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sadfreezingbrit_archive) wrote2011-08-21 02:52 am
sadfreezingbrit_archive) wrote2011-08-21 02:52 am
Entry tags:
One incredible feat of sleep-deprived bakery architecture. [23/??? artefacts collected]
[ It's the event's second night, around four o'clock in the morning.
The narration trusts that at this point everyone has found somebody to room with and is tucked into bed.
Fast asleep as opposed to completely deprived of the same ever since the event started.
And definitely not building a donut replica of Westminster Abbey in one of the conference rooms.
Nope.
Not happening anywhere at all. ]
[ ...For everyone who does not enjoy a little action at night, Philip will emerge from his building project in the morning and can subsequently be found
a.) making coffee in the coffee area
b.) drinking coffee in one of the cubicles and
c.) throwing coffee at the backstairs spiders
If you hear him humming a strange tune, well, that's just the melody his hot beverage gives off, because who needs a sense of smell when you can have a constant soundtrack instead? ]
The narration trusts that at this point everyone has found somebody to room with and is tucked into bed.
Fast asleep as opposed to completely deprived of the same ever since the event started.
And definitely not building a donut replica of Westminster Abbey in one of the conference rooms.
Nope.
Not happening anywhere at all. ]
[ ...For everyone who does not enjoy a little action at night, Philip will emerge from his building project in the morning and can subsequently be found
a.) making coffee in the coffee area
b.) drinking coffee in one of the cubicles and
c.) throwing coffee at the backstairs spiders
If you hear him humming a strange tune, well, that's just the melody his hot beverage gives off, because who needs a sense of smell when you can have a constant soundtrack instead? ]
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[ Well, at least that much is true. ]
I thought I'd gone insane [-r ] that- that I-- I kept waiting for everything to turn back to normal, but...
[ He shrugs. ] It never did.
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How long was it before you...got used to everything? I can't say that I know much about the future, but it can't be as ridiculous as Wonderland.
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[ The following smile will go sadly unnoticed unless Philip's facial muscles are a lot louder than he perceives them to be. ]
...Honestly? Right now I'm trying not to raise my voice despite this cup of coffee creaking like an old wooden floor and... maybe things aren't quite as confusing anymore, but... I don't think I'm used to it yet. [ Beat. ] Or ever will be, for that matter.
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...I'm glad you say that.
[Concentrating on the heat of the mug in her hands is much easier than admitting that she feels entirely unprepared for everything that Wonderland has to offer.]
I was beginning to worry that I was one of the few...well, everyone here seems so confident about tackling whatever this place throws at them.
[A sigh.]
And I'm not. You know, I was always telling people how much I wanted an adventure, and this isn't quite the adventure I was expecting.
[Nor is it the one she's really destined for, but let's not split hairs.]
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And sometimes that's not a problem. Hey, sometimes it even helps getting things out in the open. But sometimes... ]
{ See, that's 'cause the only adventure a broad like her oughta have is another apron to get some colour into the kitchen. Maybe a spankin' new saucepan, but that's pushin' it already. }
Wow, really? That is ridiculous, even for you.
[ Sometimes those things just happen to be conversations which are very much supposed to remain an unspoken secret between you and the voice in your head. ]
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Did... did I just say that out loud?
Oh God.
Oh God, Jesus, no. No. Nonono-- No, please...
Please don't say I said that out loud.
]
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What she got was something else entirely.]
...excuse me?
[She bristles immediately, because...because this is a sore enough subject in her own time period, and he's reassured her before that things have changed by the time the twenty-first century begins. Coffee clenched in her hands, shoulders tensed, she wishes to high Heaven and back she could actually see his face right now.
Evie expects this kind of response from someone like the "emperor", or in a jesting manner from her brother, but not from Philip.]
I'm ridiculous?
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{ See, it's moments like that I keep hangin' out with you. That and the whole being kinda stuck in your body problem... }
No!
[ Shitshitshit. ]
N-no, I--
[ Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit ]
I-- I wasn't- that--
[ PS.: Shit. ]
I am... so sorry, I was--
[ Close your eyes. Pull through. ]
Talking to somebody else.
[ Deep breath. ]
...
[ ...Okay, another one. ]
My communication device, I-- I just... got a text message and I- I read it, I didn't think, it just slipped out, I am really sorry.
[ We did mention shit, right? ]
You are not ridiculous. Not you.
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[Evelyn repeats slowly, enunciating every syllable. It takes her a moment to even remember what a text message is, let alone relax and consider that it was just some kind of misunderstanding.
White-knuckling her coffee mug, she lowers one foot flat against the floor. Don't the communication devices vibrate when they send messages? She didn't feel anything. She still doesn't feel anything, certainly not the electric pulse of a transmitting radio.
It's all wrong, though. He's not telling her something. The heartfelt reassurances that he didn't mean her would be more encouraging if she could look at him. As things are, all Evelyn can do is furrow her brow and try not to seem hurt.
...well. Hurt and angry. Jonathan always said she'd make a damn fine pugilist.]
Philip, if you'd rather talk to somebody else, I can always just make my way back down to the second floor.
[And here she had been planning on telling him about the strange writing left on her mirror the morning after they'd had drinks!]
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[ He can't bring himself to repeat the rest of the excuse. Suddenly all the exhaustion and sickness from this event's deprivations seem a whole lot more pronounced. ]
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Look, it's...it's fine.
[Their first awkward conversation. Hm. Hopefully there won't be too many more.
Wink wink nudge nudge.]...But you don't sound well. I had wanted to tell you something, but maybe it had better wait for another time.
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...And realises that he only barely made it because Evelyn can't see anything he does, be it an imaginary look at his comm unit or a genuine movement of his head. ]
...No, it's-- It's fine. I-- [ He actually reaches into his pocket where the device sits quietly. ] I turned it off now. I'm fine, I'm just... tired.
[ And again with the smile he didn't need to force on his face. But old habits die hard. ]
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First I just wanted to apologize for...getting...drunk, that was...very unprofessional of me. Secondly-
[Evie doesn't even know how to address this issue.]
...secondly, I found...someone wrote something on my mirror. I think it was meant for you.
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Wonderland is a reason to get drunk if there ever was one.
[ ...and falters when he realises that he should perhaps not make his liquid coping mechanism quite so obvious.
That and everything he hears after secondly. ]
A message on the mirror? For me?
[ Try as his sleep-deprived brain might, he can't think of a single scenario where this leads to anything good. ]
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[Evelyn actually left it up there so she wouldn't forget to tell Philip the next time she saw him.
And he's lucky that she's so preoccupied thinking about the writing that she can't completely concentrate on the fact that he's a raging alcoholic.]
It said something along the lines of "New score board, missed your chance to get some"...then there were four lines under the word "You," and none under the word "Me."
...does any of this sound familiar? What exactly were you supposed to be getting?
[Ah, future-slang. One day she'll learn some.]
1/2
As it is she will simply have to do with the sound of a thankfully near empty coffee mug shattering on the floor. ]
F--angrymumbling.
2/2
That sounds like my Mirror. He...
[... while picking up the shards?
There we go. ]
...does not have a very good sense of what does and does not constitute appropriate behaviour.
[ Having punctuated every single word in that sentence with a sharp edge of 'I will wring his neck the next time I see him' Philip sees himself capable of adding in a calmer tone: ]
I'm really sorry he bothered you, he's never written on anyone else's mirror before.
[ ...that Philip knows of. ]
1/4
Your...mirror?
[They talked about this, didn't they? The mirrors? She has to have one, too, but it's not as though people get to interact with them all that often. She'd almost forgotten about them up until one wrote on her looking glass. Evelyn can only wonder what Philip's is like.]
I can't say that it was all that inappropriate, it was just a-
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He- ...h-he meant...oh.
[All the blushing. All of it.]
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But Evelyn found the answer on her own and now the embarrassment takes over and Philip lowers his head, silently and dedicatedly absorbed by the task of cleaning up an all too tiny spill all too thoroughly.
Silence.
So much awkward silence. ]
Again, I... apologise on his behalf. [ *mutter* ] Because he definitely won't.
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New place, and new people.
With a few people who apparently believe that copulation is the central element of life. There are other things out there, you know.]
It's...it's all right, just...not...exactly what I expected.
[The heat ebbing away from her cheeks, Evelyn tucks a lock of hair behind one ear and fidgets with her necklace.]
...so...does this mean that someone was watching us?
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Ah, but much as he's tempted to ask for clarification, getting as far away from the subject as fast as possible takes clear priority now... even if Evelyn's question won't exactly get him much closer to that goal. ]
I really wish I could say no, but...
[ Having finally finished his exaggerated shamecleaning Philip gets up from the floor and takes a seat. ]
It's... likely I'm afraid. They can watch us from the other side and... as far as I know most of them do. Not all the time, but...
[ He trails off, wondering if he should see to acquiring another mug. Ehh.... for now his hands are probably fine wringing each other awkwardly above his lap. ]
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And yours seems a bit...preoccupied.
[Translation: You are an upstanding citizen, good job for not being like that other fellow.
The tension is thrumming down his chair, into the floor, and under her feet. Leaning forward and reaching out, she rests a hand on two fidgety ones, stilling them.]
Philip.
[This is a serious blind-girl face now. Pay attention.]
I know you're embarrassed- [Because I can feel it.] -but you shouldn't be. It wasn't you.
You were very chivalrous.
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