InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "RAW"

Miss Delia Slater (mizslater) wrote in toujoursliberer,
@ 2008-07-18 13:14:00

Entry tags:

character_development, cordelia_slater

Subject: A drink to cool her nerves.
Who: Delia Slater.
Where: A pub not far from the Slater home.
Warnings: TBA.
Open to: All.

Any normal young woman, after being in such an argument with their father, and especially those that were of the milkweed sort of stock, would probably be tearing up and begging to be consoled, perhaps even would be going back to father and apologizing. But Delia Slater was a different sort of woman. She did not cry, she did not wail and she certainly would not go back to her father as she thought he had lost his mind. Delia Slater got angry. The walk to the pub had been a short one, but in that time the anger towards her father and his whore grew and grew, causing her to seethe with it by the time the pint was placed in front of her. She had to have done something to him as they had never fought like that before, and had never gotten so personal when fighting before. This woman had to be removed or ended, she reasoned, then her father would see the truth of her. And Delia would not let her harm him, but for the moment she felt as if it served him right.

He deserved all the trouble his little ginger trollop gave him, especially after talking to her like that.

The fact that she had been followed annoyed her as well, but the boy had enough sense to stay well back from her once they were in the pub. He was the same one she had threatened to 'take my shiny knife and turn you into a woman, and to throw your cock to Harry Fisher's dogs' not a year ago. Since then he gave her space, until he decided to literally drag her back to her father. She was not going back this time, no matter what the boy said. She would not stay in that house with that woman while her father was still off his nut.

Drinking down one, she asked for another. Many believed that Slaters had a naturally high thresh hold to alcohol, and while that may have been true for her father and brother, Delia had been drinking for a very long time and could easily have a whole pint and just be a little buzzed. It had been a while since she had been drunk, and it truly wasn't her intention to get that way, but she felt like she needed the drink to clear her head.

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prettypoppet
2008-07-18 10:31 pm UTC (link)

Most girls had a tendency to be just a bit horrified by Delia in a temper. Mary, on the other hand, grinned. If you knew someone since before you could talk, it didn't matter what got said really. They were sisters in everything and even if they hadn't seen each other for a bit, it never seemed to matter.

"Oh, Del darlin', shut it. You're always great company and you know it." It looked to Mary like Delia needed a good long soak in the anger and then a full rinse of alcohol, and a night to run amok. It was her duty as a friend to make sure that whatever had upset Delia was going to be made better, and Mary took that duty dead seriously. Whatever else was goin' on could stuff itself. "Now what's it about a ginger tart? You gotta start at the beginning, and let me get caught up." She waved over noe of the barmaids and asked for a nip of gin. "If we're going to have to dump bodies, I want to know why," she said with a conspiratorial smile.

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mizslater
2008-07-18 10:53 pm UTC (link)

When the barman picked up the glass she ran her finger around in the wet ring it left behind as she began. "I was away for a month, a man and an engagement that never was, I won't bore you with the details. Anyway, I come home and see Papa, he's really sweet and understanding about the whole thing. I suppose that should have tipped me off, but I just thought he missed me at the time and left it at that. A few days later I go to put something in his room and there's this ginger hag laying across his bed, humming to herself and thinking she's queen of sheba."

Another sigh left her left her lips, though this one was angry. "She tells me that my papa has moved her in to his room. That he wants her there and that he is mad about her, so there is no chance in hell that I could do a thing about it. And get this, she'd been there for a few weeks! He did not tell me about her when he welcomed me home, like he thought he could keep me from knowing!"

She shook her head and let her eyes stare through the bar. "I talked to papa about it today, which was a mistake. She's got him wrapped so tight around her little finger he doesn't seem to realize all I want to do is help him. We fought, I mean fought like we never have before. He kept defending her and acted insulted when I tried to tell him what she really was, tried to spin it like there was something wrong with me. So he said I didn't think much of him and to get out of his sight, so I have and that's why I'm here."

She looked back to Mary. "I won't let her hurt him, I would let her do to him what my mother did. I'd sooner kill her than let her stay. And I'm afraid he won't see it until it's too late, when she's broken his heart and tossed him aside."

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prettypoppet
2008-07-18 11:06 pm UTC (link)

Mary's eyes went wide and her jaw fell open. Slater had brought someone home? Someone who would meet Delia? And hadn't even told Delia? And right after she'd lost out on an engagement? The whole world was goin' mad and that was no mistake.

"All right, I won't bother about the bit where some fool didn't marry you because I'm sure you already know he's an idiot and lord knows you can make him sorry later but..." She took a drink of the gin and didn't even choke. Some things just called for gin. "No wonder you're mad. He ought to have known you'd find out; the house ain't near big enough for hidin that."

She bit her lip and considered. Slater didn't always tell Delia things and Delia didn't always go about askin' things right in any case. "Maybe... he's got other reasons for her?" She shook her head, as nothing made sense at all. Slater never would've said anything like all that to Delia... would he? Well, maybe.

"Del, maybe your papa's got something else going on. You know he gets a bit touchy when business goes bad. And things are right sketchy lately. You ain't been around but stuff's all odd here nowadays. He don't take that well and maybe she ain't just a harlot but maybe she ain't just what he's tellin you either?" It wasn't the best explanation but it did sound a bit better than Slater losing his bloody mind and all but throwin his little girl out.

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mizslater
2008-07-18 11:29 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, that's another thing, she is actually a whore. He says she was but isn't any longer, though I don't believe it for a second since she's apparently getting room and board in exchange for sleeping with him. I swear, I didn't realize how bad it would be once Jimmy left to make his own way, with him gone there isn't a soothing voice about the place and papa and I seem to argue more often than not with him gone."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, Mary, I can't make heads or tails of him any more these days. I mean even if he was being sweet because he knew he would have to tell me of her eventually, it's just more strange behavior. I'm beginning to wonder if I know him at all, I mean, if he's willing to bring home some slag and set her up in his own house, what else is he doing that I don't know about, or what could he do?"

She paled a little, "Oh God, what if she's pregnant... I'd really have to kill the damn witch."

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prettypoppet
2008-07-18 11:48 pm UTC (link)

Something about the words 'ginger' and 'whore' finally clicked in Mary's head and she turned a curious look on her friend. Wouldn't that be a coincidence? "Firstly, I think you haven't had nearly enough to drink." She waved the barmaid over and directed her to pour Delia a gin.

Mary wasn't about to go telling Delia what all she didn't know. It would take weeks in any case. "Secondly, if she's pregnant, that would explain it too, wouldn't it? You know your father ain't one to go leavin' his kids out in the cold. He can't very well be rid of her until after the kid's born, can he?"

She put a hand on Delia's arm. "And no matter what he is or isn't, he's your papa. He might act as odd as he likes, but he'll remember that bit."

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mizslater
2008-07-19 12:05 am UTC (link)

Another drink was lovely, and she drank half of the newest one before speaking again. "Oh, that really is so very lovely."

She returned her attention to Mary, "Yes but he would tell me about a child, I mean the baby would be my sibling after all and he would make sure Jimmy and I were there to look after it if we had to, and we would have to know it existed first. But I think she's the sort to always make sure she wouldn't get pregnant."

She leaned over and kissed her cheek. Mary was always such a wonderful friend. "I'm sure he does, or else I wouldn't have been followed. If he thinks I'm just gonna cool off and come back with my tail between my legs he's sorely mistaken. I'm not going back there until he apologizes or that bitch is gone."

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prettypoppet
2008-07-19 12:37 am UTC (link)

"It is, isn't it? They should sing songs about it." Mary smiled and put an arm around Delia, giving her a hug. "Don't you worry. We'll think of something. An' I'm sure Slater won't stay dumb over this bit of fluff too long. He'll wake up, Del. An when he does, you can be right there to tell him off for it."

The gin was warming everything up into a nice glow. Anger, hurt, everything just seemed a bit more fun now. She wasn't drunk, but she had the idea that it was high time they both got there. "Meantime, you're right. You shouldn't go home. You should go..." Mary paused as the lack of options ocurred to her. Harry would probably not be happy if she brought Delia home with her but Mary wasn't happy that mum was around and that was a fair trade. HE was her brothre and Delia was her sister and the rest of it could hang itself. "You should go wherever you bloody well want to. We all should. Where do you want to go, Delia? Screw everyone and their rules- if they get to go mad and be stupid and awful, we should get to too."

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mizslater
2008-07-19 01:00 am UTC (link)

"Hmmm," she had to think about it for a moment, but what she was really thinking about was if was worth it to finish her drink. She couldn't remember how many she had, and that was usually her stopping point, but damn it all, she was angry and Mary seemed to think drinking was what she needed. She would not question the older girl's wisdom now, she never had before. "I want to go somewhere better."

"I'm tired of dirt and the smell of that damn river. I miss class, society, or at least the morally questionable parts. What do you say, Mary? feel like getting pretty and hitting the town?" And the more she drank the better the idea seemed, she finished off her last, but decided if they were to go she needed a clear head, at least clear enough to put themselves together and to get where they needed to go.

And strangely enough, she could feel the anger melting away, at least for now.

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prettypoppet
2008-07-19 01:18 am UTC (link)

"Somewhere better?" Mary thought of Harry's townhouse and then thought of the theater. Not Harrys, but the one she'd just come from. The one with ridiculously low windows in back and no bars on them. The one with lots of gorgeous costumes in the height of fashion just sitting all alone while they waited for the new play to open. "I say that whatever you want you should get, Del. I know a place with lots of dresses just sitting about lonely and unloved... I bet we know how to cheer them up, don't you? And I bet we both remember how to play a game of cards proper-like?"

Gin had made her emotions a bit more fuzzy toward the world in general but it also melted away the fear. She and Delia were djinn, same as the others and they could play by those rules if they wanted. The thrill of doing the expressly dangerous slid through her. Bad things happened and werent' nothing stopping them if even Slater was actin odd. No, it was time to have a bit of fun 'fore the world fell down.

She took Delia's hand and tossed some money on the bar. They'd be making more soon enough. "Let's hit 'em like they been askin for."

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mizslater
2008-07-19 08:36 am UTC (link)

If Mary could find them better clothes, then Delia could find them a place to play. There were several private clubs within the city that would suit their needs, and hopefully two lovely young things like she and Mary could get in without them batting an eye lash. If they did, Delia knew there was always a back door. Cards and things were always tricky, at least for her. She had learned to play at a young age, but for years she seemed to do nothing but lose, eventually she did get better the trouble was she got greedy, never knowing when to quit. Once the pot grew large she would have to get Mary to keep an eye on her.

She let Mary lead her but they were stopped at the door by the boy that had been told to follow her. Delia let out an annoyed sigh, "You again? You didn't believe me when I said I'd castrate you, did you?"

She was suddenly being very sweet, she let go of Mary's hand and ran her hands up and down his arms. "Can't you just forget you've seen me? I promise I'll make it worth your while." when he said something about having orders she reached up and took his neck between her hands gently. When he continued to refuse to let her go off with Mary she gave him the sweetest glasgow kiss, slamming her forehead into his.

The boy went reeling back, out the door as he held his forehead. Delia's hand went to her own forehead, "Shouldn't have done that. Ow."

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prettypoppet
2008-07-19 07:11 pm UTC (link)

Mary grimaced when she saw the boy watching them. Slater really ought to send someone bigger when Delia was in a state... She stood by and let her friend handle the unfortunate watcher.

"Delia--" the sound of Delia's head meeting the boy's was uncomfortably loud and Mary winced. "oh, are you all right?" she asked, moving to Delia's side. The boy had wobbled back toward them and Mary turned to smile sweetly at him just before she put a foot out. A whoof of air left his lungs as he fell straight on into a table full of raucous dockboys. "Come on, quick!" She grabbed Delia's arm and yanked her through the door while the offended party took it up with Slater's boy.

"The theater ain't far and the back windows are easy-peasy. A good rock and we'll be swanning out like princesses in no time," she whispered as she dragged Delia forward. The night air was clearing a bit of the gin-tinged fog out of her brain but not much. "You sure your head's all right?"

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mizslater
2008-07-19 07:42 pm UTC (link)

"Oy yes, Jimmy always said I had the hardest head he'd ever seen," she said as the two moved quickly down the street, but Delia was sure they weren't being followed. "I'm beginning to believe he was right. The pain is running up stream against the drink, so I'll be alright for a while now."

She turned her arm and took Mary's hand in hers. "We need names and a story, as long as we look like we know what we're doing no one should question us, but some are more probing. Especially the men who are going to try to get under our skirts, maybe we should say something that would keep them away." Delia liked having a plan when it came to things like that, less things could go wrong if they were prepared.

"I think I'll get myself a townhouse with my share, I think it is about time I had myself a second home." she smiled to Mary, the pain in her head slowly dying away.

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prettypoppet
2008-07-20 01:17 am UTC (link)

"Jimmy's one to talk. That head of his is solid rock." Mary hugged Delia. "I'm glad though. If I'd of tried that, I'd be passed out on the floor."

The problem of a background was important. Of course, just saying that she was Cordelia Slater would have been enough in some cercles, but Delia didn't really know the whole of that. 'Sides, tonight was not a night to be Slater's girls. Mary supposed she could use the last name Fisher if it came to it, but she wasn't keen on that either. "I was just thinkin' bout that bit... You know, in Paris ladies wear masks when they go out sometimes so nobody can tell who they are an' no scandals come up." And so no angry fathers or brothers could have any flunkies come running up and ruin a perfectly fun night.

"Maybe we should follow their example. Nobody asks too many questions about tragic French girls anymore, they've always got terrible stories of families getting their heads chopped off." Mary shuddered as she thought of Evonne and Yves, and of Melie. "Just a couple of bored aristo girls gambling and winning..."

Mary giggled. "I think we should get a townhouse together. Save more money for gowns and carriages that way. And we know we won't bring home any women we don't want about."

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