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Tweak says, "Whatever you say!"

Hal Yorke was involved tagentially (needstheroutine) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2013-03-23 21:18:00

Entry tags:

alex millar, hal yorke

Who: Hal Yorke and Alex Miller
What: Hal needed some insta courage for meeting her again. In the absensce of blood. He found his other vice
Where: An Internet cafe
When: About an hour after Alex arrived
Rating: K for Kia Ora!
Status: In progress

It wasn't like it was bad. Just having one...half a bottle of the stuff. It wasn't blood. And besides he felt fine. Didn't know what they were blathering on about. Anyway Mitchell smoked, he was sure everyone else had a vice too. His was mixed fruit Kia Ora and god did it taste good. It helped that it was a lovely day. Blustery, cold but then he was already dead so what was cold to him. He laughed, couldn't help it. It was funny to think about the weather sometimes.

And Alex was here. Alex was here and that was wonderful, apart of course from when she was in the future he'd reverted, betrayed them, killed again, probably drank more blood than he had in the previous 50 years in a single day, probably recruited. It wouldn't have been fun, but he could see exactly how it would have gone. How it could go and probably would again. That was of course why the Kia Ora. He'd tried a cigarette. Mitchell had lent him one, but no, no it was boring. There was no substance to it, it was just dull.

He strolled through Lawrence, trying desperately to focus on something other than the necks of the passers by, veins, veins obvious veins. God he could just...

He sipped a little more from the small bottle he'd kept in his coat having hidden the rest by the complex. He'd go back for it later and when it was gone Kat could get more. Dammit if he was bound to revert eventually he'd need a vice other than blood. He was allowed a vice. If Mitchell could smoke then he could do this. So there, he thought to no one in particular. Probably a judgy afterlife Leo and Pearl.

Well let them judge, they'd left him.

No no, that wasn't how it had happened. And Annie had tried, and Tom, and Alex. But it obviously hadn't been enough. He needed to know how, exactly how. Alex said he hadn't asked for help and that, well he supposed that made a sad kind of sense. Asking for help would have meant no more blood.

Fuck he really was a coward. One more sip. One more and then he nodded, hiding the bottle again and opening the door to the internet cafe and smiling at the owner as he spotted Alex at Computer 14.

"14 please, Just for a minute, you know how it is, busy busy" he told the man, placing a dollar on the counter before walking toward the computer in question. "Alex" he said, his voice low so as not to appear, well, barking mad. He lifted her hand giving it a quick kiss as he helped her to her feet and sat down at the computer. Keeping up appearances and all, that was what one was supposed to do after all.

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stucklikethis
2013-03-24 08:24 pm UTC (link)

"Most guys just go straight for the tits and arse compliments, neck was a new one at least." There was a trace of amusement in her tone as she let him just stay there, as long as he needed. Hey, it wasn't as though she got tired or anything, in theory she could have stood there for days just holding him and steadying him until he felt better.

And there he was using words like 'impropriety' and sounding like Hal again and she smiled, a genuinely relieved smile. And the sight of the domino which was so incredibly familiar to her now. Seeing him twirling it between his fingers, things felt more normal again.

"You got hit with some crazy fucking news," she offered him a half smile, tinged with sadness. "Think it would have sent anyone a bit crazy. It's okay, Hal. You're okay and no one's been hurt and you can be right on track with the doing well again." He was talking about the things he had accomplished in this place and Alex tilted her head a little, looking at him. "How long have you been here anyway? And tell me about this Katherine." And there, no hint of jealousy in her voice. Maybe. Mostly.

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needstheroutine
2013-03-24 09:23 pm UTC (link)

"Most men today know nothing of decorum or civility. Perhaps no one courts anymore...besides I suppose Tom, but they should. You are so much more than just your...assets." he said blushing slightly as he did so, as much as it was possible for a vampire mostly blood free for half a century to do so. "Still, I was 'blooded up' as Tom calls it, and didn't have much of a say in matters."

That little half smile, he was never sure if it was pity or not, but he appreciated that she was here for him, that she could have just staked him, or left him there and run from him but she was here. And he believed she would always be here for him. So many people were giving him this chance to be better, and he could do worse than try, for their sake, and for the sake of the countless he would save by giving it a chance. By trying to be better than he was.

"A while. Weeks, perhaps a month or so. I've locked myself away mostly, you understand why of course. And Lady Katherine is like me, a vampire. But her kind don't have the addiction we do. Oh they feed of course but with them its almost like there is a switch in their minds, for their humanity. She spent a lot of time ignoring her humanity but she's let it all back in now. Its a hard thing to deal with. She's of an age with me and a Bulgarian Lady. You'll like her I believe. And then of course there is Mitchell. I...rather believe he'll have a hard time with you for a while. You'll remind him of Annie."

He'd only thought about it now but it was probably very true. Hal would just have to step up the routine somewhat.

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stucklikethis
2013-03-24 10:55 pm UTC (link)

"Well, Tom's special," Alex smiled fondly. Tom was a massive contradiction in so many ways. The rough werewolf, who had been raised as a fighter and knew more about bombs than GCSEs, and yet was still this amazingly sweet and kind gentleman, who treated women like proper ladies. And if it had been possible for her to blush, she would have. "I'm glad someone sees me as more than assets anyway." Awww, 'assets'. When Hal brought out his gentlemanly side it was really quite charming.

She nodded, of course she understood why. Hell, she was surprised he hadn't tied himself down the way they had had him at home. Until he'd begged for release. And for the marigolds.

Of course 'Lady' Katherine was a vampire, just like him. And one who was dealing with being all humanified, just like him. Sounded like Hal had made the perfect connection. "So, is she hot? Katherine, I mean. She sounds like she should be hot, being all Bulgarian and vampire lady and all of that." Not that she was jealous. Not at all.

She did wince slightly for Mitchell though. "Does he know yet? What happened to Annie?"

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needstheroutine
2013-03-24 11:06 pm UTC (link)

Tom was special yes. And if he could be here, Him and Leo and Pearl and Annie, then this place would be perfect. George and Nina and the tiny baby that hated him too he supposed. He'd grown fond of Eve. Still mostly resented being used as a potential weapon by older her. But overall, he understood why she'd done it. Hal could so easily have gone the other way, disrupted from his routine, disrupted from the life he'd gotten so very used to living. But he'd persevered as he would here.

"You are far more than you appear. And let no man ever tell you otherwise because the one that is finally worthy of you, the one that you let yourself fall for. He will see the real you and you will see the real him, and it will be in every way perfect. And you'll know that its the truest love you could ever feel. Don't ever let anyone see you just as assets."

When she asked about Katherine Hal wasn't sure if he'd heard the tone in her voice he thought he had. Surely not.

"She is attractive yes." he answered simply, not quite grasping why Alex would be so focused on that. "She has adapted to the world without having to hide from it for 50 years at a time over and over. She's helping me quite a lot as it happens. I owe her."

As for Mitchell, Hal wasn't even sure where to begin. "What on earth do I even start to say, she blew herself and the infant up to save the world from the vampires, all your friends are dead? How do you even begin Alex? No, no he doesn't know."

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stucklikethis
2013-03-25 12:53 am UTC (link)

It was sweet, the way Hal spoke about her, to her. Sweet and sad because as much as she knew he meant well, Alex just couldn't let herself think about stuff like that, not for herself.

"I'm a ghost, Hal," she smiled somewhat sadly. "I don't think grand love stories and perfect, true, movie style love is exactly in my future what with the whole dead thing." Stuck in the same clothes permanently, unable to be seen by most people. "Pretty sure the only one seeing the real me is going to be you, since most people won't be seeing any kind of me, real or not." And he'd seen her breaking down after her death. Didn't get much more real than that.

But still. How could she compete with some hot lady vampire?

"Well, then I'm very glad you've met her," she managed to keep her tone even. "Hopefully she can keep helping you." Succeed where she and Tom hadn't been enough. God, that was a fucked up swirl of emotions, jealousy that someone else might be what Hal needed combined with relief that maybe, just maybe, there was still hope.

"Okay, fuck, if you put it that way," she frowned, trying to put herself in Mitchell's shoes. She so nearly had been. "What actually happened to Annie though? I mean she was a ghost too, the explosion couldn't have killed her. Do you know? What happens to ghost after I mean." The men with sticks and rope. The doors. Evil fucking Morris dancers. Scared the shit out of her and still she'd been prepared to take Oliver's place with them.

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needstheroutine
2013-03-25 01:29 am UTC (link)

It was true of course. She was a ghost, and he'd caused it, tangentially more than anything else but he had. If Cutler hadn't been trying so hard to impress him and drag him back, hell, if he'd never recruited Cutler, if he'd never killed the man's wife to prove a point and win a bet. Well, things might have turned out very differently for them. Maybe he'd actually have gotten through the date, maybe she wouldn't have ended up drained of her blood and a ghost with it. "You deserve the grand love story though" he said softly, more guilt than anything else, there was always guilt when it came to Alex. "The real you, she deserves that. I'm sorry for my part in taking all those chances from you."

He'd said it before, but never completely took blame for it, not really. But it was his fault. Why should he not just admit it.

The strange tone of her voice though as she talked about Katherine gave Hal pause, had things changed between them since, Oh god had something been going on, had he reverted in spite of that?

"Alex were we..." he began but the sentance turned into a sort of half sigh half flailing hand gesture before he reverted to the safer topic of Annie.

"I believe she must have passed over. Perhaps that was her unfinished business. Because if it had not been I think she'd have returned to us. To Tom and I, we were probably the closest links she had. I don't believe she faded or anything, she's too strong for that, and people had tried in the past, to separate us all. I think she saw her door. And I think she went through it."

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stucklikethis
2013-03-25 02:07 pm UTC (link)

Life- and death- wasn't about what was deserved or not. It just was how it was, and there was nothing either of them could do about it. "You didn't make Cutler take me," she sighed. It was weird, she'd spent time blaming him for his part in things, wanting him to accept the responsibility for his part, but now that he had, she didn't feel any victory from it. "You didn't know he'd pull a stunt like that." How could anyone have foreseen that the wacko bastard would see her in a bar with Hal and figure out she was a way to get to him.

"And hey, I was never the giant romantic anyway. So I guess it doesn't really matter at the end of the day." At least that was what she tried to tell herself.

She froze a little at his question, the not actually entirely asked question, admittedly. Still, she knew exactly what he was getting at, the hand gesture said it all. "I don't know." Her answer was quiet and she looked at the floor for a while before glancing up at him again. "I don't, yeah, I don't know." Maybe. They still had to talk about it. Him and her, them.

"But her proper door, right? No men with sticks and rope, none of that." Which scared the shit out of her. One of the things that could still scare the dead. "Do ghosts do that? Fade? Will that, like, happen to me some time or something?"

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needstheroutine
2013-03-25 07:32 pm UTC (link)

She shouldn't do that. She shouldn't be so alright with what he'd finally come to terms with. He'd done that to her. Gotten her killed, drank her blood. That had been him. "No I didn't make Cutler do it but I did recruit him. And I made him into the kind of man he became. He went for you, specifically because of something I'd done to him long ago. He thought he was helping me by killing you, did you know? Bringing me back into the fold. He saw me with you and it reminded him of something."

It mattered, Alex was far from as good a liar as he was, even this him, and Hal could spot a lie a mile off. She'd wanted the date to go well, even if it hadn't led anywhere she'd wanted to enjoy her night, meet someone who could matter to her, meet someone special who would treat her like a lady and instead she'd gotten him, high on blood and a mess. And then she'd died, because of him.

"You don't know, so, something had changed?" he commented, the domino coming to a stop and his eyes returning to focus on her. "Something had changed, and He used it against you, didn't he?"

Hal shook his head, unwilling to let her be hurt by him anymore, either him. "You won't fade. I can assure you, you won't fade, and they won't get to you and I truly believe Annie found her door. Her own."

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stucklikethis
2013-03-25 08:38 pm UTC (link)

She tilted her head a little, looking at him. "Want me to yell at you? Curse you, scream that it's all your fault? Cutler killed me. Yeah, because he wanted to screw you over every which way, but he came up with that plan, he sent his guys after me. His choices. Not yours. But, you know, I can yell if you want. Punch you even. If it would make you feel better." It wouldn't make her any less dead though, so why would it really help either of them?

Alex wondered if he'd seen right through her lie. It was annoying with him, for someone who sometimes really sucked at people skills, he could often read her so fucking well, it was infuriating.

Her first instinct was to back track, to deny things, to evade. But hadn't she been going on at him about being honest with her? So Alex took a long and unneeded sigh. "Things were in the vague process of changing," she eventually said, staring at the floor for a moment before looking back up at him. "Don't think either of us really knew what was going on or going to go on or anything, but there was stuff and we were going to talk about it and then.... then He happened. And he enjoyed flaunting it in my face that whatever had been changing was really and truly stopped."

She didn't know for sure if it was just words he was using, but she appreciated it anyway, appreciated how vehemently he spoke them. "Good. Because really, can you imagine me fading anywhere? Way too weird a concept."

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needstheroutine
2013-04-03 01:29 pm UTC (link)

As it happened, yes, he did. “It would be right if you did you know. But you never ever do. You always just so wonderfully gloss over all those things I’ve done. Which has to stop Alex, it’s dangerous to assume I’m always going to be anything other than what I was. “ And everything, every move Cutler had made was designed to impress him. Make his maker proud. He’d been given some kind of glorious reprieve to have Hal back, or so he believed anyway.

When he’d found out he’d died though, it had actually stung a little. Not that he’d ever bring that up with Alex. There were some things that just weren’t done.

Especially if he was right, and they’d begun to express feelings for each other. Those were dangerous too of course. He’d fall for her, it’d be lovely for a while, then he’d hurt her, just like he’d hurt so many before. Oh he couldn’t kill her as he’d done Sylvie. But ghosts were far from invincible and there were ways to make them hurt.

“In the process. I see, so you’d forgiven me for my part in it all, we’d become closer friends, one thing had lead to another and then…what, one day it wasn’t me anymore. And of course he’d use it. He’d love it. Every second of it. He’d find it hilarious to tear it apart. Tell you just how good it could have been but never would be now. Or he’d have done…worse. But at least you could prevent that if…”

God, the conversations he had to have. The things he had to think about when he thought about the future. Because this was all ahead of them. But there was one thing he was sure of. “I won’t let you fade Alex. You know I won’t. But for now, you have some people to meet. Lets get out of here”

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stucklikethis
2013-04-03 04:05 pm UTC (link)

That made her shove him. Hard. "Don't. Don't you tell me what I gloss over or whatever, because you have no idea." He didn't. He couldn't. Not with everything that had happened by her time. Hal. Lord Harry. The Devil. All that blood and death and pain. Alex just shook her head sadly and half shrugged. "Believe me, I know the things you've done. What you're capable of. I've seen them. First hand and in glorious fucking technicolor." All those horrid little details. Cutler had just been the tip of the sordid iceberg.

She hated how he could just guess so easily what had happened between them. How Lord Harry had reacted.

"Yeah." One word. That was all she could actually manage. Because those words from him still stung, Harry gloating at everything she had lost, her friend, the guy she was falling for. Those taunts and knowing that so much death was just inevitable.

"Alright," she half smiled, wanting to get away from the drama filled conversation that had been going on. "Tell me where I'm going."

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