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MADAME XANADU // n i m u e ([info]i_look) wrote in [info]we_coexist,
@ 2009-04-06 16:20:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:blind seer, charlie crews, firekeeper, madame xanadu, ted earley

Blind Seer meets blind seer [Firekeeper, Charlie, Ted?]
Xanadu fell asleep on Ted's bed and lay there for nearly a day. It felt safe and warm and she was loathe to leave it. She'd tried to feel her way toward a washroom but exhausted, tired and still hurt the blind seer refrained. The wounded slyph chose her steps carefully out of the bedroom and using the bannister as a guide, slowly took the steps down into the main entry way.

"Hello, Ted?"

Not unlike a hangover, Xanadu's head pounded from dehydration. She felt ill wanted to attempt drinking and perhaps eating something. The seer did not feel hungry, but she had stopped feeling the desire for food a week into her torture. She must have looked like a wreck. Her hair was matted in some places and she was still covered in green and purple bruises, slow to heal, dried blood and other cuts and marks decorating her body like a voodoo doll.

She couldn't wait to step into a shower, wear fresh clothes and feel normal again. The fate of the shop was far from the soothsayer's mind. For now she was safe. The doppelganger would be dealt with later and by someone else.


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[info]i_zen
2009-04-06 05:52 pm UTC (link)
Charlie was just getting home; he hadn't had much luck in finding Jennifer, but he'd do it eventually. Actually he was bringing home another animal; this one wasn't big enough to turn on the water. Though, it did need water to live. The fish in the fish bowl sloshed back and forth. He wasn't going to have another dead fish on his hands, not that he really had the dead fish on his hands to begin with.

He paused in the front door as he saw her. He'd met her before, only then she'd looked a good deal better. Very much so. His lips thinned, pulled into a scowl that said just how unhappy he was. He took a few steps forward, shifting the fish bowl under one arm while reaching out with his now empty hand.

"Xanadu. What are you doing here? Not that I have a problem with you being here, but you're here not there." He had to pause and smile a little; here vs there was always an interesting situation. "Who did this to you?"

He stepped close; his voice had to announce who he was. "I'm right here." He took the few steps to close the distance between them. Someone was certainly high on his "payback" list now. He had a few he wouldn't mind seeing behind bars perhaps, but who would do this to someone who was nice and helpful and believed in the calming power of zen? Well, maybe she didn't believe in it, but she didn't seem to mind his belief.

As he stood there for her, letting her use his body to lean against, he forced himself to breathe, to calm, to relax and release. Charlie was not happy.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-06 07:08 pm UTC (link)
Ted appeared from the kitchen, not checking to see if the others were following him or not. He was mostly concerned with Xanadu and how she was doing. Her appearance startled him some.

"Hi Charlie." She'd said that she knew him, so Charlie being angry - if you could even really get angry with Zen - didn't surprise him at all.

He crossed his arms over his chest, but not in a mad sort of way. "I thought you were going to get cleaned up. I should have left things easier for you to find. I'm sorry. Are you feeling better?"


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[info]i_howl
2009-04-06 07:56 pm UTC (link)
Firekeeper and Blind Seer trotted after Ted. Firekeeper was curious, Blind Seer was concerned. He had smelled the woman from the kitchen, and thin as it had been at that distance he hadn't liked it.

Even Firekeeper's dead nose could smell unhappy humans ahead, though she couldn't pick it up in the nuance that Blind Seer could. He could smell anger, stress, and old wounds. He was prepared for something that would not be pleasant.

Firekeeper stopped short behind Ted and frowned in concern. The woman that Charlie was holding up looked terrible. "Is trouble?" she asked, her voice a low growl. Her hand strayed for the Fang hidden under her shirt. "Should we prepare?" She balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to run should any attackers be nearby.

"Calm yourself, dear heart," said Blind Seer. "I don't think we're to be attacked right this moment." Even so, Firekeeper did not relax.

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[info]i_look
2009-04-06 08:31 pm UTC (link)
Xanadu's eyelids squeezed shut and she pinched the bridge of her nose to clear her head for a moment as she was approached by multiple concerned voices.

She answered Charlie and Ted's voices first:

"Ted saved me from a doppelganger. I have a headache; I just need something to drink, something clean to change into and someone to help me find my way around the shower?"

The new voice she answered second:

"I don't think there's any immediate danger."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-06 08:52 pm UTC (link)
Charlie stared at Ted for a moment, not in disbelief that the man could save someone but in pride. Ted really was a good guy, now maybe he'd see it for himself.

"Ted, get Xanadu some water and aspirin." He wasn't up to giving the woman a stiff drink even though she might feel like she could use it. A beer was sounding good to him. "Xanadu, the other woman in the room is Firekeeper. And there's a wolf named Blind Seer." He couldn't help the smirk; now that was truly an interesting moment - introducing one blind seer (or see-er) to another.

"They live here. Do you live here? Ted, does she live here? It's okay if you do; we have a lot of rooms, but no furniture. We need to get more beds if we're going to have more guests. Or house mates." Charlie nodded, not that he had the money anymore to purchase the needed furniture.

"Firekeeper's a good young woman, I'm sure of it. So, she could help you around the shower," Charlie didn't want to suggest that he or Ted could help out in the shower. It wasn't that he wouldn't, and he highly doubted Ted would feel comfortable with it; but, he thought it might be better left to another woman. Maybe. Reese wouldn't have helped out, or maybe she would have. He frowned slightly at not being able to call her up and ask her. He'd call Jennifer later to see if she'd help.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-06 09:20 pm UTC (link)
Ted moved quickly to the kitchen to get the items. He didn't feel that anybody was in any immediate danger, either. He'd worried for a while that maybe somebody had followed him from the shop, but when nobody came storming up to the door demanding the hostage back, he figured they were in the clear.

"She can live here if she wants. We hadn't discussed it. I figured I'd give her a few days to feel human again before I offered anything up like that." He carefully guided Xanadu's hand to the glass and put the aspirin in her palm.

Their living situation was getting mildly complicated at best. He'd have to talk to Charlie about all of this later. Figure out what they were going to do. How they were going to arrange all of this.

He was quite glad when Charlie offered up Firekeeper and not him for the job of helping out Xanadu. Ted didn't think he could handle that.

"I should have thought of finding you a change of clothes, too. You don't really have anything here to change into."

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[info]i_howl
2009-04-06 09:57 pm UTC (link)
"Can borrow something of mine," Firekeeper offered. She was taller than Xanadu, but it wasn't by terribly much. "Will help. Blind Seer can guard." She had experience in this sort of thing, between Derian and Wendee Jay assisting her back home.

Blind Seer barked his agreement, nodding for the benefit of the sighted humans.

Not for the first time since arriving, Firekeeper wished that Doc was here. His healing talents had saved her from wounds that should have killed her before, and even saved the heirs of two kingdoms from a poison that by rights should have been fatal. Most of Xanadu's bruises and wounds would be gone or on their way to complete healing in no time were he present. She tried to remember what field medicine he had taught her. "Soak in willow? Maybe?"

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[info]i_look
2009-04-06 10:18 pm UTC (link)
"Thank you." Xanadu took the glass of water that was placed in her hand as soon as she swallowed the aspirin. She drank deeply from the glass before putting it back in Ted's hand. Her hands remained clasped there quietly for a few moments before reaching forward from where Firekeeper's voice had come.

"That would be nice. Unfortunately we'll have to make due with modern medicine for the time being," she smiled at Firekeeper.

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-06 10:25 pm UTC (link)
"Modern." Charlie didn't see aspirin as modern, but he supposed it was relative. He gently guided Xanadu to Firekeeper without actually walking her over. As soon as she was out of arms' reach he'd let her go on her own.

"I'm hungry. Ted? Maybe we should get food." He stepped around the women, pausing long enough to reach a hand out to the wolf. "What do wolves eat? Think we could get deliveries from the butcher?" He guessed anything could be delivered with the right price.

"Chinese? Indian? Ted?" It wasn't that he had forgotten about Xanadu, but he was trying to find the peace that was just out of reach. He needed to do something other than looking at her.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-06 10:38 pm UTC (link)
It was strange to be taking care of somebody again. He'd done it long ago, what felt like hundreds of years. He'd had a family. A real one. With a wife, and daughters. But then he'd messed it all up and got sent to prison.

"Meat sounds like something a wolf would eat. But we could ask him. He's pretty good at communication, actually."

He looked at the wolf again, finding himself less startled than previously about it's presence in the house. It was just another one of the people, now. He supposed that having the ability to communicate did that.

"Why don't we go for something simple?" He looked back at Charlie. "Pizza is safe and inexpensive and we can get a lot of different kinds in case we hit on something somebody doesn't particularly like."

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[info]i_howl
2009-04-06 10:45 pm UTC (link)
"Tell them that I am not hungry. In the future, if I am unable to hunt for myself, meat is fine."

Firekeeper relayed Blind Seer's message to them. "Does not matter what kind of meat," she added. "So long as not rotten."

She bounded off to the room that she had been occupying on the occasions that she came inside. She had folded up a small collection of clothes in the corner: the stained leathers that she had arrived in, two sets of trousers, both cut off just below her knees, two button-up shirts in a material that seemed to be of much the same thickness and weave as the trousers, and one thick, long-sleeved blouse. She carried all save the leathers back to Xanadu. "Can choose what you like. All clean." She quirked up one corner of her mouth. "No shoes, though. Not wear. And I do not think would fit you."

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[info]i_look
2009-04-09 11:38 am UTC (link)
Before Ted could get too far from her, Xanadu caught him by the arm and planted a small kiss on his cheek. She turned to where Charlie had been to hold and reassure her and gave him the second small show of her gratitude.

"Thank you both."

Turning to Firekeeper's direction, she smiled. "I'm sure it'll be just fine. Why don't you show me where I'm going?"

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[info]i_howl
2009-04-15 02:10 pm UTC (link)
((Sorry for the delay!))

"Here," Firekeeper said, holding out an arm just in case Xanadu wanted the extra support. She tried to keep her voice calm, but there was still the hint of a tense growl under the word. Blind Seer, for his part, gently bumped himself against Xanadu. He was about the right height to act as a good support; Firekeeper had done it often enough in the past few years, much to both of their consternation.

She was still wound up tight as a bowstring. Torture was not a thing that wolves did. It made her think of cats, and watching a lynx bat around a screaming, bleeding rabbit when she was very young. She had seen humans do similar things to each other since--Citrine Shield's missing fingers swam to mind, as did the girl's mad laugh.

Blind Seer snuffled, his tongue lolling out, and Firekeeper had to laugh. "He say, if you want, can ride."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-09 10:38 pm UTC (link)
Charlie watched Xanadu for a moment, but only a moment. He just nodded, even if the woman couldn't see it, and started to make his way to the kitchen. He'd have a talk with Ted while the women did whatever it was they had to do. There was a small smile of thanks given the wolfgirl; she would be just fine.

He waited until his ex-accountant joined him in the kitchen. "Ted, how did you find her? Where did you find her? Tell me everything." He was going to find the scene, with or without Jennifer's help, and he was going to find the man who did this to the seer. Right now, Charlie wasn't expecting it to be a woman; it could be a woman he supposed, but he wouldn't guess a woman had committed such a crime.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 01:24 am UTC (link)
"I was going to get some coffee, and not paying much attention I guess. I stopped and instead of a coffee shop, I find myself at this weird... I don't know. There were all kinds of strange knickknacks and crystals and stuff. Nobody at the counter, then I hear somebody calling for help. She was tied to a chair in the basement. She looked horrible. Not that she looks all that healthy now, it was just a lot worse then."

He shook his head, thinking of it.

"I don't remember if she said anything about who did it. I think I asked, but the whole thing is such a blur. I felt sort of weird doing the saving. I'm used to you saving people."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 01:39 am UTC (link)
Charlie's lips pulled together, pursing slightly. Yes, this was one unhappy, unzenned cop. He walked around the kitchen island to grab the phone to make the order, but stopped as he realized the place Ted had found her. He looked at Ted, anger evident, before looking away; could he have saved her somehow? Could he have prevented her from being hurt? He had thought time and time again of visiting her, but somehow he'd always put it off.

The detective closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to find the calm. It wasn't working as well as he would have liked; Ted could probably see that his knuckles were white from how hard he was holding the house phone's receiver. A few more breaths and Charlie slowly opened his eyes.

"You did a good thing, Ted. A very good thing. I don't always save people, Ted." He had just gotten lucky sometimes. "I never save the ones whose murders I have to solve; for them, there is only justice." Usually.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 01:44 am UTC (link)
He wasn't sure he'd seen Charlie this angry since prison. And even in there, he'd been pretty in control of himself. This was new, and would be scary to somebody who didn't know him well. Didn't know that Charlie would never take that anger out on somebody who didn't deserve it.

"I think we need to get some furniture. Set up rooms for people if we're going to have them living here."

Ted didn't particularly want to become a halfway house, but actual roommates he didn't mind.

"Charlie, where did you find the wolf? And the girl. But mostly the wolf."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 01:50 am UTC (link)
"Furniture. Yeah, that'd be good." Ted seemed to always know when they needed a topic change, or when Charlie needed a slight topic change. Then again, Charlie was capable of obsessing over things even when he seemed to have a focus elsewhere. "We should probably have beds."

Charlie was about to add something about sharing beds with the women, or at least one of them, but he realized that Ted might not like that. Ted hadn't brought anyone since they'd lived together. Ted needed to bring someone home; Charlie smiled slightly at the thought.

"The girl and the wolf are a package deal apparently; found them in the snow. When there was snow. They needed a place to stay that isn't the Park. People should live in houses or tents, not in parks. We should get her a tent, or buy some land near the Park for her and the wolf." They had names, but the girl and the wolf was what they were being called for now.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 01:55 am UTC (link)
"I could go out tomorrow and get stuff for them. Have it sent here." He wasn't sure how to pick furniture for adult females. The last time he'd had any furniture input was when his girls had been very young. Pink, rainbows, unicorns and cuddly things had been good then. But he could likely find some elegant unisex style things.

"I think the wolf is smart. Like people smart. He was trying to turn off the water in the kitchen sink when I found him. Which means that he turned it on in the first place. Then he nodded at me. In answer to a question." Ted looked out the window. "We have land here. We could give her a tent outside. Maybe build her something like those old boyscout tents where the floor is wood and there's a canvas covering. Or maybe a little cabin like out of The Parent Trap."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 02:04 am UTC (link)
"Good. I think wood would be good, wood furniture. They'd probably like things that are natural." Charlie liked natural, simple. He liked clean, plain, classy. He also liked having money to buy those things that would last a long time, even if he didn't care if he wouldn't have them for very long. Shifting a little in his lean against the kitchen island, Charlie looked to the living room where they'd left the two women.

"No, I think she'd like to live at the Park or near it. We've got land, but she wants to be free, no ties." Charlie could understand not being tied down, not being stuck in one place. Ted could too, but there was a small difference. Ted liked having connections; Charlie was rather particular about who he connected too, who he bonded with. "Ted, I think I want to find a date."

Charlie hadn't had any "fun" since he'd come to the City, and while he wasn't a Lothario, he could probably use some fun. Ted could too. "You should have a date, too. After we find who ever did that to Xanadu, or before. It might help us think."

Lifting the receiver, he looked at the numbers. "Do you think if I randomly push numbers, I'll get a pizza delivery?" It was worth a shot.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 02:09 am UTC (link)
"A date?" Ted tried to work this through his mind while he stowed the thought about wood furniture for the bedrooms. "I think it can't hurt to try. For pizza I mean. A date?"

Charlie did not need Ted's help finding a date.
Ted, on the other hand, was not as lucky.

"You want me to have a date too? I don't think I understand." He got the concept of dates, he got the meaning behind them. But he didn't understand Charlie's sudden concern over Ted's love life.

"Like a double date?" He'd been on those. But he'd been younger. Or it had been something that wouldn't particularly count as a date with women that certainly weren't his wife. Would it be weird to be on a date with Charlie?

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 02:15 am UTC (link)
"Just a date. Might help you. It helps me, sometimes." Charlie's brow furrowed as he tried to decide if he really believed it helped. It certainly was a distraction, but then people he cared about didn't always approve.

"We could go on a date; it could be fun." The detective started pressing numbers before holding the receiver up to his ear. "Do you want to go on a date with me, Ted?"

The voice on the other end was soft and sultry, and was definitely not a pizza delivery place. Though, it was certainly a number to remember later. The smile on Charlie's lips said that he liked what he heard.

"Sorry, wrong number, and I think that's illegal in some states, but thank you." He hung up the phone and tired again.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 02:20 am UTC (link)
Ted didn't know if a date would help anything. He wasn't entirely sure that it actually helped Charlie either. Not in the long term. Oh, Ted knew that Charlie had good fun with his dates, got the brief companionship that he was looking for, but actually helping? He wasn't so sure about that.

"It could be fun." Ted nodded, agreeing. "You don't think it would be at all strange for us to go on a date? I mean, considering who you are, versus who I am? You're far more charming and charismatic, I'm afraid I'd just ruin the evening somehow."

Ted had not a lot of confidence in himself, not in that way. At least, not anymore.

"Wrong number?"

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 02:28 am UTC (link)
"Is there ever a really wrong number? It is one to keep in mind that could be an eventual right number. If fate has anything to do with it, perhaps it is the right number for something or someone. Just right now it isn't the one we needed." Charlie nodded and lifted the receiver to his ear. He winced as he got the shriek and moan of a fax machine.

"This probably isn't the best way to get pizza." But, that didn't seem to be stopping him from hanging up and trying more random numbers.

"That's not true. You can be charming. You would be fun. I don't think it'd be very strange, unless you thought it was strange. We could probably have a good time; we do okay when we're home alone." He thought that was logical anyway.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 02:32 am UTC (link)
"I don't think it's strange. I guess I'm just nervous. My last real date was before I met my ex. Was probably with her. I mean, there were the other women, but those don't really count as dates. Not really."

Ted thought about it some more, nodding. "You're right. There's no reason it should go badly in public, we're fine at home. You just have to promise to tell me if I get something in my teeth."

He opened a drawer thinking there might be a stack of coupons in it, but there wasn't, so he closed it again.

"Where do you think we'd go?"

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 02:39 am UTC (link)
"Well, I haven't been on a date date since my wife, but that was before." Charlie didn't look to happy about it, but he wasn't going to dwell, much. Plus, she probably wasn't even here. And he didn't say ex, he rarely said ex. "I guess she's really not my wife, not here?"

He kept pushing buttons, sighing as this time he got someone who didn't speak English. He was pretty sure it was a language he didn't even recognize - it didn't sound human.

"Ted, what's Graplock?" It didn't seem good. "Graklock?" He hung up, frowning a little at how uncooperative the phone was being.

"I would definitely tell you if you had something in your teeth. We would have fun together out there; we could probably go to some place expensive. Eat a big meal, go to the movies, or go dancing." Charlie could dance...probably.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 02:44 am UTC (link)
"I'm unsure that anything here is what it was before." He thought about that, changed his mind. "Except being friends with you. But even that has changed some. You live in the apartment above the garage now."

Which was still a little bit strange for him. But he was getting more used to it every day. Slightly. Sort of.

"I don't know what Graplock is Charlie, but it sounds angry." He took the phone away and tried dialing himself. It rang and rang and then an elderly woman picked up. "Sorry." He said to the phone and held it out for Charlie to take it.

"I don't know about dancing. Unless we go ballroom dancing. I can do that. But that stuff the kids do in the nightclubs? I'm no good at that. But dinner and a movie sounds nice. Very relaxing. Should we wear matching outfits? Or colors?"

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 03:02 am UTC (link)
There was a shrug as Ted didn't seem to have any luck with the dialing either. Finally Charlie decided that he'd have to be a little more logical, a little more reasonable in getting what he wanted. He pressed three numbers.

"Yes, I need a number for a pizza place, please. Yes, that's fine. Thank you." He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. "They're connecting me to a Luigi's Pizza."

He waited for the other party to pick up and thought about Ted's questions. They were good questions and needed to be addressed. He supposed he could do so while waiting for the pizza place to pick up.

"No, I don't think matching outfits are good. But, you might want to buy you a nice suit. I liked the one you wore that time...the one with the brown tie, looked good with your eyes." Anything else he might say was put on pause, his finger went up to tell Ted that he finally got someone on the phone and they could continue their talk in just a moment.

"What kind of pizza do you have, then I might know what kind I want to order."

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 03:10 am UTC (link)
"Get a plain cheese one." he said, thinking of the girls and worrying that if they didn't get a cheese one, somebody would hate all the other choices. Even though if they did get a cheese one, they'd likely have it for leftovers. Murphy's Law made such things happen. Ted didn't want to know what Murphy did in a place like the City.

He leaned against the counter to think about things. The suit with the brown tie. He didn't have that here, but it should be easy enough to replace. It wasn't horribly fancy in the cut, and was only mildly expensive. It was one of the suits he wore when conducting Charlie's financial matters, when such things required suits.

"You're right. Matching outfits are bad." He said it softly, but knew that Charlie would hear him. "Being out on a date with somebody in matching outfits is not and never has been in style."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 03:15 am UTC (link)
"We'd like a cheese pizza and one with everything on it. Bring it to the mansion..." Charlie paused as he actually got a question he wasn't prepared for. "No, not Wayne Manor. It's the other mansion. No, we aren't a castle." He opted for giving the address that had worked in L.A. That seemed to make the person on the other end happy, which meant he could hang up the phone.

"It'll be here...when it gets here." It really was the best way to judge time in the City, and that was usually how it worked. Things were always where they were when they got there.

"Not unless you're twins and working on a commercial date." That didn't sound right either; his brows furrowed, his lips pursed, as he thought of it, but then with a shrug, the thought was gone. "Or jeans. Jeans could work if we keep it low key."

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 03:20 am UTC (link)
"George said Batman was here." Ted reminded himself when he heard the words Wayne Manor. But he was taken a bit aback when he heard Charlie say something about a castle. Ted sort of wanted to see it. "Did I tell you Norman Bates is here?"

That seemed like something important Charlie should know. Him being the law and all, and Norman Bates being a murderer. Even if he was just in a movie. Or movies.

"Jeans, yeah." Ted thought about jeans. "If we're going to a fancy place though, I don't think they want us to wear jeans. I think you get kicked out of fancy places for that. Well, not you. You could probably walk in naked." Charlie had a way about him that usually got him what he wanted pretty easily. Ted didn't disparage him that. He just knew he couldn't get away with half of what Charlie did.

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 03:25 am UTC (link)
Charlie put the phone away and just took a lean against the further counter, brow raised. There was a slight smirk at this. Batman was here. Well, not here here, but here, which certainly put some interesting thoughts on the table. Vigilantism was illegal, but sometimes the law had to be handled by private hands, in private places, in dark and mysterious ways. Or not so dark and mysterious ways.

"Norman Bates. There is someone named Hannibal Lecter here too. He isn't a good guy from what I understand." Charlie nodded, putting yet another person on his list to watch. Could any of these men done that to Xanadu? Norman Bates didn't seem like the tie them up and torture them kind. Just the hack and slash. Hannibal...but why?

"I don't think I'd walk in naked, not unless it was a nudist fancy place." His eyes narrowed as he thought about it. "No, that's not a good place to go on a first date. Maybe a second one, but not a first. And jeans at a not so fancy place might work. A good steak joint?"

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 03:30 am UTC (link)
"Nobody wants to see me naked." Ted said it very firmly. He reminded most people of their dad. Sometimes their grandpa. And he didn't really have the money to back himself up with anymore, or the status.

"Hannibal Lecter? You mean the guy who eats people? The psychiatrist with a thing for .... eating people?" Ted didn't like that. Not one bit. "He's definitely not a good guy, Charlie."

He read the look on his friend's face and shook his head. "What was done to Xanadu isn't the sort of thing that Hannibal Lecter does. She wouldn't be alive if he'd done anything to her. She'd also probably be missing parts. More than just her eyes. Why is she missing her eyes, Charlie? Was she missing them when you met her?" It still creeped him out a little bit, the way they looked.

"You're already planning to go on a second date with me."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 03:35 am UTC (link)
"Then no naked resturants." Charlie nodded, letting that go. He didn't see any problem with Ted's nudity, but if Ted had a problem, he wouldn't push it.

"Right, and they were missing when I met her. For a little bit. She can grow them back for a time, but they don't last long. I don't know exactly why they're missing; I don't think I asked." He was trying to remember his first day in the City. He had met her then, hadn't he?

"Not planning, but I don't see why we wouldn't have a second date." Charlie smiled brightly at his friend, his very good friend. "We'll find out who did this to her, Ted."

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 03:40 am UTC (link)
So her eyes were always missing... wait. Charlie had just said something. "Grow them back?" Ted didn't know how that was possible. He had a much harder time grasping onto that then Batman. He wondered again if he were Robin. Or a Robin equivalent. He supposed he'd have to meet Batman and ask.

"I think it'd be a really good thing to find whoever did it. Before they try to get her back. That's what I'm most worried about. I had to get her out of there, but I keep wondering if somebody is looking for her. Mad. I didn't know there was another girl living here, or I wouldn't have... not that I would know where else to take somebody in that condition. I guess the hospital, it just didn't occur to me."

Ted thought about the date they were talking about. "You have a lot of faith that I won't goober my way through this."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 03:44 am UTC (link)
"It was some sort of potion, I think. She could do it." Charlie shrugged, having accepted that there were more things in the City and the world than he could possibly understand right away. Perhaps he'd figure them out eventually, perhaps not. He would have to be okay with whatever came; it was how one zenned.

"We will find them. But, they left her down there. Was the place unlocked?" It didn't make any sense to leave things unlocked, if Ted could get in easily..."They wouldn't leave her unguarded or able to be saved if they still wanted her. She might be lucky that she's still alive." She was actually.

"Even if you do goober your way through it, you'll do it with style." Charlie was trying to be supportive, honest.

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 03:48 am UTC (link)
"Huh." A potion made more sense to him than her just sort of randomly willing eyes into existence.

"Unlocked. Nobody there. Just her. Not even the door downstairs was locked." Ted realized that whoever it was might have stepped out to find something to kill her with. He felt very glad that he'd found her when he did.

"Someone's at the door." Ted turned his head in the direction of the front of the house. "Do you think the pizza could have gotten here that fast?" He looked at his watch. "That was significantly under thirty minutes."

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 04:00 am UTC (link)
"They just left her there." That actually made Charlie angrier. That someone could just leave an injured suffering person, as if that person were no one, nothing, just something to leave behind. He looked up, to the side, not really focusing on anything. "She's alive, and we will find the man who did this." It was a little sexist, but why would some random woman do it?

"That is fast." Charlie followed Ted's gaze. "Always good to get fast food, unless it's not. We have any fruit? Could have that for dessert."

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[info]i_worknumbers
2009-04-15 04:05 am UTC (link)
"I didn't buy any." Ted said as he walked out of the kitchen and right to the front door. It wasn't the pizza guy. Instead, it was somebody that handed him two envelopes, bowed, and then left. Ted didn't even have a chance to say anything.

He turned back and held one of them out for Charlie to take. The other had his own name on it. There was no stamp on it, no mark that it had been sent through the postal service or some kind of courier. Odd.

Ted looked up from his envelope to see if the girls were still in the room, or if they'd wandered off to work on getting Xanadu fixed up.

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[info]i_zen
2009-04-15 04:12 am UTC (link)
Charlie followed, not commenting on how fruit was good to have, especially a nice apple. He'd get some later; they really did need to stock up if they were going to have guests regularly. It wasn't that he didn't have his own food in his own apartment, but he was there as much as Ted had been when they were in L.A.

The detective looked down at the envelope in his hand; it was for him. It had his name on it. It looked expensive. He looked from the envelope to Ted then back. Without a word, he popped the seal and pulled out the invitation.

"Looks like we know where our first date will be." That certainly solved their dilemma.

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