Tweak

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Tweak says, "That’s a really old movie!"

inmyownworld (inmyownworld) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2010-07-08 04:30:00

Current music:

Golgol Bordello- "Gypsy Part of Town"

So Be I Gagged or Bound, Lobotomized, Sedated
Who: L Lawliet and OPEN
What: Someone gets to be a carnie today. Being a carnie sucks.
When: Noon to evening, Day 2
Where: Fortune-Teller's Booth along the Boardwalk
Rating: PG-13, just in case someone gets shot?
Status: Incomplete

There were things in life that L had never, ever thought he'd have to do. Working as a fortuneteller was definitely one of them. Now, dressed in a loose white linen shirt, baggy brown trousers and a bright, colorful open poet's vest in burgundy reds and harvest yellows, he was standing behind a carnival counter with the overhead banner Madame Romani and Son. Around his ankle was a shackle and a chain connected to a nearby wagon, where an old Gypsy woman sat with a rifle in her lap.

"I'm not supposed to be here, you know..." L started, after glancing at the crystal ball in front of him.

"Not belong here? Pah!" Spat Madame Romani. "Third eye run een family! What, you theenk you run away?" She gave a hearty laugh, taking a pinch of chewing tobacco and stuffing it on the inside of her leathery cheek. "Gypsy family. We steeck together, through best of times, through worst of times, eh? My son may not leave hees mother after she birthed heem, blessed heem with third eye."

"No, I don't have a third eye. I'm not Romani. I'm don't even believe in psychic abilities," L maintained calmly. "I'm definitely not your son..."

Following this claim was a string of curses and angry shouting in Romani that sort of stunned L into silence. He understood the language, but rather wished he didn't, today. Because today, whether he liked it or not, he was stuck as a fortune teller with a third eye and a harridan for a mother.

[[OOC: Threadjack, people. Feel free to start your own thread and have one-on-one interactions with L, just say the time of day you're tagging in in the subject line. He'll tell your fortune, he guesses. XD COME ON YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO HAVE A CYNICAL DETECTIVE TELL YOUR FORTUNE.]]

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-09 05:36 am UTC (link)

Reid interpretted the things the gypsy woman offered, but was much happier to speak to L rather than the psycho with the shotgun. Naturally.

"I, uh..." The team popped into his head, but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to ask about them, or their fate. Or his own, for that matter. And he certainly didn't want L channelling any unsubs that may have died in his presence, that was for sure. Swallowing, he shrugged, scratching the back of his head.

"I, uh. M-me, myself. I suppose. Um... my future? My past?" He couldn't resist, and he leaned in a little closer, trying to speak quieter. "C-can you actually do this, or are you expected to make it up...?"

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inmyownworld
2010-07-09 06:00 am UTC (link)

"All right. You, yourself, it is." L stared blankly at the crystal ball, recognizing it as the cheap, novelty variety that was absolutely nothing special. It did reflect light nicely, but that was about it. L glanced up at him, trying to convey with his eyes that he was totally incapable of doing this.

"Your... name is..." he squinted, and then started, as the Gypsy grabbed his arm and shook him roughly. "Spencer Reid..." he stammered, looking surprised with himself and glancing uncertainly at her. She gripped harder, and his head tilted forward heavily, eyes half-closing. "You've... been blessed with a brilliant mind and opportunities for others to recognize your talents, and you've faced... great adversity. Your greatest trials are yet to come, but you have the fortitude and tenacity to overcome them. You locked someone close to you away... but she's read all of your words, and chosen to forgive you. Diana forgives you." The Gypsy released his arm, and his head jerked up sharply. He glanced uneasily at his surroundings, as if trying to figure out where time had gone.

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-09 06:12 am UTC (link)

The fact that the man knew his name came as a shock, but if he had been here before and they had met, then there was always the chance that he had introduced himself... however, it was when he continued talking that Spencer became more interested, and his thin jaw slowly started to drop open.

When he mentioned Diana, though, Reid froze in horror. His mouth dropped completely open and his eyes stared, wide and terrified. How... h-how did he know that...?! How did he know he wrote to her?! How did he know her name?! And then, his most terrifying, crazy thought of all: Diana forgave him? If that was true, then...

"How... how did you know...?" he asked, in complete shock, but he almost wanted to ask more... not that, you know, scientifically any of this could really be happening. The chances of the Management having done background work on him was more likely, more plausible, though there were recorded cases of people having a 'third eye' and making some rather convincing calls...

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inmyownworld
2010-07-09 06:35 am UTC (link)

L was every bit as baffled as Reid; he had reached the same conclusion, that background work was likely, but had never heard any of the things that had come out of his mouth in his life. He didn't know who Diana was, or what had been written, or even that he had been talking to the man he had spoken to earlier in his journal. He did know that he hadn't been in full control of his mind and body just then. He had to assume that whatever he'd seemed to know was information that the Gypsy...and possibly management... had had access to.

He shook his head, trying to rationalize what had just happened. "I think it was her," he said, glancing at the Gypsy. "Nothing like this has ever happened before in my experience..." he wondered if it would sound crazy to say that his consciousness had felt detached, that he'd felt exactly like a puppet or ventriloquist's dummy.

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-09 06:52 am UTC (link)

Reid's frown remained as he glanced over at the Romani woman, and then back to L. That... would make a lot of sense, especially seeing as L did appear to be very confused at what had just happened. As far as Reid knew, he wasn't lying. He seemed to be telling the truth.

He had to admit, his curiosity was getting the better of him. He wanted to know if this was real, or if it was background work done on him before he had been brought here. "C-can I ask something else? About a friend? His name is, uh... Aaron Hotchner?" he said, the first name that came to mind being his supervisory agent.

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inmyownworld
2010-07-09 07:03 am UTC (link)

L's eyes widened for a moment, apprehensive and afraid. After experiencing it so completely, he was certain that he disliked not being able to control his mind and body. But the Gypsy grabbed his arm again, and he fell into the same trance-like state.

"What do you want to know about your supervisory agent?" he asked, eyes blank and glassy. "Is it anything to do with the Reaper Incident?"

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-09 07:15 am UTC (link)

Reid looked stunned, again, but attempted to retain his cool, licking his lips and swallowing.

The Reaper had been infamous, it could have been a wild guess. But he didn't see what that had to do with Hotch, especially as it was Morgan's credentials that the man had stolen, Morgan whom the Reaper had nearly slashed to death (and would have done had the agent not been unconscious, had he been awake as the serial killer liked it), not Hotch's. He swallowed again and cleared his throat weakly.

"What... what about the Reaper?" he asked. The man had escaped from jail, they had heard about it... but the fact that his name had come up was worrying Reid a little.

[ ooc; FYI, My Reid is from around Season 4, so he's not aware of any of the delicious spoilers from Season 5. :P ]

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inmyownworld
2010-07-09 07:39 am UTC (link)

Face slack and expressionless, eyes staring glazedly at nothing in particular, L didn't seem capable of standing on his own, leaning slightly against the old Gypsy's colorfully garbed flank. He answered in a dull tone, as if slipping further away from reality with every question he was asked.

"George Foyet... the Boston Reaper... will find Hotch and stab him nine times. He'll live... but..." L wrenched his arm away from the Gypsy, looking spooked.

"I don't like this. Don't make me say more." His face was pale, making the dark circles under his eyes stand out more starkly than usual. But Madame Romani seemed dissatisfied with the answer, and regained her grip on him.

"Haley is going to die."

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-09 07:49 am UTC (link)

The scene was somewhat terrifying, the Romani woman using the chained captive as a ventriloquist's dummy, but Reid was too focused on the words to care. The name, George Foyet - it hit a sore spot with every single agent in the BAU at this point, given that they had been hunting him whilst being assisted by him, believing him to be the sole surviving victim of the Reaper. From a profiler's perspective, the fact that L referred to Aaron Hotchner as 'Hotch', a name that only the BAU tended to use privately, was also cause for concern.

The news hit Reid like a tonne of bricks. The idea of the man stabbing Hotch terrified him, and he would have backed away but he was frozen in place, usually warm brown eyes chilled to the core as they uncharacteristically were glued directly to L's weary ones. When L freaked out and pulled back, Reid seemed to snap out of it for a moment, but the sudden deliverence of even more bad news quickly regained the profiler's attention.

"Wh... what? Haley... what?!" Reid pulled back, shaking his head. "N-no, this is... n-ninety-eight per cent of fortune telling and tarot reading, it, it's false, it's a fairground gimmick with no truth behind it, there's never been a solidly proven case where fortune telling has actually come true, just speculation and coincidence sustaining the remaining two per cent..."

He was babbling, searching for something in his head to keep the news from being a lie. But the fact that he - or rather, the Gypsy - knew Haley and Hotch's names, knew of the connection to the Reaper with the BAU, knew his mother's name and that he wrote to her... it was all too much to be a coincidence.

And then Reid remembered where he was. Vas Captio. A place where they deliberately put you in situations to stress your emotions. He - slowly - pulled himself together. He swallowed, once, then again, and exhaled slowly.

"Th-thank you for your time, Madame Romani..." he said with a ginger nod. He looked over at L again. "M-may I continue to speak with him? Not about my fortune, but..."

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inmyownworld
2010-07-09 08:24 am UTC (link)

L wanted to agree, with the same confident skepticism he had originally expressed when Reid had first approached him, but he felt like someone had punched him in the chest and hollowed out a substantial section, leaving cold uncertainty behind. He'd just witnessed something impossible from a frighteningly first-hand perspective, and the fact that he was becoming number and more immobile the longer the Gypsy held him couldn't be shrugged off.

Madame Romani nodded stiffly, releasing his wrist and nudging a wooden stool forward just in time for him to collapse into it. "Fine. Talk. But try to take heem, and I shoot you," she warned, holding up the rifle for emphasis.

L held his chest, trying to catch his breath. He looked like he'd just run a mile, pale and shaking and winded.

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-09 01:33 pm UTC (link)

Reid nodded very quickly. That was clear enough, and he didn't exactly want to get shot...

Once she had enabled L to sit and stepped back a little, Reid leaned into the booth the tiniest bit. He knew it would probably be customary to put his hand on L's shoulder at this point, but he didn't, avoiding physical contact with him.

"Are you okay...?" he asked, half-mumbling. He was trying to shrug off the fortune by chalking it up to the Management and the twisted things they liked to do.

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inmyownworld
2010-07-11 07:04 am UTC (link)

"Fine..." L said quietly, holding his knees as the Gypsy unloaded her gun and examined the bullets like valuable lepidopteran specimens. "I'm find. I'm always fine. Did I... know you before?" He thought he might have, but couldn't be sure. "Because... I know I was here before, and I know that you were, as well... and it wouldn't be like me at all to ignore you, or not at least make contact with you."

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-11 07:20 am UTC (link)

Reid frowned, the corners of his mouth pulling back into thin cheeks, and glanced over at the Romani woman as she was distracted with the bullets. He swallowed a little.

"I... yeah, we... we talked, briefly. I remember you... L, isn't it?" He remembered the man's name was a letter, and he was fairly sure it was L, because he had thought of Elle Greenaway briefly during his introduction.

He looked up at the Gypsy. "... How long have you been here?"

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inmyownworld
2010-07-11 07:29 am UTC (link)

L didn't remember, but what choice did he have but to take Spencer's word for it? It would be ridiculous, to be skeptical about something he knew was completely possible, especially when the other man knew his name.

"It is L," he said cautiously, also keeping a close eye on the Gypsy. "I've been here since yesterday, so two days total... I think that before, I was here for nearly a month, though I can't remember much."

He tugged at the chain, clearly uncomfortable with the current arrangement. "I want out... but I can say with some certainty that she would likely shoot you if you tried to help me," he said in an undertone.

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-11 07:40 am UTC (link)

A month?! That in itself seemed impossible. Reid himself had only spent several days here before finding himself slouched awkwardly in his seat on the jet, asleep and babbling something about not wanting to watch the screens any longer. To be here for a month would... well, the psychological effects it would have on someone with PTSD would be astronomical, comparing it with those who had been kidnapped or held prisoner for a similar amount of time.

Biting his lip, Reid looked up at the Romani woman. "Does she ever leave?" he asked, quickly looking over the man's situation. One chain, around his ankle, nothing that could ever be separated by human hands alone.

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inmyownworld
2010-07-12 05:39 am UTC (link)

L glanced over his shoulder at the Gypsy, trying to do so discretely. "She hasn't... not yet, at least," he said softly. "I've been here since I woke up this morning, and she hasn't even taken her eyes off me. Every time I've attempted to argue my case, she's started shouting at me in Romani and pointing her gun at me, and you know how that is. I've explored every different possibility for escape, and none of them would end well. I would advise leaving and waiting for the matter to resolve itself."

The verdict displeased and depressed him, but the only thing worse than having to cope with telling people disturbing things while someone else spoke through him was having a bloody, bullet-ridden corpse lying nearby because someone was feeling a little too helpful.

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awkwardgenius
2010-07-12 01:48 pm UTC (link)

Reid frowned, chewing on the inside of his cheek a little. He wasn't overly keen on waiting for the matter to resolve itself in case, well, the fortune telling was meant to literally drain him until he collapsed, or they were planning on shooting him anyway. He definitely didn't trust the Management, and he wasn't sure he felt comfortable leaving L at their mercy.

Not that it could be helped in the end, but he could try...

"That's probably not the best idea," he said, still keeping his voice low, mumbling a little. His fingers rubbed against each other nervously as he spoke. "Do you know what the chain's connected to...?"

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