Jaime Elizabeth Davies (finder) wrote in silverage, @ 2011-08-20 22:27:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !log, balthazar blake, jaime davies |
Decisions, Decisions
Who: Jaime, Balthazar
What: chatting, plotting
When: Backdated to Tuesday the 16th
Where: Arcana Cabana
Rating: Lowish? Mentions of casual sex
Status: Complete
Her trips into the city were becoming more and more frequent, and she had a feeling both Charles and Erik knew exactly what she was getting up to. Or trying to get up to, at any rate. Finding a job she liked and that would pay enough was proving to be a Herculean endeavor, and it was just a little frustrating. She figured she’d have to end up settling for either a job she didn’t care for or an apartment that was a step below what she wanted. Or, she could stay where she was and scrap the whole idea. It was sound, in theory. In practice though, the idea of moving to the city had taken root and was burrowing to the point of almost obsession. It wasn’t going to be impossible to shed the idea, but it was something that would just have to pass on its own time. On an application collecting spree (she reasoned if she was crafty, she could manage three part time jobs if need be, and probably have enough for rent on a nicer place), she ventured along paths she hadn’t trod in … well, a while. As she rounded one corner, she paused and tried to consider what was different about it than the last time she’d been here. It was slow in dawning, but eventually she realized that Balthazar’s shop was open. Well, unboarded at any rate, and she wondered if he’d found out yet he was stuck here. If he was going to regret having come back to the city now that it was a cage. Well, if he didn’t know, she figured it was her duty to tell him. Rolling up her gathered applications and shoving them into one pocket, she made her way up the steps in the alcove to let herself inside. “So, you’ve been back for how long and not even a phone call? I thought we were friends,” she called out to the apparently empty shop. She figured he was around somewhere, and as she waited for him to respond, Jaime made her way through the accumulated piles of junk -- with their accumulated layer of dust. Blech. “You should really get a maid in here. Or open the door so you’ll get a breeze to blow some of this dust out,” she continued as she paused to listen to see if she could hear where he’d be coming from. She didn’t imagine she would; he was like a damn cat when he was inclined to be. _________________ “I’ve been back for all of five minutes. I see you haven’t learned patience in my absence,” Balthazar replied after standing up from where he had been kneeling to put some books away on a lower shelf. He had been hidden from her sight by another stack of artifacts which probably gave the impression that he was popping up out of no where -- which he always found amusing. Of course, he’d really been back longer than five minutes, but he was only just resettling in and he was never the sort to let people know of his comings and goings. He just came and went and assumed people would figure it out. He had acquired a few new books and other oddities to sell, even though the primary objective of this trip had been to discover why they were suddenly trapped in New York. He wasn’t a fan of being trapped here, even if he did like the city. The Prime Merlinian could be out there right now and he was stuck, unable to go find the child. Now he was also curious about the snow storm, but he assumed that was a magic user who had been brought here and not caused by whatever inexplicable force that was keeping them here. “I thought the dust added a certain sort of charm,” he replied as he looked around, wiping his dusty hands off on his slacks as he regarded her. He would get around to cleaning it, eventually. _________________ “Five minutes,” she echoed. “And I bet you weren’t even going to call me.” She snorted, then sighed. “No patience, no. Not for lack of them trying though,” she assured him as she glanced over to where he’d popped up from. Sometimes she really did wonder if he seriously came out of no where or could teleport or something, or if he’d just designed the shop to have a thousand hiding spaces. It was something she thought about occasionally. Usually just when she was here, but every once in a while her thoughts strayed to the shop and him. “Dust isn’t really charming,” she pointed out. “Makes people sneeze and dulls the shine on … shiny … things.” She shook her head and wove her way through the stacks as she tried to pick out what was new since she’d last been here. She’d swear that things just randomly showed up in here, but … maybe he had them mailed in. “So have you been back long enough to know we’re all trapped and that it snows in August now?” She grinned a little as she moved to peer into a glass case before she turned her pale blue eyes to him. _________________ “And yet here you are, whether I was going to call you or not,” he replied, a smile briefly twitching across his lips; he could have hidden it and he often did try to appear as stern and unamused as possible, but for some reason, that never seemed to bother Jaime. In fact, he was pretty sure that she enjoyed teasing him even more when he seemed to be affronted by it so he’d given up trying to scare her away and admitted to himself that he did enjoy her company. She always made things interesting, if nothing else. “Is it snowing?” He feigned surprise. He was sort of enjoying the snow, at least. It was amusing, even if it was throwing most people for a loop. “I did notice that we were stuck here though,” he added, his lips twisting in annoyance. He’d testing their new boundaries, thrown some magic around, but hadn’t been able to figure out a way to get past. None of his contacts had been able to figure anything out, either. One would think that after being alive for so long, he would have seen everything there was to see, but this was new and frustrating. He much preferred new and amusing, like the August snow storms. _________________ She stuck out her tongue at him. “Only because I was in the neighborhood and happened to notice the boards were down, which meant you were open or planning to be open soon,” she explained, patting the roll of applications in her pocket. “I’m trying to think of the most adult way to move out,” she continued. “Erik had the audacity to play the remember your past card on me when I brought it up with him,” she admitted with a roll of her eyes. “Like I could forget it if I tried.” There weren’t a whole lot of people, in or out of the house, who knew … well, everything about her. The true everything, not the various stories she made up for strangers. Balthazar was one of the few who’d been blessed with the entire truth. Oh sure, it had taken some time for her to feel comfortable enough to share, but it was kind of nice that at least someone out there could understand why she was like she was. “Sucks,” she said. “That we’re stuck here, I mean. If I’d known where you were, I would have called and told you not to come back into the cage. Seems like … people aren’t stuck until they come inside the boundaries. ‘least it’s a big cage, right?” She shrugged one shoulder. “Kind of limits the array of things you can bring into the shop though. I mean, I can’t trek up to Maine to find … whatever. In a cave somewhere.” She grinned a little before flicking her fingers against a peacock feather sticking out of a vase. _________________ “What would the most childish way to move out consist of?” Balthazar asked, his gaze flicking down to the applications in her pocket. He didn’t really expect an answer … though he figured Jaime might come up with an entertaining one, anyway. She was certainly old enough to be out on her own and it wasn’t as if she was moving to the other side of the world -- although, now that was out of the question even if she’d wanted to. He shrugged in a ‘what can you do’ sort of way; if she’d gotten in touch with him before he had returned to New York, he probably would have come back just to see if it was true anyway and wound up in the same boat. “Luckily I have plenty of merchandise,” he replied with a glance around his dusty store. “I guess I’ll be keeping it open on a more full time basis since there’s no where I can jet off to. “You’re looking for something full time in the city?” He asked thoughtfully. It would make sense, if she wanted to move out of the mansion. Regarding her thoughtfully for a moment, he considered the idea of her working for him. It might be boring, though; it had never been an extremely high traffic store, but maybe now that … interesting … things were happening in the city, business would pick up. _________________ “Sneaking out in the middle of the night,” Jaime said. “Or flouncing with a lot of yelling about how unfair they’re being. I think it’s kind of either way on that one, with more lean toward the yelling.” She grinned. “Though I might do the flounce and yell thing just … you know. So I don’t get all sad. Even if they’re only an hour away and we’re trapped in the same cage and we can visit any time.” She sighed dramatically. “Erik just … doesn’t think it’s safe. Especially now with … all this weird stuff happening. I haven’t really talked to Charles about it, but I’m sure he’s got some really logical arguments all lined up because he knows what I’m thinking.” Jaime heaved another side before sprawling dramatically -- but carefully -- across the top of the display case. “I think mail still comes in. So if you knew about something, you could still probably order it.” She thought about that and kind of wondered. Maybe postmen were the exception to the trapped rule. Or maybe mail didn’t come in. She hadn’t really paid much attention to it. She thought about that and imagined post men on either side of the barrier, one tossing bags and packages to the guy on the inside, and she grinned a little before she drifted back to the conversation at hand. “Yeah. Or a couple of part times, because I’m not sure I can manage rent, food, and bar nights on even a full time salary. I mean, secretaries really don’t get paid that much, and I think it’d just be kind of … I don’t know. Weird, I guess, to actually work in a massages parlor. I mean, good luck finding one where the guys only expect a massage, right?” Though she’d bet the pay was better, plus there were tips, and she didn’t really want to be working all the time. What was the point of having money if she couldn’t enjoy it? “So I figure I’ll fill out the applications for the places I like, and see what I can secure as far as a job goes, then see about getting a place. I mean, I have some saved up. Not a lot, but enough to manage rent for a couple months in a nice place. Twice that in a sketchy place.” She grinned as she straightened herself up, brushing the worst of the dust off her shirt. _________________ Running off with a lot of yelling was about what he expected, but he couldn’t imagine Jaime actually doing that -- at least not seriously. He could certainly see her making a production out of it for fun or amusement, though. Especially as she demonstrated her dramatic ability by draping herself across one of his display cases. Well, that was one way for it to get dusted. “I can understand their concern,” he agreed. Now was definitely a strange time and there was a lot of uncertainty about the cause, who might show up, what was going to happen next. He could see how some people might not think moving to the city now was the best idea ever. “However, given that we have no idea when things might be settling down, I wouldn’t encourage putting your life on hold indefinitely. I’ve never been a particularly good influence, though.” He pulled a slight face when she mentioned massage parlors. That was certainly not a career move he would encourage. He knew it was difficult for women to find jobs -- though he had seen things changing and he liked to think they were slowly heading in the right direction -- but surely there were more options out there for her. “Since I’m stuck here, I suppose I might as well keep the store open on a more … regular … basis. Maybe I should hire someone to help,” he ‘suggested’ innocently, arching his brows and trying not to look amused when she dusted herself off. _________________ She fixed him with a look when it seemed like he was going to be siding with Charles and Erik, but since he did manage to redeem himself with his follow-up statement, she didn’t pursue the lecture she was forming. Too bad; she could have practiced her speech on him and then thrown it by Erik to see if that changed anything. “It’s not even really the … I mean, yeah, okay, the new things make it worse, but it’s more … the anti-mutant people. Not like I go around … flaunting it, but …” She shrugged slightly. That wasn’t even completely true. Not after all the fliers, though even that wasn’t shouting ‘hi, I’m a mutant!’ and she hadn’t put any contact information on it, but she guessed that was a little of her frustration manifesting. Why should she have to hide? “I don’t even know what I want to do. Which is half the problem. I mean, right now, I’m just kind of wanting to move to the city on a lark, and not … well, obviously not because I have a job here or anything. I just like it better. Don’t get me wrong, the mansion’s nice and everything but …” Jaime tried to put her feelings into words and came up short. “I don’t know. It’s … sheltered. It’s us. It’s all mutants, all reminder, all the time. It’s hard to pretend you’re normal when you live with blue people, you know? When one of the guys you live with knows what you’re going to say before you say it.” When they had a room designed to protect against high-energy blasts because people she lived with could do that. She sighed. “Look at me. Here you are, back five minutes, and I’m already unloading on you. Let this be a lesson to you. You can’t take off for months at a time and not expect disaster when you return.” She managed a little grin for him before she shook her head when he mentioned hiring someone. Jaime liked to think she was pretty quick, and most of the time she was, but the association didn’t quite take. “I dunno. You’re awfully eccentric. I mean, try finding someone to work here who could put up with your unique sense of humor that wouldn’t ask questions about, I don’t know, human skulls and unicorn horns? I mean, is that something you really want to do?” Her brows elevated right back as she regarded him. _________________ “Well, now’s the time for larks, if you ask me.” What better time than your early twenties to take a few risks? He thought she was in a good position to do so, also. She had some money saved up and the mansion to fall back on if it turned out she hated the city. Before she knew it, she’d turn around and have a real job and probably a family and fewer and fewer chances to do something crazy and risky with her life. “Besides, better to try and decide you don’t like it than to always wonder and regret not giving it a chance.” With a light chuckle, he shook his head, “Luckily I won’t be able to run off for who knows how long so I suppose I can keep the disasters at bay for a little while, at least.” He hoped it wouldn’t be long before things returned to normal. Not that he had anywhere he wanted to be -- and he was looking forward to spending a little time just being settled here -- but it was the principle of the matter. He wanted the choice to be able to leave if he wanted to. When she didn’t catch on, he tilted his head slightly, keeping his brow arched as he regarded her. He wondered if she would get it if he just looked at her for a long time, but instead he shook his head and heaved a sigh. “You’re right. It’s a shame I don’t know anyone who’s looking for a job who already knows all about these things and can at least pretend to put up with my eccentricities. “And human skulls and unicorn horns are perfectly acceptable novelty gifts,” he tacked on as an afterthought. _________________ “Right,” Jaime agreed thoughtfully before she shrugged. He had a point, she guessed. And she wanted to move here, and it wasn’t like she couldn’t go visit the mansion. It was only an hour away. Besides, everything that was going on was going on here, and the bulletin boards were nice, but they weren’t everything. She made a face when he mentioned he wouldn’t be able to run off. She knew that sort of screwed his whole quest-thing, and she wondered how that was going to go. If this never cleared up, then … what? He just had to hope his Merlinian showed up here? Jaime wondered if she’d be around when he found him, but she guessed not. If he’d already been at it for a thousand years and change, what was to say it wouldn’t be a thousand years more? Which sucked for him. For everyone, really. “Maybe they’ll find a solution to it. Eventually. Or whatever’s doing this will get bored and undo it.” Which made her wonder how they’d know if they were suddenly uncaged. She regarded him as he gave her a look, and as she was starting to wonder what she’d missed, she rolled her eyes. “Wouldn’t that be weird? I mean, I read somewhere that you don’t work for your friends. Not you specifically but general you. It would just lead to awkwardness.” She nodded as she regarded him. “Besides, I don’t think you could afford me,” she added with a grin. It might not be so bad to work here though, and she cocked her head as she looked around the store as if seeing it for the first time. It might be a step into a world she wasn’t sure she wanted to be immersed in though. But why not? She was fully surrounded by the mutant world, why not the magical one too? “Yeah, all right. Hand over an application and I’ll think about it.” _________________ “Eventually,” he agreed. Everything was figured out sooner or later. People couldn’t just be trapped in New York -- in different times, worlds, realities -- for the rest of their lives. Well, they could, but it didn’t seem likely. Although, he’d been searching for the Prime Merlinian for centuries so ‘eventually’ could be a very long time. “Don’t worry; if it gets awkward, I’ll fire you,” Balthazar promised her casually, but he didn’t think it would be awkward at all on his end. He would have no problem giving her instructions on how, exactly, he wanted things done … and then being various degrees of amused and frustrated when she inevitably had her own thoughts on how something should be handled. He also just arched a brow doubtfully at her comment about affording her. He knew she was kidding, but he figured he would pay her better than just about any other place around for the same amount of work. He’d had a lot of years to save money. “Part of my application process is for you to come up with an application on your own. So you write up an application with all the information you think I need to know and then I’ll think about it,” he replied with a brief smirk touching his lips. _________________ “You wouldn’t fire me,” Jaime said as she fixed her pale blue eyes on him. “Because you’d be afraid I’d never come back and I’m your ooooooonnnnlllyyy friend,” she teased him. She doubted that was the case, but she may well be his only close friend in the confines of the cage. Though she wondered if it would be weird, working for him. She didn’t think it would be weird enough to discount completely, and it wasn’t like she was unfamiliar with the shop. Over the past couple of years, she’d spent enough time here that she knew more or less what was here. Probably not the more dangerous stuff, or the secret stuff, and maybe she never would know about that because maybe that was sorcerer’s only business, but … it would be interesting, anyway. “Oh lord,” Jaime said with a sigh. “That’s … wrong. Somehow. If someone you didn’t know came in and asked for an application, would you just tell them to make their own?” She arched her brows as she looked at him. “Or am I just special?” For all she knew, he wouldn’t actually consider hiring anyone else. “This isn’t just some charity thing, is it? Because I’d have to decline on principle.” She doubted it was, and if he was going to hire someone else to watch the store while he was researching or exploring the cage, then it probably would be better to have someone who already knew his quirks and what he really was, so there wouldn’t have to be any skirting of the odder issues of the shop. _________________ “I would die of shock if there was anything I could do that would make you not come back,” he teased back in his typical deadpan fashion. Sometimes he still wondered how she had snuck her way into his life, but he didn’t mind at all, even when he teased about it. It was nice, actually. He arched a brow and did his best to look confused as to why she might think there was something wrong with his application process. But if she really wanted to fill something out, that was the best he could do at the moment. He’d never actually hired anyone, especially not in this modern age of interviews and applications. “I would,” he assured her before adding, “and it’s not charity, I promise. Have you ever known me to be a charitable person?” Well, he could be charitable, but he wasn’t trying to be in this case. She wanted a job, he wanted to keep the shop open more and wasn’t inclined to hire someone he’d have to do a lot of explaining to. It just seemed logical to hire her. _________________ “Sure, if you could die,” she replied before she frowned. Well, that was another interesting twist, wasn’t it? His leaving when his lack of aging was going to start to show. If this cage thing went on for too long … Jaime shook it off because it wasn’t like there was anything they could actually do about it right now. Or ever, probably. “Anyway. You’re probably right. I’m pretty sure you’re stuck with me as long as you’re here.” She nodded to his question. “You gave me a Band-Aid that one time I came in here bleeding. That’s pretty charitable,” she pointed out with a grin. “I mean, not everyone would do that. They’d just watch me bleed.” Heaving an exaggerated sigh, Jaime shook her head. “Well, I guess. We can try it and see how it goes. I have to find a place to live around here,” she continued thoughtfully as she regarded him, mostly to see how far he was going to go on this assisting her issue. “And I’m going to have to tell Erik that you enabled all of this.” Not that she would, but Charles would work it out, probably without even having to read her mind. _________________ “Maybe that kind of shock is the only thing that can kill me,” he feigned consideration, but he was fairly certain he could die. After all, it seemed unlikely that he would come back from having his head chopped off. He had just yet to wind up in a situation like that. Well, no, he’d been in a few, but so far, he’d always managed to escape. “I just didn’t want you to bleed all over my things,” he added with a shrug of his shoulders, allowing a grin to briefly touch his lips before he shook his head. While he wasn’t sure that he’d enabled her, he supposed he was making the transition easier on her and he could make it even easier by offering her a place to stay. He wasn’t quite able to decide if she was fishing for that or not. “Well, if you’re going to get me in trouble, I’m not sure I should offer you my guest room until you find a place,” he arched a brow. _________________ “Let’s not test that theory though,” Jaime said, pale blue eyes briefly narrowing as she mock-glared at him. “They’d probably find a way to put me away for murder or something.” Not that she really thought anything she did could even ruffle his feathers if he wasn’t inclined to let it. Or that anything she could do would shock him. He’d been around for a thousand years and change. He’d probably seen everything and then some. She grinned at his response, then shook her head slightly at his offer. Or lack of an offer. “See, now that’s definitely venturing into weird. I can’t bring my one night stands here,” she said. Which, okay, was a completely moot point since she never brought them home anyway. Granted, since “home” was Westchester, it did seem ridiculous to travel an hour for a bit of fooling around. She usually rented a room if they didn’t have a place, but honestly, she wasn’t sure she really wanted anyone keeping those sorts of tabs on her … activities. “They’d get all distracted by this arcane stuff and forget all about me. Plus, awkward,” she added with arched brows. _________________ “Understandable. There are a lot of interesting things in the store,” Balthazar agreed with a brief look around. He wasn’t sure most young men were so easily distracted from the possibility of sex, but his store might have that ability on some. He was giving it too much consideration, though, since he didn’t think she was really concerned about such things. “However, I didn’t mean you should stay here forever,” he clarified with an arched brow, shaking his head lightly. “Just until you find a place more to your liking. One without old men to distract your conquests.” He figured she would want to find a female roommate closer to her own age. Anyway, it had been … longer than he cared to think about since he had lived with anyone. He wasn’t sure how he would take to it. _________________ “But you know how that goes, right? Just a week turns into just a month turns into half a year, turns into well you may as well stay since you’re here, and I’d miss you if you left.” She nodded as if she actually had some authority on the matter, though she was sincerely just making things up. It wasn’t as if he would be difficult to live with. Given some of the people inhabiting the mansion … he’d be nothing at all to worry about living with. Probably keep to himself a lot and all that. It was something worth considering legitimately, at any rate. “Besides, it wouldn’t be you distracting my conquests. Unless you were doing it deliberately, in which case we’d have to have words.” She nodded again before she shrugged. “I’ll think about it though. Maybe run it by Erik and see if he plays the same cards when I mention I’ll be living with someone who can keep me safe.” _________________ He chuckled quietly as she played through the scenario of moving in and he could see how it might accidentally turn into a longer arrangement than either of them planned on. He didn’t think it was likely, however. He really might go out of his way to at least meet men she brought home -- just to be annoying. Also, he still wasn’t sure how he would adjust to living with another person after years and years and years on his own. Still, he wouldn’t mind helping her find her feet in the city. “I don’t know what you mean. I would never deliberately try to distract your conquests,” he replied innocently, as if the thought hadn’t just been playing through his mind. “Just keep me updated on your decision. And by that, I mean let me know before you show up in my shop with a bag, telling me you work and live here now,” he arched a brow as he regarded her with playful accusation, as if he expected that was going to be her plan all along. _________________ “It’s scary how well you know me,” Jaime muttered. Though she liked to think she knew him well enough to at least have ideas about where his thoughts were. She also didn’t think he’d be honestly fussed if she did just show up, but she also wasn’t inclined to lean too hard on that particular aspect of things. It wouldn’t do to start things off by annoying him. “I wouldn’t bring them here anyway. Opens the doors to needing to explain too much. I like pretending I’m normal when I’m out conquesting.” Granted, there had been the little admission of sorts with Sirius, but it was kind of different admitting things to people who were different themselves. And she hadn’t really thought they’d be going anywhere together, so … again. “So right, guess I should be on my way and work up some arguments for Charles and Erik before committing to anything. I’ll keep you posted. You should get one of those boards in the shop so I don’t have to go hunt one down when I want to leave notes for people.” She grinned. “And so I can alert you when I’m on my way in.” _________________ He looked briefly pleased with himself, but the truth was he wouldn’t really mind if she showed up like that. Obviously he expected it, but a little warning to have time to prepare would be nice as well. He would have to clean the guest room and finish making the upstairs apartment look presentable. Mostly that just involved dusting, though. “I’ve been meaning to get one of those boards anyway. I guess now is as good a time as ever,” he agreed with a slight smile. “Good luck with your arguments,” he added, letting his eyes flick around at the store in general before settling back on her, repressing a slight sigh at the prospect of getting back to dusting everything. _________________ “Thanks. If one of them calls and sounds angry? Just start speaking Cantonese at them or something and they’ll think they have the wrong number.” Well, she doubted that very sincerely, but she also couldn’t imagine either of them making an angry phone call. She was a grown-up, after all, and they didn’t have to like her decisions, but it was high time she got out on her own. She was well aware that moving in with Balthazar was hardly being ‘on her own’ but it was a step closer. With that all settled, Jaime lifted up a hand in a wave before she turned to head out of the shop. She still planned to spend a little longer collecting applications, though now it was mostly for something to do since she … pretty much had a guaranteed job if she wanted it. |