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Tweak says, "I want a Scooby snack!"

Vivian. (vivianthorpe) wrote in toujoursliberer,
@ 2008-07-17 23:10:00

Entry tags:

character_development, harry_fisher, vivian_thorpe

Subject: On the job: 13 years ago.
Who: Vivian Thorpe.
Where: A street in London.
Warnings: Fruity language. Otherwise TBC.
Open to: Harry Fisher.
Backdated 13 years. Vivian is 16, Harry is 18.

It was fucking freezing, and Vivian had already been out here for a good two hours. She'd had one punter, and that was it so far. Hardly enough for supper. Anyway, it was getting late, so there was no supper at all at this rate. She'd have to work through the night, and perhaps beg. Oh, and poor Lil and Benny and the others, they being looked after by Trish, and they'd no doubt be starving...

She forced thoughts of her siblings from her mind as she rubbed her hands together, wandering along the pavement for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Fucking cold. As it got later, it would get colder, and she'd no doubt be able to see her breath soon, and she needed to keep her mind on the task in hand. Her family were Trish's responsibility now, as the second oldest, and Viv had left home to work, which she was currently trying to do. It was important, and not just for the money; more work meant more physical excertion which meant heat. Body heat.

Not to mention, in a sad way, company. For a sixteen-year-old, slight like she was, walking the streets at night wasn't just lonely. It was dangerous.

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social_climber
2008-07-20 01:58 pm UTC (link)

He stopped in his motions, setting the knife carefully down, more than aware of the danger of sharp knives. "You're not a dissapointment. And you're only skinny 'cos you don't eat. A few weeks with food like this and you'd be fine enough. Get some curves back on you." He said, head turned slightly to look at her side-long. "And don't say you ain't pretty, you are. Just don't show yourself off in the right way, that's all."

And then he snorted, shaking his head. "You'd pass for an exotic princess, but I doubt I'd make a prince. 'Sides, if you really wanted to make some money, you'd have to be a beautiful princess, on the run, lost everything, with only a bodyguard to look after her." He told her, reaching up and petting her hair. "That way, some old perv will want to give you all his money."

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vivianthorpe
2008-07-20 02:26 pm UTC (link)

"Be my bodyguard then." She smiled as she leant into his touch, closing her eyes. She stayed there for a moment before seemingly remembering herself and starting a little, pulling back and going to sit back down again. "Well, I'm quite sure this kind of food isn't going to be regular, so there goes that plan." She picked up her glass and took a long sip.

"I want to get out of here, Harry. And I want to take you with me. I mean it, y'know. If I could, I'd leave tomorrow. Go somewhere, anywhere that isn't here. I want to see new lands. Meet new people. We'd go together. It'd be good." She sighed, smiling up at him wistfully.

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social_climber
2008-07-22 04:29 am UTC (link)

"My Lady Vivian, it would be an honour for me to guard your pleasure." He smirked, "Or a pleasure to guard your honour, whichever works in the situation."

He sighed then, going back to his chopping. "I could nick you a chicken every day, but it'd get boring after a bit. A bit of pork or beef wouldn't go amiss though, would it?" He says to her, glancing back over his shoulder. "Could get you a bit of that. If you stay as skinny as you are..." He trailed off, leaving his meaning unspoken.

At the mention of travel though, he turned in his chair, looking at her. "You ever been on a boat, Vivian Thorpe?"

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vivianthorpe
2008-07-22 04:50 am UTC (link)

His lady Vivian. He had no idea. Vivian smiled, resting her chin in her hand and watching him. "You'd be a good bodyguard. Savin' me from wayward punters. Sweepin' me away from danger." She sighed wistfully and listened as he talked about food. A bit of chicken or some other meat every day? That sounded like some kind of luxury.

"You'd do that for me, Harry?" She watched him, her expression fond. "That'd be like what them proper ladies have, they have proper food every day... anyway, what do you mean?" She looked at him curiously, tilting her head. "If I stay as skinny as I am, what?"

When he asked his question, she chewed her lip for a moment before shaking her head. "Nah. Never been on a boat. There was one on the river once that some punter wanted to take me on but I declined. Heard the next day he'd found another girl. Took her on the boat, slit her throat and threw her in the river. Lucky escape, if you ask me."

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social_climber
2008-07-22 10:30 am UTC (link)

"Well, I'd certainly try. It's what a bodyguard is meant to do, isn't it? But princesses don't have punters, they have lovers and suitors. Not punters. Think of yourself as royalty, Viv, and you won't go far wrong in life. Don't act like it, but think it."

Harry shrugged, "You need to eat more. You're as skinny as a rake. You'll waste away to nothing is what I was going to say and I don't want that to happen to you. So if you need me to get you grub, I will." He told her, patting her head again, "If I don't look after you, goodness knows who will."

"I've been on a boat. A prison barge. I don't particulally want to go on a boat ever again." Harry said simply, with a private shudder. He was never, ever, going to step foot in one of those places again. In fact, he'd rather hang. Which, he supposed, was good, as he wouldn't be getting a third chance.

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vivianthorpe
2008-07-22 10:41 am UTC (link)

Royalty. The idea seemed fantastical, out of her grasp, and she shook her head. "But I ain't royalty, Harry. I'm Viv. I come from the rough end of London, my dad drank himself to his grave, Mum's gone, Trish hates me... I never get no punters... hardly a princess, am I?" She sighed, resting her hand on her chin as she thought of food.

"Oh, Harry, you're too good to me." She stood up again and went back around to him, hugging his shoulders and laying her head against his upper back. "I don't know what I'd do without you. End up in the river, probably. Grisly end. Not nice." She lifted her head to hook her chin over his shoulder again, watching him. "You ain't going back to prison, not on my watch, darlin'." She remembered it, clear as day. She'd been 14, her mother had just disappeared, she'd just gone through the traumatic experience of her first punter, and then Harry had been sent away. She'd been broken apart. "I'd miss you too much. I'd starve, and I'd get beaten up. No bodyguard, see." She hugged him a little tighter, fondly, closing her eyes. "Or you'd hang, and god knows, I wouldn't survive that."

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social_climber
2008-07-22 10:52 am UTC (link)

Harry looked at her, and sighed. "That's the thing, Viv. That's the thing. You've got no faith in yourself, no self-worth. Doesn't matter about Trish and the rest- you're a princess, you got to start thinking better of yourself, looking after yourself. That's the thing, it's how you start climbing the ladder."

"You wouldn't be the only one not to survive." He said, but shrugged it all off. "I'm not planning to get caught again, Viv, you know that. I've gone through a whipping, and I've spent more time than I'd like to remember of a floating hell. Not planning to get caught ever again." He smiled, patting her once more, finishing off the carrots a moment later. "So, carrots done. What now, chef?"

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vivianthorpe
2008-07-22 11:00 am UTC (link)

"You think I'm a princess?" If Harry thought that highly of her, well, it had to be worth something, didn't it? She had to be worth something, for Harry to think of her like that. She wasn't quite convinced yet, but it was a start. "Even though I'm too skinny and my hair's too red?" She let go of him, leaning against the side and sighing.

"Uhm... 'tatoes next. Got to peel them. Can you do that? I'll do it, I should be, I said I'd cook..." She reached over and took the knife, picking up a potato and very carefully beginning to peel the skin. "See, this is what worries me. If you're out stealing food for me every day, then the chances of you getting caught go right up. I'd rather die than see you hang because you didn't want me to starve."

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social_climber
2008-07-22 12:23 pm UTC (link)

"I think you could be, if you wanted to be, Viv." He explained, "You just have to believe that you are, and have some respect for yourself. It doesn't matter about other people, as long as you look after yourself." Harry told her, reaching for the potatoes, carefully beginning to turn on against the edge of the knife, the peel coming off in curls. "And although you're skinny, that can be fixed. And you're hair is very pretty."

"Do you think I'd get caught so easy stealing food?" He said, laughing, "How do you think I eat every day? Beg, borrow, steal. Well, not beg, just... weasel my way to free meals."

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vivianthorpe
2008-07-22 01:06 pm UTC (link)

Viv listened, trying to take it on board. She didn't want to go through life having no self-worth forever. It was souldestroying. But unfortunately, so was unrequited love, and it contributed greatly to her lack of self-esteem when she pined for a boy who apparently didn't see her in that way whatsoever. She began to wonder what was wrong with her. Was she not pretty enough? Was it the skinny thing? If she ate more, perhaps he'd like her. It was worth a try. "I'll give it a go. No promises, though."

She kicked her leg out absentmindedly and went over to the pail, picking it up and going to the door, chucking the water out. She noticed the dried blood on her own again from earlier, and wiped it off with the cloth. "I still worry about you. How's your arm? Does it hurt?" She glanced back at him, her hair flying a little as she turned her head. It had come out of it's clasp, and she noticed, looking down to search the floor for it, unable to see it. "My hair thing is gone... can you see it? That cost a lot..."

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social_climber
2008-07-22 03:21 pm UTC (link)

"No promises." He agrees, looking over to her and leaning back in his chair, not concentrating on the knife in his hand and completely missing the potatoe in the other, and managing to deeply slicing his thumb. He cursed, setting the knife and vegetable down, and sucking on the wound, cursing again. "Funny you manage my arm." He manages around the digit in his mouth, before getting to his feet. "Lemme have a look..." He said, in responce to her request to find her hair grip. "What is it? What's it look like?" He asked her, getting to his knees to look under the broken table.

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vivianthorpe
2008-07-22 03:31 pm UTC (link)

Viv gasped as he cursed; he'd hurt himself again! She sighed as he got to his knees, kneeling down beside him and taking his hand, not hesitating as she then put Harry's thumb in her own mouth. The taste of blood didn't bother her. "You aren't doing well today," She spoke around his thumb, reaching for the cloth and wrapping it around the digit once she was sure it was clean enough. Out of the corner of her eye, something shone, and she sighed, grabbing her clasp. "There you are." She reclasped her hair, then paused, before climbing under the table, sitting down and smiling out at Harry. "Remember when your mum used to scare me and I'd hide under the table?"

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