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Tweak says, "I am the walrus!"

Peter Hale is basically satan in a v-neck. (notfireproof) wrote in valarlogs,
@ 2014-08-12 22:38:00

Entry tags:

!complete, cora hale, peter hale

Characters: Peter Hale + Cora Hale.
Location: Cora’s place.
Time: Tuesday 12 August, late afternoon.
Warnings: None/TBA.
Summary: Some time to catch up.
Status: Complete, closed.

When Cora had left for Habitat for Humanity again and Derek off on his own things, Peter had focused back on work, moreso than he had previously only because there wasn’t anything else to take up his time. By this point, the patterns in his life were insanely obvious to his coworkers. When his family was away or busy, Peter almost never left the office. Every once in a while, he wouldn’t leave, instead falling asleep right at his desk more out of exhaustion than choice. His work habits had never been questioned because he was always exceptional, though once or twice he had been urged to take a vacation. If there had been more to come home to than an impeccably clean house that looked like it had never been lived in, maybe he would. Or maybe if Peter had something outside of work and his sister’s kids. All maybes.

He had heard that Cora had come home, though he hadn’t gone to see her right when he’d found out. Cora needed some time to adjust to being back in California and to spend time with her immediate family and her roommate. As far as he was aware, she wasn’t going anywhere right away and he was in the middle of a big settlement with the company and couldn’t really afford the time away until everything was settled.

While at work on his lunch break and browsing the news, however, Peter saw the big headline; that yet another famous actor had passed away recently. For most things like that, Peter didn’t really spent too much time thinking about it, but this actor in particular had been in a movie he had seen so many times in his life by this point that he felt attached to that particular actor in a way he couldn’t really define. That thought led back to Cora, the reason he had actually seen that movie so many times and he decided that he was going to stop putting off seeing her now that she was back.

Once he’d gotten home, Peter had spent a few minutes on the phone with his sister, the usual small talk they tended to keep their conversations focused on. It wasn’t that they really fought otherwise, it just seemed easier that way for them. What he did want to know was it Cora had already headed to her place or if she was still there. When Talia said she had already gone, their conversation only lasted a little while longer, ending with slightly stilted farewells before he grabbed his keys and made his way to his niece’s apartment.

After knocking on the door, Peter just hoped it wasn’t a bad time.

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soderekssister
2014-08-13 03:05 am UTC (link)

All things considered, Cora didn't know how she should be feeling. It actually really bothered her to hear about Robin Williams being dead. She wasn't the type to get worked up over the death of a celebrity. She didn't follow entertainers obsessively. She had her own things to do, but somehow, somehow this one was getting to her. Perhaps it was because he was Peter Pan and Peter Pan wasn't supposed to die. She actually had seen a lot of Robin Williams' movies, she just always went back to Hook. Which was why she had text Stiles. It was annoying her the reaction she was having and they had just watched Hook, so it felt odd in a way.

She'd just agreed to do another movie watching following the less than cheerful text conversation as a distraction when she heard the knock at the door. Odd.

"Lydia, were you expecting someone?"

Because she wasn't and she doubted that Stiles was already in the area to just show up after she agreed to doing another movie before their date. Because apparently she had agreed to an actual date? Or was that just a turn of phrase? No matter. Getting off the couch after marking her place in the book she was read, Cora went and opened the door and smiled some.

"Never mind, Lydia. It's just Uncle Peter." Since that would answer the question of who was there. Though that meant she did have to text Stiles back to let him know that she had a change of plans because of the unintended visit. Which she did as she stepped aside to let her uncle into the apartment she shared with her best friend.

"Unexpected visits from Uncle Peter, what brings you here?"

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notfireproof
2014-08-14 01:57 am UTC (link)

"Expecting someone else," Peter questioned with a laugh when Cora called that it was just him. "If you're having someone over, I can always come back." He never wanted to seem overbearing, though at times, he thought maybe he could be. It was hard not to be with the way he wanted to be a part of their lives. For many years, Peter felt isolated from his own family and then he learned that he wouldn't be able to have one like his sister did. Looking back, Peter realized that whole situation could have gone one of two ways and he was glad he had chosen to try to become part of the family again. He didn't want to grow old and bitter and resentful. He couldn't say he was free of those things, but he wanted to be.

When Cora stepped aside to let him in, he walked into the main room, looking around it casually. In one of the back rooms he could hear faint music and movement, which he figured to be Cora's roommate, Lydia.

"I haven't seen you since you left for South America. I wanted to stop by and catch up. I would have come by sooner, but I figured you would have wanted time with your mother and your siblings first." Looking at her, Peter really saw someone he could have imagined being his daughter if life had worked out differently for him. He had to wonder how much of that was just natural and if any of it was because he'd been part of her life for so long. "And I heard on the news this morning about Robin. It made me think of you and Hook." He smiled thinking about it. Little things over the years managed to stick with him and they had changed him for the better he believed. Watching Hook so many times was one of those things, and he was genuinely upset that their Peter Pan was gone.

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soderekssister
2014-08-14 04:03 am UTC (link)

The offer to leave in case someone was coming over was met with a shake of her head.

"No, just unexpected knocks at the door tend to be dates for Lydia."

Sometimes it did seem odd that Cora and Lydia were so close as they were complete opposites. Perhaps it was why they worked as best friends as well though. They balanced one another out. Who knew, but it was definitely something that made sense to the college student. Not that their friendship needed to make sense, it just was. Eight years did that and Lydia more or less was part of the family by that point.

"Fair enough."

By nature, Cora wasn't very talkative. If something needed to be expanded on, she did, otherwise she tended to keep to straight to the point answers. Less chances of things getting lost in translation. Mostly. Maybe not as it could be taken as not caring (which okay, sometimes that was it) or purposefully being a bitch when it was simply nothing else to say. But Uncle Peter showing up to catch up really wasn't so surprising. She couldn't remember a time when he wasn't around. She never had met her father, but her uncle had always been there so it was what it was.

The fact that even Peter seemed upset by the loss of Robin Williams was pretty unexpected. If she wasn't one to get worked up over the death of a celebrity, her uncle was even less likely to. Though, it had become routine to watch it with him. The fact she used to think he was actually Peter Pan made it all the more them. It wasn't the only movie she made him watch on repeat, but it was definitely a them thing.

"Yeah..." What was she supposed to say to that? She didn't know. She'd already been talking to Stiles about it some. The confusion on why she was so upset. What it meant. The other memories it dredged up.

"Did you want tea or something?" Might as well ask.

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notfireproof
2014-08-14 10:36 pm UTC (link)

"That doesn't surprise me," Peter responded. He was pretty familiar with Cora's roommate, having seen a lot of her over the years she'd been friends with his niece. Like Cora, Peter basically considered Lydia part of the family.

Peter was used to the succinct way Cora talked. He had been like that when he was her age and for a long time after that. While he could talk to just about anyone about anything for however long, if he didn't have to, he always reverted to brevity. It was easier to not be misunderstood that way, though at the same time, it could always be misinterpreted. Peter always just figured there was no point trying to please everyone and that it would drive you nearly insane trying to. Add to that the fact that Peter didn't feel the need to try to apologize for the way he was, it didn't seem worth trying to.

Never in his life would Peter have expected to be even slightly shaken by the death of a celebrity. While he wasn't cut off from pop culture, he never really felt attached to any actor or actress, enjoying the movie for what it was and not really caring about the personal lives of the people playing the characters. While he hadn't had a particular interest in Robin Williams in that way either, he just connected the man's face with his past, with his family, and that was what bothered him about the man's death.

"Sorry," he replied with a half laugh and a shake of his head. Though he found himself upset by it, he couldn't really be sure exactly how Cora felt about the sudden passing. He had an idea, of course, but that was only an assumption. "It just took me by surprise." Unsaid in that was the fact that he, too, was surprised more by the memories the death triggered and not the death itself.

"I would love some." After a beat, he moved on to a new subject. "How was South America?"

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soderekssister
2014-08-14 11:55 pm UTC (link)

If there was one thing that could be said about Uncle Peter, it was that he seemed to understand where she was coming from more often than not. In a world where people talked just to hear their voices, her perchance for shorter responses was often misinterpreted, even by people who knew her. So him not expecting more than she would normally give was always a welcomed relief. It got tiresome having to either defend her way or responding, or just dealing with the questions and looks. She was who she was, people just needed to learn to back the hell off.

Being taken by surprise. She could understand that. So she nodded that she both understood and agreed. Going into deep and personal feelings wasn't really something the Hales did on a good day, let alone with something like this. She never had even mentioned Abbie from Habitat for Humanity to her family when she had found out about her own sudden death, why would she go into the death of a celebrity, a part of her childhood or not?

With the acceptance of tea, Cora moved to the kitchen to set that up and then heard the question about South America.

"It was good. Spent most of the time working on different projects, but it went well." She didn't know where the next trip would be, or more to the point, the next trip she'd be able to take part of would go. With the state of affairs across the globe at the moment, who knew how well that would be received.

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notfireproof
2014-08-20 03:33 pm UTC (link)

For better for for worse, Peter saw a lot of himself in Cora. She had been born after he had made the effort to reconnect with the rest of his family and as a result, he's known her longer than the rest of his sister's kids. He just hoped that if parts of him rubbed off on her, they were only good parts. He had his fair share of things he didn't want to pass on.

No, talking about feelings wasn't part of the Hale way of life. To this day, Peter has never once mentioned why the woman who he had spent over seven years of his life with just left, never talked about his inability to have a family of his own and how that legitimately killed part of him inside. Peter wasn't sure he would ever talk about it freely and no one ever asked.

Following Cora into the kitchen more out of an interest to be able to talk to her without shouting than to simply watch her make tea, Peter sat down on one of the chairs.

"Like what?" He was genuinely interested in the things that she did while she was abroad and while he might not say it out loud too often, he was proud of her and he believed she knew that. The most generous Peter had ever been was that he helped Talia raise her kids. While to some that was no small feat, he wasn't traveling across the globe, building houses for people in need.

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soderekssister
2014-08-23 07:30 pm UTC (link)

It was hard to say what parts of Uncle Peter had rubbed off on her and what hadn't. On what had just been how she reacted to things for any other number of reasons. Cora never knew her father, he had left before she'd been born, so the 'male influence' in her life beyond Derek was Uncle Peter. It was normal. Or so Cora felt.

She didn't know why he had always been around. She didn't question it. Just like she didn't question why he didn't have kids. The family had a bunch of cousins, all things considered, it was a large family. Perhaps it should be strange but Cora didn't pay it much mind. It certainly wasn't something that came up. He was family. That was all there was to it in her opinion.

Setting everything up for tea, the brunette shrugged as she leaned against the counter.

"New energy efficient homes for people that would also save money. Setting up resources for outreach."

It was at least one way to help. Cora knew that she didn't seem the type who would care one way or the other because she was so guarded and let very few people into her sphere of those she would trust. It was was easier to assume she was a bitch who didn't care about others, but she did. Why not use her summers to help those in need?

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notfireproof
2014-08-30 02:44 pm UTC (link)

Sometimes, Peter wondered what it would have been like to be visiting his own daughter, to have watched her grow up knowing that she was what he helped create. Cora was the closest he had to that dream, but it was still hollow. Nevertheless, he had always loved Cora, could forget that hollowness when he helped to grow into the person she was now.

"I'm impressed." He always was. "What kind of resources?" Peter never had a use for any of the information, but he was always curious about the things that Cora was up to and he was always taken aback at how fluent in the subject she was. He would rather ask her questions and listen than to talk about himself.

If anyone thought to call her uncaring, Peter would always counter that. Of the people he knew, Cora was probably the most caring, just in her own quiet way. He imagined that not everyone doing Habitat for Humanity cared and instead wanted the pat on the back and the recognition they did something good, he never doubted that Cora did it because it was something that mattered to her.

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soderekssister
2014-08-30 04:34 pm UTC (link)

Checking the time to see how much longer the tea needed to steep, Cora then focused on the question. Him saying he was impressed was nothing new. Not with her, at least. It usually took a lot to impress her uncle, but it seemed the work she did over summers always managed to do just that.

"New water pumps, locations for assistance to those who suffered during all the conflict a couple years ago, places for kids to to go where it's safe... things like that."

There was a lot that was taken for granted in America. There were a lot of people in America who also needed help. It was why Cora liked the program so much, they worked both nationally and internationally. She just preferred to go on the international trips because it gave her a sense of freedom that was hard to find in a large family. She would always go back, but she liked the travel. She liked learning new things about different cultures.

Noticing that the time for steeping was done, the brunette turned her attention to the tea and finished it, giving Peter his mug before picking up her own.

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notfireproof
2014-09-07 02:55 am UTC (link)

Peter was a difficult man to impress. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was surrounded by people who were made of money, or the fact that he himself was. What made him difficult to impress was that it wasn't money that mattered to him. Cora impressed him because she worked hard for her charities, she gave her all and never expected anything in return. He couldn't say that about most of the people he knew, including himself.

"I can see why that would be important. How much more work do you think the area needs?" Of course, he was sure there was still a lot to be done, but he asked anyway.

When Cora had started volunteering with the program, Peter had done a lot of research into it. On more than one occasion, Peter had considered donating to the program, though he never actually did. The next time he considered it, he would. It was something that mattered to Cora and therefore, it mattered to him.

Peter accepted the mug with a thank you, sitting in a calm silence and more than happy to have Cora home again, even if he was proud of her for having gone.

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