i_charm the morning after? [open]
Prince Charming sat in the foyer of the buidling-not-called-the-Woodlands, and rubbed his temple gently. He did not sleep well last night; some people obviously had never shared an apartment with others, and therefore unaware of the common coutesies of coinhabiting- yelling loudly was very out.
His two roommate obviously had unresolved issues. He was not going to stick around, just in case there was a big heart to heart and everyone had to participate.
Kristy the front desk girl waved at him. He waved back.
The thought occurred to him that perhaps he ought to go for a walk- maybe get some breakfast- but he didn't budge from the comfortable spot on the sofa. Because it was comfortable, and he was too tired to make any sort of effort to move. Tags: prince charming, maxine gibbons
From: i_assist Date: 07/26/2006 16:33:14
Ironically, her ruby slippered feet were moving towards Jesse's high rise apartment. Her damn subconscious again. There were three places she felt truly safe in the City. One had been breached, and she'd left the other. But she couldn't go to the third, could she? How would that look? 'I'm fighting with you, but I want to hide behind you anyway'. Max had more dignity than that. She didn't know why her feet were still headed in that direction. She missed it. Missed him. If they hadn't been fighting she'd have already told him about everything and he'd have comforted her. Made her feel better as was his way.
Max was walking that way anyway, even thinking about all that. Maybe they were ready to stop. She'd go up there and the only thing he'd be able to do was be to make fun of this horrible dress. Better him than Jack. She could see Jesse laughing at it in her head and she grinned to herself, her feet still taking her towards the building. She was inside soon enough, nodding and to the doormen who actually looked surprised to see her.
So did the girl at the desk, who she approached a bit shyly, only because she'd never actually had to talk to her before. And it looked as if she was concentraiting on something already. A good looking thirty something on the opposite couch.
"'Scuse?" Max interupted, leaning up on the desk. Her question was more important, she decided. "Could you check and see if Jesse Custer's in for me?"
From: i_charm Date: 07/26/2006 16:51:53
Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.
Maybe it was the familiar name, but it was far more likely to be the girl's shoes, and the little bit of a blue checker dress peeking out from underneath her coat, that drew Prince Charming's attention. Was there a fancy dress party? Or maybe she really was Dorothy?
Charming considered. In the City, anything was possible.
Kristy shurgged at him apologetically, and picked up the phone.
He considered some more. If it was a fancy dress party, he could probably weedle an invitation out of the host. It was high time he had some fun. And of course, he would go dressed as himself.
With this in mind, he rose slowly, reached out and tapped the girl on the shoulder.
From: i_assist Date: 07/26/2006 16:58:04
Now really wasn't the time to be tapping Max randomly on the shoulder. Not when she was already worried about Arkham inmates coming to possibly grab her and take her away for an extended visit with the madmen.
Her heartbeat didn't slow all that much when she turned around and saw it was the man who'd been on the couch. She still didn't know him.
"Yeah?" Jesse's apartment complex tended to attract the odd ones, she remembered Crowley and Progo vividly. "Can I help you?"
From: i_charm Date: 07/27/2006 16:31:28
Please, one look at Charming's face and you'd know that he wasn't a crazy axe murderer or something- they rarely make them this handsome. The thought made him smile.
"Miss, I couldn't help but overhear... did you say Jesse Custer or Jesse Cutter?"
Truth be told, he couldn't be sure Jesse's last name was "Custer". Oh well.
From: i_assist Date: 07/28/2006 09:06:39
"Jesse Custer. He lives upstairs." Max looked at the man critically. Okay, he didn't look the Progo type --he'd come with lots more eyes-- but who knew whether he was the demon type. Or the type who watched her while she was naked in the bathroom. "Why?"
From: i_charm Date: 07/30/2006 15:57:25
Maybe Charming was the type to watch her in the bathroom, but it would only be with her expressed permission. It has happened a lot before, yanno.
He made a small 'oh gosh, would you believe how small this world is' sort of face, and smiled at Miss Maybe Dorothy. "I live next door to Jesse. Just moved in, actually. He and I had a nice chat a couple of days ago. Might've mentioned you."
Okay, so Charming didn't really pay a lot of attention to what Jesse said. But it never hurts to up the familiarity.
He extended a hand. "Jonathan Charm."
He could never keep track of what names he gave, either.
From: i_assist Date: 07/30/2006 19:16:47
Wow, meeting the neighbors. That seemed like something she should be doing with Jesse, but oh well. At least he seemed to be a somewhat normal neighbor, that was always a bonus.
"Maxine Gibbons. People usually call me Max." She shook his hand politely and gave him a nice smile. If it was slightly brighter than the smile she'd have normally given someone, she didn't notice.
When he let go she glanced back at the desk check the girl's progress and then back at Jonathan. "Was he alright when you saw him? Jesse, I mean."
From: i_charm Date: 07/30/2006 19:49:46
"It's very nice to finally meet you, Max." And he wasn't lying. At least, not entirely lying; she might've been a little young for his taste, but he could see she had potential.
A sigh, and Charming propped an elbow on the front desk, running his other hand through his hair. It had somewhat of an effect on Kristy, at least, as she stopped trying to call through and just stared at him.
"He seemed... distracted." Charming could only guess at what Max's relationship with Jesse was, but general statements never went awry. "Something was bothering him, and he was obviously trying to drown it out with the help of some Jack Daniel's."
He smiled sadly.
From: i_assist Date: 07/30/2006 20:14:06
Jack Daniel's. Max winced. That was the stuff that'd gotten them into this argument in the first place. All because she said weird, yet slightly true, things when she was drunk.
Now it sounded like Jesse was drinking again. Her fault.
"That doesn't work and he knows better. I don't want to go up and find him sprawled across his couch," she said with a bit of a grumble. "Um... I'm his girlfriend." She added as an afterthought explanation. She was aware that either way it would seem odd. Either she was a random girl going upstairs to check on a grown man, or she was the grown man's nearly jailbait girlfriend.
From: i_charm Date: 07/30/2006 23:45:01
Charming suspected it was something like that. "Ah. Of course, age differences are not an obstacle when it comes to true love. Or so they tell me." A friendly, big brother-esque wink followed that.
Kristy, on this end of the line, was clearly not having any luck with her task. She informed Max that no one was answering.
From: i_assist Date: 07/31/2006 09:43:48
Oh, great. Did that mean he was passed out? Maybe unconscious, face down in his bed.
Or, he could just be out.
Max couldn't help but frown, hating that she was thinking the worst, but she couldn't help it. Now she was a bit worried.
She looked back at Andrew. "Actually, they are. Indirectly. We wouldn't be fighting if..." She trailed off, rolling her eyes. She said instead, "It was a really stupid fight."
From: i_charm Date: 07/31/2006 16:00:24
Charming put on his best 'tell me all about it' face.
Then he seemed to consider for a while. "Look, if you're worried about him, and you obviously are- I would be if I was in your shoes- why don't you come up, check on him? I'll even help you kick down the door if it comes to that."
He'd like to think of this as an act of selfless kindness, and all, but really, it's just a reflex action of securing allies, should he one day need them.
From: i_assist Date: 08/01/2006 00:09:40
"I don't know. I... he's really angry at me. I think I might just...wait," Max gave him a half smile and a shrug. "I don't want him getting mad at me for barging in... or, er, breaking down any doors on top of everything else."
Not to mention she was slightly scared as to what she might find. If he wasn't there, then he wasn't there. She'd check another day.
"I probably shouldn't have even bothered coming..."
From: i_charm Date: 08/02/2006 16:25:02
It was very rare for Prince Charming to meet a woman he did not feel the need to woo. Maybe the fact that she was more girl than woman helped a little, but it was still hard to explain why there was no attraction. Charming did not realise this, although there was a clue of him having no desire to add Max to the long list of his sexual conquests.
A comforting hand on Max's shoulder, he offered her a smile of his own. It was his very best 'everything's okay' smile.
From: i_assist Date: 08/02/2006 18:47:33
It didn't really work, but she tried to smile back. It was a kind of lame smile, one that spoke of a bit of desperation and bitterness.
"I should probably go... he's not here and I'm totally just sitting here and crying to his neighbors. Which... is kinda not cool." She screwed up her face slightly and drummed her fingers on the table top. "I gues I'll come back later. Give him time to wake up. Or whatever he needs to do."
Max sighed before looking back at him, her smile something a little more real now. "So like... which one do you live in. The door on the right, the door on the left, or the one across the hall?"
From: i_charm Date: 08/02/2006 18:54:53
Charming shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about it. I live across the hall, drop in any time."
It wasn't like he was going anywhere soon. A small sigh followed this thought. He was running for mayor! And he would've won!
Now he was off on a tangent. Short attention span, who?
From: i_assist Date: 08/02/2006 20:02:52
"Thanks." For some reason, the fact that Jesse had normal neighbors was relatively comforting. Made sense sort of, seeing as how he'd gotten the place in the first place. It was nice to know the building wasn't inhabited by demons.
"I'll like, see you around then. You should come by Jesse's one day... when we're better. I'll make dinner." Except she really was joking, because Max couldn't cook. At all.