Participants:
| Scene Title | Abject Awe |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | In preparation for moving in, Abigail enlists Liz's help. |
| Date | October 25, 2010 |
Solstice Condominiums - Caliban Apartment
The key's turn in the lock - The least amount of them that Abby has ever seen on a door of a place that she is going to live in, or has lived in. "Movers are taking my stuff tomorrow" Abigail's voice heard, using her hip to actually open the door - to be noted, she doesn't actually need her hip.
The door actually opens without a need for jiggling doorknobs or hip checking. Shocking. But that's to be expected when you pay seven figures for a home. She's been here once when they went looking, furniture everywhere in the place when it had been staged by the realtor. She left the room when the woman started talking price with Robert. She didn't want to fathom that the both of them had just spent any significant amount of money, much less six figures on a home.
One that didn't even have a yard.
Abigail's got her own box of things, things she doesn't trust the movers with for various reasons and things she wants up before it's genuinely inhabited by her and Robert. She moves out of the way into the hallways, doors to the right leading all the way to a livingroom and windows with a view.
Elisabeth is carrying another box, following the blonde ex-healer into the condo with a look of … abject awe, honestly. She's never been inside one of these places. And her own apartment is pretty gracious in terms of space! Her mother life insurance was significant and Lizzie owns her apartment outright. But this place has to have cost at least 5 times what her modest one did. Jesus Christ. She can't imagine living in this place. Seriously.
As she steps in behind Abby, Liz is drawn toward the windows and their view. "Damn," she whistles softly.
Liz isn't the only one who is having a hard time imagining living here. It won't feel real till all her stuff is in here. "I know right? My Momma's not gonna like this. I know my Dah is going to say Abigail, this here is a temple to Babylon my dear' Imitating her father and his drawl." She's closing the door behind them, gesturing with a jerk of her chin towards the livingroom in the distance. "Head that way, Kitchen is third door there." The key tucked into abby's purse, she follows in Liz's wake, wishing she'd brought Rhett to get him used to the place. "Wrong, my momma will not like the place till she see's the master bathroom, then, she'll not want to leave"
There's a soft laugh. "I knew there were apartments with this much floor space, but honestly? I always thought the place my folks have was almost too big for the three of us." She shrugs. By now Abby knows enough about New York and its neighborhoods for Liz to be able to say, "They live in the West 70s," and the other blonde will understand what those homes look like. "I'm pretty sure the apartment I have right now is the biggest one I can even imagine owning, honestly." The 400-sq-foot walk-up that she rented right after she got onto the force is one Liz can't remember. It was tiny.
"This a far cry from the tiny thing that I had when Teo first me met and folks in the Ferry met me" Smaller than Liz's 400. Half that. Big enough for a bed, a couch and a kitchenette, but it was all she could afford. "I didn't know places like this existed outside of the movies" She confesses. "Robert and her started talking about the asking price and I left the room and wandered elsewhere. I didn't want to know, I don't think I want to know still. I just… I dunno. Feels weird, like my accent doesn't match the place"
Her accent doesn't match Robert, his accent matches the place.
"Wait, my furniture doesn't match the place" Her box is put onto the counter in the livinroom, the look of a small prep area for a kitchen taking up a corner of what seems to be an honest to god bar in the place.
Elisabeth laughs softly. "Well… Manhattan's always a far cry from the gracious floor plans of Southern hospitality, Abby," she admits. "We're used to being packed in like sardines." She shrugs a little. "You married a rich man. Just…. try to enjoy it without losing your mind," she advises with a grin. "I can't see you living a life of leisure, though, to be honest. I'm glad you have the bakery."
"I married a man that I love, who just happen to have and love money. I'll try to enjoy it. I sure as the sun rises, won't be carting any injured people here to patch them up" A wince for that thought. "And a life of Leisure is not for me. Not in the least. I don't know that I could be that kind of wife, who stands on the arm, looks pretty with not a thing in her head, or a thought in her head but no urge to use it."
Abby's digging through the box, looking for the cross that will go above the inside of the master bedroom. "Though, if Robert wanted such a wife, I"m sure that he wouldn't have married me and would have found some little vapid thing" Out comes the bronze statue of Jesus healing, that likely the most expensive thing other than her car that she owns. It'll find a place somewhere in the condo.
"I like my shop. It's not a bakery, it's a dessert shop, a dessert bar. A bakery makes gorgeous multi-tiered cakes for women's weddings. I make pies and small cakes and pastries to be served with alcohol"
Abigail rests her arms on the box, looking over to the frontline officer. "I'd rather be in the ambulance, but that won't happen, I don't rightly know if it'll ever happen again. So, SO, I have the dessert bar and I will slave over it instead"
Elisabeth smiles. "I stand corrected," she replies genially. Because Abby's right. "It's an amazing dessert shop, and I find myself having to split my patronage between you and Aric. It's a horrible horrible life," she laments theatrically. "To have two wonderous chocolate fixes!"
She drops the theater, though, leaning on the bar across from Abby and saying quietly, "I know you would. And if anything I can say will help that, you better believe that I'll do it. I already wrote the letter you asked for and sent it to Cat." The recommendation. "In the meantime, I'll just…. keep on trying to be a better friend and frequent your current obsession, okay?" she offers with a grin.
"I don't know if that will ever happen. Would you seriously get into an ambulance and go to high stress situations with the knowledge that the person in the seat beside you could just, if it's too much, spontaneously combust?" Abby shakes her head. "If Peter was still there, if he wasn't being hunted, I don't think I'd be having the issue that I do. He'd ride with me. But I don't know that the others will" That anyone would now.
"OKay, enough moping, come… COME" SHe'll hunt down the cross later. She grabs Liz's arm, raising it above the boxes and marching the woman down the other hall at a quick pace towards a door that leads into… the master bedroom. And in there, another door, to the bathroom. The door is pushed open and a light flipped on, the bathroom revealed. "Look. At. That. Tub"
In point of fact, Elisabeth…. is probably one of the few who WOULD. Because she knows firsthand Abby's ability to be calm in a high-stress situation. There've been too many times that Abby's proven herself, even without the handicap. She is, however, content to be marched down the hall and then stands transfixed in the door. "Holy Mother of God," she breathes. "That is a tub." She grins. "That's a tub to share! Wow."
"I know right? I mean, I love the kitchen but that bathtub" SHe stands back a distance, as if they're standing before the altar in a catholic church, staring over at the crucifix. "I don't think I mind modern at all, in here. Only thing better would be a clawfoot tub like Momma made Dah get back home but this.. is a gorgeous tub. Can you imagine how much water that takes up"
She stands side by side with the older blonde, looking at it wistfully before dragging her forward, gesturing for the woman to get the tub, dry as a bone, shoes and all like she's doing. Impulse.
Elisabeth peers into the thing and laughs. "This is not a tub — it's a freakin' hot tub! A mini swimming pool. Crap, Abby!" She giggles and follows suit, cuz…. you know what? Being girlish and silly is nice sometimes. After clambering into the depp tub, Liz stares around at how much space there still is in the thing. "Geeez…. you could have a whole party in here," she laughs.
Feet still tangle up, it's not that long, but it is deep, coming up to necks if one positions themselves just so. She smiles across at Liz, nodding. "Or just soak with Robert. I don't know if he'd actually soak. Lord, I don't know if he has time for soaking in a tub" She lays her arms on the edges of the tub, gripping gently with her hand, relaxing into it. What a sight it must be.
"I've been thinking, about that first room on the right, when you come in. It's small right? I've been thinking about just… seeing what it will cost to make it head to toe wine racks. For Robert. Something he said in the magazine when they interviewed him, if he could have a room filled with any one thing and he talked about this room in his house growing up, that was floor to ceiling wine"
Elisabeth tips her head to the side, resting it on the lip of the tub, curling up there to study her friend. How does one go about asking the question that is in her head? Liz opts for gentle and straightforward. "You're…. giving me the impression that all's not exactly as it seems with your… " And here the blonde sort of hesitates, unsure of how to phrase herself. "Erm… intimate life, I guess?" She hastens to add, "You're sort of giving me the impression that you don't know him all that well… is everything all right with you guys?"
And then she rolls her blue eyes and says, "Not like I am any kind of poster child for relationships and all, so please don't take that as a critique. You said you're happy, it just… sounds sometimes like your marriage is almost as unorthodox as my relationship with Richard, that's all." She offers a bit of a smile.
"Liz, He's been sleeping at my place only since we got married. Both of us are learning what life beyond dating and the evening hours spent with each other is like. Like I do the dishes with a bird on my shoulder and he's a quiet man in the morning who likes his coffee and tie a certain way. It's not unorthodox, it's called learning to live with your husband or wife for the first time. It's not like my tub in Le Rivage is built for more than one person and even then, it's questionable" Abigail points out.
"I know plenty enough about Robert. I'm learning more each day. Is everything exactly as it seems, no. We didn't live with each other before we got married. I proposed to him in a hospital gown and refused to let him pay for his own ring. We are not the most orthodox of couples, I mean.. my furniture comes from Ikea, his comes… from… some place that a designer picked out for him. I wouldn't be surprised if a interior decorator shows up and says 'Robert sent me"
There's a nod at the information and Elisabeth smiles. "Like I said, Abby… it wasn't a critique. Just… me being me, I guess." It's a foreign concept to her that Abby's married to Robert Caliban and not .. you know… sharing the BED. But the other woman certainly seems happy enough. She studies her friend and admits, "I like seeing you happy. If anyone deserves it, you're definitely at the top of the list." She giggles softly at the interior decorator comment. "Honestly, woman, I have to tell you…. I wouldn't know how to act if a decorator showed up at my door."
"Just Liz being Liz" Abby agree's, smiling at the other woman before starting to lever herself out of the tub. "Come on, I want to show you the closet. I'm sure that Robert's going to take up most of it. It's not like I have lots of stuff. Fire is good for gettin rid of things that you accumulate all the years you know"
She's avoiding the topic of what goes on behind bedroom doors with Robert. It's only between her and Robert and the bedroom walls. "Then, I'll tell you about the stripper some asshole sent into the bar dressed like a cop. I think it's on youtube somewhere. Just type in oh so sweet and stripper and smiley face"
Climbing out of the tub, Elisabeth laughs as she follows along. "Is that better or worse than the PEOPLE doing things on your WALLS?" The wallpaper at the bar will forever amuse her. Really! She's more than content to get the tour of this crazy huge apartment and share coffee with her friend for the afternoon.