Bruce, but she can guess, just from Ed's story about Gotham.

Another shifting sound of fabric as she adjusts one of her pillows, feet tucked up and knees high as she slouches into the corner of walls and bed, cradling the phone against her shoulders so she can get more comfortable.] Just in five years? Those are lofty goals. Though world domination sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 04:52 pm UTC (link)

[He makes an ahah noise and then his voice goes quiet, too.] I mean besides being screwed up about his parents? [Sigh and then:] Everyone says he grows up to be Batman. [He says the vigilante's name like it's the most ridiculous thing ever.] Do you know about him?

[Shrug.] Geniuses have to get stuff done early. Most great minds are billionaires by the time they're out of college; sometimes before. [Smile.] Or, you know, I'll work at a comic book shop the rest of my life.

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 05:05 pm UTC (link)

[Did she know about Batman? There was a long pause before she replied, like she was trying to search through muddied thoughts - not far from the truth. And when she finally answered, there were hints of frustration there under other emotions that were harder to identify.] I feel like I do? Or like I should. But it's all... [She sighed, and it was obvious she was making a face, shaking her head.]

That's a lot of pressure. You don't think you can still be a genius without holding yourself up against what other people have done? [Sweet and warm again.] You know, that doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world, either... [Even though it was soft, it was too much of a comment. Like there was something in the background pushing her (willingly, but still with insistent nudges) toward something. Toward Ed? She felt more comfortable talking to him than other people she could remember in her muddled thoughts. For once, she wondered what it would be like to talk face-to-face, if she'd be able to without the barrier of pen or phone.]

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 06:07 pm UTC (link)

[He knew he shouldn't say anything, but he can't help it. Almost blurted out:] You don't remember a whole lot, do you? Fog where memory should be? [Ed had experience with people, well undead people who suffered from the same thing. Awkward pause.] There's a chance you might be a ghost. [He was mostly joking. Mostly.] That would explain why no one has asked you out before. They can't see you.

[Ed smiled at the way she sounded talking about the shop. It made him feel warm, like the comic book shop was home for him, even if that thought had never crossed his mind before.] Maybe when I'm old? I can see myself retiring at thirty. After a life of debauchery, technology and world domination. Why not?

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 06:15 pm UTC (link)

[An even longer pause. It's awkward over the phone, static silence. And then uncertainly:] I don't think I'm a ghost. I think I'd know. [More time for thought.] I think Destin would know. And people are writing to me on the journals. You called me. You saw me in the library, you said. [She keeps listing things off, like she's trying to convince both him and herself.] I've been going to classes. And I've been on the rosters. I couldn't do that if I was a ghost.

[She took a deep breath to try to move away from the thoughts of being a ghost, and shook her head, a swish of hair against the phone.] Thirty isn't old, Eddie. [The name tripped easily off her tongue, and it didn't register as anything strange to her.]

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 06:21 pm UTC (link)

You could both be ghosts. And, it doesn't mean anything if I can see you. I've been seeing ghosts since I was a kid. Like the Sixth Sense? [Smile and then he tries not to laugh as she names off some more "proof."] Emily, those are all things that you think you're doing with everyone else. Do you think most ghosts are self aware? They're not. The really special ones think they're the same as anyone living. [Gently teasing:] Don't worry, I won't lead you to the bright light until I get at least one good smooch.

[Laugh.] It's incredibly ol- wait. Eddie? It's Ed- actually, I like when you say it.

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 06:31 pm UTC (link)

Destin isn't a ghost. [That, at least, she sounds very sure of. Everything else? Everything else she doesn't comment on. They don't feel right, but they also don't feel wrong. Not the way he says them. She can't even reply to his comment about a kiss. It's all wrapped up in her head into something that's... confusing.

Her voice is soft, almost distracted now:] It felt right. To say. [But she sounds like her thoughts are a million miles away.]

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	Re: Phone: Emily/Ed misterenigma 2015-09-15 06:35 pm UTC (link)
	[He drops the whole ghost thing. It's mostly a tease and if his theory is right, he really doesn't want to prove it to her over the phone. Actually, he's not crazy about proving it to himself, either. Ed goes quiet, thinking about her calling him Eddie and then, almost whispered:] Emily doesn't fit right in my head. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

soundofwings
2015-09-15 06:39 pm UTC (link)

[Dropped, but still there. Still twisting her thoughts around. She curls up tighter in the angle of the walls, tugging one of her pillows closer, like she's building a wall between herself and his theories.] Doesn't fit right? [She doesn't want to ask - doesn't want something else that will make her feel stranger. She was supposed to be at college to be normal.]

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Re: Phone: Emily/Ed

misterenigma
2015-09-15 06:46 pm UTC (link)

I don't know. [Pause and he's really quiet, like he's trying to remember the name of a song. Like it's on the tip of his tongue.] There's something else I want to call you, I suppose? When I try to think about it, I feel like I want to see you. And, it sounds crazy. [He sighs.] But, we just met. Sorry, that's creep level 9000. I'm usually very charming with girls. Nonthreatening.

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	Re: Phone: Emily/Ed soundofwings 2015-09-15 06:52 pm UTC (link)
	I want to see you too. [It comes in a rush, half talking over what Ed's saying so that she misses the last part. Maybe he thinks that he sounds creepy, but she jumps on the thought of seeing him like there's nothing she wants to do more. Not even go back to her coursework.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)