Roman (nephilims) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2017-05-10 01:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *hannah, *lena, georgina kincaid, roman smith |
Roman Smith & Georgina Kincaid
February 25
Dive
Awkward Reunion & Catching Up
Lowish - Complete |
Being in an alternate reality after picking up some magical coin in the middle of hell was the least unusual part about all of this. Frankly, Roman wasn’t that surprised that other dimensions existed or that he had been pulled into one. He was still getting his bearings, but that largely had to do with the fact that he’d been pulled out of hell after being there for weeks or months or God only knew how long. Time had the tendency to run together when you were surrounded by demons that hated you. Some still carried a grudge about his extracurricular activities of being a murderer of demons or even maybe considered to be assassin. No one held a grudge like a demon. Even though he was still wrapping his head around this place and steadying his sea legs, the strange part was that Georgina had no idea what had happened the last time he’d seen her. Apparently, he’d only just begun living in her apartment, she probably still thought that he wanted to kill her, and the last daring tale was rescuing dear ‘ole Dad. The same father who was back in hell where Roman had just come from before coming here. While Roman still had it worse, the overlords of Hell hadn’t been too pleased with Jerome either. The only thing Roman could think of was to meet Georgina and just talk to her. To see exactly what she knew and remembered before filling in the blanks himself. Blanks that she probably wouldn’t believe and some that he didn’t want to relive himself. And since neither really wanted to be completely sober for this conversation, she said that they could meet at one of the bars in town which was more than alright by him. Roman arrived before she did and had already ordered himself a drink as well as her usual vodka gimlet. The bartender had just handed him his scotch by the time she walked inside. He got a look at her and was still taken aback at how beautiful she was. Yes, part of it was the succubus glamour, but it was still all her. “Georgina Kincaid,” he said and raised his glass to her as she approached. “The one and only.” If there was one thing to be grateful for in this place, it was the abundance of good bars. Seeing Roman again hadn’t been such a surprise. He’d shown up to help when Jerome had been in danger, even if it had been to his own advantage and now he’d wormed his way into her apartment. Georgina didn’t know how to feel about that. She didn’t think he was waiting to kill her in her sleep, but she didn’t think she entirely trusted him, either. Curiosity drove her to meet him now, though. It seemed as though he’d come from farther into her future. He talked like the recent events of him moving in were in the distant past for him. The concept of different times wasn’t that strange in a place where characters from fiction - books, television, comics - were walking around, as real as they were. There was a series of books about her own life, as well, but she hadn’t been foolish enough to look herself up, yet. “I should hope so,” she said with a smirk as she picked up the glass. “The world could hardly handle more of me.” He looked good, but she didn’t feel like admitting that out loud. Instead, she took a sip of the drink while she sorted out her thoughts. “At least the vodka is good here,” she commented appreciatively. “Maybe,” he said and watched as she sat down with ease and took a sip of her drink. “The same could probably be said about me too. Or you might say that yourself.” If she was from the point in time that he thought that she was - right after he’d moved into the apartment with her - then she most definitely would have. Georgina could hardly stand the amount of Roman that she had to deal with now much less more of him. For Roman, though, he considered that to be a part of his charm. Even from her time, he didn’t think she entirely wished him to disappear. The drinks had been good so far, he did have to admit that. He down part of his own and took a watchful glance around their booth. Roman was always paranoid over the centuries, but he felt even more so now despite the fact that it didn’t seem like anyone would be coming for him here. He still wasn’t sure if he could believe that completely. He’d been living in secret for too long to let down his guard now, especially after coming here from literal hellfire and brimstone. “So, this whole time thing. You really don’t remember anything past me moving in? Nothing at all?” It was hard to wrap his mind around although it wasn’t the strangest thing he’d ever encountered. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to tell her the entire truth. Parts of it, sure, but all of it? Not all upfront and at once anyway. It was true that some of Georgina’s fear of Roman had lessened, but that didn’t mean she was entirely comfortable in his presence. While she knew she hadn’t been entirely blameless, he had once tried to kill her. Any feelings he’d claimed to have for him made little difference when she knew he had reason to want her dead. She doubted it made much difference to him that she’d just wanted to save Carter’s life. Even after they’d worked together to rescue Jerome, she didn’t entirely trust him. “I don’t,” she confirmed, just as surprised by the time discrepancies as he seemed to be. “But you do. These coins that brought us here, found us at different times.” When you’d been alive for several centuries, the concept of time travel was still weird, but easy to accept as possible. She wondered if she should ask for details. She also wondered if she should leave it alone and ask him not to tell her. What did the future hold? He’d asked about Seth, but from her perspective, a little distance from the writer felt like a good thing, after everything that had happened. “Are you going to stay here?” she asked instead. She’d essentially made up her mind that she would, even if she already missed Seattle. Yeah, he remembered a lot more than just the whole moving in together thing. Although, it was a bit more complicated than Roman just moving in with her. She’d basically been ordered to take him in by Jerome much to her disapproval and objection. Roman hadn’t minded, of course, and it had been better than fending for himself in a place of his own. Besides, he hadn’t exactly minded her company (most of the time) as much as she did his (most of the time). Roman couldn’t help but let out a little bit of a laugh when she asked if he was staying here. She had no idea just how much he appreciated being here. “Yeah, I plan on it. It’s a lot better than... well, being here is better than where I’m technically supposed to be.” He took a drink and glanced around the bar without saying anything for a minute. He could not tell her and leave her none the wiser about what happened. Or he could tell her and she’d understand and maybe not wish he’d disappear. He wasn’t sure if he could tell her absolutely everything, but Georgina was a smart girl. She’d figure it out eventually. “A lot of shit happened from the time I moved in until what I remember. Shit besides the mess with Jerome and the politics of the two sides.” This was harder to get through than he thought it would be, so he might as well just rip off the bandaid. “Before I showed up here somehow, I was in hell. Yes, the actual hell surrounded by demons who hate my existence. And, no, you didn’t send me there by killing me.” The more Roman talked, the more Georgina felt like she’d skipped to the middle of a book without reading the beginning. He was talking around some of it, obviously leaving out some details and she couldn’t help wondering what he wasn’t telling her. Maybe he was just trying to avoid telling her too much about her own future, but knowing he was leaving something out just made her want to know more. However much she distrusted and even kind of feared him, Georgina felt a stab of sympathy when he told her where he’d actually just been. Whatever she might have speculated about the future, she hadn’t expected to hear he’d actually been in hell. That was something she couldn’t even wish on her worst enemy. Her expression softened a little. “What happened?” she asked. Coming in here, Roman had already decided that he wasn’t going to tell her every last detail about the glitch in her contract. Not about Mortensen because, well, he preferred not to go in that direction especially now that he realized what point in time she’d come from. The point that wasn’t still involved with the guy. He might have gone to hell to help her out of love, but he wasn’t totally selfless. If she wanted to figure out that she’d known Seth in ten different lifetimes then that was her to research and find out. “The imp who brought you on and made the deal with you to become a succubus - he fucked up. Got careless, greedy, whatever. There was a piece of your contract that he violated, and you found out about it. You started going through all of the channels to get it reviewed by some bipartisan panel,” Roman said, even using air quotes around bipartisan panel. “You needed help stating your case down at the… main office. So, I went down to act as your highly sought after counsel to help you make your case. Needless to say, no matter what the outcome was, I was hardly going to make it out.” There were so many times that Roman questioned his decision. While she’d gotten her humanity back and was free and the epic love story spanning ten lifetimes had some sort of sickening happy ending, he’d ended up locked up in hell at the mercy of any and every demon that wanted to pay him a visit. Even now that he was out, he questioned if he would be able do it again. Sitting back in his seat, Roman finished off his drink and shrugged. “And now we’re here.” It took Georgina several moments to process what he’d told her before she could find the words to respond. A part of her wanted to know more, of course. She wanted to know what the issue with her contract had been, especially considering Kristin had specifically told her there was nothing wrong with it. She wanted to know why she’d even wanted it reviewed when she knew that was just asking for trouble. She wanted to know how it had ended up. None of those were the biggest question in her mind, though. She stared at Roman, trying to figure him out. He had that amnesty deal with Jerome. He had a nice place to live and he hadn’t even been paying her rent. Sure, sometimes he looked at her like he didn’t want to kill her right at that moment, but she couldn’t figure out his motives here. He had no reason to help her. “Why?” she asked finally. “Why would you do that for me?” While he could still get drunk if he pushed himself hard enough, it took Roman a lot longer than most for any alcohol to set in. Most of the time it was a good advantage over his drinking partner, but now was one of those times that he wished he could feel that pleasant buzz so that dark and confusing thoughts didn’t swirl around in his mind instead. She asked why, though, and all Roman could do for a minute was just look at her. She really didn’t know. Even though he was sitting here explaining her own future to her, it was hard to get used to the fact that she didn’t remember the smaller things that happened. Glancing down to his empty glass, he sighed. “You know why,” he said finally, meeting her eyes. The words weren’t said sarcastically or smugly but instead almost as if he was resigned to the fact that he was still hung up on Georgina Kincaid. Roman had led a long life, and it wasn’t often that he let himself get that attached to someone. Georgina was one of those people, and he didn’t get over those people easily. Sure, he sometimes fantasized about ripping her beautiful head from her amazing body, but he always felt really fucking awful about it afterwards? No one ever said Roman was a well-adjusted guy. “I mean, it didn’t hurt that I helped stick it to dear old dad and his demon buddies, but that wasn’t what drove me to do it.” “No, I don’t.” Georgina was genuinely confused here. She couldn’t think of a single reason why he would help her with this. When he’d helped her find Jerome, he’d had an agenda, but she didn’t know what he could possibly have to gain from helping her get out of her contract, aside from pissing off Hell, but it sounded like a suicide mission. “You didn’t get yourself trapped in Hell for all eternity just because you wanted to piss off Hell, I know that, so why did you do it?” Her question was in earnest. Here sat the nephilim who’d nearly killed her, who wanted her dead. She was honestly surprised he hadn’t killed her yet. Why he’d helped her the way he was describing, she couldn’t even begin to guess. She didn’t know. Hearing that just was another confirmation that this wasn’t a Georgina from his current timeline. They’d become some weird, unlikely sort of allies that shared a living space, but she still assumed that he wanted to kill her. To be fair, that wasn’t completely untrue, but it wasn’t that simple for Roman. He watched her and waited to see if realization would set in. He didn’t want to have to say the words aloud. There were times when he was extremely comfortable expressing himself and his feelings, but there were also times when it was the complete opposite. This was one of those times. He sighed and took a long sip of his drink. “Because it was you,” he said, completely serious. “And you… no matter how much I wanted to hate you, and trust me I still did sometimes, I also never stopped caring about you.” He stopped short of saying that he loved her because while there was still some love mixed in there, he was fairly sure that people who loved one another didn’t try or want to see the other killed. “You needed the help, and I was someone who could give it.” Roman shrugged, trying to brush it off so not to make it such a big deal. “But it doesn’t matter anymore because here you are, still a succubus.” Georgina wanted to laugh at the implication that he cared about her. Maybe he had once, but he’d done a really good job of making her believe he wanted her dead. Even if he hadn’t killed her, yet, she figured that was all a part of keeping his freedom. Jerome would have been pissed if his son killed his favorite succubus. At least, she liked to think so. There was something in his eyes that told her this wasn’t a joke, though and as she studied him, she realized the truth in his words. Despite everything, he did care about her. She didn’t really know what to do with that. It was better than him wanting her dead, but her love life was complicated enough without letting herself really think about what this could mean for either of them. “So, you don’t want me dead, then?” she asked, keeping her tone light as if she was making a joke. “No, I don’t want you dead. Not today at least,” Roman said with the same teasing tone she’d just used on him. Even at his worst, he didn’t exactly want her dead anymore, but his feelings for her weren’t as bright on some days as they were others. It was hard to make sense of what he felt in his own head much less try to explain it to her or anyone else. But he figured she might understand better than most people. She’d lived long enough to understand how complicated life and love could be. “But, hey,” he began before taking another drink. “You aren’t forced to pick up after me as your roommate anymore, so maybe we can actually manage to be friends here.” Friends was a start, at least. He’d had friends here and there in his long life, but rarely any that actually knew the real him. Not in a long time anyway. Those friends were either in hiding for the same reasons he was or dead. Nephilim rarely had nights out on the town together. Too risky. “Were the little beasts brought here with you? Are they missing their couch potato buddy?” “Friends.” Georgina found that she actually liked the sound of that. There was a part of her that regretted what had happened between them. She had loved him in her own way, even if she didn’t think he’d believe that was true. She’d betrayed him, but only because Carter’s life had been in danger. By the time she’d regretted calling in help, it had been too late. Maybe they couldn’t change what happened, but if they really could be friends after everything... “I’d like that.” Smiling at the mention of Aubrey and Godiva, she nodded her head. “They’re both here. If you’re good, I might even let you come visit them.” Friends was something that Roman could accept no matter how he felt beyond that. It was better than her wanting nothing to do with him or being annoyed at his very presence even though he knew that wasn’t always the case back home. They’d developed an uneasy sort of friendship towards the end, and who knows what that might mean here. He wasn’t in constant worry of being tossed back into the pits of hell, and she only needed to use her succubus charm to get what she needed in order to survive instead of doing Jerome’s bidding. Friends was at least something. Roman smirked. “Oh, you know they missed me. See, you don’t remember everything, but we became good pals, the furballs and I. You seemed to even get a little jealous. Though, I think they just liked that I was an extra fluffy cushion and source of warmth that didn’t move for hours unless he had to get up to get something to eat from the kitchen. And even then they knew they were going to get something out of it.” He thought about getting a pet of his own, but was what it that they said about commitment? Start with a plant then work your way up. Besides, he had no idea if his new roommate would even be on board with a pet. The Captain seemed to be a little on the business side most of the time. “Traitors,” Georgina muttered, shaking her head. She’d already experienced a little of Aubrey’s attachment to the nephilim and she suspected it was because he kept feeding her whatever he happened to be eating. “Don’t think you’re going to lounge around for hours, whether they like using you for a cushion or not.” Despite her assertion that being friends sounded nice - and it did - she still wasn’t sure how she felt about him. It was hard to trust someone who’d actually tried to kill you once. She suspected he didn’t trust her all that much, either, but that was hardly comforting. “I told you, you have to be good if you want visitation rights.” Roman smirked from behind his drink. It had always amused him at how wound up Georgina got when it came to her cats taking a liking to him and his sleeping habits. He missed the little furballs sometimes. “No, I’m afraid I can’t do as much bumming around here as I did in Seattle. Apparently, they’ve put me to work and expect me to show up. Who knew?” When he wanted to be, Roman could be a very productive member of society. He wasn’t always a lazy ass, but he could be a professional at that too. It all depended on his motivations. Truth be told, he liked working. He would have been miserable and wanting to run a knife through his own heart if he’d done nothing but lay around for the last millennia or two. How utterly boring and depressing. Being lazy just so happened to get under Georgina’s skin at the time. That had just been a perk of the arrangement. “You know me, I can be on my best behavior when I really want to be.” There was amusement behind his eyes and in his tone. When he wanted to be was the key phrase there. “I just have to like the reason behind my doing it.” He finished off the rest of the drink and pushed the glass forward on the table. “So, since you’ve been here longer than I have, I think it’s up to you to make sure I know where the best places to get a good bite to eat are. Want to give me the scenic tour back?” Georgina made a great show of rolling her eyes at him, but she finished her own drink and stood up. “You're lucky I don't have anything better to do.” |