dead_black_eyes: "Girls le Disko" (Spark rocker with your dirty eyes)
dead_black_eyes ([personal profile] dead_black_eyes) wrote in [community profile] savetheearth2014-02-14 11:48 am

You Reject My Advances and Desperate Pleas [February 14]

WHO: Lazarus Lawliet and YOU
WHEN: That loviest of days, February 14, pretty much all day
WHERE: Espresso Yourself
WHAT: Someone higher up on the management ladder saw an ironic valentine and thought it would be awesome if baristas handed out hand-made ones to customers on V-Day. As the shop's resident "writer," L was given some scissors and a magazine and tasked with this. The result... well. Tag this, if you really want to see the result.
WARNINGS: L would rather be detectiving. L's grasps on irony, humor, romance, and valentines are also tenuous at best, especially together. This could get dark.



Since hiring L, Espresso Yourself had been a very accommodating employer. Equal opportunity and largely catering to college-aged hipsters, their customer base and employees consisted predominantly of Millennials, and every stereotype had softly saturated much of the shop's attitude toward the generation. L had enjoyed leaning on crutches in the past, finding ways to pardon himself from the ordeals of living life and interacting with other human beings. He had used and abused diagnoses and disadvantages for this purpose, but Espresso Yourself, as a business, seemed determined not only to accommodate his needs, but to boost his self-esteem by making him feel important and necessary.

A young woman in a higher management position had beckoned him aside the day before, offering him an "important project" to keep such a "talented writer" busy. Following his most recent echoes, L thought he knew what actually comprised an "important project," but it had been awhile since his last echo, and it was beginning to frustrate him. He'd been a child-saver, a detective, and he'd been very good at what he did, and every day another pulse didn't occur was a day he was being denied and held hostage by his own life.

Excitedly, the woman had handed him a stack of magazines, some glue, some construction paper, and a pair of blunted safety scissors, explaining the project. Her over-bright eyes and too-wide smile told L that she knew about him, and had therefore dismissed him on an unforgivable level. The condescension was newly unacceptable to a man who knew that his preincarnation had been great, and he resolved to make the project uniquely his own.

Behind the counter, he has a stack of them next to the cash register. They resemble ransom notes more than valentines, but at least his standard look of utter contempt is dialed back a bit. You might actually feel like you can approach the counter today.

belphe: (yeah well...)

[Action]

[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-21 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"Time goes very quickly when you spend it studying, shuffling around to classes, and jumping through the hoops that academia sets for you to reach your career goals."

Not that she trusted Russell had spent all of their time apart studying. It just wasn't who he was.

"And sometimes, people just want to be done, L. They meet someone in passing, spend some time together, and then have no desire to spend further time with them when their ways part. I am....frankly? Just as surprised as you are that he contacted me today.
belphe: (hmm?)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-21 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"Do you keep contact with every person you've ever spoken to in your past?" she asked him, casting a look over her shoulder at him. The conversation seemed to, likewise, be striking a nerve for her, though she was masking it much better.
belphe: (carefully neutral)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-21 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's exactly it, L. We ARE living very different lives, and I truly don't believe he has any ill intent by reaching out again. If it weren't Valentines Day, would it still bother you this badly?"
belphe: (talking 2)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-21 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"When he asked if it was serious, he was asking whether the two of us were seeing each other." she explained. "There was no way for him to know about the nature of this arrangement, and no way for me to explain it to him without being criticized for how incredibly unprofessional it is.

With that aside, and the fact I sincerely doubt he plans to murder me, I don't find much that's problematic with two friendly acquaintances getting back in touch..."
belphe: (neutral)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-21 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm not sure where you got the idea it wasn't friendly. But yes, I like the idea of getting caught up with someone I've not spoken to in awhile."

This talk was confusing to her...and she found herself put on the defensive by the way he was acting almost possessive of her time. If this was going to start rearing its head about the people she spoke to off-hours, then it might only be a matter of time before he began applying it to her other patients. In other words, this trend could not continue.
belphe: (looking down on)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-21 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
There was a pause...that idea hadn't even occurred to her. And, honestly, didn't make sense. She wasn't the sort of person that someone like Russell would take interest in. But, all the same...

"What if he does?"
belphe: (aloof)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-22 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
"And he doesn't commune on hidden networks. That doesn't bar people from finding things to do together, L. And while I appreciate your concern, I maintain that you're reading far too much into this."
belphe: (Default)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-22 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
"He went with friends." she said, tapping the laptop screen to point at the caption of the photograph, which read "Pikes Peak last summer with Terry, Josh, and Karen!"

"It's entirely possible the picture was not even his idea."
belphe: (bored)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-22 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
"You don't think it's possible he'd been on the ledge already and one of them suggested he pose for the photo opportunity?" she asked, not entirely trying to hide the tone of skepticism.
belphe: (yeah well...)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-22 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Neither of us were there, no. But one of us has known him for a few years, and any vanity you see is likely in jest. He enjoys teasing."
belphe: (glasses1)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-22 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"Or for being playful." She drew herself up a bit straighter in her chair. "I don't think that we ought to continue this conversation further, L."
belphe: (o shi-)

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[personal profile] belphe 2014-02-23 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
She had meant to reply...but it was as if his last word had suddenly taken form and expanded in size, demanding her full attention on it.

Do not speak, furniture. Be silent, furniture, Know your place, furniture

A blaze of brilliant blue eyes, and a glimpse of gold, and then it was gone again...whatever it was, leaving her feeling dizzy as she clutched the end of the desk to steady herself.

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